පින්වත, අපේ තෘෂ්ණාව වැඩි වෙද්දී, උපාදානයෝ හෙවත් බැඳීයෑම් සහ අයිති කර ගැනීමේ කැමැත්ත වැඩි වෙනවා. පින්වත වර්ණය, සැපය, බලය අයිති කොට ගැනීමේ කැමැත්ත අපි තුළ තිබිලා පමණක් වැඩක් වෙන්නේ නැහැ. පින්වත, වර්ණය, සැපය, බලය අයිති කොට ගැනීමට අදාළ පිනත් අපිට පටිච්චසමුප්පන්නව තිබෙන්නට ඕනේ. පින්ව…
When our craving increases, the attachments and desires to possess increase. It is not enough to have the desire to possess color, happiness, and power. We must also have the merit related to possessing color, happiness, and power. Even if the desire for color, happiness, and power flows freely, if the merit related to it is weak in us, we are tempted to lie in order to possess color, happiness, and power. In the Dhamma of ‘Trushna Pacchaya Upadanam’, the consciousness that descended through the attachment, the past knowledge related to lying in past samsara, brings up the past knowledge related to lying in the past samsara, and brings it up in the present. The slogans of ‘Trushna Pacchaya Upadanam’, ‘I will bring rice from the moon’, ‘I will give eight pounds of nuts’, etc., are beautiful cause-and-effect dhammas of the Dhamma of ‘Trushna Pacchaya Upadanam’. Dear, nowadays, lies have become so prevalent in society that it is impossible to gain political color, happiness, and power by saying the truth. Dear, unrighteousness breeds unrighteousness. Dear, in a society where lies are prevalent, the truth must be presented in a subtle and tactful manner. Dear, that can only be done by a leader who knows the meanings of the noble right view. Dear, that is where the socialized unrighteousness can be gradually guided in the direction of the growth of dharma. Dear, while a beautiful dharma of worldly happiness is alive, there is no need to accept defeat. Dear, if you want to turn defeat into victory, you must first become a leader who has conquered life with dharma.
Dear, you too, tap your conscience and ask, “Are you also a dharma who lies? Or are you a truthful dharma?” Pinavata, the noble disciples of the Buddha lived by killing lies with their lives. Pinavata, if an ordained monk tells a lie, there is an opportunity to correct himself by preaching the auspicious words and then correcting himself again in the precept of Pratimoksha. Pinavata, we must be skillful in erasing the provisions of that precept from our monk lives and standing up truthfully. Pinavata, the ultimate truth in the world is the Four Noble Truths. Pinavata, by seeing the Four Noble Truths as the ultimate truth, falsehood is automatically negated. Pinavata, there are four blessings that a truthful lay or ordained monk receives in this world. Pinavata, a truthful monk gains popularity in society. He becomes someone who can withstand the challenges of broken, fragmented, and scattered culture. He becomes a protector of worldly and transcendental wealth, and inherits a death or annihilation that is not deluded by consciousness. Venerable sir, conduct a self-examination within yourself and see whether the cause-effect dhammas of the right words are present in your life. Venerable sir, do you know the consequences of lying? Venerable sir, the popularity of a liar is declining day by day. He promotes lies in the face of these challenges of the breaking, breaking, and scattering of the samskara. Venerable sir, the color, happiness, and power-related wealth of a liar, and the alobha, aversion, and delusions of a liar are diminishing. Venerable sir, these are beautiful cause-effect dhammas. Venerable sir, it is okay to have lied so far. From this moment on, be truthful. Venerable sir, you will win tomorrow. Dear, do not lie for the sake of the happiness or power of a child who is impermanent, and end up with the misfortune of a mindless death in your own beautiful human life.
Dear, do not be afraid to speak the truth. We should be afraid to lie. Dear, true words or right words have a wonderful attraction. Dear, the face of the one who speaks true words becomes pleasant. The lips become colorful. Dear, the Buddha has preached, “A liar is like water that flows away when washing feet.” Dear, the water that washes feet has no value. Dear, we should not be worthless water that flows away by lying and washing feet. Dear, let us be skillful, let us be feet that are washed with respect, love, and affection. Venerable sir, even if we organize tutoring classes in cities and teach virtuous people, “Do not speak ill,” the ill will will not stop. Venerable sir, if we want to reduce ill will, we must teach the virtuous people the meaning of right view; we must explain the long-term consequences of ill will. Venerable sir, keep in mind the meaning of ‘desire’, the only cause of the five aggregates of suffering, old age, disease, and death. Then your life will feel light, not burdensome. Venerable sir, until then, our lives will remain open to ill will, based on the attachments and conflicts that arise due to desire. Venerable sir, see these not as personal faults, but as the laws of cause and effect. Then the ill will will become even more acute.
Venerable sir, ignorance has no burden of “suffering.” Pīnvatā, “suffering” is not burdened by ignorance. Pīnvatā, how can the dhammas of cause and effect be a burden? Pīnvatā, the thirty-seven bodhi-parti dhammas are not burdened by the right path. Pīnvatā, how can there be a burden in the dhammas of the extinguished path? Pīnvatā, weigh your life with the scales of the dhammas. Pīnvatā, weigh and measure the weight of the views of the body, the burden of the vitiation of other virtues, the weight of lust, desire, and attachment. Pīnvatā, have you made a scale of the dhammas from your life? Pīnvatā, a scale of the dhammas is the sharp insight of mindfulness that arises from a rightly concentrated mind. Pīnvatā, without the sharp eye of the insight of mindfulness that is empowered by the power of the Noble Eightfold Path, how can you weigh the weight of the world of the five aggregates of aggregates? Dear, if you get tangled in the ball of thread, life becomes a mess. Dear, if you get something you want, that is your wholesome samskara. Dear, if you don't get something you want, that is your unwholesome samskara. Dear, you are responsible for both getting and not getting. Dear, there is nothing that a disciple of the Buddha has received or not received. Dear, the samskaras formed due to ignorance, dear, when the mind sees 'ignorance is eliminated, samskara is eliminated' and sees attachment and conflict, craving can no longer break pots in deserted houses. Until then, we will break pots by jumping into other people's deserted houses.
Dear, don't go looking for good people in the society you live in. Then you will develop a mind that clashes with bad people. Dear, don't go looking for bad people in the society. Then you will develop a mind attached to good people. Pity, become one who sees both the good and the bad of others as the cause-and-effect dhammas of suffering that are formed due to your own desires. Pity, then both good and bad things will become a source of pleasure for you for the understanding of the Dhamma. Pity, the monk who notes this also encounters bad, harmful, and oppressive places. Pity, whether good or bad, we as monks cannot, according to the Vinaya, offend the hearts of the virtuous beings who contribute merit. Pity, for the sake of the existence of the Dhamma, we must be skilled in not plucking flowers and gnawing at them. Pity, we must be skilled in seeing the cause-and-effect dhammas of good and bad with wisdom, and in harmful places, having spent a few days with loving-kindness, we must be skilled in avoiding them with kindness. Pity, do not seek good places or bad places. Pity, he who seeks a place, obtains all these things: form, pain, consciousness, formations, and consciousness. Pity, the seeker has finally received a lot of suffering from the five aggregates of attachment? Pity, whatever the seeker finds is something that breaks, shatters, and scatters, isn't it? Pity, the monk is not seeking anything now. Pity, what he has been searching for so long has been things that change. Pity, surrender your mind to the Dhamma. Then, there will be no world of seeking, form, feeling, feeling, formation, or consciousness left behind.
Pity, hope keeps us alive. Pity, that is why we think that hope is for a friend of good. Pity, the 'illusion of consciousness' formed by formation is hidden in our hopes. Pity, when hopes are broken, we become sad, sorrowful, and dejected. Pity, when hopes are fulfilled, we become victims of the short-term pleasure of lust and pave the way for a long period of suffering. Pīnvatā, even if hopes are not fulfilled, there is still suffering, and even if hopes are fulfilled, there is still suffering in the end. Pīnvatā, the disciple of the Buddha has no hope for the future. Pīnvatā, He entrusts the past, present, and future to the noble Dhamma practice. Pīnvatā, if one has hopes for the future, one will inevitably have to embrace suffering. Pīnvatā, the disciple of the Buddha lives in the present. Pīnvatā, the Dhamma practice that sees “all formations are impermanent” illuminates His present with its manifestation. Pīnvatā, you laypeople, live mindfully in the present with the Four Noble Truths. Pīnvatā, fulfill your duties to your parents, teachers, society, country, nation, and religion with a good personality. Pīnvatā, in the face of duties and responsibilities that you cannot fulfill, cultivate the feeling of ‘May you be well!’ Virtue, then what unfolds tomorrow is a mirror of your own meritorious actions, not something given by a god or a Brahman. Virtue, open yourself today to the path that brings fulfillment of hope and happiness.
Venerable Rajagiriya Ariyagnana Thero