5. Letting Go (Magha Puja Day)

　　Today is Magha Puja1 day. It”s the day when the Lord Buddha declared his intention to let go of the conditioned state, bidding goodbye to the world and to the prison of the cycle of birth and death. He chose to relinquish and discard his body after having carried it for eighty years, and throughout that period it had always been an oppressive load to bear.

　　But then, such is the nature of this body. Other things, in contrast, have their times of heaviness and lightness, occasionally allowing us to catch a breath. Carrying food and water (for example) are heavy when we first shoulder them but become progressively lighter as we steadily use them up. Yet we have been bearing the load of our body since birth and it never seems to get any lighter. It”s always heavy. In fact, as we advance in years and decline in strength, it seems increasingly heavy. That is why the Lord Buddha asserted that:

　　"These five aggregates are an extremely heavy burden."2

　　Apart from shouldering the heavy load of this form or body, there is also painful feeling and the rest of the aggregates. They are not only heavy and oppressive but also have razor sharp barbs that pierce through our body and heart.

　　The Lord Buddha put up with this until he was eighty years old. To put it simply, he must have said:

　　"Ah! This body is beyond bearing. It”s time to leave it."

　　Thus he declared that, in three months time he would relinquish his life and lay down the burden. He made the decision on the full moon day of the third lunar month.

　　On that very same day, twelve hundred and fifty noble disciples3 assembled, spontaneously and without invitation, each coming through his own initiative. The Lord Buddha therefore presented this teaching to the arahant disciples, delighting them with the bliss of the Buddha-dhamma. The gathering thus became the Pure Assembly.4 Here is a brief outline of what was said on that day:

　　"Sabbapaapassa akara.na.m, The not-doing of all evils,

　　kusalass”uupasa.mpadaa, The doing of what is good,

　　Sacitta pariyodapana.m, The purifying of one”s own heart:

　　eta.m Buddhaanasaasana.m. This is the Teaching of the Buddhas.

　　Anuupavaado anuupaghaato Not insulting, not harming,

　　paa.timokkhe ca sa.mvaro Restraint according to the Patimokkha,

　　Mattanyutaa ca bhattasmi.m Moderation in taking food,

　　pantanyca sayanaasana.m Having a secluded place,

　　Adhicitte ca aayogo, Intent on the pure heart:

　　eta.m Buddhaanasaasana.m. This is the Teaching of the Buddhas."

　　The Buddha gave this teaching5 to the twelve hundred and fifty as a form of persion on that afternoon, which accords with today. For those arahants, it was more of an enjoyment than an exhortation because they were already pure, no longer needing instruction to cleanse the defilements from their hearts. That is why they were called the Pure Assembly. This was a unique event in the Buddha”s teaching life, never again were 1250 arahant disciples to gather-and be offered such teaching.

　　We celebrate the Buddhas and arahants because of their prodigious and brilliant nature. They were figures of wonder among the majority of people because the worldly people”s hearts remain corrupted by the staining defilements — not one of them could compare with the spotless arahants.

　　"Sabbapaapassa akara.na.m": to refrain from unwholesome, down-casting actions that give rise to all kinds of suffering. It”s this base side of the heart that is so critically important. Depraved actions and speech have natural limitations but the depravity of the heart, which depresses and down-casts itself, is propelled by our own continuous thinking and imagining. It”s these agents that drive the heart into gloom and dark depression that are exactly the things in the heart that are already murky and defiled. …

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