Phutthassa lokadhammehi
Cittam yassa na kampati
Asokam virajam khemam,
Etam mangalamuttamam.
He whose mind does not flutter,
By contact with
worldly contingencies,
Sorrowless, Stainless and Secure,
This is the Highest Blessing.
The first blessing is he (yassa) whose mind (citta) does not flutter (nakampati) by contact (phutthassa) with worldly contingencies (lokadhamma). You should control your mind to be solid like a mass of rock; not to shake, flutter, waver or move when tempted by any of the following eight worldly contingencies:
These eight worldly contingencies can be analyzed in two patterns. In one pattern there are four good or pleasant contingencies - gain, honour, praise and happiness. In the other pattern there are four bad or unpleasant contingencies - loss, dishonour, blame and suffering. These eight worldly contingencies are the nature of the world for every being. Even an animal has a good opportunity when it has an owner. However, if the owner strikes it, then its favour is not very good. A very good and wise gentleman may receive honour, praise and cheer. At other times he may be dishonoured, blamed and abused; this is the nature of life. At times you may feel happiness, peace and harmony in your mind, and sometimes you may feel misery, sorrow, lamentation, unhappiness and suffering; these too are the nature of life. In our daily life we will always come in contact with one of these contingencies.
The eight worldly contingencies are not for the sake of god, supernatural agencies or deities. They are disconnected and never in contact with god, supernatural agencies or deities. According to your actions and reactions (kamma) and defilements (kilesa), they can do nothing for you. For instance, if a teacher shouted that the student was very bad and never obeyed the teacher's guidance, this is the teacher's action. At that point, the student may react by responding that he or she always obeys the teachings and does not like for the teacher to shout or blame him or her. The teacher acts by blaming and the student reacts by complaining. This is the nature of human life.
The eight worldly contingencies are broken down into four pairs. The first pair of contingencies are gain (labha) and loss (alabha). When we gain or receive a lot of money, at that time we feel very happy. But if we lose our job and are unable to receive any money, at that time we feel suffering. Suppose the good contingency is the right way and the bad contingency is the left way, in this case gain is right and loss is left. You should not approach the right way (gain) with attachment. When we gain money, we become attached to it, and if it is then lost, we feel suffering. You should also not approach the left side (loss) with detachment, because detachment is bad attachment. This too is suffering. Instead, you should be straight like an arrow and go the middle way without attachment to gain or detachment to loss. Our mind should be steadfast and concentrated when it contacts gain and loss. It is when our mind is firm and does not flutter that we receive happiness in this very life.
The second pair of worldly contingencies are honour (yasa) and dishonour (ayasa). After the defeat of Iraq. everyone cheered and honoured George Bush and the United States. But when Richard Nixon used many soldiers, weapons and money for the Vietnam War, after their defeat he and the United States were dishonoured by the world. Honour may cause happiness and dishonour suffering, but we should neither attach to honour nor detach to dishonour. Instead, when we make contact with either of these contingencies, we should control our mind not to flutter by taking the Middle Way.
A second translation of yasa and ayasa is retinue and loneliness. Retinue refers to one who has many people surrounding him or her, such as family members, sons and daughters, assistants, supporters, workers, etc. Retinue is on the pleasant side because with many attendants and a good environment we feel happiness. If all were to leave, we would feel loneliness. Sometimes, when people have no children or attendants, and are without anyone to contact, serve or listen to them, they too feel lonely. In the United Slates, many elderly people remain lonely without children or grandchildren, and gradually they become depressed. So we should go the Middle Way and neither attach to retinue with craving nor attach to loneliness with anger.
The third pair of worldly contingencies are praise (pasamsa) and blame (ninda). If you receive praise for being wise, intellectual, pious etc., at that time you may feel happy with attachment. If you receive blame at that time, do not worry by detachment. This praise or blame is not important because it comes from the outside. It is very important for our heart and mind to remain firm without fluttering when contacted by one of these contingencies.
The fourth pair of worldly contingencies are mental and physical happiness (sukha) and mental and physical suffering (dukkha). When we have happiness or satisfaction, we attach to it with craving, greed and lust. When we feel the unpleasantness of suffering, we try to detach from it by pushing it out with hatred. Happiness and suffering are always arising and disappearing. This nature of our lives is always changing and not everlasting. We can escape from happiness and suffering and attachment and detachment by following the Middle Way. When we go the Middle Way with equanimity, this will lead us to Nibbana. Once we attain Nibbana, these eight contingencies will surely cease.
In the Mangala Sutta we began with "not to associate with the fools but to associate with the wise. Now we have reached the highest stage of all of the blessings. If you associate with fools you come in contact with the four unpleasant worldly contingencies - loss, dishonour, blame and suffering. If you associate with the wise, you will come in contact with the four pleasant worldly contingencies - gain, honour, praise and happiness. You must follow these blessings and not let your mind flutter when you come in contact with the eight worldly contingencies.
I would like to briefly explain six additional pairs of contingencies. First, there is success (jaya) and defeat (parajaya). Sometimes you apply for a job and during the interview the directors like your answers and they appoint you to the job. Thus you succeed. At other times you may be defeated by not getting the job. The second pair of contingencies is health (arogya) and sickness (roga). When we are healthy and strong, we are happy and attach to this pleasant contingency. Sometimes we feel ill, cannot eat or sleep; this is the nature of life which we cannot escape.
Another pair of worldly contingencies is higher (ucca) and lower (nica). Your mind should not flutter because you may have a higher or lower education, rank, quality, etc. The nature of a human being is to be happy and attach to the highest title, rank or quality with greed. Sometimes, when we are lower down, we suffer and attach to the situation with anger. We must not approach the right pleasant side, nor the left unpleasant side, but go in the Middle Way.
Association (sampayoga) and separation (vippayago) is another pair of contingencies. When we associate with the beloved person, we are very happy because of the pleasantness of the situation. However, within 100 years we are sure to be separated from each other. At that time we will feel suffering, sorrow and lamentation. This is the worldly nature. Sometimes we feel suffering because we associate with a fool. Later, we feel happiness because we are separated from him. Train your mind well not to waver. This is the teaching of the Buddha.
The next contingency is freedom (vimutta) and bondage (bandhana). There are many kinds of bondage. Sometimes people have to serve in their job or in a military position for a certain period of time without leaving. Prisoners in jail suffer in bondage, but when they are released, they feet very happy. We all like freedom, but here we should understand that real bondage is attachment. In the continuity of life we are running from life to life: lower to higher like from a woeful state to a celestial state, and higher to lower like from a human to an animal state. This is because of bondage. The real meaning of freedom is freedom from bondage.
The last extra contingency is love (piya) and hate (appiya). It is our nature to attach to pleasant and unpleasant things. Thus, we attach to love with craving and to hate with anger. We do not dis-attach to hate, but we really attach to it. I would like to interpret that as a bad attachment. For example, there may be a person you hate or perhaps you have an enemy that causes danger to you. You may dream about this person or never forget your enemy; this is an unpleasant attachment. If we can totally eradicate craving and hatred, our mind is free from love and hate. At that time we will be going on the Middle Way.
The second blessing in this stanza means sorrowless (asokam), being without sorrow, inner sorrow, consuming of the heart, lamentation, excitement. In order to attain this blessing we should first understand and study the cause of sorrow. Only then will we naturally understand sorrowlessness.
Attachment is the cause of sorrow and sorrow is the effect of our attachment. For example, when a person that we know or love dies, we feel sorrow. The death is not the cause of this sorrow. The attachment that we had to this dead person is the cause of sorrow. When you look in the newspaper's obituary section, you see that many people are listed as having died. We never feel sorrow for these people, and that is because we had no attachment to them.
Craving, desire and greed is the cause of our attachment to our possessions. If any of our property is lost, destroyed, stolen or damaged, it is because of our attachment, thirsty craving and desire for this property tha>We should lead our life according to the law of nature of cause (hetu) and effect (phala) without either attachment or detachment to anything. To attain this blessing of sorrowlessness, we should eradicate the causes of sorrow, attachment (upathi), greed (lobha), craving (tanha) and desire (raga). By the practice of Vipassana meditation we can sever the causes of sorrow at the root and gain this blessing by our own endeavour.
The third blessing is stainless (virajam). Exactly what is meant as stained? According to the commentary, there are three stains of our mind - desire, hate and delusion. If our mind is stained with any of these three stains, the mind is never sharp.
For example, if you have a stainless steel knife, it is very bright and sharp because it is without any stains. If the knife becomes stained, it will not be as bright or sharp. Our mind is just like this knife because originally the mind of a human being is very bright and sharp. But as the mind becomes stained with defilements, we cannot penetrate anything. When we remove these three kinds of stains by the practice of samadhi and vipassana, at that time our mind will become pure and sharp. At that time we are without defilements or impurities. The mind once again becomes clear, bright, sharp and stainless.
The fourth and final blessing means a safe (khemam) and secure place free from danger. When we arrive at this place, free from danger, suffering, sorrow, lamentation, rebirth, decay, disease and death, this is the attainment of Nibbana.
When you attain the Nibbana, there is nothing more to do because There is no more rebirth, decay. disease, death, craving, hatred, delusion and illusion. Nibbana is peaceful, everlasting. However, many materialistic people like something to do at every moment. Someone once asked me, "Venerable Sir, when we attain the Nibbana, what shall we do?" Another person asked, "When I arrive in Nibbana can I have a cigarette?" Given the explanation that there is nothing else to do, they responded that they would not like Nibbana because their hobby is to always do something. Because of their emotional level some people do not understand that Nibbana is very good.
Nibbana is a veiny secure and safe place, free from all kinds of defilements and suffering. There is no more danger (birth, decay, disease and death) and no more enemies (greed, hatred and delusion). It is real and everlasting happiness. The final peace of Nibbana, this is our goal.
To sum up the four blessings taught in this stanza: unwavering cognizance, sorrowless cognizance, unstained cognizance and secure, cognizance with respect to the eight worldly contingencies, this is the highest blessing(etam mangalamuttamam)
Etadisani katvana
Sabbattha-m- aparajita
Sabbattha sotthim gacchanti,
Tam tesam mangalamuttamam.
To them, fulfilling matters
such as these,
Everywhere invincible,
In every way moving happily,
These are the Highest Blessings.
After expounding the thirty-eight blessings, the Buddha concluded with this stanza. To them, fulfilling matters (katvana) such as these (etadisni), everywhere invincible (sabbattha-m-aparajita), in every way moving happily (sabbattha sotthim gacchanti). These (tam) are the highest blessings (tesam mangalamuttamam).
To those who act according to the thirty-eight blessings, beginning with "not to associate with the fools, practising and understanding each of them well, one will succeed in life. It is by the power of the practice of these mangalas that throughout every corner of the world and on any occasion one will never be defeated by enemies, neither internally nor externally.
It is by the power of the practice of these mangalas that throughout every corner of the world and on any occasion one will .go in safety, unharassed, secure and fearless because of the absence of the vexations that would have arisen in him when associating with fools.
It is by the power of the practice of these mangalas that throughout every corner of the world and on any occasion one will attain happiness, peace, success and fame in this very life and in future lives until the Nibbana.
To those who practise the thirty- eight blessings these are the Highest Blessings. This concludes the teaching of the Mangala Sutta.
May you all be well, peaceful and happy by the power of the Mangala Sutta.
Sadu..........Sadu..........Sadu
Venerable Ashin Nyanissara
(Thegon Sayadaw)
References in Burmese Language
The following books used by Venerable Nyanissara are the Burmese translation of the Buddha's teachings at the Sixth Buddhist Council held in Yangon, Myanmar: