[MD] Mythos- the fresh maker

[MarshaV]

   “Seeing alone carries us to greater levels of moral development.  Through seeing, by and by, we need not live merely by rules.  Indeed, to completely mature morally as human beings, we must learn to operate in a place where rules will often be insufficient.

   “The saint simply lives by seeing.  When we meet such a person, we’re sometimes awestruck.  We see what they do, and then we start to write down the rules that seem to describe it.  It looks like we ought to not lie, not steal, not kill, and so forth.  

   “Yes, the saintly person doesn’t lie, we’ve noticed.  But why don’t they?  Is it because they think it’s against the rules?  Because they think it’s evil?  Because they fear punishment?  Because they don’t want to look bad in the eyes of others?  Not really.  Rather, they avoid lying, stealing, and killing because they see the natural repercussions of such behavior.  They see that it leads to confusion, to suffering --- to duhkha.  They don’t do it because they see the Whole scene. 

     (Hagen, Steve, ‘Buddhism: Plain and Simple’, pp. 087-088)