Moderation
Moderation in Clothing
Moderation is a kind of art, because it is consider as a sensitive issue. Moreover, moderation also requires great precision and attention to achieve a balance in what is done. For example, the tailor doesn’t sew your clothes properly. She makes it too tight and you feel uncomfortable underneath it. But if the tailor has sewed your clothes properly, you will feel comfortable underneath it. Furthermore, wearing comfortable clothes will fits your body shape better and makes you look more attractive as well.
Moderation should be used and applied to everyday life’s routines, especially in meditation, which requires even greater moderation. This is because in meditation, one must walk the middle path, which is not too tight and not too loose. If one puts too much intention and commitment to the meditation practices, it will create stress and negative effects on our physical body such as the following story…
Effort and patience
In the era of the Buddha, there was one monk named “Pra Sonagoriwisa,” who was the son of the millionaire. He had a very special characteristic of very soft hairs at the sole of his feet, which he was later given title known as “The Monk with Great Effort.” In the beginning, he put too much effort and commitment into the meditation practices, which resulted in deteriorating health, and thus, he couldn’t achieve enlightenment.
In the beginning of the story, Pra Sonagoriwisa put much too much effort into meditation by meditating on both days and nights. This caused him to become sleepy due to lack of sleep. This is why he decided to change from sitting meditation to walking meditation. When he began to walk meditation too much, the skin on the sole of his feet began to break apart. Even though he had suffered from this condition, he still would not give up the walking meditation. He tried to walk further using his knees and in the end, he began to crawl. He crawled further until his body and clothes become tattered and his blood spilled onto the walking place. This Pra Sonagoriwisa thought to himself,
“I probably didn’t accumulate enough merit in my past life to attain enlightenment. This is because know matter how much effort and determination I put in my walking meditation in my present life, I couldn’t even attain enlightenment.” Furthermore, Pra Sonagoriwisa thought to himself that he wants to give up on monkhood because he couldn’t attain enlightenment. The Lord Buddha knew Pra Sonagoriwisa’s thoughts because of the wisdom the Lord Buddha gained through enlightenment. Therefore, the Lord Buddha travelled to become kalaynamits for Pra Sonagoriwisa. Moreover, Lord Buddha asked questions,
“Sona, Do you think that of all the Lord Buddha’s monk followers, you are known for your perseverance, but why have you not achieved enlightenment? Do you think about giving up on monkhood, become a normal person, and donate your wealth to the monks to accumulate merit instead?”
“Yes,” replied Pra Sonagoriwisa.
“Sona, when you have a spouse, is it correct that you were very skillful in playing the Chinese harp.
“Yes.”
“When the strings on your Chinese harp are too tight, what happened to its sounds?”
“Not good.”
“When the strings on your Chinese harp are too loose, what happened to its sounds?”
“Not good.”
“How about when the strings on your Chinese harp are not too tight nor too loose, what happened to it sounds?”
“Sounded just right.”
“In meditation, we also used this principle as well, Sona. Too much determination will caused your mind to wander. But if too loose, it will caused laziness. You should adjust the effort you put in your meditation practices to be in moderation.”
“Yes,” replied Pra Sonagoriwisa.
“Sona, when you have a spouse, is it correct that you were very skillful in playing the Chinese harp.
“Yes.”
“When the strings on your Chinese harp are too tight, what happened to its sounds?”
“Not good.”
“When the strings on your Chinese harp are too loose, what happened to its sounds?”
“Not good.”
“How about when the strings on your Chinese harp are not too tight nor too loose, what happened to it sounds?”
“Sounded just right.”
“In meditation, we also used this principle as well, Sona. Too much determination will caused your mind to wander. But if too loose, it will caused laziness. You should adjust the effort you put in your meditation practices to be in moderation.”
Not long after Pra Sona listened to the Lord Buddha’s teachings, he followed the Lord Buddha’s middle path and achieved enlightenment. Finally, he has become an Arahant.
