Now let us have a look at Thailand, and the hundred odd other countries of the world, and see what sort of things people are teaching their children. What sort of things are people doing? What are their desires, the causes of those actions that are producing so much suffering and misery in every part of the world at the present time?
We find that people , far from walking the right Path, are following the Devil, Satan, Mara, whatever one cares to call him, which is bound to be source of all sorts of misery. this is not at all in keeping with the purpose of birth as a human being, let alone a human being who has encountered the Buddha's teaching. Even any ordinary human being ought not to behave like this, because the term "human" (in Sanskrit manusya) means something rather special. It implies a high-minded being, descendant of Manu the wise, something higher than average. To deserve the title of human being, one must walk the true Path. As soon as one wanders from the Path, one ceases to be a human in the true sense. If one thinks along lines inconsistent with Truth or Dharma for even one moment; then, in that moment one has ceased being a true human being and is instead walking the path of Mara, or the path of the beasts. Our examination has to be done in such detail that we walk the Path all the time, with every breath we take, every minute and every second. We must walk the Path all the time. As soon as we relax, we go astray.
So let us not go lapsing into thought patterns that lead to carelessness or overconfidence, or the idea that this journey is an easy one. There is also a danger of relaxing and simply going downstream, drifting with the current. This is one of the worst dangers. The Buddha taught us to be constantly aware, to walk the Path every single "thought moment". One moment of unawareness and the mind is off track again. Sometimes it may go so far astray that to return to the Path becomes very difficult and time-consuming. Suppose one falls into one of the "woeful states" such as hell. This means that one has done the wrong thing, relaxed, and let the mind drop to the low level know has hell, so that it is difficult to return promptly. This wandering from the Path is like waling into a trap, falling into a pit or ditch. It comes from being careless, not keeping to the Path, not being constantly aware of those three characteristics, transience, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self-hood.. And there is no travelling companion who will help us to keep to the straight and narrow. There is no-one to keep an eye on us and see that we don't wander off the Path. Each of us is just a blind man being led by blind man, The lot of us are just fumbling along all the time. It is because the great majority of people are forever being careless and wandering of the Path that the entire world is in such a pitiful and hopeless condition.
We find that people , far from walking the right Path, are following the Devil, Satan, Mara, whatever one cares to call him, which is bound to be source of all sorts of misery. this is not at all in keeping with the purpose of birth as a human being, let alone a human being who has encountered the Buddha's teaching. Even any ordinary human being ought not to behave like this, because the term "human" (in Sanskrit manusya) means something rather special. It implies a high-minded being, descendant of Manu the wise, something higher than average. To deserve the title of human being, one must walk the true Path. As soon as one wanders from the Path, one ceases to be a human in the true sense. If one thinks along lines inconsistent with Truth or Dharma for even one moment; then, in that moment one has ceased being a true human being and is instead walking the path of Mara, or the path of the beasts. Our examination has to be done in such detail that we walk the Path all the time, with every breath we take, every minute and every second. We must walk the Path all the time. As soon as we relax, we go astray.
So let us not go lapsing into thought patterns that lead to carelessness or overconfidence, or the idea that this journey is an easy one. There is also a danger of relaxing and simply going downstream, drifting with the current. This is one of the worst dangers. The Buddha taught us to be constantly aware, to walk the Path every single "thought moment". One moment of unawareness and the mind is off track again. Sometimes it may go so far astray that to return to the Path becomes very difficult and time-consuming. Suppose one falls into one of the "woeful states" such as hell. This means that one has done the wrong thing, relaxed, and let the mind drop to the low level know has hell, so that it is difficult to return promptly. This wandering from the Path is like waling into a trap, falling into a pit or ditch. It comes from being careless, not keeping to the Path, not being constantly aware of those three characteristics, transience, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self-hood.. And there is no travelling companion who will help us to keep to the straight and narrow. There is no-one to keep an eye on us and see that we don't wander off the Path. Each of us is just a blind man being led by blind man, The lot of us are just fumbling along all the time. It is because the great majority of people are forever being careless and wandering of the Path that the entire world is in such a pitiful and hopeless condition.
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