Entitlement

[RichardH]

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

[Byokan]

Haha! That's easy. Not a damn thing, my friend.

This is why I am filled with gratitude for everything.

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Heisoku]

As my grandad said 'laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone'.
I guess we are entitled to our own suffering and by that argument we are also entitled to our own enlightenment. We have to make the choice ... and that really is our only entitlement.
Gassho Heisoku
#sat today

[Meikyo]

Often I feel as though I'm entitled to what I consider having a good time in general. Whatever small trifles that entails in a rich western context. Freedom to pursue my passions. Good food. Quietude. Not living in a state of agony or mortal danger. Then I remember that I should consider myself fortunate for a having anything close to a crack at having a good time.

Gassho
Aske

[Myosha]

Hello,

"Learn self; forget self." not-Buddha

The joy of this (salty) tradition is the intention of all sentient beings realizing together, and not the same.

Ango!


Gassho,
Myosha sat today

[Troy]

Another way to think about it is what do we owe others? And aren't we two not one? 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.


_|sat2day|_

[Kyotai]

Quite simply, what Lisa said.

Thank you for the question Daizan.

Gassho,
Sat today

Haha! That's easy. Not a damn thing, my friend.

This is why I am filled with gratitude for everything.

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Oheso]

I like Troy's reversal of the question, making it: what do I owe others? or, do I only owe and am not owed? for me, feeling obligated usually comes pretty easily.

Having in recent years gone through a pretty dramatic reversal of my economic situation, some of these issues came into focus pretty clearly for me. I think almost no one would be surprised to learn that very few people on earth feel in any sense obligated or even interested in their personal individual well-being. But how do you feel, what would you expect from or feel you owe toward those very near by? from or toward your family? I think this was at least part of the flavor I discerned in Daizan's OP.

I often watch the give and take between panhandlers on streets and subways of NY and those who give them money. pretty much entirely, the interactions of total strangers. can the notions of entitled and obligated be dispensed with?
in my case, ultimately, thankfully, help got where help was needed, and I think maybe those notions were dispensed with. it just flowed, like heat flows to where it isn't. or perhaps the issue is dissolved, for us, in the first Bodhisattva vow.
my apologies, I didn't intend to bend this thread into my own personal story. thank you all for the discussion.

gassho, O, who today sat.

[Rich]

If you put air in a pump you can sell it. If you put water in a bottle you can sell it. If you put up a fence or sign you can keep others off the land. We are polluting the earth and already I have to purify my water and maybe someday my air. As a human the only entitlement I have is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which in Buddhist speech is peace of mind or enlightenment.
Sat today

Kind regards. /\

[Jishin]

I am entitled to my opinion.

Gassho, Jishin

#SatToday

[RichardH]

Hmm. I do not feel indebted to the world, like I owe the the world. Being frequently deluded and subject to spasms of greed and anger, I do cause or compound suffering , and do need to practice atonement. There is the absolute and relative atonement that Jundo has talked about.

Doing good, helping, being generous, comes from an openness and spontaneity rather than a sense of debt, in my experience. There is a joy there.

Gassho
Daizan
Sat today

[Oheso]

There is a joy there.

pure gravy right?

[RichardH]

Hi Oheso. Not sure what you mean by gravy. I mean joy as a lightness in going over completely into it. There is no heaviness here. It's just a sense of things.
It's probably different for different people.


Gassho
Daizan
Sat today

[Joyo]

Hmm, well that's an interesting question. Back when I was a Christian my understanding of life (based on the teachings I had been taught from pastors etc) was that I was entitled to all sorts of things, and if I did not get them, then I had to pray, have faith and just believe for them to happen for me. As a result, I was not a very happy person. There was a constant battle going on in my head, and my life was one of complete duality.

Now, I'd have to agree with Lisa. Hard, fun or exciting times, healthy or sick they are all just what they are--life, a beautiful, chaotic mess. And I guess what we do with it all is up to us.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Oheso]

Daizan, I guess I mean just that kind of joy that isn't compensatory at all, just as you say, a lightness in going over completely into it. that grace of God that comes floating into life sometimes, entirely free of earned or owing.

gassho, O, who, having sat, sits