in the world. The whole world dreads old age, sickness, and death,
but I don’t fear them nearly so much as I fear evil and its attend-
ant consequences.
“People with kilesas tend to eschew spiritual principles,
preferring instead the things that religious tenets proscribe. So
ordaining as a Buddhist monk to practice the Teaching and the
Discipline requires us to undergo an agonizing character transfor-
mation. Even though I knew how difficult it would be to oppose
the kilesas, I nonetheless felt compelled to join the monkhood and
endure the severe hardship. The extreme discomfort caused by
constantly opposing the kilesas – that’s what makes the practice
so difficult. But if we desire to transcend kamma and the defiling
kilesas that create it, we must endure such torment – for kilesas
always steadfastly resist the teachings of the Lord Buddha.
“I’ve come here to practice, living in this cave like a worth-
less social outcast, solely because I fear evil and its consequences.
I did not come here to harm or trouble anyone. Nor do I feel con-
tempt for any living being. I respect them all as friends whose
lives are also subject to the law of kamma, and who are thus all
of equal intrinsic value. I dedicate the merit of my actions equally
to all beings with the hope that they may live in contentment
wherever they may be. I have never taken the arrogant attitude
that I’m a human being ordained as a Buddhist monk and there-
fore superior to my companions in birth, ageing, sickness, and
death.
“You too exist within the sphere of kamma, so you ought
to humbly reflect on how your own faults affect you. Criticizing
others without proper consideration will never bring you good
results – it merely piles up the ill effects of bad kamma, which then
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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