..續本文上一頁-reflection.

　　Even animals have that kind of brain and that kind of mind, but a human being”s brain is different. Of course, it has awareness, and the instinctual feelings to meet its own needs, but it also possesses critical intelligence.

　　This critical intelligence can self-reflect, and can discern what is seemingly favourable, but ultimately unfavourable. When something seems like hard work, this critical intelligence can assess what the benefits are going to be if you go about it in a disciplined way.

　　This is how human beings should be able to apply their minds, with more wisdom and more skilful means. They ought, therefore, to be able to involve themselves in improving their standard of life, standard of thinking, and standard of higher, deeper aspirations for spiritual realization.

　　So we have to be able to put this capacity to use. Take an example. Losing our eyesight would be an enormous loss. But if we fail to appreciate our eyes when we have them, it is almost as if there is no great advantage in being able to see. We take it for granted. In the same way, we take all of our senses, and particularly the human mind, for granted.

　　This human body, these human senses and this human mind do not come into our possession so easily. They are the result of a lot of good merit in our past lives. So while we do have them, we must truly and genuinely appreciate them. In particular, we must be able to appreciate the human mind.

　　Then we must be able really to practise ”very little needs and much contentment”, again in a disciplined way, not imagining that this is something that will come to us just naturally.

　　The ”very little needs” mind never came to anyone spontaneously. It has to come through practice. ”Much contentment” too does not simply arise, just like that, in someone”s mind. It has to be practised.

　　But if you have little needs and much contentment, then, as Nagarjuna has pointed out, even though you lack wealth, still you are inwardly rich. You may not have many worldly goods, but when you possess this ”very little needs and much contentment”, you are rich inside.

　　So if you can genuinely practise the Buddha”s teaching on ”very little needs and much contentment” in whatever way is appropriate for you, it will be a great practice for your evolution on the spiritual path, as well as for addressing the problems of the modern world - the problems of capitalist, consumerist culture, and the waste that is damaging the earth and the environment.

　　The Power of Prayer

　　Then, as people who are following the spiritual path, we have to pray. And we have to pray realistically for the benefit of all mother sentient beings. But in this day and age, I feel it is also very important to pray for world peace.

　　This may sound like a cliché, but it is something that is really needed. What is more, we need to pray that peace comes about in the world through the discovery of a new, renewable source of energy from within the dharmadhatu, the universal nature of things.

　　The dharmadhatu is not fixed in any particular way, so it must be the source of all possibilities. Since this is the case, if we pray that some new, renewable form of energy emerges in the near future, I think that one will be discovered, especially as scientists are already saying that they are on the brink of a breakthrough.

　　We can pray for a renewable and sustainable kind of energy that is as abundant as the energy of the sun, and able to be fully harvested. We can pray that the technology is not robbed and pirated by corporations, and exploited for profit only, but is affordable and available to everyone.

　　The point is not to blame anyone, we are simply talking about what needs to happen in the world. If that kind of resource was available to everyone, there would be no …

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