Sad News For the Buddha


People say, although I do not understand, that they are now in the “modern” world. They mean to say that they are in a delicately refined world which is clean and pure. They say they have undergone the change: from bad to good, anachronous to modern, rude to humble, hard to soft, black to white and so on to listlessness. They boldly declare that they are no more Apes and Monkeys but developed human beings who are farsighted, altruistic, harmless, selfless, truthful, honest and well-mannered. This is a wonderful news to the Buddha’s ear. How happy would he be to know that His subjects are doing extremely fine.


Image: Google

But I wonder how far we can go on impressing Buddha by sending such wonderful news from our earth. I fear I have a sad news for him. In contrast to what we declare ourselves to be, I would like to bring to the notice that things are just the opposite. I am embarrassed to say that people have become selfish instead of selfless. The modern world has injected so much of competition in accumulating wealth. Therefore, people are dying to own luxurious goods. They would not discern about others’ welfare but their own ways to rise up in the society. They want to have more by any means even if it involves robbery and thieving. I hope Buddha won’t mind when I say that the modern world has produced people who steal even our underwear.

One evening I dried my underwear on the rod of my toilet window and the morning I went to collect, it was not there. There was no wind to blow it off and children and dogs would not reach it as it was located high. And my underwear had no magical powers to cheat me by dissolving into the air. It was the hand of a modern man who clipped off and took it surreptitiously.

The other incidence is with the dust collector. My wife had left it in the balcony to dry it. An hour later, when we returned home, it was missing. I thought it had wings to fly away but my wife corrected my mad mind saying dust collectors do not have wings. I, then, thought that it must be the same hand that rinsed my underwear.

What should I say about the relics that are embedded in Stupas/Chortens? If people steal petty and dirty things such as an underwear and dust collector, why not relics that are highly priced? I wonder, if what the Buddha had taught has sunk into the ears of modern people. We say that we are travelling forward but in reality we are not. We are instead tracing the death path of the worst time. We have never changed from bad to good: we are rather making it to worst from bad. I say this not because someone has stolen my underwear and I am annoyed. I am never angry and frustrated for such act. Rather I am infused with a great laughter to know that there exist such people. When my wife informed me of the missing underwear and dust collector, I just could not control my laughter. I wondered who the pathetic one he was. If he had asked me personally, perhaps I might have given him better than what he stole.  This is what the Buddha instructed us to do. He asked us to do three things in life. They are:

1.      Give food, clothing and wealth to the poor beings (bzang-‘zin-norgyi-sbjinpa)

2.      Protect beings by accompanying them through frightening moments in life (me-‘jigs-skyabs-kyi-sbjinpa)

3.      Preach whatever you know to benefit the beings (dam-pa-chos-kyi-sbjinpa)

Being lowly educated, I may not fulfill the third criteria but I am strong enough to give accompaniment and food. As Buddha’s loyal subject, I aspire to do this in my own small ways. I don’t have millions to offer. Neither do I have wealth to meet the expectations of the troubled one. But I, at the least, try to do something possible. However, sometimes you meet people who pretend to be poor and helpless. They ask you as if they are in an uncontrollable situation but the moment you leave, they are fine like anyone else.

One afternoon, I was rushing to my training hall. On the way, at the bazaar, I was confronted by a man who looked little sad. He asked me for Nu. 30 to ply to Babesa. He said that he had lost his purse and was penniless. I pitied his condition and gave him what he wanted. I walked a few steps ahead. Something in me forced to look back and when I turned, I found the man with a glass of wine. He had paid my money to the bar. I was shocked. I walked back, despite being in hurry, and told him that he had lied to me. He said that he grew thirsty the moment I gave the money. That’s why he was drinking. He would again go on begging from other people the bus fare. This time, perhaps, to Olakha or Changjiji or Semtokha.    

We are all Buddha’s subjects and we ought to be doing the same but individuals differ. It is because of the merit and demerit that we have accumulated in the past. It is in this life that we have to realize our present conditions that we derived from the past and prepare for a bright after-life. We are at the cross road. Which road to take is in our hands. We must have our own discretions to choose the road. If we are lacked by wisdom to choose the road, we have enlightened Gurus near our knees. We can always consult them.

If finding a Guru is not possible, we must choose not to alter the true shape of our life that we inherited at our birth. We must neither overload it with desires not pressurize it. It must be left to oscillate, on its own, just like the meanders of a river. We have never seen rivers taking short cuts by climbing mountains to reach the sea soon. It goes wherever the shape of valley leads them and it finally reaches the destination, the ocean. Such is our life. Our life has valleys and mountains with paths to take us to the final destination. We must know that we are travelling every minute and second. And in our journey to our destination, we must make sure that we smile, laugh and enjoy the beauty that we pass by. We must never harm anyone on our way. Rather we must gift, all that we encounter on our way, a lot of happiness and joy. Being rude and bad will leave marks on the way that cannot be washed away even after thousands of years. Remembering that we are moving forward to meet the emptiness, we must give what we have, forgetting to own others’ wealth by stealing. Stealing things from others to make ourselves rich is sadder than a dream.  

We must know that the Buddha is watching our steps and actions. And we, as his loyal subjects, must never betray him but be abided by his code of conduct.