How To Make a Good (Buddhist) Deal

Or, how foolish beings can avoid resentment

Since last September I have been reading out a prayer for the Earth in the middle of my local town, followed by ten minutes of meditation. Today’s prayer was a Buddhist text - a wish that all beings may be happy.

This daily al fresco prayer (plus one on Zoom at 8am) has been a huge commitment. I still have three and a half months to go before my year is up. How is this eco-activism project working out for me? And should I even be asking myself that question? Wouldn’t a GOOD Buddhist just spend time doing activism every day without even thinking about it?

As I get older and approach my half-century, I am seeing more and more value in paying attention to the ‘deals’ I sign up for or am involved in. Another way of saying this is the various dances I am dancing - with other humans or groups of humans, with projects, with animals, with objects, with the Earth. What am I giving, and what am I getting back?

There can be lots of strong SHOULDS in spiritual circles. We SHOULD be endlessly patient with those around us, regardless of how tricky they are. We SHOULD keep working hard on self-development. We SHOULD be helping out in the community, doing spiritual practice, living lightly on the Earth… and all without any expectation of return.

I am not someone who needs nothing in return. When I have paid less attention to the ‘deals’ I’ve done in the past, and there hasn’t been a fruitful reciprocity of some kind, then I have become resentful. This resentment has often infected the situation, or the person I’m trying to help, or it’s turned inwards and poisoned me. Sometimes it builds quietly in the background for years before bursting out like a ripe spot.

I find that, when I pay attention to the deals I’m doing, I am more able to make clean, clear offerings to the Buddha, to dear Earth and to all living beings. This doesn’t mean that I need to receive money or praise or other tangible benefits (although these things are nice!!). It means that what I’m offering needs to feel meaningful, and practically doable without depleting me too much, and ‘fair’. This feeling of fairness can include deals where I know I’ll receive nothing, as long as I know that before I start and that it feels okay to me.

I thought very carefully before making my year-long Earth prayer commitment. I knew that people would look at me weirdly when they walked past, and that one woman reading a nature poem in a small town probably wouldn’t have a HUGE effect on governmental environmental policies. I knew that on very cold mornings, or when I had six million other things to do, I would have to drag myself into town to do the prayer. I knew all that, and my body still said a clear YES to the commitment. I have (mostly) loved an opportunity for two periods of silence every day, and I have loved how the project has brought me closer to the Earth. It’s been a good deal!

Another example is my living here at the temple. It has been a privilege and a joy to live and work here in this building for nearly a decade - despite all the challenges along the way. In recent months my introverted parts started to call more and more loudly for a separate living space, and this culminated in the ‘deal’ no longer working for me. After long discussions and much careful thought, Kaspa and I started the process of handing the day to day running of the temple over and looking for somewhere nearby to live. I trust that, although people may be disrupted, inconvenienced or wobbled to begin with, this move will allow me to make clean offerings to the Bright Earth sangha again, and that this will be to everyone’s benefit, not just mine.

Pure Land Buddhism says that we are bombu beings - foolish, limited creatures tossed about by our greed, hate and delusion. With this in mind, I would like to speak up for a Buddhism that includes this fact in its teachings. A Buddhism that encourages us to acknowledge our own limits and, rather than endlessly over-riding them, to take them into account. A Buddha that sees our fallibilities and smiles at us with infinite patience and love, as we stumble forwards as best we can.

This, for me, is the true path of compassion. May we all find a way of walking our own.

Namo Amida Bu,
Satya

If you’d like to find out more about Bright Earth’s offerings, including our book Just As You Are, our free 30 day nembutsu email course or our live practice offerings (including an online-only practice tonight at 7.30pm UK time, run by Frankie) pop over to our website: www.brightearth.org.

If you’d like to sign up for this newsletter, click here.