Question: Dear Sayadaw, I want to get advice about my situation. I need to hire a gardener and I have found a guy from a poor family who lives nearby as a neighbor. I’ve talked to him already and kind of promised to hire him. And I recognized that his skillfulness is not enough. Moreover, I met another guy who seemed more skillful and love gardening. Now I don’t know what to do because I don’t want to upset the first guy and I want to help his family too. On the other hand, I really want somebody to take better care of my garden. What should I do?

That is common in society, it’s difficult to solve by ourselves. That’s why I use a meditation center to solve this kind of problem: not only meditation but also helping, volunteering; in this way they can do what they can and we can support them. Actually, we want them to study about doing good deeds; that’s why we invite them to come and stay in our meditation center. Only the right practice, only the Middle way can solve this problem. It’s the only thing we can do best in the present moment. There are many problems like this which cannot be solved by ourselves or the government. I have opened centers full of helpless, hopeless people; I cannot reject them therefore I try my best as a teamwork. It’s really helpful. That’s why we do like this in most places which we can do. In this way we can send them to those centers. For a long time, they will change for sure. If they cannot survive, they can come and stay with us, volunteering. This is the way I am doing. If one family member is willing to volunteer in our meditation center, they can understand more, then the whole one will be okay.

In the Thanlyin center, we have to do the same. Many villagers, families are volunteering in the center because they cannot survive by themselves. They are not skillful at doing something, so they clean the center, join alms-rounds and we give them food and solve their problem; they are free to help. That is the only solution but nothing is permanent, in a long time it will change by itself. What we can do now is trying to do good deeds more and more to endure this kind of problem. Most people are facing that problem. Some stay in a condo with security to be safe from the people who are in trouble with us. But it’s costly and also not the best; not solving the problem. We should help as much as we can because we are neighbors and then I should try to endure, to learn from them what is bad and good. If more and more people are in the same situation as his family, we can create a place for this kind of family.