user24190: What does Buddhism say about waiting vs acting?
For some context, I quit my corporate job a year ago because it felt so much against my skin to be working for aggressive profit. Since then I have pursued things I have wanted to do - passions (things that I dreamed of doing), volunteering (helping others) and I have continued my meditation practice.
I am quite content with my relationships, the state of my mind, my body and my meditation practise. But for some reason, I haven't yet found a job that I feel drawn towards and I am going through my savings fast now which causes me concerns.
I don't want to be acting on the fear of going broke, I also don't want to go back to my old job. I am often faced with the conflict of waitings vs acting. How does Buddhism prescribe navigating through such a conundrum?

user24191: The top lay disciple (Agga-upasaka) Citta Gahapati had chosen a Celibate life without using money. Even the Ghatikara Upasaka in Kassapa Buddhas time made living by exchanging goods without using money while being a Brahmacari.
For the people who are unable to live such a life there are suttas that worth reading to get advises and clues about the proper Upasaka life while earning money.
Eg: Mangala, Sigalovada, Upasaka, Alavaka ..etc.

user43: In Zen and Vajrayana subcategories of Mahayana Buddhism, acting vs waiting is a core problem to be solved by the student as she or he transitions from studying Buddhism as a theory to mastering the Dharma in practice.
You see, the key point of Dharma is realization of suchness (tathata), and a key aspect of suchness is being authentic in one's relationships with the world. To be authentic requires finding one's so-called true self or true nature (which is usually stuck waiting), liberating it from mental and emotional obscurations, and nurturing its power to act.
As my Zen Master loved to repeat, trying to find a perfect job is "the hunting dog mind" - running around, panting, chasing the squirrels, getting itself exhausted in the hope of catching something worthwhile. Instead, he taught, the perfect job grows (right where you are, wherever you are!) from your authentic action, which itself grows from the root of having found oneself.
When you act from your authentic core, the crude dichotomy of action vs inaction no longer applies. At that point there's no waiting for the next thing to find you, nor hunting dog mind - there is authentic expression of truth unfolding moment by moment, and the truth never fails, even if you don't yet know where it is taking you.

24190: <p>What does Buddhism say about waiting vs acting?</p>
<p>For some context, I quit my corporate job a year ago because it felt so much against my skin to be working for aggressive profit. Since then I have pursued things I have wanted to do - passions (things that I dreamed of doing), volunteering (helping others) and I have continued my meditation practice.</p>
<p>I am quite content with my relationships, the state of my mind, my body and my meditation practise. But for some reason, I haven't yet found a job that I feel drawn towards and I am going through my savings fast now which causes me concerns.</p>
<p>I don't want to be acting on the fear of going broke, I also don't want to go back to my old job. I am often faced with the conflict of waitings vs acting. How does Buddhism prescribe navigating through such a conundrum?</p>
 24191: <p>The top lay disciple (Agga-upasaka) Citta Gahapati had chosen a Celibate life without using money. Even the Ghatikara Upasaka in Kassapa Buddhas time made living by exchanging goods without using money while being a Brahmacari.</p>
<p>For the people who are unable to live such a life there are suttas that worth reading to get advises and clues about the proper Upasaka life while earning money.</p>
<p>Eg: Mangala, Sigalovada, Upasaka, Alavaka ..etc.</p>
 43: <p>In Zen and Vajrayana subcategories of Mahayana Buddhism, acting vs waiting is a core problem to be solved by the student as she or he transitions from studying Buddhism as a theory to mastering the Dharma in practice.</p>
<p>You see, the key point of Dharma is realization of suchness (tathata), and a key aspect of suchness is being authentic in one's relationships with the world. To be authentic requires finding one's so-called true self or true nature (which is usually stuck <em>waiting</em>), liberating it from mental and emotional obscurations, and nurturing its power <em>to act</em>.</p>
<p>As my Zen Master loved to repeat, trying to find a perfect job is &quot;the hunting dog mind&quot; - running around, panting, chasing the squirrels, getting itself exhausted in the hope of catching something worthwhile. Instead, he taught, the perfect job grows (right where you are, wherever you are!) from your authentic action, which itself grows from the root of having found oneself.</p>
<p>When you act from your authentic core, the crude dichotomy of action vs inaction no longer applies. At that point there's no waiting for the next thing to find you, nor hunting dog mind - there is authentic expression of truth unfolding moment by moment, and the truth never fails, even if you don't yet know where it is taking you.</p>
