(Sace me bhikkhu samma vihareyyum asunno loko arahantehi assa). One finds it hard to believe. But if one examines it, one must believe it.
         In the simple statement: "monks will practise right living, the world will not be empty of Arahants" the expression "right living" has an important and profound meaning. Right living implies absence of the idea of "I", "mine". We are living day after day, but we are not living rightly, so the idea of "I" and "mine" is born. It pops up numerous times every day, so there is no chance for full Nirvana to come in and we don't become Arahants. Right living means living in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thoughts, right speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and right concentration. If we have these eight kinds of perfection, we are practising right living. And if we live rightly in this way, the mental defilements cannot arise, "I" and "mine" cannot be born; they wither away, like an animal deprived of nourishment. Right living deprives the "I" and the "mine" of nourishment, and so prevents them from taking birth. In time they lose their strength and the day finally comes when they dry up completely and disappear for good and that is what is called attaining the Fruit of the Path, total Nirvana.
         The important thing is continuous right understanding and right action, so that the "I" and the "mine" cannot arise, so that there is no birth. When there is no birth of any kind, there is no suffering of any kind, and that is true happiness, as the Buddha said. Once one has examined this matter and come to realize that birth is always suffering, every time, one takes good care to avoid birth. It is easy to understand that the birth referred to is something mental, Something in the mind, but it is very difficult to master this birth. In a single day or even in a single hour one may experience this kind of birth many times, many dozens of times. Be careful about this problem of birth; it is a problem that faces us here and now. If we can master this kind of birth here and now we will also be able to master the birth that comes after physical death. So let's not concern ourselves with the birth that folflows physical death; instead let us concern ourselves seriously with the birth that happens before physical death, the kind of birth that goes on while we are alive, which happens dozens of times every day; let us learn to master it and the problem will be eliminated. If birth can be eliminated here and now, in this life, that will be the end of birth for good and all.
         Everyone concerns himself with the trivial question in what form he will be reborn after death, wondering into which of the eight realms of existence he will be reborn. as a hell-being, an animal, a preta (hungry ghost), an asura (frightened ghost), a human being, a god of the sensuous heaven (kamavacara), an embodied brahma, or a bodiless brahma. Each of these possible forms of rebirth falls under either of the two headings Sugati and Duggati, depending on the nature of the corresponding feelings. Those states that are desirable or satisfying are called Sugati; those that are the opposite are callend Duggati. But this is not the doctrine the Buddha taught. He taught: if there is birth there is nothing but perpetual suffering; and this is so regardless of the realm into which one is born, because "birth refers to grasping and clinging, as already discussed. No matter what one is born as, it is suffering. The form of the suffering may vary, as in the case the millionaire and the beggar, but it is suffering nevertheless, suffering as heavy as that of the Duggati realms. And while birth in the Duggati realms brings the sufferings of the Duggati realms, birth in the Sugati realms brings the sufferings of the Sugati realms. Birth has to be stopped altogether. Don't go wondeiring what you will be reborn as: don't go thinking of being reborn as a human being, or a god, or a brahma. The result will be the suffering of a human being, a god, or a brahma, because even the brahmas experience suffering, the suffering of brahmas. If brahmas were free from suffering there would have been no need for Buddhism Buddhism came into existence in order to produce Ariyans, people who have put an end to suffering of every kind, the suffering of human beings, of gods, and of brahmas, This is why the Buddha is referred to as the "Teacher of gods and men": he taught to put an end to suffering for all beings.
         Here caution is needed. A person here in this particular life has the possibilty of being reborn into any realm of existence in the vast cycle of Samsara: into one of the lower worlds or Duggati as a hell-being, animal, preta, or asura; into the middle realm as a human being; or into one of the higher realms as a god of the sensuous sphere, as an embodied brahma, or (at the highest level) as a bodiless brahma. So there are eight possibilities: the four woeful states or lower realms, the human world or middle realm, and three heavens or upper realms. Each of these eight forms of birth is suffering in its own particular way. If one identifies with one's state of birth, one is bound to experience the corresponding kind of suffering-and every one of us has, in his everyday life, experienced these eight kinds of birth. let us try to understand what this means. We shall deal first with birth in the woeful states, birth as a hell-being, animal, preta (hungry ghost), or asura (frightened ghost).
         The real meaning of "hell" is anxiety (literally "mind-heat"). Anxiety burns one like a fire. If a person is worked up, burning with anxiety, then he is to be recognized as a hell-being. Whether monk, novice, lay follower, householder, or whatever, if he is burning with anxiety ("mind-heat"), burning through involvement in "I" , "mine", then he is in hell.
         If at some moment a person is deluded, then at that moment he is a dumb animal. At any time that a person, male or female, monk or layman, or whatever, is deluded, he has taken birth as an animal. The meaning of birth as an animal is delusion.
         At any time that "I" and "mine" go the way of mental hunger and thirst, as when a gambler or a person buying lottery tickets suffers a hunger for money, a hunger to win a prize, a mental hunger, that is birth as a preta (hungry ghost). Birth as a preta is extreme mental hunger.
         If there is fear, timidity, that is birth as an asura (frightened ghost). The word "a-sura" means "not brave", an asura is any timid, frightened person.
         In a single day we may be born in all four of these states. Watch! Notice in what form the "I" and "mine" arise, If they arise in the form of anxiety, one has been born a denizen of hell; if as delusion, an animal; if as mental hunger, a preta; and it they arise in the form of fear, one has been born an asura. Here is an example to illustrate.
         A gambler who makes a blunder and loses everything experiences anxiety, as if burnt by fire; he has fallen into hell right there in the gambling-house. Again, when he is so deluded as to think that gambling can solve his problems, he is a dumb animal-even before he begins playing. When, in the course of playing, he has an uncontrollable mental hunger, then he is a preta. And when he is afraid of being beaten and losing everything, then he is an asura. This single example, the case of a gambler in a gaming-house, shows how one may be born as a hell-being, an animal, preta, or an asura.
         Our grandparents were no fools, otherwise they would not have had the saying: "Heaven is in the heart; hell is in the mind." Their children and grandchildren apparently are fools because they think one goes to heaven or hell only after dying, after having been put into the coffin. Examine this idea and you will see how foolish it is. So let us be as intelligent as our grandparents, at least to the extent of recognizing that heaven and hell are in the mind.
         Think of the example of the gambler, who can become a hell-being, an animal, a preta, or an asura. Anxiety can come from wrong-doing or as a result of karma. Anxiety is hell. Delusion can sometimes be so bad as to be almost beyond belief. Have a good think about it; examine it and you will see that we are sometimes unbelievably deluded. This delusion loads us into inappropriate or bad action. As for hunger, it is always present desire for pleasure, desire for fame, and so on. If it reaches the point of being a mental thirst, one becomes a preta. Why be hungry? We have sufficient intelligence to know what we have to do so, let's do it contentedly. without preta-like hunger. Even if we do buy lottery tickets, we don't have to do it with preta-like hunger. We can buy our tickets simply for the fun of it, or we can think of how we are thereby helping provide funds to develop the country. We don't have to buy tickets out of hunger, as pretas. If there is awareness, "I" and "mine" do not arise and one is not hungry, not a preta. But if awareness is lacking one is hungry, one has become a preta here and now. It is the same with fear. Fear can become a habit. Think about it. To be afraid, as some people are, of even earthworms, lizards, geckoes, and mice is just going too far. This is unjustified fear. Then there is fear of ghosts, things whose presence cannot even be demonstrated. And something some people are very afraid of is Dharma. They are afraid that practising Dharma will make life tasteless and dry, that Nirvana is simply tasteless and dry. So they fear Dharma and Nirvana. Such people are full-fledged asuras, right here and now.
         Now we move up to the realm of human beings. The term "human being" in this context implies fatigue, exhaustion, shedding sweat, hard work, trading the sweat of one's brow for food and sensual pleasure. If has nothing to do with anxiety, delusion, or the others: it is the honest exchanging of the sweat of one's brow for things one wants. This is the meaning of the term "human being". Don't think of it as of a type with the terms "hell-being", "animal", "preta", and "asura", which refer to something much lower. "Hell' means anxiety, "animal" means delusion, "preta" means hunger, "asura" means fear. "Human being" means something of a totally different type. It means simply striving, persevering, working to get things one wants honesty and fairly, purchasing them with the sweat of one's brow. This is what it is to be a human being. In short the meaning of "human being" is faligue, a condition of habitual fatigue.
         Higher than this are the gods of the kamavacara (sensual) heaven. These are the gods we hear about who have celestial mansions, attendant angels, and so on. The reference is to a condition of freedom from fatigue, and abundance of every sensual pleasure. Higher again is the state of a person who has become bored with sensual pleasure, who has come to see sensual pleasure as something contaminating and wishes to live uncontaminated and pure. This is the heaven of the embodied brahmas (rupa brahma), in which there is involvement in material things. And higher again is the level where one sees the body as impermanent, not worth becoming involved in, and feels it would be better to have no body at all. A person who feels this way is called a bodiless brahma (arupa brahma).
         The meanings of these terms are not as in everyday usage. For example the hell depicted in temple murals, with great copper cauldrons, seas of acid, rains of lances and swords, is a metaphor, an illustration in material terms of mental states that cannot be depicted. It is a physical illustration of anxiety, and worry ("mind-heat"). Similarly we have physical representations of delusion, hunger, and fear. Similarly again the "human realm" is the condition of fatigue. And the kamavacara heaven is complete sensual satisfaction; when a person has, by means of money, power, good luck, or whatever, attained satisfaction in sensual pleasure, and is free of fatigue, he is a god in the senusal realm, called kamavacara. And a bodiless brahma is one who has become tired of this, who has ceased being involved in sensual pleasure and takes delight only in pure things, things that do not contaminate.
         Let us examine the state of our own minds. Sometimes we are infatuated with sensual pleasure, but when we repeat it over and over, we became fed up with it and wish to have a rest from it. Sometimes we want to play, or interest ourselves in other material things, and those things fail to satisfy, and we begin thinking of non-physical things such as good fortune, name, and fame. Let's put it more simply. There are people who are infatuated with sensual pleasure and there are others who prefer to amuse themselves wfith hobbies, such as gardening or keeping tropical fish or pigeons, and become infatuated with them. The mind is liable to change in this way. Now it may happen that a certain person at a certain time comes to see that all these things are a source of confusion and not to be compared with mental things-thoughts and dreams about possible good fortune, about beauty, or about name and fame, rich-physical things. These various conditions differ considerably among themselves; they constitute a series of levels. The point to note is that a single person is liable to experience any of these eight kinds of birth. Examine yourselves and see how many different states the mind can go through. On a certain day a certain person may be involoved in sensual pleasure for an hour or so. Then he may feel like having a break from it by going and playing sport or amusing himself with some hobby. At other times he may feel like having a complete rest, free from all disturbance. Sometimes he has to be a "human being", working for long hours, becoming fatigued. And sometimes he spends a few minutes in hell (anxiety); or in the condiltion of an animal (delusion), or a preta (hunger), or an asura (fear). So a single person may experience several kinds of birth in a single day; and in a week he may experience all eight kinds. He may be born in one of the woeful states (hell, animal, preta, asura), in the human realm, or in the heavens of gods and brahmas. But whichever kind of birth it is, it is nothing but suffering; freedom from suffering comes only with freedom from birth. This last statement is difficult to understand; but once you have understood it, you have understood the whole of the Buddha's teaching.
         The expression "freedom from birth" does not imply that one is not born again after physical death, that after having died and been placed in the coffin one is not reborn. Please think about this: if in the daily round there is only awareness, preventing the arising of "I" and "mine", the "self" -idea, egoism- that is freedom from birth. When nothing remains but awareness, one is able to do what one has to do, and to do it properly. Under these conditions, doing one's job is fun; to be able to do one's job properly without any "I" or "mine" is a joy. This is the essence of the Buddha's teaching. In effect it calls on us to live with a mind free from the idea "I","mine". Every religion teaches this; it is based on a law of nature, which can be proved rigorously, scientifically.
         Buddhism teaches that if one's thoughts include the idea of self, self centredness, that is suffering. Christianity teaches the same thing; it teaches us not to think in terms of "I" or "mine", not to misidentity as "I" or "mine". But most Christians don't understand this teaching, just as most of us. Buddhists don't understand the Buddha's teaching on this matter. It's the same the world over and in every religion: no one understands the real essence of his own religion. We Buddhists don't understand what is meant by "Don't be born! Stop being born!" We don't understand it and so we are perplexed, disbelieving it. or even considering it a false teaching. Perhaps we do not go so far as to accuse the Buddha of teaching false doctrine but still that idea is there in our minds; or we may think that any monk expounding this doctrine is misrepresenting the Buddha. This is what happens. So we fail completely to understand the doctrine of anatta (non-self) and sunnata (emptiness), the doctrine that there is no "I" or "mine". Consequently we experience suffering. We are born frequently; we experience more of Samsara than of Nirvana.
         The proof of all this is the fact that the hospitals for nervous and mental disorders are overfilled. This is all the proof needed we don't have to ask further. People simply don't understand the truth about how to prevent mental illness. This is the objective of the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha's goal was a life of awareness, continuous awareness, seeing the world as something empty of "I", "mine", keeping the mind always free of the idea "I", "mine", leaving only the awareness, so that one knows what has to be done, and does it. This is the essence of the Buddha's teaching: there is no more to it than this.
         Now at this point, I should like to say something about a Christian teaching which Christians themselves take no interest in. It's a piece in the New Testament, from the book of Corinthians, in which St Paul sums up the entire teaching of Jesus. It is a short piece of instrunction to the Corinthian people : "If you have a wife, think as if you have no wife. If you have wealth, think as if you have no wealth. If you are suffering, think as if you were not suffering. If you are happy, think as if you were not happy. If you go to buy goods at the market, bring nothing home."
         Here we have the essence of the Buddhist teaching in the Bible: "If you have a wife, think as if you have no wife." Paul is speaking to the men ; he does not mention that a woman who has a husband should think as if she had no husband, but this is understood : the statement is good for both wife and husband. The meaning is: "Dont grasp and cling : don't identify as "mine." "If you have wealth, don't go clinging to it, thinking of it as my wealth ; in effect, think as if you had no wealth. If suffering arises, then acknowledge it and it will go away. Don't think of it as my suffering. If you have happiness, then don't think of it as my happiness. If you go and buy something at the market, bring nothing home. This means : while we are carrying our purchases home from the market, our mind is not identifying them as "mine". In this sense we are bringing nothing home. This is a Christian teaching, the essence of Christianity. I once asked a Christian, a highranking teacher, how he understood this passage. At first he was speechless, then he said "I've never taken any interest in it." He had never taken any interest whatever in this piece from the Bible because he thought it unimportant. He had taken great interest in the subject of faith and so on, but had taken no interest in this, the most important subject of all. Everv religion worthy of the name aims essentially at teaching freedom from self-centredness. Every religion includes the important teaching of freedom from self and from concern with self in which, however, its adherents take no interest. They are like us Buddhists, who take no interest in the doctrine of sunnata and anatta, the characteristic doctrine of Buddhism.
         It can be said, then, that mankind is taking no interest in the thing that is most important to mankind. People are interested only in chattering and eating, self-centred pastimes which increase "I" and "mine". Consequently they are more often hell-beings, animals, pretas, and asuras than human beings. And when they are human beings, they are sweating and striving far too much, not knowing how to relax. If they are in one of the heavenly realms, they are experiencing the corresponding kind of suffering as gods, or brahmas, or whatever. This is because they don t understand, they have fallen under the influence of Mara (Satan); they have been drawn into the way of Mara rather than in to the way of the Buddha.
         Mara (Satan) is yet another thing we don't understand properly. In reality "Mara" denotes all the fascinating things that draw the mind and subjugate it. Mara is these things, in particular sexual and other sensual pleasures. Mara's commander-in-chief entices us into the paranimmitavasavatti heaven, the heaven that abounds in sensual delights, where other off-siders of Mara then wait on us, serving us and attending to our every need. This is what is meant by "Mara's commander-in-chief.". At present we are underlings or victims of Mara because we are desiring these things and are thereby cultivating the "I" and the "mine". Once "I" and "mine" have arisen, there is no end to it; one has got into the Mara current rather than the Buddha current. This is all there is to Mara. Whenever there exists in the mind the idea "I" , "mine" then Mara is present, one is an underling of Mara. And whenever the mind is empty of "I" , "mine" one is a follower of the Buddha. In a single day you may be an underling of Mara for a few hours and a follower of the Buddha for a few hours. Everyone realizes this so there is no need to discuss it here. Everyone can see for himself that in a single day "I" and "mine" may be present for a few hours, and absent for a few hours.
         At any moment when "I" and "mine" arise, one is born as this or that, and identifying with it; and that is suffering, every time. We ought to fight shy of this and take steps to prevent its arising. We have to foster and prolong those periods of emptiness and quietness, of Nirvana, and in time we shall be free of all ailments, both mental and physical. Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases -all these come from "I", "mine". Identification as "I" or "mine" is a source of disturbance which prevents our getting sufficient rest. When the mind is confused, the sugar metabolism becomes abnormal, rising and falling sharply, and the result is some physical illness. Mental illness also results, in the form of mental suffering. In short, the body can't take the stress and the result is nervous or mental illness or even death. Though one may escape death, one is sure to experience much suffering and melancholy, as if one had fallen into one of the hells,
         This whole question could be treated in much greater detail. For example, we have spoken of hell as equivalent to anxiety, though the more detailed texts recognize eighteen or twenty-eight or more different hell-regions. Ultimately, however, they all involve suffering from heat; there is no hell that is cool. With the pretas it is the same. Several different kinds of pretas are recognized : serpent-pretas, pretas with mouths the size of a needle's eye and bellies the size of a mountain (hence never able to satisfy their hunger) and others. But they all amount to the same thing: hunger. You can interpret all these details how you like, at a great or little length as you like, so long as you, understand the basic meaning : hell-beings suffer anxiety, animals are deluded, pretas are hungry, asuras are afraid, human beings are fatigued, kamaval gods are infatuated with sensual delights, embodied brahmas are infatuated with pure physical things, and bodiless brahmas are infatuated with pure mental things. These are all forms of "birth". Without exception, everyone who is "born" is certain to suffer. Try to give up this identifying altogether. "True happiness consists in eliminating the false idea "I "." Maintain awareness and insight ; be free of "l" and "mine" and you will be free from suffering. Maintain this condition ; when it has become permanent, that is genuine and complete Nirvana.
         We already have momentary Nirvana. Let us prolong it, reducing suffering, or Samsara, as far as possible. Let us not waste this opportunity, this eighty-year or hundred-year long life into which we have been born. If we don't effect this improvement we may never get anywhere, even if we live a thousand years ; but if we do effect this improvement, we may achieve full Nirvana in this very life. Whether a person is a child, a teenager, an adult, or an eighty-year-old, if he properly understands the meaning of all this, how suffering arises and how it ceases, he will be able to cure all his ailments effectively, to control self-centredness, the "I" and the "mine" ; he will automatically become fed up with it, and begin experiencing coolness, happiness, freedom from suffering. This is all there is to it. The Buddha summed it up briefly when he said : Don't grasp at or cling to anything whatsoever (Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya) , that is, don't cling to it as "I" or "mine". No matter what it is physical object, condition, action, mental object, result of action, or whatsoever don't think of it as "I" or "mine". Think of it as belonging to Nature, as Nature itself, as a part of Nature obeying the laws of Nature, as the property of Nature. Don't take it as "I", "mine". Anyone who is so bold as to think of it as "I", "mine", is a thief, appropriating for himself something that properly belongs to Nature. No good can come of thieving, it is bound to lead to the suffering of a thief. Hence the Buddha's teaching that we shouldn't grasp at or cling to anything as "I" or "mine". Hence also his statement, so terse that it is hard to understand and even harder to accept : "If people will practise right living, this world will not be empty of Arahants." This statement sums up the whole teaching.
         I hope you will all take an interest in this teaching of the Buddha, that you will think it over, examine it, and come to understand it. It is the profound and essential core of the Dharma, and it is genuinely capable of helping us attain freedom from suffering.