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Buddhist Hour
Radio Broadcast on Hillside 88.0 FM
Broadcast 304 for Sunday 23 November 2003


Remembering our Ancestors.

Glossary

ahimsa = non-violence
remembrance = the action of remembering; the process or fact of being remembered; memory or recollection concerning a particular person or thing.


Edward De Bono writes in his book New Thinking for the New Millennium that, “the past millennium of recognition, judgment, discrimination allows us to use our knowledge but does not help to design new possibilities”. He goes on to ask, “Is it possible that one day dominance by aggression will be replaced by ‘dominance by wisdom’?”

Benjamin Franklin once said: "There never was a good war or bad peace."

Today we recognise and reflect on Remembrance Day, the day Australians remember those who have died in war.

Remembrance Day is 11 November each year.

Armistice is a temporary stopping of warfare by mutual agreement, as a truce preliminary to the signing of a peace treaty or agreement.

Remembrance Day is also know as Armistice Day.

The armistice in 1918 brought an end to four years of hostilities that saw 61,919 Australians die.

World War was said the be 'the war to end all wars'.

The Buddha spoke the truth when he said, “hatred will never be appeased by hatred, hatred can only be appeased by love”.

On the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour one minute silence is observed in recognition of the men and women of the Australian Imperial Force who died on battlefields in the Middle East, Gallipoli and Europe.

This occurred for the first time in 1919.

The Department of Veteran's Affairs explains about the tradition of wearing poppies on Remembrance Day:

"Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for those who had been incapacitated by the war. The practice began in Australia the same year, promoted by the RSL or Returned & Services League of Australia (formerly known as Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia).

"In the lead-up to 11 November each year, the RSL sells red poppies for Australians to pin on their lapels, with proceeds helping the organisation undertake welfare work.”

“By planting the seeds in April, the poppies bloom in November, in time for Remembrance Day. They serve as a visual reminder of those Australians who have died in war.

"The Ancient Greeks believed that rosemary made their memories stronger. This idea has been carried on today when people wear sprigs of rosemary as a symbol of remembrance for those who have died in wars.

"Twentieth century warfare resulted in millions of unknown dead resting in unknown graves. Of Australia's war dead from World War I and World War II, 35 527 (about 35 per cent) have no known graves. The names of many Australians who died in World War I appear on memorials along the Western Front, including the names of about 18,000 men of the Australian Imperial Force with 'no known grave’.

The Department of Veteran's Affairs website can be found at www.dva.gov.au.



The Queen, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard dedicated the new memorial located at Hyde Park, London on the 11 November 2003.

The memorial is said to honour 101,000 Australians killed in two world wars fighting alongside British troops.

The memorial was designed by architect Peter Tonkin and is made from Western Australian greyish-green granite listing the 24,000 hometowns of the 1.5 million Australians who enlisted for the world wars. Of those, 101,000 did not return.

The curving wall is intended to reflect the sweep of the Australian landscape. It is 85 years since the Armistice was signed, bringing an end to fighting in World War One.

This event was reported in the article "Memorial honour 101,000 killed in world wars”, published in The Age newspaper on 12 November 2003.

Mr Howard said “in the memorial we affirm our dream of a world set free from hate” but also warned that history's lesson was “that evil will always dwell within in the world”.

As the Buddha says, “The victor breeds hatred, and the defeated lies down in misery. He who renounces both victory and defeat is happy and peaceful”. The only conquest that brings peace and happiness is self conquest. “One may conquer millions in battle, but he who conquers himself, only one, is the greatest of conquerors.” (cited in Venerable Rahula in What the Buddha Taught)

Will you remember that the real victor conquers himself or herself?

Lao Tzu wrote:

If there is to be peace in the world, There must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, There must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, There must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, There must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

Mother Teresa told: "What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family."

In Buddhism, we also have celebrations and practices to remember those who have died. We make offerings to our ancestors. These are sincere acts of gratitude and respect.

The Soto Zen School in Japan teaches about offering to our ancestors. Their website can be accessed at www.sotozen-net.or.jp:

Our very existence depends on ancestral ties. We are here today because of our parents, just as they derived life from theirs. When we die, we join the ranks of ancestors, ties with whom extend from the past, through the present, and into the future.

In addition to people we knew and loved, our ancestors include countless already forgotten personality-less forebears from the distant past. All of them are deeply connected with our own existences.

Primarily, in Japan, parishioners go to temples to demonstrate respect and gratitude to ancestors by visiting family graves and making memorial offerings, which may be of three kinds.

First, we make tangible offerings of incense, flowers, food, and drink to benefit the dead.

Second, we chant and read the sutras to show respect to the dead. Sutra readings correspond to expounding the Buddha's teachings. Incense are offered to get the attention of Devas and Devatas.

The third kind of offering takes the form of practical action: we abandon the secular world, dedicate every day to the Buddha, and put the Buddha's teachings into our practice in the quest for our enlightenment. Believers demonstrate their gratitude by making offerings to priests.

In general, offerings to the ancestors are made of the following occasions: the day of the funeral; the 49th day after death (49 days is the period between death and the assumption of another form of life); the 100th day after death; then at the conclusion of the first, second, third, seventh, 13th, 17th, 23rd, 27th, and 33rd full years after death.

According to the Japanese, offerings may also be made annually during visits to the cemetery on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (o-higan) and during the urabon festival (o-bon) between the 13th and 16th of July (or August according to the lunar calendar).

These offerings are important because, commemorating only the good thoughts and deeds of the departed, they remind us that essential human nature is intrinsically good. We too, inherit the Buddha nature. Making repeated offerings to the dead manifests that nature in our minds and bodies. In this way we assist our heavenly ancestors to find peace and perfect wisdom (enlightenment).

Memorial offerings are a sincerely good way of making recompense to the dead for the favors they showed. They incur merit on their own. And, when it accumulates, this merit repays us by helping us find peaceful repose in our turns.

To be truly effective, our offerings must be dedicated to the interests of those who have died, as we ourselves must do someday.

By repeatedly hearing the Law, by reading the sutras, and by making offerings helps survivors overcome their grief. This practise confers the happiness of sharing life with others.

Pouring water at funerals is encouraged.

At the conclusion of scripture reading and memorial services, you chant a passage requesting that merits attained by our actions be transferred to all creatures. Our offerings to the dead should by directed, not merely to our own relations or direct ancestors, but to all beings.

We must extend a welcoming hand to the beings of all living things. Offerings are complete and manifest the impartial benefits of the Dharma World only when they are offered in grateful recompense to Buddha and are made for the sake of all beings.

The combination of indigenous culture and various Buddhist ideas imported from India encouraged the spread of ancestor worship.

With their emphasis on filial piety, the Chinese were naturally receptive to the story of Maudgalyayana and the salvation of his mother's spirit from the realm of Hungry Demons. The idea of offerings employed to convert the calamity of others to good fortune found a welcome place in Chinese society.

As is well known, Maudgalyayana's story is the basis for the o-bon festival, which, under Buddhist influence, merged with a Taoist day of expiation called zhongyuan. In Taiwan, where Chinese Buddhism survives, offerings to the dead are made on this day.

Rooted in ethnic faiths, ancestor worship matured under the influence of Buddhist teachings. Japanese offerings to spirits of the dead represent the melding of indigenous ancestor worship, and Buddhism, imported from China.

We are alive because of ancestors. We must be grateful for them and live in such a way as to set others a good example. This is the best way to recompense our forebears.

Venerable Santikaro Bhikkhu wrote in a recollection titled "Ancestors’ Days: a Time of Gratitude" (18 August 2003):

Briefly, Ancestors’ Day is the day when the spirits (or memories or however one likes to think of them) of deceased parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and beyond are welcomed back in the human world where they once lived.

It seems the emphasis has been on ancestors known personally or at least heard of while growing up. After two weeks of honorary visitation, they are returned to wherever they came from, which is also called Wan Taa-Yai. This, at least, is the popular understanding as it was most commonly explained to me.

We welcome them back in order to honor them, express gratitude, and make offerings to dedicate to them and their well-being within the realms of karma and consequences. These are primary values in Thai Buddhism, which become the focus during this period of Ancestors’ Days.

We honor the ancestors for giving us the opportunity to be here. Parents raising children throughout the generations made it possible for our turn to come.

Further, this generational nurturing is far more than a physical process. It involves love, healthy values, culture, and religion. The ancestors passed on the knowledge base from which the next generation lives and progresses.

Our ancestors cultivated the values, customs, and culture that surround us and guide life’s meaning. They supported Buddhism, the Wats, the teachers and teachings, and Dhamma practice so that Buddha-Dhamma is passed on to us in a sufficiently viable and relevant form.

For example, there was a meditation boom in the area a decade or so before Ajarn Buddhadasa was born. And Chaiya had a self-confidence and independence that could stand up to Bangkok’ s cultural arrogance. These helped foster conducive conditions for Suan Mokkh 30 years alter. Without the ancestors and their gifts to us, physical, psychological, and spiritual life would be impossible. Thus, ancestors are such genetically, culturally, and spiritually.


Remembering ancestors and their suffering can help us to see the need to make efforts to better the world.

As we remember those who have died in war for our freedom, perhaps we can also think of the causes of war and how we can help to create peace.

We must send loving kindness into the world.

Of course, for most of us this cannot be achieved in a day, or even this life but it will be a fruit in the future when the time is right.

The tendency towards humanistic thought, religious feelings and mind nurturing among young persons is not as widely spread as you think. Many fancy themselves as Rambos.

It does not help much to slander those who killed our ancestors for how they behaved towards them. Unless we can take the necessary steps to reduce vandalism, bullying and a rising suicide rate among our younger persons, we are heading for trouble.

Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, whose power of peace works during the Vietnamese war are now legendary used to say, “Remember… human beings are not our enemy”.

Some good advice can be read at website http://www.purifymind.com:

"If we want peace we must give peace. This is the universal law of karma. Peace does not come from the end of a gun barrel. Only peace is the cause of peace.

“War is the cause of war. Peace is not the cause of war. War is not the cause of peace. Any peace gained through war might give a temporary sense of peace but it can only last until the karmic debt of war comes due. And when it does, it always comes with compounded interest.

“If we really want peace we must lead the world by example because only by transforming our enemies into our friends can we really develop lasting peace.

Nina Van Gorkom writes in "Abhidhamma in Daily Life" (Chapter 6):

We would like to live in a world of harmony and unity among nations and we are disturbed when people commit acts of violence. We should consider what is the real cause of war and discord between people: it is the defilements which people have accumulated.

When we have aversion we think that other people or unpleasant situations are the cause of our aversion. However, our accumulation of dosa (in Pali: hate) is the real cause that aversion arises time and again. If we want to have less dosa we should know the characteristic of dosa and we should be aware of it when it arises.

Dosa (hate) has many degrees; it can be a slight aversion or it can be more coarse, such as anger. We can recognize dosa when it is coarse, but do we realize that we have dosa when it is more subtle? By studying Buddha Abhidhamma, we can come to a deeper understanding of dosa.

Dosa is an akusala cetasika (unwholesome mental factor) arising with an akusala citta (unwholesome consciousness). A citta rooted in dosa is called in Pali: dosa-mula.citta.

The characteristic of dosa is different from the characteristic of lobha (in Pali: greed). When there is lobha, the citta likes the object that it experiences at that moment, whereas when there is dosa, the citta has aversion towards the object it experiences.

We can recognize dosa when we are angry with someone and when we speak disagreeable words to him or her. But when we are afraid of something it is dosa as well, because one has aversion towards the object one is afraid of. There are so many things in life we are afraid of: one is afraid of the future, of diseases, of accidents, of death.

One looks for many means in order to be cured of anguish, but the only way is the development of the wisdom which eradicates the latent tendency of dosa.

Dosa (hate) is conditioned by lobha (greed): we do not want to lose what is dear to us and when this actually happens we are sad. Sadness is dosa, it is akusala (unwholesome). If we do not know things as they are, we believe that people and things last.

However, people and things are only phenomena that arise and fall away immediately. The next moment they have changed already. If we can see things as they are we will be less overwhelmed by sadness. It makes no sense to be sad about what has happened already.

If you would like to learn Buddha Abhidhamma, please join our weekly Abhidhamma classes every Tuesday from 7.30pm. You can ring us on 9754 3334, or visit us at 33 Brooking Street, Upwey, Victoria.


In the 'Psalms of the Sisters' (Therigatha, 33) we read that the king's wife Ubbiri mourned the loss of her daughter Jiva. Every day she went to the cemetery. She met the Buddha who told her that in that cemetery about eighty-four thousand of her daughters (in past lives) had been burnt.

The Buddha said to her:

'O, Ubbiri, who wails in the wood
Crying, O Jiva! O my daughter dear!
Come to yourself! See, in this burying-ground
Are burnt full many a thousand daughters dear,
And all of them were named like unto her.
Now which of all those Jivas do you mourn?'

After Ubbiri pondered over the Dhamma thus taught by the Buddha she developed insight and saw things as they really are; she even attained arahantship.

In doing kind deeds to others we cannot eradicate the latent tendency of dosa, but at least at those moments we do not accumulate more dosa. The Buddha exhorted people to cultivate lovingkindness (metta). We read in the 'Karaniya Metta-sutta’ what one should do in order to gain the 'state of peace'. One should have thought of love for all living beings.


We would now like to read to you the Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Discourse on Loving-kindness
Translated from the Pali by Piyadassi Thera.

While the Buddha was staying at Savatthi, a band of monks, having received subjects of meditation from the master, proceeded to a forest to spend the rainy season (vassana). The tree deities inhabiting this forest were worried by their arrival, as they had to descend from tree abodes and dwell on the ground. They hoped, however, the monks would leave soon; but finding that the monks would stay the vassana period of three months, harassed them in diverse ways, during the night with the intention of scaring them away.

Living under such conditions being impossible, the monks went to the Master and informed him of their difficulties. Thereon the Buddha instructed them in the Metta sutta and advised their return equipped with this sutta for their protection. The monks went back to the forest, and practicing the instruction conveyed, permeated the whole atmosphere with their radiant thoughts of metta or loving-kindness. The deities so affected by this power of love, henceforth allowed them to meditate in peace.

The discourse gets divided into two parts. The first detailing the standard of moral conduct required by one who wishes to attain Purity and Peace, and the second the method of practice of metta.

"He who is skilled in (working out his own) well being, and who wishes to attain that state of Calm (Nibbana) should act thus: he should be dexterous, upright, exceedingly upright, obedient, gentle, and humble.

”Contented, easily supportable, with but few responsibilities, of simple livelihood, controlled in the senses, prudent, courteous, and not hanker after association with families.

"Let him not perform the slightest wrong for which wise men may rebuke him. (Let him think:) 'May all beings be happy and safe. May they have happy minds.'

"Whatever living beings there may be -- feeble or strong (or the seekers and the attained) long, stout, or of medium size, short, small, large, those seen or those unseen, those dwelling far or near, those who are born as well as those yet to be born -- may all beings have happy minds. "Let him not deceive another nor despise anyone anywhere. In anger or ill will let him not wish another ill. "Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings. "Let him radiate boundless love towards the entire world -- above, below, and across -- unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.

"Standing, walking, sitting or reclining, as long as he is awake, let him develop this mindfulness. This, they say, is 'Noble Living' here.

"Not falling into wrong views -- being virtuous, endowed with insight, lust in the senses discarded -- verily never again will he return to conceive in a womb."

One of the blessings resulting from the practice of metta or loving kindness is that a person never dies with a confused mind.


Right understanding of realities will help us most of all to have more lovingkindness and compassion towards others instead of dosa.


The Venerable Thich Naht Hanh has taught: "If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace."

Venerable Dr. Bellanvila Wimalaratana wrote (11 May 2003):

“Any kind of violence is completely denounced in Buddhism. Not only does Buddhism admonish its followers not to personally engage in violence, but also firmly urges them not to instigate others to violence. It does not stop here. Buddhism says, as shown above, that everyone should speak in praise of peace, harmony, compassion, co-existence, speaking in praise of whatever is conducive to peaceful, harmonious, anxiety-and fear-free living.

The Attadanda Sutta of the Suttanipata suggests that the Buddha, while leading the household life as a bodhisattwa, was himself much concerned and agitated by the misery brought upon people through war. Hence, he says that the man's strike with man was indeed a fearful sight. Perhaps such a dreadful experience, too, may have contributed to his renunciation and subsequently to the promulgation of precepts dissuading people from such harmful acts.

His concern for peace and happiness of the people was such that the Buddha, as seen from the Rajja Sutta of the Samyuttanikaya, reflected even on the possibility of establishing a righteous rulership. He reflected.

"Is it possible to exercise rulership righteously; without killing, without instigating others to kill, without confiscating, without instigating others to confiscate without sorrowing without causing sorrow?"

The Buddha, being the pragmatic teacher he was, very well understood that wars cannot be totally eradicated as long as human beings remain what they are. He accepted it as part and parcel of the power struggle for political supremacy, territorial expansion and economic dominance. In such a context he could not possibly admonish the kings to give up war and allow things to take their own turn.

The best he could do as a religious teacher was to bring out the ills of war, the evil consequences that are brought about by war, the suffering both the victor and the vanquished undergo, caution and warn the perpetrators of war, and restrain them as far as possible, make them be less ruthless in war. This he did very effectively through his moral teachings. He very effectively brought out the fact in war there are only losers. In the ultimate sense even the victors are losers.

The feeling of victory is just a hallucination brought about by egoism deeply rooted in the perpetrators of war.

Therefore, unlike modern political philosophers the Buddha did not advocate eradication of war by waging war. On the contrary, he pointed out that one war leads to another, making it a vicious circle of wars, the ultimate outcome of which is total destruction. Thus after being informed about a battle that took place between King Ajatasatta and Pasenadi Kossala in which the latter was defeated the Buddha observed.

"Victory breeds enmity
The defeated one sleeps badly
The peaceful one sleeps at ease
Having abandoned victory and defeat."

This incident referred to in the Samyuttanikaya is quoted also in the Dhammapada (stanza 201).

The Buddha's advice was to go beyond these fallacious concepts of victory and defeat. What he means is that war should not be narrowly viewed as merely producing a victor and a vanquished but as a force that brings about far more dreadful, destructive consequence.

Buddhism also upholds non-violence – in Pali: ahimsa. War is not at all compatible with a teaching that firmly upholds principles of ahimsa.

Hatreds never cease through hatred in this world; through love alone they cease. This is an eternal law.

May you remember your ancestors with sincerity and gratitude.

May you practise lovingkindness.

May you be well and happy.

May all beings be well and happy.


This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes, Evelin Halls and Pennie White.


References

De Bono, Edward, 1999, New Thinking for the New Millenium, Penguin, England.

Department of Veteran's Affairs,
http://www.dva.gov.au/commem/rememb/rem_intro.htm, accessed 19 November 2003

“Memorial honour 101,000 killed in world wars”, The Age, 12 November 2003, p.1

“Queen to open Australian War Memorial”, © 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation URL available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s986423.htm, accessed on 19 November 2003

http://www.purifymind.com/CauseEff.htm, accessed 19 November 2003, author not known

Nina Van Gorkom, "Abhidhamma in Daily Life", Chapter 6 http://www.abhidhamma.org/abhid6.html, accessed 19 November 2003

Quotes on Peace, http://www.loveonearth.org/pages/peace.html, accessed 19 November 2003

Venerable Dr. Bellanvila Wimalaratana, Vesak meditation, "As the Buddha taught ... Abandoning victory and defeat, Sunday Observer, Sunday 11 May, 2003
http://origin.sundayobserver.lk/2003/05/11/fea01.html, accessed 19 November 2003

Chan Academy Australia, " How ought we view our ancestors?" The Buddhist Hour broadcast 105, 1 October 2000, http://www.bdcublessings.net.au/radio105.html, accessed 20 November 2003

Santikaro Bhikkhu, 18 August 2003, Liberation Park Buddhist Abbey & Meditation Centre,
http://www.liberationpark.org/arts/ancestors01.htm, accessed 20 November 2003

Venerable Dr. W. Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, Haw Trai, Thailand, Bangkok.

Webster, Noah, 1960, Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged, Second Edition, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York.

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Words: 4083
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Sentences: 225

Averages
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Words per Sentence: 17.5
Characters per word: 4.7

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Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score: 9.5

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