The central teaching of Buddhism is the uncertainty of life. If we have really contemplated this, then the current situation will not throw us off balance. We will be able to apply our mindfulness to the situation, doing our best to avoid trouble and to help others. If our minds are not so well prepared, however, we will need to be careful not to think about the situation beyond what is needed or look at the news all the time. And we will need to balance the whole thing by actively looking for things to gladden the mind. Then we can take this serious situation seriously without getting depressed. We need to see caution in a positive way or make something positive out of it. My mother was talking to a 95 year old friend yesterday who had been told she should stay at home. She said, "It's alright I don't need to go out I am quite happy." Faith in Buddhism does not rely on belief in anything supernatural, the benefits of Dhamma practice can be seen within ordinary daily life. Within the Buddhist community, especially in Asia, supernatural experiences are, however, not uncommon. These experiences are often shared, two people simultaneously seeing the same deva, for example – there is definitely something that needs explaining. I believe there are ways of understanding such experiences that do not conflict with science. Supernatural beings can be seen as existing only in the mind, as aspects of some kind of collective consciousness. This requires that we broaden our view of the mind. Our day-to-day understanding of material science may also come under review as a consequence, including the findings of quantum physics, perhaps. I offer this for your reflection Ajahn Kalyāno http://www.openthesky.co.uk A book informed by Ajahn Kalyano's practice as a psychologist, physical therapist and Tai Chi teacher. In this book the focus is on the outer world of engaged Buddhist practice.
(This book is an edited version of a large part of a book called 'Realistic Virtue'). Here are some resources on the subject of illness and death from a Buddhist perspective. These will form the framework of Ajahn's teaching session at Oslo University this Winter.
A poem by Ajahn Kalyāno about how he sees meditation as an invaluable a part of caring for those who are sick or dying: From Nurse to Chaplain – from care to prayer there I was with the bandage and the crutch listening ears tissues for tears there I always was for all those years at the time and every time it meant so much I can still smell the savlon, the soap and the desperate hope... there I was with the pooh I always knew and the blood, always a surprise sharpening the eyes there I was in the rolling tears of lost loves and in the niggling fears now it doesn’t mean so much the world of touch meaning more is a softness in the eye which knows a softness so sweet and always new like baby’s toes a softness where a given prayer giggles and wriggles itself free free to simply be such that a prayer is always there in the air a prayer that knows ‘there is life and death in every breath as it flows’ as a bandage or a crutch it doesn’t mean much it is heavy to the touch yet the prayer is there where light meets the air at the touch of light and the lightest touch such is the suchness pure and bright of the heart where we can go if we can let go and where we need never part The open owl Open The owl's soft, silent wings Open The owl's wide, wise eyes Opening the pale grey dusk Beyond the crimson sunset The rocks whisper the rocks whisper a way the trees forget over growing for the sun is pleasing and their masters are lost the forest is empty there was another life in the master’s way the trees know not here in the wilderness the trees are lonely and dream of the garden (for a garden they would be tended by loving hands their roots growing deeper the sun slanting under their boughs to warm their feet) yet the trees know not their loneliness or their dreams they are the silence that shall receive the work of the word and hold the meaning but first there must be a new path they must beckon with their humble silence the hearts of man men shall come there is solace in the silence for they are part of nature they too have forgotten and would remember they have lost their home and would return so that death has nowhere else to take them they will serve the garden which will teach them in turn beauty and transience of life they shall learn born will be the garden of the soul and mankind will have found in truth a far greater whole where death shall have no dominion This text was written as a summary of Ajahn Kalyano's teaching by George Petre, after having participated in multiple retreats with the Ajahn. The detachment of mind from the senses and sense objects, including the subtle objects of thought and emotion, is the precondition for the realisation of things as they are, the reality at the heart of every being. This requires a particular attitude when interacting with both the inner and the outer world. In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, this approach is related to the development of attention-recollection in the present (sati), with particular emphasis on the development of this quality in relation to the body. The development of attention in the present moment hinges on the capacity of letting go of craving for sense objects and of craving for being, understanding that the latter is merely another expression of the first. The more complete the letting go, the better established the presence. And the better established the presence, the easier the letting go. This presence gradually realises itself as an openness of heart. With the knowing now turned toward being, the seeing that the two were never really separate becomes possible. Knowledge of being supplants experience through the senses. It is also here that the knowing finds independence – release and union at the same time – the emptiness of the mind in the pure emptiness of the heart. Yet, this opening of being is at the same time an opening towards the world, towards experience, towards thought and emotion. It is this opening in the presence of the body that is the key for the development of dispassion – being with experience rather than lost in experience. All experience now has the same quality – the quality of knowing. At this point, the old identification with the body has been let go of completely. It is through the contemplation of the body, contemplation of the suffering that is the result of craving and attachment to the body and the subsequent letting go of all obsessions with the body that this process is taken to completion. As the roots of the defilements – greed, hatred and delusion – are cut off the mind-heart discovers true stillness. Here also, perhaps for the first time, there arises an experience of really clear seeing, clear knowing. Clear because there is no longer the distortion of the defilements. Clear also, because this knowing is direct, no longer mediated through the senses. It is possible to say that through the practice of attention-recollection in the present, the faculty of knowing is transformed into higher knowing – the capacity to see things from the heart, the capacity to see things as they are and with this the capacity for spontaneous, unrehearsed compassion. This is true wisdom – wisdom that is not dependent on thoughts or concepts. Ajahn Kalyāno
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