For this reason, many who have no spiritual teachings think that it is much better and more “fun” to live life as it should be - to enjoy while one is able to do so. Why do they hold such a philosophy? Often they see that the religious ones are missing the funs of life and that their practice of disciplines and good deeds come to nothing.

Unfortunately, many who think that they are good and spiritual are indeed going through the same trials of life as those who are having just living wantonly. This sometimes cause doubts in their mind and they wonder whether what they have subjected themselves are worth it or whether the Divine really cares for them. It is quite true that most people when they are kneeling before the altar, praying to one Deity or another, they offer many good prayers and they also asked to be guided with the hope that no wrong actions will be committed. And when what they have prayed for do not come about, they are filled with disappointments.

This kind of people are many in number and they have doubts of practising “good”. It will require much patience of listening and to try to help them to see the light because many will “think” that they “know” all there is to know about Dharma when they have really “missed its true essence.” They “think” that because they have been kind and helpful to others for a long time, and are still living and practising, this life’s problems will be beyond them! They have little or no idea of karma and its results and of the need for purification before the ‘real’ pure state is attained. They have no idea that if it was possible for the Enlightened Ones to clear all of their evilness and tendencies so that no one will have even a single fault and therefore no more “cause of sufferings”, that Great Ones would have done it billions of aeons ago. But the Law of Justice cannot be changed and each ‘being’ is, by his very own effort, trying to climb the spiritual ladder, from humanhood to bodhisattvahood to Buddhahood. Each qualifies himself and to do so, one must be prepared for the painful and difficult process of purification which comes in the manners of suffering which afflict the world. This is no Nirvana. This is Samsara, and the conditions in this realm are always ‘causes of suffering’. Beings who are born here are inclined to seek the happiness that it can offer without any knowledge of what lies behind this relative happiness - Sufferings!

So how can anyone’s mind be freed from suffering even though he tries not to think of it? One needs the method of practice, of freeing oneself from it. This is what religions have to offer. The ability to look at suffering, to know suffering and how to be free from it!

It is believed that by being good and obedient, one will straight away be free from life’s problems. It’s only wishful thinking. A wise and knowledgeable practitioner do not have such expectations and instead, is ready to go through the rounds of sufferings as soon as he can. If prayers must be answered right away, think, who are the ones who are praying most frequently and with the full heart? It’s always the suffering ones and those who are in the worse of situations. But their prayers are often said too late, in desperation, when the negative karma has already arisen. Once the ‘wheel is in motion’, it must take time for it to stop. So things take time. The prayers and efforts of today need not bring about speedy results like tomorrow or next month!

And even in prayers, what do most people ask for? It’s always for this or that blessings for a more fulfilled life. This is only natural for no earthy being would like to be left out of the earthly joys which their minds think are wonderful. It is for this reason that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have to stay on in Samsara in order to teach beings the Dharma which leads them out of the darkness of Ignorance!

If Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were human beings then instantly They will confer and give all the blessings and happiness that living beings are praying for. But they are Enlightened Beings, and they know the Past, Present and the Future of every being who are before them. So they do not confer blessings of joys and good life when the requests are made. Why? It is because they know that this will not bring about learning, not bring about settlement of past evil karmas, not bring about purification to the mind, but it will definitely cause living beings to be more erroneous and greedy.

Worldly joys are suffering filled because they do not provide the Ultimate Bliss since they are not permanent. Then why don’t the Enlightened Ones make them permanent? This is the demand and expectation of ignorant ones who do not have the idea of how empty these worldly phenomena are, that all conditioned happiness can never be permanent.

When a person asks another for help it is given. There is good and virtue in that but there can also be problems unless the giver knows of the reasons behind the mind of the one who asks. In any case, human minds have too much limitations to understand the Reality of what life really is. It’s their own blindness that caused all their own sufferings. Have you not seen how parents have spoilt and harmed their children by being ‘kind and generous’?

There is nothing bad in the virtue of giving, but there can be serious problems if wisdom is not there. Each time the child asks, demands or cries, the loving mother gives him a roll of candy. Out of love, she does not want to see the child cry, so she does not discipline his intake of sweets nor insists on brushing the teeth every day and night, out of ‘not wanting to inflict’ pain to the child. What will the result be?

For this reason, those who pray to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas or to their Gods, according to their religions, they should not hold onto the ‘false idea’ that all their ‘demands’ must be fulfilled even though they ‘think’ that they are ‘praying’. What do most people do or ask in prayers? It’s normally the big wish for receiving the ‘Love of the Divine’ which is taken for granted to come in the forms of all good things in life, particularly happiness and ‘no more sufferings.’ What motivation is behind such prayers other than ‘selfishness and greed’ and Ignorance? So all those ‘prayers’ are not spiritual at all. A prayer which has such a great value and which pleases the divine Beings is one which is selfless and Bodhicitta inspired. One should request the Great Lords to bestow blessings for the purpose of ‘helping one to be rid of all unwholesome inclinations, and habits, non-virtuous deeds and obscurations. One should request for energy to practise the virtues which are the ‘causes of future happiness’, and one should seek wisdom in order to understand what he is aspiring to practice - the Holy Dharma.” If one does not hold such a motivation, how can blessings be forthcoming?

For the lack of understanding of knowing how to pray, many have become disillusioned because they have prayed for tens of years and they are still not receiving ‘the rewards’ that are due to them. Whose fault is it that they are so muddled? Just like a hiker who tries to go into the forest without knowing the directions to take, if he gets lost, who is to be blamed?

This simple message is given to help those who have wrong views about ‘suffering’ because they do not make the effort to understand its nature and its necessity. Suffering is not necessarily a punishment otherwise the last persons who deserve it will be the living saints who are facing it all through their lives. If Gautama Siddhartha did not put his mind to the sufferings of mankind he would not have left home to seek its true meanings and then found the way to liberate it.

This message is also especially meant for those who have been involved with learning and practice. Life cannot be free of pains and worldly results caused by them. Even Bodhisattvas who incarnate in Samsaric realms must face them otherwise how are lowly beings able to develop confidence and faith in the Dharma?

But they are not holding onto lowly views and therefore they do not see suffering as just plain suffering. Whoever would like to develop such an understanding must still take the pains to develop the ability to do so - through the attainments of Merit and Wisdom. Merits are gained through cultivating the paramitas which cannot be easy for nothing that is worth is that easy to come by!

Monday, 8th February 1988 (12th Moon 21st Day)