Lecture
with the Buddhist Studies Group
at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
15 December 1961
Translated by Roderick S. Bucknell
BEAUTY
Physical "beauty" is perhaps easy enough
to understand. Some people make their living out of bodily beauty and are
concerned only about that aspect of beauty. Such people are of two kinds: these
who themselves possess the bodily beauty and those who come to buy it from them.
That is physical beauty, beauty in the body, beauty in skin and flesh. Then
there area people who consider that there is beauty in the possession of wealth,
and there are some who see beauty in knowledge, such as in a high level of
education. Such people are concerned with the body, wealth, or level of
education, but these forms of beauty are all of the physical kind. They are just
what we see when we look without, at the outside.
Real beauty is something within, something in the
mind. If the beauty of Dhamma is present in a person, then that person is
beautiful. That person possesses the beauty of Dhamma in body, speech, and mind.
It has nothing at all to do with external appearance, wealth, or level of
education, though a person who has superficial beauty also, is beautiful in both
ways, both within and without. If you must choose between external beauty and
internal beauty, which kind will you take? Think it over.
GOODNESS
On the question of "goodness" the
materialist is bound to consider that goodness consists in getting. To get this
or that and make it "mine" is good, and everything else is not good.
Let's have a look at this. Let's look at ourselves and at other people, at all
the people in the country, and see what kinds of thing they consider to be good.
They all consider the things which they get and the process of getting them as
good, don't they? Some people just accept as good whatever everyone else accepts
as good. They think, "If everyone else considers such-and-such things as
good, how could I possibly disagree? How could I be the one and only person to
have a different opinion?" The Buddha never thought like that. Even if
everyone in the country disagreed with him, he didn't mind. For him the good had
to be genuinely good; and the genuine anxiety, suffering, and ignorance. The
genuine good had to consist in purity, clarity, and calmness.
Some later schools added to this definition. There
have been numerous schools that have come into vogue and then gone out of vogue
again, just like short-lived fashions in men's shirts. Each introduced its own
particular concept of good. Each was localized to a certain region and lasted
only a short while. At a certain historical period it was considered that the
good consisted in this or in that; and then in the next period it was no longer
thought to be so. These kinds of good are all just deception and delusion; each
of them is a function of the then current level of sophistication.
As for the real and genuine good, that good which
human beings ought to attain in this life, there is nothing higher than the
coolness of the kind that is found in Dhamma. This alone can be called "the
Good".
TRUTH
Now let us talk about "truth". Each of
us has eyes, ears, a nose, a tongue, and a touch-sensitive body, so all of us
can judge things as true according to what our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and
body tell us. We can test and verify material things. Worldly truth, which has
nothing to do with Dhamma, is a matter of what we see or feel or believe to be
true. We are deceived as to the nature of objects and of cause-effect
relationships, all of which are subject to change. What is true one moment may
not be true the next. Even the law of science are subject to change, as
scientists well know. A "law" which at one point in time is firmly
believed to be true is later found not to be true and so is thrown out. This is
because the truth at any particular point in time is a function of our ability
to perceive it, of our resources for testing and verifying. This is worldly
truth, the kind of truth that has nothing to do with Dhamma.
Truth that is truly truth does not change. In
identifying "suffering" we must identify true suffering; "freedom
from suffering" must be true freedom from suffering; the "cause of
suffering" must be the true cause of suffering; and the "way to the
elimination of suffering" must be the true way, not some false lead. these
truths are the very special truths of the Buddha and of all enlightened beings.
Let us think of truth or of truths in this way. The whole purpose of education
in whatever form is to get at truth. The purpose of all philosophy is to arrive
at truth. But as things are, education and philosophy are incomplete, are
half-baked, go only half way. They just fumble and bumble around with no hope of
finding the truth. In seeking truth let us concentrate our attention on the most
important matter of all, namely, the matter of suffering (dukkha)
and the elimination of suffering. To realize this truth is to arrive at the most
useful, the most precious, and the best thing there is, although there are
countless other things we might examine which would be of no use whatever. This
is why the Buddha said, "One thing only I teach: suffering and the
elimination of suffering." There were countless other things about which he
might have talked but regarding which he remained silent. From the first day he
spoke only of one thing, the thing that is the most useful of all.
JUSTICE
Finally, we come to the word "justice"
or "rightness." In this world, it may sometimes be the case that
"might is right," or that expediency is right, or that the evidence
given by a witness is made the basis for rightness and justice. Now if the
witness is lying, or if he is mistaken regarding the accuracy of his evidence,
then the supposed justice based upon it is totally deceptive. Real justice can
only be based on Dhamma. Justice based on worldly criteria is worldly justice;
it is always only outward, relative justice. On the other hand, justice that is
based on Dhamma is totally independent of human error. It is absolute. Examples
are the law of kamma; the law of impermanence, suffering, and non-self; and the
truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, the extinction of suffering, and the
way leading to the extinction of suffering. These are absolute and they
are totally just. They do not favour anyone; no-one has any special privileges
in respect to them. They are laws of nature which have fixed, absolute force.
Let us keep in view the kind of justice that we
can genuinely rely on, and make it our refuge. Don't become infatuated with
worldly justice, which is inconsistent and relative. Don't be too much for it or
against it, because worldly justice is bound to be only as it is. Sometimes we
may disagree with worldly justice, sometimes we may totally disapprove of it.
The working of worldly justice sometimes make us feel elated and sometimes make
us weep. This is an intolerable situation. We need a kind of justice which
doesn't make us weep, feel elated, or get excited about worldly matters. That
kind of justice is to be found in the principles of Dhamma; they are the best
criteria for rightness. Holding to Dhamma as the basis for justice, we shall be
able to laugh within, not without; we shall be able to smile within forever
after, and that is the elimination of suffering (dukkha).
CHARMS
There is just one more little thing that I would
like to say: something about charms and talismans - outward talismans and
inward talismans. Outward talismans are the sort that people wear around their
necks, foreheads, and waists. They are so common that I don't need to tell you
anything about them. But what kind of protection do they really give? We can go
and look at the corpses of people who have been killed and find that they were
wearing talismans. And we can see people yet living who are suffering greatly,
people who are being burnt up with distress and anxiety. The more distressed
they become the more talismans they hang about themselves and the more they
perform rituals like pouring prayer water. And the more they do all this, the
more deluded they become, too. These are the benefits of outward talismans.
The benefits of inward talismans, the genuine
Buddhist talismans, are just the opposite. Anyone who wears the talismans of
calmness and coolness acquires instant purity, clarity, and calm. If, in the
ultimate case, he wears the highest of all talismans, he dwells in total
voidness, in total freedom from harassment and annoyance of any kind. This is
the effect of the Buddha's talismans.
All that has been said here simply explains the
conditions and characteristics necessary for an understanding of looking within.
Should we look without or look within? How should we look? Which way of looking
is most important? If we are loyal to Dhamma, to religion, or to the Buddha,
there's nothing to do but hurry and practice looking within. In particular, we
ought to extinguish inner suffering. The genuine cessation of suffering is an
internal matter; it must happen within. Thus, there are no sacred objects, holy
ceremonies, divine powers and persons, or any such holy things. Dhamma alone is
sacred and holy.
Genuine Dhamma is reality. We needn't mention
"holiness," for Dhamma far surpasses holiness. Compared with the word
"Dhamma", "holiness" has very little value. So it is best to
give up all of the holy objects and sacred ceremonies. If one falls for such
holy things, one will never meet the truly sacred and holy thing - Dhamma. Trust
in, dependence on or complacency toward superficial, external things prevents
one from realizing the essence within. It's like only eating the bitter rinds of
mangosteens but never the sweet flesh. The refreshing fruit is never
experienced, although such benefits exist in the world because Nature has
created them for us and created us with the ability to realize them.
Realizing the fifth essence if one of the fruits
of looking within. Realizing the sixth essence, voidness, is an even better one.
This looking within penetrates to the heart and center of all things. In the end
there is oneness with voidness - being empty of "I" and
"my".
These are the fruits and benefits of knowing how
to look within, of realizing the subjective state that becomes apparent when we
look within. Looking within is characterized by activity rather than passivity,
and the active one is always victorious. We should be victorious, undefeated in
this way, as is appropriate for disciples of the Buddha. The Buddha is sometimes
called "The Victorious One" (jina),
"The Victorious Lion" (jinasiha), and
"The Victorious Monarch" (jinaraja), for
he is victorious over everything. We too can be victorious by using his methods.
As explained above, success comes with expertise in looking within.
