Excellent story, excellent lesson to be learnt. Be kind even to those who are unkind to you, for they will receive the fruits of their actions in the end.
Here is another lesson I would like to learn from the picture and the characters (and their characteristics) in the pictures.
- Buffalo traditionally signifies ignorance and laziness – as ignorant as an Ox (or lazy like a buffalo)
- Monkey signifies mischief, irresponsibility, playfulness, carefree life
We all have laziness and ignorance in us, and our mind keeps wandering in every possible direction (usually, not in the right direction). It took a buffalo to be reborn as a Sidhartha, with enormous will power and penance, to find the truth about this world and become Bodhi Satva (or Buddha). More often than not, the buffalo in us makes us complacent and does not let us move forward. When we do try to get on the move, the wicked monkey in us gets on our shoulders and head (mind), shuts our eyes to the truth and leads us in the wrong direction. It may take a savage beast in us to slaughter the monkey – but then, from a lazy buffalo, we have just turned into a savage beast – a few steps backwards than a step forward.
For the buffalo in our above story, it took patience and calm to move forward to Sidharth, and for Sidhartha, it took will power and penance to become Bodhi Satva (or Buddha). For our miniature existences, it takes patience to acquire the light of knowledge and wisdom to beat the monkey and get the lazy/complacent buffalo in us moving in the right direction. Quite often, we use very creative excuses to remain complacent – I don’t have time, I am very busy with work, my husband/wife/kids need me, and when everything else fails, we conclude saying – I am not at that level of spiritual maturity yet; it will take a lot of time.
This is a vicious circle of worldly life, if you ask me! “I am not spiritually mature” à “I am not that wise” à “I don’t have a lot of knowledge” à “I have a family to take care of, so I don’t have time for anything else” à “I am not spiritually mature enough to give up the world yet”. We go around in circles like this. But fortunately, we don’t have to. It is our “ajñāna andhakāraṁ” (or the darkness of ignorance) that is causing us to go around in circles like this. With knowledge and implementation of knowledge, one gains wisdom. With wisdom, one realizes that we don’t have to “give up the world” to serve and reach the lord.
In my previous article, I wrote about practicing detachment towards Karma (actions) and how Gita articulated it. In another verse (“bramhanya adhāya karmāṇi”), the Gita says “The one who performs his duties and actions without any attachments towards the actions or the results, surrendering both unto the God, he would not be touched by the sins of this world – “padma patramivāmbhasa” – like a lotus leaf in water (yet dry and untouched by water). More about this verse at a later time.
In conclusion, I offer the following for your consideration. So long as we have that lazy buffalo in us, and the wicked monkey inside our heads, we remain where we are, without any advancement – either in this mortal world or in the spiritual world. With the stick called Knowledge of the Supreme Self, we chase the wicked monkey out of our heads and shoulders, and make the buffalo get up, shake off the dirt and run toward those green pastures. That will be our run towards spiritual wisdom, salvation, eternal peace and happiness.
Please do share your thoughts and inputs. I greatly appreciate, value and look for your perspectives.
Website:http://gollakotainc.com/Spiritual.aspx
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Excellent Article, good thoughts and great conculsion. Thank you for the article, looking forward for more.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job SDTCC & Som.
So, it took a bad buffalo to stop the bad monkey...
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that there is a need for the so called "necessary evil"??
I mean ,had it not been for the intolerant and malevolent behaviour of the new buffalo, the monkey would have never stopped hurting the good one.
The question that I'm really trying ask here is...
Is violence always wrong?
And Is it OK to retaliate when some1 pushes it too far?
If so... Elaborate...
(please put some inputs on what budha has to say about this...thank you)
@Adarsh - Your question is a bit loosely framed. The phrase "pushes it too far" begs the question "How far is too far?". And that entirely depends on the maximum tolerance to violence of the retaliating individual. So, let's see if we can tighten the question.
ReplyDeleteIs it OK to retaliate with violence in certain circumstances? If so, when and to what extent?
Every religion and religious work states – self-preservation is of paramount importance. Therefore, while preserving oneself (act of self-defense), it is OK to retaliate with violence. To what extent? To the extent required to avert or naturalize the threat to self. For example, when someone attacks you with a stick, it is OK to defend yourself with another (maybe a bigger) stick and chase him/her away. It is NOT OK, however, to pull out a knife or a gun and stab or shoot them, because that would be excessive force.
Every religion and religious work states – it is OK to use violence against the evil, while protecting the good. It is also generally accepted that use of violence is OK for the greater good. However, this justification (“for the greater good”) is a slippery slope, and has been used too often to justify acts of vengeance, and wars that killed thousands, if not millions.
Buddhism (and Buddha) preaches peace and non-violence. However, Buddhist Monks developed (and mastered) several forms of martial arts for self-defense. Buddhabhadra and Bodhidharma preached Budhism in Shaolin Temple. Shaolin Monks (and Bodhidharma himself) were experts in martial arts. Dalai Lama spoke of measurable violent retaliation to violence. He said (and I am paraphrasing here), “if someone’s trying to shoot you, being non-violent is foolishness; You don’t have to kill him, but you could shoot him in the leg or arm or something to disable him from killing you”.
Bottom line is this. One should practice peace and non-violence at all times. If one has to use violence, it is to be for self-preservation/self-defense or defense of others, and defense of good against evil; and such violence must be to the extent required to achieve the goal (of preservation/defense) and no more.
There is no such thing as “necessary evil”, except of course, the Government (to quote Thomas Paine).