Hard work is the luckiest star.
Although Buddhism does not refute belief in deities, spirits,
astrology and fortune-telling, the Buddha's advice was that people
should not be slaves to any of those forces. A good Buddhist can
overcome all his difficulties if he knows how to make use of his
intelligence and will-power. The above mentioned beliefs have no
spiritual significance or value. Man must overcome all his problems
and difficulties by his own efforts and not through the medium of
deities, spirits, astrology or fortune-telling. In one of the
Buddhist Jataka stories, the Bodhisatta said:
'The fool may watch for lucky days,
Yet luck he shall always miss,
The luck itself is luck's own star,
What can mere stars achieve?
He believed that hard work was the luckiest star and one should not
waste time by consulting stars and lucky days in order to achieve
success. To do your best to help yourself is better than to rely
solely on the stars or external sources.
Although some Buddhists practise fortune-telling and dispense some
forms of charms or amulets under the guise of religion, the Buddha
at no time encouraged anyone to practise such things. Like
fortune-telling, charms come under the category of superstition,
and have no religious value. Yet there are many people today who,
because of sickness and misfortunes attribute the cause of their
illness and ill-luck to the power of charms. When the cause of
certain sickness and misfortunes cannot be ascertained or traced,
many people tend to believe that their problems are due to charms
or some other external causes. They have forgotten that they are
now living in the twentieth century. This is the modern age of
scientific development and achievement. Our leading scientists have
thrown aside many superstitious beliefs and they have even placed
men on the moon!
All sicknesses owe their origin to either mental or physical
causes. In Shakespeare, Macbeth asked a doctor if there was any
medicine that could cure his wife and the doctor replied: 'More
needs she the divine than the physician.' What he meant was that
some diseases could only be cured if the mind was purified. Some
severe mental disorders manifest themselves in a physical
manner--ulcers, stomach aches, and so on.
Of course diseases are purely physical and can be cured by a
competent doctor. And finally, some inexplicable disorders could be
caused by what Buddhist call the ripening of the kammic fruit. This
means we would have to pay for some evil deed that we have
committed in a past life. If we can understand this in the case of
some incurable diseases, we can bear it with greater patience,
knowing its real cause.
People who cannot be cured of their sickness are advised to consult
a medical specialist and obtain specialized attention. If after
having gone through a medical check-up, a person still feels in
need of attention, then he may want to seek spiritual guidance from
a proper religious teacher.
Buddhists are strongly advised against falling into the miserable
pit of superstitious beliefs and allowing the mind to be troubled
by unnecessary and unfounded fears. Cultivate a strong will-power
by refusing to believe in the influence of charms.
