Dharma Lecture: Death in Buddhism - Ven. Chang Hwa (Chan/Zen Meditation Center)
Details
This is obviously another one of those really huge topic. Venerable Chang-Hwa will come and give us a brief lecture followed by Q&A. We look forward to her lecture and knowledge.
SPECIAL GUEST LECTURER - Venerable Chang-Hwa, Ph.D.
Venerable Chang-Hwa, Ph.D. is the Director of Chan Meditation Center from the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association. After completing monastic education at Dharma Drum Sangha University in Taiwan and receiving full ordination in 2005, Venerable served as Director of the Department of International Relations and Development in DDM Taiwan. In addition to her current position as Director, Ven. Chang-hwa also supervises DDM Dharmapala Groups in North America, gives public lectures and leads meditation programs. Venerable Chang-hwa holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Below is a really short short write-up on some things that I read. (Please remember that I'm neither a Buddhist teacher or writer - so please join us to this lecture...)
Death (and Rebirth) from the Buddhist perspective. What is death? How should we perceive it? How do we deal with it. What does Buddhism teach about it?
Briefly stated, in Buddhism death is rebirth, or reincarnation. When the sentient being's physical body ceases to function, the sentient being then goes into a temporary stage for 49 days called intermediate body (Chan) or Bardo (Tibetan). During this 49 days is when in many Buddhist traditions prayers are performed to help or assist the deceased go to right place. As in many of the cultures, there are also elaborate funerals. Many people considers these ceremonies in the Buddhist influenced cultures to be Buddhist funeral ceremonies, however often these are more local cultural practices than Buddhist practices.
One commonality is that Buddhists monks are often invited to pray. Different Buddhist traditions have different beliefs on the amount of effect the prayer would have on helping the deceased travel to the right place. Generally though, from one's practice, one can remove one’s fear of death and with non-attachment the sentient may be able to navigate the 49 days of in-between stage without getting lost and stuck for a protracted period . At the end of in-between stage, the sentient being reincarnates or rebirth into another life form which could be in the heavenly, physical, or hellish realms, driven mainly by the karma created by the sentient being.
There's a lot more, please see the references and suggested reading links below. And come join us of course...
UPDATE ADD VIDEO: Approaching Death Dialogue between Venerable ChangHwa (Dharma Drum Mountain) and Paster Jeff (Niles Discovery Church). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pidV0O2mlKU
References:
Zen Wisdom Knowing and Doing by Chan Master Sheng-Yen
Decoding the Past: Tibetan Book of the Dead by History Channel
Humanistic Buddhism by Venerable Master Hsing Yun
Additional Readings:
http://plumvillage.org/video/is-there-a-way-to-take-the-gloominess-away/
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/walshe/wheel261.html
http://ddmba.org/pages/teachings/wisdom-teachings/other-teachings/the-problem-of-death.php
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There is NO COST to this lecture. If you like to donate, red envelopes will be provided for you to give the dana to the monastic.
Hope to see you at the lecture,
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Eddie