Avoid the Fools. Associates with the Wise

Sukihotu

I've written a few articles about friendship. You can read them here, here, here and here. We have also gotten so many advises from the Buddha. few touches on this aspect about friendship. But one important hint that the Buddha have given us about handling friendship is, for us to avoid the fools and associates with the wise.

To have a good understanding about associating with the wise, here is a good article by Bhikkhu Bodhi

But what I wished to touch-on today is the part about avoiding the fools. If we could understand the nature of a human being life would be alot easier. But I would say most of us aren't. That's because all of us are bounded by the 3 evil roots. That is greed, hatred and illusions. Most of us are ignorant people and is coated with a thick layer of dust on our eyes. We are fools. We can't tell what is right and what wrong. We think everything we do is right.

There are plenty of fools out there (including myself). I would say almost 99% of the people around me are fools. We are just plain foolish people who does not understand how nature works. We are filled with pleasure and thought that is the ultimate success in life as a human being. We have got a good job, we have got a nice house, nice car and a nice Samsung phone. We also have a good standing in the society. Hence, we thought we have got it all. We have conquer the world and thought that there is nothing else we can't achieve in this world. We have done all in this world.

But, true Buddhist understood that there is no such thing as true happiness. As long as we are born, we are in samsara. We may be happy occasionally but in reality it won;t last. Soon we will grow old, contract diseases and die. We must admit that this is suffering.

Ordinary people are not aware of this but the Buddha have found a solution to fix it. We can stop the patent of death and rebirth over and over again. We can actually escape suffering. Just like in a car if it;s  ran out of fuel, it will stop running. Same in us as a human being, if we stop wanting those things in life, then we will stop being born. If we are not born at all, hence, all suffering stopped.

I hope people could see this. Once people can understand this simple principle, then there is hope for that person. He has now started to become wise person by stop wanting unnecessary things in life. And when he practice letting-go in a perfect way, he has the potential of not being born again. This is when we say that he has entered nibbanna.

Thanks for reading.
Mettacittena
Bugs Tan
1st April