"O Bhikshus! Do not grieve! Even if I were to live in the world for as long as a kalpa, 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.
Always wholeheartedly seek the way of liberation.
All things in the world, whether moving or non-moving, are characterized by
disappearance and instability.
Stop now! Do not speak! Time is passing. I am about to cross over. This is
my final teaching. "
-- Parinirvana Sutra --
Chapter Two The Impermanence Of Life
II. The Impermanence of Life
There are five sections.
· A. The brief teaching
· B. The extended explanation
· C. The instruction that we should exert ourselves
· D. The concluding summary
· E. The dedication of merit
A. The brief teaching.
(i.e. Anything dependent on causes and conditions vanishes with any change in the causes and conditions. And since everything is dependently arisen, then everything is necessarily impermanent [and empty of inherent existence]. Everything is continually changing; nothing remains the same even for an infinitesimal moment, because their causes and conditions are also dependent on other causes and conditions...ad infinitum. So, there is no reliance in anything, no possible absolute control on anything. Even this precious human life [body and mind] with its characteristics is impermanent. Death is certain, but we don't know when it will occur. So we might lose this precious human life with its freedom and opportunity any time. We will then leave behind everything; only the karma will continue. Remembering death and impermanence helps to generate renunciation for worldly concerns and motivation for practicing the Dharma.)
Even though the freedoms, so difficult to obtain, have been obtained, since our minds are not stable, we are instructed that our nature is such that we need to exert ourselves:
Even if this hard-won freedom has been gained,
These destructible dharmas will not last for even an instant.
If they are examined, they are without an essence.
They are no more to be trusted than bubbles floating on water;
So contemplate day and night the certainty of death.Even if the freedoms and favors are obtained, they cannot be permanent. They have no heart like a banana tree and, will not bear analysis. Like bubbles on water, they appear for only a moment. Then every one of their main and subsidiary characteristics is destroyed. On examination, they are necessarily found to be separable from reality.
The Shrine of Telling the Reason Why says:
Kye ma! How impermanent are all compounded things!
Anything that is born is going to be destroyed.
Since having once been born, all will be destroyed,
"Them as dies quickly will be the lucky ones!"They are like starry lamps that are clouded-over with mist,
Ephemeral things like bubbles on water or drops of dew,
Dreamily insubstantial, like lightning in the clouds.
All compounded things are taught to be that way.
B. The extended explanation
(i.e. All dharmas, including all beings, are impermanent, there is no exception. The whole samsara, including the three world and the six realms, is totally unreliable, unsatisfactory (an empty of inherent existence). There is no reliance in any kind of investments, projects, views, rebirths, Dhyanas, bodies, minds, ... they are all caused, fabricated, and thus impermanent. At the moment of death, leaving everything behind, only the Dharma will help, because, even though there is no permanent dharma (all empty of inherent existence), there is karma and its consequences (dependent origination), and there is the possibility of transcendence. -- Like, even though everything is empty of inherent existence (or impermanent), nothing is without a cause (this precious human life is not without causes and conditions very rare and hard to find), and no cause is without an effect (there is no way to escape the consequences of our actions in death). Emptiness doesn't deny dependent origination, and vice versa. They are interdependent, inseparable. The same for impermanence and karma)
1. Grasping the importance of the impermanence of the human body
2. To attain even the realm of Brahma and so forth is impermanent
3. There is impermanence because change is the nature of things
4. The impermanence of the Vessel and Essence
5. Impermanence of the teachings of how the victorious ones and their sons attain nirvana
6. We are impermanent because our lives never wax but always wane
7. How what seems external is inner impermanence
8. An example of impermanence
9. All is impermanent and must be left behind
10. The impermanence of the three times
11. The impermanence of the three levels
12. Instantaneous Impermanence
13. The impermanence of the conditions and time of our existence
1. Grasping the importance of the impermanence of the human body.
(i.e. Impermanence of the body: Antidote to desire [to please this body, or to be attracted to another body], to thinking that it is important, lasting, pure : contemplate the impermanence of the body, it impurity, how it will end. There is nothing we can do for this body that will last. At the moment of death we will loose all our investments; nothing, but the Dharma, will helps us then. So, we should guard this body, use this precious opportunity, but also remember its real nature: impermanence, un-satisfactoriness, no self, emptiness. It is a tool, a raft; it should not be the master. We should use it to practice the Dharma while we can.)
This essence-less body is impure and changeable. Its individual qualities are separable and nothing about it continues.
Here is the instruction that those inclined to material desires should absorb the mind day and night in contemplating impermanence:
(i.e. The main remedy [antidote] to the thought of the worldly dharmas is meditation on impermanence and death. -- Lama Zopa Rinpoche)
(i.e. The best remedy to the eight worldly concerns is to reflect on impermanence: the changing nature of all things. -- Ven Sangye Khadro)
(i.e. One of the best ways to overcome possessive-attachment to loved ones is to meditate on impermanence. -- Ven Sangye Khadro)
(i.e. When we understand the impermanent nature of things, the non-stop change, we allow ourselves time and space to accept any situation that comes. -- Lama Thubten Yeshe)
(i.e. Then we meditate upon impermanence and death, which helps us transcend grasping at petty aspects of life and directs our minds to search for spiritual knowledge. ... We should try to meditate regularly on death and impermanence and thus become a spiritual practitioner of initial scope. -- His Holiness Kyabje Ling Rinpoche)
(i.e. Sometimes we can apply more specific antidotes -- for example, meditating on compassion when anger arises, on the impurity of the human body when lust arises, on impermanence when attachment to situations arises, and so on. These antidotes can counteract particular delusions, but they cannot remove the root of delusion. To remove the root of delusion one must realize shunyata. The wisdom of shunyata is like a sharp axe having the power to cut the root of all distortion. -- Geshe Lhundrub Sopa)
(i.e. The first obstacle [to meditation] is agitation. Why does agitation occur? It comes from ordinary attachment to this life. ... Therefore, the remedy is to contemplate impermanence. Understanding this calms agitation. -- Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, Seven Points on Meditation)This body, the principal source of the rising of the kleshas,
Is the source of all suffering and unhappiness of the mind.
Though decked in garments and ornaments, flower garlands and such,
And worshipped with many offerings of food and drink,
In the end we must separate and part from it.
Because it is impermanent and destructible,
This body will be food for foxes, vultures, and jackals.
Abandon all thoughts that it is important, lasting, or pure.
Rather, from now on, let us practice the holy Dharma.
Grasping our alleged bodies as a permanent I and self, we offer them food and clothing, tending them with a level of ceremony befitting our ideas. Though we hardly want to talk about it, sorrowful time speaks instead by reversing our ministrations to harm.
(i.e. The Treatise of the Four Hundred Stanzas on the Yogic Deeds of
Bodhisattvas, Aryadeva
Chapter One - Abandoning Belief in Permanence
(Remembering death: in order to abandon obsession to worldly concerns, attachments, fears.
Everything, the five aggregates, are constantly changing, impermanent. Nothing is static, existent.
Considering the coarser aspects of impermanence.Four main topics for meditation on impermanence:
§ The fact that death follows birth
§ That rise is followed by fall
§ Accumulation by dispersal
§ And meeting with parting
Subtle impermanence is introduced only briefly, since it is much more difficult to recognize.
Here the emphasis is placed on recognition that people, things and situations are not static. Clinging to them and wishing them to remain unchanged is unrealistic and a cause of fear. Once we are able to acknowledge this, our attachment and thereby our fear will diminish, and we will be better prepared to face both life and death.)
Chapter Two - Abandoning Belief in Pleasure - nothing is essentially pleasant
(The subtle form of suffering: the aggregates themselves, the conditioning, are suffering - it we cling to them -, because impermanent: The body itself constitutes the pervasive suffering of conditioning. Without recognizing that the contaminated psycho-physical aggregates themselves are the subtlest form of suffering, we cannot develop the genuine wish to free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death. Understanding the other two kinds of suffering (physical and mental) leads toward an understanding of this.
There will never be any real pleasure in acquisition, friends, developing new habits, talents, knowledge ...
Instead of satisfying short-term goals; we should focus on the long-term effects of our actions.
Everything that comes into being, will necessarily decay, bringing much suffering, and be gone.
So birth of anything necessarily brings decay, suffering and death. -- But in fact birth is birth created by our own thought, our own illusion and attachment. Thinking things are real, existent, static. Things do not really have origination and cessation.
So, our problem is that we are attached to impermanent things, like our body or pleasures, to objects that necessarily bring suffering. -- Because we ignore the real nature of the three; that they are "merely imputed by the mind"; that there is "no chunks in the flow".
All that is impermanent is suffering / unsatisfactory.
There is no permanent pleasure in the five aggregates. Although they should be used to gain transcendence.)
Chapter Three - Abandoning Belief in Cleanness - nothing is essentially attractive
(Desire! Desire for what?
Temporary antidote to sensual desire: foulness of the body. Desire for sensual pleasures is unlimited and inexhaustible; no matter what pleasures we enjoy of how we indulge in them, our thirst will never be quenched. The only effect of sensuality is to increase craving. In demonstration the undesirability of what we desire as well as the unwholesomeness of desirous state of mind, this chapter focuses mainly on attachment to sexual pleasure and on the unclean nature of the body.There is no real worthy cause for desire. Nothing is essentially desirable. It is always relative, illogical, temporary.
Desire itself is not pleasant; it is a poison that needs another poison at its antidote. It is a sickness.
Most do not see that desire, and the satisfaction of desire; bring only short-term pleasure, and much more suffering later.
Attachment necessarily brings the fear to lose.
It is like a bad habit, developing itself exponentially. The more we believe in its reality -- as a worthy cause of satisfaction -- the more we desire it. The more we get it, the more we believe in its reality. ...
The real nature of the five aggregates: impermanence, un-satisfactoriness, selflessness -- emptiness.
The body should be seen as unclean when sensual desires arise. -- Otherwise it should be seen as part of the precious human life.
This letting-go of the desires bring much peace and calm. Those are necessary to produce good concentration, then insight. When concentration and insight are enough developed, this meditation on the repulsiveness of the body, should be replaces with the impermanence of the body, the selflessness of the body, the emptiness of all. Then the purity of everything in emptiness.
Desire, grasping, should be seen as a sickness, a corruption of the mind.
All the objects of desire should be seen as illusions.
Passions consist of conceptualizations.)
Chapter Four - Abandoning Pride - our "self" is not in those objects of pride - there is no absolute quality
(Proud! Proud of what?
Temporary antidote to arrogance, pride, conceit, non-compassion, the belief in absolute quality:Proud of what? -- since everything is dependent, impermanent, relative, unsatisfactory, not-self, not absolute, not really existent; since all is illusion created by the mind.
No reason to be proud of: possessions, status, caste, power, wealth, giving one's life for another, reputation, friends, knowledge, spiritual practices or association, ...
Attachment to any of those objects of pride is the problem, the cause of rebirths.
A proud man has no compassion for others - do not even understand the need for compassion; a basis for disrespect and unpleasantness; reinforces this sense of self-importance and over evaluation of the ego; having no respect for others, rejecting their views, their propositions, their remarks, their help;
Real merit is gained through developing virtues.
You are the only responsible for your acts, and the only one who will bear the consequences.
Pride should be abandoned. There is no real absolute cause for valid pride.
Equanimity: Everybody should be seen as equal in suffering in samsara, and has having the potential for liberation.
Humility should be developed realizing the way our mind works, all of our own defaults, the relativity of everything, the equality of everybody, the absurdity of all views, the emptiness of the three.
Other short-term antidotes: generosity, meditation on death and impermanence, meditation on the three lower realms, meditation on the suffering in the realm of gods, exchanging self with others, bodhicitta. To prostrate and worship is to learn humility and reverence.
A man with pride has no place for compassion. Pride is one of the greatest obstacles to our spiritual development.
Like using Buddhist knowledge as an object of pride; thinking we are essentially superior because we "have it"; thinking we have this absolute permanent quality.
The way pride is generated in dependence: from past success, from adopting absolutes, from fear of loosing privileges -- allowing arrogance and self-complacency to emerge. Then jealousy.
We believe in an absolute essence, an absolute quality, in ourselves that makes us superior than some others. We identify ourselves with this one-time success, one time action judged favorably by others, and make it a permanent quality.
One whose Dharma career is tainted by narrow-mindedness and attachment to one's own interests while rejecting those of others will never overcome the many obstacles to the attainment of wisdom or insight.
Bodhisattvas: they have abandon holding on to any habits or views - the profound principle of relativity; they have realized that the true nature of all things is something transcendent, not expressible in words - the intuitive tolerance of the ultimate incomprehensibility of all things. They have suppressed pride, vanity, and arrogance.
Seeking knowledge in order to avoid pride
Chapter Seven - Abandoning Attachment to Sense Objects - Renunciation of the whole samsara
(The desire to escape the suffering of the lower realms is not enough; we must generate the desire to escape the whole cycle of birth and death.
Even attachment to any religious view is flawed.
They may result in a higher rebirth, but those are also impermanent.
After a high rebirth, most often, sentient beings return to a lower realms, because pride is without compassion.
There is no absolute path. No absolute actions, causes, effects or causality. No absolute control.
So stop trusting one view or another. They are no more than social customs. Transcend them all.
Meritorious actions should not be done with attachment, with greed for merit.
The perfection of Morality is based on realizing the emptiness of the three.
Seeing the faults of all samsaric realms, generate true renunciation.)
(i.e. Gates To Buddhist Practice, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Question: Can you say more about how contemplating impermanence reduces attachment?
Response: Imagine a child and an adult on the beach building a sand castle. The adult has never taken the sand castle to be permanent or real, and isn't attached to it. When a wave comes in and washes it away or some other children come along and kick it down, the adult doesn't suffer. But the child has begun to think of it as a real house that will last forever, and so suffers when it's lost.
Like the child, we have pretended for so long that our experience is stable and reliable that we have great attachment to it and suffer when it changes. If we maintain an awareness of impermanence, then we are never completely fooled by the phenomena of samsara.
If you contemplate the fact that you don't have long to live, it will help you. You'll think, "In the time that I have left, why follow this anger or attachment, which will only produce more confusion and delusion? If I take what's impermanent so seriously and try to grasp it or push it away, then I'm only imagining as solid what isn't solid. I'm only further complicating, and perpetuating, the delusions of samsara. I won't do that! I'll use this attachment or this aversion, this pride or this jealousy, as practice." Practice isn't only sitting on a cushion. When you're there with the experience of desire or anger, right there where the mind is active, that is where you practice, at each moment, each step of your life.
Question: In contemplating impermanence I find my attachment lessening to a certain extent, but I wonder how far I should go in dropping things.
Response: You need to be discriminating in what you address first. Eventually you may drop everything, but begin by abandoning the mind's poisons; for example, anger. Instead of thinking, "Why wash these dishes, they're impermanent?" let go of your anger at having to do them. Also understand that whatever arises in the mind that sparks your anger is impermanent. The anger itself is impermanent. Whatever someone said to you that's affected you in a negative way, that too is impermanent. Realize that these are only words, sounds, not something lasting.
The next thing to drop is attachment to having your own way. When you understand impermanence, it doesn't matter so much if things are going as you think they should. If they are, it's all right. If not, that's all right, too.
When you practice like this, the mind will slowly develop more balance. It won't flip one-way or the other according to whether or not you get what you want.
Question: Is there anything wrong with being happy or sad, with feeling our emotions?
Response: Reminding ourselves when we experience happiness that it's impermanent, that it will eventually disappear, will help us to cherish and enjoy it while it lasts. At the same time, we won't become so attached to it or fixated on it, and we won't experience as much pain when it's gone.
In the same way, when we experience pain, sorrow, or loss, we should remind ourselves that these things, too, are impermanent, which will alleviate our suffering. So what keeps us balanced is our ongoing awareness of impermanence. Shantideva says:
This body of ours is like a momentary reflection.
The time when we will be taken by the Lord of Death comes without warning. When the mind separates from the body, we cannot be with the body any more. It will be food for charnel birds, dogs, foxes, and vultures.
To count such a thing as paramount and even think that we should do evil deeds for its sake should be regarded as vanity. Really we are something like a servant indentured to the body's happiness. Why is the body so worthy of being rewarded with food and clothing?
The Sutra of Instructions to the King says:
O great king, these have an essence like a great mountain, solid and firm in all the four directions. This mountain is indestructible, not to be split, very hard, un-damageable. Its four sides, dense and massive, touch the sky and return again to the earth. Grass, trees with trunks, branches, and all their leaves, living things, and spirits accumulate there, like flour on a mill- stone.
To escape it by speed, remove it by force, buy it off, or get rid of it with substances, mantras, and medicinal herbs is no easy task.
O great king that is what these four great terrors are like. One cannot escape them by speed, remove them by force, buy them off. To get rid of them with substances, mantras, and medicinal herbs is no easy task.
What are these four? They are old age, sickness, death, and deterioration.
O great king, old age comes to conquer youth. Illness comes to conquer health. Deterioration comes to conquer all our good qualities. Death comes to conquer life itself. One cannot escape them by speed, remove them by force, or buy them off. To get rid of them with substances, mantras, and medicinal herbs is no easy task.
O great king, it is like this. The king of beasts, the lion, dwells among the beasts. He preys on the beasts. He rules as he wishes. The beasts are powerless against his mighty jaws.
O great king, it is like this. There is no provision against the gleaming staff of the Lord of Death; there is no protector, no refuge, no friendly forces, no friends and relatives. Our joints will divide and come apart. Our flesh and blood will dry up. Our bodies will be racked by sickness. We shall rage with thirst. Our arms and legs will convulse. We will not be able to act. We will have no strength. Our bodies will be covered in saliva, mucus, urine, and vomit.
Our powers of vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch, and thought will fade away. We shall vomit. Our voices will crack and wheeze. Our medicines will be given up as useless. All our medicine, food, and drink will be thrown away. Our possessions will go to others. We shall lie in our beds for the last time. We shall subside into the beginning-less round of birth, old age, and death. We shall have no body. We shall be terrified by the Lord of Death. Our powers of acting will be gone. Our breathing will stop. Our mouths and noses will gape. Our teeth will be exposed. They will demand, "Give us our inheritance." Our karma will take over, and we shall pass into the control of samsaric existence. Alone without a second, we shall be friendless. We shall leave this world. We shall be outside the world. We shall be borne up in the great change of abode, which is death. We shall dwell in the great darkness. We shall fall over the great precipice. We shall be crowded off the edge of the world. We shall be cast into the great wilderness. The great ocean will carry us away. Our karmic energy will pass away. We shall go to ugly places. We shall enter the great battle. We shall be seized by the great harm. We shall die away into space. Our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters will gather round. Our breathing will stop. They will say that our property and clothes should be handed out. Oh no! Our fathers will say. Oh no! Our mothers will say. Oh no! Our children will say. Fear will overwhelm us. Generosity, penance, and Dharma will be our only friends. There will be no refuge but Dharma. There will be no other protector. There will be no other friendly forces.
O great king, at this time, at this moment, the Dharma will be an island, a dwelling, a protector, a teacher. O great king, though looking like we are asleep in our beds, we shall experience appearances of the life to come. If we are going to go to the lower realms, terrifying premonitions of those realms will arise. What refuge will there be then but Dharma?
O great king, you should fully guard such a body. But no matter how perfectly you look after it, its time of death will come. Intimates having all virtues, with whom we have been satisfied by much pure food and drink and so on, parents and children, will be there for the last time. The medicines will be thrown away. When everything is gone, we will be unhappy. Such will be the time of death.
O great king, your body will be repeatedly washed and fumigated with incense. It will be covered with fragrant flowers and, no doubt, pleasantly perfumed aromas will arise.
O great king, you will be dressed in fine clothes of Varanasi cotton and silk, and when this has been done for the last time, it will be like going to a defiled, stinking place, as a servant who has to go alone, and so the time of death will come.
O great king, though you have enjoyed your various desirable possessions, abandoning them all, as if they did not satisfy your desires, the time of death will come.
O great king, within your house incense, flowers, silk hangings, seats, and various cloths will be collected. With the pillows on the left and right, your bed will be taken away to the great charnel ground full of crows, foxes, and nauseating human corpses. Doubtless your motionless body will lie upon the ground.
O great king, as you are thus carried on the backs of your elephants, horses, and so on, different kinds of music will be heard and pleasantly enjoyed. Various parasols, victory banners, and so forth will be raised aloft. The new king, minister, and friends and relatives will make pleasant little speeches, praising you and going to look at you. The bed, formerly not raised very far, after you have died in it will be raised high by four pallbearers, lifted by your brothers and so forth. After servants, compelled by painful beatings bring it out by the south gate of the city, in a solitary wild place it will be put down on the earth. You will be eaten by crows, vultures, foxes, and so forth. Your bones will be burned by fire, thrown into water, or put on the ground, whichever it may be. They will be dispersed by wind, sun, and rain, and strewn in all directions. They will rot.
O great king, all composite things are impermanent. Do not rely on them.
This extensive teaching should be taken to heart and remembered. Persons knowing that the appearances of this life, no matter what they are, are empty should try to exert themselves solely in practicing the holy Dharma, day and night.
(i.e. Vipallasa Sutta - (Anguttara Nikáya IV.49) - Perversions
"Monks, there are these four perversions of perception, perversions of mind, perversions of view. Which four?
· 'Constant' (permanent) with regard to the inconstant (impermanent) is a perversion of perception, a perversion of mind, a perversion of view.
· 'Pleasant' with regard to the stressful....
· 'Self' with regard to not-self....
· 'Attractive' with regard to the unattractive is a perversion of perception, a perversion of mind, a perversion of view.
These are the four perversions of perception, perversions of mind, perversions of view.
"There are these four non-perversions of perception, non-perversions of mind, non-perversions of view. Which four?
· 'Inconstant' with regard to the inconstant is a non-perversion of perception, a non-perversion of mind, a non-perversion of view.
· 'Stressful' with regard to the stressful....
· 'Not-self' with regard to not-self....
· 'Unattractive' with regard to the unattractive is a non-perversion of perception, a non-perversion of mind, a non-perversion of view.
These are the four non-perversions of perception, non-perversions of mind, non-perversions of view.")
(i.e. Pariyesana Sutta-- Searches. What are you searching for? Are you looking for happiness in all the wrong places, or are you truly looking for a lasting, noble happiness?
"Monks, these four are ignoble searches. Which four? There is the case where a person,
1. Being subject himself to aging, seeks [happiness in] what is subject to aging.
2. Being subject himself to illness, he seeks [happiness in] what is subject to illness.
3. Being subject himself to death, he seeks [happiness in] what is subject to death.
4. Being subject himself to defilement, he seeks [happiness in] what is subject to defilement.
These are four ignoble searches.
"Now, these four are noble searches. Which four? There is the case where a person,
1. Being subject himself to aging, realizing the drawbacks of what is subject to aging, seeks the un-aging, unsurpassed rest from the yoke: Unbinding.
2. Being subject himself to illness, realizing the drawbacks of what is subject to illness, he seeks the un-ailing, unsurpassed rest from the yoke: Unbinding.
3. Being subject himself to death, realizing the drawbacks of what is subject to death, he seeks the undying, unsurpassed rest from the yoke: Unbinding.
4. Being subject himself to defilement, realizing the drawbacks of what is subject to defilement, he seeks the undefiled, unsurpassed rest from the yoke: Unbinding.
(i.e. Samyutta Nikáya LI.20 - Iddhipada-vibhanga Sutta - Analysis of the Bases of Power
And how does a monk dwell so that what is below is the same as what is above, and what is above is the same as what is below? There is the case where a monk reflects on this very body, from the soles of the feet on up, from the crown of the head on down, surrounded by skin, and full of various kinds of unclean things: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine.' This is how a monk dwells so that what is below is the same as what is above, and what is above is the same as what is below.
DN22 - (d) Foulness - The Bodily Parts - i.e. discern the body in terms of parts
[4] "Furthermore...just as if a sack with openings at both ends were full of various kinds of grain -- wheat, rice, mung beans, kidney beans, sesame seeds, husked rice -- and a man with good eyesight, pouring it out, were to reflect, 'This is wheat. This is rice. These are mung beans. These are kidney beans. These are sesame seeds. This is husked rice,' in the same way, monks, a monk reflects on this very body from the soles of the feet on up, from the crown of the head on down, surrounded by skin and full of various kinds of unclean things: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine.'
(Body parts consciousness development: A healthy negative image sees that all bodies, no matter how attractive, young, or healthy they may seem at the skin level, are composed of the very same parts, all equally unattractive. This perception of the equality of all bodies, if handled properly, is healthy in that it helps liberate one not only from feelings of inferiority but also from the disease of lust and desire, promoting a sense of dispassion toward lustful thoughts in general. This insight can form the basis for perceptual skills that can act as a very liberating antidote to the mind's tendency to self-delusion.)
(i.e. There appears to be a twofold purpose behind the development of mindfulness regarding the various parts and constituent elements of the body:
· (1) The knowledge that no abiding ego exists in the body but only those parts that can be observed and inferred from this observation (searching for the "Ego" and separating the impermanent from the permanent) and
· (2) The essentially "vile" and impermanent nature of the body. (To reduce craving for other bodies)
· (Also) the process of aging and death present in all parts of the body, the susceptibility to sickness, the non control, the unsatisfying nature of all of this.
This second purpose is carried to even greater extremes in the fourth aspect of bodily mindfulness, the cemetery contemplations. Here the Bhikkhu is enjoined to contemplate his own body as though it were undergoing ever-increasing degrees of decomposition after death. Initially he contemplates a body abandoned in a graveyard which is swollen and turning black and blue; then a body which has been partially eaten by wild animals; and finally a body which has been reduced to a mere heap of bones. All of these contemplations are symbols of the transient nature of the body.
2. To attain even the realm of Brahma and so forth is impermanent.
(i.e. Impermanence of all beings, including gods: There is no protection from death, not even as a great king, or as a god; not even in the profound Dhyanas. All beings are subject to death; no exception. Everything that is caused is necessarily impermanent. By opposition Nirvana is "not caused", "not impermanent".)
Those who are the true foundation of wealth on the three levels1 °
Gods like Brahma Shiva, Surya, and Ishvara,
Though they shine in the radiant gleam of fame and fortune,
Have no chance to vanquish the realm of the Lord of Death
Even if they stay in samádhi for a kalpa,
When their karma has been exhausted, that is their time of death.
Gods as well as asuras, siddhas, and sorcerers,
However many villeins and vassals there may be
Throughout their endless births are terrified by death.
Bhrama, Maheshvara, Vishnu, Indra, the four great world-protecting kings, and so forth fill the world with great rays of light, brighter than a thousand suns. They are more splendid than a mountain of gold. The fame of their merits fills the world. They are the highest beings of the three worlds, below the earth, upon the earth, and above the earth. But, though they are adorned with all this real wealth, they still have to die.
The Dulwa Lung says:
O monks, look on this wealth as being essence-less and subject to deterioration. If the retinue mindful of my teachings were transferred into the inconceivable life and insatiable powers of Brahma, Indra, the world protectors and so forth, they would be brought down to the lower realms.
Also it says there:
Brahma the pure one, wrathful Indra, and thousand-eyed Surya,
As well as desire-less Vishnu, are impermanent, and passing.
The display of the sun and moon is only for a moment.
The continents of the world are seen to have been emptied.
The gods of the four Dhyanas, and the other gods, the asuras, siddhas who have accomplished austerities, and all holders of vidya mantra still die.
The same text says:
The gods who accomplish the Dhyanas, as well as the kinnaras
And ascetic sages who are not gods but blaze with splendor,
Are impermanent, though they may live for a long time or a kalpa.
As for conditioned humans, whose bodies are like foam,
No need to discuss their freedom from individual destruction?
The lords of the four continents, the universal monarchs, kings, ministers, and all kinds of ordinary people, monastic renunciates, Brahmins, householders and so on, none of them escape death.
The Shrine-room of Telling the Reason Why says:
Kings possessing the seven precious treasures,
Great noble lords and royal ministers
Monks and Brahmins, householders and such,
All of these beings are impermanent.
They are like beings experienced in a dream.(i.e. "The last of the six realms is the gods' realm. It is considered to be the highest realm because it is the most pleasurable and the most blissful. The beings there are extremely beautiful with gorgeous fragrances, brilliant colors, and music that is so pleasurable that if we were to hear it would be instantly healing. Bodies of the gods are pure and perfectly sweet. There is not a bit of decay, sweat, bacteria, aging or any processes that produce the foul smells we have. It is beauty beyond what we can understand, completely free of ugliness or decay. Pride is the main cause for being reborn here, and even though the gods live for thousands of years, life is not permanent there. It actually takes a
tremendous amount of good karma and pure virtue to be reborn in the gods' realm, but while there you use up all your accumulated good karma very fast, like a big V-8 engine burning gas going up hill. Suddenly after a very long life span, decay sets in. One's accumulated virtue becomes exhausted and death approaches. It is horrible to them because they who have experienced nothing but beauty, sweetness, bliss, gorgeous music, and celestial food are about to experience terrible suffering. This impermanence is the predominant suffering of the gods' realm.")--Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo "Life in the Six Realms"
3. There is impermanence because change is the nature of things [the subtle mark of impermanence].
(i.e. Everything that is dependent on causes and conditions is necessarily impermanent. "Being itself is really a process of becoming". And that includes everything in the three worlds. Nothing, no being, stays the same even for an infinitesimal moment. It is a continuous flow of interdependence, a dance, with no real lasting entities in it. Like a multitude of swirls at the surface of the water.)
Because there is transference and change, there is impermanence:
Within the impermanent play of the rain-clouds of this life,
In garlands of flashing lightning, dances the Lord of Death.
Day and night, the falling rain of the changing seasons
Drowns whatever sprouts may grow within the three levels
Ornamented by the essence of the freedom and favors, the dark summer cloudbanks of this life gather, while, naturally wreathed in quivering lightning, the Lord of Death performs his dance. Day and night, not pausing for an instant, the rain of immanent death falls constantly, flooding out and drowning all the sprouts of sentient beings dwelling within the three worlds.
The Vast Play says:
The three worlds' impermanence is like the clouds of autumn.
The birth and death of beings has the aspect of a dance.
The lives of beings vanish like lightning into space.
Like waterfalls cascading down a precipitous mountain,
As quickly as the water comes it falls away.
(i.e. A Theravadin perspective from: The Trilogy of Anicca, Dukkha and Anattá - By Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Buddha says that we have to examine our experience in order to
discover its most pervasive features,
the universal characteristics of phenomena, namely, impermanence,
un-satisfactoriness and ego-less-ness or not-self.
The Buddha says:
§ I. All formations are impermanent.
§ II. All formations are unsatisfactory.
§ III. All phenomena, everything whatsoever, are not self.
Formations are things, which arise from causes and conditions. They include all compounded or formed phenomena. Although all formations around us have these three characteristics, we are unable to see them because our minds are ordinarily cloaked by ignorance. Ignorance is a mental factor, which has been covering the minds of all sentient beings through beginning-less time. It covers the minds of every one but the fully enlightened ones, the Buddhas and the arahants.
Ignorance functions in two ways, negative and positive.
On the negative side it simply obstructs us from seeing things as they are; it throws up clouds of mental darkness.
On the positive side, it creates in the mind illusions called perversions. Due to these perversions, we see things in quite the opposite way from the way they really are.
These perversions are:
§ (a) Perversion of seeing what is unattractive as attractive.
§ (b) Perversion of seeing what is Dukkha or unsatisfactory as pleasurable.
§ (c) Perversion of seeing what is impermanent as permanent.
§ (d) Perversion of seeing what is really not self as self.
These illusions give rise to craving, conceit, wrong view and all other defilements, and in that way we become entangled in dukkha.
These universal characteristics have to be understood in two stages:
· First intellectually, by reflection;
· And thereafter by direct insight or realization through insight meditation.
When we explain these intellectually, we should not make this a substitute for practice, but only take it as a guideline for understanding what has to be seen by the actual practice of insight meditation.
I. Impermanence - Aniccata
This is the root characteristic of the Buddha's teaching, the most fundamental characteristic, which forms the basis for the other two. The mark of impermanence has two aspects, a) gross and b) subtle.
a) The gross mark of impermanence is fully evident as soon as you pay attention to it. If we do so it becomes clear
That everything that arises must at some time pass away,
That whatever comes into being must pass out of being,
That whatever is put together at some time comes apart.
This is evident in the cosmic process, in the course of history and in the course of our lives.
The Buddha teaches that the cosmic process goes through four stages of development.
(a) It emerges from a state of undifferentiated matter.
(b) It evolves to a point of maximum differentiation.
(c) It begins to disintegrate.
(d) Then it reaches a stage of total disintegration, destruction.
Then after sometime, the process repeats itself.
In this way every world system arises, evolves and passes away.
In history we find the same pattern. A civilization arises, reaches its zenith, declines and eventually perishes.
In life, we are born and grow up; when growth reaches the maximum it is followed by ageing decay and death.
Nothing in life is absolutely reliable.
Fortune changes, character and relationships evolve and dissolve.
That is the gross or coarse feature of impermanence.
b) The subtle mark of impermanence is more difficult to grasp.
This indicates not only that everything produced eventually perishes, but that being itself is really a process of becoming. Buddha points out that there are no static entities, but only dynamic processes which appear to us to be stable and static only because our perception is not sharp enough to detect the changes. Things themselves are constantly undergoing changes just as a waterfall is always changing but from a distance it seems solid, because we can't perceive the flow.
Three stages of becoming:
According to the Buddha all momentary happenings go through three stages, three sub-moments:
1. A moment of arising,
2. Finally a moment of perishing,
3. And between the two "a transformation of that which stands." This intermediate stage means that even in the brief moment that a thing exists it isn't static but changing, a process, a flux of becoming. The stable entities that we see are really bundles of events, "packages" of momentary flashings strung together by laws of conditionality.
The Eye of Insight:
The Buddha's teaching of radical impermanence
Applies to all formations without exception,
Especially to the five aggregates of clinging, to our own personality. To the eye of insight our entire being dissolves into a compound of conditioned factors.
First take the aggregate of material form. The body is made up of minute groups of material phenomena which are themselves actually streams of events arising and passing away with incredible speed. The change takes so fast that the eye and the mind cannot register it. If we twirl a glowing stick in the dark, the eye fuses the moving points of light into the shape of a circle, so it appears to be a solid circle of light. In the same way all material form is fused together into the appearance of a solid body, but the solid body is only a mental representation and not a reality.
The same process of change applies to the mind. The mind is a composite of four mental aggregates - feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. These are all in process, streams of events arising and perishing countless times each second. In every moment there is a new feeling arising and passing, a new perception, new mental formations and new consciousness. They appear to form a stable lasting mind. But this is only an appearance caused by the continuity of the process.
II Dukkhata – Un-satisfactoriness
Dukkha means both pain and suffering and also the general un-satisfactoriness of conditioned existence. A fundamental reason why existence is unsatisfactory is because it is connected with pain, subject to suffering. The pain and suffering to a great extent are rooted in impermanence.
We crave for a world where everything that we value and love will remain forever, but when it changes we undergo suffering.
§ The five aggregates themselves are impermanent.
§ We would like to preserve them, to dominate them with our will but when they escape our grasp we meet with dissatisfaction.
Dukkha has the meaning of "oppression by rise and fall."
§ When we contrast the rise and fall with our desire for peace and stability, then the process of rise and fall seems oppressive.
For detailed discussion of Dukkha see First Noble Truth.
III Anattá - Not Self
The 'not-self' nature of "Myself"
The characteristic of selflessness, non-self, is the deepest and the most difficult of the characteristics. In the teaching of Anattá, the Buddha proclaims that there is nothing that can be identified as self, that all the things that we take to be ourselves, to be I and mine, are really not self.
This teaching cuts sharply against the traditional forms of thinking and makes Buddhism a distinctly unique teaching.
Almost all of our thoughts and activities are centered around the idea of "I" and "mine" and "myself".
Yet the Buddha holds that these notions are deceptive.
They are delusions that lead us into conflicts and suffering.
And he teaches further that, in order to get free from Dukkha, we have to break out of the clinging to the idea of self.
The only way to do this is to penetrate the mark of selflessness, to see with insight the selfless nature of all phenomena.)
4. The impermanence of the Vessel and Essence
(i.e. Impermanence of all the levels of worlds and beings: A universe based on many interdependent levels from gross to very subtle: This flow of interdependence, and of impermanent objects and beings, is operating on an infinite number of levels, like a fractal that operates in the three worlds simultaneously (their distinction is only another artificial discrimination from the mind). But usually it is resumed with four levels: outer, inner, secret and such-ness mandalas -- related to body, speech, mind, and inseparability of the three, also related to the four kayas, the four empowerments, the four offerings ... The message in this section is that everything is impermanent in any of those levels. And also that these levels arise and ceased in a particular order, from gross to subtle and then very subtle; that will be explained later with the Bardo.)
On each level:
The vessel is the world, which has long been stable and motionless.
The accompanying essence or contents supported by it is taught to be moving beings.
When the vessel and contents of this impermanent world
With all its various cycles of creation and destruction,
Is destroyed seven times by fire and once by water,
And blown away like dust by the force of the raging wind,
Even Mount Meru, with its four slopes of precious substance,
Surrounded by the four oceans and the four continents,
Encircled by mountain ranges and the ramparts of the world,
Will not endure when all is turned to a single space.
Thinking that this time must certainly come to pass,
Therefore, let us practice the Dharma from our hearts.
The external vessel and contents are destructible.
The inner vessel and contents too are taught to be impermanent.
The External Vessel: the world: In the beginning of the first kalpa, in the accommodating sky, the empty space of nothing whatever, pranavajra was born from a crossed vajra, indestructible. Above it was born the mandala of water, hard like vajra. There also on the little island, which is this world, was the supreme mountain of precious substances, Mount Meru. The east was made of crystal, the south of yellow beryl, the west of ruby, the north of gold. Reaching to the edges of the surrounding water, with seven lakes between them are Nyashing Dzin, and so forth, the seven mountain ranges, surrounded by the expanse of the outer ocean. [2] In the outer ocean, in the east is the continent Purvavideha. In the south is Jambudvipa, in the west Aparagodaniya, in the north Uttarakuru. On Mount Meru, are four groves, and to the northeast, completely enclosed in trees, is the all-victorious good house, ornamented by caverns like a city, with agreeable mountains at the edge. From this to the ocean's horizon, as far as the other surrounding iron mountains [3] is the vessel, the world, and ornamented by the sun and moon.
[Its content: beings] Supported within it is the essence, sentient beings. The luminous gods are separated from people of the four main continents and eight sub-continents beside them. These sub-continents are Deha and Videha, Chamara and Upachamara, Satha and Uttaramantrina, Kurava and Kaurava. Also there are the appearances produced by lower karma, the individual realms of lower beings, the animal, hungry ghost, and Hell realms. In the dhatu of the animals the great ocean is the root place. Below, the hungry ghosts' royal capital city is their chief place. Hell beings have the hot Hells and snow mountain cold Hells. Under them all, like a yellow rose with eight joined petals, are the neighboring Hells, oriented in the four directions of the Avici or Unremitting Hell, which is the place at the root. The widely scattered animals, the hungry ghosts wandering in space, and the ephemeral human realm are also there. The six kinds of kama divinities of the desire realm, kama deva shatkula, are halfway up mount Meru in the rising place of the sun, moon, stars, and planets. First there are the four, great, noble kings. Above them is the heaven of the thirty-three. Above them with their sky palaces dwelling like the stars and planets, in order there are the desire realm deity heavens of the strife-less, Yama; joyful, Tushita; Delighting in Emanation, Nirmanarata; and Mastery over Transformation, Paranirmita. In holes in the rocks of Mount Meru dwell the asuras. In the edges of the water Rahu, and in Skartreng, Garland of Stars, a city at foot of Mount Meru, is the asura king Kanto Mali. In the edges of earth are nicely textured slopes where desire gods contend in wealth and enjoyments. Of the four realms of the desire gods, in the Brahma realms of the first Dhyana are the stratum of Brahma, Abhasvara; Priests who chant before Brahma Bhramapurohita; and Great Brahma, Mahabhrama. In the space above is the heaven of Mastery over the Emanations of Others, Para-nimitta-vashvartin (the sixth of the twenty-eight desire heavens) whose thrones reach upward four pagtse. The second Dhyana has the heavens of Lesser Radiance, Parittabha; Immeasurable Radiance, Apramaanaabha; and radiance, Praabhasvara. The third has Lesser Virtue, Parittashubha; Immeasurable Virtue, Apramanashubha; and Vast Virtue, Shubhakritsna. The fourth has Cloudless; Increasing Merit, Punyaprasava; and the great fruition born of merit Brihatphala. Then there are the five Pure Abodes, Paqcashuddhanivaasa. Here the three places of individual beings are the Slightest, Avriha; Painless, Atapa; and Attractive Sudrisha. The other heavens of the pure realm gods are extreme Insight, Sudarshana, and the Highest, Akanishta. These five heavens are one above the other. The four formless realms are limitless space, Akashanabtyayatana, limitless consciousness, vijqanabtyayatana nothing whatsoever, Akimchanabtyayatana and neither perception nor non-perception, naivasamjqasamjqayatana. These peaks of samsara depend on former attainment of the formless samádhis. They are in the place where one dies.
[A Buddha appearing in each of those worlds] Thus, uniting the aspects of vessel and essence, as explained, this is called one world realm of four continents. A thousand of these, likewise surrounded by iron mountains as high as the place of the thirty-three gods, is called a first thousand-fold world realm. A thousand such realms, with surrounding mountains as high as the Para-nimitta-vashvartin realm is called a middle-thousand world realm. [4] A thousand of those, with surrounding mountains as high as the special first Dhyana realm, is called a great three thousand fold world realm. [5] In each of these worlds is shown a body like that of the supreme Nirmanakaya, performing the twelve deeds of a Buddha that are not performed before or after. By its appearance, these are called worlds of those to be tamed. Other than that in the ten directions, are measureless other words, round, semi-circular, square, and of other shapes, pervading to the limits of space. They also have immeasurable kinds of sentient beings above, below, and on the same level.
[The dynamic of these worlds, and the appearances of Buddhas] Generally, in this universe of suffering, the times of arising, enduring, destruction, and vacuity are equal. The first is the time of well arising. Then there is the present time of well-remaining, from the time of the coming of the Tathágata Nampar Zikpa [6] when all beings attain immeasurable lives to when Shakyamuni comes, to the time when beings have lives of ten years. From the long ago time of the beginning lives each decrease by 200 years each. Then when they reach 100, they increase by one from 11 to 80,000 after Maitreya has come. After 100, they diminish by one, until reaching 10 years of life. There are 80 such cycles of increase and decrease, 18 in the present kalpa; among these, 995 Buddhas arise. Then from 200 years lives increase by one to measureless. When they go a little lower, after the Buddha called "Devoted" comes," all the deeds, lives and assembled retinues of former Buddhas are brought into one, and the same deeds and lives and assemblies arise. Beings not tamed by the former Buddhas are tamed. The sound of the three jewels is heard. This continues until even beings who had sundered the basis of discipline and completely slandered virtue are liberated from samsara, and by the power vows to do so, these deeds are fully accomplished. Until their nirvana the holy Dharma also remains that long. The completely perfect third-thousand-fold universe's sentient beings, however many they were are established in liberation. After their tenth year of life, that kalpa is entirely burned seven times by destroying fire, to ashes. The fire lasts a day. Some sutras say seven days. Some say that one sun having the heat of seven arises. In reality 700 times ten million suns will occur and, the universe will be annihilated and burned. The ashes will be washed away by water, scattered by wind, and finally, having become a single space, it will be like the former situation where nothing had yet been born. Know all dharmas to be like that.
[The Same For The Inner Vessel / The Inner Mandala] Like this story of how the outer vessel and essence will be destroyed, the inner body too should be viewed. Mind becomes the single first nature of mind. From within that the wind of ignorance and discursive conceptualization are born. Because of that, by the karma of dwelling in samsara, by the condition of the karma establishing the nature of water, from the semen and blood of the father and mother, the body is Mount Meru, the eyes are the sun and moon, whose inner essential natures are white and red. The twelve ayatanas and dhatus (i.e. irreducible elements) are the four continents and eight sub-continents. The eight consciousnesses are the seven mountains and the great horizon, making eight altogether.
The accompanying essence or contents / the beings of the inner mandala: Supported by body, speech, and mind are the three main nadis, roma and kyangma to the left and right and the central channel. With the support of the three gates, the three poisons, and the three kayas there are the three realms. The nadis petals, which are the five or six chakras are the five or six Buddha families.
Like a fractal of infinite number of levels and swirls: There are many distinct but similar realms, and within all these thousand-fold world systems appear many joys and sorrows and so forth. Gathered together, they separate. Born, they die. Compounded, they are destroyed.
Dynamic of the whole mandala: outer, inner, secret, such-ness: When the time of death comes, the four external elements within which dwell the four inner elements, are destroyed seven times by fire and once by water, eight altogether. Then the inner elements dissolve into the secret elements, primordial luminosity, and everything becomes a single space. When the four elements of the body have been gathered together, the emptying of prana nadi and bindu are the seven destructions by fire. Transmigration of life is the one destruction by water. Cessation of the breath is the final scattering by wind. The individual body disperses, finally becoming nothing at all like space, like before the body was born.
(i.e. About not getting obsessed in levels and mandalas
the perfection of mandala practice equals knowing their emptiness at the same time:For students who rejoice in counting characteristics,
Counting mantras is taught and developing mandalas,
For whoever has placed their hopes upon the path of Trikaya.
Those who produce understanding by means of heaping up concepts,
For the length of time of a hundred million kalpas
Will never realize the sense of the undeveloped mandala.
Kye! for me the teacher, the King, the doer of all,
By accumulations and mandala being self-perfected,
The nature of Dharmata does not need to be created.
As the nature with neither wish nor development,
Know The mandala of the King, the doer of all. -- The All-Creating KingAlso:
From the nature without conception and perception,
Come the varied phenomena of the mandalas of light.
These several luminosities that shine in the center of space,
By expressing variety, have never risen at all-- The Avatamsaka Sutra)
(i.e. The Eight Stages of the Death Process |
|||
Stage |
Factors Dissolving |
External Sign |
Internal Sign |
1 |
Earth element; |
Body becomes thin, shrinks, weaker; |
Mirage |
2 |
Water element; |
Body fluids dry up; |
Smoke |
3 |
Fire element; |
Digestion ceases; |
Sparks |
4 |
Wind element; |
Breathing ceases; |
Dying flame |
5 |
Consciousness aggregate; |
Winds above heart enter into central channel. |
White appearance |
6 |
Mind of white appearance. |
Winds below heart enter central channel |
Red appearance |
7 |
Mind of red increase. |
Winds gather at heart. |
Darkness, then unconsciousness |
8 |
Mind of black near-attainment. |
Winds dissolve into very subtle wind at heart. |
Clear light) |
The Later Tantra of Vast Wisdom: says:
Ripened by the elements of air and water and fire,
The world of the body is engendered as the vessel.
Nadi and prana and the essence of the elements,
Existing as the pure nature of the four great elements,
Then abide in the form of changeless, radiant light.Dwelling in space, if we transfer into purity,
All the different elements, nadi, prana, and essences,
That is like the world-destruction by seven fires.
The dissolving of the elements is the one destruction by water.
Cessation of coarse and subtle is the scattering by wind.
Entering into the light is the realm of spaciousness.Then there is the primordial lord, enlightenment,
This is reaching the final goal of non-confusion.
We should examine further the subsiding of the worlds of individual sentient beings.
The Spiritual Letter says:
For seven days the mass of the earth, as well as the oceans,
Will blaze, and all these beings will be burned away.
If visible bodies all will be reduced to ashes,
Why even speak of those which are invisible.
That is how we should think about it.
(i.e. Samyutta Nikáya XXXV.82 - Loka Sutta - The World :
Then a certain monk went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One: "`The world, the world (loka),' it is said. In what respect does the word `world' apply?
"Insofar as it disintegrates (lujjati), monk, it is called the `world.' Now what disintegrates?The eye disintegrates. Forms disintegrate. Consciousness at the eye consciousness disintegrates. Contact at the eye disintegrates. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye -- experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too disintegrates.
"The ear disintegrates. Sounds disintegrate....
"The nose disintegrates. Aromas disintegrate....
"The tongue disintegrates. Tastes disintegrate....
"The body disintegrates. Tactile sensations disintegrate....
"The intellect disintegrates. Ideas disintegrate. Consciousness at the intellect consciousness disintegrates. Contact at the intellect disintegrates. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect -- experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too disintegrates.
"Insofar as it disintegrates, it is called the `world.'")
5. Impermanence of the teachings of how the victorious ones and their sons attain nirvana.
(i.e. Impermanence of even the teachers and of their teaching.)
Even the teachers who come into these worlds, the many Tathágatas and their retinues, go beyond suffering to nirvana. In considering how their teaching declines, there is the further teaching that our own lives are impermanent:
Even the leaders of the world, the lord Buddha sages,
Attended by their retinues of Buddha sons,
Pratyekabuddhas and hosts of shravakas,
As within the clear sky the always-existing moon
Is encircled by its attending garland of stars and planets;
Though these shine with brilliance in their luminosity,
They also teach impermanence by passing into nirvana.
See too how the measureless sun of the precious teachings
Sets ever more from generation to generation.
Then why should our bodies, like plantain trees without a heart,
Or like a phantom castle, fail to be destroyed.
Teachers came to this world of suffering. Their forms were seen. Vipashyi, Ratnach_da, Vishvabhu, Krakucchanda, Karakamuni, Dipamkara, and Shakyamuni, like the full moon rising on an autumn evening, blazed with the brilliance of the major and minor marks. They were surrounded by hosts of stars as their retinue, shravakas, bodhisattvas, pure ones, world protectors, and so on. Their bodies blazed with splendor. Their speech was brilliant, and without meaningless chatter. Their spotless minds shone with their illumination. They were as firm as vajra, having passed beyond suffering.
(i.e. Anguttara Nikáya III.134 - Dhamma-niyama Sutta - The Discourse on the Orderliness of the Dhamma
The Blessed One said, "Whether or not there is the arising of Tathágatas, this property stands -- this steadfastness of the Dhamma, this orderliness of the Dhamma: All processes are inconstant (impermanent). "The Tathágata directly awakens to that, breaks through to that. Directly awakening and breaking through to that, he declares it, teaches it, describes it, sets it forth. He reveals it, explains it, and makes it plain: All processes are inconstant.
"Whether or not there is the arising of Tathágatas, this property stands -- this steadfastness of the Dhamma, this orderliness of the Dhamma: All processes are stressful. "The Tathágata directly awakens to that, breaks through to that. Directly awakening and breaking through to that, he declares it, teaches it, describes it, sets it forth. He reveals it, explains it, and makes it plain: All processes are stressful.
"Whether or not there is the arising of Tathágatas, this property stands -- this steadfastness of the Dhamma, this orderliness of the Dhamma: All phenomena are not-self. "The Tathágata directly awakens to that, breaks through to that. Directly awakening and breaking through to that, he declares it, teaches it, describes it, sets it forth. He reveals it, explains it, and makes it plain: All phenomena are not-self.")
(i.e. Diamond Sutra:
21.Subhuti, do not say that the Tathágata conceives the idea: I must set forth a Teaching. For if anyone says that the Tathágata sets forth a Teaching he really slanders Buddha and is unable to explain what I teach. As to any Truth-declaring system, Truth is un-declarable; so "an enunciation of Truth" is just the name given to it.
23. "Again, Subhuti, this Dharma is even and has neither elevation nor depression; and it is called supreme enlightenment. Because a man practices everything that is good, without cherishing the thought of an ego, a person, a being, and a soul, he attains the supreme enlightenment. Subhuti, what is called good is no-good, and therefore it is known as good."
26. "...If any one by form sees me, by voice seeks me, this one walks the false path, and cannot see the Tathágata."
29. "Subhuti, if a man should declare that the Tathágata is the one who comes, or goes, or sits, or lies, he does not understand the meaning of my teachings.
Why? The Tathágata does not come from anywhere, and does not depart to anywhere; therefore he is called the Tathágata.)
Other teachers, gradually declining, depend on the supreme being of the Shakyas. If all of them were impermanent, how will my body, as insubstantial as a bubble, not be impermanent.
The Shrine of Impermanence says:
Ablaze with a thousand marks is the body of sugatagarbha.
If this is impermanent, established with merit a hundred times over,
Then, as unreliable as a breaking bubble,
How can, this, my body, not certainly be destroyed?
The one who is the benefit of sentient beings,
The Victorious One, the Sugata, passes like the sun,
The moon, the treasure of holy Dharma, is seen to set.
As for our goods, our retinues, and our enjoyments,
We should be ready to know that they are impermanent.
6. We are impermanent because our lives never wax but always wane.
(i.e. So if we are sure to die, we don't know when. We shouldn't wait for later to use this great but brief opportunity. All other activities are a waste of time based on vanity that will end up in the three lower realms.)
If even a vajra-like body is impermanent, why depend on this body, as insubstantial as a plantain tree. That is the instruction:
Therefore, though it is certain that we are going to die,
Of where and when and how there is no certainty.
Our life-span never waxing [increasing], is always on the wane [decreasing],
Conditions of death are many, and those of living few,
Life has no time to waste, so keep right to the point.
From today onwards, what makes sense is to work with Dharma.
Just by being born, death is certain. The White Lotus of Holy Dharma says:
Wherever there is birth, death will be there too.
Wherever there is gathering, there is dissolution.
Though time is beginning-less, everyone has died. The Good Marks Sutra says:
Who was ever known who might not die tomorrow?
Therefore this very day we should exert ourselves.
The Lord of Death and his considerable tribe,
Neither of the two, are any friends of ours.
Anywhere in the world, death is inevitable. Walking, standing, or whatever we are doing, we should be ready, thinking, "Is it today that I will die?" The Sutra of the Good Army says:
Mountains or steep ravines, defiles or precipices,
At home or in the streets, or on the bank of a river.
Somewhere upon the earth will be my last abode.
This is something that is not to be divulged.
This completely removes my enjoyment of the world.
Because of conditions, the time of death too is uncertain. The scriptures say:
Some people die from choking on their food.
Others die from taking their medicines.
Why even say that beings have different conditions?
There is no certainty of the time of death.
Our life spans never increase, but always grow shorter. Death is certain. The News of Impermanence, says:
Like the rock of a pool that was cut by falling water,
There is no increase, but always only decrease.
Since all of us must enter on the path of death,
Who can rely upon this incidental life.
The Bodhicaryavatara says:
Day as well as night it never stays at all.
This life eternally fleeting is getting ever-shorter
Having gotten shorter, it will not then increase.
Why would one like me not be going to die?
Few conditions are required for death other than birth in a womb. Death is certain. The News of Impermanence, says:
Though the conditions of death are a numerous multitude,
The conditions of our being born are very few.
Therefore since it is certain that we shall quickly die;
Let us keep the holy Dharma in our hearts.
7. How what seems external is inner impermanence
(i.e. Even our own mind, our presumed permanent self, is dependently arisen and thus impermanent. Its permanence is an illusion, like the illusion of inherently existing objects. Mind itself is the king of its mental fabrications. There is just the flow of change, without any inherently existing subjects or objects.)
One's own mind is even more mortal than an ancient ruined city:
Sentient beings, like a bower gathered from the four elements
Are ornamented with moving thoughts like people inside.
Composite, their dharmas arise from conditions and are destroyed.
Since all is impermanent, like an ancient city,
Let us quickly perform the actions of holy Dharma.(i.e. Not only are external objects and bodies dependently arisen and thus impermanent, but so are all internal dharmas like: our feelings, our ideas, concepts, mental fabrications, our consciousnesses, our perceptions. All are based on subjective [relative] characteristics even though we usually attribute them to some kind of objective perception and consciousness. But it should be evident that our feelings for something or someone are pretty much dependent on how much pleasure they bring to us in the short term, and can easily change in time if those conditions change. Our concepts, ideas, theories, are also dependent on acquired and conventional concepts. Theories change, understanding change none is absolute. Even our ways to re-act are based on acquired relative customs. Even our perception and consciousness of something is based on past karma. Nothing is absolute; all can change with time and occasions. So there is no absolute discrimination based on permanent characteristics, permanent attributes, absolute concepts and ideas. They are all dependently arisen, conditioned, thus impermanent and empty of inherent existence. In that sense seeing the impermanence of all characteristics, all aggregates, all dharmas is an introduction to seeing the emptiness of inherent existence of all dharmas.)
(i.e. The teachings say that we can understand impermanence by seeing how friends turn into enemies and enemies turn into friends. -- Hannah Nydahl)
That is the exhortation. Ruined cities that are now abandoned were once well-constructed and filled with many beings. Later they became vacant. Look at this life as being like that. Kye ma'o! What is left of the former youth and wealth of these samsaric beings? Only the people's names remain. Their adornments destroyed, bones are all that is left of these beings who once emanated their various discursive thoughts.
Like this, our bodies, these bowers collected from the four elements, are now beautiful with clothing and ornaments. What people will later call by our names is our bones. "That's how it is," we should think from our hearts.
The Spiritual Letter says:
As we near the finish of the body, we glimpse its bleak end. At last its foul essence is not there at all. It is worn out, decomposes, and is completely destroyed. Know that its dharmas will be torn asunder.
(i.e. Samyutta Nikáya XXII.48 - Khandha Sutta - Aggregates
At Savatthi. There the Blessed One said, "Monks, I will teach you the five aggregates and the five aggregates of clinging/sustenance. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "Now what, monks, are the five aggregates?
"Whatever form is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near:
that is called the aggregate of form."Whatever feeling is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near:
that is called the aggregate of feeling."Whatever perception is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near:
that is called the aggregate of perception."Whatever (mental) fabrications are past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near:
those are called the aggregate of fabrications."Whatever consciousness is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near:
that is called the aggregate of consciousness.
"These are called the five aggregates.
"And what are the five aggregates of clinging/sustenance?
"Whatever form -- past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near --
is cling-able, offers sustenance, and is accompanied with mental fermentation:
that is called form as an aggregate of clinging/sustenance."Whatever feeling -- past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near --
is cling-able, offers sustenance, and is accompanied with mental fermentation:
that is called feeling as an aggregate of clinging/sustenance."Whatever perception -- past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near --
is cling-able, offers sustenance, and is accompanied with mental fermentation:
that is called perception as an aggregate of clinging/sustenance."Whatever (mental) fabrications -- past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near --
are cling-able, offer sustenance, and are accompanied with mental fermentation:
those are called fabrications as an aggregate of clinging/sustenance."Whatever consciousness -- past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near --
is cling-able, offers sustenance, and is accompanied with mental fermentation:
that is called consciousness as an aggregate of clinging/sustenance.
"These are called the five aggregates of clinging/sustenance.")
(i.e. Samyutta Nikáya XXII.47 - Samanupassana Sutta - Assumptions
At Savatthi. There the Blessed One said, "Monks, whatever contemplatives or priests who assume in various ways when assuming a self, all assume the five aggregates for sustenance/clinging, or a certain one of them.
Which five? There is the case where an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person -- who has no regard for nobles ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for men of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma --
Assumes form (the body) to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing form,
§ Or form as in the self,
§ Or the self as in form.
"He assumes feeling to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing feeling,
§ Or feeling as in the self,
§ Or the self as in feeling.
"He assumes perception to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing perception,
§ Or perception as in the self,
§ Or the self as in perception.
"He assumes (mental) fabrications to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing fabrications,
§ Or fabrications as in the self,
§ Or the self as in fabrications.
"He assumes consciousness to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing consciousness,
§ Or consciousness as in the self,
§ Or the self as in consciousness.
"Thus, both this assumption and the understanding, 'I am,' occur to him. And so it is with reference to the understanding 'I am' that there is the appearance of the five faculties -- eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body (the senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch).
"Now, there is the intellect, there are ideas (mental qualities), there is the property of ignorance. To an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person, touched by experience born of the contact of ignorance,
There occur (the thoughts):
'I am,' 'I am thus,' 'I shall be,' 'I shall not be,' 'I shall be possessed of form,' 'I shall be formless,' 'I shall be percipient (conscious),' 'I shall be non-percipient,' or 'I shall be neither percipient nor non-percipient.'
"The five faculties, monks, continue as they were. And with regard to them the well-instructed noble disciple abandons ignorance and gives rise to clear knowing. Owing to the fading of ignorance and the arising of clear knowing,
(The thoughts)
-- 'I am,' 'I am this,' 'I shall be,' 'I shall not be,' 'I shall be possessed of form,' 'I shall be formless,' 'I shall be percipient (conscious),' 'I shall be non-percipient,' and 'I shall be neither percipient nor non-percipient' --
Do not occur to him.")
(i.e. Samyutta Nikáya XXII.1 - Nakulapita Sutta - To Nakulapita
Ven. Shariputra said: "Now, how is one afflicted in body and afflicted in mind?
"There is the case where an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person -- who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for men of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma --
Assumes form (the body) to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing form,
§ Or form as in the self,
§ Or the self as in form.
§ He is obsessed with the idea that 'I am form' or 'Form is mine.'
§ As he is obsessed with these ideas, his form changes and alters, and he falls into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair over its change and alteration.
"He assumes feeling to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing feeling,
§ Or feeling as in the self,
§ Or the self as in feeling.
§ He is obsessed with the idea that 'I am feeling' or 'Feeling is mine.'
§ As he is obsessed with these ideas, his feeling changes and alters, and he falls into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair over its change and alteration.
"He assumes perception to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing perception,
§ Or perception as in the self,
§ Or the self as in perception.
§ He is obsessed with the idea that 'I am perception' or 'Perception is mine.'
§ As he is obsessed with these ideas, his perception changes and alters, and he falls into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair over its change and alteration.
"He assumes (mental) fabrications to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing fabrications,
§ Or fabrications as in the self,
§ Or the self as in fabrications.
§ He is obsessed with the idea that 'I am fabrications' or 'Fabrications are mine.'
§ As he is obsessed with these ideas, his fabrications change and alter, and he falls into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair over their change and alteration.
"He assumes consciousness to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing consciousness,
§ Or consciousness as in the self,
§ Or the self as in consciousness.
§ He is obsessed with the idea that 'I am consciousness' or 'Consciousness is mine.'
§ As he is obsessed with these ideas, his consciousness changes and alters, and he falls into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair over its change and alteration.
"This, householder, is how one is afflicted in body and afflicted in
mind.
"And how is one afflicted in body but un-afflicted in mind?
There is the case where a well-instructed noble disciple -- who has regard for nobles ones, is well-versed and disciplined in their Dhamma; who has regard for men of integrity, is well-versed and disciplined in their Dhamma --
Does not assume form to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing form,
§ Or form as in the self,
§ Or the self as in form.
§ He is not obsessed with the idea that 'I am form' or 'Form is mine.'
§ As he is not obsessed with these ideas, his form changes and alters, but he does not fall into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair over its change and alteration.
"He does not assume feeling to be the self....
"He does not assume perception to be the self....
"He does not assume fabrications to be the self....
"He does not assume consciousness to be the self,
§ Or the self as possessing consciousness,
§ Or consciousness as in the self,
§ Or the self as in consciousness.
§ He is not obsessed with the idea that 'I am consciousness' or 'Consciousness is mine.'
§ As he is not obsessed with these ideas, his consciousness changes and alters, but he does not fall into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair over its change and alteration.
"This, householder, is how one is afflicted in body but un-afflicted in mind."
(i.e. Samyutta Nikáya XXXVI.11 - Rahogata Sutta - Alone
Then a certain monk went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: "Just now, lord, while I was alone in seclusion, this train of thought arose in my awareness:
`Three feelings have been spoken of by the Blessed One: a feeling of pleasure, a feeling of pain (stress), and a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain. These are the three feelings spoken of by the Blessed One.
But the Blessed One has said: "Whatever is felt comes under stress (pain)." Now in what connection was this stated by the Blessed One: "Whatever is felt comes under stress (pain)?"'"
"Excellent, monk. Excellent. These three feelings have been spoken of by me: a feeling of pleasure, a feeling of pain (stress), and a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain. These are the three feelings spoken of by me. But I have also said:
'Whatever is felt comes under stress (pain).'
That I have stated simply in connection with the inconstancy of fabrications.
That I have stated simply in connection with the nature of fabrications to end ... in connection with the nature of fabrications to fall away ... to fade away... to cease ... in connection with the nature of fabrications to change.
8. An example of impermanence
(i.e. The example of the lamp. Being dependent on ever-changing causes and conditions, themselves dependent ... at infinitum, there is no reliance at all in this life. We will all certainly die; it is just a matter of time. Only using the opportunity of this precious human life in learning and practicing the Dharma can help to reach the three possible goals: a rebirth in a higher realm, Liberation from samsara, or Enlightenment.)
Like being instantly killed in a dream in which we have enjoyed celestial bliss for a long time, at that time:
As the flame of a lamp that has been caught in a sandstorm
Flickers and is not steady, even for a moment,
When suddenly we are struck by the fierce conditions of death,
We shall not endure, but certainly will die.
Therefore, practice the holy Dharma right away.
A lamp may endure a soft breeze rising from the hearth, but is quickly blown out when a strong wind arises. Our lives, like such a flickering lamp, are agitated by the incessant, soft wind of day and night. When we have grown old, death gives no respite, and as if by a fierce wind, we will be quickly blown away by conditions of illness or harm. Think about this being certain.
The Letter to Students says:
Like the tongue of flame of a lamp,
Blown away by a mighty wind
This tiny moment of life,
Has no reliance at all.
9. All is impermanent and must be left behind.
(i.e. Nothing remains, but karma: At the moment of death all of our investments are useless; we have to abandon everything and everybody (nothing is without a cause, thus impermanent, nothing permanent, nothing eternal). There remains only the consequences of our accumulated karma (there is no cause without an effect, no discontinuity, no annihilation). And so, only the Dharma can help. But do we have to wait until it is too late to realize this? Only using the opportunity of this precious human life in learning and practicing the Dharma can help to reach the three possible goals: a rebirth in a higher realm, Liberation from samsara, or Enlightenment. All other activities are a waste of a good opportunity and accumulation of karma, the causes of more suffering in the lower realms. On one hand we might think we are eternal and thus should not worry about death. On the other hand we might think that there is nothing after death and that we don't have to suffer the consequences of our actions. Both are extreme wrong views. We should try to see reality for what it is while we can: not permanent or eternal or inherently existing, not impermanent in the sense of totally discontinuous a flow of interdependence without any real entities having their own essence.)
Moreover, as for thinking of impermanence; because, having left everything behind, we must go:
Attendants, pleasures, friends and relatives,
Youth and beauty, power and social rank--
We have to leave alone, abandoning them all,
Followed by black and white karma, until they both are emptied.
Then there is no refuge other than the Dharma.
Why should we not exert ourselves to go beyond them?
At the time of death, none of the appearances of this life will be of any use to us. Only the Dharma will be our refuge from the execution of the karma of our virtue and vice.
About this the Sutra of Instructions to the King says:
The time approaches when the king will go,
Your cherished pleasures, friends and relatives
Will not follow where you must go then.
As for kings, wherever they may go,
Karma follows after like a shadow.
Mind
(i.e. Notes:
At the time of death, nothing remains, but the consequences of our actions are not annihilated. There is impermanence, but there is also karma. Not Eternalism, but not Annihilationism. This is again the Middle Way between existence and non-existence. The same as between dependent origination and emptiness. Karma represent the continuation of the chain of dependence; death represent the non-permanent-existence or emptiness of being. So the complementarity of these two concepts (impermanence and karma) is an introduction to the more advanced concept of the Union of the Two Truths: like emptiness and dependent origination.
From a gross model to a more global model:
· Death, and impermanence are similar to saying "not existent", or an introduction to the more general concept of "emptiness".
· Karma is similar to saying "not non-existent", or an introduction to the more general concept of "dependent origination"
· The Union is "both impermanence and karma", like with "The Union of The Two Truths: dependent origination and emptiness"
The difference between the two models is that one operates at the level of "sentient beings" the other is at the level of "all dharmas" on whatever level they might be.
One alone is not enough:
· Rejecting karma would be like rejecting half of the Two Truths, like rejecting the continuity of dependent origination, like falling into the extreme of nihilism by thinking that emptiness means that things are completely non-existent.
· Similarly, ignoring death and impermanence, would be like rejecting the emptiness, falling into the extreme of Eternalism or realism by thinking that things and beings have an essence that they are inherently existing.
· But the real nature of everything is not expressed by any of those extreme views: realism / Eternalism, idealism / nihilism, dualism, monism / oneness. The real nature of everything is not existence, not non-existence, not both, not either. It is called the Union of the Two, even though it is beyond any description, beyond any conceptualization. It is called non-duality: not one, not two. It is called the inseparability of appearances and emptiness, inseparability of the Two Truths, inseparability of dependent origination and emptiness. Here we might call this introduction: the inseparability of karma and impermanence. Things and beings do not last, but still there is no discontinuity.
So karma is a skillful means comparable to dependent origination, and impermanence is a skillful means comparable to emptiness. None is the real nature of everything, which is beyond description. But we cannot reject those skillful means, or use just one. We need to use them both as method (using karma as upaya) and wisdom (using impermanence as prajńa) to have a path in accord with the goal, with the real nature of everything.
The perfection of this meditation on death and impermanence
There are two ways to look at perfecting this meditation in combining method and wisdom.
· The gross level consist of using all dharmas, including this precious human life, and the Dharma, while remembering that they are also dependently arisen and impermanent. It is about the complementarity of acting in accord with the law of karma and impermanence. In this case "impermanence" is seen as the wisdom that complement the methods based on the observation of the law of karma.
· The subtle level consist of meditating on impermanence of all dharmas, including this life, while remembering the emptiness of the three (subject, object, action), including the emptiness of all the elements in the Wheel of Life, in the theories of dependent origination, rebirth, Bardo, etc., the whole path. In this other case "meditation on impermanence" is the method, the skillful means, and emptiness is the wisdom. It is like when we talk about the emptiness of emptiness.
The important point is to see the inseparability of the two complementary concepts as an aid to point toward the real nature of everything, which is beyond any description, beyond any conceptualization. One concept alone is not the whole story.
Complementarity of impermanence and karma (like between emptiness and dependent origination, or the two truths)
The Treatise of the Four Hundred Stanzas on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas, Aryadeva
Whoever sees phenomena as like
A collection of mechanical devices (or dependent on causes and conditions)
And like illusory beings, (or empty of inherent existence)
Most clearly reaches the excellent state. (Or we need both together)
"Since functional things arise
There is no discontinuation (or karma, or dependent origination)
And because they cease
There is no permanence. (Or no inherent existence, or emptiness)"
Guide to the Middle Way, Chandrakirti
"Living beings are seen to be transient (or dependently arisen, functional) and empty of inherent existence (or impermanent),
Like a moon in rippling water."
Mahayanavimsika, Nargarjuna
3.
"Neither Samsara (or impermanence) nor Nirvana (or permanence) exist,
But all is a complex continuum (no discontinuity)
With an intrinsic face of void (with no inherently existing entities),
The object of ultimate awareness." (The Union of The Two Truths)
Three Principals of the Path, Lama Tsong Khapa
11.
"As long as the two, the understanding of appearances--the infallibility of dependent arising, (or karma)
And emptiness--the non-assertion [of inherent existence], (or impermanence)
Appear to be separate, there is still no realization
Of the thought of Shakyamuni Buddha
12.
When [the two understandings exist] simultaneously without alternation,
And when, from just seeing dependent-arising to be infallible,
Definite knowledge destroys the mode of apprehending [an inherently existent] object,
Then the analysis of the view is complete.
13.
Further, [knowledge of the nature of] appearances [existing only nominally] excludes the extreme of existence
And [knowledge of the nature of] emptiness [as the absence of inherent existence] excludes the extreme of non-existence.
If [within] emptiness, one knows the mode of the appearance of causes and effects,
One will not be taken over by extreme views."
The Meaning of Om Mani Padme Hum, by H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
It is very good to recite the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast. The first, OM is composed of three letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
Can impure body, speech, and mind be transformed into pure body, speech, and mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases of beings who were like ourselves and then in dependence on the path became enlightened; Buddhism does not assert that there is anyone who from the beginning is free from faults and possesses all good qualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind comes from gradually leaving the impure states and their being transformed into the pure.
How is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method - the altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel fulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to become enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient beings.
The two syllables, Padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus grows from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom. There is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom realizing that persons are empty of being self-sufficient or substantially existent, wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality -- that is to say, of difference of entity between subject and object -- and wisdom that realizes the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are many different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom realizing emptiness.
Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable HUM, which indicates indivisibility. According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of method and wisdom refers to wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom. In the mantra, or Vajrayâna vehicle, it refers to one consciousness in which there is the full form of both wisdom and method as one un-differentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllables of the Five Conqueror Buddhas, HUM is the seed syllable of Akshobhya -- the immovable, the un-fluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by anything.
Thus the six syllables, Om Mani Padme Hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha. It is said that you should not seek for Buddhahood outside of yourself; the substances for the achievement of Buddhahood are within. As Maitreya says in his Sublime Continuum of the Great Vehicle (Uttaratantra), all beings naturally have the Buddha nature in their own continuum. We have within us the seed of purity, the essence of a One Gone Thus (Tathagata-garbha) that is to be transformed and fully developed into Buddhahood.
Extracted from Compassion and Wisdom, Amitabha Buddhist Center, 1991.
"Impermanence" is a temporary skillful means, so is karma (so are dependent origination and emptiness). The real nature is beyond those duality (not accepting the duality, not rejecting it equals the Union equals non-duality equals inseparability).
"I salute him, the fully-enlightened, the best of speakers, who preached
The non-ceasing and the non-arising,
The non-annihilation and the non-permanence,
The non-identity and the non-difference,
The non-appearance and the non-disappearance,
The dependent arising, the appeasement of obsessions and the auspicious."
-- Nargarjuna’s introduction to the Karikas.
"Homage to that perfect Buddha,
The Supreme Philosopher,
Who taught us relativity
Free of destruction and creation,
Without annihilation and permanence,
With no coming and no going,
Neither unity nor plurality;
The quieting of fabrications,
The ultimate beatitude!"
-- Praise for Buddha Shakyamuni for his teaching of relativity, by Je Tsong Khapa"[In the true nature] there is neither permanence nor impermanence,
Neither self nor non-self, neither clean nor unclean
And neither happiness nor suffering.
Therefore, the [four] mistaken views do not exist. "
-- Selected Verses From Nargarjuna’s Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness
If things are not existing, how can they be impermanent or change?
Permanence and impermanence form a duality in our mind. Both are dependent on each other. The real nature of everything is not permanence, not impermanence, not both together, not either. One should try to transcend this duality. Neither accepting it, neither rejecting it; the Middle Way between permanence and impermanence.
"What is meant by the "individually-adapted siddhaanta?" One contemplates the way a person's mind works and then speaks Dharma for him [accordingly]. With regard to a given matter, perhaps he will take heed or perhaps he won't [depending upon one's skillfulness].
For instance, as stated in a sutra, "On account of various retributions for actions, one takes up various rebirths in the world, experiencing various types of contact and various feelings." But, in addition to this, we have what is said in the Phaalguna Sutra: "There is no person who experiences contact. There is no person who experiences feeling."
Question: How can these two sutras be reconciled?
Reply: It was on account of there being a person who doubted future existences, who did not believe in offenses or blessings, who engaged in unwholesome conduct and who had fallen into the annihilationist view, that, out of a desire to cut off his doubts and cause him to forsake his unwholesome conduct and out of a desire to extricate him from his annihilationist view, it was therefore said, "One takes up various rebirths in the world, experiencing various types of contact and various feelings."
[However], this Phaalguna believed in the existence of a self and in the existence of a spirit and [thus] had fallen into an eternalist belief. Phaalguna asked the Buddha, "Venerable one, who is it that experiences feelings?" If the Buddha had replied that it was such-and-such or so-and-so who experiences feelings, then [Phaalguna] would have fallen [even further] into eternalist beliefs and his views, which clung to the concepts of a "person" and a "self" would have become doubly solidified and impossible to reverse. On account of this [the Buddha] did not say that there was anyone who experiences feelings or who experiences contact. [Teachings with] characteristics such as these fall within the scope of the "individually-adapted siddhaanta.""
-- Prajńápáramitá - The Individually-adapted Siddhaanta
"The dharmas of the Buddha are incalculable in number and are as vast in scope as a great ocean.
· As adaptations to the minds of beings, there are all sorts of different articulations of Dharma.
In some cases, there is the discussion of existence, in others, nonexistence.
In some cases, the positing of permanence, in others, impermanence.
In some cases, discussions of suffering, in others, discussions of bliss.
In some cases, the positing of a self, and in others, the absence of a self.
In some instances, there are discussions of diligently cultivating the three modes of karmic action and accumulating all manner of good dharmas, whereas in others, there are discussions of all dharmas as characterized by being beyond the sphere of aspirations (apra.nihita)."
· In the case of those wanting in wisdom, when they hear all of these different explanations, they may be of the opinion that they are perversely contradictory and erroneous.
· The wise, however, have entered the three types of entryways to Dharma, and in contemplating all of the discourses of the Buddha, they understand that they are all genuine Dharma and are not contradictory.
· Prajńápáramitá- Nargarjuna Bodhisattva on the Perfection of Wisdom
"Question: If impermanence is not actually the case, why did the Buddha speak of impermanence?
Response: The Buddha accorded with what was appropriate for particular beings and so spoke the Dharma for their sakes. (i.e. No absolute, only adapted skillful means. Staying away from any extreme by using its opposite antidote while not getting attached to it either.)
· It was in order to refute the inverted view, which imagines permanence that he spoke of impermanence.
· In the opposite case, because people were unaware of or did not believe in later existences, he spoke of the mind going on into a later existence and being reborn in the heavens, explaining that the karmic causes and conditions of offenses and merit are not lost even in a million kalpas.
These are instances of the counteractive siddhaanta. They do not represent the supreme meaning siddhaanta. The ultimate reality aspect of all dharmas is neither permanent nor impermanent. (i.e. nor both, nor neither. It is the Union of the Two.) Then too, the Buddha spoke in place after place of the emptiness of dharmas. In the sphere of the emptiness of dharmas, impermanence [itself] is nonexistent. Therefore, to declare that the world is impermanent is an erroneous view. Hence one refers to the emptiness of dharmas."
-- Prajńápáramitá- Nargarjuna Bodhisattva on the Perfection of Wisdom
The real or main means to liberate beings from sufferings is, as the great master of logical reasoning Dharmakirti has said in his Treatise on Valid Cognition, (Pramanavarttika):
The view of emptiness liberates,
And the remaining meditations are means to achieve it.
Thus indicating that the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence is the only real means of liberation and the remaining meditations, that is the meditations on the nature of impermanence, suffering and so forth are auxiliary means of achieving and developing the understanding of emptiness.
Teaching existence, non-existence,
Both existence and non-existence, and neither
Surely are medicines for all
That are influenced by the sickness.
The approach of existence, non-existence,
Both existence and non-existence, and neither,
Should always be applied by those
With mastery to oneness and so forth.
If through seeing things one could refute
The statement that things do not exist,
Who then sees the elimination
Of fallacies regarding all four theses.
Against one who holds no thesis that things
Exist, do not, or do and do not exit,
Counter-arguments cannot be raised
No matter how long [one tries].
-- Aryadeva
Method, Wisdom and the Three Paths - by Geshe Lhundrub Sopa
Question: Buddhism believes strongly about past and future lives. How is this consistent with the idea of impermanence taught by Buddha?
Answer: Because things are impermanent they are changeable. Because impurity is impermanent, purity is possible. The relative truth can function owing to the existence of the ultimate truth. Impurity becomes pure imperfect becomes perfect. Change can cause conditions to switch. By directing the way our life builds and develops, we can stop negative patterns. If things were not impermanent there would be no way to change and evolve.
In terms of karma and rebirth, impermanence means that one can gain control over the stream of one's life. Our life is like a great river, never the same from one moment to the next. If we let negative sources flow into a stream it becomes dirty. Similarly, if we let bad thought, distorted perception and wrong action control our lives, we evolve into negative states and take a low rebirth. Alternatively, if we control the flowing of the stream skillfully we evolve positively, take creative rebirths and perhaps even attain the highest wisdom of Buddhahood. Then the coming and going or imperfect experiences subside and the impermanent flow of the pure perfection comes to us. When that happens the human goal has been achieved.
The Sutra requested by Shriidatta [7], says
By karmic confusion we are made to seek enjoyments
We are also distracted by our children and spouses.
By that we shall experience suffering alone.
They will do us no good at our appointed time.
Our beloved parents, siblings, children, and spouses,
Servants, wealth, and crowds of friends and relatives,
Will not travel with us when we go to death.
Karma will be an only child at that time.
At that time those who have gathered powerful bad karma will seem to be surrounded by those whom they have killed, and the minions of the Lord of Death will seem to lead them away with a noose. The Bodhicaryavatara says:
If this is the day when a man is being led
To a place where he will have a limb cut off,
With dry mouth, blood-shot eyes, and such,
He seems quite otherwise than he was formerly.When the utterly terrifying messengers of the Lord of Death
Having a form of flesh, seize us bodily.
How badly will we be stricken with the illness of great fear?
What need is there to say how terrible that will be?Who is the sahdu [8] that can be our guardian
One who is able to guard us from such frights as these,
Our flesh will crawl with panic, and with staring eyes,
We shall search for protectors in the four directions.Having seen that in the four directions there are none,
We shall be enveloped in complete despair.
Then it will be too late to think about Dharma. It will be like criminals looking for a refuge as they are given into the hands of their executioners. From now on we had better remember that.
The same text says:
Even if we truly abandon laziness,
Then it is too late. Then what could we do?
After the Lord of Death has suddenly appeared,
We shall think, "Oh no, all is surely lost."
Thus:
The three jewels and the virtue of Dharma are a refuge
For those who have supplicated for this spotless gift.
For those besides such beings, though they have appropriate virtue,
Even our father and mother will be no refuge to us,
Nor will a host of friends, and wealth and beautiful youth.
All such refuges will sink into samsara.We should give over our bodies joyfully to the Buddhas,
And likewise entrust to them our lives and our enjoyments.
Other than the three jewels, there is no refuge at all
On which we can rely while we are sentient beings.
10. The impermanence of the three times
(i.e. All beings of the six realms in the past, present and future are equal in being dependent on their causes and conditions, impermanent, subject to aging, illness, death, [again and again in the cycle of samsara]. The only way out is to use this rare, precious, and very brief opportunity to learn and practice the Dharma. If we waste this great opportunity, we will end up in the three lower realms for a long time without even any knowledge of karma and its consequences. We will thus have no opportunity to get out of them except for one chance out of a billion-billion.)
Samsaric existence and the being of ourselves and hosts of others are all more impermanent than we think:
Think of the existence of former and later worlds.
Countless former generations have passed away.
Also most of the beings of the present world
Certainly will not last another hundred years.
Those of the future will follow in a similar way.
Young and old are equal in their lot of passing away.
Because we too will not transcend this common nature,
Thinking that death is certain, let us practice Dharma.
Our existence was primordially good and pure, but think of the other spheres of apparent being to which we will later transmigrate. Look and see whether the people who lived a hundred years ago are still embodied. We who are now human beings a hundred years from now will be only names.
The Shrine of Telling the Reason Why says:
A person who just for a night
Entered into a womb,
Would suffer tremendous harm.
Such going is irreversible.
In the morning one would see
Many different beings.
By evening some would be gone.
Of the many one would see later
The next morning more would be gone.
Numerous men and women
Die even in their youth.
Why are the young so cheerful,
So confident they will thrive?
Some will die in the womb.
Some the day they are born.
Some will be snatched away,
In unexpected departures.
Some will die old, some young
But one by one they will go,
Like fruit that ripens and falls.(i.e. Samadhi Sutta (AN V.57) -- (Immeasurable) Concentration:
o There are these five facts that one should reflect on often...
§ "I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging."
§ "I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness."
§ "I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death."
§ "I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me."
§ "I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir"....
"I am not the only one subject to aging, who has not gone beyond aging. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings are subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging."
"I am not the only one subject to illness, who has not gone illness. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings are subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness."
"I am not the only one subject to death, who has not gone beyond death. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings are subject to death, have not gone beyond death."
"I am not the only one who will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to them"."
"I am not the only one who is owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions; who -- whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings are owner of their actions, heir to their actions, born of their actions, related through their actions, and live dependent on their actions. Whatever they do, for good or for evil, to that will they fall heir."
So ... overcome all intoxication with health, youth, and life as one who sees renunciation as security.)
11. The impermanence of the three levels [9]
(i.e. All beings of the six realms in the three levels (on earth, in the air, in the oceans) are equal in being dependent on their causes and conditions, impermanent, subject to death, reborn in dependence on their karma [again and again in the cycle of samsara].)
Moreover:
Within the three levels from Hell up to the peak of samsara,
There is no liberation from the Lord of Death.
All is impermanent, changing, and essence-less.
Nothing stable, and things roll along like a wagon wheel.
Particularly the human world has many afflictions.
Being a place of harm by sickness and by döns [10]
By fires and falls and weapons; by poison and wild beasts.
By kings and enemies, by robbers and the like,
We will be ravished of life and our wealth will be destroyed.
There are no beings anywhere in the six realms, for whom death does not establish itself. We should recall that none of the six kinds of beings in the three levels transcend death.
The Sutra on Teachings that are the Bases of Discipline says:
Someone who is born without death being established
Such a one does not exist within this world.
Nor are there any in the air or in the oceans.
There are none who live among the tallest mountains.
When we die, as soon as we lose our bodies, this mind by its former karma undergoes rounds of samsaric existence in many worlds.
The Vast Play says:
Beings, by of the power of samsaric ignorance,
In divine and human paths, and those of the lower realms,
Are tumbled in samsara as five kinds of ignorant beings.
For example, as a pot is turned upon a wheel.Baited with fine and pleasant forms and ravishing sounds,
Sweet fragrances, delicious tastes, and blissful touch,
The snare of evil times always traps these beings
For example, like a monkey snared in a hunter's net.
Many in the human realm are afflicted with leprosy, contagion, disorders of prana and bile, and other diseases. There are many injuries from birds, rakshasas, dakinis, geks and döns. Kings, enemies, savages, dissipation of the skandhas, and so forth end hundreds of lives. These contend with the Lord of Beings for our body and life. Since we die without respite, we should try to practice the holy Dharma.
The Collection of Precious Qualities says:
With the many harmful spirits and diseases of the world,
Peace is a truly kind and beneficial gift.
12. Instantaneous Impermanence
(i.e. Even if we are without any apparent afflictions, or have great means for prolonging life, it is certain that we will die one day. There is no sure refuge from death. -- In fact, we are never the same for two infinitesimal consecutive moments. Being dependent on ever-changing causes and conditions, it is like we are being newly born and dying at every instant. Like a river that is never the same because the water is always flowing, changing. -- There is no permanent body, no permanent mind, no permanent essence. But there is the functioning of causes and conditions / karma. Impermanence is an introduction to the wisdom of emptiness. Karma is an introduction to the Wheel of Life, and to dependent origination.)
Not only do we die of such afflictions, but even if we have no afflictions, the life of sentient beings is passing away:
Even with no afflictions, the life of beings is passing.
Day and night, with the passing of every moment or instant,
It is always approaching the land of the Lord of Death.
As over waterfalls, water flows into the ocean,
Or far to the west the sun declines until it sets.
Even though there are lives where someone can say, "I have not been harmed by incidental affliction," and though there are teachings that extend life by appropriate food and medicines and so forth, in the end it is of no use--we have to enter death.
(i.e. I should say something of samsara, this flow of forms of life coming one after the other that we find ourselves stuck in. We didn't come here having thought 'I am going to come here'. We ended up here through no particular decision on our own part, not because we were free to come. In other words, we're caught within a flow of existence's, which cannot stop because the moment we find ourselves taking birth in a form of life like this, we are moving towards death, and that death itself is a precursor of a state, which simply goes towards another birth. And thus this flow or this samsara, going on and on, has no beginning and as it is now, will never end for us. Having this reality in mind, this reality in which we find ourselves caught, the Enlightened One said: 'You should know this to be suffering, you should know what causes it, you should know the end of it, and you should know the path to that end'.
The example that illustrates the idea is this. You have to first of all know that one is sick. When one knows one is sick one then goes to a doctor who has to find out what's causing the sickness. And then having identified what causes the sickness, prescribe a medicine. And by taking that medicine one gets well. That is the example. So similarly, one has to be aware that our being here, our state of our ongoing being, is itself a problem. The reason being that until one understands it to be a problem, until one knows it is suffering, one will never have the thought, 'I will have to get away from this'.
That is why one can think of suffering in many ways. You can think for example from six angles about how this is indeed suffering. If we look at the state in which we find ourselves, we see that contentment can never come. No matter how much we consume, we will always need something the next day. It is also a state in which there is nothing definite relative to other living creatures. They might be friends or enemies today but tomorrow they might have changed. Nothing is certain. It is possible that even somebody who is a heart friend will become a mortal enemy tomorrow, and somebody who is a mortal enemy today can be heart friend tomorrow. That is built into the situation in which we find ourselves. On top of this the body that were carrying with us is something that is going to drop from us at some point. This is a situation in which we will find ourselves again and again, and each time we die we go forth totally alone, whether our mother, father, partner or friend, nobody but ourselves goes on each time. And this too; that our struggles to succeed will end in failure. In other words, that no matter how much we attempt go up, the end of all going up is coming down. It is a part of the problem of being as we are.
You can look at it more significantly from the viewpoint of a life form like we have. Not just any life form but human life form. Problems we face are the sufferings associated with being born, getting sick, getting older and of dying. The suffering of losing friends and the things, which we like, and meeting with enemies and things we don't like. The suffering of unrequited hopes when we struggle for something we need or want, and no matter how much we try, sometimes, we just can't get it.
What all this is coming down to is that this great heap of meat and bone that we are sitting in here is itself what's meant by the 'suffering flow of existence'. In this sense, if we are as we are, we are capable of feeling cold, we can get burned and get to hot, we feel hunger and thirst. It's all part and parcel of this kind of reality. One also needs all sorts of things, for example one has to put a roof over ones head, one has to go and buy clothes. Many things become necessary indeed! And why do we go out to work? I mean we prefer to just take it easy, right. We don't go out to work for ourselves, we go to work for this heap of flesh and bones because 'It' needs us to work to keep it going. Look how hard we work for it, we really have to spend a tremendous amount of time on it to keep it fit and going well. We are servants to it (the body).
So you see, one is directing one's thoughts to a theoretical state in which this heap of flesh and bone didn't come forth with me stuck in it. One is getting an idea of what such a state might be. So say one gets to be born a celestial being. One stands up not with this lump of flesh and bone but in some sort of light form. It is true, we wouldn't then have quite the problems that come with flesh and bones, but it is only a temporary state of excellence, as the energy that keeps it going degenerates.
-- Commentary on "Praise of Dependent Origination of Tsong Khapa", Geshe Yeshe Tobten)
The Bodhicaryavatara says:
Though seemingly today, I am without any illness,
Even if I have food and am without affliction
This life is still no more than an illusory instant,
This body is no more than a momentary reflection.
About its not lasting for even a moment, the Pinnacle of Precious Gathering says:
It was said by Subhuti, "The life of beings is like a waterfall.
The Sutra on Teachings that are the Bases of Discipline says:
Waterfalls descend in rivers to the sea
The sun and moon sink down behind the western mountains.
Day and night tick off their fragmentary instants.
Like these the life of beings must pass and disappear.
(i.e. Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It is always flowing, day and night."
--Thich Nhat Hanh
For the Buddha has declared,
"Bhikshus, in a single moment, you are born, you age, you die, you
transmigrate, and you are reborn."
The Buddha likened the life span of a living being to a single point on the wheel of a chariot (i.e. the infinitesimal point where a circle touch a line). He said that, strictly speaking, a living being only endures for the time it takes one thought to arise and perish, just as the chariot wheel, whether rolling or at rest, makes contact with the ground at only a single point.
· In this context, the past moment existed but it does not exist now, nor will it exist in the future;
· the present moment exists now but did not exist in the past, nor will it exist in the future;
· and the future moment, although it will exist in the future, does not exist now, nor did it exist in the past.
... Remember that each of these thought-moments is said to last less than one billionth the time it takes to wink an eye. (i.e. the infinitesimal time where a point of a turning circle touch the base) Thus when the Buddha said that a living being endures only as long as a single thought-moment, he was talking about an extremely brief period of time.
-- The Tree of Enlightenment - An Introduction to the Major Traditions of Buddhism - by Peter Della Santina
Freedom and bondage - Patrick Kearney - an exploration of interdependent arising and the interdependently arisen in early Buddhism.
· Buddhadasa therefore declares that birth is "the birth of the I concept ... and not the physical birth from a mother's womb." He argues that when someone decides to steal, he is born a thief at that moment; if someone is lost in the experience of pleasure, he is born into heavenly realms at that moment; if someone can't eat fast enough because the food is so good, he is born a peta or hungry ghost at that moment.
· In this sense the ordinary person is born very often, time and time again. A more developed person is born less frequently; a person well advanced in practice is born less frequently still, and ultimately ceases being reborn altogether.... As soon as anyone thinks like an animal, he is born as an animal that same moment. To think as a human being is to be born a human being.
· Rebirth occurs but no-one is reborn: this is a paradox that cannot be resolved by philosophical thought, only by directly seeing the arising and cessation of one's own mind-body process.
· While conventional, or linear, causation assumes separate, independent entities that give rise to other separate, independent entities over time, interdependent arising assumes there are no separate entities to begin with. Rather, it says that every "entity" exists only through its dependence on other "entities"; there is no independence, and therefore no separation.
· The notion of a single human life span assumes an entity who exists from physical birth to physical death, but such an enduring entity is explicitly denied by interdependent arising. Govinda points out that according to the Abhidhamma birth and death are taking place with extraordinary rapidity every moment. "Three lifetimes" really means three consecutive periods of time, regardless of the unit employed.
· Bhikkhu Bodhi says: To prevent misunderstanding it has to be stressed that the distribution of the factors into three lives is an expository device employed for the purpose of exhibiting the inner dynamics of the round [of birth and death]. It should not be read as implying hard and fast divisions, for in lived experience the factors are always intertwined.
· In conclusion, while interdependent arising does not deny causation over time, it is fundamentally concerned with the structure of the experienced present. However, one aspect of the experienced present is its flow from past to future. Interdependent arising can, therefore, be used to explain causation over time in terms of continuity without someone who continues. To the degree that interdependent arising can explain continuity from one moment to the next, it can explain continuity from one lifetime to the next. From the viewpoint of interdependent arising, there is no qualitative distinction between the two.
Continuity from one moment to the next is structurally the same as continuity from one lifetime to the next.)
Mind
(i.e. From "Meditation on Emptiness, by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche"
Once again, bring your attention away from hallucination to
the realities of life, the nature of which is impermanence and death
(i.e. mindfulness of impermanence).This frees our mind from delusion and karma so that we can not only bring to an end the entire round of suffering, the cycle of death and rebirth,
But also eradicate even the subtle errors of mind,
Thereby attaining enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
All causative phenomena -- our life, our body, our mind, our self, our possessions, our relatives and friends, all other people -- are changing, not only day by day, minute by minute and second by second, but every tiny moment. They do not last for a fraction of a second. Because they are under the control of causes and conditions, they are in a state of constant decay and can cease at any time. This is the nature of our life.
If we can remain aware of this,
We will prevent our mind from coming under the control of the delusions -- the disturbing emotional minds that hurt us and other sentient beings, prevent us from transforming our mind and gaining realizations of the path to enlightenment, and stop us from seeing the ultimate nature of all phenomena.
First we stop delusions from manifesting, and then, by actualizing the remedial path,
We eradicate even the imprints that they have left on our mental continuum.
By destroying the seeds of delusion, we attain nirvana, ultimate liberation from the six realms of suffering and its cause, freedom from the circling aggregates, which are samsara itself.
These are the benefits of mindfulness of impermanence.
We free ourselves of disturbing thoughts,
Immediately experience peace and satisfaction,
Free ourselves from samsara,
And eventually attain enlightenment and enlighten all sentient beings.
Contemplate all this.
Now meditate on emptiness, the actual nature of all phenomena.
· Think how your I, actions, objects, and in fact all phenomena -- everything that is called "such and such" and "this and that" -- are just names.
· Names have to come from the mind; they don't exist from their own side. Names are labels applied by the mind. However, it is not just that phenomena are labeled by the mind --
they are merely labeled by the mind.· In other words, all phenomena -- I, action, object, everything -- are merely labeled by the mind, in relation to their base.
Think about this.
How things exist - merely labeled by the mind
(i.e. Not everything the mind labels exist. There needs to be a valid base.)
Now I'm going to elaborate a little on the subject of emptiness.
· The way in which everything exists is by being merely labeled by the mind.
· But that does not mean that everything the mind labels actually exists.
Even though everything exists by being merely labeled by the mind, that doesn't mean that if your mind labels something it automatically brings it into existence.
A valid base
(i.e. Things are not totally created from the mind; there needs to be a valid base.)
· For things to exist, mere labeling by mind is not enough.
· There has to be a valid base.
Not just any base -- a valid base. Therefore, I cannot label my bell "car." This object can receive the label "bell," but not "car" or "airplane." It receives the label "bell' by virtue of the way the valid base functions. Mere labeling by mind is not enough -- there has to be a valid base. In the case of a bell, the base has to have a certain shape and perform the function of ringing. This is what validates it.
Furthermore, the valid base that is merely labeled "bell" by the mind should not be harmed by another's valid mind. What's a valid mind? A mind that perceives things correctly, that is not under the influence of disease, drugs, mantras or hypnotic spells, which might cause it to see sense objects in an illusory way.
Next, the object we claim to exist should not be harmed by a fully enlightened being's mind. A Buddha’s mind is completely unmistaken, completely purified, free from hallucination. All existent phenomena are the object of the omniscient mind; it sees whatever exists. If the omniscient mind does not see the bell, the bell does not exist.
Finally, for the bell that is merely labeled by the mind to exist, it should not receive harm from the wisdom realizing emptiness, ultimate nature. If the bell, which is merely imputed by the mind, is harmed by the wisdom realizing emptiness, it does not exist.
Thus, there are three kinds of mind that can harm, or invalidate, the existence of what appears to be, for example, a bell:
Another person's valid conventional mind;
An omniscient mind;
And the wisdom realizing emptiness.
Now, regarding this valid base, this phenomenon that has the function of ringing and possesses this particular shape, our mind creates the label, "bell." This, then, is the real bell, the bell that we use, the one that is merely imputed by our mind, the valid base that is labeled "bell" by our mind.)
13. The impermanence of the conditions and time of our existence:
(i.e. Even our actual precious human life is impermanent. Being dependent of a multitude of causes and conditions that are themselves dependent ... ad infinitum ... there is no way to control everything. So we will surely die, but we don't know when. Everything is impermanent, and all worldly projects are born to fail; all views are flawed. They are futile and based on vanity. The only thing they do is to create more complexity, more expectation, more conditioning, more karma, more causes for suffering. None of them could be "the solution", "the absolute"; they are all dependently arisen, relative, imperfect, impermanent. We become proud of them identify ourselves with them, fight others for them, but they are all empty space. All just a waste of this precious human life if we get attached to them. -- The only thing that can really help us is the Dharma, because, even if it is also impermanent, it is the skillful means used to transcend all conditioning, all uncontrolled karma formation, all suffering. It is efficient because it is based on the true realization of the real non-dual nature of everything beyond all fabrications and conceptualization, because it is based on the two accumulations of merit and wisdom leading to the two kayas. But we have to remember that even the dharma is impermanent, just a raft, and that we should not develop pride, or hurt others, because of it. We have to use both method and wisdom all the time.)
Having completed life's conditions, such as food,
As sure as taking poison, will bring occasions of suffering.
With so many contrary conditions that do us harm,
How can this completion fail to be destroyed?
All of it must turn into a cause of death.
Never knowing how or when or where we die,
We have been seduced into futility.
Therefore, abandoning the dharmas of this world,
Let us turn to genuine practice from the heart,
Attaining the Dharma teaching of impermanence and death.
Though food is necessary for life, it is also a condition of sickness.
Though it appears to be temporarily beneficial, essentially it is an inevitable
establisher of harm.
Even beneficial purification with baths and medicine leads to sickness, not to
mention life being cut off by damage that actively opposes it. Since the
conditions of death are changelessly many, let us consider the approach of
death. Moreover, as above, whoever lives will die. Only when and how are
uncertain. We cannot even be sure that we will not die today.
And even if we could, the Bodhicaryavatara says:
"At least today I will not die," I say.
What reason is there to rejoice in that?
For still, the time when I become a non-existence
Will doubtless come to pass, in any case.(i.e. As the great eleventh century Indian master Atisha has said,
"The human lifespan is short, the objects of knowledge are many.
Be like the swan, which can separate milk from water."Our lives will not last long and there are so many directions in which we can channel them.
We should be like the swan, which extracts the essence from milk and spits out the water.
There is so much that can be done: we should practice discriminating wisdom and direct ourselves to essential goals that benefit both ourselves and other beings in a way affecting this and future lives.
-- Method, Wisdom and the Three Paths by Geshe Lhundrub Sopa)
C. The three instructions of striving
(i.e. How to benefit from the Dharma: with the guru as a guide, by putting it into practice, with bodhicitta, remembering the emptiness of the three. Combining methods (guru, renunciation, disciplines, bodhicitta, contemplation, meditation...) and wisdom (impermanence, emptiness).)
1. The instruction to practice at this favorable time of having the guru and oral instructions
2. The exhortation truly to make an effort from our hearts
3. The motivating power of compassion
1. The instruction to practice at this favorable time of having the guru and oral instructions.
(i.e. How to: In order to take full advantage of this precious human life, this Dharma, we need the guidance of a real teacher, a guru.)
At this auspicious time of completely attaining the free and well-favored human body, we should liberate ourselves from samsara:
If, having attained the ship of being free and well-favored,
Whose captain is the oral instructions of the guru,
If we do not strive to cross the river of suffering,
But stare at it fascinated, until there is no choice,
At last we shall fall in, and so be swept away.
In the ship of external freedom and favor, having the holy guru as our guide, if we think we do not need to work with the tradition of Dharma established by the Buddha Bhagavat, we are much deceived.
The Letter to Students says:
Whoever, attains the path of Dharma of the Sages,
The tradition like a great ship, and throws it away again,
Will whirl like a giddy dancer in the ocean of samsara.
A mind that thinks that joy is certain is deceived.(i.e. From Guru Puja: section on "The way to develop the mind on the common Path of the person of initial-level motivation:"
84.
Through the power of having made offerings and respectful requests
To you, O holy and venerable Gurus, supreme Field of Merit,
We seek your blessings O Protectors and root of well-being and bliss
That we may come under your joyful care,
85.
Realizing how this body of liberties and endowments
Is found but once, is difficult to obtain and is easily lost,
We seek your blessings to partake of its essence, make it worthwhile
And not be distracted by the meaningless affairs of this life.
86.
Aghast at the searing blaze of suffering in the lower realms,
We take heartfelt refuge in the Three Precious Gems and seek
Your blessings that we may eagerly endeavor to practice the various means
For abandoning what is bound to misfortune and accumulating virtuous deeds.)
2. The exhortation truly to make an effort from our hearts:
(i.e. How to: Put it into practice, because once this opportunity is gone, we are lost for ever in the wheel of suffering, and we are not in a position to help anybody.)
This is because if we do not try, we will not be liberated.
While we have this precious vessel praised by the Teacher,
Which offers an end to evil and attainment of what is pure,
If we will not receive the wealth of the two benefits
That for ourselves and also that for other beings,
We only chain ourselves in the prison of samsara.
Those with the support, these freedoms, who do not practice the holy Dharma that benefits self and others will be bound forever in the noose of samsara. Those who use their leisure to turn back samsara will establish the liberation of holy Dharma.
(i.e. Reflecting on impermanence and death in itself is not really a big deal, but thinking about it because of what follows after the death is important. If there is negative karma, then there are the lower realms of unimaginable sufferings, and this is something that can be stopped immediately. -- Remembering Death by Lama Zopa Rinpoche)
Urging practice, the Letter to Students says:
Whoever has the best gifts of the ocean of arising
Also plants the good seed of supreme enlightenment.
Its virtues are better than those of a wish-fulfilling gem.Whoever has human birth, though lacking the fruition,
Having the power of mind attained by human beings
Should rely on the sugata path, which is the guide of beings.Such a path is not attained by gods and nagas,
By sky-soarers, kinnaras or serpent gods. [11]Having attained humanity, so hard to gain,
Whoever really thinks about the worth of that
Will practice very hard with the greatest diligence.
3. The motivating power of compassion
(i.e. How to: not using the Dharma as a weapon, instead knowing its emptiness and developing compassion. There is a danger of using the Dharma for self-liberation, or to use it to boost pride, and to hurt others. But, instead, a real understanding should boost the four immeasurables: equanimity, love, compassion, joy. -- Understanding the nature of samsara, and seeing that all beings in the six realms are equal in being in the same situation, all stuck in this cycle of samsara, going through birth, aging, illness, death, again and again endlessly, without even understanding karma and its consequences, or knowing how to end it ... we then develop renunciation for worldly concerns, for any rebirth in any of those six realms, ... we lose our pride in our worldly investments, our ordinary knowledge, our views, ... and we also develop compassion of all other sentient beings in the same situation. Since everything else is impermanent, we are all equal in this. So we drop the need to discriminate for our ego, and adopt the point of view of equanimity, love and compassion. And we are motivated to work hard for Enlightenment, and feel great joy to have this opportunity.)
Third, for the human beings who have been so well urged, there is also the motivating power of compassion. These words have been spoken so that we can protect beings. How can we not hold this in our hearts? Therefore, our aspiration to peace is always motivated by the guiding power of compassion.
Kye ma! As if we had been chained to solid rock,
Thinking mostly of this world, our sorrow grows.
Not realizing what was taught; not understanding the teachings,
Even though our day of death may be tomorrow,
We fixate our lives as being long and permanent.
Not grieving at samsara, with no speck of renunciation,
We are consciously proud and knowingly confused.
While we are so distracted, the rain of the kleshas falls.
How can we ever be of use to sentient beings.
Kye ma! Sentient beings have been told how things are, but with a fool's intelligence, they do not comprehend the details of the symbols and the means of practice. Really having very little freedom to follow them, they will never realize them. They do not understand the explanations. Some, even while they are being urged to get rid of the appearances of this world right away, are actually attached to keeping them, motivated only by the actions of this world. Their karmas and kleshas blaze like a fire, and they are far from happiness. Others with the fire of aggression burning within them are jealous of others. They abuse them in many ways, provoking faults, spreading bad rumors, and belittling them. Some, no matter how many sufferings torment and oppress them, are not saddened by samsara and do never experience the least particle of renunciation. Some, who have heard just a little, dispute and condemn others because of pride and arrogance, emanating a thousand tongues of klesha flames in the ten directions. Dispensing with the natural goodness of their being, they burn up anything pure. As they break vows and samayas day and night, there falls a rain of evil. When we see this, sometimes the thought arises that we should give up and just try to practice profound samádhi alone in peaceful forests, with the intent of personal enlightenment. But for the most part, the powerful force of compassion produces the joyful thought, "Let's get enlightened!"
The following are verses on this highest of aspirations.
Those who are in the ten directions of the world,
As many sentient beings as may be in existence,
By my merit may all of them gain happiness,
And may they all be free from any suffering.Those who are sickly and those whose lives will be cut short,
May they have the good fortune and auspiciousness
Of lives that are long and happy, without attacks of sickness.May those condemned to being poor and hungry beggars
Have abundant food and drink, and ample wealth.
May all in fear of bandits, savage ones, and kings,
Great abysses, water, fire, and other terrors,
Attain the happiness that is free from all such fear.Whatever they wish for, may their wishes be established.
Because of always acting well and properly,
May they be liberated in enlightenment.By a good Sakyong King may the whole earth be protected.
May his gentle kingdom widely spread and flourish.
May his ministers' Dharmic wishes be fulfilled.
May his servants always live in happiness.May those who have the sufferings of the lower realms,
Be freed and have the happiness of the higher realms.
May those who have the sufferings of the higher realms,
Be peaceful and establish prosperity and bliss.
May sentient beings who dwell in the three realms of the world
All be happy in their minds and every thought.Let no evil conceptions flash within their minds.
Day and night may they transcend them through the Dharma.
May there be good harvests in all the realms of beings
May they be free from every sickness and affliction.
May there be no strife and quarreling between them.May they be happy, like the gods in heavenly realms.
May promoters of goodness be completely successful.
Those who want wealth and retinue, servants, and attendants,
May it be accomplished, just as they desire.May merit and dominion increase for sentient beings.
May the Dharma increase for its renunciates.
For those who want virtue, may virtuous states of mind increase.
May life and auspicious fortune flourish and increase.For those who practice Dhyana, may samádhi and insight,
Higher perceptions, and miracle flourish and increase.
May there be the path and fruition of the Dharma.
May we come face to face with liberating wisdom.Those who are tormented with pain and suffering,
May their minds be soothed, expanding with great joy.
May those who are idle and slothful, strive for enlightenment.May those well-ornamented with the wealth of merit,
Those who have Dhyana and discipline, never be separate
From all who need them in their fear and anxiety.May the many children of the Victorious One
Have immeasurable body, life, and Buddha activity.
May benefit for others be completely perfect.May they time they remain on earth be very long.
If anyone at any time who depends on me,
May happiness and prosperity of such beings increase.Those who have mastered the vinaya, knowing what is allowed,
May they be possessors of the seven Aryan riches [12]
Whether they praise or blame, or verbally disparage,
May all who see or hear, remember or contact me
Quickly cross the fearful ocean of samsara.May those who even hear my name, because of that,
Be expelled from samsara in that very life.
Attaining bliss and liberated from samsara,
Let them be set firm as unsurpassable Buddhas.May I always, like the elements, earth and so forth,
Be a sustaining ground for the sake of sentient beings.
May everything that is beneficial be established.May those who are poor and suffer setbacks in samsara,
Needlessly tormented in blazing tongues of flame,
Become a happy throng, completely liberated.
May they always try to benefit other beings.
May beings' sufferings serve to ripen them for me.Whatever merit I have, may it ripen sentient beings.
By any virtuous mental power I may have,
May beings attain to bliss and purification of suffering.
May suffering be unseen, even in their dreams.May they attain an ocean of bliss and happiness.
Pervading the space of the sky in all the ten directions
As many Buddhas and sentient beings as there may be,
May they be associated with happiness.May they be wealthy and prosperous, because of what I do.
Throughout the ten directions, for all who hear my name,
May there fall a rain of all that is desired.
Making offerings to Buddhas and other sentient beings,May sentient beings of the six realms and ten directions
No more be surpassed by any victorious ones.
May I completely liberate every one of them.
May the endless ocean of samsara be empty.
Sukhavati [13], totally beautified by ornaments of light, the precious source of all beings, is a universe filling the whole of space, established from clouds of pure happiness. By grasping this white yak tail scepter or jeweled umbrella, all the obscuring torment of the three levels is cleared away.
In this undisturbed water, may the gradually blossoming lotus of the victorious ones be planted! May pleasant and delightful divine maidens, their heads adorned with fragrant lotus garlands, playing on a platform with water birds, lovingly caress the lotus! By these teachings may human hearts be greatly exalted, floating in the water of explanation emanating as it does in the Pure Lands.
Free from the harm of the kleshas, completely filled with samádhi, may those excellent ones help all sentient beings cross over.
Like the undefiled young sun, whose eye is characterized by an excellent red light, wreathed in variegated stars. Becoming amrita for beings, their eyes shine more excellently than the brilliantly blazing light of Brahma.
May the vast appearance of these radiant masters, revealed as great beings
adorned with the mandala of the major and minor marks, fill the whole of space.
May all beings effortlessly reach that field, the supreme wealth of Trikaya, the
cloudless path of the sun and moon, free from even an atom of the nirvana of
lower people.
Without duality of one and many, in uncompounded, primordial existence incomprehensible to thought, the spontaneous presence of peace, in the field of Samantabhadra may the purified minds of all beings heal their weariness. May they reach the space of the dhatu beyond wide and narrow, high and low, bias and partiality, concept and thought.
There may they remain without sadness and weariness, with excellent thoughts, exerting themselves to benefit self and others among the Rocky Mountains.
Urged on by the intention of benefit, one can hardly not be sad at the Dharma teachings of impermanence. For those with a mind that always grasps samsara and never turns back, teaching Dharma is like addressing a lump of stone or an animal.
The Instruction on Impermanence says:
Like me you too will die.
And:
There is no doubt about it.
Kye 'ud! I am an animal.
D. The final summary
(i.e. How to apply this meditation: Always remembering death wile using this precious human life. Always remembering the real nature of all dharmas all the time while using them: their impermanence, un-satisfactoriness, emptiness. Thus combining method and wisdom. This meditation is part of the foundation for the whole path leading to Enlightenment.)
There are two parts.
· 1. How to think of impermanence in order to cross over from samsara
· 2. The Benefits of the Teachings
1. How to think of impermanence in order to cross over from samsara.
(i.e. The actual meditation and post meditation instructions: A progressive path in order to always see the impermanence of everything, including our body and mind. This is like an introduction to seeing the emptiness of everything all the time while using skillful means. Note: it doesn't say to drop everything, but just to see the real nature of everything as we use them. This is the exhortation to use wisdom (prajńa) at the same time as we use methods (upaya). This is the perfecting of any methods, and in this case the perfecting about using this precious human life and the Dharma.)
Now the final summary teaches of the great exhortation to meditate and work until samsara is gone:
Whoever truly wishes to cross the ocean of evil
And establish the wondrously risen excellent qualities,
Now should contemplate the certainty of death.
Meditate day and night on impermanence alone.
Again and again arouse renunciation and sorrow.
Whether going, staying, eating, sleeping, arising, walking, talking, or seeing a crowd of many people; and whether staying in villages, valleys, or monasteries, always meditate on impermanence. Whatever we see, hear, and remember has the nature of impermanence, and the marks of impermanence. Remember the exhortation of impermanence. The Bodhicaryavatara says:
Always, day and night, I should think of this alone.
If we do not think about it, what's the problem? Having come into the power of this life alone, there will be ambition; love of fame, desire, hatred, laziness, hoarding, indolence, cantankerousness and sometimes the Dharma's not arising. We will not quickly be liberated from samsara. We do not have enough time for ordinary tasks, let alone the liberation of enlightenment.
Strive with a long and continuous effort until Buddhahood is attained. Dipamkara, Shakyamuni, and so forth were at first sentient beings like us. But by their exertion, they became Buddhas. Now we are the ones wandering in samsara. Even though countless former Buddhas have come, we have not been healed by their realization of enlightenment.
Thinking that by our own karma, we will wander limitlessly in samsara, by now we should have been led to complete their path of enlightenment. Thinking that this life is impermanent, like a borrowed moment or instant, we should try to practice the Dharma. (i.e. Using skillful means, using this precious human life, while remembering the impermanence of everything. This is like an introduction to: using methods (upaya) while remembering the emptiness of everything (prajńa). This is combining method and wisdom. This is in accord with the real nature of everything: not existence, not non-existence, ... It means that everything is impermanent or empty of inherent existence, but still not completely non-existent, a-causal, non-functional, or from the mind-only. We need to use skillful means, to use this precious human life, to learn and practice the Dharma, but we should not get attached to any of those. They are all like any dharmas: dependently arisen, impermanent, empty of inherent existence. Whether they are seen as "unsatisfactory" or "pure" is a matter of perception and progress along the path.)
The Bodhicaryavatara says:
If I do not make an effort from now on
I will simply go ever lower and lower still.Though countless former Buddhas have come throughout the past,
Having the purpose of benefit for all sentient beings,
I, because of my own faults and shortcomings,
Was not within the scope of their healing ministrations.If from this time on, I still act like that,
Again and again, as it has been before,
I will die and have to go to the lower realms,
Being cut in pieces and suffering other tortures.
2. The Benefits of the Teachings
(i.e. The benefits of this meditation: part of the foundation for the whole path, renunciation, motivation to practice, equanimity, love, compassion, joy, moral discipline, concentration, insights ... Enlightenment)
If we meditate day and night only on impermanence and death, in a short time we will accumulate a measureless accumulation of virtues. Then because of that,
(i.e. If you can practice mindfulness of the facts of life -- impermanence, impending death, emptiness and so forth -- in your daily life, if you can maintain constant awareness of the basic nature of phenomena, you will be able to stop disturbing, emotional thoughts from arising. Normally, these disturbing thoughts control our lives, torture us daily, always give us trouble and prevent our minds from experiencing any peace. Instead of peace, happiness and satisfaction, all we get from them is dissatisfaction, unhappiness and problems -- not only in this life but, through the karma they force us to create, in many future lives to come.
Thus, practicing mindfulness of impermanence, death and emptiness -- the fundamental nature of phenomena, which cuts the root of suffering, ignorance, the unknowing mind -- everything we do in our lives becomes the cause of our liberation from all suffering and its cause. In this way, we can help others at a deeper level by also liberating them from the cycle of death and rebirth and its cause, the disturbing thoughts and the actions they motivate, karma. -- Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Virtue and Reality - Living with Bodhicitta)(i.e. "if you understand impermanence you don't waste time" -- Padampa Sangye)
Thus goodness and benefit will surely be established. °
Striving with fierce energy to establish them,
The mind of this life will be abandoned and cast away.
The confusion of fixating ego-hood will be destroyed.
In brief, establish all the excellent qualities.
Restrict the mind to the root of all dharmas, impermanence.
This will be the cause of holy liberation,
Bringing us the end of everything that is evil.(i.e. By remembering impermanence and death, karma and the lower realms of suffering, the mind is persuaded to use the solution of Dharma practice. Immediately the mind prepares for death. Immediately it purifies the heavy negative karmas that cause one to remain in the lower realms, where there are unimaginable sufferings and no possibility to practice Dharma. ...
-- Therefore always remembering impermanence and death becomes so essential. Reflecting on impermanence and death makes life highly meaningful, and so quickly and so powerfully destroys the delusions and seed imprint. It is very easy to meditate on and one can cease the delusions. It leads one to begin to practice Dharma, and to continue and complete the practice.
-- Remembering Death by Lama Zopa Rinpoche)(i.e. That which cuts craving for reward and honor,
The best spur to practice with effort in seclusion,
The excellent secret of all the scriptures,
Is initially to remember death.
-- Aryadeva)
Death is certain, thus our own death is certain. When the smoke of thinking, ceaselessly "Will we have even tomorrow," continually arises, the blazing fire of exertion in Dharma will also naturally arise; and so we will be led to the path of this and later benefits.
When appearances of this life are seen not always to have power, mind does not desire, be contentious, quarrel, grasp maliciously, be angry, harm others, and naturally leaves behind all afflictions. Pride and ego grasping cannot occur, and by the rising of the extraordinary, all is harmonious and pleasant. Since we know that wealth, retinue, and all relatives and companions are impermanent, desire and attachment to them will not arise.
When through these relatives and companions other harms or benefits arise, whatever joys and sorrows occur, no desire or aggression will arise. When these die or are separated from us, or even if we have nothing, the suffering of unhappiness will not arise. Wherever we go in the world, we will not return to the karma of desire and attachment.
Whatever suitable and unsuitable conditions arise, the individual marks of desire, aggression, and the grasping of attachment will not arise. Day and night will pass in happiness. Having come to the path of Dharma, we will fulfill our vows and difficult practices. Our activities will be spotlessly pure, un-obscured by transgressions. Working with the Dharmic activities of the path, we shall accumulate the two accumulations a hundred times over.
Since our conduct will not be mixed with evil deeds, there will be no regret for anything we do. A special faith, compassion, and renunciation will newly arise. The Buddha and all the bodhisattvas will take care of us. Men and non-men will have no opportunity to harm us, and the gods of Abhirati will keep us within the whiteness of virtue. We will sleep in happiness, rise in happiness, go in happiness, walk in happiness, possess happiness, and live happy lives.
The higher worlds of the celestial realms will arise. We shall see the Sugata and his children. We shall hear the good Dharma. We shall meditate on the good path. We shall attain the good realm of Sukhavati.
The Sutra on Teachings that are the Bases of Discipline says:
Those who act with pure conduct
And meditate well on the path,
Will not suffer in dying,
As if freed from a burning house.
These and limitless other virtues will be attained.
(i.e. More on the subject:
The disadvantages of forgetting about death and impermanence:
· If one does not remember death, one does not remember Dharma.
· And even if one remembers Dharma, if one does not remember impermanence and death, one does not practice Dharma. Even though you may accept that you can die at anytime, in your daily life you tend to think that you are not going to die soon - not this year, not this week, not today, not now. Because of this, you postpone your practice of Dharma.
· Even if you practice Dharma, if you don't think about impermanence and death, it does not become pure Dharma.
· If you don't think about impermanence and death, you don't practice Dharma, which means protecting karma by abandoning non-virtue and practicing virtue;
· And you constantly create negative karma instead.
· Then at the time of death you become very upset and fearful, which means you are already experiencing the signs of going to the lower realms. Many terrifying appearances can come to you at the time of death.
-- Remembering Impermanence and Death by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The advantages of remembering death and impermanence:
· If you remember impermanence and death, you lead a highly meaningful life. You are able to practice the paths of three levels of capability and achieve the three great purposes: the happiness of future lives, liberation, and enlightenment. Remembering impermanence and death is also a very easy way to control delusions.
· You can overpower your delusions.
· Remembering impermanence and death is very meaningful. It is very important at the beginning of Dharma practice, as it helps you to actually begin your practice, and then again to continue it so that you succeed in your attempt to achieve enlightenment.
· (It leads one to begin to practice Dharma, and to continue and complete the practice.)
· Then when death happens, you can die happily.
--Remembering Impermanence and Death by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Contemplation and meditation on death and impermanence are regarded as very important in Buddhism for two reasons:
· It is only by recognizing how precious and how short life is that we are most likely to make it meaningful and to live it fully and
· By understanding the death process and familiarizing ourselves with it, we can remove fear at the time of death and ensure a good rebirth.
Although understanding impermanence yields these immediate benefits here and now, it is particularly effective as an aid to our practice of the Dharma.
· The understanding of impermanence is an antidote to attachment and ill-will.
· It is also an encouragement to our practice of the Dharma.
· And, finally, it is a key to understanding the ultimate nature of things, the way things really are.
Contemplation on death and on other forms of sorrow such as old age, and disease, constitutes a convenient starting point for the long line of investigation and meditation that will ultimately lead to Reality. This is exactly what happened in the case of the Buddha.
· It is the key that unlocks the seeming mystery of life. It is by understanding death that we understand life
· By understanding the purpose of death we also understand the purpose of life
· It softens the hardest of hearts, binds one to another with cords of love and compassion, and destroys the barriers of caste, creed and race among the peoples of this earth
· It helps to destroy the infatuation of sense pleasure
· It destroys vanity
· It gives balance and a healthy sense of proportion to our highly over- wrought minds with their misguided sense of values.
· It gives strength and steadiness and direction to the erratic human mind, now wandering in one direction, now in another, without an aim, without a purpose
· "The disciple who devotes himself to this contemplation of death is always vigilant,
· He takes no delight in any form of existence,
· He gives up hankering after life, censures evil doing,
· He is free from craving as regards the requisites of life,
· His perception of impermanence becomes established,
· He realizes the painful and soulless nature of existence
· And at the moment of death he is devoid of fear, and remains mindful and self-possessed.
Finally, if in this present life he fails to attain to Liberation, upon the dissolution of the body he is bound for a happy destiny."
The Nine-Point Meditation On Death (from the Lam Rim tradition)
The nine points comprise three main points, each of which has three reasons:
1. Death is definite (i.e. life is a terminal disease)
Everyone has to die
Our lifespan is decreasing continuously
The amount of time we devote to Dharma is very small (death will come whether we practice or not)
2. The time of death is uncertain
Human life-expectancy is uncertain
There are many causes of death
The human body is very fragile
3. Only Dharma or spiritual insight can help us at the time of death
Our possessions and enjoyments cannot help
Our family and friends cannot help
Our body cannot help
-- Preparing for Death and Helping the Dying, Amitabha Buddhist Center
Conclusion:
I need to practice the Dharma
I will certainly die, and then there is rebirth depending on karma
I need to practice the Dharma now
I don't know when I will die, I don't know if I have enough time,
And then there is the state of mind at the moment of death
I need to practice pure Dharma
Without mixing it with the eight worldly concerns
Without developing attachment to the Dharma or its fruits, or using it to hurt people
E. Dedicating the merit.
(i.e. The cause of suffering is the belief in inherent existence, in permanence, fixating and grasping. Knowing the real nature of everything there is no more fixating, grasping, suffering.)
Now the merits of well composing this are taught as a way for beings to attain blessings:
Thus by the amrita of this auspicious news
From the resounding drums of the thunder-clouds of Dharma,
By the deep, melodious speech of beneficial instructions,
May the weary nature of the minds of beings
Unhinged by the kleshas and fixated thoughts of permanence,
Be released this very day from all its weariness.
In benefit-producing white light, to the sound of divine drums, from the swelling ocean of good teachings, emerge water dragons of instruction with gaping mouths. For beings exhausted by samsara, the turbulent extremes of ever-grasping mind are completely pacified. By the primordial lord who draws breath in enjoyment of bliss and happiness in his excellent house adorned by the rays of the sun, may all weariness be eased.
Beings are distracted, as if they were in a dream.
Gathering and dispersing, dharmas are hollow and empty.
Though traveling to a market, companions match our path;
They like impermanent dharmas soon will go their own way.Like an flash of lightning among the autumn clouds,
The life of beings hurtles by like a waterfall.
Dharmas are impermanent with no stability.
From today let us realize that with certainty.Things and property and much collected wealth,
Along with any fame and glory we possess,
Are fickle dharmas. Mind can never rely on them.
Let us know their nature of the four extremes.
The Truth: All Dharmas Are Impermanent, Unsatisfactory, No-Self
How impermanent are all compounded things! Anything that is born is going to be destroyed. Since having once been born, all will be destroyed
· All composite things are impermanent. Do not rely on them.
· Born, they die. Compounded, they are destroyed.
· Know all dharmas to be like that.
· There is no liberation from the Lord of Death. All is impermanent, changing, and essence-less.
· Not lasting for even a moment.
· Whatever we see, hear, and remember has the nature of impermanence, and the marks of impermanence.
· Gathering and dispersing, dharmas are hollow and empty.
· Dharmas are impermanent with no stability.
· The external vessel and contents are destructible. The inner vessel and contents too are taught to be impermanent.
· Because there is transference and change, there is impermanence.
No Reliance At All In All Of These Dharmas; We Are Wasting Our Time With Them
· This body of ours is like a momentary reflection.
· Therefore, though it is certain that we are going to die, of where and when and how there is no certainty.
· Moreover, as above, whoever lives will die. Only when and how are uncertain.
· Death is inevitable. It is certain that we shall quickly die. Death comes without warning. The time of death too is uncertain. There is no provision against the gleaming staff of the Lord of Death; there is no protector, no refuge, no friendly forces, no friends and relatives. This tiny moment of life, Has no reliance at all. We have to leave alone, abandoning them all. At the time of death, none of the appearances of this life will be of any use to us. Our karma will take over, and we shall pass into the control of samsaric existence. What refuge will there be then but Dharma? Only the Dharma will be our refuge from the execution of the karma of our virtue and vice. Generosity, penance, and Dharma will be our only friends. There will be no refuge but Dharma. The three jewels and the virtue of Dharma are a refuge.
Now We Have This Great Opportunity, But It Will Not Last
· Life has no time to waste, so keep right to the point. From today onwards, what makes sense is to work with Dharma.
· What is worth exertion day and night is the Dharma.
· Therefore, abandoning the dharmas of this world, Let us turn to genuine practice from the heart, attaining the Dharma teaching of impermanence and death.
· At this auspicious time of completely attaining the free and well-favored human body, we should liberate ourselves from samsara. This is because if we do not try, we will not be liberated.
· Thinking that this life is impermanent, like a borrowed moment or instant, we should try to practice the Dharma.
· If we meditate day and night only on impermanence and death, in a short time we will accumulate a measureless accumulation of virtues.
· Guru Puja - Reviewing the Stages of the Path
Realizing how this body of liberties and endowments
Is found but once, is difficult to obtain and is easily lost,
We seek your blessings to partake of its essence, make it worthwhile
And not be distracted by the meaningless affairs of this life.· The Mountain of Blessings, by Lama Tsong Khapa
My body and the life in it
Are fleeting as the bubbles
In the sea froth of a wave.
Bless me thus to recall
The death that will destroy me soon;
And help me find sure knowledge
That after I have died
The things I've done, the white or black,
And what these deeds will bring me,
Follow always close behind,
As certain as my shadow.
· Songs About Impermanence, Milarepa
1. Suffering of Birth
In the Bardo state the wanderer
Is the Alaya. It stays nowhere,
Driven by one's own sorrow,
It enters a womb unknown.
Therein it feels like a fish
Caught into crevice of rock,
Sleeping in blood red and pus yellow,
In all discharges it must pillow.
Crammed in filth, it suffers pain,
From bad karma one is to gain,
Though remembering past lives,
It cannot count four or five.
Now scorched by heat,
Now cold it does meet.
For nine months it remains,
In the womb with all pains,
From womb by pliers as if pulled out,
Head is squeezed but safety is nought,
Like being thrown into a bramble,
When it bears all of a-tremble,
Its body on mother's lap with sorrow,
It feels gripped by a hawk like a sparrow.
When his body blood and dirt is cleansed,
Like flayed alive its pains increased,
When umbilical cord is being cut,
It feels as if the spine does jut,
When wrapped in the cradle,
It feels bound by a girdle.
He who realizes not the truth of non-born
Never can escape from birth to be grown.2. Suffering of Old-Age
When one's body has been brought
To be frail and all worn out,
It dislikes old-age,
There is of this no doubt.
One's straight body becomes bent,
Steps are not firm and patent.
Black hairs turn white Arms have no might.
One's eyes grow dim Ears are not keen.
The headshakes Pale are cheeks.
Blood becomes dry one feels to die.
One's nose will sink in,
Teeth can't chew anything.
Losing control of tongue,
Sweet sugar isn't fun.
One gathers foods and wine,
But one can't keep them fine.
Trying not to suffer anymore,
One only gets suffering in store.
When one is told the Truth,
But one's faith is not growth,
Though one has some kinsmen,
They all his foes become.
Though he hears some teaching,
But nothing is changing,
Unless one realizes the Truth of non-decay,
He has to suffer old-age and not be gay.3. Suffering of Sickness
Besides sickness old man has nothing to gain.
From three main kinds of illness one suffers pain.
The blood pressure does so increase,
Troubles of organs can not release,
In a safe easy bed, day and night,
The sick person feels no comfort nor might,
But toss's about and groans in lament,
Through all the karma of defilement.
Though of some best food he eats,
All that he takes he vomits.
When you lay him in a cool place
His heat still does not balance.
When you wrap him in some warm clothes,
He feels to an icy land close.
Though friends and kinsmen gather round,
No one sharing his pain can be found.
Though physicians are present at home,
No one can free him from harm.
He who learns not the truth of the sick,
For the holy Dharma he has to seek.4. Suffering of Death
To repay the compound debts,
One must suffer by one's death.
Yama's guards catch the one
Whose death-time comes so soon.
Rich cannot buy it off with gold,
Hero cannot cut it off with sword,
Neither can the clever woman outwit it by a strike
Nor can learned scholar refuse it by a teaching stick.
When all the big nerves converge,
One is crushed when two hills merge.
All visions become dim,
One remains with only sin.
Neither physician nor gurus can
Prolong the life of the dying man.
Gods and devas vanish into nought,
Breath has no inhalation but out.
One can but smell the dead flesh,
Like a lump of coal in ash.
When dying some still count the dates,
Others blubber about their bad fate,
Some think of losing their health,
Others of their remaining wealth,
One loves the dead no matter how long,
He can but let the dead be alone.
To throw him in water or in the fire to burn,
Or buried under land, the dead will not return.
He who realizes not the Truth of Death,
Should prepare the Western-travel wealth.5. Eight Similes
When painting fades, where is the Padma (Lotus)
This shows all things are like the Drama,
It proves their transient nature.
Think, then, you will practice Dharma.
The blue flower vanished fast
In the winter time of the frost.
It proves its transient nature.
Think, then, in Dharma you trust.
The flood sweeps down from the vale above,
When reaching plain it no more does rove.
It proves its transient nature.
Think, then, you will the Dharma love.
Did we not see the green rice grow?
Now their hull is in vale below.
It proves its transient nature.
Think, then, you will believe the Law.
And see the elegant silk cloth,
When a knife can cut it across,
It proves its transient nature.
Think, then, you learn of Bodhi-Class.
When you cherish the most rare gem,
Soon to others it will belong.
It proves its transient nature.
Think, then, to practice Dharma alone.
See the full moon so bright and round,
Few days after it will not be found.
It proves its transient nature.
Think, then to find the law profound.
Did you not here have a son born,
Who to final rest has long gone.
It proves the transient nature.
Think, then, you'll practice very soon.6. Six Realizations Facing Death
From extreme one is liberating
Like the gallant lion is lying,
In the snow at ease displaying.
Without fear of any kind of falling.
In this View I am so trusting.
To the final goal, death is so leading.
Joy to him who views thus, death brings
The very mild and genial big deer.
Horns having "many points in one taste mere"
He sleeps the plan of blissing near
In the practice do I trust so dear.
Death leads to the path of liberation,
Death brings joy to him who is practicing.
The fish occupies virtues ten,
With bright eyes in color golden,
Swims in the river of active ken,
In his action do I trust often.
Death leads to the Path of Liberation.
Death brings joy to him who is in action.
The Tigress of self-mind training,
With nice stripes she is adorning,
The altruism is her great glory.
In the woods she is straight walking.
I do trust in her discipline.
Death leads to the Path of Liberation.
Death brings joy to him who is training.
On the paper of forms positive and negative,
I write a long essay with my mind meditative.
In the state of non-duality
I watch myself and contemplate.
In such a Dharma do I trust.
Death leads me to Liberate,
Death brings me the delight.
The purified essence of moving
Energy is like an eagle flying.
On its wings of skill and wisdom
To the holy cause of non-being.
To such attainment I am trusting.
Death leads me to the Liberation.
Death brings joy to meditation.7. Yogi's Realization Against Death
Those who practice merely with mouth
Talk much, seem to know more teachings,
When times comes for passing away,
To the space are thrown their preaching’s.
When the clear light naturally shines,
It is cloaked by blindness of sin.
The chance to see the Dharmakaya,
At death is lost through one's confusion.
Even though one spends his life
In learning holy scripture,
It helps not at the moment
When mind takes its departure.
And those yogis have not sufficient meditation
Mistake psychic light as sacred illumination,
Cannot unify the light of mother and of son,
They're still in danger of rebirth in lower station.
When your body is rightly posed,
Mind absorbed in meditation,
You feel that here is no more mind,
Yet it's only concentration.
Like starling fly unto the vast, empty sky,
Awareness as pure flower, bright lamp shining,
Though, it is void, transparent and vivid,
Yet it's only a Dhyana feeling.
He who is with these good foundations
Penetrates Truth with contemplation,
And prays earnestly to the Three Gems
The non-ego wisdom he will win.
With the life rope of deep concentration
With the power of kindness and compassion,
With altruistic vow of Bodhi-heart,
He can directly get the clear vision,
The Truth of the Great Enlightened Path.
Nothing can be seen yet seen all things,
He sees how wrong were the fears and hopes,
All were in his own mind yet nothing.
He reaches the pure land without arrival,
Sees the Dharmakaya without seeing.
Without effort naturally sees all things,
Dear son, in your mind keep all my sayings.8. On Bardo to Gampopa
The sentient beings are Samsara.
All are Buddhas in Nirvana.
In nature all are equal,
It's Bardo-View, Gampopa!
The all manifesting red and white
Wonderful mind essence how to write.
All but a true non-dualistic state,
It is Bardo practice it's quite right.
The myriad forms of illusion,
The self mind has no arising,
Both are in the innate-born-state.
This is the right Bardo-action.
The dream through habitual thought of last evening
And knowledge of non-entity of this morning
They are the same in the light of Maya.
This is the Bardo when you are dreaming.
The five sorrows and the five Buddhas
Identify in the two Karmas,
Glowing and perfecting in one-ness.
This is the path of Bardo-Dharma.
From the skill comes the Father-Tantra,
From wisdom comes the Mother-Tantra,
They unite in Third Initiation
Of the nature 'tis Bardo extra.
Self benefit is in Dharmakaya.
While other's are in the other two kayas.
Primordially there is but only one
Not three, this is the Bardo Trikaya.
From the womb gate is born the impure body,
From pure form is born the pure Buddha body,
They are but one in the light of the Bardo.
This attainment of Bardo already.· Songs about Renunciation, Milarepa
9. Worldly ArbitrationsThe advisor, meditator and go-between
These three persons always cause discord and pain.
The free man should be like mute taking no side
And on the silent mountain he should remain.
Property, kinsmen and native-land,
These three make one fall into Saha-realm.
One who would cross the river of sin,
Should cut off the long attachment-chain.
Self-conceit, pretense, and tricks,
These three make one's falling quick.
He who would ascend upward,
Should keep his mind straightforward.
Scholarship, talk and discussion,
Derive from pride-causation.
He who would practice the Dharma
Should be humble and next to nothing.
Householder, work and career,
These three disturb Samadhi.
He who would gain the wisdom.
Should keep only his Bodhi.
Master, disciple, and learning,
These three may cause the more pride.
He who would like the Dharma
Should be humble and kiss the Rod.
Sorcery, magic and To Tze,
Draw a yogi to evil deeds.
He who would like the Dharma
Think of the sound of Jolmo birds.10. Four Similes: To Rechungpa
Like white lion living on mountain
You should not go to the valley
Lest your nice mane become sullied.
To keep it in good order you should
Remain in snowy hill as you could.
Like great eagle flying above mountain
It never falls into a hole
Lest your wings be broken as a whole.
To keep it in good order you should
Remain in snowy mountain as you could.
Like the tigress passes the mountain
And stays only in deep forest
But on plain you'd have no rest.
To keep in good order you should
Remain in snowy hill as you could.
Like the nice and golden-eyed fish
Swims only in the central sea,
Lest it let the fisherman to see.
To keep it in good order you should
Remain in snowy hill as you could.11. Things Should Be Renounced
An action without meaning,
Fearless and empty talking,
And the profane pretension,
These three things reject the Lore:
I have renounced them before.
You should have these three no more.
The place that's not fixed to pray,
The group that quarrels too much,
The status where hypocrites stay,
These three things reject the Lore.
I have renounced them before.
You should have these three no more.
The guru with tiny learning,
The pupil with poor devotion,
The friend who has no discipline,
These three things reject the Lore.
I have renounced them before.
You should have these three no more.
The wife who frequently complains,
The son who needs strike and blame,
The servant ever needs more to explain,
These three things reject the Lore,
I have renounced them before,
You should have these three no more.12. To Gampopa
When you think of delicious meal,
Eat the food of Samadhi Ideal,
Realize that all food is only delusion,
Hold to the Dharmakaya's meditation.
When you think of your native land,
Dwell on the true home being at hand.
Realize that all places are only delusion
Hold to the Dharmakaya meditation.
When you think of jewels and corn,
Compare them with the heavenly gems.
Realize that money is only delusion,
Hold to the Dharmakaya meditation.
When you think of some companions
Take wisdom as your concubines.
Realize that all loves are delusions,
Hold to the Dharmakaya meditation.13. To Rechungpa: Things Should be Renounced.
A son, a wife, and flame to extreme,
Are three great fetters for a yogi.
The practitioner should leave them.
Prestige, enjoyment and goods like gems,
Are three great hindrances to a yogi,
The practitioner should renounce them.
Relatives, disciples, and rich patrons,
Are three great obstacles to a yogi.
The practitioner should forsake them.
Fatigue, sleep, and spirits like gin,
Are three great robbers of a yogi.
The practitioner should forswear them.
To chat, to joke, to entertain,
Are three distractions to a yogi,
The practitioner should renounce them.14. Refuses to Help Home Affairs
On the pasture of great blessing,
Immortal sheep I am herding.
I have no more time to watch
Animals of just blood and flesh.
I leave them, Lesembum, for you.
Like mother of love and blessing,
The wisdom child I am tending.
So I have no other learning
To tend the nose of your offspring.
I leave them, Lesebum, for you!
On the rock hill of non-moving
Stupa of mindfulness I'm making.
I have no time to manage
For you to mold those clay images.
I leave them, Lesebum, for you.
In the prayer room of my body
I am lighting my lamp of Bodhi.
I have no time to get a flagstaff
For hanging the printed sutras thereof.
I leave them, Lesebum, for yourself.
In my Maya body,
I clean my thoughts untidy,
I have no time to give
To clean your room and cave.
I leave them all for you.
Among all the worlds’ form and way,
I am watching the Maya's play.
I have no time to wash
Your bowl, cup, tray and dish.
I leave them all for you.15. Six Deceptions
Temples are like stations for driftwood,
Divine life! Though priests have such mood,
But it is deceptive to me.
Therefore leave such companions I would.
(To talk and debate without meditation
Is like women’s quarrel and agitation.)
I'm a man who cherishes peace of mind,
Abhors all gossip and accusation.(The above two lines in parentheses of the second quatrain are
written by myself -- Paul K. Seaton? --as a supplement to the next two lines which
were printed in the English translation as an incomplete
quatrain.)When Tomo is kindled within,
Woolen clothes are of nothing,
I have no need of the long robe,
All house works are disheartening.
When renunciation grows within,
All possessions are of nothing,
Of business I have no need,
All wealth to me has no meaning.
When perseverance grows within,
Son and disciples are of nothing,
I have no need of any meeting,
They would reduce my devotion.
When the pithy methods are working
Why would one need any preaching,
For it only incites one's pride.
I've no need of books and learning.16. Refuse the Offering of a Horse
My big horse is the mind prana,
It has a silk scarf of Dhyana.
Its spine is the true magic stage,
Its gem-saddle is the seat of sage.
Its crupper is the secret teaching,
My spurs are the three inspecting.
Head-stall is the life prana fine,
Forelock curl is shown as the three times,
Quiet within is its adornment,
Its rein shows boldly movement,
Bridle is the flowing allurement,
Gallops along the middle path - the spine.
This yogic horse, this stead of mind,
Riding it one escapes the world,
Reaches to Buddha Land the same kind.
I have no need of your black horse,
Go your way with any joy you find.
17. Refuse the Offering of a Boat
This land of blind view and darkness
Is part of three realms of heavens,
Full of thorns in craving meadow,
Full of mud is jealous morass,
Savage is the furious hatred,
While pride is the sloping steepness.
I have crossed the river four,
And reach the Buddha Pure Land shore,
I've used the leather of Bodhi
And made my boat hidden no more.
I am a craftsman of deep faith,
Use the dye of non-lust for form
With thread and rope of devotion
And three bindings as the anchor.
Your boat I have no desire for,
Dear patron, please leave me and go.18. Refuse the Offering of a Wife
The lust-free Sunyata is the woman,
Her compassionate face is so clement,
The deep loving kindness is in her smile,
Her dress is of red and white elements,
Uses non-discrimination as her girdle,
The non-duality as her ornament.
Her white necklace shows the many-in-one,
And the four bliss’s are her adornments.
She is such a beautiful Dakini.
Her real cause is the true accomplishment.
This is my lovely holy companion
I have no interest in your woman.19. Refuse the Offering of Temple
Unborn-mind is the Temple I dwell with;
Its top is the prana without moving.
I create the pillars of reality,
On the base of immutability.
The crescent symbolizes growing yoga,
While the great sun denotes perfect yoga,
On the ground of my warm meditation,
I draw an altar of observation.
All the lovely flowers in my garden
Are my practices of illumination.
Encircling the pagoda of Virtues
Is the ditch of Sunyata absorption.
This is my great yogic monastery;
Your worldly temple to me is of nothing.20. Yogic Necessity
Because I fear the great rain,
I seek for house to remain in,
Sunyata is my good house,
I find joy where I maintain.
Because I fear the cold,
I seek for clothes to hold,
The inner fire is my dress,
I find warm enough and bold.
Because I fear being poor,
I seek money out of doors,
But find gems within,
Myself is the donor.
Because I fear great hunger,
I seek for some food and beg,
Samadhi is a good food,
I feel hungry no longer.
Because I fear the thirst,
I seek for something to drink.
Mindfulness is a good wine,
I need nothing else to think.
Because I fear being lonesome,
I seek for a friend handsome.
The void-bliss is the best one,
I need no sweet friend to come.
Because I fear going astray,
I seek path, which will not betray.
I find the short path is two-in-one,
I am not afraid to lose my way.21. Yogic Possessions
The Alaya is my good earth,
The secret teaching is the seed,
Merits of Samadhi do sprout,
The Buddha is the fruit indeed.
These four are my holy formings,
Your worldly ones are deceiving.
You are only a slave laborer,
I discard it without thinking.
Sunyata is the warehouse,
Supra-mundane is the gem,
Virtues are the act and service,
From non-outflow one is to gain.
These four gems are property,
Your worldly ones are empty,
By magic spell you are cheated,
I dislike and discard it.
Buddha and Dakini are my parents,
The immaculate Dharma is my face,
The Sangha assembly is my kinsmen,
And protectors all are of the same race.
All these four are my holy family;
Your worldly kinsmen are not like my grace.
They all are deceitful and delusive,
Without hesitation I do displace.
The blissful brightness is my background,
The blissful passing is my father,
The two-in-one feeling is my skin,
The experiences are my shirt and garter.
All these four are my holy wives.
Your worldly companions are delusive,
They always are inclined to quarrel,
I leave them who are so aggressive.
The mindfulness is my newborn baby,
Merits of Dhyana are my infants,
Comprehension is my lovely child
Law-keeper is my youth-like pendant,
These four are my holy good sons.
Your worldly offspring are of nothing
They are deceitful and delusive,
Without delay I leave them as sin.(Some additional songs of the above two classifications,
Impermanence and Renunciation, were selected and translated
by me -- Paul K. Seaton? -- and may be found in my booklet New No. 95, "Milarepa: His Personal Teaching of Renunciation ")
· Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra - The Body
"Friends, this body is so impermanent, fragile, unworthy of confidence, and feeble.
It is so insubstantial, perishable, short-lived, painful, filled with diseases, and subject to changes.
Thus, my friends, as this body is only a vessel of many sicknesses, wise men do not rely on it.
This body is like a ball of foam, unable to bear any pressure.
It is like a water bubble, not remaining very long.
It is like a mirage, born from the appetites of the passions.
It is like the trunk of the plantain tree, having no core.
Alas! This body is like a machine, a nexus of bones and tendons.
It is like a magical illusion, consisting of falsifications.
It is like a dream, being an unreal vision. It is like a reflection, being the image of former actions.
It is like an echo, being dependent on conditioning.
It is like a cloud, being characterized by turbulence and dissolution.
It is like a flash of lightning, being unstable, and decaying every moment.
The body is ownerless, being the product of a variety of conditions.
"This body is inert, like the earth; selfless, like water; lifeless, like fire; impersonal, like the wind; and non-substantial, like space.
This body is unreal, being a collocation of the four main elements.
It is void, not existing as self or as self-possessed.
It is inanimate, being like grass, trees, walls, clods of earth, and hallucinations.
It is insensate, being driven like a windmill.
It is filthy, being an agglomeration of pus and excrement.
It is false, being fated to be broken and destroyed, in spite of being anointed and massaged.
It is afflicted by the four hundred and four diseases.
It is like an ancient well, constantly overwhelmed by old age.
Its duration is never certain - certain only is its end in death.
This body is a combination of aggregates, elements, and sense-media, which are comparable to murderers, poisonous snakes, and an empty town, respectively.
Therefore, you should be revulsed by such a body. You should despair of it and should arouse your admiration for the body of the Tathágata."Friends, the body of a Tathágata is the body of Dharma, born of gnosis.
The body of a Tathágata is born of the stores of merit and wisdom. (Two accumulations)
It is born of morality, of meditation, of wisdom (three superior trainings), of the liberations, and of the knowledge and vision of liberation.
It is born of love, compassion, joy, and impartiality. (Four immeasurables)
(Six Paramitas)It is born of charity, discipline, and self-control.
It is born of the path of ten virtues. (Abandoning the ten non-virtues)
It is born of patience and gentleness.
It is born of the roots of virtue planted by solid efforts.
It is born of the concentrations, the liberations, the meditations, and the absorptions.
It is born of learning, wisdom, and liberative technique.It is born of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment. (The same as the seven sets of the Wings of Awakening)
It is born of mental quiescence and transcendental analysis.
It is born of the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the eighteen special qualities. (i.e. 32 distinctive qualities)
It is born of transcendences. (The six transcendences / paramitas)
It is born from sciences and super-knowledges.
It is born of the abandonment of all evil qualities, and of the collection of all good qualities.
It is born of truth.
It is born of reality.
It is born of conscious awareness.
"Friends, the body of a Tathágata is born of innumerable good works.
Toward such a body you should turn your aspirations, and, in order to eliminate the sicknesses of the passions of all living beings, you should conceive the spirit of unexcelled, perfect enlightenment."· Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra - Teaching the meaning of impermanence, suffering, selflessness, peace
'Reverend Maha Katyayana, do not teach an ultimate reality endowed with activity, production, and destruction!Reverend Maha Katyayana, nothing was ever destroyed, is destroyed, or will ever be destroyed. Such is the meaning of "impermanence." (Emptiness in the first place, no birth leads to no death)
The meaning of the realization of birthlessness, through the realization of the void-ness of the five aggregates, is the meaning of "suffering." (No birth leads to no mistreatment of the ego, no suffering)
The fact of the non-duality of self and selflessness is the meaning of "selflessness." (No independence / absolute distinction between the self and the rest - the world, others ...)
That which has no intrinsic substance and no other sort of substance does not burn, and what does not burn is not extinguished; such lack of extinction is the meaning of "peace."' (No need for fear about the ego)
· Contemplation and meditation on death and impermanence are regarded as very important in Buddhism for two reasons:
(1) It is only by recognizing how precious and how short life is that we are most likely to make it meaningful and to live it fully and
(2) By understanding the death process and familiarizing ourselves with it, we can remove fear at the time of death and ensure a good rebirth.
· Contemplation on death and on other forms of sorrow such as old age, and disease, constitutes a convenient starting point for the long line of investigation and meditation that will ultimately lead to Reality. This is exactly what happened in the case of the Buddha.
· We must learn to value the necessity to face facts. Safety always lies in truth.
· There is a task to be done, and that task is not -- as many people believe -- to readjust self, society, or world to fit our blind desires. Rather it is to train ourselves to the point where we know reality for what it is and free ourselves of the burdens of passion that now oppress us.
· Thinking about it because of what follows after the death is important;
Is the key that unlocks the seeming mystery of life. It is by understanding death that we understand life
By understanding the purpose of death we also understand the purpose of life
Softens the hardest of hearts, binds one to another with cords of love and compassion, and destroys the barriers of caste, creed and race among the peoples of this earth
Helps to destroy the infatuation of sense-pleasure
Destroys vanity
Gives balance and a healthy sense of proportion to our highly over- wrought minds with their misguided sense of values.
Gives strength and steadiness and direction to the erratic human mind, now wandering in one direction, now in another, without an aim, without a purpose
· Also:
"The disciple who devotes himself to this contemplation of death is always vigilant,
Takes no delight in any form of existence,
Gives up hankering after life, censures evil doing,
Is free from craving as regards the requisites of life,
His perception of impermanence becomes established,
He realizes the painful and soulless nature of existence
And at the moment of death he is devoid of fear, and remains mindful and self-possessed.
Finally, if in this present life he fails to attain to Liberation, upon the dissolution of the body he is bound for a happy destiny."
· All life is just a process (i.e. and merely a name given to some dependent quasi-regularity)
· Change is of the very essence of the things (like the surface of the ocean -- a flow without chunks in it - swirls at the surface of the water)
· Nothing is, but is becoming.
· View the world as void (like space)
· Time is one continuous process
· There is no death, just a continuous process -- we think there is death because we think there are "things"; and those "particular things" exist only from our particular point of view.
· If the meditation on the precious human life is a an introduction to causality, dependent origination, then this meditation on death and impermanence is an introduction to emptiness. Each one act as an antidote to its opposite. No absolute, only adapted skillful means in order to stay away from all extremes.
· But things are not really impermanent since they are not really existing in the first place.
· To say that things exist and change is an oxymoron.
· But that doesn't mean that things are completely non-existent, or that nothing is changing, or that there is no causality at all, no dependent origination at all.
· The real nature of everything is beyond all description, all conceptualization, all dualities, beyond causality space and time. But it is still described as the inseparability of appearances (dependent origination) and emptiness, or as the Union of The Two Truths.