Caveat: 87) 부처님. 저는시기하지 않기를 발원하며 절합니다

“Buddha. I bow and pray not to be envious.”
This is #87 out of a series of [broken link! FIXME] 108 daily Buddhist affirmations that I am attempting to translate with my hands tied behind my back (well not really that, but I’m deliberately not seeking out translations on the internet, using only dictionary and grammar).


85. [broken link! FIXME] 부처님 . 저는 화내지 않기를 발원하며 절합니다.
        “Buddha. I bow and pray not to get angry.”
86. [broken link! FIXME] 부처님 . 저는 교만하지 않기를 발원하며 절합니다.
        “Buddha. I bow and pray not to be arrogant.”
87. 부처님 . 저는시기하지 않기를 발원하며 절합니다.

I would read this eighty-seventh affirmation as: “Buddha. I bow and pray not to be envious.”
Grandeza mexicana …Speaking of economics. 
But actually, I experienced a moment of envy, this morning, upon learning that my closest friend from graduate school has published a book.  It’s an “edition,” such as academics do – in this case, an edition of Balbuena’s “Grandeza mexicana” from 1604.
Envy, I guess, because it was once the sort of future I ambitiously imagined for myself… but it seems that I’ve traveled a different road.  Regardless, congratulations to my friend, and at some point look forward to reading what she wrote.
The problem with envy is that it’s pernicious – it doesn’t always really feel like a “negative” emotion.  How is it different than, say, aspiration?  Or is aspiration something to be avoided, too?  That’s a possible implication.  Desire as the source of suffering, and all that.

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