Topics Include: 1) Stealing and the difference between conventional reality and absolute reality. 2) Suzuki Roshi’s quotation on stealing or taking what is not given. 3) Answer to the question concerning the quotation: how we use our understanding of absolute reality to inform our actions in the conventional world. 4) The evolution of laws and conventions regarding property over the centuries: the natural state of the animal world and the eventual tragedy of the commons. 5) The consequences of private ownership: economic exchange, the evolution of money, and the role of social convention. 6) The power of economic status to create our identities in the world. 7) Why, according to Suzuki Roshi, we don’t own anything in an ultimate sense. How we can be more open, generous, compassionate and kind in relation to the things we own. 8) The Buddha’s understanding of conventional reality and the importance of moral and ethical behavior. 9) The principles of communism and capitalism and their relationship to the Buddha’s teachings.
May 8, 2021
46 min.