Buddhist Perspective on the Development of Social Welfare
by Ashin Indacara | 2011 | 61,386 words
This page relates 鈥楾he Five Enemies (Introduction)鈥� of the study on the Buddhist perspective on the development of Social Welfare, employing primarily the concepts of Utthana-sampada (persistent effort) and Arakkha-sampada (watchfulness). Based on the teachings of the Buddha in the Dighajanu Sutta and other canonical texts, this essay emphasizes the importance of effort, knowledge, and good karma in achieving social welfare.
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15. The Five Enemies (Introduction)
If one who wants to progress his welfare, he has inevitably to follow these two factors or duties. Of these, the first one is concerned with safety and relying and the latter concerned with further developing. These are essential for the development of worldly affairs including social welfares. Regarding watchfulness and protection, according to the Buddha, there are five kinds of enemies that can damage or destroy one's properties anytime and anywhere.
They are described in Bhoga Sutta of the A峁単uttara Nik膩ya as follows:
(1) King;
(2) Thieves or dacoits or robbers;
(3) Fire;
(4) Water or flood;
(5) Ill-disposed heirs or unlovable sons and daughters.[1]
These enemies are able to damage or destroy one's own by carrying away by force, robbing or stealing, burning, flooding, taking so and so forth anytime and anywhere. That is because properties are concerned with these five. So properties can be always encountered with these enemies anytime and anywhere. But it is to be noted that no one can give guarantee that he is able to watch and protect his own because one cannot always watch and protect his own properties.