Honouring the Departed: A Buddhist Perspective

This sharing may come a bit too late since the Chinese seventh month is over. Nevertheless, I would like to share this excellent booklet that covers in details of the Theravada Buddhists’ concept of merit sharing as well as the offering of food to the departed loved ones. I personally subscribe to the concepts described in it since the author have done in-depth research on the historical aspects and made frequent references to the Pali scriptures to substantiate his points. Hence, the booklet serves well as a blueprint for Buddhists who wants to follow the correct practises, as close as possible to what the Lord Buddha actually taught. It also discourages the burning of paper offerings which has nothing to do with Buddhism proper.

Link to the booklet: http://sasanarakkha.org/ebook/Honouring%20the%20Departed.pdf

Sakyant Experience

我恩师在他年轻的时候曾多次到泰国,寮国等国家寻师觅法。也因此在途中亲身试了很多的经文刺青。身体前后还有双臂到手腕都是sakyant。就因为年纪青 所以什么法门都要尝试。但到了我们徒弟这一代, 师父却完全不赞成任何人去sakyant。当年当他真正明白了法力与它的修法时,他渐渐的不再主张sakyant。所以现在的他出门都是穿长袖上衣和长 裤, 因为sakyant没什么值得秀的,也不想人家问长问短。

他认为只要一个人好好的修佛,并持好五诫,此人自然而然就会得到庇佑,一生都会平安,根本不需要去刺什么经文。

对于这样的说法我也非常同意。只不过我自己本身对刺青情有独钟多年,再加上有些经文和我们的法门有关,结果我还是跑去下了五条经文(Ha Taew)和九塔符(Gao Yord)。 

The master who did my tattoos is AJ Krukai, who is said to be from one of the original lineages of the Ha Taew. 

Was it painful? Hell yes cause this is not machine tattooed but countless forceful jabs done manually over an hour or more. But what is really amazing is the blessing ritual at the end of the session where AJ Krukai empowers me and my tattoos. I have always taken it with a pinch of salt when I watched videos of people going into trance during such rituals. However, when I went through it first hand, what I experienced was definitely the most intense spiritual energy I have encountered so far. The first time I felt such energy was more than 10 years ago when one of my meditation teachers uses his energy to guide my energy up my spine during meditation. The second time was when I was undergoing the healing lamp session by my guru, which a strong surge of spiritual energy was passed from my crown right down to my feet. For this time, when AJ Krukai started chanting, I felt the spiritual energy enter through the left and right side of my waist. And it was few times stronger than the two previous encounters. As the energy travels up my body, I began to shake violently with my hands in the wai position. I managed to maintain around 10% control of my body and consciousness as the remaining self was overwhelmed by that energy. If I am to lose control totally, I would have gone into a trance, probably doing some warrior poses. My eyes began to roll up involuntarily once it reaches my head as my body shook like it is going to explode. To sum it up, the whole process felt like someone just touched you with a live power cable. When it all ended, there remains a strange serenity within me that lasted throughout the rest of the day. It was indeed an eye opening and unforgettable experience. I could not help but marvel at the ability of the ancient rishis to have discovered, studied and passed down such spiritual practices (mantras, yantras, etc) since thousands of years ago.

Donating Coffin 施棺

One of the good ways to make merits is to donate coffins to the poor who could not afford a proper funeral service for their departed loved ones. Recently, I read online that it is well-known among the Hong Kongers that their late entertainment mogul, Sir Run Run Shaw, actually donated many coffins during his lifetime and his wealth and long life was attributed to this meritorious act.

Donating coffins is widely practised by the Thais and many Singaporeans have been traveling over there to give their donation via the Thai temples. However, not all of us are able to make the trip just to make the donation. At the same time, not many people is aware that such coffin donation can be done locally. That is why I am sharing this here that the Singapore Buddhist Lodge (居士林) at River Valley actually does take in such coffin donation. Any amount is welcome, which is then consolidated under a fund to help pay for coffin of the deceased who comes from poor and needy families.

Personally, I will try do this few times each year and dedicate the merits to my family as well as the people whom have seek my metaphysics service before.

Do go to their reception counter at level 2 if you wish to donate coffin.

By the way, I have been going to this temple since I was a boy and really looked forward to each trip as there are abundance of free Buddhist books available. In fact, I have found a couple of great books there over the years, some maybe out of print already.

In Taiwan, the practise of donating coffin has been around for many years but much unheard of by Singaporeans as it is further away from us than Thailand. Anyway, the point is that many of the Taiwanese people have claimed that the merits of donating coffins when a family members undergoes major life-threatening surgery is seemingly very effective in ensuring the operation to be successful.

Here is an article of a Thai business woman who has been donating coffins for the past 15 years:

http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/People/2013/11/01/A-heart-for-humanity/