The Dalai Lama in East Palo Alto

unmistaken child

Geshe Lama Konchog

Buddhist reflections on death and rebirth

By Rajah Kuruppu, Sunday Times, October 22, 2010
Colombo, Sri Lanka -- From the earliest of times, men have speculated on the question why we are born and why we die. In ancient times, phenomena such as rain and fire were attributed to gods associated with them.

There was a creator god responsible for birth and another for destruction. With the passage of time, there developed the concept of one God, all powerful and omnipotent, who is responsible for our birth and who would judge our life at death and reward or punish us for our good and harmful actions, respectively.

The answer in Buddhism for our birth is that we are caught in a cycle of births and deaths called Samsara, whose beginning is inconceivable. The Buddha declared that it is because of our delusion of the true nature of things, that we have the desire for life at the moment of death where ordinary people grasp for life. Consequently, we are re-born and continue our journey in Samsara with all its unsatisfactory features characterized by Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta — impermanance, unsatisfactoriness and absence of a permanent, unchanging, eternal, self or soul.

Continue reading at Buddhist Channel

Rebirth as doctrine and experience by Francis Story
Read here

David Bohm

The notion of something with an inexhaustibly specifiable and unvarying mode of being can only be an approximation and abstraction from the infinite complexity of the changes taking place in the real process of becoming.

David Bohm

John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

How many more must die before we come to our senses?

Heart Sutra mantra

"Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha."
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Gate, gate means gone, gone; paragate means gone over;
parasamgate means gone beyond (to the other shore of
suffering or the bondage of samsara); bodhi means the
Awakened Mind; svaha is the Sanskrit word for homage or
proclaimation. So, the mantra means "Homage to the Awakened
Mind which has gone over to the other shore (of suffering)."

Mu Soeng

Heart Sutra Commentary by Mu Soeng

Heart Sutra - Ancient Buddhist Wisdom in the Light of Quantum Reality

Commentary by Mu Soeng Sunim

Read here

Day 1 Morning -- The Heart Sutra & 37 Practices

Buddha's final sermon

It is not appropriate to grieve in an hour of joy.. You all weep, but is there any real cause for grief? We should look upon a sage as a person escaped from a burning mansion... it does not matter whether I am here or not; salvation does not depend upon me but upon practising the Dharma, just as a cure depends not upon the doctor but upon taking the medicine... My time has come, my work is done... Everything eventually comes to an end, even if it should last for an aeon. The time of parting is bound to come one day. I have done what I could for myself and others, and to remain longer would be without purpose. I have trained all whom I could train. My teachings shall last for many generations, so do not be disturbed. Recognize that all that lives is subject to the laws of impermanence, and strive for eternal wisdom. When the light of knowledge dispels ignorance, when the world is seen as without substance, the end of life is seen as peace and as a cure to a disease. Everything that exists is bound to perish. Be therefore mindful of your salvation. The time of my passing has come.

Buddha's final sermon

Fearless Mountain

Fearless Mountain is a documentary exploring the world of the forest-dwelling monks of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley, California.

Part 1 of 6 parts. The rest can be found by double-clicking on the video. You will then be re-directed to youtube website.

Compassion: The Art of Happiness

living in the face of death

01.10.2010
Originally uploaded by madsolitaire

At the time of death, it does not matter where one is a monk or lay person, rich or poor. What really counts is the state of one's mind. If at the time of one's death, one has managed to generate a state of mind possessed of clarity, control, love and wisdom, our life has been well spent. Should confusion, attachment, helplessness, fear, aversion and dark instincts predominate in our mindstream, this is a sign that our life was spent meaninglessly. Those who die in a state of spiritual backwardness and ignorance will fall into the lower realms of being, regardless of their social standing during their lifetime. When the mind has been dragged down with the weight of negative deeds and evil tendencies, one is swept helplessly away.

Glenn H Mullin