What Use Is a Fool? Wearing a Goat-Skin Robe While the Heart Is Full of Afflictions

Through the story of a man who hung upside-down to scare people, Thầy Thích Chân Quang teaches about need versus greed, authentic versus false practice, and how cause and effect (karmic law) tends to repeat.

Imagine a man hanging upside-down by his feet from a tree branch, remaining naked all day, with a hat placed below to beg for money. It might seem like a worthy act of austerity, but when he came down, he would roam around frightening others: "This woman is about to have an accident!" "That wife is about to be abandoned by her husband!" He extracted money through fear, not through happiness. Simply hanging upside-down does not mean genuine practice!

*What use is a fool, sickly-haired, wearing a goat-skin robe?*

When the monks recounted this story, the Buddha spoke this verse (Verse 82):

"What use is a fool, sickly-haired, wearing a goat-skin robe? His inner mind is full of afflictions (kleshas), yet he wears a solemn guise."

Outwardly, he wore the robe of an ascetic, practicing hardship, but inwardly he was full of afflictions (kleshas), greed, and schemes. This is a disaster of deception we must awaken to, so we do not judge a practitioner solely by their external form.

**Needing yet not clinging – such is the authentic practitioner**

Thầy Thích Chân Quang points out that everyone needs food and drink, and has material needs. But how we face those needs is what matters. He said:

"The need for food and drink, everyone needs it, but the authentic practitioner is one who needs yet does not cling. The one who needs yet clings with greed is the false practitioner."

This applies not only to monastics but to everyone. A high-ranking official can refuse a suitcase with three million dollars because he understands he only needs three meals a day. That is a person who "needs yet does not cling." A teacher who calculates the ceremony cost for laypeople is still begging, but a teacher who sets a price and adds profit has become a service provider, no longer begging—and no longer an authentic practitioner.

**Eat according to need, not according to merit**

Thầy shares a profound lesson: Each person's blessings from merit are different, but basic needs are the same. Do not try to eat excessively or luxuriously just because you have much merit, for that is a moral error. He reminds us:

"Eat according to the body's needs, not according to your own merit."

If a laborer doing heavy work needs more energy, while an office manager needs less, the manager should gladly eat less, leaving the nutritious food for the laborer. This is equality and morality.

**Cause and effect (karmic law) has a tendency to repeat**

Thầy recounts that the inverted ascetic in the story was not just in one life but had been this way for many lives. The Buddha said he had been an ascetic who scared people for money for hundreds of lifetimes, repeating the same pattern. From this, Thầy reveals a principle:

"Cause and effect (karmic law) has a tendency to repeat."

If we do not practice to transcend it, we will meet the same people, encounter the same karma, and do the same things as before. This is the cycle of rebirth (samsara).

**Love with your whole heart? Offer it to the sages**

Thầy tells a story about a soldier who met a girl by a stream, thinking she was like a fairy. But after marrying her and living in the husband's home, all her bad temperaments surfaced: irritability, pettiness, greed, and lack of filial piety. Why? Because she was not yet a Stream-enterer (Sotāpanna), without a solid spiritual direction. Thầy says only those who have attained the level of Stream-enterer and above are worthy of receiving our wholehearted love. For those who have not yet attained realization, when tested, their ordinary nature will emerge.

Therefore, in this world full of suffering, we cannot rely on others. We must cultivate ourselves. Thầy advises:

"In a world where few know how to practice, we must strive to cultivate. In a world full of selfishness, we must strive to love, for there is no other way."

Quietly kneel before the Buddha, practice in silence, and strive to spread the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) to others, so this world increases its number of saintly beings, and life will gradually become more joyful.