The last gift. Returning the body to mother earth.

[Guest guest]

The last gift. Returning the body to mother earth.

 

Venerable Sirs or Ladies,

 

May all our relatives be safe and secure

May all our relatives be happy at heart

May all our relatives want to prevent and abandon doings that lead to

someones downfall.

May all our relatives want to do doings that lead to the highest blessings.

 

This letter is composed of with the following subjects;

- Introduction

- Mother Earth; the importance of shame and fear of wrongdoings.

- Japanese Death poems.

- Shamanic initiation and death.

- Death and astral travel.

- The witches travel.

- Traveling to other worlds with the world tree.

- Krishna and death.

- Subjects of frequent contemplation.

- The fear of death.

- Weaknesses.

****************************************************************************

**************

 

- Introduction.

I shall not confront Planet as an enemy, but shall accept its mysteries as

gifts to be cherished. Nor shall I crudely seek to peel the layers away like

the skin from an onion. Instead I shall gather them together as the tree

gathers the breeze. The wind shall blow and I shall bend. The sky shall open

and I shall drink my fill.

-- Gaian Acolyte's Prayer ##

 

You are the children of a dead planet, earthdeirdre, and this death we do

not comprehend. We shall take you in, but may we ask this question--will we

too catch the planetdeath disease?

-- Lady Deirdre Skye, "Conversations with Planet" ##

 

Now what is aging and death? Whatever aging, decrepitude, brokenness,

graying, wrinkling, decline of life-force, weakening of the faculties of the

various beings in this or that group of beings, that is called aging.

Whatever deceasing, passing away, breaking up, disappearance, dying, death,

completion of time, break up of the aggregates, casting off of the body,

interruption in the life faculty of the various beings in this or that group

of beings, that is called death.

-- The Buddha; Out of the Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/sn12-002.html

 

 

- Mother Earth; the importance of shame and fear of wrongdoings.

 

Once a man has changed the relationship between himself and his environment,

he cannot return to the blissful ignorance he left. Motion, of necessity,

involves a change in perspective.

-- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "A Social History of Planet" ##

 

Itivuttaka 42. The Bright Protectors

This was said by the Lord, said by the Arahant so I have heard;

"Bhikkhus, these two bright principles protect the world. What are the two?

Shame and fear of wrongdoing. If, bhikkhus, these two bright principles did

not protect the world, there would not be discerned respect for mother or

maternal aunt or maternal uncle's wife or a teacher's wife or the wives of

other honored persons, and the world would have fallen into promiscuity, as

with goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, dogs, and jackals. But as these two

bright principles protect the world, there is discerned respect for mother

or maternal aunt or maternal uncle's wife or a teacher's wife and the wives

of other honored persons."

This is the meaning of what the Arahant said and in regard to this was it

said;

 

Those in whom shame and fear of wrong

Are not consistently found

Have deviated from the bright root

And are led back to birth and death.

But those in whom shame and fear of wrong

Are consistently ever present,

Peaceful, mature in the holy life,

They put an end to renewal of being.

This too is the meaning of what the Arahant said so I have heard.

Translator Rev. John D. Ireland Revised: Tue 4 June 2002

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/khuddaka/iti/iti-a.html

 

 

- Japanese Death poems.

Scientific theories are judged by the coherence they lend to our natural

experience and the simplicity with which they do so. The grand principle of

the heavens balances on the razor's edge of truth.

-- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "A History of Science" ##

 

Farewell to <Blessed be>

Farewell to the Lotus Sutta,

Today, the end.

Shigan, died on the 25th day of the 7th month, 1838 at he age of 61.

 

In all the kingdom southward

From the center of the earth

Where is he who understands my Zen?

Should the master Kido himself appear

He wouldnt be worth a worn-out cent.

Ikkyu Sojun, died on the 21th day of the 11th month, 1481 at the age of 88

 

Look straight ahead. What s there?

If you see it as it is

You will never err.

Bassui Tokusho, died on the 20th day of the 2nd month, 1387 at the age of

61.

Out of Japanese Death-poems, comp. Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 0-8048-3179-3

 

 

- Shamanic initiation and death

Without sensibility no object would be given to us, without understanding no

object would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions

without concepts are blind.

-- Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", Datalinks ##

 

Qaumaneq is a mystical faculty that the master sometimes obtains for the

disciple from the Spirit of the moon. It can also be obtained by the

disciple directly, with help of the spirits of the dead, of the Mother of

the Caribou, or of bears(totem!). But there is always a personal experience;

these mythical beings are only the sources from which the neophyte knows he

is entitled to expect the revelation when he has prepared himself

sufficiently. Even before setting out to acquire one or more helping

spirits, which are like new <mystical organs> for any shaman, the Eskimo

neophyte must undergo a great initiatory ordeal. Success in obtaining this

experience requires his making a long effort of physical privation and

mental contemplation directed to gaining the ability to see himself as a

skeleton. The shamans whom Rasmussen interrogated about this spiritual

exercise gave rather vague answers, which the famous explorer summarizes as

follows; <Though no shaman can explain himself how and why, he can, by the

power his brain derives from the supernatural, as it were by thought alone,

divest his body of its flesh and blood, so that nothing remains but his

bones. And he must then name all the parts of his body, mentioning every

single bone by name; and in so doing, he must not use ordinary human speech,

but only the special and sacred shaman s language which he has learned from

his instructor. By thus seeing himself naked, altogether freed from the

perishable and transient flesh and blood, he consecrates himself, in the

sacred tongue of the shamans, to this great task, through that part of his

body which will longest withstand the action of the sun, wind and weather,

after he is dead.

This important exercise in meditation, which is also equivalent to an

initiation(for the granting of helping spirits is strictly dependent on its

success) is strangely reminiscent of the dreams of the siberian shamans-

with the difference that, in Siberia, reduction to the state of skeleton is

an operation performed by the shaman-ancestors or other mythical beings,

while among the Eskimo the operation is mental, attained by asceticism and

deliberate personal efforts to establish concentration. In both regions

alike the essential elements of this mystical vision are the being divested

of flesh and the numbering and names of the bones. The eskimo shaman obtains

the vision after a long, arduous preparation. The Siberian shamans are, in

most instances, <chosen> and passively witness their dismemberment by

mythical beings. But in all these cases the reduction to the skeleton

indicates a passing beyond the profane human condition and, hence, a

deliverance from it.

It must be added that this transcedence does not always lead to the same

mystical results. As we shall see when we come to study the shamans costume,

in the spiritual horizon of hunters and herdsmen bone represent the very

source of life, that is, to a complete renewal, a mystical rebirth. On the

other hand, in a certain Central Asian meditations that are Buddhistic and

tantric in origin or at least in structure, reduction to the skeleton

condition has, rather an ascetic and metaphysical value - anticipating the

work of time, reducing the life by thought to what it really is, an

ephemeral illusion in perpetual transformation.

Such contemplations, it should be noted, have remained alive even within

Christian mysticism - which once again shows that the ultimates attained by

the earliest conscious awareness or archaic man remain unalterable. To be

sure, these religious experiences are separated by a difference in content,

as we shall see in connection with the process of reduction to a skeleton in

use among Central Asian Buddhist monks. But from a certain point of view all

these contemplative experiences are equivalent; everywhere, we find the will

to transcend the profane, individual condition and to attain a transtemporal

perspective. Whether there is a reimmersion in primordial life in order to

obtain a spiritual renewal of the entire being, or a deliverance from the

illusions of the flesh, the result is the same - a certain recovery of the

very source of spiritual existence, which is at once truth and life.

Out of the book Shamanism, borrowed from the Theologische Faculty Tilburg,

Netherlands.

 

 

- Death and astral travel.

Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss. A

dangerous across, a dangerous on-the-way, a dangerous looking-back, a

dangerous shuddering and stopping. What is great in man is that he is a

bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture

and a going under. I love those who do not know how to live, for they are

those who cross over.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", Datalinks ##

 

.... ... The startingpoint of my description is the soul. During a

meditation, a shamanic trance or the exercise of other spiritual technics

we can experience our soul. What people experience is however never more

than an small part of the soul; the soul knows no boundries. With the help

of spiritual discipline one can become more aware of the different aspects

of the soul, but only the limitations of the self-awareness determine the

boundries of the experience. The soul excist out of vital energy that

penetrates all living beings. Students of the Buddhist teachings and some

other spiritual schools strive without an stopping to experience the

totality of the soul, an experience what is often called enlightenment or

self-realisation. In the traditional shamanism there is however not actively

sought for the direct awareness of the soul, all though advanced shamans can

have a spontanious experience. The soul of every individual is the door to a

bigger wholeness. Of the most personal and limited particles until the one

enormous awareness- is the soul in essence one. You can say that we all have

an individual soul, but from a certain level all souls are part of a bigger

wholeness.

Besides the soul does everyone has four bodies. These four bodies all have a

different nature and exist out of different substances; they are called the

physical, etherical, astral and mental body. The physical is the anchor of

the other three; the etherical, astral and mental body penetrate the

physical structure and each other. The four bodies take the same space, but

all have a different vibration. They are connected with each other and each

have a diverent vibration. Yet they are still independent and can be

experienced as such. The four bodies are all in connection with the soul and

are fed by the soul. Every body is in fact a vehicle for the soul.

The physical body consist out of bones, blood, tissue and other material.

The etheric body is somewhat bigger than the physical one and is also named

the energetic body; it carries the life-force that keeps the physical body

in a good condition. The etherical body is in fact a more subtle version of

the physical body; the two are completely entangled. An acupucturist works

with the concept of meridians; subtle but clearly noticable energy flows

that connect the different organs and bodyparts with each other. Through

this meridians flows the etherical energy that vitalises the body. Just the

the first two bodies are closely entangles and form a unity, in the same way

are the third and the fourth body closely entangled. The third body is the

astral one, build up from matter that is more subtle than the physical or

the etherical one. Normally is the astral body noticed as a field that is

much larger than the physical structure. Sometimes it is the described as

the body that exist of flowing colours within seven turning wheels in line

with the backbone; the chakras. But there are very little shamanic cultures

that described the phenomena of the chakras and because I am trained in

shamanism dont I use the concept of chakras in my work. What the exact form

of the astral body may be; it is the carrier of memories. It is also the

body that experiences emotions. A third characteristic is the mythical

awareness; dreams and symbols form a language that the astral body uses.

Fourth in line is the mental body. This is a body of structure. Even als the

physical body is connected with the wire of the etherical body, in the same

way does the mental body give structure to the astral one. With many people

the word mental gives an association with the thinking power, but not only

thinking arises from the mental body. One can describe the mental body best

as the structure that makes thinking possible. Imagine that you are a spider

walking across its web. The webpatterns determine how the spider moves.

Simular it is for the thoughts. The mental body is not the spider but the

web: the structure that has influence of the flow of thoughts, without

actively giving direction. Just like the etherical body vitalises and

structures the energypatterns, in the same way is the mental body closely

connected with the astral one. The human body consists of chanals and

structures that determine how dreams, thoughts and associations develop. The

eventual thinking power comes from the personality, that has a completely

different structure than the soul and the four bodies. ... ...

Every of the four bodies has seperate sensations, that mingle to a unity in

our awareness. It is the personality that makes this possible, The

personality filters the output and the experiences of the four bodies, and

only what is important in the eyes of the personality enters our awareness.

Information from four different sources is thus shaped to one stream of

awareness. The inner reality that is composed out of sensations of the four

bodies determines how we relate to the world around us. The personality

determines what is reality and interpretates the events and the world around

us.

Personality is the manager of our consciousness and sometime one can focus

the attention on only one of the four bodies, in stead of the shaping the

four different sources of information to one stream. Normally this can only

happen if the body is extremely agitated and undergoes extreme experiences.

Out of Images of the soul; Daan van Kampenhout, Altamira Becht ISBN 90

6863514 3 Trans. dutch by me.

 

Personally did I get the impression that from focussing on death, one

focusses on how the different bodies fall apart. If one knows how astral

body (and mental) seperate from the others, when it falls apart with the

other bodies at death, one can use this technic for astral travel. (thus do

I speculate) .......

 

 

- The witches travel.

Time travel in the classic sense has no place in rational theory, but

temporal distortion does exist on the quantum level, and more importantly it

can be controlled.

-- Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit" ##

 

Therefore a wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always

and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and

then they will always be faithful to him.

-- Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince", Datalinks ##

 

Saivo-neides(Saami Lappish); mountain women who initiated witches with their

special water, saivo-vatn.

Saivogvelle(Saami Lappish); goddess who looked after the witches when they

went on a journey and to Jabmiaimo, the underworld, so that they might

return to be reindeer-herders.

Saivo-Lodde(Saami Lappish); goddess who shows the way to witches when they

travel.

Saivo-Olmai(Saami Lappish); Mountain gods who helped witches with their work

 

Asteria - protects witches.

The Matres (Continental Celtic) - The mothers. Roman tripple goddess.

Fodla (Irish) - Tuatha de danann; Mother aspect triple goddess symbolizing

Ireland.

Banbha (Irish) - Tuatha de danann; Crone aspect of triple goddess

symbolizing Ireland.

Eire (Irish) - Tuatha de danann; Maiden aspect of triple goddess symbolizing

Ireland.

Mac Cecht (Irish) - Whose God was the Plow; husband of Fodla. Earth element

Mac Cuill (Irish) - Whose God was the Hazel. Tuatha de danann; husband of

Banbha. Water element.

Mac Greine (Irish) - Whose God was the sun. Tuatha de danann;husband of

Eire. Fire element.

Ariada (Medieval) - Etruscan Witch goddess Daugher of Diana and Lucifer

(Moon and sun)

Bechulle (Irish) - Ancestor witch who helped Lugh.

Befana (Medieval) - Italian witch fairy who flies her broomstick on twelfth

night to come down chimneys and bring presents to children.

Cailleacg Beine Bric (Scottish) - Ancestor witch.

Cerridwen (Welsh) - Mother, moon and grain goddess.

Habondia, Dame Habonde, Abundia (Medieval) - Witch Goddess

Herodias (Medieval) - Goddess condemned by being worshipped by witches.

Holle (Germanic) - Witch goddess of marriage and fecundity

Morgan Le Fay (Of the sea fairy, her island is Avalon related to Glastonbury

Tor(?)).

Nicneven (Scottish) - samhain witchgoddess.

Noctiluca (Continental Celtic) - Gallic Witch Goddess.

Queen of Elphame (Medieval) - Scottish witchgoddess.

Satia (Italian) - Medieval witch goddess

Tlachta (Irish) - Goddess of witchcraft, died giving birth to triplets by

three different fathers.

Zobiana (Medieval) A witch goddess name.

 

European Gods and Goddesses related to death.

Bodach (Scottish) - death warning spirit.

Cailb (Irish) - Personification of death, woe and destruction.

Cer (Greek) - Goddess of violant death.

Cuma (Slavic) - Goddess of death by plague.

Cyhiraeth (Welsh) - Forewarner of death, like irish Banshee.

Donn (Irish) - Lord of the dead. He lived at Teach Duinn off the South-West

coast of Ireland, where the dead gather on their Otherworld journey to the

Isles of Blest.

Giltine (Lithuanian) - Death goddess, envisaged as having a long nose and

tongue, filled with deathly venom. By day she roam cemeteries drapped in a

white sheet, licking corpses to extract the poison. Also called Pavietre. At

times of plagues she drives from house to house, dressed as a fine lady in

black, in a carriage drawn by 6 horses. A person dressed as her, in a black

robe with a white veil on her face and carrying a sickle, acts as a role in

the mumming play of Uzgavienes, performed around the spring equinox.

Graeae(Greek) Daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, sisters of Gorgons, living on

the borders of night and death, in the far east on the ocean shore. Their

names were Enyo, Pephrido and Dino.

Gwynn app Nudd (Welsh) - Lord of the dead, leader of the wild hunt. He

inhabited an underworld kingdom whose gateway was Glastonbury Tor.

Idun (Norse). Lived in Asgard and possessed magical apples, by eating which

the Gods never grew old and weak. Wife of Bragi. Goddess of fertility, youth

and death.

Laumes (Lithuanian) Spirit women. Have long blond hair and breasts so long

that they hide their feet, but are beautiful and sexually attractive,

seducing human men and often exhausting them literally to death.

Libitina (Roman) Goddess of funerals. Whenever anyone died, a piece of money

had to be brought to her temple.

Lorelei (German) - A beautiful siren who sat on a cliff above the Rhine,

luring boatmen to death with songs.

Mora (Slavic) - Goddess representing the past year s death and destruction.

Odin (Norse) - conductor of the dead. His most ancient appearance was as a

Continental German raging Storm Giant called Wode, who assembled the souls

of the dead.

Orcus (Roman) - God of death, who took the living by force and carried them

off to the underworld.

Ragana (Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian) - Originally goddess of death and

regeneration whose influences are particularly felt at night, in winter, and

at the dark of the moon.

Surma (Finnish) - A monster personifying fatal destiny and sudden death, who

protected the entrance to the realm of the Goddess Kalma, ruler of the

graves.

Thanatos (Greek) - Underworld god, death.

Tigernmas (Irish) - Lord of death.

Tuoni (Finnish) - God and goddesses who ruled the underworld of Tuonela or

Manala. Daughters were goddesses of death (Kalma), disease (Loviatar amd

Kipu-Tytto/Kivutar) and suffering(Vammatar).

Velnias (Latvian, Lithuanian and Slavic) - God of death and underworld,

woodlands and hidden treasures

Washer at the Ford (Scottish and Irish) - Otherworldly woman washing bloodly

linen in a river knows that his death in battle is near.

Zemnya; (Lithuanian) - Earth goddes. prayer : <Mother I come from you, you

carry me, you nourish me and you will take me after death.>

Out of the complete dictionary of european Gods and Goddesses, Janet and

Stewart Farrar, Gavin Bone. Capall bann publishing ISBN 186163122-7.

 

 

- Traveling to other worlds and the world tree.

And when he has brought forth and reared this perfect virtue, he shall be

called the friend of god, and if ever it is given to man to put on

immortality, it shall be given to him.

-- Plato, "The Symposium", Datalinks ##

 

Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow

creators the creator seeks--those who write new values on new tablets.

Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about

him is ripe for the harvest.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", Datalinks ##

 

From my understanding are trees used to access other worlds. I dont know

where I read it anymore.

 

Yggdrasil as a cosmic tree is sometimes called an ash and sometimes a yew.

Yggdrasil, otherwise known as the World tree, grows out of the past, lives

in the present and reaches toward the future. It nourishes all spiritual

life and physical life. Its roots reach into all the worlds; its boughs hang

above Asgard. Yggdrasil has three main roots which hold everything together.

One root reaches into the well of Urd in Asgard, another into the Mimir of

Midgard, and the third into the Spring of Hvelgelmir in Hel. ... The World

Tree is constantly under attack by evil creatures. ...

Of the nine worlds in the Norse Mythology, Asgard is on the highest level,

with Alfheim to the east and Vanaheim to the west. The Prose Edda states

that Midgard is in the center of Ginnungagap, an area of 11 rivers and

frozen wasteland. It is Midgard that ties together all the other worlds. On

the same level as Midgard is Svartalfheim to the south, Nidavellir to the

east, and Jotunheim to the west. Below Midgard lie Hel and Nilfheim. The

Aesir gods live in Asgard, the Vanir in Vanaheim, and the Light Elves in

Alfheim or Ljossalfheim. ...

Niflheim is the world of the dead, ruled by the goddess Hel, while the

kingdom Hel is realm of the dead, ruled by Urd. ...

Niflheim or Niflhel lies south of Midgard. It is an immense land of darkness

and great cold, an area of torture for evil souls. To reach Niflheim, one

has to travel downwards for nine days from Midgard on the Helway. This road

goes through great forests and deep dark valleys, over high mountains. There

is a deep black cave between the two levels of Midgard and Hel. Near the end

of the Helway, the maiden Modgud guards the Gjallarbru or Gjoll. Beyond the

bridge are the Hel gates (Helgrind) and behind them the Hall of Death. The

Goddess Hel s palace is called Sleetcold or Sleet-Den. ...

Hel is the lower world Thingstead of the Gods. There the souls of the dead

are judged by Odhinn, and rewards or punishments handed out. Even the

Valkyries must first bring their chosen warriors to this Thingstead where

they are accepted or rejected as unworthy.

At the lower world Thingstead, the Hamingjur (individual guarding spirits)

can speak for an individual during judgement. If the person is evil he or

she is deserted by his/her Hamingjur. Those souls judged good go to Hel

where they live in eternal joy. Those condemned as evil are shackled and

driven to Niflhel by the Dark Elves. They must drink burning venom and are

subjected to the nine realms of torture.

Out of Norse Magick; By Rev. D.J. Conway. Llewllyn, ISBN 0-87542-137-7

 

 

- Krishna and death.

The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life

requires exertion, and does not consist

in amusement. If Eudaimonia, or happiness, is activity in accordance with

excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the

highest excellence; and this will be that of the best thing in us.

-- Aristotle, "Nichomachean Ethics", Datalinks ##

 

BG VII.28 Intelligent persons who are endeavoring for liberation from old

age and death take refuge in Me in devotional service. They are actually

Brahman because they entirely know everything about transcendental service.

 

BG VIII.3-4 The supreme Personality of Godhead said; The indestructible,

transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal nature is

called adhyatma,the self. Action pertaining to the development of the

material bodies of the living entities is called karma, or fruitive

activities.

O best of embodied beings(Arjuna), the physical nature, which is constantly

changing, is called adhibhuta[The material world]. The universal form of the

Lord, which includes all the demigods, like those of the sun and the moon,

is called adhidaiva. And I, the Supreme Lord, represented as the Supersoul

in the heart of every embodied being, am called adhiyajna[The lord of

sacrifice].

 

BG VIII.4 From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest,

all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But

one who attains to my abode, O son of Kunti, never take birth again.

 

BG XIII 8-12 Humbleness, modesty, non-violence, endurance, simplicity,

approaching a sound spiritual teacher, purity, balance and selfcontrol,

unattachment of that that serves sense-gratification, freedom of false ego,

seeing the evil of birth, old age, death and decease, ... ... this all do I

declare to be knowledge and what goes against this is ignorance.

Out of the Bhagavad Gita. Translator A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

(XIII 8-12 dutch transl. by me)

 

 

- Subjects of frequent contemplation.

As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of

information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people

whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst

with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its

grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of

he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams

himself your master.

-- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"##

 

Anguttara Nikaya V.57 - Upajjhatthana Sutta - Subjects for Contemplation

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. For free distribution only.

"There are these five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is

a woman or a man, lay or ordained. Which five?

"'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.' This is the first fact

that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or

ordained.

 

"'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.'...

 

"'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.'...

 

"'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to

me.'...

 

"'I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my

actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator.

Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.'...

 

"These are the five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a

woman or a man, lay or ordained.

 

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that 'I am

subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging'? There are beings who are

intoxicated with a [typical] youth's intoxication with youth. Because of

that intoxication with youth, they conduct themselves in a bad way in

body... in speech... and in mind. But when they often reflect on that fact,

that youth's intoxication with youth will either be entirely abandoned or

grow weaker...

 

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that 'I am

subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness'? There are beings who are

intoxicated with a [typical] healthy person's intoxication with health.

Because of that intoxication with health, they conduct themselves in a bad

way in body... in speech... and in mind. But when they often reflect on that

fact, that healthy person's intoxication with health will either be entirely

abandoned or grow weaker...

 

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that 'I am

subject to death, have not gone beyond death'? There are beings who are

intoxicated with a [typical] living person's intoxication with life. Because

of that intoxication with life, they conduct themselves in a bad way in

body... in speech... and in mind. But when they often reflect on that fact,

that living person's intoxication with life will either be entirely

abandoned or grow weaker...

 

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that 'I

will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me'?

There are beings who feel desire and passion for the things they find dear

and appealing. Because of that passion, they conduct themselves in a bad way

in body... in speech... and in mind. But when they often reflect on that

fact, that desire and passion for the things they find dear and appealing

will either be entirely abandoned or grow weaker...

 

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that 'I am

the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions,

related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I

do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir'? There are beings who

conduct themselves in a bad way in body... in speech... and in mind. But

when they often reflect on that fact, that bad conduct in body, speech, and

mind will either be entirely abandoned or grow weaker...

 

"Now, a disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only one

subject to aging, who has not gone beyond aging. To the extent that there

are beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings are

subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.' When he/she often reflects on

this, the [factors of the] path take birth. He/she sticks with that path,

develops it, cultivates it. As he/she sticks with that path, develops it and

cultivates it, the fetters are abandoned, the obsessions destroyed.

 

"Further, a disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only

one subject to illness, who has not gone beyond illness.'... 'I am not the

only one subject to death, who has not gone beyond death.'... 'I am not the

only one who will grow different, separate from all that is dear and

appealing to me.'...

 

"A disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only one who is

owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through

my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator; who -- whatever I do, for

good or for evil, to that will I fall heir. To the extent that there are

beings -- past and future, passing away and re-arising -- all beings are the

owner of their actions, heir to their actions, born of their actions,

related through their actions, and have their actions as their arbitrator.

Whatever they do, for good or for evil, to that will they fall heir.' When

he/she often reflects on this, the [factors of the] path take birth. He/she

sticks with that path, develops it, cultivates it. As he/she sticks with

that path, develops it and cultivates it, the fetters are abandoned, the

obsessions destroyed."

 

Subject to birth, subject to aging,

subject to death,

run-of-the-mill people

are repelled by those who suffer

from that to which they are subject.

And if I were to be repelled

by beings subject to these things,

it would not be fitting for me,

living as they do.

As I maintained this attitude --

knowing the Dhamma

without paraphernalia --

I overcame all intoxication

with health, youth, & life

as one who sees

renunciation as rest.

 

For me, energy arose,

Unbinding was clearly seen.

There's now no way

I could partake of sensual pleasures.

Having followed the holy life,

I will not return.

Revised: Tue 18 September 2001

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/anguttara/an05-057.html

 

 

- The fear of death.

There are only two ways in which we can account for a necessary agreement of

experience with the concepts of its objects: either experience makes these

concepts possible or these concepts make experience possible.

-- Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", Datalinks ##

 

Anguttara Nikaya IV.184 - Abhaya Sutta - Fearless

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. For free distribution only.

Then Janussoni the brahman went to the Blessed One and, on arrival,

exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly

greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said

to the Blessed One: "I am of the view & opinion that there is no one who,

subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death."

[The Blessed One said:] "Brahman, there are those who, subject to death, are

afraid & in terror of death. And there are those who, subject to death, are

not afraid or in terror of death.

 

"And who is the person who, subject to death, is afraid & in terror of

death? There is the case of the person who has not abandoned passion,

desire, fondness, thirst, fever, & craving for sensuality. Then he comes

down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the

thought occurs to him, 'O, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken

from me, and I will be taken from them!' He grieves & is tormented, weeps,

beats his breast, & grows delirious. This is a person who, subject to death,

is afraid & in terror of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has not abandoned passion,

desire, fondness, thirst, fever, & craving for the body. Then he comes down

with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought

occurs to him, 'O, my beloved body will be taken from me, and I will be

taken from my body!' He grieves & is tormented, weeps, beats his breast, &

grows delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is afraid &

in terror of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has not done what is good,

has not done what is skillful, has not given protection to those in fear,

and instead has done what is evil, savage, & cruel. Then he comes down with

a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought

occurs to him, 'I have not done what is good, have not done what is

skillful, have not given protection to those in fear, and instead have done

what is evil, savage, and cruel. To the extent that there is a destination

for those who have not done what is good, have not done what is skillful,

have not given protection to those in fear, and instead have done what is

evil, savage, & cruel, that's where I'm headed after death.' He grieves & is

tormented, weeps, beats his breast, & grows delirious. This, too, is a

person who, subject to death, is afraid & in terror of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person in doubt & perplexity, who has

not arrived at certainty with regard to the True Dhamma. Then he comes down

with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought

occurs to him, 'How doubtful & perplexed I am! I have not arrived at any

certainty with regard to the True Dhamma!' He grieves & is tormented, weeps,

beats his breast, & grows delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to

death, is afraid & in terror of death.

 

"These, brahman, are four people who, subject to death, are afraid & in

terror of death.

 

"And who is the person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of

death?

 

"There is the case of the person who has abandoned passion, desire,

fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. Then he comes down with

a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought does

not occur to him, 'O, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me,

and I will be taken from them!' He does not grieve, is not tormented; does

not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This is a person who, subject

to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has abandoned passion,

desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for the body. Then he comes

down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the

thought does not occur to him, 'O, my beloved body will be taken from me,

and I will be taken from my body!' He does not grieve, is not tormented;

does not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This, too, is a person

who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has done what is good, has

done what is skillful, has given protection to those in fear, and has not

done what is evil, savage, or cruel. Then he comes down with a serious

disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him,

'I have done what is good, have done what is skillful, have given protection

to those in fear, and I have not done what is evil, savage, or cruel. To the

extent that there is a destination for those who have done what is good,

what is skillful, have given protection to those in fear, and have not done

what is evil, savage, or cruel, that's where I'm headed after death.' He

does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow

delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in

terror of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has no doubt or

perplexity, who has arrived at certainty with regard to the True Dhamma.

Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious

disease, the thought occurs to him, 'I have no doubt or perplexity. I have

arrived at certainty with regard to the True Dhamma.' He does not grieve, is

not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This, too,

is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

 

"These, brahman, are four people who, subject to death, are not afraid or in

terror of death."

 

[When this was said, Janussoni the brahman said to the Blessed One:]

"Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place

upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to

one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes

could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama -- through many lines of

reasoning -- made the Dhamma clear. I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to the

Dhamma, and to the Sangha of monks. May Master Gotama remember me as a lay

follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."

Revised: Tue 16 April 2002

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/anguttara/an04-184.html

 

 

- Weaknesses.

And when the hourglass has run out, the hourglass of temporality, when the

noise of secular life has grown silent and its restless or ineffectual

activism has come to an end, when everything around you is still, as it is

in eternity, then eternity asks you and every individual in these millions

and millions about only one thing:

whether you have lived in despair or not.

-- Soren Kierkegaard, "The Sickness Unto Death", Datalinks ##

 

Well as a psychiatric patient or as a person with a sick mind do I have a

weakness in all of this. I fail to study my own death or aging process or

sickness. What I do know is that death and how to handle that has an

important role in many religions. Because of space did I leave the following

religions out; Quor aan, with Mohammed who travelled among the stars.

Egyptians with the egyptian book of the death, Venerable Buddha’s

mindfulness of death, Yoga mantra meditation, etc. But also in christianiy

focussing on death is sometimes practiced as an religious exercise and I

assume vampires meditate on the very same thing. Here however it is used as

an gift towards mother earth (and for example to the Sangha-members) and

when thinking about it I realised that it seems related to astral travel.

 

## the quotations come from the cdrom titled Sid Meiers alpha Centauri.

 

May all beings be safe and secure

May all beings be happy at heart

May all beings want to prevent and abandon doings that lead to someones

downfall.

May all beings want to do doings that lead to the highest blessings.

 

With mudita,

Ratananam Matar.

 

 

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A saying of the Buddha from http://metta.lk/

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He who has no clinging to aggregates that are past, future, or present, who

is without clinging and grasping, - him I call a Brahmana.

Random Dhammapada Verse 421