Elder Damik and the Departure of No Return

**Summary:** Damik wished to ordain, but his wife held him back. He left decisively, and twenty years later, he guided his wife and child to ordain as well.

The April rain in the South that year poured down as if to wash clean every path. Water flowed over the tile roof, and the sound of raindrops hitting the brick courtyard was a cold, damp patter. In a small thatched hut, the dim flame of an oil lamp illuminated the contemplative face of a middle-aged man. This was Damik, a devout layperson, a man of virtue who had nurtured within his heart the aspiration to leave home life, cultivated through countless quiet days of chanting sutras and paying homage to the Buddha.

“My dear wife, I have decided. I wish to leave the household life to seek the path of liberation.”

His voice rang out through the rain, firm yet heavy with emotion. His wife, busy with the rice and clothing, froze, holding a basin of water. Her eyes glanced down at her belly, which had been slightly rounded for a few months now.

“Please, husband, we have little Tý in my womb already. Wait for him to be born first.”

Damik looked at his wife, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes, but then he nodded. He had to relent, feeling a responsibility toward the new life taking form.

Time passed, and the April rain ceased. The child was born, crying out in his cradle, growing each day under his mother’s care. Damik kept the flame of faith alive in their home, but the wish to ordain never died. For twenty long years, he remained a layperson, attending to his duties, always waiting for the right conditions.

When his son had grown to nineteen or twenty, tall and beginning to manage the family affairs, Damik felt he could delay no longer. One dry, sunny afternoon, he called his wife to the porch.

“Now that the child is grown and can manage our property, it is time for me to become a monk.”

His wife smoothed her hair already touched with frost, her hands gripping the hem of her robe tightly, her gaze evasive.

“Please, husband, wait until the child is truly mature, so he can manage the inheritance carefully.”

Damik gazed at his wife in silence. For a moment, his heart constricted, but immediately after, a flash of clarity like lightning parting clouds struck him: he realized she was using every excuse to hold on, a subtle plot never willing to let him go. He did not argue or explain further. A decisive resolve rose within the man who had endured twenty years of inner torment.

“I will wait no more.”

He stood up and left for good. Without looking back, taking no possessions, he stepped onto the path alone.

Twenty years after leaving home, Damik was no longer a weather-beaten layperson. Elder Damik had now attained the Way, majestic in his saffron robes, his wisdom shining bright. One day, he returned to his old town. The child of years past was now a young man of twenty. He needed no flowery persuasion; his very presence of purity allowed his son to sense his spiritual power, and the son requested to ordain first.

When his wife of old saw that her husband had ordained and attained realization, and that her son also followed the path of renunciation, something within her seemed to break open. She no longer wished to cling to the mundane world. She approached the community of nuns, bowed her head, and asked to join, shaving her head to ordain as well.

“Venerable Sir, I wish to follow the path.”

Damik looked at his wife and son, a gentle smile gracing his lips. His entire family, once worldly, were now children of the Buddha.

The news that he had guided both his wife and son to ordain reached the Buddha. The Blessed One did not praise with empty words, but offered praise in a verse: not using wrong means to benefit anyone, not longing for children or national wealth, this one practices in accord with the Dharma realm and attains wisdom. This was the confirmation: a person wholly devoted to the Buddha’s teachings can spiritually transform their family, leading loved ones to the shore of enlightenment.

From that day forward, that family was no longer caught in the cycles of old. They lived within the precepts and wisdom, peaceful and pure. The story of Elder Damik became a lesson that when the aspiration for the path is strong enough, even if one begins bound by conditions, one can eventually guide even the dearest of kin.

**Meaning of the Story**

A true child of the Buddha who sincerely practices will be torn between the ideal of enlightenment and worldly attachments. Yet, if the heart for the Way is firm, if one decisively lets go, one can spiritually transform the family, guiding a spouse and children to ordain. One does not use wrong means to achieve the goal, nor long for children or wealth, but simply practices in accord with the Dharma and attains realization.

*Compiled from a Dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang.*