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INTERMEDIATE PAPER 1 : WHAT WE SEEK IN LIFE |
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MODULE 11: Contentment Bliss |
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Definition
Contentment
- Satisfied with what one has Bliss
- Perfect Happiness Contentment
Bliss = Happiness
that comes from reflection “Contentment
is one of the greatest gain in life – even greater then wealth” ~
The Buddha ~ “Contentment
is the greatest possession in life” If one have everything
but not able to be contented in life, one would not be able to find the
real happiness. Contentment is in one of
the 38 Blessings in life. ~ Mangala Sutta ~ What
is actually Contentment? “Contentment
is the quality of being able to do with what little we have.” ~
The Buddha ~ A contented person is
one who do not have excessiveness, who is self-restrain, who practices
simplicity, who is easily satisfy and happy. Being able to do with
whatever he has while seeking for better wealth. He would also know how to
enjoy what we presently have. Contentment doesn’t
mean being passive or negative. How much money is
enough? Do we know how much we
want? If we keep on looking
for something ahead without appreciating what we have, we will not be
happy. Look ahead while
watching at the present. Contentment is the secret happiness that belongs to the wise who knows how to make much more happiness with what he has. He has the ability to look beyond from what we have. “ Be
contented in the material aspect but not in one spiritual progress.” ~
The Buddha ~ Why
is Contentment Important? We know we could not
have everything in this life. There
is no end in one effort in seeking wealth.
Contentment measure not how much we have in life but rather how we
perceive life. To illustrate
contentment we have to do a lot of contemplation.
To get a more clearer picture of what contentment is all about we
shall study the followings fables and true lessons: Lesson
1: The wish
of the foolish and the wise man. Once
there were two good friends. After
performing some good deeds a certain deva came down and granted them each
a magic wish. Given a magic
wish to each of them, the foolish friend wished, “I wish everything so
that I may enjoy life” while the wiser friend wished, “I wish for life
so that I may enjoy everything.” One must know what one
want in life and how you go about achieving it.
In this world there are 2 types of persons who will never be happy
in life: The
person who keeps, keep, keeps and The
opposite side of contentment are greed, jealousy, dissatisfaction,
obsession, excessiveness and etc. Lesson
2: The 18-Bronze Arahants Once
there lives a simple and joyful poor fisherman.
One day as he was walking on the beach he found a treasure box that
consists of 17 golden statues of the Chinese 18-Bronze Arahants.
He was so happy with the discovery. He then becomes the riches and
the famous man in the village. Most
of the villagers came to congratulate him though some were envy of him.
Now that he lives a happy but one day he became very sad. His
friend then asked him what make him unhappy.
He then answered, “How nice if I can have the other 18th
statue.” We always look at what
others have that we don’t. We
should look at what we have that others don’t.
Happiness that comes from comparison (competition) and recognition
is not a true happiness. They
are just “Egoism.” True happiness comes from simplicity. The more you have in life, the more problems you are expected to face. Know what you want, how much you really need and be happy with what you get. Do
not be influence with obsession. Know
where you stand, your ability and capacity.
Know where you stand in relation to betterment in life. Lesson
3: Diary As we move
towards the end of the calendar year, we normally begin to receive free
dairy from friends and suppliers. Some
even get more than two and pass them to others.
What would you
do? Keep both of them or keep
the best (second) one and gave away the first one to a friend?
Do you think you can practice your contentment here?
How many diaries do you need? Lesson
4: The Great Complainer There was a guy
who continues to complain whatever situation he faced, “Ai Yoo” here
and “Ai Yoo” there for all the dissatisfaction in life. Little bit of
traffic jams, he will complain; the air-conditioned is not cool enough,
the food taste little bit salty also complain and etc. One day he went
for a pilgrimage tour to Lesson
5: The Welfare Home Visit A group of over
pampered children were accompanied their parent in a welfare visit to some
of the poor families in a remote village. Upon arriving, they were
requested to assist in distributing some of the basic stationery such as
simple pencils box and exercise books to the poor children there. Imaging, the
beaming joys in the eyes of those poor children as they received such a
great gift in their life. When asked about the welfare home visit, the
parents confessed that it was great as their children now become very
quite. They do not demand this and that any more from them. Lesson
6: A view in the jail Once there was a
rich man who are so free and nothing to do.
One day he try shoplifting thinking that he can get away from it if
he is caught by bribing the authority.
Unfortunately the police did not accept and locked him up for two
nights in the jail. Imaging he used
to sleep on a nice soft bed and now on a hard city prison.
He was walking up and down not able to sleep the whole night. He
then climbed up the bed to take a look out side his prison cell.
Opposite the
prison is a cinema. The last
show was just ended. He then saw an old beggar sweeping the corridor in
front of the cinema with a piece of rag and then lied down with a brick as
his pillow. In a second he is
asleep. Such a simple and
happy life of the beggar makes him feel useless and complicated. He realized the
truth of simplicity. The
Challenge in life is to do with the least and yet be the happiest person. How
to Develop Contentment? One could never satisfy
with one’s greed. One can
only satisfy one’s Need. Do we know what our needs are? Can we afford more things in life? Two cars, two houses,… Ask
yourselves, how much do we need? Lesson
7: Beautiful necklace In life, there
are a lot of beautiful things lying there.
There is no harm if we just admire the beauty in life and just go
on with life. We should not
let these beauties of life create strong desire to gain more. Just walk
on. Sometimes even if we could
afford to buy it we should considered, is it a necessity in life or just
want to possess it? Experience the worst case. Lesson
8: Bus Accident A friend who
broke his knee recently after a bus mishap becomes a very annoyed person.
He keeps on complaining how bad luck he was and what a bad kamma
that caused him to break his knee and so on. He keeps on
telling other people about this until when they told him how lucky he was
for not been hospitalized for the rest his life due to other more serious
injury from the same mishap experience by their other friends. We must be able
to see oneself in a better position because it could have been worst.
Visit the Old-folks Home, hospitals, orphanage or Spastic’s
Centre etc. to experience how well we are as compared to those unfortunate
one. In the least in what we
have in life, we should see what we could make the most out of it.
There is not benefit in comparing with the others on what we have
or don’t have. But rather
balanced up we can do, our ability with our opportunities.
Contemplate on the Beauty of Simplicity The beauty of Simplicity
can be realized by understanding the doctrine of Cause and Effect – The
Law of Kamma. Whatever
we do will come back to us. The questions are… Can
we do with little…? Can
we live without…? If
we can, it means that we can actually walk happily in life. Another
consideration is… If
I can do without this, can I give this to others? This is in line with the practice the art of giving, know how to count our blessings and strive on with diligence. |
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Questions
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