When
searching for spiritual values, many people look for something
very fresh and new, and think that Buddhism, which has been
around for about 2,500 years, is too old. But that is not
true! Buddhism is the freshest thing you'll ever come across,
because our mind is constantly fresh, and the Buddha is
talking about nothing other than our state of mind. He teaches
that everything, whatever we experience, good or bad, happy or
sad, all happens through states of mind. He's talking about
our own mind, so how could we ever get anything fresher than
that?
Buddhism teaches about equality: that differences in
race, culture, tradition and belief do not really matter. The
fundamental teaching in Buddhism is that everybody has the
opportunity and possibility to become a Buddha. Every human
being has this potential. The only difference between a Buddha
and ordinary beings is that a Buddha has fulfilled it, whereas
we are still searching. The Buddha did not keep his discovery
to himself but, out of his love and compassion, he wished that
all sentient beings might discover this inherent potential
within themselves. This realisation, this recognition of our
Buddha nature, is very important for all of us. To recognise
it is to fully free ourselves, and to achieve this we need to
concentrate on what will really free us instead of running
after mirages that will never bring us complete and lasting
happiness.
As far as I am concerned, Buddhism is the simplest and
most practical religion in the world, because our body is
ours, our speech is ours, our mind is ours - and our time is
ours. All we need to do is learn how to use these properly in
order to change our habits and improve ourselves.
When people come to realise that this modern
materialistic way of life is meaningless, I think that they
will gradually accept the Buddhist teachings, but I am
definitely not trying to make a Buddhist out of anyone.
Buddhism is very open and teaches respect for all other
beliefs. People who have other beliefs might think that
Buddhism has nothing to do with them, nothing to offer them,
but Buddhism could actually mean everything to them. It could
be the missing piece they have been looking for all their
lives.
Buddhism tells us about our potential. This potential
does not belong only to Buddhists, or only to Christians: it
belongs to each and every human being with no distinction of
faith, race or culture. We have to learn how to search for it,
not out there but right within ourselves. We don't need to go
to any other person or believe in any other thing, the only
important step is to believe in ourselves, in the potential we
have within ourselves. When we talk about Buddhism, we are
actually talking about the mind. If you do not want to hear
about Buddhism, the Buddha or enlightenment, we can leave out
such words and talk only about the mind.
The most important thing is to learn to appreciate what
we have. We really seem to forget how fortunate, how lucky we
are. To be able to appreciate our lives, who and what we are,
allows us to trust other people and also to have faith and
devotion. It makes us wholesome human beings. If we don't
appreciate what we have, then even if we have everything, we
are still unhappy. We don't have peace of mind and it is
impossible for us to trust anybody, not to mention having
faith and devotion. Some people get so paranoid and lose
self-confidence to the point that they cannot even trust
themselves. This is why all the religions in the world first
teach us to be humble, decent and honest. When we have those
qualities, then everything becomes so simple, so easy! I think
that we should not get carried away with words like nirvana
and realization. All this means nothing to people like us.
What is nirvana? What is enlightenment? If we have found inner
peace, then satisfaction comes, happiness comes, joy,
generosity, the ability to trust, everything comes! It is all
part of this inner peace. I always remind people that the
religion they follow makes no difference. If their practice
helps them become more humble, better human beings who are
able to appreciate themselves and others, then I think they
have achieved their goal!
Of course, we are all trying to find happiness. The
problem is that we get so fooled by appearances. This 21st
century is so 'visual'. Whatever has a physical form has such
an impact on everybody. People want to see and enjoy beautiful
things, yet they fail to see that these things are hollow
inside. They want a good job, money and relationships, and
they are able to change them like changing paper napkins, yet
they are not happy. They are in fact looking for a direction
that would give meaning to their lives but they fail to
recognise that they are actually using poison in their search
for happiness. It is impossible to obtain happiness through
envy, jealousy, pride, anger and selfishness. If we plant
poisonous seeds, the result will be inedible fruits.
This is why I think it is so important to learn to tame
our mind. In a way, we have been fully tamed and trained by
our own culture, by our traditions and family values, but
these values are worldly values that are all about how to
survive in this world. Nowadays, people are on the whole more
educated and have more knowledge than ever in the past, but if
we look at the world situation, we have to admit that all this
education and knowledge is no good without inner wisdom as the
guide.
We are living in a civilisation where people are
brought up like sheep and instead of training their own minds,
they either follow others or force others to go along with
their ideas. We see it every day. There are many decent young
people, even grown-up people, struggling to make their voices
heard in order to improve the world situation but they lack
the proper training and knowledge and so somehow use the wrong
methods to try to get the right result. They stubbornly try to
force their own solutions on others. Like these young people
with good heart and motivation, who go through so many
hardships just to end up injail, whereas the multinational
companies they are fighting usually seem to win, thanks to all
the money and clever lawyers they have.
The Buddha who was wise and enlightened saw that it is
impossible to change things in this way. He said we need more
wisdom than that; it is no use trying to change everybody
else, we need to change ourselves. |