The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
27 January 2023
Student: If people cheat us, how should we react to it?
Than Ajahn: Well, think of it as giving it to charity. You give dāna to that person. Then you’ll feel happy and won’t have any problems with that person.
Student: Ajahn said about being cheated by others and we should see it as dāna. Than Ajahn always managed to change my perspective quickly and help me feel better. I never thought about it that way because usually I would feel bad if someone cheated my money. By thinking about it as dāna, I feel good right away, ‘Oh! It’s okay.’
Than Ajahn: Why should you lose twice? You lost your money already. Don’t lose your mind.
You can protect your mind from going crazy by thinking of it as giving to a charity because you’re not going to get the money back anyway, right?
Student: I never have that kind of wisdom to think that way. After you switched my perspective about it, I feel good right away. I just have to change the way I look at things.
Than Ajahn: If you look at everything as anattā (everything doesn’t belong to you), then you just return it to the owner, that’s all. The money doesn’t belong to you. The person who took your money is the real owner of the money. That’s wisdom. You can look at it this way too. Or, you owed somebody money in your past lives, now that person come to take it back from you.
You pay back your debt.
Student: At that moment when our mind feel good, do we turn it into good karma for ourselves?
Than Ajahn: That’s making merits. You are doing charity right away. You’re forced to do charity. [all laugh!]
Student: So in that instant moment when we changed, instead of getting angry, we become happy as we think of it in this [wisdom] way of thinking, then this is merit.
Than Ajahn: Yes. It’s like two sides of the same coin. One side is Dhamma, the other side is defilement.
So which side do you get when you toss the coin? If you get the defilement side, you get angry, you get dukkha. If you get the Dhamma side, you get peace and happiness. So it depends on how you look at it. If you look at it as ‘This is my money. I’ve been cheated,’ then this is defilement. But if you say, ‘This is not my money, this is your money for me to give it to charity,’ then this is Dhamma. Because you’ll lose it anyway when you die. You are not going to take your money with you when you die.
Student: And this is also the type of dāna that the Buddha was referring to.
Than Ajahn: That’s right. Dāna is to let go of your attachment to money, to your possession.
Not just letting go of your attachment to money, but to everything. The Buddha said ‘Give up your money, give up your organs, give up your life, to get the Dhamma’. In order to get the Dhamma, you have to give up everything. You won’t get angry when you lose your money. You won’t feel sad when you have to lose your eyes or your arms. You won’t feel sad when you have to lose your body because you are doing charity. Because everything doesn’t belong to you anyway, right?
Student: It sounds so simple, but I just don’t have that kind of wisdom.
Than Ajahn: To have wisdom, you need upekkhā. If you don’t have upekkhā, you can’t let go.
When you have upekkhā, you’ll see that as soon as you become attach to something, your upekkhā will be gone. So you want to protect your upekkhā by letting go of what you are going to lose. So you have to practice a lot of mindfulness and samādhi, you will then be able to apply wisdom.
“Dhamma in English, Jun 28, 2022.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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