Is It Wrong To Be Ambitious?

paperflower SG

i am still not desciplined to have a consistant savings every month.
Razz

today is "sufficient". i don't know if tomorrow there's always enough or not....

coolbluewater SG

If you compare the price of necessity products today and the day when you retire, you will definitely see the significant difference in terms of pricing. This impact is even significant when the oil prices are continuously increasing without any sign of stopping. Of course, the definition of necesity products may change over the course of years, and the category will expand.

In buddhism context, the key to survival is to live simple. Applying it to our daily living, you will find that alot of things you considered must have may not be so essential afterall. Of course, you don't have to live in a cave to realise this, rather to manage our expectations (needs and wants), and invest wisely.

casino_king SG

Verse 2 : The real nature of the duality samsara vs. Nirvana The duality being vs. non-being

Verse 3 : Liberation is gained by transcending this duality

Verse 4 : Liberation is gained by seeing through this duality

Verse 5 : Those who do not see reality believe in samsara and nirvana, but those who see reality believe in neither.

The real nature of the duality Ambitious vs. No Ambitions The duality striving vs. rest

Liberation is gained by transcending this duality

Liberation is gained by seeing through this duality

Those who do not see reality believe in Ambitious vs. No Ambitions, but those who see reality believe in neither.

The answer lies not in: "Ambitious vs. No Ambitions"

Thusness SG

Yes, the oil price will become quite an issue to the world economy. Imagine just a single Malaysia's Petronas can earn 30 billion SGD, that is more than the total net income of all the companies in our main and secondary board listing added together a year. Tremendous disparity of wealth distribution. Smile

Lastly I agree with what you said about the leading a simple life in Buddhisim. Smile

Isis SG

To achieve some matters, we may need to sacrifice something. Sometime, can get too caught up with your ambition and neglect what is actually important to you for eg. family and friends unknowingly.

Personally, i feel achievement are all fleeting and meaningless after i died. I can't horde all the riches when im dead. Laughing Nevertheless, im still a lay person, i still need to work to feed myself.

Mmm i used to work so hard to earn something. In the end, i don't really feel happy when i got it. I can actually be happy doing something simple.

Thusness SG

Yes, the more we commit, the more effort it takes to unwind. We should not be taken away by the fleeting. There is deep joy in clarity and being simple. Smile

paperflower SG

nothing is inherently satisfactory nor inherently non-satisfactory.

i feel it does help much in daily worldly life to put spiritual aspects into practice. it has a certain strength and aid for one to live through the up and down of the everchanging times. some calls such as "self development". different people have different ways to develop themselves into beings who are stable, grounded, rounded, strong, resilient regardless of the different amount of pressure stress or happniess they face.

many people have different opinions about this.

some people who face setbacks or problems in business, stocks shares, lovelife, marriage, debts, career, family issues, etc, avoid these by taking their own lives or become insane or becoming a different person - is it due to lacking the knowledge in understanding the "self and reality"?

yes i agree with you all who sees that it is a fleeting world (life's just like an illusion you see in water reflection, a dream..... of sweetdreams & nightmares).....

longchen SG

i personally find alot of suffering and unhappiness in comparing with others. No comparision, less dissatisfaction.

But my job requires me to act 'superior', sharp and at time authoritative. Sometimes, society and work can have a binding grip on your self expression. The consolation that i have is that nothing last forever.

paperflower SG

yes agree, the consolation during the struggling times is knowing that nothing last forever....

i had a friend who used to have a sweet wonderful marriage, then slowly the marriage becomes sour and at the brink of getting divorced. she went drinking alone almost every night, just to forget her sorrows. but when she wakes up in sober, she finds that she is facing the problem again.

she told me that when she's high or drunk she felt happy. when she sober up, she felt miserable again.

she confided in me and i told her that nothing is actually permanent. not that i am so wise but it is the clear nature and fact or reality thats in front of us to see it. and she asked,"really? everything is really impermanent? even the wonderful marriage? even the thought of divorce or quarrels we have? even when i'm drunk i feel happy? even when i sober up i feel miserable again?"

i replied, "yes....."

then i saw that she became silent. i observe....
i see that everyone of us has those times in our lives at some point. including myself.

this sounds like in a movie but life is like a movie you watch "live" kekeee Mr. Green

and it is the first time i ever heard from someone saying to me that she didn't want to ask me or anyone she knows to go out to keep her company. because we all "reminds" her of the good times and bad times she has in personal life. she said that she only wants to see strangers, alone so as to be away from the reality she was actually facing.

ambition or no ambition, having a goal or not having any goal is also not a permanent lasting thing......
today we have this plan, tomorrow we have another plan, time everchanging, situation always change.

i feel that attachment can be a hindrance to actually progress further and tie us to illusion that results in great disappointment when things ripen and explode and not turn out to be what expected.

coolbluewater SG

I like to share a topic that I had with an inmate whom I had this conversation with last week.

He asked me, why is it doing the wrong creates so much happiness and yet doing the right creates so much frustration.

I told him, when he's doing the wrong, it's true that he experience happiness, but it's short-lived, and that short span of happiness will fuel the desire to go deeper, so as to achieve a higher level of happiness.

However, if he do the right, example study, he'll face frustration or anger, but it's short-lived. Once he achieved the goal, he'll have a long lasting sense of contentment.

Whenever you gain something, you lose something. So if you don't have it, you won't lose anything.

paperflower SG

i hope this thread is not a bore to anyone.

it is nice to hear people's experience, advice and sharing.

when one opens up, it is opening the mind and heart wider to let in to reach out.

thanks for sharing.

Laughing

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