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Tracking How Mobile Apps Track You

Credit: Technology Review

Communications

Tracking How Mobile Apps Track You

Senate committee sorts out the technical and legal challenges in trying to control how apps track users.

Third-party apps are the weakest link in user privacy on smart phones. They often get access to large quantities of user data, and there are few rules covering how they must handle that data once they have it. Worse yet, few third-party apps have a privacy policy telling users what they intend to do.

That was the message delivered at a hearing of the U.S. Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held yesterday. Companies and regulators are struggling to find ways to ensure that user data is handled properly by apps installed on smart phones, but the way apps are designed makes this difficult.

Mobile privacy has come under extreme scrutiny since revelations that Apple's iPhone and Google's Android software collect and store users' location data. Last week, a U.S. Senate subcommittee questioned those two companies on their handling of personal data. This week, Facebook joined Google and Apple on the hot seat.

But all three companies run platforms that support thousands of third-party developers, and how to make sure those apps respect users' privacy, and explain their rules, is a major question. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) said at the hearing, "It's not clear that Americans understand how their information may be shared or transferred."

The hearing also highlighted several reasons why it'll be difficult to control what apps are doing with user data. It's not clear which laws should be used to regulate third-party apps, and, in some cases, it's hard to design proper technical requirements. "There's no privacy law for general commerce whatsoever," said Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts). "Data collectors alone are setting the rules."

A major initiative designed to improve consumer privacy on the Web—the proposed "Do Not Track" bill—could be hard to apply to mobile devices, regulators said. The bill would allow consumers to opt out of having their online activity tracked.

For mobile devices, the situation is more complicated, partly because the devices can observe users' physical location, as well the sites a user visits or apps he or she uses. David Vladeck, director of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, says the Do Not Track bill is designed to cover online movements, not geolocation, which might need its own protection.

While Do Not Track protects consumers from being tracked when they move from one website to another, Vladeck said, it's not always clear within an app when this is happening. Princeton University's director for Information Technology Policy, Edward Felten, who is consulting with the FTC on this issue, explains that, while third-party code on a website clearly comes from a different server than the rest of the site, all the code in an app looks the same no matter where it originated.

The key goals, Felten says, are to give users a simple way to opt out of sharing data beyond the site they're interacting with, and to follow through technically on users' wishes. He says that doing so on mobile devices is certainly possible, but it requires additional thinking, since not all the technology can be adapted directly from what's being done in the browser.

Some app developers may be hesitant to explain how they will use data—to leave the door open for opportunities that may arise in the future. Morgan Reed, executive director for the Association for Competitive Technology, said during the hearing that app makers struggle to provide privacy policies that "work for today but also for tomorrow." He also pointed out that Google, Apple, and Facebook can change their policies at any time, which could, in turn, affect app makers.

Whatever regulators decide, there is significant momentum toward giving users more information and control over what third-party apps can do. For example, a company called Whisper Systems is providing a modified version of Google's Android that allows users to see and control where their personal information is going. This week, Twitter announced that its permissions screen for apps will be more detailed. Other companies may follow that lead.

Showing Flowers

Showing Flowers

“Tulsidas says that the Lord is looking especially beautiful joined with Sita and Lakshmana. The demigods are happily showering flowers from the sky, and the whole place has a good aura and good qualities.” (Dohavali, 2)
sītā lakhana sameta prabhu sohata tulasīdāsa|
haraṣata sura baraṣata sumana saguna sumangala bāsa ||
Prabhu, the Supreme Lord, accompanied by His dear wife Sita Devi and younger brother Lakshmana is looking extremely beautiful. As eternal figures that are undying in their beauty, mercy, kindness, compassion and generosity, the trio of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana can be worshiped at any time and on any day, by any person in the three worlds. Not only can the fallen individuals trapped in the cycle of material suffering brought on by identification with the earthly realm take advantage of this most delightful vision, but even the denizens of the heavenly planets, those who have earned their high posts through dedication to dharma and the accumulation of pious credits, cannot help but gaze at the Lord adorned with His two most beautiful ornaments: the goddess of fortune and the resting place of all the planets. Anyone who is fortunate enough to remember this vision will find all auspiciousness and good qualities.
Saguna is a Sanskrit word that means “with gunas”. A guna can be a material quality, such as goodness, passion, or ignorance, and it can also mean a good quality. When guna is used to reference a good quality or pious behavior, the opposite word is dosha. In this context, Goswami Tulsidas notes that the vision of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana worshiped by the demigods in the sky, the suras, is the resting place of all auspiciousness [sumangala] and good qualities [saguna].
Who is Lord Rama? The Supreme Personality of Godhead is obviously a singular entity, one whose existence is even accepted by the staunchest of atheists at the time of death. Generally, due to the specific circumstances of the time of their inception, the major religions of the world fail to accurately describe the transcendental features of the personal form of the Lord, which is certainly His original and most blissful aspect. Just as every living entity on earth, including the human beings, can attribute their birth to an individual, a body with a personal form and an identity, the creator of everything, the cause of all causes, is also a person, except He has extraordinary powers and abilities.
Just acknowledging God’s presence and greatness represents a step up from the level of intelligence shown by animals, but the true benefit of the Lord’s potencies and His eternal presence within all spheres of life is not received unless and until more information pertaining to His limitless attributes is presented and understood. Along these lines, the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, put forth the best attempt at enumerating some of these transcendental features and tagging the different forms of Godhead which specific names of address. Just as we identify friends, family, enemies, etc. through specific names, the Supreme Lord, the ever well-wisher of every life form existing past, present and future, is given various names that allow the fallen souls to make calls for divine help.
Every person is a dependent on something or someone, even if they don’t want to believe it. The most powerful CEO, the richest man in the world, is actually one of the most dependent, as his numerous personal staff and business associates make sure to meet his every demand. The company itself is wholly reliant on the patronizing public for their hard earned money. The wealthiest companies are typically those who have been able to produce products that appeal to the masses, i.e. the common man.

“O best among the Bharatas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me — the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.16)

While there is a level of dependence on other living entities during our time on earth, there is actually complete reliance on the Lord of the universe and His potencies during every phase of life. We may look to our immediate superiors to solve our problems, but a more direct approach is to seek out the superior’s superior. Since no one is above God, it is not uncommon for those in distress to appeal to the Supreme Person for redress of their grievances and the alleviation of their suffering. Yet in order to make this address properly, one must know the Lord’s nature, what His names are, and what exactly He promises to deliver.
From Tulsidas‘ nice poetry, we get an idea of what God looks like and what the benefit of knowing His names and forms is. Shri Rama is the name of the Lord that describes His ability to provide transcendental pleasure to others. Sita Devi is His eternal consort, or His purified energy representation. Shri Lakshmana is Rama’s ever well-wisher, the support system if you will. In terms of the chronological history of the current creation, the trio actually appeared on earth many thousands of years ago and roamed about as ordinary human beings. Since God creates matter and the workings of nature, He can never be subject to their influences. The purpose of the divine incarnation is to bless the pure souls with the direct association of God, whose spiritual potency is so great that one needn’t even know they are in the company of the divine. Just as one who drinks water will be benefitted in their health irrespective of their knowledge of what they are drinking, those who consume the beauties and glories of the Supreme Lord found in the wonderful descriptions etched into sacred texts like the Ramayana and the wonderful poetry of Goswami Tulsidas will also be supremely benefitted, irrespective of their knowledge of God.
Sita, Rama and Lakshmana are so beautiful and resplendent that wherever they are, the demigods in the sky always shower down flowers upon them. We can think of the demigods, or suras, as residents of the heavenly realm, the place where the pious go. The concept of a heaven is not foreign to theists around the world, but the Vedas more fully describe the nature of this realm, who goes there, and how long they remain there. Under a vague understanding, heaven is considered the destination for the pious entities who spend their “one life” on earth generally adherent to the dictates of established religious law codes. In providing more concrete information, the Vedas reveal that the spirit soul, the essence of individuality, is an eternal entity and thus not capable of ever taking birth or dying. What we deem a life is simply a demarcation of time, such as a day, month, or year. We celebrate the new year by having a party and being with our friends, but in actuality, the occasion simply marks the turnover of a measurement of time whose starting point is relative. Whether one denotes the new year or not has no relevance to the properties of the body or the soul. The delineations of time are there to make the duration on earth within a particular body more understandable and easier to divide into different sections.
In a similar manner, the time the soul spends in a particular body is also easier to understand once the birth and death processes are considered. Yet irrespective of the relative measurement of a lifetime, the soul remains forever fixed in its level of bliss, eternality and knowledge. So what is the purpose to a particular life, one that involves birth, old age, disease and death? Though the soul’s properties never change, depending on the different fruitive activities adopted, i.e. karma, a future outer covering is crafted. This is similar to how working hard in school or putting in long hours in the office eventually leads to a future condition that is sought out. The soul, through identifying with a material body, develops many desires which it then acts upon. These actions must have results, either good or bad. Those who ascend to the heavenly realm perform activities in line with dharma, or the established law codes of God.
However, just as the body of a person roaming the earth is perishable, so is the exquisitely beautiful and blissful outer covering assumed by a resident of the heavenly realm. Though the level of enjoyment in heaven far exceeds that found in the middle or lower planetary systems, the influence of time and space is still present. As such, even the heavenly figures will have to fall back down to earth eventually. Despite the fact that they are presented heavenly opulences that will eventually dwindle, the suras still don’t fail to worship the Supreme Lord and His eternal associates. Wherever Shri Rama is, the demigods - the entities who are eternally endeared to Prabhu Rama - are always watching and appreciating His pleasurable activities.

“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 9.34)

Tulsidas appreciates the showering of flowers upon the illustrious trio. While the soul that more or less accepts the dictates of religion gets to ascend to the heavenly realm in the afterlife, one who develops a firm and loving attachment to the Supreme Spirit never has to take birth again. This is the promise made directly by Lord Krishna, the original form of Godhead, in the Bhagavad-gita. As such, Tulsidas, as a brahmana and a sannyasi, certainly followed all the rituals and regulations of spiritual life, but he was more committed to bhakti, or the practice of divine love. Under the bhakti mindset, pure love and devotion to God is developed. Moreover, divine love, or devotional service, is the only spiritual practice that never dies, even in the heavenly realm or the spiritual world itself. Above the material planetary system is an imperishable land inhabited by the Personality of Godhead and the liberated souls who cannot live without His association.
Those who adore the image of Prabhu, Sita and Lakshmana can turn their present surroundings into an atmosphere akin to the spiritual world; such is the potency of bhakti. Tulsidas notes that all auspiciousness and good qualities come from the divine vision of the grand trio who were kind enough to have roamed this earth a long time ago. Though the incidents of the Ramayana - the wonderful poem detailing Rama’s activities performed on earth - took place a long time ago, the image of Shri Rama is as fresh today as it was during the Treta Yuga. Auspiciousness can be found by abiding by the stringent rules of spirituality and adhering to the recommended do’s and don’ts, but an even more powerful practice is to always remember Prabhu Rama and His dear associates. One look at Rama’s smiling face, which is always surrounded by flowers falling from the heavenly sky, is enough to make the soul armed with a choice of association forever turn its back on material existence, a life that always brings misery.
Just as we can’t find what we’re looking for by searching in the wrong places, lasting auspiciousness and good qualities can never be found in any place devoid of the Supreme Lord’s personal presence. If the world itself is perishable, how can any result or condition within it be considered superior? Wouldn’t that one entity who never dies be the only person capable of providing real happiness? Attachment to friends, family, society, nation and country do bring about feelings of pride and joy, but even if we don’t want to acknowledge or think about it, these bonds will eventually be severed. Yet Lord Rama and His names and forms are so potent that they continue to be worshiped and adored long after He departs this earth. Moreover, the Lord’s devotees are also celebrated for all of eternity. Goswami Tulsidas wrote his poetry many hundreds of years ago, but these transcendental works continue to evoke tremendous feelings of loving attachment within the heart. The vision of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana being showered with flowers from the heavenly sky is beautiful to gaze upon, and so is the picture of the sincere saint worshiping such a scene. Tulsidas, wherever he is and wherever he goes, always worships Sita, Rama and Lakshmana. As such, he is the most exalted personality, the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful, generous and humble poet the world has ever seen. Anyone who remembers his worship of Rama will similarly be benefitted with all auspiciousness and good qualities.

Microsoft Wants to Rule the White Spaces

Credit: Technology Review

Communications

Microsoft Wants to Rule the White Spaces

After years of research, Microsoft hopes to provide a system that lets data communications weave through TV frequencies.

The first "white spaces" devices, which thread long-range wireless data signals through gaps in TV spectrum, will start to appear later this year.  Microsoft is bidding to play a central role in how they operate.
The coming devices are expected to include home routers to bring Internet to the home and even mobile devices such as phones or tablets. To avoid interfering with TV broadcasts, they will check with a government-appoved online database to learn of available white spaces between channels in their area. Microsoft has applied to the FCC to become an approved administrator of such a system, built using technology developed by its research wing, dubbed SenseLess. This would give the company an influential stake in the world's first attempt to find a new way to free up the airwaves—an approach that is likely to be adopted worldwide. Google and eight other companies have already been granted permission to operate white spaces databases, but they have revealed little of their technology.
Microsoft's system was recently demonstrated in Las Vegas, where it enabled an Xbox games console to get online using a prototype white spaces device made by startup Adaptrum.
TV spectrum signals have a longer wavelength than Wi-Fi or cellular signals, which means TV spectrum can support longer-range data connections. Microsoft's trial white spaces network, on its Redmond, Washington, campus, can provide high-speed Internet at a range of over a mile.

To use the system, a device first supplies its location to the database, using a frequency that is known to be permanently free in that area. The system then tells the device which other chunks of spectrum are available to use at that time. SenseLess combines knowledge of every licensed TV signal in the U.S. with detailed topographic maps and models to determine how signals dissipate over distance and terrain.
Development of SenseLess has been led by Microsoft researcher Ranveer Chandra with colleagues Thomas Moscibroda and Victor Bahl. Another collaborator, Rohan Murty of Harvard University, drove 1500 miles around Washington state to gather data that tested SenseLess's predictions against the real world. "We had zero false positives," says Chandra. "Never did we say that a channel was free but was actually occupied."
Trials of SenseLess have also shown that devices do not need to have a very accurate location fix, says Chandra—good news, because many white spaces devices will need to work indoors, where GPS is less accurate. "With the right models, a device can be only accurate to within 0.6 miles and lose access to less than 2 percent of spectrum," says Chandra. A description of the SenseLess system was presented at the the IEEE Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks conference in Aachen, Germany, earlier this month. It was one of three papers chosen to be fast-tracked for publication.

No noise: researchers at Microsoft use an echo free (anechoic) chamber to prove that an HD movie can be streamed over the same frequency as used by a wireless microphone.
Credit: Microsoft Research

Chandra and colleagues are working on ways to cram more connections into the white spaces than the FCC has decreed it will allow, in the hopes of influencing it and other regulators to make more space available. One strand of research has shown that an HD movie stream can be transmitted over the same channel being used by a wireless microphone (which use frequencies close to TV broadcasts) without causing any noticeable degradation to the sound recorded. That shows that the current rules may be too conservative, says Chandra. Currently white spaces devices must avoid any channel in use by a wireless microphone as well as the channels on either side of a TV broadcast. "We've found that you really don't need to vacate the entire channel," says Chandra.
"We intend to leverage all of the work that we've done, even if there are some we can't implement under the FCC rules so far," says Paul Garnett, Microsoft's director of interoperability and standards. "The U.S. rules may change in the future, or different countries may take fuller advantage of the capabilities of white spaces networking."
The SenseLess system has already been modified for use in other countries, including Finland, Singapore, and the U.K., in preparation for white spaces initiatives expected from regulators there. Microsoft has also made it possible for certain devices, such as wireless microphones, to ask SenseLess to reserve them a channel and ask other devices using the database to make room.
This kind of dynamic functionality hints at the broader potential for using a central, dynamic system to manage wireless spectrum beyond just TV white spaces. Kevin Werbach, who researches Internet and communications policy at the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, says a database that managed more than just white spaces could enable more efficient use of the limited radio spectrum.
"A database system like this could be the basis of a new system of access control, a universal intermediary between devices that want wireless connections and those with the capability," says Werbach. Like the DNS system that directs Internet traffic to the correct destinations, such a service could direct requests for wireless access to vacant pieces of spectrum, he says, a method that could use available bands more efficiently than the current system that allocates fixed blocks to certain companies and uses.

Don’t preach to the converted on carbon tax: it’s the money vote that matters

Don’t preach to the converted on carbon tax: it’s the money vote that matters

Will J Grant and Rod Lamberts

Braying climate naysayers are annoying; but so are all those well-intentioned carbon tax advocates who fail to address the core problems and make the same mistakes time and time again. If we’re going to build the political momentum we need to price carbon in Australia, we need to think seriously about why we are doing it and who we’re talking to. Make no mistake: the first people we have to nurse through adaptation to climate change are our brave men and women in pinstripe suits. The current Say Yes campaign in support of a carbon tax – backed by the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Climate Institute among others – is laudable. It’s important for the future of this country and the planet that we support a carbon price. It’s important that we support those people arguing for such a price. But as a piece of political campaigning it is naïve, and in fact might be self-defeating. It’s great to hear positive voices arguing for “a price on pollution, and a future powered by renewable energy”. It’s nice to hear these things over an optimistic piano riff. It’s gratifying to hear things from like-minded people so we can all congratulate each other on how much we care about the future and the environment and so on. But if your goal is to actually convert the unconverted on a carbon price, to turn the dismal polling numbers around, then you need to step out of your box. Lining up spokespeople from Australia’s progressive and environmental organisations will do nothing to convince the conservative, the business-minded or the stereotypical Liberal-National Party voters. If they won’t listen to one of you, why would they listen to 30? Or 300? Or 3,000? Indeed, campaigns like this (if it turns out to be as noisy as the Say Yes organisers might hope) might even backfire. Such campaigns may reinforce the naysayer position that there’s a noisy minority of people “not like us” who are trying to subvert the way we live and make us poorer. To really support a carbon tax, you need to talk about climate change in ways that make sense to the millions of Australians who are not in the Conservation Foundation or Getup or Greenpeace, and you need to use arguments that resonate with them. Framing the carbon price Consider these questions: 1) Why do we need to price carbon throughout the world? 2) Why do we need to price carbon in Australia? It may seem counter-intuitive, but the answers to these questions are very different. They strike at the heart of the political debate, and they go like this: 1) We need to price carbon throughout the world for the long-term security of human life and existing biodiversity on our planet. Put simply, we need to make sure the world is a place in which human civilisations – and the ecosystems supporting them – can continue. We don’t know about you, but we’re certainly not keen to live in some crazy version of The Road, pushing a shopping trolley around in a nightmarish world of total ecosystem collapse. 2) We need to price carbon in Australia for the above, of course, but more specifically, and urgently, for economic reasons. We need to price carbon in Australia so that business owners have a clearer picture of their operating environment. They need a clear regulatory and taxation framework to operate effectively, and more sensible businesses (BHP-Billiton, for example) have been working under the assumption for some years now that a carbon price is coming. While the final pricing system remains up in the air, our businesses muddle on in darkness. It is odd that the Liberal party – the traditional allies of business in Australia – have abandoned the core needs of this constituency in favour of the rent-seeking and muckraking of noisy voices such as Ian Plimer, Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt. We need to price carbon in Australia so that Australians have a legitimate seat at the table in framing the global carbon price. Do we want to be the victims of global negotiations or sit with the agenda-setters? Do we want to leave global carbon-pricing mechanisms to others, playing in the backyard until the grown-ups have made the decisions for us? Do we want to keep our heads in the sand and cross our fingers hoping that things won’t hurt us, or actually step up and try and shape them? Finally, we need to price carbon in Australia so we can begin shifting our economy towards things that will do well in a low-carbon world. Right now, the muckrakers in politics seem to want Australia to be the last pushers of high carbon energy, like the drug dealers still trying to get people to buy their dodgy gear after the rest of the neighbourhood has been cleaned up. Yes, coal is making us loads of money right now. But our booming, mining-fueled economy will not last forever. Would you pump your money into coal-only power companies? Would you take the bet that coal will be central to the world’s economy in 50 years time? We wouldn’t. So why don’t we start shifting our economy, before it’s shifted for us? Old tricks It’s important to remember that seeking certainty about the future of the climate is a chimera. Make no mistake, the evidence is overwhelming that we are affecting our climate dramatically and negatively. But science never offers 100% certainty. About anything. But these critical notions of scientific skepticism and uncertainty have been reframed by naysayers to mean “don’t believe anything you don’t want to believe”, and “uncertainty means scientists don’t know anything”. Bollocks. We make financial decisions all the time based on the best evidence available to us, not based on certainty. We take out mortgages and buy houses based on our best guess about whether that house will be nice to live in, and that interest rate rises won’t make payments impossible. There can be no certain information about the market, but we look at the best available evidence and follow that. We make medical decisions, such as whether to risk undergoing a general anaesthetic, based on weighing up the risks and benefits as we see them, and also, critically, calling on the advice of experts. Certainty is not the goal of science; nor is it a practical basis for decision making. We do, and once more must, decide using the best information at hand. If we always waited for certainty, we would never leave the house. Get this, and get it good A global carbon price will come, whether we want it or not. And our economy will be affected by it. It’s really that simple. We’ve already missed our shot at taking the lead – the UK, Europe and even New Zealand are streets ahead of us now – but does this mean we should aim for last? Coming last in this race will damage our economy for decades. We’d like to see campaigns telling the people who still need to hear it the real carbon story: that we need a carbon price, and we need it today. Ironically, the only certainty in this whole mess is that doing nothing is the worst possible course not just environmentally but economically.

Hybrid possums present hope

Hybrid possums present hope

The University of Melbourne

The 'sugar glider' is another type of possum that can be found in Australia. Image: zilli/iStockphoto Australian researchers have successfully bred two genetically distinct Mountain Pygmy-possums, playing a major role in preventing the endangered population in the Victorian Alpine region from further decline. The team, which included scientists from the University of Melbourne (Andrew Weeks), the Department of Sustainability and Environment (Ian Mansergh), and Healesville Sanctuary (Rupert Baker), as well as wildlife consultant Dean Heinze took six male Mountain Pygmy-possums, caught in the wild at Mt Hotham and released them at Mt Buller. A temporary re-location of Mt Hotham males into the territory of females at Mt Buller during the breeding season has succeeded in producing the first wild-born male Pygmy-possum with genetic features from both populations. Melbourne University’s Dr Andrew Weeks of the Department of Genetics and Bio21 Institute said that the isolated populations of Mountain Pygmy-possums, Australia’s only hibernating marsupial and confined to Alpine environments, had lost all genetic diversity and relocation was vital. “The smaller populations meant the species was open to inbreeding which would affect their ability to survive and adapt to change and the hybrid offspring would reinvigorate the species, so this in an excellent outcome,” he said. DSE scientist Ian Mansergh said they couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.  “We knew through the Healesville captive breeding program that the two genetically distinct Mt Hotham and Mt Buller populations could breed and it would strengthen the genetics of the Mt Buller population.” Mountain Pygmy-possums have one breeding season per year and can have up to four young at one time. In the wild during winter they hibernate at 2oC for up to six months under the snow. Captive breeding commenced at Healesville Sanctuary in 2006.  The program makes possible a future re-introduction of possums to supplement the Mt Buller population. “We’re hoping to improve genetic diversity on Mt Buller so that it can sustain itself until the captive breeding program can re-introduce more animals,” said Dr Rupert Baker, Senior Veterinarian Healesville Sanctuary.

මේ පණිවිඩය සැමට නොවෙයි.

මේ පණිවිඩය සැමට නොවෙයි.

ප්‍රිය මිතුරනේ ධර්මය නමි ආලොක හුල ශේෂකොට තබා භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ නමි ප්‍රඥා ප්‍රදිපය නිවි ගොස් දැන් වසර 2555 ක් ගතවි හමාරය, මෙය සැමරිමට කාලයක් නොවන්නේය, සංවේගය උපදවිමටම කාලය වන්නේය. අනියත බව හා විපරිණාමය ලක්ෂනය කොට ඇති මේ ලොවේ විපරිත නොවි වෙනස් නොවි පවතින්නාව ධර්මයක්ද ලැබිය නොහැකි වන්නේය. ධර්මයේ අභාවය ආරමිභ වුයේ අද ඊයේ නොවේ, භාග්‍යවත් බුදුපියානන්වහන්සේ පිරිණිවි බැවි දැන ගත් කල්හි සුභද්‍ර නමි මහා කාශ්‍යප මහරහතුන්වහන්සේගේ පිරිසෙහි වු වියපත් කල පැවදි වු භික්ෂුවක් විසින් කල ප්‍රකාශයෙන්ම ඒ බැවි පැහැදිලි වේ. එසේ වුවත් සංඝ රත්නය විසින් දරනා ලද අප්‍රමාණ වු ප්‍රයත්නයන්ගේ ප්‍රථිපලයක් වශයෙන් අද ද නිර්මළ වු බුදු දහමින් ධර්මාවභෝධයට උපකාරි වන්නාවු තරමි ධර්ම රත්නය වැඩ සිටියි. නුවනැති ධර්මය උගත් අයෙක් වෙත් නමි ඔහුට ඉදිරියේ පැමිනෙන්නාවු මහා සාෂනික  විකාතිවිමක හා ධර්මයේ යටපත් විමක ලකුණු අදද දැකිය හැකි වුනු ඇත. එබැවින් ප්‍රිය මිතුරනේ මෙය පමා විමට කාලය නොවෙයි. හිස ගිනි ගත් අයෙකු යමි සේ ඒ ගින්න නිවාද එමෙන් නිවන් මග සෙවිමට කාලය මෙයයි. නමුත් මේ පණිවිඩය සැමට නොවෙයි. සසර වසන සත්ත්වයෝ සසරෙහිම වසත්වා!! නිවන් සොයන්නවුන් හට මෙය ප්‍රමාදයට කාලය නොවෙයි. 

පෙර ලිපි ද්විත්වයෙන් භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ උත්පත්තියත් සමිබෝදියට පත්විමත් ගෙන බැලුවා ඔබට මතක ඇති. මෙම ලිපියෙන් දකිනාවු ධර්මය වන්නේ භාග්‍යවතානන්වහන්සේගේ මහා පරිණිර්වාණයයි. ත්‍රිපිටකයේ යමිතාක් සුත්‍ර ඇත්ද, ශ්‍රද්ධාව සඳහා යමි සුත්‍රයක් සොයන්නෙකුට මහ පරිණිර්වාණ සුත්‍රය හැර අන් සුතුරක් නමි නැත්තේමය. ඔබ බෞද්ධයෙක් නමි, භාග්‍යවතුන්වහන්සේ ගැන යමි තරමක හෝ ගෞරවයක්. බුහුමානයක් ඇත්නමි, මහා පරිණිර්වාණ සුත්‍රය කියවා බලන්න. “ස්වාමිනි භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්ස පිරිනිවන් නොපානු මැනව, තවත් කලක් වැඩ සිටිනු මැනවැයි” ඔබේ සිතින් නැග එන්නාවු ඒ සිතුවිල්ල ඔබට මුලු සුත්‍රය පුරාම අත් දැකිමට හැකිවනු ඇත. ශ්‍රද්ධාවෙන් නැගෙන්නාවු කදුලු බිදුවක් එබේ නෙතෙන් නොගලන්නේ නමි එය විය නොහැක්කක් යැයි සිතමු. ඔබම කියවා අත් දකින්න. ඉතා දිර්ඝ වු මහා පරිණ්බිබාණ සුත්‍රය සමිපුර්ණයෙන් මෙහි දැක්විම කල නොහැක්කක්. එබැවින් කොටසක් පමණක් මෙහි දක්වා ඇත. සමිපුර්ණ සුත්‍රය මෙතනින් කියවන්න. 

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්ස්ගේ අවසන් ශ්‍රි වදන 

“මහණෙනි, දැන් ඔබලාට කියමි. සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝ විනාශවන ස්වභාව ඇත්තාහුය. ප්‍රමාද නොවී කළයුතු දේ සමිපාදනය කරව”. මේ තථාගතයන්ගේ අන්තිම බුද්ධ වචනයයි”

 

 එවිට ලොකාග්‍රවු භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ ප්‍රථම ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණු සේක. ප්‍රථම ධ්‍යානයෙන් නැගී දෙවෙනි ධ්‍යානයට සමවැදුණෝය. දෙවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී තුන්වෙනි ධ්‍යානයට සමවැදුණෝය. තුන්වෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී හතරවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. හතරවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී ආකාසානඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. ආකාසානඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී විඤ්ඤාණඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. විඤ්ඤාණඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී ආකිඤ්චඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. ආකිඤ්චඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී සඤ්ඤාවෙදයිත නිරොධ සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය.

එවිට ආයුෂ්මත් ආනන්ද තෙරුන් වහන්සේ ආයුෂ්මත් අනුරුද්ධ තෙරුන වහන්සේගෙන් මෙසේ ඇසුවේය. “ස්වාමීනි, අනුරුද්ධ තෙරුන් වහන්ස, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝද”.

“ඇවැත් ආනන්දය, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ තව පිරිනිවන් නොපෑවෝය. සඤ්ඤාවෙදයිත නිරොධ සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝයයි” කීවේය.

එවිට භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ සඤ්ඤාවෙදයිත නිරොධ සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී ආකිඤ්චඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. ආකිඤ්චඤ්ඤායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී විඤ්ඤාණඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. විඤ්ඤාණඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී ආකාසානඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. ආකාසානඤ්චායතන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී හතරවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. හතරවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී තුන්වෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. තුන්වෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී දෙවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. දෙවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී පළමුවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. පළමුවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී දෙවෙනි ධ්‍යානයට සමවැදුණෝය. දෙවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී තුන්වෙනි ධ්‍යානයට සමවැදුණෝය. තුන්වෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී හතරවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියට සමවැදුණෝය. හතරවෙනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගී ඒ හතරවැනි ධ්‍යාන සමාපත්තියෙන් නැගීම හා සමගම භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන් පෑසේක.

සහමිපති බ්‍රහ්ම රාජයා කමිපා වෙයි

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහනසේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල ඒ පිරිනිවන්පෑම හා සමගම ලොම් ඩැහැගන්වන ඉතා භයානකවූ මහා භූමිකම්පාවක් වූයේය. අහස ගුගුරන්නට විය. භාග්‍යවතුන් වහනසේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල ඒ පිරිනිවන්පෑම හා සමග සහම්පතී නම් මහා බ්‍රහ්මයා මේ ගාථාව කීයේය.

“සත්ව ලෝකයෙහි සියලු සත්වයෝම යමි පරිද්දෙකින් ජීවිතේන්ද්‍රිය (ජීවිතය පැවැත්මට උපකාරවන ප්‍රධාන ඉන්ද්‍රිය ශරීරය ඉවත් කිරීම කරන්නාහු වෙත්ද, එපරිද්දෙන්ම මේලෝකයෙහි කිසිවෙකුට සමකළ නොහැකිවූ, ශාස්තෲවූ, තථාගතවූ, දසවිධ ඥාන බලයෙන් යුක්තවූ සම්‍යක් සමිබුද්ධ සර්වඥ රාජෝත්තමයන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන් පෑවාහුයයි”කීයේය.

සක් දෙවි රජු කමිපා වෙයි

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල්හි ඒ පිරිනිවන් පෑම හා සමගම ශක්‍ර දිව්‍ය රාජතෙම මේ ගාථාව කීයේය.

“සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝ ඒකාන්තයෙන් අනිත්‍ය වන්නාහුය. ඉපිද නැසීම ස්වභාවකොට ඇත්තාහුය. ඉපිද නිරුද්ධ වන්නාහුය. ඔවුනගේ සංසිදීමයයි කියන ලද නිර්වාණයම සැපයයි”.

අනුරැද්ධ මහා රහතුන් වහන්සේ නුවනින් ඉවසයි

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල්හි ඒ පිරිනිවන් පෑම හා සමගම ආයුෂ්මත්වූ අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ මේ ගාථා කීවේය.

“ස්ථිර සිත් ඇති කමිපා නොවන්නාවූ ස්වාමිදරුවූ බුදුරජානන් වහන්සේගේ ආශ්වාස ප්‍රාශ්වාසය නොපවත්නේය. තණ්හාව නැතිකළාවූ ඒ මුනින්ද්‍රෝත්තමවූ බුදුරජානන් වහන්සේ ශාන්තියයි කියන ලද නිර්වාණය අරභයා කාලක්‍රියා කළෝය”.

“මනාකොට ප්‍රබෝධවූ චිත්තයෙන් (හොඳ සිහියෙන්) මරණාන්ත වේදනාව ඉවසීම කළෝය. පහනක් නිවීගියාක් මෙන් පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝය”.

ආනන්ද තෙර කමිපා වෙයි

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල්හි ඒ පිරිනිවන් පෑම හා සමගම ආයුෂ්මත්වූ ආනන්ද ස්ථවිර තෙම මේ ගාථාව කීවේය.

“සියලු ආකාරයෙන් උතුමිවූ සම්‍යක් සමිබුද්ධයන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල මහත්වූ ලොමු දැහැගැනීමක් වූයේය. එකල මෙසේ මහත්වූ භයානකවූ පෘථිවි චලනයක් වුයේයයි”කීවේය.

මෙසේ භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ කල එතැනට රැස්වූ භික්‍ෂු සංඝයා අතුරෙහි පහනොකළ රාගය ඇත්තාවූ යමි ඒ පෘථග්ජන භික්‍ෂු කෙනෙක් වූවාහුද, ඒ භික්‍ෂූහූ “ඉතා ඉක්මනින්ම භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝය. සුගතයන් වහන්සේ වහා පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝය. පසැස් ඇත්තාවූ බුදුරජානන් වහන්සේ ඉතා ඉක්මනින්ම පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝයයි”කියමින් සමහර භික්‍ෂූහු හිස අත් බැඳගෙන මහා ශෝකීව හඩන්නට විය. මැදින් කැඩුනාක් මෙන් ඇද වැටෙන්නට විය, පෙරළි පෙරළි හඩන්නට විය. රාගයෙන් දුරුවූ, යමි රහත් අනාගාමී භික්‍ෂු කෙනෙක් වූවාහුද, ඒ රහත් අනාගාමී භික්‍ෂූහූ “සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝම අනිත්‍ය වන්නාහුය. ඒය භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ කෙරෙහිද එසේමය” කියා සිහි නුවණින් යුක්තව ඉවසන්නට විය.

එවිට ආයුෂ්මත් අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ භික්‍ෂූන්ට කථාකර මෙසේ කීවේය.

“ඇවැත්නි, හැඞීමෙන් පළක් නොවේ. එහෙයින් ශෝක නොකරන්න, විලාප නොකියන්න,නොහඞන්න, ඇවැත්නි, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ විසින් සියලු ප්‍රිය මනාප වස්තුවෙන් වෙන්වන්නට සිදුවන බව, වෙනස් වන බව කලින්ම දේශනා කරන ලද්දේ නොවේද? ඉපදීම ආදිය ස්වභාව කොට ඇත්තාවූ යමි  පලුදුවන වන බි‍ඳෙන ධර්මයක් ඇත්ද, ඒ පලුදුවන ධර්මය විනාශ නොවිමට  හේතු නැත්තේය.

“ස්වාමීවූ ආයුෂ්මත් අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්ස, දෙවියෝ කුමක් සිතන්නාහුදැයි” කියා ඇසුවෝය.

“ආනන්දය, ආකාශයෙහි පෘථිවි සංඥා ඇත්තාවූ දෙවියෝද, පොළොවෙහි පොළොව යන හැගීම ඇත්තාවූ දෙවියෝද, “වහා තථාගතයන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑහ. සුගතයන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවියහ” යයි හිස අත් බැඳගෙන හඞත්, ඇදවැටෙත්, පෙරළෙත්”

“ආනන්දය, රාගයෙන් දුරුවූ යම් අනාගාමී රහත් දෙවි කෙනෙක් වූවාහුද, ඔවුහු “සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝ අනිත්‍ය වන්නාහුය. ඒ මෙතැනින් කොයින් ලබමෝදැයි” කියා සිහි නුවණින් යුක්තව ඉවසන්නාහුය.

එවිට ආයුෂ්මවූ අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේද, ආයුෂ්මත්වූ ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේද ධර්මයෙන් යුතු කථාවෙන් ඒ රාත්‍රියාගේ ඉතිරි කොටස ගත කළාහූය. එවිට ආයුෂ්මත් අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ ආයුෂ්මත්වූ ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේට කථාකර මෙසේ කීවේය.

මල්ල රජදරැවන් වෙත පණිවිඩයක්

“ඇවැත්වූ ආනන්ද, තොපි යව, ගොස් කුසිනාරා නමි නුවරට පැමිණ කුසිනාරා වැසි මල්ල රජදරුවන්ට භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන්පෑ බව කියව” ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරතෙම පෙරවරු කාලයෙහි හොඳින් හැඳ පොරවා පා සිවුරු ගෙන කුසිනාරා නුවරට පැමිණුනේය. එකල කුසිනාරා වැසි මල්ල රජදරුවෝ ඒ පරිනිර්වාණය කරුණු කොටගෙනම රැස්වීමි ශාලාවෙහි රැස්ව උන්නාහුය.

එවිට ආයුෂ්මත්වූ ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරතෙම කුසිනාරා නුවර මල්ල රජදරුවන්ගේ රැස්වීම්ශාලාවට පැමිණ, “වාසෙටිඨ ගොත්‍ර යෙහිවූ මල්ල රජදරුවෙනි, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝය. යමි ගමනකට කල් දනුවයි” කීවේය. මේ වචනය අසා මල්ල රජුන් හා මල්ල රාජපුත්‍ර යෝද මල්ල රජුන්ගේ ලේලියන් හා මල්ල රාජුන්ගේ භාර්යාවෝද හටගත් දුක් ඇතිව දුකෙන් යුක්තව සිතෙහි හටගත් දුකෙන් පීඩිතව “භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ ඉතා වහාම පිරිනිවන් පෑවෝයයි” කියා හිස අත් බැඳගෙන හඞත්, බිම ඇදවැටත්, පෙරළෙත්. යමිපමණ රාගයෙන් දුරුවූ මල්ල රජදරුවෝ වූවාහුද, ඔවුහු “සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝ අනිත්‍ය වන්නාහුය, මෙතැනින් එය කොයින් ලබමෝදැයි” කියා සිහි නුවණින් යුක්තව ඉවසන්නාහුය.

ශ්‍රි දේහයට අවසන් ගෞරව

එවිට කුසිනාරාවැසි මල්ල රජදරුවෝ සුවඳ මල්ද සියලුම තූර්යය භාන්ඩයන්ද, දෙක බැගින්වූ වස්ත්‍ර පන්සියයක්ද ගෙන භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී ශරීරය යමි තැනෙකද එතැනට පැමිණියාහුය. පැමිණ, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී ශරිරයට නෘත්‍යයෙන්ද,ගීතයෙන්ද, වාදිතයෙන්ද, මලින්ද, ගඳින්ද සත්කාර ගරුකාර වන්දනාමානාදී වශයෙන් පූජා කෙරෙමින් උඩුවියන් බඳිමින් මණ්ඩප පිළියෙල කරමින් ඒ දවස් හෙවත් ඒ පිරිනිවන් පෑ පළමු දවස ගතකළාහුය.

මෙසේ කුසිනාරා මල්ල රජදරුවෝ භාග්‍යවතුන වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී ශරිරය නෘත්‍යයෙන්ද,ගීතයෙන්ද, වාදිතයෙන්ද, මලින්ද, ගක්‍ෂින්ද සත්කාර කරමින් ගරුකරමින් බුහුමන් කරමින් පූජා කරමින් දවස් හයක් ගත කළාහුය.

එවිට සත්වෙනි දවසෙහි කුසිනාරා මල්ල රජදරුවෝ “නුවරට දකුණු දිග් භාගයෙහි භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය ආදාහනය කරමිහයි” සිතුවාහුය. එසමයෙහි මැදි වයස් ඇති ශක්තිමත් මල්ල රජදරුවන් අටදෙනෙක් සුවඳ පැනින් ඉස් සෝදා නාහාගෙන අලුත්වූ වස්ත්‍රයන් ඇඳගෙන “අපි භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය උසුලමිහයි” කියා උත්සාහ කොටත් උසුලන්ට නොහැකි වූවාහය. එවිට කුසිනාරා වැසි මල්ල රජදරුවෝ ආයුෂ්මත්වූ අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ ගෙන් ඊට හේත? කවරෝදැයි ඇසුවෝය. “මල්ල රජදරුවෙනි, තොපගේ අදහස අනිකක් වන්නේය. දෙවියන්ගේ අදහස අනෙකක. දෙවියන්ගේ අදහස නමිභාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය දිව්‍යමය නැටුමිවලින්ද, ගී කීමිවලින්ද, වාදනවලින්ද,මල්වලින්ද, සුවඳවලින්ද සත්කාර කරමින්, සිතින් බුහුමන් කරමින්, පූජාකරමින් නුවරට උතුරු දිග් භාගයෙන්ම උතුරු දිග් භාගයට වඩා ගෙන ගොස් උතුරු වාහල් දොරින් නගරය ඇතුළට ඇතුල් කොට නුවර මැදින් නුවර මැදට පමුණුවා නැගෙනහිර වාහල් දොරින් පිටතට නික්මවා නුවරට නැගෙනහිර දෙසින්වූ මල්ල රජදරුවන්ගේ මකුටබන්ධන නමිවූ ප්‍රධාන මංගලශාලාව යමි තැනෙක්හිද, මේ ස්ථානයෙහි භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය ආදාහනය කරමිහයි” කියාය.

“ස්වාමීන් වහන්ස, දෙවියන්ගේ අදහස යමි පරිද්දෙකින් වන්නේද, එපරිද්දෙන්ම වේවායි”කියා සැළ කළාහුය.

එසමයෙහි කුසිනාරා නුවර යමිතාක් ගෘහසන්ධි, වැසිකිළි කාණු, කුණු කසළ ඇති තැන් වෙත්ද, ඒ සෑම තැනම දණක් පමණ  මදාරා මලින් අතුරණ ලද්දේ වූයේය. එවිට දෙවියෝද, කුසිනාරා වැසි මල්ල රජදරුවෝද භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය දෙවියන්ට අයිතිවූද, මනුෂ්‍යයන්ට අයිතිවූද, නැටුමිවලින්ද, ගී කීමිවලින්ද, වාදනවලින්ද,මල්වලින්ද, සුවඳවලින්ද සත්කාර ගරුකාර කරමින්, සිතින් බුහුමන් කරමින්, පූජාකරමින් නුවරට උතුරු දිග් භාගයෙන් උතුරු දිග් භාගයට වැඩමවා ගෙන ගොස් උතුරු වාහල් දොරින් නුවරට ඇතුල් කරවා නුවර මැදින් නුවර මැදට වැඩමවා ගෙන ගොස් නැගෙනහිර වාහල් දොරින් පිටතට නික්මවා නුවරට නැගෙනහිර දෙසින්වූ මල්ල රජදරුවන්ගේ මකුටබන්ධන නමිවූ මංගලශාලාව යමි තැනෙක්හිද, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය එතැන්හි තැබුවාහුය.

‍ශ්‍රි දේහය කෙරේ පිළිපැදිම

එවිට කුසිනාරා මල්ල රජදරුවෝ ආයුෂ්මත්වූ ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේට මෙසේ සැලකළාහුය. “ස්වාමීවූ ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්ස, අපි තථාගතයන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහයෙහි කෙසේනමි පිළිපදින්නමෝදැයි” විචාළහ.

“මල්ල රජදරුවෙනි, චක්‍රවර්ති මහාරජහුගේ ශ්‍රී ශරීරයෙහි යමි ආකාරයකින් පිලිපදින්නාහුද ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම තථාගතයන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී ශරීරයෙහිද පිළිපැදිය යුත්තේයයයි” කීහ.

ආනන්ද ස්ථවිරයන් කිවි ආකාර කුසිනාරා වැසි මල්ල රජදරුවෝ භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය අඵත්වූ කසී වස්ත්‍රයෙන් වෙඵවාහුය. මනාකොට නගා පාදන ලද කපු පුඵනෙන් වෙඵවාහුය. අඵත්වූ කසී වස්ත්‍රයෙන් වෙඵවාහුය. මේ ක්‍රමයෙන්ම ශරීරය වෙළා රනින් කළ රන් දෙණක තැන්පත් කොට එබඳුවූ අනිකුත් රන්දෙණකින් වසා සියඵ සුවඳ දරින් දරසෑයක් කොට භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී දේහය ඒ දරසෑයට නැගුවාහුය.

මහා කාෂ්‍යප මහරහතුන් වහන්සේගේ සමිප්‍රාප්තිය

ඒ කාලයෙහි ආයුෂ්මත් මහා කාශ්‍යප ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ පන්සියයක් පමණ භික්‍ෂූන්වූ මහත් භික්‍ෂු සංයා හා සමග පාවා නමි නුවර සිට කුසිනාරා නුවර අතර දීර්ඝ මාර්ගයට පැමිණියේ වෙයි. ඒ කලයෙහි එක්තරා ආජීවකයෙක් මදාරා මලක් ගෙන කුසිනාරා නුවරින් පාවා නුවරට යන දීර්ඝ මාර්ගයට පැමිණියේය. ආයුෂ්මත්වූ මහා කාශ්‍යපතෙරුන් වහන්සේ එන්නාවූ ඒ ආජීවකයා දුරදීම දැක්කේය. දැක “ඇවැත්නි, අපගේ ශාස්තෲන් වහන්සේ දන්නෙහිදැයි” ඇසුවේය. “එසේය, ඇවැත්නි, දනිමි. ශ්‍රමණ භවත් ගෞතමතෙම පිරිනිවන්පා අදට සත් දවසක් වූයේය. එතැනින් මා විසින් මේ මදාරා මල් ගන්නා ලද්දේය”යි කීයේය.

ඒ වදන් ඇසු එහි රාගය පහනොකළාවූ භික්‍ෂූහු හිස අත් බැඳගෙන හඩත්. මැදින් කැඩුනාක් මෙන් ඇද වැටෙත්, පෙරළෙත්, එහා මෙහා පෙරළෙත්. “භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ ඉතා ඉක්මනින් පරිනිවි සේක” කියාය. ආශාව දුරුකළාවූ අනාගාමී රහත් භික්‍ෂූහුද, “සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝම අනිත්‍ය වන්නාහුය. ඒ මෙතැන්හි කොයින් ලබමෝදැයි” කියා සිහි නුවණින් යුක්තව ඉවහන්නාහුය.

ඒ කාලයෙහි සුභද්‍ර නමි බුඩඪ පබිබජිතයෙක් (මහලුවූ පසු මහණවූවෙක්) ඒ භික්‍ෂු පිරිසෙහි උන්නේය. සුභද්‍රතෙම ඒ භික්‍ෂූන්ට මෙසේ කීය. “ඇවැත්නි, තොප හැඞීමෙන් කමි නැත,ශෝක නොකරවි. විලාප නොකියවි. ඒ මහා ශ්‍රමණයාකෙරෙන් අපි හොඳින් මිදිනෝ වෙමු. තොපට මේ දෙය කැපවන්නේය.මේ දෙය තොපට කැපනොවන්නේයයි අපි පීඩා ලබමින් සිටියෙමු. දැන් අපි යමක් කැමති වෙමුද, ඒ දෙය කරමිහ. යමක් නොකැමති වෙමුද, ඒ දෙය නොකරමිහ” යනුවෙනි.

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එවිට ආයුෂ්මත් මහා කාශ්‍යප තෙරුන් වහන්සේ භික්‍ෂූන්ට කථාකර මෙසේ කීවෝය.“තොප හැඞීමෙන් කමි නැත. තොපි ශෝක නොකරවි, විලාප නොකියවි, නොහඞවි,ඇවැත්නි, භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ විසින් සියලු ප්‍රිය මනාප වස්තුවෙන් වෙන්වන බව, අන්‍ය තත්වයකට පැමිණෙන බව කලින්ම දේශනා කරන ලද්දේ නොවෙද? ඇවැත්නි,හටගත්තාවූද පහළවූද ප්‍රත්‍යයෙන් උපදනාවූද විනාශවන ස්වභාව ඇති සියල්ල ඒකාන්තයෙන් විනාශ නොවේවායි යන මෙ කාරණය සිදුනොවන්නේයයි” කීවේය.

එසමයෙහි වනාහි මැදිවියෙහිවූ ශක්තිමත් මල්ල රජදරුවන් සතර දෙනෙක් ඉස්සෝදා නහාගෙන අලුත් වස්ත්‍රයන් හැඳගෙන “අපි භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ මෘතදේහය තබා කරනලද දරසෑය ගිනි දල්වමිහයි” කියා උත්සාහ කොට ගිනි දල්වා ගත නුහුනුවාහුය. එවිට කුසිනාරා මල්ල රජදරුවෝ ආයුෂ්මත්වූ අනුරුද්ධ ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේගෙන් ඊට හේතු කවරෙද, ඊට කරුණු කවරෙදැයි කියා විචාළාහුය. “රජුනි දෙවියන්ගේ අදහස අන් පරිද්දෙකි”

“ආයුෂ්මත්වූ මහා කාශ්‍යප ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ පන්සියයක් පමණ මහත් භික්‍ෂු සංයා හා සමග පාවා නමි නුවර සිට කුසිනාරා නමි නුවරට යෙමියි සිතා දීර්ඝ මාරගයට පළිපන්නේ වෙයි. ආයුෂ්මත්වූ මහා කාශ්‍යප ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී පාදයන් යමිතාක් සිරසින් නොවඳින්නාහුද, ඒතාක් කල් භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ දරසෑය ගිනි නොදැල්වෙවායි” කියා දෙවියන්ගේ අදහස වන්නේයයි කිවෝය.

ආදාහනය

“ස්වාමීන් වහන්ස, දෙවියන්ගේ අදහස යමිසේද, එසේම වේ වායි” කීවාහුය.

ඉක්බිත්තෙන් ආයුෂ්මත්වූ මහාකාෂ්‍යප ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ පැමිණ, සිවුර ඒකාන්ශ කොට පොරවා ගෙන නමස් කාර කොට තුන් වරක් දර සෑයවට ප්‍රදක්‍ෂිණා කොට ඇවිද සිරිපතුල් පිහිටි පැත්තෙන්,විවෘත කොට ශාස්තෲ වූ බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේගේ සිරිපා යුවල වැන්දහ. ඒ පන්සියයක් පමණ වූ භික්‍ෂු සංඝයාද එසේම භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ සිරිපතුල් දෙක වැන්දාහුය. සිරි පතුල් වැන්ද කල්හි භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ දරසෑය තෙමේම හාත්පසින් ගිනිදැල්වී ගියේය.

මෙසේ දැවෙන්නාවූ භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශරීරයාගේ කොටස් වල අඵද නොපෙනෙයි,දැලිද නොපෙනෙයි, ශාරීරික ධාතු පමණක් ඉතිරිවූවාහුය.

භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ ශ්‍රී ශරීරය ආදාහනය වූ කල්හි ආකාශයෙන් ජල ධාරාවක් පහළ වී ගිනි නිවුවාය. පිරිවරා සිටි සල් ගස් වලින්ද ජල ධාරා ගලා අවුත් දර සෑයෙහි ගිනි නිවුවාහුය. කුසිනාරා වාසී මල්ල රජ දරුවෝ සියලු සුවඳ පැනින් භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ දර සෑයෙහි ගිනි නිවුවාහුය.

මහා ධාතු පුජාව

ඉක්බිත්තෙන් කුසිනාරා වැසි මල්ල රජ දරුවෝ ශාරීරික ධාතුන් සන්ථාගාර ශාලාවෙහි තැන්පත් කොට කඩු ගත් අත් ඇති යෝධ පුරුෂයන් ලවා හාත්පසින්ම වටකොට ආරක්‍ෂා පිහිටුවා දුනු කෙළවරින් දුනු කෙළවර පහරමින් සිටියාවූ දුනුගත් ධනුර්ධයන්ගේ දුනු පවුරකින් වටකොට සත්දවසක් මුඵල්ලෙහි නැටුමි ගී කීමි වාදන කිරීමි ආදියෙන්ද මලින් හා සුවඳ වලින්ද සත්කාර කළාහුය, ගරු කළාහුය, වන්දනා කළාහුය, පූජා කළාහුය.

ප්‍රිය මිතුරනේ මෙසේ යමිසේ මෙම ලිපි ත්‍රිත්වය කියවා අවසන් වන්නේද, එසේම මේ ජිවිතයත් උත්පත්තිය, ජරාව, මරණයම ස්වභාව කොට පවතින්නේ. මේ ත්‍රිත්වය තුල අනිත්‍ය, දුක්ඛයථ අනාත්මය හැර අන්කිසිවක් ලැබිය නොහැක්කේමය. “ප්‍රිය මිතුරනේ, දැන් ඔබලාට කියමි. සියලු සංස්කාර ධර්මයෝ විනාශවන ස්වභාව ඇත්තාහුය. ප්‍රමාද නොවී කළයුතු දේ සමිපාදනය කරව”. මේතථාගතයන්ගේ අන්තිම බුද්ධ වචනයයි”

From: http://www.budurashmiya.net/2011/05/blog-post_22.html

Feasible fuel not from food

Feasible fuel not from food

Defence Science and Technology Organisation

"Substantial quantities of aviation fuel derived from non-food biomass could be economically produced over the next 20 years." Image: narvikk/iStockphoto A study, supported by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, has found bio-derived jet fuel is a feasible future option for Australia. “Flight Path to Sustainable Aviation” was released yesterday by the CSIRO and found that substantial quantities of aviation fuel derived from non-food biomass could be economically produced over the next 20 years.  The report also predicted that greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 17 per cent over that time frame. The study was commissioned by and developed in collaboration with the members of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group– including Air New Zealand, Boeing, Qantas and Virgin Australia – together with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the Climate Group.  The study drew on key aviation stakeholders including OEMS, fuel and feedstock producers, government departments and NGO’s DSTO’s Dr Chris Hulston said “the study is an important step in the development of a sustainable fuel industry in Australia, which will assist the Australian Defence Force in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, while also improving Australia’s fuel security.” It stipulates that sustainable fuel must be economically viable and made from sources that do not impact food production (e.g. crop stubble, municipal waste, algae and non food plantations or crops). More information, including the report, can be found on the CSIRO website.

‘Qigong’ helps cancer patients

‘Qigong’ helps cancer patients

The University of Sydney

The improvements included greater physical, functional, social and emotional wellbeing, and enhanced cognitive functioning. Image:misha800/iStockphoto Cancer patients who used a 5000-year-old combination of gentle exercise and meditation experienced significantly higher wellbeing levels, improved cognitive functioning and less inflammation compared to a control group, new University of Sydney research has found. Dr Byeongsang Oh, a clinical senior lecturer at the Sydney Medical School who led the study, said the reduced inflammation in patients who practised medical Qigong, a form of traditional Chinese medicine, was particularly significant. "Several studies have indicated chronic inflammation is associated with cancer incidence, progression and even survival," says Dr Oh, who will present his findings to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago next week. "Patients who practiced medical Qigong experienced significant improvements in quality of life, including greater physical, functional, social and emotional wellbeing, and enhanced cognitive functioning, while the control group deteriorated in all of these areas," Dr Oh says. He also found the patients in the medical Qigong group reported increased satisfaction with their sex lives. The study involved 162 patients, with those assigned to the medical Qigong group undertaking a ten-week program of two supervised 90-minute sessions per week. They were also encouraged to practise at home every day for at least half an hour. The mean age of participants in this study was 60, with ages ranging from 31 to 86 years. The most common primary cancer diagnosis among participants was breast cancer (34 percent) followed by colorectal cancer (12 percent). When the study began there were no significant differences in measurements of quality of life, fatigue, mood status and inflammation between the intervention and control groups. "To our knowledge, our study is the first statistically significant, randomised controlled trial to measure the impact of medical Qigong in patients with cancer," Dr Oh says.

Pleasure trumps HIV risks

Pleasure trumps HIV risks

La Trobe University Participants were not deterred from having condomless sex despite knowing that STIs and HIV can be sexually transmitted. Image: joecicak/iStockphoto Recent research has found HIV-prevention interventions have paid insufficient attention to sexual drives and pleasures, crucial elements of the psychological aspects of sex. Professor Gary Dowsett, Deputy Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University and collaborators from Columbia University in the United States concluded in the study – Sexual Pleasure and Intimacy Among Men Who engage in “Bareback Sex”—that, in some cases, the HIV-seropositive men saw condom use as a barrier to expressing and experiencing intimacy and passion. ‘From a personal safety perspective, although infected individuals were aware of the possibility of contracting other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or becoming infected with a different strain of HIV (“superinfection”), these were not sufficient deterrents to having condomless sex. Actual discussions about serostatus before having sex were not the norm,’ says Professor Dowsett and his colleagues. An ethnically diverse sample of 120 mostly gay-identified men who engaged in “bareback” intercourse was recruited through the internet in New York City. Thirty-one of the participants were HIV-seropositive and engaged in condomless, receptive, anal-intercourse in situations of appreciable risk of HIV transmission, as “bareback” sex is defined by the authors. The study’s participants underwent an in-depth face-to-face interview that investigated psychological factors that may be involved in barebacking among HIV-seronegative and seropositive gay identified men. The team of researchers – comprising of psychologists and sociologists – used a developmental approach to explore how barebacking was understood by the men and what might support or encourage its continuation. Professor Dowsett says the authors explored the thoughts and feelings associated with first and subsequent experiences of bareback sex. ‘In general, no single reason or set of circumstances led to the first barebacking experience, but rather a combination of factors including curiosity, heat of the moment, engaging in foreplay that culminated in unprotected intercourse, not having condoms available, and feeling that AIDS was no longer a death sentence,’ the authors conclude. The first experience was often a turning point that led to more frequent engagement in the behaviour and progressive desensitization to the risks involved. Some participants alternated between abstinence and avoidance of condomless intercourse and bouts or “binges” of barebacking, the research team found. An underlying theme present in the explanation for reasons leading to the first barebacking experience was the issue of pleasure. ‘Participants frequently expressed their enjoyment of the accompanying sensations as well as how they felt excited, sexually satisfied, thrilled, fulfilled and intimate with the partner,’ the authors report. Among the participants in the study were HIV counsellors. In the interviews with counsellors, the researchers found a strong motivational force based on pleasure that overwhelmed their knowledge about HIV prevention and their behavioural skills to enact condom use. ‘Prevention approaches that seek alternatives to condoms may acknowledge the power of the libido while seeking to promote safer ways of attaining sexual and erotic satisfaction. The impression derived from the analysis of the narratives of the participants in our study is that for an HIV-prevention intervention to be successful in this population, it should impinge as little as possible on sexual pleasure and sexual satisfaction,’ Professor Dowsett and his colleagues conclude.

Unnai Kettu Paar-Baba Pugazh Maalai By Ilayaraaja (Shirdi Sai Baba)

How our focus can silence the noisy world around us

How our focus can silence the noisy world around us

 Psychology & Psychiatry

A Kirlian photograph of a human ear. Credit: N Seery, Wellcome Images. (Medical Xpress) -- How can someone with perfectly normal hearing become deaf to the world around them when their mind is on something else? New research funded by the Wellcome Trust suggests that focusing heavily on a task results in the experience of deafness to perfectly audible sounds.

In a study published in the journal 'Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics', researchers at UCL (University College London) demonstrate for the first time this phenomenon, which they term 'inattentional deafness'.

"Inattentional deafness is a common everyday experience," explains Professor Nilli Lavie from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL. "For example, when engrossed in a good book or even a captivating newspaper article we may fail to hear the train driver's announcement and miss our stop, or if we're texting whilst walking, we may fail to hear a car approaching and attempt to cross the road without looking."

Professor Lavie and her PhD student James Macdonald devised a series of experiments designed to test for inattentional deafness. In these experiments, over a hundred participants performed tasks on a computer involving a series of cross shapes. Some tasks were easy, asking the participants to distinguish a clear colour difference between the cross arms. Others were much more difficult, involving distinguishing subtle length differences between the cross arms.

Participants wore headphones whilst carrying out the tasks and were told these were to aid their concentration. At some point during task performance a tone was played unexpectedly through the headphones. At this point, immediately after the sound was played, the experiment was stopped and the participants asked if they had heard this sound.

When judging the respective colours of the arms - an easy task that takes relatively little concentration - around two in ten participants missed the tone. However, when focusing on the more difficult task - identifying which of the two arms was the longest - eight out of ten participants failed to notice the tone.

The researchers believe this deafness when attention is fully taken by a purely visual task is the result of our senses of seeing and hearing sharing a limited processing capacity. It is already known that people similarly experience 'inattentional blindness' when engrossed in a task that takes up all of their attentional capacity - for example, the famous Invisible Gorilla Test, where observers engrossed in a basketball game fail to observe a man in a gorilla suit walk past. The new research now shows that being engrossed in a difficult task makes us blind and deaf to other sources of information.

"Hearing is often thought to have evolved as an early warning system that does not depend on attention, yet our work shows that if our attention is taken elsewhere, we can be effectively deaf to the world around us," explains Professor Lavie. "In our task, most people noticed the sound if the task being performed was easy and did not demand their full concentration. However, when the task was harder they experienced deafness to the very same sound."

Other examples or real world situations include inattentional deafness whilst driving. It is well documented that a large number of accidents are caused by a driver's inattention and this new research suggests inattentional deafness is yet another contributing factor. For example, although emergency vehicle sirens are designed to be too loud to ignore, other sounds - such as a lorry beeping while reversing, a cyclist's bell or a scooter horn - may be missed by a driver focusing intently on some interesting visual information such as a roadside billboard, the advert content on the back of the bus in front or the map on a sat nav.

More information: Macdonald JSP and Lavie N. Visual perceptual load induces inattentional deafness. Atten Percept Psychophys 2011 [epub ahead of print]

Provided by Wellcome Trust

"How our focus can silence the noisy world around us." May 27th, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-focus-silence-noisy-world.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek