The 38 Ways to Happiness
Blessing Two:
Associating with the Wise
Associating with the Wise
A. INTRODUCTION
The second Blessing of the Thirty-Eight, concerns how in our self-cultivation we can successfully close the door on unwholesomeness in our lives, to prevent ourselves from slipping any further back on the slippery slope of spiritual entropy. At this point, when our discretion and sense of conscience is still not very accurate, we are not yet sufficiently versed in spiritual ways to become a Wise One ourselves.However, what we can start by doing is to learn how to recognize others who are, and to associate with them so that some of their discretion may brush off on us.
A.1 Difference between knowledge and wisdom
A wise one is distinguished by his or her wisdom. Before starting this blessing it is important to define this wisdom clearly because being ‘wise’ is not the same as being ‘educated’. ‘Wisdom’ as intended in this blessing is the discretion as to what is real ‘profit’ in our lives as outlined by omission in our description of fools in Blessing One. In fact, being educated is also a blessing, but its details can be found in Blessing Seven. The word “wise one” of this Blessing comes from the Pali word “paṇḍita” better known in our language as “pundit”. Some people believe that you can become a “pundit” simply by getting yourself a graduation certificate from a reputable university. In fact if you get yourself a good degree and set yourself up in business and make a success of it, you will earn praise and respect from many other people. However, there are no small numbers of the more unscrupulous amongst these who find themselves behind prison bars in spite of all their academic knowledge. Thus in spite of all their good intentions it is reasonable to assume that such graduates are not truly wise but are only wise in the ways of the world. The sort of wisdom we are interested in, in this section, is the sort of wisdom that will, at the very least, keep you out of jail and ensure wholesome profit for the owner both this lifetime and in the here after. This sort of wisdom is called spiritual wisdom. The best example of the wise man in the present day must have both wisdom of the ways of the world and spiritual wisdom to a true example of a wise man.
The second Blessing of the Thirty-Eight, concerns how in our self-cultivation we can successfully close the door on unwholesomeness in our lives, to prevent ourselves from slipping any further back on the slippery slope of spiritual entropy. At this point, when our discretion and sense of conscience is still not very accurate, we are not yet sufficiently versed in spiritual ways to become a Wise One ourselves.However, what we can start by doing is to learn how to recognize others who are, and to associate with them so that some of their discretion may brush off on us.
A.1 Difference between knowledge and wisdom
A wise one is distinguished by his or her wisdom. Before starting this blessing it is important to define this wisdom clearly because being ‘wise’ is not the same as being ‘educated’. ‘Wisdom’ as intended in this blessing is the discretion as to what is real ‘profit’ in our lives as outlined by omission in our description of fools in Blessing One. In fact, being educated is also a blessing, but its details can be found in Blessing Seven. The word “wise one” of this Blessing comes from the Pali word “paṇḍita” better known in our language as “pundit”. Some people believe that you can become a “pundit” simply by getting yourself a graduation certificate from a reputable university. In fact if you get yourself a good degree and set yourself up in business and make a success of it, you will earn praise and respect from many other people. However, there are no small numbers of the more unscrupulous amongst these who find themselves behind prison bars in spite of all their academic knowledge. Thus in spite of all their good intentions it is reasonable to assume that such graduates are not truly wise but are only wise in the ways of the world. The sort of wisdom we are interested in, in this section, is the sort of wisdom that will, at the very least, keep you out of jail and ensure wholesome profit for the owner both this lifetime and in the here after. This sort of wisdom is called spiritual wisdom. The best example of the wise man in the present day must have both wisdom of the ways of the world and spiritual wisdom to a true example of a wise man.
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