SIPS Log #2

After studying monastic buddhism, Greed has become more evident to me. The buddhist monks live lives without greed, spending their days with the four necessities-food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. In addition, they can also dispense these necessities to the community, and all the while, they are enlightened.

This overturns Maslow. Maslow believed it was through fulfilling all the levels that we achieved self actualization. The monks seem to have already achieved self actualization without expanding much past the first level. I would say that greed isn't the need to conform to the levels, but instead comes with the other levels. Once we begin to be concerned of other's perceptions of us, and expand beyond what we actually need, we become greedy. In that sense, the monastic lifestyle, which isolates the initiates from a larger sphere of the outside world, allows them to remain without greed.

I plan to look into an application of this lifestyle that doesn't involve remaining cloistered.

SIPS Log #1

    When researching why humans have greed, it is vital to look at the issue from more than a philosophical viewpoint. As a human, the researcher can already be aware of the fact that people need things to survive. Humans are not plants. We need more than water, sun, and soil to survive. SO the view turns to psychology, and Maslows heirarchy of needs. According to Maslows origional theory, humans have different levels of needs, some of which we fulfill every day and some of which we spend all our lives trying to fulfill. By this theory, once we accmplish our basic needs, then we strive towards other needs- needs that focus on us becoming a person, of self-actualizing ourselves to be the best of the human race.

   After discovering this, I am curious as to what qualities make us not greedy. The next step in my reaserch will be to study Bhuddist monks, and find what it is that makes them not greedy, and from there derive what makes us greedy.