Acho Rinpoche shared with the group a teaching given by Zhongsar
Rinpoche. Zhongsar Rinpoche said mankind is just like monkeys. A group of
monkeys saw a moon reflection on a lake and wished to pick up the moon from the
surface of the lake. They formed a chain dangling from a tree nearby in order
to reach the moon in vain. Finally, they all fell into the lake and were drowned.
Human
life is the same as the moon reflection on the lake which does not truly
exist. All our efforts and target settings will eventually be wasted in vain. From
childhood, we were told by our parents, teachers and the entire society that
this world is real and all things precious. So, we work very hard to achieve
the numerous “accomplishments” in life in the form of education, family,
career, wealth, status etc. People end up quarreling with one another over
trivial matters such as a parking lot, different personal opinions etc. Actually, we
will have to let go of all things in life when we draw our last breath.
Venerable
Haitao’s mother fell ill recently and he saw how bad his mother suffered from
her illness. So, he realized that the greatest happiness in life is being
healthy, without sickness. Most of the people, when they are still healthy,
will find pleasures and happiness in all kinds of activity such as singing,
gambling, having fun etc. Actually, those are not true happiness. The true
happiness already exists when one is healthy. Acho Rinpoche told us that he had
a serious giddiness problem yesterday and nearly fell down because of that.
Later he realized that it was actually caused by his seriously bloating stomach. So,
sickness can happen to anyone regardless of age and at any time, arriving unannounced.
This is impermanence. However, he suggested that we should turn an adversity
into opportunity instead, by practicing even harder when we are hit by
sickness. He hoped that we would continue to contemplate on these points and gradually relinquish
our strong grasping of all things in life, after realizing their falsity. When
a person has finally attained the state of enlightenment, he will not be fooled
by the outer appearance of the worldly phenomena and would break free of the
conceptual and dualistic thinking such as pretty-ugly, good-bad, pure-filthy
etc. And, he would certainly not be engaged in any disagreement with anyone.
Reported by Sun-Moon KFS on 23-6-2016
