Six Paramitas - Why It's So Important to Do Good

Original Photo by United Way of Massachusetts & Merrimack Valley available on Flickr.com

               Everybody knows (or should know) that giving is rewarding. It fills us with a sense of pride as we see our happiness become doubled within the hearts of others. 

                But when life starts to feel more and more like hell, the idea of doing good for someone else suddenly becomes further and further away in on our minds. 

                "Things can only get worse for me now," we say to ourselves. "I do have to take care of myself after all. Why should I be the one to help them out? I'm the one who needs help. Come on, if life is going to be so cruel like this to me, why should I bother helping other people? They should be helping me. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I might as well just give up since it seems like my whole life is already ruined."

               When we lose our strength and get tired of carrying that heavy burden, we can start to blame the world for what it's done to us and want everybody to just leave us alone. We can't understand why such bad things we didn't deserve seem to only happen to us.

                 Yet if we really, really want to have a positive change for the better in our lives, we first have to recognize that we are the ones who have to make that change. We ourselves need to make the effort toward bringing that change about. We can't just bury our heads in the sand and expect things to magically improve.

Original Photo by Peter available on Flickr.com

                 If it's too hot outside, we have to cool ourselves down by getting a cold glass of water. If we're getting out of shape, we need to exercise at the gym or go out on a walk everyday. If we're not meeting our deadlines at work, we need to put in some overtime or to reorganize our projects more efficiently. If we're struggling at school, we need to sacrifice our weekends to do homework or to seek the aid of a good tutor. These examples show how cause and effect are linked. We make the change we want to bring about with our own day-to-day choices.

              The foundation of Buddhist teachings is the Law of Cause and Effect. According to Buddhism, the following three lines which are written in the sutras represent universal truth, applicable at all times and at all places.

Good deeds bring good results. 

Bad deeds bring bad results. 

Your own deeds bring your own results. 

     

                    This means waiting around aimlessly for something good to happen does not make what we want to happen come about any sooner. Only using the power of intention to wish what we want to come true will not work well for us either. If we want good results to actually manifest in our lives, we of course have to think it, but then we have to get up, get out there, and get working toward doing that good.

Original Photo by Evan Courtney available on Flickr.com

              We of course need to relax in order to restore our energy, but we can't manifest our dreams if we're always away at leisure. The greater our efforts, the greater the energy and momentum that brings about those results. Being lazy only brings us more laziness sooner.  

               But we're unwilling to accept this high level of responsibility behind creating our own results. We don't want to be judged by others, and no one wants such a heavy burden on their shoulder. So when things go wrong, we often list off an excuse or find someone else to blame for our current misfortunes.

               However, once we begin to realize in depth how Causality works, we try our best to get ourselves back on course. We focus our minds toward planting all the good seeds we can to better the lives of those around us as well as ourselves. Doing good in this way speeds us toward achieving our ultimate purpose in life.

                 So it's all just cause and effect. Just do a lot of good and I'll be happy. Is that all there is to it? Can Buddhism really be this simple?

                Let's get some insight from a very chance encounter between a Buddhist monk and a Confucian philosopher that took place hundreds of years ago.

Original Photo by Rebecca Selah available on Flickr.com

***

                  In China, there was a famous Buddhist monk by the name of Bird's Nest. He liked to meditate on branches high up in the trees.

                 One day, the famous Confucian poet Bai Juyi was walking through the forest and spotted the treetop monk in meditation. Seeing this rare opportunity to meet with another great philosopher, Bai Juyi decided to playfully tease him from below.

              "Hey up there!" said Bai Juyi. "Isn't it dangerous to sit high in a tree with your eyes closed? You may doze off and hit the ground."

               "It is YOU down there that is in danger!" said Bird's Nest.

               Even though way up in such a precarious place, Bird's Nest was seeking for a solution to his mortality, a danger that awaits each and every one of us. Down below, Bai Juyi realized how keen the monk's awareness must be for such a quick-witted response while still in meditation. He decided to introduce himself to this exceptional monk plainly and forgo all the usual formalities associated with his own title. In this way, both could speak comfortably to the other.

               "I am the rather insignificant Bai Juyi. Might I ask your name, good monk?"

                "I am the insignificant monk Bird's Nest."

                 "Ah, so it is indeed the famous Master Bird's nest I am speaking with?" Bai Juyi said as he devised a way to test the knowledge of this well-known monk. "Well, I'm very pleased to run into you, because you see, I've been wondering for a long time about Buddhism. Since I have you here, could you tell me in just a few words, what it is that Buddha teaches?"

                 Bird's Nest said simply, "To refrain from all forms of evil and pursue good. This is Buddhism. In fewer words, stop bad deeds and do good deeds."

                 "Hah-hahahaha!" Bai Juyi erupted in laughter. "Even a three-year-old child could figure out that! Hah-hahaha--"

                 "--A child of three may know it," interrupted Bird's Nest. "But even a man of 80 years still finds it rather difficult to carry out, wouldn't you say?"

***

                 This made Bai Juyi reflect deeply. It’s very true that little kids quickly seem to grasp the difference between right and wrong at an early age. Yet why is it that once they grow up into parents and grandparents they still run into the same problems?

               Ethics and morals may succeed at making us appear virtuous to the outside world with what we say and do. But Buddhism is different in that its primary focus is within the mind. We have to make sure the good that we do with our words and our physical efforts comes from the very bottom of our hearts.

              If you do good, good things will happen to you! If you do bad, you will head toward misfortune. You reap the results of the seeds you yourself planted. So if we really understand the Law of Cause and Effect completely, we'd naturally quit doing bad actions and do more good actions!

                However, it's just too difficult to see how Cause and Effect works in relation to all the miscellaneous events that happen to us everyday. It's even more difficult to clearly see how we behave toward others with real accuracy.

               Since we have a bias toward our own choices and our own perspective, it is this same bias that causes us to doubt Causality when things don't seem to be going our way. "But I'm such a great person," we think. "I don't deserve all this bad treatment that's happening to me. Something went wrong."

                   But if we really put our minds to work, are we really successfully doing good all the time? Are we really able to determine the true severity of our own mistakes? How much real effort are we sincerely putting toward doing good? How about all those small acts of kindness we put off or never get around to actually doing? "Those little ones aren't as important," we justify to ourselves. "No one will notice, so who cares? I'll wait for something better to do with my time."

               Yet there is actually so much to gain by all these small acts of good. We should make special effort toward completing them as best we can. If we keep a positive mindset with all we endeavor, great or small, we can only stand to gain. Even moments that appear to be setbacks can suddenly take on new meaning. To understand this further, let's read a short story.

***

Do Good Regardless

The Stone in the Center of Town

            A king once slipped out of his castle in the middle of the night when nobody was looking and laid a great stone in the center of town.

   

Original Photo by Joel Penner, available on Flickr.com

             In the morning, a drunken soldier tripped over the stone, fell, and hit his head. "Who put this blasted stone here?" he snarled. "I'd like to teach that damn fool a lesson." Cursing, he went on his way.

          Soon a gentleman on horseback came by and just missed running into the stone. He came to a stop and said, "Whew, that was close! I could have been killed. What a dirty trick to play!!" Muttering, he trotted on.

         After another interval, a farmer came by, pulling his wagon. "What's this?" he cried. "Somebody put a big stone here. It's dangerous and blocks the way." Grumbling, he gave the stone a kick and went on by.

         None of them thought to remove the stone.

         A month later, the king assembled the people in the town square and admonished them. "I am the one who put the stone here," he said. "But none of you made any attempt to remove it for the public good. That is a sign that my reign is flawed. Today I personally will remove the stone."

          When he did so, underneath it was a bag marked, "For Whoever Moves the Stone Out of the Way." It was full of gold and jewels.

Photo by Kurtis Garbutt (edited to enhance color), original available on Flickr.com

      Good deeds, even those that go unseen, always bring a reward.

(Something You Forgot Along the Way, p. 162)

***

           Whether it's moving a stone out of the way to picking up trash on the street when we see it, everyone would start doing more good if they knew a great reward awaited. Because, deep down, we all want to be recognized and applauded.

http://www.break.com/video/awesome-flashmob-reward-for-picking-up-bottle-2028163

 

            From flash mobs to reality TV to stardom, the desire for fame is in our very nature. But very few people can carry out the self-discipline and the consistent effort of virtue that it requires. Most people notice all the problems they have stacked up around them only to walk away or put it off. “Maybe later...” we say to ourselves. “Next week seems better for me... or better yet would be next month...” Sound familiar? Do those words sound like you’re getting any closer to what you really wanted?

           Our past experiences may fool us into thinking that doing a favor for someone else will keep us from being happy. "Hmmm," we think to ourselves. "This favor is going to end up taking up a lot of my time. If I don't get around to it, I'm sure someone else will step in instead of me. I don't have to be the one."

           Yet passing off these little acts of kindness to someone else proves that we don't really understand that doing good will bring good results. "This good is just so little, so it won't really amount to much anyway," we think. "I'm better off doing something else of more importance." But that self-interested thinking reveals how skewed our perspective can be.

            We need to reflect on our actions and see all the good around us that we can possibly do. Skipping over the little things is actually negligence on our parts, and it's also letting us miss out on this one-and-only chance to receive something that is actually really, really wonderful.

           But still we persist, "Why bother? Even if I do go out of my way and do this for them, it won't really bring me a good effect. The effect I will notice in my life will be really small, so why should I care at the end of the day? I've already got a lot on my plate as it is." This self-serving mentality demonstrates the ignorance at our very core and our complete incapability of understanding the Law of Cause and Effect. Buddhism reveals to us just how extremely short-sighted our nature is.

            "The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150-250) expressed the reality of human goodness in this way: 'Even if you pour two or three jugs of boiling water on a frozen pond four miles around, the next day, the ice there will swell up.' In other words, boiling water may have the power to melt ice, but overnight it too will freeze. In the same way, human goodness is overwhelmed by our overriding capacity for evil."

(You Were Born for a Reason, p. 133)

Photo by TheTurducken (edited to remove debris), original available on Flickr.com

                But can that be an accurate portrayal? Doubt arises in our minds. Well, with so many millions and millions of benevolent people working diligently in charity organizations and as volunteers, how can Nagarjuna make such a claim that human goodness is "overwhelmed by our overriding capacity for evil?"

                 "Let there be no misunderstanding. The sort of person under consideration here -- one who feels pity and compassion for those in unfortunate circumstances and take action to help them, only to be brought up short by the realization that his benevolence is tainted by ugly pride -- is by definition one whose heart is sincerely set on doing good; otherwise, he would be incapable of such a deep realization. The more we try to become good, the more we see that our 'evil nature knows no end,' and the more we are driven to repent and to strive to overcome our natural bent toward evil."

(You Were Born for a Reason, p.134)

                There are so many grand possibilities to do good in this world. But once we begin to do a lot of good for others, there is the chance of getting carried away with unseen pride.

                 For that reason, there are three things we should take into consideration when we do good. In Buddhism, they are known as the Three Spheres of Emptiness (or the Three Empty Wheels). 

Three Spheres of Emptiness 

   1st  Sphere        2nd Sphere       3rd Sphere

  

But I gave…            ...so much...             ...to that ingrate! 

(Pride as a Giver)                    (Pride in the Gift)                     (Pride over the Receiver)   

(1^st Sphere) But I gave = (Pride as a Giver)

The fact we did good for someone can inflate our pride,

 and give us a false sense of superiority.

We should try to forget

or lessen the importance of our act.

(2^nd Sphere) So much = (Pride in the Gift)

The greater the act or gift we provide for someone else

the greater the tendency to demand more respect from it.

We should try to forget what we did

to not become attached to our offering.

(3^rd Sphere) To that ingrate = (Pride over the Receiver)

If we do a lot for someone and they are thankless,

we can have spite toward them.

We should be grateful to others and give back

without keeping track in our hearts of who we gave to.

                  Some may wonder why good deeds should be forgotten, especially if one has been taken advantage of by that someone else. But when performing good deeds it's also important to have wisdom of who to give to. We'll find out more on this topic in the next post.

            All the more than 7,000 sutras of Sakyamuni Buddha teach the importance of doing good, yet there is just one simple and true test of our understanding.  

Knowing something without putting it into practice 

is the same as not knowing it.  

                  We can say we know good deeds bring good results, but until we can practice it everyday without fail in our everyday lives -- we don't really know it. This is because the more we endeavor to do good, the more we are revealed about our true nature. Without taking the initiative to put it into practice, we can't make any new breakthroughs in knowing ourselves at any real depth.

               Because there are so many virtues that we can try to practice, Sakyamuni Buddha narrowed all of them down into six distinct categories. They are known as the Six Paramitas. In ancient Sanskrit, the meaning of the word paramita can be compared to a bridge. So in Buddhism, the Six Paramitas are each like a bridge for us on the journey toward reaching absolute happiness.

Six Paramitas

 1st Paramita - Generosity (Give to Others)

2nd Paramita - Accountability (Keep your Promises)

3rd Paramita - Patience (Remain Calm in Adversity)

4th Paramita - Diligence (Make Sincere Efforts)

5th Paramita - Contemplation (Reflect on Yourself)

6th Paramita - Wisdom (Improve Your Self by Serious Practice of the Law of Cause & Effect)

The 6th Paramita of Wisdom is a culmination of the first five paramitas

(Generosity, Accountability, Patience, Diligence, Contemplation)

cumulatively practiced at the same time.

                         The Buddha taught that we should freely choose whichever or however many of these we feel that we can do easily. Then once we've chosen, we try to perform them with all our might!

                          In the next posts, let's go over each one carefully starting with the first paramita of Generosity.

Worldly Passions - Envy / Ignorance

                         When we lose out on what we really wanted to our rival, we can often feel bitter envy toward that person. We believe that their happiness should have really been ours, and so now we want to take it from them. 

                          In highly competitive sports, our fierce drive to victory can often get our blood boiling when we fall just a few points behind. It pains us to see someone else win the praise and recognition that we were so desperately wishing for ourselves.

Original Photo by National Assembly for Wales available on Flickr.com

                           Even if our very good friend shows off their wealth buying the very latest smartphone, we still get a little jealous inside. When that annoying neighbor of ours keeps parking his fancy car in our driveway, we can't help but hold a grudge against him and ceaselessly complain about his rudeness. If the person we can't stand also happens to be in a position of authority like a boss or a teacher, it can fester into resentfulness. After these negative feelings go unresolved for too long, hatred can emerge. 

                             And then when we're in a better position, we begin to look down on others. From a distance, we can even become amused by the suffering of others. Let's say our recently-promoted coworker is fired shortly after her appointment. With the position now available, we smile and quickly see her loss as our gain. Though we may not think so, we are taking delight in others' misfortune unknowingly in our day-to-day lives.

                           This toxic mindset within us that curses others for their happiness and takes pleasure in their misfortune represents the last of the Three Poisonous Passions, the worldly passion of envy/ignorance.

                         An envious mind has a total lack of awareness because its actions do not actually lead to real happiness. It is foolish because it only brings about more suffering. For this reason, this worldly passion is also known as ignorance. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Envy is ignorance."

Photo by mtchlra (edited to remove brands), original available on Flickr.com

                         Yet we continue to fall victim to envy because we fail to fully grasp the Law of Cause and Effect. When we envy others for what they received instead of us, we are rejecting the notion of karma. The reason we challenge Causality is we doubt the relationship between a Cause and Effect we have experienced.

Good deeds bring good results.

Bad deeds bring bad results.

Your own deeds bring your own results.

                            When things are going our way, we of course have no problem agreeing with the words of Sakyamuni Buddha. But the moment we lose out on what we really, really wanted is the very same moment we instead go looking for someone else to blame. That's when a multitude of vengeful feelings rise up in us all aimed at that miserable person who we think is really at fault for our troubles.

                           In our minds, we feel downright entitled to what they have. They don’t deserve it as much as we do, we think. And so we begin to envy them and have a lot of animosity toward them. However, putting others down for their own results shows a complete disregard of the truth.

                           Because what must be understood about karma is that without even a single exception, all happiness is the result of a past action. Whenever something good happens to us in our life, it is only because we must have done something good in the past. 

                             Everything that occurs in the universe has a cause. So all happiness in our life must have its own respective cause. People who are happy right now are feeling that way because they themselves produced a past cause for their current happiness. And that cause was performed by that very same person who is now happy. Still we can learn about this and say we understand the foundation of Buddhism, but only when it’s convenient to us. The more we sincerely look into our nature, the more we discover that we are not able to think this way all the time.

  

                 Deep down, we still demand to know why that person is better off right now and not us. We think they couldn't have worked as hard as we do, or they simply don’t deserve it as much as we do. Our jealousy and spite churn us up and make us feel worse inside. In the end, this mentality will only lead to more regret, because performing more bad deeds will always bring more bad results. 

                          So whenever we fail to achieve something, we must look within and begin to take our own steps toward happiness. Remember, envy does not get us to the finish line any faster.

Original Photo by lanier67 available on Flickr.com

Original Photo by lanier67 available on Flickr.com

                          

                                                                     

                          What's stopping us is that we are unwilling to confess that we’re unhappy about our own shortcomings. Maybe we didn’t try hard enough, we fell short of our goal, or we gave up on it. But in the end, we didn’t yet plant that right seed that was needed to get what we wanted when we wanted it.

                          Even if we feel we've been dealt a bad hand, the Law of Cause and Effect tells us that something we did in this life or a past life earned us those unfavorable cards. Rather than accept bad fate as our own and plant good seeds as quickly as possible, we prefer to point the finger and harness our misery toward someone or something in the outside world. We call it bad luck to avoid taking any responsibility. 

                           But it is our present thoughts, words, and efforts that direct the flow of our future happiness. No matter to what degree our suffering persists, we must continue to perform good deeds in order to get good results.

                             The envious mind thinks that our bad results are caused by the deeds of others. But this kind of mindset adamantly defies the truth. We know from the Law of Cause and Effect that our own bad deeds are what bring our own bad effects. So of course thoughts, words, and efforts made in the outburst of an envious wrath will only produce bad results for our future.  

                          Even so because of this worldly passion, we can still justify to ourselves doing wrongful actions. Say the car behind you speeds up and cuts you off dangerously. You think to yourself, “Oh, they think they can do that to me! No way!" Your foot hits the gas pedal to the floor. "Now, I’m really gonna show them,” you mutter as your odometer climbs. Your car then zooms by with the roar of your engines. As you quickly swerve back into the lane, they slow down and vanish down the other road. "There! I really showed them. My cutting them off must have been OK to do this time!”

                             But “this time” is once again that mind of ignorance at work. Whenever we don't see immediate results, we doubt the Law of Cause and Effect as being flawed in some way. There must have been an exception of some kind, we believe. However, the Buddha assures us this universal truth is constant and transcends all time and space.

                           To explore further, let's review the story of the thief who blamed the rope. The thief, bound by the rope, blames the tightness around his wrists for his present suffering. But it was the thief himself who stole. Now in custody, he is supposed to be reflecting on his past wrongdoings. Instead, he holds a grudge on the rope that he sees confining him at the moment. It’s not just the thief who thinks this way. We're all the same way. Everyone blames their misfortunes on the rope. Whenever we blame others, we are blaming the rope. 

                            Take the case of the good wife who has a good-for-nothing husband. The husband never works, drinks all the time, sleeps around, and yells a lot. We think that the husband is the obvious cause of the wife’s suffering. But the cause for her suffering is actually her own past actions. Why did she have to marry that man, out of all the potential suitors she could have loved instead? She’s suffering now that she is married to him. If she hadn’t married him though, she wouldn’t have suffered. She liked him and chose him. This created her karma.

                         Our suffering comes from our own past causes. This wife may blame her husband and say that it’s all his fault. But she is still believing that the rope is the main cause to blame for her suffering. 

                         So as we have learned, the worldly passion of ignorance is in direct conflict with the Law of Cause and Effect. The opposite of this ignorance is wisdom. Sakyamuni Buddha taught it as one of the Six Paramitas. 

Six Paramitas

              1.) Kindness  2.) Keeping your Word  3.) Patience  

4.) Effort  5.) Self-Reflection  6.) Wisdom

                         Wisdom is believing steadfastly in the Law of Cause and Effect. It’s the mind that is determined toward doing as much good as possible and avoiding all that is evil.

                          We hear that good deeds bring good results, and bad deeds bring bad results. But occasionally, results don’t come soon enough. If we don’t get our reward right away, we think it was a waste of our time doing the work. But this is still ignorance. Let's listen to a short story that helps us understand why cause and effect can be so hard for us to grasp.

                   "One October, a man went on a trip to the East. A cool breeze blew through the fields of ripened grain that stretched in waves of gold as far as the eye could see. Nearby a farmer was leisurely at work, smoking a pipe, his face creased in a smile.

Original Photo by Shinsuke JJ Ikegame available on Flickr.com

                   Later the man returned to the same country, and found waves of gold harvested into neat sheaves, lying piled by each house. From within came the sounds of contented conversation and laughter. The man said to himself, 'This is a paradise. Imagine that -- people here reap a great harvest with no trouble!' He could only envy such good fortune, and went and told his neighbor all about it.

                His neighbor decided to take a look for himself. He set off at the beginning of May and arrived to find everyone covered in mud and sweat, hard at work. Thinking this was strange, he finished his business and went home. When he came by the following month, he found people sweating buckets in the hot sun, hard at work as before, with no golden waves in sight and no sheaves, either. He fumed, 'My neighbor pulled a fast one one me. This is no paradise -- it's a perfect hell.'

Original Photo by Krish Dulal available on Wikimedia Commons

              Hidden in every success story are tears.

              A seed that is not planted cannot grow. People ignorant of this fundamental law of cause-and-effect are greatly to be pitied."

(Something You Forgot Along the Way, pg. 168)

                            Without first planting the seeds, we can never receive the results. Even if we don’t receive them immediately, they will surely come. Most of us give up early on doing good if it doesn’t pay off right away. When very bad times come, we feel foolish to do good at such a desperate time. Yet it is the most crucial time for good to be done. 

                             Ethics and morals aren’t the only fields where the Law of Cause and Effect is applicable. Science, medicine, politics, economics all study the relationships between the causes and effects of our world. Cause and effect works everywhere, all the time. It applies in both of the Americas, in China, the United Kingdom, the Pacific Islands, even the North Pole, and out on Mars too. It applies whether people know about it or not. 

                             Now that we know about it, the key to create our own happiness is to strive toward performing positive virtues like the Six Paramitas everyday. That way, we can accumulate and enjoy future happiness as a result of those actions.

The outcome of others is dependent on their efforts. 

***Our outcomes are dependent on our own efforts.***

                       All too often the people we live with are the ones with which we also argue, blame and compete with the most. This next short story illustrates how reflecting on our own past actions during conflict can help reach better harmony in the home.

                       "A family that was always at loggerheads lived side by side with a family that was as peaceful as could be. A, the head of the quarrelsome family, was mystified by how well everyone got along next door. Finally one day he called on B and said in desperation, 'Our family is always quarreling, as I'm sure you can tell, and I don't know what to do about it. I see that everyone in your family gets along beautifully. Please tell me what your secret is.'

                        B replied, 'There's no secret in particular. It's probably because everyone in your family is always in the right. Over here, all of us are always in the wrong, so there's no quarreling. That's all there is to it.'

                        Certain that he was being ridiculed, A was about to explode in anger when a loud crash sounded from inside the house. It sounded as if a piece of crockery had fallen to the floor.

Original Photo by Kristian Thøgersen available on Flickr.com

                        The voice of a young woman said penitently, 'Mother, I'm so sorry. All because I didn't look where I was going, I went and broke that dish that meant so much to you. It's my fault. Please forgive me.'

                        'Nonsense,' said the voice of her mother-in-law. 'It's not your fault at all. I kept meaning to put the dish away, and never got around to it. I never should have left it there in the first place. I'm the one who has to apologize.'

                         Then it dawned on A: 'I get it. Everyone in this family is always in the wrong, and says so. That's why there is no quarreling.'

                          I cannot condemn others though their sins be red as wine,

                          For their offenses pale next to those of mine."

(Something You Forgot Along the Way, pg. 168)

                       So we really don’t need to worry all that much about who’s right and who’s wrong. Because we're all made of worldly passions, we're all wrong in some way or another! We practice wisdom when we choose to not blame others, and instead choose to look within at our own causes that contributed to our own suffering.

Original Photo Art by Celestine Chua available on Flickr.com

                        Instead of feeling resentful about what others have or their superior ability, work harder toward developing your own skills and you will reap the results. The only way to get better at any endeavor in life is to keep practicing at it.

                      Every one of our efforts will be rewarded. But if we don't try toward those goals, then of course we can’t possibly succeed at them. Effects can’t happen without a cause. 

                       But still no matter how much we try to perfect this, we as human beings always remain with the worldly passions of desire, anger, and envy/ignorance.

                      Yet another troubling aspect of our envy/ignorance is that it causes us to take pleasure when people under us experience setbacks. We can all think this way, even if the misfortune seems particularly amusing to us.

Photo by woodleywonderworks (edited to remove brands, resized) original available on Flickr.com

                   “The Germans even have a word, schadenfreude, which means delight in others’ misfortune. We enjoy seeing someone caught in a rain shower with no umbrella, we laugh at someone frightened by a barking dog, and we are tickled by the sight of a well-dressed woman on the verge of tears after being spattered with mud by a passing car. On the way to a fire, we are disappointed to see that it has been put out. The Japanese have a saying that, ‘away from home, the bigger the fire, the greater the fun.’ Likewise, to ‘watch a fire on the opposite bank’ means to look on others’ troubles with unconcern, as having nothing to do with oneself. To take pleasure in such tragedy is indecent, we know, yet despite ourselves we are morbidly fascinated, enjoying the spectacle and incapable of working up any sadness. What does it say about people that viewer ratings and sales of tabloid newspapers never fail to go up when some big scandal or atrocity occurs.

Reports of another’s good fortune, whether it be a promotion, a wedding, or a new home, leave us resentful. In contrast, on hearing that someone has failed in business, gotten a divorce, or suffered some other misfortune, we secretly smirk. What if our inmost thoughts were laid bare for all to see? People would surely call us monsters and flee our presence.”

(You Were Born for a Reason, p. 129-130)

                Jealousy, envy and resentment are all feelings that repulse us when other people do it to us. But it is so difficult to observe in ourselves when we're the ones doing it. 

                             Out of a total awareness of this horrible mindset within him, a Pure Land Buddhist monk by the name of Master Shinran came to the following conclusion about his true nature.

               ‘Therefore I am neither good nor wise, nor do I have any intention of being diligent. My spirit is one of nothing but indolence, and inside I am nothing but empty, deceitful, and fawning at all times. It has been impressed upon me that there is no truth in me.’

(You Were Born for a Reason, p.130)

                 So our True Self, according to Pure Land Buddhism, does not actually contain any truth in it at all. Even after many, many hours of deep self-reflection, at our core we as humans beings are continually stirred by desire, anger, and envy/ignorance. We are these Three Poisonous Passions and nothing else.

           

                 Buddhism encourages us to reflect deeply on our mindset so we can make the right decisions to plant good seeds. By listening deeply to the teachings and practicing the Six Paramitas, not only do we bring ourselves more happiness for our future, but we simultaneously uncover vain and self-interested thoughts we never knew we had before. 

                             Then all at once -- in a split-second moment -- our True Self will be revealed to us exactly as it was for Master Shinran. We will see clearly all the ugliest aspects of our desire, anger, and envy/ignorance. We will know ourselves fully for the first time as we really are. Knowing the true reality of ourselves is the only way toward finding a real and everlasting happiness. So let us listen to the teachings earnestly until that moment when we find it for ourselves.