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(74) Constant worry is pitiable
All beings have
to be always exerting themselves and constantly worrying. Seeing living
beings in such a miserable state fiercely struggling for their own survival,
Buddha's hearts go out to them with Great Compassion. What is to be realised
is that mankind are constantly striving and worrying for their own livelihood
or subsistence. Ordinary worldlings may not think it as being pitiable.
They may consider this state of condition as being normal. They generally
imagine that as a man, one will have to strive or sweat for his own
living and that it is quite natural. Some may argue that there is no
need to grumble. However, from the point of view of the Buddha, the
Enlightened One, these beings are perceived as toiling, struggling and
constantly worrying for one's own burden of khandha, and are
therefore in misery, nay, they are found to be in great distress. In
any kind of existence wherever they are born, they have to be worrying
without any interval in their lifetime carrying this heavy load of khandha.
In the life existence of a human being, as a small child, one has to
depend upon the parents and others. He cannot stand on his own. From
the age of about four, five or six years and onwards, he has to attend
school for his education. Since about the age of eighteen or twenty
or so, he has to perform various kinds of work and bear the workload
under the given circumstances for his own subsistence or to satisfy
his needs. If fortune fails to smile on him, he will face a lot of trouble
to make ends meet with his income. Impairment of his health will bring
misery and suffering. Sometimes, he may come across pitfalls in the
path of his life and meet with dangers, and if so happen, misery will
befall him. Throughout his life existence, he is living in anxiety and
is struggling continuously. While thus indulging himself enmeshed in
trouble and misery, time comes when he grows old, suffers sickness and
eventually meets his death. Some even die while labouring and working
with all their might. It implies the growth, change and decay of the
physical man in the course of his human existence, in which he suffers
constant misery. In the life existence
as animals, from the time of birth, the majority have to find food for
their survival. Among animals living in places where food and water
are scarce, they have to undergo great hardships in finding food and
shelter. Animals in the forests have no protection at all. They have
to be worrying for their preservation and for the upkeep of their khandhas
intact, with constant fear of danger and death. Some of the animals
have to search for food only at night - being afraid of going out in
the daytime. In hell and in the world of Petas, apaya beings
are in constant misery and suffering. They cannot, of course, be seen
by human naked eyes. Even among 'nats' (Devas), there are demons, goblins
or spirits called 'Yakkha' who are in a state of misery nearly as bad
as Petas, Vinipatika, i.e. those beings of lowly existence have a very
hard life under worse conditions to the point of near starvation. They
too are in great misery. Those Devas in the higher abodes - up in the
heaven, are, of course, in a state of happiness. However, when their
life span expires, those whose kusala-kamma are lacking in strength,
become miserable. As such, all beings
are living in misery and are striving with endless worry to keep their
existing khandha (body) in good trim to gain happiness, and at
the same time, to get a new set of khandhas with happiness in
the future existences to come. Though people are said to be living under
favourable circumstances and are in a state of happiness, they have
to be always worrying in order to maintain themselves in good shape
at present and also to achieve future benefits in their next existences.
They want to enjoy life with happiness in future existences as well
and, hence, in the present lifetime, they are trying to accumulate merits.
Of course, to achieve happiness in future existences one has to struggle
with constant worry and anxiety according to one's own conviction in
the religious doctrine which he has accepted as true. Whether it is
proper or not, one is trying hard for the welfare of his future, relying
on his own faith and conviction. Those who do not believe in the doctrine
of existences to come, i.e. the religious view of complete annihilation
in this very life existence, are nonetheless striving with all heart
and soul to be able to enjoy a most happy and pleasurable life in this
present existence. Great was Buddha's
Compassion for all beings, having himself seen and found them always
suffering with worry in their persistent effort hoping to gain happiness
in every life existence, while at the same time they are burdened with
their khandhas. Buddha realised that there was no other Saviour
except Him to lead them to Nibbana - at which stage all khandhas
would cease to exist. Realising as such, with his deep Compassion and
goodwill, the Buddha had travelled far and wide during his lifetime
and had imparted his noble teachings. He tackled all questions put to
him by humans and Devas on points relating to Dhamma. He had hardly
any rest throughout day and night except a brief respite of three or
four hours. He had to deliver his preachings daily for about 20 hours
to Devas, humans and Brahmas. This lends evidence to the fact that his
own Great Compassion had prevented his happiness, as stated earlier.
So great was his unbounded compassion that the benevolent Buddha had
gone to the extent of imparting his Dhamma to Subhadda, a wandering
ascetic (paribbajako), while lying on his death-bed a few hours
before his Parinibbana. To that extent, he has bestowed his unstinted
love with self-sacrificing pity on all beings seeing their miserable
plight. The gist of the
foregoing account is to make it clear that Buddha had his Great Compassion
on all beings who are struggling with worry in every life existence.
This will perhaps enable you to grasp the fact that one can develop
his karuna towards pitiable beings who are going through a lot
of difficulties and misery throughout their life span. This will also
place you in a nobler state of mind which would invoke a feeling of
reverence to the Most Exalted One who had painstakingly preached, proclaiming
his message for forty odd years with unfailing patience, sympathy and
goodwill for the welfare of all mankind. Hence, with a view
to developing karuna in the light of what has been now stated,
please follow the recitation.
Full liberation
from this misery will be rewarded only when Nibbana is reached whereby
all rupa-nama-khandhas will cease to occur again. This means
to say that "May all beings be emancipated after attainment of
Nibbana." Let us repeat developing
karuna: "May all beings
who have always been striving with worry to gain happiness, be liberated
from misery." |
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