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Jeffrey Rosenfeld

Buddhist Death/Afterlife
Midterm, Question #4
Severing the Self
The Buddha as aradigm is nothing ne! !ithin the Buddhist tradition"s#$ %or the Ti&etan
ra'ti'e of (h), !e need loo* no further than the J+ta*a tale of ,rin'e Mah+sattva, !ho made the
follo!ing !ish- .%or the sa*e of all sentient &eings in the Dharma !orld, /01 2 am see*ing to
attain the highest 3ay$ 2 !ill no! give u this human &ody that the ignorant love, in order to
have the great 'omassion for !hi'h the sages strive,4 "5amens, $ 647#$ Moved &y the
suffering he sa!, the rin'e laid do!n his life, offering his &ody to a starving mother tigress-
8e /01 &ro*e off a stal* of dead &am&oo and slashed his throat !ith it so that the &lood
ran out, and again he !ent u and stood 'lose &y the tiger$ At that moment the earth
shoo* and rolled li*e !aves and uon the sea !hen stirred &y the !ind9 the light of the
sun disaeared from the s*y, and there !as dar*ness every!here9 flo!ers rained out of
the s*y and fell in torrents all over the forest$ /01 3hen the starving tiger sa! the &lood
running from the rin'e:s throat, she laed it u, and then she devoured his flesh,
leaving only his &ones$ "5amens, $ 647#
;f all our myriad ossessions, the one most atta'hed to and most 'losely asso'iated !ith the self
is the ossession of one:s o!n &ody, !hi'h !e see* to reserve at all 'osts$ (h) is the ra'ti'e
of .'utting4 off or through the self via very intense visuali<ation, and thus &ringing one 'loser to
the reali<ation of no=self$ This meditation is 'arried out in 'emeteries and other la'es that instill
great fear in the ra'titioner &e'ause su'h environments are 'ondu'ive to e>'ellent oortunities
for the self to assert$ %eeling afraid and threatened &y the surroundings, the sense of self !ill
ma*e its resen'e readily aarent in an effort to &e rote'tive$ This &rings a&out a 'han'e for
greater effi'a'y at eradi'ating the ego !hen it rears its ugly head out in the oen, !here it is
e>osed and therefore vulnera&le$
The 'utting ra'ti'e is a rime e>amle ? ese'ially in the setting of 'harnel grounds
and other la'es !hi'h evo*e treidation and 'ultural ta&oo ? of the tantri' roensity for the
transgressing of so'ietal norms and the o!er gained through su'h 'ontravention$ This also
alies to the four ragmati' aims of tantra, se'ifi'ally the ase't of fero'ity/destru'tion$ The
*us+li:s a''umulation of (h) mentioned &y ,atrul Rino'he even highlights tantri' emhasis on
female deities in the form of Tr)ma @agmo, the 3rathful Bla'* True Mother !ho one visuali<es
as the em&odiment of the essen'e of their mental 'ons'iousness and 'uts their &ody asunder$
The fo'us on the reulsiveness of the &ody "as fat, greasy and huge# emhasi<ed in (h)
not only en'ourages non=atta'hment and hels the 'h)a have an easier time offering their &ody,
&ut also demonstrates that their &ody !ill at some oint &e'ome grotesAue to loo* at as it rea'hes
the end of its use$ This leads to a heightened 'ons'iousness of the fa't that the &ody of this life
must inevita&ly die, as is the 'ase !ith all things that are &orn$ Along !ith the setting of the
;uter (h) &eing in the 'harnel ground, this ortion of the &eggar:s offering is eAuivalent to the
asubhabhvan ra'ti'e of meditation on the follo!ing tyes of 'orses mentioned in the
Visuddhimagga- .the &loated, the livid, the festering, the 'ut u, the gna!ed, the s'attered, the
ha'*ed and s'attered, the &leeding,4 "BuddhaghoBa, $ 6C7#$ The maranasati ra'ti'e also ties
into ego='utting via one of the Dight 3ays of Re'olle'ting Death- .sharing the &ody !ith many-
'reatures /01 feeding on the inner s*in, /01 the outer s*in /019 on the flesh /01, the sine!s
/01, the &ones /0 and1 the marro!,4 "BuddhaghoBa, $ E7F#$
(h) romotes the &asi' Buddhist rin'iles of 'omassion in that not only is it a
visuali<ation a&out giving u one:s &ody and thus freeing from the 'on'etual &urden of one:s
self, &ut further in a'tually offering that &ody ? on'e so intimately 'onne'ted !ith the notion of
self ? to all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, d+*as/d+*inGs, dharma rote'tors, *armi' de&tors, and
all &eings in the si> realms of e>isten'e "in'luding even evil sirits#$
;ffering your horse or elehant is !orth hundreds of other offerings9
;ffering your 'hild or souse is !orth thousands9
;ffering your o!n &ody is !orth hundreds of thousands$ ",atrul Rino'he, $ EHC#
E
Su'h an a't of offering for the sa*e of urifying and aying off *armi' o&ligations and for
satisfying the myriad needs of others, !ithout dis'rimination &et!een enlightened and samsari'
&eings and !ithout sho!ing aversion to!ards demons, is e>tremely 'omassionate and a great
e>amle of &odhi'itta$ Ma'hi* Ia&dr)n states-
3ith the hoo* of 'omassion 2 'at'h those evil sirits$ ;ffering them my !arm flesh and
!arm &lood as food, through the *indness and 'omassion of &odhi'itta 2 transform the
!ay they see everything and ma*e them my dis'iles$ Those malignant sirits are for me
the ri<e0 ",atrul Rino'he, $ FJF#
The Buddhist rin'ile of !isdom is sho!n throughout the ritual 'utting of the ego in the
reali<ation that the .demons4 to &e destroyed through the ra'ti'e are none other than the outer
manifestations of &elief in a self$ A true 'h)a/'h)ma therefore re'ogni<es the various levels of
truth "outer, inner and se'ret# reresented in the use of the terms .demons4 and .sirits4 to refer
to su'h 'on'etual itfalls and o&stru'tions$ As Ma'hi* Ia&dr)n says-
.The many sirits4 means 'on'ets9
.The o!erful sirit4 means &elief in a self9
.The !ild sirits4 means thoughts$
To destroy these sirits is to &e an adet of (h)$ ",atrul Rino'he, $ FJ4#
2ndeed, the terminology emloyed in tal*ing a&out the ego='utting hels oint not only to!ard
no=self, &ut also sets u a frame!or* in !hi'h one 'an a'*no!ledge the different levels of truth
oerating in the !orld$ ;ut!ardly, the demons and sirits are very real and 'an a'tually harm a
erson9 in!ardly, they are all in one:s mind and 'an &e avoided, fun'tioning !ithin the &elief of
the Mind=;nly "Koga'ara/(ittamarta# s'hool$ But at the level of ultimate truth, the demons are
a'tually emty and 'an &e done a!ay !ith on'e and for all, as stated in the emtiness of the
Middle 3ay "Madhyama*a#$ A''ording to the great saint, Milarea-
Ta*e a demon as a demon and it:ll harm you9
5no! a demon:s in your mind and you:ll &e free of it9
Reali<e a demon to &e emty and you:ll annihilate it$ ",atrul Rino'he, $ FJ4#
2n a'tually 'utting through the misguided &elief in self, one does a!ay !ith all ignoran'e and
delusion$
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