Forwarded from Buddha
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.
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.
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Forwarded from Buddha
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.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha
===
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.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha
===
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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.
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.
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Even the doctrine of karma, which was the main linchpin of his picture of the world, was never laid out in full. As he noted, if you tried to comprehend the full complexity of karma, it would drive you crazy. All you need to know about karma boils down to four things:
(1) that skillful intentions tend to lead to good results, and unskillful intentions to bad;
(2) that past actions provide the raw material for shaping the present moment, but that your present intentions are potentially free to shape that material into an actual experience of the present;
(3) that you can learn to take even bad raw materials and shape them in such a way that you don’t have to suffer from them; and
(4) that if you abandon all intentions in the present, the present moment disbands and you can experience the deathless.
Just this much is enough to affirm the power of action to bring suffering to an end.
However, given that the path is ultimately abandoned on reaching the deathless—in the same way that you get off a chariot that has delivered you to your destination—even the Buddha’s sketch of a worldview gets put aside on reaching awakening and going beyond the world. But in putting it aside, the Buddha didn’t throw it away. He used it to teach others so that they could get on the chariot and drive it to the right destination, too.
Even the Buddha’s sketch of a worldview gets put aside on reaching awakening and going beyond the world.
So when we look carefully at how the Buddha regarded worldviews in general—as subservient to the desire to find the way to the deathless and to teach that way to others—we can see that he didn’t submit to the worldviews of his time when they provided no room for an unconditioned happiness. This means that it’s hard to imagine him submitting to the worldviews of our time when they want to squeeze the dhamma into a box and lop off the parts that don’t fit—especially when those parts include the whole point of his message.
It’s much easier to envision him searching out the people who insist that we’re incapable of experiencing an unconditioned happiness, and chastising them for leaving their listeners bewildered and unprotected in the face of suffering. If they were to insist on the truth of their worldviews, he might respond that they hadn’t yet pushed back strongly enough against the world with the right desires or in the right way.
===
Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai forest tradition. He currently serves as abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County, California, and is a frequent contributor to Tricycle. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website:
www.dhammatalks.org
===
Part 1 of 2:
https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha/4859
Part 2 of 2:
https://t.me/dhammapadas/4339
===
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
https://t.me/dhammapadas
===
(1) that skillful intentions tend to lead to good results, and unskillful intentions to bad;
(2) that past actions provide the raw material for shaping the present moment, but that your present intentions are potentially free to shape that material into an actual experience of the present;
(3) that you can learn to take even bad raw materials and shape them in such a way that you don’t have to suffer from them; and
(4) that if you abandon all intentions in the present, the present moment disbands and you can experience the deathless.
Just this much is enough to affirm the power of action to bring suffering to an end.
However, given that the path is ultimately abandoned on reaching the deathless—in the same way that you get off a chariot that has delivered you to your destination—even the Buddha’s sketch of a worldview gets put aside on reaching awakening and going beyond the world. But in putting it aside, the Buddha didn’t throw it away. He used it to teach others so that they could get on the chariot and drive it to the right destination, too.
Even the Buddha’s sketch of a worldview gets put aside on reaching awakening and going beyond the world.
So when we look carefully at how the Buddha regarded worldviews in general—as subservient to the desire to find the way to the deathless and to teach that way to others—we can see that he didn’t submit to the worldviews of his time when they provided no room for an unconditioned happiness. This means that it’s hard to imagine him submitting to the worldviews of our time when they want to squeeze the dhamma into a box and lop off the parts that don’t fit—especially when those parts include the whole point of his message.
It’s much easier to envision him searching out the people who insist that we’re incapable of experiencing an unconditioned happiness, and chastising them for leaving their listeners bewildered and unprotected in the face of suffering. If they were to insist on the truth of their worldviews, he might respond that they hadn’t yet pushed back strongly enough against the world with the right desires or in the right way.
===
Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai forest tradition. He currently serves as abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County, California, and is a frequent contributor to Tricycle. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website:
www.dhammatalks.org
===
Part 1 of 2:
https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha/4859
Part 2 of 2:
https://t.me/dhammapadas/4339
===
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
https://t.me/dhammapadas
===
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Daily teachings of the Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha
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14. Ye ràgarattànupatanti sotam
sayam katam makkañako' va jàlam
Etam pi chetvàna vajanti dhãrà
anapekkhino sabbadukkham pahàya. 347.
THE LUSTFUL ARE CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN WEB
14. Those who are infatuated with lust fall back into the stream as (does) a spider into the web spun by itself. This too the wise cut off and wander, with no longing, released from all sorrow. 347.
Story
A certain queen was infatuated with her own beauty. The Buddha contrived a means to create in her disgust for external beauty. Consequently she realized the transitoriness of life. In admonition the Buddha uttered this verse.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://t.me/wordsofbuddha
===
sayam katam makkañako' va jàlam
Etam pi chetvàna vajanti dhãrà
anapekkhino sabbadukkham pahàya. 347.
THE LUSTFUL ARE CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN WEB
14. Those who are infatuated with lust fall back into the stream as (does) a spider into the web spun by itself. This too the wise cut off and wander, with no longing, released from all sorrow. 347.
Story
A certain queen was infatuated with her own beauty. The Buddha contrived a means to create in her disgust for external beauty. Consequently she realized the transitoriness of life. In admonition the Buddha uttered this verse.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
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[Here the Arahant Udāyī praises the Supreme Buddha. Here “giant” is the translation of the word “nāga.”]
That giant outshines all,
like the Himalaya beside other mountains.
Of all those named “giant”,
he is truly named, supreme.
I shall extol the giant for you,
for he does nothing monstrous.
Gentleness and harmlessness
are two feet of the giant.
Mindfulness and awareness
are his two other feet.
Faith is the giant’s trunk,
and equanimity his white tusks.
Mindfulness is his neck, his head is wisdom—
investigation and thinking about principles.
His belly is the sacred hearth of the Dhamma,
and his tail is seclusion.
Practicing absorption, enjoying the breath,
he is serene within.
The giant is serene when walking,
the giant is serene when standing,
the giant is serene when lying down,
and when sitting, the giant is serene.
The giant is restrained everywhere:
this is the accomplishment of the giant.
Partial excerpts from Thag 15.2 Udayittheragatha: Udayi
That giant outshines all,
like the Himalaya beside other mountains.
Of all those named “giant”,
he is truly named, supreme.
I shall extol the giant for you,
for he does nothing monstrous.
Gentleness and harmlessness
are two feet of the giant.
Mindfulness and awareness
are his two other feet.
Faith is the giant’s trunk,
and equanimity his white tusks.
Mindfulness is his neck, his head is wisdom—
investigation and thinking about principles.
His belly is the sacred hearth of the Dhamma,
and his tail is seclusion.
Practicing absorption, enjoying the breath,
he is serene within.
The giant is serene when walking,
the giant is serene when standing,
the giant is serene when lying down,
and when sitting, the giant is serene.
The giant is restrained everywhere:
this is the accomplishment of the giant.
Partial excerpts from Thag 15.2 Udayittheragatha: Udayi
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Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
Free Buddhism ebook
Copper Isle Miles
By Ajahn Amaro
This photo-journal records a pilgrimage made in Sri Lanka in November of 2019. I had been invited numerous times to visit this ancient seedbed of Theravāda Buddhism but, prior to this present occasion, had always declined the offers. Thee reason for this was not a disinterest in the country, with its ancient Buddhist traditions and numerous holy places, rather it was that, if I was going to go, I wanted to go quietly as a pilgrim and not on a teaching tour or part of a bustling group of devotees. Sometimes I wondered if I was being too fussy or narrow on this score but, in retrospect, I am very glad to have waited for forty years to make the journey.
Free download available:
https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/12/Copper-Isle-Miles-Web.pdf
===
Copper Isle Miles
By Ajahn Amaro
This photo-journal records a pilgrimage made in Sri Lanka in November of 2019. I had been invited numerous times to visit this ancient seedbed of Theravāda Buddhism but, prior to this present occasion, had always declined the offers. Thee reason for this was not a disinterest in the country, with its ancient Buddhist traditions and numerous holy places, rather it was that, if I was going to go, I wanted to go quietly as a pilgrim and not on a teaching tour or part of a bustling group of devotees. Sometimes I wondered if I was being too fussy or narrow on this score but, in retrospect, I am very glad to have waited for forty years to make the journey.
Free download available:
https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/12/Copper-Isle-Miles-Web.pdf
===
👍1👏1👌1
Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
Free Buddhism ebook
Copper Isle Miles
By Ajahn Amaro
This photo-journal records a pilgrimage made in Sri Lanka in November of 2019. I had been invited numerous times to visit this ancient seedbed of Theravāda Buddhism but, prior to this present occasion, had always declined the offers. Thee reason for this was not a disinterest in the country, with its ancient Buddhist traditions and numerous holy places, rather it was that, if I was going to go, I wanted to go quietly as a pilgrim and not on a teaching tour or part of a bustling group of devotees. Sometimes I wondered if I was being too fussy or narrow on this score but, in retrospect, I am very glad to have waited for forty years to make the journey.
Free download available:
https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/12/Copper-Isle-Miles-Web.pdf
===
Copper Isle Miles
By Ajahn Amaro
This photo-journal records a pilgrimage made in Sri Lanka in November of 2019. I had been invited numerous times to visit this ancient seedbed of Theravāda Buddhism but, prior to this present occasion, had always declined the offers. Thee reason for this was not a disinterest in the country, with its ancient Buddhist traditions and numerous holy places, rather it was that, if I was going to go, I wanted to go quietly as a pilgrim and not on a teaching tour or part of a bustling group of devotees. Sometimes I wondered if I was being too fussy or narrow on this score but, in retrospect, I am very glad to have waited for forty years to make the journey.
Free download available:
https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/12/Copper-Isle-Miles-Web.pdf
===
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Dambulla cave temple also known as the Golden Temple of Dambulla is a World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka. Dambulla is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka.
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15. Muñca pure muñca pacchato
majjhe muñca bhavassa pàragu
Sabbattha vimuttamànaso
na puna jàtijaram upehisi. 348.
RELEASE YOUR MIND
15. Let go the past. Let go the future. Let go the present 10 (front, back and middle). Crossing to the farther shore of existence, with mind released from everything, do not again undergo birth and decay. 348.
Story
A youth fell in love with a female acrobat and, becoming an acrobat himself, wandered from place to place. One day the Buddha met him and uttered this verse in admonition.
===
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majjhe muñca bhavassa pàragu
Sabbattha vimuttamànaso
na puna jàtijaram upehisi. 348.
RELEASE YOUR MIND
15. Let go the past. Let go the future. Let go the present 10 (front, back and middle). Crossing to the farther shore of existence, with mind released from everything, do not again undergo birth and decay. 348.
Story
A youth fell in love with a female acrobat and, becoming an acrobat himself, wandered from place to place. One day the Buddha met him and uttered this verse in admonition.
===
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Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
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On the History of Vesak
By Bhante Shravasti Dhammika
Free download available:
https://budblooms.org/on-the-history-of-vesak/
===
On the History of Vesak
By Bhante Shravasti Dhammika
Free download available:
https://budblooms.org/on-the-history-of-vesak/
===
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Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
Free Buddha Dharma ebook
On the History of Vesak
By Bhante Shravasti Dhammika
Today is Vesak, the most universally observed of all Buddhist celebrations or holidays. Traditionally it is believed that the Buddha was born, awakened and passed into final Nirvana on the same day, the full moon of the second month of the ancient Indian called Vesakha, which corresponds to the modern April-May. For at least the last 60 years Vesakha has been widely pronounced as Vesak, the Sinhalese way of saying it. Why not the Thai (Waistkha), the Tibetan (Sa Ga Dawa), the Korean (Seokga Tansinil) or the Vietnamese (Phat Dan) forms? Or for that matter, why not the Pali/Sanskrit Vesakha? Because in 1950 the inaugural meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in, paid for and very much dominated by Ceylon, and so that country’s way of saying it became current.
Free download available:
https://budblooms.org/on-the-history-of-vesak/
===
On the History of Vesak
By Bhante Shravasti Dhammika
Today is Vesak, the most universally observed of all Buddhist celebrations or holidays. Traditionally it is believed that the Buddha was born, awakened and passed into final Nirvana on the same day, the full moon of the second month of the ancient Indian called Vesakha, which corresponds to the modern April-May. For at least the last 60 years Vesakha has been widely pronounced as Vesak, the Sinhalese way of saying it. Why not the Thai (Waistkha), the Tibetan (Sa Ga Dawa), the Korean (Seokga Tansinil) or the Vietnamese (Phat Dan) forms? Or for that matter, why not the Pali/Sanskrit Vesakha? Because in 1950 the inaugural meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in, paid for and very much dominated by Ceylon, and so that country’s way of saying it became current.
Free download available:
https://budblooms.org/on-the-history-of-vesak/
===
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16. Vitakkapamathitassa jantuno
tibbaràgassa subhànupassino
Bhiyyo tauhà pavaddhati
esa kho daëham karoti bandhanam. 349.
17. Vitakkupasame ca yo rato
asubham bhàvayati sadà sato
Esa kho vyantikàhiti
esa checchati màrabandhanam. 350.
CRAVING GROWS IN THE PASSIONATE
16. For the person who is perturbed by (evil) thoughts, who is exceedingly lustful, who contemplates pleasant things, craving increases more and more. Surely, he makes the bond (of Màra) stronger. 349.
THE MINDFUL END CRAVING
17. He who delights in subduing (evil) thoughts, who meditates on "the loathesomeness" 11 (of the body) who is ever mindful - it is he who will make an end (of craving). He will sever Màra's bond. 350.
Story
A young monk was tempted by a woman who had fallen in love with him. As he was chafing under the Holy Life he was taken to the Buddha. He then related the cause of his discontent. The Buddha related an incident from a previous life of the young monk to show how he had been betrayed by that particular woman earlier too, and He uttered these verse.
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tibbaràgassa subhànupassino
Bhiyyo tauhà pavaddhati
esa kho daëham karoti bandhanam. 349.
17. Vitakkupasame ca yo rato
asubham bhàvayati sadà sato
Esa kho vyantikàhiti
esa checchati màrabandhanam. 350.
CRAVING GROWS IN THE PASSIONATE
16. For the person who is perturbed by (evil) thoughts, who is exceedingly lustful, who contemplates pleasant things, craving increases more and more. Surely, he makes the bond (of Màra) stronger. 349.
THE MINDFUL END CRAVING
17. He who delights in subduing (evil) thoughts, who meditates on "the loathesomeness" 11 (of the body) who is ever mindful - it is he who will make an end (of craving). He will sever Màra's bond. 350.
Story
A young monk was tempted by a woman who had fallen in love with him. As he was chafing under the Holy Life he was taken to the Buddha. He then related the cause of his discontent. The Buddha related an incident from a previous life of the young monk to show how he had been betrayed by that particular woman earlier too, and He uttered these verse.
===
Vajrayana Tantrayana Buddhism channel:
https://t.me/tantrayanabuddhism
Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana, Tantrayana and esoteric Buddhism channel:
https://t.me/tibetanbuddha
===
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"How should we act, Lord, respecting the body of the Tathagata?"
"Do not hinder yourselves, Ananda, to honor the body of the Tathagata... At a crossroads also a stupa should be raised for the Tathagata. And whosoever shall bring to that place garlands or incense or sandalpaste, or pay reverence, and whose mind becomes calm there — it will be to his well being and happiness for a long time."
Partial excerpt from DN 16 : Maha-parinibbana Sutta
"Do not hinder yourselves, Ananda, to honor the body of the Tathagata... At a crossroads also a stupa should be raised for the Tathagata. And whosoever shall bring to that place garlands or incense or sandalpaste, or pay reverence, and whose mind becomes calm there — it will be to his well being and happiness for a long time."
Partial excerpt from DN 16 : Maha-parinibbana Sutta
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Forwarded from Buddha
The Earth Element
A samadhi meditation for grounding ourselves
By Ajahn Sona
Part 1 of 3
Samadhi is often translated as concentration. But I like to expand upon this idea of what concentration is. It’s not strenuous practice that gives you a headache; it’s more like absorption—delicious absorption, enjoyment, even rapturous immersion in a subject. We may already be familiar with samadhi practice using the breath as the object. But there is a wide range of other meditation objects described in the suttas and, more extensively, in the commentaries. These objects are called kasinas. They are a kind of elemental, purified object that we can use to develop certain mental states.
You might be familiar with the concept of the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. These are all kasinas that we can use as objects of meditation. The Buddha pointed out that these four elements constitute the entire world, including our own human bodies. Humans are largely made up of water. We are more or less a bag of seawater—red seawater. Fortunately, we have some coral in this bag of seawater for stomping around on. That would be your bones, the solid earth element. And we have a heat element as well, which is very carefully set around 37 degrees Celsius, and a little internal heating system to maintain that temperature. This is the fire element, or the element of warmth.
As humans, we need food, which comes from the earth. Why do you need to eat the earth? Because you also are Earth. You are Earth, just as the planet is. The Earth in the body contains the Earth. You can go quite a long time without food, maybe even a month, and you might be able to go a few days without water, but you can’t go very long without the next breath. That air element is very important! And if your heat is inadequate, or too much, you die.
We cannot treat these elements like they are something distant from us. The world around us is not something other than us. We are the world. We eat the world, we breathe the world, we drink the world, and then we return our breaths and fluids and the solids back to the world. We are just a whirlpool, basically, within a river of these elements, these events.
When you start to feel and think like this, you return to home. When you get the idea that you’re somehow separate from the river of events, you are in a state of delusion and you have misidentified yourself, and you will feel alienated from the world around you. You will feel not at home in the world around you, which is ludicrous, because you are made from the world around you. Everything in the world around you is within you, and whatever is within you is without you.
This is full immersion into the truth of who you are, and if you experience it, you will recognize it as a truth. I’m not talking about mathematical truth or scientific truth, I’m talking about truth that you confirm in your very being—a profound, meaningful truth that is undeniable to you. A truth like love. Love is a truth that confirms itself undeniably. Or a great piece of music. When you hear a great piece of music that moves you, it’s a truth that confirms itself undeniably. You don’t have to ask anybody, Is this true? You don’t have to examine the material behind it. It is right there, in-your-face true.
This is how we want to experience the four elements. We want to extract the truth, let it move you and change you, and recognize it as something that emerges from you—something that you knew already but forgot that you knew.
Now I’ll cover some basics so that you can get an idea of how to practice using the elements as a kasina. But keep in mind that this is a very, very deep practice and would typically take weeks, months, or years of commitment.
It can produce several benefits, including enhancing one’s ability to sustain focused, clear attention. Of course, sustained attention is important in all aspects of life, but this particular exercise serves a higher purpose. We’re not increasing our attention simply so that we can function better in society or do better at work.
A samadhi meditation for grounding ourselves
By Ajahn Sona
Part 1 of 3
Samadhi is often translated as concentration. But I like to expand upon this idea of what concentration is. It’s not strenuous practice that gives you a headache; it’s more like absorption—delicious absorption, enjoyment, even rapturous immersion in a subject. We may already be familiar with samadhi practice using the breath as the object. But there is a wide range of other meditation objects described in the suttas and, more extensively, in the commentaries. These objects are called kasinas. They are a kind of elemental, purified object that we can use to develop certain mental states.
You might be familiar with the concept of the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. These are all kasinas that we can use as objects of meditation. The Buddha pointed out that these four elements constitute the entire world, including our own human bodies. Humans are largely made up of water. We are more or less a bag of seawater—red seawater. Fortunately, we have some coral in this bag of seawater for stomping around on. That would be your bones, the solid earth element. And we have a heat element as well, which is very carefully set around 37 degrees Celsius, and a little internal heating system to maintain that temperature. This is the fire element, or the element of warmth.
As humans, we need food, which comes from the earth. Why do you need to eat the earth? Because you also are Earth. You are Earth, just as the planet is. The Earth in the body contains the Earth. You can go quite a long time without food, maybe even a month, and you might be able to go a few days without water, but you can’t go very long without the next breath. That air element is very important! And if your heat is inadequate, or too much, you die.
We cannot treat these elements like they are something distant from us. The world around us is not something other than us. We are the world. We eat the world, we breathe the world, we drink the world, and then we return our breaths and fluids and the solids back to the world. We are just a whirlpool, basically, within a river of these elements, these events.
When you start to feel and think like this, you return to home. When you get the idea that you’re somehow separate from the river of events, you are in a state of delusion and you have misidentified yourself, and you will feel alienated from the world around you. You will feel not at home in the world around you, which is ludicrous, because you are made from the world around you. Everything in the world around you is within you, and whatever is within you is without you.
This is full immersion into the truth of who you are, and if you experience it, you will recognize it as a truth. I’m not talking about mathematical truth or scientific truth, I’m talking about truth that you confirm in your very being—a profound, meaningful truth that is undeniable to you. A truth like love. Love is a truth that confirms itself undeniably. Or a great piece of music. When you hear a great piece of music that moves you, it’s a truth that confirms itself undeniably. You don’t have to ask anybody, Is this true? You don’t have to examine the material behind it. It is right there, in-your-face true.
This is how we want to experience the four elements. We want to extract the truth, let it move you and change you, and recognize it as something that emerges from you—something that you knew already but forgot that you knew.
Now I’ll cover some basics so that you can get an idea of how to practice using the elements as a kasina. But keep in mind that this is a very, very deep practice and would typically take weeks, months, or years of commitment.
It can produce several benefits, including enhancing one’s ability to sustain focused, clear attention. Of course, sustained attention is important in all aspects of life, but this particular exercise serves a higher purpose. We’re not increasing our attention simply so that we can function better in society or do better at work.
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Forwarded from Buddha
Those may indeed be side benefits, but, ultimately, our purpose is liberation through clarity and wisdom. Clarity and wisdom are the purposes of this practice, and in the meantime, we are rewarded with a mind uncluttered of hindrances.
We are going to practice first with the earth element. There are two ways of doing this. One is using raw earth itself, which you can simply apprehend in a field of soil, or even a garden of soil. Of course, the earth itself has stones and all kinds of other aspects, but what you want to focus on is the essence of earth, which is easier noticed in soil. One of the things we want to avoid is strong coloration of the earth. So if you’re standing on a grassy field, the green of the grass and so forth is going to mix into your perceptions.
We can also use a refined earth kasina as an object of meditation. And this is perhaps how you’re going to do it in your condo in downtown Manhattan or in Berlin or wherever you may be. If you don’t have easy access to open farmland, what you can do is get yourself a disk of clay. The commentaries actually describe how a monk would make this disk. He gets some earth and extracts the pebbles and the grass from it, and then he smooths it out, mixes it with water, and puts it into a form: a little circle, maybe ten inches in diameter, preferably without much coloration.
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Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha
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We are going to practice first with the earth element. There are two ways of doing this. One is using raw earth itself, which you can simply apprehend in a field of soil, or even a garden of soil. Of course, the earth itself has stones and all kinds of other aspects, but what you want to focus on is the essence of earth, which is easier noticed in soil. One of the things we want to avoid is strong coloration of the earth. So if you’re standing on a grassy field, the green of the grass and so forth is going to mix into your perceptions.
We can also use a refined earth kasina as an object of meditation. And this is perhaps how you’re going to do it in your condo in downtown Manhattan or in Berlin or wherever you may be. If you don’t have easy access to open farmland, what you can do is get yourself a disk of clay. The commentaries actually describe how a monk would make this disk. He gets some earth and extracts the pebbles and the grass from it, and then he smooths it out, mixes it with water, and puts it into a form: a little circle, maybe ten inches in diameter, preferably without much coloration.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://t.me/lorddivinebuddha
===
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