I want everyone to realize that Dhamma is duty, or to see that duty itself is Dhamma. Whether people in the past, or those living today, no one ever thinks that duty is Dhamma. Instead, we do our duties because necessity forces us. If we don’t do them, we have nothing to eat. So we do our duty by the force of necessity. This goes against our feelings and we suffer at the same time that we do our duty. I call this “falling into hell while working.” There is nothing cheerful about falling into hell while working. Would all these people who have duties to perform please discover that these duties are Dhamma itself.

Dhamma is the thing that will help save people. And duty is the thing that will help save us, because the two are one and the same thing. If they say that God will save us, we must say that duty by itself is what saves us. If we do not do our duty, however many Gods you wish are powerless to help. When duty is done, that duty becomes the God that saves us. The meaning is exactly the same as Dhamma. Whoever has Dhamma is saved; whoever does their duty is saved. Would you please observe carefully that any kind of saving duty should be respected as Dhamma.

PDF | ePUB | Mobi