Fancy this! Some male students in a secondary school in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan destroyed the doors of the school toilet and the school punished them by removing all the doors in its male toilets. You'd wonder what kind of education is being provided by schools these days but that aside, I was actually reminded of someone saying that a man, because of having a body, stands to suffer all sorts of diseases. That ultimately leads to the contemplation on anattā or anātman, this idea of non-self in Buddhism which states that all things perceived by the senses are not really I or mine and one should not cling to them. According to the Anatta-Lakkhana Sutta, the Buddha had said, The body, O Monks, is not the Self. Sensation is not the Self. Perception is not the Self. The mental constructions are not the Self. And neither is consciousness the Self. Perceiving this, O Monks, the disciple sets no value on the body, or on consciousness. Setting no value on them, he becomes free of passions and he is liberated. The knowledge of liberation arises there within him. And then he knows that he has done what has to be done, that he has lived the holy life, that he is no longer becoming this or that, that his rebirth is destroyed. Perhaps, this concept would render one less egoistic and more accepting of what life has to offer but pray, please tell: What good would be a toilet without doors?
Comments