“The first priority is to make yourself happy. Second is to make other people happy if you can.”

The teachings of Ajahn Suchart Abhijato

“The first priority is to make yourself happy. Second is to make other people happy if you can.”

Male:  When I saw some starving Africans on TV, I was thinking whether one day they could become Buddhists?

Than Ajahn:  I don’t know. It is a matter of chance or kamma.

Male:  You eat one meal a day. I eat more than that but what if you have nothing at all to eat (like some people in Africa).

Than Ajahn:  If you have nothing to eat, you starve, then you die. Even if you have a lot of food to eat, you’ll still die, there’s really no difference. 

Sooner or later we’ll die. What make us what we are today is our past kamma. Our past kamma sent us to be reborn as Thais, as Englishmen or as Africans. It’s up to our kamma.

Once sent by your kamma, you have to play the part that you were given. If you were born as an African and if you were supposed to starve, then you would have to starve. But some smart Africans can run away from starvation like becoming track stars and they earn a lot of money by running in the Boston marathon. This is also kamma.

So you don’t have to worry about things happening in this world or about people in this world. This is how kamma works. If you try to do something about it, you might be able to contribute a little bit but you cannot save the whole world. You may only be able to save one or two persons. This is the way things work, like the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. You don’t want to make the sun rise in the West and set in the East because you can’t do it. You just have to accept things as they are.

What is important is how you react to things that you come into contact with. According to Buddhism, the best way is to leave everything alone. Do what you can but don’t be frustrated when you can’t do what you want to do because it means that you have over-reached your capabilities.

The first priority is to make yourself happy. Second is to make other people happy if you can. If in trying to make other people happy and you become sad when they’re not happy, then you’re doing it wrong. Like I am trying to make you happy and I am happy. I am not frustrated if you cannot be happy, it’s your business. I’ve done my part and I’ve told you how to be happy. If you cannot do it, what can I do?

So this is what you should do. Firstly, you should take care of yourself physically and mentally. Secondly, when you are well and happy, both physically and mentally, then you try to help other people to be happy physically and mentally too. But if you can’t make other people happy, you don’t feel bad, you don’t feel sad because sometimes it’s not possible.

With regards to our mind, we still have plenty of work to do but with regards to our body, we’ve plenty of things already. 

We’ll need a lot more work to take care of our mind because our mind is still restless, our mind is still seeking and wanting. We want to stop our mind from wanting and seeking. We want to stop the mind from having to be reborn.

Rebirth is not good because once you are reborn, you will be accompanied by aging, sickness, death and separation. No matter how well you are born, like as a prince or princess, you’ll still have to get old, get sick and die, you’ll still have to be separated from your loved ones. So it is better not to be reborn, like the Buddha. The Buddha discovered the cause of rebirth: they are craving and desiring. Once he gotten rid of his craving and desire, he didn’t have to come back and be reborn again.

The way to stop your craving and desiring is to meditate and to calm your mind. Once your mind is calm, your mind is happy and feels fulfilled. The mind doesn’t think that it needs to have anything else. When your mind is not calm, your mind will constantly want for something all the time. No matter how much you can get, your mind will never feel full. 

You’ll always want for more but getting more things is not the way to make the mind feel fulfilled. In order to make the mind feel fulfilled, you have to stop your mind from desiring and craving and you have to do it by way of meditation.

Male:  When you can’t put your mind focus on meditation, what happens?

Than Ajahn:  You’ll just keep looking for things to make you happy and no matter how much you get, you’ll still not be happy, you’ll still want for more. And when you die, you’ll have to come back and get more things and do the same things over and over again.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g