-4- Study of Dhamma from Objects of Analogy
~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
We have tried to make something that would promote profound Dhamma. An example is the Nalikae Pond, in the middle of which there is an island planted with a lone coconut tree. It is in the southern part of Suan Mokkh. Our intention is for the pond to represent a sea of wax. We used a monstrous D-7 tractor, which could work most productively, for a full month to create the pond.
We want to preserve the notion of the nalikae island in the middle of a wax sea because it is sung as an old lullaby of this town, Chaiya. The people of this town believe that Buddhism came here more than a thousand years ago. The people of that time profoundly understood Dhamma and that nibbāna (deliverance from suffering) is within the saṃsāra (life process) or nibbāna can be found within saṃsāra. This means that cessation of dukkha (suffering) can be found in dukkha itself, or extinction of a fire can be found in the fire itself. So they composed a lullaby so profound as to mention nibbāna. There are many good lullaby compositions, the most heart-warming of them being that which goes like this:
'A lone nalikae coconut tree
In the middle of the wax sea
Never hit by rains
Nor by thunders
In the middle of the wax sea
Only reached by the transcendent of virtue'
You may not understand what this lullaby means. What is meant by ‘never getting hit by rains nor by thunders’ is never having suffering. And what is meant by a nalikae coconut tree in the middle of the wax sea? The coconut tree is nibbāna and the wax sea is saṃsāra, which can be good or positive at one time and can be bad or negative at another. In the middle of the wax sea, saṃsāra, suffering, there is nibbāna, cessation of suffering. However, the foolish nowadays try to think their brains off for ten lifetimes but never figure out that the ancestors said this. The Nalikae Pond is what we built as an object for Dhamma study.
To speak well about nibbāna, we should all go discuss it near the Nalikae Pond. In fact, I used to do this. I once did it with Mr. Sanya Thammasak and some other intelligent people like him. When we went to the Pond, I explained every aspect of nibbāna, making good use of the coconut tree and the metaphorical sea of wax as supplements. It was fun, and at the same time fruitful and unforgettable. When people try to study such objects, with an able guide and with an on-site discussion, we can get the benefit in many ways.
Other lullaby compositions, such as those about the cashew fruit or a certain kind of orange, all aim at nibbāna. This shows that our ancestors knew what nibbāna is all about, and they put scolding and teasing words in the compositions too. We wanted to preserve this particular lullaby about the nalikae coconut tree, so we spent some money making the Nalikae Pond.
The pond we made represents the sea of wax, which is a liquid when hot and a solid when cold. This means merit and demerit, respectively. They are two different states of the same thing, depending on whether it’s hot or it’s cold. We should neither grasp at nor hold on to them because they are conditioned things just the same. I can spend an hour talking about merit and demerit, but let’s consider the meaning of the sea of wax. Nibbāna is in the middle of the sea of wax, but it is not the wax; they are not the same thing. Dukkha caused by the sea of wax denies one’s access to the coconut tree, that is, nibbāna. As we know this, we should go to the Pond and meditate there so that we don’t have to tire ourselves running around or getting into unworthy trouble.
This is called Dhamma analogy as a supplement for study, or study from objects, as used in modern education. You can learn from reading books too, but learning from an object is profoundly useful. So we should have an adequate number of such objects of study.
A building of ours was built to appear as a sea-going ship. It’s the building for visitors who stop over. We intend it to mean the ferry that carries people from tīraṃ (‘this side’) to pāraṃ (‘the other side’). ‘This side’ means the mundane side, and ‘the other side’ means the supra-mundane side, namely, nibbāna.
When I saw a picture from an archeological excavation of a prehistoric tomb, it caught my attention. Some of the bodies were found to have on their sides a small stone carving in the form of a ship. I guessed those prehistoric people knew that a ship was for going across a river or a sea, and to enable the deceased to do so, they provided one for him in the tomb. That’s how smart the ancient people were about their funeral. The ship is for going from this side to the other side of the sea of suffering, not for carrying cargoes as normally assumed. We tried to make as many objects of study as we could, but so far we could make only a few things. We had a lot of trouble making them. Nonetheless, we are contented with our ability to make one or two. At the stern of the ship, there are pictures of a black swan and a white one. The black one comes from one side, the white one comes from the opposite side, and in the middle there is a circle with nothing inside. The analogy is that when merit and demerit reach the point of voidness, they are equally void. This shows a profound dhamma: a teaching of liberation or a teaching on the ultimate level.
After I had made such objects for Dhamma study, I felt sorry for myself because nobody was interested in looking at them, let alone studying them. It was like playing a flute to an audience of rhinoceroses, even though we tried our best to teach people with as many objects as possible. If we could have done as we had planned, there would have been many more objects than the few that we have now. But with as few objects as we have made, we hope they will be beneficial. Particularly, the Nalikae Pond is what pleases me – myself alone – very much; other people are not quite pleased with it, and they do not make use of it.
Let’s try to make use of the objects that we have made or are present at Suan Mokkh, and get the most benefits from them.
(From "Benefits You Should Get from Coming to Suan Mokkh," a talk given by Tan Ajahn in December 1988 at the request of Tan Dusadee Bhikkhu, as translated from the Thai by Aj. Mongkol Dejnakarintra.)
- - ❖ - -
“24 Benefits of Suan Mokkh,” is a series of weekly posts published to commemorate the 88th anniversary of the foundation of Suan Mokkh in May 1932 in Chaiya, southern Thailand.
- - ❖ - -
For other Dhamma teachings by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu (audios, free ebooks, interviews, poems), please visit Suan Mokkh – The Garden of Liberation.
- - ❖ - -
Photograph from the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives collection (Ref. W-179)
