Find the Chanting and English translation on the Old Student Site of Dhamma Pataka The Highest Welfare
The Buddha’s teaching was not merely for monks and nuns, but also for householders, many of whom used to come to him to learn Dhamma. One group came and said: “Sir, we are not prepared to become monks or nuns; we have to live as householders. Will the technique work for us? Can we also get liberated?”
He replied, “Certainly, it is a technique for all.” Monks and nuns do not have any worldly responsibilities. So they can give their whole life to this purpose, and the results come sooner. Householders cannot avoid their multifarious responsibilities towards their family members, relatives, and society but the teaching also works for them. The Buddha gave a discourse to this group, explaining how to live a wholesome life. He listed thirty-eight welfares to be acquired by a family man or woman, each higher than the last. When he came to the highest, he said:
Facing the vicissitudes of life the mind is not shaken; it is without grief, without impurity, without insecurity: this is the highest welfare.
Everyone has to meet vicissitudes in life but the mind should not get agitated; it should remain stable and balanced. Then there is no crying, no unhappiness, no impurity nor any feeling of insecurity in your mind. One always feels secure because one is on the path of Dhamma; nothing can go wrong. This is the highest welfare: equanimity with all the vicissitudes of life.
- S. N. Goenka
(adapted from the Day 8 discourse)
The eight worldly vicissitudes (lokadhammā) are: lābha (profit) and alābha (loss), yaso (fame) and ayaso (ill repute), pasaṃsā (praise) and nindā (criticism), sukha (pleasure) and dukkha (pain).
0 Comments