2013-11-11 The Buddhas Last Days Mon, 9/7 10:59PM • 41:21

SUMMARY KEYWORDS , king, stories, life, monks, die, discourse, practice, meditation, turmoil, statue, teaching, thought, age, discovered, attack, religion, world, human, war

SPEAKERS Gil Fronsdal

So Good evening, everyone. And can you hear me all right? Everybody's good. Okay. One of the primary ways in which religious teachings are conveyed by religions is through the stories that they tell. And people tend to remember the stories and celebrate the stories of founders and different events, the religion and Buddhism is no different in that it has stories that it tells that are meant to convey some of the teachings and some of our existential condition of our lives. And one of the great stories is the story of the last days of the Buddha's life. They say that in the history of Indian literature, the there's one text called the it's called the , the sutta on Buddha's final passing, which is an account of his last 6, 7, 8 months before he died, and it's the first oldest record, we have an India, of something, anything like a biography of a person, anything kind of like an account of someone's life that unfolds. So it's kind of a new genre of the times. And what scholars have said is this account of the Buddhist last day was not been was not done by a court reporter who was there to record everything down verbatim, but rather was something that was built an attitude over the centuries. Because what religions do is they tend to come up with new stories. And they sometimes forget the new stories are invented and they add them in and they create a collection of wonderful stories that the religious tradition lives by. And so, this text is very large text called the, the discourse on the final passing of the Buddha is made up of many small pieces and through it you see, and how in the ancient world what they thought was important to retain an important way of teaching what was the important message, what was important way of remembering the Buddha. And what's the one thing that is interesting about this text is they try to get cut out dramatically try to get it both ways. They both try to present the Buddha and very human terms, more than almost any other, you know, as a huge vault many volumes of ancient discourses, and the Buddha never quite seems human. You know, he's human, but, you know, he's not depicted in having, you know, somebody that's normal human emotions and things. He's very kind of independent and free or, or, you know, economist in the middle of it all. So, it's This last tech shows much more human and much more human situation. And interspersed with that is him being somewhat superhuman. And so for example, he has to cross the River. And how do you cross the Ganges River if you're a great founder of religion, you fly over. So a variety of things, you know, kind a little bit more superhuman. What I'd like to do this evening is to tell you some of the more human side of what was written down. We don't know again, this really represents the Buddha. We don't know what represents the Buddha, we just know we have these stories. And what you're going to get today is modern Buddhist, choosing those stories, which I think are significant. And what I'm going to choose is those stories that depict him more as a human being, and if you tease apart some of the stories, and kind of look behind the kind of in between the lines of some of the things are being said, you get the next Count, that the Buddha in the end of his life was living in a time of tremendous turmoil. The world that he knew for 80 years was many ways falling apart. And here he is falling apart himself as an 80 year old man sick and old. And, and you see kind of this, this whole situation to society and him facing certain kind of transition for him, his sake, his death, and then how he composes himself

This transcript is machine generated and may contain errors Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License audiodharma.org 1 how he goes through that what he thinks is important at that juncture in his life and how he dies, is part of his message.

It said in this Theravada tradition that there are four four heavenly messengers these are considered kind of mythic ideas of what can very auspicious things that you can see, that inspires people in their practice that inspires people about the importance of, of facing existential issues of our life in order to kind of find our peace with them, or liberation with them. And these four heavenly messengers are sickness, old sickness, old age, and death. And then the fourth one is a renunciant, someone who has found a way to live peacefully in the midst of this life of sickness, old age and death. And in this discourse, last days of the Buddha, the Buddha is the Heavenly Messenger for all four. He's, yeah, he's sick, you'll see. He's old. He dies. And he's a renunciant. And he's someone who has lived a life of peace of liberation or freedom. So you know, the story kind of carries a lot. This ancient story conveys him as an old and sick and person in pain, very different from the statues and images that survive. Buddhist statue. through the ages of mostly wanting to depict the Buddha as a relatively young person radiant fleshy uprights straight straight back, nice smile. Probably this is a statue we have here is depicting him. The night of his awakening is sitting in meditation. And it said that he was about 36 at that time. So you know, well, well, you know, healthy looking, upright, 36 year old man kind of looks good, right? And the statues you suggest that you see it looks even younger. And it's very, very rare. I don't even actually know if there are statues of the Buddha as an old man. I guess people don't like to represent their, you know, their founder, their, you know, over the religion and you know, decrepit old guy bent over. You know, you want to you want to have an image that represents your religion. Well But you kind of get the wrong image a little bit, you get the wrong impression of life if that's all you see, you don't get the heavenly messengers of sickness, old age and death in the same way. So, before we get into the story, in this text, I'm going to tell you, there's a context for it that you can with that little bit interpretive, but I'll tell you, what's the interpretation and what comes from most ancient texts. There is a discourse where a king comes to see the Buddha and his name is . And he was contemporary to the Buddha, they were the same age. They're both 80 years old and the story and the king learns that the Buddha is not so far away within a day's trip from where he is. And so he gathers a few people together and goes out to this, to see the Buddha and it's this king was probably of all the key of that area there are a number of small countries. This King was the one who is probably the best friends with the Buddha they known each other It seemed like most of their lives. And so they were friends and would regularly conferred with a king of the king conferred with the Buddha and things. And here they are to 80 year old men, that King learns that the Buddha is nearby. He makes a trip to go see him. And then when it comes to the woods, where the Buddha is Buddha still living in some wooded area The king has as Minister with him and maybe an army with him small you know, personal army to protect them or something. But when you go see a Buddha you go see a great religious figure, you usually don't carry with you your sword, your weapon, right you take your your AK machine gun and put it outside before you go into, you know, into the church right and most people don't carry the machine guns with them. So the king took his sword which is his turban. Both of those also represented were symbols of his power. And he took those off. And he gave them to his minister. He goes into see the Buddha. And they have a chat and the king says it's really great. We've known each other for a long time. You're an old man, you're 80 years old. I'm an old man, you're eight years old. This is all taking place in the, in the foothills of the Himalayas, or the border between his country and where the Buddha was born. And the Buddha is back in his place his home country.

And and that's kind of the end of the story. But what's between the lines and what the history is, elsewhere preserves is that the minister having the regalia of power, the symbols of power, left Went back to the Capitol and left a horse and a servant to wait for the king to come out. He took the sword and the turban, went back to the Capitol and gave it those gave those to the son of the king and the son

This transcript is machine generated and may contain errors Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License audiodharma.org 2 usurp the throne. So this is that's one story. He's 80 years old. He's up at the foothills of the Himalayas, the Buddhists. Next thing we know is that we have this discourse I'm going to tell you about called the discourse of the final passing of the Buddha, the Buddha, it's the last 6, 7, 8 months of the Buddha's life. So he's 80 years old. And he's not anymore up there in his home country. He's at least 300 miles to the south, and a capital of a different country, where there was a king named Ajatashatru, who had killed his father to become king. Many years earlier so these were bad bad sons back then. And, and so what is the Buddha doing? What is an 80 year old man doing walking 300 miles across the plains of India? Why would someone is 80 years old maybe he was really fit. Was he flying like across the river just that's the mystery. Why was he why the what why, why the distance? What the later lit literature says is that it turns to the king who was usurped by snotty member he was left in the woods without a sword and his turban. He couldn't go back to his capital because he had usurped, all they had was himself of course and a servant. And so he wanted maybe shelter, a place to go for refuge. And this king other King had killed his father. Six 300 miles to the south. He was kind of his uncle. They were kind of like related through marriage. And they had gone to war with each other many years earlier some years earlier. And personality had beat the younger agendas out too. But he released him to go home. So he owed him a favor, right? So that King personality walked 300 with his horse 300 miles to go visit the other King for place of safety, to the place where we find the Buddha and this end of his life. And the story goes that the king personality who went to the shelter came at nighttime to the edge of the city walls, they wouldn't open the gate for him. He went to a guesthouse and died there. So this is the interpretation, interpretation is that the Buddha was friends with King personality. Things are up things were not looking good. And, and so he wanted to probably help his friend the king. Maybe go down to the other two 300 miles south to this king, Ajatashatru and help Pasenadi out. But the Kings on horse, the Buddha is on foot. And by the time the Buddha gets down there, the king is dead. So what we do know from the stories of the Buddha was his home country at 80 years of age, walk 300 miles. So, and then in this discourse I'm gonna tell you about, it begins by him walking back north again. Why would an 80 year old man walk all the way down 300 miles and start walking back up again. So the idea is that there's a war for there's usurping Go for it. And the king, the son who usurped the king in the woods He didn't like the king, the Buddha's homeland and he became kind of an enemy of the Buddha's countrymen. So that was not good news. Maybe the Buddha was going for shelter too. So then hope this discourse or the Buddha's last days opens. He's in the capital of Ajatashatru before he's heading out North again, and Ajatashatru says, I want to go and attack my neighbors neighboring country called the Vijians. He says to minister go to the Buddha and ask him if this is a good idea to use and hear what he has to say about it.

So wars at foot, right, the king wants to attack a neighboring country. And the Buddha says so the minister goes and says, the king wants to do this, you know, what do you think? And I think in the ancient world, this world you know, kings were kind of absolute power. So you couldn't really kind of say directly the king, I don't think that's a good idea. Don't do it. So the Buddha says something indirect, actually doesn't even he turns to his attendant Ananda. And he says, as long as the genes hold regular and frequent assemblies, they may be expected to prosper and not decline. Ananda, have you heard that the Vijjians meet in harmony, breakup in harmony carry on the business in harmony? And then this says yes. employed so as long as they can live in harmony with each other, get along well and meet regularly. They're prosper, meaning that no one can conquer them. It's what he's implying. And the minister gets that he understands that Oh, yeah. I guess you know, we just, you know, we're not gonna succeed attacking them with our army. But then they kill them. Minister who's smart says, He says it says this Buddha. If the Buddha follows if the Vijjians really do follow these principles you're talking about, they can be expected to prosper, not decline. Certainly they will, the genes will never be conquered by King I just saw two by force of arms, listen to this, but only by means of propaganda and setting them against one another. And now, Reverend Good. Now Reverend Gotama, may I depart, I

This transcript is machine generated and may contain errors Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License audiodharma.org 3 am busy have much to do. I mean, the poor Buddha, oh, he just was trying to prevent war. And he said, No, you can't beat these people by arms. And that kings is one that finishes Yes, well, then I know what to do. We're going to, we're going to go and set them against each other. We're going to go in there subterfuge, the whole society indirectly not with arms in other ways, with a kind of painful to hear, you know, so he, you know, kind of like the Buddha gave away the, the clue. The Buddha hadn't said anything. Maybe nothing would have, you know, they would attack and they wouldn't have won. But he gave him the key to what it would take. What a terrible way to story to begin, I could just feel the political Ouch. Oh no, what did I do? What did I say? So then the Buddha starts heading north. And on the way north, at some point he gets sick. The Buddha was attacked by severe sickness with sharp pains as if you were about to die. But he endured all this mindfully clearly aware and without complaining. He thought it is not fitting that I should attain final Nibbana without addressing my followers and taking leave of the order of monks. Then, when the Buddha having recovered from a sickness, as soon as he felt better, he went outside and sat in a prepared seat in front of his dwelling. Then the Venerable Ananda came to him, saluted him, sat down to one side and said, Lord, I've seen the Buddha and comfort and I've seen the Buddha patient enduring and pain. And my body was like a drunkard and talking about himself and his Buddha's attendance, bodies like a drunkard seeing the Buddha and pain. I lost my bearings and things were unclear to me because of the Lord's sickness. The only thing that was some comfort to me was the thought. The Lord will not attain final liberation death until he has made some statement about the order of monks. It's kind of reasonable, right? An old guy, 80 years old has Order of monks that he's created, you think you'd like to give his final final teachings something to him and this is very, this is very interesting what he says. But the nundah What does the orders the order of monks expect of me? I have taught the Dhamma the teaching, making no inner and outer making nothing that was secret and public, nothing private and public nothing just for the inner crowd and for the public crowd making no inner and outer that that the Buddha has no teachers fist and respect to teachings teachers, this means you keep certain things hidden away, so that everyone could know it.

And if anyone and if there is anyone who thinks I shall take charge of the order or that the order shall refer to me, let him make some statement about the order but the Tathāgata does not think in such terms, so why should the target then make a statement of About the order. So he's basically saying I'm not going to appoint anyone to be the successor. He doesn't want a successor. Later and other places he says my successor is the teaching and the practice. And then this and the Buddha goes on very human and Ananda I am now old, worn out, one who has traversed life's path, I reached the term of life, which is at just as an old cart is made to go by, is made to go by being held together with straps. So my body is kept going by being strapped up is only when I withdraw my attention from the outer world by meditation and enter into a deep meditative trance that my body knows comfort quite something I said before they had Tylenol. So only through meditation, deep meditation could be free of his pain. So just been sick is living in pain. There's another discourse somewhere the Buddha described himself as stooped over, not very dignified for your great founder of your religion to be stooped over. This old man stooped over bent back. So it's quite something and then he gives a teaching or make him back up a little bit, but I skipped over was, so he leaves the capital of his king and wants to attack the Vijians. He comes to an other capital and they're, they're building a fort. And for fortifying the city, because the big and member King you're taught to wants to attack the Vajjians, the Vajjians one attack this other place and this king They just threw syrup to his father and he wants to attack the Buddha's home country. Wars afoot, the world is changing, the Buddha is sick and in pain and at around the same time, the Buddha is too close closest disciples die sorry put that dies which is a base right hand man kind of his main disciple. So, before the Buddha dies, his child dies, right. And then another disciples is the third most important disciple named Mahā Moggallāna dies, but he dies by being killed by bandits. Quite a story, huh?

This transcript is machine generated and may contain errors Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License audiodharma.org 4 So, this is a quite a dramatic way of ending one's life. This is a man who you know, we associate the Buddha with living peacefully having kind of being at peace, you know, liberated, awakened, enlightened person. Certainly he must have been. But there's no guarantee that that preserves or saves us from for any of us or from him from the conditions of society in the world. And so he was living in this, this is the kind of world he was living in. So in that kind of context, now he's been sick and Ananda is upset, disturbed by how sick he was. He's old, he's in pain. He's going to give kind of important teachings at this point. So he says to an under, you know, I'm old, he says, in pain. Therefore, given all this, you should live as a light on to yourselves. being your own refuge with no one else is your refuge, with a Dharma as a light with the Dharma as you refuge with nowhere other refuge so be a light on yourself. The society around you is no guarantee for your stability, your safety, your health and your body. But there is a light, there is a refuge you can have, and that refuge is found in yourself. And then he's going to say how you do that. And how does a monk live as a as a light onto himself or herself. Here, a person abides, mindful of the body. Earnest, clearly aware, mindful and having put away all hankerings and fretting for the world. And likewise, in regard to feelings, mind and mind objects. This is how a person leaves a light upon themselves.

So what he's teaching here is the four foundations of mindfulness. That the practice of being mindful of something about being clearly attentive, aware in the present moment, centered and grounded in your own immediate experience, which gives you a light gives you a refuge in the middle of this social And personnel, you know, change and turmoil at the top of his times, probably for our times as well.

And then he walks north, and he periodically he stops and teaches along his way going north and takes him about six months to walk about 230 miles. And at one point, he said, he's gonna tell the monks what it is he discovered. And this also seems pretty poignant. The Buddha taught for some 45 years, and it was a great teacher. And now he knows he's going to die. And he wants to tell what the essence of what it was. He discovered so you kind of think this is what you want to stop and listen to this. And this is what he says. This is what I discovered and proclaimed, and it should be thoroughly learned by you practice developed and cultivated. So it's interesting to learn at first, but then it's something you want to practice and cultivate. This is not just a creed to memorize and believe in. It's something something to be practiced and developed inside of oneself. So that this holy life this practice, life, may endure for a long time, that it may be for the benefit and happiness of many out of compassion for the world, for the benefit of everyone. The beautiful statement, practice these things for the benefit of all. And what are those matters that I discovered? So I'll read it to you but I think some of you will fall asleep as I go through list. So I'll explain to you first maybe. So if you fall asleep, you'll know the point. What's being what he lists here are a set of spiritual practices, and states of mind or heart that arise out of doing those practices. He doesn't mean he says, This is what I discovered. He doesn't say, a set of beliefs. He doesn't say this is the true nature of reality of the cosmos. But rather what he says is I discovered a set of practices that you can do that help you become a light onto yourself. They help you become free, find your peace in the middle of your turmoil of your life. And so, he goes through these different things that he discovered the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four roads to power, the five spiritual faculties, the five mental powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path. So, these are practices that we can do, and states of mind and experiences we can have. And now monks, I declare to you, all conditioned things are of a nature to decay, strive on mindfully. Then he says to them, to his monks, my final passing will not be long delayed three, three months from now, I will take my final liberation, I will die. So he continues on his travels, going slowly, north. And then he goes and is invited to a meal at a I think it's a blacksmith house of a blacksmith. And then blacksmith offers him some food, including something that literally is translated as pigs delight. We don't know if it's pork or some kind of mushroom, we don't know what it is. But the

This transcript is machine generated and may contain errors Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License audiodharma.org 5 Buddha said to people there, no one else should eat this. I don't think anybody no one else is able to digest this food but I'll eat it after I eat my share. You should go bury the rest of it. Well, he eats it. And this is what happens. After having eaten the meal provided by the blacksmith, the Lord was attacked by a severe sickness, with bloody diarrhea and with sharp pains if he was about to die, but he endured all this mindfully and clearly aware without complaint. bloody diarrhea that your Buddha didn't that's not the image you get looking at these statues again, but he he endured a complaint.

So then he goes on, able to continue a little bit longer. And then as it gets closer and closer that they start asking him other kinds of Questions like? What shall we do with your remains after you die? And the Buddha says, Don't worry, you're talking to his monks. Don't worry yourself about the funeral arrangements. Instead, you should, you should, you should strive for the highest goal. devote yourself to the highest goal and dwell with your minds tirelessly zealously devoted to the highest goal. Such as monastics Don't worry about funeral arrangements. It's not important. What's important for you at this point is keep your practice going. Just you know, forget about taking care of me after I die in a nice you know, he's like he has one thing he wants to teach. You know. There was a very famous monk in Thailand and Buddha Dasa, one of the great monks of 20th century and he lived in the woods most of the time he had a big monastery but very few built a little kind of wouldn't watch some stuff in the woods. And he lived most of the time outdoors. And he lived to be quite old. And his instructions was that when it was time for him to die, or when he died, was to put his body up against a tree in the woods. And so the monks and nuns could watch him the body decay, just to kind of walk, you know, watch the natural cycle take over. But he was so famous in Thailand that he wasn't given that chance to. He didn't follow his instructions and he got a big state cremation.

And then poor Ananda, the Buddha's cousin, who for 27 years was his attendant and until you know is getting wind that the Buddha is gonna die. his uncle's gonna die his cousin is gonna die. And then Venerable Ananda went to his lodgings and stood lamenting, leaning on the doorpost last. I'm still a learner with much to do, and the teacher is passing away, who was so compassionate to me. So he's kind of you know, he's lamenting the passing of his cousin and teacher. But the Buddha hears about this, and he calls and undine tells him enough, Ananda, Do not weep and wail. Have I not already told you that all things that are pleasant and delightful, are changeable, subject to separation and becoming other so how could it be an under since whatever is born Become compounded is subject to decay. How could it be that it should not pass away? Probably not. Usually, if you counsel someone in America Who's crying and loss of someone, you don't say, oh, everything's passing, and that's the way it is. But there is some wisdom to it, to recognize that to see that to be with it than this, but this is what the Buddha wanted to tell his cousin. And so then we coming closer and closer to the end. And then the Buddha. We don't know why he was heading back north, the assumption has been he was heading back to go to his home country. It kind of makes some sense, right that you people when they're old and want to die, sometimes they want to go home. And so it seems like you've done this at his 300 mile walk south. turned around. Now he's walking back. And if that's the truth, he was heading back home. He did. Make it so in other part of this, you know, things are falling apart. Society is changing, he's sick, he's in pain. He hasn't a wish maybe to go home. But even that wish cannot be fulfilled because he's, you know, coming so close to the end. So then it comes to a small village and he tells his attendance to arrange a bed for him underneath two trees outdoors. And there he lays down and they're within I don't know, maybe their expenses last night and he dies during that night. And, and they're one of his last I think kind of touching things that he does is he asked the monks whose monastics are around him. He asks them three times. He says,

It may be that some monks have doubts or uncertainty about the Buddha, the Dharma or the , or about the path or the practice, ask now, do not afterwards feel remorse thinking the teacher was

This transcript is machine generated and may contain errors Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License audiodharma.org 6 there before us and we failed to ask the Buddha face to face. That's a pretty nice, you know? Yeah, I'm gonna give you one chance to one last chance to really ask your questions. look deeply Do you have any doubts, any concerns? This is your chance. It's like one of the very last thing he does when he's still alive. And he asks three times and no one has any questions. No one asks him Then, the Buddha says what he said earlier, all conditions, this is the very last thing he said. And different translators will translate differently. It's a very significant statement. All conditioned things are of a nature to decay. Strive on untiringly or diligently, be mindful. Last thing, he said, Be mindful diligently. And then laying there underneath these two trees at night, he entered into a state of meditation. And he went into the deepest states of meditation that he knew. And then he started to come out of the deepest stage stages of meditation came kind of almost all the way out. And then he went about halfway down to the depths that he knew, and halfway down to the depths of meditation that he was familiar with from many years of meditating. That's where he passed away. Great, you know, imagine the monk sitting there underneath two trees, the nighttime and the plains of India. He seems to be you know, he's offered his monks the chance to ask questions. It's given his last teachings. He seems pretty much at peace. With things not going well around him. The world's coming up falling apart with war and violence, that of his disciples and his old age, but he seems peaceful. And then, because you cannot go deep into the states of meditation, if your heart's not addressed if you're not at peace, it's not possible. It to be pretty quiet and settled. And he goes, he dips deep in, goes in, goes deep comes out, begins to go and deep again, and then he passes away peacefully. Isn't that a beautiful way of dying?

So that's the human side of the story. I left out the jumping over the river, flying over the river. But this because I tell it this way, because this this human side of the story is what I find most meaningful and inspiring that we know we all hopefully, if we're lucky enough, I suppose all of us will have to encounter these things sickness, old age and death. All of us might, like had a typhoon in Philippines. You know, we live on top of the San Andreas fault. You know? Tomorrow the news might be about us, not the Philippines. You know, we don't know we're not we're not expecting war in California, anytime soon. Nevada is not about attack attack us. But you know, there's this It can be turned upside down very quickly. And your health can change quickly. And to remember this, and to take it in and not to be depressed or discouraged or frightened or despair around it. But there's a way with the Buddhist tradition say there's a way of taking this very seriously. And honestly, that can be enough inspiring is the right word, but motivating, to practice motivating to really get down to what's most important than life. peace with the Buddhist tradition says is, and that is, in a sense to get to the other side of those things. Get in a sense of getting the other side of sickness, old age and deaths, the other side of war and social turmoil. So that as they're happening, we are not pushed around by them. We're not caught by it. We don't despair by them. We found our peace with them, our freedom in the midst of it. And this beautiful thing you said earlier, that we've certainly been Practice for this, cultivate these things fall out of compassion for the world for welfare and happiness of all beings. So that's how the founder of this religion died. And I think it's a nice story. If you go into the library, I think it's still there. In the very top shelf in the library. There's a statue of the Buddha passing away. We let him pass away in the library. He's up. He's gotten a spot for three four feet long statue, he's laying down one side so if you go in there, you can pay your respects. So I hope that was okay. They tell you these ancient stories and share this with you. To get a sense little bit of what the ancient Buddhist tradition or not just the ancient but with this religious side of Buddhism, that relies on stories and texts, you know where it all comes from. This is part of Have it and for those of you who couldn't care less about stories and prefer to have just the basic technology of mindfulness and helping you cope better in your life that'll come some other night. So, thank you

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