DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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In Madhyamagama Chapter 5, the Buddha taught that there are four types of people in the world:

1- The type of person who is unclean, but not as real is aware that he himself is unclean and polluted.

2- People who are unclean, and as real, are aware that they themselves are unclean, and polluted.

3- The type of person who is not defilement, but not as real is aware that he himself is unclean, no pollution.

4- The type of person who has no pollution and as it really is is aware that he himself is unclean, with no pollution.

Among these four classes of people, the Buddha taught:

1- People who are unclean but not as real perceive themselves as unclean and polluted. This class of people is therefore called the inferior class.

2- People who are defiled and as real, are aware of their own defilements. Of the two classes of people with pollution, this class of people is called the superior class.

3- People who have unclean but are not as real as they perceive themselves to be without defilements. Of the two classes of people who are not defilement, this class of people is called the low class.

4- The kind of person who is devoid of pollution and as it really is, realizes that he or she is free from unclean and pollution. Of the two classes of people who are not defilement, this class of people is considered to be the preeminent class.

You try to find out, why, what causes, and what conditions, of these two classes of people with defilements, one is called inferior, and the other is called superior. And what is the cause, what is the condition of these two classes of people who are not clean, one is called inferior, and the other is called superior.

1- People who are unclean but not as real are aware of their own uncleanness.

This type of person, because they think they are unclean, they do not have the spirit of progress, do not give rise to desire, will not try, and will not work hard to eliminate that defilement. And so they follow their destiny, their life until death, while there is greed, there is anger, there is delusion, while still defiled, while the mind is still polluted.

This kind of person, like a bronze bowl, brought from the market or brought back from the blacksmith's house, is covered with dust, and the owner of the bowl does not use it, does not clean it, and throws it in the full place dust. So that bowl, after a period of more pollution, is more and more dusty.

2- People who are defiled and as real, are aware of their own defilements.

With this type of people, because they think that they themselves are unclean and polluted, they try, arouse desire, will try, will work hard to get rid of that defilement. And so their lives strive to overcome difficulties and achieve results. When their lives come to an end, there is no longer greed, no anger, and no delusion in their minds, while there is no pollution, while the mind is free of defilements.

This kind of person is like a bronze bowl, brought back from the market, or brought back from the blacksmith's house, covered with dust. And the owner of that bowl uses it, cleans it, and doesn't throw it in the dust. And so that bowl, after a while more purified, is cleaner.

3- The class of people who have no defilements but are not as real, realize that they themselves have clean or no pollution.

This kind of person always wandering thoughts. Due to wandering thoughts, greed will pollute this person's mind. When this person dies, while he has greed, hatred, and delusion, while still defiled, while his mind is still polluted.

This kind of person, like a bronze bowl, brought back from the market, or brought back from the blacksmith's house, is pure and clean. And the owner of that bowl did not use it, did not clean it, and threw it in a dusty place. So that bowl, after a while, becomes more polluted, more dusty.

4- The person who is have no defilement and as real, perceives himself to be free from unclean, and unpolluted.

With this type of person, they know they have no impurity, so they don't fantasize and don't wander thoughts. By not wandering thoughts, greed will not pollute this person's mind. Their lives are always moving forward. At the time of death, there is no greed, no anger, no delusion, no longer defilement, while the mind is no longer tarnished.

Like a bronze bowl, brought from the market or brought back from the blacksmith's house, pure and clean and used by the owner of the bowl, cleaned, and did not throw the bowl in place dust. So that bowl, after a while, is purer, more clean.

Because of this cause, because of this condition, of these two defilements, one is called inferior, and the other is called superior. Also, because of this cause, because of this condition, there is no defilement between these two, one is called inferior, and the other is called superior.

Of the four types of people, you wonder what kind of person you are:

First of all, please define The impurity that the Buddha meant to refer to the unwholesome dharmas, the realm of sensuality.

No matter who it is, if someone has the following desire:

- If I have broken the precept, I hope others will not know that I have broken the precept. But as it happens, others know that you have broken the precepts. Hence, you become resentful and disgruntled. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If I break the precepts, I hope others will rebuke me in private, not in the midst of the Sangha. However, it can happen that others rebuke you in the midst of a crowd, not in private. Hence you become resentful and discontented. Wrath, and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If I break the precepts, I hope other people of my age rebuke me, not someone younger than me. But it happened, you were rebuked by someone younger than you who was not your own age. Hence you become resentful and discontented. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If you have a wish as follows:

* I hope that the Master will ask me many times while teaching the Dharma to the bhikkhus! May the Master not ask others many times while teaching the Dharma. But it happened, the Master asked another person many times while teaching the Dharma, but the Master did not ask you many times during the teaching. Hence, you become resentful and disgruntled. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- While queuing to pay, you arise the following desire:

* I hope others let me go first. Hope others don't let someone else get ahead of me. However, this can happen, others let another person go before you. Hence you become resentful and discontented. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If there is a friend, the desire arises as follows:

* Hopefully at the dining place, I get the best seat, the best water, the best food! Hope others don't get the best seats, the best drinks, the best delicious food. However, this situation can happen: Someone on the spot has the best seat, the best drink, best food; while you in the dining place don't get the best seats, the best drinks, and the food isn't good. Hence, you become resentful and disgruntled. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If there is one you arouse the desire as follows:

* Hopefully at the festival crowd, I will be able to speak… However, this may happen, the Organizing Committee does not invite you, but invites someone else to speak. Hence, you become resentful and disgruntled. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If there is a friend wearing beautiful clothes, the following desire arises:

* Hopefully, people will praise me for having a beautiful suit… But when this happens, no one will compliment your outfit, but compliment someone else's beautiful and expensive outfit… Therefore, you become resentful. and disgruntled. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

- If a friend goes to a crowd on a festival day, and the wish arises:

* I hope that everyone respects me...., But what happens is that no one respects and praises you, but the masses here revere, respect, worship, sing praise others… Thus you become resentful and disgruntled. Wrath and discontent, both belong to the defilement.

Again, please specify:

- The evil unwholesome dharma, the realm of this sex is synonymous with the so-called defilements.

So the Buddha said:

- For anyone: These evil, unwholesome, sensual states are still seen and heard as not being eradicated, even though:

* He/she is the one who lives in the mountains and forests, in remote abodes. Live alms around, begging for alms from house to house, according to the practice of wearing a hundred-piece patched robe, wearing rough and ugly clothes, at the same time, fellow holy men should not respect, worship, or make offerings to him.

The reason is simply that these venerable ones can still see and hear the evil, unwholesome dharmas, their sexual realm has not been eradicated. This is like a bronze bowl, brought back from the market or from the blacksmith's house, even though the bowl is pure and clean. But the owner of the bowl filled the bowl with dead snakes and other foul-smelling objects and then covered it. Someone saw this and praised:

- What are you holding that looks so beautiful and delicious?

But when he/she picked up the bowl, opened it, and looked in it, he realized that the bowl was full of stinky things, so a feeling of dislike arose, disgust arose. Those who are hungry don't even want to eat them, let alone those who are full.

Contrast for those who:

These evil, unwholesome, and sensual states are seen and heard and have been eliminated. If that Master lives near a village, accepts special requests for food, and wears the robes offered by the householder, then fellow holy ones should respect, worship, and make offerings to him. Because these venerable ones have seen and heard evil and unwholesome dharmas, the realm of his desire has been eradicated. This is like a copper bowl, brought back from the market or from the blacksmith's house, it is pure and clean. The owner of that bowl filled it with delicious rice, good rice, and other foods, covered it, and brought it home. Someone saw this and praised:

- What do you hold that looks so beautiful and delicious?

When he/she picks up the bowl, opens it, and looks in it, he sees all kinds of delicious and good food, so he gives rise to the thought of liking, non-repulsiveness, and non-disgusting. A full person wants to eat these things, let alone a hungry person.

From the teachings in the Sutras, you see, those who do not have faith, for the sake of living, not because of faith, practice, or monastic life, living a life of homelessness, those who are deceitful, treacherous, and anxious, agitated, arrogant, wavering, talkative, gossipy, not guarding the senses, not restrained in eating and drinking, not paying attention to vigilance, not earnestly engaged in ascetic conduct, not fervently respecting the word teaching of the Buddha. On the contrary, he/she likes to live in abundance, is lazy, leads the way in the downfall, refuses to live in seclusion, entertains without diligence, forgets without attention, does not concentrate, scatters his mind, is paralyzed with wisdom, and dulls. These types of people you have to stay away from.

In contrast, the Good Men, by faith, Renunciation, renounce the family and live without family. Those who do not have a false sense of space, are not cunning, do not panic, are not agitated, are not arrogant, do not waver, do not talk too much, do not gossip. Keeping the six organs of sense, moderation in eating and drinking, attentiveness and vigilance, earnestness in the conduct of recluses, fervent respect for the Buddha-Dharma, not living in abundance, not laziness. Abandoning the burden of devastation leads to renunciation, diligence, effort, vigilance, concentration, one-pointedness, wisdom, and no dullness. These people you should get close to learning...

In short, of the four classes of people, there are two types of polluted people and two types of unpolluted people. If you have to choose, then you should choose for yourself a type of person who is not polluted, and so on to cultivate. Thus you will overcome akusala and dwell in kusala!

These deeds and actions are compared to a young woman or man who loves jewelry, after washing his hair, receiving a beautiful wreath, and placing that beautiful wreath on the top head. Likewise, those who, because of their faith, have left home, have given up their family, live without a family, are not crafty... are adorned with a very holy flower for themselves. Even though you are still in the mundane world, you will be different from others in that you have been freed from unwholesome actions and established in wholesome goodness.

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