Day: January 15, 2013

“Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven as does rain or snow.” – from a Zen saying, supposedly.
Although I’m sort of a Buddhist, I find this conceptualization of virtue distasteful, for some reason. I should think that for a well-practicing Buddhist, virtue would indeed come as rain or snow … to those who can reach a state of mindfulness.
Or…  perhaps it’s just the term “virtue” that I specifically feel uncomfortable with – I don’t like what I term the “purity-narrative” aspect of Buddhism (or of any other religious/philosophical tradition, for that matter – they’ve all got them).
Another unattributed Buddha-quote, that I prefer: “A man asked Buddha “I want happiness.” Buddha said, “First remove ‘I’ – that’s ego. Then remove ‘want’ – that’s desire. See, now you are left with only ‘happiness.'”