Maṅgala Sutta--Protection with Blessing(吉祥經)

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Nalorakk
文章: 418
註冊時間: 2017-03-03, 08:00

37. Secure

文章 Nalorakk » 2019-11-22, 18:30

37. Secure

__ To understand secure or security before: we need to understand what is insecure or insecurity? The Pali word khemaṁ is for secure. Something secure is safety or protected from dangers & harms. So insecure is not safe or not protected from dangers & harms. Man has body & mind. For ordinary people, the body affects the mind, & vice versa.

If we have the physical body, it will never be secure. At least it will never escape from aging, sickness & death. Even the Buddha & other noble beings could not escape from the dangers & harms done by others. Mara – the evil one, Devadatta, Ciñcamānavikā, etc. harmed the Buddha by physically & verbally. Mahāmogallana was killed by the bandits. Mahakala upasaka – a stream-winner (sotāpanna) was beaten to death by people who accused him as the thief.

(In one of his past lives out of lust for a woman & with fault accusation he killed the woman’s husband & took her by force. This evil action following him up to this life & he had to pay for his kammic debt. How many times in saṁsāra others killed him in this way nobody knows?)

Why all living beings have no security in the rounds of existence? There are many reasons for it. The most important reason is loka dhammas are following behind everyone. Every being wants happiness & security. But everyone in the rounds of existence had done all sorts of kammas.

Most beings cannot control their minds because they do not have the chances to meet the Buddha, Dhamma & Sangha. They do not know the Dhamma & without any practice. Majority of people are chasing the worldly dhamma (loka dhamma) & at the same time, these dhammas are following or chasing them. It was like they & the loka dhammas were playing hide & seek games. Noble beings are not playing hide & seek game with the worldly dhamma. Only they still have the physical bodies that cannot escape from them.

__ So here the 37th protection with a blessing on security is not the physical body, but the mind. Especially it is the mind of an arahant. It is like the other blessings; 34th is unshaken, 35th is sorrowless & 36th is dustless are representing the arahant’s mind. Even though the physical body of the arahant is still not secure, his mind is secure.

Only by passing away into Nibbāna element that Buddha & arahants were secure. Therefore the khandhas are the source of insecurity. So every being with the khandhas will never be in the security. There are four bonds (yoga) which bind the beings that making them unsafe. These are the causes of suffering for the khandhas.

These are the bond of sensual desire (kāmayoga), the bond of attachment to existence (bhavayoga), the bond of wrong views (ditthiyoga) & the bond of ignorance (avijjāyoga). If combined, become greed (lobha), wrong views (ditthi) & delusion (moha), the 3 unwholesome mental states. The same defilements (i.e., bonds) are also called taints (āsavā) & floods (oghā).

The four taints; the taint of sensual desire (kāmāsava), the taint of attachment to existence (bhavāsava), the taint of wrong views (ditthāsava) & the taint of ignorance (avijjāsava).

The four floods; the floods of sensual desire, attachment to existence, wrong views & ignorance (kāmogho, bhavogho, ditthogho & avijjhogho). These are called floods (ogha) because they sweep beings away into the ocean of existence. They are also called bonds (yoga) because they yoke beings to suffering & do not allow them to escape.

__ Therefore, a mind that, when touched by the ways of the world (loka dhamma), is unshaken; sorrowless, dustless & secure is the arahant’s mind. All these mind qualities only come by practice. Even ordinary Buddhists who know the Dhamma & practice can develop it into certain levels. So that we can overcome the loka dhamma or reduce their powers which affect our minds.

The Buddha ended his discourse on Blessing of Protection with the following verse:

Everywhere undefeated
when acting in this way,
people go everywhere in well being:
This is their highest protection with a blessing.

This is the power of the pure & free mind. There is no protection with blessing higher than that. The Buddha delivered the discourse on Blessings & gave the right answers from the mundane levels to supramundane level to the deities was quite amazing. Except for a Buddha, nobody could give this kind of teaching.

So, truly, he was the teacher of gods & human beings. I am sure everyone wants blessing & protection. Everyone has to start with oneself first. The Buddha’s teaching was on man or mind centered, not on God or gods centred. If on God or gods centred human beings cannot solve any problem & correct the ills of the world.

Therefore, all the teachings are practical & applicable. Only we study it & follow it with an unwavering mind. Without developing within oneself, we cannot protect ourselves & others. Each person has to do his duty rightly & skilfully so that problems will be solved. With the right & wise educations only we can solve the human problems from the family, society & government levels to international level.

We can help & save human beings only with wholesome education. Not by inventing new things based on greed, hatred & delusion. Unwholesome dhammas never bring happiness & peace to human beings. These are the outcomes of the today world situation.

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Nalorakk
文章: 418
註冊時間: 2017-03-03, 08:00

A Postscript

文章 Nalorakk » 2020-12-07, 14:43

A Postscript

__ In my introduction, I had mentioned about the Metta Sutta and the Khandha Sutta in this Protection with Blessing. But I was carried away by the Mańgala Sutta, alone. The Metta and the Khansha Suttas are about loving-kindness or friendliness. It was also a very important Dhamma in the Buddha’s Teaching. It should be had its collections and contemplation.

Therefore because of space, I will leave it out here. Metta is urgently needed for today world. If we observe the current situations of the world, we can know this point. We human beings are not only cruel, harmful, and violent to fellow men but also animals and natural environments. The important role of metta is also evident in the ten perfections (paramis) of the Bodhisatta path as the 9th perfections (metta parami).

It also includes in the four divine abodes (Brahmavihara) as the first one; i.e., loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity (metta, karuna, mudita, and upekkha). After the Four Noble Truths, these are the second important dhammas which should be developed.

So, here I will only mention metta and its opposite dhammas of anger, hatred, ill-will, etc. for just in a gist. If the majority of human beings can develop the four divine abodes, the Earth will become a Heaven. In the Metta Sutta of Ańguttara Nikāya, the Buddha mentioned the eleven benefits gained by a person who cultivated and developed metta. These are;

(1) one sleeps well,
(2) one wakes up happily,
(3) one does not have bad dreams,
(4) one is pleasing to human beings,
(5) one is pleasing to spirits and deities,
(6) deities protect one,
(7) fire, weapons and poisons do not injure one,
(8) one mind easily becomes concentrated,
(9) one’s facial complexion is clear and serene,
(10) one dies without confusion,
(11) after death one can take rebirth in the Brahma World.

__ The opposite of metta is dosa (anger, hatred). The Buddha mentioned the seven faults of anger in the Ańguttara Nikāya.

The Angry Person:
“ An angry person is ugly and sleeps poorly. Gaining a profit, he turns it into a loss, having done damage with words and deeds. A person overwhelmed with anger destroys his wealth. Maddened with anger, he destroys his status. Relative, friends, and colleagues avoid him. This person on the break-up of the body, after death, reappears in the plane of deprivation, the bad bourn, the lower realms, in hell.”

“An angry person doesn’t know his benefit and doesn’t see the Dhamma. A man conquered by anger is in a mass of darkness. He takes pleasure in bad deeds as if they were good. But later, when his anger is gone, he suffers as if burned with fire. When anger spreads, a man becomes angry; he has no shame, no fear of evil, is not respectful in speech. For a person overcomes with anger, nothing gives light.”

__ And then, the Buddha mentioned the deeds that brought remorse by anger. “ An angry person kills his father, kills his mother, kills a noble being, and kills ordinary people. It’s because of a mother devotion that one sees the world, yet an ordinary angry person can kill this giver of life.

Like oneself, all beings hold themselves most dear, yet an angry person deranged can kill himself in many ways, with a sword, taking poison, hanging himself by a rope. Doing these things that kill beings, and do violence to himself, the angry person doesn’t realize that he’s ruined.”

__ The Buddha reminded us clearly about the nature of anger, and its results were quite frightening. We can see its great impact on human sufferings in modern day human history; such as 911, many terrorist activities, many wars in the middle east, etc.

Why these unfortunate things happen to human beings continuously? Because most human beings do not know the law of kamma. Even if they know it, they have more faith in God than natural law. So they do not take responsibility and do not know how to solve the problems.

__ There was a true story that happened in Iran a few years ago. This incident was mentioned in the BBC radio program- Th Outlook. It was interesting and food for our heart. A young man was chasing a beautiful young woman. She rejected his proposal. Out of anger and hatred, he threw acid on her face when she was on her way back home. We can imagine how much suffering and difficulties she had to go through after that tragedy. Later the young man who committed the evil crime was due to punishing with the Islamic Law (It seemed to be not with the criminal code). The day when the criminal was brought into justice, the young woman had to throw acid on the man’s face.

The criminal kneeled in front of her and asked forgiveness and a pardon. She was in hesitation for a while. Therefore her brother wanted to come in punished the man on her behalf. At last, she decided to forgive and pardon him. She had made the right decision. In our life nothing is happening by chance or created by God. In this life, she had to pay back her kammic debt with the physical body. If she used the tit-for-tat punishment or revenge, the problem would never end. Both of them will continue to suffer in the future to come. (See Israel and Palestinian Conflict).

Hatred cannot overcome with hatred. Tit-for-tat cannot solve the problem. All the evil methods make the problem becomes worse. If both of them had strong grudges which came from their past lives and it would be ended here. The young woman did the right thing with courage and had a noble heart.

__ The Buddha said in the Dhammapada; Verse 223: “Conquer the angry one by loving-kindness; the wicked one by goodness; the stingy one by the generosity and the liar by speaking the truth.” The above verse has a lot of connections and benefits for today world. A lot of cruelty and violence in today world that we need metta.

A lot of poisoning going on in the food chains, air-water-earth pollutions that we need goodness. A lot of protectionism and selfishness in today world economics and politics that we need generosity. In today world politics, governments, and leaders; we can see many liars, and it is necessary that they should speak the truths.

__ The verse also talked about greed, anger, delusion the three unwholesome roots and their opposite three wholesome roots non-greed, non-anger, and non-delusion. With the only wholesome dhamma, one can protect oneself and others. Therefore the Buddha said in the Sedaka Sutta, Samyutta Nikāya; “the way of protecting others and oneself is with patience, harmlessness, loving-kindness, and sympathy.”
The.

Young Iranian woman did not know the Buddha Dhamma. But she followed the way of protecting the young man who wanted to destroy her with patience, harmlessness, metta, sympathy, and forgiveness, and also at the same time protecting herself from the future dangers and sufferings (i.e., kammic consequences).

__ If we study the Mańgala Sutta thoroughly, the 6th blessing of directing oneself rightly (atta-sammā-panidhi) is the most important one. It can affect this life and future life to come. All the other following blessings are depending on it. If we contemplate on this factor or cause will have a lot of insight.

Everyone without directing oneself rightly will lead to downfall. And by directing oneself rightly will lead to progress and happiness. When every baby comes into this human world is innocent and neither bad nor good. But it does not mean that the mind is pure. It has latent defilements within it when children are young easy to train and educate them in the right and wholesome directions.

So that the children in their childhood and later grown up they can continue to develop and direct themselves. There are two matters every human being cannot escape or run away from it, i.e., the law of kamma and education, either we know it or not.

__ There are unwholesome kammas and wholesome kammas. In the same way, there are unwholesome educations and wholesome educations. These two things are connected. Unwholesome education will lead to unwholesome kamma. Wholesome education also will lead to wholesome kamma. The unwholesome ways are the path to degeneration.

The wholesome ways are the path to progress. Before we discuss the two kinds of education with two babies, first should know the qualities and behaviors of bad and good persons. It was mentioned by the Buddha in the - Shorter Discourse on the Full-Moon Night- Cūlapunnama Sutta (Majjima Nikāya).

Bad Person and Good Person
The bad person does not know about the bad and good persons (i.e., foolish). But the good person does know about the bad and good persons (i.e., wise).

The bad person has seven bad qualities;
(1) no faith,
(2) no shame and
(3) no fear of wrongdoing,
(4) unlearned,
(5) lazy,
(6) forgetful and
(7) unwise.

Here the more important point on no faith is a bad person not believe in the law of kamma. He is unlearned means no knowledge about the Buddha Dhamma. The important point is he does not know morality. The important point on laziness is not making an effort to become a good person. Here forgetful is doing bad things and not doing good things. In this way, he is wasting his life and time. He behaves in the following ways;

(1) He associated with bad people,
(2) he wills as a bad person,
(3) he counsels with bad people,
(4) he speaks like a bad person,
(5) he acts as a bad person,
(6) he has the views of a bad person,
(7) he gives the gifts in a bad way.

(1) He associated with bad people who have the above seven qualities.
(2) he wills for his affliction, for others and both.
(3) he counsels for his affliction, for others and both.
(4) he speaks the false speech, malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip.

(5) he kills living beings, takes what is not given, misconducts in sensual pleasure (i.e., sexual misconducts and consumes intoxicants)

(6) he holds the following views;
There is nothing given; nothing offered, nothing sacrificed, no fruits or results of good or bad actions, no this world and another world, no father and mother, no being reborn, no good and virtuous people who realize by knowledge and know the worlds.

(7) he gives the gifts to people what is to be discarded, with the view of no results, without respect and carelessly.

__ All the actions of a bad person are connecting with the ten unwholesome actions (10-akusala dhammas). So after his death, he will be born in the hell or animal world.

__ A good person has seven good qualities; he has faith, shame, and fear of wrongdoing, who has learned, energetic, mindful, and wise.

Good person behaviors are the opposite of a bad person. So it is no needs to be mentioned here again. A good person on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in the destination of good persons, or gods. He has greatness among human beings and gods.


__ The Buddha distinguished a bad person and a good person with the five precepts, also with the unwholesome and wholesome dhammas. A person inferior to a bad person is; he does not have the five precepts, and he has the ten unwholesome dhammas. He encourages others to do the same things.

The Pali word for human is manussa, and it bears the meaning of a noble mind with metta and karuna (loving-kindness and compassion). The English word of humanity is the quality of being kind, thoughtful, and sympathetic. So everyone can decide himself as he is a human or a beast?

__ We could make a comparison with two babies; one was educated with the unwholesome ways and the other with the wholesome ways. When they were born into this world, both were innocent and ordinary babies because of the two different ways of education that their lives were quite different.

The first child→ with unwholesome education → becomes a small person → a bad person→ a useless person → an evil person → a criminal → after death → to a painful existence.

The second child→ with wholesome education →becomes a good person → a good-hearted person → a wise person → a noble person → after death → to a good existence or end dukkha.

The above cause and effect relationships are only in general or roughly.

__ I am quite sure; all parents will want their children to become a good-hearted, wise, and noble person. No parents would want their children to become an evil person and a criminal.

If anyone desires of the bad results, then he or she is a crazy or an abnormal person. I say this because if we observe all the situations around the world and could see the craziness and abnormality of human beings.

__ We can roughly divide education into four types or levels compare with the four stories building. These are;
(1) family level,
(2) school level,
(3) society level,
(4) religious level.

Among them, the first level of family education is the foundation and the most important one. If the foundation is not good and unstable, the other levels also become hopeless. It was like the four stories building. If the foundation is going wrong, all the others will crumble down. It was the same as the first blessing in the Mańgala sutta- Not association with the fools and association with the wise.

Without these first blessings and the others are impossible. Nowadays the education at the school level only teaches for certificates, for livelihood, profession, and status. The teachers and schools neglect the moral education. In the past teachers also had the duty to teach their students to become a good and moral person.

Education at the society level is more complex and extensive, including all the media, mediums of the people and surroundings. For today modern men they were to be very careful about them. We cannot follow them blindly as the majority of people — the saying of Ven. Sariputta’s former teacher was quite true.

There are more foolish people than wise people. Why is that? It needs a lot of teaching, training, and practice to become a good, moral, wise, and noble person. To become a foolish man, you do not need to teach and train him. The untrained mind is usually taking pleasure in unwholesome things and matters.

Undefiled things do not make money, and defiled things easily make money. We need to be intelligent and wise. Today a lot of social problems and sufferings were connecting with them-- the media. The last level of religious education is also very important. We cannot take it lightly.

It can change our whole life dramatically, either wholesome or unwholesome. Most religions teach people to be a good or moral person. It is very important not to misinterpret one’s religion and in the name of religion for harming others. We should not be deceived by any cult religion which could be dangerous, harmful, and ruined one’s life.

__ The Buddha Dhamma is more like education than religion because there was no creator in the Buddha’s teachings. It is on mind centered or man-centered teaching and about the natural laws and phenomena which scientists try to discover. It is not based on superstitions and supernatural.

It can be proved by direct experiences, and workable in everybody’s daily life. So it is very practical and the most closest to human beings. You are always living with him from birth to death in the whole of samsara, but you never know and understand him, which is the mind.

__ By understanding the Buddha Dhamma and our mind, we can know how to behave, conduct, and live a fruitful life. We can also deal with and solve a lot of human problems and sufferings. These four types of education are connected and mutually supporting.

If we can deal with education in family life successfully and the others become easier and smoother.

__ Everyone comes into this human world, his or her first teacher is the parents, especially and importantly for the mother. Therefore woman folks have the most important role, duty, and responsibility for the human race for harmony, peace, and happiness, even for human survival. A good, intelligent, and wise mother can look after the child with wholesome teachings and training and brings her child becomes a good, kind, wise, and noble person.

Without proper, right, and wise teaching and training, everyone will go his or her own way. Nowadays, this happens more than before. Most children are taught and trained by many kinds of medium.

Thinking about mothers, there was a true story which had a strong impact on my heart. In Australia, there was a young westerner born without both arms and both legs. His parents, importantly the mother, brought him up until he married a young Chinese beautiful woman and had a baby of his own. One can imagine the difficulties and mental suffering the mother had gone through for her child. It might be for over twenty or thirty years looking after her son day in day out every day with patience, love, sympathy, and concern.

She had to do everything for him. It seemed to me she was not only a good mother but also a good teacher. Under her guidance, he overcame all the difficulties and problems courageously. He seemed to be happy and joyful with his life. With the merit of his mother, he had the chance to meet a good wife who also had the quality like his noble mother. Both women sacrificed their lives for an unfortunate person.

__ There was also a negative story which happened in Taiwan some years ago. A severe earthquake struck Taiwan in the year of 1999. A young woman was buried under the rubble. After she was rescued, she both legs was severely injured that both legs had to be amputated from the knees down.

She had a young child. After the incident, her husband ran away by leaving her behind with the child. What a cruel and selfish person? This was the sign of lust, not metta. Therefore all mothers can make this human world to become a better place like a Heaven.

__ The last thing I want to end my contemplation is about the pollutions and the environmental problems. We human beings are unnecessary over-indulgence in the sensual pleasure that the Earth is on the brink of destruction. Now we are arriving at a crucial point.

Human beings are polluting the earth at an alarming rate. Now, if we do not quickly solve the temperature rising problem, many natural disasters and dangers are waiting for us to appear. Nowadays, human beings are like a silly crow in the following Jataka story.

The Silly Crow and The Dead Elephant:

__ In the Arindama Jataka, the Bodhisatta was the king Arindama. Sonaka was a brahmin and a friend of the Bodhisatta. Later he left the Bodhisatta and became a solitary buddha (Paccekabuddha). The king was over-indulgence in sensual pleasure until his old age. Sonaka- the solitary -buddha came to the king and taught him to renounce the world and became an ascetic. One of his teachings was as follow.

A dead elephant was floating down the Ganges River to the sea. A crow flying nearby saw it and perched on the dead body, pecking it with its beak and ate the flesh and drank the blood. The crow after filling his stomach, instead of flying away, he continued to follow with the carcass along the river.

The crow thought; “This is a great fortune to me. I don’t need to find for food anymore. This will be enough for my whole life.” He stayed with it, and when he hungry, he ate the flesh, when thirsty he drank the blood.

Therefore the silly crow and the carcass were carrying down by the river until near the seashore. At that time if the crow was leaving in the carcass and flew away, he could save his life. Instead, he was clinging to the sensual pleasure of the flesh that he was carried away towards the sea.

The carcass also became rotten, and at last, it was fallen apart. At that time, the silly crow became aware of the danger and tried to fly away. But he could not see the seashore, at last, became tired and was fallen into the sea water. He became the food of the sea creatures.

__ Today human beings are at a critical point. If we are continued polluting the earth and the environments we all would be ended up like the silly crow. Some might think (i.e., politicians, scientists, economists, business people, etc.) they could run away from the dangers and disasters because they have the power, wealth, and worldly knowledge. At the time of in dangers and all would be fought each other for survival and security.

__ Today human beings are very greedy for fame, power, wealth, and sensual pleasure without limit. It was like drinking the salty water, with more drinking become more thirsty. Greed, lust, sensual pleasure are like this and never give us contentment and satisfaction. Instead, it creates more and more problems and sufferings if we are without the restraint of the senses. Tanhā-craving nature is difficult to know because of its pleasant feeling. It is difficult to give up and ensnare human beings under the guise of a friend. We are like the slave in the following story.

How much do you own and need?

__ A very wealthy landowner told his slave. “I’ll give you some lands, but there is one condition. You have to run across this land as far as you can from here until where you stop. All this stretch of land will become your property.” Therefore the slave ran very fast out of greed until he was tired. But he was very greedy and whispering himself as; “Not enough yet. Don’t stop. Not enough yet…” and he was continuing in the running.

__ At last, after a long distance, he became overtired, short of breath, collapsed and he died on the spot. The landowner dug a pit of six feet by three feet on the same spot and put the corpse therein and said these words-“You only valued this much.” And then he buried him there.

__ In this story, the landowner is tanhā (craving, greed, lust.) The slave is the majority of nowadays human beings. Even this small piece of ground becomes impossible for most people because they all will be cremated and become nothing. So human beings own nothing.

They came to this world naked and empty-handed and will leave here also with naked and empty-handed. But one thing is very sure; they inevitably have to carry the kammic results with them. These kammic results are their only real properties. There is also a Judgment Day. The kamma Judge will make the following verdicts-

(1) you take rebirth as a chicken (for someone who crazy for fame, power and wealth which is tanhā represents the cock),
(2) you take rebirth as a snake (a cobra) (for someone who has strong anger, hatred, ill-will which is dosa and it represents the snake,
(3) you take rebirth as a pig (for someone foolish and stupid which is delusion, and it represents the pig). This kind of Judgment Day will be sure to come and not otherwise.

__ Therefore everyone has a good opportunity coming to this human world should not create unwholesome kammas with greed, hatred, and delusion. All these unwholesome dhammas are sure to harm oneself and others. Instead, we must use this precious life to do all good for oneself, and others are the right things to do.

In this way, we protect oneself and protecting others, including nature. Every human being has the duty and responsibility to look after and protect our mother Earth and its nature from destruction. In this way, we can leave this beautiful Earth unharmed for our human generations.

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