Truly striving and failing are not the issue; I think Starr and JJ are right about that. And, to spin it just a bit: that includes our failures to truly strive. Round and round...
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In Mahayana Buddhism there are the four Bodhisattva Vows. There are various translations; but for the moment I like the ones below—
I. Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to awaken with them all.
II. Delusions/sufferings are endless; I vow to heal them all.
III. Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to open them all.
IV. The Buddha Way is inexhaustible; I vow to embody it all.
Well, fulfilling these vows is not just difficult; it’s impossible for one being. The best understanding of “vowing” is simply “to dedicate oneself.”
It’s like a basketball player in a game: she doesn’t dedicate herself to making 50% of the shots she takes; she dedicates herself to making all of them. And when she misses, she shrugs it off and goes on without relinquishing her original “vow”. She doesn’t say: “Oh no, I broke my vow!” and walk off the court.
St. Benedict had a saying that I think is on point here: “Always we begin again.”
The Bodhisattva is symbolically (an ideal/archetype) one who declines to enter Nirvana, choosing instead to return again and again to the world of samsara to “save” all beings. Under the translation of the first vow that I use here, “salvation” is a kind of “all for one, and one for all” affair. I say “symbolically” because, from my Zen point of view, such questions as transmigration of souls are immaterial.
There are all sorts of ways of fulfilling these vows (and “fulfilling” here is not an event, a conclusion—it is just continuing on the path): a college student, by being a dedicated student; a parent, by being a caring parent; a social worker via social work; a conservationist by caring for the environment—etc., etc., etc. One person serves in a soup kitchen; one person teaches; one person plants a tree...
Dedication is not perfectionism. Perfectionism is a disease that, as often as not, leads to despair and a giving up of doing anything at all. Or, worse, leads one to declaim to everyone else how their way is deficient. “Don’t go into business; go to the street” (or vice versa). “Don’t spend your money on college tuition; feed the poor” (or vice versa). “Don’t build a house; live in a hut” (or vice versa). [I once heard of an investment banker (in a for-profit banking firm), who used his office as a “dharma gate”; who knows how much dharma-good he might have accomplished? Perhaps a great deal more than I have.]
Don’t ask “what is ‘good enough’?”. Just keep going. Keep shooting baskets. As Shunryu Suzuki roshi said, just “shine one corner of the world.”
Over and over again,
turning the dharma wheel...
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What I think TOO is getting at is what he sees as an over-emphasis on personal/individual salvationism, an emphasis on me gaining eternal life / having a personal relationship with God in this life. That does not seem to be Jesus’ overriding concern in his teachings. I think TOO’s point has to do with whether or not faith means anything without accepting the command to, “Follow me.” Again, perfection is not the question (one can use one’s imperfection as an excuse not to do anything).
This also goes to ye olde “faith versus works” arguments. Both can be tainted with the overriding desire for personal salvational gain. Although the faithful may be called upon to do good work, the first refrain heard is often: “Your good works won’t save you.” Different Christians have different views on this as well.
But if personally “getting saved” and gaining individual eternal life is Jesus’ overriding concern, so be it. I’ll let the Christians argue that out amongst themselves.
26 Sep '07 15:29
Why do so few Christians love Jesus?
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