Date: 30 December 2011 Time: 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm Venue: Reclining Buddha Shrine Hall Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple Singapore
Sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā'ti, Yadā paññāya passati, Atha nibbindati dukkhe, Esa maggo visuddhiyā When one sees with wisdom that all component things are sorrowful, he overcomes misery. That is the path to purity Dhammapada Verse 278
Synopsis
While preparing to live Life is gone Day by day, time passes Little by little, life is lived The question is not living but how to make it worth living
Some people make mistakes And then they regret Some do not know what to do with life Some others waste life While some destroy it
Life is well lived For those who found meaning in life Life is well used For those who found peace in life
The year will end sooner And another year is around the corner The right time has arisen, friends.
It is time for us to get together for a ‘Practical session of Paccavekkhana’ on 30th Friday December 2011, at 8:30pm in Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple.
Sabbe dhammā anattā'ti, Yadā paññāya passati, Atha nibbindati dukkhe, Esa maggo visuddhiyā When one sees with wisdom that all Dhammas are soulless, he overcomes misery. That is the path to purity Dhammapada Verse 279
From the Buddhist point of view, life is nothing but five bundles of energies. These psycho-physical energies are everflowing like a river every single second without stopping for even a second. This process of moving, changing and flowing is called ‘life’. Life is nothing but five groups of energies. What are these five? Material energy, feeling, perception, mental formation and consciousness are known as the five Aggregates. When they are combined, collected and unified together, we call it ‘life’. It is always flowing. In this process of moving and changing, we want to stay healthy forever, but we still fall sick.
We want to stay young forever but we cannot halt the process of aging. We want to live forever but we will die one day. We want pleasurable things in life but pain exists everywhere and is part of life. We cannot get away from pain and have only pleasure, and we cannot have gains and profits all the time without losing. Even though we expect it, we still lose certain things. We want fame and praise. We get people’s praise, but there are still people who dislike and talk bad behind us.
Sometimes we are happy and joyful and we feel life is a bit worthy for us. It feels very pleasant and beautiful. Within fleeting moments, we feel gloomy and sad; and feel life is very miserable and not worthy. These are part and parcel of our life. While preparing to live, life is slipping away because we are always preparing to live. Some people think about the past and always regret. Some people speculate the future and dream. Not many people live in the present moment. While we are dreaming about the future and regretting about the past, the present moment is gone. That is what it is said: The now and present is the moment. We are living only at the present moment.
The past is already gone, and future is yet to come. Now is the moment. The purpose of this gathering here today is to treasure and appreciate the present moment and take the right action. Some people understand life and they put meanings into it. These are people who live a meaningful life. Some people do not understand life and they waste it. They just live without any aim. Some make mistakes and regret but they do not try to change. But some people, having understood it, pick up and move on. Some people even go the extent of destroying their lives.
It is very important for all of you to realize the purpose of this human life. The purpose varies between different people. For some, enjoying the pleasures is the only purpose of life. For them, there is nothing more gratifying than sense faculties.
You work to make a living just to enjoy life. But if you subscribe to this idea, then there is no difference between you and an animal. Why? The life purpose of animals is to derive pleasure, but we human beings are cognitive and analytical in nature. So the purpose of human life is not solely to enjoy. There are some who uphold the theistic concept, especially those who believe in creator god. According to this belief, the purpose of this life is to prepare for eternal life after death. This is exactly the ground for you to prepare for eternal life after death. Ask a social worker on the purpose of life, and he or she will say the purpose is to work for the happiness of human and living beings or society. If you ask a civil engineer who is very passionate about his work on the purpose of life, he may feel that his purpose of human life is to construct buildings and roads.
In this manner, the purpose of human life for one person versus another can be different. What is the Buddhist’s point of view when it comes to the purpose of this human life? Our purpose in human life is to be perfect. Through cultivation, we strive to become perfect human beings. The perfect human being is one who is perfectly enlightened. All Buddhists aspire to attain enlightenment. It can take one or two lifetimes or many lifetimes. If you are someone who is following the path of Buddha, you are aspiring and cultivating to become perfectly enlightened human being.
So, with this understanding, we will explore what is Paccavekkhana? There are some who consider man as sinners by birth. But human birth is considered fortunate for Buddhists. Human life is one of the 4 rare traits of the human realm.
1. Kiccho manussapaṭilābho29 – Rare is the life of a human being. So treasure this human life. 2. Kicchaṃ macchāna jīvitaṃ– Even though you are born a human being, leading a pure human life as a noble individual is not easy. Try your best to live as a dignified and noble human being. 3. Kicchaṃ saddhammasavanaṃ – Rare is the true teaching (Dhamma) because Dhamma is not always available. Now it is available and you can practise the Dhamma. But there will come a time, perhaps in a few hundred years, when no one knows the Dhamma because it will disappear by then. 4. Kiccho buddhānaṃ uppādo – Rare is the arising of a Buddha in the world because they do not arise often.
So friends, these are the 4 rare traits. Remember, you now have a precious human life. Appreciate and treasure it. Human being is one of the supreme living beings on earth among many other living beings. Recognize that human life is something very precious and we all ought to treasure this human life, as the purpose in life is to be a perfect being. Even though Buddha has passed on, the Dhamma still lives on. The true wisdom of human beings is to follow the noble path to become perfectly enlightened human beings.
Unfortunately for some, life is predestined and there is no way to change but to accept it. But from the Buddhist perspective, life can be changed. You can change and it can happen as a result of your own thoughts, words and actions. Every single moment you are becoming someone different. You can improve and change the life to the way you want. So here, Buddhism recognizes that all human beings have tremendous potential, capacity and capability to become enlightened human beings. It is not fated. Your own action and reaction will lead you to the destination where you want to go or transform yourself to be somebody you want to be. In the eyes of many, life ends with death.
For the Buddhists, the only thing that goes beyond death is kammic energy. Death is only a temporary dissolution of this cycle of physical entity, which forms the beginning of another life and is not the end. It is because of this kammic energy, the Buddha said, “Cittena nīyati loko30.” - The world is led by the mind. This human body that we are residing in is subject to change and eventually gets old and sick. We take care of our body so much but we do not take care of our mind. How many hours do you spend to take care of this body? You take a lot of nutritious food to keep it healthy. You go to the gym and undergo physical exercise to keep it healthy and nice. You go for plastic surgery to keep your appearance in top shape.
But the body is still subject to deterioration. This beautiful black hair will turn grey. This beautiful skin will end up with wrinkles. You will lose your eyesight and teeth. You try your best putting colour onto your hair, using dentures and applying more makeup. But it will still change and disappear. What is going from here to there is the mind. This is where we want to practise Paccavekkhana.
Paccavekkhana is the essence of practice created in our mind. They are like computers and they run on the software that is being installed on them. Exactly in the same manner, our behaviour is dependent and governed by our mind. We use our mind and body, but the actual machine is the mind. This is where we need Paccavekkhana.
Now, what is Paccavekkhana?
The Pāḷi word Paccavekkhana means mindful reflection and wise attention. A similar example is a business or company assessing and reviewing its targets set earlier, at the end of each financial year. The company will check if they have achieved the targets. Life is both material and spiritual. It is like a bird that needs a pair of wings to fly. We have to cultivate these two in our life. One is material wealth and the other is spiritual wealth. Today I am going to spend a little bit of time to encourage you to achieve spiritual wealth in your life because beyond death, it is only spiritual wealth which follows us. Buddha said to the monks, “Monks, before you go to sleep every night, spend some time to reflect on your own life.” Each and every monk before they go to sleep, they spent a little bit of time to reflect - for example, “What did I do throughout the day? Did I work hard and diligent to achieve my goal?” “Did I break any precept? Did I hurt anyone today? Did I live foolishly? Where should I make amendments?” In this way, a monk could reflect. And further, Buddha said, “Life is so uncertain, you may die any moment. So monks, be diligent, and reflect.” This is what we are going to do today.
If I impart the Paccavekkhana technique and let you return home to practise, I am sure no one is going to practise, because everyone is very busy. And since you are here today, I am going to make you practise here and now. Otherwise you will come here and listen, return home and forget what you have learnt here. And you will not put it into practice.
First step for our Paccavekkhana practice - Letting go of grudges There are many people who have offended you, did something wrong towards you, hurt you during the year or in the past and you are still keeping these grudges. Some people bear grudges and they take them from year to year. Worse, some take them from life to life. When New Year is around the corner, many people throw away their broken furniture, they buy new clothes and give away old clothes, they paint their houses, keep the house clean, tidy and nice but most of the time, they forget to throw away their grudges.
What happens? Even though you keep your material things clean and nice in a tidy way, you still keep your old mind and carry them into the New Year. It is time now for you to throw away unwanted trash in your mind. One of the very dangerous and unhealthy things in your mind is bearing grudges. What do I mean by bearing grudges? It means that you have jealousy, anger or unpleasant feelings towards someone or plan to harm and endanger or are planning to take revenge on someone, to list a few. Let go of these grudges. Do not carry them from one year to the next.
Why should you forget and let go of grudges? Friends, it is because the longer you keep these grudges, the more they may become a contributing negative factor to your health. Those people who keep grudges will be unhappy and miserable. Eventually, they may develop diseases like high blood pressure that may in turn lead to heart failure or kidney failure. By keeping grudges, pain and unhappy thoughts arise in your mind and you will waste time picking a fight with others. Most importantly, you should let go of your grudges at the moment of death. If you remember your grudges, you will definitely be born in lower miserable realms such as the hungry ghost realm.
Friends, evil and unwholesome thoughts are like poisonous snakes and will come out as your worst actions to bring unhappiness for yourself and your fellow beings. At any time, they can erupt like volcanoes. Once they erupt, it will be dangerous and destructive. You will create evil, unwholesome and immoral actions which create dark energies. Shall we spend a bit of time to see if we have any grudges in our mind? First of all, I want you to look into your own mind to see if you are having any grudges at the moment. At this moment, you may not feel it as your mind is busy.
You have to calm your mind. Sit in a comfortable way and preferably cross your legs. We are going to practise breathing in and out to meditate for a moment in order to calm your mind down. After that, pay attention to your own life during the year – Did I make any mistake? Did anybody do wrong to me? Am I having any negative unwholesome evil thoughts? In this way we are going to reflect.
Put your right palm on top of your left palm. Close your eyes. Do not pay attention to sense-stimuli that comes from the outside. Pay attention to your own breath. Let your mind calm down. Relax your body. Be mindful on your breath. Mindfully breathe in and mindfully breathe out. Take your time. Once you know that your mind has settled down, think about the past. Reflect upon your past years. Go through your mind to recognize if you are keeping any grudge or unpleasant feeling towards anyone. It can be anger, jealousy or unpleasant thoughts towards some people or due to certain incidents. Later on, once this session is over, we will ring this bell and you can open your eyes Spend a bit of time to go through your mind. (Sounding of the bell)
Ok. Did you have any grudges within you? You can do the same practice at home as you may need more time to let go. Sometimes, we become very unhappy and we get angry suddenly. But we do not know why. It may be something deeprooted in your mind due to some unpleasant feelings or grudges that you are keeping. So, you have to go through your mind very carefully. Sometimes those incidents happened when you were in the kindergarten and you are still keeping these grudges. We may not know because we have not let them go and we have not taken wise or proper action to get rid of it. You will need some time.
Now I am going to tell you five ways on how to get rid of grudges for those who have already found them or those grudges that you will find later on. In one of the discourses called Vitakkasanthana Sutta31 in Majjhima Nikāya, the Buddha clarified these 5 ways. I am not going into details as we do not have much time but I will explain to you briefly one by one. The first technique as taught by the Buddha is to replace an evil thought with a good thought. It is possible only through practice.
For example, if anger towards someone arises in your mind, you try to replace anger with loving-kindness by repeating in your mind, “May you be well. May you be happy.” Yes, anger is still in your mind but we ignore them. Just keep on repeating, “May you be well. May you be happy”. Eventually, as you practise further, you will have the ability to replace evil and unwholesome thoughts with good ones. When anger arises, replace it with loving-kindness. When jealousy arises, replace it with appreciative joy. When cruelty arises, replace it with compassion. When ill-will arises, replace it with goodwill. But all these are only possible through practise. Friends, suppose you are invited to a wedding dinner and you have changed to your best suit and stepped out of your house.
All of a sudden, a bird above had its dropping landed on you. What are you going to do? You are going to change your shirt exactly in the same manner when evil and unwholesome thoughts arise – replace them with good thoughts.
The second technique – The Buddha said, “Think of the dangers of evil and unwholesome thoughts.” As I have told you earlier, these grudges are like viruses, volcanoes or poisonous snakes. Do not encourage such thoughts. Whenever these thoughts arise in your mind, reflect on them carefully and think of the dangers. Now this anger arose inside me, it cannot bring anything good for me. If I harbour this anger, it can develop into hatred. And if this anger comes out from my mouth as words, these words will be unpleasant and harsh. If it comes out through my actions, they can be destructive actions. I may beat someone up, quarrel with someone or do evil, wicked and immoral things.
We contemplate on the consequences and the negative feelings will disappear. The third technique as taught by the Buddha is not to pay attention to it. When anger arises in your mind and if you keep thinking and encouraging this anger, the anger will grow. So the Buddha said rather than living in anger, be wise and what you can do is to ignore it. Pay attention to good thoughts, not evil ones. Just like one who does not want to see something, he just closes his eyes or turns away. Exactly in the same manner, when evil thoughts come, do not encourage them. Pay attention to something else. It is with attention that the thoughts are developed. Pay unwise attention and evil thoughts develop.
The fourth technique as taught by the Buddha is to still the thought formation. Here you need a little practise. Suppose you have some evil and unwholesome thoughts in your mind, you sit down and reflect very carefully these evil unwholesome thoughts. How did they arise in my mind? What is the cause of this grudge? What is the cause of this unpleasant thought? Go through the process impartially. When you analyse and scrutinise in this way, you will see these are interdependent and interrelated conditions of thoughts and you will understand that you yourself are a collection of the five Aggregates. If you analyse the five aggregates, there is no one who can be called “I” or “me”. It is because of the “ego” that we cannot let go. Most of the time, it is because of the “ego”, “I”, “me” and “mine”. When you still these thoughts and analyse this “ego”, you will understand there is nothing for me to have so many grudges. This is another important technique. You will need a bit of training to use this technique as it is related to Vipassanā meditation.
The fifth technique is to practise meditation on lovingkindness or to conduct mettā meditation. When you practise mettā meditation, all your evil and unwholesome thoughts will be weakened and suppressed. So friends, these are the 5 techniques that were taught by the Buddha on letting go of grudges. If you have grudges in your mind, do not carry them into the New Year. Step into the New Year with a pure mind. Tomorrow is the last day of the year and if you are going to the countdown, then count down anger, hatred, ill-will and jealousy to reduce the evil thoughts in your mind. In this way, you should not keep any grudges in your mind.
The second step of this process – Being grateful Please sit in a comfortable manner. Put your right palm on top of your left palm. Close your eyes. Relax. Be comfortable with yourself. Friends, there are so many people who have helped you in many ways. Your beloved mother and beloved father, they have helped you a lot. They are the ones who gave you this life. They are the ones who brought you up. They are the ones who showed you the path. Be grateful to them. Treasure them. Treasure their presence.
Your husband or your wife. Treasure them. They take care of you. Your children. Your relatives and friends. Your well-wishers. There are so many people who did a lot of good things for you in your life. Appreciate these people. Treasure these people. Think of some special people who had helped you, including your mother and father. Take the opportunity to thank them in your mind. Honestly appreciate their presence. Honestly appreciate their service. Be grateful to them. Being grateful is a virtuous quality that will encourage each and every one of you to follow and cultivate.
Friends, let’s spend some moments of grateful thoughts towards our loved ones. Let’s radiate boundless love and compassion towards them. Wish our loved ones be well and happy. Radiate loving kindness towards all your loved ones who have helped you one way or another way. Be grateful to them. Say thank you to them. (Sounding of the bell)
The third step of this process - The uncertainties of life Friends, do you realise that you can die at any moment? We do not want to talk or hear about death. The topic on death is always a taboo to most of us. But the fact is that we can die at any moment. Treasure the relationship while you are living— your mother and father, your husband/wife, your children. Do not take them for granted. Most of the time we take them for granted. Sometimes we hurt their feelings and we do not say sorry to them. Before the New Year comes, if you have hurt someone, do not forget to say sorry. Remember, anybody could have done something wrong and if you have hurt that person, say sorry to that person.
If that person is already dead and gone, then in your meditation, radiate boundless love and compassion to this person and ask for forgiveness. Letting go of grudges as well as asking for forgiveness is very important for our spiritual development. There cannot be progress if we keep grudges and guilt with us.
Friends, life is so uncertain. We and our loved ones can die at any moment. How many years does a normal person live for? Maybe 70, 80, 90 or 100 years old. What is meant by 70 or 80 years old? It is a very short period of time. But there is no guarantee we will live to such an age. Life is so unpredictable that it is like a line drawn by us using water. It will quickly disappear. Life is so short; it is like a lightning flash in the sky. Before we realize it, it disappears.
It is also uncertain, like snow that vanishes upon touching water. Life is like a flower, blooming then withering away. We are born to die. On one bright sunny day, a bumble bee was so happy he was going from one flower to another and singing the song about his girlfriend. Looking for a beautiful flower and honey for his girlfriend, he came to a beautiful pond with lots of lotus flowers. He got into a lotus flower, started collecting honey and was dreaming about his girlfriend on what he is going to say when he meets her. Soon the sun set and the lotus flower closed its bud. When this bumble bee was in his dreamy world, the lotus flower had closed its bud and he was trapped inside. Now he thinks: Tomorrow morning, the night will pass soon and the sun will appear. I will see my girlfriend, give her this honey and tell her how much I love her. He was thinking and dreaming about his girlfriend. Suddenly, a hungry elephant came to this pond to drink and ate this lotus flower. That is the end for this bumble bee.
Don’t you think we are also the same? We have lots of dreams and wishes in our life. We are always unhappy that our wishes did not come true. We have hundreds of wishes. If you were to list down, there are a lot. Sometimes when the people come to the temple and ask for blessing services, we ask them, what are their wishes? Some people wrote down 30 to 40 wishes. They have so many wishes for their loved ones. Life is very uncertain and we do not know when we will die. Those people who have died, they died with wishes unfulfilled. Life is as such. I want all of you to spend another 5 minutes and reflect very carefully and understand that you can die at any moment. I will ask you a question and I want you to find out the answer in your mind.
If you were to die in another 3 days’ time, what do you want to do within these 3 days? How do you want to spend your life? Think about it very carefully, honestly and seriously. Then you should see what you should attend to immediately because it can happen any moment.
Friends, let’s spend a little bit of time to understand the meaning of this life, spend time and contemplate that life is so uncertain. Put your palms together. The right palm on top of the left palm. Close your eyes. Think of life as being so uncertain, I will die at any moment. Sooner or later I have to separate from my loved ones. Sooner or later my loved ones will have to be separated from me. Everything is subject to change. I will die. It can happen at any moment. Think about it. If I were to die in another 3 days’ time, what should I do?
What is the most urgent thing in my life that I have to do? If I were to die in 3 days’ time, am I going to die with my grudges? Do I want to let go my grudges? If I were to die in 3 days’ time, am I going to treasure the relationship with my loved ones or am I going to die without treasuring the relationship with my loved ones? Ask for forgiveness from those whom I did wrong. In this way, spend a bit of time to reflect and realize the nature of this life. (Sounding of the bell)
Friends, the last step and the most important step of this process – The Noble Eightfold path. In Pāḷi, there is one factor called Sammā Vāyāma which means Right Effort. The Buddha said that for those who want to change for the better or be an enlightened noble individual, they should have right effort. There are 4 Efforts to be practised.
What are these four? 1. When you reflect in your mind and realize that you have some evil, unwholesome and negative habits, then you should continuously try your best to stop these evil and negative habits. 2. Practise actions which prevent the not-yet-arisen evil, unwholesome and negative habits in your mind. Do not get into negative habit of letting these thoughts arise and grow. 3. When you reflect in your mind, realize that you are not only having negative habits, but you are also having a lot of virtues, good habits and good qualities. Then use it to strengthen your mind. Develop, cultivate and strengthen these good qualities in your mind. 4. When you reflect and realize there are many good habits that you have not introduced to yourself, you should introduce them and practise them in your life. In this way, we cultivate to move from dark to light, from light to light and become enlightened noble human beings. This is the purpose of practising the noble art of the Buddha’s teachings.
Again, what are the 4 factors of Efforts? 1. Stop evil habits. 2. Prevent evil thoughts from arising in your mind. 3. Strengthen those good habits. 4. Introduce new good habits as part of your life.
Basically, we reduce these four factors into two. What are they? Avoid Evil, Cultivate Good. Today I want all of you to decide on doing either one of them. There may be a lot of negative and evil practices that you have. I want you to stop one of them. Take action to stop one of them next year or you can introduce something good. For example, suppose some people have the habit of criticizing somebody else and if you have this habit of criticizing others unnecessarily, tell yourself, “In 2012, I will stop this negative habit. I will not criticise others unnecessarily.” This is your plus point. This much is enough for you.
At the end of the New Year, if you practise this diligently and when 2012 comes to an end, you can be so happy as you have removed one negative habit in your life. Do not belittle it as just one because little by little we can eventually make huge changes. Or you may have the bad habit of speaking harsh words towards your friends or loved ones. Tell yourself, “I will speak polite words in 2012.” Or you may not be taking care of your husband/wife as you have taken him/her for granted. Tell yourself, “In 2012, I resolve to take care of my husband/wife.”
In this way, you can select and make one of your negative habits to be a good habit. Or you can consider the positive practices. Suppose you do not practise meditation. Tell yourself, “In 2012, I want to introduce this habit of practising mettā meditation for 5 minutes a day.” You do not even have to sit in cross-legged. While walking, sitting and lying down, you can practise meditation. Those who are too busy, you can think from 2012 onwards, “I am going to practise mettā meditation for at least 1 minute.”
What should you do? When you wake up early in the morning and wash up, before you go to work, close your eye for a moment and think “May I be well, May I be happy. Just like myself, my father, my mother, my loved ones and everyone in my office. May all living beings be well and happy.” This is less than one minute. What is important here is dedication. If you make this a habit and cultivate it every day for 365 days, it means 365 minutes. Do not belittle it. If there is a leaking tap and you place a bucket under it, you will see the bucket is overflowing with water after some time. Or for example, you do not have the habit of going to the temple. Tell yourself, “I will go to the temple once a month or week. I will offer some flowers, practise some meditation and do some chanting.” Make it a habit and, at the end of the year, you will feel so happy to have done something meaningful that can be carried beyond death. These are spiritual wealth. In this way, I want all of you to spend another 5 minutes just to pick up your wish for the New Year. There is no need for many, just one will suffice. You can either stop a negative habit or introduce a good habit.
So, when you start this practice, in 5 minutes time, I am going to ring the bell and you should have already made a wish. I am not going to ask you what your wish is. It is up to you. Do not dedicate yourself to do something that you cannot do. Five minute reflection on Paccavekkhana Put your palms in meditation posture. Close your eyes. Make yourself comfortable. And look into your own mind. Understand that no one is perfect. Understand that we can be perfect by practising. Understand that life is not fated and we can change our life. That depends on our thoughts, words and actions. Understand that thoughts are the roots for all actions. Understand that the world is led by thoughts and you can change to the way you want to become. Pick up one aspiration or wish in your life and spend the next 5 minutes to select your aspiration for the new year. Make it something simple and practical that you can dedicate yourself to.
Friends, let us make the aspiration: May the great blessings of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha be upon us May the great blessings of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha be upon our loved ones May our good wishes and good dreams come true May the coming New Year be a smooth one Just like this light that dispels the darkness, may we have the wisdom to dispel all the evil, negative and unwholesome habits from our life May we have light in our life May we move from dark to light May we move from light to light May all of us follow the righteous path of the Buddha May we all attain happiness and Nibbāna Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu
Dhammaṃ care sucaritaṃ, Na naṃ duccaritaṃ care, Dhammacārī sukhaṃ seti, Asmiṃ loke paramhi ca Live a virtuous life, and not a life of sin. One who leads a virtuous life, lives happily in this world, and in the other (world). Dhammapada Verse 169
Selected Dhamma Talks in 2011 by Venerable K. Rathanasara Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple 30C, St. Michael Road Singapore 328002