[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: We Live at the Expense of Others

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

November 1, 2008

WE LIVE AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS

We may try to be a spiritually inclined person who does not care 
about money. We want to be free of worldly concerns. However, trying 
to lead life completely free from money or materialism lacks clarity 
and real feeling. Particularly in this highly organized society, we 
live at the expense of others, unless we ourselves contribute 
something. Whether we are living in a remote place, such as the north 
of Scotland, or wherever we are, we still need food, and this food is 
produced by somebody. This food is the product of someone's work. 
Someone has been working, going to a great deal of trouble to produce 
our food. Some people may spend their lives purely churning milk in 
order to produce butter. Some people spend their whole lives just 
screwing bolts into things. Most of their lives are just spent doing 
that. People are trained in the beginning to do regular, ordinary 
work, and they do it.
         When the time comes to retire, they feel something is 
missing, something has been lost. Those people suffer, but they don't 
think in terms of suffering or pain, because they have so bravely 
accepted their lives and ignored all the other aspects of life. They 
close one eye and just do it, just one thing. The world is made out 
of this, the present world anyway. Perhaps it has always been this 
way. This is not just a question of money alone, but appreciating the 
practicality of life and having compassion. There is a limit to how 
much freedom we take.

In OCEAN OF DHARMA: THE EVERYDAY WISDOM OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, #242. 
Originally from "Money," an unpublished talk given in Scotland circa 1968.

Of interest to readers:

Emacs!
Waylon Lewis reviews OCEAN OF DHARMA in the new online version of 
ELEPHANT magazine, at

<http://www.elephantjournal.com/2008/10/book-review-ocean-of-dharma-the-everyday-wisdom-of-chogyam-trungpa-edited-by-carolyn-gimian/>http://www.elephantjournal.com/2008/10/book-review-ocean-of-dharma-the-everyday-wisdom-of-chogyam-trungpa-edited-by-carolyn-gimian/

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used 
by permission.

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 6,317 subscribers.

Please send comments on and contributions to OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES 
OF THE WEEK to the list moderator, Carolyn Gimian at: carolyn at shambhala.com.

Carolyn Rose Gimian

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications,  the Archive of 
his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the 
following link: http://OceanofDharma.com
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: <http://lists.shambhala.com/mailman/listinfo/dharmaocean>,
         <mailto:dharmaocean-request at lists.shambhala.com?subject=unsubscribe>



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.shambhala.com/pipermail/dharmaocean/attachments/20081101/79ec190a/attachment-0002.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 660b7f3.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 19597 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.shambhala.com/pipermail/dharmaocean/attachments/20081101/79ec190a/attachment-0003.obj 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Ocean of Dharma.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 6348 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.shambhala.com/pipermail/dharmaocean/attachments/20081101/79ec190a/attachment-0004.obj 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Ocean of Dharma.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 6348 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.shambhala.com/pipermail/dharmaocean/attachments/20081101/79ec190a/attachment-0005.obj 
-------------- next part --------------
Carolyn Rose Gimian

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications,  the Archive of 
his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the website at http://oceanofdharma.com
For the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project and the blog of Carolyn Gimian 
go to: http://ChogyamTrungpa.com


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.shambhala.com/pipermail/dharmaocean/attachments/20081101/79ec190a/attachment-0003.html