Sunday 15 September 2013

The Law of Dependent Origination

Posted by nottibeans on 02-06-2013, 9:55 PM :


The Law of Dependent Origination

Read the explanation for brief understanding. Ignore the numbers like "8 mahā-kusala cittas and 5 rūpāvacara-kusala cittas" as you need strong knowledge of Abhidhamma to understand them.

We are bound to this wheel of becoming and dying for uncountable existences in the past and will continue in future if we cannot penetrate the Law fully(by direct knowledge) and destroy the Origin of Suffering(by undertaking meditation systematically).

 

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Four Kinds of Kamma According to Function

Posted by nottibeans on 27-02-2013, 10:16 AM :


AUTUMN&WINTER wrote:
Villagers knew what to do, they advised the close relatives to immerse the chopper that the butcher used to slaughter the pigs in a basin of water, by doing so would stop him from crying like pigs but this would not stop the pain he's suffering.

She said this was the method that villagers used on butchers whenever they cried like pigs at deathbed. Karma is very scary.



Actually they can help him to get a good proximity kamma.(the kamma that is done before death).

 
Now if we have any weighty kamma, it will produce its result when we die and condition our next life. If we do not have any weighty kamma, which is often the case, then we must rely on proximity kamma to condition our next life. To get a good proximity kamma, sons and daughters or relatives and friends should arrange wholesome deeds such as offering robes to monks or listening to Dhamma-preaching for the person on his or her death-bed. The dying person should also be reminded of his past good deeds.

A good example is Venerable Sona’s father in Sri Lanka. The father made a living by hunting. When he was too old to go hunting, he became a monk in his son’s monastery. Soon he fell ill and had a vision that hell hounds were coming up the hill to bite him. He was frightened, and so he asked his son to drive away the hounds.

His son, who was an arahant, knew that his father was having a sign of destiny to be cast down to hell. He asked his disciples to gather flowers quickly and spread them all over the pagoda in the monastery. Then they carried his father on a coach to the pagoda. Venerable Sona reminded his father to pay homage to the pagoda and to rejoice in the offering of flowers on his behalf.

The old monk calmed down, paid respect to the pagoda and was delighted in seeing the flowers being offered to the pagoda on his behalf. At that moment, his sign of destiny changed. He told his son, “Your beautiful step-mothers from celestial abode come to take me along”. The son was satisfied with the result of his efforts.

This is a very good way of repaying the gratitude we owe to our parents.

To be sure to get a good proximity kamma, however, we should develop habitual kamma while we are alive. The best habitual-kamma is tranquillity-meditation or insight-meditation which can be performed all the time. When it becomes habitual, it will be remembered and practised near the time of death.

 

Monday 12 August 2013

Bases of Meritorious Action

Posted by nottibeans on 24-02-2013, 10:06 AM :


NUMBer wrote:
erm what r the ten virtuous deeds
The ten can group under three kinds - Dāna(offering), sīla(morality), bhāvanā(meditation).