Continuing on with the Five Thoughts, the third goes thus: We must protect ourselves from error by excluding greed from our minds.
While it is obvious that one eats primarily for need not indulgence in greed and to be woofing down ones grub mindlessly is a mistake, however there is a primary mistake. The word exclude is the pointer here. To exclude greed, to exclude anything is to set something apart and separate. In the relative sense exercising greed keeps up the illusion of separation and at the same time ultimately it's not possible to prise apart the Universe
During the retreat a few weeks ago I suggested to one of the guests that he might have a question to ask during one of our public question and answer 'teas'. Sure enough he did and it gave me an opportunity to make a point which relates very much to the matter of excluding.
What Question?
An honoured monk suggests I
Might have an interesting
Question or two
But really what else
Is there to ask
Besides how to solve
The Great Matter
And this bothersome “I”?
What Reply?
In this unfractured universe
where can this
“bothersome”*
be found?
Why expend so much
energy looking for fractures
in this unfractured
unfracturable
whole?
Many thanks to Puerhan, come and visit us again. Not sure about the 'honoured monk' though. Uh! There I go trying to fracture the universe again...
BTW The Great Matter refers to the question of life and death.
