The five kinds of incomplete person
One day, the Buddha discoursed: " You have to be a complete person. A complete person needs to have compassion, wisdom, right views, be in accord with appropriate conditions, socially harmonious, positive and open. You must never be an incomplete person."
His followers then asked: " What are incomplete persons?"
The Buddha said: " Incomplete persons are:
1. unhappy when they should be happy.
2. indifferent when they should laugh.
3. unkind when they should be kind.
4. reluctant to practise the good even though they realise what is good.
5. unashamed of doing bad."
Sariputra exclaimed: " Buddha! Whenever I preached the Dharma, there would always be some people who would not look at me in attention. Even when the others were delighted and enthusiastic, they would still appear uninterested and emotionless. Are they to be considered incomplete persons?"
The Buddha said: " Yes! These are people who are unconcerned about words of good and who therefore are incomplete people. They usually have defects in their personalities, which make them isolated and difficult to integrate. Very often, they will spend a lifetime in misery. For a person to be happy, he would have to enjoy and laugh when he should, be kind when he should, practise the good when he learns about it and correct his wrongs when he is aware of them. This would make him a complete person."
His followers finally understood the meaning of the five kinds of incomplete persons.
We can tell whether a person is progressing by seeing if he cares about
advice on being good. Buddhism originally teaches the riddance of attachment.
But if words of good are being ignored and not taken to heart, it is like
a stubborn disease which could not be cured by even the best medicine. This
kind of people are the incomplete ones.
