SWEET POISON

As a Bhikkhu, I am not allowed to sing, so I cannot contribute anything to the celebration. However, I realize so many things from the celebration this morning. The first thing is the reminder of birth and death matters. The second thing is the money which has both sides just like our life. The two sides of our life are: birth and death, no exceptions. When we died, our body will be kept no longer than three days. After that, it will be thrown in the cemetery. Therefore, between the times of birth and death, we should use our body meaningfully. If we have a life, one lifespan, we should use our body to attain insight wisdom because wisdom is the real happiness between our times of birth and death.

Living without wisdom is a real waste and we should consider we have lost our precious life. If we don’t have wisdom, how could we overcome the difficulties of life? Between the times of birth and death, we have to suffer too much of worry, grief, suffering, anger. If we don’t have wisdom, we don’t have enough strength to overcome the obstacles in this life. In the Dhammapada, verse number 152, the Buddha taught that a person without wisdom is not different from an old ox with plenty of muscles. Therefore, from the celebration this morning, I wonder just one thing: how can we train our mind to make it become sharper. From another perspective, I am extremely happy with the solemn celebration and at the same time, I am also happy to realize that I get one year closer to my death.

Since we are happy with our birthday celebration, we have to be happy with the approaching to our death as well. We have to understand that in our life, if we approach our death upon each birthday but don’t have wisdom, how would our life be? To me, the more solemn our birthday celebration is, the more solemn the happiness growing from the celebration. The important point is that when I am overwhelmed, I have to find the true meaning of wisdom and the true meaning of my mind. That means I have to sharpen my mind constantly and can never forget that no matter how solemn the celebration is, how big the happiness is, and everything is ephemeral.

Life is impermanent; death is certain. To laypeople, they are very happy on their birthdays and always cry over their deaths. Everybody believes that he or she can live for hundreds of years. That is just the illusion because Buddha’s Dhamma has taught that life is impermanent, only Nibbana is permanent. Therefore, my mind is always alerted, not too happy to forget about the truth of the death. The happier I am, the closer I get to wisdom so that I can develop the right thought.

From that right thought, I also have some other thoughts. This morning, you celebrate my birthday with many gifts and show high respect for me making me feel so happy. Those things show your heart for me but to me they are the sugar-coated poison pills. What do you think about the sweet poison? If everybody knows that is the poison, no one will take it but if it is sweet, we will swallow it right away. Isn’t that true? I would like to emphasize this is a poison to a Bhikkhu’s life. It makes us reborn so many times. That is the attachment that everybody loves and clings onto. It really has the sweet taste and we cling to it tighter. If a Bhikkhu clings onto these things, for sure, he will never be enlightened. The more he attaches to these sweet things, the stronger his impure mind develops. That means that when you find from me some faults or defiled mind, you will leave me immediately. Isn’t that right?

When I am happy with the celebration, with your gifts, this means that I give up to the temptation and love those sugar-coated poison pills. This fact will lead me to the bad qualities with impure mind. When you find some faults in my behaviour, in my teaching, you will not be satisfied with my teaching, and then you will go to another teacher. If I don’t keep my mind pure, this bad thing will happen. For that reason, I have set a goal for my enlightenment. I will live by myself, practise by myself, and die by myself. I prepare for me a longer holy life avoiding the sugar-coated poison pills. If I don’t prepare, I will not have any precious chance. Therefore, when I turn 40, I will leave everything behind and this letting go can be compared to what we always say: spitting out all fame, wanting the best of life. Do you know why? Because I am happy to let everything go off. However, I must admit that I have some special feelings from the celebration this morning.

I would like to emphasize that later on when your karma acts, when you have many followers, many supporters, donators, you can do whatever you want, having all kind of power, and every body trusts and respects you. You have to be extremely careful. Don’t ever be happy with those things or else you will accept the strongest poison that can kill you without you knowing.

My talk ends here.

Bhikkhu Dhammapala
(Pa-Auk Forest Monastery)
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, November 29, 2008
Edited by Sumana (Canada)