Where is contentment?

By Dhammacaro

We, human beings, like to blame one another when things go wrong, because of this, or that, or because of you, him, or her.  We complain, saying, ‘ I’m not happy…I’m not successful…not satisfied…’ and so on. In reality most of this has nothing to do with others.   We need to look within ourselves to find out what is the real cause of not being happy, not being successful, not being satisfied.   The real causes are to be found there, within. There is a story, which illustrates this point well. Here is the story:

There once was a young man who was highly educated, from abroad. He was asked to become a Buddhist monk by his parents, in keeping with tradition. He answered his parents, saying, “Yes, I will do this.” After ordination,  he was sent to the forest temple, which was far away from the city. There, there were no facilities. It would have been fine for someone who was learned and well trained, but for this new monk it was tough for him to stay in such a place. He complained a lot, saying, “The bed is hard, the place is dirty, the food is terrible and so on.”

One day after evening chanting, the head monk gave a Dhamma talk to all the monks and novices.  He said:

“You see! A  dog with leprosy was sleeping under a tree.  He had been running all day, going here and there all the time. He could not stay anywhere for long.  He thought that each place was not pleasant. He complained that all the places were dirty, which caused him to be dissatisfied. In the end he just went round and round from one to the other. Still he could not find anywhere pleasant. He did not know the real cause of unpleasantness, which was the illness within himself.”

After the talk, the head monk said, “Now it’s time to meditate.” All the monks and novices started meditating, except the new young monk who could not meditate. His outward attitude was quite all right, but inside himself, he was restless. He saw himself as the dog with leprosy, which was running around, blaming this and that. Then he realized that he should have been satisfied with what he had, he should not have complained about anything. After meditation, the head monk asked him, “When will you disrobe?” He answered, “Sir, I am the dog with leprosy, I need to stay longer to heal myself.” After that he never complained about anything.  He just resolved to learn Dhamma and practise meditation.

The story teaches us that we must look within ourselves to find out our own problem. When we have done this, then we can solve the problem.   We should not just blame others, or complain about things, saying, for example, “I am not satisfied with my colleagues… I should leave and work for another company…. I’m not satisfied here either, and should move again.” This will be like the dog with leprosy in the story.

Find yourself, and then you will find your happiness.