Q48. What was the Buddha’s last will and testament for us?

~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

A  will, as  everyone  knows, is  a  set of last instructions we file as  death approaches. When on  the  point of  dying, the Buddha spoke these last words, ‘All concoctions naturally decay. Perfect yourself in heedfulness!’* All things are nothing but perpetual flows of concocting, that is, empty of selfhood. All things are anicca, they change incessantly, they flow end- lessly. Such perpetual flux is devoid of any self or of anything belonging to self. Be vigilant and well prepared. In other words, don’t be foolish, don’t become infatuated with things, and don’t regard anything as worth grasping at and clinging to. Don’t let mindfulness lapse such that you are tricked into clinging. This is what he meant by fully evolved heedfulness. With such heedfulness we are always well prepared.

Consider children and teenagers. Look how completely heedless they can be, regarding all sorts of things as loveable, as worth having. Attaching to things as either loveable or hateful is ultimately a source of distress to themselves and to others simply because they ignore the Buddha’s will. They waste the benefit of human birth with Buddhist parents. They cannot carry out the Buddha’s last wishes.

All of us – young, old, and in between – are in a position to carry out the Buddha’s last instructions. Don’t be heedless or mindless. Don’t thoughtlessly regard things as worth grasping at and clinging to. Always view the world as empty of any self or of anything belonging to self. Thus, our minds will be free of grasping; lust, hatred, and delusion will not arise; and we will receive the highest thing that is possible for humanity. In other words, all problems will cease, and that is all there is to it.

The  Buddha gave  another final  instruction, which concerns others: ‘Go forth and reveal Dhamma, splendid in its beginning, middle, and end.’ I like to interpret this as enjoining us all to help in teaching non-grasping and non- clinging on an elementary level to children, on an intermediate level to adults, and on the highest, most advanced level to those realizing Supreme Dhamma and for whom nothing else matters. The Buddha taught only non-clinging, nothing more. It can be taught on different levels to children, to middle- age people, and to elders. Another way to interpret this injunction is to teach Dhamma for the benefit of people living in this world, on a low level; for benefits in other worlds, at an intermediate stage; and for the sake of the highest benefit, which transcends all worlds. Still, the whole essence of the teaching can be summed up as freedom from suffering through non-clinging.

This non-grasping and non-clinging, this emptiness of self and anything belonging to self, is the most important story. So please, every one of you, remember the one single word that reveals the entire Dhamma, the single syllable waang (empty, void, free), which in Pāli is suññatā – the core and essence of Buddhism. People break the trainings because mind isn’t waang. People lack concentration and presence because mind isn’t waang. People have no insight or wisdom because mind isn’t waang. The Buddha’s mind was always free and empty. Cit-waang is just what Buddhahood is. The Dhamma is the same: studying emptiness, practicing for emptiness, and realizing the fruit of that practice, which is the fullest emptiness, namely, Nibbāna. The Saṅgha is the people following the Buddha’s system of practice for having cit-waang. Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha are summed up in the word waang (free, void, empty).

We keep the moral precepts through abstaining from grasping and clinging, through being free of defilements, and through freedom from grasping and clinging. Whenever mind is waang, the defilements are absent and concentration is its most complete. When understanding the world is empty so that there’s no grasping or clinging to anything as self, ‘me,’ or ‘mine,’ wisdom is complete. The path and fruit of Nibbāna consist in steadily realizing emptiness and in successively tasting the fruits of emptiness through to the very culmination. Generosity, morality, taking refuge (in Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha), mindfulness, meditation, insight, compassion, path and fruit, and Nibbāna – all these are summed up in the single word waang (empty, free).

This is why the Buddha said that emptiness and teachings concerning emptiness ‘are my words.’ If not about emptiness, they are teachings of others, unorthodox teachings composed by later disciples. ‘All discourses of the Accomplished One are profound, have deep significance, are the means of transcend- ing the world, and deal primarily with emptiness.’** This was spoken by the Tathāgata. On the other hand, ‘A discourse of any kind, though produced by a poet or a learned man, versified, poetical, splendid, melodious in sound and syllable, is not in keeping with the teaching if not connected with suññatā.’28 There are two kinds of discourses, the original core teachings and later developments. Those dealing with suññatā*** were spoken by the Tathāgata; those not dealing with suññatā were composed by later followers.

We should be clear that the Buddha considered suññatā and discourses concerning suññatā to be the real essence of Buddhism. This is why he said, ‘When the teaching of suññatā dies out and no one is interested in it any longer, the real essence of Dhamma will have been lost.’ Then, Buddhism will be like the drum of the Dasāraha kings in ancient times, which was handed down from generation to generation. As it wore out in places, it was patched and mended time and time again, over a long period, until none of the original remained, only new materials.

Whenever monks are no longer concerned with study- ing and listening to topics relating to suññatā, which is what they ought to be studying and practicing, at that time it can be said that the original substance of Buddhism has been lost completely and that only new material remains, the sayings of later disciples, just as happened with the drum. Please contemplate this discourse. The Buddha urged us to teach Dhamma, splendid in its beginning, middle, and end, in terms of non-grasping and non-clinging. But what is the condition of Buddhism at the present time? Is it like the original old drum or does it consist of just new material, just patches? We can find this out for ourselves by simply examining modern Buddhist teaching and practice to see whether or not people are interested in suññatā and practice suññatā.

These were the Buddha’s last will and instructions to his disciples: to practice heedfulness of this teaching, to proclaim and disseminate it, and to restore the decayed material to fresh and good condition. This is done by studying, by digging and probing, by discussing and debating, by putting into practice and investigating, until understanding of this teaching is fully revived. Then we can say that Buddhism is restored to its original condition.

(*) Vayadhammā saṅkhāra; appamādena sampādethā (DN 16, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta).

(**) Ye te ye suttantā tathāgata bhāsita gambhīrā gambhīrātthā lokuttarā suññatāppaṭisaṃyuttā.

(***) Ye te suttantā kavikatā kāveyyā cittakkharā cittabyañjanā bāhirakā sāvakabhāsitā.

(From “Buddha-Dhamma for Inquiring Minds”)

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Buddha-Dhamma for Students (title of original translation) was composed of two talks given by Ajahn Buddhadāsa in January 1966 to students at Thammasat University, Bangkok. It was translated from the Thai by Rod Bucknell, and revised in 2018 by Santikaro Upasaka. To read/download as free ebook (pdf).

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For all English retreat talks, visit Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu.

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Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives E-22