Foundation in The Teachings

By David Roylance

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Chapter 1

One Who Points Out Treasure

Read Chapter 1 of Foundation in The Teachings: One Who Points Out Treasure.

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Ānanda, I shall not treat you as the potter treats the raw damp clay. Repeatedly restraining you, I shall speak to you, Ānanda. Repeatedly guiding you of what to avoid, I shall speak to you, Ānanda. The truly dedicated will stand [the test].

Regard him as one who points out treasure, the wise one who seeing your faults guides you of what to avoid. Stay with this sort of Teacher.

For the one who stays with a Teacher of this sort, things get better, not worse.

(Reference: MN 122 & DHP 76-77)

In order to share The Teachings that lead to Enlightenment, a Buddha or any Teacher, would need to help Students uncover unwholesome qualities in the mind and in their life practice while pointing out the cultivation of wholesome qualities. A Student will need to put their trust in the Teacher while investigating the areas of improvement the Teacher identifies and shares with the Student.

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares with one of his closest Students Ānanda that he will not “repeatedly restrain” him, but instead he will guide him in what to avoid in regards to unwholesome mental, verbal, and bodily conduct along with all the other Teachings that are needed to experience Enlightenment.

The Buddha shares that “I shall not treat you as the potter treats the raw damp clay”. “Raw damp clay” would need to be constantly shaped and molded by “the potter” (i.e. Teacher). The potter would need to form the clay into the ideal object. So The Buddha is sharing that he is not going to "repeatedly restrain Ānanda” attempting to shape him into the ideal person. Instead, he will speak to him and guide him letting him make his own decisions rather than being constantly shaped by The Teacher.

It is a real “test” of the Student’s mind to understand, acknowledge, and improve their life practice based on a Teacher’s guidance pointing out areas of improvement. The unEnlightened mind typically is only interested in hearing pleasing and agreeable words and the ego does not typically enjoy understanding unpleasing and disagreeable words from others. So, hearing a Teacher’s guidance to improve one’s life practice needs to be openly understood by the Student rather than allowing the ego of the unEnlightened mind to feel rejected or disheartened by a Teacher “who points out treasure”. The “treasure” that a Teacher points out are those areas they see for a Student to improve and further progress towards the attainment of Enlightenment.

The “test” is that the Student will need to develop the determination, dedication, and diligence to actively seek guidance for improvement of their life practice. Without conscious choices to learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings while seeking guidance, a Student would have no ability to attain Enlightenment. Without understanding the unwholesome qualities that exist in the Student’s mind to eliminate and the wholesome qualities to cultivate through a Teacher’s guidance, a Student would have no ability to progress in their practice to the ultimate attainment of a liberated mind.

A Student will need to be inviting and accepting of a Teacher’s guidance in order to identify areas of improvement and then learn, reflect, and practice Teachings to improve their life practice. If a Student allows the ego to block the guidance from the Teacher while feeling displeasure in the Teacher “pointing out treasure”, they will not “stand the test” of receiving guidance from the Teacher to progress towards Enlightenment.

A Teacher would need to exert a significant amount of time, effort, energy, and resources to guide a Student to Enlightenment. A Teacher should not ask for any benefits from their Students, but instead, await what is given as offerings. A Teacher’s only goal should be to guide a Student to Enlightenment without any personal gain for themselves whatsoever.

So, a Teacher who takes their time, effort, energy, and resources to “point out treasure” should be regarded as a “wise one who seeing your faults” will help you to learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings to attain Enlightenment.

The Buddha’s advice is to “stay with this sort of Teacher” as things only “get better, not worse”. As the condition of the mind and one’s life, ”only gets better, not worse” when a Student is open to understanding guidance from a wise Teacher who kindly and patiently shares areas for improvement while not seeking any benefit from you - their only goal is to help you. In this type of relationship with a wise Teacher pointing out areas of improvement as “treasure” to be appreciated based on the goal of helping you, you should “stay with this sort of Teacher” as things only “get better, not worse”.

Hearing The Hard Truth - Can Trigger Aversion in One’s Own Mind

When sharing these Teachings with Students, there are times when a Student either asks a question or makes a statement that a Teacher needs to then respond to, in order to help them, and all individuals, better understand The Path to Enlightenment.

The response, needs to be honest, straight forward, easy to understand, and “the truth”, while all being wrapped in loving-kindness and compassion.

Even in doing so, hearing the “hard” truth is oftentimes challenging for a Student and can leave an individual forming a judgment about the Teacher that is untrue and a misperception.

For example, recently, I was teaching at the Temple and when explaining that it is unwise to lie, to tell any type of falsehood, a Student asked me to expound upon this Teaching by providing an example and asking what I might choose to do in that situation.

When explaining how to handle this situation through The Natural Law of Kamma, based in The Teachings of The Buddha, a different Student hastily commented “I will never do that”.

My response was along the following:

I shared that each person should feel comfortable to do as they please. That I am not here to convince them of what they should or should not do. Instead, I am sharing what would lead to the elimination of craving/desire/attachment, and produce the Enlightened mental state, where the mind is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy. A permanent mental state.

I mentioned, as part of my answer, that while I understand the Student currently thinks in the way that they currently do, “that they would never do what I suggested”, I explained that with deeper thought, reflection, and consideration, they might change their decision on whether or not they might implement what was suggested.

I also shared, that the reason why their mind is currently experiencing discontentedness and not experiencing permanent peace and joy, is due to the mind not currently understanding these Teachings and how an individual would need to eliminate its craving/desire/attachment to get to that peace and joy. That lying, would never produce a wholesome result (i.e. wholesome Kamma) as it is based in craving/desire/attachment.

The Student appeared to not like to hear this “hard truth” about their own mind and highly disagreed with what was being shared.

The unEnlightened mind does not know what it does not know, and it is oftentimes disinterested in “letting go” of its false beliefs, opinions, views, and unwholesomeness. This is why the “intention of renunciation” is such an important component of The Path to Enlightenment and the second factor of The Eight Fold Path, a core and central Teaching of The Buddha.

So, while a person may be interested in the peacefulness and joy of the Enlightened mental state, the unEnlightened mind is oftentimes truly complacent and disinterested in implementing change to improve, walking The Path to Enlightenment, developing this “better way of life”.

It is very challenging to look inward, realize that one is imperfect, and that there is real work to be done to improve.

Therefore, when hearing the “hard truth”, an individual could potentially decide to push away the very Teachings that are going to help them to experience the peace and joy they aspire to experience. The mind’s craving/desiring to continue to do things the way it currently does, being disinterested to implement change, can produce painful feelings within the mind, then as part of “wrong view” one could see the Teacher as the problem, and choose to exercise aversion, pushing away the very thing that would help them - the Teacher and The Teachings of The Buddha. Oftentimes, this comes with judgment, looking down on the Teacher thinking, that somehow, they are rude, impolite, unkind, unfriendly, or disrespectful. They may even judge them as being egotistical and full of conceit.

When in reality, what a Teacher is doing, is helping the mind of the Student “awaken” to the very wisdom that it needs to hear to make progress on The Path to Enlightenment. But, that wisdom is oftentimes a “hard truth” that the unEnlightened is truly not interested to hear, and due to the mind’s craving/desire and conceit, the mind experiences painful feelings attributing those to The Teacher, when in reality, they are coming from one’s own mind.

Therefore, it is much easier for the unEnlightened mind to blame the Teacher for the arising painful feelings, and judge the Teacher, thinking the Teacher has done something wrong, bad, unwise, or out of their own conceit.

When in reality, the Teacher did the most loving, kind, and compassionate thing they could ever do. They shared Teachings with the Student, without any expectation of anything in return, that are going to help them move beyond what they are currently thinking and closer to this “better way of life” as taught by The Buddha, a peaceful and joyful mental state that is permanent. It is just that the Student is not understanding that “better way of life” and thinking that by the Teacher sharing a “hard truth”, and their mind being uncomfortable with that truth, that somehow the Teacher has done something unwise or out of conceit.

It is important to understand, the same things that brought someone to The Path to Enlightenment, oftentimes, are the same things that will turn an individual away from The Path to Enlightenment.

What I mean by this is, it is the mind’s cravings/desires/attachments/wants/expectations that have led to all of one’s own discontentedness, difficulties, struggles, and broken relationships. The mind’s conceit and lack of wisdom, has led to relationships that are not harmonious. The mind’s aversion has repeatedly pushed people and situations out of one’s life without actually addressing the core and central problem rooted deep within the unEnlightened mind, craving/desire/attachment/wants/expectations, and all the other pollutions of mind - The Ten Fetters.

Therefore, in a situation where the mind is craving/desiring/wanting/expecting the Teacher to be a certain way, and they do not meet those expectations, the individual’s mind will become discontent, attribute those feelings to the Teacher, judge the Teacher, and then push away the Teacher and The Path to Enlightenment.

This is all unfortunate for the Student, because the very Teachings they need to overcome the pollutions of mind, are no longer accessible to them based on their unwise choice to push away The Teachings and a Teacher.

So, I recommend understanding that a Teacher is going to “point out treasure” for their Students. Value that dedication, time, energy, effort, and commitment that the Teacher is applying to help you, without any expectation of anything in return. Realize, that no matter how polite, kind, friendly, and respectful the Teacher is being, when a craving/desire/attachment is triggered within one’s own mind, those painful feelings are not being caused by the Teacher but instead, one’s own mind.

Practicing aversion, pushing away the Teacher and The Teachings of The Buddha, is not going to solve the painful feelings. Instead, it will just ensure they continue.

Hearing the hard truth can trigger aversion in one’s own mind because it is trigging a craving/desire/attachment to appear perfect, smart, intelligent, or to be talked to in a specific way.

But, the most loving, kind, and compassionate thing a Teacher can do, is give you that “hard truth” so that you know what is “true reality” and have the opportunity to remedy it, solve it, eradicate it, and get closer to Enlightenment. And, if an individual chooses that truth is too hard to bear, due to the painful feelings arising in the mind all caused by the mind itself, and then one negatively judges the Teacher, due to not being perceived by the Teacher and other members of The Community in a certain way, ultimately choosing to walk away from the very help that is going to allow the mind to overcome its challenges, then at least as a Teacher, they will know, “I did the very best thing I could do for this individual”.

“I told them the truth”, no matter how hard that was for them to hear, and perhaps, someday, they might consider what was shared and decide to learn, grow, and evolve based on that “hard truth".

“I told them the truth” and at least now they can choose whether to walk forward towards an improved way of life or, they can run away from that challenge and “hard truth”, deciding to remain in the “unknowing of true reality” with a lack of wisdom, choosing to stay in the darkness.

The Buddha taught, do "not to shrink back from the struggle”. Because, running away from a “hard truth” will never lead to Enlightenment, or any kind of improvement in one’s own life.

Someday, you might hear a “hard truth” from your Teacher. I would like you to understand, that is being shared with the utmost care, politeness, kindness, friendliness, and respect. It is being delivered with the utmost love and compassion for you.

As The Buddha shares…