The Buddha once told his monks that there were four kinds of horses. The first (very good), upon seeing the shadow of the whip, is startled and follows the wish of its rider. The second (Good), startled when the whip touches its hair, & follows the wish of its rider. The third (poor) is startled after the whip touches its flesh. The fourth (Bad) is awakened only after the touch of the whip is felt in its bones & its hurt badly.
So there are people (very good) who are already awakened about their responsibilities towards their loved ones, some people (good) learn about their responsibilities & feel the attachment with their loved ones when they see someone at distant loosing their loved ones, the Third ones realize the importance of love when they loose someone close to them & the final (bad ) only realizes when everyone close to him abandon them for being alone all through their life & suffer the pain of being lonely.
We need to choose, which one we want to be.
Is it not ironic that the man preaching this never practised it himself, for he abdicated his responsibilities toward his loved ones in his search for enlightenment, an arguably selfish goal.
ReplyDeleteAnd this makes me wonder if responsibilities are what keep us chained to our circumstances and prevent us from exploring and even reaching our potential.
After all, who among us would dare to desert our loved ones, like the Buddha, in search of Enlightenment!