Nanda Thein Zan - To a place without regrets

To January..

Looking at the calendar, I felt a nagging thought: "Oh... another year of Christmas is coming to an end." Time seems to be passing by so quickly. The days are getting shorter, the work is not yet done, the days are ending so quickly.

So I guess I'm saying that time is flying.

Hectic work, he has to do it every day, for himself, for others

The Venerable Mahasivama was a very intelligent and learned man, so many, many, many monks came to him to study. By receiving the teachings of the Venerable Mahasivama and practicing meditation, many monks also realized the path to arahantship. One day, one of the monks who had realized the path to arahantship thought: “My teacher Mahasiva Thera is very grateful to me. Based on his teachings and teachings, I have attained the knowledge of the path of arahantship and the path of arahantship. What about the teacher Mahasiva Thera... what kind of status do you have... I thought about it and looked at the status of the teacher Mahasiva Thera. I saw that his teacher Mahasiva Thera was only a person who knew the scriptures and literature. In terms of status, he was only a layman.” I saw that, “Our teacher Mahasiva Thera is a reliance on others, but he himself is not a reliance on anyone. I will go and warn him about this.” The disciple decided and went to the monastery where Mahasiva Thera was. When he arrived, the great monk Mahasiva

"My lord... why have you come?" he asked. The disciple replied, "I have come because I want to learn a verse from the teacher." Thus speaking, the great sage Mahasivama

"I won't be able to, my lord," he replied.

The Venerable Thera had many students and his teaching time was full. So he could not give time to the new student. The student said to the Venerable Thera, “If you cannot spare even this much time, where should I go to receive alms today?” He thought about it and asked the Venerable Thera, “Please, let me ask you about the Dhamma you want to learn while you are standing in the courtyard.” The Venerable Thera accepted this request.

“There, too, other monks are waiting, asking questions, and raising problems, so I won’t have time for my master,” he said.

“In that case... let me ask you questions along the way, Venerable.”

"On the way to alms, other monks would ask me questions."

"On the way back from almsgiving in the city, Buddha?"

"On the way back, the monks kept asking questions."

"At the almshouse... When the almsgiving is over, may I ask the disciples, please?"

"At that time, there were monks who would ask questions."

Whenever the disciple inquired about his free time, he found that his teacher, Mahathivama Thera, was always busy. At this time, the disciple asked his teacher, Mahathivama Thera,

"If this continues, will the Master not even have time to die?"

It would be a sobering thought for the Venerable Mahasivama. The disciple monk said to the Venerable Thera,

"The Venerable One should have time to practice meditation. He should. The Venerable One is like a 'tower'. The Venerable One is dependent on others, but he himself is dependent on nothing. The Venerable One has not yet understood the Dhamma, which is the foundation of samsara. The disciple has not come to the Venerable One to learn the Dhamma from him," he said, and the disciple returned in a state of transcendental meditation. The Venerable Mahasivama attained enlightenment.

By practicing meditation without stopping, I finally gained refuge in the Dhamma called the path of Arahantship. I have found true refuge.

It's true that I'm being haunted by the voice that seems to say, "Can't I even get the time to die?"

Looking back on the past year, the things I was busy with were things that were far from the Dhamma. Among the things that were far from the Dhamma... there were many mistakes and shortcomings. There were many mistakes in my thoughts, words, and actions.

And so, I have many, many regrets... There are many people like me in the world, and I remember that I sought out others for the wrong reasons, not wanting to be alone in making mistakes. Looking back on the past years, there are many people who suffered losses because they did not do what they should have done on time.

The thought that came to mind while looking at the calendar reminded me of what the world-famous actress Marilyn Monroe said. Monroe said, “I’m on the calendar sometimes. But I’m not punctual.” Yes. She made various calendars with her picture on them. Yes, she was on the calendar often. As I said, Monroe was never punctual anywhere. She was not punctual when she went to the set of a movie, she was not punctual when she went to the events where she would sing and act, she was not punctual when she slept and ate, there was nothing systematic in her life, she was not punctual, she did not do things regularly, she was not organized, Monroe died young. Some people say that this happened because she was not punctual, systematic and did not take life seriously.

As humans, we all make mistakes and slip ups. But some mistakes can be life-threatening. Once, a paratrooper who was about to jump said to his instructor, "Teacher, I want to replace my parachute with a new one. The current condition of the parachute is not very reliable." What did the instructor say? "

"Just jump down and see, if it doesn't work out, just come back."

If you jump and your parachute doesn't open and you're dead, how can you come back with a new parachute? This story is probably a fabrication, and in real life, there's probably no paratrooper who would jump as his instructor told him.

But there are many stories about lives being ruined and people being hurt by saying no because they were wrong.

Oh... 5 worlds ago

Remember the problem between the Buddha's body and the Devadatta's body. When the granddaughter wanted to buy some, her grandmother told her to give her as much as she could. The Devadatta's body and the body merchant lied to her, saying that the black cup was worthless, even though they knew it was a gold cup. They were lying. The Devadatta's body and the body merchant were covered in greed, and the Devadatta's body and the body merchant were covered in greed.

I want the big golden cup almost for free. I want more and more. In the darkness, there is no clear distinction between black and white. When the darkness of greed, anger, and ignorance covers a person, he can no longer distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. The merchant, Devadatta, left the old woman's house without telling her that the golden cup was a golden cup. His plan was to return next time and buy the big golden cup for the lowest price.

The Bodhisattva merchant now went to his grandmother. The Bodhisattva merchant told the truth. He said that the gold cup was a gold cup. He gave all his possessions to his grandmother. He honestly said that he still had to pay more money for the full value. The grandmother happily placed the gold cup in the hands of the Bodhisattva merchant.

The merchant Devadatta was very angry when the Bodhisattva took the golden cup.