Entitlement

[Jundo]

I am too simple on this ...

I seek to treat every day as a gift ... nothing I am entitled to, yet am endlessly grateful for.

Most vitally ... this gratitude includes the sweet and the bitter, the health and the sickness, the gains and the losses.

It is nothing more than what the world places in our begging bowls.

gratitude & Great Gratitude

A Buddha's Gratitude is Vast and Unlimited ... a Gratitude both for that which we love and that which we may not, a Treasure beyond yet holding mere "silver linings" "brass rings" and "lumps of coal". It is a Peace and Wholeness which transcends "pro vs. con", a Beauty which sees even the ugly times as "gorgeous day". We are grateful for life, for death, for health, for sickness .. each and all as Sacred. It is a Gratitude in the face of a cancer diagnosis, Gratitude that dances all disappointments, a Gratitude which comfortably holds even the tragedy of Syria or any other bloody field (a Gratitude that is Grateful, even as we seek to stop such tragedies in the world).

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?11275-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-gratitude-Great-Gratitude

And don't forget that we must work to help all the Sentient Beings ... because they-we deserve that! As Troy said ...

I think we owe it to treat others with dignity and respect. We owe our time and love to our family. We owe our community and really the world to tread lightly and to give something back that makes it a better place.

Gassho, J

SatToday (and Grateful for it!)

[Mp]

I am too simple on this ...

I seek to treat every day as a gift ... nothing I am entitled to, yet am endlessly grateful for.

I too like this Jundo, clear and simple. =)

Gassho
Shingen

#SatToday

[Joyo]

Thank you, Jundo. I also like this very much.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[RichardH]

Thank you, Jundo.


Daizan
Grateful for the whole beautiful painful messy wonder.

Sat Today

[Ongen]

Like Jundo and Raindrop said - No entitlement

Gassho
Vincent

Sat Today

[Peacemouse]

This word popped out the other day when I was posting about care-giving, and it has lingered. It raised a question that I'd like to raise here. "Entitlement" here does not refer to social policy, I believe everyone is entitled to food, shelter, health care, and dignity. It refers to what this little self feels the world owes it. “I” am an expression of emptiness, boundless and needless, but I am also a body and mind, and person in/of the world. I asked the question "what do I feel entitled too?", "what does the world owe me?" ..and the honest answer is nothing. I am not entitled to anything. The world does not owe me any material thing. It does not owe support or care of any kind. It does not even owe me breath. Breath can be taken away any time and the thought “this isn't fair” has no place at all, no traction. It doesn't mean there is a feeling of worthlessness or wretchedness. The way my Christian mother-in-law would say it is that everything is granted by “the grace of God”. “I” am a temporary formation, a flame, a lust for life, and I will dissolve. I am not powerless to act and make change, but whatever power I have is not mine. A quote from some Rinpoche (kalu?) comes to mind “ When you realize you are nothing, you realize you are everything”.

All this is just one practice and experiencing, and not a claim to Dharma, but it is very clear to this mind. I think the sense of entitlement is an interesting thing to look into

So... my question is. What do you feel entitled to? What does the world.. Life... society.. owe you?

Thanks

Gassho
Daizan
Sat Today

Seeing that 'I' is so limited, so painful, so full of dissatisfaction, who would ever want to live there?

[Myosha]

Hello,





Gassho,
Myosha sat today

[treebeard]

My experience is similar to Joyo's. Now however, I suppose I am entitled to perceive the world through my senses and mind. To choose to cling excessively to things of failing consequence, or to let them go and watch beauty bloom and pass, appreciate what is there to experience and the intricacies of life. I am also entitled to give back should I so desire(or at least try).

Gassho,
Paul, sat today

[Nindo]

I guess we are entitled to our own suffering and by that argument we are also entitled to our own enlightenment.

I like this. I was baffled by the original question.

Gassho,
Nindo

sat today

[Kaishin]

Every day I try to

expect nothing
give everything

Some days are more successful than others!

#satToday

[Mp]

Every day I try to

expect nothing
give everything

Some days are more successful than others!

#satToday

I like that Kaishin. =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

[Nameless]

Daizan,

That was one of the realizations I had right "before" I started practicing Zen. It came along with, "I'm choosing to be depressed." While we're owed nothing, what we're given we choose to view as we wish. More and more Zen seems to come down to a line from the Yellow Submarine movie. "It's all in the mind."

Gassho, John
Sat Today

[RichardH]

Hi John. That sure seems to be true. There is an objective element to immediate sense contact, the shape of a branch, a patch of blue,... it is what presents and it doesn't need to be made so. But any narrative at all, any story, is made by this mind , and it can be seen and dispelled. Every day is a new day. Every face is a fresh face. So I'll keep sitting.

Gassho
Daizan

Sat Today