Sutra Reflections
The ultimate goal in the Buddhism doctrine is usually the achievement of an unshakable deliverance of the mind. In this sense, deliverance refers to the freeing of the mind from all limitations and bonds that tie a person’s life to the cycle of birth. A notable aspect of this deliverance is the focus placed on an individual’s role in their deliverance and enlightenment achievement. In the Brahmajala Sutra, the Buddhist teachings on the path to enlightenment are extended to the need to focus on individual reason, careful not to be drawn away by others’ characters.
In this Sutra, the Buddha advises the monks against being resentful at the wanderer’s disdain for Dharma since this would only hinder their enlightenment achievement. According to the Buddhist teachings, a person’s spiritual development is usually achieved by completely overcoming the hindrances which block the road to spiritual progress during meditative absorptions. As this Sutra teaches, anger or ill will would hinder the achievement of ultimate enlightenment by corrupting the monks’ minds in bitterness and hate for the wanderer. It then follows that they would be diverted from evaluating the truth behind the claims by those (the wanderer) speaking in disparagement against the community. The Buddhist teachings, in this case, were demonstrative of the corrosive power of a fault-finding mind. A fault-finding mind has an insidious way of evaluating others’ behaviors using fallible human wisdom. It can be interpreted as an attempt guided by anger to defend oneself from the disappointments brought about by others’ weaknesses. According to the Buddhist teachings, the best way to approach such disparaging commentary is by searching for reason in what the others say, just the way one finds reason for their own entanglement. Learning on acceptance to replace fault-finding behaviors is a higher value whose relevance to spiritual development is revealed in this teaching. In this case, acceptance can be interpreted to mean aligning oneself with the reality of perceptual life, which will allow an individual to see reason more clearly by letting go of the distorting impacts of hatred and being judgmental. Therefore, the achievement of the virtue of acceptance will allow a person to look past traits of grumbling or hatred but instead evaluate the relevance of the words being said. Besides, it would protect an individual from being corrupted by hatred and judgment of others.
On the other hand, the Sutra reveals the relevance of being careful about the words used to support or express a liking for a person’s predicament. In this case, the monks’ gratification and achievement should be guided, not by the praise delivered by the wanderer’s pupil, but the cognition of the truth surrounding their words. By acknowledging the truth using statements such as, ‘that is correct,’ the monks or other people in the path of enlightenment) would evaluate the reason found in these statements and avoid the self-desires which may be aroused by elation. The Brahmajalan Sutra also reflects on enlightenment is a personal call which can be achieved by focusing on the truth behind the words stated by a person. If a person can avoid the anger roused by disparaging words of others, and calmly acknowledge the truth in every statement said by those in support of the Dharma, they could avoid being corrupted by externalities. Therefore, the focus is placed on an individual to shut out the faulty finding mind and embrace acceptance of the truth embedded in people’s actions and words.