What Can Buddhists do When a Beloved Animal Friend Dies?

Question: About two weeks ago my pet dog (14.5 yrs old) has passed on.We have conducted a basic chanting of Buddha Name for 8 hrs plus another 4 hrs of random chanting.The body was then sent for cremation at the 15th hour. Is that safe?After cremation the remains of ashes was then scattered into the sea (sea burial by ourselves).Hope i have done the right thing since so much of supportive prayers for human but nothing much mentioned for animals.Really pray and hope we have done sufficient for this little living being. May he also be liberated into the Land of The Ultimate Bliss.

Response: Your dog was extremely fortunate and yes, you did all the right things from the chanting to waiting fifteen hours before sending him to be cremated to the dispersing of the ashes on the sea.

Chanting for eight hours is recommended as necessary for humans, with longer being even better. Humans need this long because we are so attached to our bodies it takes a long time for our consciousness to completely leave the body. But animals do not have the ego we do. They are not nearly so attached to their bodies. So the consciousness of your dog was able to leave the body more quickly.

Just as the human consciousness can detect our chanting, your dog's consciousness could do the same. And wherever he is reborn all those seeds will be in that consciousness waiting for the right time to mature.

To take the ashes and scatter them on the sea shows there was much love between you. I, and the readers of this entry, know many people who sadly would not have done all you did for another human. Also, there was much respect that did not discriminate, but understood that your dog had a Buddha nature the same as your own.

All that remains to do now is for you to send out thoughts to your dog encouraging him to seek rebirth in the Pure Land. Just talk to him like the very special friend he was.

Your little friend was very fortunate in both his living and his dying. May your mind be at peace for you have done more than was necessary, and a portion of the merits from all your chanting will accrue to your dog, and he will receive the benefit from them.

Buddha as Mind

One invocation to Buddha Amitabha, if uttered properly, will immediately cause the six sense organs to become clean and clear. For instance, now while in the period of Amidist practice, the organ of sight will be clean and pure as we always look at and see the Buddha. The organ of hearing will be clean and pure as we inhale the aroma of incense. The tongue will be clean and pure as we recite Buddha's name incessantly. The body will be clean and pure as we face and worship Buddha all day long in a clean and pure place.The mind will be clean and pure as we contemplate and think of Buddha.

When the six sense organs are clean and pure, the three karmas are so cleansed; the physical evils of killing, stealing, and lust will no longer exist, nor the oral evils of hypocritical, harsh, lying or suggestive speech. There will be no involvement in the mental evils of avarice, hatred, and delusion. The Ten Good Karmas [25] will immediately be practiced. A follower of Buddha finds it most difficult to curb the evil karmas committed by the body, tongue and mind. However, with one invocation of Buddha Amitabha's name, these three evils will be checked. Eventually, perception and contemplation will be fully developed and preparation for entering the Pure Land will grow. One will surely be reborn in the Western Paradise when this present life comes to an end.

Ordinary people usually consider it difficult to become a Buddha. In fact, it is not so difficult. Both Buddhas and ordinary sentient beings are invariably molded Out of perception and contemplation. In one thought, Buddhas pervade the ten Dharma Worlds.[26] Likewise, a sentient being also pervades ten Dharma Worlds in one thought. If avarice arises at one thought, he is, indeed, a hungry ghost. If hatred arises at one thought, he is a hell-dweller. If delusion arises at one thought, he is a beast. If doubt and arrogance arise at one thought, he is an asura, a malevolent spirit. If one's thoughts fall on the five virtues regarding human relationships, as well as the Five Precepts, he will enter the world of humans. If his thoughts fall on the ten Good Karmas, he will be reborn in heaven. If his ideas are centered on the Four Noble Truths,[27] he equals the Buddha's immediate disciples. If his mind dwells on the doctrine of Twelve Links of Causation,[28] he is a Pratyekabuddha. If his ideas center on the Six Paramitas,[29] he is a Bodhisattva. If his thoughts dwell on altruism and equality, he is indeed a Buddha.

On the other hand, each person in the world has his own ideas—scholars, farmers, workmen, businessmen, soldiers, public officials, etc.—all have come to their present condition because of previous ideas.One becomes the embodiment of any fixed idea that is held in the mind.

This equally applies to the Amidist. Every day he looks at the Buddha, orally repeats the Buddha's name, physically bows and worships Buddha, mentally contemplates Buddha, and also hears Buddha's name proclaimed. At all times, his thoughts are on rebirth in the Western Paradise. In this way, he will surely be reborn in the Western Paradise, and will surely be able to realize Buddhahood.

~ On Amidism, A Short Discourse By Grand Master T'an Hsu

Mindfulness? Or Concentration?

In class this week, I was asked a very good question: What is the difference between mindfulness and concentration?

First, a similarity.

Whether in mindfulness or concentration, wandering thoughts of what happened yesterday at work or what might happen when my in-laws come to visit next week are gently brushed aside.

The difference?

Mindfulness is being aware of what we are doing and of what is happening around us. When planting seeds in the garden, I am aware of the feel of the dirt, the fragility of the seedlings, the way the water soaks quickly into the loose soil around the seedling. I am aware of, mindful of, the sounds of children playing in the next yard, of the songs of a group of birds in the trees, of the warmth of the sun on my back, and the changing light pattern as clouds drift across the sky.

Concentration is choosing what I will focus on and remaining focused on that. Planting the seedling, I am focused on the holding the seedling. Digging the hole to place it in. I am focused on my digging. Watering the seedling I am absorbed in giving the seedling just the right amount of water. I hear the children and the birds, I feel sun's warmth, and see the changing light, but I brush thoughts of them aside and do not become absorbed in them.

Our Glass of Muddy Water

As I wrote in Up the Mountain, practice is a pattern of progression and regression. Each of us will at some time wake up one day to the realization that we have seriously regressed. Regressing is the bad news. But the good news is that we have realized it. Before we began to seriously practice, we probably weren’t even aware of how we were doing.

Why?

Our minds were filled with so many wandering thoughts we couldn't tell whether we were doing better or not. Now that we have been trying to calm those wandering thoughts, we are more attuned to them. But as we learned in The Merest Shimmer of a Thought, we have a few trillion thoughts in the time it takes to snap our fingers. The ones we are aware of are the largest, the grossest of these. Trying to visualize calming all these thoughts is challenging to say the least. An analogy might help.

Visualize a glass of water filled with muddy water. The water is so dirty we can't see a thing. Since opaque water is what we have become used to, it seems normal. But if we leave the glass alone and allow the water to begin to settle, we see that the water is very slowly beginning to clear. As this happens, we realize that the water is not solid mud, but rather millions of microscopic bits of mud in the water.

Instead of being depressed by thinking “wow there must be a lot of mud in that glass,” think “wow, before I didn’t even realize what the mud was.”

So yes, there has been regression. But at least now, your mind is calm enough to realize it. So you’re still father ahead of where you were when you started.

"Long-lost Friends"

Each of us has had the experience of meeting someone and instantly being drawn to them as if we knew them, as if they were an old friend. This an affinity, a connection to the person that spans uncountable lifetimes. It is possible because we carry the fond memory of them in our most subtle consciousness. They do the same.

When old friends meet again, that deep memory is awakened and it is as if time had never passed...