“Compassion is the ultimate attitude of wealth: an anti-poverty attitude, a war on want. It contains all sorts of heroic, juicy, positive, visionary, expansive qualities. And it implies larger scale thinking, a freer and more expansive way of relating to oneself and the world.
This is precisely why the second part of the Buddhist path, or yana, is called the ‘Mahayana,’ the ‘Great Vehicle.’ It is the attitude that one has been born fundamentally rich rather than that one must become rich.
Without this kind of confidence, meditation cannot be transferred into action at all.
– Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje
What a lovely sentiment…we are all born rich. It makes me think about the stark contrast between my role models and those who are considered rich. Jesus – rich. Buddha – rich. Gandhi – rich. Mother Teresa – rich. St. Francis – rich. None of these people actually owned anything of monetary value. In fact, many of them gave up their worldly posessions to repossess their innate riches.
Now pick up a People magazine at the checkout at the grocery store. Not a single rich person. All totally impoverished. I don’t see compassion on their faces, I see sadness and emptiness.
I have nothing against wealth; it’s a powerful tool. Controlling resources means you can dispose of them in charitable ways. May we all so do with the incredible riches we all enjoy.
With compassion,
Canoelover
