DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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The Buddha said that it is not easy to have a human body. For example, a blind turtle that has for a long time in the water just emerged in the water and then fell into a tree trunk floating on the vast ocean is extremely rare. So, once, the Buddha scooped up a bit of soil stuck to the tip of his fingernail and asked the monks:

- Is the soil on the tip of my fingernail more or the earth's soil more?

The monks replied:

- Dear World-Honored One, the earth's soil is very much, the soil in the tip of a fingernail is not much.

At that time, the Buddha said:

- Likewise, the number of living beings who, after leaving this body, return to a human body is as small as the soil in the tip of a fingernail, and those born in the realms of asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, hell, etc. are as numerous as the soil of the earth.

The Buddha once said in the sutras that there are beings who, because of creating evil karma, have to endure many lives as animals or fall into hell, hungry ghosts for many years, etc. Therefore, it is not easy for you to be born as a human if you do not have enough blessings and conditions. Therefore, the ancients said:

- The human body is difficult to obtain,

The Buddha's teachings are difficult to hear.

In the six realms of reincarnation, the heavenly realm, the human realm, the asura realm, the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the hell realm, then humans in the human realm are considered to be beings with blessings only inferior to the heavenly realm. The human realm is the realm where you can practice the most easily because it is not as miserable as in the hell realm, hungry ghost realm, and animal realm. And it is not as joyful as in the heavenly realm, where you are often intoxicated with joy and do not care about practicing. The human body is precious because it is difficult to obtain, and precious because thanks to it, you can practice to escape suffering and attain peace and happiness.

The human body is precious, it is difficult to obtain a human body, so you need to know how to cherish the opportunity to be human. You must know how to take advantage of the opportunity to be human to practice so that after leaving this body, you can be born into happy realms such as the realm of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or the heavens, or at least be able to return to being a blessed human. Don't wait until one day you fall ill in bed, sufferings compete to oppress you, worrying day and night, and your mind is confused. The road ahead, or in other words, the reincarnation is unclear and you don't know where to go! From here, you will know how to repent but it is too late. At that time, you will hate yourself for not practicing early to accumulate merit, so in old age, you will make many mistakes, and regret many things. So when death suddenly comes, your heart will be filled with fear and confusion. Therefore, in the Dhammapada, the Buddha taught:

- Being born as a human is difficult, living a full life is even more difficult, hearing the Dharma is difficult, and meeting the Buddha in the world is even more difficult.

It is indeed difficult to be a human being, and being a human being has countless different circumstances. Because each of you, whoever is born into this life, has a different karma. Some people are blessed with great fortune, do not need to do anything but have everything as desired, everything is available, and life is very prosperous. They are not sad or worried, extremely happy, that is thanks to their previous life, or in this life, they have cultivated a lot of blessings, so now they enjoy such great fortune!

Some people have very good memories, just reading it once will never forget. They are both intelligent and healthy and also can speak without hindrance. When they preach the Dharma, there is a phenomenon:

- Flowers rain down from the sky, and golden lotuses appear on the ground.

Some people are born to be kings, princes, princesses. Some people are born to be officials, presidents, prime ministers, leaders, capitalists, educators, scientists, doctors, etc. The reason they have such good fortune is because they have practiced a lot of wisdom in the past. But there are also many people who, when they are born, have to fall into families that lack food and clothing, are in rags, and are in misery. There are also many people who, when born, do not have eyes, ears, noses, tongues, arms, legs, etc. Those are people who do not know how to practice wisdom and cultivate blessings.

Indeed, in this life, there are countless forms, it is impossible to list them all. But they all have one thing in common: the moment of birth is only the result of a long chain of cause and effect from many previous lives that was predetermined and that you did not know. And no parents or children can decide on that birth. The ancients often said:

- The nature of man is inherently good

Meaning:

- As a human being, your original nature is perfect when you are young.

If you continue to do good from that basic goodness, the result is that you will be born into a higher, better world. But if you are still absorbed in fame, wealth, and pleasure and forget the path of self-cultivation, you will fall into evil paths. If you have fallen into an evil path, but if you are aware and know that self-cultivation is to change karma, then it is still in time, not too late. Thus, everything is due to the cause that you create; not because of your parents or any other divine being. As a human being, everyone wants to be famous. Of course, everyone wants to be wealthy among you, but some of you are still poor and miserable. None of us wish to be born as a servant, a lowly person, but some people still cannot avoid it.

You were born as a prince, a princess, or a national leader, all because of the blessings you created in many previous lives, and now you are enjoying what you planted in the past. You have done good deeds, given alms, made offerings to the Triple Gem, helped people, helped life, helped the people, helped the country, etc. That cause in the past keeps accumulating over one or many lives to become a large amount of interest that you have saved. When you return to be a human, you will inherit the blessings that you have cultivated in the past. As for those of you born in this life, although you try your best in all your work; poverty is still poverty; because you borrowed too much from the bank of karma in the past, now you have to work to pay off old debts from many lives. If the debt has not been paid off, how can you have interest? Many of you are born with congenital defects, because in your previous life, you have committed evil deeds such as killing, stealing, adultery, etc., but many of you are born with extraordinary beauty, making everyone who sees you admire you. Therefore, in life there are beauties, beauty queens, runners-up, and at the same time there are also famous bandits. Some of you are born vegetarians, some of you want to become monks to seek liberation; you do not want to be entangled with a wife, husband, or children... Some of you are born intelligent and wise, but many of you are blinded by ignorance that has been hidden for many lifetimes. Some of you do not have enough food to eat, not enough clothes to keep you warm; but on the contrary, many of you have excess wealth, and everything is abundant. Because you see it like that, many of you think that God is unfair. But to say that means you do not understand the cause and effect of Buddhism. The Buddha taught:

- What you sow is what you reap.

A straight figure has a straight shadow, a crooked figure has a crooked shadow. It is clearly like that. No one can make you better, and no one can make you worse. Except for yourself, you must take responsibility for your actions in the past, related to the present and leading to the future. That is why the Buddha also determined:

- Cultivation is to change karma.

This is the main point of causality and cause and effect of many lives. When you understand this, you should try to cultivate the roots of merit to change bad karma right now, thus accumulating merit in the future. There are many ways to cultivate merit and good karma to change karma:

- Change your temperament

- Cultivate merit through the path of charity, offerings, and renunciation

1- Change your temperament

Speaking of temperament, whenever there is a dispute or sadness, you often tend to blame others. Here are three cases:

a- People who do not know the Dharma always think that they are always right, and the other person is 100% at fault

Because of ignorance and too much ego, you always think you are the most important person. You think everything is correct, so when something goes against your ego, you get angry and find fault with others. For example, a true story happened in the United States. There was a customer who went to buy coffee at Starbucks, and for some unknown reason, she drank a cup of coffee and burned her mouth. So she got angry and filed a lawsuit against the store for selling her a cup of coffee that was too hot, causing her mouth to burn, and demanded two million dollars in compensation. She did not see her fault when she picked up the cup of coffee, if she felt it was hot, she should have waited patiently for it to cool down before drinking. In this case, maybe because she was too greedy to drink, seeing the fragrant smell of the coffee, she drank it in one gulp and burned her mouth. Meanwhile, how many other people drank it without getting burned? She did not know her fault and still sued them!

b- People who have begun to learn the Dharma and practice cultivation see that both sides are 50% at fault.

Those who begin to learn and practice Buddhism see that both sides are 50% at fault. Here, 50% is a symbolic statement, because it could be 40% and 60%, 30% and 70%, 20% and 80%, etc. When a dispute or argument occurs, someone must start it. For example, Mr. A and Mrs. B are arguing. Mr. A is the one who starts it, but if Mrs. B stays silent and walks away, not cursing back, Mr. A cannot stand there cursing forever. But if Mr. A says one sentence and Mrs. B says two sentences in return, Mr. A will get angry and say three or five sentences in a row. And if Mrs. B does not know how to stop, the argument will escalate. If Mrs. B knows how to stop, the verbal war will end. But afterward, both sides will have emotional wounds and hate each other. At home, if Mrs. B is a person who understands the Dharma, she will realize that she is also at fault in the argument, and if she realizes that she is 40% at fault, her anger will decrease by 40%. If Mrs. B realizes that she is 60% at fault, her anger will decrease by 60%.

c. A person who understands the Dharma will see that he is 100% at fault.

In a dispute, seeing that he is 100% at fault seems like a big loss. But if you understand the Dharma, the Dharma here is the law of cause and effect, of cause and effect, then you will know that the other person cannot cause trouble for no reason. Maybe you said or did something that hurt someone that you don't remember. And if you examine carefully and still don't see that you did anything wrong, then maybe in a previous life, or many previous lives, you harmed that person, so now that they meet you again, they cause trouble, and seek revenge.

2- Letting go of happiness

In life, you often think that happiness is having this or that: That is, having a house, a car, a beautiful wife, good children, property, power, etc. When you don't have it, you want it, do everything to have it. When you have it, you are afraid of losing it or look down on it and want something else. If you don't have it, you are sad, dissatisfied, and miserable.

Those who practice see that such achievements are not true happiness. Not having it here is due to wisdom contemplating that all troubles come from desire. Therefore, when you practice, you don't want to have it, if you already have it, practice letting go. The happiness of letting go is equivalent to having little desire and being content. It means that the mind has no desire, and always feels full even if you have nothing in your hands, or you have a lot in your hands. For those who practice, not owning anything is truly happiness. Letting go is like carrying a heavy burden on your shoulders, now that you can let go of the burden, you will feel extremely light and happy. Practitioners need to practice letting go, because the more you let go, the lighter it will be. You should remember, letting go does not mean having to throw away all your possessions and wealth. Letting go first means letting go of desire and anger in your mind, then letting go of attachment to external material things. Although living among possessions and material things, your mind no longer remembers that those things are yours, if someone asks for them, or you lose them, you will consider the burden lighter.

Practice letting go to the extreme, then when you die, you will consider all the burdens gone, especially the old, weak, sick body of the seven elements. You have had to carry it on your shoulders all your life, and now that you can let go of it, that is the happiest thing, so when the enlightened Zen masters die,  they all happily and peacefully pass away.

A monk is someone who seeks true happiness, this happiness only exists when your mind no longer clings to or craves anything in this world. Thus, happiness is the liberation of the mind.

3- Creating statues, Giving alms, making offerings

Creating a Buddha statue or a Bodhisattva statue is an act of noble meaning and creates a cause of great merit and virtue! Therefore, nearly 2600 years after the Buddha entered Nirvana, the ordained and lay disciples of the Buddha, from India, China, Japan, Buddhist countries around the world to Vietnam, have had countless people create statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to admire, worship, and make offerings. Because as the Sutra has taught:

- Maitreya! If there is anyone who uses silk threads to embroider Buddha images, casts them from gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, or zinc, or carves them from sandalwood, or carves them from pearls, shells, woven brocade, red soil, cement, plaster, clay, or other types of wood... Using those materials, according to their ability, to create Buddha images, even ones as small as a thumb, that can make others recognize that they are Buddha images, then the blessings are immeasurable. Such people, although still in the cycle of birth and death, are not born into poor families, nor are they born into low-class, isolated, and isolated families in the border regions. They are also not born into families of wrong views, butchers, or even families of lowly, impure prostitutes, or families of ascetics with wrong views. Unless it is because of the power of their vows of Compassion, they will not be born into such families. On the contrary, this person is often born into a family of a powerful Chakravartin king, born into a pure Brahmin family, or a wealthy family that does not commit serious sins. No matter where he is born, he often meets the Buddha, knows how to worship and make offerings, or becomes a king who upholds the Dharma, teaches the Dharma without going against the Dharma, or becomes a majestic Chakravartin king.

Above are a few quotes about the blessings of the lineage and the physical appearance of the person who created a Buddha statue. In addition to the above blessings, there are other retributions:

- Eliminating all kinds of karmic obstacles such as Five great heinous sins, ten unwholesome karmas, four serious crimes, etc. In general, these are the most serious evil karmas that a person can receive, but if he develops a sincere heart, creates a statue, and repents, vows not to repeat the offense, then those evil karmas and retributions will all be eliminated.

The merit of creating a statue is so great because, from the time the Buddhas started to cultivate until they became Buddhas, they went through countless asamkhyeya kalpas, accumulated immeasurable merits, and achieved immeasurable merits and wisdom. They often used these merits to protect sentient beings with pure faith, so creating a Buddha statue can eliminate all kinds of deep and heavy evil karma.

Furthermore, the mental power of each sentient being, or each of you, is immeasurable and endowed with countless merits and wonderful uses. If you often contemplate the merits of the Buddha, often contemplate the Buddhas as having 32 good features, 80 beautiful features, 10 powers, four fearlessnesses, six paramitas, great compassion, great mercy, and great wisdom. It is when you contemplate the merits of the Buddhas that you activate your inconceivable cause of merit. Due to this power of cultivation, extremely heavy evil karma and bad retributions can be transformed. You observe the good features of your physical body. The seed is there, the fruit will be born, and when the fruit is born, you will have good features. You have heard and known this principle before and it is never wrong.

Only then can you change your karma, and avoid the negative effects of karma. Many people do charity to help the poor and needy because they know that in this life:

- No one is rich for three generations and no one is poor for three generations.

Helping others is also helping yourself. Understanding this, all the good deeds, charity, offerings, etc., you are always happy, there is nothing to complain about or blame. Because you do it for yourself. Therefore, the person who gives alms must thank the recipient of the alms. Because if there is no recipient, who are you giving alms to? Therefore, you must also thank those who scold you. Because if there is no one scolds you, how will you know how much patience you have reached? Therefore, the Buddha taught in the Samyutta Nikaya that:

- The strength of a child is the cry.

- The strength of a wise person is to use the light of wisdom to examine.

- The strength of a learned person is to use his understanding to judge things.

- The strength of a practitioner is patience and

- The strength of a fool is to depend on the praise and criticism of others...

With just these things, you should try to evaluate what kind of person you are. The Arhats have exhausted all their defilements, so although they still live in the world like many other people, they can affirm that:

- I, my birth has ended, I have established the holy life, I have done what needed to be done, and I know for sure that I will not be reborn in the next life.

They are so brave and decisive. As for you, whatever you do is controlled by ego and attachment. Therefore, you are still drifting in the sea of ​​suffering of samsara, not knowing when you will be able to escape. There are many Buddhists who, thanks to their practice, understand very clearly about blessings, so they have built temples and pagodas, made offerings to monks, and protected the Triple Gem. Many people, on their birthdays, gather their children at the temple to do good deeds, and they offer the money their children give them to the temple, to cultivate blessings for the future. These actions are due to the understanding of the law of cause and effect, and this understanding leads to the transformation of karma. Because if ignorance is destroyed, action is destroyed, action is destroyed, name and form are destroyed, etc., penetrating the 12 causes and conditions and the nature of things. If you can realize this, you will transform karma, end suffering, and attain the unsurpassed fruit of enlightenment. However, if that fruit is still far away, you must accumulate more merit.

Even the Buddha still needs merit, as you will see through the story of threading a needle for Aniruddha. One day Aniruddha sat threading a needle, but because his eyesight was dim; he asked loudly:

- Can someone thread a needle for me to gain merit?

The Buddha stood nearby and replied:

- I will thread it for you.

Venerable Aniruddha replied:

- The World-Honored One does not need merit anymore.

The Buddha replied to Aniruddha:

- I also need merit.

What do we think about this story?

It is not a parable or a legend, but it is a vivid lesson for both lay people and monks. Because merit is needed by everyone. Therefore, each prostration that you make before the statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is like drops of dew that have accumulated over time into water droplets that fall. Or when you go to the temple, you offer Buddha a flowering branch or a plate of fruit; or burn a stick of incense to offer Buddha or make offerings to build temples, make statues, cast bells, or do good deeds to help people in times of trouble and poverty. Or build schools, bridges, etc. All of these are things that can create an ocean of merit like the water in the vast ocean. Therefore, you are not afraid that you have too much merit, but only afraid that you do not have enough merit. On the contrary, when you commit sins, whether intentionally or unintentionally, you do not see, do not hear, do not know; but those sins gradually increase, causing your merit to grow too quickly, so your suffering continues to pile up and you are still controlled by the cycle of birth and death. From the above real stories, if you reflect, filter, and know how to be ashamed of the bad karma that you have created for many lives, many lifetimes, and try to let go of bad things, practice good thoughts, save people, help life, etc., then these are the factors that can help you transform the bad karma significantly so that no matter where you reincarnate in next life, you will have blessings to spend. You know how to practice, you know how to protect yourself, and you should not see others as good or bad, doing or not doing, but remind yourself that you should do what is beneficial for yourself, that is what is worth talking about.

Encourage others to do good deeds; they are your good friends and wise men. You should be close to these people because being close to them for a long time is like walking into the morning dew. Although the dew does not wet your clothes, it will gradually penetrate your skin and make you cold. Likewise, if you go into the agarwood forest, even though you do not take the agarwood away; the smell of the agarwood still permeates your body. On the contrary, if you only want to be close to evil friends, it is like going to the fish market. Even though you do not eat fish, do not buy fish; the fishy smell of the fish will make your clothes smell fishy. Therefore, you need to be close to good friends and wise people so that your blessings can grow more and you should not be close to evil friends or hinder good causes and conditions, otherwise, your mind and body will not benefit at all.

Remember, if you have enough blessings and good causes and conditions, you will have a human body, and you will meet the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, these are extremely rare events that not everyone has. In the Five Vehicles of Buddhism, there is the Human Vehicle doctrine that helps sentient beings practice good karma to be reborn as humans after this life ends. The Human Vehicle doctrine teaches that if you want to have a human body, you need to practice good deeds, take refuge in the Three Refuges, keep the Five Precepts, diligently do good deeds, make offerings to the Three Jewels, give alms, release animals, be filial to your grandparents and parents, live a moral life with your siblings and friends, be a good person who is useful to society... to create merit and blessings for the present and the future. Because once you lose your human body, it is difficult to hope to find it again. Therefore, you should not underestimate the value of your body and life. If you do not know how to respect yourself, do not know how to respect others, and hurt yourself or hurt others, you deserve to be criticized and condemned.

Do not create suffering karma because of your body. You should also not underestimate the value of your body, because it is a means for practicing. The Buddha gave an example of using yourself as a means of practicing, like a person whose boat is sinking and drowning in the fast-flowing water of a river with nothing to hold on to. At that moment, a rotten log floats by. The person is extremely happy and determined to hold on to the rotten log to swim to shore. Although the rotten log has no value, in times of danger it becomes precious. Knowing how to use it, it becomes something valuable and useful. Similarly, without a body, it is impossible to practice enlightenment and liberation. Without a body, it is impossible to propagate the Dharma to benefit sentient beings. Whether it is a monk practicing for liberation, or a lay person to perfect himself, reform, and build society. Everyone needs to cherish their life, use it as a means to practice and cultivate to go higher, that is, benefiting themselves, using it to do beneficial work to serve others, and contributing to the community and society, that is benefiting others.

The greatest happiness of a Buddhist is to listen to, learn, and practice the Dharma. If there is enough merit, then good karma will increase, but if there is not or not enough, then thanks to that, bad karma will be transformed.

In short, some people live very miserable lives because of poverty, lack of clothes and food, hard work, illness, and disability because of having created many bad karma in their previous lives. Today, although they are born as humans, they do not know how to cultivate good karma to transform. Some people encounter the Dharma but do not have faith. Some people have faith but do not have true understanding. Some people have faith and true understanding but do not practice diligently, and do not have good teachers and good friends to support them. Some people live almost their entire lives but are still mentally confused, and not enlightened about the nature of life, the nature of human existence, so for decades of human life they only wander around looking for food and clothes. Then when they reach the age of a hundred, they close their eyes and take nothing with them, and their whole life they do not do anything meaningful or beneficial for themselves and life. This is a waste of an opportunity to be human, never thinking about the purpose of life, and after death, they do not know where they will go.

You are Buddhists, and you have seen wonderful happiness that you have the opportunity and conditions to do good deeds, to cultivate the field of merit which is:

- Giving of wealth, giving of Dharma, giving of fearlessness, knowing how to rejoice, knowing how to act beneficially, working together, knowing how to benefit yourself and others.

To cultivate merit, a field of merit, to sow good karma and happiness for this life and the next. Not all Buddhists have such happiness. But when you know and understand this, as a Buddhist you need to cherish the happiness you have. Especially you should try to practice to change your karma.

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