The Lotus Still Blooms (8 page)

 

1. Dealing in arms. Owning a gun shop would be a no-no, as would be trading guns or weapons of any kind. About two months after the horrific Columbine incident, I agreed to fly to Denver to officiate at a wedding of some new friends. When I decided to leave the reception, I caught a ride back to my hotel from a wedding guest who was accompanied by her thirteen-year-old daughter. I had not met them until that evening. While chatting in the car, the daughter began to talk about a school outing the day before. It seemed that the children had created a reenactment of a historic battle, complete with muskets. Instead of ammunition they fired flour at one another. If a child was “hit,” he or she was declared dead and lay on the ground. I was in the backseat listening to this story, and I was horrified. Was this educational? Was this instructional? Was this beneficial? And it was, of all places, in Denver shortly after Columbine! Sadly the mother and daughter did not make the connection. When we are slumbering, we do not make the most obvious of connections. Children in Denver or anywhere should not, at a school outing, be playing at shooting and killing one another. Some very troubled children grow up and transfer their games of childhood into violent activities of adulthood. I pray this book and these pure teachings assist people in making the connection—making the connection between how we live our lives and what we think and how we act and what we say and what occurs in the outer manifestations of our lives. It is all connected, and we need to see it and live accordingly. What will it take for us to collectively awaken?

2. Dealing in the slave trade. In our modern era the “slave trade” would be defined as anything that would cause another to be a slave—i.e., underpaying employees, investing in sweatshop businesses, taking advantage of young people, taking advantage of anyone. It would also be not recognizing that the minimum wage cannot adequately support one. It means dealing fairly with employees when you are their supervisor.

3. Dealing in the meat trade. This has always seemed gross to me as a non-meat-eater for most of my life, but I now know many spiritual types who eat meat, including Tibetan Buddhist monks. In their case the meat must be killed by someone other than themselves. (A Buddhist monk friend was explaining this to David, my husband, who replied that he could eat only living entities he could visualize killing himself. He could visualize catching and killing fish or clams, but not wringing a chicken’s neck as he had seen his mother do when he was a child. Our monk friend thoughtfully considered what David said, and did not eat meat the rest of the time we were together.) I believe that on a soul level there is value to the kosher Jewish practice of how animals are slaughtered and which parts can be eaten.

4. The sale of alcohol, drugs or poisons. For generations my family members have owned and operated bars. I have been able to observe firsthand that in many circumstances this definitely could be viewed not as Right Livelihood. A close friend, Bob, whose family also owned bars, once observed, “It’s not a clean business.” And it’s not. Awake people seldom hang out at saloons or taverns or make their livelihood from dealing in what for many is an addiction. Even though it is a legal job, one has to ask if it is the highest profession for one’s soul.

5. Telling fortunes or making prophecies. My take on this is that dealing in the psychic realms, except for oneself, is not helpful or desirable. (This prohibition is rather curious, however, considering that in Tibetan Buddhism there are those who are skilled at discerning signs and telling what the future will bring. And these individuals are highly regarded.) A contemporary interpretation would be to not make your living from another’s neediness or vulnerability. The psychic realms surely exist, and the Buddhists address them and their aspects in various ways. So there is a place, but one who is gifted must be most mindful of how these gifts are used.