Saturday, July 18, 2009

What is your destination? Your future born?

Today I hear a talk given by Sayadaw U Vimala about questions of Venerable Ananda to Lord Buddha regarding a group of people that had passed away in a village called Nadika due to bubonic plague. Venerable Ananda asked the Buddha about the destiny or the future born of every people that had died in that city during the plague epidemic. At first the Buddha answered the questions by stating the destination for the 4 types of Ariyas. An Arahant will have no destination or life after he dies as an Arahant had destroyed all the defilement. An Anagami will only be reborn in the Arupaloka and the Sakadagami will only be born once in the Sensual world. The Sotapanna will have 7 more lives.
However, the Buddha advised Venerable Ananda to cultivate Dhammadassa Mirror of Dhamma so that he can see for himself where his destination will be, as a person who have great confidence in the Triple Gems and Kamma-Vipaka will know what his future born will be.
From this Sutta, Sayadaw said that the lay people must be aware that coming to temple and doing good do not necessary will guarantee one safety and freedom from problem as Ariyas had also succumbed to diseases.
Therefore, Sayadaw advises us in BMBMC to constantly have Saddha in the Triple Gem by chanting Iti pi so .. Svakhato.. and Supatipanno ... every day to remind us about the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Also we have to take our precepts vow every day and keep the precepts. With this Saddha, we can then overcome the problems that we may encounter in our daily life in peace and calmness.
Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu

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