Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

Dangers
The best reason to practice meditation is that on the road
ahead of us there is great danger; we are faced with great
danger in our individual futures. Each and every one of us is
in danger that we live with until we can find safety. The only
difference is that some people see this danger and some
don’t see it. Since we can not prepare ourselves for the
future if we don’t understand the dangers we face, we must
start our lives by learning of the dangers that lie before us.
According to the Buddha’s teaching, there are a great
number of dangers ahead of us. An understanding of these
will encourage us to live our lives with care; it will prepare us
for the future and allow us to avoid the things we can avoid
and accept the things we cannot.
The first set of dangers ahead of us are birth, old age,
sickness and death. These dangers are those that are
common to all beings. It’s true that there’s no birth ahead of
us in this life – we’ve already met with it; it’s no longer a
danger, it’s now a reality, we have been born. Because of
our birth we have to face all sorts of suffering and discomfort
that come along with being human, suffering that comes
hand in hand with being born – the other three: old age,
sickness and death. These are dangers we cannot avoid in
this lifetime. Even if we understand them thoroughly, even if
we learn all that there is to know about them and prepare
ourselves for them well in advance, we cannot avoid any one
of them. The danger that we can avoid, however, is that
they might catch us unaware, unprepared for them, in which
case we will suffer great mental distress, unable to come to
terms with their reality.
If we get old but are not prepared for old age – not prepared
to be old and bent and aching and with the many ailments
that come along with being old: having a poor memory,
rotting teeth, false teeth, a bent back, arthritis, etc., and all
the many ailments which come along with being old, if we
don’t have a mind which is well-trained and able to deal with
such uncomfortable, undesirable states, then this is a great
danger to us, something that is waiting for us and will cause
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