APART FROM the wisdom of His Majesty the King, we have to return to the writings of the Supreme Patriarch more often to clear our minds. The Supreme Patriarch writes with an enlightened mind. In his dhamma on sufficiency, he gives the following thought-provoking advice.
Follow Lord Buddha's teachings and practice them. Their powers are genuine. Be determined in practice, and you will receive incomparable blessing.
Lord Buddha taught us to refrain from doing evil things, to do all good things, and to keep our minds free of hatred and sadness. Not a single intelligent person would disagree with that. Despite its brevity, the teaching covers all the blessings desired by everyone.
Buddhists should follow this teaching of the Lord Buddha: Avoid all sin, keep making merit and cleanse your mind.
Sages say life is short and you do not know how long the next life is. So if you love yourself, you should prepare for the next life. Do not just love yourself in this life only. Get happiness in this present life in a way that is acceptable so that the effects of your karma in this and the next life will be positive, rather than negative.
Don't be too greedy; know yourself and have wisdom. Greed is the enemy of sufficiency. People who live a life of sufficiency do not act greedily, or their merit and happiness will disappear. People who live a life of sufficiency must know themselves - their merit, knowledge and capability. They must have wisdom, vision and creativity, and they will often succeed in their work and business.
Excessive greed is a cause for severe suffering. Greedy people suffer from their greed, which also causes suffering to other people. To end suffering, people have to avoid defilement.
Fortune, title, praise and happiness are not always good if they are acquired dishonestly. A good cause leads to a good result, and a bad cause leads to a bad result. Some people who earned fortune, title and praise through bad means made a bad name for themselves, and that infamy remained in history. Their notoriety lasts for a long time, hundreds or even thousands of years after their death.
People act in a bad way often because they do not know themselves correctly. People should act in accordance with their status, seniority and duty. You must be careful about what you think, say, and listen to. Do not just follow the majority. You have to use your wisdom in thinking, speaking, seeing and listening.
A dispirited mind is caused by unhappiness and defilement. The more defilement of a mind, the more dispirited it is. The less defilement, the less dispirited.
People with delusion have in themselves improper and incorrect senses. They incorrectly view themselves as having more goodness and capability than others. When there is delusion, greed and hatred can follow. People should limit delusion within themselves. People in power are more likely to cause severe suffering, both to themselves and others, personally and publicly, to the minority and majority, as well as to the country, the religion and the monarchy, which are the three major institutions for Thais.
People with much self-delusion have a lot of defilement, and lack gentleness. When they die without first reducing delusion in their mind, their spirit is dispirited and they go on a bad path. They will be reborn into an inferior family. Those who are gentle to people worthy of respect will be born into a superior family. The respect obtained by people born into a superior family is the result of good karma.
Happiness, unhappiness; good, bad; hot, cold; peace and confusion - all come from the mind. People who are aware of this fact take care of their mind so that it will lead them out of suffering and to happiness. The mind can be controlled through training. You can train it to become good or bad, peaceful or confused, brigh or dark. All of our happiness depends on the mind. Take the right path to make your mind happy. Train your mind to see the nature of defilement. All suffering is caused by defilement.
Train yourself to think about 'enough'. Thoughts lead to actions, and frequent actions become habit. Habits form a character that can influence fate. Good character brings about a better life; bad character makes life worse.
Train your thoughts. Your thoughts indicate what kind of person you are. Here is how to train your thoughts on 'enough', as taught by the Supreme Patriarch.
It depends on your mind if you feel you have enough. Rich people who think they do not have enough are always poor. Poor people who feel they have enough are always wealthy. It is difficult to raise your status to become a rich person. Some people spend their whole life trying to do so but fail. But everyone is capable of raising their mind to the wealthy level if they are determined. People who are happy with what they have are not lazy. And lazy people are not people who are happy with what they have.
When you feel unhappy, end that feeling without delay. Whatever hardship you face, physically or mentally, try to solve the problem when you are calm. When your mind is not at peace, you cannot have a clear view. A peaceful mind is powerful and strong, and a peaceful mind enhances wisdom. A clear mind is like a light that shows what should be done and what not.
Greed does not make things better. Everything earned from greed does not deserve to be obtained. It is often acquired through someone having to lose something. And people who lose belongings will bring negative consequences to the greedy. Be aware of the perils of greed before it is too late.
People view greed, hatred and delusion in a bad light, and that is the correct way to see them. But while people agree that others with greed, hatred and delusion are not good, they do not view themselves in the same way when they are so defiled. People often exempt themselves in this matter. They should change their view: If they see other people with greed, hatred and delusion as disgusting, they should view themselves as more disgusting if they have those defilements. Then they should try as best as they can to free themselves from that state.