There’s Still Goodness in the World
January 16, 2024

Close your eyes. Take a couple of good, long, deep, in-and-out breaths, and notice where you feel your breathing in the body. Focus your attention there. Then try to stay there, all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out. Let the breath be comfortable. If long breathing doesn’t feel good, you can change—make it shorter, faster, slower, heavier, lighter.

Try to create a little island of well-being inside you right now. That island of well-being inside you— that’s called merit. *Puñña *is the Pali term. A better translation might be just goodness: the goodness of the mind that comes when you do something good. You want to appreciate that because that’s food for the mind, nourishment for the mind, for times like this when you really need strength inside.

We have that chant that we recite on a regular basis: “I’m subject to aging, illness, death, and separation.” The Thai translation is, “Aging is normal; illness is normal; death is normal.” When we look at it from a distance, we can say, yes, it is a normal part of life. When it’s up close, however, it doesn’t seem normal at all. We can see how much it hurts. So we have to acknowledge that: that there has been a loss. But at the same time we have to think about how the good things in life still are around, are still there.

There’s a story in the Canon where Ven. Sariputta who was one of the Buddha’s foremost disciples, passes away and Ven. Ananda, who was the Buddha’s attendant, comes and brings the news. He talks of how he’s totally wiped out by the news of Sariputta’s passing, because Sariputta had done so many good things for him.

The Buddha asks him: When Sariputta left, did he take virtue with him? No. Concentration? No. Discernment? No. Release from suffering? No.

These are all the good things in life. They’re still there. So we do these good things. This is why we make merit on the occasion of a death like this: one, so that we can send the merit to the person who’s passed away. We try to create a feeling of well-being inside, in spite of the events, reminding ourselves that there is such a thing as goodness, and it’s still there. So you hold on to that.

And then, with the currents of your mind, you can send a good energy to the person who’s passed. One of the Buddha’s most basic teachings is the power of the mind. We live in a world of aging, illness, and death, but it is possible not to suffer from these things through developing our minds. And this is one of the instances where we can see the power of the mind. We may not be able to see it directly, but we can have faith in the power of the mind, and in the goodness we do and dedicate to others. If they sense it and appreciate it, they’re going to benefit too.

At the same time, we remind ourselves that goodness still exists in the world. It’s still here. Appreciate the people you have now.

This is the other lesson that we have to take from an event like this: heedfulness, realizing that we don’t know how much time we have with one another, how much time we have on this earth. So make the most of the opportunities to be good to yourself and to train yourself to be good to the people around you, because that goodness does have a meaning that transcends death. In the Buddha’s teaching, death is not the end. As long as the mind has the desire to come back and be reborn, it will be reborn again. We don’t know where. This is why we dedicate merit to the person who’s passed, wherever that person may be. May they benefit from the energy of our goodness. And may we benefit from the energy of our goodness, as well.

Don’t let events like this discourage you. Think of the Buddha and his quest for awakening. He met up with many, many difficulties. But he kept in mind the ideal that there must be something in this world where there’s so much aging, illness, and death—again and again and again—there must be something that doesn’t age, doesn’t grow ill, doesn’t die that can be found within.

So have faith that there is goodness in the world. There is the possibility for goodness in the world. There’s goodness in your own mind, goodness in your own heart. Try to develop that, because that’s where true happiness lies—in developing good qualities of the mind, good qualities of the heart. These are the things that nourish us as we go through life. And they can provide us with an opportunity to go to something that’s beyond aging, illness, and death, where there’s no more need for grief like this anymore, no more need for separation like this anymore, because the mind has found something of solid worth inside.