Even
though we know it’s wrong and we know everything that is not good, we cannot
resist doing it. Layperson, this problem is not new. It began at the same time
the world was born. Why? It is because the human mind is used to defilements.
What is it similar to? It is similar to fish in water. If you try to catch a
live fish and throw it on land, you will see whether it will just be still or
if it will jump. It will jump. Where is it trying to go? It’s trying to jump
back in the water. In reality, it shouldn’t be able to breathe in water. It
should suffocate. It should be able to breathe comfortably on land. But it
doesn’t want land, because it is a fish. It is more familiar with water than
with air. That is why it tries to jump back in the water.
Our mind is familiar with defilements. When we are in our
mother’s womb, defilements are already buried in our minds. It is with us from
our previous lives. Since it is like this, it is inside our minds from birth. It
has been inside us from our previous lives. In this life, it is still in our
minds. It makes us become used to bad deeds. It is this reason that makes us
not want to do good deeds at all. It makes us want to do bad deeds instead. Our
mind is used to defilements, like a fish being familiar with water.
Therefore,
correcting yourself is not an easy thing to do. It is necessary for us to hold
on to an easy base in correcting ourselves. Aside from studying what things are
and what we already know, we should find out what else we need to know.
If
there is a person who has the courage to do good deeds or if there is a person
who has done bad deeds and today they are able to take control, and if this
type of person can be a teacher, this person is even luckier than a person who
has won 1st place in a lottery a hundred times. But if you are not
able to, then you are not able to. And then what are you going to do? Are you
willing to give in? Don’t give in. practice. Practice giving courage. Practice
giving yourself courage. How do you give yourself courage?
Find a
person who knows you well, wishes you well, and wishes for you to be a better
person. You should become closer with them and you will gain more courage from
them. But this is only occasionally.
So, the
responsibility falls upon your own shoulders. There is an easy way to build courage,
a very basic way to build courage. You should go think it over, and think about
whether doing bad deeds are appropriate or not. What kind of effects will it have on our country? What kind of effects
will it have on our prosperity? You should go and see. Think about it. Let it
sink in. This is one way.
Another way is to look at it further. Look at what the
effects are since it is a sin and a bad deed. What area of hell is waiting for
us? That is how it will punish us. Punishing ourselves, strongly criticizing
ourselves like this, by using hell as a basis, is one way to give ourselves courage.
Here, you will probably need to go see Luang Phaw or Luang Pu, those who have
practiced a lot of meditation, and are very knowledgeable in dhamma. You should
ask him and he will advise you on the proper way, or tell you about the
torturous realms in hell.
When we are like this, we will feel embarrassed in
committing sins and afraid we will have sins. That is, we will have more hiri-ottappa, “moral shame and moral
dread,” power of shame, fear of sin, shame in doing bad deeds, and fear of
going to hell. It is a power that will make us brave enough to refuse doing bad
deeds. This is the first thing.
The
second thing is to meditate as much as possible. Don’t say that you don’t feel
like you have the courage to meditate. If that is the case, all I can say is
one thing: you should quickly fall to hell. It is something that, if you already
know, you should just endure. That is, that the Lord Buddha’s teachings can
only help people who think of helping themselves. If people have not thought of
helping themselves, no one can help these people. Is this clear enough? Because
of that, the way to help yourself and make yourself feel more courageous is to
meditate. Just meditate. When the time comes, meditate. When you first sit, you
might be tired, sleepy, or fall asleep. Just let it be. When you close your
eyes, it is dark. You can’t think of anything. Just let it go. Why is it that
after a period of time, it is not long before your mind is calm? Your mind is
still. And your mind will become bright on its own. This is the second way to
build courage for yourself.
Aside from thinking about hell, thinking about dhamma, and
practicing meditation, there is one more way. In reality, it is a practice. But
it brings good results. That is, your ancestors have already shown you. But
people in the later generations don’t tend to do it. Why? Your ancestors have
provided a Buddha room for you to use. It is like they made a copy of Nibbana
and placed it in their house. If they have a Buddha room, it is for chanting
and for meditating, as I have said.
And in
that Buddha room, there is a Buddha image and there are photos of your
ancestors. These ancestors began your lineage, built up your family’s status.
They have performed so many good deeds. Those are good pictures and they are
already in your house. They are in your Buddha room already. If you want to
more put pictures up, put them up around your house or at work. I think this
would be good. You should put up pictures of not only your ancestors but
include those who built our country. Put up their pictures. And your feeling of
courage will increase.
We don’t want to see pictures that are inappropriate, such
as pictures of movie stars or advertisements of vices. We don’t want these nude
pictures. We don’t want pictures of alcoholic beverage advertisements or
cigarette advertisements. Any advertisements that are inappropriate should be put
into the trash. You should burn all of them. It just takes up room in your
house. If you keep them, they just bring misfortune. Angels won’t want to look
after your house. Anything that has to do with any vice, you should throw away.
Burn them all; break them all.
Any tool that promotes good deeds, you should arrange and you
should fill your house with them. A picture of our King is good; he has engaged
in royal activities for the benefit of his citizens throughout the length of
his life. He does not see that it is tiring at all. This is what you should
have to worship. And we should do good deeds like he does.
And to continue, for those of you men who have ordained. You
should put up a picture of yourself from when you ordained. You should put it
up and look at it, so that you can remember your past. You should bring a
picture of your preceptor. This is the right atmosphere in which to do good
deeds. You can do this at work and at home, including your Buddha room, your
bedroom, all of them. If you do this, you will have the courage to fight
defilements. You will have the courage to do more good deeds for yourself. And
it will increase many times over so that you won’t be able to count its benefits,
every day. And we will be able to do good deeds until we are used to it. And
then we will become a good person that the world needs.
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