Lecture at
Suan Mokkhabalarama
31 March 1984
Translated by Santikaaro Bhikkhu
In this matter we have our easy-to-remember
metaphor: we live in this world stupidly, like fools, like worldlings; and so we
get slapped left and right, right and left, endlessly. Or, we could say that
with every inhalation and exhalation there is liking and disliking, disliking
and liking. We get slapped for this reason and that: now something about our
children, now something with our husband, now something with our wife, now
something about our possessions, now something about our honor and fame -
nothing but what is ready to slap us silly. Getting, we are slapped one way.
Losing, we are slapped the other way. Getting leads to love, through which one
stupidly sinks into attachment. Losing leads sadness, crying, and moans of
despair. Here we have both liking and disliking.
DUALITY TORMENTS THE WORLDLING
When the mind is on such a low level that it
already is liking or disliking something, take a good look and see if that isn't
the same as being slapped left and right constantly. When eating delicious food,
we get slapped by satisfaction with the deliciousness. When eating unpalatable
food we get slapped by anger and aversion. We can say that this is more pitiful
and sad than pity itself. The natural state of worldlings, of those who don't
know anything, is a life comparable to being slapped left and right all the time
by the things that come accompanied by their opposites.
There are many things which form pairs of
opposites or dualities. The first set has already been mentioned- liking and
disliking. Then there are gain and loss, victory and defeat, having the
advantage and being disadvantaged. There are many pairs, many dualities, dozens
of them, and each is a pair of slaps in the face. That is, they bite a person's
heart on both sides because they are dualistic. Dualities have two sides, and
whichever side comes by, it bites in its particular way. So if we aren't bitten
this way, then we're bitten that way. Life goes on like this until we strip it
all away by saying, "That's just how it is; it's just that way. It's idappaccayata
just like that; there's no I-ego nor things of mines, no me nor myself."
When there's no I, no self, whose face is slapped? Because there's no self to
have its face slapped, there's no slapping, and thereby there's no condition in
which the mind is tormented and suffering.
THE MOST URGENT OF ALL
Is this matter as urgent and pressing as nuclear
matters? Think about it. Is this matter as urgent and all-important as the
issues of the nuclear age? Anyone who sees the truth of this will realize that
this is the most urgent issue of all. We must resolve this problem before the
body dies. But most people don't see at all, and so are careless. They cover
their ears and close their eyes heedlessly as if nothing were happening. In
laughable situations they laugh, in tearful conditions they cry. Laughing and
crying, crying and laughing, as if it were nothing.
They aren't aware that their lives are the same as
being slapped in the face. Yet one who studies the mind, who reflects upon
mental matters, who already has knowledge and understanding of the mind, will
have observed that the mind is attacked from two sides: the side leading to
liking and the side leading to disliking. The side of liking affects the mind in
one way and the side of disliking affects the mind in another way. But fools
don't know this. And why not? Maybe because their skin is too thick. They have
no awareness. Their nervous system knows nothing about what is going on, because
they're totally lacking in genuine wisdom of Dhamma. It's as if their skin is so
thick that they can't feel anything. So we must scrape off the ignorance and
thickness. Then, as it becomes thinner we'll gradually come to know these
things. Whether or not this condition is as urgent a matter as our nuclear
problems is something that you must decide for yourselves.
If we understand sunnata (voidness), the condition
of being void of self because there is only idappaccayata (the law of
conditionality), there is no self (soul) to be slapped in the face, no
"person" who exists to have his face constantly slapped left and
right. This is the fact of the matter. Whether it is urgent or not is for you to
consider for yourself. If we practice by comtemplating these truths - just
impermanence, merely not-self, just such, only natural elements, purely
idappaccayata- in the ways that we've explained many times, that will be the end
of self. The self gradually fades and disappears until there is no self whatever
to be slapped in the face. That's it. The matter ends here.
WHY ACCEPT DUKKHA?
These days this world is in a state of becoming
more and more stupid. No one believe me when I say this. You who are listening,
do you believe that the present world is in a condition of increasing
foolishness? We don't notice because we only look at those areas where man is
clever in material knowledge. People are most clever at making strange, new
things that we must buy and must use. Even these video cameras, although
an example of the cleverness of modern man, demonstrate that the situation is
becoming more and more stupid. These things are totally unnecessary. Why do we
let them cause so many difficulties? We surely don't have these wonderful things
in order to know Dhamma. They're only used to fall into deeper infatuation with
beautiful and delicious experiences. These magical things are crated for
humanity to grow stupid and sink more deeply into the mire of delusion.
Everything that is considered clever in this scientific age, all these marvelous
instruments, when seen from a foolish perspective are thought to be examples of
human intelligence. But when they are seen on a more profound level, they're
simply proof of the human stupidity that makes us sluggish, that enamours us
with all this, that keeps us stuck here, and that is nearly impossible to get
free from.
We can summarize this point by saying that the
modern world is in a state of accelerating stupidity regarding the creation
of pace. We insist on the qualification "regarding the creation of
peace." Although this world is increasingly idiotic, in the area of
cretaing crises it is increasingly clever; it is quite talented at starting more
complicted and troublesome disasters. This is the sort of progress we have. So
whether people go to the moon or who-knows-where, they aren't going for peace.
They do these things for reasons of war and increasing affliction. Thus, we must
say that the world is becoming more stupid regarding peace. A correct method is
needed. Don't become foolish. Don't sink into stupidity, but become more
genuinely intelligent. Don't bother with unnecessary matters. Don't create
unnecessary things. As for the unnecessary things which already exist, use them
for peace.
All of the luxuries and conveniences with which we
fill the world answer only to our defilements (kilesa, e.g., greed, hatred,
fear, worry, ignorance). They support people's defilements and make people
selfish. For this reason, all of the cleverness does nothing to create peace.
All of the fine things, new products, expensive goods, and magical inventions
only make people more stupid than ever. They lead people to infatuation with
things that bind and attach the mind. Thus, there is no dawning of wisdom, no
abating of the ignorance. This is what makes me think that samatha-vipassana is
necessary for the nuclear age.
Actually, there is some understanding in the
world; some people have some sensitivity regarding the situation. They try to
free people from dukkha, to get people out of dukkha, but they can't get people
out from dukkha, because they don't understand the cause of the problem. There
are too many things that have been made to mislead people and sink them in the
mass of dukkha, more than too many. Consequently, if samatha-vipassana isn't
enough, isn't strong and sharp enough, it won't be able to destroy all this
stupidity. As worldly progress develops to whatever degree, it increases our
idiocy toward the world at least that much. Thus, that which can solve the
problem and protect the world, samatha-vipassana, must develop and increase
accordingly. So we have said that a system of transquility and insight is
necessary. This system of practice must be correct, fast and able to keep pace
with the material progress of worlding, for they become ever more thoroughgoing
worldlings by their developing cleverness in deluding themselves.
Humans get dukkha, difficulties, and troubles from
their own foolishness. They make the problems themselves. Is this point too
profound for people to see? Why do they continue amassing hassles and
difficulties until they're so afraid that they can't sleep at night? This is the
result of stupidity of their own making. They don't know what something is, and
are consequently afraid of it.
A PIECE OF ROPE?
To explain this Dhamma point we have an
interesting metaphor. Both Buddhists and Vedantists tell of mistaking a rope for
a snake, then falling into dukkha because of the stupid snake thus created. That
is, in the moonlight at night, when it is dark and difficult to see, there is a
coiled piece of rope lying on a path. A man comes walking down the path. There
isn't enough light and the man thinks the rope is a snake. He jumps suddenly and
cries for help. He created a "snake" for himself. The stupid man creates the stupid snake, then he is troubled and frightened by it. He doesn't
even know that the snake isn't real, that it has no mouth or fangs. He
wholeheartedly believes that it's a complete, 100% snake, which strikes terror
into his heart. There he stands shaking and calling for help. So it is with
humans these days. Lacking sufficient light in their minds, they conjure up
dangerous things which leave them shaking in fear.
