Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears
Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives C05548
“Enlightened people are said to keep staying alive because of their commitment to help others to overcome suffering. Would this be an example of selfless attachment? What keeps the commitment from fading away?”
~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
The arahant or so-called ‘enlightened being’ who has transcended all self doesn’t have any self to attach to. For the arahant there is no self to attach to, so the arahant has no dukkha, has no problem. Empty or void of self, the arahant is full of wisdom, but this doesn’t erase or annihilate kindness, friendliness, and compassion. Just because there’s no self doesn’t mean that there is no compassion. So when seeing that people still suffer because of attaching to self, the arahant will do what can be done to help them to have a self which is no longer attached to as self. The arahant will help others to see for themselves that there’s nothing worth attaching to as self until those people have no more self to attach to, and are themselves free of dukkha. So the arahant, in being void of self and free of all troubles, is full of wisdom.
If there is still attachment one cannot really love another. If there is still attachment, any love will be selfish. If one still has self then love will be tainted by this self and selfishness, and one will always be trying to use love for one’s personal benefit – this is unavoidable. But when there’s no more attachment, when one is free of self, then love is pure and love will not be used or twisted by ego or by selfishness. So there are these two very different kinds of love: the love where there is self, where there is attachment, which will always be selfish, and then there’s the love which is pure, which involves no attachment and no self. To really love someone, to really love, to really help, one must be free of attachment and self. If one is still attaching, how can one help others to not attach? If one is still attaching, then our help will always be mixed up with our own personal benefit and advantage. But when one has gotten free of all self, then one can truly help because there is pure love. Be very careful not to mix up genuine love with selfish love, the love of attachment.
(From the retreat “Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears,” as translated from the Thai by Santikaro)
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Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.
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