There they passed the day in paying honour and reverence to the remains of the Blessed One, with hymns, and music, and with garlands and perfumes, and in making canopies of their garments, and preparing decorative wreaths to hang thereon. And they burned the remains of the Blessed One as they would do to the body of a king of kings.

When the funeral pyre was lit, the sun and moon withdrew their shining, the peaceful streams on every side were torrent-swollen, the earth quaked, and the sturdy forests shook like aspen leaves, whilst flowers and leaves fell untimely to the ground, like scattered rain, so that all Kusinara became strewn knee-deep with mandara flowers raining down from heaven.

When the burning ceremonies were over, Devaputta said to the multitudes that were assembled round the pyre: "Behold, O brethren, the earthly remains of the Blessed One have been dissolved, but the truth which he has taught us lives in our minds and cleanses us from all error. Let us, then, go out into the world, as compassionate and merciful as our great master, and preach to all living beings the four noble truths and the eightfold path of righteousness, so that all mankind may attain to a final salvation, taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha."

When the Blessed One had entered into Nirvana and the Mallas had burned the body with such ceremonies as would indicate that he was the great king of kings, ambassadors came from all the empires that at the time had embraced his doctrine, to claim a share of the relics; and the relics were divided into eight parts and eight dagobas were erected for their preservation. One dagoba was erected by the Mallas, and seven others by the seven kings of those countries whose people had taken refuge in the Buddha.

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Chapter 2

Appamada Vagga
Heedfulness

8. Pamadam appamadena
yada nudati paudito
Pañapasadamaruyha
asoko sokinim pajam
Pabbataññho'va bhummaññhe
dhiro bale avekkhati. 28.

HEEDLESSNESS SHOULD BE CONQUERED BY HEEDFULNESS

8. When an understanding one discards heedlessness by heedfulness, he, free from sorrow, ascends to the palace of wisdom and surveys the sorrowing folk as a wise mountaineer surveys the ignorant groundlings. 10 28.

Story

The Venerable Maha Kassapa once endeavoured to comprehend by his supernormal vision the birth and death of beings. The Buddha appeared before him and said that it was only a Buddha who could comprehend the totality of existences.

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Ajahn Chah, Buddhist teacher of Thai forest meditation of Theravada Buddhism channel:


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If no-one else is found
in front or behind,
it’s extremely pleasant
to be dwelling alone in a forest grove.

Come now, I’ll go alone
to the wilderness praised by the Buddha.
It’s pleasant for a mendicant
to be dwelling alone and resolute.


When will I dwell alone,
without a companion,
in the great wood, so delightful,
my task complete, free of defilements?

This is what I want to do:
may my wish succeed!
I’ll make it happen myself,
for no-one can do another’s duty.

Fastening my armor,
I’ll enter the forest.
I won’t leave
without attaining the end of defilements.

As the cool breeze blows
with fragrant scent,
I’ll split ignorance apart,
sitting on the mountain-peak.

In a forest grove covered with blossoms,
in a cave so very cool,
I take pleasure in the Mountainfold,
happy with the happiness of freedom.

I’ve got all I wished for
like the moon on the fifteenth day.
With the utter ending of all defilements,
now there’ll be no more future lives.

Partially excerpted from Thag 10.2 Ekavihāriyattheragāthā

January 22

From… DN 16 Mahāparinibbānasutta: The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment

[Note: This short excerpt from this much longer sutta beings with the Buddha going into and out of successively deeper states of meditation.]

…Then the Buddha entered the first absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he successively entered into and emerged from the third absorption, the fourth absorption, the dimension of infinite space, the dimension of infinite consciousness, the dimension of nothingness, and the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Then he entered the cessation of perception and feeling.

Then Venerable Ānanda said to Venerable Anuruddha, “Venerable Anuruddha, has the Buddha become fully extinguished?”

“No, Reverend Ānanda. He has entered the cessation of perception and feeling.”

Then the Buddha emerged from the cessation of perception and feeling and entered the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Emerging from that, he successively entered into and emerged from the dimension of nothingness, the dimension of infinite consciousness, the dimension of infinite space, the fourth absorption, the third absorption, the second absorption, and the first absorption. Emerging from that, he successively entered into and emerged from the second absorption and the third absorption. Then he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from that the Buddha immediately became fully extinguished.

When the Buddha became fully extinguished, along with the full extinguishment there was a great earthquake, awe-inspiring and hair-raising, and thunder cracked the sky. When the Buddha became fully extinguished, Brahmā Sahampati recited this verse:

“All creatures in this world
must lay down this bag of bones.
For even a Teacher such as this,
unrivaled in the world,
the Realized One, attained to power,
the Buddha became fully extinguished.”

When the Buddha became fully extinguished, Sakka, lord of gods, recited this verse:

“Oh! Conditions are impermanent,
their nature is to rise and fall;
having arisen, they cease;
their stilling is true bliss.”

When the Buddha became fully extinguished, Venerable Anuruddha recited this verse:

“There was no more breathing
for the poised one of steady heart.
Imperturbable, committed to peace,
the sage has done his time.

He put up with painful feelings
without flinching.
The liberation of his heart
was like the extinguishing of a lamp.”

When the Buddha became fully extinguished, Venerable Ānanda recited this verse:

“Then there was terror!
Then they had goosebumps!
When the Buddha, endowed with all fine qualities,
became fully extinguished.”

When the Buddha became fully extinguished, some of the mendicants there, with arms raised, falling down like their feet were chopped off, rolling back and forth, lamented: “Too soon the Blessed One has become fully extinguished! Too soon the Holy One has become fully extinguished! Too soon the seer has vanished from the world!” But the mendicants who were free of desire endured, mindful and aware, thinking, “Conditions are impermanent. How could it possibly be otherwise?”

Then Anuruddha addressed the mendicants: “Enough, reverends, do not grieve or lament. Did the Buddha not prepare us for this when he explained that we must be parted and separated from all we hold dear and beloved? How could it possibly be so that what is born, created, conditioned, and liable to wear out should not wear out? The deities are complaining.”

“But sir, what kind of deities are you thinking of?”

“There are, Ānanda, deities—both in the sky and on the earth—who are percipient of the earth. With hair disheveled and arms raised, they fall down like their feet were chopped off, rolling back and forth, lamenting: ‘Too soon the Blessed One has become fully extinguished! Too soon the Holy One has become fully extinguished! Too soon the seer has vanished from the world!’ But the deities who are free of desire endure,

mindful and aware, thinking: ‘Conditions are impermanent. How could it possibly be otherwise?’”

Ānanda and Anuruddha spent the rest of the night talking about Dhamma.…

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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

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Unshakable Peace
By Ajahn Chah

Free download available:
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===

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Unshakable Peace
By Ajahn Chah

HE WHOLE REASON FOR STUDYING THE DHAMMA, the teachings of the Buddha, is to search for a way to transcend suffering and attain peace and happiness. Whether we study physical or mental phenomena, the mind (citta) or its psychological factors (cetasikas), it’s only when we make liberation from suffering our ultimate goal that we’re on the right path: nothing less. Suffering has a cause and conditions for its existence.

Please clearly understand that when the mind is still, it’s in its natural, normal state. As soon as the mind moves, it becomes conditioned (sankhara). When the mind is attracted to something, it becomes conditioned. When aversion arises, it becomes conditioned. The desire to move here and there arises from conditioning. If our awareness doesn’t keep pace with these mental proliferations as they occur, the mind will chase after them and be conditioned by them. Whenever the mind moves, at that moment, it becomes a conventional reality.

Free download available:
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===

SN Goenka and the Dalai Lama

Finding Sense in Sensation

S. N. Goenka about the crucial role of the body in vipassana practice.
By S. N. Goenka

The Buddha was the foremost scientist of mind and matter (nama and rupa). What makes him a peerless scientist is his discovery that tanha, or craving, and by extension, aversion—arises from vedana, or sensation on the body.

Before the time of the Buddha, little if any importance was given to bodily sensation. In fact, it was the centrality of bodily sensation that was the Buddha’s great discovery in his quest to determine the root cause of suffering and the means to its cessation. Before the Buddha, India’s spiritual masters emphasized teachings that encouraged people to turn away from sensory objects and ignore the sensations that contact with them engenders.

But the Buddha, a real scientist, examined sensation more closely. He discovered that when we come into contact with a sense-object through one of the six sense doors (ears, eyes, nose, tongue, body, mind), we cling to the sensation it creates, giving rise to tanha (wanting it to stay and to increase) and aversion (wanting it to cease). The mind then reacts with thoughts of either “I want” or “I do not want.” Buddha discovered that everything that arises in the mind arises with the sensations on the body and that these sensations are the material we have to work with.

The first step, then, is to train the mind to become so sharp and sensitive that it will learn to detect even the subtlest sensations. That job is done by anapana—the practice of awareness of the breath—on the small area under the nostrils, above the upper lip. If we concentrate on this area, the mind becomes sharper and sharper, subtler and subtler. This is the way we begin to become aware of every sort of sensation on the body.

Next, we feel the sensations but don’t react to them. We can learn to maintain this equanimity towards sensations by understanding their transitory nature.

Whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, gross or subtle, every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it.

As we reach deeper states of awareness, we will be able to detect subtler and subtler sensations, or vibrations of greater rapidity, arising and passing with greater speed. In these deep states, our mind will become so calm, so tranquil, so pure, that we will immediately recognize any impurity accompanying the agitated state and make the choice to refrain from reacting adversely. It becomes clear to us that we can’t harm anybody without first defiling ourselves with emotions like hate or anger or lust. If we do this, we will come to an experiential understanding of the deep truth of anicca, or impermanence. As we observe sensations without reacting to them, the impurities in our minds lose their strength and cannot overpower us.

The Buddha was not merely giving sermons; he was offering a technique to help people reach a state in which they could feel the harm they do to themselves. Once we see this, sila, or ethics, follows naturally. Just as we pull our hand from a flame, we step back from harming ourselves and others.

It is a wonderful discovery that by observing physical sensations on the body, we can eradicate the roots of the defilements of mind. As we practice more, negative emotions will become far more conspicuous to us much earlier; as soon as they arise, we will become aware of sensations and have the opportunity to make ethical choices. But first we need to begin with what is present to us deeply in our minds at the level of sensation. Otherwise, we will keep ourselves and others miserable for a very long time.
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S. N. Goenka (1924-2013) was born and raised in Myanmar. He was a leading figure of the vipassana movement, taught meditation for 44 years, and established vipassana centers worldwide.
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Satya Narayana Goenka

Chapter 2

Appamada Vagga
Heedfulness

9. Appamatto pamattesu
suttesu bahujagaro
Abalassam'va sighasso
hitva yati sumedhaso. 29.

THE STRENUOUS AND THE ALERT OVERTAKE THE THOUGHTLESS AND THE INDOLENT

9. Heedful amongst the heedless, wide awake amongst the slumbering, the wise man advances as does a swift horse, leaving a weak jade behind. 29.

Story

Two monks retired to a forest to meditate. One was strenuous, the other was not. The Buddha praised the former.

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Symbolic meanings of a stupa:

Structure and the Path to Enlightenment

Base: Represents the earth and the foundation of mindfulness.

Dome: Symbolizes water and the vastness of the cosmos.

Square Harmika: Represents air and the spiritual focus; it holds the relics of the Buddha or other revered figures.

Spire or Pinnacle: Represents fire and the stages of enlightenment.

Umbrella (Chattras): Represents the highest level of spiritual attainment and protection from evil.

Lotus Throne: Symbolizes purity, enlightenment, and detachment from material existence.

Meditation on Vesak day, Dhammakaya temple, Thailand.