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| DEATH IS NOT FEARED BY ,ONE WHO HAS LIVED WISELY LIFE HAS NO END. |
As dana is of prime importance, the subject needs elucidation, being a foreshadow to death. The Buddha gave importance to dana as it manifests kindness, love, compassion and similar human virtues. The virtue of Samvibhaga (sharing) the Buddha advocated to the wealthy.
The purpose of offering a dana (food or gifts) to the Bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) is to rid oneself gradually of attachment to wealth and greed, whilst helping the needy. This should be done ungrudgingly with great joy to oneself. It will at the same time, if made known bring Muditha i.e. joy to others as well. A dana of food should not be given to people selectively, and in competition as a show of wealth, in society. Sadhdha in the giver has to be present when offering a dana.
The Buddha has divided the giving of dana into two main groups. Gifts or dana given to individuals (Puggalika dana), and dhana given to the Maha Sangha (the Bhikkhu order). The merit gained by giving a dana to a Samma Buddha is very great as a Buddha appears in this world very rarely. Also, a dana given to an Arahant is considered to gain great merit. A Sangika dana brings much merit, as many people contribute towards the offerings, and also because it is the Maha Sangha who carry forward the teachings of the Buddha from generation to generation. There can be in the congregation, a monk who is not that virtuous (in his seela), but the giver of the alms should not be disturbed in mind, as it is a Sanghika dana, given not to any particular priest but to the Arya Puggala Maha Sangha, (the Bhikkhu Order).
IMAGES OF RITUALS IN COLOMBO
relic casket (dhatu-karanduva), representing the Buddha, borne on head under an umbrella or canopy.
A senior monk administers the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts (see pp. 5-6) to the assembled gathering, as this has become the established custom with which any Buddhist function commences. After he has given a short address on the significance of the occasion, the food is formally presented by getting the chief householder to repeat a Pali statement: imam bhikkham saparikkharam bhikkhusanghassa dema ("These alms, along with other requisites, we offer to the whole community of monks"). Next, the food is served and once the monks have finished eating (which should be before noon) the other requisites (parikkhara), referred to in the statement quoted, are also offered.
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| buddha pooja done before any start eating |
Alms are first offered to the Buddha in a separate bowl, and are placed on a separate table on which the relic casket, containing a bone-relic of the Buddha, has been set.
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| relics |
Once this is over, another monk administers what is called punnanumodana or "thanks-giving" wherein all those who were connected with the ceremony are requested to partake of the merits (punna) for their future good. The participants are also called upon to transfer the merits they have thus acquired for the well-being of their dead kinsmen and friends as well as for the sustenance of beings in the deva worlds, i.e., the deities, who are expected to protect the donors out of gratitude. The relic casket and the monks are conducted back to the temple in the same manner as they were brought and the proceedings are concluded.
Funeral Rites for the Dead
| The early Buddhists followed the Indian custom of burning the body at death. The Buddha’s body was cremated and this set the example for many Buddhists, even in the West. When someone is dying in a Buddhist home, monks come to comfort them by chanting verses to them, such as:"Even the gorgeous royal chariots wear out; and indeed this body too wears out. But the teaching of goodness does not age; and so Goodness makes that known to the good ones." After death, while the dead person is being prepared for the funeral fire, the monks continue to chant in order to help the dead one’s good energies to be released from their fading personality. The monks come with the family to the funeral. The family and all their friends give food and candles to the monks. Goodwill is created by these gifts and it is believed that the goodwill helps the lingering spirit of the dead person.
Dying is easy . . .
In Japan a form of Mahayana Buddhism called Zen is practiced. Japanese Zen masters sometimes know when they are going to die.
Once master Hofaku called his monks together and said: "This last week my energy has been draining - no cause for worry. It is just that death is near."
A monk asked: "You are about to die! What does it mean? We will go on living. And what does that mean?"
"They are both the way of things," the master replied.
"But how can I understand two such different states?" Hofaku answered: "When it rains it pours," and then calmly died.  |
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