When the Buddha visited Alawaka,
the Yakka warrior commander, at his
abode, the Buddha had to encounter many threats, challenges. When Alawaka failed to achieve his goals
through his futile threats and challenges, he asked thirteen questions from the
Buddha. One of the questions was, “ asma
loka param lokam, katham pecca na yowati…” which means “ what should a
noble person do in order to be free from sorrow afterlife ”?. The Buddha’s answer to this question reflects
a practical, effective approach to be free from sorrow even in the present
life.
In order to ensure a sorrow-free afterlife, one needs to
adapt one’s present life in such a way that sorrow would no longer bother one’s
existence. This is one of the most important aspects in Buddhist philosophy.
The Buddha’s emphasis was mostly on dealing with the sorrowful situations
associated with the present life of individuals. One who leads a peaceful,
happy life in this life based on the Buddhist teachings would be privileged to
have a similar wholesome afterlife. Afterlife would also be fortified by the
wholesome, sorrow-free practices one is accustomed to perform in this life.
Buddhism has listed a fourfold course action to eliminate
sorrow. Those are saccam (truth), dhammam (righteousness), dhiti (courage), and cago (letting go). If
this is the course of action to be pursued to eliminate sorrow, the opposite
course of action should be liable to bring about sorrow; i.e. untruth,
unrighteousness, non -perseverance and non-letting go.
We are
compelled to lead lives filled with sorrow most of the time. We need to reflect
on the causes of sorrow in terms of this fourfold course of action. We need to
investigate how far these fourfold factors come into play when we encounter
instances which cause us sorrow. After investigation, we need to experience the
whole process by ourselves (paccattam
vedi tabbo). This should be a direct, personal experience of one’s mental
phenomena. This state cannot be experienced by any individual through studying
manuals or memorising teachings contained in manuals. Let’s take an example to
illustrate this point.
Let’s
assume that someone has a very close friend who has totally won your heart. He
is a very honest, trustworthy individual. One day, this close friend grabs a
valuable item in your possession and leave you for good. This incident would definitely
cause a great deal of sorrow in you.
These types of incidents are commonplace in the society. When we closely
observe this incident, we should be able to discern how the above mentioned
fourfold factors led to cause sorrow in this individual.
This
particular individual placed high level of trust in his close friend. However,
this friend is an ordinary individual similar to other individuals in the
society who possess wholesome, unwholesome qualities; who are subject to
wrongdoing. In these circumstances, trusting an individual to be very honest
and free from wrongdoing is analogues to leading a life associated with
“untruth” or falsehood”. Therefore, this individual did not have the factor of saccam (truth) with regard his
relationship with his friend, instead he associated with the opposite factor of
“untruth”.
The
second factor that was responsible for causing sorrow in this case was the
absence of dhamma. When the close
friend left him, his mind was engulfed with sorrow. His mind bore sorrowful dhamma at the loss of his valuables and
the friend. His mind was mostly preoccupied with this loss. However, this
individual was unable to perceive this sorrowful state in his mind. Had he
shifted his attention away from the thoughts of loss to his mind, he could have
have avoided the experience of sorrow at that very moment. Non- awareness of
this tact led him to experience sorrow constantly.
Thirdly,
the factor that aggravated his sorrow was the absence of courage (dhiti). He was unable to bear the mental
pain and the loss of valuables which intensified his sorrow further. When a
person possesses the quality of courage, he is not bothered by any kind of
loss. He would be able to exercise restraint over his mind in the presence of
any loss.
The fourth factor which contributed to the sorrowful mental
state was the inability to “let go” (cago).
In this case, he was unable to let go of the mental pain resulting from the
loss of valuables and his friend, the loss of honour and feelings of conceit (mana) due to this incident. If a person
is prepared to let go of any gain, honour and conceit when dealing with the
external world, sorrow would not be aggravated in the presence of negative
outcome of any dealing. Inability to “let go” (caga) would aggravate the degree of sorrow and it would lead to
hatred and dangerous situations.
This story illustrates how the lack of factors such as
saccam (truth), dhammam (righteousness),
dhiti (courage), and cago
(letting go) in respect of one incident in life would create sorrow,
intensify sorrow and ultimately lead to hatred and dangerous situations. How
many similar situations we encounter in our daily life? We can witness numerous
similar incidents in our daily life and how these incidents cause us sorrow at
all times. Some go the extent of consuming alcohol, committing suicide by
various means when they cannot bear the mental pain any longer and when they cannot
let go of these pains, resulting from sorrowful day to day affairs. Therefore,
we need to constantly contemplate the presence of these four factors in our
mind in order to prevent sorrow from arising.
Now we need to find out the Buddha’s answer to sorrow-free
life in a sorrow-ridden world. The Buddha’s admonition was “ saccam, dhammo dhiti cago sa ve pecca na
socati…”. One who lives by the principles of
truth, dhamma, courage and letting go would not grieve at all. We should
attempt to lead a life associated with these four principles and experience a
sorrow-free, peaceful existence.
We need to familiarize ourselves to find out the “truth” (sacca)
associated with trivial matters in our day to day life. This practice would
enable an individual to ascertain the “truth” in significant matters as well.
The act of ascertaining the truth is categorized into two
parts, i.e; mundane truth and supramundane truth. Ascertaining the truth in
matters superficially is known as mundane truth. This would lead to the
supramundane ultimately. The ultimate meaning of samma dhitti
(right view) is ascertaining the supramundane truth.
What involves in the category of supramundane truth? It is
the understanding that everything existing in the world is subject to anicca
(impermenance), dukkha (subject to constant change) and anatta
(absence of a self). The common meaning given to the term dukkha is suffering
or unsatisfactoriness. The ultimate, functional meaning of dukkha is that
everything is subject to a process of constant transformation followed by
decay. When we the life cycle of a leaf, we can understand how the law of
dukkha influences the different stages of a leaf. A leaf begins to grow as a
bud. A bud gradually becomes a leaf. After some time, the leaf changes its
colour due to lack of nutrients. Then the leaf becomes brittle and begins to
dry. Eventually, the dried leaf falls off the tree. This is the nature of
dukkha – self transforming to a different state by changing the original state
– evident in every animate and inanimate thing in the world.
One who comprehends the supramundane truth in everything
based on anicca, dukkha and anatta could definitely attain
the supreme bliss of Nibbana. His mind would no longer be in a state of
burning. His mind is totally relieved of burning and heat.
We, now, realize the importance of leading a life based on
the principles of sacca, dhamma, dhiti and caga in
order to achieve mental peace at all times.
Alawaka, who had all his questions answered to the
entire satisfaction, attained the fruit of sotapanna (stream entry).
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