Trust in Kamma and the Path to Happiness (ကံကို ယုံကြည်ခြင်းနှင့် ပျော်ရွှင်မှုဆီသို့သွားသောလမ်း)

It's good to have faith in kamma and its results

#Wisdom_is_our_refuge
#Kamma_is_what_we_trust

Consider how people who don't believe in kamma get along with others...

Don't we see parents and children fighting?
Don't we see husbands and wives quarreling?

Fighting, arguing, getting angry - is it wholesome or unwholesome?
Is unwholesome action a path to happiness or suffering?
This needs examination.

#Don't_do_things_that_lead_to_suffering, understand?
Actions that lead to suffering aren't good.

If asked whether you want happiness or suffering, what would you say? If you want happiness, perform wholesome actions.

#Wholesome_means_not_getting_angry_not_fighting
Not getting angry - that's wholesome.

Now, you want happiness but you're doing actions that lead to suffering,
Getting angry frequently - isn't this worth examining?
This anger is unwholesome.

#Does_a_true_believer_in_kamma_need_to_get_angry?
Just do actions that don't involve anger.

Maintaining moral conduct (sīla) - does it cost money?
#This_is_merit_gained_without_spending_money - we need to study this.

We need to trust in kamma
When we trust, it's wholesome
When we don't trust, it's unwholesome - isn't this worth studying?

The Vedanā Through the Experience of Taste (အရသာအတွေ့အကြုံမှတဆင့် ဝေဒနာကို နားလည်ခြင်း)

Wisdom is our refuge, and kamma is what we should trust. How should we understand this? Let's contemplate.

Consider eating: Aren't there people who can eat chili and those who cannot? Those who like chili feel unsatisfied if their rice doesn't have chili. Are they content? No, they're not.

When such a person chews a piece of chicken with some chili on it, doesn't the person who can't eat spicy food spit it out? They spit out even the chicken, thinking "This is so spicy, I'll die!" Are they spitting it out because it's good or bad? Because it's bad, right?

The person who can eat spicy food feels unsatisfied without chili. When they find a piece with chili and eat it, don't they say "Now this tastes good!"?

We need to examine this spiciness. Do all hundred and one races have the same word for chili? The names differ, but #the_spicy_nature_is_the_same for everyone. Isn't this worth examining?

Therefore, #we_need_to_understand_the_nature_of_spiciness. Does it discriminate between making you feel good or bad? Those who can't eat it object, those who can eat it approve.

One says chili is good, another says it's bad, but isn't the spicy nature the same? Are good and bad the same? Think about this.

That's why the Mogok Sayadaw taught: Doesn't pleasant feeling (somanassa vedanā) and unpleasant feeling (domanassa vedanā) arise in the mind? Does it arise in the aggregates or #in_the_mind?

#The_mind_takes_concepts_as_objects. Aren't there concepts and ultimate realities? The five aggregates are ultimate realities, while persons and beings are concepts. Isn't this worth contemplating?

The spicy taste doesn't show favoritism, does it? Doesn't it transcend good and bad? Neutral feeling (upekkhā vedanā) arises on the tongue - #it_arises_in_the_aggregates - does it involve good and bad?

When you swallow it, does it remain? Isn't it impermanent? Do you find feeling or its absence? Think about this. Isn't this worth studying?

Pleasant and unpleasant feelings arise in the mind, while bodily pleasure and pain arise in the body. Neutral feeling arises in the tongue, nose, ears, and eyes. Isn't this worth examining?

On Conventional Truth and the Danger of Wrong Views" (သမုတ်သစ္စာနှင့် မှားယွင်းသောအယူအဆများ၏ အန္တရာယ်)

 

We must speak in conventional terms...

We call them daughter, son,
We call them Mr Smit, Mr Jhon 

These are conventional designations,
Correct only for communication,
Understand them as mere labels

#When_you_take_them_as_real_you're_wrong - that's wrong perception,
Wrong perception leads to wrong understanding,
Wrong understanding leads to wrong view, isn't that incorrect?

Look at people saying "My daughter has grown so much"
Doesn't this happen? This is #wrong_perception_saññā_vipallāsa

Is what we see a daughter or just visible form?
Isn't there rūpakkhandha in the form?
Isn't the knowing aspect nāma? #These_are_just_nāma_rūpa

When perception is wrong, isn't the understanding wrong?
Then they think "I must depend on her"

Isn't this a wrong view now?
Are these reliable phenomena?

#Depending_on_what_doesn't_exist
The Buddha called such people deluded

We say this gently through writing
Direct words might not be well-received
(Ha ha ha)... understand? Isn't this worth contemplating?

#Didn't_the_Buddha_teach_to_rely_on_wisdom?
Contemplate this

People place their trust wrongly
Study this well, that's enough for now...

The Vedanā and the Path to Liberation" (ဝေဒနာကို နားလည်ခြင်းနှင့် လွတ်မြောက်ရာလမ်းကြောင်း)

 We need to study further...

Is the feeling of liking something a self? It's vedanā. Is the feeling of disliking something a self? (It's vedanā, Venerable Sir)

Persons and beings are not involved, #it's_just_vedanā
Isn't this worth studying?

Pleasant feeling is vedanā
Unpleasant feeling is also vedanā

Is it "I" or vedanā?
Is it "human" or vedanā?
Is it "deva" or vedanā?
Is it "brahma" or vedanā?

#Is_it_a_solid_entity?
#Isn't_it_clearly_just_a_nature? Yes, it is, understand?

This is vedanā, isn't this worth examining?

Now, where does "pleasant" end? It ends in impermanence (anicca).

Where does "unpleasant" end? (It ends in impermanence, Venerable Sir)

Neither good nor bad, neutral feeling - where does it end? (It ends in impermanence, Venerable Sir)

Isn't it taught that we can only find peace when we see impermanence?
#Peace_comes_from_seeing_impermanence

Isn't it taught that when we see, we should stop? #When_we_see_we_must_stop. Isn't this worth examining? Let's study.

We need to understand the aggregates:
Rūpakkhandha (form), Vedanākkhandha (feeling), Saññākkhandha (perception), Saṅkhārakkhandha (mental formations), Viññāṇakkhandha (consciousness)...

Understanding the Five Aggregates, Their Nature and Function" (ခန္ဓာငါးပါး၏ သဘာဝနှင့် လုပ်ငန်းဆောင်တာများကို နားလည်ခြင်း)

We need to study the meaning and nature of the aggregates (khandhas).

When something touches the tongue, the form aggregate (rūpakkhandha) changes and breaks down - this is matter.

When there's change, isn't there feeling? Experiencing good and bad - is this feeling (vedanā) human, deva, or brahma? This is the work of feeling.

Perceiving something as good or bad - is this human perception (saññā) or deva perception? This is the function of perception.

Mental formations (saṅkhārakkhandha) drive the process of change, stimulate feeling, and encourage perception. Is this volition (cetanā) a self? This is the work of volition.

Consciousness (viññāṇakkhandha) knows the changing, knows the feeling, knows the perceiving, knows the driving force.

Each has its own place and function.
Are they truly selves or persons?
#This_is_why_we_need_to_understand_the_aggregates

True Faith in Cause and Effect (ကံတရားကို နားလည်ခြင်း - အကြောင်းအကျိုးအပေါ် စစ်မှန်သောယုံကြည်မှု)

 True Faith in Cause and Effect

In conventional truth through consciousness, isn't it taught that we must believe in kamma (kammassaka sammādiṭṭhi) - the two principles of wholesome and unwholesome actions? From killing to taking intoxicants, from killing to wrong views - when committed, are these wholesome or unwholesome?

Isn't it taught that due to unwholesome kamma, one is reborn in hell, animal realm, hungry ghost realm, or demon realm immediately after death? Is this happiness or suffering? Isn't it frightening? This results from unwholesome kamma.

When abstaining from killing through to abstaining from intoxicants, from killing through to wrong views - is this unwholesome or wholesome? Isn't it taught that due to wholesome kamma, one is reborn in human realm or six heavenly realms? Is this suffering or happiness? This results from wholesome kamma. Isn't this worth believing?

We must believe in kamma. Suffering comes from unwholesome kamma, happiness from wholesome kamma. Therefore, abstaining from killing through to abstaining from intoxicants creates wholesome kamma. Breaking them creates unwholesome kamma. Isn't this worth examining?

For one who believes in kamma, #let's_examine_ourselves: Will someone who truly believes in kamma still consult astrologers, spirit mediums, or fortune tellers? No, because they believe in kamma.

Consulting astrologers, mediums, and fortune tellers shows disbelief in kamma. Without this belief, is it easy to escape the 31 planes of existence? #No_it's_not. This needs examination, understand? So let's examine what it means to believe in kamma.

Here's something unprecedented: A person receives guidance from a good teacher. From waking until sleeping, they maintain the five precepts perfectly without breaking them.

Maintaining precepts creates wholesome kamma, doesn't it? Daily wholesome actions, from waking until sleeping.

Yet despite these wholesome actions, they struggle with basic needs. Food is scarce, clothing inadequate. Despite doing wholesome deeds, shouldn't we ask why they still struggle?

While this life has wholesome kamma, past unwholesome kamma from previous lives is giving results. That unwholesome kamma might give results for 15 years. During these 15 years, can they live comfortably? No, they suffer greatly.

Despite such hardship, do they turn to fishing or stealing for survival? #They_believe_in_kamma. When one truly believes in kamma, no matter how difficult life becomes, #they_won't_create_unwholesome_kamma, understand?

Isn't it worth believing that despite doing good deeds, if one struggles, it's due to past unwholesome kamma giving results? With such belief, does one create new unwholesome kamma? Don't old kammic debts get cleared? Daily, old kammic debts are being cleared.

Don't these old unwholesome kammic results gradually decrease? And don't wholesome actions increase daily? After about 15 years, the unwholesome kamma's results end. Then their wholesome deeds suddenly bear fruit.

Like when a close friend gives a lottery ticket as a wedding gift, and it wins 300 lakhs. When unwholesome kamma ends, doesn't wholesome kamma take its turn? This is kammassaka sammādiṭṭhi (right view of ownership of kamma). Isn't it worth believing in both unwholesome and wholesome kamma?

With such belief, no matter how poor one becomes, #will_they_create_new_unwholesome_kamma? No, they won't.

Consider some people in Mandalay or Yangon who slaughter thousands of buffalo and cattle daily for sale. Is this wholesome or unwholesome? They create unwholesome kamma daily. Is this happiness or suffering? It's suffering.

They appear wealthy with multiple houses, cars, gold and diamonds, living luxuriously. Don't some people with little knowledge of the teachings say they're prosperous?

But this prosperity comes from their past wholesome kamma that couldn't give results before, only bearing fruit during their current unwholesome actions. When this wholesome kamma gives results, despite their unwholesome actions, isn't the wholesome kamma predominant? They have houses, cars, gold and diamonds.

For those who believe in kammassaka sammādiṭṭhi, when past wholesome kamma gives results, they prosper. But their current unwholesome actions will give results one day. Maybe the wholesome kamma has 10 years of results to give.

After 10 years, when the wholesome kamma's results end, their cattle die, buffalo die, pigs die - capital loss. Their meat sales go into debt.

Eventually, with no capital, they must sell their houses, cars, diamonds, and gold. One day, they have nothing left, nowhere to live, staying in roadside shelters. Can they escape the lower realms after death? No, they cannot.

Prospering while doing unwholesome deeds comes from past wholesome kamma turning. Struggling despite doing wholesome deeds comes from past unwholesome kamma turning. Isn't this worth believing in?

One who believes this can no longer create new unwholesome kamma. Isn't this worth examining? Therefore, this is the path of kamma, a teaching to be believed...