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The Human Body and Mind
Working Towards a Practical Understanding
By Ajahn Kalyano

A book informed by Ajahn Kalyano's practice as a psychologist, physical therapist and Tai Chi teacher. In this book the focus is on the outer world of engaged Buddhist practice.

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https://www.lotuslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1932-human_body_and_mind-Kalyano.pdf
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5. Yathà' pi mule anupaddave daëhe
chinno' pi rukkho punareva ruhati
Evam pi tauhànusaye anuhate
nibbattatã dukkham idam punappunam. 338.
6. Yassa chattimsatã sotà
manàpassavanà bhusà
Vàhà vahanti duddiññhim
saïkappà ràganissità. 339.
7. Savanti sabbadhã sotà
latà ubbhijja tiññhati
Tañ ca disvà latam jàtam
mulam paññàya chindatha. 340.
8. Saritàni sinehitàni ca
somanassàni bhavanti jantuno
Te sàtasità sukhesino
te ve jàtijarupagà narà. 341.
9. Tasiuàya purakkhatà pajà
parisappanti saso' va bàdhito
Samyojanasaïgasattà
dukkham upenti punappunam ciràya. 342.
10. Tasiuàya purakkhatà pajà
parisappanti saso' va bàdhito
Tasmà tasiuam vinodaye
bhikkhu àkaïkhã viràgam attano. 343.

THERE IS SUFFERING AS LONG AS THERE IS CRAVING

5. Just as a tree with roots unharmed and firm, though hewn down, sprouts again, even so while latent craving is not rooted out, this sorrow springs up again and again. 338.

LUSTFUL THOUGHTS ARISE IN HIM WHO HAS CRAVING

6. If in anyone the thirty-six streams (of craving 3) that rush towards pleasurable thoughts 4 are strong, such a deluded person, torrential thoughts of lust carry off. 339.

CUT OFF CRAVING WITH WISDOM

7. The streams (craving) flow everywhere. The creeper (craving) sprouts 5 and stands. 6 Seeing the creeper that has sprung up, with wisdom cut off root. 340.

ATTACHMENT TO SENSUAL PLEASURES LEAD TO BIRTH AND DECAY

8. In beings there arise pleasures that rush (towards sense-objects) and (such beings) are steeped in craving. Bent on happiness, they seek happiness. Verily, such men come to birth and decay. 341.

FETTERED BY CRAVING THEY COME TO GRIEF

9. Folk enwrapt in craving are terrified like a captive hare. Held fast by fetters and bonds, 7 for long they come to sorrow again and again. 342.

HE WHO DESIRES PASSIONLESSNESS SHOULD DISCARD CRAVING

10. Folk, enwrapt in craving, are terrified like a captive hare. Therefore a bhikkhu who wishes his own passionlessness (Nibbàna) should discard craving. 343.

Story

While the Buddha was passing along a street he saw a young sow. Relating how in some of her past births she had enjoyed high estate and in others suffered degradation, He spoke on the manifold evil consequences of craving.
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Ajahn Chah, Buddhist teacher of Thai forest meditation of Theravada Buddhism channel:


https://t.me/ajahnchah_buddhism
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…So Ānanda, live as your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your refuge, with no other refuge. And how does a mendicant do this? It’s when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. They meditate observing an aspect of feelings … mind … principles—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. That’s how a mendicant is their own island, their own refuge, with no other refuge. That’s how the teaching is their island and their refuge, with no other refuge.…

Partial excerpts from DN 16 From… Mahaparinibbanasutta: The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment—Live as an Island

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Karma Q & A
A Study Guide
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu


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https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/Karma_QA_251113.pdf
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Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Karma Q & A
A Study Guide
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Kamma and rebirth are often understood to be teachings of fate and helplessness in the face of unknowable influences from the past. For this reason, they’re often rejected. However, the real problem with kamma and rebirth is that we tend to misunderstand what these teachings have to say. This is because Buddhism came to the West at the same time as other Indian religions, and its luggage got mixed up with theirs in transit. Instead of teaching fate, The Buddha’s teachings on kamma and rebirth are empowering, showing how people can develop skills in the present that will lead to the end of suffering. So, to help show how valuable these teachings are, here’s a set of answers, based on the Pāli Canon, to some questions frequently asked about these topics.

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https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/Karma_QA_251113.pdf
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11. Yo nibbanatho vanàdhimutto
vanamutto vanam eva dhàvati
Tam puggalam etha passatha
mutto bandhanam eva dhàvati. 344.

IT IS FOOLISH TO RETURN TO WORLDLY LIFE

11. Whoever with no desire (for the household) finds pleasure in the forest (of asceticism) and though freed from desire (for the household), (yet) runs back to that very home. Come, behold that man! Freed, he runs back into that very bondage. 8 344.

Story

This verse was uttered by the Buddha about a young man who, through faith, entered the Order, but later, tempted by sensual pleasures, returned to the household life.
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Free Buddhism books, teachings, podcasts and videos from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions:

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Javanese dancers at a Buddhist festival, Borobudur temple, Java island, Indonesia.

Dainichi Nyorai (Mahavairochana Buddha) rock carvings Ima-kumanosan Taizōji temple, Mount Tawarayama in the Kunisaki Peninsula, Ōita Prefecture, Japan built during Heian period (794–1185). Dainichi is the central Buddha in Japanese Tendai Buddhism and above his head are three mandalas expressing the secret truths of Mikkyō in Sanskrit letters.

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Kamma and the End of Kamma (2nd Edition)
By Ajahn Sucitto

This book is a substantially revised and expanded version of the 2009 original. It explores the link between external action and mind cultivation – both of which are forms of the kamma that leads to liberation. The book teaches formal meditation practices, the role of devotion, aspects of dependent origination, and the need to establish skilful relationships – kalyānamitta – and the cessation of suffering and stress.


Free download here:

https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/17/Kamma-and-the-End-of-Kamma-Ajahn-Sucitto-2021.pdf
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Free Buddha dharma ebook


Kamma and the End of Kamma (2nd Edition)
By Ajahn Sucitto

This book is a substantially revised and expanded version of the 2009 original. It explores the link between external action and mind cultivation – both of which are forms of the kamma that leads to liberation. The book teaches formal meditation practices, the role of devotion, aspects of dependent origination, and the need to establish skilful relationships – kalyānamitta – and the cessation of suffering and stress.


Free download here:

https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/17/Kamma-and-the-End-of-Kamma-Ajahn-Sucitto-2021.pdf
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Piprahwa gems Buddha's relics, Siddharthnagar city, Lumbini, Uttar Pradesh, Bharat Ganarajya. The relics were stored in a stupa during Emperor Ashoka period c. 230 BCE with the inscription reads ...Sukiti-bhatinaṃ sabhaginikanam sa-puta-dalanam iyaṃ salila-nidhane Budhasa bhagavate sakiyanam "Relics of the Buddha Lord".

12. Na tam daëham bandhanam àhu dhãrà
yadàyasam dàrujam babbajañ ca
Sàrattarattà mauikuudalesu
puttesu dàresu ca yà apekhà 345.
13. Etam daëham bandhanam àhu dhãrà
ohàrinam sithilam duppamuñcam
Etam pi chetvàna paribbajanti 9
anapekkhino kàmasukham pahàya. 346.

ATTACHMENT TO WORLDLY OBJECTS IS FAR STRONGER THAN IRON CHAINS

12. That which is made of iron, wood or hemp, is not a strong bond, say the wise; the longing for jewels, ornaments, children, and wives is a far greater attachment. 345.

RENOUNCE SENSUAL PLEASURES

13. That bond is strong, say the wise. It hurls down, is supple, and is hard to loosen. This too the wise cut off, and leave the world, with no longing, renouncing sensual pleasures. 346.

Story

Some monks passing a prison house observed the criminals bound by chains. They inquired of the Buddha whether there were other bonds stronger than what they had seen. The Buddha replied that the bond of craving was a thousand times stronger.
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Buddha dharma teachings channel:

https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha
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"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; & that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"What is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

Samyutta Nikaya 56 :
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The View from Outside the World

Was the Buddha really a prisoner of his culture?
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Part 1 of 2

A common attitude among many Western Buddhists is that the Buddha expressed the insights of his awakening in the context of the worldview of his time—one that featured karma, rebirth, heavens, hells, and the unconditioned realm of nirvana. Having started out with that understanding of the world, he taught his followers to desire a happiness that was possible within their shared view. We at present, however, have arrived at a radically different view of the world, so we have to pick and choose among the Buddha’s teachings, accepting those that fit into the reality of our worldview and rejecting those that don’t. If we were to try to force his worldview on our minds, we’re told, it would be an act of cultural or intellectual dishonesty. We wouldn’t be true to what we know about how the world really works and the limitations it imposes on us.

Now, there are many worldviews that vie for the title of “the” distinctive view of our modern or post-modern world, but the most assertive ones all agree on one thing: that we as human beings are thoroughly conditioned—by the laws of physics, biology, psychology, the assumptions of our culture, or all four—so there’s no way that we could experience anything unconditioned. This means that the classical understanding of nirvana as an unconditioned happiness has to be struck from Buddhism as it enters our world. In its place, we have to be realistic: to tame our desires in line with reality as we understand it, and to content ourselves with whatever happiness we can find in the conditioned realm.

The problem with this attitude is that it has everything backwards. Instead of starting with a worldview and then taming his desires to be realistic within that view, the Buddha worked the other way around. He started with an audacious, ideal desire: to see if a deathless, unconditioned happiness was possible. In the course of pursuing this desire, he discovered that he had to take, as working hypotheses, a handful of beliefs about the nature of action and the world in which he was acting, for a path to the deathless to be possible. Then, on the night of his awakening, he found that, yes, there was a path of action that led to the unconditioned happiness he had desired. For the rest of his life, he taught others to share the same desire, and to adopt, on a provisional basis, whatever assumptions about the world and the power of human action were required to make the path to that happiness a reality.

So instead of starting with a worldview and taming his desires to fit into that view, the Buddha started with the best possible desire—for the deathless—and, once he had found that the deathless was possible, he taught a sketch of a worldview that could work in service of achieving that desire.

Now, this might sound like wishful thinking—making up a worldview in service of your desires—but as the Buddha said, all phenomena are rooted in desire. This applies to worldviews as much as to anything else. After all, how do people arrive at worldviews to begin with? By using their desires to push against the world, to see where the world yields and where it pushes back. From the results of pushing here and there, we generalize about what’s possible and impossible within the context of the world.

How do people arrive at worldviews to begin with? By using their desires to push against the world, to see where the world yields and where it pushes back. From the results of pushing here and there, we generalize about what’s possible and impossible within the context of the world.

And that’s exactly what the Buddha did. He didn’t make anything up. He just pushed on the world in a radical and persistent way. We know from the story of his quest for awakening that the world pushed back very strongly on his early attempts, in a way that would have defeated anyone less determined on the deathless.

But through being heedful, ardent, and resolute—those were the words he used to describe his attitude—he was ultimately able to learn how the world gave way to his desire for the unconditioned. That’s how he got outside of the world, going beyond all desires and the phenomena they engendered.

This means that his teachings were determined, not by a worldview, but by an experience of how the deathless could be found.

This also means that just as the desire for the deathless was the determining factor in his quest, it was also the determining factor in how and what he taught. This can be shown both in how he dealt with other worldviews of his time and in how he advocated a worldview of his own.

In terms of other worldviews, we first have to note the simple fact that there was no single worldview that all his listeners adhered to. Some people of the time believed in rebirth; others didn’t. Even those who did, didn’t all agree that karma played a role in determining how you were reborn, or even if karma was real. There wasn’t even any agreement on what “you” were to begin with, or whether you even existed. And just as we have our modern materialist, determinist, and post-modern there-is-no-objective-truth teachers, similar teachers existed in the Buddha’s time as well. The concept of the deathless was very much alive at the time, but more as a question than as a common belief: Did a deathless realm exist, and if so, how could it be found? No one had arrived at a convincing answer.

In addressing the people of his time, the Buddha strictly avoided getting into many of the discussions of the world that were the hot issues of the day, such as whether the world was finite or infinite, eternal or not. He also discouraged his listeners from getting involved in cosmic speculation as a whole. Talk about the origin of the world he lumped in with gossip of the street and of the well as “animal talk.” As he said, the nature of the world is so complex that it’s inconceivable; trying to figure it out would lead to nothing but madness. Instead of providing a map of the entire world, he saw that the world was on fire, so he showed the way to the fire escape, focusing all his attention on the question of suffering and its end. This was his radically new approach to the problem of how the deathless could be found.
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Buddha dharma teachings channel:

https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha
===

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The View from Outside the World

Was the Buddha really a prisoner of his culture?
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Part 2 of 2

The only times he got involved in discussions about the nature of the world were over the issue of karma, or action: Any doctrines that taught inaction—the principle that actions were illusory or powerless to have any effect—he rejected, on the grounds that they would make a path of practice for the end of suffering impossible. Here again, we see how, in his eyes, the truth of his experience of the deathless overrode any arguments that could have been advanced in favor of such teachings.

A prime example is the case of the sectarians who taught that your present experience of pleasure or pain was the result of past actions. This doctrine, too, the Buddha labeled a doctrine of inaction in that it denied any present responsibility for actions that you were doing here and now. There would be no reason to think that standards of what should or shouldn’t be done would have any meaning, or that you could choose to follow a path of action to the deathless. In the Buddha’s terms, you’d be left bewildered and unprotected.

Which means that he judged worldviews according to how well they accommodated the fact that he had actually realized his desire in finding the deathless.

As for the worldview the Buddha did recommend, we should note at the outset that when he introduced the four noble truths about suffering and its end to his first disciples, he didn’t preface his remarks with an explanation of the world. Instead, he started by saying that the deathless had been attained, and that if his listeners followed his teachings, they could attain it, too. In other words, he started by affirming that their desire for the deathless was realistic, and he would show how it could be fulfilled. That was the assumption on which everything else rested.

Now, in the course of explaining suffering and its causes, there were certain features of the world that, over the years, he had to explain as well. These derived from the three knowledges he gained on the night of his awakening.

• His knowledge of previous lives showed that death was not the end of suffering, and that if the process of rebirth wasn’t stopped, the suffering of birth, aging, and death would continue without end.

• His knowledge of how beings are reborn after death in line with their actions showed that the universe as a whole had no overarching purpose. Instead, it was driven by the intentional actions of individual beings, which in turn were guided by their views. He also saw that those actions could lead to rebirth on a wide range of levels, from the very high to the very low. None of those rebirths, however, were permanent. They all ended in death, followed by repeated rebirth.

• His third knowledge showed him the views about suffering and its end that could guide the actions that would lead to freedom from the otherwise ceaseless, meaningless round.

That was it.

It’s worth emphasizing that the Buddha’s descriptions of the world were really quite sketchy. How the world got started, he didn’t say. How far it extended in space, he didn’t say. Occasionally he’d give a few detailed accounts of particular heavens and hells, largely just to show that those realms fell under the sway of karma, and that the inhabitants of the heavens could be ignorant and heedless, and so shouldn’t be trusted, much less worshiped. However, those accounts didn’t amount to a complete map. The complete maps we now have of the Buddhist cosmos came from later generations. The Buddha himself was interested in providing his listeners with just a handful of leaves compared to the forest of leaves he had discovered through his awakening. He gave no more information about the world than his listeners needed to know for putting an end to suffering and for nurturing a sense that a deathless happiness was desirable and within the reach of human action.