BEARERS OF THE BURDEN – BHIKKHU REVATA
Bearers of the Burden
Bhikkhu Revata
INTRODUCTION
No one takes on burdens if they can be avoided. One’s burdens, perceived alternatively as responsibilities or duties, are borne either physically or mentally. They have varying degrees of complexity and weight. Some are difficult to bear while others are easy. Some are onerous while others are light. Some are intolerable while others are tolerable. Whatever they be, everyone has to bear some burden or other in life.
No matter how complex, difficult, or wearisome the duties may be, and no matter how heavy the burdens are, it is possible to be free of them in one’s life. There can be a time when one is free from carrying these burdens. Those who have duties and responsibilities in life are able to let go of them and escape from them at the end of each workday as well as at certain times in the course of a workday. However, there is a very heavy burden that we always carry. We shoulder this burden endlessly in the round of rebirths without knowing any way of escape or relief from it.
It is, therefore, crucial for us to know:
- The nature of the burden,
- who is carrying the burden,
- how to lighten the burden, and
- how to put it down for complete freedom.
And that is precisely why this talk was given. Now I am glad that it is being made available in print.
RVT 01 Bearers of the Burden (Third Edition) - 122015
