Seeing reality as it is: the Buddhist way

(Buddhism Podcast) Seeing reality as it is: The Buddhist way of seeing life

The Buddhist Way: As it is

(Bhikkhu Bodhi) Intro to Buddhism Series, Lecture 01. The Buddha

When we all die, where do we go?

Thay (pronounced "Thai") is Thich Nhat Hanh, here explaining a candle flame. Where will it go?

When we all fall asleep, where do we go?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly in reply to the implicit question in Billie Eilish's "Bury a Friend": Where do we all go when we die? Where does a flame go when it dies?

• And when the flame goes out, where does it go?
• That's a nonsense question.
• No, it must go somewhere!
• Well, where do you suppose -- up, down, sideways?
• Well, no, nothing like that. I don't know where it goes.
• It isn't there like you think (assume), so it does not "go" anywhere after it is said to "go out." Failing to gain new fuel (and four other factors, heat, oxygen, wick, and process-of-combustion), it fails to "come back in" for the next moment of its appearance. This sounds strange because it goes against our assumptions, but it's very true: In one instance, all five factors (aggregates) gather and manifest as "flame." Failing to get all five in the next moment, no flame/fire appears. This teaches us that what we call "flame" or "fire" is utterly dependent on supporting conditions (these five aggregates or factors) and without them, it is not. However, if it is utterly dependent, then how can it ever be said to have an independent existence? Ultimately speaking, it cannot. But in normal usage, in conventional speech, of course we say, "The flame came into being and then went out of being after some time." This is nice. This seems true. But it was never ultimately true. So there is no confusion. And maybe no one cares about a flame or fire. But if the same thing could be said of us, me and you the individuals, what then?
• How could that ever be said of us? We are here now. And when we die or "go out," we reappear somewhere else -- like in heaven, hell, another human life, or a life in another realm in the 31 Planes of Existence.
• Conventionally, this is exactly what happens. Unfortunately, ultimately speaking, it is completely wrong. Not only do "we" not go anywhere, what we are calling "we" is completely dependently arisen. Our being, our existence, completely depends on the Five Aggregates clung to as self.
• What, we're flames?
• No, flames depend on the five factors I mentioned above. "We" depend on the Five Aggregates clung to as self mentioned in the Heart Sutra: form; feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and process of consciousness, the khandhas or skandhas in Sanskrit.
• So there is no reappearance?
• Oh, there's reappearance (rebirth) all right, but it isn't the rearising of some unchanging "soul," "self," jiva, gandhabba, "ego," "personality," or "I." We are clinging to what is not ours, and we suffer for it.
• Aha! You said "we" suffer for it! Who's the "we" that suffers?!
• That "we" is the Five Aggregates clung to as self. "We" are not that. "We" do not control that, in an ultimate sense. In a conventional sense, of course, that's all "we" are, and "we" have a great deal of control to develop calm and insight to breakthrough to wisdom and liberate "ourselves" from this samsaric mess. But that, ultimately speaking, is not really what's happening. And it can be proven. The aggregates can be refined, purified, stilled and be seen for what they are. Then clinging stops. And liberation occurs. It's as if the fearful dream lets go of the dreamer. The monstrous illusion loses its power to deceive and make frightened, suffering victims of the aggregates clinging to the aggregates as if they were "self."
• (OWN) Thich Nhat Hanh on "deep listening," compassionate listening with Oprah Winfrey | SuperSoul Sunday | Oprah Winfrey Network

Let go of fear [and delusion]

(Plum Village App) Practicing Non Fear | Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

Why we need wise reflection

SuttaCentral.net (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

When I first encountered Buddhism in the U.S. in the 1990s, it was all about "insight meditation" (vipassana) with some voices shouting that the value of the jhanas (meditative absorptions) was being mistakenly overlooked as a regular practice.

 

Wise Reflection: Its Importance

Years later, I came across BPS Wheel 463 (Buddhist Publication Society), which states that the value of “wise reflection” (yoniso manasikara) was being mistakenly overlooked as a regular practice.

This weekend I decided to go back and take another look at Wise Reflection (BPS Wheel 463) with the amazing benefits provided by suttacentral.net's because of its multiple translations per each discourse (Pali sutta) and translator Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu’s errant translations on dhammatalks.org.

• Wisdom Quarterly prefers American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations in all cases over idiosyncratic and ridiculous Thanissaro Bhikkhu's efforts.

It was a very powerful refresher course (lesson) in the difficulties of translation and the value of reading multiple [English] translations and the value of [the ancient] commentaries.

The translations of yoniso manasikara (not quite those two words as found in the Pali canon) from the Sabbāsava Sutta (MN 2) are diverse!

The same goes for samvara [the things we should make an effort to avoid] translated as: "defilements," "taints or cankers," ["shackles or fetters"], and "effluents"!

EXCERPT: Venerable Walpola Rahula (from BPS Wheel 463), in quoting the Buddha, translates yoniso manasikāra as "wise reflection":

“I say that the getting rid of anxieties and troubles [1] is possible for one who knows and sees, not for one who does not know and see. What must one know and see in order to get rid of anxieties and troubles? Wise reflection and unwise reflection... More

All the good girls go to hell, Billie?

When did you join the Illuminati, Pirate? Did Phineas induct you?

• SuttaCentral.net, The Many Faces of Wise Reflection (yoniso manasikara) - translations - discuss and discover edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Paradox: Thinking without thoughts

How wonderful is real silence, inner-peace!

There is such a thing as thoughtless consciousness, bare awareness without commentary, without chatter, inner silence. It can happen. How it happens, what brings it about, that is hard to say. Begin with outer silence. Bring the mind to a single object for long enough, and it may happen. Feel the freedom. There is full knowing, better knowing than when words/thoughts are intervening. But it must be experienced to believe how wonderful the silence and stillness is. (Jhana or "meditative absorption" moves away from the noise toward the sweet silence and sanity of stillness).

The Paradox of Thoughtless Consciousness

(The Mountain) March 28, 2025: The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. #quantumconsciousness #paradox #selfawareness

• 00:00 Thoughtless thinker
• 00:33 Distance between reality - thought - speech
• 01:13 Time zone difference
• 01:53 Retrospective mind
• 02:31 Meta thinking and language filter
• 04:38 Raw awareness
• 5:27 Is there a state of no-thought?
• 7:16 Surrender of the seeker
• 9:02 How to arrive at no destination

TAGS: Quantum Consciousness, Observer Effect, Reality Fabrication, Perception Alchemy, Thought Manifestation, Mind Over Matter, Holographic Universe, Wavefunction Collapse, Reality Distortion, Dimensional Awareness, Mental Projection, Non-Dual Awareness, Conscious Creation, Observer Reality Loop, Awareness Constructs Matter, Perceptual Engineering, Cosmic Mind, Simulation Hypothesis, Lucid Manifestation, Ontological Design

Kid builds Directed Energy Weapon 'death ray'

Make this kid a US citizen, hire him, and send
him to space to work for our new Space Force

The young scientist’s twist on a legendary ancient weapon might just re-write history. Ancient Greece mathematician Archimedes believed a "death ray" was plausible, so a middle school student from Canada put the concept to the test.

Brenden Sener of Ontario won multiple medals for his miniature version of the Archimedes Death Ray, crafted with light and mirrors.

No archaeological evidence [shown to us] proves the death ray was ever [built and] employed, but Sener believes it very well could have been.

It might be surprising to learn that then-12-year-old Brenden Sener of London, Ontario, Canada, was enthralled by Ancient Greek concepts posited by mathematician Archimedes.

But it probably makes more sense when we find out what exactly those concepts were. Archimedes wrote about harnessing the Sun’s energy to create a death ray. And Sener wanted in. More:

• A 13-year-old built Archimedes’ mythical [solar] death ray—and it may actually work (popularmechanics.com) (as every boy who got his hands on a magnifying glass has previously discovered)
• Spatial memory slime mold math (Popular Mechanics)
• Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, June 06, 2024; Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Reflection and Meditation as Powers

We ask to understand. We sit still to know things directly and awaken (DBM/InsightLA).

.

The "power of reflection" (patisankhāna-bala) or contemplation is one thing, and the "power of mental development" (bhāvanā-bala) or cultivation is another. About these two powers (bala) it is said in A. II, 10:

It's time to reflect: What have I done?

"What, O meditators, is the power of reflection? O meditators, if someone thinks, 'Unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts really bears unwelcome fruits both in this life as well as in the life to come' and, as a result of this consideration, one abandons unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts, follows a skillful course of conduct, and keeps one's heart/mind pure, this, O meditators, is the power of reflection.

Now it is time for stillness, body breathing

"What, O meditators, is the power of mental development (meditation, mental cultivation)? O meditators, if a meditator develops the [Seven] Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), bent on seclusion, on letting go, on cessation, culminating in liberation [following awakening, enlightenment], namely:

1. mindfulness,
2. investigation,
3. energy,
4. rapture,
5. tranquility,
6. stillness, and
7. equanimity,

this, O meditators, is the power of mental development."

• Ven. Nyanatiloka (formerly Anton Gueth) Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Doctrines and Terms (palikanon.com) edited and updated translation by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, June 2024

Top theory on where consciousness comes from

The Top Theory on Where Consciousness Comes From | Stuart Hameroff

What is "consciousness," the magic of retroflex self-awareness or "awareness" of any kind? Is it inherent in the universe, a quality of materiality, a spiritual component in the material world, a material locus in an illusory spiritual world? Although the Buddha 26 centuries ago laid out the process of consciousness, vinnana, in stark detail, that has not been good enough for a Western science ignorant of it. However, it is nearly certain that the definition, characteristics, and meaning of these consciousness-es would never satisfy the West because here in the U.S. and European countries, we imagine something more to consciousness than an impersonal (empty, essenceless, selfless) process. Because we (a collection of impersonal processes) are aware, we search in vain for something tangible, permanent, viable, and personal behind all of the apparent change, unpleasantness, and stark reality of what is just a constituted (dependently originated) process and not a thing in and of itself. If we go in search of self, we must at some point come to consciousness. If consciousness is misunderstood and clung to as self, there will be suffering and identification with that suffering. Unless things (the Five Aggregates clung to as self) as seen as they really are, there will be no letting go, no freedom, no liberation, and no awakening from the illusion of it all. In that spirit, the West keeps searching. And here's one theory about where "consciousness" comes from and therefore, to some extent, what it is.

(Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal) May 22, 2024: #consciousness #science Curt's "String Theory Iceberg": • The String Theory Iceberg EXPLAINED. Main episode with Stuart Hameroff (March 2021): • Stuart Hameroff: Orch OR, Penrose, Fr... Consider signing up for TOEmail at curtjaimungal.org. Support TOE: Patreon: curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes) - Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE - PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE - TOE merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch.  Follow TOE: new get 'Top 10 TOEs' PDF + weekly personal updates: https://www.curtjaimungal.org - Instagram: theoriesofeverythingpod, TikTok: theoriesofeverything_, Twitter: toewithcurt, Discord invite: discord. iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast... Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP, Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b9... Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: theoriesofeverything. Join this channel to get access to perks: @theoriesofeverything #consciousness #science

California rains turn Death Valley into lake

Rebecca Robinson, Daily Express US/MSN; Xochitl, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Atmospheric river Feb. 4-7, 2024, Death Valley Nat'l Park (U.S. Nat'l Park Service) (nps.gov)

Californians in disbelief standing by the new Death Valley Lake (© Getty)

.

California Island, circa 1650 (J. Vingboons)

Death Valley, California -- the hottest place on earth -- is notorious for its barren, arid landscape and scorching temperatures. But now it is home to a giant lake, thanks to atmospheric river storms.

Recent historic rainstorms that pummeled California have left behind an unexpected spectacle, defying the valley's typical parched image.

Nestled within Badwater Basin, a place known for its expansive salt flats and unforgiving climate, the lake emerged in August following relentless downpours and flash floods triggered by the remnants of Hurricane Hilary, according to park officials.

What began as a temporary consequence of the severe weather has now transformed into a more permanent feature [like California's great Salton Sea, which may actually be a remnant from the time California was an island on verified maps], thanks to the recent atmospheric river storms.

In a statement, park ranger Abby Wines expressed astonishment at its resilience:

"Most of us thought the lake would be gone by October. We were shocked to see it still here after almost six months. More: Stunning photographs show lake formed in scorching Death Valley after California rains

Snow on Los Angeles's Mount Wilson

After the storm, LA has snow and is once again a different kind of beautiful...science (MSN)

There are beaches galore in Los Angeles, from Santa Monica up to Zuma and down to OC

All we do is hike, unless we're so fat that we just sit inside and watch ourselves on TV.

The Hollywood sign is on a hill between LA and its Valley (SFV) with Angeles Forest behind

.

The snow above sunny Los Angeles (DTLA)

Snow in Los Angeles? I thought LA was a desert! It is not a desert but rather a Mediterranean climate with nearby deserts. We have snow and surf, sand and suffering. We have it all. And to get TV and radio in the basin, not to mention cell reception, we have Mt. Wilson, the tallest peak around (except for neighboring Mt. Baldy, which is a real mountain full of snow and deadly trails for hikers who want to get lost and maybe rescued in time). We are walking distance from the peak that is lovely Mt. Wilson. It has great views of the ocean and a nifty Mount Wilson Observatory that used to be something before all the light pollution ruined its usefulness. Standing in Pasadena, which is about 5 miles from Downtown Los Angeles (the "city center" as if a 50-square-mile megalopolis could have a center, which it doesn't really), one can see snow, lots of it. Look east from the San Gabriel Valley at that mountain range blanketed in white again. It hasn't been for years. Look north for the dusting of the foothills and a little more east for the bald eagle looking Mt. San Antonio ("Mt. Baldy"). Ski in the morning, surf in the afternoon, come down with a cold by that evening -- all with a tan.

• Weather map shows heavy snowfall to hit several US states early next week

Five Contemplations (sutra)

Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; based on original translation by Ven. Thanissaro (trans.) Upajjhatthana Sutra: Subjects for Contemplation (AN 5.57)

"There are five things [remembrances] one should reflect on frequently, whether one is a woman or a man, a layperson or ordained. What are the five?

1. 'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond (transcended) aging.' This is the first contemplation one should reflect on frequently, whether one is a woman or a man, layperson or ordained.
2. 'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.' ...
3. 'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.' ...
4. 'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.' ...
5. 'I am the owner of my karma (actions), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator [judge]. Whatever I do, for good or harm, to that will I fall heir.' ...

"These are the five contemplations one should reflect on frequently, whether one is a woman or a man, layperson or ordained.

1.
"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging'?

"There are beings who are intoxicated with youth. Because of intoxication with youth, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable (harmful, unskillful, unwholesome) way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, such intoxication with youth will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
2.

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness'?

"There are beings who are intoxicated with health. Because of that intoxication, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, such intoxication will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
3.

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death'?

"There are beings who are intoxicated with life. Because of that intoxication, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, such intoxication will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
4.
"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me'?

"There are beings who feel desire and passion for things they find dear and appealing. Because of that passion, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, that desire and passion for the things they find dear and appealing will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
5.

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am the owner of my (karma) actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator.

"Whatever I do, for good or harm, to that will I fall heir'? There are beings who conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, that conduct of body, speech, and mind will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
Further contemplation

1. "Now, a disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only one subject to aging, who has not transcended (gone beyond) aging. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and rearising (being reborn) -- all living beings are subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.'

Path arises

2. "When one frequently reflects on this, the [factors of the] path arise. One sticks with the path, develops it, cultivates it. As one sticks with the path, develops it, and cultivates it, the fetters are abandoned, the obsessions destroyed.
 
"Further, a disciple of the noble ones considers this:

• 3. 'I am not the only one subject to illness, who has not gone beyond illness.'...
• 4. 'I am not the only one subject to death, who has not gone beyond death.'...
• 5. 'I am not the only one who will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.'...

"A disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only one who is owner of my (karma) actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator; who -- whatever I do, for good or harm, to that will I fall heir.

"To the extent that there are living beings -- past and future, passing away and rearising -- all beings are the owner of their (karma) actions, heir to their actions, born of their actions, related through their actions, and have their actions as their arbitrator. Whatever they do, for good or harm, to that will they fall heir.'

"When one frequently reflects on this, the [factors of the] path arise. One sticks with the path, develops it, cultivates it. As one sticks with the path, develops it, and cultivates it, the fetters are abandoned, the obsessions destroyed."

The Buddha

"Subject to birth, subject to aging, subject to death, uninstructed-ordinary people are repelled by those who suffer from that to which they are also subject.

"And if I were to be repelled by beings subject to these things, it would not be fitting for me, living as they do. As I maintained this attitude -- knowing the Dharma -- I overcame all intoxication with health, youth, and life as one who sees renunciation (letting go, detachment, non-clinging) as rest.

For me, energy arose, nirvana was clearly glimpsed. There is now no way I could delight in sensual pleasures. Having fulfilled the high life, I will not return [to the low, base].

• FREE: "Five Remembrances" Meditation (Yoga Journal)
• Dharma Punx daylong meditation retreat on "The Five Remembrances" (Against the Stream, Hollywood)

Meditation: I saw the "light" (nimitta)!

Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Dynamic Lasers

Stay with the object, stay with it...

When Buddhist meditation goes deep, one approaches absorption or jhana. That is, one is absorbed like water into a sponge.

Here the sponge is the meditation object. While practicing loving kindness meditation using a well respected person, because my in-and-out breathing practice was waning and not interesting enough, it happened.

• How to practice breathing meditation like the Buddha

I got sucked in, so absorbed I was not paying attention to the outside world, which I was still aware of or could be in an instant as one goes in and out of the state.

The many benefits of Buddhist meditation

When my little brother plays video games, he stops paying attention to the outside world. But if I shout, it pulls him out right away.

If someone had shouted, I would have been pulled out. Far from scary, it was wonderful. I was filled with zest and blissful energy, an effervescent floating feeling based on feeling blameless (the result of sila practice).

When previously working on focusing on the breath, I saw the light. This light is literal, even if it is generated by the mind. It is called the nimitta, the mark or counterpart sign.

It may have been what that band [Ace of Base] that time was singing about, "I saw the sign and it opened up my mind I saw the sign."

What is "the light"?
Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

NIMITTA: The sign, mark, image, target, object -- these meanings are used in and adapted to many contexts of which only the doctrinal ones are mentioned here.
 
1. "Mental (reflex-) image" obtained in meditation: In full clarity, it will appear in the mind by successful practice of certain concentration-exercises and will then appear as vividly as if seen by the eye.

The object perceived at the very beginning of concentration is called the preparatory image. The still unsteady and unclear image, which arises when the mind has reached a weak degree of concentration, is called the acquired image (uggaha-nimitta).

An entirely clear and immovable image arising at a higher degree of concentration is the counterpart sign or image (patibhāga-nimitta).

As soon as this image arises, the stage of neighborhood- or access-concentration (upacāra-samādhi) is reached. For further details, see meditation disk (kasina), and superconscious-concentration (samādhi).

• The Nimitta in Breath Meditation (Arrow River)
• The Mystery of the Breath Nimitta (Urban Dharma)
• Jhana Wars! 6: Great Nimitta Debate (Simple Suttas)
• Ajahn Brahmavamso: The Jhanas (DhammaTalks.net)
• Nimitta: Right Concentration (rc.leighb.com)
• Nimitta (The Dharmafarers)
  
• When nimitta comes what should I do? (Dhamma Wheel) 
• Reflections on the Nature of Nimitta (Journal Samatha)
• Nimitta Sutra (Access to Insight) A meditator intent on higher mind should attend to three things: concentration, energy, equanimity.

Middle Path Reflections

Kashmir Birk

"Give me a man that is not passion's slave and
I will wear him in my heart's core"
Shakespeare Hamlet, Act III: Scene 2

The "middle path" is a Buddhist construct. But middle in the Buddhist context does not mean compromise, concession, conflict-avoidance, or tolerating being average. Middle in the Buddhist tradition means to sit in the core of a problem or situation and to realize it fully, without being affected or infected by it.

The middle path is the ability to walk through the battlefield surrounded by noise, confusion, and destruction confronting our reality by remaining emotionally still and intellectually neutral. Being still does not mean to do nothing, and neutral is not the same as being neutered, only to remove attachment to self, the obstruction of needing to justify oneself or seek approval from ourselves or anyone else for that matter.

Taking the middle path means sitting with our current reality in the here and now. Not to be caught in a past we can never fully know or a future that is yet to be. The middle path is clear when we free ourselves of attachment and still see ourselves in our own drama.

Japanese rock gardening: simplicity and emptiness and time for reflection

The middle path is our "true north." The truth emerges out of our own mind and body, because there is a practical wisdom that sits quietly underneath our chattering mind, bound by the chain of memory and cursed by the habit of neediness.

The measure of a leader, it is said, is his or her ability to act freely and do what should be done even if people expect it, the more if they do not. They act without being consumed by what others think is right or wrong, without having to prove to themselves or others that they were right.

Taking the middle path means sitting with the current reality, exploring a situation, seeing an opportunity/problem from multiple, even conflicting, perspectives without angst. It requires us to see multiple points of view without being emotionally, physically, intellectually embroiled in what is seen.

The painter who paints with effortless strokes, the musician who plucks a sonorous note or harmony out of the air, the friend who says only what needs to be said, the lover's glance that says it all, the engineer who sees the simplest path in a mass of complexity, the cricketer who hits the ball in the sweet spot of the bat and snaps it into the perfect corner of the circle -- that is the middle path. It is emergent, it is uncontrolled, it is the sum of all our practice, all our learning, all our non-yearning.

The middle path is simple but it far from easy. The middle path is our inner voice. The middle path is the sacred space where we breathe our breath and where the earth breathes in harmony with us.

Dealing with Death

It's an inevitable fact that, al-though one need not go any time soon, eventually... But more than that, there's radical-impermanence right now. We are not persisting from moment to moment. Things (mental states, feelings, experiences, circum-stances, physical conditions) arise, turn, and instantly pass away. They don't last for two consecutive moments.

The arising is a birth, the turning is decay, and the passing is a minor -- and after millions of minors, there's a major episode. We don't mind passing. But we mind when others pass. It's not fair! It shouldn't have happened!

We can, in fact, tolerate everything but our own passing. To increase our tolerance, it is just our own passing we should focus on and contemplate. Doing so enriches life, gives rise to gratitude and appreciation, and leads to the accrual of a great deal of merit.

In one sutra the Buddha explains that, as the Bodhisatta, he wished to give on a grand scale. But there was no one worthy, no Arhats, to receive it. Better than all that giving would have been contemplating impermanence for just the duration of a finger snap.* Whereas it's beneficial to cry, it's harmful to mope. Reflect or rest instead (and after the rest, again reflect).

• Immediate help: alchemy-of-grief

Dharma for Coping
Ven. Samahita

REFLECTION
· Why do we grieve when a loved one dies?: SN XLII.11
· Understanding of Death as a basis for Right View: MN 9
· Five subjects for frequent recollection: AN V.57
· Death comes rolling, crushing everything. Ready?: SN III.25
· Life flies by, faster than any arrow. What are we to do?: SN XX.6
· No shelter from aging and Death: SN II.19
· Your last day approaches -- no time to be heedless! Thag VI.13
· Life is brief -- practice ardently! Ud V.2
· As one of seven beneficial reflections: AN VII.46
· As a call to abandon grief and lamentation: Sn III.8
· The greatest protection for the layperson: Sn II.4

BEREAVEMENT
· Ven. Ananda's grief over Ven. Sariputta's Death: SN XLVII.13
· The Buddha's reaction to Ven. Sariputta's Death: SN XLVII.14
· Death by a runaway cow: MN 140, Ud I.10, Ud V.3
· Death by murder (see also Murder): Ud 4.3
· Death of daughter: Thig III.5
· Death of grandson: Ud VIII.8
· Death of son: MN 87, SN XLII.11 Ud II.7, Thig VI.1
· Death of spouse: AN V.49

OVERCOMING
· Overcoming Death by regarding the world as empty: Sn V.15
· Overcoming fear of Death: Thag XVI.1
· Four ways of overcoming fear of Death: AN IV.184
· Heedlessness leads one to Death: Dhp 21
· Putting aside worries as Death nears: AN VI.16
· Citta's deathbed conversation with some devas: SN XLI.10
· Sariputta's teachings to a dying Anathapindika: MN 143

(yick kh)

Buddha: "O disciples! Do not grieve! Even if I were to live in the world for as long as a kalpa (an "aeon" or a full "lifespan"), our coming together would have to end. You should know that all things in the world are impermanent; coming together inevitably means parting. Do not be troubled, for this is the nature of life. Diligently practicing right effort, you must seek liberation immediately. Within the light of wisdom, destroy the darkness of ignorance. Nothing is secure. Everything in this life is precarious."

BEYOND
· "Beyond Coping: Buddha on Aging, Illness, Death, Separation
· "Facing Death Without Fear" (Lily De Silva)
· "The 1st Noble Truth" in the Path to Freedom pages
· "Our Real Home" (Ajahn Chah)
· "The Last Sermon" in Inner Strength (Ajahn Lee)
· Straight From the Heart (Ajahn Maha Boowa)
· To the Last Breath: Talks on Living & Dying (Ajahn Maha Boowa)

*This "contemplation" did not refer to ordinary mulling over of an idea, but rather to seeing in an instant the rise and fall of phenomena in deep meditation.

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PHOTOS: 1. "Help" (ghpublications.com), 2. "Aging" children in Amritsar, India dress up like Mahatma Gandhi on the 139th anniversary of his birth (BBC), 3. "Grieving" bomb blast in Mumbai, India (BBC).