THE LAST TEACHING OF THE BUDDHA
- Beneath the sala trees at Kusinagara, in his last words to his disciples, the Buddha said:
“Make of yourself a light. Rely upon yourself: do not depend upon anyone else. Make my teachings your light. Rely upon them: do not depend upon any other teaching. Consider your body: Think of its impurity. Knowing that both its pain and its delight are alike causes of suffering, how can you indulge in its desires?
Consider your [10] ‘self’; think of its transiency; how can you fall into delusion about it and cherish pride and selfishness, knowing that they must all end in inevitable suffering? Consider all substances; can you find among them any enduring ‘self’? Are they not all aggregates that sooner or later will break apart and be scattered?
Do not be confused by the universality of suffering, but follow my teaching, even after my death, and you will be rid of pain. Do this and you will indeed be my disciples.”
- “My disciples, the teachings that I have given you are never to be forgotten or abandoned. They are always to be treasured, they are to be thought about, they are to be practiced. If you follow these teachings you will always be happy.
The point of the teachings is to control your own mind. Keep your mind from greed, and you will keep your behavior right, your mind pure and your words faithful. By always thinking about the transiency of your life, you will be able to resist greed and anger, and will be able to avoid all evils.
If you find your mind tempted and so entangled in greed, you must suppress and control the temptation; be the master of your own mind. [11]
A man’s mind may make him a Buddha, or it may make him a beast. Misled by error, one becomes a demon; enlightened, one becomes a Buddha. Therefore, control your mind and do not let it deviate from the right path.”
- “You should respect each other, follow my teachings, and refrain from disputes; you should not, like water and oil, repel each other, but should, like milk and water, mingle together.
Study together, learn together, practice my teachings together. Do not waste your mind and time in idleness and quarreling. Enjoy the blossoms of Enlightenment in their season and harvest the fruit of the right path.
The teachings which I have given you, I gained by following the path myself. You should follow these teachings and conform to their spirit on every occasion.
If you neglect them, it means that you have never really met me. It means that you are far from me, even if you are actually with me; but if you accept and practice my teachings, then you are very near to me, even though you are far away.”
- “My disciples, my end is approaching, our parting is [12] near, but do not lament. Life is ever changing; none can escape the dissolution of the body.
This I am now to show by my own death, my body falling apart like a dilapidated cart.
Do not vainly lament, but realize that nothing is permanent and learn from it the emptiness of human life. Do not cherish the unworthy desire that the changeable might become unchanging.
The demon of worldly desires is always seeking chances to deceive the mind. If a viper lives in your room and you wish to have a peaceful sleep, you must first chase it out.
You must break the bonds of worldly passions and drive them away as you would a viper. You must positively protect your own mind.”
- “My disciples, my last moment has come, but do not forget that death is only the end of the physical body. The body was born from parents and was nourished by food; just as inevitable are sickness and death.
But the true Buddha is not a human body: – it is Enlightenment. A human body must die, but the Wisdom of Enlightenment will exist forever in the truth of the Dharma, and in the practice of the Dharma.
He who sees [13] merely my body does not truly see me. Only he who accepts my teaching truly sees me.
After my death, the Dharma shall be your teacher. Follow the Dharma and you will be true to me.
During the last forty-five years of my life, I have withheld nothing from my teachings. There is no secret teaching, no hidden meaning; everything has been taught openly and clearly. My dear disciples, this is the end.
In a moment, I shall be passing into Nirvana. This is my instruction.” [14]
CHAPTER TWO THE ETERNAL AND GLORIFIED
BUDDHA
I HIS COMPASSION AND VOWS
- The Spirit of Buddha is that of great loving kindness and compassion. The great loving kindness is the spirit to save all people by any and all means.
The great compassion is the spirit that prompts it to be ill with the illness of people, to suffer with their suffering.
‘Your suffering is my suffering and your happiness is my happiness,” said Buddha, and, just as a mother always loves her child, He does not forget that spirit even for a single moment, for it is the nature of Buddhahood to be compassionate.
The Buddha’s spirit of compassion is stimulated according to the needs of the people; one’s faith is the reaction to this spirit, and it leads him to Enlightenment, just as a mother realizes her motherhood by loving her child; then the child, reacting to that love, feels safe and at ease. [15]
Yet people do not understand this spirit of Buddha and go on suffering from the illusions and desires that arise from their ignorance; they suffer from their own deeds accumulated through worldly passions, and wander about among the mountains of delusion with the heavy burden of their evil deeds.
- Do not think that the compassion of the Buddha is only for the present life; it is a manifestation of the timeless compassion of the eternal Buddha that has been operative since unknown time, when mankind went astray due to ignorance.
The eternal Buddha always appears before people in the most friendly forms and brings to them the wisest methods of relief.
Shakyamuni Buddha, born a Prince among his Shakya kinsmen, left the comforts of his home to live a life of asceticism. Through the practice of silent meditation, he realized Enlightenment. He preached the Dharma (the teaching) among his fellow men and finally manifested it by his earthly death.
The working of Buddhahood is as everlasting as human ignorance is endless; and as the depth of ignorance is bottomless, so Buddha’s compassion is boundless. [16]
When Buddha decided to break from the worldly life, he made four great vows: 1) To save all people; 2) To renounce all worldly desires; 3) To learn all the teachings; and 4) to attain perfect Enlightenment.
These vows were manifestations of the love and compassion that are fundamental to the nature of Buddhahood.
- Buddha first taught himself to avoid the sin of killing any living creature, he wished that all people might know the blessedness of a long life. Buddha trained himself to avoid the sin of stealing, he wished that all people might have everything they needed.
Buddha trained himself to avoid ever committing adultery, he wished that all people might know the blessedness of a pure spirit and not suffer from insatiable desires.
Buddha, aiming at his ideal, trained himself to remain free from all deception, he wished that all people might know the tranquility of mind that would follow in speaking the truth. He trained himself to avoid double-talk; he wished that all people might know the joy of fellowship. [17]
He trained himself to avoid abusing others, and then he wished that all might have the serene mind that would follow by living in peace with others.
He kept himself free from idle talk, and then wished that all might know the blessedness of sympathetic understanding.
Buddha, aiming at his ideal, trained himself to keep free from greed, and by this virtuous deed he wished that all people might know the peacefulness that would go with this freedom.
He trained himself to avoid anger, and he wished that all people might love one another.
He trained himself to avoid ignorance, and wished that all people might understand and not disregard the law of causation.
Thus Buddha’s compassion embraces all people, and his constant consideration is for their happiness. He loves people as parents love their children and wishes the highest blessedness for them, namely, that they will be able to pass beyond this ocean of birth and death. ~Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, The Teaching of the Buddha Wheel of Dharma, Page 10-14
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