MORAL MANIFESTATIONS: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DREAMS & GREED
The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann
“What is the difference between having hopes and dreams and being greedy?”
This used to be my burning question. I asked this question to many different teachers, practitioners and religious people, and they all tried their best to give me an answer but none of these answers was clear enough until I met my qigong master.
His answer was simple and clear, “If you want to get a pen that is worth $100 and are willing to pay $100 to get it, that is having hopes and dreams, but if you only want to pay $10, that's being greedy.”
It's natural as humans to desire something, like birds flying high and fish swimming in water, so as long as we understand that there is no free lunch, we can hope and dream about anything. That's how we can live our life to its fullest.
I once took a friend to hike the Victoria Peak in Hong Kong and asked him to choose between the shortest path and the regular one. He chose the shortest one, as most of us would, and off we went. But in the middle of the hike, he started complaining, while sweating and gasping, that this route was too hard. His sweat was the price he had to pay for saving time, which I believe was a fair exchange.
Most of the troubles we encounter in life take place when we ignore the fair part. It may seem like we get away with it at first, but at some point, we have to pay the difference one way or another. The thing is: the first time, we can choose how we wish to pay; but the second time, when the difference is due, the universe chooses the method for us and we may not like it very much.
Once we are clear about how the universal payment system works, we should ask ourselves if our hopes and dreams are against any moral virtues, for example, the five moral virtues of Confucianism—humanity, justice, courtesy, wisdom and fidelity—or the five moral precepts in Buddhism, or of any other belief system. Moral virtues protect us from incurring any bad consequences.
One last thing before we get to manifestation. A few years ago, I experimented manifesting $100 with someone sceptical about her own ability. She called me after a week and sounded a bit confused and said that the money came in through her friend unexpectedly but she still wasn't sure whether it was her own manifestation. She expected something more mystical like a fairy with a magic wand putting the money under her pillow.
When things are being manifested, they happen smoothly and effortlessly without fireworks or fanfare through the connections or channels we already have such as friends, family and work. The manifestation is led by our deep consciousness, so its process is like watching a plant grow. We know it's growing continuously but we can't possibly notice it by staring at it, unless we come back the next day to see its growth.
A few years ago, I asked someone who had just returned from attending the 14th Dalai Lama's teachings in India for two weeks, if he felt any extraordinary energy radiating from him. Dalai Lamas are believed to be the manifestations of Avalokiteshvara (觀音, Gwanyin), the bodhisattva of compassion. During the whole two-week period, he sat in the front row with monks and nuns and had the opportunity to witness the Dalai Lama walk past very closely a number of times. I almost slapped my knee when he answered, “I felt absolutely nothing special. He was just like any other grandpa next door.”
Well, the grandpa next door he was talking about was in his late 70s, and taught over 20,000 monks and nuns for 7-8 hours a day for two weeks straight. His schedule is jam-packed with back-to-back activities throughout the year, year after year.
Once, I had a rare chance to taste tea from a tea tree that was over a thousand years old with my teacher. I had this wonderful impression that the tea from a tree that had been producing tea leaves for roughly over 30 generations must taste like heaven carrying some powerful flavours.
The first sip tasted like soft warm water. Needless to say, I was a tad disappointed and swallowed it, but then the magic happened. Deep and subtle fragrances and flavours gently opened up in my nose and mouth... and then I tasted the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Particularly past two thirds of it, when the climax ends, but the full orchestra and choir start to gently build up again towards the grand finale to conclude the symphony's epic journey. The deep ringing of the harmonious fragrances and flavours delicately reached my soul. I can still recall that ethereal moment to this day.
Everything that exists goes through an identical cycle of changes covering spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Everything vigorously begins in spring, expands and splendidly flowers in summer, bears meaningful fruits in autumn, and humbly goes back to nothingness in winter, then begins again when spring returns.
Often, people come to me and say they want to practice meditation in order to become strong and powerful. Of course, they will become stronger and more powerful than ever before, but there is something more. Once you reach the strong and powerful stage, the next step is to become soft and gentle again, like Yoda from Star Wars. He possessed the highest wisdom and the most powerful force in Jedi history but he was gentle, kind and open minded most of the time. This was because he had reached the stage of completion — back to nothingness.
According to the natural order, before we reach nothingness, we have to reach the strong and powerful stage through hard practices. I also meet people who believe that they should go straight to the soft and gentle stage. Unfortunately, anyone who tries to reach the final stage of softness and gentleness without going through the intermediate hardships won’t be experiencing the true essence of being. They can get there but the fruit won't be sweet at all. Only the fruit that has endured midsummer's scorching heat will taste sweet; that which hasn't has very little value as fruit.
Do not fear the scorching heat. For as long as there is a hot sun in the sky, there are beautiful flowers on the ground to enjoy. Continue practicing, one day at a time and before you know it, you will be able to harvest the sweet fruit and reach the ultimate stage of peace.
Confucius wrote in ‘The Analects’ (論語), “Wise men like water" (知者樂水).
Yesterday, I took two of my students to the beach at 4AM. Since the sun rises around 5:45AM these days, it was the perfect time to perform sunrise meditation. Chung Hom Kok beach is a lesser known beach located between Stanley Beach and Repulse Bay Beach at the south of Hong Kong. It was a 30-minute taxi ride from Central. We were the only people on the entire beach, due to the early hour.
We took our shoes off, sat on the comfortable sand and meditated until the sun came up. The sound of the periodic waves resonated in our ears, constantly moving right to left like a surround stereo system, and the cool breeze gently brushed our faces. The feeling of calm and tranquillity made the time flow by so quickly.
The traditional Buddhist practices employ sounds to reach a deep meditative state. It is a quick and easy way to do so. That's the reason many zen temples practice this type of method on the seaside. By the same token, when you are meditating at home, I suggest you to play your favorite sounds or music, and try to fully dive into the sounds. You will find this method very effective to attain a calm and peaceful mind. Additionally, it will help you practice for longer than usual.
After our meditation, we walked barefoot along the beach for a while. By then, an angler, a swimmer and a cleaner had appeared to make the early morning beach scene more vibrant.
Walking barefoot in a natural environment has many health benefits but as a Qi (bio-electricity) practitioner, I would like to emphasize the earthing effect. The process of earthing promotes physical well-being and helps dissipate static electricity from the body. When our body has too much static electricity in the system, we tend to feel like we are in a muddle with too many thoughts. Hence, walking barefoot helps clear your mind and focus on what really matters.
When I visited Australia for the first time, I was very surprised to observe quite a lot of people comfortably walking barefoot, not only around the beaches but literally everywhere else too — shopping malls, gas stations, cafes, visiting neighbors, and so on. In India, during a retreat, I got tired of carrying my shoes from one building to another, so I tried what the locals do. At first, I felt pain when pebbles on the ground dug into my feet but soon enough, being barefoot became a liberating and natural state. Maybe that is the reason why Australians are one of the most laid back and carefree people; and so are Indians, in their own ways.
In the East, our ancestors believed that water contains all the essential energy of the universe, since two thirds of our body is water, and two thirds of the earth is covered by water. The Water Element can be considered neither Yin (陰) nor Yang (陽). It is an element that is offered and used in all types of rituals all around the world.
Sun Tzu's philosophy on water is well described in his military strategy book, The Art of War: "Water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards;" "Water strikes at what is weak;" and "Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows." Against the same backdrop, the late actor and martial artist, Bruce Lee, famously quoted: "Be formless, shapeless, like water" Be water, my friend."
I can’t be sure whether wise men like water, or whether water makes men wise. Either way, beginning the day with meditation at the beach, with water all around me, certainly made me think of many wise things.
Maggie H is a Life Cartographer, Eastern philosopher, Qigong master, Buddhist and Taoist meditator, Feng Shui practitioner, and researcher of Buddhist scriptures. She lives in Hong Kong, and regularly travels to both India and South Korea to further her spiritual growth and development. Her lifelong motto is: "benefit to all humankind."