From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RCMPy_4qHLY

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

all right i think uh we can get started

as i said uh

this is uh our zoom session with uh

delson armstrong

and today he will be talking about

stories from the patavat2 and maybe a

few heavenly stories too

[Music]

thank you all right so

i have uh a selection of ghost stories

or peta stories translated by you

using the polytech society version

so

this particular story is called the

exposition of the devour

of seven sons

pretty gruesome one

naked and of hideous appearance are you

this was said when the teacher was

staying at savathi

concerning a

who devoured her

seven sons

so we have devas and davies so every

anytime it ends in e that's uh

indicative of a

email version of let's say peta would be

then

it is said that in a certain village not

far from savathi there was a

lay follower with two sons who were in

the prime of life handsome and endowed

with virtue and good conduct

their mother despised her husband

because of her power of sons thinking i

am possessed of sons and he having had

enough of her despite took another bride

who not long afterwards became pregnant

the first wife was overcome by envy and

persuaded a certain physician in return

for a fee

to cause the miscarriage

of her three-month-old embryo now when

questioned by her husband and relatives

as to whether she was responsible

for her miscarriage she lied and denied

it saying i am not responsible

and they did not believe her

and as they did not believe her they

said then make an oath

she made an oath saying may i give birth

each morning and evening to seven sons

and may i devour

the flesh of those sons moreover may i

always be foul smelling and surrounded

by flies

she died in due course and arose in the

peta womb through fruition of her

causing that miscarriage and of her

telling that lie and wondered about not

not far

from that same village eating the flesh

of her sons

in the aforesaid manner

now at that time many elders who had

spent the residence of the rainy season

by staying in that village and were on

their way to savathi to see the blessed

one were resting for the night at a

place not far from that village

the paity then revealed herself to those

elders and the senior elder questioned

her with this verse

naked and of hideous appearance argue

you emit a foul putrid smell you are

surrounded by flies now who are you you

who are stood here

when questioned by the elder she

answered him with three verses

i sir am a pity gone to a miserable

existence in the world of yama

having done a wicked deed i have gone

from here to the world of the petas

at daybreak i give birth to seven sons

and in the evening again a further seven

though i devour them all even those are

not enough for me

my heart smolders and is scorched with

hunger and i can get no refreshment

i am as tormented i am tormented as

though burnt by fire

now what evil deed was done by you

by my my body mind or speech as a result

of which deed do you devour the flesh of

your sons

that petty then spoke these verses

relating how they she had arisen in the

world of the petas

and the reason for her devouring her

sons

i had two sons who had both reached

adolescence endowed with the power of

sons i neglected my husband

whereupon my husband became angry and

took another as co-wife

and when she became pregnant pregnant i

devised a wicked deed against her

depraved in mind i caused her to

miscarry

and her three-month

her three-month-old envy embryo fell as

putrid blood

then her mother became angry at this and

collected her relatives together she

made me make an oath

and

and them abuse me i told a terrible lie

when i made that oath that if this were

done by me i might devour the flesh of

my sons

it is both as a result of that deed and

due to the fact that i lied that i

devour the flesh of my sons and am

smeared with blood and matter

so that's the first story

now

the moral of this particular story is

number one you understand

that having envy having a jealous

mindset having a mind in which the mind

is

not happy at the happiness of others

can create all of these

thoughts of

murder and thoughts of trying to get

your vengeance on them and things like

that

and these kinds of ideas these kinds of

thoughts are liable to cause one to take

rebirth in a hungry ghost realm

so envy or jealousy

is best fixed by mudita

by celebrating in the joy of those that

have experienced that joy as long as

it's a wholesome joy

and when we talk about a wholesome joy

what we're talking about is

somebody graduated from high school or

college

somebody got married somebody had kids

uh you know unwholesome would be

something like somebody one million

dollars by cheating the lottery or

rob the bank or something like that you

don't want to obviously be happy about

those things though

as we know it is that altruistic joy

it's that empathetic joy it's that

joy that is content and happy

and

that is happy for other people

the second part of this is that she lied

she made an oath and she lied about what

was true and then she actually said may

i then go through these processes if i'm

lying which is devouring her son's

and so

lying is a big one

breaking the precept of

you know abstaining from lying

can cause one to become

reborn in a hungry ghost drum for this

very reason

so it's important to understand that

there's specific things that can lead

you to the hungry ghost room it's things

like jealousy things like

causing others to lie or lying yourself

things like

you know manipulating and creating

gossip

uh manipulating people and creating

gossip

and creating all kinds of false stories

about people and things like that

and then we're gonna see another story

and this is called

exposition of the bald-headed peta story

now who are you remaining inside your

imagination this was said when the

teacher was saying at staying at salvati

concerning a certain bald-headed paithi

it is said that long ago in benares

there was a certain harlot who was

extremely beautiful and

lovely to behold

charming and endowed with the highest

beauty of complexion and who had tresses

of extremely captivating hair

her long black hair was soft fine and

sleek and was curled at the ends

it was set in two bunches

and when loosened the tresses would hang

would hang down as far as her girdle

when they saw her beautiful hair nearly

all the young men there fell in love

with her

unable to bear her beautiful air hair

some women overcome with envy

took counsel together

and then bribed her maidservant to give

her a potion that would make her hair

fall out

it is said that her servant prepared

that potion with her bath powder and

gave it to her at a time when she was

bathing in the river ganges

she moistened her hair well down to the

roots and immersed it in the water

no sooner than she immersed it her hair

fell out at the roots and her head

resembled a bitter curd

then entirely shorn of hair and looking

unsightly like a pigeon with its head

plucked she was through shame unable to

enter the city

she wrapped a cloth around her head and

made her abode at a certain spot outside

the city

after a lapse of a few days her shame

left her

and she pressed some

and she pressed some sesame seed and

earned her living by trading in oil

and spiritus liquor

one day when two or three drunken men

had fallen into a deep sleep she stole

their clothes that were hanging loose

then one day she saw an elder who had

destroyed the asavas that is to say in

arahant

going about in search of alms

and with devotion in her heart led him

to her house at him be seated on the

appointed seat and then gave him an oil

cake made from the ground sesame

and soaked in oil which he out of pity

for her accepted and ate whilst she

stood with devotion in her heart holding

a sun shade above him

the elder showed his appreciation which

delighted her heart and then departed

at the very time she he showed his

appreciation

the woman made the wish made my hair be

long soft sleek and fine and curled at

the ends

she died in due course and as an outcome

of her meritorious and demeritorious

deeds she arose all alone in a golden

mansion in the middle of the ocean

her hair turned out just as she had

wished but she was naked on account of

having stolen the men's cloaks

she arose time and again in that golden

mansion and naked she passed one buddha

interval there that is to say in eon

then when the blessed one had arisen in

the world and had set rolling the wheel

of the noble dhamma and was in due

course staying at savathi as many as a

hundred freighters residents of sabati

set out by ship across the mighty ocean

heading for

suvarnabhumi

could be

possibly thailand because i know that

it's also known as swarnabumi

the ship in which they had embarked was

thrown about by the force of rough winds

and drifting here and there came to that

spot where upon the vimanapeti

revealed herself and her mention to them

when he saw her the senior traitor

uttered his verse inquiring

now who are you remaining inside your

mansion not coming out

come out and let us see you standing

outside

she then uttered this verse explaining

her inability to come out

naked i am too distressed and

embarrassed to come outside

i am covered only by my hair

few are the meritorious deeds that i

have done

here i will

then the traitor wishing to give her his

cloak utter this verse

here i will give you my cloak and put on

this garment when you have put on this

garment then come outside

come out and let us see you standing

outside

so saying he presented her with his

outer cloak

he uttered these two verses showing

that that which is given in that way

does not benefit her and the way in

which things give and given would

benefit her what is given by your hand

into my hand is of no benefit to me but

this lay follower here has faith

and is a savaka of the perfect buddha

having clothed him assign that donation

to me

then i will be happy and richly endowed

with all i desire

when they heard this the traitors bathed

anointed the lay follower and then

clothed him with a pair of garments

those rehearsing the text and spoke

these three verses clarifying this point

those traitors bathed and anointed him

and clothed him with garments and

assigned the donation to her

immediately they dedicated this the

result

the result came into being food

clothing

and drink

being the fruit of this donation

thereupon she became pure clad in fresh

clean clothes wearing those more fine

than those of of cassie

and left her mansion smiling to indicate

this is the fruit of your donation

when the traders thus saw for themselves

the fruit of the meritorious deeds their

hearts were filled with wonder and

surprise and they were filled with

respect and veneration for the lay

follower and honored him with the anjali

salute

he caused them still more devotion with

a talk on dhamma

and established them in the precepts and

the refuges

they questioned the vimana papi about

the deed she had done with this verse

your nicely painted gleaming mansion is

radiant o devda you are asked to inform

us what deed is the fruit this is the

fruit of what deed is this the fruit

when thus questioned by them she spoke

these verses informing them both that

that mansion

was the extent of the fruit of that

trifling skill that she had done and

that in the future however there would

be of that unskilled deed or fruit such

as is found in hell

to a wandering upright monk i with a

devout heart gave an oil kick

as a result of that skill deed i have

for a long while

enjoyed myself in this mansion but now

there is but a trifle

after four months will come my death and

down to the exceedingly severe and

terrible hell will i fall

four cornered and with four gates it is

divided into equal portions

encircled by an iron wall with a roof of

iron above

its incandescent floor is made of

glowing iron all around a hundred yogin

as it spreads forever standing

there for a long time i will experience

painful feelings

as the fruit of my wicked deeds

for this reason i am exceedingly

sorrowful

when she had me thus made known the

fruit of her deed and her future

existence in hell

the heart of that lay follower was

stirred with compassion and thinking he

might be a means of support for her said

by way of but one gift to me

did you become richly endowed with all

you desire and put in contact with this

noble excellence if you now give a gift

of to these lay followers and recall the

virtues of the blessed one you will be

freed from having to arise in hell

that's interesting

so what he's saying here is if you offer

if a gift

and that merit is also in conjunction

with having confidence in the teacher

and that is by recalling the virtues of

the buddha

one

can be free from having to arise in hell

the paity was overjoyed and said very

well and satisfied them with heavenly

food and drink and gave them heavenly

clothes and jewels of various kinds

she then gave into their hands a pair of

heavenly garments

specifically for the blessed one and

sent the sanitation when you read sabati

please salute the blessed one with this

message from me

a certain viman ability salutes the

blessed one with her head at his feet

she brought their ship to the port they

desired that very same day by means of

her psychic power and majesty

now these traitors reached sauvathi from

that port in due course and entered

jetta's grove

they gave the teacher the pair of

garments and when they had passed on her

salutation they raised that whole issue

right from the beginning

the blessed one took the matter as an

arisen need and taught dhamma in detail

to the company assembled there

that teaching was of benefit to those

people on the following day those lay

followers gave a great alms giving to

the order of monks with the buddha at

its head

and assigned the donation to her

when she fell from the world of the

patas she arose in a golden mansion in

the realm of the 33 that's the tawa

theme to heaven resplendent with various

jewels and with the retinue of a

thousand

thousand absuras

so what's interesting to note here is

there's something known as vimana petas

are basically those with

mixed karma or mixed fruit of their

karma what that means

is they might have done a really bad

deed

to warrant an experience in the hungry

ghost realms as a pata

but there's still some meritorious deed

something wonderful that they did that

allows them to experience some kind of

benefit one of the examples of in viman

vimani peter

is um

is yama

yama is supposed to be the

you know the concierge of hell so to

speak he's the one who welcomes people

visitors into hell

and he he's not a judge all he does is

basically ask people if they've seen

uh the signs of karma in their life and

he reminds them of all of these things

and then stays silent on the matter this

particular situation is from the

majamenikaya it's called the messenger

of the gods the devadutta

and in the devadutta-suta we have an

explanation of yama being this kind of

judge

and so it's another kind of post that a

being is

holding because of certain kinds of

deeds they did in a previous life they

might have been a judge who misjudged

situations or had been too

self-righteous in the way that they

judge things

and by doing so

they are learning the lesson as a yama

that

it is karma that is really the judge it

is your karma and your actions that will

determine your future life your future

existence

so yamaha is a vimana

in the sense that

he spends most of his time in uh you

know in hell as a concierge but he also

has a celestial mansion he has a vimana

so there is stories of these kinds of

petas who by the daytime they might be

in a vimana

enjoying the pleasures of the celestial

mansion

but then having to then come back down

and

experience the fruits of their

demeritorious deeds if the effects of

their unwholesome karma

and so

there is

uh as we just saw in this particular in

this particular story a way for

those patas who did some kind of deed

which they're paying for in the hungry

ghost realm but because of their deeds

it's possible that they might go into

hell as well

but if there is a donation made if there

is a

giving and offering of gifts

and that merit is

donated or given rather that merit is

transferred

to that particular peta then it is quite

possible that that karma is set aside

for that health realm and that they will

actually experience

a new developer realm

so this particular peta for example opi

being a female hungry ghost uh showed

that she had some conviction in the

buddha some conviction in the dhamma and

some conviction in the sangha

which means that she was heading towards

stream entry not exactly stream entry

because there are other factors included

in stream entry which include the

destruction of the feathers

but that's not indicated here but by the

mere fact that she had this much of

faith and conviction in the buddha and

what when when we say we when we talk

about faith and conviction in the buddha

what we're talking about really is

understanding the depth of the dharma to

a certain extent in terms of its

importance

in terms of understanding that you know

there is

a sense of reverence given to the buddha

because

of the situations he went throughout

support visa and then came to the true

dharma

came to the understanding of dependent

origination and the four noble truths

and so there is level of gratitude for

that there is an understanding of

gratitude and appreciation for it

and of course the dharma in the sense of

understanding the depth and the

the amazing quality of the teachings

which provides one the possibility of

full liberation

and then the sangha being you know the

community of monks or community of those

who have had attainments who continue on

the tradition and who continue on

providing the dharma to others

through their actions to the examples of

their deeds and of course their

teachings

and their guidance

so when you have this this along with

having faith in

or

actually not only faith in but applying

the path and coming to an understanding

and destroying the three fighters to get

into stream entry which completely

closes off any potential of an arising

in the hell realms

so i'm going to read one more

peta story and then we'll move on to

some stories about the devas

this is called the exposition of

uttara's mother

a monk who had gone for his midday rest

let's see here

this is uttara's mother peter story here

is the explanation of his meaning

see if i got this right

yeah

okay

when the first council had been

inaugurated at the teachers puri nibana

the venerable mahaka chana was staying

together with 12 monks in a certain

forest hunt not far from kosambi

now at that time a certain special

advisor of king udena

who had formally managed his affairs in

that city died

the king sent for his son

a young man named uttara and appointed

him to that position of management

saying now you must administer those

affairs that were managed by your father

very well he agreed and went one day to

the force taking some carpenters along

in order to get some timber or repairs

in the city

whilst there he approached the dwelling

place of the venerable elder mahaka

chana and saw the elder seated there

alone and wearing robes made of rags

from the dust heap

becoming devout at the sight of his

posture alone he saluted him extending a

friendly greeting and then sat down at

one side

the elder then expounded dharma to him

he heard dhamma he became full of

devotion to the three

jewels and having been established in

the refuges invited the elders saying

please accept out of pity my invitation

sir to you and

the monks for the following day's meal

the elder consented by his silence he

then left that place went to the city

and informed other lay followers saying

i have invited the elder father for the

following day

you too should come to my house where

the gifts are to be given out

early the next day he had the choices

hard and soft foods

prepared added announced that this was

time it was time and then went out to

meet the elder who was approaching with

the twelve monks

he saluted them and had them enter the

house in front of him

when the elder and the monks were seated

on seats spread with suitable and costly

coverings he honored them with scent

flowers incense and lamps and satisfied

them with the choicest food and drink

full of devotion and with his hands

collapsed in the unduly salute he

listened to their appreciation

when the elder was going after

appreciation for the meal had been shown

he took his bowl and following him left

the city

having him turned back he begged him

having him turn back he begged him you

should visit my house permanently sir

and returned after learning of the

elders acceptance

waiting thus upon the elder he became

established in his exhortation and

reached the soda potty fruit meaning he

became a soda pan with fruition

he had a vihara built and made all his

relatives find faith in the teaching his

mother however had a heart possessed by

the stain of selfishness

and she abused him thus may this food

and drink

that youth thus give to recluses against

my wishes

turn out to be blood for you in the next

world

she did however allow one spray of pical

peacock tail feathers to be given on the

great day of that vihara

when she arrived when she died she arose

in the peta womb meaning she

spontaneously generated as a hungry

ghost and due to her approval of that

gift of the spray of peacock tail

feathers her hair was black sleek curled

at the ends fine and long

when she went down to the water of the

river ganges thinking i will drink

that river became full of blood

for 55 years she roamed about overcome

by hunger and thirst

then one day she saw the elder

kankar revata

seated on the bank of the ganges taking

his midday rest

she approached him after covering

herself with her hair and begged him for

some water

with reference to this the following was

said these two initial verses have been

inserted here by rehearsing these texts

that paity who was hideous and horrible

to behold approached a monk who had gone

for his midname rest and who was seated

on the bank of the ganges her hair was

extremely long and hung down as far as

the ground

covered by her hair she addressed the

recluse thus

the pathy approached the elder and

begging him for water rather this verse

55 years since i died i am not conscious

of having eaten or having drunk water

please give me some water sir i am

parched for want of water

from here onwards as are the verses of

the exchange of conversation between the

elder and the papi

this cool water of the ganges flows down

from the himalayas

you can take some water from here and

drink why beg me for water

sir if i take myself if i myself take

water from the ganges it turns into

blood for me that is why i beg for water

now what evil deed was done by you by

body speech or mind as a result of which

deed does the ganges become blood for

you

my son uttarasir had faith and was a lay

follower

against my will he bestowed on recluse's

robes and arms food requisites and

lodging

but i vexed by selfishness abused him

saying may the robes and amfus the

requisites and lodging that you bestow

on recluses against my will

may this

become blood for you in the next world

utara

it is as a result of that deed that the

ganges becomes blood for me

so that's the end of that story

so

even having any kind of selfishness any

kind of greed any kind of so we talked

about envy we talked about jealousy we

talked about envy um about selfishness

uh but there are other things like lying

other things like not keeping the

precepts

that can lead you towards

the hungry ghost realms

and it really depends upon the immediate

effect of that particular karma but it

also depends upon any good things that

you've done as well but ultimately when

anyone is in the hungry ghost realm

they're not able to make any kind of

merit for themselves

it's always a transfer of merit so

when somebody gives offerings to a monk

or a monastic whether it's a biku or

bikuni

and they say that

in their mind that this this merit be

transferred to so and so a person so and

so relative or friend or whoever it

might be

and they might be in a ghost realm

a hundred goes from

that merit helps them to experience some

less suffering and ultimately provides

them the merit of becoming reborn in

possibly a day of realm or even just a

human realm from where then they can

continue on making more merit and

continue on towards experiencing the

dharma

so the hungry ghost realm is very

interesting because

even though we call it a realm it's in

terms of the location if you were to

talk about a spatial location

it's still within the plane of the earth

it's still on this level

when people experience you know you have

ghost stories of people who've

experienced ghosts and different things

and they've seen different kinds of

weird creatures and things like that

they're talking about hungry ghosts so

in the same way that we have you know

animals

even though it's an animal realm when we

talk about animals we can see them we

see dogs cats birds and so on

uh but they're still on this same plane

it's the same with hungry ghosts

it's quite possible to see a hungry

ghost in a lot of interesting places

like the desert

um

you know there's stories of

where you have what they call haunted

mansions or haunted objects

and the idea is that those places are

are

occupied let's say by a hungry ghost

and hungry ghosts can't do any kind of

damage to you so there's no need to be

scared of hungry ghosts

they're they're defensive they're

defenseless they are just beings that

are experiencing the

the effects of their previously negative

karma their unwholesome karma and they

may look like different kinds of

creatures they might look like uh just

very parched and emaciated humans with

very long hair and some have as they say

um you know pinholes for mouths or very

slim necks

or slim throats

and large bellies and they look very

very strange and you know some of the

some of the things you hear about ghosts

you know being clothed in white and

things like that

like some parts of the himalayas you

will see

uh you know while you're walking in the

night you think that it's

it's like a delusion or some kind of

hallucination there are stories of those

who have just seen like floating spirits

by who's seen

uh these hungry ghosts in tattered

clothes and they're just floating on by

and they don't do any kind of harm

they might look scary they might look

hideous and so on but they won't do any

kind of harm they're just looking for

a meal or they're looking for

water or they're just

hence the word the term hungry ghosts

but when merit is transferred to them

they have the ability to then experience

the fruits of that merit in the next

life as a human or as a deva of course

if that's not the case

they might even end up in an animal

realm or they might end up even in a

hell realm because of other uh

negative or unwholesome karma that can

ripen up

and then cause him to descend down into

hell realm

so

the

that is basically all we know

all we can talk about in terms of the

hungry ghosts because there's there's so

many different stories of people

experiencing different kinds of ghosts

and

spirits and things like that and you

know some of them

uh some of them are quite scary but

they're very harmless you shouldn't be

scared if you do see them and if you do

see them it might be an opportunity for

you to actually transfer some merit to

them out of compassion you could do that

by doing some noble deed doing something

like offering donna

offering donna and then transferring

that marriage to that hungry ghost if

you see one along your path

and the other thing to also understand

is

you know hungry ghosts

they

they also experience some

positive effects let's say of their

wholesome karma like like i said we have

yama who's known as a vimana peter

half of the time he's up in the

celestial realms enjoying the mansions

and half of the time he's in hell having

to be a concierge just welcoming people

into hell so you have those kinds of

honkitos as well

so speaking of the vimanas speaking of

the celestial mansions we will now talk

about

i guess a couple of stories uh from that

particular book and this is

from the

uh vimanavatu and this is translated by

venerable nyananda

it's kiri but

but goda

that's the name of the individual who's

done this translation

so

from this story i'm going to talk about

the sugar cane mansion and

the couch mansion

so here we have mauglana who uh

appears before deva and he asks the deva

he says

devata you shine like the sun which

illuminates the sky and the earth

you shine

you shine like a great brahma who shines

brighter than sakha and the

devas

you surpass others with your beauty fame

and power

devata you wear blue lotus garlands your

skin is the color of gold

and you wear beautiful dresses

now what are you worshiping me now

that's right now that you are worshiping

me i ask you who are you

what kind of meritorious action

did you do in the past

did you practice generosity well or

follow the precepts

how have you been born in this heaven

what action have you done to earn this

result monte in this same village

which we are in right now you came to

our house on your arms round

i was pleased to see you and i offered

you a small piece of sugar cane with a

delighted heart

later when my mother-in-law came she

asked me daughter-in-law

where did you put my sugar cane i told

her i neither threw it away nor ate it i

offered it to a peaceful monk

my mother-in-law got very angry scolding

me she said hey

are you the owner of this house or am i

who makes the decisions here

she hit me with the chair and i died

instantly

i was reborn as a devda in this heaven

that was the meritorious action i did

this is how i enjoy this divine

happiness surrounded by gods

the god saka protects the tawa teams to

heaven and the tality devas protect me

the result of the offering of a small

piece of sugar cane was not small

it generated great fruit

i enjoy happiness in the heavenly

nandana park like the god saka

dante you are very compassionate and

wise i came here to ask about your

well-being and worship you i have

received all these wonderful things

having offered a small piece of sugar

cane to you willingly and then with a

very happy mind

devda you okay so this is now the second

story this is called the couch mansion

and this is again moglana going and

visiting the deva and asking them what

they did

you are sitting on a very comfortable

couch decorated with many jewels and

gold and covered with flowers

while resting here you demonstrate your

wide range of psychic powers

you're surrounded by many other

goddesses who are singing dancing and

entertaining you

you are very powerful what good d did

you do in your previous human life what

is the reason that you are very

beautiful and shine in all directions

in the human world i was a

daughter-in-law in a very wealthy family

i never got angry at my husband and was

very obedient to him i was dedicated to

practicing the dhamma and observed the

eight precepts happily four times a

month on each of the four moon phases

from a very young age i was an honest

wife

i tried to please my husband by day and

by night

i started following the precepts when i

was very young

i abstained from killing beings

stealing using intoxicants and lying

my bodily conduct was very pure

i protected

i protected my celibate life well i

practice virtue in an unbreakable way

i observe the eight precepts four times

a month on each of the four phase moon

phases and protected them happily

observance of the eight precepts four

times a month brings great happiness to

the mind

i follow the noble eightfold path which

brings happiness which brings happy

results

i was also obedient to my husband and

acted in a pleasing way

i was a disciple of the supreme buddha

from an early age

these were the meritorious deeds i did

when i lived in the human realm

these specific deeds led me to a rebirth

in heaven now i am very powerful here

this delightful mansion is very

beautiful

many beautiful goddesses entertain me i

have been born in an excellent heaven

where gods have long life spans

so

[Music]

this particular devda

basically kept the five precepts

it doesn't say whether they became a

stream enter but

the minimum of keeping the five precepts

leads one to a deva realm leaves leads

one to one of the sixth centurious

heavens

uh starting with the tawa theme so

and you know in the previous story we

saw that somebody offered a

sugarcane to a monk

and from there and specifically to

moglana

muhammad who was an arahant and because

of that meritorious deed because of that

wholesome deed

they were born in a mansion made out of

sugarcane

of course for her mother-in-law who

knows what happened because she killed

her out of anger

and her meritorious deed probably

resulted in a not so

wholesome

realm in her next life

but ultimately what we have to

understand here is

whether it's the hungry ghost realms or

the devil realms

they are dependent upon one's karma

if you are not a stream enterer and you

still continue to do

wholesome deeds

you can still be reborn in any of the 16

sensual heavens

if you are stream enter you are liable

or you can be born

in any of the sixth sensual heavens

or in the human realm

but the animal realm of the hungry ghost

realm

and the hell of realms are forever

closed off to you as a stream enter

that's because a stream enterer has

attained right view and has eliminated

all kinds of wrong views and for that

alone it cuts off any potential

or any kind of rebirth in the lower

realm

however

if one is not a stream enter and

somebody has continued to be jealous

be envious to be

selfish to be miserly um to concoct all

kinds of manipulative plans

to break the precepts of

lying to indulging in toxicants

to

creating um you know all kinds of

conflicts different between different

people

um you know

leading into gossip uh you know leading

into causing all kinds of

problems for different people

that is liable to cause such a person to

descend into the hungry ghost realms

and so for them they just have to

continue to

burn the fuel of that karma in the

hungry ghost realm

and wait until any new karma that might

be good will ripen up for them to take

rebirth in a higher realm

but of course

you know there's festivals that go on

especially in buddhist countries

one i know of is

chumban

and there's actually a story of a person

so chumban takes place at a certain

point

and

there the whole point is to offer

food and

um

shelter and donations to the monastic

community

and in doing so then people basically

donate or

transfer the merits of that good deed to

their dead relatives in hopes that if

they are in the hungry ghost realm

they will uh reappear in a heavenly

realm or in a human realm so that they

can continue to

experience the dharma and so

so there is a story of an individual

uh this was in cambodia

who actually did that they attended the

trumbun festival

and they went ahead and offered

you know food to the monastic community

and

transferred that merit to a dead

relative

and the story is as they told me as

they've told me is

they were sitting in there well they

were sitting in their living room and

they walked away to the kitchen to do

something and they came back

and they saw like a

some kind of an outline a white outline

of a person

sitting in the chair with their hands uh

you know in anjali like this

and basically that person or that being

was thanking them

so the idea is it was probably a hungry

ghost who was thanking that particular

relative for having transferred that

merit so there's different stories um

like that

so that's the end of that

if anybody would like to

comment or

ask a question

or even share any kind of stories of

your own you're welcome to

tell soon

yes

hello

um this is um it's funny because before

i knew the subject of this i was going

to ask a question

um relating to this matter because

um

previously uh like i had quite a lot of

experiences after manila died and

she appeared to me in like quite a

divine form um

like multi-dimensional

and it was beautiful actually

until um another a monk mentioned to me

that

he thought it was actually my heart with

guiding me in a certain direction

towards trusting myself

and since this since i i understood that

my nana has appeared to me

in various ways um like as a

as a ghost basically

and

i i find it hard to understand why

because she was a she was a beautiful

person i can imagine she was very

attached to it to to a family

and but what i suppose what my question

is is i have been

transferring merit and i have been

um well in quite a lot of ways you know

i've offered food directly to monks like

through like paypal accounts into their

account and

i usually share my merits of any like

meditation deeds like at the end of the

day and

even about two nights ago i had a i had

a dream where i was with my nana in her

house and she was still being very kind

to me but she wouldn't she was trying to

tell me that she was dead basically in

the dream and that she was that she's

suffering but she didn't because she

didn't want it i don't think she could

she didn't want to hurt me or something

and i just wonder if she like if i may

be like transferring the merit wrong if

you've got any advice on that at all

well i think um

you know i i don't know the specifics of

transferring merit all i know is you

have an intention a wholesome intention

to transfer that merit so you could you

could see it verbally that you know may

the smear go to so and so

and uh that should be enough but there

might be a way to do it and i wouldn't

be i wouldn't be sure about that but if

i understand correctly you're saying

that you think that she was uh she's in

a hungry ghost room

uh yeah i mean

since this monk told me

that he feels like that like these

images i was seeing of my nana were

actually like my own heart guiding me

and every arm i've encountered that when

i've asked a question i've i've had

received an answer that she's a hungry

ghost and that she is um

when i asked her how it was being like

being dead she said to me that it wasn't

very nice

it's sort of like in like the feeling

that i get when i see her now it's not

the same as what i used to get

you know i feel like she's like lost

it's like almost like a bad dream for

her

yeah and

so well i'll tell you this um i don't

think you're doing anything wrong i

don't think there's a wrong way

necessarily to transfer merit as long as

you have a light a heart with loving

kindness as long as you have a heart

that's generous and so on

um

the thing about it is i don't know how

far into it you came along when i was

talking about this but i was talking

about how hungry ghosts can experience

mixed karma they can experience

uh good and bad karma so they can

experience um sometimes they might

experience

uh existence in a

in a heavenly mansion like this like a

vimana for some time and then for a

period of time still experience the

effects of their

negative karma their unwholesome karma

so even though you are transferring

merits

to her it's quite possible that she's

still going through a process of

whatever that karma is but that merit

will ripen into her experiencing the

fruit of that marriage whenever that's

going to be

okay yeah thank you that makes sense

actually yeah thank you wilson

oh i i like this question it's quite

funny um

how would you know which realm your

relative is in or would you just focus

on transferring mary to the black sheep

members of the family

that's funny um

well i would say just uh

indiscriminately transformer to your

relatives whether they're in in um you

know in a hungry ghost realm or in a

diver realm it's always nice to transfer

merit but if you have an impression or

you have some kind of an intuition that

this particular member of the family and

when i say intuition that doesn't mean

that it's guided by your idea of them

being

uh necessarily the black sheep of the

family and so on i'm just saying you

know if you just have an intuition just

an insight that this person might be in

a hungry ghost from and by all means you

can focus on them when you transfer your

merit and think of them

when you transfer the marriage to them

let me jump in here um

was

was a gift offered and you transferred

the merit of that gift i i didn't quite

understand the whole process

you have to

offer a gift hopefully to the song

yeah and then transfer the merit because

otherwise

there's no merit to transfer you can't

open yourself

yeah that's right that's right it has to

be some kind of offering to to the

sangha and then you're offered that

merit that's why you have all these

festivals in asia where they do it um

i was just talking about that earlier

where they have in cambodia chumbun

where it's a festival called chumbun

where you go to the monasteries

and you offer

to the to the monastics and then

the merit of that you transfer to your

debt relative that's the way to do

it i have a question about um sharing

merit what is the proper way to do that

and i've been kind of liberal about it

and

i mean i don't know if it's okay to do

it that way but um

you know i've always liked the idea of

um being able to share it with someone

who has died it gives you you know

because you feel so empty-handed at loss

you know in grief

so

you know you can share whatever i have

done good in this life or any life i

cannot i

i share that merit with my my person

that they that their future be optimal

i don't know if that's you know

buddhistically legal but i have been

doing that fairly liberally

i think that's a wonderful thing i mean

i don't see anything wrong with doing

doing that or not doing it i think

you know whatever it is that you have

done in terms of the merits like for

example when we share merit at the end

of a dhamma talk we're sharing merit

with all beings for that we do it with

the heart filled with loving kindness

and the idea is that that merit is then

transferred to whoever it's transferred

to it's given it's given to whoever it's

given to and who can benefit from it but

the the the idea of uh when it comes to

things like the hungry ghosts and things

like that it's it's a specific thing

where you go to the sangha

and you offer something to them and then

that is that gift that you offer

gives you some great merit and then you

transfer that marriage specifically for

that that person or that relative

well yeah i will let me let me just add

to that

uh we invite people to

uh send us a small gift and we will

share merit with

that relative and bonte will do the

ceremony here

and try to help out as much as we can

because we do have people writing in

they send us some small amount of money

and then we offer that at lunch in a

little ceremony

and you tell us the name of the person

and we will uh i give that to bhanti and

he

shares merit with that person as a

member of the sangha so there is a

process to do that and any monastery

should be able to do that

is it best to do one person at a time or

can you be if you don't know where

people are you know next

you know whoever

is is stuck maybe

you can share your merit with them

right we don't know of course where

these people are so we just

um we offer it to whoever we think needs

it and it can be a list of people

that people who have died of course

i'd like to ask a question

um

what are the objects that are among us

that are like colored

and in different shapes like a sphere

or a

square

diamond shape but it's kind of lit up

are those divas

uh actually uh

sometimes you'll see like different

colored orbs

or things like that and those could be

spirits actually those could be hungry

ghosts or those could be just

ghosts that are departing into it or

rather the spirit or the the being

departing uh into a different realm

oh i see okay thank you actually i i

think uh david has a book in which uh

there are some photographs

and one of the photographs shows this

like like colored orb uh a light orb

uh which is which

is basically captured like a like a

spirit

uh on its way to a different realm you

know what the name of that book is do

you remember

uh it's by katherine winkowski i believe

it's the ghost whisperer

something

um

she helps spirits to

that are on

that realm to go to a higher higher

realm

she opens up like this light light hole

and they go through and

she sign she finds that many people just

that when they die they just hang around

and they don't go forward since she's

able to see them and she has some

pictures in the book

of some of these beings and they're like

orbs and they can be

you know um ghost-like figures but

catherine wilkowski

is the author

thank you

like if it's okay i'll just um just

share something as well um

but i don't think get touched on enough

um

a few years ago now i experienced like a

ghost of a guy that i knew when he was

alive he was like quite a few years

older than me but he died in a car crash

and he he came to the house where he had

visited me and he babysat me actually

and

when i woke up during the night he was

this horrible like black

thing

that was stood at the end of the

bed and then the flashing image of his

of his face appeared in my in my mind

and he really did scare me i was in the

house on my own and

eventually when i managed to calm down i

said to him like les do you know that

that you died and instantly the relief

in the room was tangible he didn't he

didn't realize then he explained to him

a little bit what had happened and it

ended up being a really beautiful

conversation i can't remember if it was

like if i was speaking out loud you know

in the end he just told me to tell my

cousin that he missed her because he was

it was my cousin's boyfriend

and

i was like okay i promise you i'll i'll

tell him i'll tell her and then i ended

up falling sleeping

and straight after it was beautiful and

i've seen quite a few since then but the

relief when he found out that he was

actually dead

because i think for them

it's like it's like a horrible dream

where you don't realize what's going on

yeah that's a good point um you know

because what happens is if you get into

well if a being gets into a point where

there's like an accident like a

completely unexpected accident

um that makes it very difficult for them

to move on because they like you just

said sometimes they don't even realize

that they have to move on um and

and things like accidents uh

can happen and and depending upon what's

in that person's mindset

so that's an important thing to

understand so you know um

i just read a book uh called fruit of

karma that uh i borrowed from david and

it's an interesting book and it's all

kinds of stories about karma and things

like that and in in that one there's a

story

or there's an explanation that if

somebody dies of a car car crash or

something like that uh depends upon the

it depends upon the um

the the last thought let's say or the

last feeling that they have before they

die

so if it's a wholesome feeling then it's

quite possible that they will enter into

a devarum if it's an unwholesome it's

quite possible that they'll enter into a

hungry ghost realm or lower them but

there's also in indeterminate karma

which is like it's neither wholesome nor

unwholesome

but there's still some kind of

process which they don't realize that

they're dead

and for this reason once they do realize

that it's time to move on

hence he felt that relief and he

continued on with whatever he had to do

thank you

he actually he actually told me that he

was actually just hanging around he was

enjoying himself

you know maybe he might come back as a

deva and still continue visiting the

family as a deva but if he hasn't gone

already you should tell him to go

because it's important for that to

happen

thank you

oh so we have another question

uh can those with higher attainments or

our huts

see in which realms people might be

well you don't need to be an arahat you

don't even need to be have an attainment

to be able to uh

know the different realms you there are

those who can kind of develop this skill

to be able to know

uh you know the different realms and

where beings are in which realm and so

on

but um

you know it's a it's a skill that has to

be developed it's a skill that has to be

or either you have the karmic

the karmic effect of previous good deeds

and development that allows you to do

that

but as far as i know you know

or as far as i understand it

being able to see which realms people

might be in is just a psychic faculty

that can be developed it's not dependent

upon a higher attainment or anything

like that there's been stories of uh

different people who've had different

kinds of understandings of you know

rebirth like you know they'll be able to

see their past lives or they'll be able

to see the different realms or they were

able to see this and that

but they're not our hearts or they're

not even in the buddha's dispensation

that's why you go to diginakaya one

you see the brahmajala suta

these different beings they have

they have

they have certain ideas about the world

they have certain ideas about life

because they've seen up to a certain

extent in their previous lives but by no

means does that conclusion that they

have

they know that that's the reality of the

situation so even outside of the

buddha's dispensation there are people

who can go through these kinds of things

anybody else

nelson

hello

i see someone else trying to talk

nelson can you hear greg

yes fagley

hey dawson um so i have a question it's

been my understanding that because of

the higher realms there's

less suffering that it's actually better

to be born in the human realm for our

progress along the path to reaching

nirvana

and so my question is

by and i was interested when you said

that you don't have to be a sota puna

simply following the five precepts can

get us born in the sixth sensuous realms

is it automatic that

a person will always or being will be

born in the highest realm possible

when being born in a higher realm is not

necessarily better for their progress

it's actually seems to be better to

continue to be born as a human if we

don't reach nirvana

yeah it's really dependent upon their

karma so if somebody was uh

was virtuous and they had maintained

their precepts they were generous and so

on

depending depending on certain kinds of

things that they did and certain kinds

of qualities of mind that they

cultivated for example for example they

might have been more generous or they

might have developed more loving

kindness or they might have developed

more compassion or things like that so

what we're talking about is the pyramids

the ten different pyramids

that can get you to the devil realms

um

having said that the reason i say that

the human realm is the best is because

there's just enough suffering to prod

you along the way towards the dharma so

i see the deva rums as being wonderful

you know they're great because you enjoy

the fruits or the benefits of your good

actions from previous lifetimes from

your previous uh actions in the human

realm or whatever it might be

um but what happens is when you are in

the day of realm

you're just there are there are devas

like in the talibs of heaven and other

other devil rams who know about the

dhamma and so they they spend time

developing uh their understanding of the

dhamma as they see it

uh you know once in a while they will

get together

especially in tawatimsa they'll get

together to discuss the dhamma and

things like that

but then you know most of the devas are

partying you know they they love they

love partying and if you if you ever get

into the everyone it's really noisy i

mean there's just a lot of singing and

dancing and partying going on and

sometimes what happens is they get they

get

they get so involved in that they forget

that this too is temporary that this cue

is uh impermanent

and all they're doing is just burning up

the fuel of the effect of that good

karma and then whatever thought they

have next will then lead them into

either a lower realm or even to the

human realm

but ultimately i would say that's for

that reason the human realm is is a

wonderful space to be in to develop the

dharma

because it almost seems a waste of time

to

be reborn in a higher realm when

eventually we're going to have to come

back down again and do the stuff we were

supposed to do so we really want to do

it now and not waste all those eons

yeah

yeah tell that to the devas you know

right

so so can davis attain

hold on i think there was somebody else

asking a question and then this one i

don't know if my microphone is all right

yeah go ahead go ahead okay yeah

um well it seems like

with these stories it almost seems like

it's

the realms are not so much

uh

stratified but more like a like a

spectrum

yeah so yeah

like you got yama more like a

deva with a day job and

i was wondering

this is uh

a different suit i think it's in the

majima nikaya and

where the buddha goes up and visits

a brahma

and

you have mara there so that's actually

kind of weird because man belongs to

like it's well it's not a lower realm

it's because it's

a few steps lower

on the ladder um i thought

does that explain sort of the same thing

because it always seemed kind of odd to

me

that

in that center

yeah that that if you didn't find out

what that suit is and if you can email

me because i'd like to take a look

because it is kind of strange that mara

would appear in the brahma realm because

he's like

you know the thing about mara is he or

she i mean however you want to look at

it

that that's a post that's another post

like the post of being maha brahma or

the post of being saka the king of

the teams around and stuff so that's

another post when that mar is gone

there'll be another maya to replace him

and all he's about is like he's like

that guy who says you know why stop the

party continue partying so he tries to

get everybody to just be

more interested in the sensual realms so

for him to be in the bummer realm that

is interesting i'd have to take a look

at that suta because to go into a

brahmara realm would mean that you had

gone into jhana and he tries to prevent

as many people as he can as many beings

as he can from going into jannah because

then that would help them to go into

brahmaram but

yeah that's interesting i haven't heard

that one before

okay yeah i'll uh i'll look it up

yeah thanks

annie you had a question

so

one cannot adeva cannot attain to um

hibana

oh yeah they can uh for example saka

you'll you'll see stories of where saka

attains stream entry or there are

certain devas

uh who were relatives of rahula who were

listening to

the buddha's discourse to rahula when he

became an arahant they attained stream

entry so it's not difficult

to attain stream entry as a deva

but it's just

uh it's just uh

much easier in the human realm because

you you you're much more motivated

there's more motivation to get off the

wheels i'm sorry whereas in the demo

realms

they're they're trying to experience

pleasure all the time so

they're they're kind of more geared

towards seeking more and more pleasure

rather than just the dhamma so there are

devas who can become sodapanas and who

can even become sakuragamis but once

they become an onigami they they

disappear from that realm

so saka for example when he becomes an

anagam he's going to disappear

immediately

uh and then go to

pure abodes because the whole point is

when we talk about an onigami and

onigami is somebody who is a

non-returner

and he's a non it's a non-returner to

this world and when we talk about this

world it's mean it's meaning as a

collective

sensuous realms

so once you become an anagami

in a deva realm that

that sensuality of the devalum is no

longer conducive to that being and so

they will just depart from there and

then take a further birth into the pure

boats

i have a question

so in the human realm or even in the

deva realms

is the buddhist teachings always

available

not always available because there comes

a point where the teachings degrade

and they're lost and

even to the devas they become lost at a

certain point

okay

but you could say currently there are

devas who are following the dhamma

so that means the dhamma is still there

there are devas

right now who are still following the

ghana

okay

yeah

i have a question dalson

yes

um once an arahat finally dies for the

last time what happens to their karma

does it all good or bad does it get

completely extinguished or does it gets

distributed somewhere else does it can

it be destroyed or does it remain

oh so any kind of karma you're talking

about like an unwholesome karma

uh

or an arahant well they will experience

it they will experience the effect of

that unwholesome karma for example we

have mogulana who

um

who experienced the

the effect that just before he died he

was beaten and

um and that was a result of a previous

karma in a completely different life

where the understanding is he

he experienced the hell realms for

having killed his parents

and that's how the commentarial

tradition goes is he experienced that

but there was still a strong enough seed

for him to experience that negative

karma or the effect of that negative

karma even as an araha

the same with uh angulimala who

experienced the effect of his

unwholesome karma every time he went and

killed people um and

and so he experienced that in some form

or another as as an arahant but then

in terms of

when an arahat passes on there is no

more being there is no more new karma

produced so for the arhat to experience

anything

while they're still

alive while the five aggregates are

still functioning

anything that they're experiencing is a

result of old karma they don't produce

any new karma but that doesn't mean that

in order for them to pass on all that

karma has to be extinguished

what is extinguished is basically just

the five aggregates

and so any karma that ripens in that

life will be extinguished

[Music]

hi nelson

hi hello

hi um i just would share with you

something that happened in our family

my nephew was killed in a very very bad

car crash very very bad trash

and very suddenly died and he was stuck

he was stuck he was around definitively

around

staying

without leaving

for probably two to three weeks but the

second week we knew there was something

really funny going on

because his wife um a very good friend

convinced her

they were very athletic her and her

and him they were very athletic in the

community and very well known and they

wanted you know had a lot of friends and

they wanted her to go to a football game

so they took her to the football game

and they took the four the four-year-old

um

to the uh game with them but she wanted

to sit away from people go to the

football game but sit in the top of the

bleachers so she sat up in the corner

with her husband with the little girl

and the baby was in a

carrier and was on the uh

right beside her on the seat at the very

top of the bleachers now underneath the

bleachers

was where they stored the cutting bars

for the fields around the high school

and for all of the athletic fields were

restored underneath there

and the security guard was standing over

by the high school watching this whole

scene happen when it occurred

and something went wrong and the baby

fell off and fell down 30 odd feet

toward the bottom is about 35 feet down

he fell down to the cutting bars and

stopped in midair

and something caught him and moved him

three feet over lowered him to the

ground to only a foot above the ground

and dropped him

okay you can figure out the rest of the

story but josh caught his son

the baby was caught and he was held in

the air and moved over and lowered down

and he let go and the baby fell down and

coughed and they ran down and picked him

up and the security guard came down with

tears in his eyes and told them what

happened and everybody was just

nuts because he saw him you know fall

straight down to where the cutter bars

were

so this is real stuff people do get

caught

you know people get caught and they are

caught in like a tunnel another thing

that happens is that

when a person dies if they're very very

afraid very afraid when they die

sometimes they get caught in a situation

where they're in a tunnel and the best

thing you can do for them is light

candles don't ask me why but it work you

know helps them to be able to go through

and get free and then everybody will

feel free afterwards when the person has

gotten to wherever they're going but

they get lost dark in a tunnel when

they're really really afraid yeah yeah

well you know that that's that's a

wonderful story i mean that's that's

that's amazing um about the light i my

impression about that is

this is coming from my understanding of

the different kinds of candle light and

oil lamps that are lit and the

understanding is that if you light a

like a key lamp it takes uh takes you

well that light reaches all the way to

the deva realms it reaches all the way

to the brahmarams so what it's doing is

it's giving them sort of an indicator of

where to go when you light a candle or

when you light a key lamp or something

like that

yeah

yeah and the other thing is about davis

the funny part about davis is they have

to keep eating all the time they cannot

stop eating bonte used to have talk with

me about that and

and um

they're stuck eating they can't there's

not a chance a good chance for them to

do a lot of meditation for instance it's

true there's certain partying and

dancing and things like that going on

but the thing is there's lots of grapes

and they have to keep eating all the

time if they stop eating they can get

caught being pulled out of there and put

in another realm just like that

this is my understanding of this i've

asked a few different old old monks i

like to ask old old monks these

questions you know that's true yeah

that kind of makes sense because because

the way i see it is like you have the

hungry ghost realms which means that

they're always hungry at the all the

time they don't have an opportunity to

have any food

and the opposite spectrum of that is the

deva realms where they're constantly

eating they're constantly having food

yeah well it was pretty amusing they get

stuck with that

oh there's a question somebody wrote in

the chat does the buddha himself talk

about transferring

marriage to the dead in the suttas

well the where we talk about when we're

talking about the vimana vimana vatu and

the pithavatu that's all coming from the

nikaya so that's part of the pali canon

but these are stories of arahat monks

who

go to these places or meet with these

people so i don't i don't know if i've

come across any stories of the buddha

himself

talking about transferring marriage to

the dead i i haven't come across it

can i uh step in and say something

yes

hi

i am i know there are two

loved ones that have passed away

um my husband on in 2014 and then my

son-in-law last year

um and they both had visions

um of some sort of

more of an angelic type i think beings

of like

a few well

about a year both of them about a year

before they die

which is interesting i i know my husband

he um

we just gotten up

you know and he went in the living room

and then i

went in the kitchen to make some coffee

and stuff and

and then when i came back out

into the living room

he was standing there with his mouth he

looked like he was in total awe

he's and then he told me what happened

and he said

he saw this person or being uh he didn't

know what it was he wasn't they were in

a white robe

and um

he just they didn't say anything or do

it but they just

amanda is such peace

and he even smiled and said good morning

to him where normally if you saw someone

in your living room you'd freak out

so

and i thought darling i missed it i was

in the kitchen making

anyway and then um

right after my son-in-law

a couple days after

uh he had his

serve brain surgery you know he had

brain cancer

um he

came out you know he was back home then

and he um

he told us you know

what he saw he was like laid in bed and

then these three

angels he said they were huge they were

above him

oh they were like just

broad shoulders big and he said they had

long

beautiful hair

um

and they had a different color here like

one had red hair and had i think black

hair and have blonde hair and i don't

know what all this means but anyway he

was just

amazed by it um and he told them he

didn't want to

die you know he that's why because he

thought maybe they were coming to get

him right now and

i guess you know he was worried about

that so

but they didn't say anything either and

then they um

they were gone oh

but yeah i i just thought that was

interesting it was two people it was

about both of them was about a year

before they passed away

that they saw those yeah

yeah

they could be they could be just

relatives from a previous life they'd be

checking up on them seeing how they're

doing

oh

yeah from from the devil realm or

something because if they're like

angelic in nature they could be

yeah

okay

i had a i had a story of uh one time um

i'm sorry go on did you have more to say

oh no no

oh

um i i remember uh well this is this is

the story that was told to me because i

wasn't there firsthand but my

grandfather

he uh

before he passed a few days before he

passed he was talking to somebody

who seemed like he thought that she was

a nurse

uh but she had this graceful kind of

way about her and and very

um

very angelic and things like that and he

was saying oh yeah i spoke to this nurse

and he was telling the doctor and the

doctor said we don't have anyone like

that on our staff so you know they

thought he was starting to yeah maybe

he's starting to hallucinate

but then a few days later he passed on

so he was visited by you know adeva and

he continued on and another story i

remember was my mother was talking about

uh her sister-in-law that's that's my

dad's that sister

she passed on maybe six or seven months

afterwards

but then she specifically said i can she

was saying you know daddy daddy which

means she was seeing her father

uh just before she passed on but she

hadn't gone crossed over yet because my

mother

had a vision where

she saw

her my sister her sister-in-law

uh in the cemetery and she's saying what

are you doing here she's saying well i'm

just hanging around and you said no you

should go on and so

she saw some kind of stream of light and

then she just faded into that light and

continued on so oh wow

that's that's amazing

so it's quite possible in in the case of

your uh in in those situations that

maybe the devas kind of understood

what was going to happen

um and so they were just checking up on

them and visiting them and you know as

as previous relatives

protect them and make sure that they had

safe passage wherever oh that's no

that's that's reassuring i i um also i i

noticed that

other ones that i've you know

right before they pass on

they forgive they've forgiven people and

their family that have done them

harm you know that have not been kind to

them

and something that is you know like

their dad or something you abandoned

them or you know in one case or things

like that and they had totally let that

go and forgiven them

and i i was really happy to hear that

when i found that out from you know like

my sister when her husband passed and my

son-in-law

you know because his father had

abandoned them when they were you know

when he finally

was able to forgive right before i think

that's you know

i guess that frees you

uh

that you can let go easier than um yes

yes

yeah otherwise if they were holding on

to it then they might feel remorse they

might feel all the things that wouldn't

be so wholesome but

that's one of the things that i would

recommend is if you know somebody who's

starting to pass on is to

help them to let go of any kind of

regrets they might have uh help them to

go through a process of forgiveness

and then help them to take the precepts

because that's also very important

that's a crucial step yeah

yeah

thank you

[Music]

i don't necessarily like to hear about

uh scary things but i do like to hear

about you know and jail like thai beans

you know

yeah yeah

you know you know how david is he loves

to you know make everything very

spooky and dramatic on halloween so

yeah it's kind of fun

he's halloween after all

[Music]

luckily i don't know anyone that's seen

anything bad like that you know any kind

of demons or anything like that before

that you know so

so i got a story i got a story for you

now that you mentioned a scary story

yeah

i it happened in this very doma hall

we were listening to a talk from bonte

and

chinese nun

uh she was sitting there listening and

then she's she just yelped like

oh my god

look at that white ghost he has no head

and everybody looked over and there was

nothing there

and uh

and then

bonte says okay i don't think anything's

there and we just moved on about 15

minutes later

she looked over he's there again and

then the person next to him said i can

see him too

and

he said to ivanti said okay david go and

see what's over at the red barn there

must be something over there well of

course i went over there and there's

nothing there

but it was described as a white ghostly

figure with no head

and as far as i know nobody's seen it

since so

there you go

aren't there are there some some other

people who've kind of seen different

kinds of apparitions all around yeah

yeah

yeah people also

you remember david you you remember

smiley

you remember

the dog

smiley was this remarkable black lab

that was a damasuke that we had for a

long time and

um he suddenly died it was an accident

the mail truck um he bit the tire and

broke his neck it was really sad so just

quickly like that but he hung around and

people would come from florida they

would come from different places to do a

retreat and you see one of the things

that smiley would do if somebody came

and they were new and they were up where

the doma hall is and staying in the

cabins he would go up and stay on their

porch and make sure they were okay

because they had to come and walk to the

to the bath house to the bathrooms or

take a shower so he would want to walk

over with them at night and everybody

knew about that but the new people we

weren't telling them that because we

thought the dog was gone okay and they

would come down you know and say gee

it's so nice you have this black dog up

there that has took me over last night

to the bed house and this happened a few

times and bonty and i are trying to

figure out what's going on you know and

um there was at least three or four or

five different cases of people telling

us that at night time the dog was still

up there and i tried to go up i tried to

stay up one night to see if i could see

him but i couldn't i couldn't see him

but he was there and he was doing his

job just hanging out

then finally and as i yeah

finally he left

yeah no and as i understand it he kind

of trained rex

uh to do the same thing

definitely when rex arrived

uh

smiley took over and just just tried to

explain to him and one of the funniest

things we ever saw rex was very timid

about going into water at damasuke in

the pond and

silky was still alive the first dog that

was there

and she was old and she wanted to teach

him that when we threw something in you

swim out you bring it back

and then we would throw it for rex into

the water and rex would go down to the

edge of the pond and he would go to the

mud like this with both paws and look at

you and say what are you crazy you want

me to go in the mud are you crazy and he

looked like um

very beautiful like fabian the model you

know the very famous italian model he

was that style

dog you know his and he crossed his legs

like this you know when he rested on the

ground was remarkable his whole story

you know his personalities

but they taught each other and smiley

demanded to take rex to the top and

teach him how to take care of people

that's right that's that's true

[Music]

okay so i think a little deal we have

time for just a few more comments and

then i think we'll

wrap it up and get into our costumes and

go trick-or-treating

hey um delson david if i could share um

real quick kind of off subject a bit but

um

yesterday i attended um

venerable biku bodies um

buddhist global relief had a

gathering yesterday and i was just

uh overwhelmed with compassion i'm

attending it

um

of course all of us english speakers are

forever grateful to be goo bodhi for his

translations of the tasks or editing of

venerable matamulli's work

and um i know the buddha was adamant

that the dhamma be available in

people's native tongues

but um so

uh i was already in awe of

biku bodhi for the amount of effort it

must take to do that translation work

and here i come to find out he has also

created the buddhist global relief fund

to tackle hunger originally and it seems

to have grown now

to also tackle

issues for women

as we know in most of the world

it's still a dangerous place for women

and um

he went on to explain a lot of things

that i never occurred how it affects

global warming which shocked me and

how

aid given to women

is uh so important because women tend to

use it for their family whereas us men

go out gambling and drinking

and that was

interesting as well they had a number of

speakers a number of venerables and um i

just wanted to share that briefly that

if anyone cares to

uh

contribute dhamma if you google buddhist

global relief you'll find it piku

bodhi's website where you could do that

uh but i thought i should share that and

uh like i say i'm so grateful to him

that i have

these priceless texts in english

available to me so thank you for letting

me share for a minute

wonderful so is there any other one more

comment and i think we'll

come to a close

okay well with that i will thank delson

for being here and delson will you lead

us in the sharing of merit

sure

my suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be may the

grieving shed all grief and may all

beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

have thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

dispensation

happy halloween good luck trick or

treating