Of dogs and humans

I grew up in Thailand in the eighties, and a familiar sight was the dogs roaming the streets.

A dog may hang around a dump, or a slum, and look for scraps. It’s a hard life but in a Buddhist country animals are usually treated with compassion.

A dog may get lucky, and find a temple complex. Here they are actively fed. They can stick around, live by the temples, and enjoy a relatively comfortable life among monks.

Humans too, can spend their lives looking for scraps. Some find them in a successful career, others in family and relationships, or in the beauty of the arts.

Or, the human can get lucky, and discover the spiritual complex. Here, the human is actively fed. It’s relatively comfortable, with beautiful teachings and community. There’s hope for vast improvement through dedication and purification.

Nonduality is not about the scraps in a dog’s life. But it also isn’t about human life.

It’s about “turning around” and knowing what knows the entire play of life.

So, turning away from the obsession with scraps is essential. To the human, that’s threatening. Bad things will happen if I ignore my life, material or spiritual, because it absolutely needs “me” to manage it.

But this isn’t about you or your life.

This is about discovering what knows life.