He is a Buddhist,
who wants the best of both worlds,
as he struggles to be a worldly success,
while wanting to live by Buddhist principles too.
But he isn’t trying hard enough
to be a better Buddhist.
as he craves more for worldly success,
though he definitely doesn’t want to give up Buddhism.
My advice was this –
You can work towards the best of both worlds,
but you should place spiritualism before materialism,
by becoming a better Buddhist, even as you seek your worldly way to success.
Because the material attained without spiritual guidelines,
will not be long-lived,
while distracting and harming oneself and others spiritually,
which makes one eventually more distant from success in both worlds.
Because life is too short and unpredictable,
because the material can’t be brought over to the next life,
because the spiritual is more precious and enduring,
because it is that which leads to True Happiness.
Before we came, we had nothing. After we came, we seemed to have something. Then it’s time to go, we go with nothing. But sadness accompanies us becos we keep thinking we should go with something and feel like we have lost everything. Come to think of it, how do you lose something that you dun even have in the first place? Thats what you are before you came. The material world and spiritual world can sometimes be in conflict. There are those who pursue the material wholeheartedly. There are those who pursue the spiritual. There are those who are caught in between. But as a lay person, enjoying life is not something wrong. If you are well endowned, it’s one’s good karma that we reap the harvest of the good karma bringing us the good results but are we doing more good with the good karma we have or are we using it to cause more suffering to others? Are we a master over what we enjoy or are we a slave to it? For one to really enjoy the material, there must be two conditions present at all times. The person and the material object. But there are also times when the person and object are both present yet one does not enjoy becos one is thinking of how to get more. Discontentment really makes the rich poor even when they seemed to have the happiness that came to them but the mind and heart at the wrong places spoil everything. All in all, I still think that spiritual is more fulfilling than anything. If you can find happiness in nothing, when you have something, you may not necessarily always be happier but at certain times, you may feel very happy too. When you loses that something, you are still back to the same happy you with nothing. Like that, no one can rob your happiness from you becos you understand that happiness derived from the casuality of karma is short lived. But rather happiness derived from the wisdom of dharma is like an eternal fountain. We bring nothing but karma with us. The book of karma we filled with our deeds in past lives unfolds as we live this life being influenced by it but not without the ability to lighten the effects of it. But at the same time in this life, we also carry a clean empty book of records where we will fill in another portfolio or blueprint of new karmic actions in this life. Before we write to this diary of life, sometimes it pays to ask who are you when u r without anything? Will you still be good? Will you try to exploit and scheme to get what you want? Would you rather live with a clear and clean conscience and an empty page than to fill your book of life with shameful deeds. When life is indeed moving too fast for you in the course of material pursuits, dun forget to stop and smell the flowers which can be spiritually more fulfilling. Â