The Homeric heroes would scoff at the boddhisattva's empty existence. Contrast Odysseus with Arjuna, the Hindu prince, who Krishna admonishes to stop crying, saying:
(Baghavad Ghita I.2, Easwaren translation, p. 49 vol. 1 The End of Sorrow)
(Odyssey, Bk. V, Butcher and Lang trans. )
The boddhisattva's pallid love and timorous wisdom don't honor the full savor of earthly existence. By restricting the expression of love and wisdom, the spiritual aspirant ends up living in a world where cultural advancement is fenced off from personal spiritual growth. A separation comes that drives a wedge between the spiritual and historical world that itself generates duality. The boddhisattvas may hold their equanimity, but only by disengaging from the signal events of their own lives -- from birth, leaving home, marriage, divorce, sexuality, child birth, child rearing, travel, planting, harvesting, eating, success, failure, labor, retirement, illness, death.
The restriction of love and wisdom to compassion and quietude drains them of their crucial vitality which is individuated and diverse and unique, and only by the full use of which can we master the special instrument which is ourselves in all its modes and rhythms. Our human heartedness fails us when we don't join ourselves to the signal events.
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Copyright 1998 - Ira Rosenberg
Last Updated 09/19/98 (rge)