I could not help but smile as I knew she meant a “financial living”. Yet, in a very real sense we are all able to make a living out of Buddhism.
The other week I travelled by train onto Sydney city. As the train came into each station faces with blank and almost dead expressions passed me by, absorbed in their i-phones, row after row, person after person immersed in world that pretends to take us out of our suffering. These were lifeless figures.
When the Shakyamuni Buddha walked the earth many asked him if he were a god. “No”, he replied. “Are you a spirit?” “No”, he replied. “I am Awakened.” Being awakened is the opposite of being asleep. When we are asleep we are in the world of dream and nightmare. One is strange and the other is frightening. Neither of which are real. That is the life that most live on a daily basis. It is a strange world because it rarely conforms to our hopes and desires. Frightening because we are living in fear of violence and losing what “happiness” we think we have. This is a very unsatisfactory way of living and creates huge problems for society. Depression is now one of the world’s major illnesses.
When we are awake we are alive. We are able to see life as a gift. Everyone likes a gift. I have watched many children at Christmas time receive gifts from their parents or relatives with huge smiles on their faces and peels of laughter and joy. Even when we try to be subdued with a:”Oh, really, you shouldn’t have done that” we nonetheless receive the gift with a smile on our face.
Rarely do we see life as a gift. We most often see it as a struggle and as a threat. We fight it – sometimes literally with great violence. We do not see it as a gift because we are asleep. When we are awake we are alive. When we live out our life as a gift to be given we are truly alive and living life to the fullest. That is how life is meant to be lived.
So many people are trying to make a living desiring to earn more and more in the fear that life will not have enough for them. They do not know the secret to true abundance. Abundance comes from our gift. This is the gift of life which is within each and everyone of us. When we find it we become livened and awake. When we find it the universe opens itself us to us.
The gift is within each of us. There is no need to criticize others for your unhappiness or lack of abundance when you already have it within you. It is only ignorance and ego that prevents you from discovering it as it hides under layers of masks.
Our Buddhist practice teaches us how to remove the masks of illusion. It teaches us to take responsibility for our own lives with a new set of skills for skillful living. Many think Buddhism is a religion. It is not. It is a life education that helps us up-skill to live effectively. When we sincerely apply the teaching methods we begin to see results in our life. This Cause and Effect. So why not change career path and make a new living?
The Buddha gave us a valuable teaching to dismantle the masks, wake up out of our sleep and live life. We can indeed make a wonderful living out of Buddhism.
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