The Virtuous must see the harm of the Six Roads to Ruin

Meditation

Meditation for Beginners

 

The Virtuous must see the harm of the Six Roads to Ruin

 

Gambling is harmful because As a winner you beget hatred

 

The Six Roads to Ruin [apayamukha] mean specifically the six forms of behaviour which lead to the inadvertent erosion of our wealth. Literally, these six forms of behaviour were referred to as ‘portals to destruction’ and indeed, they do not only destroy a person’s wealth, but go on to undermine the whole economic infrastructure of a country or a society too. The Buddha described six different roads to ruin, each with six examples of the harm that they bring in all a total of thirty-six forms of harm brought by them. The Six Roads to Ruin comprise:

 

1. Consumption of addictive in toxicants;

2. Roaming the streets at unseemly hours;

3. Frequenting Shows;

4. Gambling;

5. Associating with bad company;

6. Being too lazy to work for a living;

 

Consuming addictive intoxicants is harmful because it Undermines one’s sense of decency

 

Harm brought by the Six Roads to Ruin

 

1. Consuming addictive intoxicants is harmful because it;

    1. Causes the loss of wealth;

    2. Causes increase of quarrels;

    3. Causes liability to disease;

    4. Causes damage one’s reputation;

    5. Undermines one’s sense of decency;

    6. Undermines one’s intelligence;

 

2. Roaming the streets at unseemly hours is harmful because;

    1. It leaves you vulnerable;

    2. It leaves your wife and children vulnerable;

    3. It leaves your property vulnerable;

    4. It makes you liable to be suspected of crimes;

    5. It makes you liable to false rumours;

    6. It is the source of subsequent troubles;

 

3. Frequenting shows. That is a;;owing your mind to become enslaved by entertainment to the point it becomes a financial burden and a distraction to you earning your livelihood, interrupts us from earning wages we have not yet earned and fritters away wages already saved, together with our own reputation and credibility. The possible harm brought by addiction to entertainment is sixfold. You  find yourself always obsessed with:

    1. Dancing;

    2. Singing’

    3. Choral music;

    4. Story-telling;

    5. Cymbal playing;

    6. Tam-tams;

 

Consumption of addictive in toxicants

 

4. Gambling is harmful because:

    1. As a winner you beget hatred;

    2. As a loser you regret money lost;

    3. You fritter away your wealth;

    4. No-one trusts your word;

    5. You are scorned by your friends and companions;

    6. You are never considered as a marriage prospect be-cause you are seen as

incapable of taking responsibility for a spouse or children.

 

5. Associating with bad company is harmful because they encourage you to be:

    1. A gambler;

    2. A womanizer;

    3. A drunkard;

    4. A cheat;

    5. A swindler;

    6. An aggressor;

 

6. Laziness means finding ways to avoid earning an honest living-but instead letting time pass idly-like a person who has already died as to thought and virtue. One’s wealth is not increased and on the contrary is depleted through other means. Laziness is harmful because you become full of excuses such as:

    1. It is too cold to work;

    2. It is too hot to work;

    3. It is too late to work;

    4. It is too early to work;

    5. One is too hungry to work;

    6. One (‘s stomach) is to too full to work;

 

Causes the loss of wealth

 

Even though the various effects of succumbing to the Six Roads to Ruin are quite diverse, all of them are damaging to one’s pocket-or they undermine one’s personal economics. This is especially true of gambling – gamblers are really those for whom no credibility remains-they are suspected and looked down upon by everyone who knows them-and being so treated, how could they feel any remaining pride in themselves? There is no depth of wickedness to which someone who has no self-esteem cannot plunge-given the opportunity.

 

Thus it is no surprise that those who indulge in Roads to Ruin, apart from feeling no respect for their own human dignity, have no respect for economic ethics either –personally or communally. In any country for which the majority of the population are gamblers, the whole infrastructure of economy and treasury will come apart at the seams-failing to conform to any firm principle or policy and leaving only risk and uncertainty.

 

Causes damage one’s reputation

 

Thus the economic situation of the majority of the people in a country is the most accurate reflection of that country’s economy. Therefore, for as long as the majority of a country’s population is enslaved to any or all of the Six Roads to Ruin, don’t even waste time hoping that the economic situation of economically, socially and on the front of human rights.

 

At this point the reader will probably have already realized for himself that the responsibility for the economic situation does not lie just with the government, but depends on the individual economic ethics of everyone in the population, too.

 

Responsibility for one’s personal economic ethics means refusing to be in any way involved with the Roads to Ruin. Responsibility for communal economic ethics means not to manufacture any of the ‘Roads to Ruin’ which might delude other people – while trying one’s utmost to eradicate those Roads to Ruin still remaining in society.

 

Meditation - Related Articles

What is meditation?

7 Bases of mind 

How many kinds of meditation are there?

The Right Concentration

The False Concentration 

How to Meditate 

A Meditation Guide

Learning Meditation

Basic Meditation Method 

Meditation is not difficult 

Dhammakaya Temple 

Meditation Retreat