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From page 16...<br />
Do you want to live a blessed life ....?<br />
mind, we get caught up in it and do<br />
wrong deeds by body, speech, and<br />
mind and accumulate a lot of bad<br />
kamma. Being well educated in noble<br />
Dhamma is not just a blessing that<br />
helps us in this life but a blessing that<br />
can liberate us from this dangerous<br />
sansaric journey.<br />
8. Sippañca – knowledge of the arts<br />
and sciences<br />
How does being skilled in the arts<br />
and sciences become a blessing? We<br />
can find a job easily, or be creative<br />
and innovative and begin our own<br />
enterprise. Also, our craftsmanship<br />
can be helpful in decorating or<br />
repairing our home, making things for our home<br />
on our own, rather than paying someone else to<br />
do it for you, and save a lot of trouble and money.<br />
Isn’t that a blessing?<br />
9. Vinayo ca- well-grounded in the discipline<br />
Conducting bodily actions and speech<br />
according to the way Lord Buddha said is what<br />
is meant by discipline. The complete teachings<br />
of Lord Buddha are divided into three sects:<br />
Sutra Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka, and Abhidhamma<br />
Pitaka. Vinaya Pitaka includes all rules and<br />
guidance on discipline for the Sangha community.<br />
For lay people protecting precepts is the way<br />
of disciplining. Thus being well grounded in<br />
discipline is a blessing for both Bhikkhus and lay<br />
disciples.<br />
10. Susikkhito - listening to advice and training<br />
according to the Dhamma<br />
Listening to the advice of our noble teachers<br />
who teach the word of the Buddha and trying to<br />
adhere to those and train accordingly is called<br />
susikkhito. Lord Buddha said, a person who has<br />
this quality welcomes advice heartily and tries to<br />
train accordingly. The great Arahant Rahula thero<br />
was named as the chief susikkhita disciple in the<br />
order. Even though Rahula was only seven when<br />
he became a novice monk, he was very eager to<br />
accept advice and was exceptionally cultured and<br />
obedient. Each morning he would rise and, taking<br />
a handful of sand, throw it up in the air saying,<br />
"Today may I receive from my fellow monks as<br />
much advice and instructions as<br />
these grains of sand." So, if we can<br />
be humble to take advice from the<br />
noble teachers and elders, and try<br />
to train accordingly, we have the<br />
blessing of susikkhito in our lives.<br />
11. Subhāsitā ca yā vācā -<br />
pleasant speech<br />
What is pleasant speech? Speech<br />
that is not a lie, not divisive, not<br />
harsh and not pointless, is pleasant<br />
speech. If we surround ourselves<br />
with such speech, wouldn’t that<br />
be a great blessing? Every word<br />
of the Lord Buddha is pleasant<br />
speech. He did not speak for the<br />
sake of speaking.<br />
His words help<br />
us get rid of all<br />
that is bad; anger, jealousy,<br />
ill-will, envy, delusion, fear<br />
etc. and develop all that is<br />
good; kindness, patience,<br />
virtue, concentration, wisdom<br />
etc. And those words help<br />
gods and humans liberate from<br />
this sansaric journey. That is<br />
‘Subhāsitā’. Be blessed with that!<br />
12. Mātā Pitū upaṭṭhānaṁ – to<br />
support one’s mother and father<br />
The highest support any son or a daughter can<br />
provide to their mother and father is, help them,<br />
kindly, to establish in the noble Dhamma. Lord<br />
Buddha said a person can never pay the debt for<br />
his/her parents even if he/she looked after them<br />
by keeping them on his/her shoulders. So we<br />
should be ever so grateful to our parents and if<br />
they do not know the noble Dhamma, we should<br />
help them to learn and establish in it. That is a<br />
shower of blessings.<br />
13. Puttadārassa saṅgaho - to provide for one’s<br />
wife and children<br />
To support one’s wife and children is a blessing<br />
to one’s life. How should one support one’s wife<br />
and children? One should spend his earnings<br />
for the welfare of his wife and children, speak<br />
kindly to them and lead them on the right path<br />
by teaching them the Dhamma and treat them<br />
properly with equality.<br />
14. Anākulā ca kammantā - to be engaged in<br />
peaceful occupations<br />
Peaceful occupation means your work is<br />
not messed up. It is when you mix good<br />
deeds with bad deeds, mix merits<br />
with demerits that your work gets<br />
messed up and you lose your peace<br />
of mind due to the guilty conscious.<br />
Because most of us sometimes<br />
do good deeds and sometimes do<br />
bad deeds. Then it does not become<br />
peaceful. When one’s life is devoid<br />
of bad deeds and there remains<br />
only good, it is anākula; not<br />
messed up. By choosing to do<br />
good only, we can open our<br />
lives to this blessing.<br />
15. Dānañca –<br />
Generosity<br />
Being able to give<br />
is such a blessing in one’s<br />
life because not everyone<br />
can do it. In Sri Lanka, we have<br />
an immense opportunity to make this blessing a<br />
part of our lives. Buddha advised that you should<br />
give to whomever you are happy to give and<br />
also emphasized that giving to the Maha Sangha<br />
yields the most benefits. Nowadays we have<br />
the opportunity to give to the venerable Maha<br />
Sangha, also we can give to the needy, beggars or<br />
even animals and accrue many merits.<br />
16. Dhammacariyā ca – righteous conduct<br />
17<br />
17<br />
f.!;u nqÿrcqkaf.a ioyï idu ikafoaYh /f.k'''<br />
Righteous conduct is living according to the<br />
noble Dhamma.<br />
17. Ñātakānañ ca saṅgaho - to help one's relatives<br />
Treating our relatives well is another blessing<br />
proclaimed by Lord Buddha. How should we treat<br />
our relatives? We must see to their needs, use nice<br />
words when talking to them, encourage them to<br />
lead a righteous life based on Dhamma and treat<br />
them with equality.<br />
18. Anavajjāni kammāni - to be blameless in<br />
actions<br />
If you are a virtuous person who upholds the<br />
precepts then your actions either by body or<br />
speech would be blameless.<br />
In this article, we discussed 18 of the 38<br />
blessings expounded by Lord Buddha in Maha<br />
Maṅgala Sutta. When we look at each blessing,<br />
briefly as done here, we can see that these are<br />
things we need to do. Blessings are evoked by<br />
doing things, not by playing the sutta on the<br />
radio or even reciting. Therefore, let us learn<br />
the meaning of each blessing, spend some time<br />
thinking about the meaning until we remember it<br />
and try to apply them in daily life. And next time<br />
we recite the sutta, let us recite meaningfully.<br />
Remember, only if you remember the Dhamma<br />
you can apply it.<br />
In next month magazine, we will learn the<br />
remaining 20 blessings.<br />
Written by<br />
Prajapathi Jayawardena
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