DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S NEXT?
Why did the monk enter the marketplace?
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No one knows why life was created on the planet. No one knows why we are given this opportunity to live this life.
Life is a constant influx of change, from event to event, from moment to moment.
Life is flux still we are so connected to it.
People often wonder why enlightened beings enter the marketplace.
As depicted in the Zen paintings of Ten Bull, the last painting tells a story about the monk returning to the town square.
He has gone through penance, retreat and segregation to find the peace within.
And yet he returns to the marketplace. A place where he is least expected to be.
A place where peace is least expected.
A monastery, or hut in the woods, would have perfectly matched the arc of the story. Then why the marketplace?
If you have meditated for years in the cave, test it in the marketplace.
Test
Ship sailing towards the death on the beautiful vast ocean.
She enjoys the journey, even though someday it will sink into the bottom of death.
The goal of spirituality is not to segregate you from the collectiveness.
It is to connect you with the collective consciousness.
It selects you to be one with everyone and everybody.
If you need to go to the caves to proclaim your enlightenment, you are not yet there.
If you are with yourself, aware even in the marketplace eating food with the people and enjoying drinks with them you are there.
Available. For you and everybody.
Sitting in the Himalayas you share the silence of the Himalayas, siting in the market place you share your own silence with the world.
Compassion
There must be an old lady somewhere in the world, on the street who has not received a smile for years.
There must be a lad somewhere who has never received a compliment for being helpful to his family.
There are people in the world who need to be reminded how beautiful they are.
Once you find your own beauty the passion becomes compassion, and you see the world as a beautiful marketplace.
You see the beauty in all and everybody.
Acknowledge and let the world know it is beautiful. Let your being be the service to the world.
You don’t have to go to an NGO or any formalise event to prove you are doing something for the society and community.
Be in the marketplace. Your smile can change someone\’s world.
Things that can be shared and yet they grow, are precious.
Confluence
Enlightenment is not only about finding peace.
It is realising the polarities of the same element.
Peace and chaos.
Water is still water when condensed as Ice and when evaporates in vapours.
Something beautiful erupts from the confluence of these seemingly different elements of the same thing.
Yes, it is entertaining. Very playful.
Once you understand that rage is the polarity of calmness, you enjoy the naivety of it.
Innocence.
The conflict that arises from the confluence of the opposites becomes food for your consciousness; once you have transcended these polarities.
Bliss.
You will laugh like a madman, you will dance like the tree dances to in the storm.
Wisdom
Discarding the beauty of everyday life is stubbornness.
It can be one way to reach, but it is not the only way. Especially if you are stubborn about stubbornness.
It is a naive and childish idea to live in a hut in the jungle somewhere. Don’t remember playing house as a kid.
Acceptance is the key.
A person who is not ready to accept his current situation resorts to walk away from the situation.
The fear of not understanding how to handle real life forces a person to exclude himself from life.
True wisdom is to be in life while being detached from it, not absent from it.
Present, yet detached. Like the lotus in the pond untouched by the water.
A man has an emergency, help him. Ask for nothing in return.
If someone needs a buddy to share a drink with, go with him.
Nothing of this is happening to you anyway. Nothing of it is happening to anybody anyway.
It is happening, and it will pass. That is the only truth.
Impermanence.
Connection
We were sent on the earth to live our lives.
You can go to the forest anytime you want, and you should when you have time, or when it is the time.
But being adamant about making it a priority is foolishness.
We are connected. You cannot escape the consciousness and collective consciousness.
You may escape physically, but mentally you will be calculating the remanence of your life in the marketplace.
The ship that sails the vast ocean has to find a shore someday. She will sail back no doubt, but she has to return to the marketplace.
To give and take supply.
Reciprocate.
People are wonderful
I have met people from all walks of life.
A young man living in the slums within an area of five by a foot tin house.
And the Prince of my city living in the palace surrounded by every possible beautiful thing in the world.
They both are equally beautiful in their own way.
They wake up every day and choose to live their life.
They wash their faces to face the challenges in their own beautiful unique way.
They both hold the potential to realise peace and liberate the mind from the bondages of the polarities.
They both are occasions for me to connect with life.
They both “are”.
Be with people. Explore their beauty.
Observe their acts like a child and you will see the innocence in their actions.
Only to realise that people are wonderful.
Life is in flux, still, we are so connected to it.