Buddhism As Education

Let us all examine how the Buddha solve this problem for two person who, through attachment, were both deeply grieved by death of their love ones. One person is Kisagotami. Her only child hd died after being attacked by a serpent. She went to the Buddha carrying the dead child in her arms to seek for help. The Buddha then asked her to bring a few mustard seeds from a family where no one had died. But she could not find such a family everywhere. Every house that she had visited was either in mourning or had mourned over a death at one time or another. Then she realised the bitter truth: that death is universal. Death strikes all and spares no one. sorrow is the heritage of everyone of us. The other person whom the Buddha advised was Patacara. Her case was even sadder. Within a short period, she lost her two children, husband, brother, parents and all her possessions. Losing her sense, she ran naked and wild in the streets until she met the Buddha. The Buddha brought her back to s...

Men are disturbed not by external things, but by beliefs and imaginations they conjure up in their minds with regard to the form of their future lives. For example, death is not by itself that dreadful: the dread or terror exists only in our minds. It is not often that we are brave enough to come facing with the thought of our own mortality. Insistence upon the truth of suffering may seem horrible and unacceptable to the mind which is unable to face realities, but it surely helps to reduce or eliminate the dread of fear realities by knowing how to actually face death. Once life is launched, like a bullet, it rushes to its destination i.e. death. Realising thus, we must bravely face that natural occurrence. To be considered free in life, we must also be free from fearing death. Fear only comes to those who are not able to comprehend the laws of Nature. "Wherever fear appears, it appears in the fool, not in the wise man", says the Buddha in the Anguttara Nikaya. Fears ar...