Hello and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada.
Today we continue on with verse 123, which reads as follows.
Which means, just as a merchant
relates to dangers on the path or a dangerous path when he has few weapons or few defenses but great wealth or just as a person one who desires to live
Relates to poison.
One should avoid evil.
So we have two analogies here.
The first is a merchant.
How a merchant avoids a dangerous path.
A merchant who has little defenses but great wealth.
And the second is a person desiring to live avoids poison, doesn't eat or drink poison.
In the same way, we should avoid evil.
simple verse.
It's also a fairly simple story.
It's actually not so much related.
This is another example of how the Buddha used a story to, as it seems, as an excuse to give a teaching relating some fairly unmeaningful discussion, turning it into meaningful teaching.
So the story goes that there were these thieves who were trying to rob this very rich merchant.
And he went out on travels, but he took monks with him.
So he had lots of supplies and he invited monks to travel with him, which was convenient for the monks because
he would have supplies for them and when traveling it's hard to find a place and to know where to go for alms so when a monk is staying in a village they acquire people who support them who treat them as a part of their society and give them food but when a monk goes to a new place I mean even in a Buddhist country this is still the case when you go to a new place
It's hard to expect that you're going to receive alms or more especially when you're traveling.
So they went with this merchant who said that he would care for them and feed them along the way.
So they went together.
It was a whole bunch of monks.
The commentary says 500, but I think 500 is just code for a lot, a large group.
And he got to a certain village and was resting there when these thieves caught up with him and lay in wait so that when he left the village they would be able to rob him.
And they waited and they didn't see him coming through the village so they assumed he was there.
They wanted to find out when he was going to leave so they could prepare an ambush and rob him.
And so one of the thieves went to a friend he had in the city and asked him about it.
And the man found out for him.
I went to the, went to the merchant and asked him and found out and told them that in two days the merchant was going to set out.
And so this thief went back to his friends and got them already.
And then the merchant, this friend of his somehow, it's kind of strange actually, maybe you should read the Pali, but the English, as it's written, he goes to the merchant and lets the merchant know, which is reasonable.
To that extent, it's understandable because it's like he feels guilty, especially he mentions that there's 500 monks with this merchant.
and there's a large group of monks with this merchant.
So if he doesn't warn the merchant, it's not just going to hurt the merchant, but it's also going to impact, hurt, and maybe kill some of these monks.
So he goes and tells the merchant that there's a band of thieves laying in wait for him.
So all well and good, but then the thieves come back to the guy, and he tells them basically that the merchant has changed his mind.
The merchant decides to head home.
So he turns around and prepares to head out the other gate.
And he tells the thieves this, which is kind of strange how he's talking to both sides.
So the thieves turn around, go to the other side of the village, and they prepare an ambush on the road back.
And the man goes back to the merchant and lets him know that.
Maybe something's lost in the translation.
It seems like odd behavior to me.
But anyway, it's just a story.
Finally, the merchant, not being able to go forward, and now knowing that if he goes back, same thing's going to happen, and that he really doesn't have the defenses, says to the monks, look, I think there's no reason for me to move on.
I'm just going to stay here in this village, set up and sell my wares here, see how I can do, because clearly there's danger waiting for me if I leave.
And so the monks hearing this discussed among themselves and decided there was no way they could continue along the path.
And the best thing for them was to return back to the Buddha, which they did.
When they came to the Buddha, they told him the story.
And the Buddha used this as an excuse, or as an example, a comparison.
to say, look, here's a guy who knows danger when he sees it.
And so he doesn't set out on the path when there's danger on the path.
And likewise,
you all who desire good and who understand the danger of evil should refrain from evil, just as, and then he gives a second example, a person who desires to live would avoid poison.
So that's the short back story.
And that's the verse.
So what does this mean?
How does it relate to our practice?
The word baya is interesting because we talk about the dangers and we're always talking about how bad evil is.
Doing evil is a bad thing, doing good is a good thing.
But it may not be clear exactly what is wrong with doing bad deeds, what is wrong with being an evil person, what is wrong with taking advantage of people.
and maybe even more difficult.
What is wrong with indulging in pleasure, sensual pleasure in general?
What's wrong with it?
Why do we consider that to be quote-unquote evil?
And it's because of the dangers.
There are four dangers in the performance of evil deeds.
Or if you don't like the word evil, though it is the word they use, you could understand by the definition of evil in Buddhism, it just means unwholesomeness or that which leads to suffering, or that which has danger, that which is not worth doing.
So there are four dangers that we talk about.
There's actually 12 dangers, but four of them are specifically related to people doing evil deeds.
There's four dangers that all beings have to face.
These are birth, old age, sickness, and death.
Birth means if you die, you're born again.
And there's four dangers that people performing good deeds have to deal with.
So people who have engaged in spiritual practice.
These are the evils of anger, the evils of sensual pleasure, the evil of sexual desire, and the evil of laziness, I believe.
But the four that we're concerned with here are the dangers that present themselves to people who perform evil.
What's the problem with it?
The big one that we always point to is when you pass away.
If you kill someone in this life, people understand in Buddhism that it means someone's going to come back and kill you in the next life.
It's not always like that, but we understand there's some future birth consequences, or there's some ultimate consequences.
Without that, it's true that there's a potential problem with Buddhist theory because you could outrun the consequences.
If you do all sorts of unwholesome deeds or cultivate all sorts of addictions to sensuality and pleasure, then just when you turn like 65 or as you start to age, you can just say, eh, enough of that and kill yourself.
or whatever, you can live out your life and not have to face the consequences.
If there were no future existence, if desire didn't have the potential to relink, to create more, if desire didn't have the potential to create, really,
but specifically the potential to create more life, then you'd be able to get off scot-free.
There wouldn't be too much danger.
But even still, before we look at that, there are three other types of dangers that only relate to this life.
The first is self-censure.
Atta no wada.
the blaming yourself.
So the Buddha said, just like a blanket, our deeds cover us when we're alone.
If we do good deeds, there's a warm, comfortable blanket.
If we do bad deeds, it's a heavy, uncomfortable shroud covering us.
And this is certainly true, something that you can see for yourself based on the deeds that you do.
It's something that we see very clearly in meditation, that the good deeds that we do and the bad deeds that we do, do cover us and go along with us.
They follow us.
The bad deeds follow us like a ball and chain.
Good deeds lift us up, lighten our load, lighten our step.
They change us.
They're a change in direction.
Every ethical act that we perform changes the direction that we're going.
It affects our life.
It sends out ripples into the universe.
It changes how people look at us.
Well, first of all, it changes how we look at ourselves.
The second one is how other people look at us.
So the other thing it changes
Evil deeds are parassuvada.
They lead other people to scold us and to blame us and to censure us, to look down upon us.
It leads to tension and friction.
Even just sensuality, greed.
When we're greedy, it means we need a portion of something.
We need something for ourselves.
If someone else wants it, then we have a conflict, and we have to resolve it, either by fighting over it or by suppressing our desires and relinquishing it.
But either way, it leads to suffering.
Even to give other people something that you want is a cause for suffering.
It torments you because you want it and you can't have it.
And the third one is punishment, that there is punishment that comes when we break laws or when we kill, when we break ethical rules and maxims.
Not only is there censure, but there's also punishment.
So we might lose friendships or it might lead to fighting, it might lead even to criminal punishment.
There are many dangers to doing evil deeds that you can see in the here and now.
Now, about the fourth one, the fourth danger, which is in the future life, it really bears examining and it helps us, it gives us a chance to talk about how this all relates to our meditation practice.
Because the big problem with unwholesome deeds is that they're productive.
And that's how we look at our life.
Life isn't a thing, it's not atomic, like, hey, I'm a being and I'm alive.
Life is caused by, it's continued.
It's a conservation, as they say.
Not only are we alive, but we're being born every moment.
Because there really is no logically inherent reason to think
a priori that that just because we are alive now we're going to be alive in the next moment so there's something that's keeping us alive and not only alive but there's something that there are many things that are determining which direction we take in our lives some of the choice some are choices that we make some are that which is imposed upon us
And one of the things that influences that is our desire.
Now, without desire, you would still be alive.
Without greed, anger and delusion, one continues to live on.
But many of the aspects of one's life that would be created
with greed and based on greed anger delusion will not be created so an enlightened being lives by necessity a very simple life they aren't able to go out and make money and work and so on because that part of life that the impetus that creates that part of life isn't there
And so that's how we look at, in general, at unwholesome and wholesome deeds.
When you want something,
you create a whole new aspect of your life involved with getting that.
And it can often be quite complex.
The drive to attain and all the work that you have to do and the planning and manipulation of others even, and all of the many things you have to do, you end up committing yourself.
Like when you want a big house, then you commit yourself to a loan.
If you want a car, when you fall in love with another person, you get married and you start a whole new, there's a whole new thing that is born.
And so the idea of rebirth is really, I don't think it would be acceptable evidence, but it is the evidence.
If you understand reality, it's the evidence for rebirth.
is this productive potential for karma.
When you have desire, it creates, it manifests something in your life.
And that's all that's left.
On the other side, the brain and the body and external stimulus altogether is also capable of creating life or thought or experience.
When you hear something, the sound triggers the experience of hearing in the mind, the consciousness to arise at the ear.
that when you die,
all of that becomes unproductive, unable to produce experience.
But the desire is still perfectly capable of creating new experience.
It's all that's left.
And so that is what, the fact is that that is what creates the next life.
I mean, there's no traveling to be born in a womb or something.
There's a restarting.
with just a single, two cells, starting to create something, so the mind and the body working together.
That's for humans, now for angels, for other types of beings in hell and so on.
It's spontaneous, but it's spontaneous based on our desires, our attachments.
A person without desires
When they pass away all the productive capability of the body ceases Productive capability of the mind has already ceased in terms of karma and so they pass away and there is no rebirth So That's a little bit off track but That's the danger
the dangers that we'll have to be reborn again.
Now, for many people, that sounds quite exciting.
They think, wow, great, I can be reborn again.
And when we talk about heaven and so on,
That's great as well.
That's a good reason to be reborn because, hey, we can be reborn in heaven, but it ignores the danger or we must never forget about the danger of evil.
And so that is what this verse reminds us of, that there are consequences.
And just as we would avoid other things that have danger and have great potential to cause harm, like poison or a dangerous road for a rich merchant, we should guard ourselves and we should avoid the path of evil.
How we do this
is how it relates to our meditation.
It's because the way that we do this is through the practice.
I mean, this is very much what Buddhist practice is based on, avoiding evil.
Buddhism isn't a philosophy where you're just trying to explore the universe or become some spiritual being with all sorts of high-minded thoughts.
It's specifically
to be free from evil, be free from suffering and to cultivate good.
So this is completely the basis of Buddhist practice.
We give charity.
It's to help us overcome greed.
We practice morality.
It's to help us overcome anger, mostly, also greed.
And we practice meditation, insight meditation, to overcome delusion, the clarity of mind.
And it frees us from our ego and conceit and arrogance and wrong views and beliefs of all sorts.
All of this is the practice of the Buddha's teachings, how we avoid evil.
So when you give gifts, you're training yourself in generosity.
And moreover, you're seeing the benefits of generosity.
You're able to see your attachments and how much suffering comes from it.
When you give something, often you don't want to and you cringe and think, oh, I want that for myself, or you feel like you want it.
But you overcome that.
And by overcoming it, you see what the real problem is.
The problem is not losing what you want.
The problem is this wanting that is really an evil, unpleasant, unwholesome state.
And when you practice morality, you start to see how frustrated we get when something doesn't go our way and now we want to lash out or hurt others.
And so it helps us cultivate patience.
And helps us overcome anger.
We get to see the problem with anger because we don't follow it.
And we get to change and become more patient rather than attacking or hurting others or hurting ourselves.
And when we practice meditation, we see all of this in much more clarity.
We see moment by moment how things arise.
We start to see patterns.
We see how our behavior is hurting ourselves very clearly.
Because meditation is actually quite a simple thing.
But it can be the most traumatizing, unpleasant experience because our minds are quite messed up.
If we've never trained them, our minds become lazy and chaotic, messy, cluttered.
And so through the meditation practice we sort these out, reminding ourselves this is this, this is this, this is this, and it's about sorting things into what they really are and seeing the chaos of the mind and the automatic adjustment that comes from seeing the danger and the problems and things.
So this is our teaching tonight from the Dhammapada.
I think we'll stop it there.
Basic teaching, avoid evil.
Avoid it like the plague.
Avoid it like poison.
Avoid it like an evil.
And it's a neat, just one more little thing, how it does relate to the story of the merchant.
It's about staying still, about being centered.
This village, it's kind of a nice analogy of staying in the village where peace and happiness reign instead of being greedy and going off and looking for more.
So that's about living our lives existentially, in a sense, instead of seeking out pleasure or
or following after our aversion, following after desire or aversion.
Stay.
Stay present.
Don't follow an evil path.
Don't go looking for trouble.
So, that's all.
That's the Dhammapada for tonight.
Thank you all for tuning in.