Vol 21. November 10, 2021
This year, when we sit down to a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner, our mouths salivating over stuffing and cranberries, let’s remember a quote from Jack Kerouac, “Unleash your knife and fork, and you’re no better than a bug on Buddha Mountain.”
The reason humanity has instituted the practice of prayer before meals is because, as the philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed, human beings are at heart vicious animals.
Given the chance, people would naturally lie, cheat, steal and kill to get what they want, including more pumpkin pie.
We give thanks before meals to instill a sense of peace, calm and gratitude in our souls.
It’s a moment of grace.
It’s a moment when members of our dining party pause, breathe and look each other in the eye without malice, greed or envy.
It’s a moment to set aside our animal nature and become human.
In Buddhist cosmology, the worst possible existential state is that of a wild animal.
Animals are in it for themselves.
Animals live by the law of the jungle: Eat or be eaten.
Animals act selfishly.
The best possible existential state is that of a human being.
Human beings are in it together. They treat each other kindly.
Human beings act selflessly.
Bugs unleash their knives and forks, and greedily slobber up food to feed their ravenous bellies.
Human beings dine elegantly. They anticipate each other’s needs. Human beings pass the gravy.
Human beings can become Buddhas.
Thatagata
A synonym for Buddha is Tathagata: “One who has arrived at Suchness … the goodness of Suchness.”
The beautiful Suchness of friends gathered around a table, of memories shared, of being a family, of freedom from hunger.
Buddhas arrive at Suchness.
Bug in the grass, running around in the forest of desire, sit beneath the tree of Suchness and suffering will never happen again.
Make enlightenment your business.
Why upset yourself with wanting stuff?
Be grateful for what you got.
A good prayer for Thanksgiving — or for any day of the year — is: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Thank you for being a bug on Buddha Mountain.
The Buddha Times 