Doing good

The sentence that really stuck out to me this week during my studies was this: "The goal of Buddhism is not the attainment of a ficticous paradise but the conversion of the actual world into an ideal realm". This really resonated with me and is what I'd like to talk about this week.

We have the power to make this life and this world a great one, but do we? How often do we want someone else to do it for us or just hope it'll get better? The 4th part of the 8-fold path is action. If we want the world to be a better place, we have to roll up our sleeves and be the ones to act. We have to be the change we want to see in the world. We have to help those in need and strive to not cause harm, and sometimes that means doing nothing causes harm. To invoke the chorus from a song from my Mormon heritage:

"Put your shoulder to the wheel; push along,

Do your duty with a heart full of song,

We all have work; let no one shirk.

Put your shoulder to the wheel."

My reading this week also told of monks and emperors who did good with the expectation of a positive reputation and personal gain for their good deeds. In many traditions, this would be highly frowned upon. I believe there is nothing wrong with doing good for personal gain. However, doing good for good's sake is incomparably better and more fulfilling. Giving with the expectation of personal reward will show that you the joy, psychological harmony, and gratitude that others experience from receiving. This alone will encourage you to give without the expectation of reward. Inevitably this will become the only reason you have to give. There will be no need for instruction, threat, or reward for doing good because doing good solely to do good is the reward. This is what we should all strive for.

To make this world a truly happy one, we have to help each other. The more genuine the help is, the happier the world is.