The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
16 April 2023
Question: How should an ideal Buddhist spend his/her day?
Than Ajahn: Ideally, a Buddhist should:
1) Donate to charity everyday, give to charity of his/her own choice;
2) Keep the five precepts at all times;
3) Read Dhamma books, study the Dhamma teachings or listen to Dhamma talks; and
4) Meditate as much as possible, whenever possible. These are how an ideal Buddhist should spend his/her day if it’s possible.
Question: Many people say they practice mettā meditation by simply reciting “May all beings be happy.”
But it is extremely difficult to put it into practice as in our day-to-day lives we come across many situations that would disrupt our peace of mind. Certain people really get on our nerves (make us angry).
Could you kindly elaborate on mettā meditation and how it should be done in order to keep our mind free of hatred and angry feelings?
Than Ajahn: Well, reciting ‘May all beings be happy’ is just a reminder that it is our goal, that we should try to make people happy as much as possible. The Buddha said that the way to make people happy are:
i) You have to be forgiving. If somebody has done something bad to you, you should forgive the person.
Don’t hold any grudges.
ii) Whatever you do, you shouldn’t do something that can adversely affect other people, whether it’s intentionally or not intentionally. Don’t cause any trouble for other people.
iii) You should not hurt others, physically or mentally.
iv) You should give others happiness. The way to give happiness to other people is to behave like a Santa Claus. If you are a Santa Claus, people will like you because you bring gifts and good things to people. Giving things that people would love to have. If they like money, give them money. If they like a good company, give them good company. Whatever people want, if you can give it to them, give it to them.
These are the four ways of showing loving kindness (mettā)
Question: Could you give us a few tips to lead a happy life by helping others, criticising others less, and concentration only on good thoughts?
Than Ajahn: Well, you basically have to be happy yourself before you can make other people happy!
Like I said, you should practise charity, keep the five precepts, study the Dhamma teachings, and meditate.
If you can do these, then you will be able to direct your mind to help other people and you will be happy at the same time. You wouldn’t want to criticise others and would only think of good thoughts.
So these are what you should do: first, you should make yourself happy by doing the practice of charity, morality, and meditation; next, once you are happy, then you will have good thoughts. Then you will be happy to help other people.
Question: The Buddha had said it is okay to consume meat if the following three conditions are fulfilled:
i) if you have not seen the animal being killed for you;
ii) if you have not heard that the animal is killed for your consumption;
iii) if you don’t have even the slightest doubt that the animal is killed for you. Anyway, the meat industry is thriving because there are enough consumers to meet the supply. If there is no demand there is no need to supply meat. Anyway, those who consume meat bought from a meat stall (supermarket or wherever) will not commit a sin because none of the above conditions is violated. But the animals are being killed because there is a collective demand.
How would you justify this according to the teachings of the Buddha?
Than Ajahn: By the Law of Kamma. If you did bad kamma in your past life, you would be reborn, sooner or later, in your future life and be killed by others. If you had killed animals for food in your past life, you might be reborn as an animal in your future life and then you would be killed for food by others. So this is the Law of Kamma. If you don’t want to be killed by others, don’t kill others.
Question: Non-Buddhists often argue that the Buddha was not against consuming meat.
Would you enlighten our society on this?
Than Ajahn: The Buddha was not concerned about what you eat. The Buddha was concerned about what you do. So if you don’t kill animals for food (or ask someone to kill them for you) that is good enough for him. If you want to eat meat or eat vegetables, that is your business.
But you must not kill for food. As far as eating food is concerned, you can eat anything you want if it is on the table. As long as you did not kill any animal or made them be killed for you, you can eat what is served on the table.
Question: Is it a sin to sterilise pets or stray animals (deprive the animal of the ability to produce cubs)?
There are even free of charge sterilization campaigns in many countries to reduce the stray animal population.
Than Ajahn: It is not a sin because you did not kill anybody or animals. Sterilisation of humans or animals is not considered to be a sin or bad kamma. This doesn’t break the first precepts (abstain from killing) of the five precepts.
Question: In Sri Lanka people usually offer dāna (alms) to temple’s bhikkhus. Unlike monastery’s bhikkhus, there are certain temple’s bhikkhus who fail to adhere to good moral conduct. Some would even go after material gains. So some laymen are of the view that it is useless to offer alms to such bhikkhus. Is giving alms or worshipping bhikkhus who had failed to adhere to good conduct, not a meritorious deed?
Should we avoid offering alms to bad bhikkhus?
Than Ajahn: Well, it is not good to support bad people, whether they are bhikkhus or not. But if they need help, like if they are starving, it is still considered to be a good Buddhist to give food to people who are starving even if they are bad people. Because food is a basic necessity of life. You can give basic necessities of life to anybody who need them. But if you want to support someone, you make sure that he/she is a good person, someone who will do good things for others. You do not want to support someone who hurts other people.
So you have to separate the two matters apart:
(1) Giving necessities to anybody is okay. Even if it’s giving food to tigers or snake, it’s okay. If they are starving, you could feed them, but you should put them in the cage so that they don’t hurt other people.
That is why the authority put bad people in jail, but they still feed those who are in jail. So feeding or helping other people in need is considered to be a meritorious deed.
(2) But once you know that the person is no longer depending on your help, and if you know that the person is a bad person, then you shouldn’t do anything else for that person.
The act of giving regardless of whom you give it to is considered to be charity. It’s a good action which can result in good kamma/good consequence. So don’t use this (that someone is bad) as an excuse for not giving to charity. If you know that someone is a bad person, you can choose to give charity to other good people or good organizations.
Question: There are Buddhists who do not believe that there is a rebirth after this birth. How can one convince them that there is rebirth? How to prove it?
Than Ajahn: Well, you have to convince yourself first before you can convince other people. If you can’t convince yourself, you cannot convince other people.
In order to prove it, you have to meditate. You have to practise meditation until you get to jhāna, then you will see the separation of body and mind.
Then you can understand the principle of rebirth. Otherwise, you will not be able to know what rebirth is.
So if you cannot convince yourself, don’t try to convince other people. Leave it to someone else to do it.
Leave it to those who have already convinced themselves that there is rebirth to do it.
Question: Do such people commit a sin by being doubtful of the teachings of the Buddha?
Than Ajahn: They don’t commit a sin. They just block themselves from the opportunity to learn from a very wise person like the Buddha. They prevent themselves from learning from the Buddha because they don’t believe in the Buddha. It’s not a sin. They are just missing out on a good opportunity because it’s extremely hard either to see a Buddha or listen to his Dhamma teachings. Those who have access to the teachings of the Buddha could gain a lot from the teachings such as being free from suffering forever.
A person who does not have faith in the Buddha will not want to study the teachings of the Buddha so that person will not be able to access to the knowledge that will liberate him/her from suffering, from the cycle of rebirth.
Question: Can Arahants talk to gods? Are gods and demons visible to Arahants?
Than Ajahn: You have to be a psychic to be able to contact the spiritual beings which you called them ‘gods’. But in Buddhism, we called them ‘devas’. These are spiritual beings or the mind without a body.
When the body dies, then the mind exists alone. We call this mind ‘a spiritual being’. If a person has psychic power, he can contact or has conversations with spiritual beings. He doesn’t have to be an arahant in order to be able to have psychic powers because psychic power comes at the level of samādhi. If you can enter into upacāra samādhi, then you will have (some) psychic powers. Once you have psychic powers to communicate/get in touch with the spiritual beings then you can do that. You don’t have to be an arahant. Some arahants don’t have any psychic power, so they won’t be able to communicate with spiritual beings.
Question: There are many Buddhists in Sri Lanka who would give priority to horoscopes when arriving at crucial decisions related to their lives. Should a true Buddhist follow astrology?
Than Ajahn: No. A true Buddhist should follow common sense! Common sense is what the Buddha teaches—this is wisdom. This is common sense: cause and effect. If you do good action, you’ll get good result/consequences. If you do bad action, you will get bad consequences. So it doesn’t depend on whether that day is the day to do good action or not.
The day does not matter. It is the action that counts.
So if you do good action, you don’t have to consult the astrology, you can do it every day. It is the same way with doing bad action, like robbing a bank. You don’t have to consult astrology because robbing a bank is bad action so it’s going to give you bad consequences, it’s going to be bad for you. Even if you are successful in robbing the bank, you are still putting your mind into a lower realm of existence. So in Buddhism, we only consult the Law of Kamma, the consequence of kamma.
Question: Excessive stress and fear of facing the future (at the university level in particular) sometimes compel the students even to take their own lives. Similar incidents were reported from Sri Lanka recently.
Could you enlighten the youth on how to cope with stress and tackle life’s issues irrespective of their religious backgrounds? What should be done to relieve stress and anxiety?
Than Ajahn: Well, if they know how to meditate, that is the best way to relieve stress.
Whenever they feel stressed, just keep reciting the mantra ‘Buddho Buddho.’ After a while, maybe after five minutes or ten minutes, they will feel better.
As far as how to cope with stress and how to tackle life’s issues, they have to learn the fact of life, that life is not certain. Life is anicca. Everything is changing all the time. So don’t put too many expectations on anything. Take things as they come.
Hope for the best and do your best. Expect for the worst. If you can do these, then you won’t have any stress. Take things as they come, because you cannot force things to happen the way you want it to happen. Like I said, ‘Life is a buffet, not an ala carte’.
“Dhamma in English, Oct 4, 2022.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
- - - - - -
Questions were submitted by a journalist from Sri Lanka and she also transcribed and published them on Sunday Observer website:
https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2022/10/09/impact/hope-best-expect-worst
No comments:
Post a Comment