Resolution is a plan for our own life
Dear Rene',
Last week, one of my foreign friends and I went to the temple and before making the merit
I told her to make a resolution
first and you know what?...She was still wondering about the resolution and asked me about
it on the way home...
"It seems that you spent a long time making a resolution. I'd
like to know why making a resolution is so important."
"Our master always teaches that the resolution we make is a plan for our own life...
...I quite agree to his teaching because it corresponds with the interreslated ideas of
kamma and rebirth...
...According to Buddhism, so long as we do not attain arahatship, we will be reborn
endlessly; and what will result in our rebirth is our own past deeds or kamma...
...That is, only good deeds will result in good effects."
"But if you believe that your merit making will bring
you happiness, why do you have to make a resolution as well?"
"Well, usually when I make a merit. I only aim at a few particular things. So, I have
to make a resolution to make sure that I can achieve everything I need for a bright
destiny."
"May I know what you mean by a
bright destiny?"
"Can you guess?
"I guess that you are destined for wealth and
prosperity, aren't you?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Isnt' that greed?"
"No, not at all. Apart from wealth and prosperity, I'm also destined to be reborn as
a human being with Right Understaning so that I'm wise enough to train and develop myself
for salvation."
"Can't one be wise without resolution?"
"Well, in the course of history, there have been lots of people with Wrong
Understanding. They live their live illegally and immorally...
...The more wealthy and prosperous they are, the more they misbehave, And the unwholesome
deeds of these ignorant people have damaged the wellbeing of small and large societies
worldwide."
"So you think that the main cause of the cofusion and
conflict in the world is Wrong Understanding, don't you?"
"Yes, of course. So when I make merit I have to resolve to have Right Understanding,
wealth, and prosperity so that it won't take me too long to achieve perfection...
...And I myself will not be the one causing confusion and conflict to societies as
well..."
"Sadhu! I rejoice in your merit."
Okay, one more thing before I go, I'd like to let you know that if we were poor but had
the right understanding, we would have no chance to make the merit. But if we were rich
and had the wrong understanding, we would have more chance to make a sin than the people
who have the right understanding. :)
Love,
Zasha