Question 80: MANY THINK THAT TO ATTAIN INNER PEACE, ONE MUST NOT BE CONCERNED WITH ANYTHING. DOES THIS LEAD TO IRRESPONSIBILITY?

Answer: This is a crucial point in the practice of meditation and the path to liberation.

When the mind becomes tranquil, a subtle wrong view can arise – that one no longer needs to be concerned with anything in the world. This is why many practitioners gradually lose their merit without realizing it.

Practitioners often go through a phase of meditative absorption where the mind becomes focused and passive. This is a stage that everyone must experience. However, many people get stuck in this passive state and become disconnected from society, no longer offering benefits to the world.

For this reason, when practitioners embark on the spiritual practice toward enlightenment and liberation, they must make great vows to help others, cultivate compassion, pledge to accumulate countless good deeds and maintain deep reverence for the Enlightened Ones. This strong foundation ensures that later when practitioners pass through the stage of passive tranquility in meditation, they will rise from this emptiness and return to the world to uphold the Dharma and bring happiness to all beings.

Unfortunately, some practitioners, when reaching this passive state, adopt the wrong view that nothing matters anymore. They mistakenly believe this to be a profound truth and then write books promoting the idea that “there is no need to do anything”, causing many other people to misunderstand and gradually lose their merit as well.

The Author

JANNA is the pen name of a certain monk who does not wish to use his real name. He is likely mature enough to understand that fame, wealth, and glory are as fleeting as morning mist.

In Pali, “JANNA” means purity, so it’s unclear which country he’s from. However, he seems to have studied the Nikaya scriptures.

Although he writes about Buddhism, he appears to desire unity with other religions to contribute to the cause of world peace. He attempts to demonstrate how differences can complement one another…