Sermon 9: A Refuse-Pit, a Road and a Lotus

As beside the highroad
Where rubbish in a pit is thrown
There flourishes the lotus-bloom,
Well-perfumed, mind's delight-
So among rubbish-beings-
Common humans blind indeed,
A disciple of the Perfect Buddha
Outshines with wisdom bright.

(Dhp. 58-59)

Today, for the increase and development of awareness and wisdom, these verses spoken by Lord Buddha will form the basis for this discourse. Traditionally, they were addressed to two lay-disciples, one of whom formerly had faith in the naked ascetics. In these verses, the first is a simile while the second represents the elements of Dhamma, which we are interested in.

There are certain interesting points about the first verse, which help us to understand the meaning of the second. Let us examine them one by one. In the first two lines we have mention of beside a high road where rubbish is thrown. First, there is the high road. A road goes from one place to another, and in this case it is the road of development in Dhamma, which we may tread if we wish. Everyone, of any or no religion, may tread the path of Dhamma to some extent, for of course, Dhamma or practice according to the truth, is not limited to what we call Buddhism.

Likewise, everyone is free to choose whether or not he wishes to develop himself. Since all human beings look for happiness, one would think that many would choose this path, for Dhamma, the practice according to truth, is the way to happiness. But we find that many do not choose this road to happiness, but instead seek out the slippery path of mere pleasure not knowing that this only leads to dissatisfaction, or to dukkha as Buddhists say. The highroad of self-development is straight and very well supplied with signposts if one uses a Buddhist map; but many of the people upon it are seen to wander drunkenly from side to side and even to stray away from it completely.

They are swayed by wrong views, which arise from their heart and do not permit them to go straight to the goal. Others are seen to be wearing glasses, which actually distort, not clarify the nature of the way in front of them.

These glasses are perceptions distorted by what are called 'the inversions' or vipallasa. They turn upside down the truth so that impermanent people and things seem permanent, dukkha or the unsatisfactory appears to be happiness, a self or soul is seen in oneself where none can in reality be found, and the unbeautiful is seen as though it were beautiful. The people who succeed in traveling along this road are really only those who have both patience and perseverance. In their travels some creep forwards slowly and with much difficulty while others though they have difficulties enough manage to progress quickly. Yet others though with few difficulties only go forward slowly while most fortunate of all are those who stride forward rapidly and find no obstacles in their path. Later, those who reach the goal for which they sought will be described and compared to lotuses.

Now beside this road, so splendid, even and well charted, there is a pit into which the unwary are likely to fall. While going along the road, men or women become proud of their march along the highway. They begin to feel much superior to other men whom they see are wandering by devious by-ways through the fields and woods. The stronger grows their pride, the more their footsteps falter until they lose their balance and find themselves floundering in filth. Or perhaps in gaining fame they become entranced with the fine presents which they receive and the subtle words of flattery.

They are also liable to come to grief in the mire. Or it may be that they fall through yet other reasons as when their minds are overwhelmed by greed, that is, the desire to possess, to gain, to retain. Or their fall from the Dhamma-road into the miry pit is because of aversion, lack of love and sympathy with a growth of dislike or hatred. Or it is likely that those who are stupid, do not try to understand and who are not really intent upon their journey may also fall into this pit. The ways of falling into it are as various as are the stains in the human heart.

While the road represents the way of progress and development in Dhamma, the pit means the static acceptance of oneself as one is. It is complacency, a lack of awareness that anything is wrong and therefore a lack of knowledge that there is anything at all to be done.

The people who are in this pit, as well as those upon the road who have not yet reached their goal, are called puthujjana which may be translated as ordinary people. But there is an obvious difference between these two kinds of puthujjana, for while one makes an effort and may well accomplish the goal for which he strives, the others in their pit merely vegetate among sensual pleasures, perhaps even thinking that in these things lie the goal of life. If it is their goal, then they have a low one indeed. So the refuse in this pit is composed of those men and women who have thrown themselves away.

Unlike other kinds of refuse, they have not been thrown away by anyone else but just they themselves are their own discards. When one comes to think of it in this way, the fact that they have thrown themselves away seems very curious.

This points out one characteristic of the puthujjana: that they are ignorant that they have ignorance or avijja. Now this kind of ignorance is very special, for in other spheres these people may be very well informed and even very intelligent so that to use the English word 'ignorance' when speaking of them will not be suitable. The Pali word 'avijja' has the specialized meaning of 'not-knowing regarding the Four Noble Truths' and is therefore really impossible to translate.

As walking along the highroad of Dhamma is indeed happiness itself as well as being the way to the Supreme Happiness of Nibbana, so dwelling heedless in the rubbish pit is also the sure way to experience unending frustration and all that is unsatisfactory. In the discourses of the Lord Buddha we find this striking passage: "In beings subject to birth, decay, disease and death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair, to being joined to that which they do not like, to being separated from that which they do like, to not getting what they want, to these beings the wish arises: 'O that we were not subject to birth, decay, disease, death ... 0 that these things were not before us!' But this cannot be got by mere wishing, and not to get what one wishes is dukkha,"

One cannot therefore wish oneself out of this pit any more than wishing will avail one in getting out of a pit in the ground. Those who are in this pit neither understand that they live surrounded on all sides by dukkha, nor do they realize why dukkha is felt by them, so that when they are involved in some aspect of worldly dukkha, they think that the way out is to indulge themselves even more in worldly pleasures.

Floundering in this confusion, how can they see that there is a way out, which is a way of happiness, and which leads forward to the Sublime Happiness of Nibbana? But because they have avijja, this basic ignorance of Dhamma, they have thrown themselves away in the refuse-pit where they will suffer, very often blaming their sufferings upon others.

The 'rubbish' referred to in the verse is of course just in their own hearts. 'Kilesa' in Pali means 'stain, defilement, dirt or filth' and this word is used for the inward filth of all that are puthujjana. We are all defiled in this way, unless, that is, we have gone so far along the Way, the highroad of Dhamma, that we have found what we are looking for. But this kind of filth is undoubtedly the most difficult in the world to clear away, for the pit of the heart in which it is thrown, in which it lies stinking, seems to be bottomless. No brooms or shovels of the ordinary kinds will be any use at all, although just as brooms and shovels are only of use if energy is used when wielding them, so mental energy is needed for the disposal, for the burning-up, of this filth in the heart.

This filth called Kilesa, makes our own lives unhappy, it makes the lives of others unhappy and even rules the world, making whole nations suffer and come to grief, as when rulers decide on conquest, or as it is often called these days 'liberation'. Alas, for such ignorance in the hearts of those in power.

Swayed by greed they decide on conquest. Impelled by aversion and hate, they wage war on the enemies and by doing so only bring about more dukkha in every way. They do not know that the enemies that should be fought are in their own hearts where Mara, the personification of evil, is the commander and where the armies of greed, aversion and delusion with all their auxiliaries rampage about. Nor is it evident to them that liberation, the real liberation, comes when all these forces have been utterly routed and destroyed. But it is little use bemoaning the faults of those in power. We have enough to do if we try from day to day to remove the filth in our own hearts, which will be for our own, and others' happiness for many a long day.

So far we have only talked about "the highroad where rubbish in a pit is thrown", but now we should go on to consider the next two lines: "There flourishes the lotus-bloom, well perfumed, mind's delight."

Everyone here has seen the places where lotuses usually grow: stagnant pools often with deep mud at the bottom. Born of the mud, rising through the muddy waters, breaking through into light and air and flowering in the brilliant sunshine, unstained, this plant is very fitted to be a Buddhist symbol.

Let us look at all these marks of the lotus and see what we can learn of Dhamma. First, there is a seed in the muddy slime. However extensive that muddy pool may be, the seed or potential of enlightenment lies in the very mud of the Kilesa. Just as the lotus could not flower full unless it had as its support the mud, so Enlightenment is not conceivable unless there is something from which one must be Enlightened.

The Kilesa or filth in the heart is the reason why people seek Enlightenment, which is also to be found in the heart. So this possibility, this seed, is there. All the time it is possible, if the Way is known, to find this Liberation or Enlightenment.

The mud of the Kilesa, out of which the seed will germinate, is black, tenacious and evil smelling. Its blackness is that it promotes misery for all, its tenacity means that it is removed only by making efforts and its smell is the fruits of evil which are experienced by the doer as many sorts of unhappiness both in mind and in body. The germination of the seed implies that one is not satisfied with life as one finds it and understands that the real trouble lies in one's heart.

Determination to undertake the training in Dhamma is the germination of this most precious of all seeds. As it puts out the first roots and tiny leaves, the Dhamma is slowly becoming established in one's heart. The leaves and buds have to fight their way through the muddy depths, and in the same way when the training is undertaken, the flower of Enlightenment, of Bodhi, is not seen all at once.

Sometimes a longtime will be needed for the gradual growth to maturity, just as the lotus takes its time before producing flowers. Now, there are obstacles to the flowering of the lotus plant. Perhaps fishes eat the tender shoots or the pool dries up, or a hundred and one other things may happen. In a like way, the obstacles to attainment in full of the Dhamma, to Bodhi or Enlightenment, may be numerous. Still this is not a cause for down-heartedness but rather for determination.

When that plant is established and strong with leaves floating upon the surface of the water, then the first bud is produced in the rootstock. This tiny, hard, green bud is the first insight into the truth of Dhamma such as anyone may have when they begin to practice. Growing through the muddy waters, the bud enlarges, just as our own experience of the Dhamma grows in spite of the muddiness, or because of that muddiness, in our own minds.

The time comes, after steady growth, when the bud finally breaks the surface and the sun's rays shine upon it for the first time. In the same way, there is a moment when the sun of enlightenment is seen for the first time by a Dhamma-practice and this time is called: the Eye of Dhamma-or of Enlightenment. There is a glimpse for the Stream-entree of what Nibbana means. The bud swells out, shows color and finally opens, these representing the other moments when Nibbana is seen, called respectively: Once-returning, Never-returning and the state of accomplishment of the goal, the extinction of the Kilesa and the winning of great wisdom, called Arahatta-phala.

The verse tells us that this lotus is "well-perfumed, mind's delight", likewise the Arahant, the accomplished one is pleasing to those who know what is true beauty, that is, the beauty of a heart thoroughly cleansed of all the defiling mud of likes, dislikes and dull stupidity which bring about all troubles in the world. But the Arahant, besides being pleasing in his own purity, is also compassionate for the well being of others. His "perfume" is the fragrance of Dhamma with which he instructs other people for their happiness and benefit and for the perpetuation of the Way of Dhamma that it may be kept open for those in future. The grace and beauty of the lotus is in the Arahant, the perfection of mindfulness (sati) and wisdom (pañña), which cannot be lost by him.

Just as the lotus flower is impermanent, so even one who has attained the highest Enlightenment, even. Lord Buddha had no power over the essential transience of the compounded elements making up the body. Though death is inevitable, one who has led a life practicing Dhamma has at least not harmed himself or others' even if he has not reached up to one of the Noble or Ariyan stages.

Now, having glanced at the various meanings to be found in the words of the first verse, we may take the second, which reads: "So, among rubbish-beings-common humans blind indeed, a disciple of the perfect Buddha outshines with wisdom bright." Ordinary common men, unenlightened and blinded inwardly, are as rubbish cast in a pit, while a disciple of the Perfect Buddha is like one of those fragrant lotuses lifting its flower far above the mire.

The important word here is disciple, 'hearer', or savaka in Pali. 'Hearing' has also a very special Buddhist meaning, for example: Lord Buddha sitting in the shade of a tree in Deer Sanctuary outside Benares was teaching to the five ascetics the Dhamma which he had uncovered or re-discovered at the time of his Enlightenment. In one of them who had but few stains in his heart and who willingly helped the Buddha when he approached, was born the first deep understanding of Dhamma in the Teaching of the Present Buddha, Gotama. He penetrated to, saw into himself that "Whatever has the -nature to arise, all that has the nature to cease." Then Lord Buddha, knowing that Kondanna, for that was his name, had really understood, uttered these inspired words; "Annasi vata bho Kondanno, annasi vata bho Kondanno'ti" meaning in English: "The good Kondanna his indeed understood, indeed he has understood." In this way, Venerable Kondanna became the first of those called Noble Disciples or Hearkeners, Ariyasavaka as they are called in Pali. This kind of 'hearing' or 'hearkening' is thus not only listening to the words of the teacher but it must be the hearkening to the Truth or Dhamma which is in one's own heart all the time.

This happened times without number during the lifetime of Lord Buddha and the tradition of intent listening combined with practice continues down to the present day. It is people like this who have listened to the Dhamma in themselves who "outshines with wisdom bright common humans blind indeed", while the latter are, as we have seen, stuck in the mud of their desires.

Now this talk of 'hearkeners' and 'ordinary people' is too impersonal. The Dhamma teaches what applies to us here and now, so, we must either be among the lotus-like Noble hearkeners or else we are simply stuck in the mire and bound by ourselves to experience all sorts of unhappiness. The ariyasavaka knows very definitely that he has indeed attained to one of the four Noble fruits or stages of insight into Nibbana, but if we know that such insight is not found in ourselves, then we must admit that surely we are ordinary people. There is no third category, whatever faith we profess. If we fall into the state of ordinary people then of which sort are we? The stick-in-the-mud types who do not even wish to see their own plight, or are we among those who practice some good Dhamma which enables us to go forward, increasing the good and wholesome in ourselves while bringing happiness to others?

Do we want happiness for ourselves and others? Then as the text already quoted says: "But this cannot be got by mere wishing." Only by hard work in fact. Worldly work brings benefits to oneself up to the time of death at the most. But this Dhamma-work can bear three kinds of fruits: either advantages here and now in this life, or rebirth in circumstances where one may continue one's Dhamma-training, or else the fruit of no further birth and dying, which is the state of the Arahant. Whether one aims for the lower or the higher fruit must depend upon one's abilities and opportunities, which are influenced by the deeds, good or evil, done by one in the past.

But the present is the only time, when we can practice, whatever fruits we aim for. When one walks along a road, one always walks along it at the present time. One cannot walk along it either in the past or the future.

So Dhamma-practice is always a matter of now. It cannot be postponed to some supposed time in the future, for even when that time comes round, it will be again the present. Walk along the highroad of Dhamma, now. Find happiness, now. Bless others with peace and security, now. All this can only be done now and never at other times. Those lotuses "well-perfumed, mind's delight" when else do they bloom but now? With hearts set upon the practice and accomplishment of Dhamma, we shall be those who will bring the highest benefits to the world.

EVAM

Thus indeed it is.