I have a friend who quit being a Zen priest to have a family in rural France.
He just told me it's more difficult as a regular householder to cultivate a spiritual practice. Kids and relationships are messy.
Everybody makes their own choices. Keep your attention on the life you want to lead and just start living that way.
More difficult… therefore more worthwhile?
There's an argument to be made there.
But tbh most people who initially say they can do both, end up failing at one.
Fair. What does failing mean though? Striving towards some sort of equanimity while dealing with the endless complexities of real relationships is honorable and a very meaningful way to live regardless of outcome, IMO. If you’ve achieved a level of spirituality in a temple that doesn’t stick around your fellow humans then it was too fragile anyway
many such cases lol
It is a common belief that it’s more difficult to practice to 修， a thai budhist nun once told me it’s more “rewarding” to practice as layman…well, Im not sure about that, it all depends on what you want to get out of wanting to know Mind. 🤷♀️ it’s a big topic, and all paths are valid, innit 😁
theres a reason they call it 出家 but in the end its mostly a meaningless distinction. it just describes someone who has made a certain set of sacrifices.
everybody makes sacrifices.
Oh meaningless alright, ive seen psycho warfair, ego tripping and abusive behaviours in temples, nunneries, monasteries alike…
But I don’t think sacrifice is necessary 🤔
every choice is also a sacrifice
🤨 how so?
opportunity cost?
even more scarce than your time is your attention. you can either give your attention to noble things or not.
there's a choice that necessarily excludes other things, ie sacrifice.
I see. Dont be mad at me but are you analysing it from an economist’s point of view? 😝
I still don’t think it’s a sacrifice. When you pay attention to one area, you simply paying attention to it. I don’t think exclusion = sacrifice
maybe you'd feel differently if you had decided to quit being a temple priest to have a family.
or decided to not have a family for the sake of being a priest.
Yes I would if i have that mentality / belief system. All Id say is 自己攞嚟煩， sorry, 😂
my experience is that after 40 you start getting serious about making good decisions. it's like "ok I probably only have 30 more good years, I better not fuck about too much"
well, i believe you could live much longer that just another 30 years, Kanz; i have no scientific data to back me up, but you can, the fact that you are already on the path means that you intuitively know that there’s more, I think…if you plan to live to 200, for example, being 40s is just the beginning of life.
