Bhante Kovida

Bhante Kovida

In Singapore, the cemetery meditation was held during the morning instead of the evening due to the mosquitoes and the threat of Dengue Fever. So, it was not scary as the previous evening sessions. I wanted to dig up an old grave so we could see and reflect on the remaining bones as an aspect of the Earth element, but that would have been illegal. 

After about 45 minutes of meditation (the participants sat apart from each other), we came together in the shade of a tree and did a reflection on the reality of the body-mind process shutting down regarding death. 

Using social convention, we usually say that someone has died or has passed away, but at a deeper reality when there is present moment awareness/mindfulness, the body-mind process simple shuts down, And at a deeper level of reality, the five factors that create our daily experience simply stops working. There is really no self that dies. This is the teaching of Anatta, no permanent, separate self or ego entity.

Then we did a reflection on the six elements - earth, water, heat, air, space and consciousness, and how these elements return to nature after death. The heat element is the first element to leave the body which is why a dead body feels cold when touched. At a deeper level of reality, there are atoms otherwise known as cosmic energy since everything is composed of atoms. And from the first law of science one is able to go beyond the idea of birth and death since energy cannot be created or destroyed. Then we did a reflection on the scientific fact of recycled atoms. Interesting and profound indeed.

After the cemetery meditation and reflection, we returned to the center by bus and continued to do more reflection on the changing nature of consciousness and the thinking process, the conditioning of time as past and future, the conditioning of the self as a collection of memories based on personal history and future projections and plans, having confidence in present moment awareness, our Buddha Nature. And why we want to continue somehow after death and our many beliefs in an after-life.

I'm now in the historic town of Malacca/Melaka, on the SW coast of  Malaysia, and I'm once again staying at the old Seck Kia Eenh temple (SKE). My previous visit was in December, 2019. My first visit as a teaching monk was in 1994-95, a past life for sure. The columbarium is still here (a collection of jars/urns containing human remains - ashes with bits of bones, an aspect of the earth element). There are photos of the deceased on the urns and one can reflect on the three facts of existence - constant change and impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and uncertainty, and no permanent, separate self or ego-center.

Before the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit, many people came to do offerings to the departed spirits - food, drink, candles and incense. It is believed that the incense smoke carries the essence of the offerings into the spirit world. During the Hungry Ghost month of August, many large incense sticks are burnt so that the smoke can carry the essence of the many offerings placed in public places and temple areas into the spirit world. There are also different kinds of entertainment for the spirits: classical music, puppet shows and Chinese stage operas.

Why do we believe in ghosts and spirits? Because of the great mystery of death and the unknown and the fertile human imagination. With a calm, reflective mind, one can realise and appreciate the profound wonder and mystery of life and death. And contemplating on the Bigger Picture, the larger perspective of the planet and Solar System and the immense Milky Way galaxy, we can see that birth, existence and death are only parts of a process in a much vaster and timeless reality.

Loving kindness and compassion are the only qualities that give meaning to the whole of existence. Death is the mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.

Youtube.....five elements reflection bhante kovida.

Youtube....The Age-Old Question: What happens when I die? by Bhante Kovida.

May all Beings be well, happy and peaceful. Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.

23 July 2023

Bhante Kovida

Bhante Kovida

These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with nature today. There is no time for them, there is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. 

But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or heedless of the riches and beauty that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. 

He cannot be happy, strong and secure until he, too, lives with nature in the present, above time. Present moment, wonderful moment. Breathing in, I feel at peace, breathing out, I smile.

~ Bhante Kovida

Dhamma Talk From Bhante Kovida

Dhamma Talk From
Bhante Kovida

There is a wise, old saying that people seem to have forgotten: "Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." 

Nowadays, people get upset and offended easily, they point fingers and blame others for the way they feel. From a Dhamma practice perspective, this is deluded and immature behaviour. We are conditioned to react. Our brains are programmed/educated to label, judge, criticise, condemn, compare, to like or dislike, to want or not to want, to have aversion and ill will. This is the conditioning of mental defilements.

So, this is the cause of our conflicts, discontentment, disharmony and dis-ease. The idea of a permanent, unchanging ego-center or self is strengthened by this conditioning and it is this deep-rooted illusion of a separate ego-entity which is the source and cause of our problems and conflicts, fears and worries, craving, greed and attachments.

The Buddha had taught, "When you see, just see, when you hear, just hear. When you think, just think, and when you know, just know." This is the practice of mindfulness, calm attention. This teaching sounds simple, but, as you know, it's challenging and difficult to practice because of our conditioned habit to react to situations and experience via the senses. Without mind training and practice we are like foreigners to our senses and thoughts and feelings, and it is difficult to control our reactions. It is our reactions which make us burn out and stressed, which throw us off balance and cause us suffering, dis-ease.

Our very lack of awareness, calm attention, has contributed to our mental suffering. We are deluded by our thoughts, feeling and emotions and we become victims of them  and are thrown off balance. We can learn to rely on ourselves by paying attention to our patterns of response and become aware of the motivations that lead us into difficulty. We can learn to watch and let go with mindfulness on breathing, hand movements during chi gong, tai chi, walking, and so on. Just see things as they are - impermanent, uncertain and empty of self. Things get better in our lives when we react less and less. We can remain calm and peaceful, wise and patient, strong and secure. Then we can respond in a beneficial way and be helpful to others.

Our basic problem in life is that we take things too personally, even things that are not directly related to us. This is an aspect of ignorance and delusion. Whether it is in the past, present or future, we tend to relate to them from the context of 'me' and 'mine.' We don't realise that ultimately nothing really belongs to us. If you take a walk in the cemetery and read the grave-stones, and reflect on the truth of impermanence and non-self, you will see this fact clearly. We ourselves are conditioned and impermanent beings, physical - mental processes. We can see that all our personal conflicts and self-created dramas are meaningless in the light of death and this global pandemic. I find cemetery reflections most therapeutic indeed. We can learn to laugh more at ourselves and not to take ourselves so seriously..  See Youtube...laughing yoga.

https://youtu.be/3q9fBDpPlYI

Bhante Kovida

Dhamma Talk by Bhante Kovida

Scientists, cosmologists and physicists, and philosophers often speak, discuss and debate about the origin of the universe and even possible scenarios of how it might end. The beginning and ending of the Cosmos. 

Religious leaders and philosophers will often discuss and debate whether the universe was created by a supernatural, supreme and super intelligent Being - God, Brahma,  Allah, Jehovah, Yaweh, Zeus, Thor, etc. Some people will ask, "Why does the universe exists? Is there a reason? Why is there something rather than nothing? What was there before the Big Bang? What caused the Big Bang? Then there is the Zen koan for contempletion - Two hands when clapped create a sound. What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The theory of the Big Bang was developed after Edwin Hubble discovered, in 1929, that the universe was expanding and that this expansion must have gotten started when matter suddenly expanded in vast space, hence the name, Big Bang. And if the Cosmos has a beginning, then it must have an ending. Now, why do we think like this? Because humans are conditioned with dualistic thinking - subject and object, creator and creation, good and evil, beginning and ending, and so on. It is the nature of the conditioned mind..

In the silence and stillness of meditation, dualistic thinking comes to an end and one is in touch with the timeless dimension of the universe. No beginning, no ending. There is profound peace and freedom from time, fear and anxiety. I used to think that eternity was somewhere in the far, far distant future, but in this inexhaustible silence, there is the realisation that eternity is now, the timeless present state of the cosmos. Always existed and always will exist, alway was and always will be.

 

A few times, there was the opportunity to lie beneath the night sky filled with stars and expand one's mind out into the Milky Way. Initially, the galaxy appears as a two-dimensional celestial image, but gradually the mind becomes more silent and spacious, and you begin to experience the three-dimensional reality of the heavens. There is no me, no observer, who is separate from the observed, the night sky. There is no duality. One's being is just vast, unbounded space in which the world, the solar system and the galaxy is happening. There is awe, beauty, joy, immensity and compassion. This is sometimes referred to as Cosmic Consciousness.

During the Buddha's time, there was a monk who's mind was often distracted by metaphysical, speculative questions, and so he was unable to experience samadhi or jhana. Once he asked the Buddha, " Is the universe eternal or not eternal? Is the universe finite or infinite? Is there a beginning or an ending? After death, will the Buddha continue to exist or not exist? Are the body and self/soul separate entities?" The Buddha remained silent. One day, the Buddha said to him, "You are like a man who has been shot by a poisoned arrow and instead of quickly removing the arrow in order to save your life, you insist on asking useless questions, "What is the name of the man who shot the arrow? How tall is the man? What kind of wood is the arrow made? What kind of bird did the arrow's feather come from? What is important is to remove the arrow immediately. What is important is to understand the truth of suffering, unsatisfactoriness and impermanence and the ending of suffering."

When we try to answer speculative questions, we easily cling to views and opinions, and we end up arguing with others and upset our minds. This is not the path to peace, dispassion, freedom and wisdom.

~ Bhante Kovida