are barbecued, roasted, and stewed called a crematorium. Instead it’s
called a kitchen. But actually, that’s what it is, a crematorium for ani-
mals. And they are all buried here in this stomach, this grave. If we
look at ourselves in all fairness, with impartiality, we see that we are a
burial ground for all kinds of animals – yes, us! – because we’re filled
with corpses old and new. Once we have contemplated in this way, if we
don’t feel disenchanted, if we don’t feel disengaged, what will we feel? –
for that’s the way the truth actually is.”
- comments by Ãcariya Mahã Boowa
- Mãra represents the personification of evil and temptation, and by
extension, a personification of the insidious hold which the senses have
on the mind. Ensnared by Mãra one remains lost in the world and fails
to find the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.
- In the past, cemeteries were not like they are today. An open
stretch of ground well outside the village was set aside for disposing of
the dead. Corpses were cremated out in the open on pyres made of fire-
wood, and the charred skeletal remains were left scattered around the
area.
- This is a reference to the saññã khandha, one of the mental com-
ponents of personality which is associated with the function of memory;
as for instance, recognition, association, and interpretation. When
thoughts (sankhãra) are formed in the mind, saññã immediately defines
and then interprets them from various angles. This is where one gets
deluded. The mind falls for its own assumptions – its own shadows –
which paint pictures that constantly delight or upset it. The mind is
deceived by its own shadows (saññã) into feeling happy or sad, fright-
ened or worried. Such emotional turmoil is caused simply by the mind
painting pictures to delude itself.
Because the monk in this story had the idea of ghosts firmly fixed
in his mind, his perceptions were then instinctively interpreted in that
way. He assumed an external threat, but in fact was haunted by the
shadows lurking in his own mind.
- A monk’s 8 basic requisites are: his three principal robes, alms
bowl, belt, razor, needle, and water filter.
