Zen Master Dae Kwang once said:
“Every real estate agent knows that in their business only three things are important: location, location, location. In Zen and life there are also only three: direction, direction, direction.”
If this direction is not clear, nothing is clear. Attaining this direction, simply means attaining humans original job.
In Zen we call it “keeping Bodhi Mind”, which has two aspects : inside job and outside job.
Inside job is to keep clear mind to access our inherent wisdom . Outside job means helping others by manifesting that wisdom through compassionate actions .
"Wisdom and compassion are like two wings of the bird. With only one no bird can fly".
For most practitioners keeping a balance between those two is not easy. Either we want attain clarity or we rush to help others. By only meditating for ourselves we achieve limited insight and by helping others without wisdom our help is not complete either.
Sharing food with those who are hungry and drink with those who are thirsty sounds like an easy task, but how many of us can even do that ?
What about more complicated issue ? What about basic human problem , death ? Most people believe, that giving and protecting our physical existence is probably the highest gift anyone can offer .
Jesus raised Lazarus from dead, giving him that highest gift , but what happened to Lazarus afterwords is not clear. Did he become Jesus' disciple, did he spread Gospel? We don't know. One thing we know for sure is, that he had to die again. Even giving someones physical life back is a temporary fix.
From the Buddhist point of view there is one gift that is higher, the gift that goes beyond life and death, the gift of Enlightenment . To be able to deliver such a gift we need to meditate and help others with the correct attitude. An attitude, that all our inside and outside efforts are for the sole reason; to establish all sentient beings in state of Enlightenment.
Without that attitude, trying to succeed in our practice is like trying to squeeze an oil out of the stone. It won't work.
That is why first Temple Rule , On keeping the Bodhi Mind says :
"You must first make a firm decision to attain Enlightenment and help others".
