Ecclesiastes 3:22 · World English Bible
Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?
Pāmojja: Gladness Pāmojja is the light gladness that rises from honest effort. Take up "rejoice in his own works" and the joy sits inside the working, in the hands themselves, not stored up as a prize at the far end.
From the Buddhism reading below.
The same verse, read by 2 traditions.
BUDDHISM
Pāmojja: Gladness Pāmojja is the light gladness that rises from honest effort. Take up "rejoice in his own works" and the joy sits inside the working, in the hands themselves, not stored up as a prize at the far end. The task need not be grand for this; sweeping a floor or mending a fence carries it as well as any great labor. Like the warmth of wiping your hands after a full day's work, the gladness comes from the doing while you are still in it.
Kammassakatā: Ownership of one's deeds Kammassakatā means your deeds are yours in a way nothing outside you can be. Hear "his own works... that is his portion," and let "portion" slide from an inherited slice of land or purse over to the doing itself, since your actions are the one estate fully your own. Titles change hands and coins scatter, yet the deed done stays with the one who did it. As with any field, you harvest what your own hands have sown.
Santuṭṭhi: Contentment Santuṭṭhi is the quiet ease of finding your share enough. "That is his portion" turns into an invitation: receive the plate set before you and eat it with relish, rather than craning after the next person's or after tomorrow's. Chasing a larger helping, a man lets his own go cold, while contentment warms both hands on the bowl he already holds.
Sandiṭṭhika: Visible here and now Sandiṭṭhika points to good you can see working right here in this life. The joy of the day's labor stays in plain sight and within reach, while whatever comes "after him" waits behind a closed door. A lamp lights the room you stand in and leaves the hallway beyond it dark, so warm yourself at the light already in hand.
Maraṇasati: Mindfulness of death Maraṇasati is holding your own death softly in view. No one can lead a person "to see what shall be after him," since death is the wall the eyes cannot climb over. Held gently, that wall sweetens rather than sours the hours standing before it. Knowing the sun will set, you finish the work by the daylight you are given and let the rest go.
AWARENESS
Delight in what the hands are doing right now is the whole reward, and there is no other coming later. The mind postpones, promising joy after the harvest, after the result, after death, and the postponing is the misery.
No one gets to see what follows him. That ignorance is not a wound but a freedom to be here totally, since nothing can be stored or guaranteed beyond this hour. A man singing while he works has already received his portion; a man working grimly toward a payoff he will not live to see has traded the only life available for an idea.
Buddhism lens
Where in your day is the gladness sitting in your hands already, waiting for you to feel it?
Do the work that is yours and let go of what the fruit will be. The doing belongs to you, the outcome never did.
The good is in acting well right now, not in what anyone makes of it afterward. The present action is the whole of what you hold.
You are not required to finish the work, and you are not free to walk away from it. Your share is the part your own hands can reach.
Free · No account needed
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store
Buddhism
Indian Guru