Buddhist Women on a Path of Spiritual Awakening
A reflection from Ajahn Jayasāro:
For most people, reaching the end of their life, breathing becomes laboured. Meditation on the breath, even for experienced meditators becomes difficult. At this crucial time, with death approaching, the meditations that are most practical are those that use the power of recollection to stimulate uplifting emotion.
Once kindled, that emotion can become the meditation object. If the mind starts to waver, then the meditator is encouraged to return to the original recollection in order to rekindle the emotion. Wholesome emotion, systematically cultivated in this way, can take the mind beyond the hindrances and into samādhi.
The most powerful of these meditations is the recollection of the good deeds that one has performed throughout one’s life. When we recall occasions on which we acted kindly and purely for the welfare of others, with no desire for any kind of reward, we feel an immediate sense of well-being. This is true even for good actions performed many years ago.
To realise that such a source of joy and peace lies within us is a wonderful discovery. We come to understand that no goodness is ever lost. Every kind action we have performed has added to the store of ‘noble treasure’ within.
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Nearly nine billion circling
This realm of disease
Decay and death
We all perish one day
And the end comes
Unannounced
Where is sanctuary?
I tell you –
Everything is ownerless
Everywhere crumbling
Ready to be wrenched away
At any moment
Just like this body
We have no choice
Then we let go –
There is sanctuary.
When compassion and wisdom
Preside in the mind
Awake in your refuge
Every imposter unmasked
Spurred on through panic
Fear
Or unspeakable loss
To surpass all suffering –
There is sanctuary.
When you gaze
At your own heart’s mirror
Beyond the tumult
Of the world
Nothing can compare
To that sheer silence
In the unabashed joy
Of the mind’s purity –
There is sanctuary.
When you pierce the trappings
Of delusion
Unveil the mystery of being
Our innate treasure
Dwelling blameless
Radiant and wise
Shredding the ghosts
Of lifetimes –
There is sanctuary
Knowing what is counterfeit
Unsustainable
Fleeting and empty
Die to shame
Sorrow, anger
And selfishness
Stay long enough
Under the arc of Truth –
There is sanctuary.
Ascend like the giant sycamore
A friend and shelter
For living beings
Reviled or loved
Seen or lost
Glad or despairing
Bestowing forgiveness
To all –
There is sanctuary.
Bless and be blessed,
Nothing greater nor less
With absolute faith
Unafraid
Expecting nothing
Enduring the many pains
Of the Way –
There is sanctuary.
When those pains reveal
Hidden gems
In your innermost heart
Trusting as you venture
In the unchartered depths
Of that sacred Truth
A seedling no more –
There is sanctuary.
© Ayyā Medhānandī
Sati Saraniya Hermitage 01-2020
*** from Ajahn Jayasāro
“The more closely we contemplate our bodies and minds and the world we live in, the more profoundly we become aware of fragility and instability.
When a crisis like this pandemic lays bare the unreliable and uncertain nature of the world, we are unsurprised. We know that what is happening right now is not a deviation from the norm. It is merely that the covers have been dragged away from the truths that most people spend their lives trying to ignore.
With a daily grounding in the way things are, we can remain free from panic, anxiety and depression. We can turn our minds to compassion.
Faced with suffering of this depth and range, we form the heart-felt wish that all people, young and old, in all countries of the world, be free from infection. If they have contracted the virus, may they recover.
If they do not recover, may they be able to endure their pain with patience and acceptance; may they have a refuge in their heart to turn to; and in their final days, may they be surrounded with love and kindness.”
*** from the Buddha’s teaching at Sāvatthī, “If There is No Desire”, Nidāna Saṃyutta, SN 12.64 (Connected Discourses on Causation)
“Suppose, monks, there was a bungalow or a hall with a peaked roof, with windows on the northern, southern, or eastern side. When the sun rises and a ray of light enters through a window, where would it land?”
“On the western wall, Venerable Sir.”
“If there was no western wall, where would it land?”
“On the earth, Venerable Sir.”
“If there was no earth, where would it land?”
“In water, Venerable Sir.”
“If there was no water, where would it land?”
“It wouldn’t land, Venerable Sir.”
“In the same way, if there is no desire, relishing, and craving for solid food, consciousness does not become established there and doesn’t grow. … If there is no desire, relishing, and craving for contact as fuel … If there is no desire, relishing, and craving for mental intention as fuel … If there is no desire, relishing, and craving for consciousness as fuel, consciousness doesn’t become established there and doesn’t grow.
Where consciousness is not established and doesn’t grow, name and form are not conceived. Where name and form are not conceived, there is no growth of choices. Where choices don’t grow, there is no rebirth into a new state of existence in the future. Where there is no rebirth into a new state of existence in the future, there is no rebirth, old age, and death in the future. Where there is no rebirth, old age, and death in the future, I say there’s no sorrow, anguish, and distress.”
Caught in quivering flames
of fear
too vulnerable to see or hear
deafened by blame and loss –
I listen again to the Quiet.
I stand empty
at the altar of emptiness
bowing to goodness
to wisdom
my singular refuge –
the heart’s great compassion
come what may.
Tears and trials
no pain too cruel
to forgo kindness.
Open and awake
beneath the canopy
of Truth
where the wild fruit softens
ripens and falls –
it has no choice.
I learn to abseil
the impossible heights
on a nameless track
trusting the voice
of the ancients –
weaned on the joy
of letting go.
Through our hurdles
and struggles
of body and mind
we arrive –
yes, we arrive
at the cusp of death
in one tender exhalation.
Better set our moral compass
to the truth of this moment
stay present
facetime with now
discard the burden
in its entirety.
There we will touch
impermanence
the karmic law
and taste this Noble Truth
of pain
and the ending of pain
leading us beyond
self-obsession.
Do imposters beg our attention?
evict them all
one in-breath, one out
two, three
impermanent
imperfect
impersonal.
O to see at last
stay the course
at the coordinates of faith
gratitude
clarity
and peace –
the heart will unfold kindly.
Soaked in forgiveness
bravely blessing what is sweet
or sorrowful –
every moment
passing away.
© Ayyā Medhānandī 2019
photo by Brenna Artinger @ Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage
** Instead of a gift, please carpool if possible and kindly bring your own plate and fork/spoon to eat out of – this will lessen disposable waste.
Join us for a week of silent vipassana meditation lead by Ayya Medhanandi and sponsored by Satipanna Insight Meditation Toronto (SIMT) from August 9-16, 2019.
The venue for the retreat is Chapin Mill, a beautiful 135 acre purpose-built Buddhist meditation center run by the Rochester Zen community. It was founded by Philip Kapleau and is located in rural Batavia, near Rochester, upper New York state – 2.5 hours by car from Toronto, 6 hours from Ottawa.
Registration is now open. Contact SIMT for registration details.