z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 04.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 285
WHAT IS SADDHAMMA ?
- The answer was “No.”
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“What is the use,” asked the. Buddha, “of a purge for former misdeeds, what is the use of not committing fresh misdeeds, if there is no training of the mind to turn bad disposition into good disposition.”
This was in his opinion a very serious defect in religion. A good disposition is the only permanent foundation of and guarantee of permanent goodness.
That is why the Buddha gave the first place to the training of the mind which is the same as the training of a man’s disposition.
The second thing to which he gave great importance is courage to stand by what is right even if one is alone.
In the Sallekha-Sutta the Buddha has emphasized this point.
This is what he has said :
“You are to expunge by resolving that, though others may be harmful, you will be harmless.
“That though others may kill, you will never kill.
“That though others may steal, you will not.
“That though others may not lead the higher life, you will.
“That though others may lie, traduce, denounce, or prattle, you will not.
“That though others may be covetous, you will covet not.
“That though others may be malignant, you will not be malignant.
“That though others may be given over to wrong views, wrong aims, wrong speech, wrong actions, and wrong concentration, you must follow (the Noble Eightfold Path in) right outlook, right aims, right speech, right actions, right mode of livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
“That though others are wrong about the truth and wrong about Deliverance, you will be right about truth and right about Deliverance.
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