Who would follow the noble path?If seeing with our eyes and hearing with our ears were in themselves enough to
establish valid cognition—if our five senses by themselves could see actual reality
—then there would be no need of the Buddha’s eye of awareness and the paths
and levels. Moreover the microscopes that can see atoms would be pointless since
we would have accepted that what we see with our eyes is the definitive truth.
Shakyamuni Buddha said 2,500 years ago that upon an atom invisible to the eye
reside thousands of beings. Scientists have validated this statement: there are, for
example, innumerable germs in a single drop of blood of a tubercular patient. So
the Buddha and the scientists are in agreement, except the Buddha did not depend
upon a machine to see it but instead perceived it with his primal awareness.
In this twenty-first century, in Western countries, the outer world is highly
developed and still developing, and it appears that people’s lives are problem free,
but at the same time, we see that many people are depressed and crying out in
their pain. Anyone who visits the West from a less-developed country is amazed
upon seeing how beautiful and well developed it is, for both Asians and
Westerners think that happiness depends upon material things and money. To
attain that happiness, people strive busily without food by day and without sleep at
night. Besides that, if we see how animals, birds, and insects search for happiness
in the material world day and night, we may assume that they, like humans,
desire happiness and loathe suffering, want love and hate aggression and pain,
and believe that happiness is derived from material things. Isn’t that amazing!
Consider the example of a millionaire who has a very beautiful well-furnished
house with a charming garden in front, a swimming pool behind, soft pillows and
bedding, good Internet connection, a television for viewing the international news
and entertainment, and a phone near his bed with which he can talk without
disturbance to his father and mother living in a far-away country. If he feels cold,
he can warm the room with a heater; if he feels hot, he can cool the room with an
air-conditioner. He has a fine electricity service, owns many hectares of land
around the house, has a vast variety of food and drink, owns a very fine
automobile waiting in front of the house, and frequently engages in entertainment
with beautiful women. Wherever he goes, he is escorted by servants.
If we listen to the news or reports from people who know these rich people,
however, outer appearances and inner nature do not seem consistent. These rich
people are very aggressive, it seems. Without relying on alcohol and drugs, how
can they be at ease? The fires of jealousy burn against their superiors. They strive
in competition with people of their own class and status. They try to undermine
their inferiors. Sometimes, due to their bad habits, they engage in illegal actions
and find themselves summoned to court and then imprisoned for years, and then
their grief has no end. They may need to promise not to commit such acts again
and beg forgiveness from the government.
Seeing all these things, the inherent fault of attaching oneself to material
happiness as if it will last forever is clearly demonstrated. Such wealthy people
should not need to do such things. But out of the root of ego grow the branches of
pride from which hang virulent poisonous fruit that ruins oneself and others. If