How the society can be free from danger and suffering

Abstract

In the Sakkapañha Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya, Sakka, the lord of gods, getting permission asks some questions which he had from the Buddha. According to him, all beings living in the society wish to be free from anger and ill-will and plead for happiness, security, peace and freedom. Nevertheless, it is not so easy to make such a society as they wish. Sakka inquired about the causes for envy and miserliness from the Buddha. As the Buddha replied, the reason for this unhappy condition of living beings is due to the fetters of envy (issā) and miserliness (macchariya). Sakka asked questions for the causes of these two fetters. The Buddha, showing the causal relations of the causes says that envy and miserliness are caused by love and hatred (piyāppiyaṃ). Love and hatred are caused by desire (chando) that is associated with pleasure and craving. Desire is caused by thinking and decision (vitakka). Decision is caused by craving (taṇhā), conceit (māna) and ego-illusion (diṭṭi). Because of these causes, envy and miserliness bring about frustration and suffering of mankind. It is only through meditation that these fetters can be controlled. If the beings are capable of reducing these fetters, most of the social issues can be solved making a peaceful society. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to show the Buddhist path to make the society peaceful through Buddhist meditation.