Blessing Four:
Living in an Amenable Location
Living in an Amenable Location
A. INTRODUCTION
A.1 Amenability of Location in general
Generally speaking, an appropriate or amenable location is one which facilitates success in what we set out to do. If we are a fisherman then it might be a place on the coast closest to the fish breeding grounds. If we are in business then it might be a place with all the hustle and bustle of the crowds where our business will prosper. And what if we are monks? Monks need a place with special characteristics — a place that is both peaceful and quiet but not too far from the homesteads of the village. For soldiers, an amenable location is a strategic one. In conclusion, each and every profession and activity has its own appropriate location for facilitating success. The word ‘location’ can equally well be applied to the microcosm the setting of a particular activity as it can to the macrocosm. Even if you are sitting at a dining table, sitting at one side of the table might be more or less amenable than sitting at the other. The location that most concerns a person or his activities is his immediate environment or neighbourhood- but the more distant environments of his locality or country also have a part to play.
A.1 Amenability of Location in general
Generally speaking, an appropriate or amenable location is one which facilitates success in what we set out to do. If we are a fisherman then it might be a place on the coast closest to the fish breeding grounds. If we are in business then it might be a place with all the hustle and bustle of the crowds where our business will prosper. And what if we are monks? Monks need a place with special characteristics — a place that is both peaceful and quiet but not too far from the homesteads of the village. For soldiers, an amenable location is a strategic one. In conclusion, each and every profession and activity has its own appropriate location for facilitating success. The word ‘location’ can equally well be applied to the microcosm the setting of a particular activity as it can to the macrocosm. Even if you are sitting at a dining table, sitting at one side of the table might be more or less amenable than sitting at the other. The location that most concerns a person or his activities is his immediate environment or neighbourhood- but the more distant environments of his locality or country also have a part to play.
A.2 Amenability in Dhamma practice
The sort of location to be examined in this Blessing is the location amenable to refining the mind or put another way, the location that facilitates the depth by which we can understand the Teachings of the Lord Buddha. In such an amenable location, even though a person may initially lack wisdom, he can make a success of his life. On the contrary, in an unamenable location, even though he may have a high IQ and be capable, given no support, there is no way for him to achieve his full potential. Even though someone might get a Ph.D., if he is marooned on a desert island, all his knowledge goes to waste. You might be the world’s greatest tactician, but if you are forced to live in the forest with primitive tribal people, all you knowledge will go to waste.
The factors that mark an amenable location also apply to appropriate areas to live. The Lord Buddha highlighted four factors which make a location amenable — these are:
1. Amenable location
2. Amenable food
3. Amenable neighbours
4. Amenable Dhamma teachings
A.3 Amenable is not the same as materially prosperous
In many materially prosperous countries, life can be physically convenient. Often the infrastructure is well developed. Employment is easy to find and it is easy for residents to save up their wealth. On the surface, such a country might look attractive to live in, but one is wont to forget that although material poverty might be hard to find, spiritual poverty might be rife (see @B.4 below). In such a country, the opportunity and the means to develop spiritual maturity might be very hard to find. The chance to accrue merit might be almost nonexistant. Residents in such countries think only of work from the time they get up in the morning to the time they go to sleep at night. Thoughts of generosity, self-discipline or meditation might be the last thing on their minds. Even for those who have some spiritual calling, often they can find no-one to give them useful advice. To live in such a country might be life wasted from the point of view of spiritual development. It would be better to make some sacrifices of material convenience in choosing the place you want to live, in order to live in an environment of spiritual richness — which is truly an amenable environment for one’s spiritual progress.
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