Dhammananda_Is_it_wrong_to_be_Ambitious.pdf

IS IT WRONG TO BE AMBITIOUS ?

Ven. Dr K Sri Dhammananda

It is difficult to find human beings who are free from selfish motives. That is the reason

why there is conflict and discrimination among human beings. Buddhism teaches us to

reduce our cravings or ambition. As we are attached to the world, we want to know

whether it is wrong to entertain some ambitions. Is it wrong to become successful in a

worldly sense? The ideas that people develop in their minds to become successful

doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, teachers or businessmen are ambitions. Some

Buddhists have asked, 'If Buddhism advocates renunciation, then should Buddhists turn

their backs on material success?' Nobody in this world can say that such ambitions are

wrong or contrary to Buddhism.

Advice for Laymen

Buddhism is misinterpreted and misunderstood by many people. The Buddha clearly

recognized two classes of people: those who had renounced the world and those who

chose to follow the life of householders. Certain precepts and observances that the

Buddha prescribed are specifically meant for those who have renounced the worldly life.

Some people have mixed these with the precepts meant for householders. For those

who have renounced the worldly life, there is one way to develop selfless ambition. For

those who are still attached to the world as householders, there is another way. For

instance, during the Buddha's time, many rich people who enjoyed their mundane

pleasures approached the Buddha, and told Him that it was difficult for them to renounce

the world. They had worldly commitments, family obligations and many other duties to

fulfil. So they requested the Buddha to lay down a suitable religious way of life for them

to practise. The Buddha did not ridicule them; for He knew that not everyone was ready

to give up worldly pleasures.

Knowing the complex situation of the household life, the Buddha spoke of total

renunciation for the life of a monk or nun as the only way for a religious life. He gave

householders suitable guidelines to lead a religious life while tending to their normal

occupations. The Teacher who had renounced absolutely everything for His own

Enlightment knew the nature of worldly attachment. Renunciation must only be

undertaken when realisation appears in the mind. Otherwise, there will be feelings of

dissapointment or frustration. Those who make a premature renunciation may return to

the lay life. So we have to wait until such realisation appears in our mind.

The Buddha's Advice for Householders

The first happiness atthi-sukha is to enjoy the economic security of wealth acquired by

just and righteous means; the second bhoga-sukha is spending that wealth liberally on

oneself, one's family, friends and relatives, and on meritorious deeds; the third anana-

sukha is to be free from debts; the fourth happiness anavajja-sukha is to live a faultless

and pure and blameless life committing no evil in thought, word or deed. When you

come to know that you have earned something honestly, the happiness that you gain

through your accumulated wealth develops confidence in the household life. Some

people who go on earning and accumulating wealth neither experience happiness nor

use wealth in a proper way. According to the Buddha, we can experience worldly

happiness by using what we have earned in a reasonable way, following basic religious

principles. It is not correct to say that Buddhists should not experience worldly

happiness. Certain harmless cultural amusements and entertainments relax the mind

and help reduce tension. Human emotions can be satisfied without disturbing the peace

and happiness of others. Many cultural performances in Asia actually developed through

the influence of Buddhism.

Mental Development

When people reach a certain level of spiritual development and see the real nature of

worldly life, they will give up even such entertainments. They realise that ultimately, life

is nothing but a dream and that worldly pleasures are of a fleeting nature. The three

characteristics of every existing component thing: Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta -

impermanance, unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality - can be understood clearly

through insight. By insight we mean a realisation of the ultimate truth which appears

when a person has trained his mind to see the real nature of existence.

Some people say the Buddhism is responsible for certain countries being undeveloped

and backward. They also say that Buddhism always draws attention to suffering and

insists that people give up the worldly life to sit in a forest to meditate. It is for this reason

that Westerners in the past have treated Buddhism as a 'pessimistic religion'. It is true

that Buddhism emphasizes the unsatisfactoriness of life. But this does not make it

pessimistic. In the same way, we cannot call a doctor who tells a patient that he is dying

of cancer 'pessimistic'. A religion is pessimistic if it simply says life is miserable. But in

Buddhism, clear teachings are offered on how to become happy and contented.

Middle Path

The Buddha was the most active and energetic religious teacher. He advised people to

use their skills and knowledge in their daily life. A Buddhist should not lead a lazy and

easy life and blame it on Buddhism for any of his/her failures. A good Buddhist has the

quality of VIRIYA - energy. Buddhists must strive for perfection. They must not delay

doing something by finding excuses like it is too hot or it is too cold. The Buddha's

advice to lay people was not to go to either extremes of sensual pleasure or self torture

to practise a religion. Everyone must try to lead a happy, harmless and peaceful life.

Buddhism is known as the Middle Path.

It is true, however, that the household life can easily influence you to violate some

religious principles when temptation, needs and irritation are aroused. You may come

across certain difficulties in your daily life as householders. You find it difficult to maintain

absolute honesty, kindness and tolerance. It is also true that few can become perfect

religious persons in the household life. Your responsibilities, obligations and duties can

disturb your mind. They provoke you to do certain things which go against your

conscience. If you try to be a religious fanatic as a lay person, your attitude may not

appeal to your family members, friends and others. If you follow Buddhist rules which are

meant specifically for monks who lead a monastic life, your associates may feel

embarassed; and they may regard you as a nuisance or an eccentric. Therefore, try to

lead a sensible life by observing reasonable religious principles. This is how you avoid

becoming a religious fanatic. If you go to extremes, not only will people laugh at you,

they will also get a wrong idea of what Buddhism teaches. If you are not fanatical, you

can live and work even with other religionists. The Buddha has pointed out that you must

know your limit in everything. Try to practise religious principles which are universally

accepted. As lay Buddhists, your duty is to lead a normal religious life while fulfilling your

family obligations. If you neglect your responsibilities towards your family, you may

experience problems. Others may think you as a useless person.

You must know how to adjust your way of life to the country and society you live in

without going against the important cultural and traditional practices of the majority, if

they are harmless. You should also co-operate with others without behaving as if your

religion is the only one that has the right to exist. Buddhism is a religion of freedom. It

respects the freedom of other religions. Your common sense and understanding are

important in practising a religion.

Nature of Ambition

Every person entertains some kind of ambition. When we refer to the Buddha, He too

had an ambition that was implanted in His mind long ago. He continued to develop that

ambition, life after life, until He achieved what He wanted. But this ambition is best

described as an aspiration. When we read the Buddha’s discourses, we can understand

how He had worked to reach the goal He aspired to. He has revealed this to us by

referring to previous birth stories. He also explained the nature of the great virtues and

discipline that He had to cultivate to achieve His aspiration.

When we compare our ambition with the Buddha’s aspiration we can see a vast

difference. This is because our ambition is primarily based on desire and anxiety bound

to worldly pleasure. On the other hand, the Buddha’s aspiration was to free Himself from

selfishness in order to serve others. We develop our ambition by disturbing anothers’

happiness. That is how we create problems and misery in this world. We are willing to do

any kind of evil or wicked deed for our own pleasure. From the Buddhist point of view,

this kind of selfish ambition is not justifiable.

What we should constantly strive to do is to develop the higher kind of ambition by

working very hard to obtain freedom, happiness and liberation from our existing worldly

problems. This ambition is harmless and reasonable. However, this is not the final goal:

we must not be satisfied with these temporary mundane ambitions. Our ultimate goal

should be freedom from suffering – Nirvana, where all ambition cease and the reality of

existence seen.

Rendering Service to Others

While working for our own happiness, freedom and salvation, we have to render some

service for the benefit and happiness of others. The Buddha adopted this type of

aspiration with deep conviction and boundless compassion. Whilst working for His own

salvation, He served others in every possible way. He continued His service to humanity

by sacrificing His sensual pleasures, by cultivating all the good qualities and virtues and

by eradicating evil thoughts to maintain purity in the mind. This is the way He developed

His selfless ambition to gain His enlightenment.

He never cultivated it for His own benefit but for the welfare and liberation of every living

being. He developed boundless compassion and wisdom and expressed them by word

and deed. But our ambitions, which are selfish in nature, can create much misery.

Therefore, we have to learn how to direct our ambitions in such a way as to relieve the

suffering of others. Such ambitions are wholesome because they contribute to the

greater good of mankind.

Can we live without Craving?

Many people are bothered by this question: if eradication of craving is essential to

achieve final liberation, how can we live without craving? It is true that certain

necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, transport and medicine are indispensable for

our living. At the same time, we have to have income to support our families to fulfil our

duties. Attachment to one’s husband or wife and children is natural. We should not

regard such attachment as irreligious craving. The Buddha did say that craving for

existence creates problems, but He did not say that we must torture ourselves and those

around us whilst striving to give up craving. In Buddhism, craving itself is not a ‘sin’ but it

creates mental impurities or unskillful action arising from ignorance which delays our

spiritual progress. In Buddhism, we develop spirituality in stages. At first we serve those

we love in our own family circles. But we must learn to work for the benefit of all

humanity. In this way we can refine our human nature to experience the divine

nature.The Buddha wanted only to point out the danger of selfish desires. People

develop these selfish desires for worldly gain which motivate evil deeds. Our striving for

necessities could be decent if we do not develop an undue craving which harms others.

Buddhism as well as other religions point out the danger of selfishness.

Eradicating Craving

If selfish desire is harmful, how can we eradicate it? When we have difficulty eradicating

craving for own property, we should understand what feelings others have for their own.

That is why we observe the precept not to take things which belong to others, to stop

craving for others’ possessions. When we stop this selfish desire, we allow others to live

without any fear about their property. When we become aware of this selfish craving, we

should take steps to train our mind to regard all our necessities as impermanent and as

mere aids to fulfil our duties. For example, if we have a large amount of money, we

should take it as an opportunity to help our fellow beings. Those who do not have money

can give their moral support and co-operation for the welfare of others. At this stage, we

have to think that we are only custodians of the property which we claim as ours.

If we are unduly attached to material things, we will experience various problems. Fear,

insecurity and suspicion will disturb our peace of mind. That is the price we have to pay

for clinging to property. Because of this clinging, some people have become insane

when they lost their property through natural disaster or theft. Buddhism teaches us not

to be so unreasonably attached to material things. After all, we cannot take them away

with us when we die.

If we really want to experience peace, the only thing that we can do is to reduce our

responsibilities. Try to hand over our possessions to others who are entitled to them;

alternatively, donate them to charitable or religious organisations. If we do so, we free

our minds from greed. If we want to develop spiritually, we must be prepared to sacrifice

our property for the welfare of others. By this we mean those suffering from poverty and

sickness and other calamities. However, this distaste for owing material wealth must

come naturally – from true understanding. As we progress spiritually, ignorance gives

way to understanding. Then we will freely give up material possessions. This

‘renunciation’ brings great happiness, because it is accompanied by the wisdom of

seeing things as they really are.

Contentment

Those who have not learnt how to maintain contentment while leading a worldly life

never get satisfaction. They develop jealousy, suspicion and fear. They experience

worry and insecurity. That is why the Buddha says ‘ Santutthi Paramam Dhanam ‘ –

contentmentis the highest wealth. Poor people think rich people are very happy and

lucky. They do not know the fear and restlessness that disturb the minds of the wealthy.

Many wealthy people experience sleeplessness. A poor man does not experience such

problems although he has to face other difficulties. The poor and the rich can only be

happy if they feel contented and do not crave for the property of others. In this sense at

least, we can say that the poor and the rich are equal.

One day, the Buddha had to sleep in a forest without ant shelter during the winter. The

next morning when He came out from the forest, He met a prince. The prince asked the

Buddha where He was coming from. The Buddha said He was coming from the forest

where He had spent the night. When the prince asked whether He had slept happily and

peacefully, the Enlightened One said He is one who sleeps peacefully and happily not

only one night but every night. Why did He say that? It was because His mind had no

worries or disturbances. His mind was always pure. He was free from family problems or

property problems. Therefore, He could sleep peacefully. Our minds are not free from

problems. That is why we are not happy and find it difficult to sleep peacefully.

Attachments give temporary pleasures but ultimately, they disturb our peace of mind.

Emotional Satisfaction

The Buddha did not encourage householders to detach themselves from everything at

once. Although He pointed out how attachments can create disappointments. He knew

that the life of those whose minds are still defiled, can become very miserable or dull

without attachments. This does not mean the Buddha encouraged attachments. He was

saying that while we allow ourselves to be attached at a lower stage of our spiritual

development, we must discard them at the later stages. When we develop attachments,

we have to think about worries and disturbances as natural occurrences. We must strive

to be free from attachments and be like the lotus which rises clear from the muddy

water. The pleasurable feeling that people get through the five senses to satisfy craving

is emotional satisfaction. People regard this as happiness. Although people lay great

emphasis on this type of satisfaction, they must be shown that nearly all human

problems, corruptions and immoral practices are traceable to this desire for sensual

pleasures. True happiness is gained when the mind experiences peace and tranquility. It

is impossible to experience this happiness as long as fear, suspicion, and excitement

disturb the mind. The ambitions that we develop can create dissapointment and

frustration if they are of a selfish nature.

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