It has often intrigued me how some Buddhist masters I know ask one simple question of people who approach them for teaching: “Do you believe in a life after this one?” They are not being asked whether they believe in it as a philosophical proposition but whether they feel it deeply in their hearts. The master knows that if a man believes in a life after this one, his whole outlook on life will be different, and he will have a distinct sense of personal responsibility and morality. What the masters must suspect is that there is a danger that people who have no strong belief in a life after this one will create a society fixated on short-term results, without much thought for the consequences of their actions.
Could this be the major reason why we have created a world like the one we are now living in, a world with hardly any real compassion?
- Soygal Rinopche
photo; from left; ilg, josh, and DL favorite; ben "Patki Dass" sullivan on a recent ride. photo by Chris Wilkens.
