Q & A

Q-1 

Why were we created into this planet for what purpose? 

You go through the process of ' Amarah ' Lawamah ' and 'Mutmaennah ' some reach the top, some dropped out along the way, while some stay stagnant, but everyone vanished in the end. No matter how successful you may be in life or otherwise, but in the end death is a grand leveler. So why were we created? 

Another question is, " Why are we created into so many denominations?" Was it by designed or by choice? 

 Another question is why are some born with silver spoons without having to struggle in their lifetime while some could not even sustain their daily bread? 

Also those who have taken short cuts to success by foul means are happy as larks living lavishly with full of respects at large. Many powerful people got away with murder and the poor common people face the music dancing to their tunes. Please look at my questions with an open mind.

Please comment sincerely.I only posed and share these questions with those I love. 

A-1 

This is not a question for me, as I do not subscribe to the view that there is a creator. I do not subscribe to the view that life is terminal but that there are countless lives, but our body of course is terminal. I am not a believer of the premise that god created us to be who we are but that we did so from our past actions – karma. So to me the issues you call in to questions do not arise at all. But you are a man of faith in a creator and you must keep that belief at this stage of your life, at 80 years of age. 

It is important to have something to guide you in your last stage of life. When one does not know what to believe in, it becomes a problem. I have first hand experience in this with my mother who has been in and out of death a few times, who keeps on telling me “I don’t know what to do”. I used to tell her sometimes to think of the Buddha and ask him to guide you but I know there is no such person called the Buddha waiting for her. I just made it up. It was something she could relate to and accept. If I were to talk about anything else such as the stages in the in-between it would be beyond her.

The only thing it can do is to give her some hope. I now tell her to think of the Deities she used to worship and to of me as well, that I am always at her side. I do this thinking it can give her some peace of mind and she maybe able to find her way in the between. I do not want her to be an agitated state of consciousness (spirit) when and after she leaves her body. So hang on to your belief. It is important. It is for this very reason that I thought going to the Haj was a very good thing for you. And I tried my best not to disturb you when you were there. For me the questions you raise would be difficult to answer within the belief system you have. But then who am I to question it? I cannot think or pretend I have the answers. It is just my own belief. Perhaps you may find the answer when you reach heaven. So if you think that way then you would not need to question God. If you start questioning God then you are burning your own bridges. And, that at this stage would seem rather meaningless I think. It is like cutting the tree that you are climbing from below your feet. Remember that I did not become your friend for your denomination. I took you for the man you were. I have never imposed my beliefs on you. Likewise were you to me. What I had was respect for you, which later turned in to a strong bond of friendship and love. I know it is mutual. It has stood the test of time. Perhaps this was pre-destined, from the past, or perhaps this was the work of god. So here is a question you will find an answer to as well when you pass on above. So, as your friend I would say have unquestioning faith and leave it to god. God has his reasons and who are you to question it? 

Q-2 

Re Q-1, thanks for sending me this. I believe in the same. especially...that we don't know what is or isn't... 

A-2

What I said in Q-1 really should not apply to you because as far as I know you do not believe in a creator, or that there is no rebirth, or that there is no karma, or that there is only one life and we end up in paradise or hell, or that there is a soul, or that all non-believers go to hell - all of which views are born out of ignorance as far as Buddhism is concerned. At the heart of sansaric existence lies ignorance which conditions experience or volitional thought and consciousness (avijja paccaya sankara, sankara paccaya vinnana). If you are not sure of this - that is what is or isn't then that means you have scepsis and doubts which you must trash out for yourself through empirical analysis. My words in A-1 were chosen in the way I did because if I were to tell him that Islam has no answer then I am doing him great harm. It is too late, that for him to understand Buddhism or search for something else that makes more sense and provides answers. I can only tell him that everything is by the dispensation of Allah. On all these matters Islam says that since we cannot see anything we cannot believe it, so just stick to Allah's words. And if you look at most of the Islamic writings on rebirth they would that in one way or another they try to make out that the stories are by frauds for personal fame and gain. This is what you will find under "lawamah" and "Mutamaennah" . 

I would give the same answer I did under Q-1 for anyone of any age who is not a Buddhist, unless such person shows interest in seeking an alternative truth. It is not my intention to proselytize anyone. I try to see how best I can ease one's fears and doubts. But usually I see that all of monotheistic faiths fear retribution from the creator should they stray out too far from the book. In the case of Q-1 my friend is exposed to all religions and says that he was a Burmese monk in his previous life, says he had an out-of-body experience when he met with an accident recently and described most of the happenings while he was unconscious but I would think that when he goes before Allah suddenly his mind freezes. On and off he comes up with all his doubts because he finds difficult to ignore what he sees that does not add up with the words of his god. 

 I would say the most important thing for all of us who do not want to become Buddhas or Bodhisattvas is to have a spiritual faith and steadfastly practice it. This will give some grounding and help overcome our daily difficulties. If not we can end up like my mother and keep saying several times a day "I don’t know what to do", and look a far with a blank face. So faith is important. Also a practice that helps mental discipline is important - be it meditation or yoga or tango, or becoming a catholic or muslim if you are able to practice your faith without distraction. I hope this clarifies my answer in Q-1 without which I fear you may take my answer in the wrong way. 

Q-3

Thanks for the long chat we had. I am going to approach my practice of dhamma as a gradual process of purification and mindful living. Hope we will achieve some thing before we are knocked down!! 

I am attaching a few poems that was written soon after my mother’s demise and also some poems I wrote at the vipassana bavana kuti I attended in March this year. Strange that the need to express your self comes out when you are faced in life with some thing profound. 

A-3 

The Gracious Lady always with a gentle smile and so she will always be. The picture of your mother is exactly the way I remember her. She always had a certain serenity that showed off in her face. May she attain Nibbana. Then, there is the suddenness, the void, the silence, the stillness of the inanimate presence followed by sorrow and sadness in reminiscence, of the loss of that one colossus, the one person who was always so larger than life to you, all of which are captured in the memoriam, of a humbling moment and of powerful emotions. Something tells me that the words are yours or they so resonate of your own. 

May you come to terms with your loss, find solace through the Dhamma, that is the dhamma of all things that will enable you to turn grief, your sorrow and sadness in to love and compassion. 

When aunt Lilly passed away I wrote a small but rather insignificant piece on my blog which went unnoticed by many who read my blog titled "Sorrow in Death". I hope it will be of some help in finding direction. I would like to share a practice with you, which you can do for your mother. You can do this as many times as you want. When you have a peaceful moment, take a comfortable seat, reflect on the love of and for your mother, all of the memorable moments, albeit briefly. This is done to help invoke powerfully your mother’s presence before you. Then, earnestly solicit the power, grace and guidance of the deities that you have a connection with after invoking them in to your presence. Pray that they may provide guidance to your mother through her journey. Exhort them to purify your mother of whatever bad karma, negative emotions, mental blockages and mental obstructions she may have. Ask them to make it known to her that she is now forgiven for any past negative thoughts or deeds should they arise in her mind now. And, by this may she have a calm and peaceful journey. Pray that this new becoming will bring benefit to all beings living and dead. Then, visualize the deities projecting their presence through a beam of light that goes in to your mother to purify her completely from the crown of her head downwards. And thereafter visualize a beam of light that projects out from the heart of your mother to the mandala of the deities, the mandala being the abode of the deities, where you placed each deity in front of you, which you visualize as being in the space in front you. Capture that moment of your mother being in the mandala as long as you can. This is an in-vocative practice where you must visualize your mother and the deities before you. Do it slowly, purposefully, deliberately and carefully. It is a powerful practice known as the phowa practice in Tibetan Buddhism. There are many ways to do this practice but it suffices to do what I say above. The power of the practice depends on how much love you can infuse in to your practice that will help enhance the clarity of the invocations. I have done this for your mother several times since I came to know of a passing away. I know some of us are averse to a lot of mumbo jumbo but this is not so and is not a ritual. It involves communication of and between consciousness, only possible at very subtle levels of consciousness, the closest analogy I can draw on is with telepathy. 

Q-4 

You have a very good understanding of the Dhamma. You say you looked at many religions & found answers in the Dhamma, are you a Buddhist now? 

A-4 

You say a few words but your words speak a thousand, in fact an infinite and in the present moment. An answer to your question has opened out the vast space of the emptiness in the mind so void except for the arising and passing away of various objects just like the infinite space of the cosmos with its own systems, planets, meteors and debris, each in motion at its own pace suspended in animation. It would seem burdensome to reach out to them to grasp them and cling to them for the empty space before you seem so much more blissful. In this blissful emptiness we must find one-pointedness where we can rest our mind for we do not lose ourselves in vacant wonder. 

I have taken refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sanga although the Sanga is now limited to a handful among whom we share our thoughts. The Dhamma in the teachings have helped me to appreciate the Dhamma of phenomena and of noumena. Apprehension of phenomena and perception of it in its clever guise of reality is always the possibility unless one exercises concentration and wisdom; yoniso manasikaro would be the word for this I suppose. I have come to find that once you enter this stream of thought it is no longer an effort to exercise mindfulness and concentration. It is like there are two persons in us, one on the outside of a glass box who wants to see the inside of it but find the view obscured by various blemishes and then one of the inside of it who is looking at the outside but where the obscurations no longer affect because they are actually only on the outside. It would seem that sense contact fails to find resistance against the mind, which it would normally condition and in turn influence perception, normally with conceptual designation. 

The noble eight-fold path is very much a way to deliverance I would say emphatically but then you would also find that when you embrace the Dhamma completely you are already practicing this eight-fold path even without knowing that there is such a Dhamma called the eight-fold path. Or, so this is to me it would seem. If this makes me a Buddhist then I am indeed one. But then again if someone calls himself a Buddhist does it make me one is another question. I have been contemplating on your words from the time I received your message and it is only now I seem to be able to find a response to you. I thank you. 

Gate, gate, paragate, parasangate, bodhi svaha! [gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, at last/amen]