Dalai Lama live over the holidays (webcast)

Mara Schaeffer, Wisdom Quarterly

Here's hoping everyone's holidays are fun. For me this series of talks by the Dalai Lama is the best thing going. Enjoy the winter solstice, the Mayan New Age and, of course, "The Big Day" in India, a celebration of all religions.

• Webcasts: Shantideva's "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"

Great seasonal/perennial teachings from the Dalai Lama with two sessions over four days to live stream or download (video/audio) later, Dec. 24-27:

• 8:00-10:00 pm PST and 11:30 pm-1:30 am PST 
• (9:30-11:30 am and 1:00-3:00 pm IST)

New Delhi carolers (Julie McCarthy/NPR.org)

This is really interesting for many who enjoyed the broadcasts of Pema Chödrön discussing Shantideva's "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" and/or her book: Don't Bite the Hook: Finding Freedom from Anger, Resentment, and Other Destructive Emotions. (DalaiLama.com/webcasts)

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The death of dear children (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly translation of Visakha Sutra, Inspired Utterances (Udana 8.8)

The Buddha fearless mudra (Saksit_s/flickr.com)

This have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī at the Eastern Monastery, in the palace of Migāra's mother. 

A dear and beloved grandson of Visākhā, Migāra's mother, had died. So Visākhā went to visit the Buddha with hair and clothes wet [marks of mourning].

Grief stricken she went in the middle of the day, bowed, and sat down. The Buddha said to Migāra's mother:

"Visākhā, why have you come here with wet hair and clothes in the middle of the day?"

Going to the Buddha (Nevil Zaveri/flickr)

"My dear and beloved grandson has died," she explained.
 
"Visākhā, would you like to many children?"
 
"Yes, venerable sir, I would like to have as many children and grandchildren as there are people in [the city of] Sāvatthī."
 
"But how many people in Sāvatthī die in the course of a day?"
 
"Sometimes ten people die in Sāvatthī in the course of a day, sometimes nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... Sometimes just one person dies in Sāvatthī in the course of a day. Sāvatthī is never without people dying."
 
"Then, Visākhā, what do you think: Would you ever be free of wet clothes and hair?"

"No, venerable sir. Enough of my having so many children!"
 
"Visākhā, those who have 100 dear ones have 100 sufferings. Those who have 90 dear ones have 90 sufferings. Those who have 80... 70... 60... 50... 40... 30...20 ... ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... Those who have one dear one have one suffering.

"Those who have no dear ones have no sufferings. They are free from sorrow, free from stain, free from lamentation, I tell you."
 

Blissful and blameless (health.com)

Realizing the significance, the Buddha exclaimed: "The sorrow, weeping, and many similar kinds of suffering exist in the world, exist dependent on something dear. They do not exist when there is nothing dear.

"Blissful and sorrowless are those for whom nothing in the world is anywhere perceived as dear. Therefore, one who aspires to attain the stainless and sorrowless (nirvana) should not seek to make anything anywhere in the world dear.

• More: MN 87; Psalms of the Nuns 3.5; 6.1.

Cold world? No, the warmest!

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

The Buddha, like all arhats, reclines into final bliss of nirvana (Saksit_s/flickr)

 

But how could anyone avoid becoming attached to dear things in the world? In fact, on reflection, nothing is dear except that we make it so.

 

The proof? Something is called "dear" only because it is dear to someone, not because of anything it intrinsically possesses. IF this were not so, THEN there would be no release from attachment to the dear.  No one would be freed from grasping and clinging or what we refer to as "attachment."

Of course, for most people this is not the problem. The problem the idea that anyone would recommend that we not be attached to things so dear as children, as relatives, as friends.

 

Most people, most of the time, ARE going to be attached. And rightly so. The Buddha promoted and persuaded multitudes to care for one another, to cultivate loving-kindness (metta, love, friendliness, warmth for others) and compassion (karuna, actively helping relieve the suffering of others).

 

But he went further. He taught that to be happy, one should also cultivate joyful-appreciation (mudita) and after all three of these are developed, equanimity (upekkha).

 

This is where people stop understanding. Equanimity is misinterpreted as "indifference." But it really means non-bias. That is, those three beautiful karmic impulses are sent to ALL without distinction. This is how the practice is brought to fulfillment, perfection, fruition. The goal is more than social. But it is social.

"Enlightened" society? Progressive but not enlightened.

The world will not be enlightened, societies will not be, not cities, towns, or villages. Individuals, pairs, small groups of practitioners see the light (nimitta), develop the eight attainments (absorptions), make their way skyward to the deva-worlds, or go beyond ALL suffering to the supreme goal of nirvana.

 

With us, with our attachments, we FEAR nirvana as cold "nothingness," as annihilation, as "emptiness," as oblivion. And we do not see it, we do not strive for it, we turn away toward the world and pat ourselves on the back for choosing the eternal bodhisattva path. The work of a "savior-martyr" is never done, for there are too many beings to save for it to ever be done. 

 

That is why the historical Buddha never spoke of anyone abandoning the goal in favor of becoming another Maitreya (Messiah). It is one sure way not to cultivate the path, not to develop the necessary factors to make the best use of a human life, which is to directly know-and-see the truth. Then one could really be useful, could raise a hand in fearless-mudra and allay the suffering of others.

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"Karmapa - Two Ways of Divinity" (film)

KarmapaIssue; Tibet.net; Karmapa.org; Wisdom Quarterly

 

Om mani padme hum mantra (Tashi Mannox)

"Karmapa -- Two Ways of Divinity" is a unique, award-winning documentary on the current Karmapa and how China has used this Tibetan institution as a springboard for its politics leading to a peoples' violation of religious rights. The 17th Karmapa is not without controversy in Tibetan Buddhism also known as Lamaism, Esotericism, Tantrayana, Mantrayana, Bon, and even "Tibetanism" as distinct from Tibetan-Buddhism.

• Rights Groups: 5 Tibetans Self-Immolate in 2 Days (ABC)
• Six Tibetans set selves alight in China: exile government
• More Tibetans self-immolate as China's Party Congress opens

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Making "Merit" in Buddhism

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry "Merit"

The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha vowed to save others even from the hells (en.topictures.com)

  
The best merit contributes to one's growth towards liberation (nirvana, moksha, full emancipation). But it is generally useful and welcome however it manifests.

Merit can be gained in a number of ways. Before the Buddha's time, it was customary to pray and make vows (deals). Others chanted Brahminical-style mantras and engaged in unprofitable rites and rituals: 

   

According to a latter day Mahayana Buddhist invention, the Sutra of the Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, one can "transfer" 1/7th of the merit of an act performed to a deceased loved one such as in the Shitro practice in order to diminish the deceased's suffering in his or her rebirth.

   

"Transferring" merit is possible but not in the way we might imagine. IF one makes merit then "shares" it by offering it for the benefit of relatives (which extend seven generations back) not able by their circumstances to perform very many profitable deeds, AND those relatives approve of such deeds, MERIT is produced by their approval. It is actually their own doing with the help of the living.

   

Great Sivali, an arhat of astounding merit, abundance

The extent of their merit is measured by the meritoriousness of the deed of which they approve (commend, laud, rejoice, and delight in).

      

Giving to the noble Sangha or the Buddha or giving the gift of the Dharma (Dharma-dana) is superior karma most beings in the universe do not have access to and of which few have knowledge.

   

Beings able to receive this transfer of merit is limited, but it is possible. And it is meritorious to offer. Shakespeare's ghost writer was right when he borrowed someone else's observation noting that mercy does not dissipate by being expressed; it is only strengthened:

  

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest....

(Wm. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice)

  

Transferring Merit
Pariṇāmanā is a Sanskrit term that may be translated as "transfer of merit" or "dedication." It involves helping others by generating merit then sharing it and thereby accruing even more as a result of having shared. The recipient to whom it is dedicated then has the opportunity to also generate merit IF s/he approves of the deed.

  

As humans we need never feel jealous or envious of others' accrual of good deeds, their riches of merit. Instead by approving, applauding, and rejoicing in them, we generate profitable mental karma based on the strength of their good. Our commendation and happiness for them, as well as the special strength of the deed(s) we are approving, enriches us. Unlike limited resources -- gold, greenbacks, oil, wage slaves, precious gems -- merit is a boundless fountain of happiness.

  

Sadly, the same goes for unprofitable karma: Often without realizing it we approve and applaud, sometimes silently at heart, karmically unwholesome deeds. One example is the death penalty. Or we celebrate the mistreatment or killing of others we have labelled "enemies" and members of other groups we distinguish ourselves from. 

   

Rejoicing in the foolish misbehavior of others (violating precepts, holding to wrong views, encouraging actions motivated by greed, aversion, and delusion) brings us harm. This is mental karma bearing a mental resultant and later coming to fruition as miserable outward circumstances.
  
In fact, merely suggesting or praising or encouraging that one kill another (e.g., abort) or commit suicide -- if that person then does it -- makes us co-guilty of the action from a karmic standpoint.

  

Three Bases of Merit

There are three bases of merit. In the "Meritorious Deeds" sutra (AN 8.36, A 8.4.6), the Buddha identifies them:

• giving (dāna-puñña)
• virtue (sīla-puñña)
• cultivation (bhāvanā-puñña)

And in the "Chanting Together" sutra (DN 33, Verse 38), Sariputra identifies the same three.

   

In the Khuddaka Nikaya's Itivuttaka (Iti. 1.22), these bases are defined as: giving, self-mastery, and refraining. In the same discourse the three are restated as: giving, a serene life of mental calm, and a mind of good-will (metta, universally extended friendship).

   

More Merit

Buddhist monastics accrue merit through Buddhist meditation (developing karmically profitable qualities), mindfulness (staying aware of the present moment), sustained contemplation (anussati), wise reflection (yoniso manasikara) while chanting sutras, personal restraint, higher virtue, preserving the Dharma for the human world, teaching the Dharma for the benefit of all beings, and practicing in accordance with the Dharma for the sake of liberation of oneself and others. It is not either-or, it is both.

   

A post-canonical commentary elaborates on the three bases of merit (D.III,218) by stating that lay practitioners can make merit by performing seven other actions:

1. honoring others
2. offering service
3. inviting and involving others in skillful deeds
4. rejoicing, being thankful, and appreciative for others' good deeds
5. listening or studying the Dharma
6. instructing others in the Dharma
7. straightening one's own views in accordance with the Dharma (ditthujukamma).

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Who hears the cries of the world?

Wordnik.com; 123Chic; Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Kwan Yin is Avalokiteshvara (123Chic)

“...Tara was not originally the same as Kuan-yin, though the fact that she accompanies Avalokita and shares his attributes may have made it easier to think of him in female form.
  
“The circumstances in which Avalokita became a goddess are obscure. The Indian images of him are not feminine, although his sex is hardly noticed before the Tantric period.”

“Of most teachers we are told that they saw some deity, such as Avalokita or Tara.” - Sir Charles Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2

  
“The helpers and saviors of humankind such as Avalokita and Tara are often depicted in the shape of raging fiends, as hideous and revolting as a fanciful brush and distorted brain can paint them.” - Ibid., Vol. 3

  
“The great bodhisattvas, such as Avalokita and Mañjuśrî, are splendid angels of mercy and knowledge who are theoretically distinguished from buddhas because they have indefinitely postponed their entry into nirvana in order to alleviate the sufferings of the world.” - Ibid., Vol. 1

  
“Mr. Wells knows that he is indebted to oriental thought and thinks that European religion in the future may be so too, but I do not know if he realizes how nearly his God coincides with the Mahayanist conception of a Bodhisattva such as Avalokita or Mañjuśri.” - Ibid., Vol. 1

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Compassion vs. "Idiot Compassion"

Steven Goodheart (Metta Refuge Blog), Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

Don’t impose the wrong notion of what harmony is, what compassion (karuna) is, what patience is, what generosity is. Don’t misinterpret what these things really are. There is compassion and there is idiot compassion; there is patience and there is idiot patience; there is generosity and there is idiot generosity. For example, trying to smooth everything out to avoid confrontation, not to rock the boat, is not what’s meant by compassion or patience.
  

It’s what is meant by control. Then you are not trying to step into unknown territory, to find yourself more naked with less protection and therefore more in contact with reality. Instead, you use the idiot forms of compassion and so forth just to get ground. When you open the door and invite in all sentient beings as your guests, you have to drop your agenda. Many different people come in. Just when you think you have a little scheme that is going to work, it doesn’t work. It was very beneficial to Juan, but when you tried it on Mortimer, he looked at you as if you were crazy, and when you try it on Juanita, she gets insulted. Coming up with a formula won’t work. More

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The Green Tara Mantra (video)

Buddhist Light

   

Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha

  

Green Tara (Leighton Cooke)

OM represents Tara's sanctified body, speech, and mind.

TARE means liberating from suffering, the disappointment and pain of samsara, the Five Aggregates of Clinging (skandhas, heaps, groups, constituent factors) under the control of delusion and karma.

TUTTARE means liberating from the eight fears, the external and internal dangers, delusion, and karma.

TURE means liberating from the ignorance of the true nature for the ego, self, soul. It shows the way to the real cessation of suffering.

SVAHA means "May the meaning of this mantra take root in my mind."

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Part II: It's Been a Long Time (sutra)

Maurice O'C. Walshe, "Great Discourse on the Lineage" (DN 14); Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Future Buddha, Thiksey Temple, Ladakh, Himalayan India (Ragg Burns Imaging/flickr.com)

  
CONTINUED FROM PART I

"It is the rule that when a Bodhisattva [a Buddha-to be in his final rebirth] has entered the mother’s womb, four devas come to protect him from the four quarters [of space, the four cardinal directions in the sky], saying:
  
"Let no person, no non-human being, no thing whatsoever harm this bodhisattva or this bodhisattva's mother!" That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when a Bodhisattva has entered his mother’s womb, his mother becomes by nature virtuous, refraining from taking life, from taking what is not given, from sexual misconduct [and so a "virgin" just in this sense of the word, someone refraining from misconduct], from false speech, and from strong drink and sloth producing drugs. That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when a Bodhisattva has entered his mother’s womb, she has no sensual thoughts connected with a man, and she cannot be overcome by any man with lustful thoughts. That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when a Bodhisattva has entered his mother’s womb she enjoys the fivefold pleasures of the [five] senses and takes delight, being endowed and possessed of them. That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when a Bodhisattva has entered his mother’s womb, she has no sickness of any kind. She is at ease and without fatigue of body, and she can see the Bodhisattva inside her womb, complete with all his members and faculties. 

   

"Disciples, it is as if a gem, a beryl, pure, excellent, well cut into eight facets, clear, bright, flawless, and perfect in every respect, were strung on a blue, yellow, red, white, or orange cord. And a person with good eyesight, taking it in hand would describe it as such. Thus does the Bodhisattva’s mother, with no sickness, see him, complete with all his members and faculties. That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when a Bodhisattva’s mother dies seven days after his birth she is reborn in the Tusita world. That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that whereas other women carry the child in their womb for nine or ten [lunar] months before giving birth, it is not so with the Bodhisattva’s mother, who carries him for exactly ten months before giving birth. That is the rule.

• NOTE: Whereas average human gestation is 9 months (9 x  30 =) or 270 days, the Buddha is saying that a buddha-to-be takes 10 extra days: 10 lunar months (10 x 28 =) or 280 days. 

It is the rule that whereas other women give birth sitting or lying down, it is not so with the Bodhisattva’s mother, who gives birth standing up [which is the natural way to do it so that gravity assists rather than fights against the process]. That is the rule.

The Buddha under the Bodhi tree (Magalie L'Abbe, magtravels/flickr.com)

     

It is the rule that when the Bodhisattva issues forth from his mother's womb, devas [subtle unseen beings of light] welcome him first then humans. That is the rule.

   

It is the rule that when the Bodhisattva issues forth from his mother's womb, he does not touch the earth. Four devas receive him and place him before his mother, saying, "Rejoice, your majesty, a mighty son has been born to you!" That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when the Bodhisattva issues from his mother's womb, he issues forth stainless, that is, not covered by water [amniotic fluid], mucus, blood, or any stain, pure and spotless. Just as when a jewel is laid on fine cloth [Kasi muslin, a famously high grade of cloth from Benares], the jewel does not stain the muslin, or the muslin the jewel. Why not? Because of the purity of both.

  

"In the same way the Bodhisattva issues forth stainless, not stained by water, mucus, blood, or any stain, pure and spotless. [One of the 80 "marks of a great person" in Vedic literature, which are attributed to the Buddha, is that dust and grime does not adhere to his skin.] That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that when the Bodhisattva issues forth from his mother's womb, two streams of water appear from the sky, one cold, the other warm, with which they [the angelic devas] ritually wash the bodhisattva and his mother. That is the rule.

   

"It is the rule that as soon as he is born the Bodhisattva takes a firm stance on both feet, facing north, then takes seven strides, and then under a white sunshade he scans the four quarters [where the devas came from], and then declares with a bull-like voice, "I am chief in the world, supreme in the world, eldest in the world. This is my last birth. There will be no more again-becoming [rebirth]. That is the rule.

• NOTE: This feat seems preposterous and unlikely, a product of great faith making the Buddha out to be more divine (deva) than human. He does not know if he will succeed in that lifetime. He is not born knowing that he will even set off on the path to enlightenment. There is a chance he will become a world monarch (chakravartin). It is not "the rule" that he has to strive in a particular life. Moreover, it would seem to be something those present would have made a big deal about. They would have told the king, who then would not have been surprised that his child set off on the path of an ascetic rather than a king. One also sees in this embroidery that what was true for the historical Buddha was extrapolated to previous ones.

"It is the rule that when the Bodhisattva issues from his mother's womb there appears in this world with its devas, maras, and brahmas, its ascetics and Brahmins, princes and people an immeasurable, splendid light surpassing the glory of the most powerful devas. This is the rule.

   

"Disciples, when Prince Vipassi was born, they showed him to King Bandhuma and said, ‘Your majesty, a son has been born to you. Deign, sire, to look at him." 

   

"The king looked at the prince then said to the Brahmins skilled in reading signs: ‘You gentlemen are skilled in signs. Examine the prince.'

   

"The Brahmins examined the prince and said to King Bandhuma, ‘Sire, rejoice, for a mighty son has been born to you. It is a gain for you sire, it is a great profit for you, sire, that such a son has been born into your family. Sire, this prince is endowed with the 32 [major] marks of a great person [of which there are 80 in full, which he has].
  
"To such a person, only two courses in life are open. If he lives the household life, he will become a ruler, a wheel-turning righteous monarch who rules by dharma [righteousness], a conqueror of the four quarters who has established the security of his realm and is possessed of the seven treasures. These treasures are: the Wheel Treasure [which seems to refer to armed flying disk craft, "wheels within wheels" turning in effortless flight], the Elephant Treasure, the Horse Treasure, the Jewel Treasure, the Woman Treasure, the Householder Treasure and, as seventh, the Counselor Treasure. He has more than a thousand sons who are heroes, of heroic stature, conquerors of the hostile army. He dwells having conquered this sea-girt land [Greater India surrounded by seas] without stick or sword, but by dharma. But if he goes forth from the household life into homelessness [as a spiritual seeker], he will become an arhat, a fully-enlightened one, one who draws back the veil [of ignorance] from the world.

 
The Marks of a Great Person
"And what, sire, are these 32 marks of a great person?

1. He has feet with level tread.
2. On the soles of his feet are wheels with a thousand spokes.
3. He has projecting heels.
4. He has long fingers and toes.
5. He has soft and tender hands and feet.
6. His hands and feet are net-like (webbed).
7. He has high raised ankles.
8. His legs are like an antelope's.
9. Standing and without bending, he can touch and rub his knees with either hand.
10. His male organs are enclosed in a sheath.
11. His complexion is bright, the color of gold.
12. His skin is delicate and so smooth that no dust adheres to it.
13. His body hairs are separate, one to each pore.
14. They grow upwards, bluish-black like collyruim, growing in rings to the right.
15. His body is divinely straight.
16. He has the seven convex surfaces.
17. The front part of his body is like a lion’s.
18. There is no hollow between his shoulders.
19. He is proportioned like a banyan-tree: his height is as the span of his arms.
20. His bust is evenly rounded.
21. He has a perfect sense of taste.
22. He has jaws like a lion's.
23. He has 40 teeth.
24. His teeth are even.
25. There are no spaces between his teeth.
26. His canine teeth are very bright.
27. His tongue is very long.
28. He has a Brahma-like voice, like that of the [Himalayan] Karavika-bird.
29. His eyes are deep blue.
30. He has eyelashes like a cow’s.
31. The hair between his eyebrows is white and soft like cotton down.
32. His head is like a royal turban....

"Then the Bodhisattva, having retired to a secluded spot, had this thought: ‘It is not proper for me to live with a crowd like this. I must live alone, withdrawn from this crowd.’ So after a while he left the crowd and dwelled alone. The 84,000 ["a very large number" not an actual quantity] citizens went one way, and the Bodhisattva another.
  
"Then, when the Bodhisattva had entered his dwelling alone, in a secluded spot, he thought: 'This world, alas, is in a sorry state: There is birth and decay. There is death and falling into other [miserable and uncertain] states of being reborn [again and again]. And no one knows any way of escape from this suffering [disappointment], this aging and this death. When will deliverance be found from this suffering, this aging and death?"
  
"And then, disciples, the Bodhisattva thought, "With what being present does aging and death occur? What conditions [serves as the basis for] aging and death?" And then, disciples, as a result of wisdom born of profound consideration the realization dawned on him:

1. "Birth being present, aging and death occur; birth conditions aging and death."
2. "Then he thought, "What conditions birth?" 
3. And the realization dawned on him, "Becoming conditions birth"…
4. "What conditions becoming?"… "Clinging conditions becoming."…
5. "Craving conditions clinging"…
6. "Feeling conditions craving."…
7. "Contact conditions feeling"…
8. "The six sense bases condition contact"…
9. "Mind and body condition the six sense bases"…
10. "Consciousness conditions mind and body"…
11. And then the Bodhisattva Vipassi thought, "With what being present does consciousness occur? What conditions consciousness?"
12. And then, as a result of the wisdom born of profound consideration, the realization dawned on him, "Mind and body conditions consciousness.’"

Existence is Dependently Originated
"Then, disciples, the Bodhisattva Vipassi thought:

1. "This consciousness turns back at mind-and-body; it does not go any further.
2. To this extent there is birth and decay, there is death and falling into other states of being reborn, namely:
3. mind-and-body conditions consciousness;
4. consciousness conditions mind-and-body;
5. mind-and-body conditions the six sense bases;
6. the six sense bases condition contact;
7. contact conditions feeling;
8. feeling conditions craving;
9. craving conditions clinging;
10. clinging conditions becoming;
11. becoming conditions birth;
12. birth conditions [suffering manifesting as] aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and distress. And thus this whole mass of suffering has its origin."

And at the thought, "Origin, origin," there arose in the Bodhisattva Vipassi, with insight into things never realized before, knowledge, wisdom, awareness, and light.

  
"Then he thought, "What now being absent does aging and death not occur? With the cessation of what comes the cessation of aging and death?"

 

"Then, as a result of the wisdom born of profound consideration, the realization dawned on him: 'This world, alas, is in a sorry state: there is birth and decay, there is death and falling into other states of being reborn. And no one knows any way of escape from this suffering, this aging and death. When will deliverance be found from this suffering, this aging and death?"

1. "Birth being absent, aging and death does not occur.
2. With the cessation of birth comes the cessation of aging and death...
3. With the cessation of what comes the cessation of birth? ...
4. With the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth...
5. With the cessation of clinging comes the cessation of becoming...
6. With the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging...
7. With the cessation of feeling comes the cessation of craving...
8. With the cessation of contact comes the cessation of feeling...
9. With the cessation of the six sense bases comes the cessation of contact...
10. With the cessation of mind and body comes the cessation of the six sense bases...
11. With the cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of mind and body...
12. With the cessation of mind and body comes the cessation of consciousness."

TO BE CONTINUED

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It's Been a Long Time (sutra)

Maurice O'C. Walshe, "Great Discourse on the Lineage" (DN 14); Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly 

The Buddha-to-come (Ragg Burns Imaging)

Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying at Savatthi, in Anathapindika’s Park in Jeta’s Grove, in the Kareri hutment.

   
And among a number of monastics who had gathered together after their meal, after gathering alms, sitting in the Kareri Pavilion, there arose a serious discussion on past lives. They said: "This is how it was in a past life!" "That is how it was!"

   

The Buddha, with his purified divine-ear faculty surpassing that of humans, heard what they were talking about. Getting up from his seat, he went to the Kareri Pavilion, sat down on the prepared seat, and said:
  
"Disciples, what was your conversation as you sat together? What discussion did I interrupt?" and they told him.

Sri Lankan pilgrims in Jeta's Grove, Savatthi, India

  

"Well, disciples, would you like to hear a proper discourse on past lives?"

  

"Venerable sir, it is time for that! Well-Farer, it is time for that! If the Blessed One were to give a proper discourse on past lives, the monastics would listen and remember it!"

   

"Well then, disciples, listen, pay close attention, and I will speak."

   

"Yes, venerable sir" they replied, and the Buddha spoke:

Japan's massive contribution to Bodh Gaya, India (sairamtangirala)

 

The Buddha detailed two dozen previous ones

"Ninety-one aeons ago the Venerable One, the Arhat, the fully enlightened Buddha Vipassi arose in the world. Thirty-one aeons ago, the Buddha Sikhi arose; in the same thirty-first aeon before Buddha Vessabhu arose. And in this present fortunate aeon the Buddhas Kakusandha, Konagamana, and Kassapa arose in the world.
   
"And, disciples, in this present fortunate aeon I, too, have now arisen in the world as the Arhat, the fully enlightened [teaching] Buddha.

   

The Buddha Vipassi was born to the warrior [royal or noble] caste, and arose in a warrior family, and the Buddha Sikhi likewise, and the Buddha Vessabhu likewise. The Buddha Kakusandha was born to the Brahmin caste and arose in a Brahmin family; the Buddha Konagamana likewise, and the Buddha Kassapa likewise. And I, disciples, who am now the Arhat and fully-enlightened Buddha, was born to the warrior caste and arose in a warrior family.

  

"The Buddha Vipassi was of the Kondanna clan; the Buddha Sikhi likewise, and the Buddha Vessabhu likewise. The Buddha Kakusandha was of the Kassapa clan, the Buddha Konagamana likewise, and the Buddha Kassapa likewise. I who am now the Arhat and fully-enlightened Buddha, am of the Gotama [Sanskrit, Gautama] clan.

   

"In the time of the Buddha Vipassi the [ordinary human] lifespan was 80,000 years; in the time of the Buddha Sikhi 70,000; in the time of the Buddha Vessabhu 60,000; in the time of the Buddha Kakusandha 40,000; in the time of the Buddha Konagamana 30,000; in the time of the Buddha Kassapa it was 20,000. In my time [~588 BC] the lifespan is short, limited, and quick to pass: It is seldom that anybody lives to be 100."
  
[There will, however, come a time when it is reduced to 10 years then will increase again to many tens of thousands because these things are cyclical and based on karma.]

 

"The Buddha Vipassi gained full enlightenment at the foot of a trumpet flower tree; the Buddha Sikhi under a white mango tree; the Buddha Vessabhu under a Sal tree; the Buddha Kakusandha under an acacia tree; the Buddha Konagamana under a fig tree; the Buddha Kassapa under a Banyan tree; and I became fully enlightened at the foot of an Assattha tree [presumably another name for the pipal Bodhi tree, a kind of fig known technically as Ficus religiosa]....

Thus the Buddha spoke, and the Well-Farer then rose from his seat and went to his lodging.

   

Remembering past lives

Soon after the Buddha had gone, another discussion arose among the monastic disciples:

   

"It is marvelous, friends! It is wonderful, the Tathagata’s great power and ability -- the way he recalls the past buddhas who have gained ultimate nirvana, having cut off the hindrances, cut off the [otherwise endless] road of craving, put an end to the round of becoming, and overcome all suffering!

 

"He recalls their birth, their name, their clan, their lifespan, the disciples, and assemblies connected with them, ‘Being born thus, these Blessed Ones were such and such, such were their names, their clans, their discipline, their Dharma [Doctrine, Teaching], their wisdom, their liberation.’

 

"Well now, friends, how did the Tathagata come by the penetrative-superknowledge through which he remembers? Did some deva [light being] reveal this knowledge to him?" This was the conversation of those disciples.

  

Then the Buddha, rising from the seclusion of the rest period, went to the Kareri Pavilion, sat down on the prepared seat, and said: "Monastics, what was your conversation as you sat together? What discussion did I interrupt?" And they told him.

   

"The Tathagata understands these things by his own penetration of the principles of the Dharma. And [super long lived] devas have told him, too.
  
Buddhas of the past   

Buddha from Above (JFlybring/flickr.com)

"Well, disciples, do you wish to hear still more about past lives?"
  
"Venerable sir, it is time for that! Well-Farer, it is time for that! If the Blessed One were to give a proper discourse on past lives, the monastics would listen and remember it."

   

"Well then, disciples, listen, pay close attention, and I will speak."

   

"Yes, venerable sir" they replied, and the Buddha said:

   

"Disciples, 91 aeons ago the Buddha, the Arhat, the fully enlightened Buddha Vipassi arose in the world. He was born to the warrior caste, and arose in a warrior family. He was of the Kondanna clan. The span of his life was 80,000 years. He gained full enlightenment at the foot of a trumpet flower tree. He had the pair of noble disciples Khanda and Tissa as his chief [male] followers. He had three assemblies of disciples: one of 6,800,000, one of 100,000, and one of 80,000 monastics, all arhats.

   

His chief personal attendant was the monk Asoka. His father was King Bandhuma, his mother Queen Bandhumati. The king's capital was Bandhumati.

   

"And so, disciples, the Bodhisattva [buddha-to-be] Vipassi descended from the Tusita space world, mindful and clearly aware, into his mother's womb. This, disciples, is the rule.
 

The Rules (niyamas)

"It is the rule, disciples, that when a bodhisattva descends from Tusita into his mother’s womb, there appears in this world with its devas maras, and brahmas [deities, killers, creators], its ascetics (shamanas) and Brahmins (brahmanas), princes and people, an immeasurable and splendid light surpassing the glory of the most powerful devas. 

   

"And whatever dark spaces lay beyond the world's end [in interstitial space between world-systems,  perhaps solar systems or galaxies, which are conceived of as bubble-shaped], chaotic, blind and black, such that they are not even reached by the mighty rays of sun and moon, are yet illumined by this immeasurable and splendid light surpassing the glory of the most powerful devas.

   

"And those beings* who have been reborn there recognize each other by this light and know, ‘Other beings, too, have been born here!’ And this ten-thousandfold world system trembles and quakes and convulses. And this immeasurable and splendid light shines forth. That is the rule." TO BE CONTINUED

• *These beings are categorized as hellions (narakas) in one of the worst hell realms of isolation and total desolation rather than the overt pain of the various tormenting hells (niraya) such as Avici. Such rebirth destinations are said to be reserved for the worst of living beings who have exhausted their time in tormented worlds but whose karma (deeds) were so odious as to leave them cast off in the dark and alone for a long time. No hell is actually eternal no matter how long it lasts.

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