New Year's Message: 2024.

Another year has ended, a new year has come. It is customary to celebrate the arrival of another year with the company of your family, friends, and loved ones as the old year is now replaced with a new one. Yet, let's examine this occasion from a realistic and Dhamma perspective. Rather than a mere cause for celebration, for those who are serious in their practice and desires to the realise the Four Noble Truths, the advent of the new year should be approached with wise attention and a sense of urgency. We must realistically understand that this 'new' change not a 'new' source of happiness and joy, but a significant milestone indicating you now have one less year for Dhamma practice, one less year to realise the Four Path and Fruit Knowledge, one less year to develop the wisdom for Noble attainment, and one year closer to the inevitable moment of death. While this perspective may be uncomfortable, the Buddha's teachings confront us with these realistic and unavoidable truths.

One time when the Buddha was at Alavi, he gave a sermon, stressing on the following points: 

“My life is impermanent;

for me, death only is permanent.

I must certainly die;

my life ends in death.

Life is not permanent;

death is permanent.” 

Many people did not take the above exhortation seriously, but a young girl of sixteen who was a weaver clearly understood the message. After giving the sermon, he left for Jetavana Monastery. After three years, the Buddha, foreseeing an opportune moment for a young weaver to attain enlightenment, returned to the country of Alavi. The young weaver, eager to hear the Buddha's discourse, was torn between her duty to wind thread spools for her father and attending the sermon. Meanwhile, the Buddha knew that the young weaver would come to listen to his discourse; he also knew that the girl would die when she got to the weaving shed. So, it was very important that she should listen to the Dhamma on her way to the weaving shed and not on her return. So, when the young weaver appeared on the fringe of the audience, the Buddha looked at her. When she saw him looking at her, she dropped her basket and respectfully approached the Buddha. Then, he put four questions to her and she answered all of them. These questions and answers are:

(1) Where have you come from? - I do not know.

(2) Where are you going? - I do not know.

(3) Don't you know? - Yes, I do know.

(4) Do you know? - I do not know, Venerable Sir.

Upon hearing the young weaver's responses, the audience were confused and perceived her as disrespectful. In response, the Buddha asked her to elaborate, and she explained her perspective.

“Venerable Sir! Since you know that I have come from my house, I interpreted that, by your first question, you meant to ask me from what past existence I have come here. Hence my answer, 'I do not know.' 

The second question means, to what future existence I would be going from here; hence my answer, 'I do not know.' 

The third question means whether I do not know that I would die one day; hence my answer, 'yes, I do know.' 

The last question means whether I know when I would die; hence my answer, 'I do not know.”

The Buddha, satisfied with her clarification, addressed the audience, stating, "Many may struggle to grasp the meaning of the weaver's answers. Those in ignorance are like the blind, dwelling in darkness." The Buddha then spoke in verse, recorded in the Dhammapada 174, as follows:

“Blind are the people of this world: only a few in this world see clearly (with wisdom and insight). 

Just as only a few birds escape from the net, so also, 

only a few get to the world of the devas [and Nibbāna].”

At the end of the discourse, the young weaver achieved Sotāpatti Fruition. Subsequently, she proceeded to her weaving shed. Upon arrival, she found her father asleep on the weaver's seat. Startled awake, he accidentally pulled the shuttle, and its point struck the girl in her chest. She succumbed to the injury on the spot, leaving her father devastated. Overwhelmed with grief, he approached the Buddha, tearfully seeking admission into the order of bhikkhus. Consequently, he became a bhikkhu and, before long, attained arahatship. From the discourse, it's crucial to grasp that death is inevitable, the next destination uncertain, only a select few attain profound realisation of the Truths, and security from falling into the woeful realms is elusive until one attains at least the First Path and Fruit Knowledge.

So, one year had passed by for you, dear reader, to realise the Nibbāna. Some of you may have used this time you had in this past year fruitfully to practice samatha and gain jhāna, some may have spent the time contemplating on the aggregates, some may have spent time sharpening the wisdom for higher Path and Fruit Knowledge. On the other hand, some of you may have spent the past year trying to chase worldly gains, status, possession and being entangled with greed (lobha), aversion (dosa) and ignorance (moha). On the flip side, maybe some spent the year chasing after worldly stuff, caught up in greed, aversion, and ignorance. Nonetheless, however you rolled through the past year, if you took steps to realise the Noble Truths—whether it was focusing on your breath—you're ‘slowly’ on the right path. Nonetheless, just setting aside 1 or 2 hours of the day meditating, and complaining (!) that you have not seen any progress is not the right approach to Dhamma. To see progress, you need resolute commitment with your practice (2 hours a day won’t grant you concentration!), and renunciation (how can you gain Path and Fruit attainments without giving time and renouncing the worldly status and possessions to a certain degree?). If your knowledge is still limited, engage in modest and consistent practice and practice to the degree that you know; if you possess greater understanding, intensify your practice. However, claiming knowledge without corresponding practice is the most misguided excuse. If you fall into this category, you are not adhering to the teachings of the Buddha.

Let’s have a look at one of the Buddha’s past lives as a Bodhisatta hermit. At that time, there was a queen called Upari, who was the chief queen of King Assaka and ruled over the country of Kasi at its capital Patali. Much adored by the monarch and while still in the prime of her beauty and charm, Queen Upari passed away. Many thought that due to her royal status and beauty, she was reborn in the deva realm. With the passing away of his adored queen, King Assaka was consumed by fiercely burning fires of sorrow and lamentation. He caused the corpse of the queen embalmed in oil, to be placed in a glass coffin and kept underneath his bedstead. Overwhelmed by grief, the king lay on the bed without food or sleep, wailing, moaning over the loss of his beloved queen. The queen would therefore appear to the king as if she was lying, sleeping in the coffin. The sight of the corpse acted like fuel to his burning sorrows and lamentations which continued to consume him for seven days.

At that time, the Bodhisatta was a hermit, endowed with abhiññã (supernormal jhānic powers) living in the forest. He happened to scan the whole world using his abhiññã and saw King Assaka in the throes of intense sorrow. He knew also that no one but himself could save the king from his misery. He then made his way to the royal garden of King Assaka by means of his jhãnic powers.There a young Brahmin came to meet the hermit who asked him about King Assaka. The young man told him how the king was being overwhelmed by grief and requested him to save the king. "We do not know the king, but if he came and asked us, we could tell him about his wife's presence existence", replied the hermit. Thereupon, the young man went to the king and said, "Great Sir, a hermit endowed with divine eye and divine ear (psychic powers) has arrived in the royal garden. He claims he could show the present existence of the departed queen. It would be worthwhile to go and see him."

Upon hearing this, the king immediately took off for the royal garden in a carriage. On arrival, the king paid respectful homage to the hermit and addressed him, "Reverend Sir, is it true that you claim to know the present existence of the queen Upari?" When the hermit admitted his claim, the king wanted to know where she was reborn.

"Oh, great King, Queen Upari took delight in her beauteous appearance and was very vain about it. She had spent her time engaged only in beautifying herself to make herself more alluringly attractive, forgetting all the while to perform meritorious deeds, to give alms and observe moral precepts. As a result, she has passed over to a lowly existence. She is presently reborn as a female cow dung beetle in this very garden," the hermit told the whole story very frankly.

Persons favoured by fortune enjoying privileges of wealth, family, education, rank, physical beauty, etc., are prone to exhibit haughtiness in their dealings with others. Shrouded in their own vanity and self-esteem, they become neglectful in their performance of meritorious deeds. Queen Upari of this account was extremely beautiful and, being the chief queen of the ruling monarch, was of very high status in life. She had her head turned by these pre-eminent qualities and looked down with contempt on those she should have shown her respects. For such unwholesome attitudes and actions, it may be presumed she was reborn a lowly, female cow dung beetle. On hearing this account of the rebirth of his beloved queen, King Assaka promptly rejected it, saying "I don't believe it."

The hermit replied, "I can show you the female beetle and make her talk, too." The king replied, "All right. Please do and make her talk, too." The hermit, using his supernormal powers of abhiññã made a determination (adiṭṭhāna) for both the male and female beetles to make their appearance before the king.

When the male and female beetles emerged from the heap of cow dung into the presence of the king, the hermit said, "King, the female beetle which is following from behind was your chief queen Upari. Having abandoned you, she is now trailing the male cow dung beetle wherever it goes. Oh King, have a good look at the female beetle who was lately your chief queen Upari."

The king refused to believe the hermit. "I can't believe that such an intelligent being as my queen Upari was reborn as this female beetle," said the king.

True, for those who do not quite believe in the laws of kamma and its resultant effect, who do not understand the principles of conditionality or causal relationship as explained in Paṭiccasamuppāda, it would be difficult to accept that a being of the human world should have gone down so low as to become a mere beetle. Even in these days of sasanā when the Buddha's teachings are widely prevalent, there are some people holding the view that 'when man dies, he cannot descend into an existence inferior to that of a human being'. So it is not surprising that during the dark ages when the Buddha's dispensation was yet unheard of, such stories of reincarnation were received with scepticism.

Nevertheless, according to the teachings of the Buddha, for so long as one has not yet attained the status of an ariyā, one can descend from the human world or the celestial realm into the four lower states of existence. Conditioned by bad kamma and the mental reflex just before death, rebirth may take place in the lower order of beings. On the other hand, conditioned by good kamma and wholesome mental attitude on the threshold of death, one can be reborn into the higher realm of human and celestial beings.

There is the story of a Bhikkhu named Reverend Tissa [he was not a noble one at the time] who developed attachment to his saffron robes when he was about to die. As a consequence, he was reborn a body louse making his home on those very robes. This is also an example which serve as evidence of transformations at the time of rebirths and highlights the importance of kamma at the near-death moment.

However, King Assaka, not having heard of such discourses, could not accept that his queen had become a female beetle. Accordingly, he refused to believe it. The hermit, therefore, proposed that he would make the female beetle talk. The king accepted the proposal. Thereupon, the hermit made the determination using his powers to have the conversation between him and the female beetle, comprehensible to the king and his audience.

"Who were you in your past life?" the hermit asked.

"I was the chief queen Upari of King Assaka," replied the female beetle.

"What now, female beetle, do you still love King Assaka or do you love only this cow dung beetle?"

To which the female beetle gave the reply: "True, King Assaka was my husband in my past life. At that time, I used to roam about in this garden in the company of King Assaka, enjoying the five sense-pleasures of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. But, now that I am in the new existence, I have nothing to do with King Assaka. In my present existence, I could relish killing King Assaka and with the blood from his throat, wash the feet of the cow dung beetle who is my present beloved husband." 

King Assaka was greatly distressed to hear the harsh, unfeeling words of estrangement from the lips of the female beetle. He thought to himself: 'I had loved and adored her so much. I could not betake myself to throw away her dead body. Yet she had become so antipathetic and nasty to me.'

He felt so disgusted with his old queen Upari that he ordered, even while sitting there, "Go and have that woman's body removed." Then, having bathed and washed himself, the king went back to the palace. He made another court lady his chief queen and carried on ruling over his country wisely. The hermit, Bodhisatta, after giving good advice to the king, went back to the sanctuary.

The moral from this story is that queen Upari, while in the human world, had taken delight in being a human person, and a queen at that. She would never have even dreamt of being reborn a female beetle. But in accordance with her past kamma, when she was reborn a female beetle, she at once took to the life and delight in the physical body of a beetle. She esteemed and adored the physical body of the male beetle hundred times, thousand times more than that of King Assaka. That is why the Buddha said, "Tatra tatrā-bhinandini" - craving (taṇhā) has the tendency to delight wherever it finds rebirth.

Reborn as a dog, one takes delight in a dog's existence; reborn as a pig or a fowl, there is always delight in each existence. Even those born as children of affluent parents in the upper social class may find themselves descending into poverty-stricken existences and yet still enjoy their lives therein. Some even resist the efforts of their parents to bring them back into the family fold since they find their new life quite enjoyable. It is taṇhā (craving) again that gives them pleasure wherever they are, delighting in whatever sense object presents itself.

Everything you're currently doing—craving for wealth, striving in your career, forming attachments to loved ones, and fulfilling familial duties—may seem like unique experiences and obligations in this specific lifetime, but they're not. These are not new; you've gone through these cycles in past lives. You've been a ruler, a servant, animal, divine being and even a ghost. So, the experiences and attachments you have in this very life, which you believe to be distinct, are far from novel. Within these diverse lives, you've relentlessly pursued worldly gains, engaging in the same actions you are doing right now, and failed to recognise the Dhamma or lacked the opportunity to do so. And so the craving (taṇhā) that has the tendency to delight wherever it finds rebirth remains within you. Due to such craving and the failure to see the Dhamma and eliminate craving for existence, you find yourself here, in this very moment, still enduring repeated suffering.

Regardless of how positive, great or challenging your past lives might have been, in the end, you have to let go of everything—you die. People are frantically searching for the meaning of life as they live, even though there isn't any. Why? Because our existences and surroundings—all loka (all three worlds)—are composed of the five aggregates (mentality and materiality) that are impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha), and lacking inherent essence or soul (anatta). There isn't a shred of reality (form or mind) that is permanent, pleasurable, and full of essence. The Buddha and the Dhamma show that such a reality does not exist anywhere in any corner or part of the universe(s). Even your body doesn't comply with your commands to stay eternally youthful and free of suffering. So, attempting to find the 'essence of life' or 'satisfaction in life' through worldly possessions and attachments in forms that are inherently impermanent and repulsive, composed of the five aggregates, is a futile endeavour. Consider whether you've spent the past years and years doing just that. If so, there's a 99% possibility of being reborn in the lower realms in the next life.

If you had the ability to project your thoughts and your mind throughout the day for the world to see, would you dare? Definitely not, as your mind is often clouded by defilements, roughly 99% of the time. Only during meditation, acts of generosity, or practicing moral conduct do you cultivate wholesome thoughts. A mind dominated by defilements 99% of the time provides a foundation for unwholesome kamma to ripen at the moment near death, with a 99% chance. You only have a 1% chance of being reborn in the good realms, as the Buddha explained earlier. So how can you save yourself from this?

The Buddha can't grant you access to the realms of devas or Brahmas, and I, for sure, can't be there to assist you. Only you can save yourself by following the Noble Eightfold Path—from practicing morality and developing concentration to wisdom for realising at least the First Path and Fruit Knowledge, i.e., becoming a Sotāpanna. Once you attain such a status, you free yourself from the four woeful realms, and at most, you will be reborn for maximum seven more lives or even less. Imaging how freeing that is! 

Reflect deeply, how free and secure it must be to live, knowing that you can depart with full certainty that you are safe from falling to the woeful realms. Ultimately, the wish of every person and being in existence—regardless of their religion, realm, or atheistic beliefs—is to peacefully and securely depart this life, free from remorse and fear. However, such kind of freedom and security cannot be obtained until you follow the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path with resolute commitment and correctly until the attainment of at least the First Path and Fruition, Sotāpanna, because just as the Buddha said in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna, “there is only one way for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of grief and lamentation, for the extinction of pain and sorrow, for attaining the right way, for the direct realisation of Nibbāna.” 

Allow me to pose a question and urge each of you to reflect earnestly and wisely: Isn't it time to say 'enough'? Enough of enduring suffering repeatedly, enough of chasing new cravings, and enough of intentionally forming attachments. From this moment onward, utilise your time wisely to engage in something truly beneficial—realising the Four Noble Truths—before the inevitable moment of death arrives. This is the sole 'essence' you can extract from a life inherently packaged in dukkha because…

“Birth is suffering

 Ageing is suffering

 Sickness is suffering

 Death is suffering

 Association with the unpleasant is suffering

 Dissociation from the pleasant is suffering

 Not to receive what one desires is suffering

 In short, the five aggregates of clinging is suffering.”

As long as you continue to indulge in enjoyment without recognising the faults of the five aggregates, you will persistently be ensnared in suffering with no escape.

The Dhamma has the following qualities -

1. Svākkhāto: The Dhamma is not a speculative philosophy but is the Universal Law found through enlightenment and is preached precisely. Therefore, it is excellent in the beginning (Sīla — Morality), excellent in the middle (Samādhi — Concentration), and excellent in the end (Paññā — Wisdom).

2. Sandiṭṭhiko: The Dhamma is testable by practice and known by direct experience.

3. Akaliko: The Dhamma is able to bestow timeless and immediate results here and now, for which there is no need to wait until the future or the next existence.

4. Ehipassiko: The Dhamma welcomes all beings to put it to the test and to experience it for themselves.

5. Opaneyiko: The Dhamma is capable of being entered upon, and therefore, it is worthy to be followed as a part of one's life.

6. Paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhi: The Dhamma may be perfectly realised only by the noble disciples who have matured and enlightened enough in supreme wisdom.

Among them all, the key quality I wish to emphasise is the quality of 'Sandiṭṭhika': the Dhamma is testable by practice and known through direct experience for the wise. While wisdom allows one to realise the Dhamma, this wisdom doesn't spontaneously emerge from nowhere. If you aspire to be wise, you must take deliberate steps to achieve such wisdom. If you are already doing so, you are on the path to becoming wise, that is ultimately leading to perfect realisation and becoming a noble disciple who has matured and is enlightened in supreme wisdom.

For 2024, I wish that all of you can develop the courage and wisdom to practice with absolute commitment.

And in daily life, whatever you do, always refrain from actions that go against the teachings of the Buddha.

“Not to do evil, 

to cultivate merit, 

to purify one's mind - this is the Teaching of all the Buddhas.”

May you be free from dukkha.

With love, kindness and utmost compassion,

Win