Life Is UncertainWritten by Dhammac

Life Is Uncertain
Written by Dhammacaro on 23/02/2007
Many people want to know their future, they spend money to have their fortune told. Some are pleased with their fortune, but some are disappointed with theirs. They do not want to know it naturally, they cannot wait until the time comes, but they want to see their future immediately. That’s why there is one career which can make a lot of money for a certain group of people called ‘fortune tellers’. Some say that their fortune telling is very true, and believe that. Even though sometimes the telling is bad, they still believe in it and live with bad telling. They never believe in their ability, they just believe in some one whom they do not really know. It is very strange that they give him money to foretell their lives, or fix their future saying ‘you have to be like this’.

This is not Buddhist point of view, Buddhism never teaches people to believe in the unproven. Its fundamental beliefs are that ‘life is impermanent or uncertain, life is suffering from ignorance, and life is without a permanent entity or self’. Life is uncertain, but one thing the Buddha taught the world ‘Life is in your hands, you can rule your life. Don’t give your life into other people’s hands’ and he added, “Human beings have an ability to develop their lives, to overcome their own problem or suffering”. Should we believe in someone whom we do not know, or should we believe in the great teacher? This question we have to consider and answer.

A Thai proverb says, “A fortune teller is a blind guesser”. This is one science that people can learn; they just collect the information and collate it and foretell the future. Some examine the lines on the palm of the hand and foretell the future. There is a strong belief that meditation masters are very good at fortune telling. With this belief, people flock to the temple to ask them to tell their fortune.

Luangpor Char was one of those who was believed to have that ability. A lot of people went to see him and ask him to do fortune telling. He did not do that, until one day one of his close lay students came to see him, in the temple, and asked him to tell his fortune. He refused to do so saying, “That is not practical”. But that did not convince the student, he still insisted Luangpor Char should tell him his fortune. Finally Luangpor Char agreed to do so, it made him very happy and excited. Luangpor Char told him, “Give me your hand and I am going to tell you your future”. He was very excited at Luangpor Char’s words as he knew that Luangpor Char had never told anyone’s fortune so he gave him his hand. He did believe in Luangpor Char, he would believe in everything that Luangpor Char was saying. Luangpor Char looked at his palm and said, “Aha this is interesting, this is strange”. What Luangpor Char was saying made him even more interested. He looked at Luangpor Char imploringly. Luangpor Char said, “Your future is ….”. He responded immediately, “Yes sir, please tell me”. Luangpor Char said, “Your future is uncertain”.

That is true, life is uncertain. No one can predict life’s events; it keeps changing all the time. Luangpor Char was right, his prediction is very true; ‘Life is uncertain’.