The Buddha's Last Teachings

so this evening I want to give a talk or teachings following one of the great Buddhist texts the mahapanibanasuta which is a teaching on the last year the story of the last year of the Buddhist life and when you look at the Buddhist texts they're full of stories encounters with people who come to see the Buddha seeking understanding or relief from suffering or healing or philosophers and yogis trying to understand the mind and he meets them all and gives each one an individual instruction sometimes mindfulness training sometimes compassion sometimes a wisdom sometimes the training and virtue and ethics sometimes the training and how to attend one's body and heart all these trainings and in this particular text that we will go through tonight is one of my favorite teachings I've done it oh every three or four years for quite a while I'll return to these teachings because I find them inspiring and they're meant to really be examined as a kind of experiment for yourself reflecting how does this affect me or point to something important in my own life and I'm going to do it in a particularly unusual way in that I want us speak of these teachings describe them not as history because it's a sort of historical account of his last year but that's kind of boring okay I went there I did this you know here's my uh my homework what I did last summer or what I did on my last year but it's a myth as part of one of the greatest myths of humankind which is the myth of the Buddha you know leaving the princely life and becoming an ascetic and then sitting under the tree of Enlightenment and then discovering Awakening and teaching people and going back to his own family and and all around India on foot for 45 years the myth of the Buddha or the story of it is the story of what's possible for us and the reason I want to teach it in a mythological terms is you'll hear it sounds that way it begins with the text that says thus I have heard which is a little bit like once upon a time and it ends with the phrase this is how it was in the old days and so you can settle back and listen to this story that speaks from an ancient heart that's Timeless to your own and this teaching or this text has two main themes one is how the Buddha wants to leave his teachings as guidance to practice for the community and people who are following him to empower them and the second is to Foster or Empower wiser relationships to one another in the spiritual community and to the world from the setting for this teaching or this myth is vulture's peak already a kind of mythological word the mountain in Northern India that sticks up from The Plains of India near the province current modern province of Bihar that used to be covered with great forests and huge trees and wild animals now it's become deforested and more desert land and poorer soils but then it was it was verdant and second and filled with life and that's where the monks and nuns and followers of the Buddha and others who lived there along the plane of the Ganges heard these teachings and it offers this empowerment and these teachings it does this by setting up the image of a kingdom of justice and compassion and respect how should we continue to practice when you the Buddha have gone and he's Preparing People for the end of his life begins with a dialogue where the minister from the king of magada one of the local kingdoms comes to see the Buddha and says should we make war on the vajians there is a possibility of conflict that's building up and should we should we engage in war should we back off what should we do and instead of giving them advice of whether they should engage in war or not the Buddha in his usual way starts to have them inquire deeply and he says tell me to the vajians meet together in harmony listen to one another and respectfully and depart in harmony and the minister says yes they do and the Buddha said then they can be expected to prosper and not decline tell me do the virgins protect those who are vulnerable among them the children the women the elderly the sick and the minister says yes they do and the Buddha says then they can be expected to prosper and not decline and then he says tell me do the virgins stay true to the ancient teachings of living with virtue and understanding and cultivating the heart and the minister said yes they do then they can be expected to prosper not decline tell me do these vajians take care of the nature shrines and of the environment in which they live is a sacred place yes they do said the minister and then the Buddha said then they can be expected to prosper and not decline and so the minister left going back to his King saying hey the Buddha said these vatians are doing all the things that make them strong and help them prosper and make a beautiful Society listening to each other in harmony I wish we were doing that more in our current time respecting the vulnerable taking care of the natural environment following the teachings the Deep teachings of wisdom so this is how the Buddha responds and then he goes on and he says so to you monks so to you none so to you the lay followers you should follow in their footsteps and you should cultivate listening to each other with respect and Harmony taking care of the vulnerable among you sustaining the natural world around you preserving your own personal mindfulness and thus you too will prosper and not decline as long as the monks and nuns both in public and in private show loving kindness to their companions through acts of body speech and thought and share The Virtuous actions with one another so long will they prosper and not decline for this he goes on as the basis for the freedom of heart for Liberation so this is kind of how it starts by setting up what a wise Kingdom looks like both among the vajians and for us as well at this time what would a wise Society look like to listen deeply as we do care for the vulnerable of the environment but here's my question for you if we take this as a myth and not just a spirit history why didn't the Buddha say you shouldn't go to war against the vajians you know they might defeat you or they can't be defeated reflect for a moment why didn't he do that and one of the things that's important to hear in this is that instead of saying do this or do that the Buddha is pointing to the underlying causes not just the effects of things but to see if we live in a certain way what will be the outcome he wants people who are listening to him those who are seeking wisdom to inquire in themselves what is it that makes a wise Society what gives strength and courage and to see the causes rather than a simple answer then the rest of this long text of many many pages this Sutra is the gist of his travels the announcement of his death the last disciples the last teachings what he wants people to keep in mind and follow his last meal and what happens at his death here are some of the stories at this point then he wanders with a company of renunciates and lay followers from vulture's Peak and he goes to pavarika's Mango Grove near nalanda and there as he seated quietly his chief disciple the wisest of them sorry Putra comes up to him and looks at him with great admiration and says there will never be a better never be a more enlightened teacher Than You O Master speaking to the Buddha and the Buddha raises his eyebrows and looks back and sorry Putra wise though he's supposed to be and says do you know the other Buddhas from the other heiress no said sorry Putra do you know the ones from the past no do you know the ones in the future no do you know the extent of the Buddhist mind sitting in front of you no sir then how can you say such a thing and Sarah puto responds he said to the blessed one just as this there were a great City and it was surrounded by a mighty wall and there was an entrance one entrance gate into the city and at the entrance gate there stood someone who was watchful and caring compassionate and strong courageous who noticed what wanted to come into the city or who and what was leaving and could discern this is for the benefit of those living in this place and this is not for the benefit in the same way said sorry puta the awakened ones of all the eras and all the times rest at the Gateway of mindfulness and notice as thoughts come and go as experiences rise and passes people and interactions happen they quiet themselves and as if standing at the gate they receive all of this with discernment and loving awareness with mindfulness amen so doing so they allow that which is healthy into themselves and that which is not they do not roomie writes this poem one of what uses it to make such a fuss when we will soon enough all go through that same gate and of course he's speaking of the Gate of the end of life but this is a beautiful teaching because here's our Buddha answers all right I don't know the Buddhists of the past and present but I know the nature of Liberation itself when we rest in the present and can notice what arises and with discernment see this is healthy and this is unhealthy and with that discernment follow that is the gateway to our freedom and to our liberation and then as they wander further they go along the banks of the Ganges River and the Buddha and those following take a seat at some point and the Buddha says so tell me those of you who are practicing to cross the flood of Sorrow tell me when you get to the other side what will you do with the raft of your teachings he said these teachings are a wrapped to cross over to make a bridge to help you across the flood of confusion and difficulty by establishing mindfulness by establishing concentration and Stillness and steadiness --- flooded Ganges then what do you do with the raft to carry it around with you and of course the disciples being wise said no we don't sir no we don't and the Buddha said just so these are teachings to use these are teachings to guide you but they're not teachings to carry they're simply used to cross over the moments and days of confusion or fear to have these teachings to cross over into the Peace of liberation which you can do in a moment and then you leave the teachings aside so then as the story goes along the blessed one continued and he sat to rest under a great tree in the forest and asked to be alone to meditate and as he did Mara who in this language in that time is the Incarnation of ignorance greed hatred sometimes translated as the evil one although I don't think evil is quite the right language for Mara but certainly the opposite of enlightenment and as you all know in the great story of the Buddha's Awakening under the Bodhi Tree Mara came and tried to tempt him with his beautiful daughters in every possible desire and the Buddha just sat there and said I see you Mara and then Mara through blaming arrows and Spears at the Buddha and he touched them with his fingers and heart of compassion and they turned to flower petals at his feet and then Mara tried doubts and who do you think you are to sit in this way you don't even know what's possible and then the goddess of the earth rose up and swept away Mara saying this human being has sat and established the basis of Liberation in his own heart for so long he does understand well it turns out Mara keeps coming back you may have noticed this in your own life you go to retreat you do your own meditation things seem hunky-dory everything is fine you're in a great place and then who comes knocking Mara reappears and the thing is if you read in these texts Mara Comes Back 40 times in the text during the Buddha's life when he has a backache or where things are difficult in his community um or struggles or things like that then Mara appears and this is because Mara is tick not Han says no Mara no Buddha that actually the Buddha and Mara are enter into R without Mara the Buddha wouldn't have something to awaken from and we all carry this in ourselves Alexander solzinician the great Russian writer and act peace activist and if only there were evil people out there insidiously committing evil deeds and it were simply necessary to separate them from the rest of us and Destroy them but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being and who Among Us is willing to destroy a piece of Our Own Heart really so Mara will appear for you as he does to the Buddha over and over in this story and each time Mara appears the Buddhist says is that you Mara and then in this case Mara says I've come to see you many times and said it's time for you to quit your teaching you should retire you should end your life you've done what you want and you always said I need to have a great community of people I need to benefit people and have them benefit one another only then can I take final Nirvana and Mara said now you've done this it's time for you to let go and the Buddha reflects and he says yes Mara later this year I will take my final Nirvana now why does Mara keep coming you'd think there's happily ever after Enlightenment wouldn't you but it's not like that the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being and Mara is part of the myth and part of human incarnation of our dance Mara has been visiting you and every time you meditate you might get quiet for a little bit none more comes doesn't matter you know if you're in Des Moines or you're in you know Florida or you're in Belfast Ireland Mara will find you and say ah and then you can say oh yes doubt fear confusion is that you Mara and the minute you can acknowledge it and say omara I know you then Mara loses his power so as soon as the Buddha said to Mara yes finally I will end by dispensation or I will end end my teaching this year I will pass into final Nirvana there was a great earthquake a terrible hair-raising earthquake and thunder and a nod to his attendant came running and said what is the cause of this great earthquake and the Buddha explained there are great earthquakes because of the movement of the Earth but there are also earthquakes when a Buddha is conceived and when he's born or she's born and when he's enlightened and when he first turns the wheel of the Dharma and when he renounces his teaching but why the image of an earthquake reflect because it's the shaking of the foundation of all the ground that we stand on Enlightenment the teachings of birth and death the earthquake says this is what awakens us from the dream of separateness and solidity there's something greater here in our human Incarnation who are you really remember your Consciousness itself born into this body you're the witness to it all and the earthquake reminds you of this and then Ananda weeps and bags and says please stay many times you've told me that you could live a long long time please don't die and the Buddha replies I gave you hints that I could stay a long time but you never asked me until this moment I gave you hints that if you told me three times I must stay for a long time I could do so and these hints I told you with the black snake pool and at jivica's mango Grove and at the Deer Park in Raj gear and the cool wooden topota and each time you could have said please stay and live long and long but you did not so yours is the Fault Ananda whoa how about your teacher saying that at the end of his life or her life yours is the Fault now talk about a serious Guilt Trip right yours is the failure for not asking Ananda and then you went on now my body is old like an old cart held together by straps and thongs and you have not asked me to stay so this year I will take my final Nirvana how can we understand this why would the Buddha say this to his most beloved attendant his cousin the person that everybody respected and he says it's your fault Ananda reflect for a moment what could this mean yes his body's like an old cart and that's what happens to our bodies but there's something deeper in this he's trying to say that the teacher-student relationship is not one way that everyone that you relate to those who are your teachers and everyone becomes your teacher in some way but especially where you receive important teachings is a two-way responsibility you have to listen and tend and be caring as they do it is an interdependent relationship and thus it is your responsibility to be in that relationship and offer yourself as that other person the Wise One the teacher and the person you're learning from does too now it's also true that later when the Buddha just before the Buddha dies he Praises Ananda as he's done often in his texts for his care and beauty and how pleasant he is for everyone who's come to see the Buddha how he tends them well you know the qualities of his timing and sensitivity he loves Ananda and it's a very clear relationship but this is a moment where he's saying this is a two-way deal Ananda and you and I have to take care of each other if you want to wake awaken this is what you two need to remember then it goes along in another scene and the Buddha and Gathering of renunciates and lay followers leave and go along the ganches river and he offers teachings to the large company of followers and each time he completes these teachings when he's done he sits quietly those who receive these teachings and the last praise he offers is this now is time for you to go and do as you see fit why would he say this each time someone comes with questions he gives a response somebody asks for a teaching on mindfulness of compassion or forgiveness he gives the teachings and then he says now it is time for you to go and do as you see Fair what does this mean what it points to is that the teacher cannot do it for you no one can Enlighten get enlightened for you you know no one can love for you no one can forgive for you no one can awaken for you no one can let go for you so the Buddha offers his pointings his teachings his skillful beings his medicine and then he says it's in your good hands now it is time for you to do as you see fit and there's a beautiful empowerment in this that we can take in our lives in all of our interactions with those that we care about because often it was people you really cared about it's now in your good hands and that allows you to be peaceful and steady and caring but not attached or grasping to the outcome foreign onda and the senior monks and Nuns with the Buddha says so once you are gone who will be our guide great question when you don't have the great teacher with you and the Buddha put no one in charge of the Sangha he didn't say all right now I deputize whoever it is they will be the new you know next Buddha to take over the community he said the truth will be your guide be an island unto yourself let the Dharma teachings and the teachings of ethics and virtue let them be your guide and they said how shall these be our guide how can we know they responded what are the real teachings of the Buddha and he said there are four ways to know because he'd like to make lists you heard it from the lips of the blessed one you heard it from the circle of Elders you learned it as a respected teachings some Masters had repeated should you follow these should you approve or not approve he said only if you consider in your own heart does this conform to the gist of the Dharma teachings that you heard does it have a basis in virtue and ethics not harming oneself and others then it is the path of lib --- eeply and listening then it is a path to liberation does it have a basis in wisdom in seeing clearly then it is the teaching of the blessed one does it follow the Four Noble Truths that there is suffering that it acknowledges suffering that it sees the causes greed hatred and ignorance that offers the path of mindfulness compassion and wisdom to the end of suffering if it does then it is the teachings of the blessed one and he went from place to place offering these fundamental teachings the Four Noble Truths the foundations of mindfulness loving awareness of the body of feelings of the play of the mind and of our relations with one another and establishing ourselves in mindful loving awareness then we begin to partake in the Consciousness in the mind and the Heart of Liberation we share that with the blessed one foreign now the Buddha continues to wander this is again an account of the poll last year and he comes to rest in practice in a large and beautiful Forest Grove it described the travel becoming difficult for him his body is getting sicker now it is hard as at peace and in this Forest Grove it becomes surrounded by the word goes out this may be the Buddha's last year of teaching and 500 or a thousand that use these numbers a thousand or ten thousand renunciates and monastics and devoted lay people come and there they are in the forest and then visiting dignitaries and yogis and people who hear about the Buddha come for teachings and here you see the Buddha and this part of the story seated in the midst of this great following and in the distance a retinue of the best carriages arrive and the courtesan ambapali comes dressed in her finest silks with a whole cautery of young and beautiful women and their attendance in their finest silks and perfumes and they seated themselves near the blessed one and bowed and paid their respect respects walking into the Grove step by step with a with a gesture of of respect and when they did it says the Buddha instructed and inspired and roused and awakened them and taught them the four foundations of mindfulness the gateways of liberation and taught them about Dignity of virtue and living with integrity and as they sat to the side of the Buddha and listen deeply they're awakened in them a sense of Freedom the shift of identity from confusion and misunderstanding to realize that they could step back and be the loving witness of it all not caught in their reactivity not caught in separateness and great Delight arose in them and then ambapali in response invited the Buddha and a company of 500 of his followers in a formal invitation to come and take a meal at her Palace the Buddha accepted and then an interesting thing happened they were still seated here and a whole new group of carriages came you can tell how mythological this is It's Kind of Wonderful and these were the Nobles the lichavis of the local Kingdom there of the the great City nearby and they came and they heard the last of the Buddha's teachings and he also roused them when they sat and paid their attention they arrived dressed in blue and yellow and white it says with great silks and adornment and Royal carts and horses and elephants and they came and it was their turn and then they invited the Buddha to take a meal which was the great way of making Meredith saying if we can offer something to you you give us these amazing teachings and we now wanna have this relationship where we support you and your followers who want to make the deepest of all Merit you know of caring for the blessed one and the Buddha said um I'm sorry I cannot accept your invitation I've already received an invitation from the courtesan ambapali who's sitting over there with her retinue and they got really upset you accepted the invitation from that mango woman you know it was sort of the slang and the slur for her for being a courtesan and they went over and they said to her and the Buddha said I accept I accepted her invitation and they got so upset and they went over to her and they said we want to we want to make an offering and a meal for the blessed one while he's here and she shook her head and they said we will give you a hundred thousand gold pieces an ambapali who's hearted just awakened in the present with the Buddhist head not for a whole Kingdom would I give her up the chance to make an offering to the blessed one because that was the source of her own Awakening they went back and they asked the Buddha again and he said I have accepted dear friends she was first so why does the courtesan appear here in in the myth in the story reflect for a moment it's really a beautiful teachings about who can practice and who's worthy of liberation and what are the deepest values of the Dharma and these values say that not by caste or Creed not by race or birth said the Buddha does one become Noble but one becomes Noble by the state of one's heart a truly radical teaching in a society that that at that time the Brahman and Hindu structure was all about caste and who is above the brahmanas and the sheltrias and the different levels of of the casts the shudras The Untouchables and he said no nobly born you who have the great heart that's possible of Awakening each of you o nobly born remember who you really are and he turned no one away he saw the nobility of every human being and so amapoli really stands in for all the rest of us for those who are wounded those who have been cast aside in the culture of those who are insecure all the ways we think we're not worthy and the Buddha says yes you are worthy you human being you come and if you come with your sincerity the Dharma Gates will open for you and will bless you and then as The Story Goes On the last meal is offered to the Buddha and pava manga Forest and as the meal is offered the Buddha says this part portion is for me no one else eat and pava offered the best hard and soft foods but it turns out that this last meal depending how what story you read of it that there was something that had gone bad in the food in the part that the Buddha took and he kind of knew it he was already sick a lot that year and he took this meal anyway for whatever reason perhaps because he knew finally it was his time and it was offered with so much sincerity he ate it and shortly thereafter described having pains Like a Knife cutting into his abdomen that's how sick the dysentery became and the difficulty but even as he started to feel sick he looked at kunda the Smith and he said thank you for offering this last meal it is one of the most important offerings that a Buddha receives in his life and you will make great blessings from this now why would he say this here are you giving the meal and the Buddha dies not long after that doesn't seem like a very good thing but what happened when you reflect on this is that the Buddha pointed to the purity of come to the Smith's intention the key to Karma is your motivation and this was offered with such a pure heart and so much goodness that the Buddha said it is your pure heart and your goodness that in the end will bear fruit and you can feel this in your own life even though it doesn't bear fruit right away when you act out of Truth out of your deepest values out of what you care about the most and there's a purity and integrity in it it not only feels right to you but it makes the karma shows the seeds of Liberation and well-being and flower and then he sits after this he's taken to a nearby Forest blade and sits by a stream and closes his eyes and goes into a deep meditation anyway he wakes up a man named bakusa walks by and the Buddha says I am thirsty and pakusa says I will get you water from the river but some carts have crossed this River while you were meditating did you not see them and the Buddha said I did not the blessed one was in another place which was the state of Deep samadhi he said and even if 500 cards had passed in that state Timeless and transcendent I would not have heard them this is the state that is never born and never dies the Buddha was seated there in the Timeless realm of awareness itself Consciousness that creates all things and then you return to the Incarnation of being the blessed one the Buddha Gautama and pakusa said I cannot get you water from the river it's all stirred up said please bring me and he brought the water in a container and the Buddha held it in its hand and and it all got clear and purified like you would put alum into a glass or a container with mud and so forth and it would all settle to the bottom and again this is a beautiful image of the Buddha's own mind and heart saying you can bring me that which is Muddy and when I hold it in loving awareness and in the awakened Consciousness that we are it all settles and become clear and then pakusa said let me offer the blessed one some robes for this last part of your journey and he gave him these Robes of burnished gold cloth and as the Buddha put the robes on the gold cloth faded into the background and his own skin began to Glow golden and brighter than the robes what is this the Buddha glowing in Gold the gold robes why is this in the story gold is a symbol of that which does not tarnish no matter what happens gold will not tarnish it holds its Royal Beauty and so these robes and the glow of the Buddha was that which is untarnished by the arising and passing of all things and Seer says pakusa the blessed one who began to speak has roused and inspired us all has set up which is that which has been knocked down has pointed to the way to one who's lost who's carried a lamp into the dark places of the world so that those with eyes to see can see and those with a heart to open can know that which is u --- was a very wonderful text at one point earlier on a man who was deeply devoted and inspired by the Buddha and used to sit there and go and follow him around and gaze at him because the Buddha was said to have been a handsome man and a handsome prince and I you know uh a beacon of compassion and love and wisdom and he would just stare at him and after some weeks or months some long time the Buddha looked at this disciple and said why do you keep staring at me knowing exactly the answer and he said oh I love to look at the blessed one to hear your words I see you you're so magnificent you're so inspiring and the Buddha replied you do not see me you only see this outer form this body these robes that's not who I am and the man paused and said then how might I see you and the Buddha replied one who sees the depth of the Dharma that is one who sees the awakened one so that in any moment when you step out of the separate sense the small sense of self the separate body sometimes called the body of fear and feel first the interdependence with all that lives and then beyond that the Consciousness is what you really are Timeless unborn awakened free then you see the Buddha you know the Buddha so after this with pakukas's golden robes the Buddha can barely move but he goes along with great pains and severe bloody sickness this is saying Human Nature this is what happens in a human incarnation in a human form it's not something to be avoided by us birth growing up aging sickness Death part of the first Noble Truth this is the nature of incarnation it's not bad it's simply the way things are trees especially deciduous trees have their leaves in the summer and then the fall comes and they drop their leaves and there's snow in the winter everything has its cycle and this is the nature of Incarnate life and so here's the Magnificent blessed one the Buddha with great pains and severe bloody sickness so he lay down in the Lions pose on his right side if you want to sleep like the Buddha lie on your right side between two cell trees and you see he lay there it says the trees immediately bloomed full of Blossom and then with those who had the eyes to see the great yogis could look Beyond this Dimension to others the atmosphere became filled with angels and Davis the Devils of great Purity and the radiant ones and the Davis of great peace in the Davis of magnificent Beauty in the Davis of boundless compassion they all appeared surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha said to those standing near him moved aside a little bit so that the angels and the Unseen beings can also have their place to see the blessed and resting there white sick still with the trees blooming and the non-detending him Ananda said do not die here do not die why don't you go from here into kasala or Banaras Varanasi to one of the great cities to a palace where you can be honored or the god banks of the Ganges don't die in this miserable Backwater in what the texts call a dog and waddle Village which is an old anthropological term probably somewhat Colonial partly mixed of Old English and maybe from Australian as well of those Huts that are made of little staves of bamboo and mud don't die here go to some magnificent place that you should then go and we can celebrate your passing the Buddha pauses and says do not call this a miserable Backwater Once Upon a Time long ago and here we are again in the myth of this story as we come toward the end he said on this very spot an e on a go there was a king named mahasudasana who was a wheel turning monarch and his palace and this place was the center of a worldwide Kingdom prosperous well-populated a kingdom of Justice and streets of this Maha sudasana's Kingdom were full of the sounds of elephants and carriages of gongs and commerce of cattle and symbol and joy and prosperity and from here in every direction stretched great roads north and south and east and west and so I will die in this place that has been the center of mahasudasana's kingdom why is this in the story reflect for a moment what could this mean I love this because what it says is it any place and every place can be the center of Justice can be the same Kingdom of righteousness every place is the still point of the Turning world the place where Dharma can be awakened it may have been a muddy crossword and a crossroad and A Primitive and undeveloped area with simple huts but the Buddha said if you could see as I do every place is sacred and this is a holy place that in its time has been magnificent but every place in its time is magnificent even now if you only have eyes to see and finally one last visitor comes and another says no no no the blessed one is sick and the Buddha lifts his head and says no he may ask the last question let him in the teachings of the blessed one are open-handed to all and the last visitor I asked the question and the Buddha points him to the Noble Path of wise understanding wise thought wise action not harming right livelihood right speech right action from the development of mindfulness compassion wisdom and then he looks to everyone around and says I've shown you the way does anyone have doubts and everyone is silent and he says I've taught you the way that leads to Liberation the way of virtue of living with integrity and causing no harm to yourself and to other behaviors I've taught you the way to quiet the mind and open the heart I've taught you the great wisdom that releases you from the separate sense of self and opens you to Timeless liberation to what is called the sure Hearts release and as people were quiet they're listening he went on then be a good result all of you oh nobly born remember who you really are your own true nature he said if you practice wisely and rightly the Earth will never be free of enlightened beings and beautiful teaching if you practice wisely this Earth will never be free of Awakened beings and he went on finally remember all things that are created are impermanent all that arises passes away you must be a lamp unto yourself or as Mary Oliver says in his PO and her poem of the Buddhist last days make of yourself a light become the illumined one become the awakened one yourself and see with the eyes of freedom and wisdom and this passage from another poem of the Buddha I consider the position of kings and rulers as that of dust modes in a Sunbeam I see the treasures of gold and gems as both broken tiles I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags I see the Myriad worlds of the universe a small seeds in the Great Indian Ocean is drops of mud that soil one's feet I see that perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusions of magicians all the worldly teachings are by delusions I look upon the Judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of dragons and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by this Four Seasons arrest in the Timeless and awakened heart that has seen them all I rest in peace and with that then the Buddha there's a whole description of him entering the Deep states of samadhi and inner well-being beyond the sick body that he was in and being released from this life make of yourself a light all things change all things are impermanent this is the truth this is the reality and you have within you this capacity to awaken this gift your own true nature trust it practice with it awaken in it live in it the great heart of compassion the freedom that is who you really are and this is the end of The Story Once Upon a Time as it began this great myth and then it ends with these words that's how it was in the old days and how it still is with us now I kind of feel like I do when I'm putting my grandson Desmond to sleep and he's three and a half years old and I've told him a long fairy tale and he says Baba tell me some more and I tell a little more of the fairy tale and then he's smiling and he starts to get ready to go to sleep do you work this is a beautiful story that's been told for 2 600 years and part of what makes these myths and stories so important so they speak to a part of our own heart and understanding that reminds us of something outside of the events of politics and confusion and all the things that are happening in the world which we need to care for intend to just as this text started to treat each other to listen and come together in harmony and listen with respect and care for the vulnerable we need to do all those things but then the Buddha says here's a here's a deeper invitation for you here's the mystery because remember it's not just the Buddha is going to die my dear friends as Miss Piggy would say Moi me too all of us is saying yes so then in the end what really matters yes you can you love you care and you look deeply and see that you are the awakened one that you are Consciousness itself you are loving awareness and from this place of freedom and well-being and peace and compassion you tend the world beautifully oh and by the way Mara will visit you regularly so as tick not Han said you might as well invite him into tea and say oh is that you Mara again oh my God you see me you know who I am here's a little tease but he also says let Mara have tea respect him say thank you for doing your job but don't have him stay too long so I'm checking in to see if there's anything more for tonight whether I don't feel like doing questions somehow after this long story and I could have you speak and say what touched you in it because there's a beautiful reflection to do what part of this story caught your attention most what place in the story do you feel like oh yeah this is this reminded me this was important this touched me because it is alive in you and you can sense and know that