Question:
Dear Luang Phaw, since there are a lot of collisions that break
our society. What can we do to give unity to our nation?
Answer
by Venerable Dhattajeevo Bhikku
Talking about the national unity, it has been longed for for
a long time, but nobody really call for it because nobody tries to know why the
unity is being lacking of.
The brief reasons are...
1. The gain people get. Since most people in the world think
only about taking not giving and that is not really different than birds. In
each morning after waking up, the birds will make loud noise to ask each other
to leave their dwelling place for food which means they ask each other for
taking not giving. Same to humans, if they are careless, they will have the
same behavior as animals.
2. Most people are not disciplined; namely, they are
self-centered and don’t care about discipline; and this habit causes collisions
to societies.
3. The big thing that breaks the relation of people is they
are lacking of respect to each other and like to see only the mistakes others
make. After waking up in the mornings, we only hear and see that people find
the faults of others. When we turn a radio on no matter what time it is,
criticism is heard which is the sound of inauspiciousness because the sound we
hear and the picture we see do not support us to see the good things of others
since they show only the faults of others; that causes the lack of respect and
consideration to people and then they will not care about others. By this
reason, collisions will occur.
Actually, this problem and its solution were in our
ancestor’s teachings, but we usually think that their teachings are out of
date. Let’s bring these teachings back and follow them.
First, the first thing people usually think about right
after they wake up is their gains just like what birds think. To avoid it, our
ancestors gave us a teaching to give before the thought of taking will come to
us. How? This is what they teach…
We must have breakfast only after performing donation. Before
having breakfast, we must perform alms offering to monks.
Also, we have to think about our parents, grandparents and
senior members of our family. At our childhood, they let us eat before them,
now they are old and it’s our turn to let them eat before us. This is how to
follow their teaching to have breakfast only after performing donation. Without
performing donation to monks or senior members of the family, don’t eat.
Following this teaching will keep us away from being selfish. This is the first
step of giving unity to our nation.
Second, seriously observe our precepts purely the whole day.
After precepts serious observance, we will later figure out that the most
difficult precept is the 4th one since this one is to give only
right and precise speech. Therefore, whoever who is willing to keep his
precepts pure and can really make it will automatically be serious in other
discipline. It’s amazing but it’s true.
That’s why our ancestors teach us not to leave our houses
without intention to observe precepts. Before leaving our houses, we need to
promise the Buddha images and the monk images in our houses that we will today
seriously keep our precepts purely. This will automatically give discipline to
us and it will slightly take our self-center habit away. This is the second
step of giving unity to our nation.
Third, because people like to find others’ fault since
waking up till falling asleep, our ancestors teach us to chant and meditate
before going to bed. This will neutralize our minds and we will not desire to
find others’ fault. Instead, we will look for their good things. We will think
about the favor of our parents, our teachers, monks and Buddhism. Before going
to bed, we need to think about the good things of people from the whole world
or the people related to us in every relation. Thinking about their good
things, we will be encouraged to perform good deeds and improve ourselves.
Therefore, the conclusion is no breakfast before giving donation,
no leaving the house before intending to observe precepts, no going to bed before
chanting and thinking about the good things of others. If we can follow these 3
steps, the unity will come to
Thailand.