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Venerable
Ajahn Sumedho -
On Messiahs and Other Matter
The
following was taped during a community tea break with Ajahn Sumedho at
Amaravati. The questions were not recorded, but the answers are worth
reading. In response to a question about the human spiritual longing
that manifests as hope in a Messiah to come.
You can contemplate that whole wish for a Messiah. It's very attractive
to think of a Messiah coming and saving us, because there's a feeling
somehow that that's the only thing that can do it now. One can be quite
depressed with so many things going wrong and with so many problems. You
know that feeling: 'Please let the Messiah come and straighten up the
mess we've made.'
But I realise that I really have to straighten up the mess I've made in
myself. Wanting somebody else to come and do it for me seems to me a
sign of immaturity. I remember as a child making a mess and then getting
myself into trouble, hoping my parents would come along and straighten
it out and make everything right; it's that kind of mind, really. It's
not that I'm against the idea of it - it would be very nice to have a
Messiah come - I'm all for it. But I don't demand it, or even expect it,
because I realise that it's more important to learn how to do it
yourself - to learn to be your own messiah - rather than to expect some
external force to come and save you or the world.
There are different ways of looking at our current situation. There's
the 'gloom, doom' way of: 'Everything's hopeless! We've polluted the
planet and we've made a mess; there's nothing much we can do, it's too
late.' And there's the New Age approach, which is full of hope: 'It's
all changing; consciousness is changing - human beings are becoming
aware of totality and the oneness of all sentient beings.' There's that
kind of thinking - which is very positive and inspiring to the mind. It
gives a direction of hope and optimism to one's life - that we aren't
just stuck in a cold universal system that we've made a mess of, and
it's just pollution and misery until the whole thing collapses!
Certainly being positive and optimistic about things will make life more
pleasant for you, but the way out of suffering - which to me is the
whole perfection of our existence as individual human beings - is
through the realisation of truth. Rather than choosing one approach and
rejecting the other, both sides are seen for what they are; one is
transcending, no longer identifying with the conditioned realm or
expecting anything from it. In the mind that isn't attached is an
ineffable understanding of truth, beyond words; something that you can
only realise for yourself.
So there's the view that we've passed the Golden Age when everything was
perfect . . . but there is still an aspiration of the human heart - for
individuals, communities and nations - to somehow get back to that
perfect paradise on planet earth, where everything is fair and just and
beautiful and true and perfect for us.
When we reflect on Dhamma, it allows us to see that even the earth
itself is impermanent. So while we can point to the mess the humans have
made, we recognise that Mother Nature is also good at making messes on
this planet. There Are hurricanes, the volcanoes. . . the whole
geological history of planet earth is, in human terms, pretty horrendous
- just the way things change and move in nature.
There's a mystery to it all: a planetary system existing in a universe.
Our curiosity is taking us towards the furthest reaches of the solar
system, but all we can say - even with all our cleverness - is that it's
very mysterious and wonderful. All we can do as human beings, really, is
to wonder and open ourselves to this mystery, because we can't solve it
with the puny little minds we have. Since we can't solve the mystery,
the only thing to do is either reject the mystery and busy ourselves
with trivial and foolish things, or open ourselves to the mystery.
That's what we mean by the ineffable realisation of Truth. It's the
opening of an individual's mind to the mystery; there's no demand for
any answer. Just opening your mind and surrendering with total openness
and receptivity - that's what we can actually realise within this human
form. When you're at one with the mystery there's no suffering, but as
long as you are frightened by it, or seeking to solve with the puny
perceptions of your mind, you'll just end up in doubt and despair, fear
and anxiety - terror, even.
But we can contemplate our own existence. We can contemplate the mystery
of life and the universe. What is that about, anyway? One can dismiss it
as much ado about nothing, or one can actually investigate and open to
it Then there is the realisation of true peacefulness that you can never
have when you're trying to find peace in some thing or somebody or some
place.
Looking for a peaceful place . . . maybe you've got the idea that once
you find Shangri-La, you'll live happily ever after. But then you find
Shangri-La, only to find out that the American Air Force has low-flying
jet practice over Shangri-La these days! There's always a snake in the
garden, or a worm in the apple, or the people in Shangri-La are so
high-minded they never clean the toilets! There's always going to be
something unpeaceful about the conditioned realm.
It's the same with the idea of finding Prince Charming or Cinderella:
'Once I meet the right person, then I will live happily ever after!'
That's an illusion too. So with no place to go, nobody to save you and
fulfil you, and nothing you can do about it, you could end up creating a
world all of your own - living in a kind of mental state, where they
lock you up in a mental hospital.
The way out of suffering isn't through any objective realm - through
either thought or through perception, or through the material realm -
but in transcending it. Transcendence doesn't mean escaping or rejecting
it, but moving to that still centre of being, where there's perspective
and receptivity to the conditioned realm. There's no longer any self
identity with the objective conditioned realm.
Developing wisdom and balance in an imperfect world.
I've had to work through great problems with indignation - I've always
been indignant by nature! I get really indignant at the injustices and
stupidities of the world - and it's righteous indignation. 'They
shouldn't do those things! ... He shouldn't say that .........She
shouldn't be doing that!'
Look at the newspapers; there's so much to feel indignant about, so many
things not right, terribly wrong. They shouldn't be that way, and people
shouldn't do such horrible things. One can really get caught up in
indignation.
But if you contemplate that experience of righteous indignation, you
find great suffering in your heart. Because even though you're right,
you're not wise. You're creating suffering about the way things are. You
know ... and you're right, they shouldn't be that way - but they are
that way!
Or the opposite can happen, where you think, 'It doesn't matter.' And
you close your eves and plug up your ears, and try not to see or hear
anything wrong. That's one way of handling the problem, but it tends to
be a very inadequate and miserable thing to have to do.
Now there is an expression which Ajahn Buddhadasa [a very well-known
Thai monk] uses as a reflection on life, which translates as: 'This is
the way it is' or, 'The world is this way'. This isn't dismissal - not
caring when there's unfairness or such things - but it's a kind of
acceptance. 'The world is like this. It's always been like this.'
If you look at the history of humanity, there have always been greed,
hatred and delusion, jealousy, atrocities, horror. Read the Greek
legends -- they're full of cannibalism and rape, gods doing dreadful
things to innocent goddesses - yet this was immortalised in Greek
mythology. The archetypes of humanity are recorded in legends and myths,
Asian as well as European.
So we realise that this is the way it is: human beings can be like this.
We can be vengeful and jealous. We can be very selfish, and we can get
angry and murderous - we can do all these things, or we can be stupid
and indifferent, or full of doubt and worries. Or we can transcend it
all.
Then I used to contemplate, 'Well, what's the good of asking anyone else
to transcend all that if I don't?'
I can see that being righteously indignant about the state of the world
is a way of saying: 'I want you to not be that way. I don't want you to
be the way you are. You shouldn't be angry, and you shouldn't be
jealous, and ... I'd look at myself and see how, really, all these
things - 'me' demanding that 'you' not be that way - are kind of
childish: 'Please, be something that I want. Don't say things that upset
me.
Then the insight comes: whether anyone does it or not is none of my
business, but I can move in that direction in my own life. 'That's the
way it is' isn't pessimistic indifference: 'What can you do? So what!
That's the way of the world. Put up with it.' Rather, it's a skilful
reflection: 'The world is like this, and human beings are like this.'
It's not judging humanity as bad, but recognising that human beings do
these things - they've always done these things; and I've done these
things too.
One can stop doing such things oneself, but to expect it of everyone
else is only going to make you miserable, because that's beyond what you
can do in this life. But how I practise with that is to see what I do
have control over, and what I'm capable of working with and doing with
this creature. It's none of my business what you do. I can't follow you
around and make sure that you are perfect.
It's being aware and knowing what you can do as an individual being -
within the limbs of this form here, with its characteristics and
qualities - rather than thinking: 'If I were stronger, or more
intelligent, or healthier or better looking, or this or that . . . then
I would be able to do something.' Wisdom, in the Buddhist sense, is
being able to see how to work and use what you have, the way it is, even
if what you have isn't very good.
If you're crippled, or have some disease, or you're old, or you've had a
miserable life, or whatever - that isn't the obstacle. That doesn't mean
that you can't be enlightened, you can't be awakened no the truth. With
wisdom we learn how to use what we have. If you're someone who thinks:
'For me to do it, I have to have the best,' then you'll never get
anywhere; while a wise person can use even rather inferior equipment and
get a very good result.
So one thinks. 'This is the way it is. The conditioned realm is flawed,
its nature is to be flawed.' It's imperfect - which is not a
condemnation: it's not that it's bad because it's flawed. But this
points to a truth: everything has something wrong with it, something you
don't like. A snake in the garden ... a worm in the apple ... a fly in
the ointment.
For example, in any community, There's always somebody who's
disillusioned, or who isn't doing exactly What they should be doing. You
think, 'It shouldn't be like that. In an ideal community, everybody
should be working hard and practising hard.' But in saying, 'That's the
way it is', the mind accepts and allows things to be the way they are.
In that acceptance you can understand and, through understanding, you
can guide things in a better way.
With a community like Amaravati, accepting it the way it is, you begin
to look and investigate and maybe see ways of improving it, of making it
a better place. Or if there's nothing you can do, you just patiently
wait until the right rime for improvement comes.
Accepting other people in your life doesn't mean you like everything
about them, but you accept the whole of them for what they are. Then you
can see that a lot of your irritation is your own problem -- it's not
that there's anything particularly wrong with them, but perhaps you're
someone who's easily irritated by certain things. Or if they've just got
very bad habits you can, through your acceptance and patience, find an
opening in which improvements and directions can be given in a suitable
way. There's wisdom operating in that openness.
Forest Sangha Newsletter: April 1991, Number 16
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