Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [117]
Remember the Buddha’s example when he pointed to a middle way, balanced between the extremes of hedonistic self-indulgence and ascetic self-denial. He stressed sanity, moderation, and a broad and inclusive well-balanced golden mean. Reflecting on Buddhist wisdom, sooner or later, we each should be able to come up with our own personally satisfying balance between need and greed. It is eminently achievable.
Many masters have said that the less we need, the richer we can be. Living contentedly in the high Himalayan wilderness, Milarepa survived by gathering wild nettles and eating nettle soup, which gave his skin a greenish hue. More recently the erudite Tibetan teacher and hermit Patrul Rinpoche was known for his simple mendicant lifestyle and unconditional generosity. When queried about why he immediately distributed whatever alms were given to him, he replied, “One brick of tea is one brick of extra baggage. Who needs more burdens to take on my way?” The famous Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna said that contentment is true wealth. Success will not be found through the gratification of desire, but in the end of desire—which is contentment. Wealthy is he who enjoys what he has.
FINDING YOUR OWN VOCATION
Most people die with their music still locked up inside them.
—BENJAMIN DISRAELI
Until recently in Tibet, people consulted the lama about everything from travel plans to entering a monastery to starting a carpet factory. It’s the old way. Certain lamas in particular have shown an uncanny ability to give prescient advice based on astrological or other methods of predicting the future. As a normally cynical Westerner, it’s not something I think about or study too much. Nonetheless people ask me all kinds of questions, for which a crystal ball would come in handy.
Last week, when Dan came in for a private interview, he asked if I performed ritual divinations like the lamas in Tibet. I said, “Not really,” and inquired as to what he was thinking about. He said he was having a midlife crisis and couldn’t decide whether he should stay with work he hated until retirement or if he should try to reinvent a career and a life. Many men and women ask for advice on how to find authentic vocations; they want to put more meaning and purpose in their lives. Typically they recognize that work is a spiritual issue and they want spiritual advice. Often, like Dan, however, they have some very practical nitty-gritty considerations.
Someone asked me recently to define the concept of “authentic vocation.” I had to think about this, but finally the definition I came up with was work that helps us live here and now while keeping us connected to a higher, more timeless, reality. Right Livelihood is work that genuinely develops us as we develop it. In an interview, the wonderful poet Maya Angelou defined work as “something made greater by ourselves and in turn that makes us greater.”
Finding meaning and purpose through work is a major part of finding out who you are and what you are here to do. It’s very important not to miss out on this element of truth in your life. When we’re dissatisfied, sometimes we find that truth by changing direction and looking for work that is more satisfying. I remember reading how Joseph Campbell at the age of thirty retired to the Catskill Mountains and spent three years reading and reflecting on the history of the cultures and religions of this world. Could he have become the great sage and teacher he did without that solitary inner time for study and reflection?
Other times in our lives the only thing we can reasonably do is try to find more satisfaction in the work that we already have. I’ve certainly had this kind of experience. I love my work; I like to say that I’ve found peace, freedom, and joy