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Buddhism from the NET: The sound of mindfulness
THE SOUND OF MINDFULNESS - Turning off the shower at 2.15 am, I hear something for the very first time - the sound of mindfulness; the sound of the ticking of a small clock on a shelf in the bathroom. I had no idea it ticked so "loudly". The ticking was highlighted by the still of the night, by my mind silenced by the stillness. It was amazing how definite and crisp the ticking sounded - without the sound of the running shower, without the chatter of my mind's thoughts. It made me wonder what other wonders I'd been missing in daily life. What is the sound of mindfulness? It is the sound of whatever is around here and now. Miss the sound of here and now and you miss that much of your real life, which can only happen here and now. We are partially deaf when we are not totally aware of all the sounds of here and now. In the same way we are blind... and numb in the other senses. When was the last time you looked up and marvelled at a starry night? Do you SEE the myriad colours and shapes in all you see? Do you stop and SMELL the scent of the roses? Do you TASTE the rich flavours of every meal? Do you FEEL and enjoy the hot shower at the end of a hard day's work? And perhaps more importantly, are you mindful of your mind, of your thoughts and feelings? Without mental mindfulness, there is no mindfulness of the senses. If you are often not mindful of here and now, you are seldom truly alive - for only here and now can you live, not elsewhere, in the past or future. Do you bask in the light of mindfulness? Do you savour it? The next night, while I was waiting for the bus, I looked for the moon, searching for the familiar white disc which breaks the blank emptiness of the night sky. I became mindful that I was searching for something to fill the momentary emptiness, the existential hollowness of my heart. With that, a thought came to mind- "When you gaze at the cloudless sky, you either see the emptiness of the sky or the emptiness of your heart ." Just being mindful of this made me feel better. I am not lost. The lost are not aware. After being aware of my spiritual emptiness in the moment, I am already searching for my way out. Lo! Behold! Listen! Don't get lost in this moment. Pay attention! What sound of mindfulness are you missing now? [email protected], from a posting at The Daily Enlightenment.com ################# How to console ourselves on deathDEATH: "Maranam niyatham" (death is certain) said the Buddha. How are we to take up death of our loved ones whether accidental, homicidal, suicidal, senile or natural. Whatever the cause, it is death - disintegration of the component parts; all sensory organs cease to function. One's death instantly turns 90% of the close friends and relatives of the dead to religion of whichever persuasion. Those who have never sighted a place of religious worship in life suddenly become ritualistically religious. Everybody knows about the certainty of death but the mystery that surround it is so frightening that almost all those who are not deeply convinced of the truth of impermanence, most probably turn to unseen gods, deities and spirits. However, everyone living among the dead seek consolation in the religion they believe in. Thus the mystery of death is harnessed with the history of religious rites. Theists believe that it is God who gives life and takes life. Therefore, the believers are at an advantage to take death on an easy stride. Thus nobody can take the life of another without the knowledge or the consent of God who either wills one's death or plans its commission. When a man dies at the hands of a murderer God knows and hears of his suffering, yelling and pleading. Even when a child dies of drowning or starvation He knows it. Therefore, for a believer it is really easy to console oneself on the death of a loved one because they know it is God's wish that had triumphed and not that of the murderer or any other. According to Buddhism on the other hand, one could die either when the span of life expectancy which one is born with is terminated or when the merits accumulated on him is exhausted or by an accident or by a combination of two or more of those causes. So one alone is responsible for one's own death. Therefore one can take solace that in the final analysis one brings about one's own death and continues to journey in samsara until emancipation from wandering is realised. In this spiritual back-drop, none of whatever religious persuasion should ever worry about death. However, people including every living being love to live, and strive to survive amidst all problems and disasters. Yet, knowingly or unknowingly people move towards certain death only to cling on to a renewed existence after death, in a different form. It is craving that binds us to samsara and only those who are beating back greed or know well of the impermanent nature of life through their experience in samsaric life are least scared of death. So let us console ourselves at death of anyone close to us or distant from us knowing of its inevitability. Sometimes our intuition gained through experience in samsara tells us that we are about to die. We should never be frightened by death threats and accede to vices or unjustifiable demands on threat of death just to live a few more days or months. If one had lived a righteous life and led a peaceful living, he will never be scared of death. If fact he would welcome it, if he finds he is of no more use to himself or to any other. What is important is not how long one lived but how much one had achieved; both Emile Bronte and Bruce Lee died in their early thirties but we continue to talk of their achievements and do really appreciate them. ################# Dealing with criticism at your workRegardless of how well you do in your work, the people around you are always criticizing you. SOLUTION: The solution for this problem is to be very sensitive about paying attention to how your actions and words affect those around you. That is, before you say or do anything, consider carefully how it might impact others in the workplace. There is an ancient Buddhist book called The Treasure House of Higher Knowledge written over sixteen centuries ago, which says that every good deed ever done has one or two different characteristics at the base of it: You are either being careful to act in a way which you can be proud of yourself, or you are being careful to act in a way which others would, justifiably, be proud to see you act. In other words, you are almost always planting very good imprints in your mind when you are trying to stay sensitive about whether what you're doing is something that will impact in a healthy, positive way on yourself and those around you. We have to say a word here about the American image of a brash young business executive - sharp, tireless, witty, and continually scoffing at those around him who can't keep up with him. It's important to realize that people like this are living off good energy from the past: old energy from old imprints which, even as they live and breathe from day to day, are being worn out, used up. Their current arrogant, irreverent behavior, their willingness to ignore how their actions and words impact on those around them, can only plant seeds which will cause them to see themselves being criticized, by more and more people, as they grow in their business careers. ################### The urbane traveller ...Continued from 09-08-2006 (http://www.dailynews.lk/2006/08/09)THE URBANE TRAVELLER: We read of him sleeping in a potter's shed on grass spread on the floor (M,I;502). On another occasion he arrived in Kapilavatthu and finding no proper lodgings, spent the night in Barandu's hermitage sleeping on a mat on the ground (A, I;277). Often he must have simply slept in one of the many mango groves that to this day are still to be seen near most north Indian villages. Finding him out in the open one winter's night Hattaka asked the Buddha if he was happy. He replied; "Yes my lad, I live happily. Of those who live happily in the world I am one". Hattaka expressed surprise at this, pointing out that it was the dark half of the month, the time of frost, that the ground was trampled hard by the hoofs of the cattle, the carpet of leaves thin, the wind cold and that the Buddha's robe appeared to be thin. The Buddha reaffirmed that he was nonetheless happy (A,I;136). The Buddha must have also enjoyed the freedom his life of wandering gave him. For him "the household life is full of hindrances, a path of dust. Free as the wind is the life of one who renounces all worldly things" (D,I;62). However, moving from place to place had very important practical reasons behind it too, in a world without the communications that we take for granted it allowed him to spread his teachings far and wide. He was also aware that some personal contact with him was important, especially for newly ordained monks and nuns, and that this may have been a factor in determining in which districts he visited and how often (S,III;90). During his wanderings he might visit a district, teach, make some disciples, even ordain a few monks or nuns and then perhaps not come again for many years. If a monk from such a district wished to see him again he could simply set off to wherever the Buddha was staying at the time. Sona Kutikannawas was ordained by Mahakaccana and about a year later developed the desire to meet the man whose teachings he had committed himself to. He said to his preceptor; "I have not yet met the Lord face to face, I have only heard about what he is like. If you give me permission I will travel to see the Lord, the Noble One, the Fully Enlightened Buddha (Ud,58). For lay disciples with domestic obligations undertaking a long journey to see the Buddha would have been more difficult and so they may have had to wait, perhaps many years, before they got to see him again. The Thapataya Sutta gives us some idea of the excitement caused in an outlying district when its inhabitants heard that the Buddha might be on his way to see him and how the excitement increased as word of his gradual approach reached them (S.V;348-349). Elsewhere we read of people's anxiousness for news about the Buddha and of what he had been teaching. Once a monk who had spent the rainy season with the Buddha in Savatthi arrived in Kapilavatthu. When people heard where the monk had come from he found himself deluged with questions about the Buddha (S,V;450). On another occasion a group of brahmins from Kosala and Magadha who had arrived in Vesali, heard that the Buddha just happened to be in town and decided that the opportunity to meet Him was one that was too good to miss. The Buddha had apparently given His attendant instructions that He was not to be disturbed while the brahmins were adamant that they would not leave until they got to see the famous teacher. Seeing this impasse the novice Siha asked the attendant to tell the Buddha that there were three people waiting to see Him. The attendant said he would not do this but he wouldn't object if Siha did. This was done, the Buddha asked Siha to put a mat outside his residence in the shade for Him to sit on while He talked to the brahmins (D,I;151). But the Buddha couldn't be everywhere at once and so monks and nuns would often take long journeys for the privilege of spending some time in His presence. For example once while He was residing in Catuma at least five hundred monks arrived to see Him (M,I;456). However, with Him moving around a lot it was not always possible to know where He was at any one time. In the beautiful Parayana Vagga of the Sutta Nipata we read of the sixteen disciples of the ascetic Bavari setting out for northern India in the hope of meeting the Buddha. First they heard that He was at Savatthi and "wearing matted hair and dressed in deer skin" they headed there. They went through Kosambi and Saketa and arrived in Savatthi only to find that he had left some time previously. They followed His route through Setavya, Kapilavatthu, Kusinara, Pava and Vesali finally catching up with him at the Pasanaka Shrine, (Barabar Hills north of Gaya) "and like a thirsty man going for cool water, like merchants going for profit, like a heat exhausted man going for shade, they quickly ascended the mountain" (Sn 1014). There were undoubtedly as many languages and dialects spoken in the Buddha's India as there are today and this would have created special problems for Him. Theravada tradition asserts that the Buddha spoke Pali although there is no mention in the Tipitaka of what language He spoke. Like merchants, diplomats and others whose professions meant frequent travel in different regions it is very likely that apart from His mother tongue, which would have been a dialect of Kosala, He was probably fluent in several other languages as well. In the Aranavibhanga Sutta He says that insisting on using one's own dialect in an area where another is spoken can only cause confusion and conflict. ################# The PathBest of the Paths is the Eightfold, |
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