The choice between sitting or standing

In Buddhist countries many people like sitting and watching the world go by. In contrast, Christian countries are full of people going everywhere and doing everything as if there life depends on it.

This difference is worth considering whether you are a Christian, Buddhist or nothing.

Buddhists learn meditation in the temples and schools. Usually a 15 minute session. This often creates people who are always in a semi meditative state. Coupled with Buddha’s main teaching of the ‘middle path’ which is not to be too much of anything: emotional, serious, stressed etc this creates a large group of people who can sit and while the hours without being bored. Sometimes they go to the temple to Tamboon: give money to the monks so they can go to heaven,

On the other hand Christians seem to be busy loving everyone, including their family, church, and the unfortunate. This can be a time consuming way to get to heaven. If you have a fulltime job and want a God given prosperous life: holiday house, travel overseas, bitcoin and private jet as well as doing all your loving deeds, there is little time to sit and watch the bees make love to flowers.

Some Buddhists like the term ‘slow life’ coined from one of Donovan’s songs.

So who wins in this mad game of life? The Christians with their time consuming love for God and hers in return or the slothful Buddhists who  do their level best to be quiet peaceful and live in the neutral zone?

It depends on your perspective. If you think a successful life is success in its broadest terms: material gains, or if you think enjoying, living in the moment: mindfulness is success then you have chosen already. For those of us on the fence I would like to share my experience of this difference.

No matter how difficult it is to live in the moment, I think that is a wonderful goal. To appreciate every bite of an apple, being with children ‘in their world’, smelling the roses, feeling the wind on your face and seeing the beauty all around you and not being afraid about what tomorrow brings. Whatever happens: is it good, is it bad I don’t know.

The inner need for security is often blown out of proportion in Christian countries. I need a bigger home, a better phone, a better car, more money. Like there is no solution for it: security. On the other hand Buddhists living day by day is enough. What money they have sustains them for a day. Yes, their security needs are for the day they wake up and eat breakfast.

The Christians need for security often creates insecurity through debt and subservience. So, security is often a loss of freedom.

And prosperity consciousness can make you busy creating magic money. There are millions for everyone, the universe has endless money. I don’t think that is true and I don’t think it is good to think about prosperity all the time because it is greedy and all about self: materialistic, I want more and more and more. I have no money, yet feel prosperous happy and content.

So, being busy means more money and being slow means having less money. It all depends on your values. Do you want a rich spiritual life or a rich materialistic life. I often wonder why Billionaires become philanthropists: I have made so much money now I can give it all away. It would be better if they profit shared all those unneeded billions with their loyal employees, but no. They need support too.

The class system created in England and the rest of the world runs deep. There is a line in the sand between real productive workers, that make the world go around every day for $130, and the merchants that take what they make and mark it up 200% and sell it, without actually doing anything. This is the Chinese buy and sell concept as well. 

Farmers are a good example. They work hard to grow a crop of apples, they get $1 a kilogram and the big supermarkets sell them for $5 a kilogram. This is why farmers markets are essential for everyone: good for the sellers and the buyers.

Many Buddhists are poor. Daily sitting meditation  (looking at cars go by from your veranda) is a popular way to  stop thinking about how your life is impoverished because of the rich and powerful. As you thinketh, so is your life. No thinketh, then problems don’t exist for now, anyway.

I am in the middle. I like to work, holding in my heart the idea I am helping someone, and I also want to get off the merry-go-round at the same time.

Back to sitting, or not.  Sitting gives you valuable time to ponder what your son said over breakfast, think about how to fix the leaking roof and what does God really want. Time out, you know, before you used take your phone to the toilet with you. If the world is destroyed, it will because you do: take your phone to the toilet. Because, you have the power to do much, after reflection, to make the world a better place.

Christians need to slow down and spend more time using their intuition and inner self to summon the spirits within and plan their day and life. Buddhists need to stand up after an hour on the veranda and paint the house and fix the leaking roof. 

Roditch 2021 September