Part 9-3
“World Honoured One, if I were to entertain the thought that I have attained sainthood, then the World Honoured One would not say Subhuti enjoys the state of sainthood. It is because Subhuti really does nothing that you say Subhuti likes to enjoy the state of sainthood.”
Commentary:
A saint, one who has truly attained sainthood is above being deluded by any images to the extent that not only is he not deluded by the thought of having attained sainthood but does nothing as well.
To elaborate on the meaning of ‘doing nothing’, supposing you are asked what you did yesterday, how will you answer? You may say, “I didn’t do anything yesterday. I just rested all day.” Yes, you did something. You rested. That is what you did. I think you did a lot of things during your rest; perhaps you had meals, drank coffee and watched TV. You might say that you did nothing but sleep all day long. Yes, you still did something. You slept all day. That is what you did.
One more question. What are you doing now? You may say, “I am not doing anything now. I am just sitting.” Yes, you are doing something. You are sitting. That is what you are doing. You may say, “I am just lying in my bed.” Yes, you are lying in your bed. That is what you are doing. We seem to be doomed to keep doing something without stopping even for a moment as long as we are alive.
In fact, when ancient masters advised their students to do nothing, they never meant that they should do nothing or make no movement at all like a dead body, but told them to realise that all they did, whatever it was, was empty. In short, ‘You should do nothing’ means ‘You should realise that all your actions are empty’. Then, whatever you may do, you are doing nothing.
There is a dialogue between an ancient master and his disciple that shows well this state of ‘doing nothing’.
One day a master asked his student who was sitting in meditation, “What are you doing here?” His student answered, “I am doing nothing.” The master said, “Then, you are just sitting idly.”
The student said, “Just sitting idly is also doing something.” The master asked, “What do you mean by doing nothing, then?” The student said, “One thousand saints don’t know it.”
So, a saint who can do nothing never thinks that he has attained sainthood.
When you think that you did something good, for example, after doing something good for one of your friends in need, you can be proud of your act, and that will remain in your memory. Someday the situation reverses: you are in need, and he is very successful. You may ask him for help, expecting him to pay you back for your previous help but he may turn down your request. How would you feel then? It is likely that you will feel the more ashamed and even betrayed because of the memory of the former favour that you granted him. Even if he gives you help as you expect, you are likely to take his help for granted and unlikely to feel as grateful to him for his help as you would feel to some other helper whom you’ve never helped before. In this way your good act may bring you a negative result. In some cases, you can get hurt by the good deeds that you do.
So, masters would say that doing a good thing is not as good as doing nothing. They, however, never meant that we should not do good, but that we, seeing our good deeds as empty, should not keep them in our memory. In short, we should not let even the right hand itself, not to mention the left hand, know what it does.
Student: “If we should do nothing, how should we read this Sutra?”
Master: “Read well and your reading will be doing nothing.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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