Writings devoted to exploring the joys and difficulties of practice, of sangha, and to that most important endeavor of all: learning to care as deeply as possible.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Acquisitive energy is alive in each precept

During my morning reflections on the precepts, I read part of Reb's chapter on not-lying.  He mentions that, for many people, the precepts regarding intoxication, sexuality, and lying are connected.  Intoxication makes lying and bending the truth much easier – some of us may even become intoxicated to enable ourselves to be more willing to bend the truth.  If intoxication is a problem for us, its something we would be very tempted to lie about, including to ourselves; and of course, intoxication can lead to a lack of mindfulness regarding sexuality.  Sexual desire can facilitate lying for many reasons; one is because the desire to impress can lead many of us to bend the truth about ourselves.  

I found myself thinking of how the desire to impress, which can all too easily involve a lack of honesty, is often the desire to acquire, and realized that these precepts were also intimately connected with not-stealing. 

The precept of not-stealing has not meant much to me before, because I was thinking of it simply in terms of stealing physical objects.  However, considering not-stealing as the acquisitive mind and body, the mind and body that wants more than it already has, the mind and body that wants to own or control something, the mind and body that is not fulfilled by what it has in the present, has made this precept fruitful.  Considering not-stealing in this light has allowed me to consider how this precept facilitates perfecting other precepts: reading about not-lying, I was also reading about not-stealing.  

The being that lies - the being that refrains from total forthrightness, the being that speaks in half-truths or promotes obscurity rather than clarity - is often a being that feels the urge to acquire something; the being that is not mindful about sexuality is often a being who feels the impulse to acquire the attention of another being in a variety of ways and may even want to own or determine the way the energy of another being manifests.    

One of the great gifts we can give the world - one of the manifestations of danaparamita or the perfection of generosity - is a highly developed non-acquisitive nature.  When we develop this nature, others can feel free around us and truly cared for by us: we are not trying to get anything from anybody but are caring for all beings, including ourselves, exactly as we are.

When reflecting on many of the precepts – even those involving maintaining rituals and taking refuge – I realize it is fruitful to ask myself: do I have any acquisitive energy around this precept?  In some form, I do have acquisitive energy around every single precept, and part of the work of gradually perfecting the precepts will be working with the many manifestations of acquisitive energy. 

2 comments: