Circle of reality

Tharindu Weerasinghe

In my childhood, my parents told me, "Study well to have a white-collar job...!" When I become a parent I will also give the same message to my children.

"Have you ever thought of the routines of person's life deeply? Some of you might have the answer "YES"; some may not. However, if we analyze the different walks of lives then we will find the fact that they are interesting, but it is hard to find the exact answers to the questions, why do we do it, why are we supposed to do it, and what is the ultimate goal of these things?"

During our childhood and adolescence, most of us go to school, study, play, grow in the bosoms of our parents. During our youth, we find friends, lovers; some of us do higher studies and most of us find occupations so that we can stand on our own. As time passes, most of us get married; have children; buy vehicles and build our own homes.

In the meantime, we tend to enjoy ourselves, we may taste the flavour of aesthetics, find time for our hobbies. We also may have to face harsh times and critical periods. We have to accept both smiles and tears. Thus it is obvious that the human life is interesting. Our older generations have followed a sort of similar routine of life that we are following, our younger generation will follow the same routines. So, the cycle goes on and on. During our childhood we had various ambitions knowingly or unknowingly: "Who will I be in the future?"

Some of us might have the passion of being an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a lecturer, a businessman and so on. Our parents are the vital influence to make us think about our future profession, even if we don't have a clear picture of those professions during our teens. However, some of us are lucky to be the professionals that we wanted to be and ironically some of us are lucky not to be the professionals that we dreamt of. We work to earn the bread for our families, we work to serve the country, we work to earn self satisfaction, we work to make others happy. At the end of the day what will be left? Money...great service...self satisfaction...or what?

If we sink deep, we may find all the things that we do are endless efforts and unsatisfied devotions. Well, this is what the greatest philosopher, The Buddha has pointed out. The lifecycle of all living beings goes on and on during its stay in the sansara.

The Buddha has shown the path to get rid of the dangerous cycle of sansara. But one of the most significant features of the greatest philosophy is that there is a clear path shown to be successful as laymen and laywomen. The Buddha has not only shown the path to attain nibbana (which is the ultimate bliss) but also the path to be a successful lay person.

The writer is an engineer, graduated from the University of Peradeniya and currently working as a software engineer at IFS R and D International