The Eight Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life (Ashta Loka Dharma)
From TheBuddhism.Net
“Labho alabho, Ayaso yaso,
Ninda pasansa cha,
Sukhancha dukkhan,
Ethe anichcha manujesu dhamma,
Asassatha vipparinama dhamma.”
Ashta Loka Dharma
Profit & loss, fame & anonymity, humiliation & honor, happiness & sorrow are called the ’Eight Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life’.
Every person who lives in this world, meets with those eight laws from time to time. Since those laws revolving like a cart wheel happen upon people stage by stage, even a king cannot live the same life always; let alone an ordinary man. Sorrow would come to a person who lived happily once. Happiness would come to a person who lived in sadness once.
A person should have a good grip on those laws which affect one’s life. An ignoramus, who does not know about them, acts conceitedly, thinking himself superior than the rest when he partakes profit, fame, honor and happiness. Intoxicated by those laws, he does so many wrong deeds deteriorating his life both in this world and the life after death.
He repents badly when he has to face loss, anonymity, humiliation and sorrow. He does so many bad deeds because of hatred and jealousy of the others. Thus, deteriorating his life both in this world and the life after death.
The person who understands about the ‘Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life’ never becomes conceited when he partakes profit, fame, honor and happiness. He knows the frailty in them and never acts conceited, thinking others inferior and himself superior.
In loss, anonymity, humiliation and sorrow, he does not become miserable. Does not hate or act jealous towards the others. Does not think himself inferior. Thus, the intelligent person who takes the middle path concerning the ‘Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life’, upgrades his life both in this birth and the life after death.
Being conservative regarding the ‘Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life’ is a quality of noble people with great ideas. Being conceited and sorrowful regarding the ‘Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life’ is a quality of lowly, inferior people.
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Thus, the intelligent person who takes the middle path concerning the Laws Relating to the Vicissitude of Life , upgrades his life both in this birth and the life after death. What is Abhidhamma?
The eight worldly concerns, this is a good reminder to su what goes up must come down, plus everything is impermanent.
This is brilliant. Rudyard Kipling says it well in his poem ‘If’ in which he wrote, “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same…”. Both should be thought of as impostors and we should not be tricked into thinking that one is true for us while the other false. The Eights Laws To The Vicissitudes Of Life counsels us not to be defined by one and not the other but to recognize that in samsara, all will occur to us in stages.
Just in meditating on these few lines alone, there is a wealth knowledge and realizations to be had including the understanding of the impermanence of all things and the wisdom of seeing all phenomena with equanimity. A lot easier said than done but remembering these Laws means we are never too far lost down the path of delusion.
This is interesting… i always thought of these Eight Worldly Dharmas as a Tibetan teaching but now i know that it is the same in other traditions – as it logically should be! Thank you for posting articles like this so we can see the similarities in the teachings and thus the infallibility of the source also.
Well, now we know it is not and actually, we can simplify it down to everything we are attached to and everything we are averse to. This correspond to attachment and hatred, which is born from ignorance and together, they form the 3 psychic poisons in the wheel of life. The 3 poisons are what fuels our cyclic existence and what keeps us trapped in an eternal struggle.
The Dharma is what liberates us from this cycle and that’s why a Buddha stands outside the circle and points a different direction of living. The closer we get to releasing ourselves from this vicious cycle, the closer we get the awakening and severing the bonds to keeps us forever reincarnation and creating karma.
I believe this is also known as the 8 Worldly Dharmas. These correspond to the attachment to pleasure, fame, profit and having our way and it also relates to aversion to pain, insult, anonymity and loss. These reflect the 8 worldly ways in which we make ourselves suffer.
The best Dharma we can do is to do it without motivation that is tainted by these motivations. However, that would require the most advance of practitioner. Hence, Rinpoche always tells us to fake it till we make it. In reciting dedication prayers after each session is to invoke on the blessings of the 3 jewels to bless us with such a motivation.