It ain't my job!

Some years ago, my teacher painted calligraphy for me that said, “A single drop of rain waters 10,000 pines.” While not literally true, it was a metaphor that spoke to this idea that all it takes is one ray of light to cut through the darkness and open up the possibility that other lights will follow. This morning I came across a similar expression: “Everything was impossible until someone did it.” I like that idea, but unfortunately, too often, many essential matters remain impossible because we are waiting for someone else to do what is needed.

Maybe it is just human nature to have this attitude that it ain’t my job and assume that what needs doing is undoubtedly being done by somebody else. But is that assumption correct? It’s been my experience during a reasonably long life that the premise is wrong. The evidence of the fallacy is everywhere around us. I see it with the growing volume of mail asking for donations to help those in need. The lines of people standing in soup kitchens keep growing while wealthy politicians suck the financial life of our nation off for themselves and make decisions to cut off support for the needy. I’ve seen it since childhood when I noticed people going to church and listening intently (or so it seemed) to sermons but then going on with their ordinary lives of selfishness. The earth’s atmosphere keeps getting hotter and hotter, and many people stay in states of denial for the same reason—surely somebody else will solve this problem. Still, the prevailing attitude of, I’m too busy with more important matters remains a dominant force.

I remember a story from childhood about the little red hen who kept asking for help baking her bread, and nobody offered assistance, yet when it came time to eat, everyone wanted a portion. Then, of course, there is the Aesop Fable of the grasshopper and the ants. The grasshopper played away the time of harvest while the ants stored food away for the hard times of winter. Then there is the story of a dog in the manger who wouldn’t eat what was offered but sure as heck didn’t want to share what he saw as “his.” Supposedly Aesop lived roughly 2,600 years ago in ancient Greece. The dog in the manger story appeared in both the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Matthew, so it would appear that human nature hasn’t changed much in a long time.

In the East, it is called karma. Colloquially we have the expression, “What goes around, comes around.” The principle addresses what follows actions (either for the good or bad) and is universal, regardless of time or place. We know the guide yet mostly ignore the wisdom. The question is, why? More than likely, the answer comes from a conflict between continuously changing conditions and priorities stuck in time. When sea changes occur, we all have the choice either clinging to preferences that fall in the grand scheme or adapting.

I’ve written about this latter matter and observed, “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” You can read about it in my post of Small Steps. Nobody can drink the whole ocean at once, but one sip followed by another, with patience and perseverance, enables us to move mountains.

The point of my post this morning is that our assumptions are, more times than not, merely delusional. What needs to be done to make our world a habitable and desirable place to live for our selves and our loved ones into the future depends on what we do today because collectively, we are creating our tomorrows’ moment by moment. Each day we have the opportunity to create a better world or a worse one. We make either heaven or hell with a single drop of rain, or not. Every positive action, however small it may be, makes a difference. Contrary to the title of this post, it is my job, because there is nobody but me’s of this world to do it.

The Sixth Step

“Right Effort” entails a thorough process that ranges from “right thoughts” through “right actions,” resulting in both fence-mending for past offenses and working to create desirable karma. Five steps are recognized which define this process. They are: (1) Generating a desire (passion), (2) making a commitment (resolve), (3) activating persistence (forbearance), (4) not becoming side-tracked (focused), and (5) carrying through with the original intention (sees the matter through to completion). These five steps are then applied to four areas of conduct, assisted by four areas of awareness.

• Abandonment of existing evil
• Correcting existing unskilled qualities
• Creating future good
• Creating future skilled qualities

The four parts of awareness are:

1. A Buddha is eternally enlightened. He thus can’t attain what he has already.
2. All beings are Buddhas thus share in enlightenment.
3. A Buddha’s nature is non-differentiated—Nothing to grasp—Neither a subject nor an object. 
4. This nature is our unconditional nature. Since we, too, are Buddhas, we are likewise non-differentiated.

Right effort needs to be seen in the context of enlightenment and dharma. Hui-neng said, “When we are deluded, our teacher liberates us. When we are enlightened, we liberate ourselves.” 

Dharma is a teaching of transcendent truth. The Eightfold Path is dharma—we use the help of a teacher to gain enlightenment. While in an unenlightened state, we need to be taught and have guidelines to follow. This is a teaching to follow, and the Path is intended to lead to enlightenment.

However, Hui-neng correctly points out that once we achieve enlightenment, we must put the dharma away. Why? Because to retain a teaching designed to take us somewhere would bind us (attach us) once we arrive. The question thus becomes, “What is the nature of enlightenment, and what guide-line would we follow once we arrive?”

The Diamond Sutra is instructive in answering this question. In chapter twenty-three, The Buddha said that unexcelled, perfect enlightenment can’t be realized since it possesses no features, qualities, nor aspects since it (enlightenment) is undifferentiated. Furthermore, he says there is nothing whatsoever to attain. This puzzling expression is explained with the above four points of awareness.

In an unenlightened state, these qualities are not seen; we must follow a set of guidelines that will help us remove delusions that obstruct our vision. Bad karma creates such obstructions and muddies the clarity of vision, whereas good karma clears the clouds.

Once we are enlightened, the guiding force is the recognition that there is no difference between our self, others, and The Buddha. These are one thing, not many. The principal to abide by is the one provided by Jesus: “Do unto others as we would have them do to us.” Such effort is right because it is selfless.