A Sign of Decline

In the time of the Buddha, serious Buddhist practitioners, those who went forth from home life into homelessness, embraced a life of poverty. The monks, for instance, would not store food or keep anything that was not essential.

Not giving importance to wealth and comfort etc., is the Buddhist way. One doesn’t live like this because one is a loser. On the contrary, such a person is courageous. They know they will likely encounter hardships, but they are willing to embrace them with greater aims and ambitions in mind than mere comfort or pleasure.

It wasn’t only the monks who embraced such a life. We see the same thing in the lives of Milarepa and his students. Repa Shiwa Ö, for instance, pledged to Milarepa that he would spend the rest of his life in practice and would not keep more than two days’ worth of provisions at any one time. He didn’t take this commitment safe in the knowledge that there was a supermarket just down the road he could visit whenever he fancied.

Nowadays, very few appreciate or even understand this way of practising. Even most of those who are seen to be senior in the Dharma prioritise money, etc., and do not adopt this precious way. That is a sign of Buddhism’s decline.