An Examination of the Three Treasures Part Two- Frugality

[Aaron]

Well I decided to go ahead and start the second treasure, mainly because it's late and I'm wide awake, so no better time to get something done. The second treasure of course is frugality or perhaps a more apt word might be mindfulness. I have had people try to convince me that conservatism is a good word, but it always sounded a bit off, simply because I don't think it's about restraint so much as it is being aware of your needs versus your wants.

 

That's really the gist of it in my opinion, and one of the reasons this wont be as lengthy a post as the one about compassion, simply because it is a very simple concept (hmm... simplicity might be another good adjective for the third treasure as well).

 

Lao Tzu talks alot about restraint, but not necessarily restraint in the sense of self-control, so much as an awareness of your actions and moderating them in order to maintain a harmony with others. That is why I like the world mindfulness so much when talking about this treasure, because it calls into action much of what Lao Tzu says regarding the Sage. The Sage understands what is happening in the world around him and acts according to what is happening. One way he is able to do this is by minimizing his influence on others, for instance, the Sage does not teach through his words, but through his actions. He watches what he says and what he does. He is frugal, but this frugality is not simply out of greed, but out of a conscience awareness of how his actions impact those around him (or her).

 

With that said, we can all probably do with a little mindfulness, certainly in our speech. Who here hasn't said something they've regretted later on for instance, but in the same way we can all probably do with a little mindfulness regarding our needs. How many times do we go in a store intending to get only what we need and end up coming out with a magazine and candy bar? Wants... insidious wants.

 

So our major struggle regarding the second treasure, frugality, is in understanding what needs to be done and what doesn't. It doesn't necessarily mean we start living on a diet of white rice and water, but rather that we learn to understand exactly what we need and become content with that. If we go to friend's house and they offer us a slice of cheesecake, that doesn't mean we turn it down, just that we are mindful of what role the cheesecake plays in our life.

 

This is also the one treasure most people have the hardest time wanting to do. Most people on some level want to be compassionate and want to stop competing with others, but very few want to stop eating potato chips while they're watching American Idol, or even more to the point, giving up American Idol.

 

In the end we need to understand this relationship of needs and wants, not just from a physical viewpoint, but also an interpersonal and spiritual perspective. It is only when we can see the need for frugality in every aspect of our lives that we can honestly begin to bear the fruits of frugality.

 

Now it's also important not to go in the opposite direction and become greedy or selfish, because it is easy to fall into that trap as well. This is perhaps the reason why Compassion is the first treasure, because it is through the guidance of compassion that we can begin to see exactly how our actions affect those around us and we can begin to see how frugality can help us in being compassionate to others.

 

So to close, it's good to remember that we can never really be generous without first being frugal, because how can you be generous if you don't really know what you have to spare?

 

Aaron

Edited March 25, 2013 by Aaron

[C T]

Frugality and mindfulness. How very apt.

 

Each lends meaning to the other.

 

From frugality comes regeneration; from mindfulness comes wisdom. Nothing is more dynamic than a wisdom that regenerates itself. Its the basis for learning to awaken fully.

[manitou]

Frugality seems like an apt word, but if you triangulate it with Yutang's translation, I think there's another aspect. Yutang's translation says "Never Too Much".

 

The sage became the sage by developing the three treasures. I don't think he was born with them; I don't think they were granted to him by anything other than his own hard inner work. I think that Never Too Much can be applied to every single aspect of our lives, and it goes directly to a diminished and honed-down ego.

 

Never too much striving for money. Never too much food. Never too much recognition. Those of us here, particularly in the West, seem to be brought up with exactly the opposite message. Achieve, achieve, achieve. Grab everything material you can for yourself. Money is the god, capitalism is the system that worships it.

 

To get to the point where one can step out of those predispositions and see that true comfort and happiness in life is achieved by practicing the 3 treasures......perhaps one day this will come naturally to us and we will be the sage. Never too much ego. Frugality in ego.

[Vmarco]

That is why I like the world mindfulness so much when talking about this treasure, because it calls into action much of what Lao Tzu says regarding the Sage. The Sage understands what is happening in the world around him and acts according to what is happening.

 

 

Aaron

 

Frugality to me, is merely that which is not wasteful. To me, a sage, unlike one consumed with sentient beingness, see the world as it is. The sentient being cannot see the world that surrounds them, but only the world that surrounded them,...they do not, and cannot see the way things are.

 

This is where Daoism is inexplicitly synonymous with the essence of Buddhism/

 

Lao Tzu said, "the Tao doesn't come and go."

 

Buddha said, "the Tathagata does not come and go."

 

To not "come and go" or instantly come back into oneself as one goes out, unfolds the seeing of the way things are,...the only frugal way, from a spiritual point of view, to not be wasteful . Everything focused on the past, which is the only thing those attached to their sentience can see, is wasteful, and squandering away the treasures.

 

"Relative and absolute,

These the two truths are declared to be.

The absolute is not within the reach of intellect,

For the intellect is grounded in the relative."

Shantideva

[zanshin]

I like the word simplicity, because frugality seems mostly about money to me and it's more than that.