In the previous entry, "Sense ........ NOT !", I mentioned that we are so proud of our intelligence, achievements that we even include certifications as the 1st in our 7Cs of must-have.
In the same entry, I also asked what's the point of having all these Cs when the one most important C - "Cow-sense" ( i.e. Common sense ), is lacking.
It does seems that the more knowledge we have, the more foolish and ignorant we become, doesn't it?
We have lesser wisdom, and we can't think/or discern.
Why do I say that?
Otherwise, why do we blindly believe and not question on all the practices, rites, rituals, ceremonies that's going on/around?
Take funeral :
On the one hand they chant and call out Amituofuo ( Amitabha Buddha ), blasting his name all the way to the crematorium.
Yet when they're there, or thereafter, they pray to dizangwangpusa ( Earthstore Boddhisattva ) and burn hell notes.
Doesn't make sense.
Shouldn't that fella be in Amitabha's Pureland ( as the teaching so claimed ) learning the Dhamma from the so-called Amitabha Buddha, enjoying the bliss of Pureland ( where everything is PURE ), by now?
With the blasting of Amituofuo, surely the Amituofuo would have heard them - afterall, The "Buddha" is not deaf - and receive them with open arms in his so-called Paradise / Pureland?
Or ushering them to his Paradise/Pureland?
So why pray and chant to the supposedly dizangwangpusa who's supposedly to be in-charge of helping/enlightening Hell beings?
Some pray and call out/chant dizangwangpusa even when they're alive - As if they've already reserved a slot for themselves in hell.
They must have done pretty bad kamma all their lives such that they know they'll definitely go down to Hell, bound for hell for sure.
And those family members who burn hell notes, TVs, handphone etc for their deceased loved ones -
They must really think very badly and have a really low and very bad opinion of their loved ones -
To think that they're in Hell, bound for Hell, definitely in hell, and still in hell after all these years.
( * Dizangwangpusa must be doing a damn darn job - considering that all these beings are still in Hell after so many years - and he has enlightened none of them. Either that, or they must be damn stupid. )
Otherwise, why do they burn hell notes for them year after year if not because you think they're there - in hell ?
Why hasn't it ever occur or cross their minds that their deceased loved ones may be in Heaven enjoying themselves, not needing a single thing.
Why only Hell?
For all you know, they may even have taken rebirth as the family's latest addition - be it pet or human.
And how do you know if the hell notes are legal tender, the TVs, handphones etc will work?
Don't they need a service provider, or someone to do the connection?
An ex-student once told/shared with me that a monastic told her whatever she wants to tell her deceased sister, to tell it to dizangwangpusa - for him ( i.e. dizangwangpusa ) to relay/pass the message to her sister.
My goodness!
If that's the case, isn't the dizangwangpusa very not free?!
Considering the number of people who die every day.
And, isn't it presumptuous and most unkind and uncompassionate of the monastic to suggest that my ex-student's sister is in Hell?
Fortunately, my ex-student was wise/discerning enough (at that time) not to do as told;
Otherwise, it'll really be stupidity at its best.
As Ajahn Mun succinctly told a disciple of his,
"You are called a Maha ( Great, or one who can read Pali, scriptural language )
But where is the knowledge you studied from the scriptures now?
What is it doing that you cannot call it to your rescue?
What a waste of time and effort for that title of Maha you've got!
The purpose of knowledge is to make use of that knowledge in time of an emergency,
But what kind of knowledge is your knowledge?
It's practically useless.
You are going to die and all that knowledge which you took so much time to gain cannot be called on to help you.
What was the purpose of your studying?
I am not a Maha, not even of the lowest grade ( there are 9 grades altogether ).
What I have with me are only the 5 themes of Meditation ( Hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, skin and teeth ) taught to me by my Preceptor on my ordination day.
It seems the more you learn, the weaker you become, weaker even than an uneducated woman."
( Taken from the book, "The Venerable Phra Acharn Mun Bhuridatta Thera - Meditation Master", written by Venerable Ajahn Maha Boowa, page 194 )
"Ignorant worldlings, lacking in knowledge,
Do not know the ( real ) unique qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha,
And so they are like the blind;
But the wise, having knowledge,
Are like people with sight."
- The Buddha.
.
.
"The fool who knows that he is a fool is for that very reason considered wise;
The fool who thinks that he is wise is called a fool indeed."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 63
"When you blindly believe, follow and/or do whatever people tells you,
You're like an animal - constantly living in fear,
Or like a puppet - with no mind of your own."
"Beings who see fear in what is not to be feared,
And see no fear in the fearsome,
Embrace false views and go to a woeful state."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 317
"In the unessential they imagine the essential.
In the essential they see the unessential -
They who entertain ( such ) wrong thoughts NEVER realise the essence."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 11
"The man of little learning grows old like the ox -
His muscles grow; his wisdom grows not."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 152
"Few among men are they who cross to the other shore ( Nibbana ).
All the others only run up and down the bank on this side."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 85
"Indeed, not by any means of transport can one go to the place one has never been before ( i.e. Nibbana );
But ( only ) by thoroughly taming oneself,
The tamed one can get to that place ( Nibbana )"
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 323
"Ignorance - The Greatest taint."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 243
*In short, BE WISE.
** Since we're in the midst of Vesak, let us all be like The Buddha and His Savaka Arahants, and contemplate -
As The Great Supreme Master, The Buddha Himself said,
"Contemplatives - that's what they call us - and that's what we should answer when people ask us...." - Majjhima Nikaya 39
So, let us all spend the day in solitude, and take a moment to contemplate on
- Life;
- The Meaning of Life;
- What is, and what is NOT The Truth;
- What is, and what is NOT the actual Dhamma - The Buddha's Teachings.
Happy Contemplating, Everyone!
Love, Maitre-light
