é™æ€è¯ Readings For Silent Reflection
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Beautiful advice given by Ajahn Chah for one at their deathbeds
- Keep the mind and body separate
- Don't wish it were otherwise
- Let go of all externals
- Just be still
- Find your real home -
24/8
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The sutta begins at Jetavana where the monk Malunkyaputta is troubled by Gautama Buddha's silence on the fourteen unanswerable questions, which include queries about the nature of the cosmos and life after the death of a Buddha. Malunkyaputta then meets with Gautama Buddha and asks him for the answers to these questions, he says that if he fails to respond, Malunkya will renounce his teachings. Gautama responds by first stating that he never promised to reveal ultimate metaphysical truths such as those and then uses the story of a man who has been shot with a poisoned arrow to illustrate that those questions are irrelevant to his teachings.
It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town, or city... until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow... until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated... until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him. -
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MERIT
One of Ajaan Fuang's students told him that she'd like to do something special to make merit on her birthday.
He replied,
"Why does it have to be on your birthday?
Do you get less merit if you do it any other day? If you want to make merit, go ahead and do it on the day the thought occurs to you.
Don't wait for your birthday, because your deathday may get to you first".
- "Awareness Itself", by Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, -
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If this body is ours, we should be able to control it but we can't. We can't stop our body from ageing, from falling ill, from dying etc. Due to conditions, we have to go to work even though we are reluctant at times. We can't even control its movements at times. Anything which we can't control, is not ours.
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“Your suffering is not due to your body but your mind.”
We need to resort to Buddhism to make us aware that nothing belongs to us. Even our own physical bodies are not ours. One day they too will return to their original elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. In the end, your body will disintegrate into earth, water, wind, and fire. But for now, you can still make use of it in two ways: worldly and Dhamma.
If you’re lucky enough to have come across Buddhism, then you can make use of your body in a Dhamma way— liberating your mind and ending the endless cycle of rebirth and death. If you haven’t come across Buddhism, then you’d only be able to make use of your body in a worldly way—seeking worldly pleasures through it. -
Question: Were there Dharma ceremonies (法会) in the Buddha’s time? If not, how did they arise?
Answer: The original meaning of Dharma ceremonies is more accurately ‘Dharma assemblies’ – where people assemble to learn the Dharma. It simply refers to any occasion where there is a Buddha giving his teachings, giving sermons that are later recorded as sutras (Buddhist scriptures).In the absence of the historical Sakyamuni Buddha, beyond Dharma talks and classes today, which are also variations of Dharma assemblies, there are also more formalised Dharma assemblies which are ceremonious in nature, with the same term describing chanting ceremonies. In them, sutras taught by the Buddha are recited, to learn, remember and share their teachings. Merits are also created by sharing the Dharma in this way, with all beings, including the deceased and alive.
- Shen Shi'an -
In life, we often walk at crossroads. East, south, west and north, which way are you going? If life is a crossroad, and if east is good and west is evil, which way would you go? If south is righteousness and north is profit, would you go south or north?
‘Awakening Faith of Mahayana’ said, “One mind opens to two doors” -- a door to reality and a door to birth and death, one leading to heaven and Buddha’s way, and another leading to the world’s evil. According to your heart’s tendency, which is the way to go?
Venerable Master Hsing Yun
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The Unsurpassed Value of Impermanence
Birth and death are realities of life. Regardless of who we are, we cannot escape either one. While birth is celebrated, death is feared by most. In order to cope with our fear, we often seek comfort in religion.
Although each of the world’s major religious traditions has its own teaching concerning death, Buddhism is the only one that promotes the doctrine of impermanence as one of the universal truths. However, it is a truth that is not embraced by all. The majority of people chose to ignore or refute it, due to a lack of understanding or insight. As a result, impermanence has become a forbidden word in everyday living.