Human Life

The last Dhamma Talk 

by the late Most Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda, 

Chief Priest of the Buddhist Temple in Brickfields, 

on 7th July 2006 

at the Buddhist Maha Vihara, Kuala Lumpur.

---

Human Life

"Dear devotees actually I never thought I would have the chance 

to see and talk to you. You see half of my body is dead, but my heart, my mind still has energy. 

What is this diseased body? 

Is it life? No, it's not life. 

It's the house. Life is the energy, mental, kammic and cosmic all joined together as "energy".

That is life.

Body is decayed and life goes away. 

Actually we must be happy when time comes to depart without suffering. To crave so much for the body, we spend our whole life decorating, looking after it, and one day it decays and when energy and the elements dissipate, then mental energy will build another house. 

Life started with mental energy and then birth occurs. Every single child cries, none smiles after birth. Life is suffering; we are using whole amounts of energy to maintain this physical body, but one day we have to depart. 

Then leaves solidity and fluidity ~ 2 elements only, heat and motion has gone.

Christians and Muslims are particular about the body as they believe in resurrection; we do not believe that there is anything in this physical body. 

Spend thousands on funerals, but the departed never get anything! 

The only way to support the departed, you must know how to make use of this life. That is why religion is needed to help us to cultivate compassion, sympathy and kindness and supporting others.

David Morris sent me a letter, he said there are 2 reasons to be happy as an old man:

(1) he will soon be free from pain and suffering, 

(2) ever since he became a Buddhist he has tried his best to maintain and uphold the 5 precepts, if there is another life it won't be an unfortunate one as he departs with confidence.

In the end the dying man takes no solace in dancing and singing, only in meritorious deeds will you get confidence and this will support the kammic energy in the rebirth. 

You must know how to handle life, by doing service to others to help release their suffering. 

Many die with fear and confusion in mind; can't take rebirth in upper realm. Meditation is important to maintain purity. 

Prince Siddhartha, when he was born, there were 5 astrologers invited to predict his fate. 

Four said that he would either grow up to be a sage or monarch, and one said definitely a sage.

When craving and attachment is completely removed, the mind is then completely pure. 

This body is not life. 

It's a house built by energy and 4 cosmic elements. Unfortunately in the past 2,500 years, Buddhists in Asia have introduced a lot of rites and rituals, never introduced by the Buddha. Just keep away from evil by reducing anger, jealousy, enmity, and try to do meritorious deeds, and try to develop the mind through understanding. 

Try to purify the mind.

If you are cruel, hot tempered, or stingy, try your best to take this out. 

If you pray to God to take this out do you think God can do that? 

Buddha can't also, but he can tell you how to do that. War is declared by the human mind, peace also comes from our our minds, not from heaven nor from God.

First by understanding without believing, when you develop a right understanding, then you can carry on a religious way of life. 

When you doubt, you think, investigate, then accept or reject.

Others say if there is doubt, then God will punish you.

All over the world different schools have sprung up and they follow their own traditions which they have maintained for a long time. 

Buddha had rejected old traditions, but it was introduced to the primitive narrow minded people. People in Asian countries don't study the dharma.

Next do Good. Reduce the anger and do something to train the mind through right understanding. Change the mind - through your own experience you can understand right and wrong.

I have been in Malaysia for 53 years, used to have even no room to sleep. 

The Chinese were the main Buddhists here and through Buddhist societies we made them understand what Buddhism is.

My mind mental and life energy is still active but I am half way dead. 

Although the end of my life is now near, I have no fear. Arahants can disconnect mind from body to experience nibbanic bliss and at that time you cannot tell if they are dead or alive, their bodies are still warm and their complexions will remain ruddy. 

They can do that for 1 week at the most.

Remember there are 4 kinds of happiness:

(1) Happiness of Possession - in owing your own property, your house, land, business, bank account.

(2) Happiness of Enjoyment - using what you have earned you can enjoy good food, nice house, nice dress, without abusing, bluffing, cheating others.

(3) Happiness of Debtlessness - try best not to borrow from others, spend within your means; you gain self respect.

(4) Happiness of Blamelessness - try to lead life without doing harm to anybody.

These 4 kinds of happiness must be with you. Don't be lazy; do some work, do not neglect what you have earned, maintain and protect what you have earned, then you can decide what to do including adopting a Buddhist way of life up to arahant, 

know how to adjust your way of life, how to associate with others. 

Associate with good people, not harmful, wicked people. 

Support your father and mother, look after your spouse and children, don't neglect relatives, help them.

Develop your mind to the extent that you are not shaken by the 8 winds of change: 

(1) praise/blame,

(2) fame/shame, 

(3) gain /loss, 

(4) pleasure/pain, and 

treat all the same, then at this stage nothing will affect you."

All meetings end in partings. 

That which rises must fall. 

That which is collected will be dispersed. 

Birth ends with death.” 

- Ven K. Sri Dhammananda 

[ 1918 - 2006 ]

“Can you explain your own experience of ‘not-me’? Or is it an inference you have deduced from your experience of ‘not mine’?” ~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

“Can you explain your own experience of ‘not-me’? Or is it an inference you have deduced from your experience of ‘not mine’?”
~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

After we have practiced ānāpānasati well enough, we have the experience that all things are impermanent, have the inherent quality of dukkha, and are not-self. We see that every time there is the experience or feeling of self, that dukkha bites us. Seeing this, we live carefully, mindfully, not giving any opportunity for this feeling or experience of self to happen, so that it can’t bite us. But even if sometimes we slip, are a little careless, or make a mistake, we’re still smarter than we were before and so there is less dukkha to bite this self which is not-self.

Whenever we are careless and think or experience self, then life bites. Life is changed into a situation of biting and life bites its owner. Remember the different symptoms of life biting its owner that we mentioned earlier. Sometimes love bites, sometimes anger bites, sometimes hatred bites, sometimes fear bites, sometimes worry bites, sometimes worrying about the future or longing after the past bites, jealousy bites, envy bites, possessiveness bites. When some negative experience happens, we don’t want it to happen, we want to get rid of it, and that aversion bites. Positive experience happens, we want it, we desire it, and that wanting and desire bites. If we understand this then there is a technique, a principle, or a method to not let the self arise when we make contact with positive and negative experiences. Then these positive and negative experiences don’t bite and life doesn’t bite its owner. There’s a way to do this if we are careful.

(From the retreat “Why the Monkeys Washed out Their Ears,” as translated from the Thai by Santikaro)

- - ❖ - -

Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.

Ajahn Sumedho - Buddhist Meditation

The aim of Buddhist meditation is to let go of these conditions of the mind, which doesn't mean denying, or getting rid of, or judging them. It means not believing them or following them; instead we listen to them as Dhamma, as conditions of the mind that arise and cease.With an attitude of awakened, attentive awareness, we learn to trust in ...just being the listener, the watcher, rather than being somebody trying to meditate to get some kind of result.

If we try to think about meditation practice as this or that, we're creating an image that we're trying to realise, rather than just trusting in the attentiveness of the mind, in mindfulness; letting go of the desire to find or grasp anything. As soon as we think about ourselves, we become a person - somebody - but when we are not thinking, the mind is quite empty and there is no sense of person. There is still consciousness, sensitivity, but it's not seen in terms of being a person, of being a man or a woman; there is just awareness of what is happening - what the feeling is, the mood, the atmosphere that one is experiencing in this moment. We can call this intuitive awareness. It is not programmed and conditioned by thought or memory or perception.

We are renouncing, abandoning, letting go of things. To the worldly mind, it might sound as though we're getting rid of something, or condemning the sense world, the pleasures and the beauty that we can all experience as human beings; rejecting it, because we see it as evil or wrong. But renunciation isn't a moral judgement against anything. 

Rather, it's a moving away from that which complicates and makes life difficult, towards the ultimate simplicity of pure mindfulness in the present moment; because enlightenment is here and now, the Truth is now. There is not anyone who can become anything, there is not anyone who is born or who will die - there is only this eternal now. This awareness is what we can tune into, as we let go of the appearances and the habitual tendencies.

When we emphasise our personality we create problems, because the personal qualities are different for each one of us. We have our common human problems: old age, sickness and death; all men have certain things in common; all women have certain conditions in common. But then there are certain attitudes, cultural expectations and assumptions, which are conditioned into the mind, instilled into us after we are born. Through mindfulness, we are able to get beyond this conditioning of the mind to the pure consciousness that isn't conditioned, but which is like the background, the emptiness, the blank sheet on which words are written. Our perceptions arise and cease on that blank sheet, that emptiness. 

The personality, the self-consciousness, the fears and the desires of the mind are what they are; we are not trying to dismiss them or add to them, or make any problems or difficulties around them. We are willing to let them be what they are. 

They feel this way, they have this quality; they arise and cease. In that cessation there's the realisation of the peace, the bliss or the serenity of being, and there's no self in it. 

Everyone has that potential, that ability to realise this. We describe it as seeing the Dhamma, the way it is - it's not a matter of becoming anything at all. 

Ajahn Sumedho.

Consciousness, thus unestablished, not proliferating, not performing any function, is released. Owing to its release, it stands still. Owing to its stillness, it is contented. Owing to its contentment, it is not agitated. 

Not agitated, he (the monk) is totally unbound right within. He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'

"For one knowing in this way, seeing in this way, monk, there is the immediate ending of fermentations." 

SN22.55

1 Century of Luang Pu Budda Thawaro, Wat Klang Chu Sri Charoensuk, Bang Rachan District, Singburi Province

1 Century of Luang Pu Budda Thawaro, Wat Klang Chu Sri Charoensuk, Bang Rachan District, Singburi Province

In the year 2519, Phra Rajpromayan Weera Thawaro or more popularly known as Luang Phor Lersi Lingdam of Wat Tha Sung, Uthai Thani Province was to perform the Phitee Buang Suang at Phra That Chom Kitti at Chiang Saen District in Chiang Rai Province. 

He gave instructions to Dr. Parinya Nutalai and his sister, Ms. Chalinee Niamsakul, as well as Pol Lt. Col. Dr. Somsak Suebsanguan, former Chief Medical Officer of the Police Department, to pick up Luang Pu Budda Thawaro to bring him to meet Luang Phor Lersi Lingdam at Chiang Saen District. 

The trio thought that this was a great opportunity for them because they could have an opportunity to serve and interact with a great geiji ajaan. Dr. Somsak wrote down the questions he wanted to ask Luang Pu Budda on a piece of paper. 

“I sat in the back with Luang Pu and Maha Thong. During the journey, I read out all the questions and doubts I had one by one. Luang Pu was kind enough to explain the Dhamma to three of us on the way, which was why I felt we reached Chiang Saen so quickly”, commented Dr. Somsak. 

On the journey back, the three decided not to use the same route and took Luang Pu Budda and Phra Maha Thong Kanchano to stay at Wat Thaen Sila at Uttaradit Province for 1 night, while the 3 laypersons rested at a hotel in town. 

In the morning, they took the car to pick Luang Pu up and continue their journey. “I saw Luang Pu having his meal together with three local monks. The three of us bowed down and sat there waiting for him. But I (Pol. Lt. Col. Dr. Somsak Suebsanguan) could hardly believe my eyes. 

I saw Luang Pu floating around 1cm above the sitting area, while the other three monks were sitting on the floor normally. I took off my glasses, rubbed my eyes, and put them back on. Yet I still saw Luang Pu floating like that. 

I still had my doubts, so I crawled to another corner to see from another angle. But it still appears the same [as though Luang Pu was floating]. So I crawled back to my original spot. I waited until Tahn finished and got up to head back to the lodge, when the three of us got up and came out. 

All of us thought that we alone witnessed the scene exclusively. So we felt that it was Tahn’s kindness to allow us to witness this. Other people, even if they had entered the area, would not have seen it the way we did. Even the other three monks did not have the privilege of perceiving this.”

Source: 1 Century of Luang Pu Budda Thawaro, Wat Klang Chu Sri Charoensuk, Bang Rachan District, Singburi Province

“Paying respect to the Buddha is thus not for the sake of wishing and asking for things from him. But it is out of respect and gratitude.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

8 December 2024

“Paying respect to the Buddha is thus not for the sake of wishing and asking for things from him. But it is out of respect and gratitude.”

"Buddhism is the teachings of the Buddha—the Rightly Self-awakened One, who realised the truth and saw things clearly. The Dhamma that the Buddha taught is real—relevant and timeless—as practitioners can see and prove it for themselves. His teachings, or the Dhamma, will guide those who practise to real happiness and success. The Buddha is the One who knows: ‘Buddha’ means ‘to know’. The Buddha is an enlightened noble being (arahant). For he is the One without any defilements (kilesas), that is, without greed, hatred, and delusion.

The Buddha’s propounding of his Dhamma was truly out of his pure and good intentions. 

There was no desire for any material gain or anything else. There was no expectation from anyone by putting forth his teachings. His heart was already brimming with eternal bliss; his teachings were, therefore, purely out of his compassion.

He noticed that all sentient beings in this world were still blinded by delusions (moha). 

Ignorance (avijjā) was still pervasive in their hearts and minds; it gulls them into being subjected to the endless cycle of rebirth and death—the burden of suffering due to being born, ageing, getting ill, and dying—without any ends in sight.

Without heeding the Buddha’s Dhamma, there is no chance to be liberated from this perpetual cycle of rebirth and death. The Buddha himself was also once subjected to this endless cycle. 

In each realm and existence, he experienced sufferings (dukkha). The term bhava-jāti (existence-birth), in fact, means sufferings. 

When there are birth, growth, and existence, there must then also be ceasing. With ceasing naturally come sufferings, sadness, and lament for all sentient beings.

The Buddha discerned such sufferings thoroughly. 

After having gained his unequivocal knowledge of Dhamma through practice and liberated himself from the endless cycle of rebirth and death, his compassion and empathy compelled him to help and salvage other sentient beings, who were still subjected to such an endless cycle, so that they would have a chance of ridding themselves of dukkha.

The Buddha hence put forth his teachings of the Dhamma to those who were interested. 

Having listened to his Dhamma, they began putting his teachings into practice out of faith and conviction. 

They also managed to liberate themselves from sufferings. Therefore, the Buddha was a noble teacher: a mentor, not a God or someone who could grant people their wishes, so that they would be free of sufferings among other things.

Paying respect to the Buddha is thus not for the sake of wishing and asking for things from him. 

But it is out of respect and gratitude—being aware of the insurmountable compassion that he had for all sentient beings. It is also to recollect the noble path—the proper conduct of his that he had practised and then demonstrated to us. We are, therefore, learners who believe in his teachings and try to put them into practice with confidence, sheer effort, mindfulness, and wisdom."

“Essential Teachings”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Gifts He Left Behind: The Dhamma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Gifts He Left Behind: The Dhamma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. 

When lay people came to visit Luang Pu, he ordinarily wouldn’t ask them about anything far away. He’d usually ask, “Have you ever meditated?” 

Some would respond that they had, others that they hadn’t.

One woman, a member of the latter group, was more outspoken than the rest. She said, “As I see it, there’s no reason we have to go to all the trouble of meditating. Every year I hear the Mahachaad sermon [a long, poetic chant of the Buddha’s penultimate life, as Prince Vessantara] at least 13 times at many different temples. The monks there say that listening to the Mahachaad story guarantees I’ll be reborn in the time of the Buddha Sri Ariya Metteyya, where I’ll meet with nothing but pleasure and ease. So why should I make things difficult for myself by meditating?”

Luang Pu said,

“Things that are excellent are right in front of your face, and yet you don’t show any interest. Instead, you place your hopes on far-off things that are nothing but rumors. This is the mark of a person who’s hopeless. When the paths, fruitions, and nibbāna of the dispensation of the Buddha Gotama are still with us, totally complete, and yet you dither around and don’t show any interest in them, then when the dispensation of the Buddha Sri Ariya Metteyya comes, you’ll dither around even more.”

~•~•~•~

Gifts He Left Behind: The Dhamma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. 

https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#GiftsHeLeft

“Getting the Message"

“Getting the Message" 

When asked if there was anything whose killing he approved of, the Buddha answered that there was only one thing: anger. In no recorded instance did he approve of killing any living being at all. When one of his monks went to an executioner and told the man to kill his victims compassionately, with one blow, rather than torturing them, the Buddha expelled the monk from the Sangha, on the grounds that even the recommendation to kill compassionately is still a recommendation to kill — something he would never condone. If a monk was physically attacked, the Buddha allowed him to strike back in self-defense, but never with the intention to kill." 

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Getting the Message" 

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/gettingmessage.html?fbclid=IwAR2dDUoLb9w47_M5-JG0X8Rk02KZODMXr310paiAlWbg4HuR-U0aTrtfLXI