(1) Questions about the Mind and Body
(a) What is the nature of the mind?
(b) What happens to the mind and the body at death?
(c) The mind and rebirth – Is there a continuity of
consciousness?
(d) What happens at death?
(2) Realities of Life
(a) The preciousness of a human life
(b) Impermanence and death
(c) The law of karma — actions and their effects
(d) The sufferings of all human beings.
(3) About Dying
(a) Death is inevitable.
(b) The time of death is uncertain.
(c) Nothing can help at the time of death, except spiritual
realities.
(d) What is now truly important in life?
(4) Eight Continual Worldly Concerns
(a) Attachment and hope for pleasure; aversion and
fear toward pain
(b) Attachment and hope for gain; aversion and fear toward
loss
(c) Attachment and hope for praise; aversion and fear
toward blame
(d) Attachment and hope for fame; aversion and fear toward
disrepute
(5) A Spiritual Path
(a) That acknowledges the problems, difficulties, suffering,
and unsatisfactory conditions of life
(b) That explains the causes of life’s unsatisfactory
experiences and suffering
(c) That shows how the pain, suffering, heartache, and
miseries in life can be brought to cessation
(d) That provides a way of life that can be cultivated and
practiced that will irreversibly bring an end to all suffering
(6) Ultimate Refuge
(a) How can an ignorant person overcome their own ignorance?
Are there wisdom beings who have already done so and that one can rely on?
(b) Can we follow the path they have traced and for which
they have left instructions?
(c) Is there a community of those who follow that path and
would be travelling companions?
(d) What is my ultimate refuge?
Alexander Peck (February 8, 2020)
