In this talk Venerable Thubten Tarpa explores the monastic approach to consumption and resource use.
Monastics, she explains, prioritize fulfilling basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, and medicine while avoiding excessive choices and material possessions.
This simplicity creates a favorable environment for meditation and spiritual growth.
Thubten Tarpa emphasizes that monastics aim to minimize resource use, considering the long-term implications on future lives and spiritual aspirations.
By maintaining ethical discipline and rejecting involvement in businesses or social activities, monastics can develop meditative stability, known as shamata.
She highlights the importance of contentment and realistic expectations, which help counter dissatisfaction and endless desires.
Thubten Tarpa also encourages reflection on the role of desire and attachment in shaping consumption habits, promoting a deeper understanding of monastic simplicity.
