Question: Hello Sayadaw. I really afraid of what people are talking about me. What should I do to make myself feel better? Thank you!
It’s because of attachment on comments. You yourself may often make comments to the others, making the others to feel unbearable, that is the cause of feeling the same in your mind. You make the other to be like this, that’s why your habits and actions in the past and present make you to emphasize on the judgements of the others. And you have to emphasize on the judgment of the others because you can not endure the judgement of the others. If you can change your habits by doing good deeds continuously, by abandoning you habits, you may overcome the problems.
You are able to do many things but you is not much practical. That’s why you may think of the others and their views. You should accept that making judgements to the others is the nature of living beings. We can not stop, we should try to accept it. Thinking and saying as they want to say regardless of the truth is the bad habit of people. Many people are making that mistake. But for those who are not much interested in the others and view of the others, it will not be a problem.
No one is complete that’s why even if we are not much attached on the others, we may attach on food or clothes or our family. In this way, there will be the similar problem like this. That’s why we should make ourselves to be busy with doing all kinds of good deeds as much as we can. In this way we will not have time to think of the others. And then we are sure to endure. Besides, we should be easy to accept it, let them judge as they like. That is what they used to do. If we understand like this, it’s not the problem. You should understand that you have to suffer because of your mistakes are the same like them. So also for them they may also have the same what they did to the others. Nothing to do, just need to understand.
Question: I think I do understand what you are telling me now. In the past, I did many good deeds for the others to change the causes. But it wasn’t really changed. People keep talking about me badly, that makes me stop doing good deeds and now I don’t know what to do!
That is your weakness. Your good deeds are not complete because not concerned with monks and nuns and meditators. That’s why there are many people in our center. In the beginning they do good deeds by themselves or together with other lay people. But they can not survive, they can not continue for long term. Because their knowledge has limit, their abilities have limits. Therefore, they are doing great only for human beings, only for lay people, not for meditators. That’s why your bad karma did not stop easily. You should join with Thabarwa center in Vietnam, also in Myanmar, in this way you can understand what is the difference between groups in the society and meditators.
Karma law is sure and real. But in the society, most of people can not understand very well, that’s why most of them do not believe. They may believe in law and regulations made by government. They may not believe on cause and efect. That’s why when you do what is good, your mind may not be interested seriously. For the meditators, we emphasize cause and effect rather than law and regulations. That’s why we believe in cause and effect stronger in meditation center and monastery. That’s why when we do good deeds, we are serious to do good deeds especially with the mind, not with physical or verbal actions, but serious with the mind [by mental actions]. That’s why it is more powerful.