Q39. What sort of goodness has little effect and what sort has great effect?
The Buddha taught, ‘The value of doing good that is self- serving is not worth the sixteenth sixteenth part of the value of cultivating friendliness (mettā).’
Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears
“One may accept that one is not-self and only a combination of the five khandhas. It is natural that one is more interested in the five khandhas in one’s own body than that in someone else’s. Is it really logical to get rid of a self by the five khandhas?”
How to Be Right
One of the questions that Ajahn Chah would sometimes ask his students was ‘Do you know how to be right?’ The way he posed this question made clear that he was not inquiring whether they know how to find the right answers to problems.
Food for Thought #33
There are few people on this earth who are in search of spiritual happiness. However, these few seekers act like a plumb holding the world in check and keeping it from succumbing to the final fires of the dark ages.
Q38. What is the world full of?
Some people with a certain outlook answer, ‘This world is full of suffering (dukkha).’ For instance, they say that only dukkha arises, only dukkha persists, and only dukkha passes away. This is correct in its own way, but it is hard to understand.
Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears
“Once someone has achieved enlightenment, what do they usually do with the rest of their life? I guess it wouldn’t be their life, it would be the body’s life.”
Public Speaking Stress
Most people find public speaking very stressful. The night before having to speak in front of a large audience, they often sleep badly. They may even feel like vomiting before going onto the stage.
Food for Thought #32
One day, people will not be able to muster the inspiration nor recall the way to seek spiritual sustenance. In the end, the minds of human beings will be empty except for thoughts of sensuality and selfishness.
Q37. How can a murderer be awakened?
This can be answered very easily. What is called ‘the person’ (or ‘the individual’) has to be killed before being arahant. If what we call ‘the person’ hasn’t been killed, there’s no way to be arahant.
Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears
“What should one do when personally faced with murder, rape, robbery, etc.?”
We Can All Propagate the Dhamma
Recently, a monk told me about an experience he had while walking through the countryside in Europe. He said that one day, an almsround in a small town, a man approached him with money in his hand. The man assumed that the monk’s bowl lid must have a slit in it like a piggy bank, and intended to make a donation.
Food for Thought #31
The quest for physical sustenance is simple and shallow, and it leads to war; the search for spiritual sustenance is difficult and deep, and it leads to peace.
Q36. Householders can’t be awakened, can they?
Don’t give unqualified answers to this question either, saying they can or can’t. It must be answered by saying that arahants have transcended householding and monkhood alike.
Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears
“... Yet even within this impermanence that highlights the law of nature, virtually all living beings are giving individual and/or collective mechanisms for violent self-defense when attacked. How does this aspect of the law of nature relate to Buddhist ānāpānasati and human self-defense needs?”
An Invitation to Investigate
When people say they don’t believe in other realms of existence, what they usually mean is that they cannot form a mental picture of them, or that the picture that appears in their mind cannot be reconciled with all that they have come to know as real.
Food for Thought #30
Personal or social conflicts, which often escalate into wars, are not caused by those in search of spiritual happiness - a blazing fire cannot be started with something cool.
Q35. Where can we meet awakened people?
We must find arahant in the end of the defilements. Don’t go searching for them in forests, in monasteries, in caves, on mountains, in villages, in cities, or in meditation centers. You can look for arahant in the ending of the defilements.
True Happiness
So much human effort is mis-directed and reaps unnecessary frustration. Four kinds of effort stand out:
(i) Trying to get rid of or escape from present suffering, without understanding it.
(ii) Trying to find protection from the threat of future suffering, without understanding it.
Food for Thought #29
The quest for spiritual happiness does not come into conflict with anyone, because it makes no demands on others, does not depend on others, and only involves sacrifice for others.