The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta Verse 161

Since Mahayana bodhicitta surpasses
every virtuous state of mind of the non-buddhists,
the sravakas, and the pratyekabuddhas,
it is therefore praised by the guru buddhas

-- The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta Khunu Rinpoche

The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta Verse 104

Bodhicitta is the supreme essence that is obtained

from churning the milk ocean of the Guru Buddha's teachings.

So until one is enlightened,

one should make an effort to treat it as important.

--The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta  Khunu Rinpoche

The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta Verse 102

Since a buddha is born from a bodhisattva

and a bodhisattva is born from bodhicitta,

intelligent persons understand

the greatness of supreme bodhicitta.

--The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta  Khunu Rinpoche

The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta Verse 65

If even the Buddha does not take the full

measure of the goodness of bodhicitta, it goes without saying

that ordinary sravakas, pratyekabuddhas,

and the finest aryas do not either.

--The Jewel Lamp: A Praise to Bodhicitta  Khunu Rinpoche

A Bodhisattva's Gem

(There,) let me always be stable with my Buddha-figure
And whenever a feeling of laziness or exhaustion arises,
Let me enumerate my own shortcomings
And remind myself of the essential points of taming behavior.

-- Atisha, A Bodhisattva's Garland of Gems

Time and Time Again

May beings time and time again
Make offerings to all the Buddhas
And with the Buddha’s unimagined bliss
May they enjoy undimmed and constant happiness
—Shantideva, Bodhicharyavatara

Body of Gold

With his body of gold in color,
The lord of the universe is extremely beautiful.
The Bodhisattva who places his mind on this object,
Is referred to as one in meditative absorption.

— The King of Meditative Stabilization Sutra

Liu Jianxia Exhibit at Rubin Museum

Award-winning Chinese painter Liu Jianxia, who has dedicated herself to painting images of Buddha, brought her new painting, An Assembly of the Buddha of Medicine, to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. The painting has been on display since May 6.

Buddha's Responses to Questions about Death: q. 2,3, and 4

Question 1

The first question dealt with the existence of rebirth which Buddha confirms using the logic that living beings would be extinguished if they were not able to take a next life.  Now the questions become more specific about the form of that next life.  The first tells us that the form we take in the next life is variable due to the actions accumulated previously.

Question Two: O Bhagawan! Will the sentient beings who pass away from this world be born into types of rebirth without alteration? For example, will gods be reborn as gods?  Likewise, humans as humans, animals as animals, famished spirits as famished
spirits and hell-beings as hell-beings?

Response: No. Sentient beings are born as different types by the force of their wholesome
and unwholesome actions. For example, the present humans may have become
humans from previous gods. The present animals may have become animals from
previous humans who indulged in unwholesome actions.

The third question further explains the variability of rebirth.   Clarifying that any beings can be reborn as another being in the next life,  that there isn't a state that inherently prevents lower or higher rebirths.  Thus further illustrating the preciousness of the human rebirth.

Question Three: O Bhagawan! Can gods, after death, be born into other types, such as humans, etc.? Likewise, can humans, animals, famished spirits, and the hell-beings, after their deaths, be born as other beings such as gods?

Response: Yes, that is so. Gods, after death, can be born into other beings such as humans,
etc. Likewise, humans, animals, famished spirits, and the hell-beings, after their deaths, can be born as other beings such as gods.

The Fourth Question starts the questions about what accompanies us in our rebirth, the first issue being family.   King Suddhodana inquires as to whether the belief that in life after life we retain our same familiy members.  Buddha response in a series of questions that answer themselves.  His response points out that without physical bodies we wouldn't be able to recognize family members because we cannot recognize their mindstream.  Furthermore how would we explain the different races and cultures if we are reborn with our current family members over and over since beginningless time.

Question Four: O Bhagawan! When sentient beings pass away from this life, they retain in th next life the same circle of family members as in this present life such as parents,
grandparents, great grandparents, etc. whom they had been born with life after life from beginningless time. Such is the understanding of ordinary people. Is this true?

Response 1: When parents and children, etc. appear to each other, they do so as physically
embodied beings. It is not that one mind appears to another mind. When the physical aggregate is left behind and has ceased to be, how could minds accompany minds and appear to each other? The deceased parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. are not seen even by their living children and grandchildren who possess physical bodies. How could the parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc., who had already died and no longer possess physical bodies, be thought to accompany each other as they did before? Even granting this, without physical bodies how could we see them accompanying each other?

Response 2: In this life, when parents, children, and numerous relatives live together, they
acknowledge each other on the basis of their different physical bodies. They do
not see their own minds, let alone the minds of each other. Therefore, how would
they see each other after death? How would parents, grandparents, great
grandparents, etc. see and accompany each other?

Response 3: If, in the beginningless flow of time, there were the first ancestors whom the
present grandchildren accompanied, then all the present tribes, clans, clusters,
types, of which there are many who are enemies, have settled in places, belong to
tribes, speak languages, and carry out customs not heard or known to each other,
must have descended from that same ancestor. So, where would one draw the line
among these foreparents and grandchildren, and demarcate between the
accompanied and the unaccompanied?

Buddha's Responses to Questions about Death: Question 1

I'm blessed to be able to attend teachings at Drepung Loseling in Atlanta.  The center's relationship with Drepung Monastery and Emory University allows us to receive teachings from the most learned scholars in Tibetan Buddhism.  In an effort to share some of our good fortune, my next few posts are intended to share the basis of one of the teachings from our resident teacher, Geshe Dadul Namgyal.

Geshe-la is currently translating and compiling science curriculum for the monks in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative.  He has served as editor of several Buddhist publications as well as serving as a translator with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.   Recently he gave teaching from a translation he compiled previously, this is the work that I wanted to share with the internet.

The sutra is entitled "Ayuspattiyathakaraparipicchasutra" roughly translated as "The sutra (spoken by the Buddha) in response to a query over what happens after death."  It comes from the Tibetan Kagyur.¹  In the sutra,  King Suddhodana (Gautama Buddha's Father) is wondering about death as he observes the funeral rites for one of his wealthy subjects name Nandaja.  As he grows impatient with the inability to find answers he sees the Buddha.  He obtains permission to ask the Buddha several questions and, not wasting his opportunity, he fires off 11 questions concerning the event after death.

The first question addresses the main subject, "What happens when we die, do we just decay to nothing?"

Question One:  O Bhagawan! Does one, after passing away from this world, come to naught and not get re-born at all, like fires burning out and leaving ashes in their wake?

Response:  No.  For example, where there is a seed, there will be its resultant sprout.  This life is like the seed and the next life, the sprout.  So, the next life follows in the wake of the present on after this life has ceased.  Besides, just as the sun rises again the next day after it had set and gradually given way to the night, likewise one takes a next life after passing away from the present one.  If there were no such thing as taking a next life, it would be logical that all the living beings would be extinguished by now.  Since that is not the case, there is certainly a next life.  This is like physical plants and trees growing again after having dried out due to the ravages of time.

 

1 The bibliographic information for the sūtra is: tshe 'pho ba ji ltar 'gyur ba zhus pa'i mdo; Ayuspattiyathakaraparipicchasūtra;
Tohoku catalogue number 308 (for sDege redaction): MDO, SA 145b4 -155a1;
Peking catalogue number 974 (for Peking redaction): MDO SNA TSHOGS, SHU 155b1-164b8.
In the Lhasa redaction of the bka'-'gyur (MDO, LA 223b7-237b3) the title is given as: 'chi 'pho ba ji ltar 'gyur ba
zhus pa'i mdo 

Book Review: Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha

I was excited to find this at my local Barnes and Noble; being familar with the Dharma books written by Kerouac, I eager to give this one a read.  It wasn't exactly what I expected.  I guess I thought it would read much like "On the Road" and "The Dharma Bums".  The language is a bit like reading a King James Bible, due to the reliance on Goddard's "The Buddhist Bible" but the Kerouac stream of consciousness is apparent.   

A little complex for a biography of Buddha Shakyamuni (leaving out many biographical details in favor of teaching philosophical lessons from various sutras), its complexity illustrates the depth of Kerouac's knowledge and devotion to Buddhism.  The well-written introduction by Robert Thurman explains the ideas behind the book itself.  

I look forward also reading Kerouac's other dharmic collection "Some of the Dharma".