《Everything We do Matters》Everything We do Matters
Venerable Wuling
In a land and time very distant from us, two men encountered one another. One was a Brahmin, a Hindu priest. He realized that the man he was looking at was no ordinary being and so he inquired: "Are you a god?" "No, Brahmin（波羅門）." "Are you an angel?" "No, Brahmin." "Are you a spirit?" "No, Brahmin." "What are you then?" "I am awake," replied the Buddha.
By his own assertion, the Buddha was not a god. He was an ordinary man living in a world engulfed ingreed, anger, ignorance, and delusion.
Twenty-five hundred years ago, when the Buddha was teaching what he had awoken to, his world was similar in many ways to our world today. There were great centers of culture, and there were lands of stagnation. There were rulers with great power who thirsted for even more, and there were oppressed people who only wanted to live in peace. There were men who said that they alone held the key to spiritual secrets, and there were those who searched for different answers. There were people who had great wealth, and there were those who had nothing.
There were people who said we must change, and there were those who denied there was anything wrong. Perhaps that distant land and time is not that distant after all. Greed, anger, ignorance, and delusion are still very much with us.
In the world today, we hear so much about conflict: Economic conflict between the developed countries and third-world countries. Cultural conflict between the East and the West. Sectarian conflict in the Middle East. Ethnic conflict in Africa. So much pride and arrogance, so much hatred, so much pain.
When even government leaders cannot peacefully resolve the world's problems, what are we supposed to do? How can we, individuals without power or influence, hope to accomplish anything positive in the face of such fury and intolerance?
In our technologically-advanced world, is there anything we can learn from this man who rode away one night leaving behind a life of sensory indulgence, privilege, and power to spend the rest of his life walking barefoot across India and Nepal, sleeping under trees, and begging for his food? Is there anything we can learn from this man who awoke to the truth twenty-five hundred years ago?
If we view Buddhism merely as a religion filled with rituals and go no further, no, we will not benefit. Viewing Buddhism in this way, we may put too much energy into creating the perfect practice space. And we may run the risk of becoming engrossed in the accoutrements of practice: robes and meditation cushions, incense and musical instruments. Approaching Buddhism in this way, our time will be spent capturing the appearance of Buddhist practice rather than applying the teachings.
If we view Buddhism solely as a study of morality, concentration, and wisdom, then again, no, we will not benefit. If we merely study Buddhism, we may read many books and gain knowledge, but we will not experience—and we will not savor—the joy of the Dharma. The Dharma is the universal truth that the Buddha himself experienced and then related to us. If we only read about Buddhism, we will have misused our time by intellectualizing the teachings instead of practicing them. Just studying Buddhism, or any faith tradition or ethical teaching, will do nothing to solve our problems. We need to act. But how?
If we concurrently view Buddhism as a teaching of morality, concentration, and wisdom, and we practice it, yes, then—and only then—can Buddhism truly help us. Only when we experience what the Buddha was talking about will we begin to benefit ourselves and our world.
Where do we start? We can start with two fundamental precepts from the Buddha: to do no harm and to purify our minds. He did not tell us to instruct others to correct their faults. He did not say we should force others into thinking as we do or belittle others to make ourselves look superior or wiser. He told us that if we wish to awaken, we would need to stop blaming others for our problems, to stop arguing with others, and to stop judging others.
Instead, we need to look at ourselves, understand our situations, and assume full responsibility for what happens to us. We reap what we sow. Our lives today are the result of what we thought, said, and did in the past. What we think, say, and do today will, likewise, shape our future. If we harm others, we will be harmed. If we love others, we will be loved. If we have peaceful thoughts, we will have peace. Everything will come back to us full circle. Thus, everything we do matters.
The Buddha told us not to harm others. How do we accomplish this?Morality—do to others as you would have them do to you. The Buddha expressed the same idea when he said, "Do not hurt others with that which hurts yourself." Mohammed said, "None of you is a believer until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself." Hillel said, "What is hateful to you, do not do to others." Confucius said, "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." If you would not want someone to lie to you, do not lie to others. If you would be unhappy if someone took something from you, then do not take anything without the owner's permission. If you would be upset if someone spoke harshly to you, then do not speak harshly to others.
The reality is that there is little we can do to quickly and easily bring about change on a global scale. But there is a great deal that each of us can do—and must do—to change ourselves. The only way to achieve world peace is to create peace within each of us. If there are fires to the north, south, east, and west of us, do not expect to avoid getting burned. A person surrounded by fire will suffer. If we want a harmonious society, we must create harmony in our family, in our workplace, and in our communities. Instead of being consumed by the fire of our craving and anger, we need to create peace.
When we hear such words, we are moved, and we nod our heads in agreement. Treating others as we want to be treated sounds wonderful. These truthful words fall like raindrops on hearts that are thirsting for gentleness and serenity. They fill us with joy.
But the minute we stop focusing on the words, we forget! So quickly the awareness and joy fade as we are pulled back into everyday concerns. Perhaps this will happen even as we drive home today. How easy it will be to slip back into selfishness and forget to treat the other person on the road as we wish to be treated. How readily we will make a thoughtless remark about someone and inadvertently pollute our mind and the minds of those with us. Forgetting that we do not want others injecting their harsh words
into our peaceful thoughts, we will carelessly intrude on the peaceful thoughts of others.
To practice not harming others, we need concentration—the ability to focus on our chosen task. To not harm others, and thus not harm ourselves, we need to focus on what we are thinking and on what we are about to do. But we rarely do either mindfully.
There are far too many distractions around us. There is so much we want to learn, so many toys we want to possess, so many experiences we want to have—we want, we want, we want. Our desires pull us first in one direction and then almost immediately in another. What we wanted so urgently last year, we want to replace this year. We are pulled by our cravings, so we remain prisoners of our own attachments and aversions（厭惡）—little wonder we cannot concentrate! But learn to concentrate we must. Unless we learn to be masters of our minds, we will continue to be slaves to our emotions.
Do not harm any living being. The Buddha showed us how. Once we begin to rein ourselves in by living morally, we will commit fewer wrongdoings.
In this way, we will be less plagued by guilt. We will react less from emotions and more from reason. Harming others less will result in our worrying less. By not wasting time worrying, our minds will be more at ease, and we will be better able to focus on what we wish to: perhaps on our spiritual practice or simply on what we are doing.
As we progressively become calmer, our concentration will enable us to touch our innate wisdom. This is the wisdom that the Buddha experienced and then spoke of. It already lies deep within each of us. But we have yet to enter, much less function from, this clear, intuitive wisdom.
As caring members of society, it is our responsibility to practice the virtues of harmlessness, compassion, and equanimity（沈著，冷靜）. These virtues lie deep within us, within our true nature. This true nature is the same as that of all Buddhas. The true nature of Buddhas—their very essence—is loving-kindness, altruism, and tranquility. These qualities lie at the core of their being, and ours.
Although such virtues are already within each one of us, all too often they lie dormant. Why? Because we are thoroughly engrossed in foolish attempts to satisfy our personal desires. We are convinced that our way of doing things is correct and that our happiness lies in possessions and ower.
Consequently, we are intent on getting others to do things our way and on accumulating wealth and influence. Although we have the same true nature as a Buddha, we fail to experience the wonders of this true nature. We consistently fall back into our bad habits. Thus, we end up acting from our human nature, all the while burying our true nature even deeper within us.
The Buddha knew the problems of humanity for he had experienced them. But he overcame those problems. He awoke through the practice of morality, concentration, and wisdom. He experienced the truth of the cosmos. He found the path to awakening and left clear guidelines to enable us to follow after him. But that was all he could do—leave guidelines.
As compassionate as Buddhas are, they are unable to go against the natural laws of the universe. They know the truth. And they know that the natural laws which govern the universe cannot be changed, not even by a Buddha. So, as much as they want to help us, Buddhas cannot undo what we have already set into motion.
I created my life. Only I can change it. You created your own life. Only you can change it. Others created their lives. Only they can change their lives. Our lives today are the direct result of what we thought, what we said, and what we did in our yesterdays. As we have learned, our todays, just like our yesterdays, are lived in this selfsame（完全相同的）world, a world engulfed in greed and anger, a world enveloped in ignorance and delusion.
Greed is our endless craving, and anger is what arises when our greed is unfulfilled. Ignorance is our lack of understanding the truths that underlie what is happening to us and around us. Delusion is mistaking wrong ideas for the truth. Due to our ignorance and delusion, we believe in ideas that are wrong and reject those that are correct and beneficial. But we do so not because we are bad people. Lazy? Yes. Easily distracted? Yes. Impatient and judgmental? Yes. But because we are bad people? No.
Lacking the ability to clearly discern right from wrong, we automatically react out of our bad habits and, consequently, we are impatient and inconsiderate. In most instances, our intentions are not to harm others. We are just so easily caught up in our desires, wishes, and expectations. When these are unfulfilled, in our impatience and disappointment, we give in to anger, which rises from within us, uninvited and unnoticed. So easily, so automatically, we feel resentment and irritation, if not outright rage.
In the grip of these negative feelings, we react to other people, to our situations, not out of the wish to help others but from the compelling urge to protect ourselves. Anger arises when we are selfish, when we are only thinking of what we want but failed to obtain. The other person does not go along with our ideas—we do not receive their agreement and praise for our cleverness. The item we want eludes us—we do not possess the object we are convinced would make us happy. The person we desire rejects us—we are alone and afraid.
All these fears lie at the core of our anger. We convince ourselves that the ideas, the possessions, the person will make us happy. We want it to happen—we expect it to happen! But our expectations fail to materialize. Happiness once again eludes us. Instead of looking at ourselves to see if we perhaps were the cause, we blame others for arguing with us, for not giving us what we deserve to have, for not loving us as we hope. And so our fear of not being admired by others, our fear of not having what others have, our fear of being lonely and alone arise. We strike back defensively at those around us. We strike at those we perceive as having robbed us of what we wanted, of what we felt we deserved to obtain, and of what we believe others already have. We are afraid.
In our fear, we feel vulnerable. In our insecurity and anxiety, our fear gives birth to anger. We may hold our bitterness, resentment, or pain inside, or we may react by striking out at the other person. Either way, we give in to anger once again. In the same way, our family members give in to anger. Friends and coworkers give in to anger. Those with power and the means to inflict great harm give in to anger. And our world is engulfed in greed and disappointment, in ignorance and delusion, and in anger and retaliation（報復）.
Not just individuals but groups of people, bound together by ethnicity, religion, or by politics, react in the same way: with greed, fear, anger, retaliation. What is the answer? How do we resolve conflict and attain peace?
Wishful thinking will not end the hatred and intolerance in the world. Merely reading books will not solve our problems. Relying on others certainly does not work. The only way to create peace is through hard work and dedication, and by understanding how much is at stake here. We, each one of us, must be dedicated. We must do the hard work.
But we need not discover how to do the work. The Buddhas have already taught us everything we need to know and shown us the path we need to follow. We can take comfort in the knowledge that although Buddhas cannot get us out of the chaos we have created, they will help us as long as we need them to. This they do by continuing to teach us and showing us the way. We just need to listen and follow their guidance.
Do not harm others. Purify your mind. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Morality, concentration, and wisdom—these provide a proven path to follow. The Buddha reached the end of it twenty-five hundred years ago and awakened. We too can reach the end of the path and awaken. All we need to do is step onto it and, then, let nothing deter us from finding the way to understanding and peace.
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