A Burning House

There is a story in The Lotus Sutra of a man who is walking by an extremely dilapidated house. His children not understanding the danger become excited and run into the house ignoring their father’s pleas on the way. While in there the house suddenly burst into fire. The father calls out to his children and offers them toys if they come out. As they reach their father the children ask for the joys they have been promised. The father, who is also a magician creates gifts even better than those they were promised, and the children are saved.

The burning house is this world, and the illusion that anything here will be the source of our happiness. Nothing here will suffice if objectified. Not children or money. Not sex or fame. No accomplishment and no relationship if relied on to be the source of happiness will fulfill. In fact the opposite is true. Sex is fun and one of the best things in life, but if objectified will be come just another thing that creates greed, with no real joy.

I know that like many I bought into the idea that love would bring me happiness. Even love, if objectified becomes another thing to attempt to control. We begin to fear that those we love we fail us and attempt to control them. We attempt to force them to be what we would wish and pretend we are the person they want us to be rather than living our truth and allowing them to live ours. 

All of this is the good news, because we do not get joy from what we do or from those we love. When we enjoy we bring joy from our heart to the world. With joy we can see the value of things as they are, taste the delicious flavor of food, love our spouse, and allow our children to find their own beauty with our support. 

The burning house is this world if we insist that it be what we wish. When we objectify the world and see it as a means to an end we will throw away our standards to ensure we get our way. If we do we find that what we give up is worth far more than we receive. In living from our true values we find we had enough all along.. Peace.