ENTHUSIASM AND LAZINESS
So enthusiasm is really an important point. You know why? One of our major problems is laziness. Laziness comes in all different forms. I always say: there are two different types of laziness: Eastern laziness and Western laziness.
Eastern laziness is what I have. If I get a nice cup – or nowadays thermos – of tea and it is beautiful sunshine and I can sit somewhere quietly in a corner I will sit there for days, honestly. That is eastern laziness. You don’t want to do anything, whatever is happening around you. Maybe the roof is catching on fire, but you are not going to move. The phones may be ringing or whatever is happening, you let it happen. You don’t want to move. If physically you can’t move, that’s different from the laziness where you don’t want to move. So the combination of that is not great.
Western laziness is when you just can’t sit down. You just got to be running and doing something and keep yourself absolutely busy, I don’t know, busy for something or busy for nothing, but keeping yourself busy. That is being lazy too, because that way you are trying to avoid what you really have to do. Sort of going in that direction, you find that you have got to do this and you got to do that. You provide many preconditions, so actually you are avoiding what you really need to do. Spiritually, or even materially.
Why are you working? Because you need to make money. But if you are not doing money making things, but doing something for the money making to make it easier, then by the time your actual money making comes, then death will be there. That’s what is happening with a lot of people. I see it. People make up something that gets them ready to make things easier, and when is it going to be ready? Never. But, still you are preparing for that, working your butt off. Honestly. So much. But you are not doing what you really need to do. You are not applying your wisdom, your enthusiasm. You try to make it easy, but easy for what? Easy for nothing. So that’s why I said: it’s making yourself busy for nothing. And that is laziness.
~ Gelek Rimpoche, Jewel Heart Ann Arbor, July 28, 2013
