Giving, True Refuge, & CoVid-19

In this talk, Ajahn Anan discusses generosity and how to find true refuge in one's heart, especially in the times of the CoVid-19 pandemic. The practice of loving-kindness, or Metta, is also highlighted.

Transcript

Homage to the Blessed One,

Noble One,

The Rightly Self-Awakened One.

Welcome to all the monks and novices,

And blessings in the Dhamma to all the faithful laity.

When we do our evening puja,

We chant praises of the virtues of the Buddha,

Dhamma and Sangha,

And then we share this heart of metta,

Loving-kindness to others.

We dedicate our merit with all those that have goodness towards us,

To our karmic debtors and to all sentient beings.

We wish,

May I be happy,

And our mind is happy,

Imbued with metta,

Loving-kindness and karuna,

Compassion.

This metta and karuna doesn't just arise by itself,

But it needs to be developed and trained in.

We can see that in the present day world,

In these times of difficulties that have arisen with this virus spreading,

People in the general public have self-love and do things out of self-interest.

And when it's like this,

Then there is competition and fighting for the four basic requisites and the necessary daily items and even for specific items like toilet paper.

People fight to buy it and get into arguments and disputes over it,

To the point where there is physical violence.

Why is this?

This is because of selfishness,

If one knows how to share and give,

Then this wouldn't arise.

And as we know,

Some who have a lot of these necessities may store them up to raise prices in the market.

This hurts others and comes from a mind of greed.

And those that don't get these necessities,

They have anger arise.

Then there is fighting and struggles to compete for these necessities.

Why?

Because of selfishness and not knowing how to share.

In these times,

It should make us reflect on the Paramī,

The spiritual perfections of the Lord Buddha that he developed through great self-sacrifice.

What did he sacrifice?

He had to even sacrifice his own life many times over.

In the life when he was King Vāsāntara,

He gave all his wealth and his kingship away.

He even gave away his wife and children.

He gave it all away in this life in order to build dāna-varamī,

The perfection of giving,

To the ultimate spiritual level.

This was so that his mind would be fully perfected and so that he could attain to becoming a self-awakened Buddha.

For in the life when the Buddha was practicing as a bodhisattva,

He was born as a royal elephant.

He sacrificed his own life in order to keep and maintain his sila,

His morality.

And he had mettā that he was not willing to kill his enemies.

And in the life where he was perfecting sila-varamī,

He was the nāga-bhūridāta and he had great forbearance without any equal.

He wouldn't harm the person who was hurting him as he was keeping his sila.

Or in the life when he was a hermit bodhisattva and he saw a mother tiger who had fallen into a valley and had no food and was about to eat her own cubs.

He said to his fellow hermits to go elsewhere and then he jumped down into the valley so that the tiger could eat the meat on his body.

Why?

So that it would extend the life of the tiger cubs and so that the mother wouldn't need to harm her cubs.

This was the Buddha sacrificing to the level of an ultimate spiritual perfection.

So as Buddhists,

We should puja the Buddha with our own practice following the Buddha.

Regularly sacrifice and share.

In these difficult times,

We have to help each other out.

If we have things,

We should share them.

We don't only live for ourselves.

And when we share with others and others can protect themselves from the sickness,

Then the sickness won't come back to us.

If we keep things just for ourselves and others don't have these protective items,

Then the sickness will end up coming back to us.

So share things that are necessities,

Those things that we're able to share.

But we don't share everything away.

One part we keep for ourselves,

Give to our family first.

This is metta and karuna for us and our family and to our loved ones.

Or to those that we are more indifferent towards.

Or more than that,

We can share with others that don't have.

And we don't harm others.

We don't fight and struggle with others.

We are established in goodness.

That is,

We have dana,

Giving,

Sila,

We control our actions and speech.

One doesn't cheat others and is established in morality.

One doesn't take advantage of others.

One is established in dhamma and advises things that are good.

One has metta and karuna by giving advice so that others can gain benefit and can protect against sickness.

So doctors or those scientists who have knowledge can help the sick and ill.

Each person does their duties fully.

When everyone has metta and karuna,

Then this metta and karuna can support the wellbeing of the world.

And we can observe the behaviours of animals.

Like in Thailand,

In the province of Lopari,

There is big infighting between monkeys,

Which is very strange.

They have established themselves into two big groups,

With each group having many hundreds of monkeys,

And the two groups fight with each other.

This year there has also been news of wild elephants fighting each other.

Though this probably has occurred in the past,

It is still strange.

And for humans,

They are fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus.

It has spread around the world and many people have gotten sick and many died from it.

So when there are disasters like this occurring,

Then we come back to the refuge in our hearts,

The jewel of the Buddha,

The jewel of the Dhamma,

The jewel of the Sangha.

This is called our refuge.

This is our highest wealth.

Our own good deeds of dana,

Sila and bhavana,

Making our minds still and peaceful.

We have metta and karuna in our hearts.

This is the highest noble wealth.

When we enter the Buddha Dhamma Sangha,

Like we chant,

Bhutang Saranang Gachami,

Dhammang Saranang Gachami,

Sankang Saranang Gachami,

Duttiyampi,

Tuttiyampi,

This refuge is in our hearts.

This is the wealth in our hearts.

The Buddha said that there is no jewel equal to the jewel of the Buddha,

No jewel equal to the jewel of the Dhamma,

No jewel equal to the jewel of the Sangha.

In the world there are many jewels,

But it never lasts or stays forever.

In the present day,

Where there is great wealth,

We can see the stock market dropping greatly.

If we have wealth there,

It disappears.

And sometimes having wealth,

There are thieves and robbers that steal it away.

All things can be taken from us because we have this body.

If we don't have this body,

Then all the other things dependent on it won't exist anymore.

So to have all these other things,

May we firstly have good health.

If we still have this breath,

Then even though some of our wealth may disappear and diminish,

We will still be able to gain it back one day.

That is,

We can do it if we have the strength of mind.

A strong mind needs to have a refuge,

The Buddha Dhammasanga as our Sarana,

Our refuge.

We will then see anicca,

Impermanence,

Uncertainty.

We can see the large cruise ships,

That there are many people travelling,

But it's not certain.

We could travel by plane,

And this used to be seen as convenient and quick.

Those that didn't have money,

They couldn't travel,

But this is uncertain as well.

We can see in this present situation,

Where there is impermanence,

There is change,

Then sicknesses can arise.

Sometimes those with money go out to pubs and clubs,

And this is considered beyond the necessity of living.

Then they may get sick,

And this could be a danger to their life.

This comes back to the Buddha's teaching of not frequenting places at night,

Not going for entertainment and shows,

Not indulging in alcohol outside.

In the house,

Maybe there is a small amount of drinking for one's health,

But if one goes outside one's house and indulges in it without caution,

Then they could become infected.

Like in Thailand,

There were eleven people who went out at night,

And they thought it would be safe,

But it's not safe,

So one should be cautious.

If one lives with the virtue of seelah,

Then though there are still dangers,

But they are lessened.

If dangers arise,

May you be safe and be protected.

You can see that the virtue of seelah will protect oneself.

If it isn't a heavy,

Bad karma,

Then we should be safe and protected from all dangers.

May you take refuge in the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha as the highest refuge in our hearts,

As our highest jewel and highest wealth.

It's a noble wealth in our hearts.

Each of us that have metta and self-sacrifice,

Then spread this heart of metta to ourselves and metta to all living beings,

To all the people in the world.

May all beings be free from dangers and free from sickness.

May we all have happiness and prosperity.

May you chant the Ratana Sutta that begins with young Kinchi and the Bojanga Sutta each day,

And then meditate to make the mind peaceful.

Contemplate the condition of the world having changed like this.

In the Buddha's time,

There was spread of illnesses,

But there was the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha there.

In this present day,

There is the Dhamma of the Buddha,

And if we practice the Dhamma,

We will see the Buddha as well.

May we be determined to make the mind strong and balanced,

Complete with dana and sila.

This dana and sila will lead to the benefit of heaven,

That is,

The mind that is the Deva,

The deity,

One with hiri,

A wise shame,

And ottappa,

A fear of the results of wrongdoing.

When we have these two qualities,

This will support the world to have happiness and peace,

And people will be able to live in the world well.

These two qualities are rare to find in this world.

Those with hiri,

Wise shame,

Ottappa,

Fear of wrongdoing,

They will have a mind and heart of metta that will have self-sacrifice and sharing,

And won't dispute and clash with others.

With toilet paper,

One can't even boil it and eat it instead of rice,

But people see it as a big deal,

I need to have it,

I need to get it.

And then there are disputes to the extent of physical violence.

If there is no food and people are fighting over it,

Then this may be a bigger deal because one is hungry and in pain.

But this fighting can even arise over toilet paper if people don't have enough mindfulness and lack wisdom.

Before,

When there wasn't any toilet paper,

We could still live,

But when in these days people have become used to having it,

We're used to ease and convenience,

Then we aren't able to handle it if we don't have these things.

When we don't have them,

Then there is disputes and fighting,

There is anger and physical violence.

And we can see this happening in many countries.

So we need to have mindfulness and be cautious.

We are Buddhists and we have homaged to the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha,

So may we be determined to have dana,

Sila and bhavana,

And this dana,

Sila and bhavana will give us the benefit of true happiness.

May you all grow in blessings.

Reviews

This was great teaching and so relevant for today’s time. Thank you for your kindness and wisdom.

Thank you for sharing Tan Ajahn’s wise perspective. A welcome and timely reminder of the value of generosity, especially in times of uncertainty. May all beings be well. 🙏🏻

Thank you for the thoughtful talk. 🙏🏼

Gratitude