Gratitude
October 13, 2023

Close your eyes. Watch your breath. Watch it all the way in, all the way out. Appreciate the fact that you have this opportunity to practice.

Today is the seventh anniversary of the passing of King Rama IX, who did a great deal to keep Thailand together during a period when countries nearby were all falling apart. It was because he was able to keep the country together that monks and nuns were able to practice. All the famous ajaans had the opportunity to practice. People from the West were able to come and study with the ajaans and then bring the Dhamma back here.

So the fact that we have this opportunity here at Wat Metta depends a lot on the fact that Rama IX was able to keep the country together. He understood that if the country was going to be strong, prosperity had to be spread around. It was under his influence that the whole country got electricity. He himself would go out to areas where people were really poor and struggling. Areas that didn’t have water, he’d find ways to dig canals and bring water to them. Areas without education, areas without medical care, he brought education; he brought medical care. He did an awful lot. He went way out of his way to look after his people.

It’s very rare to find a leader in the world like that. Most of the leaders of the world—well, look around. Do they care about their people? No. So when we have a leader who has that position and is able to take advantage of his status, his position, to help people—it’s good that we appreciate that and not take it for granted. Then we can think about ourselves. What position do we have? What status do we have? We have some—someplace, in some way. How can we use it best? Well, use it to help people at large. That way, goodness gets carried on in the world.

We have gratitude for the people whose goodness we’ve depended on. It encourages us to contribute some goodness to the world as well. People without gratitude don’t appreciate the effort that other people have put into making a place good, making opportunities good. So they’re very unlikely to do the same thing for others, to provide opportunities. There’s a saying in Buddhism that the sign of a good person is gratitude. So think about all the people who have helped you in your life—and think about how you can pass some of that goodness along. It’s because of our sense of gratitude that human society is humane. Without gratitude, we’d be like animals—sometimes worse than animals. There are animals who are really grateful for the help that’s given to them.

So to be a complete human being, we’ve got to learn how to develop this quality of gratitude in ourselves.