Silent reading, silent moment
Last week I was hearing out a discussion about Ajahn Brahm's
collection of stories Opening the Doors of Your Heart. The book contains
108 stories anyone, irrespective of their religions, can enjoy. There is
only one thing I can say about those stories: it inspires the daily
life.
Crowds throng around this western monk with so much of hopes. Those
stories are quite appealing to literary enthusiasts too. Listening to
this kind of pep talk is the first step in the path to happiness, I
guess.
At the end of the discussion I had a small chat with a new publisher.
He had been in the book industry but now he runs his own publishing
house. He told me something I found somewhat hard to believe.
"You know these Dhamma books, especially Ajahn Brahm's, sell much
better than some other big hits. Some Sinhala translations of Ajahn's
books are printed for the sixth time." I looked at him in disbelief. The
big hits are usually novels and other creative works. How true his
statement it could be, I had no clue.
"But I don't see much discussion in the media."
 "People
who read these books don't shout, you know. They read it silently and
enjoy it in silence." He said with a grin. I know he was mocking at the
literary circles. We all mock at literary artistes - poor fellows! - we
must not do that.
During the Vesak, a lot of Buddhist books came in print. They came in
bulks because of huge demand. There are publishers with only Buddhist
books. According to one publisher a monk's reputation could earn a
fortune for him. I don't know whether it is a good trend or not.
On surface publishing a lot of Buddhist books seems a good sign. But
you can see so many negative paths down there too. This is a time when
almost everyone wants to write some Buddhist book, or at least a
booklet. Some people don't have much experience. Some have not studied
the teachings. Some have misunderstood the teachings. To make it worse
some have not even practised the teachings.
I met an author of a Buddhist book who thinks he is the only person
who knows Buddhism and all university professors of the subject and
monks are wrong on some Buddhist interpretations. He is so arrogant in
saying so. It sounds funny when someone gets arrogant for things like
that. Some publicly declare they have become enlightened and market it
to sell their works.
So some Buddhist books are best avoided. Only a few books are
genuinely written to provide moral support. Thankfully those books also
sell quite well. On the other hand even thousand of such books are
useless, if we cannot put the teachings into practice.
The fact that Dhamma books sell much better than usual literary works
mean people seek more solace than before. It also indicates that
literary works lose the battle in healing the human soul.
Dhamma books and literary works have major differences. Literary
works are mostly based on imagination and fantasy. Even if they portray
good human qualities, we hardly see it on the authors. We build an image
on the author when we read a work. When we actually get to know the
person, that image shatters into smithereens.
I had to brace myself for disappointment and disillusionment when I
met a favourite author or two. Their books had been awesome but the
authors turned out to be just awful in person. This sounds unlikely, but
unfortunately that's how it is.
When it comes to Dhamma books, however, the tide takes a different
turn. They portray the real struggle of life. The good Dhamma books
teach the way to handle the inner struggle. And when you get to know the
authors you can see they live by what they say. Their books are based on
practice more than scriptures.
This is applicable to most monks - Thai tradition monks in this case.
When someone gets used to reading these books, they start looking
inwards. They entertain conversation with themselves. That itself is so
much entertainment and they will hardly be interested in reading novels
and the like. This too sounds an unlikely style.
We are entrenched in arguments and criticism. That is quite visible
when a literary award ceremony is over. We are all set to condemn the
work we don't like. We burn all our energies on that. This is because
the literature hardly teaches loving kindness. Loving kindness should
come from genuine practitioners, and most literary artistes do not
genuinely practise loving kindness. This is not a big issue - it is
rather a human fallacy. Instead of looking inwards their minds are
filled with thoughts and imaginations.
We must realize there is a silent majority of readers. They go for
the books with no publicity at all.
One famous critic has downgraded the stories in Ajahn Brahm's book
and I'm not surprised. Those stories are too simple for intellectual
critics and authors. Those stories are not meant for critical analysis
either. The stories are there only to inspire to live a happy life.
That is the place you must occupy - silently reading, sporting a
silent smile.
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