For not to become a degrade person

November 2012 edition

For not to become a degrade person

Article summary

Let's discuss about some of the few facts which cause to delay the enlightenment or true happiness or peace in your mind.

In dhamma it says, these facts are even cause to degrade the quality of a noble person. "Dropping the quality of a noble person" means again "delays the final fruit of noble path".

  •    Craving to the abode or residence or to the place where you live
  •    Craving to the races or casts
  •    Craving to the profit or revenue
  •    Craving to the compliments or praises
  •    Craving to the Dhamma

So whoever lives with these qualities gain nothing but stress, suffering and he / she is delay to the final fruition call Nibbana / Nirvana. So Samma Sambuddha once said these facts cause to delay / degeneracy to those who follow the path of nirvana or to those who interest on following the path of nirvana.

Whether it is a Bhikku or Bhikkuni or a lay person, "craving to the place where they lives" makes them delay to the final achievement. So as the "craving to the races or casts" which cause loads of fights and suffering all around the world... as an intelligent being you already have an idea what means through "craving to the profit or revenue" & "craving to the compliments or praises".

My most concern is to explain the last fact mentioned in the list. Because I found that most of the people confused with the meaning of it. How it is possible to be bad to have "craving to the dhamma"? Why it is bad? These are the questions arise in mind when we see this.

Actually craving to the dhamma cause loads of trouble than the other four facts, because dhamma is such a wonderful thing and when you crave for it, the dhamma will gives you such a wonderful outcome such as knowledge of various wonderful things, and the pleasure of relaxations and many more.  

Because of this pleasure, one keeps attract to the dhamma & crave for it. And ultimately this process keeps blocking the final fruition of following dhamma.

And the other dangerous outcome is when you crave to the dhamma you will feel you are more knowledgeable than others. You have such wonderful explanation to everything of this world and when someone questioned something you can always have a fruitful answer. So there is a possibility of increasing the level of EGO you have because of this knowledge which is highly dangerous and blocking the nirvana or true happiness for yourself.

As long as you crave to the dhamma you have a reason to hatred, anger and many more conflicts. Whenever someone explaining dhamma in a not suitable way or whenever someone insults to the dhamma you will be the first to struggle with them or situation. As dhamma is such a wonderful thing, your craving to look for more dhamma again will arise in your mind and it's again block the final fruition of nirvana.

Samma Sambuddha explained "Use dhamma as a boat and use it to cross the river, once you cross the river keep the boat on the bank and leave". So if you are not having any boat experience, match the example to your own experiences such as…

You may have experienced traveling on a plane or ship or most commonly buses or trains. We know that some of the planes, ships, buses or trains are very beautiful, comfortable and so attractive. But do we stay on those vehicles forever just because they are beautiful, comfortable or attractive? Once the destination comes we get down from those vehicles and leave them behind and we proceed with our life.

So dhamma also like the vehicle which take us to the destination call nirvana. We can praise the beauty of dhamma and share the wonder with each other. But we shouldn't clinging to the vehicle as it will not allow us to get down from it and reach the final destination call nirvana the true happiness.

So whenever you feel that any of these facts arise in you remember that these are the things which cause you to suffer and block the pure happiness.

Good luck and may triple gem bless you to get rid of these facts till you achieve nirvana the true happiness!

Rajitha Viduransi | Kelaniya, Sri Lanka