brokenpurplecrayon

Heedfulness

first and foremost: heedfulness = mindfulness

this chapter is much more … heady, than yesterday’s chapter. we’re getting into the concept of mindfulness and how mindfulness leads to nirvana. being mindless leads to death. but i’m going to assume this is not physical death but spiritual. because really, everything leads to death. i can be mindful and still get cancer or some lunatic on I-95 could smash me into a vehicle pancake.

When a man banishes heedlessness by heedfulness, he becomes wise and is free from sorrow. He sees clearly the sorrowing people as one who stands on the hill looking down on the plains.

i like this line a lot. the mindful can become free from sorrow – freeing themselves from taking insults and situations personally. they can view those who continue to allow themselves to be harmed by suffering clearly. the next line compares the mindful to those awake versus those sleeping. a comparison i’ve heard before and resonate with. the four agreements make a similar comparison – those awake and those who are dreaming.

this chapter really defines that the dhammapada is written for a monastic audience- not the lay person. this clarification is vitally important to me because of the stress of abstaining from ’sensous delights’. for the rest of us, sensuous delights are part of life – our goal is the middle way – not asceticism.

.:{brokenpurplecrayon}:.