you immediately search for a refuge you can depend on? Stop this
negligence now! Don’t carry on with it until the day you die, or else
you will experience the painful consequences into the future – indefi-
nitely. The Buddha was cautioning people not to be unreasonably
heedless in their lives. But when people hear the Buddha’s words
today, they feel so embarrassed, so ashamed of their wanton infat-
uation with sensual pleasures that they want to hide their faces.
Despite their shame, they are still lured by their desires – loving
this, hating that – for this kind of intransigence has always been
an integral part of worldly attitudes. And they don’t know how
to stop themselves. So, sadly, their only response to the Buddha’s
warnings is shame.
The death of the monk at Ban Nong Pheu should prove a
valuable lesson to all of you who are headed toward the same fate.
Please consider the manner of his death carefully. Just as he was
about to pass away, Ãcariya Mun and the other monks, who were
on their way for alms, stopped by to witness that sad event. After-
wards, Ãcariya Mun stood in silent contemplation for a moment;
then he spoke to everyone in a solemn tone of voice:
“There’s no need to worry about him. He has already been
reborn in Abhassara, the sixth brahma realm. He’s all right for
now. But it’s a shame in one way, for had he lived longer and
developed his insight with a little more intensity, he could well
have been reborn in one of the five suddhãvãsa brahma realms.^8
There he would have progressed directly to the ultimate goal, des-
tined never again to enter the cycle of rebirth. And what about
the rest of you – what kind of rebirth are you preparing for your-
selves? Will it be one in the animal world, the ghost world, or in
the realms of hell? Or will it be as a human, a deva, or a brahma?
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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