9. Yassa kàyena vàcàya
manasà natthi dukkatam
Samvutam tãhi ñhànehi
tam aham brumi brahmanam. 391.

HE IS A TRUE BRAHMANA WHO IS WELL-RESTRAINED

9. He that does no evil through body, speech or mind, who is restrained in these three respects - him I call a brahmana. 391.

Story

Some nuns would not observe the vinaya ceremonies with the Venerable Mahà Pajàpati Gotami since they doubted her authenticity as a bhikkhunã (nun). The Buddha explained matters and remarked that no doubts should be entertained with regard to a Passionless One who is restrained in the three doors (i.e., body, speech and mind).
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“Suppose, mendicants, there was a lake that was cloudy, murky, and muddy. A person with clear eyes standing on the bank would not see the clams and mussels, and pebbles and gravel, and schools of fish swimming about or staying still. [...]

“Suppose, mendicants, there was a lake that was transparent, clear, and unclouded. A person with clear eyes standing on the bank would see the clams and mussels, and pebbles and gravel, and schools of fish swimming about or staying still. Why is that? Because the water is unclouded. In the same way, that a mendicant whose mind is not clouded would know what’s for their own good, the good of another, or the good of both; or that they would realize any superhuman distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones: this is quite possible. Why is that? Because their mind is unclouded.”

AN 1.45-46 : Udakarahaka Suttas: A Pool of Water

Ajahn Amaro

Just Another Thing in the Forest

Ajahn Amaro, the co-abbot of Abhayagiri forest monastery in northern California, on the renunciant life, divesting the heart of baggage, and feeding the mosquitoes.

Part 3 of 3


Do you foresee that Theravada monasticism—which from a Western perspective is the most conservative or even fundamentalist tradition—may end up offering Western Buddhism a “radical” alternative to the mixed, “commune” style that has shaped Western residential centers in this country for the last forty years? That’s been an interesting thing to watch here in the United States—the number of people in other traditions where there’s marriage and mixed communities, wanting to learn about our tradition. It’s because they come from mixed communities, and the pairing off that happens can create immense headaches. You’re putting together people in this crucible and developing this immense intimacy. In a monastery there’s tremendous intimacy between the monks and the nuns. You’re really affecting each other. Then, if you’ve got the whole sexual element in addition to that, and who’s with who, and who used to be with who, and I can’t sit next to so-and-so in the zendo—aagh!—there are that many more karmic whirlpools.

And how would the Theravadin model help? This tradition is very workable. People have to understand that renunciation and celibacy are not some kind of weird quirks left over from a spiritual authoritarian. The Buddha was an immensely pragmatic person. And he was totally beyond suffering. If you’re incapable of suffering, why would you choose to live as a barefoot celibate mendicant wandering around Bihar for forty-five years? Why not just go back to the palace and move in with Yashodhara [Siddhartha’s wife] again? Why was the Buddha a monk? And why did he live in the forest? And the answer, I feel, is that that simplicity of living is the most delightful way to be. And when the heart is utterly free from delusion and compulsions, you don’t want to have sex, you don’t want to lie, you don’t want to be burdening yourself with a load of unnecessary duties. If people who want to offer you some alms food aren’t around, then fine—you just help yourself to some water out of the creek and fast for a few days.

Do you think a mendicant life can really work here? Many years ago Ajaan Chah asked Ajahn Sumedho if he ever thought he’d move back to the West. And Ajahn Sumedho said, “No way. There wouldn’t be anyone to offer you alms food. How would you live?” And Ajaan Chah just said, “Do you mean to say there are no kind people in America?” And that was the moment he knew he’d be coming back to the West. Because that’s all it takes. If you’re living in a way that warms people’s hearts, they’ll want to support you. Renunciation is a state of freedom. That’s what it’s about. But there’s a quality of the American mind that really fears renunciation. You can’t talk about ending suffering, you have to talk about maximizing happiness [laughs]. People don’t like that negativity. But Buddhist practice only works when it’s on the edge. And that’s what the renunciant lifestyle is about, what living in the wilderness is about, what meditation is all about—getting to the edge. Because that’s where we are transformed. What we’re trying to do is create a situation that preserves the sharpness of the edge. We try to keep the principles of living on dana (charity) and never charging for the teachings and trying to stay very clearly in accord with the Buddha’s teachings on liberation, and not water that down so that it has a pleasant or familiar taste.

But if it doesn’t feel pleasant, is there any hope for people sticking with it? The Buddha’s method is not dogmatic. If it works, it’ll last. If it doesn’t, it won’t. A lot of people have thrown themselves into meditation retreats or vipassana and then they hit a sort of dry patch—so they get interested in things like Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta.

And what’s fascinating is that now the leaders of the American vipassana movement are saying, “Of all the teachings, I find that the teachings of the Thai forest masters are closest to Dzogchen.” It’s like, “Where have you been hiding?” We weren’t hiding. And some of those people have developed a real appreciation that within their own monastic tradition—the very one they were trying to pull away from—there is the very jewel that they had been seeking in Hindu or Tibetan traditions.

And what is it exactly? What do people need that the forest tradition has? The teachings on emptiness. On non-abiding. I went on a retreat with a Tibetan rinpoche and had read a few books on Dzogchen, and I thought, “This is our song.” Liberation through seeing with naked awareness. That teaching has been missing from some of the schools of meditation, like the vipassana movement, where it’s almost as if the teaching is about trying to neutralize the senses, getting a degree of concentration and focus and looking upon the senses as the enemy. That’s really exalting states of concentration where everything disappears. I think a lot of people have gotten weary of that—you arrive at this morbio inferiori and say, “This is it? This big empty blank space?” Like being shut in an empty refrigerator—nothing there, but it’s pretty cold. So people have been turning to these other traditions to pull themselves back to that insight: The nature of mind is intrinsically pure, and then defilements come and obscure it. But there is nothing to perfect, and there’s no one to perfect it. Just stop being confused. Be quiet. Wake up. And there it is. That’s the national anthem of the forest monks of Thailand.
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Ajahn Amaro is the abbot of Amaravati Buddhist monastery in southeast England, and co-founder and former co-abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist monastery in Redwood Valley, California.
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Part 1 of 3:

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Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Bases for Success
Six Dhamma Talks on the Four Iddhipādas
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Six talks on the four iddhipādas: the most neglected of the teachings that the Buddha said were central to maintaining his message.

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Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Bases for Success
Six Dhamma Talks on the Four Iddhipādas
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Six talks on the four iddhipādas: the most neglected of the teachings that the Buddha said were central to maintaining his message.

Free download here:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/Bases_forSuccess_251113.pdf
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10. Yamhà dhammam vijàneyya
sammàsambuddhadesitam
Sakkaccam tam namasseyya
aggihuttam'va bràhmano. 392.

HONOUR TO WHOM HONOUR IS DUE

10. If from anybody one should understand the doctrine preached by the Fully Enlightened One, devoutly should one reverence him, as a brahmin reveres the sacrificial fire. 392.

Story

The Venerable Sàriputta, in reverencing his first teacher, the Venerable Assaji, from whom he had learnt the Dhamma, used to turn in the direction of Assaji's abode. Some monks misconstrued his action and reported to the Buddha that Sàriputta was reverencing the cardinal points. 18 The Buddha defended him and explained the attitude of a pupil towards his teacher.
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Breathing in heavily/lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing in heavily/lightly.’ Breathing out heavily/lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing out heavily/lightly.’

They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe in experiencing the whole body.’ They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe out experiencing the whole body.

They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe in stilling the physical process.’ They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe out stilling the physical process.’

And so they meditate observing an aspect of the body internally, externally, and both internally and externally. They meditate observing the body as liable to originate, as liable to fall, and as liable to both originate and vanish. Or mindfulness is established that the body exists, to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness. They meditate independent, not grasping at anything in the world.

That’s how a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body


Partial excerpts from MN 10: Mahasatipatthanasutta

Giant standing Buddha statue at the Wat Thai monastery in Sarnath, near Varanasi, Bharat Ganrajya.

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The Life and Times of the Buddha-Sasana
By Bhikkhu Cintita


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A Culture of Awakening
The Life and Times of the Buddha-Sasana
By Bhikkhu Cintita

The Buddha-Sāsana, is the living Dharma, that is, Buddhism in its personal, cultural, social and historical dimensions, something organic, located in time and space, that can grow, thrive, self-regulate, propagate, uphold authenticity, and brighten any landscape with its civilizing influence. It was explicitly propounded in the early teachings of the Buddha and set in motion in a form and functionality that it has maintained surprisingly well over a span of a hundred generations. The Buddha-Sasana is the source of the malleability and resilience that once made Buddhism the first world religion and that is characteristic of Buddhism to this day. It has been the basis of a culture of Awakening in many Asian lands.

This rather unique book lays bare the inner life of the Buddha-Sasana to reveal why Buddhism has proved so adaptable to cultural influences yet so faithful to its original message. Significantly, it explores the condition of the Buddha-Sasana as it is taking root in the West. It will be an aid in developing healthy and inclusive Buddhist communities, in instilling a sense of responsibility for upholding the Sasana, in understanding and navigating the many varieties of Buddhist doctrine, and in making sense of the variety of “religious accretions” in Buddhism.

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11. Na jañàhi na gottena
na jaccà hoti bràhmano
Yamhi saccañ ca dhammo ca
so sucã so ca bràhmano. 393.

PURE IS HE WHO IS TRUTHFUL AND RIGHTEOUS

11. Not by matted hair, nor by family, nor by birth does one become a brahmana. But in whom there exist both truth 19 and righteousness, 20 pure is he, a brahmana is he. 393.

Story

A brahmin by birth approached the Buddha and requested Him to address him as "brahmana" just as the monks were addressed. Thereupon the Buddha uttered this verse.
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It would be more fruitful to go for refuge to the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha with a confident heart than to build a dwelling for the Saṅgha of the four quarters.

It would be more fruitful to undertake the training rules—not to kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or consume beer, wine, and liquor intoxicants—than to go for refuge to the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha with a confident heart.

It would be more fruitful to develop a heart of love—even just as long as it takes to pull a cow’s udder—than to undertake the training rules.

It would be more fruitful to develop the perception of impermanence—even for as long as a finger-snap—than to do all of these things, including developing a heart of love for as long as it takes to pull a cow’s udder.”

Partial excerpts from AN 9.20 : Velama Sutta

Furthermore, when a mendicant is walking they know: ‘I am walking.’ When standing they know: ‘I am standing.’ When sitting they know: ‘I am sitting.’ And when lying down they know: ‘I am lying down.’ Whatever posture their body is in, they know it.

And so they meditate observing an aspect of the body internally, externally, and both internally and externally. They meditate observing the body as liable to originate, as liable to fall, and as liable to both originate and vanish. Or mindfulness is established that the body exists, to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness. They meditate independent, not grasping at anything in the world.

That too is how a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body.


Partial excerpts from MN 10: Mahasatipatthanasutta

So I have heard. At Sāvatthī.

“Mendicants, form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness are impermanent.

Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness. Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed. When they’re freed, they know they’re freed.

They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’”

SN 22.12 : Aniccasutta

The Four Highest Emotions

Ayya Khema on cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

Part 1 of 3


When we think of love, we have ideas that are purely personal and, on the whole, quite fanciful. They are based in general on our desire to be loved, from which we expect fulfillment.

In reality love fulfills only the one who loves. If we understand love as a quality of the heart, just as intelligence is a quality of the mind, then we won’t deal with love as people customarily do. As a rule, we divide our hearts into different compartments, for lovable, neutral and unlovable people. With that sort of divided heart, there’s no way we can feel good. We can be “whole” only with a heart united in love.

Every moment we spend on the training of our hearts is valuable and brings us a step further along the path of purification.

True love exists when the heart is so broadly trained that it can embrace all human beings and all living creatures. This requires a learning process that is sometimes hard, above all when someone turns out to be very unfriendly or unpleasant. But this condition can be reached by everyone, because we all have the capacity for love within us.

Every moment we spend on the training of our hearts is valuable and brings us a step further along the path of purification. The more often we remember that all our heart has to do is love, the easier it will be to distance ourselves from judgments and condemnations. But that doesn’t mean we can no longer distinguish between good and evil. Naturally we know what is evil, but hatred of evil needn’t forever be stirring in our heart. On the contrary, we have compassion for those who act in a way that does harm.

Most of our problems are concerned with interpersonal relations. To address these, we can direct our view to the teachings on the four highest emotions. These are called in Pali the brahmaviharas; or four divine abodes. They are loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

If we had only these four emotions at our disposal, we would have paradise on earth. Unfortunately that’s not how it is, and so we rarely experience any paradisiacal feelings. Most of the time we torment ourselves with difficulties in the family, in our circle of friends, and on the job. Our mind constantly tells us about all the things that don’t suit it; and it usually fingers the guilty party, the person who’s bothering us, who doesn’t want things the way we want them. But let’s remember: whenever somebody else says or does something, it’s a matter of his or her karma alone. Only a negative reaction on our side creates our own karma.

This is what we absolutely have to understand: who is doing the loving—myself or the other? If I myself love, then I have a certain purity of heart. But if the love is dependent on this or that person or situation, then I’m passing judgment and dividing people into those I think lovable and those I don’t. We’re all looking for an ideal world, but it can exist only in our own heart, and for this we have to develop our heart’s capacity so that we learn to love independently. This means that we increasingly purify our heart, free it from negativity, and fill it with more and more love. The more love a heart contains, the more love it can pour out. The one and only thing that holds us back is our thinking, judging mind.

We’re all looking for an ideal world, but it can exist only in our own heart, and for this we have to develop our heart’s capacity so that we learn to love independently.

So the only thing that matters is to incline one’s own heart to love, because the person who loves is by nature lovable too. Yet if we love only because we want to be endearing, we succumb to the error of expecting results for our efforts. If an action is worth doing, then it doesn’t lose this value, whether we get results or not. We don’t love as a favor to another or to get something. We love for the sake of love, and so we succeed in filling our hearts with love. And the fuller it gets, the less room there is for negatives.

The Buddha recommended looking upon all people as one’s own children. Loving all men and women as if one were their mother is a high ideal. But every little step toward this goal helps us to purify our hearts. The Buddha also explained that it was quite possible that we already were mothers to all the many men and women. If we keep this fact before our eyes, it’ll be much easier to get along with people, even those who don’t strike us as lovable.

If we observe ourselves very carefully—and that’s the point of mindfulness—we will find that we ourselves are not one hundred percent lovable. We will also observe that we find more people unlovable than otherwise. That too can bring no happiness. So we should try to turn this around, and find more and more people lovable. We have to act like every mother: she loves her children even though they sometimes behave very badly. We can make this sort of approach our goal and recognize it as our way of practice.
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12. Kim te jañàhi dummedha
kim te ajinasàñiyà
Abbhantaram te gahauam
bàhiram parimajjasi. 394.

BE PURE WITHIN

12. What is the use of your matted hair, O witless man? What is the use of your antelope skin garment? Within, you are full of passions; without, you embellish yourself. 21 394.

Story

The Buddha uttered this verse in connection with an ascetic who attempted to kill a lizard.
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