A Simple and Pristine Lifestyle, Part I

The Dharma Garden is a bi-monthly Buddhist periodical in Chinese published by Texas Buddhist Association, Inc. that we receive regularly. Each issue contains a featured theme that is explored by several authors from the Buddhist perspective, but shaped by individual experiences. The chosen theme in the May 2007 issue (No. 153) is A Simple Life Is A Beautiful One (my own translation of the theme).

Out of five articles under the featured theme, I have elected to make an English translation of the article written by Venerable Hung I, a resident monk at Jade Buddha Temple of Houston, Texas.

I wish to emphasize here that this is entirely my own interpretation of Venerable’s published work with the sole purpose of sharing his experiences of practicing Buddhism with like-minded people, and therefore, any perceived error in doing so is entirely my own. It goes without saying that I will value such feedback so that I would not repeat the same in the future. Also, because of the length of the article and also because I hesitate to summarize for fear of losing the continuity of the flow of thought, the translation will appear in installments. Here then is the first installment. But first, the scanned page of the featured theme in Chinese and the English translation.

A Simple Life is a Beautiful One

We yearn for things to eat and wear when we are destitute in condition;

But what would these yearnings become after those needs have been met beyond satisfaction?

It’s not a crime to be wealthy and all;

The only yardstick is how much we are attached to it all.

A Simple and Pristine Lifestyle
by Venerable Hung I

We are brought into this world not knowing how long we will live. But as long as we breathe, we continue to labor in order to live. Regardless of whether one is rich and mighty, or poor and decrepit, each of us has ambitions and targets, hoping to live happily, meaningfully, during our brief sojourn on this earth. Some even go further as to seek ascension into the blissful realm after departure, or in Buddhist parlance, liberation from life’s sufferings.

Upon closer examination and apart from the above commonality in broad terms, we find that our hopes differ greatly, presumably as a consequence of the disparities in our karmic stores, the divergence in our individual thoughts, and the mismatch in our blessings. We follow different life styles, with different emphases conditioned by varying value systems to the extent that conflicts are spawned from the inevitable clashes of personal convictions. This is especially apparent in the domain of ideologies and beliefs.

But regardless of the way of life that we choose to embrace, the goal is basically the same: to live happily, peacefully, nobly, and with dignity. Nobody wishes for poverty, for worry, for solitude, for helplessness, and for a bleak future, not knowing where the future lies. Therefore, if somebody says he [this is deemed to include the female gender as well from hereon] has the whole world in view and plans to befriend all the heroes from every nook and corner, and aspires to engage in some earth-shattering ventures, we need to understand that he is driven by his own worldview, and that those are his raison d’etre.

On the other hand, there are those who find a socially active life stressful, consumed as it were like a proverbial dog chasing after its own tail. They view climbing the social ladder as unnecessary, and competition in a rat race as unworthy, and prefer the serenity of solitude. It’s really a matter of to each his own, each individual just has to find his own niche within the social milieu.

After years of going through life’s tribulations that are rife with every complexity imaginable, I have gradually gravitated, in dealing with all matters, from the initially comprehensive management focus to the present attitude of facing up to the demands of reality: less meddling, and cautious management.

Less meddling is a response born out of the perception that many things are useless to trifle with, a sunken investment in efforts to do so. Cautious management then recognizes that many efforts in resolving inter-personal issues is an exercise in futility at best, more so if we are driven by our own biases and preferences. Oftentimes it is the lack of enabling factors, the dearth of conducive conditions that prove wanting. Therefore instead of daily direct engagement for quick fixes, it seems prudent to motivate for incremental changes, and to cultivate the right condition over the long-term.

From the twin pronged approach of less meddling and cautions management, I find that persevering in uplifting our moral fibre and promoting an even-keeled temperament can do wonder too. Otherwise, merely saving on efforts without facing up to the real tasks at hand would be deficient in fostering our compassion and boosting our wisdom. In this connection, how to choose between saving and investing, or to optimize the combination thereof, remains one of life’s major targets.

I term these targets as a simple and pristine lifestyle, and from this notion I will venture some personal views for all to share. In my thinking, simple connotes the antithesis of complexity while pristine conjures up a state of purity, shorn of all evils. What then, is exactly a simple and pristine lifestyle?

In the next installment, I will translate each of the three spheres of human activity that the author has in mind for application, they being simple and pristine living habits, simple and pristine inter-personal ethos, and simple and pristine Buddhist practice, one at a time.