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Self Reliance |
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Dhamma Talk
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If we are not wise, then we are
deluded. In this world there are two categories of people: the wise and the
deluded. The latter seek after useless things that make them miserable rather
than happy. Most of us belong to the second group because we still have kilesa
such as greed, anger and delusion. Delusion is the cause of our greed and
anger. It prevents us from seeing that greed and anger are like fire. When
they appear they set our heart on fire, becoming restless and agitated. Our
mind is blind and lacks the light of the Dhamma teaching. If we turn to the
Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha to seriously study the Dhamma teaching, we
would be able to separate the cause of happiness from the cause of misery. If
we have the guiding light of Dhamma to lead us, we would live a good and
trouble-free life.
The Buddha said that whether we
are good or bad, happy or miserable, prospering or not, depends on ourselves.
The causes of our happiness and stress are the three kinds of kamma namely,
physical, verbal and mental. Kamma by itself is neutral; it’s neither good nor
bad. Good kamma is called kusala-kamma, skillful and meritorious. Bad kamma is
called akusala-kamma, unskillful and demeritorious. These two kamma are the
primary forces that propel us to go on a certain path, either good or bad. It
is like when we come to the Sukhumvit intersection where we can turn left or
right. If we turn left we would go to Sattaheep, turn right to Pattaya and
Bangkok.
Similarly skillful and
meritorious physical, verbal and mental kamma, will lead us to sugati or happy
destinations; to rebirth in the human world or in the heavens; to happiness; to
magga (path to the cessation of suffering), phala (fruition
of the four transcendent paths), and nibbana (liberation). Unskillful
and demeritorious physical, verbal and mental kamma will lead us to apaya-bhumi
(state of deprivation), to rebirth in hell, to suffering, difficulties and
hardship. This is the absolute truth. Whether the Buddha teaches it to the
world or not, it still is true. It’s the law of nature, just like the sun that
rises in the east and sets in the west. Whether someone tells us about it or
not is not important because that’s the way it is.
The same is true with kamma and
its consequences or vipaka that follow us like our shadow. If we do good kamma,
happiness and prosperity will follow. When we die, we will go to heaven, to
nibbana. If we do bad kamma, unskillful and demeritorious actions, we would go
to apaya-bhumi (state of deprivation) such as hell. No one can help us. The
only thing that can help us is our physical, verbal and mental kamma. The
Buddha says that we can only rely on ourselves. Attahi attano nadho means we
are our own refuge, for better or for worse. The Buddha only points the way.
If we don’t believe him and follow his advice, then it cannot be helped.
A Brahmin once queried the
Buddha about his teaching people to go to heaven, to magga (path to the
cessation of suffering), phala (fruition of the four
transcendent paths), and nibbana (liberation). Why then only some of his
followers could realize nibbana, while the rest couldn’t. In reply the Buddha
asked the Brahmin why some of the people whom the Brahmin gave direction to go
to a certain place never get there. Since the Brahmin knew the way and told
them precisely how to get there, how come only some of them made it while the
rest didn’t. The Brahmin replied that it was beyond his control. He could only
give them the direction, whether they followed his instruction or not was
entirely up to them. If they followed what he told them, they would definitely
get there. The Buddha replied that it was the same with his teaching. Good
kamma, heaven, magga (path to the cessation of suffering), phala (fruition
of the four transcendent paths), and nibbana (liberation) do exist. He
has told them how to get there. Whether they get there or not is entirely up to
them. They have to do it themselves. They are their own refuge. The Buddha
only points the way. If they follow his instruction, not making any wrong
turns, they will definitely get there.
The Buddha teaches that kamma
separates human from animal. It also makes human different from one another.
There are tall, short, intelligent, stupid, diligent, lazy, good and bad
people. It’s because our past kamma are not the same. In our past lives, if we
did good kamma, were diligent and wise, liked to study, liked to listen to the
Dhamma, we would possess these qualities in our present existence. If in our
past lives, we were lazy, hated to go to work, liked to live off others, hated
to go to school, didn’t pay attention to the teachers, didn’t learn anything new
in order to become wiser, we would be like that in this life. Our differences
are mostly due to our past kamma.
We can’t change the past, but we
can change the present. If we are lazy we can train ourselves to become
diligent. We can use diligence to overcome laziness. If we are ignorant, we
should study hard and associate ourselves with the wise and learned, who are
more knowledgeable and wiser. They can teach us, and we can learn from them.
Don’t hang around with the foolish and ignorant. If we do we wouldn’t learn
anything from them. It would be a waste of time. We should instead stick with
the good and the wise, who regularly go to the temples to make merits by giving
to charity and keep the moral precepts. They could influence us to do good. We
can’t change the past, but we can change the present. We can start anew. When
we have done a lot of good kamma today, then good consequences will appear in
the future. Our lives will be better tomorrow, next month, next year and next
life because we are living a virtuous life today.
The Buddha says that we are not
all equal and have our differences. Even siblings are different. Some are
bright, some are not, some are stupid, some are diligent, some are lazy, some
are good, and some are bad. The Buddha divides them into three groups namely,
those who are brighter and more virtuous than their parents; those who are the
same; and those who are worse.
Parents with brighter and
smarter offspring are considered blessed and lucky. They hardly need to be
taught because they are able to learn by themselves or have already acquired
lots of knowledge from their past lives, like the Buddha for example. He
belongs to the smarter and brighter kind. His father couldn’t teach him
anything that he didn’t already know. He even knew more than all of his
teachers. Parents who have offspring who are worse than they are have to be
patient in teaching them about good and bad, right and wrong. If they can
afford it, they should provide their children with quality education. If they
study hard, they might one day become brighter and smarter than their parents.
On the other hand, if they don’t
like to go to school, to study hard and be good students, but like to go out and
have fun, to drink and gamble, parents shouldn’t lose sleep over them, but
should consider that their children are not themselves and vice versa. The
Dhamma teaches that all beings are created by their own kamma. Whatever kamma
they have committed, good or bad, they themselves would reap the consequences.
Although they may be your sons and daughters, they are only so physically, but
not spiritually or mentally. Their spirit or mind has their past kamma as their
real parents. Parents shouldn’t therefore lose sleep over their children’s
failures if they have done their best to raise them to be good and smart. If
they insist on going down the road of moral deprivation, then it’s not your
fault but the consequence of their past kamma. In this regard it can’t be
helped, as the Buddha points out: Attahi attano nadho, we are our own refuge.
Therefore, if we wish to live a
happy and prosperous existence, and avoid all the trials and tribulations of
life, we should keep a close watch on our physical, verbal and mental kamma.
Make sure that they are going in the skillful and meritorious direction. If we
don’t know what they are then we should learn from someone who knows, like all
the well-learned and well-known ajahns. Go to them and learn from them. Then
we will know how to live a happy and prosperous life.
If we are going down the wrong
path, we must resist it with all our might. For example, if we like to go out
and drink, to gamble, to cheat, to lie, to steal, to kill animals like hunting
and fishing, then we must put a stop to all of them. If we have friends who
like doing these things, we should avoid them. Don’t socialize with them
because they would only drag us down. We should therefore consider attahi
attano nadho; we are our own refuge as our guiding principle and put our
physical, verbal and mental kamma into good use in order for us to subsequently
reap their good consequences.
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Source : http://www.kammatthana.com |
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