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Thu ong
Suppose a business or political leader comes seeking the teaching that will make them “successful”—more wealth, fame, power, sex. Yet one leader, William Ford, revealed a different longing: emission-free cars, care for workers as family, and protection of the environment. Such bodhicitta—the mind of love and compassion—invites a re-examination of success. Cravings for power, wealth, fame, sex are like fire, dragging us away from the present moment and into loneliness and suffering, while a wholesome desire opens the door to the Pure Land here and now.
The Buddha speaks of four nutriments in our lives:
- Edible food
- Sense impressions—books, media, conversation
- Volition—our desires
- Consciousness
By consuming mindfully, we nourish body and mind; by inspecting our volitions, we discern whether a desire leads to freedom or to the “pit of glowing embers.” Every major issue today—globalization, economic growth, cloning, GM crops, euthanasia—must be grounded first in the nature of the desire behind it. Only a shared, healthy intention—to protect people, other species, and the Earth—gives rise to right action.
Collective meditation—a pause to look deeply into our real aspirations—is the path for practitioners, leaders, and communities. With mindfulness and concentration, we learn to live each step in freedom, touching the kingdom of God or the Buddha’s Pure Land in the here and now.Hence the church, the sangha, and all responsible people are called to guide society by clarifying true happiness, rooted in freedom from craving, violence, discrimination, and despair.
