Dog Eat Dog

The other day I was talking to a business manager about the seeming rise in bullying in the workplace. “Well”, he replied, “it is a dog eat dog environment this business world we are in.” I was quite amused at the expression. Not that I had not heard it before but rather it had taken on new dimension for me.

It may well be a dog-eat-dog world but do we have to live like dogs? When we were born we were given the gift of humanity yet somehow we seem hell bent in reversing to animal instincts. It only takes one of us to reclaim our humanity with our potential for a Higher Mind then the dog will eat out of the hand that feeds it and may even recognize its true self in the reflection.

I have told the story before a time when the Master Zheng Rong and I were walking to a neighbouring village we came across two dogs viciously fighting and drawing blood one from the other. “Quick” called the Master. “Where are the moon cakes we were given this morning? Let’s feed them” as he rushed towards them with hands outstretched offering moon cake. “This is like dharma food for them”, he smiled. The food of the Bodhi Mind is the only nutrient that can bring us back to humanity.

Mahatma Gandhi said: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But if we live like this we will be a world full of blind and toothless people.” Dog eat dog. If we behave like this we will all eventually become the way we behave – dogs. That is the law of Karma.