So That When You Die, the Alms Bowl Won't Need Filling (the Dedicated Alms Offerings Won’t Need Making)

Yesterday, we discussed the four types of perceptual distortion (diṭṭhi-vipallāsa). Diṭṭhi-vipallāsa and identity view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi) are essentially the same. It is the mistaken perception of the five aggregates as 'I', 'me', 'a man', 'a woman', a 'person', or a 'being'. It is sometimes called self-view (atta-diṭṭhi) and, at other times, more severely, wrong view (micchā-diṭṭhi). In truth, all wrong views arise solely from mistaken perceptions, mistaken understandings, and mistaken beliefs. If this wrong view can be uprooted first through understanding, second through development (meditative practice), and third through eradication, then the gates to the four lower realms (apāya) are closed. When it is utterly eradicated, the Venerable Mogok Sayadaw said, "Then, even when you die, they won't need to make offerings (fill your alms bowl)." This is true. If one dies with this persistent wrong view, one's destination (...