In the Hannyakyo sutra, the Buddha states, “A foolish person always looks for a person’s bad qualities and uses those faults against them, boasting to everyone as if they themselves are perfect.” Every human being has a greed for knowledge or curiosity-trying to learn more about what they do not understand or trying to make certain, the things that are unclear to them. This is why we have education, which in turn assists in the development of knowledge and a better understanding of the world around us and ourselves.
Often times our education is driven by our own curiosity to learn more, for example, about a particular topic. Unfortunately, for many people, most of this curiosity is driven by wanting to validate rumors or seeking out the truth that has nothing to do with themselves. The society’s desire to acquire such information is why magazines that write about the private lives of celebrities are topping the sales charts today. As many of you know, most of these magazines often exaggerate and add their own fake storyline to make the story seem more interesting and one that people would want to read about. Even during family gatherings or when meeting with friends, people often focus on and enjoy gossiping about the flaws of other people. Sometimes they go as far as to involve themselves in family disputes and troubles of these people. As with many of the magazine writers, many enjoy overexaggerating little mistakes and adding their own twist to these rumors that they hear. For many of these people, gossiping is their hobby and they enjoy hearing and spreading rumors. Therefore, in most cases, these people that spread these rumors hold no grudge against the person they gossip about.
What do these people really gain from spreading these rumors about different people? Those people who take these actions will eventually have the same done to them, not realizing that they will have to suffer the repercussions of the bad karma that they have accumulated from these actions. Much of the suffering that we experience in this “suffering world” is one that we often times cannot control. However, this action of spreading rumors is one that every person can control and prevent. There is nothing more foolish than suffering as a result of actions that we ourselves can control.
As a result, many people forget about the important qualities that we ourselves hope to portray and in turn, see in others. These qualities may include honor and respect for others. We acquire and develop these qualities through the experiences that we have throughout our life. In this process, we are also purifying our spirit and accumulating good karma.
As this year comes to an end, I am hoping that we will all take the time to reflect on the actions we took this year and think about ways that we can improve the next year.
Ven. Kenjo Igarashi
November/December 2019