- Ovãda Pãåimokkha
- Literally, sãkyaputta, which means “son of the Sakyan”, the Buddha
having been a native of the Sakyan Republic. Sãkyaputta is an epithet
for Buddhist monks. - The distance they walked from Ban Nong Pheu to Ban Phu was
approximately 12 miles. - The date of Ãcariya Mun’s cremation was January 31, 1950.
- Once the body of a revered monk has been cremated, the charred
pieces of bone that survive the fire are collected. The extreme heat
of the fire usually causes the larger bone segments to disintegrate and
break up, leaving many small, often porous, fragments. Such bone frag-
ments, usually burned to an ashen white color by the fire, are kept and
treasured as ‘relics’ by the Buddhist faithful. - Amatadhamma means “the Deathless Dhamma” and is a synonym
for Nibbãna, which is the final liberation from the cycle of rebirths, and
therefore also freedom from ever-repeated deaths.
7. The Legacy - The bodily relics (sãrira-dhãtu) left behind after death by an
Arahant are one of the ineffable mysteries of the mind’s pure essence,
a phenomena so miraculous that it appears to transcend the laws of
modern science. Due to the extreme heat of the fire, bone fragments
collected after an Arahant’s cremation are usually porous in nature.
Kept with great reverence and venerated by the faithful, over a period
of years – or sometimes even months – the physical elements in each
piece of bone somehow amalgamate into dense, hard, crystalline peb-
bles of various hues of translucency and opagueness. (see color photo at
the beginning of this book)
As Ãcariya Mahã Boowa explains it, this transformation from
bone to relic is a result of the cleansing effect that the pure citta of the
Arahant has on his body elements. Such relics are cherished as rare
gems by the Buddhist faithful. Having a supernatural, spiritual potency,
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
#1