Taung Kalat Buddhist monastery, Mount Popa, Mandalay, Burma.

King Milinda asks:

"What is the benefit of building stupas and paying respect to them? The Buddha has passed away, so how can such acts bring merit?"

Nagasena replies:

"Great king, even though the Buddha has passed away, his relics remain as a focus of veneration. When people build stupas or offer respect to them, they create merit. Just as the fragrance of a flower spreads with the wind, the act of reverence brings joy and spiritual benefit to the devotees."

He further explains:

"The stupa is like a great rain cloud, bringing blessings and relief to those who seek it. By honoring the stupa, one honors the Buddha, his teachings, and the Sangha, cultivating wholesome qualities and a peaceful mind."

Milindapanha, Chapter 4 (Veneration of Stupas)

Dhammapada XVI : Dear Ones

Dear Ones : 209

Having applied himself
to what was not his own task,
and not having applied himself
to what was,
having disregarded the goal
to grasp at what he held dear,
he now envies those
who
kept after themselves,
took themselves
to task.

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And further, monks, a monk, in going forward and back, applies clear comprehension; in looking straight on and looking away, he applies clear comprehension; in bending and in stretching, he applies clear comprehension; in wearing robes and carrying the bowl, he applies clear comprehension; in eating, drinking, chewing and savoring, he applies clear comprehension; in walking, in standing, in sitting, in falling asleep, in waking, in speaking and in keeping silence, he applies clear comprehension.

Thus he lives contemplating the body in the body...

MN 10 Satipatthana Sutta : section Mindfulness with Clear Comprehension

Dear Ones : 210-211

Don’t ever–regardless–
be conjoined with what’s dear
or undear.
It’s painful
not to see what’s dear
or to see what’s not.
So don’t make anything dear,
for it’s dreadful to be far
from what’s dear.
No bonds are found
for those for whom
there’s neither dear
nor undear.

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Those with close relationships have affection, following which this pain arises. Seeing this danger born of affection, live alone like a horned rhino.

When feelings for friends and loved ones are tied up in selfish love, you miss out on the goal. Seeing this peril in intimacy, live alone like a horned rhino.

As a spreading bamboo gets entangled, so does concern for partners and children. Like a bamboo shoot unobstructed, live alone like a horned rhino.

As a wild deer loose in the forest grazes wherever it wants, a smart person looking for freedom would live alone like a horned rhino.

Partial excepts from Snp 1.3 : Khaggavisāṇasutta
===

Dear Ones : 212-216

From what’s dear is born grief,
from what’s dear is born fear.
For one freed from what’s dear
there’s no grief
–so how fear?
From what’s loved is born grief,
from what’s loved is born fear.
For one freed from what’s loved
there’s no grief
–so how fear?
From delight is born grief,
from delight is born fear.
For one freed from delight
there’s no grief
–so how fear?
From sensuality is born grief,
from sensuality is born fear.
For one freed from sensuality
there’s no grief
–so how fear?
From craving is born grief,
from craving is born fear.
For one freed from craving
there’s no grief
–so how fear?

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Furthermore, I have explained to my disciples a practice that they use to develop the ten universal dimensions of meditation.

Someone perceives the meditation on universal (= kasina) earth above, below, across, undivided and limitless.

They perceive the meditation on universal water … the meditation on universal fire … the meditation on universal air … the meditation on universal blue … the meditation on universal yellow … the meditation on universal red … the meditation on universal white … the meditation on universal space … the meditation on universal consciousness above, below, across, undivided and limitless.
And many of my disciples meditate on that having attained perfection and consummation of insight.

MN 77 : Mahāsakuludāyisutta

Dear Ones : 217

One consummate in virtue & vision, judicious,
speaking the truth,
doing his own task:
the world holds him dear.

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“Guttā, why did you go forth?
You have left behind child, wealth, and all that is dear.
Practice in this way,
do not be controlled by the mind.

Sentient beings are misguided by the mind,
enjoying the realm of Māra.
Fools wander along in saṁsāra,
running through countless births.

Interest in sensual pleasures, ill will,
attachment to self-identity,
clinging to rites and rituals,
and the fifth is doubt—

once you abandon these fetters,
Bhikkhunī,
you will not return
to the near shore again.

Once you forsake passion, conceit, ignorance,
and restlessness,
having cut off the fetters,
you will bring suffering to an end.

Once you have discarded birth in saṁsāra,
having fully understood how existence is renewed,
seeing the Dhamma, without cravings,
you will walk in peace.”

Thig 6.7 Guttātherīgāthā: Verses of the Elder Guttā

Dear Ones : 218

If you’ve given birth to a wish
for what can’t be expressed,
are suffused with heart,
your mind not enmeshed
in sensual passions:
you’re said to be
in the up-flowing stream.

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Being devoted to the recollection on peace allows one to sleep happily and wake happily, have peaceful faculties, a peaceful mind, self-respect and fear of blame, to be confident, resolved to attain the highest state, and to be respected and revered by ones fellows in the holy life. And even if one attains no higher, one will have a happy rebirth.

Visuddhimagga 294

Dear Ones : 219-220

A man long absent
comes home safe from afar.
His kin, his friends, his companions,
delight in his return.
In just the same way,
when you’ve done good
& gone from this world
to the world beyond,
your good deeds receive you–
as kin, someone dear
come home.

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“Pañcime, bhikkhave, ānisaṃsā sappurisaṃ sevato, sappurisasamāsevanāya, sappurisūpadāsanāya. Katame pañca? Saddho hoti, sīlavā hoti, bahussuto hoti, cāgī hoti, paññavā hoti. Ime kho, bhikkhave, pañcānisaṃsā sappurisaṃ sevato, sappurisasamāsevanāya, sappurisūpadāsanāya.”

"Monks, there are these five benefits of associating with a good person, keeping their company, and attending on them. What five? One becomes faithful, virtuous, learned, generous, and wise. These, monks, are the five benefits of associating with a good person."

Mitta Sutta (AN 5.55)

Dhammapada XVII : Anger

Anger : 221
Abandon anger,
be done with conceit,
get beyond every fetter.
When for name & form
you have no attachment
–have nothing at all–
no sufferings, no stresses, invade.


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Anger : 222

When anger arises,
whoever keeps firm control
as if with a racing chariot:
him
I call a master charioteer.
Anyone else,
a rein-holder–
that’s all.

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Anger : 223

Conquer anger with lack of anger;
bad with good; stinginess with a gift;
a liar with truth.

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Anger : 224

By telling the truth;
by not growing angry;
by giving, when asked,
no matter how little you have:
by these three things
you enter the presence of devas.

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