คำสอน · พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์Teaching · Pra Ajarn Suraphong
ทำไมคนส่วนใหญ่เชื่อไสยศาสตร์ ฮวงจุ้ย เลขมงคล มากกว่าพุทธศาสตร์Why Do Most People Believe in the Occult, Feng Shui, and Lucky Numbers More Than Buddhism?
พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าคนเชื่อไสยศาสตร์เพราะนิวรณ์และอวิชชาบังไม่ให้เข้าใจธรรมะ ประกอบกับสัดส่วนธรรมชาติสามฝ่ายในใจแต่ละคนไม่เท่ากัน อกุศลอาศัยความกลัวและความโลภชี้นำให้คนหลงเชื่อสิ่งที่พิสูจน์ไม่ได้ ขณะที่พุทธศาสตร์เป็นคำสอนฝ่ายกุศลล้วน สามารถพิสูจน์ได้ตรงไปตรงมาThe teacher explains that people believe in the occult because hindrances and ignorance obscure their understanding of the Dhamma, and each person carries a different proportion of the three natures within. Unwholesome forces exploit fear and greed to draw people toward things that cannot be proven, whereas Buddhism is a purely wholesome teaching that can be verified directly.
Someone asked why most people believe in the occult, feng shui, and lucky numbers more than Buddhism, and whether there are any downsides to such belief.
Why Do People Believe in the Occult More Than the Dhamma
Khun Yay once said we are fortunate to live in an auspicious universe; in another kind of universe, talking about would make no sense at all. The problem lies with both teacher and listener not understanding the benefit of the Dhamma, because mental hindrances obscure the inner already present in everyone. These hindrances are: sensual desire, ill will, restlessness and worry, sloth and drowsiness, and doubt. When these hindrances block the mind, the drawing-in of pure energy cannot occur.
Each person carries a different proportion of the three natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral. Someone with a large proportion of unwholesome nature feels uncomfortable the moment they hear Dhamma, because force possessing their mind experiences that discomfort in their place. Someone with a large wholesome proportion, on the other hand, is guided by their wholesome mind to take interest in the Dhamma, explaining its content clearly through examples — and in that moment, the stream of merit flows in, clearing away the stain of .
How Are the Occult, Feng Shui, and Lucky Numbers Related to the Three Natures
Every branch of knowledge carries some mixture of the three natures within it, in differing proportions. Where the unwholesome nature predominates, the downsides outweigh the benefits; where nature predominates, the benefits outweigh the downsides. Buddhism, however, is 100% wholesome, because it teaches understanding of the truth exactly as it is, in every aspect. Even though Buddhism can be verified the most directly and straightforwardly of all, worldly-educated people often don't believe it, choosing instead to believe things that cannot be proven — simply out of ignorance. Unwholesome forces exploit fear and greed to guide people, making them want this or that, or fear losing something. Without understanding life's essential principles, one has no self-mastery, and so must keep relying on others' guidance, passed down from one person to the next.
Take the belief that changing one's name brings wealth: in truth, when the term of some past demerit happens to end right around the time someone changes their name, accumulated merit comes to fruition according to its pre-set pattern, making life improve — but this has nothing to do with the name change at all. It's simply a coincidence that people mistake for cause and effect.
What Are the Downsides of Believing in the Occult
If these various disciplines didn't exist, people would not be so preoccupied, and would instead turn to learning the truth of life through Buddhism. But because so many other disciplines exist, people get lost wasting time and money on them unnecessarily — all a result of ignorance, which relies on fear and greed to guide people from behind, passed along from person to person across the entire world.