The Growing Light of Dhamma
My dear Dhamma sons and Dhamma daughters:
We have undertaken very serious work. It is a very serious responsibility to serve others in Dhamma. If there is any impurity in our intentions, if there is even a trace of desire that, "I must get something in return for all this service that I am giving," then our whole purpose will be lost. People who expect some material gain for the teaching of Dhamma can never teach Dhamma; they are totally unfit. But there will be quite a few who understand that they are not serving people in Dhamma for any material gain, and yet there will be some expectation of getting respect from others, "Well look, I am doing such a good service. I am giving such an invaluable jewel, so I have every right to be respected." If even a trace of expecting appreciation from others remains, one should understand that one is not fit to serve others. One has not understood that one has to serve oneself first and only then can one serve others.
The Enlightened One exhorted all those whom he sent out: Caratha bhikkhave cārikam—Go forth! Go forth for what? Bahujana-hitāya—for the good of many; bahujana-sukhāya—for the happiness of many; lokānu-kampāya—out of compassion for people.
There is suffering all around us. More and more people should come out of their suffering. The aim of giving Dhamma to others is to help them come out of their misery, not for personal gain. Your gain is automatically involved. To reach the final stage of full enlightenment you have to develop your pāramīs, and everything that you do for the good of others helps to develop your pāramīs.
If one thinks even for a moment, "Let more and more people start calling themselves Buddhists, let there be a strong Buddhist sect, let people who are in the courtyard of other sects come into my courtyard so I have a larger number of followers," then one has not understood Buddha, one has not understood Dhamma.
There was an incident in the life of the Buddha: He went to a place where there were a large number of recluses and he gave a discourse to them. Being from a particular sect, they were hesitant, thinking, "This fellow may convert us away from our sect."
He explained, "I did not come here to gather students for myself. I am not interested in making you my students. Don’t become frightened of that. I am not here to break your relationship with your teachers; may that continue. You have received something from your teachers, and you have respect for them as you should have. You give donations to these teachers; keep on giving to them. I am not here to stop you from achieving your goal of coming out of suffering and reaching full liberation. Whatever I will teach you will help you to reach that goal. O, recluses! Give me seven days of your life, just try this."
This should be our attitude: "Just try this. We are not interested in converting you from this or that religion. Give just ten days of your life and after that if you find it good, accept it. Otherwise, leave it." Then we are not expecting anything in return. We are just on the giving end. Sayagyi used to say, "I am on the giving end, never on the receiving end. If people want to take, they take. If they don’t want to take, they don’t take. With all my compassion, I just give."
This should be the attitude of everyone who takes the responsibility of giving Dhamma. We are simply giving, without any kind of expectation and with only one motive—compassion, the wish that more and more people may benefit.
And if people do not benefit, what can we do? We give but sometimes they don’t work and they don’t get it. Again compassion, again give; that’s all. Don’t become disappointed when people do not work properly and do not get what they should. If we cry about it, then we have attachment that more people should benefit from Dhamma. Of course they should benefit and so we do our best. We keep on giving without expecting anything, and certainly this will have its own good result.
Initial difficulties are bound to occur because people have their own mental conditioning, so they will see things through coloured lenses. I faced a lot of suspicion about Vipassana when I started here in India. Some thought, "Look, this person’s motive certainly is to convert people." If one has a sectarian mind one will always see everything as sectarian. There are people in this country who come and establish hospitals, schools and different social institutes, and then after a few years of service they start to convert the people who come there to their religion.
Naturally, because such things have happened, people started feeling, "Look! This fellow has come from Burma and he serves people in the same way. Yes, people get peace and happiness, they come out of drugs or alcohol or other problems. This is wonderful. But his ultimate aim is to convert everybody to Buddhism."
Well, one smiles. If this were really one’s intention, one would become agitated, thinking, "Look, my clever scheme has been discovered. Now how will I be successful?" But if the mind is pure one feels, "Let people talk. If not today, they will understand tomorrow." The pure Dhamma spreads only in this way.
Similarly in Western countries, naturally there is hesitation. Some think, "Look, a foreign religion is coming to our country. These people will make slaves of our countrymen." The doubt is quite natural because such things do happen. But our intentions are purely to serve, to give people something which will make them happy without converting them to any religion, dogma or belief. And if this aim is not polluted, success will eventually come.
A time is bound to come for the wider spread of Dhamma despite these initial difficulties, provided the technique is kept pure and provided the intention of those who are giving this technique to others is also kept pure. This is very important. We are merely vehicles, and if the vehicle is good more people will benefit. On the other hand if somebody is playing an ego game in the name of spreading Dhamma, naturally Dhamma will drive this person away.
It is bound to spread, the time has ripened now. There is so much misery in India with its many sects. In the name of dharma sects are fighting with each other, killing each other—what a tragedy! And the same thing is happening not only in this country, but everywhere around the world, "My religion, my religion," without understanding what Dhamma is. This is the need of the day. Everywhere misery is increasing because people don’t understand what Dhamma is. If they learn what it is this will be a much better world. And slowly this is bound to happen. In spite of all the darkness existing now, this light, this small light of Dhamma has come, and it is bound to grow.
Exactly as it is essential to have schools, colleges, hospitals, gymnasiums, etc., throughout society, similarly a time is bound to come when there will be a Vipassana centre in every village in the world. People will start understanding that this is necessary. As we learn physical exercise by going to a gymnasium, we will learn this mental exercise at a meditation centre. It has nothing to do with any cult. This is an exercise to keep the mind healthy, wholesome and pure so that we live a good life and can help others to live a good life. This is the purpose of Dhamma.
If this purpose remains clear and the technique remains very pure, Dhamma is bound to spread. The darkness all around is bound to be dispelled. The misery all around is bound to be eradicated. Real peace will come, real harmony, real happiness. May all enjoy real peace, real harmony, real happiness.
Bhavatu sabba maṅgalaṃ
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