Behaving morally, we’ll be more free
as we break away from the restrictions
imposed on us due to our bad karmas.
We’re all prisoners, all confined to life in a cell. Some cells feel spacious and luxurious with walls of sparkling glass so clear we’re not even aware of their presence. Others are cramped and barren with rusting, impregnable bars cold to the touch that, for all their decrepitude, powerfully encircle us.
Our guards and fellow inmates may be attentive and understanding, eager to lessen our suffering. Or they may be mean-spirited and vengeful, intent on making us pay for our offenses, real or perceived. But whatever our current cell’s conditions, once we leave our cell, it will only be to enter another one.
The way to escape?
When alone or with others, look around our cell and the surrounding ones and determine all the ways we can think, speak, and behave honorably and selflessly. And then do so. This will make us more at ease in our current cell. In the future, we will leave all the cells behind, leave samsara.