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Dhamma is Universal

As i embark on a new chapter of my remaining current life coming to Sri Lanka, i chance upon a dated recording of the 40th Uruguay President; José Mujica. Two quotes from the interview caught my attention...
"Either you are happy with very little, free of all that extra luggage because you have happiness inside, or you do not get anywhere.
I am not advocating poverty, I'm advocating Sobriety. But since we have invented a consumer society, the economy must constantly grow, if it fails to increase, it's a tragedy. We have invented a mountain of superfluous needs. Shopping for new, discarding the old...that's a waste of our lives. When i buy something, when you buy something, you are not paying money for it; you are paying with the hours of life. You had to spend time earning that money. The difference that life is one thing money cannot buy; Life only gets shorter. And it is pitiful to waste one's life and freedom in that way."
"Human Nature is constructed in such a way that u end up learning much more from suffering than from a life of ease; the does not mean i am recommending a quest for suffering, or anything like that.
But this is what i want to make people understand; u always pick yourself up again. It is worth it starting from Zero again; once or a thousand times, as long as you are still alive. That's the biggest lesson in life."
He has been described as "the world's 'humblest' president" due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs [Source] 
But what really impressed upon me is although he probably had little exposure to the Dhamma, his views, lifestyle and outlook in Life just reflects someone who has understood the 4 Noble Truths
A rare human; least of all politician in this Dhamma-deterioration era.

 

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