Sermon 24: Certainly the Dhamma Protects the Dhamma-Practitioner

Certainly the Dhamma protects the Dhamma-practitioner,
Dhamma well practiced brings happiness to him,
Not to an evil bourn goes the Dhamma-practitioner-
This is the advantage of well-practiced Dhamma.

(Jataka. 447)

Today, for the increase of awareness and wisdom the verse above will be expounded dealing with the word 'Dhamma', the understanding of which is central to knowledge of Buddhist teaching The meanings of Dhamma, or of some of them, will be touched upon in explaining this verse. In the first line, the translation runs: "Certainly the Dhamma protects the Dhamma-practitioner." Here, Dhamma should be explained as 'that which accords with truth' or 'that which is the law of nature'. It does not mean of course, that there is something beyond or outside oneself, which will save or protect one from evil, which has been committed. One cannot pray to Dhamma for protection or for salvation. But this line does mean that one protects oneself through the practice of whatever accords with the true nature of things, or with one's human nature, which is based upon the keeping of the Five Precepts or similar moral codes. As our minds are predominantly human minds so we accord with Dhamma when we keep the Five Precepts, which are called the 'Human-Dhamma.' These precepts are thus an aspect of Dhamma with which one protects oneself. True protection must always live within in one's conduct through the three doors of mind, speech and body. Safe protection can never be found in exterior people or circumstances but only in one's own conduct. Now, if one should act in such a way as to bring about harm for others then this is called acting contrary to Dhamma. Acting thus one brings about the opposite of protection that is all sorts of unhappiness and suffering. Here we may remember that "We are the owners of our kamma (or intentional actions), we are heirs of our intentional actions. . ." and so forth. By what we do from minute to minute throughout the day, we may either protect ourselves by acting with Dhamma or else attack ourselves by acting against Dhamma. Usually speaking no one likes suffering the slings and arrows of painful experience but instead of understanding that these very arrows have been shot by ourselves and knowing how to guard ourselves, they turn for explanations to outside things and blame their misfortunes upon fate, chance or even upon a being or beings called God or gods. Not understanding this we stray from the direct path of dependence upon the Dhamma, which is to be found in the very nature of our own minds and bodies. It is like the story of the king who had lost, apparently, the crest-jewel from his turban and wandered about searching for it everywhere but not finding it. When a wise man told him that the jewel he sought so eagerly was securely fixed in his turban already, he could hardly believe him! We should seek protection, therefore, not in things outside ourselves but certainly in ourselves where are to be found all that necessary for a true refuge. Depending for refuge on the exterior is to depend on the unsure while the Dhamma, which is our own nature, is sure refuge for ourselves. But in this we make or unmake ourselves just according to our own wisdom.

The Dhamma-practitioner mentioned above, may practice either upon a path of worldly attainment, or for the discovery of Enlightenment. In either case he practices according to Dhamma. In the first case, moral conduct according to the Five Precepts is the Dhamma of humanness while in the second, the super-mundane path leads to the discovery of Dhamma, which is attainment or realization or penetration to the Truth of Nibbana. Which path is taken by a Dhamma-practitioner depends upon individual ability and opportunity, both of which in turn depend upon past intentional actions or kamma. Both paths, each having several levels, are excellent indeed as we find stressed in the second line: "Dhamma well-practiced brings happiness." Just as Dhamma may be of two sorts, mundane and super-mundane so may the resultant happiness. To give some examples: a person finding that religion praises generosity (and all religions do so) makes efforts to give upon every occasion that presents itself. While he is giving his mind is delighted, before he gives, he delights in the preparations, which are being made, and afterwards he reflects upon the various acts of generosity and again becomes delighted. The same may be said of any act accounted truly admirable or noble whether it is moral conduct, meditation, reverence, helpfulness, kind speech or whatever, in all these it can be seen from one's own everyday experience that "Dhamma well-practiced brings happiness." Or if the super-mundane path leading directly to Nibbana is considered, then since the mental stains of greed, aversion and delusion lead only to harm, lead only to suffering, so their destruction must of course bring one to real happiness. It is for this reason that Nibbana is called the PARAMASUKHAM, that is, the Sublime Happiness.

As regards time, the happiness to be derived from the practice of Dhamma, whether mundane or super-mundane, may be experienced either now, later in this life, or in a future life (except in the case of one perfected in Dhamma, with Nibbana found unshakably, when it is not correct to speak of a future life). In the case of one practicing the mundane path, the results of his beneficial actions may be immediate happiness; he may see immediately his excellent kamma ripening into the fruits of happiness. Or he may have to wait if there are obstructions preventing the ripening of that fruit even until future lives. Upon the super-mundane path the fruits follow quickly once the summit of a Path-moment has been reached. However, the ultimate Fruit of Nibbana, which is more satisfying than all others, could be delayed for as long as seven lives for one who has entered the Dhamma-stream and glimpsed Nibbana.

In the translation of the verse, for metrical reasons the words 'to him' are added upon the end of the line: "Dhamma well-practiced brings happiness to him." This does not imply that Dhamma is only for men and not for women, nor that when it is well practiced it brings happiness only to the one who practices. In the case of the doer the happiness resulting comes about through the workings of kamma and its fruits. That is to say, the action taking place through the three doors of body, speech and mind--or at least two of them, brings about happiness in mind or body, or in both. But the happiness resulting in others through the practice of Dhamma by oneself is really their reaction, or their kamma upon perceiving one's own wholesome and meritorious actions. There are some people who decline to be happy when good is done by others. Oppressed by envy, jealousy or stupidity they do not rejoice even when they themselves gain in happiness through the Dhamma-practice of others. It is therefore very true when the verse states merely: "Dhamma well-practiced brings happiness."

Dhamma then, is the way to bring happiness into any group of people. A family without Dhamma is a miserable family beset with quarrels and dissensions but when the family-members make efforts, each according to their capacity, to practice Dhamma, why then unity and harmony will be the marks of that fortunate family. Similarly, with conduct of the affairs of any group, even up to nations. When those in charge of governments rule without knowing what is Dhamma and what is not Dhamma, then troubles and strife will spring up on all sides, both within the state and in connection with its neighbors. So we see all history up to the present as consisting of a veritable bath in misery, a wallowing in the mire of countless wars and the terrible sufferings which they always bring in their train. Sufferings always come from following and upholding not-Dhamma, that which is not according to the truth, that which is not the practice-path to happiness. Dhamma on the contrary (whichever religion it is practiced in) can never make for anything but peace, and in peace people find some security and happiness. So whether we consider individuals, small groups or whole societies, it remains true to say "Dhamma well-practiced brings happiness." Further, the verse we are considering says: Not to an evil bourn goes the Dhamma-practitioner." While happiness may or may not relate to this life, this fruit of practicing the Dhamma is definitely concerned with a future life. Birth in a future state can never depend upon an exterior refuge but must always be the result of precisely what one has done. If one permits one's mind to become animal-like, for instance, just being obsessed with food and sex then it is to be expected that one will come to an animal birth. The mind produces the experience of birth according to the content of mind. Humans, who abide by the Five Precepts, maintain in themselves the conditions for human birth, as these are also called the 'conditions for humanness' (manussa-Dhamma). Those who choose to follow a religious path with faith and wisdom, making earnest efforts at their own purification, they may elevate their own minds above human level and after death come to experience what are called 'heaven', 'Paradise' or 'devaloka.' Again, as the mind, so is the experience.

Minds soiled by impurity make for the increase of suffering, for themselves and others. Such people must lie upon the very uncomfortable beds that they have prepared for themselves until the strength of the results of their kamma wear out so that they are able to leave these states of loss. What are they? First we may consider those men who are greedy and filled with desires for possessions and money. Obsessed by desires for wealth, family and things they pass at the time of dying to a state similar to that enjoyed by Tantalus. One may remember that the river flowed past his parched lips and burning throat but not a drop entered; while before him dangled a luscious fruit but he, tortured by severe pangs of hunger, could not move at all and was tortured all the more by the fragrance of the ripe fruit. This is a very good picture of a kind of existence known to Buddhists as the hungry ghosts (preta). Other people call them 'earthbound spirits' and they include generally all the ghostly manifestations seen by some and scoffed at by others. This condition of unsatisfied but very strong cravings, of wandering in a sort of semi-twilight, of seeing perhaps the things or persons craved but having no means to contact them, may persist for a great many years and while it is certainly not so painful as some of the other states of loss, clearly it is better to avoid any chance of falling into it. The way to do this is to live making real efforts to restrain one's desires on the one hand, while on the other being generous in every way that one can. The generous person who makes every effort to give, that is, he practices Dana, is obviously practicing one part of Dhamma. We can see therefore the truth of the statement "Not to an evil bourn goes the Dhamma practitioner."

Another state of loss or evil bourn with which we are more familiar, is that of the animals. They suffer from inability to understand, they know not right from wrong and are just driven along to act in accordance with the fruits of their past evil kamma made men. What sort of kamma was that? We may guess what it was even by looking at the actions of animals. We can see that the principal forces motivating their conduct is the search for food and the desire to mate. Beyond this, most animals have nothing. Basically, their concerns are food and sex and so the man who lets his mind become overpowered by desires for them is just steadily slipping down the path to the animals. It is quite wrong to suppose that men can only evolve. Evolution is only one side of a cycle. As the discourse last month explained: "Whatever has the nature to arise, all that has the nature to cease." Arising and ceasing, evolution and devolution, these necessarily accompany each other. So in the case of any person in whom the mental stains grow strong, there is shown the decline of humanness and the growth of those conditions leading to birth in states of woe and loss. Animals, all of them, are more or less afflicted. Either they are the hunters or the hunted or they are used by man for his own ends. Their minds are full of strong and uncontrollable desires and hatreds, which we commonly call 'instincts'. How can they help themselves? Even others cannot help them out of their mental prisons. They are prisons, which as humans they have made for themselves and they stand as a great warning to us who see them all the time. One may shrug off the hungry ghosts and the hells as mere imagination, or one may not take them seriously. But the animals are there all the time for us to see. Where do they fit in? What is their place in the scheme of things? As we have created ourselves human by our own willed and intentional actions, so the animals have created themselves in the forms in which we see them. As the conditions leading to animal birth are known so the practice to avoid such birth can also be indicated. The keynote here is wise restraint of physical appetites, which are everywhere recognized as the animal in man. "Wise restraint' is stressed here because complete restraint from indulgence is only for those in search of the Sublime Happiness of Nibbana. Most people should cultivate the sort of common sense, which tells them when indulgence in pleasures becomes harmful to their physical or mental health. If one looks for happiness, it will not be found upon the path leading to animal-birth, which is the practice of not-Dhamma, but only upon the way shown for growing and maturing in Dhamma.

This becomes yet more clear when we see the path of not-Dhamma, which leads to birth in hell. There are some people whose minds become littered, become filthy with anger and ill-will so that they strike or kill, injure other living beings to whom life also is dear. Then those people, their minds remembering their evil deeds, come to death when as beings with bodies of subtle materiality they find themselves beset by the terrors of hell--which they have specially created for themselves. One's own creations cannot be so easily escaped from and usually existence in one of the numerous levels of hell proceeds for immense stretches of time. The torturers of hell, the tortures of hell--where have they come from? All out of the mind, which is ridden by mental defilements. It anyone doubts that the mind can create hell, let them go to visit the local mental hospital--which should be sufficient proof. Those who have no desire to make themselves suffer, who have no desire to torture themselves, should now while living as human beings, make real efforts at the cultivation of loving-kindness which is friendliness extended to all beings, to friends and to enemies alike, to men and to animals, to beings seen and unseen, to those far away and to those which are near, and have compassion with the sufferings of others as well, what-ever state of existence they dwell in. One will then be practicing an aspect of the Dhamma and let us remind ourselves: "Not to, an evil goes the Dhamma practitioner."

Thus by practicing giving and generosity while abstaining from attachment and miserliness, one avoids the state of the hungry ghosts. By practicing restraint in fleshly appetites and by cultivating purity of mind, the animal births are avoided; and then by the practice of loving-kindness and compassion and the avoidance of anger and violence, one avoids falling into birth among the states called hell.

Now if it should be asked, where do the gods, the ghosts and the hells exist? The answer must be: here and now. Ourselves having made kamma, suitable for birth as human beings, we have come to be possessed of human sense organs which have only a certain range of perception. There are colors, which we cannot see and sounds we cannot hear. In this range of the unknown, other beings do exist and while they are possessed of form, it is more subtle than ours. So if we wish to perceive these other beings, we have to enlarge the range of our perception, which can be done as a by-product of meditational disciplines. All these worlds, of the gods, of men, of ghosts, of animals and of the hells, overlap and are nowhere but here and now as we should see, had we the power to perceive them ?

But there is a deeper meaning to this line: "Not to an evil bourn goes the Dhamma-practitioner." A person who thoroughly practices the Dhamma, having purified his mind through such preparatory practices as Giving and keeping the Precepts and having calmed and concentrated it through meditative tranquility (samatha), can penetrate to the heart of Dhamma with insight and come to know for an instant, Nibbana the Sublime Happiness. This gaining of true insight into the Dhamma is called the Stream-enterer, that is, one who has entered the Stream of Dhamma which flows along to enter the infinite ocean of Nibbana. A person like this, destined within seven lives to become an Arahant, destroys certain fetters: the view that the elements of personality are one's own, adherence to rites and vows as the essentials of religion, and skeptical doubt regarding the Dhamma, being thus established in unshakeable faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Thereby one closes the doors of rebirth to the states of loss so that never again will one be either ghost, animal or hell-wraith. This attainment of Stream-entry is said to be irreversible, that is, one has reached the stage where one cannot slip back. Of such a one it may be truly said: "Not to an evil bourn goes the Dhamma-practitioner." In this exposition of Dhamma, there has been explained how Dhamma protects those who practice it and how moreover the path of Dhamma which accords with reality brings happiness into the hearts of those devoted to it; further how Dhamma-practice ensures birth among human beings or the gods and closes the doors to the evil paths of rebirth, and hence it is said in the last line of the verse "This is the advantage of well-practiced Dhamma."

The Exalted Buddha whose Enlightenment illumined even the darkest and most obscure matters has thus proclaimed of the Dhamma discovered by him:

Dhammo have rakkhati dhammacarim
Dhammo sucinno sukhamavahati
Esanisamso dhamme sucinne
Na duggatim gacchati dhammacari.

Which in English has been translated:

Certainly the Dhamma protects the Dhamma-practitioner,
Dhamma well practiced brings happiness (to him),
Not to an evil bourn goes the Dhamma-practitioner.
This is the advantage of well-practiced Dhamma.

We can understand from this what it profits us to do and also what it is for our advantage to avoid. The choice lies just with ourselves. The way to happiness lies open for every foot to tread.

EVAM

Thus indeed it is.