The practice is to make the non-arising of grasping and clinging absolute, final, and eternally void, so that no grasping and clinging can ever return. Just that is enough. There is nothing else to do.
The entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon, and the stars live together as a cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees, and the Earth. When we realize that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise -- then we can build a noble environment. If our lives are not based on this truth, then we shall perish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of all beings and the importance of cooperation for survival.
Buddhadasa highlights the profound connection between all entities in the cosmos, asserting that everything from celestial bodies to humans and animals thrives in a symbiotic relationship. Recognizing this interdependence fosters a sense of responsibility towards each other and the Earth, encouraging us to create a harmonious environment. The acknowledgment of this mutual arrangement is crucial, as failing to understand it could lead to our downfall.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, I would use this quote to highlight the importance of harmony between humans and nature.
More from Buddhadasa
All quotes →Those who read books cannot understand the teachings and, what's more, may even go astray. But those who try to observe the things going on in the mind, and always take that which is true in their own minds as their standard, never get muddled. They are able to comprehend suffering, and ultimately will understand Dharma. Then, they will understand the books they read.
Similar quotes
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.
The offering of [the body] is called a spiritual sacrifice because it is freely sacrificed through the Spirit, the Christian being uninfluenced by the constrainst of the Low or the fear of hell.
It is a truism to say that the dog is largely what his master makes of him: he can be savage and dangerous, untrustworthy, cringing and fearful; or he can be faithful and loyal, courageous and the best of companions and allies.
It is always a vulgar and often an unhealthy pastime, and it is a vice which does not go alone; the man who gambles will find himself capable of any evil.
There is perhaps nothing so admirable in Christianity and Buddhism as their art of teaching even the lowest to elevate themselves by piety to a seemingly higher order of things, and thereby to retain their satisfaction with the actual world in which they find it difficult enough to live - this very difficulty being necessary.