Lao Voices

Looking back 10 years ago, I knew very little about Buddhism, a bit embarrassed when people asked me what Buddhism is. I can’t fully answer mainly because I associated Buddhism with Wat (Buddhist Temple), monks chanting in Pali or Sanskrit language which I didn’t understand, often times, very little or no sermon accompanied this because the monks had to get back to Wat for the evening Wat ceremony, it was not the same atmosphere as Wat in Laos.

My knowledge about Buddhism is very limited, I think Buddhism means different things to different people, to some Buddhism is a religion and to others Buddhism is a way of life. I often think of Buddhism as a way of life, and that was what I told people in the past, then I often get this confusing look, and accompanying by many more questions, at this point, I often wondered if the person that was asking me was showing genuine interest of wanting to know, or was just the look of criticism that I’m seeing, as if saying to me, ‘How ignorance can you be?’ Ultimately, I think the main question is what was the main teaching of Buddhism?

The Lord Buddha told us he had only one main teaching and all of it concerns the cause of unhappiness and how to think and act in ways that will bring us freedom from unhappiness.

We can’t deny that all living things want to be free from pain and other forms of unhappiness. Even little worms on the sidewalk feel pain and unhappy if we step on them. There are many forms of life, some low, others high, but even the least developed living things seek happiness in their own ways. If I go to my fishpond, I’d see that my fishes like to be closed to the top of the water, near the sunlight. If something frightens them away from the surface, then they would go to the bottom where it’s dark and cold, often times they’re very still, then they are unhappy and return to the surface where there is sunlight. Now this is not to say that all fishes are like this as for some fishes like deep, dark, cold waters and I would imagine that they would be frightened and unhappy if they were in the upper waters with lots of sunlight, this clearly shown that each of the many, many forms of life is seeking happiness in its own way.

I came upon a story in a book called Buddhist Sunday School Lessons by The Venerable Sumangalo; the story didn’t have a title but I think it’s a good reading related to this topic.

Once there was a family so poor that they made their living by rag picking. The father was lazy and unhappy. He complained all day long about his hard life. His wife was a cheerful woman who tried very hard to make a living for her family, and never complained of the hard life she had to live. She was a woman of kind disposition and a good wife and mother. She was sorry for her husband and wished that she knew of some way to make him happy.

One day this woman went out to collect rags and old clothing, and found an old coat someone had thrown away. In one of the pockets of the coat was a bag of wonderful jewels. She tried hard to find the owner and return the jewels to him, but she never found him. So, finally, she sold the jewels for a large sum of money, and bought a beautiful house for her family. They were able to live very comfortably, but the father of the family was still unhappy.

At sunrise one day, Sakradevaraja, King of the Gods, looked down from his heaven and saw this good woman going cheerfully about her duties. He decided to reward her for her virtues, so he suddenly stood before her and told her she might have any wish she cared to ask for. At once, this good woman asked Sakradevaraja to make her husband happy. A sad look came over the face of the King of the Gods, and he answered, “That is one thing even the gods cannot do for another, each must make his own happiness for himself. I can give you houses, lands, cattle and many other things, but even Lord Buddha cannot make anyone happy. Even he can only show us the way by which we can make ourselves happy.”

The message is loud and clear, “Each must make his own happiness for himself.”