The Cure of the Mustard Seed A Little Book on Death, Dying and the Loss of All and Everything
Peter Malakoff
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Copyright Š 2014 by Peter Malakoff All rights reserved. Peter Malakoff www.petermalakoffbooks.weebly.com 5IF $VSF PG UIF .VTUBSE 4FFE CZ 1FUFS .BMBLPGG 5JUMF *% *4#/o !
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Looking up from the bottom of the steps at Manikarnika Ghat !
To my parents who passed this way before me You always sought to gift the world with goodness May this help
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Three bodies on the steps at Manikarnika Ghat
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“This life disappears very quickly Like something written in water with a stick” — Buddha
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View of Manikarnika Ghat
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Contents !
Prologue(........................................................................................................................(11( About(the(Pictures(....................................................................................................(17( How(to(Use(this(Book(..............................................................................................(21( Preface(...........................................................................................................................(23( Introduction(................................................................................................................(27( The(Cure(of(the(Mustard(Seed(.............................................................................(41( A(Modern(Day(Version(of(The(Story(.................................................................(59( About(the(Author(......................................................................................................(63( Other(Books(by(Peter(Malakoff(...........................................................................(65( ! !
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Pallbearers carrying a body down the steps to Manikarnika Ghat
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Prologue I spent the winter of 2004 in Banaras, India, the oldest still living city in the world. In the early mornings, I would walk the stone steps along the Ganges from where I was living at Asi Ghat, to the ancient cremation grounds of .BOJLBSOJLB (IBU. There I would spend a part of every day and evening sitting at the burning ground. I witnessed a constant procession of once living people, borne on bamboo stretchers by their male relations, brought down through the narrow lanes of Benaras to where the alleys open up at stone steps that lead down to Manikarnika. 5IFSF BU UIF SJWFS, they were bathed one last time in the sacred Ganges, placed on a pyre of logs and consumed b y GMBNFT; their elements separated to FUIFS BJS GJSF XBUFS BOE FBSUI.
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The cremation ground at Manikarnika
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It was a place of tremendous power. The dead bodies all around me and the constant burning of two-armed forms just like mine, confounded the ideas of who or what I am. A veil was pulled back and I passed beyond the India I read of in the ancient scriptures of the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Upanishads; the India of Buddha, Shankara, Kabir, Lahiri Mahasaya and Trailinga Swami. I passed beyond the legends of Manikarnika and Lord Shiva’s promise of liberation to whoever dies in Benaras. I no longer thought of the millions PG QFPQMF who for thousands of years have come to Manikarnika to die and be cremated, nor the haunting and timeworn architecture, stained by eons of cremation smoke from the burning ground and filled with the constant activity of death that takes place there every day and night . . . Rather, I came into the presence of a timeless truth. I saw my own mortality and instantly understood; UIJT JT UIF USVUI UIBU * BMXBZT OFFEFE UP TFF UIJT JT UIF USVUI XF BMM NVTU TFF 13!
Three cremation fires tended by a Dom
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Death and suffering are the paradoxical keys to our desire for freedom; they remain the inspiration CFOFBUI the idealism of my spiritual interest from the time I was a youth. Witnessing body after body consumed by fire and cease to exist, it was no longer possible to be consoled. I discovered the liberating medicine of the Mustard Seed, the cure this story is about.
“Many have died; you will also die The drum of death is being beaten The world has fallen in love with a dream Only the sayings of the wise will remain” – Bijak of Kabir
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Pallbearers traversing the last steps carrying the body to the Ganges
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About the Pictures Death is mostly hidden in the west and rarely seen. Even in the absence of violence or accident, we consider death a terrible event, something better not to look at; yet as we all know, death is an inescapable part of life. I have been living in India for several years and like many other things in this country such as disease or poverty, the seeing of death is a common occurrence. It begins with a loud beating of drums that notifies everyone in the neighborhood that someone has died; then a public display of the deceased on a cot outside the house, the carrying of the corpse through the streets and alleys, past houses and shops to cremation at the burning ground, and all of it is in public view. I lived in Benaras for months and every single day and night, I witnessed corpses carried down the narrow alleys to be cremated. As they passed the houses and shops you could hear the pallbearers chanting: Rama Nama Satya Hai, Sub ki Yahe Gate Hai. It means: “Only the name of God is Truth. This is the fate of all.� 17!
View of Manikarnika from the steps
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I took these photographs at .BOJLBSOJLB (IBU. I was befriended by one of the Doms, the caste that perform the cremations and and he gave me permission to take these pictures. Photographs are almost never allowed at Manikarnika and rarely taken, yet, I was able to spend a whole day and evening on the burning ground, UBLJOH QJDUVSFT; it was an unforgettable experience. I approached people with consideration and respect and usually they motioned me in closer. In the midst of their own personal l o s s a n d t h e c r e m a t i o n o f t h e i r r e l a t i o n s, they had no impulse to hide what was going on; this too was life and worthy of being seen and recorded. I wanted this story to be suitable for younger people. After much consideration, for the sake of wholeness and to bring visual reality to this teaching of the Buddha, I decided to put together the pictures you see here (Originally, I was going to use pictures of the Healing Buddha). I believe these images are particularly necessary for those of us who live in the West; they are reminders of the nature of the world we live in. They are not intended to be terrible or frightening, they are simply true. 19!
Last dip of the body in the Ganges at the bottom of the steps at Manikarnika
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How to Use this Book When confronted with death, we are often overwhelmed by our own emotions; VTVBMMZ our grief is more for ourselves than for those who have died and even while we mourn, the beauty and wonder of life still goes on all around us. Is death a tragedy or a blessing? How should we feel or act when confronted with the finality of death? Should we weep, rejoice, or both or neither? Because such questions arise, particularly at the time of death, it is good to hear the teachings of the Great 5FBDIFST and UIBU JT XIZ * UFMM UIJT TUPSZ. Perhaps you know a young person who is confronting death for the first time. Read this story with them, look at the pictures and consider what you have heard and seen. If you know an adult who is grieving, give them the book or read it with them. If you are distraught and saddened by loss, this story is medicine for your life. If you are feeling whole and balanced, this may remind you of what is inevitable and what we all tend to forget. 21!
Body on the pyre
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Preface A friend of mine died when I was young. I remember going to his funeral and standing around his casket with the adults. Everybody seemed sad, embarrassed or uncomfortable. Like many young people, I was sensitive and greatly affected by this FYQFSJFODF. I wanted to find out more. Growing up in America, no one taught me anything about death or what happens after someone dies. As I grew older, I read NBOZ stories and beliefs about death in the different cultures and religions of the world. My exploration led me to UIPTF whose experience and understanding transcended doubt and belief and this is how I came to learn what the greatest of Teachers, such as Krishna, Buddha and Jesus, said about death.
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Buildings and wood storage for the cremation fires (behind the burning grounds BU .BOJLBSOJLB)
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The Cure of the Mustard Seed is part of the Pali Canon, the original scripture of Buddhism. It relates an actual incident: a Mother brought her dead son to the Buddha and begged him to restore her child to life. Buddha responded by asking her to bring some medicine, some mustard seed from a house in which no one had died. We will see how Buddha’s simple request conveyed his teaching and allowed a young woman in great grief to accept the inevitability of death and change her attitude towards living. Ananda, the most intimate friend and disciple of the Buddha, said that Buddha always taught in a way that was suitable for both children and adults. I have tried to follow that tradition in telling this story.
“ A tomorrow when you are gone, is undoubtedly coming.” – Shura’s letter to Kanika
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#BUIJOH the body one last time in the Ganges
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Introduction A Christian Missionary told a group of Cambodian children about the miracle Jesus performed when he raised Lazarus from the dead. The children asked him whether Lazarus had later died. The Missionary replied, “Yes, Lazarus did eventually pass away.” The children thought about that, and one of them said, “Lord Buddha did not raise a man from the dead, but he did teach human beings to accept death and awaken beyond the cycles of living and dying.” In Buddhist culture, from the time they are small, every child is taught: “Life is suffering. You will die. I will die. Everyone will die. All things will change, pass away and cease to be. Nothing is eternal.” This is not meant to be depressing, it is an important fact; a verity so important that Buddha proclaimed it as the “First Noble Truth,” when he gave his very first teaching, The Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, in the Deer Park at Sarnath, quite close to Benares where these pictures were taken. 27!
Debris from previous cremations on the riverbank below Manikarnika
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In the original teaching of the Buddha, death is looked at directly. Practitioners understood that death cannot be ‘cured’ through any temporary extension of life, whether by Jesus, Buddha, medicine, technology, or belief in anything, whatsoever; nor is there any real consolation from death. The solution Buddha put forth is liberation from the false assumption of self. He did not believe in the salvation of the individual. Buddha taught that every aspect of life is comprised of the fourfold ills of birth, sickness, old age and death. These co-dependently arising attributes are aspects of The First Noble Truth. Like the sunlight in the morning that falls upon our bed, they are teachers who make us interested in waking up. Because these fourfold ills make up the nature of our world, we need to acknowledge and reality and help our children to know it as well. We must SFNFNCFS, because one day JU XJMM be PVS UVSO BT XFMM It is always good to start with what is real, (although there may be better or worse ways to express it), for if we do not live with reality, one way or another, reality will come to live with us. 29!
View of the steps that lead down to Manikarnika Ghat
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All the greatest Teachers considered death and all of them pointed to an ultimate Truth that transcends the ending of the physical body. Buddha was born into the Hindu-Vedic culture of Nepal; a culture centered BSPVOE the religious practices of sacrifice and worship, purposed to achieve various goals of the individual concerning heaven and earth. Buddha criticized UIF Hindu religion of his day. He pointed out that its teaching and objectives were based on a false assumption; the existence of an individual self, and thus, even in the best of circumstances, everything one might attain was threatened and would always result in suffering. Buddha acknowledged that a god or a rich person might have longer life, finer food, better clothes, more exquisite pleasures and a nicer house, but that life, food, clothes, pleasure and house, will pass away one day and the god or person who experiences them will grow old, become sick, die and lose everything.
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Three bodies on the steps awaiting cremation
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Buddha countered the soaring idealism of Hindu thought and religion with a realistically based teaching; he began not with the description of an ascended or idealistic goal, but with the nature of life itself, TVNNBSJ[FE JO UIF 'JSTU /PCMF 5SVUI PG 4VGGFSJOH #VEEIB taught that death comes to everyone, animal, men and gods. Still, his teaching points to a Truth beyond death; a reality that is always and already the case. According to the Buddha, there is no individual self that is born or ever dies, but this is not something he asked people to believe in. He never suggsted it is possible to be consoled, but it is possible to be free and this freedom is a Truth that must be realized. For the sake of this realization and to motivate people towards it, the first thing Buddha does is to confront his listeners with the link between the assumption of self and CJSUI EFBUI BOE TVGGFSJOH; the painful reality of the world. In one of his famous talks called the 'JSF 4FSNPO, he points out that everything in life is literally burning.
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Cremation of body being tended by a Dom
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The burning of desire, attraction, aversion, delusion, birth, sickness, old age and death and all the psychological pain that goes along with them; these are what cause us to seek relief in physical pleasure, religion or even enlightenment. Before Buddha speaks of the Second Nobel Truth of the Origin of Suffering in craving or desire, the Third Nobel Truth regarding the End of Suffering or the Fouth Nobel Truth of the Way that leads to the Cessation of Suffering, Buddha expounds the 'JSTU /PCMF 5SVUI of Suffering. 5IJT JT CFDBVTF JG UIF OBUVSF PG MJGF BT TVGGFSJOH JT OPU fully felt and recognized, if we have no sympathy with the burning nature of life, t h e n we have not awakened to reality; we still live in illusion and thus the religious path cannot truly begin, nor ever be accomplished.
“Your life dwells among the causes of death Like a lamp standing in a strong breeze.” – Nagarjuna 35!
Body BCPVU to be cremated
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In the East, it is said there are two wings to the bird of wisdom. One wing is the wing of experience. If we do not experience something, we cannot know it. It does not matter whether we believe in an idea or not Xe must experience it for ourselves. However, even if we do experience something, that is still only one wing of the bird. With only one wing a bird cannot fly; it only goes around in circles on the ground. The second wing of the bird is understanding, or the story by which we interpret and understand our experience. If the story we hear is not accurate or true, regardless of what we have experienced, we DBOOPU HBJO XJTEPN. If we consider the map of our lives according to an inaccurate legend, we will follow roads that go nowhere and waste our lives imagining and reacting to things that are not true. Buddha taught that while everyone will suffer, not all suffering is necessary. A good story, the teaching of truth, an accurate description of reality, can go a long way to eliminate unnecessary suffering. The $VSF PG UIF .VTUBSE 4FFE is one such story.
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View of corpse and buildings behind Manikarnika Ghat
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The $VSF PG 5IF .VTUBSE 4FFE clarifies the mind and heals the heart. It affirms that life is suffering and death inescapable result of being born. This may seem a simple observation, CVU #VEEIB QSPDMBJNFE JU UP CF B HSFBU BOE A/PCMF 5SVUIh. However, it is a truth that must be realized; only realization, (not belief, doubt or intellectual sympathy), frees one from the cycles of birth and death. All of us are seeking a remedy for suffering. This is the search at the core of every human being and of every religion. Whatever we believe, whatever faith we belong to, even if we belong to none at all, we must pass beyond CFMJFG BOE EPVCU and deal with reality. Therefore, before we turn our attention to what we are seeking, we must begin with what motivates us towards our chosen remedy . . . the reality of suffering. This story begins with the refusal to accept death and ends with the hearing of truth. *U JT B UFBDIJOH PG UIF #VEEIB BOE B UBMF JO XIJDI XF DBO SFDPHOJ[F USVUI. Listen and you will learn the healing power of simple mustard seed . . . 39!
Buddha Teaching his disciples —Chinese Thangka !
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The Cure of the Mustard Seed Once, long ago, when Gautama Buddha was speaking with monks and nuns in the forest, there was a disturbance in the back of the small group assembled. There appeared a young woman, Kisagotami by name, weeping and distressed and carrying a small dead child in her arms. Kisagotami was seeking for someone to restore her baby to life. Her little boy had died and she had gone to all her neighbors seeking some medicine, but they thought she was mad. Finally, a wise old man said to her, “I do not have the medicine you need, but I know a physician who does.” The young woman said: “Oh please tell me, sir; who is this person?” And the man replied: “Go to the Buddha. He will help you” Kisagotami proceeded to the forest and approached where the Buddha sat. Bowing before him she cried, “Oh Lord Buddha, please, I pray you, help me! 41!
Kisagotami in front of the Buddha
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The Buddha asked her, “What is it that you desire?” “My child, this boy that I carry in my arms, has died,” cried the woman. “I beg you, bring him back to life.” A gasp went through the assembly, as people heard what she had requested. They had seen many miracles around the Buddha. But, his teaching was one of understanding and realization, not of miraculous cures or powers. The Buddha sat quietly and then spoke to her: “Bring me some mustard seed from a house in which no one has lost a parent, a child, a husband, wife or friend.”
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Small Indian Village near Benaras
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Kisagotami was relieved at the simplicity of the task. This would be easy and something she could quickly accomplish. “I shall do as you ask,� she replied. Then, taking her dead child with her, she hurried off to the village to seek the mustard seed. Now, in India, mustard seed is one of the most common of things. It is like salt or sugar in a home in the West today.
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Woman standing at the doorway of her house
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Kisagotami went up to the first house she saw. Bowing at the door to the woman who stood there, she asked, “Do you have any mustard seed? Please, do you have any mustard seed?” The lady of the house saw the urgency of the young woman’s request and went to fetch it. She brought it back and gave it to Kisagotami, pouring it into her hands. “Here my child. May it give you respite from all that ails you.” Kisagotami hardly thanked her, so excited was she to receive the mustard seed. Her child could come back to life! But, as she hurried back to the Buddha, she remembered the last part of his instructions; she needed to bring the mustard seed from a house in which there had been no death and she had forgotten to ask! Kisagotami immediately turned around and went back to the woman who still stood at her doorway. “Please,” Kisagotami said, “Has anyone ever died in your house?”
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Man about to cast a pot of Ganges water over his left shoulder onto the cremation fire of his relative. After the pot breaks on the smoldering fire, he is finished with the body. Then, he walks away and does not look back.
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“Oh yes, my child. Only last year my mother died. But why do you ask?” “Oh, I cannot take your mustard seed,” Kisagotami said. And she poured the seed back into the woman’s hands and hurried off to the next house. There, Kisagotami again asked for mustard seed. The mistress of the house brought her some and before she received it, Kisagotami asked, “Has anyone ever died in your house?” “Yes, my husband died here two years ago.” Here, too, she could not take the mustard seed. At the next house, they had mustard seed. But, when Kisagotami asked if anyone had ever died in the house, she heard, “We lost our parents only this year.” At another house a mother said, “My daughter died only last month.” Time after time, Kisagotami received similar answers; although in every household there was mustard seed, in every household there had been death. She realized that death comes to all beings and the dead are more plentiful than the living. 49!
Body being placed on the pyre for cremation
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Finally, Kisagotami accepted the death of her own child. Later that evening, she went deep into the forest and left her dead baby. The next day she returned to the Buddha. He asked her, “Have you brought any mustard seed?” “No,” she replied, “I could not find a house in which no one had died. I have buried my child in the forest.” The Buddha said: “The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings. As ripe fruits are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death. As all earthen vessels made by the potter end up being broken, so is the life of mortals. Both young and old, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the hands of death; all are subject to death. 51!
The cremation fire is lit
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“A father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen, their relations. Look! While relatives are crying and lamenting deeply, one by one mortals are carried off, like oxen led to the slaughter. So the world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the laws of the world. In whatever manner people think a thing will come to pass, it is often different when it happens, and great is the disappointment; see, such are the ways of the world.
“Not from weeping nor from grieving will any one obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be made greater and his body will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale and still the dead are not saved by his lamentations. People pass away, and their fate after death will be according to their deeds. If a person lives a hundred years, or even more, he will at last be separated from the company of his relatives and loved ones, and leave the life of this world. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, complaint and grief
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Evening view of Manikarnika Ghat
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Kisagotami realized whatever arises will cease to be. Her mind became clear and her eyes were opened. Convinced of the First Noble Truth, she entered the stream of the way that leads to Nirvana.
“Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who does not perceive the Deathless State of Nirvana, is a day in the life of one who perceives the Deathless State of Nirvana.�
This true story is called the $VSF PG UIF .VTUBSE 4FFE.
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Manikarnika Ghat
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The first words that Buddha taught as well as the last words he spoke, dealt with the reality of death. The First Noble Truth, stated that all life was dukkha or suffering. Just before he died, UIF #VEEIB SFUVSOFE UP B TJNJMBS UIFNF: “Behold, O’ monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Strive to work out your own salvation.”
Buddha taught that although everyone dies, no one is dead. It may be comforting to believe in this, but, it is a great Truth that must be Realized. At the root of Realization is the First Noble Truth of Suffering. To realize the nature of life is a great blessing for the living and the dead and this is the NFTTBHF of this book.
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Ramana Maharshi
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A Modern Day Version of The Story I live part of the year at the foot of the holy mountain, Arunachala, in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, home of the ashram of Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), one of the greatest saints of the twentieth century. Like the Buddha, Ramana or Bhagavan was asked a similar question by a distraught mother; here is that story, told by Vajreswari, the daughter of Ganapati Muni: “Once a devotee brought her dead son in a box and prayed intensely to Bhagavan to bring him back to life. Bhagavan could readily see the faith and hope behind her prayer. Tenderly, he told her, Amma (Mother), don’t you see that if I restore your son’s life, Sri Ramanashram would be flooded with corpses? Then he spoke to her at length about life, death and the need to be conscious of the state transcending both. He explained that all experiences were centered around the individual and that the search for the source of the self alone would end all suffering.
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Ramana Maharshi
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These soothing words and advice went home and the lady returned, consoled at heart. This was only natural since Bhagavan’s words were loaded with power and grace. After the lady left, a devotee asked, “Is it possible to revive the dead? Bhagavan replied, Jnani’s, siddhas and yogis can restore life, but is it for this purpose that they have come?” — Face to Face with Ramana Maharshi
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Peter Malakoff http://www.petermalakoff.com http://petermalakoffbooks.weebly.com
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About the Author I have been a Religious Studies scholar, Poet, Storyteller, Ayurvedic Consultant, Ghee Maker, Woodworker, Teacher and Writer. For the past several years, I reside in the high foothills of the Himalaya near Ladakh during the spring, summer and fall and then, as the weather turns cold, travel south to Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, to live near the ashram of Ramana Maharshi, where I stay for the winter months. I have been in this ancient land for only a few years and am gracefully drowning in the ocean of wisdom conceived by the great Beings that lived here and the stories they have told. Mark Twain called India, “ . . . the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition; our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India.� . . . this is but one of them. 63!
Trash and Debris from the cremation ground in the Ganges
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Other Books by Peter Malakoff How Thoreau’s Walden Pond Mixed with the Ganges and Yoga Came to America with Swami Vivekananda (2012) (Apple enhanced book) The Man Who Built the Taj Mahal (2015) Manikarnika Ghat (2015) A Hanuman Story for Ram Dass (2016) Misericords: The Return of the Repressed (2016) Tragedy Fate and Nemesis (2017) Thanks to Chris Boys for his insights and noble heart and help with the manuscript Line Drawing of Kisagotami in front of the Buddha by Juhiro Mashiko All photographs of Manikarnika Ghat by Peter Malakoff 65!
Corpse on pyre !
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