Gaté Gaté Paragaté Parasamgaté Bodhi Svaha!
---- Heart Sutra
Human beings are first the animals
From the previous chapter, we
learn that we are always “on the job” because we do many things that have the
same attributes of a job, i.e., the activity, the action, and the reward.
However, when we talk about “this” job, which is the employment job, we often
forget these three attributes. It is like we human beings are animals in the
first place, while we very often forget that.
When you walk around a park, do
you notice the ants on the ground? They are crawling around everywhere; their
legs never seem to get tired. Sometimes, they will stop to examine something
with their antennae.
When they find a dead bug, they
will try to move it to their home. If the body is too big or too heavy, there
is some method for them to inform more ants of this food and they can work
together to carry their food home.
These ants are worker ants. If
the food is big enough, you will see a road of ants that connects the food and
their nest. Some ants are bigger – these are soldier ants, which crawl around
to protect the worker ants.
Here, we see a mini-society, a
world with order and harmony. Ants work together on their tasks, cooperating to
survive.
It is not different from human
society.
We are in a world of cooperation
In the 19th century, American
naturalist Henry David Thoreau in his book, Walden or Life in the Woods,
described a natural world based around the lake he lived next to. He had built
a small house for himself in the middle of the woods, as part of an experiment
to see what it was like to live alone with minimum interaction with human
society. The book inspired many generations to live as simply as possible; but
Thoreau himself still greatly appreciated the moments of human interaction when
he invited others for parties in his cabin.
With the development of modern
science and technology, people are more and more dependent on each other.
Everyone is connected in some way or other, existing as nodes in a massive,
invisible web. You may not realize you
are part of this web until something happens
During the COVID-19 pandemic, to
cut off the spread of the coronavirus, states called for their citizens to take
their body temperature, wear masks, and keep a social distance from others,
etc. When a country or a city went into lockdown, nobody could be seen on the
once crowded streets, and the once busy roads became empty without a single car
in sight.
When such restriction measures
were enforced, people felt very inconvenienced; at the slightest easing of
restrictions, many started gathering in the streets and shopping centers,
causing infection rates to skyrocket and hence forcing the government to reinforce
the restrictions.
This is a good example that
people need to cooperate for a better living.
The impact of a single node in the web cannot be underestimated, we
should all do our parts to overcome our challenges.
Laziness – an obstacle
If you have ever climbed up to
the top of a mountain, or if you have sat on a window seat in an airplane, you
would have had the chance to observe the earth from a bird’s eye view. You will
notice the river bends here and there. Why is the river winding? Because the water
simply flows along the path with the least resistance.
This is within our human nature
as well – this laziness. It is as natural as water flows. In the morning, we
get out of bed at the last minute; after breakfast, we would only wash the
dishes when we need to start preparing for lunch; an excuse can be easily found
to give up today’s fitness routine…such scenarios are common for most of us.
What will be the result? Well, in
rich countries, the “diseases of affluence” are happening to more people and
younger people, simply because the energy you have absorbed from the food is
far more than what you have consumed. In nature, all animals have to struggle
to survive. Human beings as a species can survive through hunting or being
hunted, through taking risks of life and death, the human body is the result of
millions of years of evolution, or maybe a product of God for people who
disbelieve Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
Advanced science and technology
in recent one hundred years have saved us from natural hazards, various once
deadly diseases, large-scale wars, and have supplied us with more and more food
sources. However, our body is still like the body from thousands of years ago,
it is not able to process excessive food. The abundance of food supply transforms
into energy and accumulates in our body, so our body is now facing various
diseases that did not exist thousands of years ago.
People tend to be lazy. The cause
of such diseases is a result of a life of excessive comfort. The answer to
solve it is then simple: keep yourself in a state of busyness.
Take action, and an employment
job will keep you busy and disease-free.
Make life meaningful
You may have some idle time with
nothing to do and you have to find something to kill time. Time will never stop
for you, whether you are doing something or doing nothing.
If you often have to find
something to do to kill time, you need an employment job. This job gives you a
problem to solve making your life meaningful during the process. You have a
target – a destination for a boat – so you won’t get lost in the vast sea.
I used to work with subway
systems, where many site works had to be done at midnight after the subway
stopped service. When I was on my way back to the hotel in the morning, I saw
people on their way to the office. At that time, I felt a sense of satisfaction:
it was a small contribution from me to this city, to these people, that they
were able to take reliable public transportation to get to their destinations
on time, even though they may not know a tired person was only just going home
to rest.
Thinking of this, the tiredness
seemed somehow reduced.
Live with dignity
In modern countries, the
government would have some policies targeting the weaker groups of people to
help them enjoy at least a basic standard of living. If you meet the
eligibility criteria, you could apply for such support from the government or
charity. In the world, some people do need this kind of support.
By turning to these policies, you
are asking people to support you. While you are not breaking the law, you may
feel a sense of guilt. There are no physical problems preventing you from
taking up a job, yet you have to burden others to care for you.
You have the strengths, the
capabilities, and the opportunities.
You are in the web of the world.
You are connecting to others, and others are connecting with you. You need to
create value in this web, and then you can live with dignity. By getting an
employment job you could be able to live on your own. With this job, you can
pay taxes to the government and contribute to society to help others.
With that said, when should you
take up this job?
