-5- Study of Dhamma from Objects of Analogy
~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
For the skeletons on display at the Dhamma Hall, I have to thank Dr. Praphan Arimit, who sent them here. He bought them with his own money and arranged for their delivery one by one until we had the complete set: skeletons of a male adult, a female adult, and a child, constituting the likeness of a family. Actually, these skeletons represent much of a traditional, straight-forward way of teaching Dhamma. They are good for those who have not been taken aback by unpleasant things, good for the study of loathsomeness but having nothing to do with voidness. True liberation comes from anupādāna (non-attachment), not from upādāna (attachment). Unpleasantness or loathsomeness is an aspect of the latter, but it’s good as a starting point to the former.
Rumor has it that the female skeleton came from a beauty. That’s good just the same because whoever wants to see a ‘beauty’ can go see her at the Dhamma Hall.
There was an anecdote about a man who jokingly said that he would marry the Dhamma Hall ‘beauty’ if she helped him win an underground lottery. He did win it but has not married the ‘beauty’ as promised.
One use of the skeletons was to teach children not to be afraid of ghosts. If ghosts leave behind nothing but skeletons, which are just like fish bones, then we don’t have to fear them. As we ourselves have flesh, skin, blood, and bones – everything in the whole body – there is no reason to fear ghosts who have only skeletons and have no way to harm us. But children are not yet convinced. They believe that, even with skeletons only, ghosts can be as dangerous as if they had the whole body.
When the skeletons were put on display for the first time at the Dhamma Hall, groups of schoolchildren under the guidance of their teachers came to see them. We ourselves got to know something from their visits. Some boys were showing off their bravery, rather than knowledge, by boldly touching or stroking the bones or by putting one of the skeletons on themselves. There were a few boys who did this. Some other children were watching them closely; some were so afraid as to watch from the back row, and a few other children dared not go inside the Dhamma Hall but stayed downstairs. These last few children got ill with a high fever the night they went back home. Think about it, and you will see that ghosts can really – and effectively – haunt children.
You should learn from this incident and get ready for the problems arising from ignorance. Fear is an aspect of foolishness, and a fool is punished for his foolishness.
The lessons from the skeletons are that they are loathsome objects and they can make a fool out of us if we and our vigorous whole bodies are afraid of mere dry bones.
The cause can be traced to upādāna, attachment. The wise taught us to know this and to smarten up. If any of you have never seen the skeletons, go take a look. Be aware that it’s your preconceived upādāna that makes you afraid, terrified, nauseated, or feel whatever. When you eat spareribs, you enjoy them very much. They too are bones, but why don’t you feel nauseated? You are able to eat chicken or pig bones without fear, then how come you almost die of fright of human bones at a monastery?
Actually, skeletons can be used as objects of meditation. In the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), they are described as objects for the development of tranquility. Although this is not in the Buddha’s own words, the practice is useful just the same. We should often feel the bones in our own bodies, doing so every day to see what they can do, whether they are fearsome, and what meaning they have. On the other hand, occultists or witch doctors also use bones and skeletons, but for purposes other than Dhamma study.
You can see that people can have many different concepts about human bones.
(From "Benefits You Should Get from Coming to Suan Mokkh," a talk given by Tan Ajahn in December 1988 at the request of Tan Dusadee Bhikkhu, as translated from the Thai by Aj. Mongkol Dejnakarintra.)
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“24 Benefits of Suan Mokkh,” is a series of weekly posts published to commemorate the 88th anniversary of the foundation of Suan Mokkh in May 1932 in Chaiya, southern Thailand.
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For other Dhamma teachings by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu (audios, free ebooks, interviews, poems), please visit Suan Mokkh – The Garden of Liberation.
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Photograph from the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives collection (Ref. W-39)
