Pause and Ponder - A Miscellany - By Bhikkhu K. Ñänananda
  1.

A shrivelled leaf can tell you the history of the universe.
2. It is good, now and then to attend one's own funeral.
3. Learn to dismantle and reassemble your self.

4. The prison of senses :
 What we see so often blocks our vision - if we fail to see through.
5. Conceit :
A misappropriation of public property (eg. earth, water, fire,air) and a mental exploitation of one's fellow beings.
6. When you help a person, think that you are simply repaying a debt incurred in the past.
7. The change of attitude underlying the reflection of the use of the Four Requisites :
Having been the proud owner of this body, you are now its reluctant caretaker.
8. If you are proud of your brains just think of your brain-matter.
9. The world needs us most when we need ourselves no more.
10. We are worthy of all when we have given up all.
11. When you get the "credit" for something, remember how much you owe to your parents and teachers.
12. Face every moment as a challenge to your "upekkha" (equanimity).
13.

Voidness - (Sunnata)
Awakening to voidness is like becoming aware, in the midst of a film show, that only one scene flashes on the screen at a time, and that it is consciousness which connects them up into a 'story' - a story which, for each individual is a fraction of his own life-story (with individual biases, prejudices, tastes etc, thrown in good measure).

Furthermore, even that one scene which appears on the screen at a time is something projected from behind and the screen by itself is BLANK! VOID!

14.

Dream-like are sense-pleasures :
The element of delusion, the darkness of ignorance, is a necessary ingredient in all sense-pleasures as in the case of theatrical performances. Hence, even one acquainted with the camera-tricks, library shots etc. is carried away by his impulses inspite of himself when he enjoys the film-show. So powerful is the force of influxes (Asavas).

The true awakening therefore is the awakening to the nature of consciousness.
Consciousness should be comprehended. Wisdom should be developed.
15. Phantasmagoria
Yesterday = last night's dream
Tomorrow = tonight's dream
Today = a day - dream
16. "Old-age" - a caricature of Youth.
17.

Bale out! No' S.O.S'
I) Bale out this ship, O! monk. Emptied it will sail lightly for you. Giving up lust and hate, you will then arrive at Nibbana.
II) From 'El Dorando' - (A Parable)

A steamer is returning from EI Dorado with a heavy cargo of gold nuggets in its hold. Adorning its cabin is a vast array of exquisite wood - carvings worth a fortune.

Still in mid-ocean it runs out of coal. Not a breath of wind to unfurl the sails. When every available piece of wood had become firewood, the carvings too follow suit to go up in smoke.

The ship is now moving and the sailors heave a sigh of relief. But then comes a Titanic disaster. Just when land hove in sight, the ship runs on rocks.

Water seeps in fast. No way to seal the damaged keel. Only the fate of the sailors looks sealed.

'S.O.S.'. 'Save-our-souls' They signal in vain. Save our (Golden) Souls!

'Bale out'! Dump the gold into the sea'! Some one suggests. 'What? Dump all this precious gold into the sea?" The others retort. "We would rather die".

Water gushes in. 'Now-or-never' As a last resort they agree to 'let go' of the gold. And so the precious gold safely reached the bottom of the sea, and the sailors, eventually, the safety of dry land… ….

Where were the sailors born?
Where will they die?
Where was that gold born?
Where will it die?
Where were the carvings born?
Where will they die?
Where were the cravings born?
There they will die.
18. When things look too 'rosy' there is a 'red' coming in.
19. Make an appointment with disappointment - then you will never meet with it.
20. Sañña tries to put the 'two-and-two' together, but Sankhara see to it that the total is not four but five.
21.

Nama-rupa : The delusion created by nama-rupa as 'self-image' is like my imagining that 'the fellow' appearing in the mirror (i.e. my own reflection) is looking at me even when I turn my back on him. To understand Paticca Samuppada is to become aware that 'the fellow' looks at me only when I care to look at the fellow.
22.

Sankhara - 'Ever-new, 'but - Never lasting'

In this 'drama' of 'LIFE' you can never ask for a 'repeat performance'. When once a 'scene' is gone - it is gone, gone, gone forever.
23. 'Let- go-ism'
To see sankharas as 'circum - stantial', not as 'sub-stantial'.
24. Non-identification
To be like a brick in any wall.
25.

A strip-tease-for 'nibbida-viraga' (disenchantment-dispassion)
Undress upto the skeleton!
(Stages : 1. Head-hairs 2. Body-hairs 3. Nails 4. Teeth 5. Skin 6. Flesh 7. Sinews)
26. 'Upadana paccaya bhavo' (dependent on grasping, existence)
'WHAT' you grasp -'THAT' you are'.