SAY "NO!" WITH ATAMMAYATA

　　For our health and sanity, for peace and ecological survival, for liberation, we must say "No!" to the myriad forms of egoism and selfishness, of greed, anger, and delusion, which generate and proliferate consumerism, environmental degradation, poverty, racism, sexism, immorality, and social injustice. But we don”t know how to say it. We say "no" with schemes, with anger, with regrets, with guilt. Or we are afraid to say it. We haven”t found a way to say "No!" and be free. So, the world — along with our minds — remains a mess.

　　All religious teachings empower us to say "No!" to what is dangerous, evil, and stupid. Buddha-Dhamma especially shows us how to say "No!" to dukkha and its causes. Not passive acceptance, not denial, not apathy, not intellectual obfuscation, but wise and aware refusal to harm others, oneself, and the world is the Middle Way.

　　There is one term in Buddha-Dhamma that says "No!" best of all: atammayata. Most simply, atammayata means "I ain”t gonna mess with you no more." In the Thai language, these can be fighting words. If necessary, we can find more polite renditions, but the vigor of "I ain”t gonna mess with you no more" must be retained. "This is it! I”ve had enough of your games and I ain”t gonna take any more _______!"

　　Literally, atammayata may be translated as "the state of not being made up by, or made up from, that (thing or condition)." The central element maya means "fabrication, making into, concocting," which implies dependence, which means slavery. A mind that relies upon things — outer authorities, consumer goods, power, sex, drugs, beliefs, theories, ignorance — is fabricated by or concocted by those things. Essentially, they turn us into slaves. This slavery can be "positive-good" or it may be "negative-bad." The difference is subjective, that is, our own choice. Either way, by relying on things with attachment, we become their slaves. That condition is called "tammayata" (messing around, being messed with).

　　When we are freed from such slavery, when we feel no compulsion to rely upon and attach to things, when we don”t judge them, don”t even think of them, as "positive" and "negative", we have atammayata. We can translate this as "invulnerability, imperturbability, unconcoctability, unmanipulability," all of which are rather clumsy. The more down-to-earth "I ain”t gonna mess with no more" is more practical. It is just what most of us need. Further, it contains the most profound message in Buddha-Dhamma, in all religion for that matter.

　　The story of the historical Buddha”s life contains many examples of atammayata in practice. For example, the young Samana Gotama, stayed with the meditation masters Alara Kalamagotara and Uddaka Ramaputta until mastering their teachings. When each, in turn, invited him to be a co-teacher, the young Samana Gotama asked if there wasn”t anything more to his teaching. When each said there was not, Gotama politely replied that this was not the end of dukkha he was searching for and walked away. To walk away from the foremost meditative bliss of his time, of all time, as well as the fame and spoils of big-time guru-dom, required atammayata.

　　Later, after practicing all the austerities and ascetic practices popular in those days, after taking such self-mortification further than anyone ever had, he realized it was all useless and dropped it all at once. Only atammayata can do that. Finally, sitting under the Bodhi tree during the night of the great awakening, Gotama refused to be tempted by Mara and his three sexy daughters. Once again, atammayata said "No!" And then, observing the dependent arising of dukkha and the quenching of that chain reaction, Gotama said the ultimate "No!" He shook off all egoism, all illusion of self, all ignora…

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