There are two ways to repay our debts:

WE RECEIVE FAVORS IN EACH DAY OF OUR LIVES

In general, in each day of our lives, we borrow things from nature and from our society. When we walk on the street, we owe a debt to road workers. When we escape from a traffic jam, we owe a debt to the traffic police. When we don't feel well, we owe a debt to doctors. When it rains, we owe a debt to sewer workers, as without them, we will be flooded. These things are easy to be seen. Thinking deeper, we will be frightened to find that we also owe debts far much greater. For example, to have a beautiful road for us to go, there must be a project of the State, taxes of the people, the owners of construction investment projects, and workers directly building roads.

Each piece of food we eat has the sweat of the farmer, the porter, the distribution agent, the water of nature, the sun and wind of the sky, the people cooking for us, and so on. Therefore, in this world, we easily acquire numerous debts. And if we do not contribute anything to this life, we will owe debts for our entire life and will be poor men in our next life because we will always be busy seeking ways to pay back our debts. As for thoughtful people, they always think about the debts they owe to others and try to devote their life to serving society as a way of returning favors to others. Moral people are always afraid of debts and are very careful about borrowing based on the law of karma. They always remind themselves that living in this life is to serve others. You should have this thought - "serving others" - in your mind and when it stays in your mind, you are still ethical.

• What is spiritual cultivation?
• "To eliminate our ego," they answer.
• What is to live?
• To serve others.

We ask them to repeat these statements to instill these ideas into their heads so that for the rest of their life they always keep in mind that "to live is to serve." It is also a reminder for all of us. Our life is full of favors that others do for us, so people with big hearts and strong hands will choose a way of living which is to devote their life to sentient beings as a way of returning favors. People with hard hearts will choose a way of living that allows them to enjoy others' fruits of labor without returning anything. They are debtors and will not be free in the future because they always object to paying back their debts. Conversely, those who choose their way of living to serve others will pay off their debts and earn more blessings, so in their next life, they will be free.

So, how is a person considered free? This is the type of person who can choose whatever they like. For example, in a shop there are T-shirts. They love one of the shirts, but cannot afford it. This means they do not have freedom. Those who have freedom are able to buy anything they wish. They are free because they are blessed. In other words, those who have freedom are able to choose what they like, while those who lack blessings cannot because they are not free. Freedom means to freely choose what you desire. But why do people have freedom? - Because they are blessed. So, in this life, if we don't serve and devote ourselves to others, we won't have blessings, hence, in our next life, we will not have the freedom to choose what we wish. The word 'freedom' according to the law of Karma is different from the one in politics; it means to freely choose what you wish. Blessed ones can choose their occupations. If they wish to become a doctor or an engineer... they can, and they will be successful in that position because they're blessed. If a person wants to become a teacher but has to be a worker, it is due to his lack of blessings. Why do they lack blessings? - Because in their previous lives they received many favors from others but did not try to return these favors or serve others. Each stretch of roads they traveled, each bowl of rice they ate, or each chair they sat... were their debts, and they did not try to serve others in return to the favors they received but kept on enjoying others' fruits of labor. This is why their blessing reduces very quickly and in their next life, they will lack blessing, hence lose their freedom. This is the understanding of freedom according to the Law of Karma.

We talk about this topic to remind and courage each other to try very hard to practice Buddhism and to realize that that living in this life, we have a lot of relationships, and every relationship only bases on borrowing and paying debts. Each debt has two parts: one part contains materials and the other emotions, and it is always a burden to our soul. Therefore, those who want to become monks or nuns should owe few debts and do many favors to others. Also, they have to diligently practice the Dharma and bring precious morality to people as a way of repaying debts to life. If not, your debts are much bigger than the ones of normal people. It's because when people make offerings to them, it is not only about material things but also about reverence, and this reverence is the point. They may be worth this amount of money but not the reverence, so they must repay for the reverence, which is terrible. That's why monks and nuns must be worthy of both material offerings and reverence, and only Buddha's teachings can help.

Without Buddha's teachings, the ordained cannot afford to repay their favor debts to life. Therefore, whoever we are, ordained people or lay people, we should realize that we all owe debts and are responsible to pay them back. We have three ways to repay: The first way is very difficult because we are too bad people. The second is easier because we are quite good. But the best is the third way, which is to practice the Dharma diligently to achieve selflessness. The third way will help anyone, ordained or lay, be easy to repay his favor debts and those who did favors for him will earn great blessings.

Every day we try to meditate for at least two sessions. When in meditation, you should contemplate the law of impermanence and use the right method to purify your mind and head to selflessness. This way we can pay back our many debts and also benefit our benefactors.

There are two ways to repay our debts: one thing is if we can do anything to others, then try our best and don't boast about our deeds. The other is when we have free time, we should sit in meditation with our mind being toward selflessness. These are the two best ways of paying back our debts. Also, when we do so, we not only bring good things to our life but surpass ourselves as ordinary people and progress to spiritual enlightenment.

Written by:
Janna

Related Articles:

Debts Are a Burden to Our Soul – The Wisdom of Living Without Debt

How to Repay Debts: Karma, Gratitude and the Bodhisattva Path

Debts That Are Easy and Hard to Pay Off – Buddhist Perspective

Our Debts in Life – Karma, Relationships and Spiritual Liberation

Fear of Debts Is a Virtue – The Karma of Owing and Repaying Debts

Instruction on Meditation: Essential Methods and Practice Guide

The Basic Meditation Technique: 5 Essential Steps to Practice Meditation

Meditation, Business Intuition and Wisdom Without Greed

Meditation Q&A 61–65: Overcoming Drowsiness and the Six Steps of Mindfulness