|
DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE
- BENEFITS DON'T LIE
By Nhat Quan
-
---o0o---
-
As
you know, when Buddhists take refuge in the Three Jewels, they
always have the heart to keep the five precepts of lay
Buddhists. One of the five precepts has the precept not to
lie. The scope of lies has four areas:
-
- Lying is not
telling the truth, if it happens, you say no. If it doesn't
happen, you say yes.
-
- Spoken
language means extra words, people say less but you make up a
lot. It's not serious, you make it serious.
-
- Two-way
tongue talk means that to this person, you speak ill of the
other, to the other person to speak ill of this person.
-
- Saying evil
words such as scolding, cursing...
-
Lying has four
areas, and the karma of lying also has four areas, which are:
-
- Blind, deaf,
dumb, and lisp.
-
This
retribution can occur immediately after the creation of karma,
or it may be a lifetime later called Karma for rebirth
retribution. Or will form karma after many lives, it is called
Future retribution karma. However, within the scope of the
article, the benefits do not lie, please do not talk about the
consequences later, but only focus on life. In life when you
have lived unreal with others, and with yourself, you will
never find the truth in life, let alone realize the truth. It
is also very detrimental to your own health.
-
According to
scientific researchers, you lie because you fear the
consequences of telling the truth. When you make a mistake,
you will try to hide the truth so that others don't see you as
stupid, incompetent, or simply so that others don't take their
anger out on you. Having you lie, or lie is to let people
think that you know a lot of things, and are smart and polite.
In addition, if you lie because you are afraid of being
punished, or being denied personal benefits in life.
Therefore, depending on the circumstances, you can use all
sorts of excuses to cover up your sins. But did you know that
lying has serious harm, first of all:
-
1. In terms of
Health
-
As you know,
your nervous system is closely related to the immune system in
the body. All your activities, thoughts, consciousness,
feelings, and emotions have a direct effect on your health.
Simply put, your body will affect what you think and act on.
-
So when you
lie, you will feel anxious and guilty because your body and
mind are not at peace about a certain issue. During times of
restlessness, the body will produce abnormal hormones such as:
-
- Cortisol and
norepinephrine.
-
* Cortisol
will reduce the production of endorphins ie happy hormones in
the body while increasing blood sugar and weakening the immune
system.
-
*
Norepinephrine will stimulate the heart to beat faster and
lead to high blood pressure.
-
In addition,
scientific researchers also said that people who often lie are
often anxious, physically and mentally weak, and easily lead
to stomach ulcers, headaches, Insomnia, or paranoia…
-
Lies can be
intentional or unintentional, for example: When you go to a
relative's house to attend a party... And although you still
know the party is not attentive, the food is not very good,
when people come to ask you that:
-
- How was the
party, how was the food?
-
And you will
answer:
-
- Very
attentive, very delicious.
-
Sometimes
attentive and delicious, but sometimes because you want your
loved ones to be satisfied, so you say it out loud. According
to research, up to 85% of respondents lie about how they feel
about the meal they just used. Perhaps you think:
-
- It's okay.
Simply please your loved one.
-
However,
problems will arise after these seemingly harmless lies. Small
and petty lies don't bring you too much of a direct
consequence, however, they cause indirect annoyances that you
will suffer. Lying at a loved one's house like this is just
one of many situations that you may encounter in life
-
You should
know, if you don't like a person's behavior but don't want to
offend that person, then you have to lie, and when you lie,
you will have to endure these annoying actions forever.
Likewise, if you don't want to work too hard but are afraid of
being ridiculed by your boss or colleagues, you will forever
be immersed in a mountain of work. Uncomfortable but still
lying that you are fine, then you will have to deal with all
of life's troubles alone.
-
In a way,
small lies are quite harmless and don't have serious
consequences. However, the harmlessness of small lies is only
for the listener, and for the liar, the consequences of lies
that seem harmless, but extremely harmful.
-
Indeed, you
may find lying has a profound effect on your mind and spirit.
These seemingly innocuous lies can give you stress and
discomfort that last for a long time, strain your mind and
lead to fatigue in your body.
-
It may be
difficult, to tell the truth, because, in life, there are many
things you don't want to reveal to others, even if they are
your best friend, very close to you. However, scientifically
speaking, telling the truth is very simple:
-
- To tell the
truth, you just need to recall and tell about what happened.
-
Lying is
completely different. Lying requires you to come up with a
story, to let people imagine that you have lived the story.
Hide the flaws in the story you've just come up with and match
the story to what's going on around it so it seems real. So in
a few short seconds, your brain has to work at full capacity
to publish the lie and that's why you feel uncomfortable, and
stressed every time you lie.
-
Not only
stopping at these immediate reactions but lying again and
again over a long period of time will cause tension to
accumulate in your mind and make you more and more tired.
While stress is not perfect proof that a person is lying,
stress is still a manifestation of lying. Lying actually
affects your body many times over. Sometimes, when you're
relaxed and comfortable, you won't feel the tension that lies
have built up in your brain, but it's still there waiting,
lurking to hurt your mind every time. You enter the world of
lies.
-
Lying is a bad
habit and a disease of people today. Lying is also dishonesty,
that action will gradually make you not be true to yourself,
lose your reason, and will live in the falsehood of your own
conscience. Lying habitually will become a habit that is very
difficult to eradicate. Lying that people know is like you are
isolated, no one wants to be close to you, which means that
lying will make your reputation no longer. That is speaking
according to human society. For Buddhism, lying is harmful in
many ways:
-
- First, lying
negatively affects social stability. Lying undermines that
stability. Because, you can only live together in an
atmosphere of mutual trust, trusting that, in communication,
everyone tells the truth. If everyone is lying, it is a sign
of the group's decline and disintegration.
-
- Second, on a
personal level, lying has disastrous effects and a chain
reaction. That is, one lie leads to another lie and another,
even more, serious lie until you yourself are surrounded by a
veil of lies created by you. Such a person is increasingly
separated from the goal of liberation and enlightenment,
falling more and more into the cycle of sin, which is
difficult to remove. Once you have lived untruth with others,
and with yourself, you will never find the truth, let alone
realize the truth.
-
Once upon a
time, when the Buddha taught Rahula to take a basin to set up
water for the Buddha to wash his feet. Rahula obeyed the
Buddha's instructions and carried into him a basin of clean
water. When the Buddha finished washing his feet, he said to
Rahula:
-
- Is this foot
wash drinkable?
-
La Hau La
said:
-
- Dear
World-Honored One, this foot wash cannot be used for drinking.
-
Buddha taught:
-
A liar is like
a foot wash that cannot be used for drinking.
-
The Buddha
continued:
-
- O Rahula,
please empty the basin of water.
-
Master Rahula
followed the Buddha's instructions, and after pouring the
water, brought the basin in.
-
Buddha asked:
-
- Can this pot
be used to hold rice?
-
Master Rahula
replied:
-
-
World-Honored One, this pot cannot be used to hold rice.
-
Buddha taught:
-
- A liar is
like an unusable foot basin.
-
Therefore, a
person who breaks the precept and tells a lie is never
considered a good person, and in terms of cultivation and
attaining enlightenment, it is impossible to attain
enlightenment. However, there are also cases, where you lie to
save people or animals, and are not guilty. In the sutras,
there is a story that the Buddha's predecessor was a monk,
meditating in the forest. When the king and his soldiers went
hunting, chasing the deer, when they reached the monk, they
lost track. They came and asked the monk:
-
- Did you see
the deer running in any direction?
-
The monk was
silent, not speaking. The soldiers got angry, shouted, and
dragged the monk before the king. The king repeated the above
question, and the monk replied as follows:
-
- Great King,
I am a spiritual practitioner, keeping the precepts is not
allowed to lie and not to kill. If I say I don't see it, I'm
lying, and I'm guilty of a crime. If I told the truth so that
the Great King would kill the deer, I would break the precept
to kill. Please forgive me and excuse me for answering this
question. If the Great King arrests me, I am ready to die, but
I cannot answer for the Great King.
-
But lying must
also be careful, otherwise, you will lose yourself and no
longer control your own mind. So it is better, if it is
necessary to use means to save a certain situation, but
remember not to let the means abuse. Therefore, it is best
that you carefully practice your words of truth. Because in
the Sutra of Ten Good Things the Buddha taught: People who
cannot lie are eight beneficial things as follows:
-
1- Be
respected by the world.
-
2- Every word
is right, loved by people and by heaven.
-
3- The mouth
is usually clean and smells like Udambara when speaking.
-
4- Often use
gentle words to comfort sentient beings.
-
5-. Enjoy the
pleasure as you wish, and the three karmas are pure.
-
6- Words are
not sad, but also happy.
-
7- Respected
words, obeyed by people and heaven.
-
8- Ultimate
wisdom, no one can be better.
-
There are few
people in this world who dare to acknowledge the truth and
speak the truth. That's why many of you live with each other
in the form of external lies, so it is very difficult to find
a person who lives completely truthfully. Storytelling:
-
- Once upon a
time, there was a king who lived a very benevolent and
virtuous life, married only one queen, and had no concubines.
The king and queen did not have any princes, but only one
princess. The two discussed together to find a way to choose
the future prince, in the school age from 12 to 18 years old
to match their daughter. Because at this age, if they have a
clear perception, know how to live honestly, know how to
absorb the essence of life, and after they grow up, it will be
possible to help people live happily and peacefully. Instead
of following the custom of passing from father to son, or
passing it on to his relatives, this king opened a new policy,
choosing talented people in the spirit of democracy.
Candidates who have the right to stand for election are
students, after officially passing the first round of tests on
carefully selected standards. Recruited to the final round,
each child will be directly given flower seeds by the king, if
they come to the grading day and have a beautiful flower pot,
they will be selected as a prince and inherit the throne. who
later became king.
-
So the news
spread all over the country very quickly, anyone who wants to
take the exam to be a prince should hurry up to participate if
they passed the test of the first round and go to the king now
to receive flower seeds. If the boy who takes care of
fertilizing and watering has the most beautiful flower pot to
offer to the king and queen, he will be chosen as a prince. To
tell the truth, there has never been a special contest like
this since ancient times, simply how to get a beautiful flower
pot that the king himself gave the seed.
-
Time
has passed so quickly and the festival to enjoy beautiful
flowers is almost here, many people wonder:
-
- Who will be
the prince in the future?
-
And the
festival day has come, and every flower pot is beautiful.
Never before have people enjoyed the beauty of flowers like
now, everyone was admiring their tongues of praise. It was
difficult for the judges to choose the most beautiful flower
pot because each pot has its own beauty. Every family hopes
that their child will be the future prince. It is true that
the beautiful flower contest has never been before, on this
day the beauties and beautiful people have the opportunity to
come to the capital to enjoy the brilliant colors of flowers.
Everyone felt happy inside, and at the same time eagerly
looked forward to the results. But only the king and queen's
faces were not very happy, there seemed to be something wrong
inside. The time to announce the results is close, only a few
minutes left, and the beautiful girls will know who the prince
is. In the strangely dignified atmosphere, time seemed to
stand still to prolong the competition. Suddenly, a boy about
twelve years old in his hand, holding a pot of earth, ran
quickly in, cried and knelt down, and said to the king:
-
- I obeyed the
king's orders to receive the seed, then I bought a beautiful
dragon pot, chose the best soil and the most decomposed
fertilizer, and put the seeds in. Every day I diligently need
to water and take care, but only weeds and no flowers at all.
The boy said while crying hu! Hu!
-
At this
moment, thunder and lightning began to rumble, as if signaling
something very special. Indeed, God does not harm honest
people. The king was so happy that he announced that:
-
- This baby is
the future prince I am looking for.
-
The King's
announcement made all the judges of the Beauty Contest, and
everyone was startled. Especially the parents of the children
participating in the beautiful flower contest to choose the
prince, before the king's announcement surprised everyone, and
at the same time booed against the king's decision.
-
The order
committee asked everyone to keep order and be quiet to listen
to the king's judgment. At this time, the king slowly
explained:
-
- I open a
beautiful flower contest to deliberately choose someone who
knows how to live honestly, and never cheats on anyone so that
later this king can help people settle down and live happily
in the spirit of love, and solidarity, and help each other.
-
Now I declare
the truth:
-
- These flower
pots are beautiful, but this beauty is obtained from the lies
of the contestants.
-
At this point,
the king suddenly stopped to wait and see how everyone's
reaction was. But the atmosphere of the flower festival was
different now, and all returned to silence to listen to the
king's explanation:
-
- Before the
seeds are given to the contestants, I have all boiled them, so
there are no beautiful flower pots like this.
-
That's why I
say the flower pots of all the contestants are fake, only this
boy who knows how to live honestly deserves to be chosen by me
as a prince, and I will cede the throne to become the King.
Myself, in my spare time, I study the Buddha's teachings so
that I can practice for the rest of my life.
-
Through the
above story to let you know, honesty is a good quality that
shows personality in your own life, always bringing people
unlimited joy. Sincere words and actions are the best
substance for life. This material does not cost you money or
energy, but it brings many benefits and makes the listener
comfortable, and encouraged, and makes the relationship
between you and others more intimate.
-
Bitter
medicine heals illness, truth hurts the heart. On the other
hand, in life, there are harsh words from straight people, but
they only have good intentions to want you to correct them.
Seeing your mistake, and how sincere and precious it is, are
true words that offend the listener. Meanwhile, there are
words that are sweet, pleasing to the ear, and very pleasing
to you, but those are lies and flattery, that do not do you
any good. Those are the deadly sweet words of the cunning and
deceitful. Therefore, in speech, it is necessary to be
sincere, unselfish, and not self-serving to achieve success in
communication. Therefore, every day of your life, you should
know how to choose beautiful words or ideas to say, in
accordance with human ethics, towards the noble meaning of
words, to enrich the beauty of the love of humanity.
-
To achieve the
emotions in words, you need to know how to control negative
emotions such as Shortness, anger, yelling, and shouting,
especially towards your loved ones. And another very important
thing is that you should think carefully before saying what
you think, see if it is appropriate for the situation at that
time, to avoid hurting others.
-
Of course, you
shouldn't tell each other lies. On the contrary, you need to
speak honestly to each other with an understanding and loving
heart. When you live honestly, you are a person who always
respects the truth, respects the right to live upright, is
honest, and courageously accepts mistakes when you make
mistakes and tries to correct them. Living honestly helps you
to improve your dignity, strengthen your social relationships,
and will be trusted and respected by everyone.
-
A thoughtless
word is likened to adding fuel to the fire, igniting anger,
and destroying all brotherhood. Moreover, in your life, each
person has a personality, and each person has lifestyle.
Everyone has a different way of saying it, so it is difficult
to avoid all the conflicts, frustrations, and sorrows.
Sometimes you are the one who causes suffering and trouble for
others just by words that are thoughtless before and after.
Sometimes you just want to speak for what you think is the
pleasure of your mouth, but you don't care about the pain of
others, because your words just came out. Therefore, smiling
on the lips is essential in life, it always brings joy to many
people. Based on other people's words and expressions, you can
know what part of their mind is wanting. To be loved and
respected or despised and hated, in large part because of your
tongue and words. Thus, the tongue has played an important
role in shaping the prestige and value of each person.
-
Therefore, you
need to know how to think carefully in your speech, to avoid
unfortunate misunderstandings, which cause pain to others. You
use words as a means of connecting love, helping you to
understand and draw closer together. Aware of the importance
of words, you should speak truthfully, and those words are
always praised by the sages.
-
The
story above is practical proof in life that you need to try to
learn and imitate. As you have seen the boy thanks to knowing
how to live honestly without lying, dared to hold a flower pot
without flowers to come before the King to present the truth.
In life, who does not want to be in a high position,
especially in the beautiful flower contest, the purpose is to
choose a prince, which is the highest dream of everyone in the
world. Having both a beautiful wife and a future king who
doesn't like it. Because of that greed, the contestants all
have to cheat to have beautiful flower pots. This king is
choosing a virtuous man to inherit in the future, that is the
only way to find the person he wants. So living honestly is a
noble virtue indispensable in your life. Once everyone lives
honestly with each other, and everyone is aware of that, then
this world will be a paradise of happiness.
-
In short,
telling the truth is best, when a precept is taught by the
Buddha not to lie, it is very important for life not only for
cultivators but for all people in this world. So you must
always remember this teaching to never lie.
-
However, the
world you live in is not a model world, life does not follow a
single direction, it is variable and diverse. Knowing that
lies are not good, can be harmful to yourself, but sometimes,
in a certain position, in a certain situation, lying is really
necessary. If telling the truth puts you in a dangerous
situation and the only way to be safe is to lie, then even if
your brain is damaged, you still have to use dishonest words
-
And despite
the mental stress and physical fatigue that surround you when
you lie, telling the truth is still not an option in this time
of need. However, while lies are sometimes necessary, you can
still find plenty of reasons, to tell the truth. Before you
speak or make decisions about your actions, remember to weigh
politeness against your own interests. That means you can't
always tell the truth, but the more you tell the truth, the
healthier your body and mind will feel.
---o0o---
If you have any recommendations,
please e-mail to:
chuaduocsu@duocsu.org
|
|