“4. So hard to find the ease and wealth
Whereby the aims of beings may be gained.
If now I fail to turn it to my profit,
How could such a chance be mine again?”
It wasn’t easy in Shantideva’s day, in the eighth century, and often it isn’t easy in our own, to get to a place in one’s life where there is enough peace of mind and enough free time to begin a path of self discovery and training of the mind. We need to have at least enough money so as not to be homeless, hungry, or completely stressed about finances (or the lack thereof). And we need to have enough time for both sufficient rest as well as free time to devote to improving one’s inner self. If we find ourselves homeless, malnourished or hungry, penniless and in debt, completely worn out after our days of labor, or fall into illness or disease – we will not have the ‘ease’ and ‘wealth’ required for training the mind.
Although we now have so much more technology (often cheap and abundant technology), and can practically eliminate many of the threats of malnourishment and disease that existed in Shantideva’s day, we also seem to have constructed more barriers to mental well being than perhaps the ancients would have imagined. The staggering amount of debt in which many of us find ourselves, due to our education, our homes and our cars, brings about immense amounts of stress. Also, many of us are being prescribed more and more medicines to alleviate the symptoms of more and more ailments and diseases, most of which are caused by our fast paced and stressful modern lives. The medicines often have a number of side effects which make it more difficult for us to begin in our journey of training the mind. And add to that the never ending stream of wants which are broadcast into our homes by television, magazines and the internet, plus our parental ‘need’ to give our children every opportunity available to them- and our stress levels escalate exponentially.
So if we ARE lucky enough to find ourselves in a state of ‘ease and wealth’ in our lives, we simply cannot afford to waste this precious time. Because, as we know, wealth and health are constantly in flux. There are so many ways for us to become ill, penniless, or fall into any number of problematic life situations. So if we find ourselves in a good place and can begin our inner work, our spiritual work, we must begin immediately while conditions are favorable.
5.Just as on a dark night black with clouds,
The sudden lightning glares and all is clearly shown,
Likewise rarely, through the Buddhas’ power,
Various thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.
Like lightning which allows us to clearly see the landscape on even the darkest of nights, we sometimes find wisdom teachings which speak to us and allow us to clearly see our lives in a light not previously available. When this occurs, and we are able to translate simple words into deep insights and integrate those into our lives, precious and wonderful things begin to happen. We may find an ease to our life not previously experienced. We may begin to see the world more fully and more openly. And we may be able to feel compassion more deeply than we ever had before. These instances where we are able to feel and assimilate deep wisdom are incredibly rare, like seeing the landscape clearly on a darkened night with the help of lightning. So when we are given the opportunity to experience these moments, we simply cannot afford to dismiss them or push them back or attempt to ‘schedule time’ for them at some later, more ‘convenient’ date.
The present is the only time that exists, and it is more precious than any of us realize. We must begin our path now. We must begin to train our minds. We must begin to practice compassion and patience. We must begin now, for ourselves and for everyone else.
*All quoted text is from The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva from Shambala Classics