Sweet mangoes and lessons from dung!

The whole world is experiencing a tough time. When one looks at history one can’t help, but remember Emperor Ashoka who lived in India. He was very ambitious and invaded Kalinga (a coastal region in India) and conquered it. However, after doing so, he was filled with remorse, regret and grief. He realised that he had made a huge mistake. Seeing the carnage all around him he made a resolution to change, and he embraced Buddhism. He built many monuments all around India. His son and daughter Ven. Mihindu and Ven. Sangamitta (who had embraced the Buddhist monastic order and were arahants) came to Sri Lanka. They brought with them a Bo sapling from the tree under which Lord Buddha attained Enlightenment. This was the origin of the Buddha Dharma in our isle. This event of Buddhism coming to Sri Lanka happened on a Poson Poya day. 

If Emperor Ashoka had not conquered Kalinga, his life’s altering wouldn’t have taken place. Sometimes, one has to experience the traumatic in order to transform oneself into someone truly beautiful. 

Ajahn Brahm, a senior monk in modern times, has told us the following story. Someone accidently treads on some dung. He says not to wipe it off your shoes immediately. Instead, come home with it and rub it all off under the mango tree you’ve planted. You do just that and after some time you get the mangoes bearing fruit. When you cut open one, it’s so juicy and sweet- the sweetest mangoes you’ve ever eaten. And what was the secret for the sweetness? It was the dung! Similarly in life, the ‘dung’ is the fertilizer which transforms the suffering we experience into something beautiful.

We lose the people we love permanently. Ajahn Brahm lost his father at the age of 16. However, Ajahn Brahm says that he could deal with it. Yes, he grieved. But he didn’t let it ruin the rest of his life, and to a large extent, his father was responsible for it. Ajahn Brahm says how, as a young teenager, he and his father were returning home one day. After stopping the car, Ajahn Brahm’s father said, “Son, the door of my house is always open for you”. Ajahn Brahm could read between the lines. 

What his father meant was: “Son, no matter what you do, or wherever you go, the door of my heart is always open for you, and I will always love you, no matter what”. To get that kind of a teaching from a parent was such an amazing, life altering lesson for him. We may be parents, children or spouses. But no matter who we are we can always open the doors of our hearts to all the people in our lives. We all come into this world with a certain number of years which forms the base of our lifetime. What’s important is what we do with that time.

As a practising lay Buddhist, it’s not just enough to go to temple and offer flowers to the Buddha and to the devas.  However, what’s most important is meditating. Without meditating, one cannot understand all that the Buddha wanted us to learn from Him. This body of ours is a vehicle for our minds. If the mind is not pure then no matter what you do it’s not going to make you very attractive
For a Buddhist, keeping the five precepts and meditating is a sure-fire way to stay protected from life’s adversities to a large degree.

The five precepts are:

Not taking the life of another, not taking that which hasn’t been freely given, not committing acts of sexual misconduct ( cheating on your spouse ), Not telling untruths and not consuming liquor and drugs.
How does one cultivate the wisdom the Buddha taught us?  One should strive to practise the five precepts for a start. One can read extensively Buddhist literature. One can listen to Dhamma talks (so freely available on the Internet ). One can go to Dhamma events where a monk may give a Dhamma talk. One can reflect on what the Buddha taught. Last but not least, we can practice the Dhamma and incorporate it into our day-to-day life. Thus, little by little, the mind becomes purified and transformed.

We may not be perfect, but that does not diminish our self-worth. We are worthy. We are loveable. We have an innate beauty for having been born a human being and having flaws and all. Just because of two bad bricks, the whole wall need not collapse! 

Sometimes, we have to still our minds to realise deeper truths which the usual human being is unaware of. When one meditates, this is exactly what happens.

An experience that Ajahn Chah- who was Ajahn Brahm’s teacher- had reflected this idea. Ajahn Chah was by himself in a forest when he came to a still pool. He sat down and started meditating. He hardly moved. One by one all sorts of beautiful beings started coming to the pool to sip water. These were life forms. If Ajahn Chah had even moved a bit, these beautiful creatures may have got scared. As a result of remaining silent this monk experienced some life forms which were truly spectacular.

All of us are a process, not a person. This is very hard to internalise, but once you do, you’ve started on an amazing journey of self-discovery.

Wishing you a blessed Poson!  With much Metta!