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+ | ====== Refuge: An Introduction to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha ====== | ||
+ | <span hide> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Summary: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | <div #h_meta> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div navigation></ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to mountains, forests, | ||
+ | parks, trees, and shrines: | ||
+ | people threatened with danger. | ||
+ | That's not the secure refuge, | ||
+ | that's not the highest refuge, | ||
+ | that's not the refuge, | ||
+ | having gone to which, | ||
+ | you gain release | ||
+ | from all suffering and stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But when, having gone for refuge | ||
+ | to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, | ||
+ | you see with right discernment | ||
+ | the four Noble Truths — | ||
+ | stress, | ||
+ | the cause of stress, | ||
+ | the transcending of stress, | ||
+ | and the Noble Eightfold Path, | ||
+ | the way to the stilling of stress: | ||
+ | That's the secure refuge, | ||
+ | that, the highest refuge, | ||
+ | that is the refuge, | ||
+ | having gone to which, | ||
+ | you gain release | ||
+ | from all suffering and stress. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Contents ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[#ch1|I. Introduction]] | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[#ch2|II. Readings]] | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[#fou|The Four Noble Truths]] | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | </ul> | ||
+ | * [[#ch3|III. Essays]] | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[#mea|The Meaning of the Buddha' | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[#lif|Life Isn't Just Suffering]] | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[#eco|The Economy of Gifts]] | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[#act|A Refuge in Skillful Action]] | ||
+ | </ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | </ul> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Preface ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | This book is a short introduction to the basic principles of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dhamma (his teachings), and Sangha (the community of his noble disciples), also known as the Triple Gem or the Triple Refuge. The material is divided into three parts: (I) an introductory essay on the meaning of refuge and the act of going for refuge; (II) a series of readings drawn from the earliest Buddhist texts illustrating the essential qualities of the Triple Gem; and (III) a set of essays explaining aspects of the Triple Gem that often provoke questions in those who are new to the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The readings on Dhamma form the core of the book, organized in a pattern — called a graduated discourse // | ||
+ | |||
+ | My hope is that this introduction will help answer many of the questions that newcomers bring to Buddhism, and will spark new questions in their minds as they contemplate the possibility of developing within their own lives the qualities of refuge exemplified by the Triple Gem. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div rightalign>// | ||
+ | Metta Forest Monastery\\ | ||
+ | Valley Center, CA 92082-1409\\ | ||
+ | U.S.A.</ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== I. Introduction ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Going for Refuge ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The act of going for refuge marks the point where one commits oneself to taking the Dhamma, or the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In pre-Buddhist India, going for refuge meant proclaiming one's allegiance to a patron — a powerful person or god — submitting to the patron' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Buddhism is not a theistic religion — the Buddha is not a god — and so a person taking refuge in the Buddhist sense is not asking for the Buddha personally to intervene to provide protection. Still, one of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the tradition of going to refuge is an ancient practice, it is still relevant for our own practice today, for we are faced with the same internal dangers that faced people in the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The refuges in Buddhism — both on the internal and on the external levels — are the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, also known as the Triple Gem. They are called gems both because they are valuable and because, in ancient times, gems were believed to have protective powers. The Triple Gem outdoes other gems in this respect because its protective powers can be put to the test and can lead further than those of any physical gem, all the way to absolute freedom from the uncertainties of the realm of aging, illness, and death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha, on the external level, refers to Siddhattha Gotama, the Indian prince who renounced his royal titles and went into the forest, meditating until he ultimately gained Awakening. To take refuge in the Buddha means, not taking refuge in him as a person, but taking refuge in the fact of his Awakening: placing trust in the belief that he did awaken to the truth, that he did so by developing qualities that we too can develop, and that the truths to which he awoke provide the best perspective for the conduct of our life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Dhamma, on the external level, refers to the path of practice the Buddha taught to this followers. This, in turn, is divided into three levels: the words of his teachings, the act of putting those teachings into practice, and the attainment of Awakening as the result of that practice. This three-way division of the word " | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | When taking refuge in the external Sangha, one takes refuge in both senses of the Sangha, but the two senses provide different levels of refuge. The conventional Sangha has helped keep the teaching alive for more than 2,500 years. Without them, we would never have learned what the Buddha taught. However, not all members of the conventional Sangha are reliable models of behavior. So when looking for guidance in the conduct of our lives, we must look to the living and recorded examples provided by the ideal Sangha. Without their example, we would not know (1) that Awakening is available to all, and not just to the Buddha; and (2) how Awakening expresses itself in real life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the internal level, the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha are the skillful qualities we develop in our own minds in imitation of our external models. For instance, the Buddha was a person of wisdom, purity, and compassion. When we develop wisdom, purity, and compassion in our own minds, they form our refuge on an internal level. The Buddha tasted Awakening by developing conviction, persistence, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== II. Readings ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt>' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One, to be seen here and now, timeless, inviting verification, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples who have practiced well... who have practiced straight-forwardly... who have practiced methodically... who have practiced masterfully — in other words, the four types of noble disciples when taken as pairs, the eight when taken as individual types — they are the Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples: worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Buddha ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | I had three palaces: one for the cold season, one for the hot season, one for the rainy season. During the four months of the rainy season I was entertained in the rainy-season palace by minstrels without a single man among them, and I did not once come down from the palace. Whereas the servants, workers, and retainers in other people' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: "When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to aging, not beyond aging, sees another who is aged, he is horrified, humiliated, and disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to aging, not beyond aging. If I — who am subject to aging, not beyond aging — were to be horrified, humiliated, and disgusted on seeing another person who is aged, that would not be fitting for me." As I noticed this, the [typical] young person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: "When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to illness, not beyond illness, sees another who is ill, he is horrified, humiliated, and disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to illness, not beyond illness. And if I — who am subject to illness, not beyond illness — were to be horrified, humiliated, and disgusted on seeing another person who is ill, that would not be fitting for me." As I noticed this, the healthy person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: "When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to death, not beyond death, sees another who is dead, he is horrified, humiliated, and disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to death, not beyond death. And if I — who am subject to death, not beyond death — were to be horrified, humiliated, and disgusted on seeing another person who is dead, that would not be fitting for me." As I noticed this, the living person' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Quest for Awakening ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | So at a later time, when I was still young, black-haired, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having gone forth in search of what might be skillful, seeking the unexcelled state of sublime peace, I went to where Alara Kalama was staying and, on arrival, said to him: "I want to practice in this doctrine and discipline." | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, he replied to me, "You may stay here. This doctrine is such that a wise person can soon enter and dwell in his own teacher' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I quickly learned the doctrine. As far as mere lip-reciting and repetition, I could speak the words of knowledge, the words of the elders, and I could affirm that I knew and saw — I, along with others. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I thought: "It isn't through mere conviction alone that Alara Kalama declares, 'I have entered and dwell in this Dhamma, having realized it directly for myself.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I thought: "Not only does Alara Kalama have conviction, persistence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This is the extent to which I, too, have entered and dwell in this Dhamma, having realized it for myself through direct knowledge." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It is a gain for us, a great gain for us, that we have such a companion in the holy life... As I am, so are you; as you are, so am I. Come friend, let us now lead this community together." | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this way did Alara Kalama, my teacher, place me, his pupil, on the same level with himself and pay me great honor. But the thought occurred to me, "This Dhamma leads not to disenchantment, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt>" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, Master Gotama..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So it is with any brahman or contemplative who does not live withdrawn from sensuality in body and mind, and whose desire, infatuation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then a second simile — spontaneous, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, Master Gotama..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So it is with any brahman or contemplative who lives withdrawn from sensuality in body only, but whose desire, infatuation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then a third simile — spontaneous, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, Master Gotama..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So it is with any brahman or contemplative who lives withdrawn from sensuality in body and mind, and whose desire, infatuation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought: 'I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, then — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities — I entered and remained in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. Could that be the path to Awakening?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So when I had taken solid food and regained strength, then — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, I entered and remained in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain. With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When the mind was thus concentrated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, and resolute. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When the mind was thus concentrated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, and resolute. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When the mind was thus concentrated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, and resolute. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Through the round of many births | ||
+ | without reward, | ||
+ | without rest, | ||
+ | seeking the house builder. | ||
+ | Painful is birth again | ||
+ | and again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | House builder, you're seen! | ||
+ | You will not build a house again. | ||
+ | All your rafters broken, | ||
+ | the ridge pole destroyed, | ||
+ | gone to the Unformed, the mind | ||
+ | has attained the end of craving. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | So he went to the Mallan Sal Tree grove and, on arrival, said to Ven. Ananda, 'I have heard the elder wanderers, teachers of teachers, saying that only once in a long, long time do Tathagatas — worthy ones, rightly self-awakened — appear in the world. Tonight, in the last watch of the night, the total Unbinding of Gotama the contemplative will take place. Now there is a doubt that has arisen in me, but I have faith that he could teach me the Dhamma in such a way that I might abandon that doubt. It would be good, Ven. Ananda, if you would let me see him.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, Ven. Ananda said to him, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a second time... For a third time, Subhadda the Wanderer said to Ven. Ananda, '...It would be good, Ven. Ananda, if you would let me see him.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a third time, Ven. Ananda said to him, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, the Blessed One heard the exchange between Ven. Ananda and Subhadda the Wanderer, and so he said to Ven. Ananda, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So Ven. Ananda said to Subhadda the Wanderer, 'Go ahead, friend Subhadda. The Blessed One gives you his leave.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda went to the Blessed One and exchanged courtesies, and after the exchange of courtesies sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One, 'Lord, these brahmans and contemplatives, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord,' Subhadda answered, and the Blessed One said, 'In any doctrine and discipline where the noble eightfold path is not found, no contemplative of the first... second... third... fourth order [stream-winner, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | At age twenty-nine I went forth, | ||
+ | seeking what might be skillful, | ||
+ | and since my going forth | ||
+ | more than fifty years have past. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Outside of the realm | ||
+ | of methodical Dhamma, | ||
+ | there is no contemplative. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | And no contemplative of the second... third... fourth order. Other teachings are empty of knowledgeable contemplatives. And if the monks dwell rightly, this world will not be empty of arahants.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda the Wanderer said, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Lord, if that is so, I am willing to undergo probation for four years. If, at the end of four years, the monks feel so moved, let them give me the going forth and admit me to the monk's state.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the Blessed One said to Ven. Ananda, 'Very well then, Ananda, give Subhadda the going forth.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord,' Ananda answered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda said to Ven. Ananda, 'It is a gain for you, Ananda, a great gain, that you have been anointed here in the Teacher' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda the Wanderer received the going forth and the admission in the Blessed One's presence. And not long after his admission — dwelling alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, and resolute — he in no long time reached and remained in the supreme goal of the holy life, for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the Blessed One addressed the monks, 'I exhort you, monks: All processes are subject to decay. Bring about completion by being heedful.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the Blessed One entered the first jhana. Emerging from that he entered the second. Emerging from that, he entered the third... the fourth... the dimension of the infinitude of space... the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the dimension of nothingness... the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... the cessation of perception and feeling. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Ven. Ananda said to Ven. Anuruddha, "The Blessed One, sir, has entered total Unbinding." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, friend, the Blessed One has not entered total Unbinding. He has attained the cessation of perception and feeling." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling, the Blessed One entered the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... the dimension of nothingness... the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the dimension of the infinitude of space... the fourth jhana... the third... the second... the first jhana. Emerging from the first jhana he entered the second... the third... the fourth jhana. Emerging from the fourth jhana, he entered total Unbinding in the interim... | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the Blessed One had attained total Unbinding, Sakka, ruler of the gods, uttered this stanza: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | How inconstant are compounded things! | ||
+ | Their nature: to arise and pass away. | ||
+ | They disband as they are arising. | ||
+ | Their total stilling | ||
+ | is bliss. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Dhamma ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Basic Principles ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Phenomena are preceded by the heart, | ||
+ | ruled by the heart, | ||
+ | made of the heart. | ||
+ | If you speak or act with a corrupted heart, | ||
+ | then suffering follows you — | ||
+ | as the wheel of the cart, | ||
+ | the track of the ox that pulls it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Phenomena are preceded by the heart, | ||
+ | ruled by the heart, | ||
+ | made of the heart. | ||
+ | If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart, | ||
+ | happiness follows you, | ||
+ | like a shadow that never leaves. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Heedfulness: | ||
+ | Heedlessness: | ||
+ | The heedful do not die; | ||
+ | The heedless are as if | ||
+ | already dead. | ||
+ | Knowing this as a true distinction, | ||
+ | those wise in heedfulness | ||
+ | rejoice in heedfulness, | ||
+ | enjoying the range of the noble ones. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me"... | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir" | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are the five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that "I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging"? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that "I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness"? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that "I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death"? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that "I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me"? There are beings who feel desire and passion for the things they find dear and appealing. Because of that passion, they conduct themselves in a bad way in body... in speech... and in mind. But when they often reflect on that fact, that desire and passion for the things they find dear and appealing will either be entirely abandoned or grow weaker... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, based on what line of reasoning should one often reflect... that "I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir"? There are beings who conduct themselves in a bad way in body... in speech... and in mind. But when they often reflect on that fact, that bad conduct in body, speech, and mind will either be entirely abandoned or grow weaker... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, a noble disciple considers this: "I am not the only one subject to aging, who has not gone beyond aging. To the extent that there are beings — past and future, passing away and re-arising — all beings are subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | The non-doing of any evil, | ||
+ | the performance of what is skillful, | ||
+ | the cleansing of one's own mind: | ||
+ | This is the Buddhas' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not disparaging, | ||
+ | restraint in line with the Patimokkha, | ||
+ | moderation in food, | ||
+ | dwelling in seclusion, | ||
+ | commitment to the heightened mind: | ||
+ | This is the Buddhas' | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Growing in conviction and virtue | ||
+ | discernment, | ||
+ | a virtuous female lay disciple | ||
+ | such as this | ||
+ | takes hold of the essence within herself. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt>' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, and intellect. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the cause by which kamma comes into play? Contact... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the diversity in kamma? There is kamma to be experienced in purgatory, kamma to be experienced in the realm of common animals, kamma to be experienced in the realm of the hungry shades, kamma to be experienced in the human world, kamma to be experienced in the celestial worlds... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the result of kamma? The result of kamma is of three sorts, I tell you: that which arises right here and now, that which arises later [in this lifetime], and that which arises following that... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the cessation of kamma? From the cessation of contact is the cessation of kamma... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the way leading to the cessation of kamma? Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now when a noble disciple discerns kamma in this way, the cause by which kamma comes into play in this way, the diversity of kamma in this way, the result of kamma in this way, the cessation of kamma in this way, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma in this way, then he discerns this penetrative holy life as the cessation of kamma. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Rahula: For reflection, sir. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: In the same way, Rahula, bodily acts, verbal acts, and mental acts are to be done with repeated reflection. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whenever you want to perform a bodily act, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily act I want to perform — would it lead to self-affliction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Similarly with verbal acts and mental acts.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | While you are performing a bodily act, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily act I am doing — is it leading to self-affliction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Similarly with verbal acts and mental acts.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having performed a bodily act, you should reflect on it... If, on reflection, you know that it led to self-affliction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Similarly with verbal acts.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having performed a mental act, you should reflect on it... If, on reflection, you know that it led to self-affliction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Rahula, all the brahmans and contemplatives in the course of the past who purified their bodily acts, verbal acts, and mental acts, did it through repeated reflection on their bodily acts, verbal acts, and mental acts in just this way. | ||
+ | |||
+ | All the brahmans and contemplatives in the course of the future... All the brahmans and contemplatives at present who purify their bodily acts, verbal acts, and mental acts, do it through repeated reflection on their bodily acts, verbal acts, and mental acts in just this way. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Therefore, Rahula, you should train yourself: 'I will purify my bodily acts through repeated reflection. I will purify my verbal acts through repeated reflection. I will purify my mental acts through repeated reflection.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | That is what the Blessed One said. Pleased, Ven. Rahula delighted in the Blessed One's words. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | "Many devas and human beings | ||
+ | give thought to protective charms, | ||
+ | desiring well-being. | ||
+ | Tell, then, the highest protective charm." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ]!<span spkr> | ||
+ | consorting with the wise, | ||
+ | homage to those deserving of homage: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Living in a civilized land, | ||
+ | having made merit in the past, | ||
+ | directing oneself rightly: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Broad knowledge, skill, | ||
+ | well-mastered discipline, | ||
+ | well-spoken words: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Support for one's parents, | ||
+ | assistance to one's wife and children, | ||
+ | consistency in one's work: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Giving, living in rectitude, | ||
+ | assistance to one's relatives, | ||
+ | deeds that are blameless: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Avoiding, abstaining from evil; | ||
+ | refraining from intoxicants, | ||
+ | being heedful of the qualities of the mind: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Respect, humility, | ||
+ | contentment, | ||
+ | hearing the Dhamma on timely occasions: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Patience, compliance, | ||
+ | seeing contemplatives, | ||
+ | discussing the Dhamma on timely occasions: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Austerity, celibacy, | ||
+ | seeing the Noble Truths, | ||
+ | realizing Unbinding: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A mind that, when touched | ||
+ | by the ways of the world, | ||
+ | is unshaken, sorrowless, dustless, secure: | ||
+ | This is the highest protective charm. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Everywhere undefeated | ||
+ | when acting in this way, | ||
+ | people go everywhere in well-being: | ||
+ | This is their highest protective charm." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Generosity ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | What the miser fears, | ||
+ | that keeps him from giving, | ||
+ | is the very danger that comes | ||
+ | when he doesn' | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | No misers go | ||
+ | to the world of the devas. | ||
+ | Those who don't praise giving | ||
+ | are fools. | ||
+ | The enlightened | ||
+ | express their approval for giving | ||
+ | and so finds ease | ||
+ | in the world beyond. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, there would," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if they were to fall from there and reappear in this world: Having become human beings, would there be any distinction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, there would," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if they were to go forth from home into the homeless life of a monk: Having gone forth, would there be any distinction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, there would," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if both were to attain arahantship, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In that case, I tell you that there would be no difference between the two as to their release." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It is awesome, lord, and astounding. Just this is reason enough to give alms, to make merit, in that it benefits one as a deva, as a human being, and as a monk." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Virtue ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a noble disciple, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from taking life. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Abandoning taking what is not given (stealing), he abstains from taking what is not given... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Abandoning illicit sex, he abstains from illicit sex... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Abandoning lying, he abstains from lying... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Abandoning the use of intoxicants, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is cleansing with regard to speech fourfold? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty [i.e., a court proceeding], | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is cleansing with regard to the mind threefold? There is the case where a certain person is not covetous. He does not covet the property of another, thinking, "O, if only what belongs to another were mine!" He is not malevolent at heart or destructive in his resolves. He thinks, "May these beings — free from animosity, free from oppression, and free from trouble — look after themselves with ease." He has right views and an unperverted outlook. He believes, "There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits and results of good and bad actions. There is this world and the next world. There is mother and father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are brahmans and contemplatives who, living rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the next after having directly known and realized it for themselves." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | This is to be done by one skilled in aims | ||
+ | who wants to break through to the state of peace: | ||
+ | Be capable, upright, and straightforward, | ||
+ | easy to instruct, gentle, and not proud, | ||
+ | content and easy to support, | ||
+ | with few duties, living lightly, | ||
+ | with peaceful faculties, masterful, | ||
+ | modest, and no greed for supporters. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Do not do the slightest thing | ||
+ | that the wise would later censure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Think: Happy and secure, | ||
+ | may all beings be happy at heart. | ||
+ | Whatever beings there may be, | ||
+ | weak or strong, without exception, | ||
+ | long, large, | ||
+ | middling, short, | ||
+ | subtle, blatant, | ||
+ | seen & unseen, | ||
+ | near & far, | ||
+ | born & seeking birth: | ||
+ | May all beings be happy at heart. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Let no one deceive another | ||
+ | or despise anyone anywhere, | ||
+ | or through anger or irritation | ||
+ | wish for another to suffer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As a mother would risk her life | ||
+ | to protect her child, her only child, | ||
+ | even so should one cultivate | ||
+ | a limitless heart | ||
+ | with regard to all beings. | ||
+ | With good will for the entire cosmos, | ||
+ | cultivate a limitless heart: | ||
+ | above, below, & all around, | ||
+ | unobstructed, | ||
+ | Whether standing, walking, | ||
+ | sitting, or lying down, | ||
+ | as long as one is alert, | ||
+ | one should be resolved on this mindfulness. | ||
+ | This is called a sublime abiding here & now. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not taken with views, | ||
+ | but virtuous & consummate in vision, | ||
+ | having subdued desire for sensual pleasures, | ||
+ | one never again will lie in the womb. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Heaven ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Blinded this world — | ||
+ | how few here see clearly! | ||
+ | Just as birds that have escaped from a net are | ||
+ | few, few | ||
+ | are the people who make it to heaven. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The monks: "Yes, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then, taking a small stone, the size of his hand, the Blessed One said, "What do you think? Which is larger, this small stone that I have taken, the size of my hand, or the Himalayas, king of mountains?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It is minuscule, the small stone... It does not count beside the Himalayas, the king of mountains. It is not even a small fraction. There is no comparison." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, the pleasure and joy that the Universal Monarch experiences on account of his seven treasures and four forms of prowess do not count beside the pleasures of heaven. They are not even a small fraction. There is no comparison." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Drawbacks ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the drawback of sensuality? There is the case where, on account of the occupation by which a clansman makes a living — whether checking or accounting or calculating or plowing or trading or cattle tending or archery or as a king's man, or whatever the occupation may be — he faces cold; he faces heat; being harassed by mosquitoes, flies, wind, sun, and creeping things; dying from hunger and thirst. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now this drawback in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here and now, has sensuality for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause, the reason being simply sensuality. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If the clansman gains no wealth while thus working and striving and making effort, he sorrows, grieves and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught: 'My work is in vain, my efforts are fruitless!' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If the clansman gains wealth while thus working and striving and making effort, he experiences pain and distress in protecting it: 'How shall neither kings nor thieves make off with my property, nor fire burn it, nor water sweep it away nor hateful heirs make off with it?' And as he thus guards and watches over his property, kings or thieves make off with it, or fire burns it, or water sweeps it away, or hateful heirs make off with it. And he sorrows, grieves and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught: 'What was mine is no more!' Now this drawback too in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here and now, has sensuality for its reason... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the emancipation from sensuality? Whatever is the subduing of passion and desire, the abandoning of passion and desire for sensuality, that is the emancipation from sensuality. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Renunciation ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: There are those who, subject to death, are afraid and in terror of death. And there are those who, subject to death, are not afraid or in terror of death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And who is the person who, subject to death, is afraid and in terror of death? There is the case of the person who has not abandoned passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. When he comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, "O, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me, and I will be taken from them!" He grieves and is tormented, weeps, beats his breast, and grows delirious... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And who is the person who is not afraid or in terror of death? There is the case of the person who has abandoned passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality... who has abandoned passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for the body... who has done what is good, what is skillful, has given protection to those in fear, and has not done what is evil, savage, or cruel... who has no doubt or perplexity, who has arrived at certainty with regard to the True Dhamma. When he comes down with a serious disease... he does not grieve, is not tormented, does not weep or beat his breast or grow delirious. This is another person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, lord," the monk answered... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Ven. Bhaddiya went to where the Blessed One was staying and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, "Is it true, Bhaddiya that, on going to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, you repeatedly exclaim, "What bliss! What bliss!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you have in mind that you repeatedly exclaim, "What bliss! What bliss!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Four Noble Truths ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion and delight, relishing now here and now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of stress' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'This is the noble truth of the origination of stress' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of stress' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And, monks, as long as this knowledge and vision of mine — with its three rounds and twelve permutations concerning these four noble truths as they actually are — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the unexcelled right self-awakening... But as soon as this knowledge and vision of mine — with its three rounds and twelve permutations concerning these four noble truths as they actually are — //was// truly pure, then did I claim to have directly awakened to the unexcelled right self-awakening... The knowledge and vision arose in me: ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The First Truth ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'What do you think, monks — Is physical form constant or inconstant?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | '...Is feeling constant or inconstant? | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Is consciousness constant or inconstant?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Thus, monks, any physical form whatsoever — past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near: every physical form — is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: "This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am." | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Any feeling whatsoever... Any perception whatsoever... Any mental fabrications whatsoever... | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Any consciousness whatsoever — past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near: every consciousness — is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: "This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | That is what the Blessed One said. Glad at heart, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the group of five monks, through not clinging (not being sustained), were released from the mental fermentations. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Second and Third Truths ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | If this sticky, uncouth craving | ||
+ | overcomes you in the world, | ||
+ | your sorrows grow like wild grass | ||
+ | after rain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If, in the world, you overcome | ||
+ | this sticky, uncouth craving, | ||
+ | sorrows roll off you, | ||
+ | like water beads | ||
+ | off a lotus. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | If its root remains | ||
+ | undamaged and strong, | ||
+ | a tree, even if cut, | ||
+ | will grow back. | ||
+ | So too if latent craving | ||
+ | is not rooted out, | ||
+ | this suffering returns | ||
+ | again | ||
+ | & | ||
+ | again. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | //When this is, that is.//\\ | ||
+ | //From the arising of this comes the arising of that.//\\ | ||
+ | //When this isn't, that isn' | ||
+ | //From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | In other words: | ||
+ | |||
+ | From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.\\ | ||
+ | From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness.\\ | ||
+ | From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-and-form.\\ | ||
+ | From name-and-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media.\\ | ||
+ | From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact.\\ | ||
+ | From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling.\\ | ||
+ | From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving.\\ | ||
+ | From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/ | ||
+ | From clinging/ | ||
+ | From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth.\\ | ||
+ | From birth as a requisite condition, then old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now from the remainderless fading and cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications. From the cessation of fabrications comes the cessation of consciousness. From the cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of name-and-form. From the cessation of name-and-form comes the cessation of the six sense media. From the cessation of the six sense media comes the cessation of contact. From the cessation of contact comes the cessation of feeling. From the cessation of feeling comes the cessation of craving. From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the noble method that is rightly seen and rightly ferreted out by discernment. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | conviction has stress and suffering as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | joy has conviction as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | rapture has joy as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | serenity has rapture as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | pleasure has serenity as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | concentration has pleasure as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | knowledge and vision of things as they actually are present has concentration as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | disenchantment has knowledge and vision of things as they actually are present as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | dispassion has disenchantment as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | release has dispassion as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | knowledge of ending has release as its prerequisite. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Fourth Truth ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right view? Knowledge with regard to stress, knowledge with regard to the origination of stress, knowledge with regard to the cessation of stress, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: This is called right view. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, from stealing, and from unchastity. This is called right action. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a noble disciple, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This is called right livelihood. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right effort? There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, arouses persistence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right mindfulness? | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is right concentration? | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Right View ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Well, well. So you don't know entirely what views Gotama the contemplative has. Then tell us what views the monks have.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'I don't even know entirely what views the monks have.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'So you don't know entirely what views Gotama the contemplative has or even that the monks have. Then tell us what views you have.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'It wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, one of the wanderers said to Anathapindika the householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another wanderer said to Anathapindika, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another wanderer said, //'The cosmos is finite...' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, Anathapindika the householder said to the wanderers, 'As for the venerable one who says, //"The cosmos is eternal.// Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless. This is the sort of view I have," his view arises from his own inappropriate attention or in dependence on the words of another. Now this view has been brought into being, is fabricated, willed, dependently originated. Whatever has been brought into being, is fabricated, willed, dependently originated, that is inconstant. Whatever is inconstant is stress. This venerable one thus adheres to that very stress, submits himself to that very stress.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, the wanderers said to Anathapindika the householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'So, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, the wanderers fell silent, abashed, sitting with their shoulders drooping, their heads down, brooding, at a loss for words. Anathapindika the householder, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | As this person attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view //I have a self// arises in him as true and established, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The well-taught noble disciple... discerns what ideas are fit for attention, and what ideas are unfit for attention. This being so, he does not attend to ideas unfit for attention, and attends instead to ideas fit for attention... He attends appropriately, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: 'By and large, Kaccayana, this cosmos is supported by (takes as its object) a polarity, that of existence and non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the cosmos as it actually is with right discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'By and large, Kaccayana, this cosmos is in bondage to attachments, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Right Mindfulness & Concentration ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sister Dhammadinna: | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now how is mindfulness of in-and-out breathing developed and pursuedso as to bring the four frames of reference to their culmination? | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "(1) Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' (2) Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; | ||
+ | |||
+ | (5) He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to rapture, and to breathe out sensitive to rapture. (6) He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to pleasure, and to breathe out sensitive to pleasure. (7) He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (9) He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the mind, and to breathe out sensitive to the mind. (10) He trains himself to breathe in satisfying the mind, and to breathe out satisfying the mind. (11) He trains himself to breathe in steadying the mind, and to breathe out steadying the mind. (12) He trains himself to breathe in releasing the mind, and to breathe out releasing the mind. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (13) He trains himself to breathe in focusing on inconstancy, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, on whatever occasion a monk breathing in long discerns that he is breathing in long; or breathing out long, discerns that he is breathing out long; or breathing in short, discerns that he is breathing in short; or breathing out short, discerns that he is breathing out short; trains himself to breathe in... and... out sensitive to the entire body; trains himself to breathe in... and... out calming bodily fabrication: | ||
+ | |||
+ | On whatever occasion a monk trains himself to breathe in... and... out sensitive to rapture; trains himself to breathe in... and... out sensitive to pleasure; trains himself to breathe in... and... out sensitive to mental fabrication; | ||
+ | |||
+ | On whatever occasion a monk trains himself to breathe in... and... out sensitive to the mind; trains himself to breathe in... and... out satisfying the mind; trains himself to breathe in... and... out steadying the mind; trains himself to breathe in... and... out releasing the mind: On that occasion the monk remains focused on the //mind// in and of itself — ardent, alert, and mindful — putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. I don't say that there is mindfulness of in-and-out breathing in one of confused mindfulness and no alertness, which is why the monk on that occasion remains focused on the mind in and of itself — ardent, alert, and mindful — putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On whatever occasion a monk trains himself to breathe in... and... out focusing on inconstancy; | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how mindfulness of in-and-out breathing is developed and pursued so as to bring the four frames of reference to their culmination. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how are the four frames of reference developed and pursued so as to bring the seven factors for Awakening to their culmination? | ||
+ | |||
+ | (1) On whatever occasion the monk remains focused on the //body// in and of itself — ardent, alert, and mindful — putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world, on that occasion his mindfulness is steady and without lapse. When his mindfulness is steady and without lapse, then // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) Remaining mindful in this way, he examines, analyzes, and comes to a comprehension of that quality with discernment. When he remains mindful in this way, examining, analyzing, and coming to a comprehension of that quality with discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) In one who examines, analyzes, and comes to a comprehension of that quality with discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (4) In one whose persistence is aroused, a rapture not-of-the-flesh arises. When a rapture not-of-the-flesh arises in one whose persistence is aroused, then //rapture// as a factor for Awakening becomes aroused. He develops it, and for him it goes to the culmination of its development. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (5) For one who is enraptured, the body grows calm and the mind grows calm. When the body and mind of an enraptured monk grow calm, then // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (6) For one who is at ease — his body calmed — the mind becomes concentrated. When the mind of one who is at ease — his body calmed — becomes concentrated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (7) He oversees the mind thus concentrated with equanimity. When he oversees the mind thus concentrated with equanimity, // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Similarly with the other three frames of reference: feelings, mind, and mental qualities.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how the four frames of reference are developed and pursued so as to bring the seven factors for Awakening to their culmination. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how are the seven factors for Awakening developed and pursued so as to bring clear knowing and release to their culmination? | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how the seven factors for Awakening are developed and pursued so as to bring clear knowing and release to their culmination. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | He discerns that 'If I were to direct equanimity as pure and bright as this toward the dimension of the infinitude of space and to develop the mind along those lines, that would be fabricated. (Similarly with the dimensions of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Liberation ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Where water, earth, fire, and wind have no footing: | ||
+ | There the stars do not shine, | ||
+ | the sun is not visible, | ||
+ | the moon does not appear, | ||
+ | darkness is not found. | ||
+ | And when a sage, a worthy one, through sagacity | ||
+ | has known (this) for himself, | ||
+ | then from form and formless, | ||
+ | from pleasure and pain, | ||
+ | he is freed. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Buddha: '" | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In that case, Venerable Gotama, he does not reappear.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | '" | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'At this point, Venerable Gotama, I am befuddled; at this point, confused. The modicum of clarity coming to me from your earlier conversation is now obscured.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Of course you're befuddled, Vaccha. Of course you're confused. Deep, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. For those with other views, other satisfactions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And suppose someone were to ask you, Vaccha, "This fire burning in front of you, dependent on what is it burning?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | '...I would reply, "This fire burning in front of me is burning dependent on grass and timber as its sustenance."' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'If the fire burning in front of you were to go out, would you know that, "This fire burning in front of me has gone out"?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And suppose someone were to ask you, "This fire that has gone out in front of you, in which direction from here has it gone? East? West? North? Or south?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'That doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Even so, Vaccha, any physical form by which one describing the Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata has abandoned, its root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Any feeling... Any perception... Any mental fabrication... | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Any [act of] consciousness by which one describing the Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata has abandoned... Freed from the classification of consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Sangha ====== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The Rewards of the Contemplative Life === | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A householder or householder' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So after some time he abandons his mass of wealth, large or small; leaves his circle of relatives, large or small; shaves off his hair and beard, puts on the saffron robes, and goes forth from the household life into homelessness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he has thus gone forth, he lives restrained by the rules of the monastic code, seeing danger in the slightest faults. Consummate in his virtue, he guards the doors of his senses, is possessed of mindfulness and presence of mind, and is content... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, how does a monk guard the doors of his senses? On seeing a form with the eye, he does not grasp at any theme or variations by which — if he were to dwell without restraint over the faculty of the eye — evil, unskillful qualities such as greed or distress might assail him. (Similarly with the ear, nose, tongue, body, and intellect.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is a monk possessed of mindfulness and alertness? When going forward and returning, he acts with alertness. When looking toward and looking away... when bending and extending his limbs... when carrying his outer cloak, his upper robe, and his bowl... when eating, drinking, chewing, and tasting... when urinating and defecating... when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking up, talking, and remaining silent, he acts with alertness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is a monk content? Just as a bird, wherever it goes, flies with its wings as its only burden; so too is he content with a set of robes to provide for his body and alms food to provide for his hunger. Wherever he goes, he takes only his barest necessities along. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He seeks out a secluded dwelling: a forest, the shade of a tree, a mountain, a glen, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a jungle grove, the open air, a heap of straw. After his meal, returning from his alms round, he sits down, crosses his legs, holds his body erect, and brings mindfulness to the fore. He purifies his mind from greed, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and anxiety, and uncertainty. As long as these five hindrances are not abandoned within him, he regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a road through desolate country. But when these five hindrances are abandoned within him, he regards it as unindebtedness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, he enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | With his mind thus concentrated, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Aids to Awakening ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | But then the thought occurred to Sariputta the wanderer: "This is the wrong time to question him. He is going for alms in the town. What if I were to follow behind this monk who has found the path for those who seek it?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Ven. Assaji, having gone for alms in Rajagaha, left, taking the alms he had received. Sariputta the wanderer approached him and, on arrival, having exchanged friendly greetings and courtesies, stood to one side. As he stood there he said, "Your faculties are bright, my friend, your complexion pure and clear. On whose account have you gone forth? Who is your teacher? Of whose Dhamma do you approve?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There is, my friend, the Great Contemplative, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But what is your teacher' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I am new, my friend, not long gone forth, only recently come to this doctrine and discipline. I cannot explain the doctrine in detail, but I can give you the gist in brief." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Sariputta the wanderer spoke thus to the Ven. Assaji: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Speak a little or a lot, | ||
+ | but tell me just the gist. | ||
+ | The gist is what I want. | ||
+ | What use is a lot of rhetoric? | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Ven. Assaji gave this Dhamma exposition to Sariputta the Wanderer: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Whatever phenomena arise from cause: | ||
+ | their cause | ||
+ | & their cessation. | ||
+ | Such is the teaching of the Tathagata, | ||
+ | the Great Contemplative. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then to Sariputta the Wanderer, as he heard this Dhamma exposition, there arose the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: //Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.// | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | [According to the commentaries, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Sister Sona on Aging ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Ten children I bore | ||
+ | from this physical heap. | ||
+ | Then weak from that, aged, | ||
+ | I went to a nun. | ||
+ | She taught me the Dhamma: | ||
+ | aggregates, | ||
+ | Hearing the Dhamma, | ||
+ | I cut off my hair and ordained. | ||
+ | Having purified the divine eye | ||
+ | while still a probationer, | ||
+ | I know my previous lives, | ||
+ | where I lived in the past. | ||
+ | I develop the theme-less meditation: | ||
+ | well-focused singleness. | ||
+ | I gain the liberation of immediacy — | ||
+ | from lack of clinging, unbound. | ||
+ | The five aggregates, comprehended, | ||
+ | stand like a tree with its root cut through. | ||
+ | I spit on old age. | ||
+ | There is now no further becoming. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Punna on Death ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "...I will think, 'These Sunaparanta people are civilized, very civilized, in that they don't hit me with their hands.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But if they hit you with their hands...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "...I will think, 'These Sunaparanta people are civilized, very civilized, in that they don't hit me with a clod' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But if they hit you with a clod...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "...I will think, 'These Sunaparanta people are civilized, very civilized, in that they don't hit me with a stick' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But if they hit you with a stick...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "...I will think, 'These Sunaparanta people are civilized, very civilized, in that they don't hit me with a knife' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But if they hit you with a knife...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "...I will think, 'These Sunaparanta people are civilized, very civilized, in that they don't take my life with a sharp knife' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But if they take your life with a sharp knife...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "...I will think, 'There are disciples of the Blessed One who — horrified, humiliated, and disgusted by the body and by life — have sought for an assassin, but here I have met my assassin without searching for him.' That is what I will think..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Good, Punna, very good. Possessing such calm and self-control you are fit to dwell among the Sunaparantans. Now it is time to do as you see fit." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Ven. Punna, delighting and rejoicing in the Blessed One's words, rising from his seat, bowed down to the Blessed One and left, keeping him on his right side. Setting his dwelling in order and taking his robe and bowl, he set out for the Sunaparanta country and, after wandering stage by stage, he arrived there. There he lived. During that Rains retreat he established 500 male and 500 female lay followers in the practice, while he realized the three knowledges. At a later time, he attained total (final) Unbinding. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Sister Patacara on Awakening ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Washing my feet, I noticed | ||
+ | the | ||
+ | water. | ||
+ | And in watching it flow from high | ||
+ | to | ||
+ | low, | ||
+ | my heart was composed | ||
+ | like a fine thoroughbred steed. | ||
+ | Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut, | ||
+ | checked the bedding, | ||
+ | sat down on the bed. | ||
+ | And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick: | ||
+ | Like the flame' | ||
+ | was the liberation | ||
+ | of awareness. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== III. Essays ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Buddha ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Meaning of the Buddha' | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The two crucial aspects of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the Buddha described the Awakening experience in one of his discourses, first there is the knowledge of the regularity of the Dhamma — which in this context means dependent co-arising — then there is the knowledge of nibbana. In other passages, he describes the three stages that led to insight into dependent co-arising: knowledge of his own previous lifetimes, knowledge of the passing away and rebirth of all living beings, and finally insight into the four Noble Truths. The first two forms of knowledge were not new with the Buddha. They have been reported by other seers throughout history, although the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | This insight had a double impact on his mind. On the one hand, it made him realize the futility of the round of rebirth — that even the best efforts aimed at winning pleasure and fulfillment within the round could have only temporary effects. On the other hand, his realization of the importance of the mind in determining the round is what led him to focus directly on his own mind in the present to see how the processes in the mind that kept the round going could be disbanded. This was how he gained insight into the four noble truths and dependent co-arising — seeing how the aggregates that made up his " | ||
+ | |||
+ | When we address the question of how other " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for what the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1) The role that kamma plays in the Awakening is empowering. It means that what each of us does, says, and thinks //does// matter — this, in opposition to the sense of futility that can come from reading, say, world history, geology, or astronomy and realizing the fleeting nature of the entire human enterprise. The Awakening lets us see that the choices we make in each moment of our lives have consequences. The fact that we are empowered also means that we are responsible for our experiences. We are not strangers in a strange land. We have formed and are continuing to form the world we experience.This helps us to face the events we encounter in life with greater equanimity, for we know that we had a hand in creating them, and yet at the same time we can avoid any debilitating sense of guilt because with each new choice we can always make a fresh start. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2) The Awakening also tells us that good and bad are not mere social conventions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3) As the Buddha says at one point in describing his Awakening, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4) Even for those who are not ready to make that kind of investment, the Awakening assures us that happiness comes from developing qualities within ourselves that we can be proud of, such as kindness, sensitivity, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The news of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Dhamma ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Life Isn't Just Suffering ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | You've probably heard the rumor that Buddhism is pessimistic, | ||
+ | |||
+ | What's special about the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A fair number of writers have pointed out the basic confidence inherent in the four noble truths, and yet the rumor of Buddhism' | ||
+ | |||
+ | According to Genesis, this was the first question that occurred to God after he had finished his creation: had he done a good job? So he looked at the world and saw that it was good. Ever since then, people in the West have sided with or against God on his answer, but in doing so they have affirmed that the question was worth asking to begin with. When Theravada — the only form of Buddhism to take on Christianity when Europe colonized Asia — was looking for ways to head off what it saw as the missionary menace, Buddhists who had received their education from the missionaries assumed that the question was valid and pressed the first noble truth into service as a refutation of the Christian God: look at how miserable life is, they said, and it's hard to accept God's verdict on his handiwork. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This debating strategy may have scored a few points at the time, and it's easy to find Buddhist apologists who — still living in the colonial past — keep trying to score the same points. The real issue, though, is whether the Buddha intended for his first noble truth to be an answer to God's question in the first place and — more importantly — whether we're getting the most out of the first noble truth if we see it in that light. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It's hard to imagine what you could accomplish by saying that life is suffering. You'd have to spend your time arguing with people who see more than just suffering in life. The Buddha himself says as much in one of his discourses. A brahman named Long-nails (Dighanakha) comes to him and announces that he doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha then teaches Long-nails to look at his body and feelings as instances of the first noble truth: they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The point of this story is that trying to answer God's question, passing judgment on the world, is a waste of time. And it offers a better use for the first noble truth: looking at things, not in terms of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Other discourses make the point that the problem isn't with body and feelings in and of themselves. They themselves aren't suffering. The suffering lies in clinging to them. In his definition of the first noble truth, the Buddha summarizes all types of suffering under the phrase, "the five aggregates of clinging": | ||
+ | |||
+ | So the first noble truth, simply put, is that // | ||
+ | |||
+ | So our minds jump from clinging to clinging like a bird trapped in a cage. And when we realize we're captive, we naturally search for a way out. This is where it's so important that the first noble truth //not// say that "Life is suffering," | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is where we encounter the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So we start the path to the end of suffering, not by trying to drop our clingings immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | So the real question we face isn't God's question, passing judgment on how skillfully he created life or the world. It's //our// question: how skillfully are we handling the raw stuff of life? Are we clinging in ways that serve only to continue the round of suffering, or are we learning to cling in ways that will reduce suffering so that ultimately we can grow up and won't have to cling. If we negotiate life armed with all four noble truths, realizing that life contains both suffering and an end to suffering, there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== No-self or Not-self? ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the first stumbling blocks that Westerners often encounter when they learn about Buddhism is the teaching on //anatta,// often translated as no-self. This teaching is a stumbling block for two reasons. First, the idea of there being no self doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha divided all questions into four classes: those that deserve a categorical (straight yes or no) answer; those that deserve an analytical answer, defining and qualifying the terms of the question; those that deserve a counter-question, | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are the basic ground rules for interpreting the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So, instead of answering " | ||
+ | |||
+ | To avoid the suffering implicit in questions of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this sense, the anatta teaching is not a doctrine of no-self, but a not-self strategy for shedding suffering by letting go of its cause, leading to the highest, undying happiness. At that point, questions of self, no-self, and not-self fall aside. Once there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Nibbana ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | We all know what happens when a fire goes out. The flames die down and the fire is gone for good. So when we first learn that the name for the goal of Buddhist practice, nibbana (nirvana), literally means the extinguishing of a fire, it's hard to imagine a deadlier image for a spiritual goal: utter annihilation. It turns out, though, that this reading of the concept is a mistake in translation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | According to the ancient Brahmins, when a fire was extinguished it went into a state of latency. Rather than ceasing to exist, it became dormant and in that state — unbound from any particular fuel — it became diffused throughout the cosmos. When the Buddha used the image to explain nibbana to the Indian Brahmins of his day, he bypassed the question of whether an extinguished fire continues to exist or not, and focused instead on the impossibility of defining a fire that doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, when teaching his own disciples, the Buddha used nibbana more as an image of freedom. Apparently, all Indians at the time saw burning fire as agitated, dependent, and trapped, both clinging and being stuck to its fuel as it burned. To ignite a fire, one had to " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the image underlying nibbana is one of freedom. The Pali commentaries support this point by tracing the word nibbana to its verbal root, which means " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha insists that this level is indescribable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | So the next time you watch a fire going out, see it not as a case of annihilation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Sangha ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Economy of Gifts ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | According to the Buddhist monastic code, monks and nuns are not allowed to accept money or even to engage in barter or trade with lay people. They live entirely in an economy of gifts. Lay supporters provide gifts of material requisites for the monastics, while the monastics provide their supporters with the gift of the teaching. Ideally — and to a great extent in actual practice — this is an exchange that comes from the heart, something totally voluntary. There are many stories in the texts that emphasize the point that returns in this economy — it might also be called an economy of merit — depend not on the material value of the object given, but on the purity of heart of the donor and recipient. You give what is appropriate to the occasion and to your means, when and wherever your heart feels inspired. For the monastics, this means that you teach, out of compassion, what should be taught, regardless of whether it will sell. For the laity, this means that you give what you have to spare and feel inclined to share. There is no price for the teachings, nor even a " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The primary symbol of this economy is the alms bowl. If you are a monastic, it represents your dependence on others, your need to accept generosity no matter what form it takes. You may not get what you want in the bowl, but you realize that you always get what you need, even if it's a hard-earned lesson in doing without. One of my students in Thailand once went to the mountains in the northern part of the country to practice in solitude. His hillside shack was an ideal place to meditate, but he had to depend on a nearby hilltribe village for alms, and the diet was mostly plain rice with some occasional boiled vegetables. After two months on this diet, his meditation theme became the conflict in his mind over whether he should go or stay. One rainy morning, as he was on his alms round, he came to a shack just as the morning rice was ready. The wife of the house called out, asking him to wait while she got some rice from the pot. As he was waiting there in the pouring rain, he couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a monastic the bowl also represents the opportunity you give others to practice the Dhamma in accordance with their means. In Thailand, this is reflected in one of the idioms used to describe going for alms: //proad sat,// doing a favor for living beings. There were times on my alms round in rural Thailand when, as I walked past a tiny grass shack, someone would come running out to put rice in my bowl. Years earlier, as lay person, my reaction on seeing such a bare, tiny shack would have been to want to give monetary help to them. But now I was on the receiving end of //their// generosity. In my new position I may have been doing less for them in material terms than I could have done as a lay person, but at least I was giving them the opportunity to have the dignity that comes with being a donor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the donors, the monk's alms bowl becomes a symbol of the good they have done. On several occasions in Thailand people would tell me that they had dreamed of a monk standing before them, opening the lid to his bowl. The details would differ as to what the dreamer saw in the bowl, but in each case the interpretation of the dream was the same: the dreamer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The alms round itself is also a gift that goes both ways. On the one hand, daily contact with lay donors reminds the monastics that their practice is not just an individual matter, but a concern of the entire community. They are indebted to others for the right and opportunity to practice, and should do their best to practice diligently as a way of repaying that debt. At the same time, the opportunity to walk through a village early in the morning, passing by the houses of the rich and poor, the happy and unhappy, gives plenty of opportunities to reflect on the human condition and the need to find a way out of the grinding cycle of death and rebirth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the donors, the alms round is a reminder that the monetary economy is not the only way to happiness. It helps to keep a society sane when there are monastics infiltrating the towns every morning, embodying an ethos very different from the dominant monetary economy. The gently subversive quality of this custom helps people to keep their values straight. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Above all, the economy of gifts symbolized by the alms bowl and the alms round allows for specialization, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fact that tangible goods run only one way in the economy of gifts means that the exchange is open to all sorts of abuses. This is why there are so many rules in the monastic code to keep the monastics from taking unfair advantage of the generosity of lay donors. There are rules against asking for donations in inappropriate circumstances, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | Periodically, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Summary ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== A Refuge in Skillful Action ==== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Is human action real or illusory? If real, is it effective? If it is effective, does one have a choice in what one does? If one has a choice, can one choose to act in a way that will lead to genuine happiness? If so, what is that way? These are questions that lie at the heart of the way we conduct our lives. The way we answer them will determine whether we look for happiness through our own abilities, seek happiness through outside help, or abandon the quest for a higher-than-ordinary happiness altogether. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These questions were precisely the ones that led Siddhattha Gotama — the Bodhisatta, or Buddha-to-be — to undertake his quest for Awakening. He felt that there was no honor, no value in life, if true happiness could not be found through one's own efforts. Thus he put his life on the line to see how far human effort could go. Eventually he found that effort, skillfully applied, could lead to an Awakening to the Deathless. The lessons he learned about action and effort in the course of developing that skill, and which were confirmed by the experience of his Awakening, formed the basis of his doctrine of kamma (in Sanskrit: //karma).// This doctrine lies at the heart of his teaching, and forms the essence of the Triple Refuge. Put briefly, it states that action is real, effective, and the result of one's own choice. If one chooses to act skillfully and works to develop that skill, one's actions can lead to happiness, not only on the ordinary sensory level, but also on a level that transcends all the dimensions of time and the present. To understand this doctrine and get a sense of its full implications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Background === | ||
+ | |||
+ | People often believe that the Buddha simply picked up the doctrine of kamma from his environment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | By the time of Siddhattha Gotama, philosophers of the Vedic and Samana schools had developed widely differing views of the laws of nature and how they affected the pursuit of true happiness. Their main points of disagreement were two: | ||
+ | |||
+ | //1) Personal identity.// Most Vedic and Samana philosophers assumed that a person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | //2) Action and causality.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Samana schools rejected the Vedic teachings on kamma, but for a variety of different reasons. One set of Samana schools, called the Ajivakas, asserted that an individual' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another branch of the Ajivakas taught that action was real but totally subject to fate: deterministic causal laws that left no room for free will. Thus they insisted that release from the round of rebirth came only when the round worked itself out. Peace of mind could be found by accepting one's fate and patiently waiting for the cycle, like a ball of string unwinding, to come to its end. Although these two positions derived from two very different pictures of the cosmos, they both led to the same conclusion: good and evil were illusory social conventions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Lokayatans came to a similar conclusion, but for different reasons. They agreed with the Vedists that physical action was real, but they maintained that it bore no results. There was no way to observe any invariable cause-effect relationship between events, they said; as a result, all events were spontaneous and self-caused. This meant that human actions had no consequences, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another school, the Jains, accepted the Vedic premise that one's actions shaped one's experience of the cosmos, but they differed from the Vedas in the way they conceived of action. All action, according to them, was a form of violence. The more violent the act, the more it produced effluents, conceived as sticky substances that bound the soul to the round of rebirth. Thus they rejected the Vedic assertion that ritual sacrifice produced good kamma, for the violence involved in killing the sacrificial animals was actually a form of very sticky bad kamma. In their eyes, the only way to true happiness was to try to escape the round of kamma entirely. This was to be done by violence against themselves: various forms of self-torture that were supposed to burn away the effluents, the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite the differences between the Vedic and Jain views of action, they shared some important similarities: | ||
+ | |||
+ | These divergent viewpoints on the nature of action formed the backdrop for the Bodhisatta' | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The Principle of Skillful Action === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Instead of arguing from abstract science, the Bodhisatta focused directly on the level of immediate experience and explored the implications of truths that both sides overlooked. Instead of fixing on the content of the views expressed, he considered the actions of those who were expressing the views. If views of determinism and total chaos were followed to their logical end, there would be no point in purposeful action, and yet the proponents of both theories continued to act in purposeful ways. If only physical acts bore consequences, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The most basic lesson he learned was that mental skills can be developed. As one of the Pali discourses notes, he found that thoughts imbued with passion, aversion, and delusion were harmful; thoughts devoid of these qualities were not harmful; and he could shepherd his thoughts in such a way to avoid harm. The fact that he could develop this skill meant that mental action is not illusory, that it actually gives results. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as skill, for no actions would be more effective than others. The fact of skillfulness also implies that some results are preferable to others, for otherwise there would be no point in trying to develop skills. In addition, the fact that it is possible to learn from mistakes in the course of developing a skill — so that one's future actions may be more skillful — implies that the cycle of action, result, and reaction is not entirely deterministic. Acts of perception, attention, and intention can actually provide new input as the cycle goes through successive turns. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The important element in this input is attention. Anyone who has mastered a skill will realize that the process of attaining mastery requires attention to three things: (1) to pre-existing conditions, (2) to what one is doing in relation to those conditions, and (3) to the results that come from one's actions. This threefold focus enables one to monitor one's actions and adjust them accordingly. In this way, attention to conditions, actions, and effects allows the results of an action to feed back into future action, thus allowing for refinement in one's skill. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the first stage of his practice, the Bodhisatta refined the skillfulness of his mind until it reached a state of jhana, or concentrated mental absorption, marked by perfect equanimity and mindfulness. The question that occurred at that point was how much further the principle of skillful action could be applied. Did intentional action directly or indirectly explain all experience in the world, or only some of it? If all of it, could the same principle be used to gain escape from the suffering inherent in the world, or were the Jains right in saying that action could only keep one bound to the cycle of suffering? | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the texts tell us, the Bodhisatta' | ||
+ | |||
+ | This first insight, however, did not fully answer his question. He needed to know if kamma was indeed the principle that shaped life, not only in terms of the narrative of his own lives, but also as a cosmic principle effecting the lives of all beings. So he directed his mind to knowledge of the passing away and arising of beings throughout the cosmos, and found that he could indeed see beings dying and gaining rebirth, that the pleasure and pain of their new lives was shaped by the quality of their kamma, and the kamma in turn was dependent on the views that gave rise to it. Right views — believing that good kamma, based on skillful intentions, gave rise to happiness — lay behind good kamma, while wrong views — not believing these principles — lay behind bad. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even this second insight, however, didn't fully answer his question. To begin with, there was no guarantee that the visions providing this knowledge were true or complete. And, even if they were, they did not tell whether there was a form of right view that would underlie a level of skillful kamma that would lead, not simply to a pleasant rebirth within the cycle of rebirth, but to release from the cycle altogether. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here was where the Bodhisatta turned to look again at the events in the mind, in and of themselves in the present, and in particular at the process of developing of skillfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the first round of this new insight, he was able to identify each of these categories: stress, in ultimate terms, was attachment to anything that might be identified as a " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As a result, all present mental input into the processes of experience naturally came to a halt in a state of non-fashioning. This state opened onto an experience of total liberation, called Unbinding // | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The Teaching of Right View === | ||
+ | |||
+ | The texts tell us that the Buddha spent the first seven weeks after his Awakening experiencing that happiness and freedom. Then he decided to teach the way to that happiness to others. His teachings were based on the three insights that had led to his own experience of Awakening. Because right view lay at the heart of his analysis of kamma and the way out of kamma, his teachings focused in particular on the two forms of right view that he learned in the course of those insights: the form he learned in the second insight, which led to a favorable rebirth; and the form he learned in the third insight, which led out from the cycle of death and rebirth once and for all. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first level of right view the Buddha termed mundane right view. He expressed it in these terms: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | This passage means that there is merit in generosity; that the moral qualities of good and bad are inherent in the universe, and not simply social conventions; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The second level of right view, which the Buddha termed transcendent right view, he expressed simply as: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | In other words, this level of right view consists of knowledge in terms of the four noble truths, and might be called right view for the purpose of escaping from rebirth altogether | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as the third insight grew out of the first two insights, the second level of right view grows out of the first. Its purpose is impossible to fathom if taken outside of the context of mundane good and bad kamma and their good and bad results. Together, the two levels of right view provide a complete and complementary picture of the nature of kamma as viewed from two different perspectives. The first level views kamma as a cosmic principle at work in the narrative of each individual' | ||
+ | |||
+ | To see how these two levels of right view complement one another in shaping the form and content of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Starting with the first level of right view, the Buddha would describe good actions under two main categories: generosity and virtue. Together, the two categories could be stretched to cover almost any type of good physical, verbal, or mental deeds. For example, generosity covers not only the giving of material gifts, but also generosity with one's time, knowledge, gratitude, and forgiveness. Virtue begins with the five precepts — against killing, stealing, illicit sex, lying, and taking intoxicants — includes prohibitions against five forms of wrong livelihood — selling slaves, intoxicants, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having described good actions, the Buddha would describe their rewards, as results of the cosmic principle of kamma. The rewards here include both those visible in this world and those to be anticipated in the next. The Buddhist texts contain glowing descriptions both of the sense of well-being in the immediate present that results from good actions, and of the exquisite pleasures that rebirth in heaven entails. Implicit in these descriptions is the dark side of the principle of kamma: the inherent punishments that come from bad behavior, again both in this world and in the next: in the various levels of hell and other lower births — such as a common animal — and again in this world on one's return to the human state. | ||
+ | |||
+ | However — because finite actions can't produce infinite results — the rewards of kamma, good or bad, are not eternal. This point led naturally to the next topic in the discourse: the drawbacks of the cycle of rebirth as a whole. No happiness within the cycle is permanent; even the most refined heavenly pleasures must end when the force of one's good kamma ends, and one is forced to return to the rough and tumble of lower realms of being. The changeability of the mind lying behind the creation of kamma means that the course of an individual' | ||
+ | |||
+ | These considerations led naturally to the next topic of the discourse: renunciation. Having realized the fleeting nature of even the most refined pleasures in the round of rebirth, the sensitive listener would be prepared to look favorably on the idea of renouncing any aspiration for happiness within the round, and cultivating the path to release. The texts compare this mental preparation to the act of washing a cloth so that it would be ready to take dye. This was when the Buddha would take the listener beyond the level of mundane right view and broach the transcendent level. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The texts describing the steps of the graduated discourse describe this step simply as "the teaching special to the Buddhas: stress, its origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | === This/That Conditionality === | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The most basic version of right view is simply the causal principle of feedback loops that the Buddha found in the process of developing skillful action. He called this principle " | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | "(1) When this is, that is. | ||
+ | (2) From the arising of this comes the arising of that. | ||
+ | (3) When this isn't, that isn't. | ||
+ | (4) From the stopping of this comes the stopping of that." | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the many possible ways of interpreting this formula, only one does justice both to the way the formula is worded and to the complex, fluid manner in which specific examples of causal relationships are described in the texts. That way is to view the formula as the interplay of two causal principles: one // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although each principle seems simple, their interaction makes their consequences very complex. To begin with, every act has repercussions in the present moment together with reverberations extending into the future. Depending on the intensity of the act, these reverberations can last for a very short or a very long time. Thus every event takes place in a context determined by the combined effects of past events coming from a wide range in time, together with the effects of present acts. These effects can intensify one another, can coexist with little interaction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The complexity of the system is further enhanced by the fact that both causal principles meet at the mind. Through its views and intentions, the mind keeps both principles active. Through its sensory powers, it is affected by the results of the causes it has set in motion. This allows for the causal principles to feed back into themselves, as the mind reacts to the results of its own actions. These reactions can form positive feedback loops, intensifying the original input and its results, much like the howl in a speaker placed next to the microphone feeding into it. They can also create negative feedback loops, counteracting the original input, in the same way that a thermostat turns off a heater when the temperature in a room is too high, and turns it on again when it gets too low. Because the results of actions can be immediate, and the mind can react to them immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this way, the combination of two causal principles — influences from the past interacting with those in the immediate present — accounts for the complexity of causal relationships on the level of immediate experience. However, the combination of the two principles also opens the possibility for finding a systematic way to break the causal web. If causes and effects were entirely linear, the cosmos would be totally deterministic, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition, the non-linearity of this/that conditionality explains why heightened skillfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Dependent Co-arising === | ||
+ | |||
+ | The teaching on dependent co-arising helps to provide more detailed instructions on this point, showing precisely where the cycle of kamma provides openings for more skillful present input. In doing so, it both explains the importance of the act of attention in developing heightened skillfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dependent co-arising shows how the cosmos, when viewed in the context of how it is directly experienced by a person developing skillfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Included in this list is the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once there is birth in a particular realm, the nexus of name-and-form with consciousness accounts for the arising and survival of the active organism within that realm. Without consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This interplay of name, form, and consciousness provides an answer to the quandary of how the stress and suffering inherent in the cycle of action can be ended. If one tried simply to stop the cycle through a direct intention, the intention itself would count as kamma, and thus as a factor to keep the cycle going. This double bind can be dissolved, however, if one can watch as the contact between consciousness and the cycle naturally falls away. This requires, not inaction, but more and more appropriate attention to the process of kamma itself. When one's attention to and mastery of the process becomes fully complete, there occurs a point of equipoise called " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As this analysis shows, the most important obstacle to release is the ignorance that keeps attention from being fully perceptive. As the Buddha traced the element of ignorance that underlay the processes of mental fabrication, | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The Four Noble Truths === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because knowledge in terms of the four noble truths is what ends ignorance and craving, the Buddha most often expressed transcendent right view in their terms. These truths focus the analysis of kamma directly on the question of stress and suffering: issues at the heart of the narratives that people make of their own life experiences. As the Buddha noted in his second insight, his memory of previous lives included his experience of pleasure and pain in each life, and most people — when recounting their own lives — tend to focus on these issues as well. The four truths, however, do not stop simply with tales about stress: they approach it from the problem-solving perspective of a person engaged in developing a skill. What this means for the meditator trying to master heightened skillfulness is that these truths cannot be fully comprehended by passive observation. Only by participating sensitively in the process of developing skillful powers of mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The Knowledge of Unbinding === | ||
+ | |||
+ | The truth of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Faith in the Principle of Kamma === | ||
+ | |||
+ | From this discussion it should become clear why kamma, as an article of faith, is a necessary factor in the path of Buddhist practice. The teaching on kamma, in its narrative and cosmological forms, provides the context for the practice, giving it direction and urgency. Because the cosmos is governed by the laws of kamma, those laws provide the only mechanism by which happiness can be found. But because good and bad kamma, consisting of good and bad intentions, simply perpetuate the ups and downs of experience in the cosmos, a way must be found out of the mechanism of kamma by mastering it in a way that allows it to disband in an attentive state of non-intention. And, because there is no telling what sudden surprises the results of one's past kamma may still hold in store, one should try to develop that mastery as quickly as possible. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In its " | ||
+ | |||
+ | In terms of focus, the principle of scale invariance means that the complexities of kamma can be mastered by giving total attention to phenomena in and of themselves in the immediate present. These phenomena are then analyzed in terms of the four noble truths, the terms used in observing and directing the experience of developing the qualities of skillful action. The most immediate skillful kamma that can be observed on this level is the mastery of the very same mental qualities that are supporting this refined level of focus and analysis: mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is entirely possible that a person with no firm conviction in the principle of kamma can follow parts of the Buddhist path, including mindfulness and concentration practices, and gain positive results from them. For instance, one can pursue mindfulness practice for the sense of balance, equanimity, and peace it gives to one's daily life, or for the sake of bringing the mind to the present for the purpose of spontaneity and "going with the flow." The full practice of the path, however, is a skillful diverting of the flow of the mind from its habitual kammic streams to the stream of Unbinding. As the Buddha said, this practice requires a willingness to " | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are many well-known passages in the Canon where the Buddha asks his listeners not to accept his teachings simply on faith, but these remarks were directed to people just beginning the practice. Beginners need only accept the general principles of skillful action on a trial basis, focusing on the input that their intentions are putting into the causal system at the present moment, and exploring the connection between skillful intentions and favorable results. The more complex issues of kamma come into play at this level only in forcing one to be patient with the practice. Many times skillful intentions do not produce their favorable results immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As one progresses on the path, however — and as the process of developing skillfulness in and of itself gradually comes to take center stage in one's awareness — the actual results of developing skillfulness should give greater and greater reason for conviction in the principle of kamma. Except in cases where people fall into the trap of heedlessness or complacency, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This, then, is the sense in which kamma, or intentional action, forms the basic refuge for the person on the path. On the one hand, as a doctrine, it provides guidance to the proper path of action, and encouragement to muster the energy needed to follow the path. On the other hand, as the actual principle by which skillful action is brought to a pitch of non-fashioning on the threshold of the Deathless, it provides the mechanism by which human effort and action can bring about the ultimate in genuine happiness. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Glossary ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <dl class=' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Arahant: | ||
+ | :: A " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Asava: | ||
+ | :: Fermentation; | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Bodhisatta (Bodhisattva): | ||
+ | :: "A being (striving for) Awakening;" | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Deva: | ||
+ | :: Literally, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Dhamma (Dharma): | ||
+ | :: Event; phenomenon; the way things are in and of themselves; their inherent qualities; the basic principles underlying their behavior. Also, principles of human behavior, qualities of mind, both in a neutral and in a positive sense. By extension, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Jhana: | ||
+ | :: Mental absorption. A state of strong concentration focused in a single sensation or mental notion. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Kamma (Karma): | ||
+ | :: Intentional acts that results in states of becoming and rebirth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Nibbana (Nirvana): | ||
+ | :: Literally, the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Pali: | ||
+ | :: The canon of texts preserved by the Theravada school and, by extension, the language in which those texts are composed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Patimokkha: | ||
+ | :: Basic code of monastic discipline, composed of 227 rules for monks and 310 rules for nuns. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Sangha: | ||
+ | :: On the conventional // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Tathagata: | ||
+ | :: Literally, "one who has become real // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Vinaya: | ||
+ | :: The monastic discipline, whose rules and traditions comprise six volumes in printed text. The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | </dl> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Abbreviations ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | |A|Anguttara Nikaya| | ||
+ | |Cv|Cullavagga| | ||
+ | |D|Digha Nikaya| | ||
+ | |Dhp|Dhammapada| | ||
+ | |Iti|Itivuttaka| | ||
+ | |M|Majjhima Nikaya| | ||
+ | |Mv|Mahavagga| | ||
+ | |S|Samyutta Nikaya| | ||
+ | |Sn|Sutta Nipata| | ||
+ | |Thig|Therigatha| | ||
+ | |Ud|Udana| | ||
+ | |||
+ | References to D, M, and Iti are to discourse. References to Dhp are to verse. References to Mv and Cv are to chapter, section, and sub-section. References to the remaining texts are to chapter //(vagga, nipata,// or // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div epi> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sabbe satta sada hontu\\ | ||
+ | Avera sukha-jivino\\ | ||
+ | Katam puñña-phalam\\ | ||
+ | Sabbe bhagi bhavantu te. | ||
+ | |||
+ | May all beings always live happily\\ | ||
+ | Free from animosity\\ | ||
+ | May all share in the blessings\\ | ||
+ | Springing from the good I have done. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div showmore> | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div f_zzecopy> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # |