The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

As I passed the incense burning in front of the Boudhanath Stupa today a couple of things struck me: the smoke rising, a representation of people's aspirations; offerings of fragrant, burning wood and herbs transformed mentally into clouds of desirable objects to benefit others, wherever the wind might carry them.

Now, whether these offerings - or even these beings - are real or imaginary, or whether the smoke actually reaches or benefits anything at all, doesn't really matter. What does matter is the fact that someone, a random face in the crowd, had the generosity of heart to want to offer it in the first place. In their own, small, way, someone had the presence of mind to do something to benefit someone other than their self.

Isn't this the choice we also must make on a daily basis, if we are consider ourselves as decent, caring human beings? As I see it, as fellow pilgrims on our shared pilgrimage, whether we do kora around stupas in Nepal or around the chocolates and biscuits section of Harvey Nichol's food hall, we can either choose to add to the collective misery which saturates this world or do something to lessen it. It really doesn't matter how big or how small a difference we make, actually, as long as it's positive. If it's just a handful of incense or a sandwich to someone who can't afford to buy lunch, or causing a smile to break out on the face of someone who's in the doldrums, the fact that we actually gave a shit to do so is the only thing of any significance.

The more I learn, and I have an incredible amount more to learn, the more I realise that this existence is deeply interconnected on so many levels. To say we are an island, some impregnable fortress of introverted, self-sufficiency, is just a fantasy, and it diminishes, rather than frees us. The more we look at the way of things, we discover that, conversely, doing things for others benefits us. Lessening the burden of others makes our own burden lighter. Making others happy makes us more contented.

So how are we going to use these myriads of connections we have with others?

For my part, I added my handful to the embers, made an aspiration that somewhere, someone might benefit from whatever small positivity I may be able to generate, and gave a little food to one of the beggars.

Looking back, down the street, after I'd walked on, I noticed some other Western people were also doing the same, which made me really happy.