Lal said:
“Of course, I have unshakeable faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Otherwise, I would not be spending essentially all of my time dedicated to this effort of sharing what I have gained.”
Thank you very much for this comment since it clarifies for me something in my mind not too long ago, after I had a discussion on Dhamma with someone.
I was telling someone about the Buddha Dhamma I learned here, and he brought up something I had not thought of before. The argument was something like this (and I am using “he” in the sense of a gender-neutral pronoun below):
If what you are saying were true then people who had seen Dhamma would be distant and aloof toward life.
(1) Take the case of a sotapanna
He had seen the fruitlessness, and even dangers, of mundane life, and thus he would not spend extra effort to make the mundane world a better place.
If he had a job then he would do the minimum to get by, and then contemplate Dhamma. He would not strive to be excellent at his job. Such a person would never be someone like a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs whose technology made the world a better place.
Socially, he would likely not be an activist, fighting for social justice — civil rights, gay rights, etc. Again, he would likely spend his time meditating toward the next magga phala.
(2) Take the case of a sakadagami
If he were seriously ill he may not even seek treatment since the sooner he dies as a human the sooner he is reborn a deva where he experiences no more illness. Furthermore, if a sakadagami family member dies he may even be happy about it.
I now firmly believe that when someone becomes an ariya he has a strong wish to share what he’s gained with others. It’s what Lal is doing here. The purpose of this site is to help get people to the sotapanna stage; I remember reading this somewhere. And for that we are forever grateful.
Best,
Lang