A Single Bowl of Sauce Solves All the World’s Problems

An article written on 6 April 2531 (1988) at Suan Mokkhabalārāma, Chaiya

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Our world is ridden with problems and will be doomed unless it changes its course. For many decades, we have lived with the massive danger of the dozens of thousands of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles stockpiled by the different sides.1 While nobody really knows how many warheads have been accumulated by the various nuclear states, who cannot be trusted to be honest about such things, a few thousand of them are more than enough to destroy the world many times over. This situation is a result of the selfishness of those people who aim to rule the world. Such selfishness is rampant and, in fact, rules the world.2 Let’s consider the causes of this crisis with sufficient thoroughness to find suitable remedies.

Selfishness originates when the instinctive sense of self gets out of control and turns into full-fledged defilement.3 Then every activity is controlled by these selfish emotions (kilesa). When one is personally selfish, one’s selfishness torments one personally, such as with insomnia and headaches. When one associates with others, one’s selfishness harms more broadly and oppresses others. With democratic rights, one is free to cunningly apply one’s selfishness without breaking any laws. Let’s take a very good look at such behavior, which everywhere permeates our social, economic, and political relationships and the professions of so-called educated people. This is something that prehistoric people would die laughing about if they were they able to witness it.

In our democratic system, if the citizens are selfish, they will elect selfish representatives, who will constitute a selfish parliament or congress, which in turn will form a selfish government. Then the whole country will be under the power of selfishness. Consequently, it is worth asking how many unselfish people we have left in today’s world.4

A democracy made up of selfish people is more wicked and harmful than the worst dictatorship. This is because such a democracy puts no limits on selfishness; the more intelligent a selfish person is, the wider and more profound his exploitation becomes.5 If truly unselfish, even a dictatorship will be better, for authority will be used righteously. Either way, only with Dhamma will everything be well irrespective of whether the system is authoritarian or democratic. Hence, let’s consider the benefits of unselfishness to the utmost and give unselfishness a fair chance.

Unselfishness must return in due time before the world is ruined. People throughout the world must discover this truth and quickly find ways for the timely return of unselfishness. For example, if selfishness is hoarded, Bangkok will never be able to rid itself of mosquitoes. However, with the return of unselfishness, mosquitoes will disappear from the city in a wink.6

Unselfishness is the purpose of every religion, no matter what a religion’s level of development or whether it is theistic or non-theistic. Even shamanism and occult religions do not want selfishness. If all the religions cooperated in eliminating selfishness from the world, using their own particular methods, the world would be freed of selfishness and all its crises would disappear. By itself, the United Nations, with member countries that are still quite selfish, can do little more than try to keep the skittering crabs together on the same tray.7 It should instead cooperate with the world’s religions in eliminating selfishness from the world. The religions have the broad diversity needed to satisfy people at all levels; therefore, through them there is an excellent chance of success.

Buddhism teaches not-self (anattā) as an essential principle. If one realizes the heart of Buddhism, selfishness cannot arise in one. Religions that assert some sort of self or soul may have some difficulties in teaching their followers to have selves that are unselfish. To set a good example, may the followers of Buddhism hurry to realize the essence of their religion, and thereby positively challenge and support other religions. Don’t let Buddhism’s great value go to waste among a populace that shows little interest in its core teachings.

Selfishness arises when the self instinct takes the wrong course, namely, the way that leads to defilement (kilesa) rather than enlightenment (bodhi).8 Because of their environment, our children grow up in ways that tend towards defilement from the time they are infants. We have traditions that nurture our babies with selfishness. We give them all the pleasant things - tasty foods, beautiful clothes, cuddly toys - that lead to infatuation. So the children become possessive and greedy. Everything becomes ‘mine’: ‘my father,’ ‘my mother,’ ‘my house.’ Whatever ‘I’ want, I must get. No parents ever bring their children to a toy-shop full of all those wonderful, beautiful, expensive toys and say to them, ‘My dear children, they have all these toys here just to make you stupid.’ Instead, most parents tell their children to choose any toy they want, no matter how expensive, and then the parents buy it. Alternatively, they take their children to a fancy, expensive restaurant and tell them to choose any tasty food or sweet they want. No matter how exotic or expensive it is, the parents will buy it and in enough quantity that some is invariably left over and wasted. There are many other environmental factors that strengthen selfishness as children grow older, or at least while they are under their parents’ supervision. Therefore, we need a family culture that instills unselfishness in children starting from birth, such that it becomes their habitual character as they grow up. By the time they reach adulthood, their selfishness will be light and easily redirected. Our ancient culture did not encourage children’s selfishness nearly so much as does its present counterpart.9

Peace and happiness are easily discovered only among people who detest and fear selfishness. We Thai people need some elements in our culture and Thai identity - which have Buddhism as the inner core - that will eliminate or lessen selfishness for the sake of our own well-being. The core of our Thai identity must be unselfishness - or an ever-present smile based in unselfishness rather than the intention to trick somebody - instead of superficial things like classical Thai music, classical Thai dances and plays, Siamese cats, fighting fish, and the like. If we consider our cetiyas^10 and temples as the symbols of our country, we must substantiate them in the Dhamma of unselfishness.

Our education process must be complete. That is, once it makes people clever, it also must ensure that their cleverness is in line with morality and does not fall under the power of selfishness. Nowadays, we have education systems so advanced that they lead to many miraculous things, such as going to the moon as easily as stepping out into one’s own backyard. However, there is no educational process whatsoever to keep people’s cleverness under moral control. I have been severely criticized for calling our present education system ‘stump-tail dog education’ and ‘spireless cetiya education.’11 What is one to do when the facts are thus? One can only speak the truth forthrightly. There has been much talk in this country about expanding the education system; however, we should not expand this kind of education further until we have cleaned it up sufficiently. We must be careful not to expand it without first improving the education process in line with its actual problems.

If we retain our tradition of novice ordination for underprivileged boys and temporary monk ordination for young men, we must have the kind of ‘ordination for learning’ in which the boys and young men are rigorously trained in unselfishness, not merely free schooling. Such ordination can be said to mean the study not only of our religion but also of how to work for others without expecting any benefit, not even a word of gratitude, in return.12

What we will call the ‘Single Bowl of Sauce’ is unselfishness. It solves all the problems of individuals and society. At Suan Mokkh, we have a day of labor so that the monks and novices can bathe in sweat and learn to honor sweat as the god that helps save them. By cultivating such character, they will not be idle later on in life, and thus cause no problems for society or themselves. Whatever work one will do, one must see clearly how one works for the Buddha in helping the teaching and practice to continue in all respects. At Suan Mokkh, we also practice self-contentment as expressed in the slogan “Eat from a cat’s plate, bathe in a ditch, sleep in a pigsty, and listen to the mosquitoes sing!” Some people shake their heads at this and decline to stay with us. However, we eat frugally and aspire to the highest activity. If we selfishly aim at good eating, we will progress in nothing except the accumulation of selfishness.

The comprehensive university for temple boys, in which I was fortunate to study, deserves a great deal of attention. If I had not graduated from such a university, the person now known as ‘Buddhadāsa’ might never have happened in this world. Please consider this carefully, for it has nurtured people like myself. The life of temple boys is a complete system of around-the-clock learning that digs out selfishness, ‘down to the bones.’

We temple boys had to rise for work before all the chickens got out of the coop. If anyone was still sleeping, his friends had the right to pour water over him. (Sometimes, one of us would clear out the coop early in order to soak his sleeping friends, which was a training in the highest sporting spirit among friends that cannot be found among athletes nowadays.) After waking, we boys went into the village to fetch tiffin carriers of food for the monks. Back at the monastery, we prepared everything for the monks to eat, making no mistakes. We waited on the monks until they finished eating - none of us could disappear for a moment. Next, we fed the cats, making sure that each got a share of the leftovers. Finally, we ourselves ate, following the traditional etiquette (for example, not blowing noses while eating). After the meal, we cleaned up and put everything away, then studied in tandem, always on the lookout for the switch, which often fell upon us unjustly. We repeated the serving process while the monks had lunch. Following that was another study session.

Late in the afternoon, close to evening, we tended the garden (mostly growing yams), looked after eggplants and peppers next to the pond, or gathered fruits to give to the villagers in gratitude for the food they offered each day. We also cared for the chickens, dogs, and other temple animals. (My temple also had a pig, which was rather special. It scared off chicken thieves at night so well that the abbot treated it as an angelic pig. It never dug up our yams, which it could have eaten easily, because it was marvelously unselfish.) We took turns fetching water and filling the line of water jars, though small boys like myself were exempted from this duty because the well was deep and the distance far. Instead, we smaller boys had to prepare garlands for the monks to use at the morning and evening chanting services. At night, we massaged our teachers with our hands and feet, while they told us strange and interesting tales and fables.

Apart from the routine chores, we temple boys also had to keep the grounds clean, sweep out the buildings, and pull out the weeds. We sometimes drilled in Thai boxing both to preserve the cultural tradition and because we frequently got in arguments with boys from other monasteries. Another rigorously enforced rule we temple boys had to follow was to greet the elderly with a wai, that is, putting both hands together in a lotus bud gesture of respect. This had to be done to all senior citizens regardless of their mental condition or social status. This was troublesome as many people regularly passed through our monastery. We had to put down our work tools often and greet the elderly passing by. It was very painful to greet the old men who smoked marijuana, who did not seem worthy of our respect, but it was probably a good way for us to reduce our self-centeredness. I lived like this for two years and graduated with the self-conferred ‘diploma of full-fledged temple boys, servants of the world.’

After that, I went on to study in the government school. My school had no janitors then. We schoolchildren had to arrive at school very early in the morning and joyfully contested with one another in sweeping the grounds and buildings. We had to keep everything clean by ourselves. Sometimes we were asked to help carry things up to the monastery from boats in the canal. We always did this whenever we had the chance. Other times we helped in turning the winch used to pull wood planks up from the canal; it was always a lot of fun. All of these activities were excellent spiritual lessons in eliminating selfishness. There are no such lessons in present-day schools, where there are janitors to do such work. Thus, the children nowadays are more selfish and delinquent than in the past. This ‘diploma of temple boys who serve the world’ is the single bowl of sauce that can solve the problems of society and the world.

The single bowl of sauce is the nam prik or shrimp-paste sauce that is an indispensable part of traditional Thai meals. Our ancestors, who never tasted exotic Chinese or Western foods, ate this staple throughout their lifetimes and thus learned to be unselfish and to love others. However, they have given birth to children and grandchildren who eat fancy and expensive foods, becoming increasingly selfish every day. They are most cunning in their selfishness and never think of serving anybody except themselves. Some even think of conquering the whole world, because they have never been to the ‘University of the Single Bowl of Sauce.’

We must have an education process that does not serve the democracy of selfishness, of people whose cleverness is completely unrestrained. They are great thinkers, speakers, and doers, but are stuffed full of the most cunning selfishness. The more educated and clever they are, the more deeply and profoundly selfish they become, eventually transforming themselves into crooks and con men before they know it, even in the schools and universities. Our universities graduate only those who refuse to eat the single bowl of sauce or are unable to swallow it. We have the kind of education that serves only economics and politics without serving morality and ethics. Thus, morality is disappearing. There are violent rivalries and quarrels among school students nowadays, even in the universities.

Nowadays, we educate the girls to refuse being women and mothers, and the boys to be unable as men and fathers. The modern education causes men and women to compete for each other’s work under the banner of human rights, so that everybody ends up sexless or neutered. Among married couples, there are the most ridiculous arguments over who will be the elephant’s front legs [leader] and who the hind legs [follower]. This problem did not exist among our ancestors who ate the single bowl of sauce. They left matters in accordance with idappaccayatā, the law of interdependent conditionality; each family could agree on who was most suitable to play which role.13

We must have the kind of education that does not lead to men and women taking work from each other. Let women have the livelihood of mothers and men the livelihood of fathers. The father takes on the burden of providing for the family so that the mother does not have to work outside the home. If she has some income generating work, she does it at home. This enables her to take care of the children fully, bringing them up to be good human beings and good citizens who will not bring tears to their parents’ eyes.14 The world, then, will have peace because its citizenry is fit to live peacefully. The children will be brought up correctly, so that both the boys and the girls are unselfish. There will be no sexually stimulating and provocative activities, such as the sexually oriented beauty contests that encourage shamelessness among both contestants and spectators even in primary schools. Such activities represent the worst kind of selfishness, for they erode morality and train young people to become slaves of defilement, thus becoming a menace to society and harming themselves in the process.

Whenever Buddhism is the basis of our education process, Dhammic socialism^15 will easily become our political system, for it is in accordance with nature’s requirements. The socialism of the egotist cannot create world peace, only a socialism based in Dhamma and unselfishness can genuinely do so. The latter fosters love among fellow human beings as profound comrades in birth, aging, illness, and death. This accords with the ideal of Sri Ariya Metteya, whose coming is hoped for by those who know what she is about.16 The essence of this, again, is the single bowl of sauce - unselfishness pure and simple.

In conclusion, our ancestors’ single bowl of sauce - unselfishness - is needed in every activity that aims to promote the conditions for peace and the corresponding national cultures of peace. This Dhamma is the essence of every religion that aims at eliminating our world’s evils and is suitable as the central theme of morality and ethics. In other words, for human beings in this scientific era it is sufficient to practice a single precept - unselfishness. Please think about it. Once you have no selfishness, you will automatically follow all the precepts and be free from all moral problems. Naturally, economics, politics, and government won’t have any more problems either. This is how the single bowl of sauce can solve all the problems in the world.

Footnote

- 1 Although the so-called Cold War ended a few years after this message was dictated, nuclear proliferation is in many ways more grave a danger than it was then. In addition, a multitude of chemical, biological, and conventional weapons cast a pall of fear upon our world). The reader may also apply the Dhamma perspectives that follow to other contemporary issues, such as global climate instability.

- 2 Whether utilizing capitalism, communism, and similar ideologies.

- 3 Kilesa are the defilements of mind (or 'afflictive emotions'), such as greed, ambition, hatred, fear, pride, and delusion, which darken, pollute, and torment the mind.

- 4 In discussing current affairs, Ajahn Buddhadāsa's comments apply most directly to Thailand and its limited experience with democracy (British-style parliamentary system). Nevertheless, he felt they also applied pretty well to the world at large. Despite his criticisms of the way democracy has played out in Thailand and abroad, he favored an unselfish, decentralized democracy as the ideal system, although he doubted our ability to actually put it into practice.

- 5 A selfish democracy seduces everyone into its corrupt value system; a selfish dictatorship cannot do so using its clumsy means of coercion. Ajahn Buddhadāsa believed that, with Dhamma, an authoritarian system could encourage its people in unselfishness.

- 6 At the time this was dictated, mosquitos were a major public health issue requiring cooperation from citizens, businesses, and public officials.

- 7 Ajahn Buddhadāsa uses this Thai idiom to mean the United Nations can do little more than try in vain to keep its member countries in line. This challenge is amply illustrated by the consistently selfish behavior of the permanent members of the Security Council, especially its dominant member.

- 8 Ajahn Buddhadāsa frequently spoke of the instincts and considered the instinctive sense of self to be the most basic of all. Because there is an instinctual feeling of 'somebody' being, possessing, or controlling this mind-body process, all the other instincts have a field in which to operate.

- 9 One can only wonder what Ajahn Buddhadāsa, or the Buddha, would say of the modern temples to consumerism found in the rich countries of the world today!

- 10 Based on the more squat stupa of India and similar to the pagodas of Burma, cetiyas are the tall, round, and graceful representations of Buddhist cosmology, with Nibbāna at the peak, that Thais use as memorials.

- 11 Both terms refer to things that are obviously incomplete because an important part is missing. They are so incomplete that they can't perform their proper functions.

- 12 The custom of boys and young men ordaining in order to receive a basic education and religious training has deteriorated into a ritual in many cases, and a money-spinner in some. Nonetheless, it remains important for poor boys in rural areas and is increasingly available for underprivileged girls, too.

- 13 This should not be taken to mean that men should always be the front legs (leaders), for wives made the key decisions in many families and were often stronger than their husbands.

- 14 This passage has struck some readers as sexist and offensive. Ajahn Buddhadāsa wouldn't object if the father stayed home and the mother took on the burden of earning the family's bread. His point is that somebody must stay home and raise the children properly, and he recognizes that women are usually the ones who do it.

- 15 See Dhammic Socialism, first published by the Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development in 1986.

- 16 The next Buddha, Sri Ariya Metteya, will usher in a world of universal loving kindness, peace, and well-being. Traditionally, she is believed to be due 5,000 years after the passing of the Gotama Buddha. Ajahn Buddhadāsa taught that her coming depends more on humanity creating the right conditions than on a predetermined period of time.

“A Single Bowl of Sauce Solves All the World’s Problems”

Preparatory notes typed by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu.

Ref. Archives document of the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives

BIA 3.1/20 (1/2) Box 6. page 135.

archives.bia.or.th

About the Author

Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu was born in 1906, the son of a southern Thai mother and an ethnic Chinese father. He followed Thai custom by entering a local monastery in 1926, studied for a couple years in Bangkok, and then founded his own refuge for study and practice in 1932. Since then, he has had a profound influence on not only Thai Buddhism but other religions in Siam and Buddhism in the West. Among his more important accomplishments, he:

•  Challenged the hegemony of later commentarial texts with the primacy of the Buddha’s original discourses.

•  Integrated serious Dhamma study, intellectual creativity, and rigorous practice.

•  Explained Buddha-Dhamma with an emphasis on this life, including the possibility of experiencing Nibbāna ourselves.

•  Softened the dichotomy between householder and monastic practice, stressing that the noble eightfold path is available to everyone.

•  Offered doctrinal support for addressing social and environmental issues, helping to foster socially engaged Buddhism in Siam.

•  Shaped his forest monastery as an innovative teaching environment and Garden of Liberation.

After a series of illnesses, including strokes, he died in 1993. He was cremated without the usual pomp and expense.

About the Translator

Santikaro went to Thailand with the Peace Corps in 1980, was ordained as a Theravada monk in 1985, trained at Suan Mokkh under Ajahn Buddhadāsa, and became his primary English translator. Santikaro led meditation retreats at Suan Mokkh for many years, and was unofficial abbot of nearby Dawn Kiam. He is a founding member of Think Sangha, a community of socially engaged Buddhist thinker activists that has given special attention to the ethical and spiritual impact of consumerism and other modern developments.

Santikaro returned to the USA’s Midwest in 2001 and retired from formal monastic life in 2004. He continues to teach in the Buddhist tradition with an emphasis on the early Pāli sources and the insights of Ajahn Buddhadāsa. He and his wife Jo Marie are founders of Kevala Retreat, a modern American expression of Buddhist practice, study, and social responsibility in rural Wisconsin. There he continues to study, practice, translate the work of his teacher, teach, and imagine the future of Buddha-Dhamma in the West.

Messages from Suan Mokkh series

1. Education Critique

2. Nibbāna for Everyone

3. A Single Bowl of Sauce Solves All the World’s Problems

4. Kamma in Buddhism

5. Let’s All Be Buddhadāsas

6. Help! Kālāma Sutta, Help!

Recommended Reading (Books)

1. Mindfulness With Breathing: A Manual for Serious Beginners

2. Handbook for Mankind

3. The First Ten Years of Suan Mokkh

4. Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree

5. Keys to Natural Truth

6. The Prison of Life

7. Paticcasamuppāda: Practical Dependent Origination

8. Under the Bodhi Tree: Buddha’s Original Vision of Dependent Co-Arising

Online Resources

www.suanmokkh.org

www.kevalaretreat.org

en.bia.or.th

Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives

Established in 2010, the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives collect, maintain, and present the original works of Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu. Also known as Suan Mokkh Bangkok, it is an innovative place for fostering mutual understanding between traditions, studying and practicing Dhamma.

Kevala Retreat

Kevala Retreat is a Dhamma refuge in the USA’s Midwest inspired by Suan Mokkh. Here, Santikaro and friends work to nurture a garden of liberation along the lines taught by Ajahn Buddhadāsa, where followers of the Buddha-Dhamma Way can explore Dhamma as Nature and in the Pāli suttas.

Anumodāna

To all Dhamma Comrades, those helping to spread Dhamma:

Break out the funds to spread Dhamma to let Faithful Trust flow, Broadcast majestic Dhamma to radiate long-living joy.

Release unexcelled Dhamma to tap the spring of Virtue, Let safely peaceful delight flow like a cool mountain stream.

Dhamma leaves of many years sprouting anew, reaching out, To unfold and bloom in the Dhamma Centers of all towns.

To spread lustrous Dhamma and in hearts glorified plant it, Before long, weeds of sorrow, pain, and affliction will flee.

As Virtue revives and resounds throughout Thai society, All hearts feel certain love toward those born, aging, and dying.

Congratulations and Blessings to all Dhamma Comrades, You who share Dhamma to widen the people’s prosperous joy.

Heartiest appreciation from Buddhadāsa Indapañño, Buddhist Science ever shines beams of Bodhi long-lasting.

In grateful service, fruits of merit and wholesome successes, Are all devoted in honor to Lord Father Buddha.

Thus may the Thai people be renowned for their Virtue, May perfect success through Buddhist Science awaken their hearts.

May the King and His Family live long in triumphant strength, May joy long endure throughout this our world upon earth.

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from

Buddhadāsa Indapañño

Mokkhabalārāma

Chaiya, 2 November 2530

Copyright

Message from Suan Mokkh Series - No.3

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A SINGLE BOWL OF SAUCE SOLVES ALL THE WORLD’S PROBLEMS

by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu

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Translated from the Thai (น้ำพริกถ้วยเดียวที่แก้ปัญหาหมดทั้งโลก) by Santikaro

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This article was prepared in 1988 by Ajahn Buddhadāsa as part of a series of pamphlets to be distributed at a major exhibition on his life and work organized by Ajahn Runjuan Indarakamhaeng and other students at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

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Another English translation was published in 1990. This translation first appeared online in 1996 and then in slightly revised pamphlets.

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This new electronic edition has been revised by Santikaro in collaboration with a network of volunteers.

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© Kevala Retreat, 2017

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Any reproduction, in whole or part, in any form, for sale, profit, or material gain, is prohibited, except for quotations in reviews or articles. Permission to reprint for free distribution may be obtained from:

Kevala Retreat

PO Box 205, Norwalk, WI 54648, USA

kevala@kevalaretreat.org

www.kevalaretreat.org

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Published by The Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives

Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives

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