The Buddha's teaching on contemplating death .VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.

Death is a common property, available to everyone without leaving anyone. My grandparents also saw that, that from the highest in the world like a king, he must die and the lowest to the people bearing the four quadratic debt must also die.

The work of Vietnamese folk proverbs, collected by Le Nhu Thich Trung Hau, is recorded:

"King Wu mined six treasures of gold,

Death to hell doesn't bring anything.

The Lord glorified the wine,

Dying down to hell is like King Ngo ".

The contemplation of death is a powerful practice. Not only suitable for adults, but also for teens.

Just like air, death is a natural feature that exists within the dharma. Only get rid of when you have achieved results of infertility, that is, on the immortal Saints that the Buddha called the Arahant, or "kill the life and death".

Buddha taught many different dharma to many different saints. In particular, the Buddha specifically taught that human life in just one breath, and keep mindfulness of death for secret, do not be distracted.

Why do sentient beings prefer pleasure, prefer "sensual pleasure" over "unpleasant feeling," but the Buddha teaches the concept of death?

The dhammas that are like visions, which are like that, seeing the reality of dhammas, seeing the death in each of their breaths, will be separated from all defilements. In death, there is no time, there is no such thing as yesterday or tomorrow, and it is far removed from what monotheists often call "miraculous present," or "grace," or "Gift of holy spirit."

Joy is part of samadhi, and the pagan monk who attained part of samadhi has accepted joy as a grace from God, in order to "communion with man". So, the Roman Catholic side has retreats and the Protestant has the spiritual courses, helping the followers to concentrate and from there have joy. There is a certain part, then there is joy, there is pleasure ... so happy, will find this realm wonderful because "there is him in me". The Buddha called it a mortgage.

Do not waste a minute of your life. Just like the Buddha taught, keep mindfulness of death without leaving, because it is located on each breath.

Zen Buddhism will go through this stage of samadhi, and will renounce both pleasure and non-bliss.

Meditation is mindfulness in real form, that is, in the world manifesting accordingly through one's mind, the momentary cittas arising and falling away in the flow of bhavanga-cittas.

The Buddha taught the contemplation of death so that we can immediately see the flow of karma, to perceive the "impermanence" of dhammas, to see the "non-self" in the flow of our mind, and from here through the stream. life and death river.

Mindfulness of death does not mean abusing life. Actually, cherish life. Because the Buddha taught that the human body is difficult, Buddha Dharma is hard to hear.

The Dalai Lama in The Path To Bliss wrote, "... You have a deep conviction that your body now has great potential, and never waste even one minute of this body. "On the other hand, failing to take advantage of your precious human body now, or just wasting it, is almost like drinking poison even though you know clearly the consequences of such a thing."

Go, stand, lie, sit, you also feel that you are dying, and will see only one breath is to hold your body to this realm. Practice that for one session, for one day, and then for the rest of your life.

Do not waste a minute of your life. Just like the Buddha taught, keep mindfulness of death without leaving, because it is located on each breath.

The contemplation of death is a powerful practice. Not only suitable for adults, but also for teens. The Buddha himself taught a 16-year-old girl to contemplate death, and she continuously contemplated death for 3 years.

Sutta told that, the Buddha returned to Alavi 3 years later, because he observed that the girl was about to enter the Prayer and knew that she would die the day he met the Buddha again.

At this point, note between translations. The translation of the Tale of the Dhammapada by Vien Chieu monastery from Eugène Watson Burlingame's Buddhist Legends says that she died and went to the Tushita heaven. However, the English version by Daw Mya Tin translated from Pali by the Burma Tipitaka Association Rangoon, simply stated that she had died from an accident of weaving, but did not say where she was born.

But the versions wrote that the 16-year-old girl listened to the Buddha's teachings on contemplating death, practicing herself by contemplating death "day and night," and three years later (when 19 years old) only listened to Buddha A few more sentences are a result.

Lie on your back, imagine that you are dead from head to toe, all the feelings of joy and anger naturally disappear easily, the muscles of the whole body relax, the thoughts of the mind disappear.

The following is an extract from the Dhammapada Booklet volume 2, the translation of Vien Chieu Monastery, XIII on "Little Girl Weaving":

“... One day, Buddha went to Alavi. The Alavi people invited the Buddha to take a lifetime. When the boy finished, the Buddha taught a short sermon:

"Reflect on death, say to yourself," My life is fragile. My death is a given. Surely I will die. Death will end my life. Life is not fixed. " , fixed is death, those who do not contemplate death, will be afraid when the hour of death comes, and will die in terrified fear, like a walking man meeting a snake, without a cane in his hand, trembling. But a man who has mindfulness of death will not be afraid at the last moment of life, and like a courageous man who sees the snake from afar, takes the stick and knocks it away. ”.

When you practice the sense of death, the only thing you will see is that the whole body has only a gentle, puffed breath. Keep that mind.

After hearing, everyone returned to normal life. Only a sixteen-year-old weaver girl said to herself, "The Buddha's teachings are wonderful, for me, I will contemplate death." And she contemplates all day and night. She also continued to contemplate death for three years.

One day, early in the morning, World Honored One observed the world, he saw the little girl appear in his sight. He wondered "What will happen?" He noticed the following progress: "From the day this little girl listened to Me speak the Dharma, practiced the contemplation of death for three years. Now, I will go to Alavi and ask her four questions, I will praise her, and I will say Dhammapada: This life is blind. After listening, she will witness, so that the audience will understand My teachings. to the Vihara Aggàlava.

How can we contemplate death? You try, magic can see right within ten minutes, or half an hour.

The Alavi people heard that the Blessed One came, they went to the Vihara to pray to Buddha for a boy. The weaver girl, too, heard the news, full of joy. She thought, "The Blessed One has come, my subordinates, masters, and masters respectfully look like the full moon and the Buddha Gautama Buddha." She thought to herself, "Now, for the first time in three years, I have just met the Blessed One, a close relative of the bright yellow color, and now I am prostrated to his golden body, and I hear him preach the wonderful dharma filled with honey. ”

But her father, before going to the weaving factory, told her:

- Hey, child, on my loom, there is an unfinished piece of cloth, I have to finish weaving today. Please wrap the thread to full and bring it to father quickly.

The girl thought to herself, "I am looking forward to hearing the Buddha's sermon, but my father has told me that. Will I go to listen to the dharma or play my father's thread?" She thought, "If I don't bring a shuttle, my father will hit me. Then I have to fill a few shuttles, bring them to him, wait for another time to listen to the dharma." She sat in the chair and hit the thread.

The Alavi people waited for the Blessed One to make offerings of food. The Blessed One said to himself, "I have come here over a thirty-mile distance for a little girl, who is not yet present. When she comes, I will teach the Dharma." Therefore, he sat still, listening to the audience. quietly waiting ... "(all excerpts)

The disciplines of contemplation of death are suitable for both teenagers and have immeasurable uses.

Reading here, we see the Buddha is very compassionate. Thirty miles away, waiting for a little girl, who had been contemplating death for three years.

When she arrived, the Buddha signaled her to be in the middle of the assembly. The Buddha asked, (This place will translate the Q&A according to the Daw Mya Tin version):

(1) Where are you from? (1) White World Religion, I do not know.

(2) Where are you going? (2) I don't know.

(3) Do you not know? (3) Yes, I know.

(4) Do you know? (4) White World Religion, I do not know.

The audience doesn't understand, hearing that. Now, the Buddha asked her to explain, and she said, "World Honored One! Because you know I came from home, the first question is that from which past life comes from World Religion, I just said I don't know. The second question is about future life, I just said that I don't know. The third question, Lord asked, did you know that you will die one day, and you answered that you know. The last question asked the Blessed One know that when he will die, he will say he does not know ". 

Then the Buddha spoke the verse number 174 in the Dhammapada Sutta. Immediately, she attained Save. When she got home, her father pulled the weaving, unintentionally hit her chest, causing her to die immediately. At that time, the father asked for renunciation, studied and then attained Arahantship.

Thus, we see the discourse of contemplation of death adapted to both adolescents and with immeasurable wonders.

How can we contemplate death? You try, magic can see right within ten minutes, or half an hour. Lie on your back, imagine that you are dead from head to toe, all the feelings of joy and anger naturally disappear easily, the muscles of the whole body relax, the thoughts of the mind disappear. When you practice the sense of death, the only thing you will see is that the whole body has only a gentle, puffed breath. Keep that mind.

Go, stand, lie, sit, you also feel that you are dying, and you will see only one breath is to hold your body to this realm. Practice that for one session, for one day, and then for the rest of your life. The 16-year-old girl can practice, and we can all do it. Not wasting a minute at all. Then will feel death, as natural as life, entwined in the breath, heaving, tender. And as the Buddha taught, we will walk through this samsara.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.23/4/2020.