Hi Everybody, I've had more writing commissions over the past 6 months than I had all of last year. Not quite sure whether to be pleased about that or not. I like to chill out in the summer, and then work harder in the winter. however mustn't look several gift horses in the mouth as they say. But it means bigger gaps than I would like in the blogging stakes. Apologies to any waiting readers. Good news is that I've just had another order for The Reluctant Buddhist from SGI-USA. and that's always pleasing, to know that it is still in demand. And extraordinarily Amazon are promoting the Spanish version in Spain. so life is being very sweet to me. anyway, we're at the beginnin gof Appendix A, dealing with tthe 10 worlds. and we pick up with a key question, why 10?
' Although it might seem when you first encounter the concept, to be somewaht implausible to say the least, to reduce the vast range of our constantly shifting responses to just 10 states. But hold your judgement till you have explored the idea a little further. It's worth bearing in mind that this is a structure that has undoubtedly stood the test of time. Moreover it does pass the all-important test of practicality.
If there were 50 or 100 life states for example, it would become wholly unwieldy and impractical as a way of thinking about our ordinary daily lives. That is a crucial point. The Ten worlds as a fundamental principle of Buddhism is not intended as a reference book to sit on the bookshelves, or alongside the psychiatrist's couch. It is of value only to the extent that it is useful to ordinary people going about their daily lives. It provides us in a sense with a road map, an A-Z of our inner life state. This is where you are, where do you want to be? With this structure we are offered thoughtful and detailed, and above all an objective guide to help us interpret where we are in our subjective or emotional life, so that we can see it more clearly and do something about it.
If we accept, as Buddhism teaches, that both suffering and happiness come not from external factors in our lives, but from deep within, then knowing more clearly where we are, as opposed to where we would like to be, is a crucial piece of information that we need. Indeed we might ask, where else are we going to get that information?
And this is certainly not superficial stuff. The life states are in from moment to moment affect everything in our life; how we feel, how we think, how we act, even how we look, not to mention how our environment responds to us. With a moment's reflection we can all recognise the truth in that. When we are in the state of anger for example, it is instantly signalled by the flushed face, the stifening of the facial muscles, and the raised pitch of the voice. That's an angry man we say! And that set of indocators is likely to trigger an immediate tension in our environment. Everybody responds with their own heightened tension, and increased attention to what's going on. Is he going to hit him we might think! Then if somebody happens to prick the tension with a joke or a laugh, in an instant it's all gone. The muscles in the face relax, the voice is lowered again, the eyes lose their glitter, the general tension in the room dissipates. It's all there in those few contrasting moments, how we feel, how we think, and look and act. and how our environment responds. '
That's it. Enough for today. I'll be back with another episode later this wek, promise! It takes up the issue of the 10 worlds not being a ladder!!
See you then I hope.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon all over, and on Kindle as a download.
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