THE EIGHT WORLDLY DHARMAS
Master Jun Hong Lu: Let it be known that everyone needs to learn the Eight Worldly Dharmas. As I have highlighted in the past, understanding the Eight Worldly Dharmas, which refer to the worldly benefits and traps, is critical in overcoming our self-attachment. You have to understand that we are not here simply to reap worldly benefits. In fact, the world we live in is fraught with inestimable traps that we are bound to fall into. It is hardly surprising to see countless numbers of people end up falling into these traps without knowing.
The first Worldly Dharma is the desire for praise. Is there anyone who doesn’t yearn to be praised by others? When you prepare a dish, and someone goes, “What a delicious meal!”, I bet you will be delighted. The desire for praise is a mental preoccupation common among humans. You will notice that a person’s mood lightens up immediately after being complimented.
The second Worldly Dharma is the fear of criticism. No one likes to be criticised. The moment someone criticises you, instantaneously you become upset and such negative emotions can last a minute or two or up to an hour, but for some people, they will sulk for a month or even up to a year. Worse still, there are those who are fond of holding grudges against others. If you criticise them publicly, they may even bear a grudge against you for a lifetime.
The third Worldly Dharma is the desire for gains. Everyone hopes to gain and fears losses, with the latter being the fourth Worldly Dharma. After laying hands on something, do you think a person will even want to lose it? That is unlikely, right?
The fifth being the desire for joy. At times, misfortune may befall you if you are happy when you are not supposed to. Once there was a person who learned a verse on happiness from an eminent monk, recited the verse to a family that was grieving the death of a family member, he ended up being thrown out by the family. Do you know why? The desire for joy is also a mental preoccupation because when someone makes you happy, you are bound to commit mistakes immediately thereafter. As a simple example, when someone offers you liquor, you will be happy, right? But, the moment the bill is presented to you for payment, are you willing to sign on it?
The sixth being the fear of suffering. Nobody wants pain and suffering.
The seventh Worldly Dharma is the desire for fame. Many people yearn for their contributions to be noticed and recognised. They will think, “Do others know me?”, “Do they know that that was my contribution?”, “Does anybody know about the good things that I did?”. They become unhappy if their efforts go unnoticed. When others stop discussing them, they will wonder, “How many retweets did I garner?”, “How many members in my group know about it?”. Can you understand what I am trying to get at?
The desire for one’s fame to reach far and wide is a human flaw that was expounded by the Buddha some 2,500 years ago.
The eighth Worldly Dharma is the fear of being neglected, that is, the fear of fading into oblivion. Whenever someone attends a party, he will hope to receive a warm welcome or reception. If you go, “Wow, you have arrived, please take a seat here”, as a guest he will be delighted because you give him a warm welcome. Conversely, if you leave him out, he will feel miserable.
As a matter of fact, Buddhism talks about the eight things in life that make humans vulnerable, and they are none other than the Eight Worldly Dharmas or the Eight Preoccupations that were highlighted earlier.
To illustrate, when someone does not like to be criticised, he will become vulnerable. In this regard, he will not dare challenge others because if he does so, he will be exposing himself to criticisms.
As a consequence, he will not rationalise with others nor will he talk about principles for fear of being rebuked by others of his own shortcomings, even as it is a time that he should step forward and pinpoint the mistakes made by them. Isn’t this a sign of vulnerability?
Not surprisingly, many people, who have yet to overcome their flaws, will not dare point out mistakes made by others. Do you think such people will still have any sense of integrity or righteousness? Therefore, it is of paramount importance for us to internalise the teachings of Bodhisattvas and it is not merely about gaining a superficial understanding of these teachings.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms (Audio), Episode 67, 29 January 2022
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