Hungry Ghosts and Heavenly Mansions with Delson on Halloween

All right, I think we can get started. Today, as I said, this is our Zoom session with Delson Armstrong, and today he will be talking about stories from the Petavatthu and maybe a few heavenly stories too. Delson, the show is yours. Thank you. All right. I have a selection of ghost stories, or peta stories, translated by Yubakya, using the Pali Text Society version.

So, this particular story is called The Exposition of the Devourer of Seven Sons. Pretty gruesome one. Naked and of hideous appearance are you. This was said when the teacher was staying at Savatthi concerning a Peti who devoured her seven sons, the Peti and Peti. So we have devas and devis. So anytime it ends in E, that's indicative of a female version of, let's say, Peti would be then a Peti. It is said that in a certain village not far from Savatthi, 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. He, having had enough of her disdain, 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. 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 wandered about 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 Savatthi to see the Blessed One were resting for their night at a place not far from that village. The Peti then revealed herself to those elders, and the senior elder questioned her with this verse: Naked and of hideous appearance are you. 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 peti, 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 tormented as though burnt by fire. Now, what evil deed was done by you, by body, mind, or speech, as a result of which deed do you devour the flesh of your sons? That peti then spoke these verses, relating how 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, I devised a wicked deed against her. Depraved in mind, I caused her to miscarry, and her three-month-old embryo fell as putrid blood. Then her mother became angry at this and collected her relatives together. She made me make an oath 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 devoured the flesh of my sons, and I'm 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. 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. Unwholesome would be something like somebody won a million dollars by cheating the lottery, or robbed a bank, or something like that. You don't want to obviously be happy about those things. So mudita, 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 sons. And so lying is a big one. Breaking the precept of abstaining from lying can cause one to become reborn in a hungry ghost realm for this very reason.

So it's important to understand that there are specific things that can lead you to the hungry ghost realm. It's things like jealousy, things like causing others to lie or lying yourself, things like manipulating and creating gossip, manipulating people and creating gossip, and creating all kinds of false stories about people and things like that. And then we're going to see another story.

And this is called Exposition of the Bald-Headed Peti Story. Now, who are you remaining inside your mansion? This was said when the teacher was staying at Savatthi concerning a certain bald-headed Peti. 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 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 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 her hair, it fell out at the roots, and her head resembled a bit occurred 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 sesame seed and earned her living by trading in oil and spirituous 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, an arahant, going about in search of alms, and with devotion in her heart led him to her house and had him be seated on the appointed seat. She 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 sunshade above him. The elder showed his appreciation, which delighted her heart, and then departed. At the very time he showed his appreciation, the woman made the wish: may 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, an 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 Savatthi, as many as a hundred freighters, residents of Savatthi, set out by ship across the mighty ocean, heading for Suvarnabhumi. Suvarnabhumi could possibly be Thailand, because I know that it's also known as Suvarnabhumi. 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, whereupon the Vimana Peti revealed herself and her mansion to them.

When he saw her, the senior trader 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. Then the trader, wishing to give her his cloak, uttered 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. She uttered these two verses showing that that which is given in that way does not benefit her, and the way in which things 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 traders bathed, anointed a lay follower, and then clothed him with a pair of garments. Those rehearsing the text then spoke these three verses clarifying this point: those traders bathed and anointed him and clothed him with garments and assigned the donation to her.

Immediately they dedicated this to 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 Kasi, 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 peti about the deed she had done, with this verse: "Your nicely painted, gleaming mansion is radiant, oh devta. 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, a 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 yojinas 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 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, he said: "But one gift to me, oh devta, 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 low lay followers and recall the virtues of the Blessed One, you will be freed from having to arise in hell." That's interesting. What he's saying here is, if you offer 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 freed from having to arise in hell. The peta 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 salutation: "When you reach Savatthi, please salute the Blessed One with this message for me."

A certain Vimana Peti 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 traders reached Savati 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 almsgiving 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 petas, she arose in a golden mansion in the realm of the 33, the Tavatimsa heaven, resplendent with various jewels and with the retinue of a thousand thousand apsaras. So what's interesting to note here is there's something known as vimana petas. 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 peta, 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 a vimana peta is Yama.

Yama is supposed to be the concierge of hell, so to speak. He's the one who welcomes people, visitors, into hell, and he's not a judge. All he does is basically ask people if they've seen 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 Majjhima Nikaya. It's called the Messenger of the Gods, the Devaduta Sutta. And in the Devaduta Sutta, 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 Yama is a vimana peta in the sense that he spends most of his time in hell as a concierge, but he also has a celestial mansion. He has a vimana. So there are stories of these kinds of petas who, by the daytime, might be in a vimana enjoying the pleasures of the celestial mansion, but then have to come back down and experience the fruits of their demeritorious deeds, the effects of their unwholesome karma. And so there is, as we just saw in this particular story, a way for those petas 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 hell realm and that they will actually experience a new deva realm. So this particular peta, for example, or peti, being a female hungry ghost, 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 fetters. But that's not indicated here. But by the mere fact that she had this much of faith and conviction in the Buddha

And when we talk about faith and conviction in the Buddha, what we're talking about really is understanding the depth of the Dhamma to a certain extent, in terms of its importance, in terms of understanding that there is a sense of reverence given to the Buddha because of the situations he went through as Bodhisatta, and then came to the true Dhamma, came to the understanding of dependent origination and the Four Noble Truths. And so there is a level of gratitude for that. There is an understanding of gratitude and appreciation for it.

And of course, the Dhamma, in the sense of understanding the depth and the amazing quality of the teachings, which provides one the possibility of full liberation. And then the Sangha, being the community of monks, or community of those who have had attainments, who continue on the tradition and who continue on providing the Dhamma to others through their actions, through their examples of their deeds, and of course their teachings and their guidance. So when you have 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 fetters, you 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, Peta's story. Here is the explanation of his meaning. Let's see if I got this right. When the First Council had been inaugurated at the Teacher's Parinibbana, the Venerable Maha Kachana 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 formerly 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 forest, taking some carpenters along in order to get some timber for repairs in the city.

Whilst there, he approached the dwelling place of the venerable elder Mahakachana 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 Dhamma to him. When he heard Dhamma, he became full of devotion to the three jewels and having been established in the refuges, invited the elder 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 for 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 12 monks

He saluted them and had them enter the house in front of him, and 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 clasped in the anjali 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: you should visit my house permanently, sir, and returned after learning of the elder's acceptance.

Waiting thus upon the elder, he became established in his exhortation and reached the sotapatti fruit, meaning he became a sotapanna 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 you 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 peacock tail feathers to be given on the great day of that Vihara. 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 Kankarivata 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 Pethi, who was hideous and horrible to behold, approached a monk who had gone for his midday 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 Pethi approached the elder and, begging him for water, read this verse. For 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 Peti. 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 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 Uttarasur had faith and was a lay follower. Against my will he bestowed on recluses robes and alms food, requisites and lodging. But I, vexed by selfishness, abused him, saying: may the robes and alms foods, requisites and lodging that you bestow on recluses against my will, may this become blood for you in the next world. Uttara, it is as a result of that deed that the Ganges becomes blood for me.

That's the end of that story. Even having any kind of selfishness, any kind of greed, any kind of... we talked about envy, we talked about jealousy, we talked about selfishness, 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 bhikkhu or bhikkhuni, and they say in their mind that 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, the hungry ghost realm, that merit helps them to experience some less suffering, and ultimately provides them the merit of becoming reborn in possibly a deva realm or even just a human realm, from where then they can continue on making more merit and continue on towards experiencing the Dhamma. So the hungry ghost realm is very interesting, because even though we call it a realm, 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 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 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. But they're still on the 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. There's stories of where you have what they call haunted mansions or haunted objects. And the idea is that those places 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 defenseless. They are just beings that are experiencing the effects of their previously negative karma, their unwholesome karma. And they may look like different kinds of creatures. They might look like just very parched and emaciated humans with very long hair. And some have, as they say, pinholes for mouths or very slim necks or slim throats and large bellies.

And they look very, very strange. And some of the things you hear about ghosts, being clothed in white and things like that, like some parts of the Himalayas you will see, while you're walking in the night, you think that it's like a delusion or some kind of hallucination. There are stories of those who've just seen floating spirits go by, who've seen 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 term hungry ghost, petas. 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 negative or unwholesome karma that can ripen up

and then cause them to descend down into the hell realm. So that is basically all we know, all we can talk about in terms of the hungry ghosts, because there's so many different stories of people experiencing different kinds of ghosts and spirits and things like that, and 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 dana, and then transferring that merit to that hungry ghost if you see one along your path. And the other thing to also understand is, hungry ghosts, they

they also experience some positive effects, let's say, of their wholesome karma. Like I said, we have Yama, who's known as a vimana peta. 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 hungry ghosts as well. So speaking of the vimanas, speaking of the celestial mansions, we will now talk about, I guess, a couple of stories from that particular book, and this is from the Vimana Vatthu, and this is translated by Venerable Jnanananda Thera. It's Kiribathgoda Jnanananda, that's the name of the individual who's done this translation. So from this story, I'm going to talk about the sugarcane mansion and the couch mansion.

So here we have Moggallana, who 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 like a great Brahma, who shines brighter than Sakka and the Tavatimsa 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?

Bhante, in this same village which we are in right now, you came to our house on your alms round. I was pleased to see you and I offered you a small piece of sugarcane with a delighted heart. Later, when my mother-in-law came, she asked me, daughter-in-law, where did you put my sugarcane? 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 Devta in this heaven. That was the meritorious action I did. This is how I enjoy this divine happiness surrounded by gods. The God Sakka protects the Tavatimsa heaven and the Tavatimsa 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 Sakka.

Bante, 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 with a very happy mind. Devta, you okay? This is now the second story. This is called the couch mansion, and this is again Moglana going and visiting the devta 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 deed did you do in your previous human life? What is the reason that you are very beautiful and shine in all directions? Bhante, 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 my celibate life well. I practiced virtue in an unbreakable way. I observed the eight precepts four times a month, on each of the four 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, or 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 lifespans. So this particular devta basically kept the five precepts.

It doesn't say whether they became a stream enterer, but the minimum of keeping the five precepts leads one to a deva realm, leads one to one of the six central heavens, starting with the Tavatimsa heavens and Tavatimsa realm. And, in the previous story, we saw that somebody offered a sugar cane to a monk. And from there, and specifically to Moglana, Mahamoglana, 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 deva 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 six central heavens. If you are a stream enterer, you are liable, or you can be born, in any of the six central heavens.

or in the human realm, but the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the hell realms are forever closed off to you as a stream enterer. 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 realms. However, if one is not a stream enterer and somebody has continued to be jealous, to be envious, to be selfish, to be miserly, to concoct all kinds of manipulative plans, to break the precepts of lying, to indulge in intoxicants, to create all kinds of conflicts between different people, leading into gossip, 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, there are festivals that go on, especially in Buddhist countries. One I know of is Chumbun, and there's actually a story of a person. So Chumbun takes place at a certain point, and there the whole point is to offer food and shelter and donations to the monastic community.

And in doing so, people basically donate or transfer the merits of that good deed to their dead relatives, in hopes that if they are in a hungry ghost realm they will reappear in a heavenly realm or in a human realm, so that they can continue to experience the Dhamma and so on. So there is a story of an individual, this was in Cambodia, who actually did that. They attended the Chumbun festival and they went ahead and offered food to the monastic community and transferred that merit to a dead relative. The story, as they told me, is they were sitting in their living room, and they walked away to the kitchen to do something, and they came back and they saw some kind of an outline, a white outline of a person

sitting in the chair with their hands 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 are different stories 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. Delson, yes? Hello. Um, this is, it's funny, because before I knew the subject of this, I was going to ask a question relating to this matter, because previously I had quite a lot of experiences after my Nana died, and she appeared to me in, like, quite a divine form, like multi-dimensional, and it was beautiful actually, until another monk mentioned to me that he thought it was actually my heart's worth guiding me in a certain direction towards trusting myself.

And since I understood that, my Nana has appeared to me in various ways, like as a ghost, basically. And I find it hard to understand why, because she was a beautiful person. I can imagine she was very attached to her family. But I suppose what my question is, is I have been transferring merit, and I have been in quite a lot of ways. I've offered food directly to monks, through, like, PayPal accounts into their account. And I usually share my merit of any meditation deeds at the end of the day. And about two nights ago, I had a dream where I was with my Nana in her house and she was still being very kind to me.

She wouldn't, she was trying to tell me that she was dead, basically, in the dream, and that she would, that she's suffering, but she didn't, because she didn't want to. I don't think she could, she didn't want to hurt me or something. And I just wonder if she, like, if I'm maybe transferring the merit wrong. If you've got any advice on that at all. Well, I think, um, 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 can, you could say it verbally, that you know, may this merit go to so and so, and that should be enough. But there might be a way to do it, and I wouldn't be sure about that. But if I understand correctly, you're saying that you think she was, she's in a hungry ghost realm? Yeah, I mean

since this monk told me that he feels like these images I was seeing of my Nana were actually like my own heart guiding me, and every arm I've encountered, that are when I've asked a question, I've 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, the feeling that I get when I see her now. It's not the same as what I used to get. I feel like she's lost. It's almost like a bad dream for her. Yeah. Um, so, well, I'll tell you this. 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 heart, with love and kindness, as long as you have a heart that's generous and so on. 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 good and bad karma, so they can experience, sometimes they might experience existence in a heavenly mansion, 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 merit, whenever that's going to be. Okay. Yeah, thank you, that makes sense actually. Yeah, thank you. Delson. Oh, I like this question. It's quite funny.

How would you know which realm your relative is in, or would you just focus on transferring merit to the black sheep members of the family? That's funny. Well, I would say just indiscriminately transfer merit to your relatives, whether they're in a hungry ghost realm or in a deva 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 necessarily the black sheep of the family and so on. I'm just saying, if you just have an intuition, just an insight that this person might be in a hungry ghost realm, then by all means, you can focus on them when you transfer your merit and think of them when you transfer the merit to them.

Let me jump in here. Was a gift offered and you transferred the merit of that gift? I didn't quite understand the whole process. You have to offer a gift, hopefully to the Sangha. Yeah, and then transfer the merit, because otherwise there's no merit to transfer. You can't offer to yourself. Yeah, that's right. That's right. It has to be some kind of an offering to the Sangha, and then you offer that merit. That's why you have all these festivals in Asia where they do it. I was just talking about that earlier, where they have in Cambodia, Chumban, where it's a festival called Chumban, where you go to the monasteries and you offer to the monastics, and then the merit of that you transfer to your dead relatives.

That's the way to do it. I have a question about sharing merit. What is the proper way to do that? I've been kind of liberal about it, and I don't know if it's okay to do it that way. But I've always liked the idea of being able to share it with someone who's died. It gives you, because you feel so empty-handed at a loss in grief.

So you can share whatever I've done good in this life, or any life. I share that merit with my person, that their future be optimal. I don't know if that's Buddhistically legal, but I have been doing that fairly liberally. I think that's a wonderful thing. I don't see anything wrong with doing that or not doing it. Whatever it is that you have done in terms of the merits, for example, when we share merit at the end of a Dhamma talk, we're sharing merit with all beings for that. And we do it with a heart filled with love and kindness. And the idea is that that merit is then transferred to whoever it's transferred to.

It's given to whoever it's given to and who can benefit from it. But when it comes to things like the hungry ghosts and things like that, it's a specific thing where you go to the Sangha and you offer something to them. And then that gift that you offer gives you some great merit, and then you transfer that merit specifically for that person or that relative. Let me just add to that. At Dhammasuka, we invite people to send us a small gift, and we will share merit with that relative. Bhante 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 give that to Bhante, 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, if you don't know where people are, share with whoever is stuck? May they be... you can share your merit with them, right? We don't know, of course, where these people are, so we just offer it to whoever we think needs it, and it can be a list of people, the people who have died, of course. I'd like to ask a question. What are the objects that are among us that are colored and in different shapes, like a sphere

or a square, diamond shape that's kind of lit up? Are those devas? Actually, sometimes you'll see 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, or rather the spirit or the being departing into a different realm. Oh, I see. Okay, thank you. Actually, I think David has a book in which there are some photographs, and one of the photographs shows this colored orb, a light orb, which basically captured a spirit on its way to a different realm.

Do you know what the name of that book is, David? Do you remember it? It's by Katherine Wienkowski, I believe. It's The Ghost Whisperer, Ghost something. She helps spirits that are on that realm to go to a higher realm. She opens up this light hole and they go through, and she finds that many people, when they die, just hang around and don't go forward, and she's able to see them. She has some pictures in the book of some of these beings, and they're like orbs, and they can be ghost-like figures too. Katherine Winkowski is the author.

Thank you. Delson, if it's okay, I'll just share something as well that I don't think gets touched on enough. A few years ago now I experienced a ghost of a guy that I knew when he was alive. He was quite a few years older than me, but he died in a car crash, and he came to the house where he had visited me. He babysat me, actually. When I woke up during the night, he was this horrible, black

thing that was standing at the end of my bed, and then a flashing image of his face appeared in my mind's eye, and it really did scare me. I was in the house on my own, and eventually, when I managed to calm down, I said to him, "Les, do you know that you died?" and instantly the relief in the room was tangible. He didn't realize. Then I explained to him a little bit what had happened, and it ended up being a really beautiful conversation. I can't remember if I was speaking out loud. In the end he just told me to tell my cousin that he missed that, because he was... it was my cousin's boyfriend.

And I was like, okay, I promise you I'll tell him, I'll tell her. And then I ended up falling asleep straight after. It was beautiful, and I've seen quite a few hours since then, but the relief when he found out that he was actually dead, because I think for them, all the time, it's like a horrible dream where you don't realize what's going on. Yeah, that's a good point. Because what happens is, if a being gets into a point where there's an accident, a completely unexpected accident, that makes it very difficult for them to move on, because, as you just said, sometimes they don't even realize that they have to move on. And accidents can happen, and depending upon what's in that person's mindset, so that's an important thing to understand.

I just read a book called Fruit of Karma that I borrowed from David, and it's an interesting book. It's all kinds of stories about karma and things like that. In that one there's a story, or an explanation, that if somebody dies of a car crash or something like that, it depends upon 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 deva realm. If it's unwholesome, it's quite possible that they'll enter into a hungry ghost realm or a lower realm. But there's also indeterminate karma, which is neither wholesome nor unwholesome, but there's still some kind of process in which they don't realize that they're dead, and for this reason, once they do realize, it's time to move on. And he felt that relief, and he continued on with whatever he had to do.

Thank you. He actually told me that he was just hanging around. He was enjoying himself. Well, he should go. Yeah, you should tell him to go now. Yeah, well, you should tell him to go. 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. Can those with higher attainments or arahants see in which realms people might be? Well, you don't need to be an arahant. You don't even need to have an attainment to be able to know the different realms. There are those who can develop this skill to be able to know the different realms and where beings are, in which realm, and so on. But it's a skill that has to be developed, or either you have the karmic effect of previous good deeds and development that allows you to do that.

But as far as I 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 have been stories of different people who've had different kinds of understandings of rebirth. 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 arahants, or they're not even in the Buddha's dispensation. That's why you go to Digha Nikaya 1, you see the Brahmajala Sutta. These different beings, 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 Buddhist 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, hey, Greg. Hi, Delson. 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 the nirvana. And so my question is, and I was interested when you said that you don't have to be a sotapanna, simply following the five precepts can get us born in the six sensuous realms.

Is it automatic that a person will always, or a being, will be born in the highest realm possible when being born in a higher realm is not necessarily better for their progress? It 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 virtuous and they had maintained their precepts, they were generous and so on, depending on certain kinds of things that they did and certain kinds of qualities of mind that they cultivated, 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 paramis, the 10 different paramis. That can get you to the deva realms. 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 Dhamma. So I see the deva realms 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 actions in the human realm or whatever it might be, but what happens is when you are in the deva realm, there are devas, like in the Tavatimsa heaven and other deva realms, who know about the Dhamma, and so they spend time developing their understanding of the Dhamma as they see it. Once in a while, they will get together, especially in Tavatimsa, and they'll get together to discuss the Dhamma and things like that.

But then, most of the devas are partying. They love partying. And if you ever get into a devavam, 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 so involved in that they forget that this too is temporary, that this too is 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 a wonderful space to be in to develop the Dhamma, 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. Right, okay.

So can devas attain? Hold on, I think there was somebody else asking a question, and then, yeah. I don't know if my microphone is all right. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. Okay, yeah. Well, it seems like with these stories, it almost seems like the realms are not so much stratified but more like a spectrum. Yeah, so yeah, like you've got Yama, more like a deva with a day job. And I was wondering, this is a different sutta, I think it's in the Majjhima Nikaya, where the Buddha goes up and visits a Brahma

and you have Mara there, so that's actually kind of weird, because Mara belongs to, like, it's well, it's not a lower realm, it's because it's a few steps lower on the ladder. I thought, does that explain sort of the same thing? Because it always seemed kind of odd to me that, yeah, that if you can find out what that sutta 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 the thing about Mara is, he or she, I mean, however you want to look at it, that's a post. That's another post, like the post of being Mahabrahma or the post of being Sakka, the king of the Tavatimsa realm and stuff. So that's another post. When that Mara is gone, there'll be another Mara 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 Brahma realm, that is interesting. I'd have to take a look at that sutta, because to go into a Brahma 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 jhana, because then that would help them to go into Brahma realm. But yeah, that's interesting. I haven't heard that one before. Okay, yeah, I'll look it up. Yeah, thanks.

Annie had a question. So, one cannot a deva cannot attain to nibbana? Oh yeah, they can. For example, Sakka, you'll see stories of where Sakka attains stream entry, or there are certain devas 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 much easier in the human realm because you're much more motivated.

More motivation to get off the wheel of samsara, whereas in the deva realms they're primed to experience pleasure all the time, so they're kind of more geared towards seeking more and more pleasure rather than just the Dhamma. So there are devas who can become sotapannas and who can even become sakadagamis, but once they become an anagami, they disappear from that realm. So Sakka, for example, when he becomes an anagami, he's going to disappear immediately and then go to the Pure Abodes, because the whole point is when we talk about an anagami, an anagami is somebody who is a non-returner, and he's a non-returner to this world. And when we talk about this world, it's meaning as a collective sensuous realms. So once you become an anagami in a deva realm, that sensuality of the deva realm is no longer conducive to that being, and so they will just depart from there and then take a further birth into the Pure Abodes.

I have a question. So in the human realm, or even in the deva realms, are the Buddhist teachings always available? No, not always available, because there comes a point where the teachings degrade and they are 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 Dhamma. Okay, yeah. I have a question, Delson. Yes. Um, once an arahant 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 get distributed somewhere else? Can it be destroyed, or does it remain?

Oh, so any kind of karma you're talking about, like unwholesome karma? An arahant, while they will experience it, they will experience the effect of that unwholesome karma. For example, we have Moggallana, who experienced the effect that just before he died he was beaten, and that was a result of a previous karma in a completely different life, where the understanding is he experienced the hell realms for having killed his parents. 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 arahant. The same with Angulimala, who experienced the effect of his unwholesome karma every time he went and killed people.

And so he experienced that in some form or another as an arahant. But then in terms of when an arahant passes on, there is no more being. There is no more new karma produced. So for the arahant 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. Hi, Nelson. Hi. Hi. I would just share with you something that happened in our family. My nephew was killed in a very, very bad car crash, 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, a very good friend convinced her, they were very athletic, 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-year-old to the 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 right beside her on the seat at the very top of the bleachers. Now underneath the bleachers was where they stored the cutter bars for the fields around the high school, and for all of the athletic fields. They were stored underneath there, and the security guard was standing over by the high school watching this whole scene happen. When it occurred, something went wrong and the baby fell off and fell down 30 odd feet toward the bottom, which is about 35 feet down. He fell down to the cutter 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.

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. The security guard came down with tears in his eyes and told them what happened, and everybody was just nuts, because he saw him fall straight down to where the cutter bars were. So this is real stuff. People do get caught. People get caught, and they are caught in something 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 works. It 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 in the dark in a tunnel when they're really, really afraid. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, that's a wonderful story. I mean, that's amazing. About the light, my impression about that is this is coming from my understanding of the different kinds of candle light and oil lamps that are lit. The understanding is that if you light a ghee lamp, it takes you, well, that light reaches all the way to the deva realms. It reaches all the way to the Brahma realms. So what it's doing is giving them a sort of indicator of where to go when you light a candle or when you light a ghee lamp or something like that. Yeah.

Yeah, and the other thing is about devas. The funny part about devas is they have to keep eating all the time. I cannot stop eating. Bhante used to have talk with me about that, and 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. Yeah, yeah, that kind of makes sense, because the way I see it is you have the hungry ghost realms, which means that they're always hungry 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 to get stuck with that. Oh, there's a question somebody wrote in the chat: does the Buddha himself talk about transferring merit to the dead in the suttas? Well, when we talk about the vimanavatthu and the petavatthu, that's all coming from the Khuddaka Nikaya. So that's part of the Pali Canon, but these are stories of arahant monks who go to these places or meet with these people. So I don't know if I've come across any stories of the Buddha himself talking about transferring merits to the dead. I haven't come across it.

Can I step in and say something? Hi. I know there are two loved ones that have passed away: my husband in 2014, and then my son-in-law last year. And they both had visions of some sort, more of an angelic type, I think, beings. A few, well, about a year, both of them, about a year before they died, which is interesting. I know my husband, we just got up, you know, and he went in the living room, and then I went in the kitchen to make some coffee and stuff. And then when I came back out into the living room, he was standing there with his mouth open. He looked like he was in total awe. And then he told me what happened. He said he saw this person or being, he didn't know what it was. They were in a white robe, and they didn't say anything or do anything, but they just emanda is such peace. He even smiled and said good morning to him. Where normally, if you saw someone in your living room, you'd freak out, right? So

And I thought, darn, I missed it. I was in the kitchen making up anyway. And then, right after my son-in-law, a couple days after he had his brain surgery, you know, he had brain cancer. He came out, you know, he was back home then, and he told us what he saw. He was 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, and they had different color hair. Like one had red hair, one had, I think, black hair, one had blonde hair. And I don't know what all this means. But anyway, he was just amazed by it. And he told them he didn't want to die. You know, that's why he thought maybe they were coming to get him right now. I guess he was worried about that. But they didn't say anything either, and then they

they was on, but yeah, I just thought that was interesting. It was two people, and 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 the deva realm or something, because if they're like angelic in nature, they could be a deva. Yeah. Okay, I had a, I had a story of one time. I'm sorry, go on. Did you have more to say? Oh no, no, that's this. Oh, I remember. Well, this is the story that was told to me, because I wasn't there firsthand, but my grandfather, before he passed, a few days before he passed, he was talking to somebody who seemed like he thought that she was a nurse, but she had this graceful kind of way about her, and

very angelic and things like that. And he was saying, oh yeah, I spoke to this nurse. He was telling the doctor, and the doctor said, you don't have anyone like that on our staff. So 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 a deva, and he continued on. Another story I remember was my mother was talking about her sister-in-law. That's my dad's sister. She passed on maybe six or seven months afterwards. But then she specifically said, you know, Daddy, Daddy, which means she was seeing her father just before she passed on, but she hadn't gone across over yet, because my mother had a vision where

she saw her, my sister-in-law, 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 amazing. So it's quite possible, in the case of your, 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 the other ones that i've known be right before they pass on they forgive they've forgiven people in 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 abandoned them or you know in one case or things like that and they had totally let that go and forgiven them and 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 and 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. Yes, yes, yeah. Otherwise, if they were holding on to it, then they might feel remorse. They might feel other things that wouldn't be so wholesome. But that's one of the things that I would recommend: 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, 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. I don't necessarily like to hear about scary things, but I do like to hear about, you know, angelic type beings. Yeah, yeah. You know how Delson is, he loves to, you know, make everything very spooky and dramatic on Halloween. So yeah, it's kind of fun, though. It's Halloween after all. So luckily, I don't know anyone that's seen anything bad like that, you know, any kind of demons or anything like that before. So, I got a story for you.

Now that you mentioned a scary story, yeah, it happened in this very Dhamma Hall. We were listening to a talk from Bhante and the noble Obasa, our Chinese nun. She was sitting there listening, and then she just yelped, "Oh my god, look at that white ghost, he has no head." Everybody looked over and there was nothing there.

And then Bhante says, "Okay, I don't think anything's there." We just moved on. About 15 minutes later she looked over, he's there again. And then the person next to her said, "I can see him too." And Bhante said, "Okay, David, go and see what's over at the Red Bond. There must be something over there." Well, of course, I went over there and there was nothing there, but it was described as a white ghostly figure with no head.

And as far as I know, nobody has seen it since. There you go. Aren't there some other people who have seen different kinds of apparitions all around? Yeah, yeah. And also, you remember, David, you remember Smiley? You remember Smiley? Right, the dog. Smiley was this remarkable black lab that was a Dhamasooka that we had for a long time, and he suddenly died. It was an accident, the mail truck. 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. One of the things that Smiley would do, if somebody came and they were new, and they were up where the Dhamma 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 bathhouse, 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 and say, "Gee, it's so nice you have this black dog up there that has took me over last night to the bathhouse." This happened a few times, and Bhante and I were trying to figure out what's going on. There was at least three or four or five different cases of people telling us that at nighttime the dog was still up there. 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

finally he left. No, and as I understand it, he kind of trained Rex to do the same thing. Definitely. Rex arrived, Smiley took over and just tried to explain to him. One of the funniest things we ever saw: Rex was very timid about going into water at Dhamasooka 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 and you bring it back. 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 very beautiful, like Fabian the model, the very famous Italian model. He was that styled dog, and he crossed his legs like this when he rested on the ground. It was remarkable, his whole story, 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 true, yep. Okay, so I think we'll 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, Delson, David, if I could share real quick, kind of off-subject a bit, but yesterday I attended Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi's Buddhist Global Relief at a gathering yesterday, and I was just overwhelmed with compassion from attending it. Of course, all of us English speakers are forever grateful to Bhikkhu Bodhi for his translations of the texts or editing of Venerable Nanamoli's work.

And I know the Buddha was adamant that the Dhamma be available in people's native tongues. So I was already in awe of Bhikkhu 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. He went on to explain a lot of things that had never even occurred to me, how it affects global warming, which shocked me, and how aid given to women is so important, because women tend to use it for their family, whereas us men go out gambling and drinking. That was interesting as well. They had a number of speakers, a number of Venerables, and I just wanted to share briefly that if anyone cares to contribute Dhamma, if you Google Buddhist Global Relief, you'll find it, Bhikkhu Bodhi's website.

Where you could do that. But I felt I should share that, and 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? 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. May 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.