waters with no levee to contain them. Thus you will be able to
avoid sinking deep into the great quagmire of unbridled love.”
Questioner: “What should a husband and wife, who have
lived together happily in this life and wish to remain together in
the next life, do to insure that they’ll be reborn together in the
future? Is it enough that they both hold the same desire for meet-
ing again in future lives?”
Ãcariya Mun: “That desire merely creates the prospect of
achieving one’s intended objective; but if that desire is not accom-
panied by concrete action it will not bring the expected results.
Take the example of someone who desires to be rich. If that person
is too lazy to go out and earn his wealth, then there is no way
he’ll ever be rich. To stand any chance of success, an intention
must be supported by a concerted effort toward reaching that
goal. It’s the same with a husband and wife who wish to maintain
their loving relationship, living together happily in each succes-
sive life. To avoid being separated, their viewpoints must be anal-
ogous, and they must remain faithful to each other. They must
refrain from taking advantage of each other because this destroys
their mutual trust and leads to dissatisfaction. They must cher-
ish virtue, behave properly, and trust each other. By establishing
a mutual understanding about their partnership and then making
a sincere effort to foster their future together by doing what is
beneficial to it, they can expect to fulfill that desire for it is well
within their power to do so. On the other hand, should the oppo-
site hold true – with either the husband being good while the
wife is bad, or vice versa, with one or the other doing only that
which pleases him or her – then no matter how many hundreds
of resolutions they make together, they will all come to naught.
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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