When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings, a pupil was caught stealing.

The matter was reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case.

Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that otherwise, they would leave in a body.

When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. “You are wise brothers,” he told them. “You know what is right and what is not right.

You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave.”

A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had vanished.

 

Explanation Of The Wisdom

 

Do you really think thieves, “evil” people and murderers do what they do thinking they are purposefully hurting other people?

Most of these “evil” people have neurosis, inaccurate perceptions, and psychological problems. Add to that chaos their upbringing, past experiences, conditioning and dysfunctional belief systems that you, as a third person, have no idea about.

Now, once you can clearly see these “evil” people as they are, is it really too difficult to show them compassion and understanding?

They simply do not know falsehood from truth. They are no different from any of us.

No one does wrong willingly. They, in their own way, justify what they do as “right”. These people should not be condemned or outcasted. Instead, just like everyone else, they should be educated.

They probably had tough and traumatic family events in their childhood which scarred them for life. Events that changed their psychology and belief systems for the worse. Events that made them more pessimistic and egoistic. Less compassionate and more brutal.

Realize that everyone is a product of their environment. The past does not have to define who you are today but make no mistake, the past affects the psyche in subtle but significant ways.

As a non-smoker college student, when a friend says, “Hey! Wanna take a hit?” and throws a cigarette to your mouth with puppy eyes, the pressure of social conformity is very challenging for an undeveloped psyche of a teenager to resist.

To be approved and accepted, you give in and start being a smoker. But little you know, how much that one cigarette will affect the rest of your life.

The chemicals in your brain will go through a significant change over the years. You’ll be ten times more prone to depression. You will be less likely to listen to your elders and become a rebel.

Maybe you will even do drugs as more social pressure builds up which will spiral you down into more and more addictions.

Then through this victim mentality you have adopted as a teenager, your career will take a hit. You will lack discipline. Your interest in a field will diminish and you will move on to the “next one” due to lack of concentration and as a result, you will never start the mastery process.

Your relationships are going to be highly egoistic and dysfunctional. You will constantly blame your partner for your unhappiness and try to find the answers in alcohol which again will profoundly affect your brain chemistry and psychology.

As time goes on; thievery, lack of honesty, stealing and doing vice will become more and more attracting. Instead of taking a look at yourself, you’ll blame rich people for being thieves. For stealing from poor people.

You will have these ideas about how unfair life is. You will slowly rebel against the world.

And all of a sudden, you will be the vigilante stealing from other people thinking that you are doing the “right” thing.

Now after we take all of this into consideration, can we truly blame a thief for being a thief?

No. They have little to no choice in the matter. They do not know what they are doing and they can’t change their ways unless patiently educated.

Environmental factors, subconscious insecurities, and causal dependencies influence your life more significantly than you think.

Instead of blaming these “evil” people, we should show them how change is possible.

How by re-wiring the subconscious mind, you can be free of these negative conditioning and faulty belief systems which makes you more and more depressed.

How do you re-wire the subconscious to live a happier life?

• Meditation and Psychology.

This advice is not just for “evil” people. This is for all of us who feel confused in life. Who feel depressed, anxious and unfulfilled.

This is for filthy rich people who spent 30 years working with ambition only to find how money and external possessions don’t make one happy.

This is for poor people dreaming and wishing for a better life financially in the illusion that more money is the answer.

This is for married people who had this assumption that a stable and trustworthy relationship partner can just come in and make you forget all of your problems.

No one can make you happy. You see how false this notion is only after the honeymoon phase ends.

As you can see, all of us need some wisdom in our lives.

There is only one way to put this wisdom into practical living: start a daily meditation practice and start an investigation towards enlightenment.

Theory, debates, reading, listening, talking, arguing and knowledge will only get you so far. 

You must “walk the talk”.

If in doubt, remember the priceless wisdom.

“Meditate on the breath (mindfulness meditation to build concentration and awareness skills) and then self-enquire (the teachings of Ramana Maharshi) until you are free of all psychological sufferings and ego. (aka enlightenment)

Do this everyday and trust in the process that eventually your mind will be healed.

Why?

Because all good things require training and patience.

Know that as long as you do the work, the results will eventually follow.”

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