Ideally, Buddhists
should be brought up with the concept that their ultimate purpose in life is to
enter Nirvana and become Phra Arahants (the fully enlightened one or the worthy
one). The reason for our coming into this world is for us to quickly work hard
and create the appropriate factors so that we can reach our spiritual
destination. This idea used to be quite strong among Thai people in the old
days. Unfortunately, it has been fading away from modern Thai people due to the
lack of understanding the essence of Buddhism. Social change has caused Thai
men to enter the monkhood without the intention to learn, practice and spread the
seed of enlightenment to laity as it used to be. Instead, to a great number of
Thai men, monkhood has become an escape route from poverty. There are many
corrupted monks who are attached to wealth and fame, and often cause
controversy. Monks can only teach laity what they know. Due to the lack of
practice and being unable to hit the core of Buddhism, the supreme concept of
Nirvana has been twisted into something that is too far beyond reach and has
nothing to do with ordinary people like us. I used to think so until I met my
late teacher Ven. Buddhadasa of Suan Mokkh.
The concept of
Buddhism in Thailand is divided into two main topics; they are the worldly
matter (Lokiya-dhamma) and the supramundane matter (Lokuttara-dhamma). The
latter one is usually known as the state beyond the world, as it is about the
practice or the path leading to the fruit and to Nirvana. People are led to believe that worldly
matter is our sole interest, which basically is about observing the moral
principles whilst ‘the state beyond the world’ is far too difficult for our
reach. I don’t know whether this concept is still being taught in the first
year of university or not. That course on Buddhism convinced me that Nirvana
had nothing to do with me. I now realise how damaging it is to teach people
like that. The enlightenment of the Buddha is aimed at helping all lives in
samsara or the circle of rebirth to reach Nirvana or to end their suffering.
This can only mean the supramundane matter or Lokuttara-dhamma. However, terms
like supramundane or beyond the world imply a strong sense of impossibility. As
a matter of fact, Nirvana is so close to us that we overlook it completely, and
it is indeed about everything in the same old world in which we are living.
That’s why I prefer to call it ‘innocent world’ instead of ‘beyond the world’.
Nevertheless, the
survival of the Buddhist wisdom in Thailand is the credit of a small group of
monks who truly follow the Buddha’s signposts of the four foundations of
awareness until they can see the state of Nirvana. Although these honorable and
enlightened monks are only a handful, they have worked very hard to propagate
the heart of Buddhism and have left behind a great legacy. I am certainly a
result of those good monks. Without them, I would still be smothered with
darkness and rolling around in the mud of suffering and insisting on thinking
that Nirvana had nothing to do with me as my lecturer had told me. However,
Thailand has less and less enlightened monks nowadays. Those who are still
alive are quite old now. The survival of Buddhism in Thailand has to be in the
hands of the younger generation, who can truly understand the core of Buddhism.
The Buddhist institution in Thailand is in an alarming state right now due to
scandal and controversy caused by bad monks.
Despite the feeble
Buddhist institution nowadays, I still think that Eastern people have better
chance to understand the ultimate purpose of life than Western people. Western
society right now is very much like what happened in India before the
enlightenment of the Buddha - being lost in a spiritual labyrinth. Just like
any religious institution which has been weakened by different factors, the
Christian institution has been losing its grip on people. There are more and
more people who doubt and deny the existence of God, but this doesn’t mean that
people do not believe in anything. The horrifying fact is that the religious
vacuum allows people to believe in everything and anything at all. Career
people believe in wealth, power and status. Younger people believe in pop
music, idols, cartoon characters, sex, drink, drugs and so on. Those who are in
between are left in confusion, boredom and often misery. No matter what people
believe, money is always one among those items, which has a strong grip on
people’s hearts. Democracy means people can do anything that they want to do.
This allows people’s defilement to flourish and problems spring up like
mushrooms from all corners. Unemployment and crime cause people to feel
insecure and even frightened. Violence and the use of weapons have become the
solution of many people as we often see in the daily papers. People who commit
minor offenses or serious crimes like murder are younger these days. The nature
of the crimes committed also becomes more and more bizarre and repulsive. The
rate of suicide is on the increase. All these indicate the seriousness of the
turmoil and the sickness in society.
Consequently, there
are more and more unhappy individuals who don’t know what the answer to life is
and are left confused. Ironically, this has paved the way for people to search
for a new type of spiritual sanctuary and has allowed the cult movements to
play a bigger role in people’s lives, especially the middle class. Many cult
leaders have been taking advantage of people whose souls are lost in their own
mental maze and often end up in tragic incidents like mass suicide and
murder. This is also a time when
Westerners open their arms to Eastern philosophy. Buddhism, healing, Tai chi,
Feng shui and so on have sprung up like mushrooms in western society. I am
quite taken aback by the vast number of books on Feng shui, clairvoyance and
different kinds of healing methods in bookshops. It can only mean one thing:
that people are in great need of a spiritual refuge. What exactly this refuge
is, is the most difficult question to answer. I don’t think people can easily
find out even though they sieve through those books containing eastern
concepts.
That’s why I said that
comparing the two cultures of the East
(Buddhist culture) and the West, eastern people have a better chance of
finding their spiritual refuge if only they have a good search. Teachers who
know the real truth can still be reached if people try a bit harder. The
practice of the four foundations of awareness is still very much in the
religious culture. Right and truthful teachers are the very persons that
Western people cannot easily have access to. Sadly, it has become a vicious
circle. There are people who want good teachers but they don’t know where to
find them. They may believe that they have found someone. That person might
turn out to be a cult leader. To break away from the vicious circle, it is very
important for an individual to be able to judge whether a teacher is
trustworthy or not as far as finding true wisdom is concerned.[1]
This is the reason why Buddhists must do their best to preserve the supreme
concept of Buddhism which allows people to know “what is what.”
The coconut
pond.
Thai ancestors must
have understood the concept of Nirvana correctly until they could talk about it
in daily life and convey it to children in nursery rhymes and story telling.
The nursery rhyme which is called
‘coconut pond’, containing the concept of Nirvana, was explained to the
Thai people by the late Ven. Buddhadasa of Suan Mokkh. The verses are as
follows:
Oh my dear little one.
There is a coconut tree
Alone amidst the wax sea.
It’s undisturbed by thunder.
Alone amidst the wax sea
Where only those beyond merit can be.
The coconut tree is a
metaphor for Nirvana, which is right in the centre of samsara (the cycle of
rebirth) represented by the wax sea. The wax sea depicts a picture of being
changeable. Life has its ups and down, happiness and suffering which are the
nature of the samsara of which we are a part. However, most people do not
realise that Nirvana is right in the midst of this cycle of rebirth, or right
here in front of us, as I keep on insisting. It can be reached only by those
who go beyond action, both good and bad. The key words are indeed ‘beyond
merit’ or ‘beyond boon’. After we have talked about how good tam-boon is, once
we have done the Buddhist merit or boon, we must let go of the boon too to get
to Nirvana. This is a much harder action to do. Nevertheless, if we stick with
the four foundations of awareness, we can let go of the merit or boon.
The late teacher had
created a coconut pond in Suan Mokkh monastery to remind the younger generation
of the supreme concept of life.
Ajahn Khemanandha also
explained to us the nursery rhyme called ‘mother snake’. All Thai children know
this nursery rhyme and we made into a game to play too. The last sentence of
this nursery rhyme says “eat head or eat tail, eat centre and eat all.” This is
the crucial sentence, which reveals the precise practice concerning the third
and fourth foundation of awareness, where there is no observer or observed.
People at that time must have practised the heart of Buddhism until they could
describe the actual state in very plain metaphors and put in the nursery rhyme.
‘Mother snake’ has
exactly the same theme as ‘the last lizard of the world’ of which I also heard
from Ajahn Khemanandha. It was said that when the great flood swallowed the
world, all living things were drowned except a lizard who escaped the flood by
climbing up the highest mountain. While he was stranded there, he finished all
the food he could possibly get until there was no food left for him to eat.
Finally, he decided to eat his own self by turning around and taking a little
bite off his tail first. Everyday, he turned around and took a bite further up
and up his body. The last day came and the lizard had only his head left. He
turned round and swallowed up his whole head and the world was silent. This
theme obviously showed the practice of the third and fourth foundation of
awareness when every thought has to be abolished which results in the ultimate
silence where there is only ‘one single
being.’
I am sure that there
is still a great deal of the enlightening culture left in all Buddhist
countries in south East Asia, but it is being overlooked due to the lack of
understanding of the essence of Buddhism. Burma, Tibet and Bhutan especially
can offer a great deal of enlightening culture to the world. It is very sad
that Tibet has been savagely destroyed by the ignorant Chinese leaders,
otherwise Tibet and her culture could be a role model for the world. Having the
Dalai Lama as the religious and government leader is an ideal form of enlightening
culture. This is the only way that appropriate culture can be created to
guarantee the minimum suffering for people. The Chinese government should be
ashamed of itself for destroying Tibet which can be compared to the last pot of
wisdom. It is almost too late to salvage the precious Tibetan culture. However,
there is still hope if the Dalai Lama can return to his homeland immediately
with full sovereignty to rule Tibet. Helping the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet
while he is still alive is a way to retrieve the enlightening culture.
I am sure that there
are people who think the same as me but I am not resourceful enough to be in
touch with them. Even my knowledge about Thai ancestral culture is still
extremely limited. All that I have talked about in this chapter make up a few
examples of what I have learnt from both my spiritual teachers. Having left
Thailand for so long and losing touch with the wise Thai people, I do not have
enough material to talk extensively although I want to so much. We really need
a think-tank to work this out together. Ajahn Khemanandha is the key person
with whom I would like to spend more time and learn more from him as far as
saving the enlightening culture is concerned.
Trying to save the
enlightening culture we have left in the world is not a small task at all. It
is far too enormous for a woman like me to think and do alone. To have good
research for a more enlightening culture and to reveal its true value so that
people can help to retain the seed of ultimate enlightenment, is my only
ambition left in my life. It is still very much a dream on my behalf since I am
totally alone and have no support morally and financially from outside apart
from my small group of students, some of whom still very much doubt me which is
quite normal and understandable. Being a woman and trying to do the monks’ job
means that I have to work many times harder just to make people listen to me.
It isn’t my personal success that I worry about. Let alone thinking about my
own success, the four foundations of awareness leave me no room to even feel
proud of myself no matter how hard I have to work both openly and secretly. I
used to think that I would feel extremely proud, special and privileged once I
could reach the higher dhamma. That was how I imagined my teachers must have
felt. The truth is far from that, the more profound the dhamma I understand,
the more ordinary and simple I feel and the less expectation I have. It is
indeed the voidness, which keeps me simple and constantly gives me the strength
to carry on and certainly not a dream which can fool me that I might make a
success some day.
Nevertheless, what I
am worried about most is the social change, which is threatening to wipe out
the existing enlightening culture. This means that the world will not have
anything left for our children to cherish as far as their spiritual need is
concerned. If we take away our material success right now, we hardly have
anything else left to serve our spiritual purpose. Through ignorance, we
rapidly destroy all the important things that will keep us sane and make our
lives become possible, especially our natural environment. Even if this idea
was noticed and we could do something about it right away, which I think is
quite impossible, it could only help to delay disaster and help those who are
deserving to know the best thing in life. This is the reason why I keep on
having the idea of putting together in writing the enlightening culture and do
my best to reveal the significant values just as I am doing in this chapter.
I still do not know
how it can happen though, since my husband and children still don’t know about
this crazy ambition of mine. I just know that I have enough mental strength
right now to keep on going spreading the seed of ultimate enlightenment, but I
cannot do it alone without support both morally and financially from outside my
very small circle of students. I can only hope that my message will be heard
before my physical strength will give up on me.
[1]
I have written a chapter called “How can you judge your meditation master ?”
which offers some indication for people to read their masters. This
chapter is in the book titled “Can a
caterpillar be perfect ?” published in Thailand by Mental Health
publications.