Opinion

The Buddha said, "Human beings live in two worlds: the internal world and the external world, with both of which we are in contact all of the time". He went on to say "Contact is not in itself a problem. The problem arises when we put our opinion onto it." It is easy to see the truth of this, for we too can notice that problems tend to arise in our daily life when we form an opinion. If we stayed with contact as it really is, without adding our opinion, we wouldn’t have any problems. But we don’t want to stay with reality as it is revealed; we put more and more opinions onto the contact. For example, when we see colour, we like to go further than just colour. We label it red, yellow, blue and so on and then ‘like’, or ‘dislike’ arises. Now we argue with either ourselves, or others, saying, "I like red, I dislike yellow." The argument goes on further and further. Even if we like the same colour, we will argue, saying, "I like dark red; I dislike light red."

Opinion is not reality because it is formed, or created. The first contact we make with an object is a true impression; but after an opinion is formed, it is no longer true. For example; if sugar is added to water, it is no more pure water. This metaphor means that water on its own is a true or pure element, but when it is mixed with sugar, it is no longer pure as it becomes sweet water, or something else. Opinion is a secondary truth. If we continue on further and further, we go bit by bit further away from the truth. The truth gets eaten away and becomes less and less until it becomes something which even annoys those who form it. There is a story about this which is told by Ajahn Jayasaro. It might help us understand more deeply. Here is the story:

There was once a man who wanted to cut the grass, but his mower was out of order. He thought that he would borrow a mower from his neighbour. So he walked to his neighbour’s door, and along the way, he thought, "Well! This neighbour is not friendly and is a bit selfish. I never borrow things from him. If he will not lend me his mower, what will I do? He may not only refuse to lend it to me, but he may also say bad things to me. How should I react in this situation?" Whilst he was thinking and standing in front of the door, the neighbour opened the door. The man blurted out, "O.K. If you don’t want to lend me your mower, that’s fine! But why do you say bad things to me?" After he had said this, he went back home. This left the neighbour in a state of surprise and bemusement, just saying to himself, "What!?"

The story teaches us that if we go too far, we will get lost in opinion and make judgements from that opinion. There are a lot of people who are preoccupied by opinion and act like this man. The solution to this problem is to stop having opinions; just perceive, or view things as they really are. I was once asked about this, "Is it difficult to do that?" I answered, "No, it is not. We just allow ourselves to observe the thoughts and don’t react to them. We just acknowledge them and let them go." It sounds easy to do, doesn’t it?

That is the method, now you can try it out if you like. It may be a good start for you to rest, or calm down your mind; stop thinking and observe it, neither having an opinion about it, nor judging it.