mettavalokanaya_international_buddhist_magazine_september_2020

We in the human world
always commit mistakes.
But the wise is very
careful in doing things.
He investigates the noble teachings and
finds out three unwholesome roots,
greed, hatred and illusion as the main
causes of all evil deeds. Killing, stealing
and sexual misconduct are committed by
body. Lying, slandering, abusive speech
and useless talk are committed by
speech. Craving, anger and wrong views
are committed by mind. All the activities
either good or bad are designed, planed
by thoughts. Therefore, the culprit is
the mind and its mental concomitants.
Craving, anger and illusion are also
mental concomitants. The tree
cannot stand without roots. Likewise,
unwholesome deeds have those roots.
They have totally fourteen
concomitants as 01. Illusion (Moha), 02.
Shameless (Ahirika), 03. Fearlessness
(Anottappa),
04.Restlessness
(Uddhacca) 05. Craving (Lobha), 06.
Wrong view (Ditthi), 07. Conceit (Mana),
Five divine
Messengers….
08. Anger (Dosa), 09. Jealoucy (Issa),
10. Stinginess (Macchariya), 11. Worry
(Kukkucca). 12. Sloth (Thina) 13. Torpor
(Middha) and 14. Doubt (Vicikiccha).
Those fourteen immoral mental
concomitants constitute unwholesome
volitional activities.
One must be mindful on what
is running in one’s mind. Then it is the
way to control the bad. There are some
guidelines in the following story of the
Lord Buddha. Once the Lord Buddha
addressing the monks, reveals that
there are five divine messengers in
the human world. People who commit
unwholesome activities would be born
in the hell. Then the servants of Yama,
the king of the hell take those people
to him. Then Yama the king of the hell
would ask them “Haven’t you seen the
first messenger a baby in the human
world? a baby cries, urinates, defecates
and is dirtied all around him. He suffers
in getting wet and being dirty with stools.
He is smelly, abhorrent and he would
not know when he will be cleaned by
someone who comes across. He is just
crying for food, l bitten by mosquitoes
and troubled by flies. That is your first
messenger to awaken you to make merit
to get rid of suffering. But you didn’t
notice it.
Now it is the second messenger
Haven’t you seen an old man with
haunch back, walking with a stick? He is
skinny and his face and body are dried,
and he has wrinkles all over his body.
His hair is white. He has poor eyesight
and hearing. He has no teeth. He cannot
walk straight. He needs the help of
someone. Everybody would disgust
him and abandons him. Seeing him is
an inauspicious thing for others as they
consider him as he is bringing bad luck.
Walking stick is the only partner of him
to support for his standing. Then why
didn’t you do good despite committing
evils?
Now the third messenger, haven’t
you seen a diseased man. His legs are
wrapped here and their due to wounds
that are oozing pus. He cries due to the
pain of his body. He is in difficulty in
breathing, so he is panting hard. He is
shivering either with cold or fever and he
is suffering from various sicknesses. He
feels pain on his head, pain on the knee,
pain on the back, pain on the joints and
knuckles. He lies on the bed in pain and
is not able to sit or stand. He is just lying
for the help of others. Why didn’t you do
good having seen that suffering?
Now the fourth messenger is the
criminal that is punished by the law due
to his crimes. He is handcuffed, beaten
with battens, he is pushed to jail, he is
fined or imprisoned for many years. The
judge would order him to be excited,
put in the dark room forever, confiscate
all his properties, to isolate him in an
island, declare him bankrupt, or banish.
Now the fifth messenger is the
decease. That motionless body is very
cold and stiff. It becomes swollen, blue,
and rotten. A few days’ time it oozes out
pus and bodily fluids. It is smelly and
disgusting. Nobody wants it to keep even
it is the body of the beloved, the mother,
the father, the teacher or beloved son or
the daughter. Why didn’t you do good?
why didn’t you stop committing evils
after seeing the impermanence?
So, there is no excuse for your
negligence, for your bad deeds,
unwholesome deeds. You deserve the
effect of your own karma. Thus, the
lord of the hell orders. By this reference
one must not wait. Definitely Kamma is
the heir to each individual. Just like the
heavy load carried by the bull behind
the bullock cart one carries his own evil
karma, when the bull goes forward the
wheels too rotates. Likewise, the Karma
follows the individual producing pain.
On the other hand, Good karma follows
the individual giving good result.
One mango seed produces many
fruits if you have planted it well and
manure. Likewise, Karma is multiplied
because it is natural phenomena. Let us
stop any evil by today itself. Messengers
are lessons for us all to understand the
reality of life and make our life better.
Singapore
Most Venerable
Dr. Galle Uditha
Thero
Time to Stop
any Evil….
24 l Mettavalokanaya l September l 2020 2020 l September l Mettavalokanaya l 25