GOOD QUESTION
GOOD ANSWER
Ven. S.
Dhammika
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[09]
Good Luck and Fate
What did the Buddha teach
about magic and fortune telling?
The Buddha considered such
practices as fortune telling, wearing magic charms for protection, finding
lucky sites for buildings, prophesising and fixing lucky days to be
useless superstitions and he expressly forbade his disciples to practise
such things. He called all these things 'low arts'.
"Whereas some
religious men, while living off food provided by the faithful make their
living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry,
divining by signs, interpreting dreams, bringing about good or bad luck,
picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gotama refrains from such
low arts, such wrong means of livelihood".
Then why do people
sometimes practise such things and believe in them?
Because of greed, fear and
ignorance. As soon as people understand the Buddha’s teachings, they
realise that a pure heart can protect them much better than bits of paper,
bits of metal and a few chanted words and they no longer rely on such
things. In the teachings of the Buddha, it is honesty, kindness,
understanding, patience, forgiveness, generosity, loyalty and other good
qualities that truly protect you and give you true prosperity.
But some lucky charms do
work, don’t they?
I know a person who makes
a living selling lucky charms. He claims that his charms can give good
luck, prosperity and he guarantees that you will be able to pick three
numbers. But if what he says is true then why isn’t he himself a
multi-millionaire? If his lucky charms really work, then why doesn’t he
win the lottery week after week? The only luck he has is that there are
people silly enough to buy his magic charms.
Then is there such a thing
as luck?
The dictionary defines
luck as 'believing that whatever happens, either good or bad, to a person
in the course of events is due to chance, fate or fortune'. The Buddha
denied this belief completely. Everything that happens has a specific
cause or causes and there must be some relationships between the cause and
the effect. Becoming sick, for example, has specific causes. One must come
into contact with germs and one’s body must be weak enough for the germs
to establish themselves. There is a definite relationship between the
cause (germs and a weakened body) and the effect (sickness) because we
know that germs attack the organisms and give rise to sickness. But no
relationship can be found between wearing a piece of paper with words
written on it and being rich or passing examinations. Buddhism teaches
that whatever happens does so because of a cause or causes and not due to
luck, chance or fate. People who are interested in luck are always trying
to get something,usually more money and wealth. The Buddha teaches us that
it is far more important to develop our hearts and minds. He says:
Being
deeply learned and skilled;
Being well-trained and
Using well-spoken words
This is the best good luck.
To support mother and father,
To cherish wife and child and
To have a simple livelihood
This is the best good luck.
Being
generous, just,
Helping one's relatives and
Being blameless in one's actions
This is the best good luck.
To refrain
from evil and from strong drink,
And to be always steadfast in virtue,
This is the best good luck.
Reverence,
humanity, contentment,
Gratitude and hearing the good Dharma,
This is the best good luck.
Sn 261-265
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Content | 01 | 02
| 03 | 04 | 05
| 06 | 07 | 08
| 09 | 10 |
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Update : 01-03-2002
