How shall we live?

Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.

The book is a consideration of the Buddhist precepts, a subject I’ve found worthy of years of consideration. What I’m particularly interested in is how our actions are connected to our insight. As the Unitarian divine A. Powell Davies once observed “None of our private worlds is big enough for us to live a wholesome life in.” So, at least as I see it, the question boils down for me how do our worlds touch? And what does that mean?

Among the interesting problems I’ve found is how much of a consideration of the moral or ethical or well-lived life is about me and how much of it is about others? Practically speaking, how much inward looking? And, how much outward action?

And there’s something else. 

At least in my experience…

I agree with the Dalai Lama that no one saves us from ourselves, not the Buddha, not Jesus.

So we’re driven to the heart of the matter. We’re called to look hard at ourselves.

The way is succinctly presented in the twelfth case of the Gateless Gate collection. 

“The priest Ruiyan called ‘Master!’ to himself every day and answered himself, ‘Yes!’ Then he would say ‘be aware!’ and reply ‘Yes!’ ‘Don’t be deceived by others!’ ‘No, no!’

But there is sort of a trick here.

This is not, absolutely not, a call to egoism.

Among the others who would deceive us is the other in our own hearts saying I am not a part of it. There’s the real liar…

Here our guides and our practices call us to a place where there is no separation, no I, no other. 

An important point.

Because we find this and then the gates of heaven are thrown open.

Jesus laughs.

And the Buddha reaches out a hand.

At least, in my poor way, I am trying to suggest…