Poems by Ajahn Buddhadasa

Revisiting Buddhadasa’s Three Wishes in the Age of Hyper-Materialist Globalization

By SUWANNA SATHA-ANAND -
October 6, 2017
In honour of the 111th birth anniversary of Buddhadāsa, concluding remarks presented by Dr. Suwanna Satha-Anand (Philosophy Dept., Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) at The 8th International Buddhist Research Seminar & The 2nd International Conference on Buddhadāsa Studies, held on 24-25 May 2017 at the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives, Bangkok.
I wish to express my deep appreciation for the invitation to give these concluding remarks at the end of numerous activities to commemorate the 111th Birth Anniversary of Venerable Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu.
The New York Times, 9th July 1993, published a brief message on the passing away of Ajahn Buddhadāsa in the followings:
Bangkok, Thailand. July 8. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, a monk whose non-traditional ideas transformed Thai Buddhism and earned him an international following, died today at his temple in Southeastern Thailand. He was 87 and was reported to have suffered a stroke in May.

As a critic of superstitious beliefs, materialism and militarism, Buddhadasa provoked re-examination of the religion that is followed by 95% of Thailand’s 58 million people.
In 1932, Buddhadasa founded Wat Suan Moke, a monastery in the forest about 300 miles southeast of Bangkok and a popular center for meditation for Thais and foreigners, including Europeans and North Americans. His numerous books and pamphlets have been translated into several languages.
Buddhadasa’s teaching challenged social convention, the monastic hierarchy and, occasionally, the Government. In the 1960’s Buddhadasa was accused of being a communist because of his attack on the growing materialism of Thai society.
‘He taught that spiritual development should come first, then human and cultural development, taking into account the environment,’ said Sulak Sivaraksa, a Buddhist scholar and social critic. ‘He felt that politics without morals is dreadful.’

Again breaking with tradition, Buddhadasa said in his will that he wanted to avoid the elaborate cremation ceremonies often held for high-ranking monks. Instead, he asked to be buried at Wat Suan Moke without delay.

According to Confucius, we can gauge filial piety by seeing whether the children still keep the wishes of their parents after 3 years of their passing away.

It has been twenty-four years since Ajahn Buddhadāsa passed away in 1993. We are commemorating his 111th Birth anniversary today with these events. In some way, we do not only feel our gratitude to this great teacher of Buddhism, we are also doing something to show our love, respect and gratitude.

In the age of globalization, the rise of Asian Super-powers and the conflict-ridden evolving ASEAN economic community, the issue of religion and economic-materialist relationships have to face more serious challenges. In the traditional past, religion as a major force of culture seems to exert positive influence on the lives of people, whose imagination of a good life almost always include religious and spiritual elements. In today’s world, the answer to any and all ills seems to lie in the marriage between technological innovations and market economy. A transcendent Utopia, either Nirvana or Heaven seem more and more irrelevant. In this age of hyper-materialist globalization, when you have environmental problems, you create green technologies; when you have ageing population, you build care-giving robots; when you have problems in education, you build more internet networks; when you have extremist terrorists, you invest more in advanced apparatus of intelligence and technology of weapons. The list goes on.

BUDDHADĀSA'S THREE WISHES

Most of us here do not need to be reminded of Buddhadāsa’s three wishes, but I ask for your kind patience as I need to revisit them here. I quote:

There are 3 wishes in my life: 1) Help Buddhists or followers of any religion attain the deepest meanings of their religion. 2) Develop good understanding among religions. 3) Usher fellow human beings out of the influence of materialism. And I have constantly worked towards the perfection of these 3 wishes. If people in each religion fail to attain the heart of their religion, there would be no way an inter-religious understanding could be fostered. Thus, we must all try to help each other attain the heart of our religion together. Ultimately, they will be above the influence of materialism together.
(Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Buddhism-Christianity in the Eyes of Buddhadasa. Bangkok: Thienwan Publisher, B.E. 2527 [1984], p.5.)

I’d like to offer four observations, by taking the three wishes as pre-requisites of each other. Especially the first two wishes as a pre-condition of the last wish.

1) To be Buddhist includes helping followers of any religion to attain their religious goals. (It’s fascinating to me why a Buddhist monk wishes to help people of other religions to attain their goals.)
2) Inter-religious understanding is possible only after people in each religion attain the heart of their religion.
3) All religions face a common obstacle, namely, the influence of materialism.
4) Followers of all religion need to work together to rise above the influence of materialism.

In my concluding remarks today, I’d like to propose three points for further thinking and discussion. I truly believe that a lively discussion among friends is the only way to search for and establish any collective commitments.

1) I’d like to bring out the inter-connections of the three wishes.
2) I’d propose to place some of his specific teachings into the framework of the three wishes.
3) I’d offer some reflections on the recent developments of the materialist world in the past decades, which put new challenges for the last wish of Ajahn Buddhadāsa.

1. THE INTER-CONNECTIONS OF THE THREE WISHES

After reading and thinking about Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s works for more than four decades, (I first met him when I was a teenager), only recently I began to grasp the complex inter-connections of the three wishes. First, as a Buddhist by culture or by birth, we usually feel that people of other faiths belong not only to different religions, but more subtly, they belong to different truths. The first wish of Ajahn Buddhadāsa is telling us that people of other faiths or other religions are actually searching for and leading to the same truth. They are practicing different religions, but they are ultimately speaking, pursuing the same truth. In this sense, in being in religion, we are actually aspiring for a common goal. (This is the position of Ajahn Buddhadāsa on religious pluralism, which would require a separate seminar.)

Second, only after we have achieved this, we can build bridges in this socio-cultural world connecting with other religions. In other words, good understanding among religions is a result of a deeper understanding of one’s own religion.

Third, once wishes One and Two are achieved, we can work together to rise above the influence of materialism.

2. SPECIFIC TEACHINGS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE THREE WISHES

I understand that the teachings of Ajahn Buddhadāsa on Nirvana here and now, of empty mind points to the attempt to create a new looking glass or a new vista to “truly” see Buddhism as a cure for suffering. In other words, as Ajahn Phra Paisal Visalo puts it so well, when Thai Buddhists face sufferings, they go for merit-making. Both the poor and the rich perform merit making as a way of alleviating sufferings. Ajahn Buddhadāsa, on the other hand, points to another path, that is, the core teaching of Buddhism is actually a system of practice which cultivates the practitioner to see the world as “no-me and not-mine” (ไม่มีตัวกู ไม่ใช่ของกู) Instead of “Bun” Ajahn Buddhadāsa speaks of “Kusala” which is a gradual reduction of the ego, while “bun” if not properly understood, is a gradual accumulation of bigger egos. In this sense, “empty mind” is both ontological and epistemic-psychological (“no-me”: ontological, “not-mine”: epistemic-psychological).

Moreover, I understand that Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s teaching of ภาษาคน-ภาษาธรรม (Human Language-Dhammic Language) is a way of providing liberating possibility of attachment to symbols, most importantly, religious symbols. As I understand it, symbols are arbitrarily constituted signs through convention, which are supposed to lead people from the concrete material world to the abstract spiritual world. Take the cross, for example. As a physical tool of public punishment used by the Romans, it comprises of two planks of wood, put together in a certain angle. As a religious symbol, the cross becomes a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus in his attempt to reconcile human beings to God. Ajahn Buddhadāsa gives the example of the term “Buddha” which on the level of human language indicates the historical Buddha who was spreading his Dhamma in Northern India over 2000 years ago. On the Dhammic level, Buddha indicates the “Dhamma” or the universal truth of Buddhism. This theory of ภาษาคน-ภาษาธรรม provides a philosophical basis for inter-religious understanding.

3. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF HYPER-MATERIALIST WORLD
I may be wrong, but I understand that when Ajahn Buddhadāsa used the term “วัตถุนิยม” I suspect that he was using it in the sense of “นิยมวัตถุ,” that is, more of an ethical, psychological sense of a person losing out over greed of things or attachment to things in the material world. I suspect that he did not use it in the more comprehensive sense of a world of reality constructed by and generated through scientific technology dealing with the physical material aspect of the world. I will use the example of ผ้าจีวร or the monk’s robe as an example. As a physical thing, the monk’s robe could be made of cotton, wool or synthetic materials. As an object of commerce, the monk’s robe could be for sale in ห้างสังฆภัณฑ์. The monk’s robe could become a commodity. But symbolically, the monk’s robe is meant to indicate a way of life for those who follow the 227 precepts whose main objective is to lead a noble path to the cessation of suffering for oneself and for others. The reason we pay respect to the yellow robe (ไหว้ผ้าเหลือง) in Thai culture is not because of the cotton or the wool, nor for the market price of the robe, but for the symbolic value of the garment of those in pursuit of the noble path in Buddhism.

It seems to me at this point in time, some twenty-four years after the passing away of Ajahn Buddhadāsa, the materialist world does not primarily indicate the world of commercialized commodities in terms of goods and services, but it indicates a world of hyper-materialist reality, made possible by the advancement and proliferation of digital technologies. New businesses are created every day, new avatars are being created every second, new projections of the future are making decisions on the lives of many marginalized people (I am thinking of the building of huge dams along the Mae Kong River and a spate of infrastructure mega projects in various regions of Asia). How do we overcome or rise above this “materialism?” It is no longer just materialism of things, sitting there waiting for our consumption or greed, it has become a master monster who conjures up new things, forming new selves, deciding new government policies, dictating new international trades, nurturing new dreams for the younger generation. How does Buddhism deal with this new form of hyper-materialism? I feel awkward to say this. But it seems to me the Dhammakaya has come up with an answer, conjuring up a version of hyper-materialist form of Buddhism.

If we do not want that same answer, and I believe most of us here do not want that, how do we proceed to pursue Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s three wishes? I think that part of the answer lies in Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s take on the issue of the relations between the symbols and the symbolized. But a lot more needs to be done. I hope I have provided a modest but sound basis for what we should consider when we continue our efforts to keep Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s teachings alive, relevant and crucial for us, as we continue our search for a Buddhist version of a good life during this time of so many “inconvenient truths.”
This brings me back to the entrance to Suan Mokkh’s main hall, where three Dhamma puzzles are inscribed on the doors.

Do not let Buddha Statues Conceal the Buddha,

Do not let the Tripitaka Conceal the Dhamma,

Do not let Sons of Common Folks Conceal the Sangha.

How do we invigorate the symbolized, through a proper understanding of the symbols?
With these three puzzles and a final question, I offer my concluding remarks as token of appreciation to the organizers for giving me this precious opportunity to share my thoughts with you today.
:- https://www.suanmokkh.org/articles/21

 

Ajahn Buddhadasa



Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu (Servant of the Buddha) went forth as a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) in 1926, at the age of twenty. After a few years of study in Bangkok, which convinced him “purity is not to be found in the big city,” he was inspired to live intimately with nature in order to investigate Buddha-Dhamma in study and practice. Thus, he established Suan Mokkhabālārama (The Grove of the Power of Liberation) in 1932 near his hometown of Pum Riang (now in Chaiya District). At that time, it was the only forest Dhamma Center and one of the few places dedicated to vipassanā meditation in Southern Thailand. Word of Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, his work, and Suan Mokkh spread over the years so that they are easily described as “one of the most influential events of Buddhist history in Siam.” Here, we can only mention some of the most interesting services he has rendered Buddhism.

Note: He used bhikkhu (originally “mendicant renunciate,” later settled “monk”) as part of his pen name, while ajahn is as a common form of address for monks and other teachers.

 

BIOGRAPHY
Ajahn Buddhadāsa worked painstakingly to establish and explain the correct and essential principles of what he called “pristine Buddhism” or “the heart of Buddha-Dhamma,” that is, the original awakening realizations of Lord Buddha before it was buried under commentaries, ritualism, clerical politics, and the like. His work was based in extensive research of the Pāli texts (Canon and commentary), especially of Buddha's discourses (suttas), followed by personal experiment and practice with these teachings. He then taught whatever he could say truly quenches dukkha (dissatisfaction, distress, suffering). His goal was to produce a complete set of references for present and future research and practice. His approach was always scientific, straight-forward, and practical.

In his time, Ajahn Buddhadāsa was revolutionary for preferring the Pāli language record of Buddha’s discourses, especially what struck him as the earlier, more authentic strata, over the commentaries and so-called Abhidhamma that developed in later centuries and flourished as Buddha-Dhamma spread through various schools, including what fairly recently came to be known as “Theravāda.” His playful provocations of rigidly orthodox sectarians gave him many opportunities to practice equanimity. The criticisms and personal attacks became dust in the winds of time as he remained true to the genuine heart of Buddhism, as he often spoke of the liberative teachings centered in selflessness, dependent coarising, emptiness, the “karma that ends karma,” and the middle way of release from all manifestations of “me” and “mine.” In fact, he was chosen to give an important keynote address on behalf of the official Thai monastic delegation to the Sixth Council held in Rangoon in 1954.

Although his formal education only went as far as ninth grade and beginning Pāli language studies, he was given numerous Honorary Doctorates by Thai universities. His books, both written and transcribed from talks, fill many shelves at the National Library and influence all serious Thai Buddhists in Siam. Doctoral dissertations are still being written about him and his legacy. His books can be found in bookstores around the country and are favorites as gifts at cremations.

Progressive elements in Thai society, especially the young, were inspired by his teaching and selfless example. Since the 1960's, activists and thinkers in areas such as education, ecology, social welfare, traditonal medicine, and rural development have drawn upon his teaching and advice. Most of the monks involved in nature conservation and community development were inspired by him. Through his exposition of “Dhammic Socialism,” he provided the link between the scriptural tradition and engaged Buddhist practice today.

 

(cont.)
After the founding of Suan Mokkh, Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu studied all schools of Buddhism, as well as other major religious traditions. This interest was practical rather than scholarly. He sought to unite all genuinely religious people in order to work together to help, as he put it, “drag humanity out from under the power of materialism.” This broadmindedness won him friends and students from around the world, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Confucianists, Sikhs, and Jews.

The last project Ajahn Buddhadāsa guided was to establish an International Dhamma Hermitage in a quiet coconut grove across the Asia Highway. This addition to Suan Mokkh is intended to provide facilities for:

• Courses that introduce foreigners to correct understanding of Buddhist principles and practice.
  
  
• Meetings among Buddhists from around the world to establish and agree upon the “heart of Buddhism.”
  
  
• Meetings of leaders from all religions for the sake of making mutual good understanding and cooperating to drag the world out from under the tyranny of materialism.
  
  
• Ajahn Buddhadāsa also left instructions for the building of Dhamma-Mātā, a residential facility for women interested in dedicated study and practice largely free of the constraints of monk-centric monasteries. He called this Dhamma-Mātā (Dhamma Mothers, those who give birth to others through Dhamma).

Ajahn Buddhadāsa died in 1993 after a series of heart attacks and strokes that he repeatedly bounced back from in order to teach. The final stroke occurred as he was preparing notes for a talk to be given on his 87th birthday in two days (27 May). Suan Mokkh carries on in the hearts and actions of all those who have been inspired and guided by his example and words. Suan Mokkh is not so much a physical place as it is the space of liberation that we all must discover in this very life.

• • • • •
:- https://www.suanmokkh.org/buddhadasa

 

Why Leave Home?
What sort of going forth is correct?
The kind that aims straight for liberation!

Can't you stay at home just as well?
Sure, but it isn't nearly as convenient!

How is being a wanderer speedier?
Ones feet are lighter when not carrying a house!

Where is liberation found before time runs out?
In not clinging to anything to tie you up!

What is given up to not get all trussed up?
Give up hugging all the fruits one might find!

How do we give it up so as not to be strangled?
Simple let go of self and all self's stuff!
. .......................

 

Lovely Work
In fact, this work is lovely:
Before we understand it, we complain,
Unknowing, we avoid it and hide,
Even moan that it is boring.

But truly, this work is lovely:
Teaches people to understand every thing,
The more we work, the smarter we are,
Plunging into difficult things the heart grows.

This work, if you really look, is lovely:
It pulls in Dhamma most praiseworthy,
That is, mindfulness, zeal, and their mates.
When we stop to rest the mind is free — the way to Nibbana.
. ... ... .

 

No Clinging, No Biting
Even if you don't cling to the goodness you've done,
It still gives good results in return.
Even if you don't cling to the evil you possess,
Further evil is fed according to its nature.

Non-clinging is far better in not biting;
It can be quiet, peaceful, settled, and circumspect.
As soon as you grab something it turns and bites;
Good and evil both bite, to that I can attest.

Non-clinging isn't the least bit heavy,
Delightfully free of any power to entrap.
The least clinging, jumps you into the pits
Gnawing at the roots and every rung of the heart!

 

Modern System Of Buddhism
After awakening to the realization of Dhamma Truth
the Ultimate Reality of Nature, he taught
Sunyata to all beings in all possible ways
so disciples will remove every bit of Self.

Later, the religion fell into the hands
of those who still cling to “Ego” intensely,
and still beg for ordinary sensual pleasures,
thus always looking for a way around.

One kind of Buddhism must be lowered
so that its Triple Gem is for people to pray
for all the things desired by those followers who
have turned away from the transcendent
and are stuck in the world.
. . *****************************

 

There's No "Me"!
“Me” myself doesn't really exist,
So where will you find “my wife and kids” ?
Not to mention “my wealth” or “my stuff”?
Because I don't even have a “self” of my own!

If those are the facts, then whatever is it that
Excites and sends body-mind moving around?
It's just body-mind, haven't you noticed?
Don't you know that body-mind is not “self”?

It's merely wonderful, profound natural change
That thinks, feels, speaks, and acts according to causes
Just ordinary blind aggregates and elements
Don't idiotically assume that “Me” exists.

❖ ❖ ❖

 

Clinging Surely Bites
Like clinging? Well, be careful, it will bite!
As foolishness grabs hold, craving always arises
Then clinging binds and strangles the spirit.
Before you know it, you'll go crazy in a wink.

Cling to anything and that very thing bites:
Food, fun, or fame, anything whether ugly or sweet;
Even children, wife, husband, and other loved ones;
Good or evil, virtue or vice — you ought to know.

Even the most exquisitely delicious joy of your mind
No matter how peaceful and subtle, if it's clung to
Suddenly changes into an ogre that turns on you
To gobble you up with that happiness — don't be a fool!

❖ ❖ ❖

 

Frightening Stuff

So what in the world is most frightening?
I've looked everywhere, there's nothing at all!

If so, is there anything frightening in people?
I'm immeasurably afraid of my own stupidity!

Don't you mean afraid of other people's stupidity?
That's no trouble if our own doesn't resist!

Isn't the stupidity of criminals something scary?
If we aren't stupid they won't dare anything!

Aren't you afraid of suffering birth, illness, aging, and death?
They burn us because we're so enormously foolish!

Do you mean we'll never suffer if never stupid?
I'm certain. Fear only our own big, fat stupidities!


❖ ❖ ❖

 

A Real Blessing That Works

May the Virtues of the Buddha
The highest refuge without doubt
Protect all of you dedicated
To practicing the true path devoutly.

May the Virtues of the Dhamma
Which overcomes dukkha
Protect all of you determined
To practice in line with the Dhamma.

May the Virtues of the Sangha
That walks the path beautifully
Protect all of you aiming
To follow the path securely and true.


❖ ❖ ❖

 

Insane For Them To Cheer

There's a lot of wanting to look good,
but it's much more difficult to do.
So they get carried away as if crazy;
Aren't we silly, we people, creating ourselves!

Thinking it's right, it's good, following the advice
of ghosts, so they lose the path of morality ...
sunk in the mud beneath the lotus's roots
... blossoming all over not at all fragrant.

This makes them push ahead as if crazy
getting upset revealing their lunacy even more
showing off their very craziness,
boy it's hard to really do good.


❖ ❖ ❖

 

Morals & Progress
Even today the world is in the dark ages
rushing rapidly towards its own dissolution,
humanism will fall into hellish ruin because
the spinning blade of destruction is mistaken for a lotus.

Selfishness fills our heads, pushing us under its muck
with a wonderful magic that fills our minds
absorbing everything until the heart is dark
and thinks its sensual infatuation is “progress.”

With morals no longer seen as necessary
for living together in peace and happiness;
more crazy than ever with food, fun, and fame
so deluded the insanity seems “moral and just.”

❖ ❖ ❖

 

Religious Matters

Brother, what sort of religion do you teach?
Who told you that I've got religion?

Brother, you teach us just like a prophet?
That's what you say, you lousy gangster!

The words “No Religion” confuse me!
Just study the law of nature, that's enough!

But isn't that religion, or what is it?
Just see nature and it takes care of the rest!

What's the reason, then, for not calling it religion?
It's only ordinariness, naturally, nothing more!

Where, then, is religion?
Gangs of noisy authorities stuffing people's heads!


❖ ❖ ❖

 

You Just Create Mara Yourself
Mara* exists when we want things good or to get,
Even wanting to die Mara exists most peculiarly,
Because the grasping of “ME” is so excessive
Desire in all its guises never falls into disuse.

If there's no wanting to get or be anything
How could Mara exist? So why not oppose it!
Don't go wanting anything through not knowing,
Then no Mara will ever appear before you!

Think, speak, and do everything with wisdom
You don't really need to crave anything, now, do you?
Without desires it's so much more cool & peaceful,
What Mara could happen then? There's just no way!

❖ ❖ ❖

(*) Mara, The Killer, the Buddhist personification of evil

 

The Supreme Buddhist Mantra

“They arise, manifest, and then cease” —
this is the main mantra to use when getting
rewards, status, praise, or any kind of happiness,
so as not to be drowsy, forget ourselves, or indulge.

“They arise, manifest, and then cease” —
this is the main mantra to use when losing
rewards, status praise, or even wife and kids,
so we aren't weakened, confused, or distraught.

“They arise, manifest, and then cease” —
this is the mantra to use at the last lesson,
the best weapon for dueling with death,
fully at peace beyond Mara's snares.

❖ ❖ ❖

 

No More Enemies

Enemies are those who surprise and test us
So we know how good we actually are, or
That we're only good at blazing up in anger
Unable to control our hearts for even a moment.

Enemies are those who choose heaven for us
In that our minds will notice, ponder, and realize
That patience and tolerance are sainthood right here —
Without them, we become demons of hellish turbulence.

Enemies are those who teach us the truths
That ill-will and vengeance are filthy waters.
Don't hold them in your heart, you'll bruise yourself sore
Tossing and spinning in the seas of Samsara far too long.

So it is that enemies bestow upon us great benefits;
then, why do they become villains in our minds?
Not knowing how to greet them, we react aggressively;
Learn how to receive them and enemies disappear!

❖ ❖ ❖

 

Body Odors - Cats - Dogs - People

In nature, cats never take baths,
they're way too afraid of water;
Yet we all know they never stink,
While dogs can really prick our noses.

Whether they bathe or not, dogs still stink.
Compared with cats they are rather silly.
But what of people, that's the real issue:
Sometimes they stink far worse than any dog.

So we spend fortunes on perfumes & fragrances,
Uncountable resources wasted without a care.
Never daring to bathe in the stream of Dhamma,
That alone washes away the worst odors for life.

❖ ❖ ❖

 

I Work More Than I Can Bear

I work more than I can bear, but
am happy hearted enough to leap and dance.
This is because my mind thinks and aims
only to live in line with the Dhamma,
Wherever the causes and conditions lead,
according to the karma I laid down in former moments.
To die is like a pause from work,
to sleep for a night, to rest for a time;
With the new dawn, I take up the work
vigorously carrying on the work left over from before.
The new day is a new birth, these two are the same:
born with the day and dying at night,
As the waves of the samsaric cycles create
the myriad products that soothe and comfort our hearts.
Whoever wishes for joy and bliss must know
that it depends on the one who can see joy for himself.
As for me, there is no meaning beyond
the fact that I was born only to work
According to conditions, so that myself and others
will know the world, conquer it, and vanquish sorrow.
Nature created us perfectly, physically and mentally
thriving — boundless thanks to Nature!
Although we are created for birth, decay, and death,
yet Nature gives me the chance to vie
Struggle, and contend in all duties to break ahead
in order to reach the end before anyone else.
While friends encourage each other to lie around,
I am working hard as if they were chasing behind.
The duties of life that besiege constantly
are like debts ever piling up on top of me
Blocking my way almost like a whirlpool,
when will I pass beyond and find the place of freedom and peace?
From here to Nibbana we must pass through
the checkpoint which is the work of our lives
This Law is more certain than any scales;
no matter how skilled, no one can escape this rule.
For this reason, in any activity that
aims for the benefit of others or oneself
We should hurry, struggle, and strive
to make it beautiful and work off our debt to Nature.
Until the heart’s attachments to all things
weaken, dissolve, and fade away
So that wisdom sees directly that greed, anger,
and delusion are finished and samsara stopped.
Hurry friends, don't be late!
Whatever work you may meet, tackle it immediately.
Much work may bring a faster death,
but it rolls along towards the final rest, just the same.


❖ ❖ ❖


“Sirivayasa”
13 February 1938
(translated by Santikaro Bhikkhu)