Not got by wishing
Today, catch one wish and ask what practice, if any, would actually lead there.
- Read · about 2 minutes
“Householder, these five things, which are likable, desirable, and agreeable are hard to get in the world.…Long life,beauty,happiness,fame,and heaven.…And I say that these five things are not got by supplication or wishing for them.If they were, who would lack them?…A noble disciple who wants to be happy ought not pray for it, or hope for it, or pine for it.Instead, they should practice the way that leads to happiness.AN 5.43 · “Likable” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
A householder is told that five things, long life, beauty, happiness, fame, and heaven, are likable and desirable but hard to get, and that they are not got by supplication or wishing. Someone who wants to be happy should not pray, hope, or pine for it but practice the way that leads to happiness.
In everyday life
'Householder' means a layperson living an ordinary home life, and 'noble disciple' you can read as someone practicing this teaching. 'Supplication' means pleading for something. The passage is not against wanting good things; it calls them likable and desirable. Its point is about method. Wishing, hoping, and pining are not a way to get them. Practice is. Heaven is named in the list, and this lesson leaves it there. Take happiness, which is where most of us live. It is possible to spend an evening wishing you were less tired, less lonely, less behind, and go to bed having done nothing about any of it. The text asks a blunt question back: if wishing worked, who would lack anything? Today's sit is about arriving. You cannot wish yourself settled either. You take a seat, and let the body arrive. Then carry that same shift, from wishing to one small step, into the day.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Arriving and Settling
Sit upright on a chair or cushion, hands resting in your lap. Read each cue as it appears; between cues you may close your eyes or lower your gaze.
- Live · during your day
When you catch yourself thinking 'if only' about something today, name one small step that actually leads in that direction, and take it before the day ends, however tiny.
- Reflect · this evening
What did you wish for today, and what, if anything, did you do toward it?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.