Why Is There A Name?

Take people, for instance.

In reality people don't have any names, we are simply born naked into the world. If we have names, they arise only through convention.

I've contemplated this and seen that if you don't know the truth of this convention it can be really harmful. It's simply something we use for convenience. Without it we couldn't communicate, there would be nothing to say, no language.

I've seen the Westerners when they sit in meditation together in the West. When they get up after sitting, men and women together, sometimes they go and touch each other on the head!

When I saw this I thought, "Ehh, if we cling to convention it gives rise to defilements right there."

If we can let go of convention, give up our opinions, we are at peace.


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However, they are a characteristic of our world.

Take Mr. Boonmah, for instance; he used to be just one of the crowd but now he's been appointed the District Commissioner.

It's just a convention but it's a convention we should respect. It's part of the world of people.

If you think, "Oh, before we were friends, we used to work at the tailor's together," and then you go and pat him on the head in public, he'll get angry. It's not right, he'll resent it.

So we should follow the conventions in order to avoid giving rise to resentment.

It's useful to understand convention, living in the world is just about this.

Know the right time and place, know the person.


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Why is it wrong to go against conventions?

It's wrong because of people!

You should be clever, knowing both convention and Liberations. Know the right time for each.

If we know how to use rules and conventions comfortably then we are skilled. But if we try to behave according to the higher level of reality in the wrong situation, this is wrong.

Where is it wrong?

It's wrong with people's defilements, nothing else! People all have defilements.

In one situation we behave one way, in another situation we must behave in another way. We should know the ins and outs because we live within conventions.

Problems occur because people cling to them.

If we suppose something to be, then it is. It's there because we suppose it to be there.

But if you look closely, in the absolute sense these things don't really exist.


Extract from: Convention and Liberation, by Venerable Ajahn Chah