The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
3 November 2024
Self Reliance.
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, and 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: Attãhi attano nãtho, 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 skilful 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 attãhi attano nãtho; 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.
“Sensual Pleasures are Painful.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
