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A Big Pair of Dharma Balls

Today, perhaps more than ever before, it is easy to be drawn into what we call the

cycle of soap-opera living. Soap-opera living is, unfortunately, rather common. A

person caught up in soap-opera living is like a piece of plankton in the ocean that

is continuously driven in different directions by the changing currents and tides.

Despite being under the impression that they are making independent decisions,

people living a soap opera do not have their eyes open enough to be able to truly

to take control of their lives.

Individuals living a soap opera are highly influenced by whatever beliefs,behaviours, and pastimes are trending in society. Because the majority of

individuals around them spend their time worrying about money, reputation,

career, and relationships, the individual living the soap opera believes that they

should do the same. If there is an atmosphere of stress at work because of a

deadline approaching, or at university because exams are looming, the individual

immersed in soap-opera living is drawn into and contributes to this stress. Because

others are obsessed with what their friends and peers think of them, so is the

person following the path of soap-opera living. They are pulled along by their ownunregulated thoughts and desires, and by the thoughts and desires of those around

them.

Walking an authentic spiritual pathBuddhist or otherwisetakes warrior-like

courage. It takes courage because the spiritual practitioner has to break free of the

cycle of soap-opera living when almost everyone around them is consciously or

sub-consciously enticing them to remain firmly stuck in it. It takes courage because

the spiritual practitioner has to leave behind the world that they have become

accustomed to and enter unchartered territory. It also takes courage because the

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all those who have attained Buddhahood in the past, and all those who will attain it

in the future.

Ven Dr Edo Shonin and Ven William Van Gordon