At this point I find I am getting too old to struggle as much as I have to develop a more sustainable contemplative lifestyle that I had been leading. So, I am heading back to Prescott, AZ, where I know that I can sustain myself quite well by farming the food banks, and dumpster diving my fuel. I also do not plan to drive more than 100 miles from there again, and plan to spend my last few days here.
After some research I believe that I might be able to retain all of the useful resources from this failed project and store them in a storage room, which I plan to use as a workshop to further the development of a mobile sustainable hermitage.
I do think, especially if I was younger, that living on a small boat, such as a dory, that is equipped with oar locks, oars, and a small sail; one could ply lagoons, and the coastal regions and live quite well foraging and fishing. However, one would have had to "put the burden down," and put to rest one's cravings, to live as an island unto oneself. Such a lifestyle could be lived anywhere on earth . In fact I believe it was this lifestyle along the coastal regions where we evolved. Diogenes lived such a lifestyle.
Bhāra Sutta (SN 22.22): The Burden
translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
At Savatthi. "Monks, I will teach you the burden, the carrier of the burden, the taking up of the burden, and the casting off of the burden. [1] Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "And which is the burden? 'The five clinging-aggregates,' it should be said. Which five? Form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling as a clinging-aggregate, perception as a clinging-aggregate, fabrications as a clinging-aggregate, consciousness as a clinging-aggregate. This, monks, is called the burden.
"And which is the carrier of the burden? 'The person,' it should be said. This venerable one with such a name, such a clan-name. This is called the carrier of the burden.
"And which is the taking up of the burden? The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming. This is called the taking up of the burden.
"And which is the casting off of the burden? The remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving. This is called the casting off of the burden."
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-gone, the Teacher, said further:
A burden indeed are the five aggregates, and the carrier of the burden is the person. Taking up the burden in the world is stressful. Casting off the burden is bliss. Having cast off the heavy burden and not taking on another, pulling up craving, along with its root, one is free from hunger, totally unbound.
Maha-Parinibbana Sutta (DN-16)
33. "Therefore, ânanda, be an island unto yourself, refuge unto yourself, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.
"And how, ânanda, is a bhikkhu an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge?
34. "When he dwells contemplating the body in the body, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world; when he dwells contemplating feelings in feelings, the mind in the mind, and mental objects in mental objects, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world, then, truly, he is an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; having the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge.
35. "Those bhikkhus of mine, ânanda, who now or after I am gone, abide as an island unto themselves, as a refuge unto themselves, seeking no other refuge; having the Dhamma as their island and refuge, seeking no other refuge: it is they who will become the highest, [20] if they have the desire to learn."
