THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH
By Thusira Karunaratne
Last semester I did an anatomy course and I wasn't really prepared for the first of the many practicals where we had to look at cadavers and dissected parts of the human body. I don't think most people were, because it really hit you that these pieces of the human body were once parts of living, breathing people, now so cold and lifeless and that you too, would finally end up like that.
I think it should be a compulsory course for Buddhists, because you really get a feel for the Buddhist teachings of anatta and anicca:
Anatta because you realise that there is nothing in the body that could be called the self - even the brain which we consider as the seat of our self is just tissue - the slightest damage to which can alter who we are, and our chances of survival. The rest of the body consisting of the organs, veins, arteries, nerves, bones is indeed just a mass of 'flesh and bone'- it's not a pretty sight really; the skin that covers us is a magnificent deceiver, hiding all the unsightly material underneath.
Anicca because you see learn that a fully functional human being begins to deteriorate with age, and will soon be lifeless, cold and pretty odorous if not for the formaline (which isn't all that great smelling itself!). Hard to think that once upon a time the blank faces that you hold up and examine were filled with emotion and were alive just like you and me. Another thing you realise is that the human body is really fragile. Doesn't take much to turn a strong person into a someone struggling because of damage done to some part of the body.
Of course, you get used to all this after a couple of practicals and that initial disgust goes away. I think it was really worthwhile. The four verses below reminded me of those pracs and the course.
OK this is sounding really gloomy, but on the bright side, we are alive and well (and pretty young), and most importantly we have the Dhamma to guide us. All this reflecting on anicca and anatta and dukha leads to samvega (sprititual urgency) doesn't it? So let's make some good use of the Supreme Buddha's teachings before the inevitable happens!
Inevitability of Death
"As there is fear, when fruits are ripe,
That in the morning they will fall,
So mortals are in constant fear,
When they are born that they will die,"
"And as the fate of pots of clay,
Once fashioned by the potters hand.
Or small or big or baked or raw,
Condemns them to be broken up,
So mortals' life leads but to death."
'As though huge mountains made of rock,
So vast they reached up to the sky,
Were to advance from every side,
Grinding beneath all that lives,
So age and death roll over all,
Warriors, priests, merchants, and craftsman,
The outcastes and the scavengers,
Crushing all beings sparing none."
"And here no troops of elephants,
No charioteers, no infantry,
No strategy in form of spells,
No riches serve to beat them off."
-- From "Aspects of Early Buddhist Sociological Thought" by Ven. Pategama Gnanarama
By Thusira Karunaratne
Last semester I did an anatomy course and I wasn't really prepared for the first of the many practicals where we had to look at cadavers and dissected parts of the human body. I don't think most people were, because it really hit you that these pieces of the human body were once parts of living, breathing people, now so cold and lifeless and that you too, would finally end up like that.
I think it should be a compulsory course for Buddhists, because you really get a feel for the Buddhist teachings of anatta and anicca:
Anatta because you realise that there is nothing in the body that could be called the self - even the brain which we consider as the seat of our self is just tissue - the slightest damage to which can alter who we are, and our chances of survival. The rest of the body consisting of the organs, veins, arteries, nerves, bones is indeed just a mass of 'flesh and bone'- it's not a pretty sight really; the skin that covers us is a magnificent deceiver, hiding all the unsightly material underneath.
Anicca because you see learn that a fully functional human being begins to deteriorate with age, and will soon be lifeless, cold and pretty odorous if not for the formaline (which isn't all that great smelling itself!). Hard to think that once upon a time the blank faces that you hold up and examine were filled with emotion and were alive just like you and me. Another thing you realise is that the human body is really fragile. Doesn't take much to turn a strong person into a someone struggling because of damage done to some part of the body.
Of course, you get used to all this after a couple of practicals and that initial disgust goes away. I think it was really worthwhile. The four verses below reminded me of those pracs and the course.
OK this is sounding really gloomy, but on the bright side, we are alive and well (and pretty young), and most importantly we have the Dhamma to guide us. All this reflecting on anicca and anatta and dukha leads to samvega (sprititual urgency) doesn't it? So let's make some good use of the Supreme Buddha's teachings before the inevitable happens!
Inevitability of Death
"As there is fear, when fruits are ripe,
That in the morning they will fall,
So mortals are in constant fear,
When they are born that they will die,"
"And as the fate of pots of clay,
Once fashioned by the potters hand.
Or small or big or baked or raw,
Condemns them to be broken up,
So mortals' life leads but to death."
'As though huge mountains made of rock,
So vast they reached up to the sky,
Were to advance from every side,
Grinding beneath all that lives,
So age and death roll over all,
Warriors, priests, merchants, and craftsman,
The outcastes and the scavengers,
Crushing all beings sparing none."
"And here no troops of elephants,
No charioteers, no infantry,
No strategy in form of spells,
No riches serve to beat them off."
-- From "Aspects of Early Buddhist Sociological Thought" by Ven. Pategama Gnanarama
posted by Vinod at
6:54 AM
