Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
( transcribed by Jinavamsa)
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The SixteenDreams….
The Buddha
Foretells World Disasters
( transcribed by Jinavamsa)
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Email: jinavamsa1938@yahoo.com
Copyright by Leong Yok Kee
Title: 16 Dreams
Author: Leong Yok Kee
Buddhism - customs and practices
Buddhism - doctrines
CONTENTS
Acknowledgement 5
Foreword 6
To-day 10
Introduction 19
Part One: The Sixteen Dreams of
King Pasenadi 28
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thanks are very much due to you who have made donations to
the printing of this Dhamma literature; without which it will
definitely not see the light of day.
FOREWORD
T
en years ago, to be exact in 2001, Bhante Suvanno,
retold the story of The 16 Dreams of King Pasenadi, a
prophecy of events, disasters and calamities that will
befall the world and its inhabitants in the days and years that
will follow into the future. Every one of those situations and
calamities, known by the Blessed One nearly 2600 years ago,
have already occurred repeatedly and those that have been
predicted and has not happened, will surely come to pass in the
course of time.
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Iraq War
Saddam Hussein, the brutal dictator of Iraq since 1979, was
successfully ousted from power; his two
sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed in
fighting with coalition troops; and Saddam
himself was found hiding in a hole on Dec.
14, 2003. Tried for crimes against humanity,
Saddam was hanged on Dec. 30, 2006. He
had murdered and killed thousands in his
quest for power.
Hurricane Katrina
The Gulf Coast. Named Katrina, the hurricane roared onshore
as a Category 3 storm on Aug. 29,
2005, spreading destruction from
Texas to Florida. But it was the
subsequent failure of the levees in
New Orleans that wreaked the worst
humanitarian disaster, covering 80
percent of the city in stagnant
floodwaters for weeks. Katrina claimed 1,836 lives, mainly in
Louisiana and Mississippi, with 705 people missing.
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B
ANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) - – A powerful 7.8-
magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's Sumatra island
early Wednesday, triggering widespread panic and
tsunami warnings but causing no major damage.
Sep – 2008 17th Sept, China: 3 babies dead as 6200 ill from
milk formula (more deaths were later confirmed)
May – 2008 12th May Earthquake death to l 50,000
Oct - 2007 23rd Oct 500,000 flee wildfires
Dec – 2006 29th Dec. ship sinks in storm 600 missing
May – 2006 27th May Indonesia java quakes kills 6000
Oct - 2005 27th Oct Pakistan, major earthquake kills
thousands
Dec – 2004 26th Dec Aceh 9.0 earthquake leaves 212,000
dead
Aug- 2003 14th Aug France 10,000 dead in heat wave
Mar – 2003 13th Mar. Hongkong 1st alert SARS (Severe acute
respiratory syndrome). Within a matter of weeks in early 2003,
SARS spread from the Guangdong province of China to
rapidly infect individuals in some 37countries around the world.
Estimates place the dead at more than 10,000
One of the great tragedies of the accident was that the Soviet
government tried to cover it up. Clouds of fallout were
traveling towards major population centers such as Minsk, and
no one was warned. No one outside the Soviet Union knew
about the accident until two days later, when scientists in
Sweden detected massive amount of radiation being blown
from the east.
of these lives were those of the workers trying to put out the
graphite fire and were lost from radiation poisoning. The
radiation released has also had long-term effects on the cancer
incidence rate of the surrounding population.
Very few people will take the interest and study the condition
of this planet we call Earth, also our home. It will interest you
to know that Earth’s temperature has not varied more than
1˚C in the past 10,000 years; but in the past 100 years alone, it
has increased by 0.6˚C; this is leading to catastrophic disasters
all over the world.
Facts:
The World Watch Institute has concluded that livestock is
responsible for at least 51% of global warming. It cautioned
that this is a conservative figure; “there may be no way to
manage the climate risk other than by replacing livestock
products with better alternatives”…
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The Blessed One consoled the king that he, the king, had
nothing to fear from the dreams as all that he had remembered
in the dreams were to unfold themselves in the future years as
man’s greed, hatred and delusion develops in the coming years
and centuries to defile the whole world within the universe,
mentally, physically and materially.
INTRODUCTION
The Venerable Acara Suvanno Mahathera
Commentary on the Sixteen Dreams of King Pasenadi
His audiences have been many and varied; including the old
and the young, the illiterate and the intellectuals, and people of
different races who came to hear him, thousands have known
the Buddha’s Dhamma through his talks. He speaks fluently in
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Many from different faiths and beliefs have been moved by his
eloquence and his down-to-earth exposition of the Buddha's
Teachings, so much so that they have taken the first few steps
to discover for themselves more of the Teachings. Some have
followed through and some have fallen by the wayside, but
many have been influenced by his open and earnest rendering
of the Teachings and by his example of living the Dhamma way.
Sources for this work are: the Jataka Tales No.77, Mahasupina-
Jataka, the Pali Dictionary of Proper Names, and Bhante
Suvanno’s cassette tapes on the Sixteen Dreams.
If you read more of the various daily newspapers you are sure to
see reports of situations around the world confirming events
foretold by the Buddha through the Dreams of King Pasenadi
2600 years ago; as re-told by Bhante Suvanno; they make
interesting reading and matter for contemplation.
In the short space of three years, more than six million people
of various nationalities perished horribly for no apparent
reason except to satisfy the whims and fancies of a few “leaders”.
The signs of such cruelties still linger on as witnesses to
atrocities committed by humans on humans!
PART ONE
THE SIXTEEN DREAMS OF KING PASENADI
B
HANTE SUVANNO: In the 45-year ministry of the
Buddha, royalties, princes and princesses, ascetics,
leaders of other faiths, male and female devotees of
noble standing, high-born brahmins, travellers, common laity,
slaves and so-called untouchables caste made up His followers.
Many became enlightened and reached arahantship; others
took up the robes and became members of the Holy Order of
the Sangha. Even nagas (dragons), devas and gods from the
heavenly realms and the ten thousand world systems were
known to have descended on to the world at different times to
hear His Dhamma!
each other when both were quite young and in the early years
of the Buddha's ministry. Being very respectful of the Buddha
King Pasenadi would bow his head at the feet of the Buddha,
covering them with kisses and stroking them whenever they
met. It became his habit to make regular visits to see the
Buddha to discuss various matters, spiritual and personal as
well as affairs of state.
So strong was the fear of death upon him that he could not stir,
but lay there huddled up on his bed. When dawn came, his
brahmins and ministers came to him and with due obeisance
asked whether his majesty had slept well.
Then the King told them his dreams and asked them what
these visions would entail for him. The Brahmins then fell to
wringing their hands!
The king gave willingly, and finally when 4000 animals of all
kinds were purchased by the Brahmins, a day was appointed for
the sacrificial ceremony.
Their association began one day when she was sixteen. While
on her way to the garden with some companions and carrying
three portions of sour gruel in a basket, she met the Buddha
and after paying her respects to Him, offered the gruel to Him.
The Buddha, seeing her wrapt in joy, smiled. Ananda, His
personal attendant, seeing the Buddha's smile, enquired the
reason and the Buddha replied that on that very day Mallika
would be made chief queen.
*[King Ajatasattu was King Pasenadi’s nephew, son of his sister and
King Bimbisara, ruler of Magdha. War broke out when Pasenadi and
Ajatasattu both laid claim to the prosperous village of Kasi, situated
between the two kingdoms].
The same evening he sent a chariot for her and with great
pomp and honour brought her to the palace and set her on a
heap of jewels and anointed her his chief queen. From that day
onwards she was the beloved and devoted wife of the King. In
the course of time she too became a devoted follower of the
Buddha. There are many stories of the devotion of Mallika to
the Buddha and He had mentioned that she was one of the
seven persons whose acts of devotion bore fruit in this life and
whose fame reached even to the gods.
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The King, who loved the queen very much, told her about the
dreams and the recommendations of the brahmins. Realising
the motives of the brahmins and fearing the results of the
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Hearing this, the King acquiesced and went with her to seek
audience with the Blessed One. After due venerations, Queen
Mallika informed the Blessed One of the reason for their visit;
that the King was about to sacrifice a great number of lives to
counter the supposedly evil portent of his dreams. Having
confirmed with the King that that was what he had planned to
do the Blessed One requested the King to relate his dreams.
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In this year (2010) and for many years in the past, scientists
have monitored and studied the natural phenomena round this
globe we call earth and have come to many conclusions that are
direct results of human greed.
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The Words of the Blessed One was delivered 2600 years ago
when there was not even paper to write them on. The Words
were delivered by the Mouth of the Blessed One and orally
passed on; and finally after many centuries were they written
down. The Words are still applicable as though they are fresh
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and new. These are not words of prophecy; these are Words of
Reality…they will come to pass as told.
[*Apropos to this context of energy, it would be good to bear in mind that any
form of energy is neither created nor destroyed. It can be stored and can be
moved from place to place, it can also be transformed from one type to another
type. During all this moving and transforming the total amount of energy never
changes. Thus, wholesome an unwholesome energies can be interchanged,
where the whole total can either be predominantly of one type.]
Thus, are the results of greed, hatred and delusion; they are
destructive and unstoppable, leading to conflagration and end
of different phases of the world. The world as we know it has
gone through many phases of destruction; we are at the age of
nuclear destruction; many types of living species have come and
gone; the destruction of the human race is not particularly
significant; we are but another phase of evolution. The Blessed
One had indicated so.
* This brings us to the question of collective kamma. Each man’s kamma is his
own individual experience. No one can interfere with the kamma of another
beyond a certain point; therefore no one can intervene to alter the results of
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personal kamma. Yet it often happens that numbers of people are associated in
the same kind of actions, and share the same kind of thoughts; they become
closely involved with one another; they influence one another. Mass psychology
produces mass kamma. Therefore all such people are likely to form the same
pattern of kamma. It may result in their being associated with one another
through a number of lives, and in their sharing much of the same kind of
experience. Collective kamma is simply the aggregate of individual kamma, just
as a crowd is an aggregate of individuals. (Francis Story: The Wheel
Publication – Vol.XII)
The four bulls were setting the stage for a fight but contrary to
everyone’s expectations they did nothing! Just as in a drought,
when water is short, rain clouds gather and lightning flashes as
though it is about to rain, but the storm peters away. The
weather changes often and becomes unpredictable.
Long ago, good harvests were gathered from the fields every
year, but nowadays harvests are decreasing. When produce is
not forthcoming from our own country, we normally can buy
what we need from other countries; but this is not possible
when the overflowing kamma affects the whole world and
universe, since neighbouring countries also suffer from poor
harvests. Such are the results of overflowing kamma, causing
the weather and natural conditions to become unbearable and
oppressive.
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The rich will suffer as they will be the object and target of
thieves, robbers and the desperate poor. The poor will rise
against the rich and civil unrest will ensue; the government will
step in to regulate the situation. Thus the rich and the poor will
suffer in different ways.
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Dhammapada-Yamaka Vagga 5.
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THE KING: Lord, I saw cows suckling the milk of calves which
they had borne that self same day. This was my third dream.
What will come of it?” asked the King.
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Here again, Great King, you shall have nothing to fear; for
your dream will only be relevant in future times.
When the old parents are unable to earn their own living any
longer, they will be treated like slaves working for their keep,
even in the houses of their children. Their needs are
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All mothers will wish to have good babies; good in the sense
that such rebirths are from beings that had their previous
existence in a better plane. The Blessed One said that it is
possible if the mother-to-be fulfils the following four
conditions:
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It shall be even as when the yoke was taken away from the
team of sturdy and strong work oxen and laid onto the
young ones, who were not strong enough for the burden.”
burden.”
In future the world will decry and deride the older generation
and honour and look up to the younger generation though they
have not enough experience, and they will chose the younger
generation to lead them; these new people will be found
wanting; the young will pick their cronies to help them and
being badly trained these people will make poor administrators,
thus worsening a situation already ruined by the incompetence
of the new young administrators.
The better way would be for the young people to learn from the
older people. They can share in the running of the country, till
they are capable of handling the job by themselves.
The young filled with hot blood, greed and pride, not taking
their responsibility seriously and filling their pockets and bags
with corruption, will run the country to ruin. By their irrational
ways they will destroy the country. Those who cook curry know
that they need old coconut to be added to it and not new
coconut as the old coconut will have the better taste.
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These base ones, fools, despising the good, shall take gold
and silver from both sides as they sit in the seat of
judgement and shall be filled with this two-
two-fold corruption,
even as the horse that ate fodder with both mouths.
THE BLESSED ONE: Great King, this dream too shall only
have its fulfilment in the future. For in the days to come,
foolish kings, though
though sprung of a race of wise kings,
mistrusting the families of the old nobles,
nobles, shall not honour
them, but exalt in their
their stead the low-
low-born. The
The nobles shall
be brought low and the low-
low-born shall be raised to lordship.
Not only do ignorant people replace them, but also all the
noble administrators will have their ranks, positions and
properties stripped away and taken over by the incoming ones.
Having been so used to their lives of luxuries and nobility, these
nobles find it difficult to survive the change in their station.
They are unable to make a living for themselves. They are
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And the water overflowed and ran away. But nonetheless they
still kept on pouring more and more water into the overflowing
vessel, without a single man giving so much as a glance at the
empty pitchers. This was my eighth dream. What does this
dream mean, Lord.
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THE BLESSED ONE: Great King, this dream too shall not
have its fulfilment until the future. For in days to come the
world shall grow weak and decay; kingdoms shall grow weak;
its kings shall grow poor and niggardly; the foremost among
them shall have no more than 100,000 pieces of money in his
treasury.
Then shall
shall these kings in their need set the whole of the
country-
country-folk to work for them; for the king's sake shall the
toiling folk, leaving their own work, sow grain and pulses and
keep watch and reap and thresh and garner; for the king's
sake shall they plant sugar
sugar-
ugar-cane, make and drive sugar-
sugar-mills,
and boil down the molasses; for the king's sake shall they lay
out flower-
flower-gardens and orchards and gather in the fruits.
THE KING: Lord, I saw a deep pool with shelving banks all
round and overgrown with five kinds of lotuses. From every
side two-footed creatures and four-footed creatures flocked
thither to drink of its waters. The depth in the middle was
muddy, but the water was clear and sparkling at the margin
where the various creatures went down into the pool. This was
my ninth dream.
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THE BLESSED ONE: Great King, this dream too shall not
be detrimental to you or your kingdom, for the events shall
be a reality
reality only in the future, where kings and rulers will be
as dictators; they will not show mercy or compassion to their
subjects. They will rule with iron hands and crush their
subjects by taxes and bribes. They will rule as they please
and execute judgements
judgements based on bribes.
In the first stage, kings, rulers and all their cohorts and
townspeople will become
become unprincipled,
unprincipled, lacking in moral
integrity and
and overcome with greed. even the religious and
the supposedly holy people too will become unprincipled
and lacking in moral integrity.
integrity.
In the next
next stage, their very guardian deities, the spirits to
whom they offer sacrifices, the spirits of the trees and the
spirits of the
the air too will be infected with the same
unwholesome moral decay.
decay.
The very winds that blow over the realms of these immoral
kings and rulers shall grow cruel and lawless; they shall shake
the mansions of the skies and thereby kindle the anger of
the spirits that dwell there, so that they will not suffer rain to
fall; or if it does rain, it shall not fall on all the kingdom at
once, nor shall the kindly shower fall on all tilled and sown
lands alike to help them in their need.
However,
However, Great King, you have nothing to fear from this
this
dream. The events will unfold only in the future.
future.
In the villages and outlying areas some will have a good harvest,
some not; some will have a surplus and some will have famine.
All forms of life, the holy life and the laity will be corrupted
and robbers and thieves will abound. The Blessed One said that
even their very guardian deities shall be caught in the streams of
corruption in the world. Their inequities will be so great that
they shall shake the very foundations of the heavenly mansions!
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100,000 pc.
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THE BLESSED ONE: This dream too shall not have its
fulfilment till the future,
future, in the days when my Teaching is
dying away. For then, there will appear many greedy and
shameless monks, who due to their greed shall teach and do
the very things I warned against!
Thus, Great King, you have nothing to fear from this dream,
for it is an event that will appear in the future when the world
is in jeopardy.
Junior monks will not know how to show and pay respect to
senior monks; only a few noble teachers will have the personal
experience of attainment to teach; the majority will teach from
book knowledge. Such monks become intellectual monks,
depending only on their book knowledge and are not capable
of drawing from their own practical experience. The quality of
teaching will be poor and inadequate, so that few will want to
meditate, not even samatha meditation let alone Vipassana
meditation. Monks will be gambling the numbers game and
forgetting their rules of behaviour; many will ignore their
precepts. Unfortunately, lay people will totally disregard the
precepts.
The Noble calling too will teach and practise the wrong
Dhamma. The poor quality of their teaching and the inferior
quality of their practice will not be conducive to the practise of
meditation. Their conduct will not encourage the practise of
Vipassana meditation and the monks will instead encourage
dana (meritorious giving), chanting of suttas and all forms of
rites and rituals. Monks will be gambling on the numbers game
and discarding their rules of conduct, and their not well trained
devotees will follow suit. They too will disregard and abandon
their precepts as well. Young monks will fail to respect their
elders and teachers in correct ways. Few monks will be inclined
to practise their true calling as the desire to have material gains
will be their top priority. Thus, very few teachers will have the
personal experience of attainment to pass on to their devotees;
the majority will teach from book knowledge.
The future of the Sasana will be bleak. Now that we are in the
human realm due to our past good deeds, and being in this
Blessed One’s Sasana, we should in all earnestness learn and
practise the proper Dhamma. Young and old must practice
diligently with a good teacher and not waste this rare
opportunity. Should we pass away without gaining some
Dhamma knowledge in this existence we will never know in
what time frame and into which realm of existence we shall be
born at our next rebirth. We are standing at the edge of a great
precipice. The choice is ours to distance ourselves from it or to
be pushed over the edge.
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thiss
However, Great King, you have nothing to fear from thi
dream as such events will happen in the future when the
world is in jeopardy.
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THE BLESSED ONE: Great King, this dream too shall not
have its fulfilment till the future, till the reign of weakling
kings. In days to come kings shall arise who shall know
nothing about governance of their country and are unethical
and immoral in thoughts, words and deeds. Anxious to
maintain their status,
status, they shall promote and surround
themselves with underlings who are undesirable and ignorant
elements, shutting out the nobles and loyal ministers.
*Ten kinds of vices or immoral conduct: (1) injuring or killing living beings; (2)
taking or destroying animate or inanimate property which is not freely given;
(3) committing sexual misconduct; (4) telling lies; (5) backbiting and malicious
lies; (6) using abusive language; (7) taking part in frivolous conversation; (8)
covetousness; (9) malevolence; (10) wrong views, .(Ref: The Manuals of
Buddhism: Magg. Dip.)
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Here again, we can observe that all these are realities as we see
countries being run by rulers who are unable to make correct
decisions for the betterment of their people, but instead carry
out advice of their friends who have self interests at heart, thus
bringing their countries to war and ruin.
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Likewise, evil monks shall harass the good and worthy monks,
till these good monks,
monks, finding none to help them, shall
escape to the jungle.
Those of the citizens who dare to protest their losses and resist
the take-over of their legitimate rights and property will be
severely dealt with, till there is no opposition to the desires of
the rulers. The measures inflicted on those resisting their
objectives of wealth will be so draconian that the true and
rightful owners will meekly surrender to save themselves. Thus,
the world will come to this sorry state in the future.
Thus did the Blessed One revealed the essence of these sixteen
dreams adding:
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DIRECT KNOWLEDGE
A HANDFUL OF LEAVES
THE BHIKKHUS: Lord, the leaves that the Blessed One has
picked up in his hand are few; those in the wood are far more.
That is why I have not told them. And what have I told you?
This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the
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PART THREE:
CONCLUSION
Thus did the Blessed One explain the dreams of King Pasenadi;
and Bhante Suvanno has shown us how the modern trends in
life were envisioned in the Sixteen Dreams.
The Blessed One has taught us three ways of living away from
the defiled state we are caught in, these are:
Thus as the Blessed One said, there is only one way for the
purification of the mind and that is through the practice of
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These are the basic truths that one should be well-versed and
practised in, that will be essential in wiping away the ignorance
from one's mind and enable one to avoid evil and do good,
thus purifying the mind. It is only through contemplation and
the practice of meditation that one can gain such insight, and
though it may appear an easy matter, it will require great
determination to understand and practise the core of such
spiritual development.
The above are the three forms of trainings that will raise us
above the levels of living in the mundane field of defilement
generated by uncountable unwholesome actions, which are
unfortunately, done by our neighbours, closest and dearest and
ourselves. One must be able to rise above the level of
defilement before one is capable of rescuing others, thus said
the Blessed One.
The Blessed Ones through the infinity of ages have shown the
way, unfortunately few will attempt the crossing and fewer
reach the other shore.
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EPILOGUE
“Hell on Earth”; that was the headline in a local newspaper
some 65 years ago. This cry originated in Japan after the tragedy
of the bombing of Hiroshima. Atomic warfare was unleashed
on Hiroshima with a bomb that had a force equal to 4.6 tons
per square yard! The power of the bomb reduced homes to
piles of cinders in seconds. Fire consumed whole
neighbourhoods and fanned incendiary updrafts that tossed
burning timber miles skyward! Roof tiles burnt and melted.
The surfaces of gravestones melted and oozed to the ground.
People were burnt by the instant heat to unspeakably painful
deaths.
In most cases the goal has been lost sight of, the need to gain
and to satisfy the ego becomes a greater quest. The importance
of “I” replaces other considerations. Delusions and anger take
hold of the person and irrational actions based on wrong views
are the results. The unspoken threats are there; “Do you not
know who I am, how dare you…..” or “We are the strongest
people in the world; how dare you…”
From a lone individual, the greed goes one step up to the family
level and soon to the state level and country level. Everyone
soon gets involved in the greed and each one will desire a small
piece of the pie, then a larger piece of the pie, then the whole
pie! Each and everyone will be vying for the same pie, desiring
ever bigger portions. In the process, ethical and moral values
such as honesty and sincerity, kindness and goodness are left
behind, to be replaced by opposite values. One does not gain
material benefits from kindly and goodly actions, so the great
struggle goes on. Men and women take opposing stances.
Women use their wiles on men to reach their goals. Men will
exploit women and use them for their own ends. Young and
old take up different positions. Each one wants to surpass the
other in terms of achieving material gains. Towns compete;
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THERE IS MORE
Nature is upset and is conditioned to re-act to mankind’s
unparallel quest for power and material gains.
The year is 2010 and more happenings that point the direction
humanity is conditioning the world to become. Scientists who
are concerned with the world’s environment and have studied
the conditions that has brought earth to the state that it is in at
present time, know that there is very little that humans can do
to reverse the damaging trend that has been set in motion
through humans desire for progress.
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Back cover
Thus did the Blessed One explain the dreams of King Pasenadi;
and Bhante Suvanno has shown us how the modern trends in
life were envisioned in the Sixteen Dreams. The dreams 2500
years ago describe the disintegration of the moral values of the
world in what was then the future. We see all the happenings
depicted in the dreams clearly and vividly and we can find
situations in the world today paralleling those in the Dreams of
King Pasenadi. The present trends in human activities and life
styles are spiralling down towards lower realms of existence in
future lives. The damage done is deeply rooted and of so vast a
magnitude, through such a lengthy span of time, that to reverse
it would be almost impossible. However as individuals we can
extricate ourselves by bearing in mind the basic teachings of the
Blessed One: do not do evil, do good and purify the mind.
The future of the Sasana will be bleak. Now that we are in the
human realm due to our past good deeds, and being in this
Blessed One’s Sasana, we should in all earnestness learn and
practise the proper Dhamma. Young and old must practice
diligently with a good teacher and not waste this rare
opportunity. Should we pass away without gaining some
Dhamma knowledge in this existence we will never know in
what time frame and into which realm of existence we shall be
born at our next rebirth. We are standing at the edge of a great
precipice. The choice is ours to distance ourselves from it or to
be pushed over the edge.