Sermon 17: Five Topics for Recollection every Day

Natural is disease, natural decay,
Natural for us to be subject unto death,
Disgusted (at this) are common worldly men
But just of this nature so are beings all.
Now if in the same way I should feel disgust
For me this would not be suitable at all,
Since among creatures naturally subjected,
The same sort of life for me (should) be expected.

(A. Fives, 57)

Today, as the subject of this exposition of Dhamma there has been chosen the five topics for recollection every day which Lord Buddha taught not only for Bhikkhus but, as his discourse tells us, for recollection "By woman and man, by householder and by one gone forth." Now when these subjects, three of which have been mentioned so far, were announced, in what state was your mind? Do you feel interest in the investigation of disease, decay and death, or do you feel repelled and think it morbid to consider such matters? If the former, then your wisdom may well increase and you may live without fear a-ad so in peace, but if the latter, it is a case of wanting to see only the pleasurable and wishing to hide away from the unwelcome aspects of life. Buddhism, as many of you are aware, has often, by Western scholars who may never have entered a Buddhist country, been accused of pessimism and a morbid pre-occupation with such subjects as these. Of course, by the standards of one who wishes to enjoy life hedonically, Buddhist realism may not be appreciated at all. The scholars who make such accusations have never considered that it might be very wise to take a good look at all of life, not just at the parts of it which are attractive. It is all of life which we must experience and we cannot be choosy, demanding always to have good health, always to be young, always to live. Indeed some accounts of the life of the Buddha relate that before he left his palace for the jungle and when his intention was known to his Royal father, King Shuddhodana, the latter sought to dissuade him, pointing out the joys to be had of youth. Then Prince Siddhartha promised that he would stay within the palace provided that his father could guarantee four things. King Shuddhodana, anxious for him to stay at home, eagerly agreed. The Prince then asked that he be guaranteed perpetual good health and never be subject to illness; that he should, be forever young and never experience the pains of age; that also he should never die but always have life; and finally that his wealth and possessions should never be corrupted, change or become otherwise. How could the King grant these four requests? We see from this that even before his Enlightenment, the Prince later to be the Buddha, was a strict realist and even at that time was not blinded to the painful aspects of life. It is not pessimism, which asks one to look squarely at the truth it is realism. And the Buddhist training, if it could be contained within any Western "ism", would find a place in realism. A good Buddhist, therefore, through his practice of Dhamma or the Buddhist Teaching makes efforts to see all of life, to see it as it really is and not be blinded by the pleasurable aspects of it.

We should now more closely examine the five subjects for daily recollection and the practical use they have in living the Dhamma. First, what are these subjects? They are formulated in this way: "I am of the nature to decay, I have not got beyond decay; I am of the nature to be diseased, I have not got beyond disease; I am of the nature to die, I have not got beyond death; All that is mine, dear and delightful, will change and vanish; " and last: "I am the owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma, born of my kamma, related to my kamma, abide supported by my kamma; whatever kamma I shall do, whether good or evil, of that I shall be the heir."

These five reflections are recited daily by Bhikkhus as a means of holding them before the mind. Let us take these subjects one by one and examine them, thus trying to determine whether or not they possess any value for the lives of lay people. First, then, comes the reflection on old age; "Decay is natural to me, I have not gone beyond decay". When examining this, we may well bear in mind Lord Buddha's words on the reason why this subject should often be recollected. He says, "Beings in their youth are obsessed by the pride of youth and with that pride they conduct themselves badly in body, conduct themselves badly in speech, conduct themselves badly in mind. For him who reflects often upon this subject, that Pride of youth in youth is either destroyed or else lessened." In this way Lord Buddha points out the practical advantages to a young person, that is, by reflecting in this way, restraint of evil doing is promoted. In case one Says that this will not be effective, one has to remember that it must be taken in conjunction with the reflection on kamma which is the last of these five. Kamma, or intentional actions, whether good or evil, comes to fruit for the one who has made it. A young person's evil may well fruit in the pains of old age, or if no ill effects are to be seen in his life time, then one must remember that kamma is the force linking life with life and a that future existence does very much depend upon the kamma or intentional actions of the present one. But there is more in this than the restraint of youth. It is sad these days to see the number of middle-aged and old people who, due to the power of advertising and their own craving, make unnatural attempts to appear young instead of gracefully accepting the truth of "Decay is natural to me". Who can they convince of their youth? It is just a pathetic piece of self-deception, a postponement of a fact, which one-day will force itself upon these unwilling people. And whether one wills or does not will, old age remains as natural as birth and follows naturally upon it. Moreover, it is useless to pretend that somehow one has transcended the limitations of old age. These are physical and perhaps mental difficulties, which are natural. The person who does reflect often upon the naturalness of old age and who thus accepts it, is actually he who has started out upon the path to transcend the cycle of birth, disease, decay and dying. So as a warning to oneself and a skillful means of molding one's character into the way of Dhamma, one should also reflect, "I have not gone beyond decay."

Then follows the reflection on sickness: "Disease is natural to me, I have not gone beyond disease". In pointing out the advantages of this recollection, Lord Buddha says that it is because beings are intoxicated by health that they do evil by means of body, speech and mind. At the time of good health, therefore, this reflection should prove helpful in that it reminds one of sickness. These days with such a variety of drugs available, one might say that such reflection was not needed. Actually, this is not the case, for although medical science can now cure some diseases; it would be a nineteenth-century optimist who declared that it would one day cure all sickness. There is no evidence that this will ever be possible since new diseases are all the time coming to the fore just when well-known ones become curable. But there is no need to speculate on the future. Just now for us there are innumerable possibilities as far as disease is concerned. With a highly complex mind and body, man is indeed more prone to ailments than less highly developed beings. It is natural that this should be so and wise, therefore, is the person who reflects, "Disease is natural to me, I have not gone beyond disease."

After old age and sickness, again quite naturally, there comes death. Lord Buddha says time and again that for beings who are born, death must be expected: where there is production there must also be dissolution. Why did he have to repeat what some may regard as a truism, time and time again? He knew well indeed the human disinclination to face an unwelcome but inescapable fact. Language, for instance, is a good guide to the thoughts and attitudes of people. Then look at the euphemisms, many, many of them, which people have invented for death. Anything rather than face the fact, so that even the word "death" itself becomes taboo. But Lord Buddha teaches that one should, since it is profitable, frequently reflect: Death is natural to me, I have not gone beyond death. He, the Teacher who had gone beyond death, was fearless as are those who have followed his path to Enlightenment. He had once the occasion to speak the famous verse now in the Dhammapada upon the impossibility of escaping the end of life.

It reads as follows:

"Neither in the sky, nor the middle of the sea,
nor by entering a cavern in the hills
nowhere is found that place upon the earth,
where staying, one could not be overcome by death."

(Dhp. 128).

Since death, together with old age and-sickness, are natural, we are indeed well-advised by Lord Buddha to consider them. Their terrors, if one would only admit that they are so, vanish when they become familiar by constant reflection. It is only because we try not to consider them and bury them away that, suppressed out of the conscious mind, these natural happenings start to make trouble. In this case, to face the enemy is to find out his strength. Having done this, it is possible to be victorious, but a hidden enemy of unknown resources is infinitely more dangerous. We are, says Lord Buddha, "Obsessed with the pride of life". That is, we go about from day to day assuming that we shall continue to live and even old people often behave in this way, But in truth, this is a dangerous assumption since the possibilities for death are infinite and surround us all the time, One overcomes this attitude of assumption by reflecting frequently that death is natural and that one has not gone beyond it. To go beyond death is, of course, the attainment of Nibbana, which is often called the Deathless or the Undying, but the experience of this is to be had only by those who practice in accordance with the Dhamma and with diligence. Further, one should contemplate upon not only one's own death, but also upon the variableness and liability to separation from beings and things one loves. Once Lord Buddha was seated under a tree outside a small town when he saw a householder of that place roaming the streets with hair disheveled and crying out plaintively, "Where are you, my little baby son, where are you?" Calling to that householder to come and be seated near to him, Lord Buddha remarked upon the wildness of his senses to which the poor man replied that his only son, a baby, had recently died. Then Lord Buddha reminded him that it was in the nature of beings once born to die and that suffering is born of attachment. That man, however, never having practiced such recollections as these, but being among the common worldly people who are blind to truth, could not understand this and persisted in believing that to be attached to people was the source of happiness. Now Lord Buddha teaches: "All that is mine, dear and delightful, will change and vanish", and that this is a skillful way of consideration with regard to possessions and so forth. Whether people or things are dear to one, they are, since impermanent, all liable to change, become other than one wishes, be stolen, mislaid wear out or grow old and so on. Since this is their nature, it is well to consider beings and possessions dear to one in this light since otherwise one is deluded about them. Reflection in this way would indeed save much of the anguish, which people suffer due to change and separation in respect of loved people and things. Life will thus lose much of its tragedy coming from separation, while a person who practices in this way is sure of peace of mind. But if one bases one's happiness on the presence of this or that person or thing, then one must suffer the distress of' the materialist when these persons or things change or one is separated from them.

Lastly comes the reflection on kamma or intentional action, "I am the owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma, born of my kamma, related to my kamma, abide supported by my kamma". When life is considered in this way, it is apparent that one is responsible for one's own character and experiences. According to the past kamma or intentional actions so we now experience either pleasures or pains. As there are laws in regard to the various properties of matter, so kamma is the law controlling volitional actions and the results of such volition. It is a mental law, which can, since mind and body are inter-related, also bring about physical results. Our present bodies are the result of not only physical heredity, not only of the food with which we maintain them, but are to some extent the result of kamma in a past life. Their present condition, however, may to some extent depend also upon what we have done with them in this life. But one should not think that kamma is fate, for it is now, in the present, that one makes kamma. One thinks about what is being said here, and those deliberations are kamma. One resolves to practice and then does so in accordance with this Dhamma: those resolves are kamma. Or perhaps one does not believe -and one does not practice-those ideas turned over in the mind are also kamma.

Intentional actions, whether of body, speech or mind, all are kamma and all may bear fruit. The kamma which is beneficial, not harmful to others, as well as being purifying for one's own life, this kamma bears pleasant results of happiness for the one committing it. While kamma, which leads both to the downfall of others and to the degradation of oneself, such kamma will bear unwelcome, painful fruits. Hence this reflection, when one is aware of its meaning, leads one to be very careful what one does with body, speech and mind. It leads one to promote what is wholesome while avoiding those actions, which are unwholesome.

Now Lord Buddha further points out that the attitude of the Noble Disciple or Ariyasavaka, who has insight into the Dhamma is very different from that of the common worldly man. The wise Ariyan disciple thinks thus: "I am not the only one for whom decay is natural, for whom disease and death are natural, for whom there is change and vanishing from all that is mine, dear and delightful, for this is natural; I am not the only one to be owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma, born of my kamma, related to my kamma, abide supported by my kamma; and where-so-ever there are beings coming and going, dying and being born, for all those beings decay, disease, death, the change and vanishing of all that is theirs, dear and delightful is natural; they are the owners of their kamma, the heirs to their kamma, born out of their kamma, related to their kamma, abide supported by their kamma. And while he contemplates these subjects thus, the path is produced (in him) and that path he practices, causes to develop, and does with thoroughness. While in him, that path is practiced, developed and done with thoroughness, the fetters (binding him to the various forms of life) are destroyed and the latent tendencies are removed."

Thus, while the common worldly person suffers when set upon by these five subjects as he does not wish to give to them due consideration, the Noble Disciple actually profits from the reflection upon these facts. These things are all Dhamma so that one does not have to search far if one wishes to practice. The material for the practice of Dhamma is indeed all around us and it is up to us whether of not we perceive it.

It is for this reason that the World-knower, the Buddha who has known all worlds, has said:

"Natural is disease, natural decay
Natural for us to be subject unto death,
Disgusted at this are common worldly men,
But just of this nature, so are beings all;
Now if in the same way I should feel disgust 
For me this would not be suitable at all,
Since among creatures naturally subjected
The same sort of life for me (must be expected),
But living in this way I have come to know
Dhamma, which is lacking substratum (for rebirth),
Intoxication coming from good health, youth and life,
All that intoxication has been destroyed by me,
Renunciation having seen as peaceful and secure,
Effort then was made by me, Nibbana seeing clear,
Now for me impossible-indulging sensuality,
For I shall be indeed one never turning back,
Going over and beyond in the life of purity."

By the practice of these five recollections, which are for women and men, householders and those gone forth, we may all experience this going over and beyond.

EVAM

Thus indeed it is.