Most Venerable Bhante Walpola Piyananda's 80th Birthday Celebrating - Collected Essays

then, on realizing its significance, the Buddha uttered on that occasion
this inspired utterance:
“Wise speech forgotten,
They chant a range of words
At will with mouths agape:
What leads them on they do not know.”
In other words, those youths reacted with abusive speech
without even realizing why. People often do this out of carelessness;
hopefully monks will seek to control themselves and refrain from
speaking words they cannot take back. As the Sabbasava Sutta states
so clearly, we must do our best to counteract unwholesome thoughts
and impulses by exercising restraint and self control.
Very often, age and lack of maturity play a significant part in
the ability or inability to discipline and restrain ones-self. This reminds
me of a story about Confucius, the Chinese sage from the 6 th century
BCE. One sunny, hot day he was walking through a forest with some
of his students. At some point they paused and sat down under the
shade of a banyan tree. A hunter of birds had the same idea, and also
sat down under the tree. Confucius told his students to go over and look
at the baskets of birds the hunter had captured. Confucius said, “How
many of the birds are old, and how many are young?” The students
answered, “80% are young, and only 20% are old.” Confucius smiled,
and the students realized that the older the bird, the wiser it became –
wise enough not to get caught. As human beings in modern society,
both lay persons as well as Sangha members, we also hope to get wiser
as we get more mature in years.
Every morning Buddhist monks chant the Dassadhamma
Sutta, which says in verses 1 and 3: “I am now living a different life
from that of a lay person. I must now behave in a different manner than
that of a lay person.” These verses remind us that we monks are, in
fact, different from lay persons – primarily because of our commitment
to stand apart from the world and serve as guides or beacons of light for
others. We wear the “banner of the arahants,” our symbolic robes, and
our purpose is to urge others to find their way to higher, purer states of
consciousness; we also have to practice with perseverance so we can
transcend our own egos. If we are to realize this purpose, we first have
to find the necessary self-discipline and learn to exercise restraint in our
thoughts, words, speech, and deeds. If we don’t, then we have failed
in our mission, and have wasted our time. As the Buddha said when
he returned for the first time to Kapilavatthu after his enlightenment,
and saw his elder kinsmen standing in the back while putting the
young ones forward, “My haughty Sakkyan relatives; they got old for
nothing.” Let’s all make a commitment to ourselves not to get old for
nothing; that would be a tragic waste of a life.
8
It’s No Joke
Over the years I have met several people who take great
pleasure in playing jokes on others. Their spontaneous pranks are
usually intended to make people laugh and be happy, but sometimes they
have a way of going very wrong. I’ve seen them destroy meaningful
relationships – and even the lives of some unsuspecting people.
One incident that I sadly recall happened during my years as
a Buddhist chaplain at UCLA. I had made friends with a group of
graduate students who roomed together in an apartment off campus.
Mahen, originally from Nepal, was very naïve. He seldom left the
university environs except to visit my temple. He had lived for several
years in Thailand where a man can become a monk temporarily, and
Mahen did so for five years. As a result, he was able to speak Thai
fluently.
Raj, from India, was witty, easy going, and was popular with
the women as he was jovial. Tuk, from Vietnam, was studious, neat
and dedicated to keeping the cultural traditions of his homeland.
The three friends usually visited me at the temple on Sundays.
I could see that these men were somewhat homesick, so the other
monks and I made an extra effort to make them feel at home. The
men became very friendly with the monks, and confided in them like
brothers.
Since the very beginning our temple has been frequented by
Thai devotees who offer food to the monks and attend our religious
activities. Among them was Thanom, a business woman around fifty
years old, who still looked like she was thirty-something. She decided
one day that she wanted to donate her second car to an assistant monk
at the vihara, Bhante Vipassi.
Bhante Vipassi was aware that Mahen spoke Thai fluently, so
he invited him to accompany him to pick up the car from Thanom, who
lived in Ventura County. During the visit Mahen spoke to Thanom in
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