Reflection: importance is not measured by time.

  • 2017

Buddhism is often accused of being a religion so absorbed in the impersonal and in the eternal that it neglects the importance of individual and temporal things. According to their teachings, everything that is shaped is subject to change and lacks an enduring self, but this does not imply that it is not important.

Importance is not measured by time, and change is a symptom of presence

of life. As a Japanese poem says:

Day donation blooms for one hour; However, deep down, I don't know

unlike the gigantic pine, which lives a thousand years.

Given the immensity of time and space, the human being seems absolutely insignificant. Compared to the enormously complicated problems of the modern world, the individual's desires and minor fears seem unimportant. But since Buddhism is the Middle Way, it must necessarily consider this extreme attitude as false philosophies. It is true that someone too concerned about their own affairs should consider the vastness of the universe and the destiny of the human race. But let us not consider it for too long, and unless you forget that it is also your responsibility, not only of human prosperity, but also of the order of the universe.

Although modern astronomy shows us our insignificance under the stars, it also tells us that only by raising a finger do we affect them. It is true that our existence is temporary, that we do not have an enduring self, but the fabric of life is such that a broken thread can cause immeasurable ruin. The magnitude of the world to which our destiny is linked increases our importance. It seems that nature has little regard for individuals, and perhaps causes the death of millions of them as if nothing matters. But value is measured by quality, not quantity. A chickpea can be as round as the world, and as far as roundness is concerned, one is no better than the other. And the human being is itself a small universe, the configuration of his mind and body is as complex as the configuration of the stars. Can we say, then, that governing the universe of a human being is less important because it is of a different size?

AUTHOR: Eva Villa, editor in the big family hermandadblanca.org

SOURCE: “ Become what you are ” by Allan Watt

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