Dhamma Books, Essays and Articles indexed by Author with Introduction

The following pages offer a study of meditative dimensions of the Buddha's life, based on a combination of extracts from the early discourses and discussions. With the title A Meditator's Life of the Buddha I intend to convey not only that in this book I focus on the Buddha as a meditator, in the sense of concentrating on his meditative experiences and practices, but also that my target readership is other meditators. In this way, I hope to provide inspiration and guidance for those who have dedicated themselves to meditation practice aimed at progress to awakening. In so doing, my intention is to present one possible way of understanding selected aspects of the life of the Buddha according to how these are portrayed in the early discourses, certainly not the only one, let alone the only correct one, in such a way that they can serve as an inspiration and guide for fellow meditators.

The cover of this book shows a detail from a relief that stems  from the recently excavated Kanaganahalli stupa complex in Karnataka. The depiction in the relief of acrobats performing together seems to correspond to the acrobat simile found in the Sedaka-sutta and its parallels, a suggestion corroborated by the inscription. The simile describes the need of two acrobats to make sure they protect themselves as well as the other in order to be able to perform well. The conclusion drawn by the Buddha is as follows in the Pali version:

The four satipatthanas as a set constitute right mindfulness as the seventh factor in the eightfold path to liberation. Now the members of this eightfold path that come before and after right mindfulness are the four right efforts (6th factor) and the four absorptions (8th factor). The four right efforts are clearly practices undertaken in conjunction, building on and complementing each other. Right concentration in the form of the four absorptions similarly involves levels of meditative experience that build on each other. Hence it would be natural to expect that the same applies to the four satiptthanas. Therefore a basic challenge to my mind is to find a way of practice that covers all four satipatthanas in such a way that these build on and complement each other.

The essays collected in the present book are revised versions of entries originally published in the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Sri Lanka. My main emphasis in each case is on exploring a particular term from the perspective of the early Pali discourses, while other sources, be these later Pali works, Chinese parallels, or secondary publications on the matter at hand, are taken into consideration only in a supplementary fashion.

The present work, which is the combined outcome of my Ph.D.  research at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and my own practical experience as a meditating monk, attempts a detailed exploration of the significance and the practice of mindfulness meditation according to its exposition in the Satipatthana Sutta, and placed within its early Buddhist canonical and philosophical context.

Mindfulness and the proper way of putting it into practice are certainly  topics of central relevance for anyone keen to tread the Buddh's path to liberation. Yet for a proper understanding and implementation of mindfulness meditation the original instructions by the Buddha on satipatthana need to be taken into consideration. In view of this, my inquiry is in particular concerned with the discourses recorded in the four main Nikayas and the historically early parts of the fifth Nikaya as centrally important source material.

In this article I explore the instruction given to Bahiya, which, according to the Udana account, enabled a practitioner without knowledge of other Buddhist teachings to gain full awakening on the spot. In order to appreciate better this rather succinct instruction, I turn to another instance of the same instruction, given to the Buddhist monastic Malunkyaputta, based on a translation of the Chinese Agama version of the relevant discourse. My exploration leads me to argue that there is a place for “bare awareness or bare attention within the early Buddhist scheme of meditation, even as an aspect of the mode of practice described in the Pali Satipatthana-sutta. By taking this position, I intend to defend the original intuition to this effect by the pioneer in research on satipatthana meditation: Nyanaponika Thera.

My case for considering the revival of the formerly extinct order of bhikkhuni in the Theravada tradition as legal is based on a permission given, according to the Cullavagga, by the Buddha for bhikkhus, on their own, to ordain female candidates. I refer to this as single ordination, distinct from dual ordination, which requires the collaboration of both orders.

In a monograph published recently, I examined this topic in detail. (Analayo Bhikkhu). Soon after its publication, Bhikkhu Thannissaro published a criticism of the single ordination option on his website.

In the context of the present paper, I am not able to do full justice to the detailed discussion by Bhikkhu Thanissaro. Nor am I able to reflect fully my own detailed presentation. Since both publications are available online, the interested reader could consult these in order to arrive at a more complete picture. The selected instances of criticism that I address here, however, should suffice to show that the position taken by Bhikkhu Thanissaro is not conclusive.

This book proceeds in line with my earlier explorations of the beginnings of the bodhisattva ideal and of the emergence of the Abhidharma in The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal and The Dawn of Abhidharma in the same Hamburg Buddhist Studies series. Subsequent to these surveys of developments related to the Buddha and the Dharma, in what follows I employ the same historical-critical method of comparative study to examine a development in relation to the ... the founding of the order of nuns.

THOU, who wouldst see where dawned the light at last, 
North-westwards from the Thousand Gardensâ go 
By Gungaâ's valley till thy steps be set
On the green hills where those twin streamlets spring, 
Nilájan and Mohana; follow them,
Winding beneath broad-leaved mahua-trees, 
˜Mid thickets of the sansár and the blr,
Till on the plain the shining sisters meet 
In Phalguâ's bed, flowing by rocky banks 
To Gaya and the red Barabar hills.
Hard by that river spreads a thorny waste,
Uruwelaya named in ancient days,
With sand hills broken; on its verge a wood

"Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth about ill. Birth is ill, Ageing is ill, Sickness is ill, Death is ill, likewise Sorrow and Grief, Woe, Lamentation and Despair. To be conjoined with things we dislike, to be separated from things which we like that also is ill. Not to get what one wants, that also is ill, In a word, this Body, this fivefold mass which is based on grasping, that is ill."

If one regards himself superior or equal or inferior by reason of the body that is impermanent, painful and subject to change, what else is it than not seeing reality? Or if one regards himself superior or equal or inferior by reason of feelings, perceptions, volitions or consciousness, what else is it than not seeing reality? If one does not regard himself superior or equal or inferior by reason of the body, the feelings, perceptions, volitions or consciousness, what else is it than seeing reality? — SN 22:49

This is a series of lectures by an unknown author found in the library of Chanmay Monestary in Burma, and it covers only the first chapter of the Abhidhammathasangha, a primer of Buddhist teaching going beyond the level of mindane, conventional, worldly truth, within the realm of  "me, I and mine" to the higher supramundane level of ParamatthaDhamma of no solidity and no self..

Anicca vata sankhara "Impermanent, alas, are all formations!"  is the phrase used in Theravada Buddhist lands to announce the death of a loved one, but I have not quoted this line here in order to begin an obituary. I do so simply to introduce the subject of this essay, which is the word sankhara itself.

The growing interest in women’s spirituality has led to a renewed focus upon the Therigatha, the Verses of the Elder Nuns, as the oldest existing testament to the feminine experience of Buddhism.

Despite this recent attention to the Therigatha, however, it seems that all but a few scholarly commentators have overlooked a short chapter in the Samyutta Nikaya that serves as an important supplement to the larger work.

This is the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, Chapter 5 of the Sagathavagga-samyutta, the Connected Discourses with Verses, Volume I of the Samyutta Nikaya.

Newcomers to  Buddhism are usually impressed by the clarity and practicality of the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Path, but they might balk when it comes to the doctrine of rebirth, but Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi contends that considering rebirth makes sense ethically, ontologically and soteriologically.. He says not to be afraid of the big words because the meaning will become clear as he proceeds to develop his thesis.

As a skilled and versatile teacher with mastery over pedagogic technique, the Buddha adopted different styles of presentation to communicate the Dhamma to his disciples.

Often he would explain a teaching in detail (vittharena). Having introduced his topic with a short statement, technically called the uddesa or synopsis, he would then embark on the detailed exposition, the niddesa, also called the analysis, the vibhanga. In this stage of the discourse he would break the subject introduced by the synopsis down into its component strands, define each strand in turn, and draw out its implications, sometimes attaching a simile to illustrate the message of the discourse.

The course of spiritual training taught by the Buddha is a double process of self-transformation and self-transcendence issuing in complete emancipation from suffering.

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Baranasi in the Deer Park at Isipatana. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus of the group of five thus:

"Bhikkhus, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone-forth into homelessness. What two? The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial; and the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, unbeneficial. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana.

In ancient India there were a significant number of philisophical views about life, existence and the cosmos held by different sects and teachers who used to argue the points in public placea and in many cases earned their living therefrom. The buddha did not normally get into such argumentation for the sake of winning but such varied views kept coming up in questions in dialogues and the Buddha was able to answer such queries  coherently and successfully.

The present work offers a complete translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, “The Connected Discourses of the Buddha,” the third major collection in the Sutta Piṭaka, or “Basket of Discourses,” belonging to the Pāli Canon. The collection is so named because the suttas in any given chapter are connected (saṃyutta) by the theme after which the chapter is named. The full Saṃyutta Nikāya has been translated previously and published in five volumes by the Pali Text Society under the title The Book of Kindred Sayings. The first two volumes were translated by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids, the last three by F.L. Woodward. This translation, first issued between 1917 and 1930, is dated both in style and technical terminology, and thus a fresh rendition of the Saṃyutta Nikāya into English has long been an urgent need for students of early Buddhism unable to read the texts in the original Pāli.The present work offers a complete translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, “The Connected Discourses of the Buddha,” the third major collection in the Sutta Piṭaka, or “Basket of Discourses,” belonging to the Pāli Canon. The collection is so named because the suttas in any given chapter are connected (saṃyutta) by the theme after which the chapter is named. The full Saṃyutta Nikāya has been translated previously and published in five volumes by the Pali Text Society under the title The Book of Kindred Sayings. The first two volumes were translated by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids, the last three by F.L. Woodward. This translation, first issued between 1917 and 1930, is dated both in style and technical terminology, and thus a fresh rendition of the Saṃyutta Nikāya into English has long been an urgent need for students of early Buddhism unable to read the texts in the original Pāli.The present work offers a complete translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, “The Connected Discourses of the Buddha,” the third major collection in the Sutta Piṭaka, or “Basket of Discourses,” belonging to the Pāli Canon. The collection is so named because the suttas in any given chapter are connected (saṃyutta) by the theme after which the chapter is named. The full Saṃyutta Nikāya has been translated previously and published in five volumes by the Pali Text Society under the title The Book of Kindred Sayings. The first two volumes were translated by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids, the last three by F.L. Woodward. This translation, first issued between 1917 and 1930, is dated both in style and technical terminology, and thus a fresh rendition of the Saṃyutta Nikāya into English has long been an urgent need for students of early Buddhism unable to read the texts in the original Pāli.

This is another one of Bhikkhu Bodhi's long translations whcih will perhaps be of special interest to those who are thinking of ordaining and may want to know the benefits of practicing the teaching as  the Buddha outlined it for those members of the Sangha who want to know more details about following the Noblepath right to the end.

THE PRESENT WORK OFFERS a complete translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, one of the major collections in the Sutta Pitaka or "Basket of Discourses" belonging to the Pali Canon. This vast body of scriptures, recorded in the ancient Indian language now known as Pali, is regarded by the Theravada school of Buddhism as the definitive recension of the Buddha-word, and among scholars too it is generally considered our most reliable source for the original teachings of the historical Buddha Gotama.

The search for a spiritual path is born out of suffering. It does not start with lights and ecstasy, but with the hard tacks of pain, disappointment, and confusion. However, for suffering to give birth to a genuine spiritual search, it must amount to more than something passively received from without. It has to trigger an inner realization, a perception which pierces through the facile complacency of our usual encounter with the world to glimpse the insecurity perpetually gaping underfoot. When this insight dawns, even if only momentarily, it can precipitate a profound personal crisis. It overturns accustomed goals and values, mocks our routine preoccupations, leaves old enjoyments stubbornly unsatisfying.

I first learned to practice Buddhist meditation in 1967, during my first year at Claremont Graduate School, where I was enrolled in a doctoral program in philosophy. At the beginning of my second term, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam came to study at Claremont and was assigned to the same residence hall where I was living. I had become interested in Buddhism a year or two earlier, while I was still in college, and had even tried to meditate on my own, without success. But now that there was a monk living on the floor just below, I called on him to learn more about Buddhism and was soon practicing meditation under his guidance. He initially instructed me in meditation on the breath, and from there he led me on to the observation of thoughts and feelings. During this early stage of my practice, I did not know of a precise word to describe the process I was learning. I could see that an interesting psychological phenomenon was at play, a kind of bending back of awareness upon its own contents. But lacking the word, I thought of it simply as meditation.

WHILE STAYING at Savatthi the Exalted One said:

"The destruction of the cankers, monks, is for one who knows and sees, I say, not for one who does not know and does not see. Knowing what, seeing what does the destruction of the cankers occur? ˜Such is material form, such is the arising of material form, such is the passing away of material form. Such is feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness, such is the arising of consciousness, such is the passing away of consciousness” for one who knows and sees this, monks, the destruction of the cankers occurs.

This is a guide for integrating Buddhist practice into daily life, drawn from talks that Venerable Ācariya Mahā Boowa has given over the past 25 years to various groups of lay people— students, civil servants, those new to the practice and those more experienced. In each case he has adapted his style and strategy to suit the needs of his listeners. Some of the references made in the talks were very specific to the time, place and culture of the audience present for the talks. This point is worth bearing in mind as you read these talks.

At present, all that is left of Buddhism are the words of the Buddha. Only his teachings ”the scriptures” remain. Please be aware of this. Due to the corruption caused by the ... nature of the kilesas, true spiritual principles are no longer practiced in present-day Buddhism. As Buddhists, we constantly allow our minds to be agitated and confused, engulfed in mental deflements that assail us from every direction. They so overpow-er our minds that we never rise above these contaminating influences, no matter how hard we try. The vast majority of people are not even interested enough to try: They simply close their eyes and allow the onslaught to overwhelm them. They don't even attempt to put up the least amount of resistance. Since they lack the mindfulness needed to pay attention to the consequences of their thoughts, all their thinking and all they do and say are instances of the kilesas giving them a beating. They surrendered to the power of these ruinous forces such a long time ago that they now lack any motivation to restrain their wayward thoughts. When mindfulness is absent, the kilesas work with impunity, day and night, in every sphere of activity. In the process, they in-creasingly burden and oppress the hearts and minds of people everywhere with dukkha.

These talks, except for the first,  were originally given extemporaneously to the monks at Venerable Acariya Maha Boowa’s monastery, Wat Pa Baan Taad, in Udorn Thani Province, Thailand. As might be expected, they deal in part with issues particular to the life of Buddist monks, but they also contain much that is of more general interest.

Since the monks who had assembled to listen to these talks were at different stages in their practice, each talk deals with a number of issues on a wide variety of levels.

"... the Buddha said that it wasn’t important which day we die.
Whenever the breath runs out, that is the day.
The only criterion is our last breath..."

This book ˜Wisdom Develops Samadhi" is one of the few books written by Acariya Maha Boowa who is now the abbot of Baan Taad Forest Monastery, which is situated in the country-side close to the village where he was born and brought up. When he was old enough he ordained as a monk and some while afterwards he went away to find a meditation teacher. He was directed towards the Venerable Acariya Mun (Bhuridatta Thera) and Acariya Maha Boowa has said that as soon he met Acariya Mun, he knew that Acariya Mun was his teacher. He learnt and practised under the guidance of Acariya Mun for nine years until Acariya Mun died at the age of eighty years, after which Acariya Maha Boowa practised the way on his own in the hills and forests of Thailand. He then wandered throughout the country, going to nearly every province until he was offered land by supporters near his home village to build a forest monastery. Since then, he settled down and has lived there since.

The method of practicing Anapanasati as explained in th Majima Nikaya is complete in itself. One can understand and practice this method more easily than the methods found in other suttas, and it is more in line with The Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

BUDDHA-DHAMMA FOR STUDENTS was the result of two talks given by Ajahn Buddhadāsa, in January 1966, to students at Thammasat University, Bangkok. Then and in the years since, many young Thais had been returning to Buddhism in search of answers and possibilities not provided by their increasingly western-oriented education, so Buddhadasa goes back to the basics of Buddhist teaching and explains what it is all about. . 

"Dhammic socialism" can also be translated a "Buddhist Socialism" representing egalitarian ideals of the production and distribution of wealth, and since Buddhadasa Bhikkhu felt  that all persons should be treated equally and with goodness, the way the Buddha taught, this had obvious implications for his vision of what Thai society should be like.

Extinction without remainder  is approached in two ways: In one method, one should habitually strive for the extinction without remainder of the attachment of what is felt as ’This is I’ and ’This is mine’. In the other method, when the body is about to break up, one should let go of everything, including body, life and mind.

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu taught not so much about how to study the texts as he did about how we should live our lives. The author  offers timeless insights into the teachings of the Buddha and how they will be benneficial for everybody in society, worldwide, regardless of their religious or cultural background.

The Bodhi Tree is the nickname of the species of tree under which each Buddha awakened to suññatā. Each Buddha had a particular Bodhi tree. The Buddha of the present eaon, Gotama, realized perfect awakening under a member of the ficus family, which, due to its association with Buddhism, has been given the scientific name ficus religiosa. In India, it is now known as the pipal tree. In Thailand, this tree and its close relatives are all known as poh trees. Ajahn Buddhadāsa pointed out that all members of the ficus family lack “heartwood” or the hard inner pith found in most trees. The heartwood of the Bodhi tree is truly void. This is the emptiness which the Buddha understood. 

The Buddha-Damma is as vast as the universe and as concise as a flash of insight. and many sentient beings have got lost in between the two. Fundamental perspectives are required for us to begin sorting out and understanding the multiplicity of experiences and cosmic concepts. The present work offers a clear, direct and practical guide into the essantials  and fundamentals  of nature and the law of nature.

This booklet contains a collection of short suttas spoken by the Buddha and a passage from the Visuddhimagga, each preceded by a brief introduction by the translator. The unifying theme of these pieces may be called a positive response in dealing with provocative people and situations.

This book comprises Buddhist stories which have been selected from the old commentary to the Dhammapada. This anthology of fifty-six stories represents only a small part of the very large original work, which in its complete translation fills three large volumes. The stories selected here are perhaps among the best, and they will be those most appealing to us at a time more than two thousand years after their origin.

Mara, The Evil One

Happy are companions when the need arises...

This instruction was given by the Teacher while he was dwelling in a forest-hut in the Himalaya country with reference to Mara.

Tradition has it that at this time kings who exercised rule oppressed the subjects over whom they ruled. As the Exalted One saw men punished and persecuted under the rule of these wicked kings, he was moved to compassion.

The story goes that a certain youth of respectable family, after hearing a discourse of the Teacher, made his renunciation and went forth, obtained acceptance as a monk, and in but a few days attained arahatship. He was known as the Elder Sangharakkhita. When a nephew of the Elder Sangharakkhita came of age, he went forth under the elder, and after obtaining acceptance entered upon the rains residence at a certain monastery...

Nanda Becomes a Monk in Spite of Himself

After the Teacher had set in motion the glorious Wheel of Dhamma, he took up residence in the wilderness. Thereupon his father, the great king Suddhodana, sent ten ambassadors to him, one after the other, each with a retinue of a thousand men, saying to them,

"Bring my son here and show him to me before my face."

Mind is the forerunner of all conditions. Mind is their chief, and they are mind- made. If one speaks or acts with an impure mind, then suffering invariably follows one.

Even as a cart wheel follows the hoof of the ox, mind is the forerrunner of all good conditions. These words illustrate the main theme of the Buddhas teaching of the human mind.

To understand the word Nirvāna, one must be acquainted with the other major tenets of Buddhism. For on a conceptual level (but not on an experiential level), Nirvāna is an important part of a well-integrated philosophical system. Thus, to begin our discussion of Nirvāna let us first speak of its antithesis, saṃsāra, the so-called “world of becoming.” In Buddhism the word saṃsāra designates the entire universe of physical and psychological existence: time, space, matter, thought, emotion, volition, perception, karma, and so forth. 

The world abounds with a myriad of conflicting ideologies; each claiming the truth; each refuting the others. Dialectical materialism and Protestant theism, Roman Catholicism and pagan polytheism, spiritualism and atheism, Freudianism and Vedanta; the list is virtually endless.

One approach which the "seeker of truth can and must use in his investigation of each philosophical system is to ask the question: "How do you know?" or otherwise stated: "Why do you believe? What is the evidence? How can you be sure? Is there possibly another explanation?" This is the study known as epistemology, the study of t-he acquisition and verification of knowledge.

In the autumn of 1967 I was transferred from Belgium to Thailand. On my first weekend in Bangkok, I went to look at the temples by the river in the old part of the city. In the precincts of one of them, I stopped to look at a bookstall which displayed an assortment of Buddhist texts translated into numerous languages.

The monk behind the counter asked me what country I came from. When I told him I was from England, he picked up one of the texts and handed it to me announcing that it was the work of an Englishman. Its title was "Mindfulness of Breathing", a translation from the Pali Canon by Nanamoli Thera. Opening it I found on the inside cover a biographical note on the translator. "Nananamoli Thera", I read, "˜was born in England in 1905 as Osbert Moore." The note concluded: ˜His premature death in 1960 was a great loss to the Buddhist world."

Having a brief life sketch by Maurice Cardiff as fuel for thought, supplemented by the subject’s own words in the form of a posthumously published Note Book of his thoughts, it becomes obvious that the man who became known to the Buddhist world as Bhikkhu Nanamoli was a complex and ambiguous person.

On the one hand, a deep and careful thinker, always seeking a more complete understanding of whatever subject he was examining, and on the other, a playful and merry mischief-maker, someone who delighted in coming up with word puns and other playful tricks which kept his always curious mind in motion.

Seekers of goodness who have gathered here, please listen in peace. Listening to the Dhamma in peace means to listen with a one-pointed mind, paying attention to what you hear and then letting go. Listening to the Dhamma is of great benefit.

While listening to the Dhamma we are encouraged to firmly establish both body and mind in samadhi, because it is one kind of Dhamma practice. In the time of the Buddha people listened to Dhamma talks intently, with a mind aspiring to real understanding, and some actually realized the Dhamma while listening.

When we have no real home, we’re like an aimless wanderer out on the road, going this way for a while and then that way, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real home, whatever we do we feel ill-at-ease, just like somebody who’s left his village to go on a journey. Only when he gets home again can he really relax and be at ease.

Nowhere in the world is any real peace to be found. That’s the nature of the world. Look within yourself and find it there instead.

In my life of practising Dhamma, I didn't attempt to master a wide range of subjects. Just one. I refined this heart.

Say we look at a body. If we find that we're attracted to a body then analyze it. Have a good look: head hair, body hair, nails, teeth and skin.

The Buddha taught us to thoroughly and repeatedly contemplate these parts of the body. Visualize them separately, pull them apart, peel off the skin and burn them up. This is how to do it. Stick with this meditation until it's firmly established and unwavering. See everyone the same.

Meditate reciting"Buddho, Buddho" until it penetrates deep into the heart of your consciousness (citta). The word Buddho represents the awareness and wisdom of the Buddha.

In practice, you must depend on this word more than anything else. The awareness it brings will lead you to understand the truth about your own mind. It's a true refuge, which means that there is both mindfulness and insight present.

So I've told you a few brief stories about how I practised. I didn't have a lot of knowledge. I didn't study much. What I did study was this heart and mind of mine, and I learned in a natural way through experimentation, trial and error.

When I liked something, then I examined what was going on and where it would lead. Inevitably, it would drag me to some distant suffering. My practice was to observe myself. As understanding and insight deepened, gradually I came to know myself.

I would like to ask you about your practice. You have all been practising meditation here, but are you sure about the practice yet? Ask yourselves; are you confident about the practice yet?

These days there are all sorts of meditation teachers around, both monks and lay teachers, and I’m afraid it will cause you to be full of doubts and uncertainty about what you are doing. This is why I am asking.

It's the shortest and most direct path. You can come and argue with me on points of Dhamma, but I won't join in. Rather than argue back, I'd just offer some reflections for you to consider.

Please understand what the Buddha taught: let go of everything. Let go with knowing and awareness. Without knowing and awareness, the letting go is no different than that of cows and water buffaloes.

Wat Pa Nanachat has published many books over the years in English and in Thai but never a newsletter. This year we decided to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of a conservative wat by breaking with tradition. Many people contributed to the project with great enthusiasm, so it became a 250 page book.

Staying or going is not important, but our thinking is. So all of you, please work together, cooperate and live in harmony.

This should be the legacy you create here at Wat Pah Nanachat Bung Wai, the International Forest Monastery of Bung Wai. Don't let it become Wat Pah Nanachat of Woon Wai, the International Forest Monastery of Confusion and Trouble.

Venerable Ajahn Chah was a master at using the apt and unusual simile to explain points of Dhamma in a memorable way, sometimes to answer questions, sometimes to provoke them. He was especially talented at exploiting the open-ended nature of the simile in which some similarities are relevant and others are not using a particular image to make one point in one context, and a very different point in another.

This book is a companion to In Simple Terms, an earlier collection of similes drawn from Ajahn Chah's transcribed talks. Here, the majority of the passages come from a compilation made by Ajahn Jandee Kantasaro, one of Ajahn Chah's students, entitled Khwaam Phid Nai Khwaam Thuuk. The title of this compilation is taken from a phrase that Ajahn Chah often used to describe the misuse of correct knowledge. Ajahn Jandee, in his introduction, illustrates the principle by telling of a man he once encountered who used the teaching on inconstancy to justify the fact that he never cleaned his truck.

Question: There are those periods when our hearts happen to be absorbed in things and become blemished or darkened, but we are still aware of ourselves; such as when some form of greed, hatred, or delusion comes up. Although we know that these things are objectionable, we are unable to prevent them from arising. Could it be said that even as we are aware of them, this is providing the basis for increased clinging and attachment and maybe is putting us further back to where we started from?

Ajahn Chah: That's it! One must keep knowing them at that point, that's the method of practice.

If you have a look for yourself, you'll encounter certain experiences. There's a path to guide you and offer directions.

As you carry on, the situation changes and you have to adjust your approach to remedy the problems that come up. It can be a long time before you see a clear signpost.

If you're going to walk the same path as I did, the journey definitely has to take place in your own heart. If not, you'll encounter numerous obstacles.

Today I will give a teaching particularly for you as monks and novices, so please determine your hearts and minds to listen. There is nothing else for us to talk about other than the practice of the Dhamma-Vinaya (Truth and Discipline).

Every one of you should clearly understand that now you have been ordained as Buddhist monks and novices and should be conducting yourselves appropriately.

It's high time we started to meditate. Meditate to understand, to abandon, to relinquish, and to be at peace.

I used to be a wandering monk. I

I'd travel by foot to visit teachers and seek solitude. I didn't go around giving Dhamma talks. I went to listen to the Dhamma talks of the great Buddhist masters of the time. I didn't go to teach them. I listened to whatever advice they had to offer. Even when young or junior monks tried to tell me what the Dhamma was, I listened patiently.

I practised Dhamma without knowing a great deal. I just knew that the path to liberation began with virtue (sila). Virtue is the beautiful beginning of the Path; the deep peace of samadhi is the beautiful middle; wisdom (panna) is the beautiful end. Although they can be separated as three unique aspects of the training, as we look into them more and more deeply, these three qualities converge as one.

To uphold virtue, you have to be wise. We usually advise people to develop ethical standards first by keeping the five precepts so that their virtue will become solid. However, the perfection of virtue takes a lot of wisdom. We have to consider our speech and actions, and analyze their consequences. This is all the work of wisdom. We have to rely on our wisdom in order to cultivate virtue.

This biography of Luang Por Chah* will be an important aid in preserving the memories, and sharing the experiences, of those of us who lived and trained with him. I, myself, first met Luang Por Chah in 1967 and was immediately impressed with his silent presence. At that time, I couldn’t speak Thai, and he couldn’t speak English. At first, we relied on two Thai monks as interpreters. But they soon left, and I began to make efforts to learn the Thai language and the Northeastern diale

Using the tools of practice entails hardship and arduous challenges. We rely on patience, endurance and going without. We have to do it ourselves, experience it for ourselves, realize it ourselves.

Scholars, however, tend to get confused a lot. For example, when they sit in meditation, as soon as their minds experience a teeny bit of tranquillity they start to think, "Hey, this must be first jhana."

The whole reason for studying the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha, is to search for a way to transcend suffering and attain peace and happiness.

Whether we study physical or mental phenomena, the mind (citta) or its psychological factors (cetasika), it's only when we make liberation from suffering our ultimate goal that we're on the right path - nothing less. Suffering has a cause and conditions for its existence.

Question: When you teach about the value of contemplation, are you speaking of sitting and thinking over particular themes -- the thirty-two parts of the body, for instance?

Ajahn Chah: That is not necessary when the mind is truly still. When tranquillity is properly established the right object of investigation becomes obvious. When contemplation is True, there is no discrimination into right and wrong;good and bad; there is nothing even like that. You don't sit there thinking, "Oh, this is like that and that is like this, etc. That is a coarse form of contemplation. Meditative contemplation is not merely a matter of thinking rather it's what we call contemplation in silence. Whilst going about our daily routine we mindfully consider the real nature of existence through comparisons. This is a coarse kind of investigation but it leads to the real thing.

"Because Professor Lily de Sylva was so well-respected as a Pali scholar and so well-loved by her friends and colleagues around the world, we have put together an anthology of articles which shows not only her deep and detailed knowledge of the Pali texts but also her profound love and devotion to the world and everyting and everyone within it."

My late, respected friend, Professor Lily de Silva, wrote one of the most expert explanations of the Buddhist (Pali) term "dana" (giving) which I wish to share with you by quoting from one of her well-known essays: (Lily de Sylva 1-4, 1990)

"He who attends on the sick attends on me," declared the Buddha, exhorting his disciples on the importance of ministering to the sick. This famous statement was made by the Blessed One when he discovered a monk lying in his soiled robes, desperately ill with an acute attack of dysentery.

With the help of Ananda, the Buddha washed and cleaned the sick monk in warm water. On this occasion he reminded the monks that they have neither parents nor relatives to look after them, so they must look after one another. If the teacher is ill, it is the bounden duty of the pupil to look after him, and if the pupil is ill, it is the teacher’s duty to look after the sick pupil. If a teacher or a pupil is not available, it is the responsibility of the community to look after the sick (Vin.i,301ff.).

Introduction

Nibbana [nibbaana] is the culmination of the Buddhist quest for perfection and happiness. In order to understand the meaning of this term it is useful to refer to the verse attributed to Kisa Gotami when she saw Prince Siddhattha returning to the palace from the park on the eve of his great renunciation.

According to the teachings of the Buddha the human personality comprises five "aggregates of grasping..."

They are enumerated as:

• the aggregate of body;
• the aggregate of feelings;
• the aggregate of perception;
• the aggregate of volitional activities;
• the aggregate of consciousness;

We may wonder why the Buddha mentions only five aggregates, no more and no less. We can attempt to answer this question by analyzing any unit of experience in our day-to-day life. Suppose, for instance, we hear a big noise on the road, and we rush to the spot and recognize that a motorcycle accident has taken place; we feel sorry for the victim and want to rush him to the hospital. If we look at this experience and analyze the physical and mental phenomena involved, we will notice that they can be accommodated within the five aggregates of grasping.

The Buddha and Jesus Christ are two great spiritual leaders who founded two important world religions. Though they are similar in certain respects, they differ greatly one from the other as founders of a religion, in the same way that their doctrines differ from one another.

This paper aims at making a brief comparative study of these two great personages in their role as religious teachers.

The current crisis arising over environmental pollution and the over-exploitation of our natural resources has gripped the attention and aroused the concern of virtually every human being alive today. The anxiety provoked by the 5 “ecocrisis” stems from a cause lying far deeper than the immediate predicament which it creates. For the ecocrisis does not confront us simply as one more set of problems to be disposed of through further research and legislation. It comes upon us, rather, as a disturbing manifestation of the dangers inherent in unbridled technological proliferation and industrial growth and a grim portent of even graver dangers ahead if current trends continue unchecked. Thereby it causes us to reassess some of the basic premises upon which modern Western civilization is grounded and the goals towards which so much of our energy and wealth are directed. 

Stress is a term adopted from engineering science by psychology and medicine. Simply defined, stress in engineering means force upon an area.

As so many forces are working upon us in the modern age, and we find it extremely difficult to cope under so much pressure, stress is called the "disease of civilization.

In its earliest phase, as represented by the four main collections of the Sutta Pitaka, the focal concern of Buddhism was the attainment of nibbana by the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path. In these collections the Buddha teaches his doctrine as a direct path to deliverance, and perhaps no feature of the presentation is so striking as the urgency he enjoins on his disciples in bringing their spiritual work to completion by reaching the final goal. Just as a man who discovers his turban to be in flames would immediately seek to extinguish it, so should the earnest disciple strive to extinguish the flames of craving in order to reach the state of security, the consummate peace of nibbanaa.

Bhante Dhammika has chosen and organized significant extracts from the Word of the Buddha suitable for pondering upon daily in gradual development towards liberation from craving and woldly ways on the path leading to eventual enlightenment. 

Asoka's edicts are mainly concerned with the reforms he instituted and the moral principles  he recommended in his attempt to create a moral and just society within his realm and even the boder regions.

He had been a very harsh and cruel king in struggles and wars during his early years while consolidating  what became a vast empire, but later he converted to Buddhism became a just King and instituted what we now call the guidelines of good governence.

Godwin Samararatne was born on the 6th of September 1932 in Kandy, Sri Lanka. His father was the chief clerk of a tea estate at Hantane in the hills above Kandy and his mother was a simple up-country housewife. He had three brothers and four sisters. A younger sister died prematurely and an older brother died in a car accident on the day of his wedding. His three surviving sisters were Dorothy, Matilde and Lakshmi and Godwin was the youngest of the two surviving brothers, Felix and Hector.

Most of this book was written in 2001 although I was still tinkering with it two years later. After its completion I hesitated for a long time about publishing it thinking that it might do more harm than good. Eventually, enough people, including a dozen or so Western monks and former Western monks, convinced me that many of the things I have said need saying and so I decided to take the plunge. I am fully aware that I am risking my reputation, the friendship of some people and perhaps a lot more by writing what I have and I expect to become the target of some very angry comments. My only hope is that The Broken Buddha will provoke wide-ranging, thoughtful and realistic discussion amongst Western Buddhists about the future of the Triple Gem in the West.

The life of the Buddha is more than an account of one man’s quest for and realization of the truth; it is also about the people who encountered that man during his forty-five year career and how their encounter transformed them. If the Buddha’s quest and his encounters with others is set against the backdrop of the world in which these events were acted out, a world with its unique customs, its political intrigue and its religious ferment, it becomes one of the most fascinating stories ever told.

Luang Pu Dteu was one of the first-generation disciples of Luang Pu Mun, remaining as a monk in the Mahā-Nikāya sect for many years. Following Luang Pu Mun up into the north of Thailand (as he became Luang Pu Mun's most trusted disciple), he re-ordained in the Dhammayut sect after 19 years in the monkhood, taking Tan Chao Khun Upālī Guṇūpamājaan as his preceptor at Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai. Two notable things about Luang Pu Dteu's character were that he was utterly eccentric and unconventional, and that he was completely fearless. He had a strange affinity with wild tigers, who could often be found wherever he stayed, ostensibly looking out for him. His life story is arguably the most entertaining of any of the great forest ajaans – chock full of incredible incidents, often involving psychic powers or miraculous events. Beneath all these externals though, were great accomplishments in Dhamma. He was widely regarded as an arahant possessed of all the psychic powers and analytical knowledges that can be attained.

Many people have asked for Luang Pu’s Dhamma talks, out of a desire to read them or listen to them, and I have to confess frankly that Luang Pu"s Dhamma talks are extremely rare. This is because he never gave any formal sermons or discoursed at any great length. He simply taught meditation, admonished his students, answered questions, or discussed the Dhamma with other elder monks. He would speak in a way that was brief, careful, and to the point. In addition, he never gave sermons at formal ceremonies.

This is a translation of the travels of the Chinese Monk, Fa Hien, who undertook to walk from China to India on foot to seek out and hear the teachings on the discipline of the Buddha. This was an important early record  at a time when extant Chinese documents were already somewhat mutilated and dilapitated.

In late March death snatched from our midst, too soon, one of Sri Lanka's most beloved Buddhist teachers, Godwin Samararatne. For close to twenty years, Godwin had been the resident meditation teacher at the Nilambe Meditation Centre near Kandy. He had also taught meditation within Kandy itself, at the Lewella and Visakha Meditation Centres (two affiliates of Nilambe), at the University of Peradeniya, at private homes, and at the Buddhist Publication Society. But Godwin did not belong to Sri Lanka alone. He belonged to the whole world, and he was loved and esteemed by people clear across the globe. Thousands of people from many lands came to Nilambe to practise meditation under his guidance, and they also invited him to their own countries to conduct meditation courses and retreats. Thus over  two decades Godwin, in his own quiet way, had become an international Buddhist celebrity, constantly in demand in countries ranging from Europe to Hongkong and Taiwan. He was also a regular visitor to South Africa, where he conducted his final meditation retreat.

Suppose you had the opportunity to free yourself of all worldly responsibilities for ten days, with a quiet, secluded place in which to live, protected from disturbances. In this place the basic physical requirements of room and board would be provided for you, and helpers would be on hand to see that you were reasonably comfortable. In return you would be expected only to avoid contract with others and, apart from essential activities, to spend all your waking hours with eyes closed, keeping your mind on a chosen object of attention. Would you accept the offer?

This work provides an analytical study of the jhanas, an important set of  meditative attainments in the contemplative discipline of Theravada Buddhism ... The purpose is to determine the precise role of the Jhanas in the Theravada tradition.

Everything is changing. Changes are astronomical, physical, psychological, and there is no end to it. One form of matter changes into another form. One situation changes into another. One experience changes into another. Some changes are inconceivably rapid and some very slow.

The subject of this book is Vipassana meditation practice. Repeat, practice. This is a meditation manual, a nuts-and-bolts, step-by-step guide to Insight meditation. It is meant to be practical. It is meant for use.

There are already many comprehensive books on Buddhism as a philosophy, and on the theoretical aspects of Buddhist meditation. If you are interested in that material we urge you to read those books. Many of them are excellent. This book is a "How to." It is written for those who actually want to meditate and especially for those who want to start now. There are very few qualified teachers of the Buddhist style of meditation in the United States of America. It is our intention to give you the basic data you need to get off to a flying start. 

I propose to speak to you today on Buddhist Mindfulness.

We all know in a general way what Mindfulness is. We all know that the practice of Mindfulness makes us more and more alert, more and more precise and more and more careful in whatever we say or do.

We also know that the absence of Mindfulness results in the occurrence of these unfortunate lapses and slips, these accidental errors and emissions which form a fairly frequent disturbing feature in life.

Is there no cure for this ? Has no one prescribed a remedy for this?

This morning let us ask ourselves in all seriousness this question: "What are our chances of being born again as human beings ?"

It is necessary to address ourselves to this question since a large majority of us do not seem to be concerned about it. They presume that there is no difficulty in being reborn as human beings, but that the difficulty is to be reborn in a higher plane of existence as in the deva-worlds.

In the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha has said that there are five subjects which should be contemplated over and over again by men and women, by laymen as well as recluses.

The first subject for this constant contemplation is set out thus:-

"Old age can come upon me."

The Buddha has explained that most persons behave as if old age is a condition that will never come upon them:-

He has said that they do so through thoughtlessness and also by being obsessed with the strength and pride of youth. At least the sight of an old person weighed down with the infirmities that old age brings with it should serve as a salutary warning to them.

I am happy to be able to inaugurate this new series of talks entitled, Thoughts of Maitri, and take this opportunity to speak to you on one of the grandest and noblest qualities that man can ever possess, namely, the quality of Maitri (metta) or Universal Love.

What is Maitri? It is love in its purest, highest and widest sense. It transcends the limits of ordinary love which is selfish.

As there are many who are more interested in the proof of rebirth than in the theory of rebirth, so I propose in this talk to deal with the proof of rebirth.

There are two methods by which the truth of rebirth can be ascertained.

One is more or less an empirical method not connected with any science. The other can be said to be a scientific method.

As it is not possible in one talk to deal with both methods, I shall in this talk deal with the first method.

In this final talk, the last of a series, it is fitting to consider the last utterances of the Buddha.

The Buddha must be pictured now as reclining on his death-bed, calm and self-possessed, in his characteristic lion-pose with his body turned to the right side and with one foot resting on the other. It will be remembered that his birth as well as his enlightenment took place not under a roof but under the open sky.

It gives me great  pleasure to inaugurate a new series of Dhamma talks entitled "Message of the Dhammapada" Before I deal with the contents of the Dhammapada, I would wish to dwell a little on the Dhammapada in general.

The literature of the world abounds in garlands of verses or anthologies as they are called, some of which are read and re-read for the pleasure they yield.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to speak to you on the important subject of The Power of Thought.

We are astonished at all the wonderful machinery of this modern scientific age whereby human labour is saved, time is economized and distance is shattered.

Yet, we are not so astonished at the much more powerful machinery of the human mind.

Do remember that it is the human mind with its power of thinking that is responsible for the planning and creating all of the machinery in this world.

The Satipatthana Sutta and its application to modern life, this is the theme of my talk this evening, and it will be my endeavor first, to give you some idea of what Satipatthana really is, and thereafter to show you that the special and peculiar conditions of the modern age are such, that the doctrine of Satipatthana was never more urgently needed than it is now in this modern age.

Let us this morning ask ourselves the question:

"Who is near to Nibbana?"

The Buddha has answered this question in the fourth section of the Anguttara Nikaya where he has referred to four qualities possessed of which a Bhikkhu is incapable of falling away from the religious life he has taken to and is therefore near to Nibbana.

The first quality is perfection in sila or virtue. He should be perfect in the practice of right conduct. He should be one who sees danger in the slightest of faults.

In his Dictionary of Paali Proper Names Professor G.P. Malalasekera introduces Maara as "the personification of Death, the Evil One, the Tempter (the Buddhist counterpart of the Devil or Principle of Destruction)." He continues: "The legends concerning Maara are, in the books, very involved and defy any attempts at unraveling them."

Viveka and viraaga are the two Paali words which have been translated as "detachment." The two, however, are not synonymous. The primary meaning of viveka is separation, aloofness, seclusion. Often physical withdrawal is implied. The later commentarial tradition, however, identifies three forms of viveka: kaaya-viveka (physical withdrawal), citta-viveka (mental withdrawal), and upadhi-viveka (withdrawal from the roots of suffering).

At 8.15 a.m. Japanese time, on August 6th 1945, a U.S. plane dropped a bomb named "Little Boy" over the center of the city of Hiroshima. The total number of people who were killed immediately and in the following months was probably close to 200,000.

Some claim that this bomb and the one which fell on Nagasaki ended the war quickly and saved American and Japanese lives” a consequentialist theory to justify horrific violence against innocent civilians. Others say the newly developed weapons had to be tested as a matter of necessity.

His unique position had already begun before his birth. He came to earth, just as the Buddha did, from the Tusita heaven, and was born on the same day as he and in the same caste, namely the warrior caste of the royal family of the Sakyas. Their fathers were brothers, so that Ananda was the Buddha’s cousin. He had three brothers, Anuruddha, Mahanama, Pandu, and one sister, Rohini.

Anuruddha entered the Sangha together with Ananda and became an arahant, a fully enlightened one. Mahanama, the prince of the Sakyas, became a once-returner as a householder, while the only thing known about Pandu is the fact that he survived the near-extinction of the Sakya clan during the Buddha’s 80th year.

Thus have I heard: One time the Blessed One was staying at Savatthi in the Jeta Grove, in Anathapindika’s Monastery..." Numerous discourses of the Buddha begin with these words, and hence the name of that great lay devotee, Anathapindika is well known.

His name means: "One who gives alms (pinda) to the unprotected (a-natha)" and is the honorific of the householder Sudatta of the city of Savatthi. Who was he? How did he meet the Buddha? What was his relationship to the teaching? The answers to these questions may be found in the many references to him which occur in the traditional texts.

Angulimala, the robber and murderer, is one of the best known figures of the Buddhist scriptures, because of his dramatic life story.

His conversion to monkhood and later to sainthood was exceptional as he seems to have been the only former criminal to be accepted into the Buddhist monastic order.

The Buddha's father, King Suddhodana, had a brother, the prince Amitodana, who had five children. Among them was Ananda, who was later to be the Buddha's faithful attendant, and then two more brothers. Then, was I born, within the Sakyan clan, as Anuruddha known, by dance and song attended and by clang of cymbals waked.

At the time of the Buddha, a daughter was born to the foreman of the guild of garland-makers in Savatthi. She was beautiful, clever and well behaved and a source of joy to her father.

One day, when she had just turned sixteen, she went to the public flower gardens with her girl-friends and took three portions of fermented rice along in her basket as the day’s sustenance.

When she was just leaving by the city gate, a group of monks came along, who had come down from the monastery on the hill to obtain almsfood in town. The leader among them stood out; one whose grandeur and sublime beauty impressed her so much, that she impulsively offered him all the food in her basket.

On one occasion, the Buddha enumerated for the benefit of his bhikkhus the names of twenty-one upasakas (lay disciples) who had attained to Stream-entry. Fourth on this list we find Upasaka Citta of Macchikasanda, near Savatthi (A. VI, 120).* At another time the Blessed One said to his bhikkhus : "Should a devoted mother wish to encourage her beloved only son in a proper way, she may tell him: "Try to become like the Upasaka Citta, my dear, and like Hatthaka, the upasaka from Alavi." These two, Citta and Hatthaka, bhikkhus, are models and guiding standards to my lay disciples. The mother may then continue: "But if you should decide for the monkhood, my dear, then try to imitate Sariputta and Mahamoggallana." 

Among those of the Buddha's disciples who were closest to him, there were two friends, Sariputta and Moggallana, who were the chief disciples of the Buddha, the exemplary pair of disciples. There were also two brothers, Ananda and Anuruddha, who were likewise eminent

Fathers of the Order. In between these two pairs stands a great solitary figure, Pipphali Kassapa, who later was called Maha Kassapa, Kassapa the Great, to distinguish him from the others of the Kassapa clan, such as Kumara Kassapa and Uruvela Kassapa.

Near the capital of the kingdom of Magadha (today in the Indian State of Bihar) there were several townships. In one of them, Kolita Moggallana was born in a Brahmanic family which claimed descent from Mudgala, one of the ancient seers. Thus this clan was named "the Moggallans." The small town was inhabited entirely by Brahmans and was "ultra-conservative." Kolita’s father was born of the most prominent family from which usually the town’s mayor was appointed. Being a member of such a high caste and of the town’s most respected family, his father was almost like a petty king. Thus Kolita grew up in an environment of wealth and honor, knowing of no sorrows. He was educated entirely in the Brahmanic tradition which was based on the law of the seeds and ripening of actions. As a matter of course, that education included the belief in a life beyond, making it part and parcel of every-day life and its rituals.

Serene and magnificent was this city where once had dwelt the great hermit Kapila. It seemed to be built out of some fragment of the sky: the walls were like clouds of light, and the houses and gardens radiated a divine splendor. Precious stones glistened everywhere. Within its gates darkness was as little known as poverty. At night, when silver moonbeams fingered each turret, the city was like a pond of lilies; by day, when the terraces were bathed in golden sunshine, the city was like a river of lotuses.

This book was written, compiled and edited at the request of the World Buddhist University , which is a part of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, which has its world headquarters located in Bangkok , Thailand . Part of the WFB and WBU programs is to sponsor both written publications and public lectures. This present text was planned, originally, to become a series of lectures and, then, ended-up becoming a full-length book. After an opening essay on contemporary relevancy, the rest of the essays and textual material follows a gradual process of awakening much in the manner of the gradual sayings.

Reminiscences on talks with great living Buddhist teachers in the Kandy-Peradenia region in the late 1980s into the early 1990s, such as Venerable Nyanaponika, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Venerable Sri Rahula Ampitiya, Lily de Silva and others.

"Bare Awareness" in insight meditation as it is described by Venerable Nyanatiloka and Venerable Nyanaponika in the Theravada tradition as opposed to some of the meditation vocabulary used by various schools today.

The Mid-twentieth century produced two great Sri Lankan scholars and gentlemen who's contributions to Buddhist studies made an indelible impact on western minds within the Theravada community. They were H. N. Jayatilleke, Professor of Philosophy, University of Ceylon and G. P. Malalasekera, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and Professor of Pali and Buddhist Civilization, University of Ceylon.

In their monumental work, Buddhism and Racism, UNESCO, 1958 (also condensed in Buddhism and the Race Question, Kandy, BPS Wheel 200/201) they presented the classic refutal of the racism and the caste question,which, although it is known only to an erudite few, deserves to be cited for the illumination of many in the present generation today.  Excerpts from their argument citing references to textual evidence from the Pali Canon and elsewhere will be quoted and explicated below:

Before beginning our text, today, we shall, first, respectfully urge our readers [unless they happen to be Pali scholars] to remain open to the possibility of undergoing a total, mental "twist-of-mind" ─ a paradigm shift ─ or in other words, to be prepared to see phenomena in the exact opposite way in which, we, as ‘so-called’ normal human beings, are commonly-accustomed to experiencing "so-called" solid things in this "so-called" world, "supposedly seen” around us.

We become what we feed upon.

Most modern-day philosophers and scientists would be reluctant to accept that the Buddha and his followers (both in the Buddhist era and in later commentaries) had explained and clarified the causal dependent arising of all conditioned phenomena, for the simple reason that the cause and effect explanations and relations outlined in the Abhidhamma wholly transcend the logical and rational limits of the methodology of modern science.

Before beginning this text, we respectfully request our reader to remain open to the possibility of undergoing an unexpected "mental twist-of-mind"- a paradigm shift - to the exact opposite way - in which "so-called" normal, human beings are accustomed to "seeing" so-called "things" in this "so-called" world.

Because of impermance, there is no abiding self.

Insight meditation generates healing power, and while this sounds somewhat mysterious, the explanation is simple. A person who can control his mind through refining the practice of sila (morality) and sati (mindfulness) will not be as stressed in performing his daily tasks, and, so, will be more positively balanced, and, therefore, more effective in his efforts, on both mental and practical levels.

Nyanaponika Maha Thera had a deep respect for Mahasi Sayadaw, (the highly-celebrated scholar-monk and teacher who was his close contemporary), and was more directly influenced by the Burmese Meditation Master’s method of practice than most people might realize.

Much wisdom may come from discerning and correcting our own mistakes and mental misapprehensions, but the only way to understand the continuum of the mind is to follow its intentions and movements and thought-processes, through close, continued, concentrated-observation and analysis of the way the mind actually works, through vipassana meditation. Knowledge from books doesn’t help us much in watching what is going on in our own minds. Good guidance from competent teachers of the Dhamma, however, can help set us and guide us on the right path of mental- development in our own practice.

Such indeed is the Blessed One, worthy,
fully self-enlightened endowed with knowledge and conduct, fortunate, knower of the worlds, the incomparable tamer of trainable men, teacher of gods and men, enlightened and blessed.

Many devotees have been chanting the nine above qualities of the Buddha, over and over again, in the Pali language, for years, without wholly understanding what the words mean:

So let’s take a closer look at these oft-chanted words and explicate their meanuings: --

A lot of meditators and practitioners have a problem understanding the term "sankhara" , especially when it is translated from the original Pali as "formations" or "volitional formations".

Suffering is caused by craving and attachment.

In his introduction to the Middle Length Discourses, the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi has explained the tight focus of investigation of the Satipatthana Sutta [in a nutshell], writing (on page 5):

"At the close-end of the spectrum, the Buddha's teaching discloses the radical impermanence uncovered only by sustained attention to experience in its living immediacy: the fact that all the constituents of our being, bodily and mental, are in constant process, arising and passing away in rapid succession from moment to moment without any persistent underlying substance. In the very act of observation they are undergoing “destruction, vanishing, fading away, and ceasing." (MN 74.11)

Conversion of Kassapa, the Fire-Worshiper

“At that time there lived in Uruvela the Jatilas, Brahman hermits with matted-hair, worshiping the fire and keeping a fire-dragon; and Kassapa was their chief.

Kassapa was renowned throughout all India, and his name was honored as one of the wisest men on earth and an authority on religion. And the Blessed One went to Kassapa of Uruvela the Jatila, and said:

"Let me stay a night in the room where you keep your sacred fire."

Kassapa, seeing the Blessed One in his majesty and beauty, thought to himself: "This is a great muni and a noble teacher. Should he stay overnight in the room where the sacred fire is kept, the serpent will bite him and he will die."

And he said: "I do not object to your staying overnight in the room where the sacred fire is kept, but the serpent lives there; he will kill you and I should be sorry to see you perish."

The cosmos is made up of elements.

The purpose of our text is to collect a concise compendium of authoritative Theravada texts on the instructions explained by the Buddha, in the Satipatthana Sutta and Maha Satipatthana Sutta, to monks and followers, who needed to be trained and tamed so they could learn the discipline of focusing their minds to keep themselves on the path that leads to Enlightenment.

There is some terminology I’d like to go over, so the reader will better understand what is meant by the Theravada Tradition:

Pali was the dialect of Sanskrit spoken by the Buddha and the language of the sacred literature of Buddhism, the so-called Pali Canon. This body of writings is also called the Tripitaka [three baskets]  because it is divided into three parts:   Vinayapitaka, which deals with the tenets of how monks should comport themselves in the monastic life; Suttapitaka, a collection of suttras and dialogues of the Buddha and his disciples; and Abhidhammapitaka, a more purely philosophical elaboration of the sayings of the Buddha. The word of the Buddha was recited and passed on from one generation of monks to another through oral tradition after the Buddha’s death.  The Pali Canon is said to have been written down between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C.

If we may be allowed some comments, based upon our own individual observations, once we take an experience to be “I,” we build upon this latent and inherent tendency and make the mistake of assuming a personal entity [rather than a mere agglomeration or aggregate of phenomenal experiences], and we make the mistake of building up an image of “I” and “self” (and eventually maybe even an idea of an on-going-soul-entity) and thereby create the delusion of a duality between conceiving what is going on outside externally and what is going on within experience on the inside, ─ conceiving them [falsely] to be two different and extant realms of existence.

Monks who are teachers of monks frequently ask me to explain how to write an essay because it is part of the monks' training to be able answer examination questions in essay form, and I usually give them a book I have written on this topic called English Composition and Essay Writing, published by Chulalongkorn University Press (1997).

The Indian genius, we are often, and rightly, told, is for religion; and when the religion we now call Buddhism arose in the sixth century B. C. in India, the tradition and exercise of religious thought, speculation and livelihood were strong, and they were protected. Kings were patrons of religion, and the men of religion commanded much respectful attention and enjoyed kindly and honourable treatment alike from kings, ruling chieftains, their ministers and the ordinary people. 

Thus I have heard: At one time the Lord was staying near Savatthi in the palace of Migara’s mother in the Eastern Monastery. Then the brahman Ganaka-Moggallana approached the Lord; having approached he exchanged greetings with the Lord; having conversed in a friendly and courteous way, he sat down at a respectful distance. As he was sitting down at a respectful distance, Ganaka-Moggallana the brahman spoke thus to the Lord: "Just as, good Gotama, in this palace of Migara’s mother there can be seen a gradual training, a gradual doing, a gradual practice, that is to say as far as the last flight of stairs, so, too, good Gotama, for these brahmans there can be seen a gradual training, a gradual doing, a gradual practice, that is to say in the study [of the Vedas]; so too, good Gotama, for these archers there can be seen a gradual... practice, that is to say in archery; so too, good Gotama, for us whose livelihood is calculation  there can be seen a gradual training, a gradual practice, that is to say in accountancy. For when we get a pupil, good Gotama, we first of all make him calculate: "One one, two twos, three threes, four fours, five fives, six sixes, seven sevens, eight eights, nine nines, ten tens," and we, good Gotama, also make him calculate a hundred. Is it not possible, good Gotama, to lay down a similar gradual training, gradual doing, gradual practice in respect of this dhamma and discipline?"

Thus have I heard: At one time, the Lord was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove at the squirrels’ feeding place. Now at that time the novice Aciravata was staying in the Forest Hut.[1] Then prince Jayasena,[2] who was always pacing up and down, always roaming about on foot, approached the novice Aciravata; having approached he exchanged greetings with the novice Aciravata; having exchanged greetings of friendliness and courtesy, he sat down at a respectful distance. While he was sitting down at a respectful distance, Prince Jayasena spoke thus to the novice Aciravata:

Thus have I heard: At one time the Lord was staying in the Jeta Grove ... Then the Lord having dressed early, taking his bowl and robe, entered ... for almsfood. Then a number of monks approached the venerable Ananda; having approached, they spoke thus to the venerable Ananda: "It is long since we, reverend Ananda, heard a talk on dhamma face to face with the Lord. It is good if we, reverend Ananda, got a chance of hearing a talk on dhamma face to face with the Lord."

"Well then, the venerable ones should go to the hermitage of the brahman Rammaka, and probably you would get a chance of hearing a talk on dhamma face to face with the Lord."

In India, at the time when the Buddha was living and teaching, women were emerging into a relatively free state after they had suffered a certain amount of ignominy, of obedience and subservience to men, and exclusion from this or that worldly occupation, from religious education and observances, which is made out to have been their portion in pre-Buddhist Indian epochs. We have to be a little on our guard against such statements, however, because there is a lack of evidence that women were debarred from taking part in the great debates on philosophical matters that were a feature of Indian life during the Buddha's time, and certainly women had an emergence in the Fourfold Sangha  community, and we have quite substantial records of how they lived and what they did.

In a previous article, ˜Comments on the Buddha Word" there was an attempt to demonstrate the theoretical aspect of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and their continuous presentation, in various guises, throughout the Sutta-pitaka of the Pali Canon. The Four Truths are the essential and characteristic feature of Buddhism and its goal the complete penetration and understanding of them. The Buddha has stated that it is by not understanding and fully comprehending these Four Truths that we wander aimlessly on in this world, caught between birth and death and subject to innumerable sufferings.

According to the commentarial tradition, the suttas or discourses of the Itivuttaka were collected by the woman lay-disciple Khujjuttara from sermons, given by the Buddha, while he was staying at Kosambi. Khujjuttara was a servant of Samavati, the consort of King Udena. She had become a stream-enterer after meeting the Buddha and subsequently converted the women of the palace, headed by Samavati, to the teaching.

The Sutta-nipata or "Discourse-collection," from which this selection has been compiled, contains some of the oldest and most profound discourses of the Buddha.

The Samyutta Nikaya is one of five divisions of the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It is called the collection of Grouped Discourses because it is arranged in 56 groups according to subject. This anthology contains some of the more strikin discourses. 

Professor K.N. Jatatilleke, in his authorative, postumous papers, entitled The Message of the Buddha has left us an expert synopsis of what the Buddha said about cosmology.

"The early Indians and Greeks speculated about the nature, origin and extent of the universe. Anaximander, a Greek thinker of the sixth century BC, is supposed to have contemplated the possibility of "innumerable worldsâ" successively coming out of (and passing away) into an indefinite substance. About a century later, the Greek atomists, Leucippus and Democritus, who postulated the existence of innumerable atoms and an infinite void, conceived of worlds coming-to-be and passing away throughout the void. These speculations were the product of imagination and reason and the "worlds" they talked of were mere reproductions of the earth and the heavenly bodies such as the sun, moon and the stars.

Professor K. N. Jayatilleke in The Message of the Buddha (2000) scrupulously elucidates what the Buddha said about "Analysis of Mind" after, first making some qualifications concerning different approaches to this topic:

"The present concise account of the Buddhist theory of mind is based on the early Buddhist texts, and leaves out for the most part the elaborations to be found in the later books of the Theravada tradition such as the Abhidhammarrha-saangaha. The main reason for doing so is that otherwise there is a danger of losing sight of the wood for the trees.

"One of the five precepts that a Buddhist has to undertake to observe is that of "refraining from saying what is false." Stated in its negative as well as positive form he has to"refrain from saying what is false, assert what is true, be devoted to the truth, be reliable (theta), trustworthy (paccayika) and not be one who deceives the world (avisam-vadako lokassa)" (A II 209).

Professor K.N. Jayatilleke, in his eruidite, postumous work, The Message of the Buddha, discusses the religio-historical backgrounds which existed prior and during the time of the Buddha.

"Tradition has it that the Buddha was born in a certain historical context, at a certain time and at a certain place when his doctrine was likely to be most needed, understood and appreciated.

In his postumous work, The Message of the Buddha. (2000) Professor K.N. Jayatilleke discusses the significance of Vesak and delineates major spokes in the wheel of the Buddha’s teachings:

"Vesak is traditionally associated with the birth, enlightenment and Parinirvana of the Buddha, who renounced a life of luxury to solve the riddle of the universe and bring happiness to man as well as to other beings.

In this booklet we will be exploring poems composed by the Arahat bhikkhunīs or enlightened Buddhist nuns of old, looking at these poems as springs of inspiration for contemporary Buddhists. Most of the poems we will consider come from the Therīgāthā, a small section of the vast Pali Canon.

In the canonical formula for contemplation of the Buddha, nine epithets of the Awakened One are mentioned. One of these, likely to be overlooked, is satthā devamanussānaṃ, “teacher of gods and humans.” The present essay focuses on one aspect of this epithet: the Buddha’s role as teacher of the devas or gods. In the pages to follow we will carefully consider the instructions and techniques he used when teaching beings of divine stature. If we study these teachings we will gain deeper understanding of how we should purify our own minds, and by studying the responses of the gods we can find models for our own behaviour in relation to the Master and his teaching. 

In a short essay in the opening chapter of Aspects Of Buddhism In Indian History, published by the Buddhist Publication Society, The Wheel Publication Nos. 195/196, Kandy 1973 Sri Lanka, L. M. Joshi, M.A., Ph.D., Reader in Buddhist Studies, in Punjabi University, Patlala, convincingly uses accumulation of facts and details, along with classification and ordered chronological sequence to explain his thesis in the paragraph that follows:

This is a complete translation of the Bhikkhuni Patimokka by Professor Chatsumarn Kabilsing, who later ordained and became the famous and well-respected Theravada Nun, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni  who now leads a monestary  of well-trained Bhikkhunis in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand and who travels world-wide teaching the Dhamma.

The early Buddhist discourses often refer to the mutual opposition between two views. One is the view of permanence or eternalism (sassatavada). The other is the view of annihilation (ucchedavada). The former is sometimes referred to as bhava-ditthi, the belief in being, and the latter as vibhava-ditthi, the belief in non-being. The world at large has a general tendency to lean upon one of these two views. Thus, addressing Kaccayana, the Buddha says: 'This world, O Kaccayana, generally proceeds on a duality, of (the belief in) existence and (the belief in) non-existence.' What interests us here is the fact that it is against these two views that Buddhist polemics are continually directed. What is more, all the fundamental doctrines of early Buddhism are presented in such a way as to unfold themselves, or to follow as a logical sequence, from a sustained criticism of sassatavada and ucchedavada. This particular context is sometimes explicitly stated; at other times it is taken for granted. Therefore, it is within the framework of the Buddhist critique of sassatavada and ucchedavada that the Buddhist doctrines seem to assume their significance. For it is through the demolition of these two world-views that Buddhism seeks to construct its own world-view. The conclusion is that it was as a critical response to the mutual opposition between these two views that Buddhism emerged as a new faith amidst many other faiths.

During the first two centuries following the Buddha’s parinibbāna there took place, within the early Buddhist community, a move towards a comprehensive and precise systematisation of the teachings disclosed by the Master in his discourses. The philosophical systems that emerged from this refined analytical approach to the doctrine are collectively called the Abhidhamma. Both the Theravāda and the Sarvāstivāda, the two major conservative schools in the early Sangha, had their own Abhidhammas, each based on a distinct Abhidhamma Piṭaka. It is likely too that other schools had also developed philosophical systems along similar lines, though records of them did not survive the 6 passage of time.

Apannaka Jataka

While the Buddha was staying at Jetavana Monastery near Savatthi, the wealthy banker, Anathapindika, went one day to pay his respects. His servants carried masses of flowers, perfume, butter, oil, honey, molasses, cloths, and robes. Anathapindika paid obeisance to the Buddha, presented the offerings he had brought, and sat down respectfully. At that time, Anathapindika was accompanied by five hundred friends who were followers of heretical teachers. His friends also paid their respects to the Buddha and sat close to the banker. The Buddha's face appeared like a full moon, and his body was surrounded by a radiant aura. Seated on the red stone seat, he was like a young lion roaring with a clear, noble voice as he taught them a discourse full of sweetness and beautiful to the ear.

This story was told by the Buddha while at Jetavana Monastery, about a tremendously rich royal treasurer, who lived in a town called Sakkara near the city of Rajagaha. He had been so tight-fisted that he never gave away even the tiniest drop of oil you could pick up with a blade of grass. Worse than that, he wouldn’t even use that minuscule amount for his own satisfaction. His vast wealth was actually of no use to him, to his family, or to the deserving people of the land.

Once, while the Buddha was staying at Jetavana Monastery in Savatthi, Visakha, the wealthy and devout lay Buddhist, was invited by five hundred women she knew to join in celebrating a festival in the city.

"This is a drinking festival," Visakha replied. "I do not drink."

"All right," the women said, "go ahead and make an offering to the Buddha. We will enjoy the festival."

The next morning, Visakha served the Buddha and the Order of bhikkhus at her house and made great offerings of the four requisites.

One morning, when the ministers and brahmans went to the palace to pay their respects to King Pasenadi, the King of Kosala, and to inquire whether His Majesty had slept well, they found him lying in terror, unable to move from his bed.

"How could I sleep well?" exclaimed the king. "Just before daybreak I dreamed sixteen incredible dreams, and I have been lying here terrified ever since! Since you are my advisors, tell me what these dreams mean."

"What were your dreams, sire?" the brahmans asked. "Surely we will be able to judge their importance."

Nalapana Jataka

Buddha told this story while journeying through Kosala. When he came to the village of Nalakapana (Cane-drink Village), he stayed near the Nalakapana Lake. One day, after bathing in the pool, the monks asked the novices to fetch them some canes for needle-cases. After getting the canes, however, the monks discovered that, rather than having joints like common canes, the canes were completely hollow.

Upasika Kee Nanayon, also known by her penname, Kee Khao-suan-luang, was arguably the foremost woman Dhamma teacher in twentieth-century Thailand.
Her teaching is still highly respected and practiced by monks, nuns and laypeople.

Those who practice the Dhamma should train themselves to understand in the following stages:

The training that is easy to learn, gives immediate results, and is suitable for every time, every place, for people of every age and either sex, is to study in the school of this body, a fathom long, a cubit wide, and a span thick, with its perceiving mind in charge. This body has many things, ranging from the crude to the subtle, that are well worth knowing.

The mind has all sorts of deceptions with which it fools oneself, and if one is not skillful in investigating and seeing through them, they are very difficult to overcome even for those who are continually mindfull. One has to continue making a concentrated effort all the time. Just mindffulness alone will not solve the problem.

Bhikkhu Khantipalo explains what the Buddha said about aggression, war and conflict from the point of view of developing harmlessness which, of course, is at the core of the teaching, It is all about not developing likes and dislikes and standing outside and away from the fray of the world.

Stream-winning and Arahantship - four more Arahant Bhikkhus - Buddhas and Arahants - meanings of Sangha - Arahants and attachment - the Holy Life - Going forth - Story of Yasa - Exhortation to the 60 Arahants - 1st, 2nd and 3rd methods of ordination (acceptance) - the 30 Bhikkhus - the three Kassapa brothers - the pair of Foremost Disciples - the lives and verses of some Arahants.

On Living on the Edge

How easy it is to be complacent, how hard to feel all the time that this world is the edge! Complacency is helped by the way things are arranged: in cities, neat orderly houses in rows with neat gardens in front and neat curtains in the windows. But why is it arranged like this?

Most people in this world fall among the class of persons known as ’heedless’—and for most of their lives at that. What is this kind of person like? A heedless man, one who dwells sunk in this mud of heedlessness, does not care to develop in himself any of the virtues in this life, and instead drifts about controlled by the currents of his desires, which lead him to do all sorts of things which are evil. 

Superstitions and selfish desires weave a pattern of mind which interprets objective and subjective happenings in life as forebodings of personal weal and woe. Thus, if on waking up in the morning, or on the start of a trip, or in the course of a long journey, or at the beginning of an enterprise, or during a sacred ceremony, one meets with what is taken to be a sign of good fortune, such as a flower in bloom, a smiling face, good news or even something at first sight offensive but potentially considered good, some people feel assured of success in the subsequent course of events. An auto-suggestion like this might be of some use but to place complete reliance on it, neglecting the action necessary for fulfilment and success, would be too much of wishful thinking, bound to result in frustration or failure. So much importance is attached by some people to such omens of what is supposed to be auspicious that a sort of pseudo-science has grown up playing an undesirable role in the lives of those people by choking their initiative, by sustaining their fears, by suppressing self-confidence and by the promotion of irrational attitudes in them. In the time of the Buddha such a belief was as much in evidence as today, and as he was opposed to anything that fettered the healthy growth of the human mind he raised his voice against such superstitions. He denounced luck or fortune  or auspiciousness  and proclaimed instead human behaviour, associations and activities as the real origins of fortune  or misfortune. Thus the emphasis was shifted from unhealthy fears and fettering superstitions to individual responsibility, rational thinking, social obligations and self-confidence. This had far-reaching effects in improving both human relationships and the efficiency of the human mind.

History of Bhikkhun Sangha: Eight important points - dangers of sex and conceit - double ordination -novices - special rules - some Bhikkhunis of the Buddha's time - Asoka"s daughter a Bhikkhuni -   Bhikkhunis in Sri Lanka  - China. - early 20th century  - Bhikkhunis now? - Upasikas (nuns) and their support, early on in the west.

This book uses the symbolic meaning of the saffron colour of  the robe of the Noble Ones, the Arahants, to show the significance of the history and development of the Sangha, including accounts of the roles of the foremost Disciples.

To those who live in lands where the teachings of the Lord Buddha have been long established, the sight of a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) collecting food in the early morning, is a common one. But where the teachings are newly arrived, or where bhikkhus are few, the practice of giving food to wandering monks is known only by pictures or from written accounts.

Siddhattha - Life as a Prince and Renunciation - Meditation teachers - Practice of severe austerities - Meditation before Enlightenment - Three Knowledges - Inspired verses after Enlightenment - Who to teach? The five ascetics - The first Arahant.

The short discourse of Lord Buddha presented here cannot be found within the voluminous pages of the Pali Canon, but so much are its teachings in accord with the canonical tradition there that it deserves to be more widely known. This Sutta, perhaps originally known by some such name as Buddha Pacchimovada Parinibbana Sutta, has reached us only through the Chinese translation of Acarya Kumarajiva (died B.E. 956 = 412 C.E.) while the Sanskrit originalyl used by him has long since been lost. 

The teachings given by Lord Buddha which are preserved and practiced to the present day, are  known in the ancient texts as the Dhamma-Vinaya. Although there is a great loss of meaning when translating these two terms into English, they may be rendered as Doctrine and aspects of Discipline. Numerous books are given over to explaining aspects of Dhamma but perhaps because of its monastic meaning the Vinaya seems neglected and not given due prominence. It will be the task of this booklet to examine Vinaya from a particular point of view that of the Buddhist layman and how a knowledge of some of its rules can be useful to him.

The two ways - scholarly and meditative - the town Bhikkhu - waking-alms round- what Bhikkhus eat - morning chanting -classes - invitations to the houses of laypeopl - the forenoon meal - education of Bhikkhus - act of the Sangha - work suitable for Bhikkhus - evening chanting - learning in the evening - scholastic tendencies in the different Buddhist countries and etc.

Rahula ordained as first novice - Why are there rules? - Meaning of Vinaya - How Vinaya began - Contents of the Patimokkha - Allowances and prohibition - Few things, few troubles - Legal procedures in the Sangha - Reasons for Vinaya.

Wandering Bhikkhus and the Rains - residence - support of Bhikkhus - merchants and kings - Bhikkhus not missionaries - qualities for  spreading Dhamma - the learned and the meditative - reciters - lost discourses - Councils - Baskets of Vinaya and Sutta and the Abhidhamma - the minor rules and etc.

Brief history of Theravada - anonymity of Great Teachers - specialisation of Bhikkhus - books and practice - popular Buddhism - ordination for custom or merit - rains - disrobing - ritualism - why do people go to viharas? - why go to see Bhikkhus? - why Bhikkhus go to the houses of laypeople - wrong livelihood - the government of the Sangh and etc, 

Upon the Full Moon of the month of Visakha, now, more than two thousand five hundred years ago, the religious wanderer known as Gotama, formerly Prince Siddhattha and heir to the throne of the Sakyan peoples, by his full insight into the Truth called Dhamma which is this mind and body, became the One Perfectly Enlightened by himself.

The Triple Gem or the Tree Precious Ones are the highest ideals of the Buddhadhamma. To the Lord Buddha, to the Holy Dhamma (Teaching) and to the Noble Sangha (Order of Monks) are given veneration by all Buddhists since they aspire to mould their lives according to the qualities represented by these three ideals.

The Visuttimaga is a translarion from the Chinese, written very early in Sri Lanks but having survived only in  the Mahayana tradition. It is very similar in content to the Visuttimagga except that it is said to be more urgent in tone  about energetic application to the practice on the path to purification.. 

First, we must be rid of delusions, sometimes translated as hallucinations of perception, hallucunations of thought, and hallucination of views. We must understand how to get rid of the delusion of permanence, the delusion of what is impure as pure, the delision of suffering as happiness and the delusion of no-self as being self. We must get rid of the delusions: this is "me," this is "mine," this is "myself" ...

If one does not have mindfulness of breathing under control, one cannot go on to mindfulness of  tranquility, and if one can not maintain tranquility, one cannot go on towards the achievement of nibbana, so our first focus should be on mindfulness of breathing.

In compliance with the request of the Pyinmana Myo-ok Maung Po Mya and Trader Maung Hla, during the month of Nayon, 1266 Burmese Era (June, 1904 C.E.), I shall state concisely the meaning and intent of the thirty-seven Bodhipakkhiya-dhammas, the Requisites of Enlightenment.

 One complex happening of mental and material states, with its three phases of ”genesis or birth, cessation or death and a static interval between” is followed by another happening, wherein there is always a causal series of relations. Nothing is casual and fortuitous. 

If a Buddhist is asked, "What did the Buddha teach?" he would rightly reply, "The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path." If he is then questioned further as to what they consisted of, he should be able to define them accurately, without uncertainty, ambiguity, or recourse to his own ideas.

This is very important "that the supremely clear words of the Buddha are not distorted, either through ignorance or because of one’s own speculations. The Buddha has often praised deep learning, just as he has pointed out the dangers in holding opinions and views which are the result only of one's personal feelings and preferences, or of misinterpreted experience. There is little to excuse such things since the Buddha himself has carefully defined what is meant by the truth of dukkha (suffering), or what constitutes right view ...

Ajaan Lee composed the following three short essays when he was hospitalized in late 1959, shortly over a year before his death. The style of presentation ”outlines that are just barely fleshed out” is typical of his later writings. He seems to have intended that the essays be given to hospital patients, as food for thought for them to ponder while undergoing treatment. Although the presentation is ecumenical, the basic points are straight Buddhism. The explanation of the two types of disease in the first essay follows one of the central insights of the Buddha’s Awakening: the realization that events in the present are conditioned both by past kamma (intentional actions) and by present kamma. The four principles of human values presented in the second essay correspond to the four agatis, or types of prejudice that the Buddha warned against: prejudice based on (1) likes and desires, (2) dislikes and anger, (3) delusion, and (4) fear.

The sixteen talks translated here are actually reconstructions of Ajaan Lee’s talks made by one of his followers, a nun, Arun Abhivanna,  based on notes she made while listening to him teach. With a few exceptions the talks dated 1958 and 1959, which were printed after Ajaan Lee’s death all were checked and approved by Ajaan Lee and printed in a volume entitled, The Way to Practice Insight Meditation, Collected from Four Years "Sermons, or Four Years" Sermons for short. The entire volume runs to more than 600 pages in the Thai original, the first half consisting of aphorisms and short passages, the second half of reconstructions, some fairly fragmentary, others more complete. The selection here consists of all the reconstructions in Four Years’ Sermons that deal directly with the techniques of breath meditation, plus a number of passages dealing with the values underlying its practice.

This is a basic "how to" book, which teaches the liberation of the mind, not in theory but rather in practice, as a skill which is based upon keeping the breath in mind. Ahahn Lee was one of Thailand's most renowned masters and teachers of forest tradition meditation skills and benefits, whose practice grew based uopn personal development and experience.

While we meditate here on the word "buddho," we have to make up our minds that we’re going to stay right here with someone venerable, in the same way that we’d be a monk’s attendant. We’ll follow after him and watch out for him and not run off anywhere else. If we abandon our monk, he’s going to abandon us, and we’ll be put to all sorts of hardships. As for the monk, he’ll be put to hardships as well, as in the story they tell:

Phra Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo was one of the foremost teachers in the Thai forest ascetic tradition of meditation founded at the turn of the century by Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo and Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatto. His life was short but eventful. Known for his skill as a teacher and his mastery of supranatural powers, he was the first to bring the ascetic tradition out of the forests of the Mekhong basin and into the mainstream of Thai society in central Thailand.

In the first part of this book, I will discuss virtue, before going on to discuss the practice of meditation in the second. I put together this first section as a cure for my own sense of dismay. i.e., there have been times when I’ve asked lay Buddhists to tell me what exactly is forbidden by the five precepts, the eight precepts, and the ten guidelines (kammapatha) that people observe, and their answers have been a jumble of right and wrong. When I ask them how long they’ve been observing the precepts, some say they’ve never observed them, others say "two years," "five years," etc. The ignorance of those who’ve never observed the precepts is understandable; as for those who have taken the precepts, there are all kinds: Some people who’ve taken them for three years understand them better than others who have taken them for five. Some people have repeated the precepts against taking life for three years now, and yet keep on taking life, with no idea of what the precept is for. Of course, there are many people who are better informed than this, but even so I can’t help feeling dismayed because their behavior isn’t really in keeping with their knowledge. Now, I say this is not to be critical, but simply to be truthful. For this reason, I have put together this book as a way of relieving my sense of dismay, and have arranged to have it printed for distribution to practicing Buddhists, as a guideline for honoring our Teacher through the practice of his teachings, and for fostering the prosperity of those teachings for a long time to come.

The Venerable Achariya Mun Bhuridatta Thera was a Vipassana meditation master of the highers caliber of this present age; one who is truly worthy of the eminent praise and admiration accorded to him by his close disciples. He taught the profound nature of Dhamma with such authority and persuasion that he left no doubts among his students about the exalted level of this spiritual attainment. His devoted followers consist of numerous monks and laity from virtually every region of Thailand. Besides these, he has many more devotees in Laos, where both monks and lay people feel a deep reference for him.

FOREST DHAMMA us a Selection of Talks on Buddhist Practice by Venerable Ãcariya Mahã Boowa Ñãõasampanno translated by: Venerable Ãcariya Paññãvaððho.

Translated by Ajaan Suchard Sujato as Six Talks on Dhamma, Five of the talks in this book were given for the benefit of Mrs. Pow-panga Vathanakul, who began staying at Wat Pa Baan Taad in early November 1975. The other talk, “The Middle Way of Practice”, was given to an assembly of bhikkhus in 1962. It was a talk which Mrs. Pow-panga found especially useful. Before arriving at Wat Pa Baan Taad, she had just been released from the hospital where she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Although she was given only six months to live, she, in fact, lived another eleven months, largely due to the spiritual strength she gained through the practice of meditation and the help she received in Dhamma. During the four-month period she lived at Wat Pa Baan Taad, Ãcariya Mahã Boowa gave her about 130 talks on Dhamma.

A Compilation of Venerable Ācariya Mahā Boowa’s Dhamma Talks About His Path of Practice Translated by Bhikkhu Sīlaratano.

The life and teachings of Venerable Ajaan Pannavaddho are the inspiration behind this book. His  biography recounts an exceptional life, and it teaches many lessons. But this biography is more than just a historical account of the events that comprise a life. In fact, some people leave their mark on the world in such an elusive way that a biographical account fails to capture its deeper significance. Because Ajaan's lifelong quest was ultimately a journey of the mind, it possessed a quality that transcends any mundane account of its comings and goings. For that reason, the biographical sketch presented here is intended to render not so much the facts of a life, but rather a more essential type of truth about the essence of a person.

We are getting near the end of this book, so it is appropriate that we should discuss the methods of practising citta bhavana that Venerable Ajaan Mun used, as well as the methods which he used in teaching those followers of his who went into training under him. This may act as sort of a guide to the way, in the form of a brief summary. But in particular, the way that he himself practised will first be considered, after which, the way he taught his close followers will be described. 

This is Venerable Ācariya Mahā Boowa’s Dhamma Talk, given on the 27th of October, 1981, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, in which Ajahn Maha Boowa talks about the attraction of the defilements compared to fire and how to calm and eradicate their influence by concenrtation on wholesome rather than unwholeome mind factors. Cooling the fires is the figure of speech used for following the path of purification to be free of the influences of harmful elements.

Dependent Origination means, "When this happens that happens." This means all causes have effects -- all actions have results. So the Buddha, before his enlightment, applied this formula to the cause of aging, sickness and death,  and etc., and he saw that and all feelings have causes and results, All actions have a cause and an effect, and as all causes have effects, we reap the results of our actions, and this is a good reason to intend good actions to get good results in this life and the next..

This was the first discourse of the Buddha when he decided to teach the Dhamma and then addressed the five ascetics, in the deer park, whom he thought would understand what he had discovered about suffering in the world, the cause of worldly suffering, and the way to become free of suffering by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

On the personal request of the Honourable U Nu, Prime Minister, and Thado Thiri Thudhamma Sir U Thwin, President of the Buddha Sasananuggaha Association, the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, Bhadanta Sobhana Mahathera, came down from Shwebo to Rangoon on 10th November 1949. The Meditation Centre at the Thathana Yeiktha, Hermitage Road, Rangoon, was formally opened on 4th December 1949, when the Mahasi Sayadaw began to give to fifteen devotees a methodical training in the right system of Satipathana Vipassana.

Mahasi Sayadaw expounds a discourse on developing the Four Divine Abodes: of loving-kindness, compassion, sympatheteic joy and equanimity as a positive way of acting with care and understsnding towarsds  all beings.We learn how the Buddha used these wholesome skills  for the benefit, weal and welfare of both humans and all other living beings, concentrating the mind on positive states rather than their opposites.

The Venerable U Sobhana Mahathera, better known as Mahasi Sayadaw, [1] was born on 29 July 1904 to the peasant proprietors, U Kan Htaw and Daw Shwe Ok at Seikkhun Village, which is about seven miles to the west of the town of Shwebo in Upper Burma, once the capital of the founder of the last Burmese dynasty.

At the age of six he began his studies at a monastic school in his village, and at the age of twelve he was ordained a samanera (novice), receiving the name of Sobhana. On reaching the age of twenty, he was ordained a bhikkhu on 26 November 1923. He passed the Government Pali Examinations in all the three classes (lower, middle, and highest) in the following three successive years.

The texts of both the Theravada (i.e., the southern) as well as of the Mahayana (i.e., the northern) schools of Buddhism often speak of man in the context of a larger concourse of sentient beings who are considered as populating a vast universe.

Although speculations about the origin and extent of the universe are discouraged, the vastness of space and the immensity of time are never lost sight of. It is said that, even if one moves with the swiftness of an arrow in any direction and travels for a whole lifetime, one can never hope to reach the limits of space.

Anatta is the last of the ‘three characteristics’ (tilakkhana) or the general characteristics (samanna-lakkana) of the universe and everything in it. Like the teaching of the four Noble Truths, it is the teaching peculiar to Buddhas : (buddhanam samukkamsika desana : M. I, 380).

NATURAL SCIENCES investigate the basic principles and laws of nature to explain the physical phenomena that have been occurring for aeons. But they cannot probe the nature of the mind and they fail to explain the mental phenomena that have enormous influence on physical phenomena. Lord Buddha, with His power of omniscience, knew the true nature of the mind and correctly described the causal relations that govern mind and matter and thus can explain all psycho-physical phenomena in the world. His ultimate teaching, known as Abhidhamma, describes in detail the natures of the ultimate realities that really exist in nature but are unknown to scientists

The Abhidhamma forms the third part of the Pali Canon, the Tipitaka. The other two parts are the Vinaya Piátaka, the code of discipline for monks and nuns, and the Sutta Piátaka, which contains the Buddha's discourses. The word "Abhidhamma" means the higher teaching because it treats subjects exclusively in an ultimate sense (paramatthasacca), differing from the Sutta Piátaka where there is often the use of expressions valid only from the standpoint of conventional truth. In the Abhidhamma the philosophical standpoint of the Buddha is given in a pure form without admixture of personalities, anecdotes, or discussions. It deals with realities in detail and consists of numerous classifications. These may at first discourage the prospective student. However, if one perseveres one will be able to derive much benefit in life-situations from the practical application of the knowledge gained through study of the Abhidhamma.

Dr. Suntorn's text on the Four Planes of Existence is a general introduction to Buddhist cosmology, and in particulat to the different realms of rebirth, which play an important role in S.E.Asian cosmology, which many Western Buddhists have trouble understanding and accepting.

Since the final goal of the Buddha's teaching is the cessation of rebirth by putting an end to kamma a knowledge of the different planes of rebirth may be important.

Schopenhauer, after dealing with the philosophy of Kant and Hegel and other contemporaries, turned to eastern philosophy, in particular from translations into Latin of Faussbhuel, and rather than depending on western epistemology and metaphysics, turned to the Buddha and the idea of the will or volition to explain how we view the world and how we deal with suffering. He was way ahead of his time, but little understood, living an isolated life in Frankfurt, although in later years, he was somewhat better accepted and still later, following his death, was read and appreciated by a much wider audience.

First, we have a word-for-word translation of What the Buddha Said about Non-Conflict as translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nanamoli which may seem a bit heavy-going on the first reading, but then, secondly, we have a step-by-step explication by Bhikkhu Khantipalo of what those words mean which may help us in our understanding what the the Buddha  is teaching for the sake of bringing about an end of suffering.

This celebrated sutta shows some of the complexities of kamma and its results. Beginning with a strange view expressed by a confused wanderer and a confused answer given by a bhikkhu, the Buddha then gives his Great Exposition of Kamma which is based upon four "types" of people:

the evil-doer who goes to hell (or some other low state of birth),
the evil-doer who goes to heaven,
the good man who goes to heaven, and
the good man who goes to hell (or other low birth).

The Buddha then shows how wrong views can arise from only partial understanding of truth. One can see the stages of this: (1) a mystic "sees" in vision an evil-doer suffering in hell, (2) this confirms what he had heard about moral causality, (3) so he says, "evil-doers always go to hell," and (4) dogma hardens and becomes rigid when he says (with the dogmatists of all ages and places), "Only this is true; anything else is wrong."

In the Buddhisrt Publication Society's Wheel Series 07, Bhikkhu Nanamoli explains what the Buddha said about Metta: The Practice of Loving-Kindness (1987).

If we wish to explain how happiness is based on "love," first we must define love ...

This text contains an expansive and detailed description, in translation, of what the Buddha said about Breathing Meditation, excerpted from a wide variety of sources and texts which may be found in diverse suttas throughout the Pali Canon. Seldom will one find a comprehensive translation and explication on Anapanasati, written with such scholarly dedication and attention to subtleties of wording and interpretation. Here we find Bhikkhu Nanamoli working at his best.

The brahmans of this discourse, intelligent people, asked a question about the causality of rebirth  and why is one reborn in the states of deprivation (the hells, animals, and ghosts) while others make it to the heaven worlds?

The Buddha then analyzes what kind of kamma will take one to a low rebirth. You see any of your own actions here? Then you know what to do about it, for if one makes any of these ten courses of unwholesome kamma strong in oneself, a result can be expected at least "on the dissolution of the body, after death," if not in this life ...

What Is the Dhamma?

Narrator One. What is the “Dhamma” that was “well proclaimed” by the “Supreme Physician”? Is it an attempt to make a complete description of the world? Is it a metaphysical system?

The Blessed One was once living in Jeta’s Grove, when a deity called Rohitassa came to him late in the night, paid homage to him and asked: “Lord, the world’s end where one neither is born nor ages nor dies nor passes away nor reappears: is it possible to know or see or reach that by travelling there?

The analysis of right view undertaken in this sutta brings us to the core of the Dhamma, since right view constitutes the correct understanding of the central teachings of the Buddha, the teachings which confer upon the Buddha’s doctrine its own unique and distinctive stamp.

Often when the mind is tired and stale it needs comfort and encouragement of a soothing kind. At other times, such treatment can induce in it a false sense of security, and then it has to be jolted, woken up, even frightened if necessary, and injected with a sense of urgency. This discourse does precisely that.

The Visuddhimaga, The Path of Purification, systematically sumarizes and interprets the teachings of the Budda contained in the Tipitaka as the oldest and most authentic of the Buddha's words. It forms the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis using the Abhidhamma method -- setting out detailed instructions for developing the purification of mind.

The word "love" -- one of the most compelling in the English language -- is commonly used for purposes so widely separated, so gross and so rarefied, as to render it sometimes nearly meaningless. Yet rightly understood, love is the indispensable and essential foundation no less for the growth and purification of the individual as for the construction of a peaceful, progressive and healthy society.

This textual document contains two sets of quotations translated from the Buddha’s Words which, had previously been published under the title of The Lion’s Roar. First We shall, , examine the translations of two suttas by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, (edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi); and, then, secondly, we shall subsequently go on, to examine the words of the Buddha as collected in a longer anthology of quotations rendered from the Pali texts and presented by David Maurice.

"Concept and Reality" came out as my first book in 1971, published by the Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy. As indicated in my Preface to the First Edition, the work had its origin in the academic atmosphere of a University but took its final shape in the sylvan solitude of a Hermitage. Though it has gone through several reprints unrevised, I take this opportunity to bring out a revised edition.

The main purpose of my writing this letter is to place before you Venerable Sir, an important problem that I have. Though my mind is generally calm, composed and luminous, I lose my temper in ordinary day to day problems and find it difficult to control myself. Then I go on ranting and raving like an uneducated crazy woman. Because of this trait I irritate my family members, my friends and my neighbours. I get fed up with myself. But very soon my mind gets free from this mad fit of rage. It again becomes luminous. I forget even the incident. It is like a breeze that blows over a tank of calm water. The water that gets ruffled by the breeze again becomes calm after the breeze is gone. The ruffling is not deep.

As regards the choice of material, an attempt was made to make it as representative as possible of the whole collection, but personal preference could not be ignored. Choice tended to fall upon the more striking discourses, the avoidance of passages that were too repetitive and the inclusion of those that contained similes and parables, so profoundly illuminating and easily remembered.

This is an excellent anthonlgy containing suttas referrring to some of the Buddha’s most central teachings on investigating and understanding deluded perception and attraction.

Unlike the anthology of the Anguttara Nikaya in this series [by the Ven. Nyanaponika], the selection from the Samyutta is by three different hands:
Samyutta Nikaya Part I by John D. Ireland, 
Samyutta Nikaya Part II by Bhikkhu Nanananda, and
Part III by M. O. C. Walshe.

The series of 20 sermons which I delivered in Devalegama seems to have had an appeal to those who listened to the sermons, or read them when the series came out in 4 volumes. Although the translation of the first ten sermons have already appeared as ˜The Law of Dependent Arising“ The Secret of Bondage and Release volumes I & II), due to failing health I have not been able to translate them all myself. So I delegated the task to someone who is competent and the last two vo lumes will be issued in due course.

Even were bandits savagely to sever you limb from limb with a two handled saw, he who entertained hate in his heart on that account would not be one who carried out my teaching.

"This is an clearly formatted rendering of Manual of the Abhidhamma by Narada Thera, which is practical for eye-friendly visual study."

Narada Maha Thera in The Buddha and His Teachings (1998) translates and narrates

what the Buddha said about the characteristics of Nibbana:

"What is Nibbana, friend? The destruction of lust, the destruction of
hatred, the destruction of delusion that, Friend, is called Nibbana.

Samyutta Nikaya

On the full-moon day of May, in the year 623 B.C., there was born in the district of Nepal an Indian Sakya Prince named Siddhattha Gotama, who was destined to be the greatest religious teacher in the world. Brought up in the lap of luxury, receiving an education befitting a prince, he married and had a son.

His contemplative nature and boundless compassion did not permit him to enjoy the fleeting material pleasures of a Royal household. He knew no woe, but he felt a deep pity for sorrowing humanity.

Kamma is the law of moral causation. The theory of kamma is a fundamental doctrine in Buddhism. This belief was prevalent in India before the advent of the Buddha. Nevertheless, it was the Buddha who explained and formulated this doctrine in the complete form in which we have it today.

Narada Maha Thera, in The Buddha and his Teachings (1998) translates and narrates what the Buddha said about the karmic results of different types of actions. Following are some illustrations:

The result of good kamma reaped in this life:

"A husband and his wife possessed only one upper garment to wear when they went out-of-doors. One day the husband heard the Dhamma from the Buddha and was so pleased with the doctrine that he wished to offer his only upper garment, but his innate greed would not yet permit him to do so. He combatted with his mind and, ultimately overcoming his greed, offered the garment to the Buddha and exclaimed "I have won, I have won." The king was delighted to hear his story and in appreciation of his generosity presented him thirty-two robes. The devout husband kept one for himself and another for his wife and offered the rest to the Buddha.

(Buddhist Legends Dhammapadatthakatha, pt. 2, p. 262)

"This is the best tight textual introduction one can get by reading the Buddha’s relavent suttas on morality and ethics, persented in a clearly deliniated way."

Narada Thera, in The Buddha and his Teachings,1998, delineated what the Buddha said about the consequences of evil actions:

"There are ten evil actions caused by deed, word, and mind which produce evil kamma.

Of them three are committed by deed namely, killing,) stealing, and sexual misconduct,

Four are committed by word - namely, lying, slandering, harsh speech, and frivolous talk.

Three are committed by mind - namely, covetousness, ill-will, and falseview.

Narada Maha Thera, in The Buddha and His Teachings (1998) translates and narrates what the Buddha said about good kamma leading to good results:

"There are ten kinds of such meritorious actions (kusala kamma): namely,

(1) Generosity (dana),
(2) Morality (sia),
(3) Meditation (bhavana)
(4) Reverence (apacayana),
(5) Service (veyyavacca).
(6) Transference of merit (pattidana),
(7) Rejoicing in other's good actions (anumodana),
(8) Hearing the doctrine (dhamma savana),
(9) Expounding the doctrine (dhammadesana) and
(10) Straightening one's own views (ditthijjukamma).

In the ninth year of his ministry, the Buddha spent the rainy season at Kosombi.

It was in this year that Magandiya, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy brahmin came to harbour a

grudge against the Buddha and sought an opportunity to dishonour him.

Narada Maha Thera, in The Buddha and His Teachings, 1998, translates and narrates the story:

"Magandiya was a beautiful maiden. Her parents would not give her in marriage as the prospective suitors, in their opinion, were not worthy of their daughter.

Narada Thera, in The Buddha and his Teachings, describes the first stages of the awakening after abandoning a previous period of extreme asceticism:

"Regaining his lost strength with some coarse food, he easily developed the first jhana which he had gained in his youth. By degrees he developed the second, third and fourth jhanas as well. By developing the jhanas he gained perfect one-pointedness of the mind. His mind was now like a polished mirror where everything is reflected in its true perspective. Thus with thoughts tranquillized, purified, cleansed, free from lust and impurity, pliable, alert, steady, and unshakable, he directed his mind to the knowledge as regards "The reminiscence of past births" 

Narada Maha Thera in  The Buddha and His Teachings  (1998) addresses the question of whether Buddhism is a religion:

The Venerable Narada Maha Thera begins by quoting Prof. Rhys Davids who asks the question:

"What is meant by religion? The word, as is well-known is not found in languages not related to our own, and its derivation is uncertain. Cicero, in one passage, derived it from re and lego, and held that its real meaning was the repetition of prayers and incantations. Another interpretation derives the word from re and logo, and makes its original sense that of attachment, of a continual binding (that is, no doubt to the gods). A third derivation connects the word with lex, and explains it as a law-abiding, scrupulously conscientious frame of mind. (Narada 210)

We are often at a loss to find a chanting book when we need one, so the following book, prepared by Narada Thera [which has been re-edited] may prove beneficial and helpful when such an occasion arises.

In The Buddha And His Teachings (1998) concerning the perfections of a Bodhisatta, Narada Maha Thera translates and narrates what the Buddha said about the value of reninciation: --

 Perfectioms (parami) means that which enables one to go to the Further Shore.

Parami are those virtues which are cultivated with compassion, guided by reason, uninfluenced by selfish motives and unsullied by misbelief and all feelings of self-conceit.

This is a very good book for learning about the Buddha's teachings as they are presented systematically in a step-by-step way, so it is easy to see how what the Buddha said was coherent and unified. Narada Thera was one of the foremost teacher scholars of his day and his way of saying things comes smoothly and naturaly which is one of the characteristics of a goo teacher.

Narada Maha Thera in The Buddha and His Teachings (1998) outlines the Buddha’s daily routine:

The Buddha can be considered the most energetic and active of all religious teachers that ever lived. The whole day He was occupied with religious activities except when attending to his physical needs.

Narada Thera, in The Buddha and his Teachings (1998) elaborartes upon the characteristic qualities of the Buddha:

"The Buddha does not call himself a saviour who freely saves others by his personal salvation. The Buddha exhorts his followers to depend on themselves for their deliverance, since both defilement and purity depend on oneself."

Narada Maha Thera in The Buddha and His Teachings, 1998, translates and narrates how the Blesed One at first douted that anyone else could understand the Dhamma he had discovered, and was disinclined to teach it, but the Brahma Sahampati appeared to him and pleaded with the Buddha to share what he had discovered.

Of the Four Sublime States of mett, karuna,  mudita and upekkha, the fourth and final state is the hardest to uderstand and to cultivate.

Narada Thera In the Buddha and his Teaching, 1998, has expertly translated and narrated the following teaching about upekkha or equanimity:

The fourth sublime state is the most difficult and the most essential.

It is upekkha or equanimity. The etymo-logical meaning of the term upekkha is "discerning rightly," "viewing justly" or "looking impartially," that is, without attachment or aversion, without favour or disfavour.

In this Buddha era, a woman was reborn at Savatthi, in a poor family. Gotami was her name, and from the leanness of her body she was called Lean Gotami. And she was disdainfully treated when married, and was called a nobody’s daughter.

But when she bore a son, they paid her honour. Then, when he was old enough to run about and play, the baby died, and she was distraught with grief. And, mindful of the change in folk’s treatment of her since his birth, she thought, "They will even try to take my child and throw it out."

The Abhidhamma is impressive as an analysis of the entire realm of consciousness without any reference to worldly terminology or conventions, lacking any reference to ontology or mythology. The Abhidhamma is a systematization of the whole of reality as far as it of concern to man's liberation from passion and suffering. 

The Buddha speaks aboyt the duality of existence and non-existence. These two terms refer to the theories of eternalism and annihilationism, these are  basic misconceptions of actuality which in various forms repeatedly reappear in the history of human thought.

Eternalism is the belief in a permanent substance or entity, whether conceived as a multitude of individual souls or selves, created or not, as a monistic world-soul, a deity of any description, or a combination of any of these notions. Annihilationism, on the other hand, asserts the temporary existence of separate selves or personalities, which are entirely destroyed or dissolved after death.

The Aṅguttara Nikāya is the largest among the four collections (nikāya) of the Buddha’s Discourses contained in the Sutta Piṭaka of the Pali Canon. The title of the work derives from the way of its arrangement. The Book of the Ones (Ekaka Nipāta) comprises items with single classification; the Book of the Twos (Duka Nipāta), items with a twofold classification and so forth up to the Book of the Elevens, The Pali title, Aṅguttara Nikāya, could be rendered literally by “Further-factored Collection” (aṅga factor, uttara, beyond, further), i.e., “discourses in progressive numerical order.” In the Pali Text Society’s translation of the complete work, it is called Gradual Sayings. It is characteristic of this discourse collection that it mainly deals with the practical aspects of Buddhism; ethics (lay and monastic), mind training (meditation) and the community life of monks. Philosophical texts, however, are not absent entirely, as extracts in the present anthology show. The present volume contains selections from the first four Books.

The Aṅguttara Nikāya is the largest among the four collections (nikāya) of the Buddha’s Discourses contained in the Sutta Piṭaka of the Pali Canon. The title of the work derives from the way of its arrangement. The Book of the Ones (Ekaka Nipāta) comprises items with single classification; the Book of the Twos (Duka Nipāta), items with a twofold classification and so forth up to the Book of the Elevens, The Pali title, Aṅguttara Nikāya, could be rendered literally by “Further-factored Collection” (aṅga factor, uttara, beyond, further), i.e., “discourses in progressive numerical order.” In the Pali Text Society’s translation of the complete work, it is called Gradual Sayings. It is characteristic of this discourse collection that it mainly deals with the practical aspects of Buddhism; ethics (lay and monastic), mind training (meditation) and the community life of monks. Philosophical texts, however, are not absent entirely, as extracts in the present anthology show. 

The text below contains clear and insightful core teachings, providing many answers to questions, which were spoken and explained, by the Buddha, to the Noble Ones and laymen, which were collected in selected passages taken from the Gradual Sayings/Numerical Discourses.

More than two thousand years ago there was a young man living in Rohana not far from the southern capital of Mahagama. He came from a family of hunters.

When he grew up, he decided to take a wife and raise a family. So he worked hard, trapping creatures in the jungle, selling the meat and making a profit. He was in fact very diligent in this for some years, and he was able to lay up for himself quite a little money and quite a lot of future suffering.

One day he went into the woods as usual, and as he felt hungry, he killed a deer caught in one of his traps, grilled the meat over a fire and ate it. Then he was thirsty but there was no water, so he had to walk a long way to a monastery. When he got there, he went to where the drinking water was kept; but though ten pitchers were there as usual, he found them all empty. He was parched by then, and losing his temper a little, he exclaimed:

Well really! All these bhikkhus living here and not a drop of water for visitors.

"To feel is everything!" — so exclaimed a German poet. Though these are rather exuberant words, they do point to the fact that feeling is a key factor in human life.

Whether people are fully aware of it or not, their lives are chiefly spent in an unceasing endeavor to increase their pleasant feelings and to avoid unpleasant feelings.

Kamma or in its Sanskrit form, karma is the Buddhist conception of action as a force which shapes and transforms human destiny. Often misunderstood as an occult power or as an inescapable fate, kamma as taught by the Buddha is in actuality nothing other than our own will or volition coming to expression in concrete action. The Buddhist doctrine of kamma thus places ultimate responsibility for human destiny in our own hands. It reveals to us how our ethical choices and actions can become either a cause of pain and bondage or a means to spiritual freedom.

In this book, five practising Buddhists, all with modern backgrounds, offer their reflections on the significance of kamma and its relations to ethics, spiritual practise, and philosophical understanding.

The Buddhist Publication Society has felt it its duty to pay homage to the memory of one of the greatest Western exponents of Theravada Buddhism, the late Venerable Nyanatiloka Mahathera. As a modest tribute to him this volume is issued on the occasion of the centenary of his birth (18.2.1878). Our Society had the privilege of having published new editions of several of the Mahathera’s works, after his demise, and giving them a wide circulation. One of our Founders, the editor of this volume, is one of the late Mahathera’s pupils. But in addition to these two circumstances, what forges in us a strong bond with that great monk, is that we share with him the conviction that the Buddha’s teachings have a world-wide and vital significance today, at a time when the great Twin Virtues, of Compassion and Wisdom are direly needed everywhere, in both the East and the West.

Once the Buddha told his monks the following story:

There was once a pair of jugglers who performed their acrobatic feats on a bamboo pole. One day the master said to his apprentice: "Now get on my shoulders and climb up the bamboo pole." When the apprentice had done so, the master said: "Now protect me well and I shall protect you! By protecting and watching each other in that way, we shall be able to show our skill, make a good profit and safely get down from the bamboo pole."

The Buddha taught that there are three roots of  evil which are: greed, hatred and delusion. These are the three states which comprise the entire range of evil, whether of greater or lesser intensity, leading from faint tendencies, to the coarsest of manifestations. So it would be good if we as practioners  could become aware of how these roots affect our reactions and intentions and actions in order to allow us to cut them out before they are able to do any unnecessary damage.  

Venerable Nyanaponika Maha Thera, [based in the Forest Hermitage in Sri Lanka], was the focal point of the distribution of translations and publications of Theravada Buddha Dhamma teachings and texts into English and German, from before the middle, to almost the end of the twentieth century.

• Monks, I know not of any other single thing so intractable as the untamed mind. The untamed mind is indeed a thing intractable.
• Monks, I know not of any other thing so tractable as the tamed mind. The tamed mind is indeed a thing tractable.
• Monks, I know not of any other single thing so conducive to great loss as the untamed mind. The untamed mind indeed conduces to great loss.
• Monks, I know not of any other single thing so conducive to great profit as the tamed mind. The tamed mind indeed conduces to great profit.
• Monks, I know not of any other single thing that brings such woe as the mind that is untamed, uncontrolled, unguarded and unrestrained. Such a mind indeed brings great woe.
• Monks, I know not of any other single thing that brings such bliss as the mind that is tamed, controlled, guarded and restrained. Such a mind indeed brings great bliss.

Venerable Nyanaponika Maha Thera retells an ancient Buddhist tale in Bodhi Leaf No 68 which which figuratively illustrates how we bring about both the arousal and the elimination of anger:

"A son has been born to thee, O prince!" this was the message that reached Prince Siddhattha when returning from a drive through the city of Kapilavatthu and a day spent at a park near-by.

"A fetter (Rahula) has been born, a bondage has been born!" said the prince upon hearing the news. And Rahula was the name given later to the babe by Siddhattha’s father, the Raja Suddhodana.

The discourse of the Buddha on the Snake Simile that is presented here, together with explanatory notes taken mostly from the commentarial literature, is the 22nd text in the Collection of Discourses of Medium Length  (Majjhima Nikaya).

It is a text rich of contents and graced by many similes. At the very beginning there is a sequence of ten pithy similes on the perils of sense desires; then follows the simile on correctly or wrongly getting hold of a snake (from which our text derives its name); further, and still better known, the parable of the raft; and finally the simile of the vegetation of the Jeta Grove. The evocative power of these similes will strengthen the impact of the sutta’s message, in him who ponders on them deeply and repeatedly.

If a question is put: "What is the root of craving? - Craving for what?"
The answer is: "Craving for nourishment of the four nutriments of life."
And if a question is then put: "What are the four nutriments of life?"
The answer is:"Read this insightful book by Venerable Nyanaponika."

The Four Sublime States are Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity.  They are described as noble, lofty, excellent and sublime, and they can transform our lives and worlds by arousing  beauty, joy and meaning. To love brings all beings together equally and without discrimonation. To be compassionate means to be caring and kind to all in the same way we would love ourselves. Sympathetic joy means  rejoicing in the happiness and success of others and equanimity means remaining even-minded, steady and balanced in facing the vicissitudes of life. If everybody could live in this manner, what a wonderful place this world would be.

Venerable Nyanaponika  shares four lectures on: 

(1) The Essence of Buddhism,

(2) Kamma and Rebirth,

(3) Dependent Origination, and

(4) Mental Culture.

The story begins at two brahmanical villages in India, called Upatissa and Kolita, which lay not far from the city Rajagaha. Before our Buddha had appeared in the world a brahman lady named Sari, living in Upatissa village, conceived; and also, on the same day at Kolita village, did another brahman lady whose name was Moggalli. The two families were closely connected, having been friends with one another for seven generations. From the first day of their pregnancy, the families gave due care to the mothers-to-be, and after ten months both women gave birth to boys, on the same day. On the name-giving day the child of the brahman lady Sari received the name Upatissa, as he was a son of the foremost family of that village; and for the same reason Moggalli’s son was named Kolita.

The Buddha spoke of the power of mindfulness in a very emphatic way:
"Mindfulness, I declare, is all-helpful" (Samyutta, 46:59).
"All things can be mastered by mindfulness" (Anguttara, 8:83).
Further, there is that solemn and weighty utterance opening and concluding the Satipatthana Sutta, the Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness:

This discourse of the Buddha, the seventh in the Collection of Middle Length Texts (Majjhima Nikaya) deals first with a set of sixteen defilements of the human mind; and in its second part, with the disciple's progress to the highest goal of Arahatship, which can be achieved if and only if these impurities are gradually reduced and finally eliminated. While there are also defilements of insight which must be removed for the attainment of the goal, the sixteen defilements dealt with here are all of an ethical nature and are concerned with man's social behavior. Only the last of these sixteen, negligence, may also refer to purely personal concerns as well as to one's relations with others.

When we as Buddhists, ordain and seek refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, we go to the Buddha to follow his example; we go to the Dhamma to learn to understand the laws of nature and the workings of man's mind within the cosmos; and we go to the Sangha, the monastic community, in order to be guided and protected as we gradually make our way along the path to liberation and nibbana.,

Buddhism is essentially a path to inner freedom which centres upon the discipline of seeing. What lies at its core, beneath its sometimes bewildering profusion of forms and doctrines, is a liberative vision to be cultivated by an arduous yet meticulously methodical course of training. This vision, which gradually alters one’s most basic conceptions and attitudes, runs through every stage of the genuine Buddhist path, from the first glimmer of understanding which induces a person to enter the path right through to the indubitable knowledge of deliverance which consummates it. In the special terminology of the tradition it is called the vision of Dhamma: a penetrating insight into the nature of things as they really are independently of our grasping, wishful thinking and manipulative activity governed by self-serving ends.

The Sutta Nipata, in its oldest and most characteristic parts, is a deeply stirring Song of Freedom. The verses of this ancient book are a challenging call to us to leave behind the narrow confines of our imprisoned existence with its ever-growing walls of accumulated habits of life and thought. They beckon us to free ourselves from the enslavement to our passions and to our thousands of little whims and wishes.

The subjects in the Satipatthana Sutta are four: corporality, feeling,  mind, and mind objects. These are the foundations for contemplation on the Buddha's path to deliverence.

We start being aware of mindfulness of breathing and go onto contemplation of the quality of feeling then to contemplation of perception and then to contenplation of mental phenomena.

It is a  matter of Right Concentration in each of these fields. which leads to right intention which leads to mental purification and ultimately enlightenment.

Ven. Nyanatiloka's goal as a scholar was to translate the original Theravada teachings from Pali into English so the modern world would know what the Buddha taught to the sangha and lay practitioners during his lifetime. During the time the Venerable a was doing this, he put together a dictioary of Pali terms to help other translators and readers in their endeavours. This is a very handy tool for those who study early Buddhism.

The most crucial point for most men seems to be the Buddha’s fundamental teaching about Phenomenality, Egoless-ness and Impersonality of existence, in Pali anattaa. It is the middle way between two extremes, namely on the one hand the spiritualistic belief in an eternal ego-entity, or soul, outlasting death; on the other hand the materialistic belief in a temporary ego-entity becoming annihilated at death.

Nyanatiloka Maha Thera translated and explicated the following sequence of quotations in The Word of the Buddha pertaining to the Extinction of Suffering: (Nyanatiloka 24-28, 1967)

This is the transcript of a talk which Venerable Nyanatiloka gave in Sri Lanka around mid-20th century about the influence that the example and the teachings of the Buddha can have on the culture and way of life of a people -- which, of course, aslo applies to others around the world who follow the Buddha in the present day.

None of all the teachings of Buddhism has given rise to greater misunderstandings, to more contradictory and absurd interpretations than the doctrine of Dependent Origination (Patticca-Samuppada). This is especially true with regard to some Western writers and scholars who too often did not possess even the rudiments of knowledge required for treating such a difficult subject. Obviously some of them did not even understand the correct meaning of the twelve basic terms of the formula, and, instead, based their interpretations on their own imagination.

Nyanatiloka Maha Thera, in The Word of the Buddha (1967) translates what the Blessed One said about the three essential truths of impermanence, suffering and non-self: --

"When Venerable Nyanaponika was asked many years ago, "How does one get to the heart of Theravada Buddhism?" His answer was: "Why look anywhere but in the word of the Buddha?" and he recommended reading the text, written by his own teacher: The Word of the Buddha, by Venerable Nyanatiloka, who was the indisputable expert in translating and explaining Pali- English texts in the Theravada Tradition."

In the Word of the Buddha, Venerable Nyanatiloka Maha Thera transltes and explicates what the Buddha said about the pain of existence:

To realize the Dhamma one should know how to practice and strive toward discerning the Four Noble Truths which include: the truth of dukkha (dukkha sacca), the truth of the origin of dukkha (dukkha samudaya sacca), the truth of the cessation of dukkha (dukkha nirodha sacca) and the truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha (magga sacca). The First Noble Truth (dukkha sacca) is that the whole body is one mass of dukkha. All actions, be it sitting, touching, feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling, standing, turning, stretching, lifting or moving involve mind and matter (nāma and rūpa). They are continually arising and passing away as causes and effects. Through this constant arising and passing away, we are able to see the truth of dukkha...

In relation to the prosaic affairs of everyday life, religions may take two approaches: one is to ignore them completely, to concentrate wholly on the higher aim of merging with God or realizing ultimate truth; the other is to go into great detail about such matters, telling us how to organize our will, what foods to eat and what clothes to wear. These would seem to be two extremes.

Today I have been expected to speak on death and dying, but I would like instead to speak on aging and dying rather than on death and dying.

Old age and death are natural phenomena. In accordance with the law of nature all conditioned things are impermanent and liable to change, being subject to causes and conditions. Everything that has a beginning must at last come to an end. The lives of all beings, after being born, must decay and die. Aging is just the decline of life and the decay of the faculties; and death is the passing-away, the termination of the time of life, the break-up of the aggregates and the casting off of the body.

Every human being wants a good life and genuine happiness, and so we live our lives persevering in doing everything we can in order to achieve these things. But because we act with perseverance without knowing and understanding what a good life and genuine happiness really are, we human beings face problems.

This is part of the research for a book in collaboration with the Dalai Lama called Business and Buddhism: Universal Responsibility. The objective of the book is to influence the behavior of leaders of large business to behave in a better way. Originally, the Dalai Lama was hesitant to get involved because he has no personal experience in business, but at the same time, like you, he has recognized that business is an important part of society and the way businessmen and women behave affects the welfare of society..

The teachings of the Buddha may be classified into two main groups according to the people to whom the Dharma was preached:

1. Teachings for monks, and
2. Teachings for the laity.

The teaching of casual interdependence is the most important of Buddhist principles. It describes the law of nature, which exists as the natural course of things. The Buddha was no emissary of heavenly commandments, but the discoverer of this principle of the natural order, and the proclaimer of its truth to the world.

The work presented here is based on a single chapter from Buddha Dhamma, by the Most Venerable Phra Thepvedi Payutto (Bhikkhy P.A. Payutto). Buddha Dhamma is perhaps the author’s most formal and ambitious book to date, a volume of over one thousand pages dealing with the while of the Buddha’s teaching. The work is scholarly in approach, and yet always tries to simplify the Buddhist themes so often misunderstood or considered beyond the scope of the layman, making them more available on the practical level.

The secret of happy, successful living lies in doing what needs to be done now, and not worrying about the past and the future. We cannot go back into the past and reshape it; nor can we anticipate everything that may happen in the future.

There is but one moment of time over which we have some conscious control -- the present.

“Early Buddhism emphasises the importance of the scientific outlook in dealing with the problems of morality and religion. Its specific ’dogmas’ are said to be capable of verification. And its general account of the nature of man and the universe is one that accords with the findings of science rather than being at variance with them. 

Piyadassi Maha Thera in The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (1960) explains the factor of (samadhi) concentration :

"It is only the tranquillized mind that can easily concentrate on a subject of meditation. The calm, concentrated mind sees things as they really are (samahito yatha bhutam pajanati). The unified mind brings the five hindrances under subjugation.

"Concentration is the intensified steadiness of the mind, comparable to an unflickering flame of a lamp in a windless place. It fixes the mind aright and causes it to be unmoved and undisturbed. Correct practice of samadhi maintains the mind and the mental properties in a state of balance like a steady hand holding a pair of scales. Right concentration dispels passions that disturb the mind, and brings purity and placidity of mind. The concentrated mind is not distracted by sense objects; concentration of the highest type cannot be disturbed under the most adverse circumstances.

This  general introduction briefly explains the history of the Novice Ordination  (or ’going forth’), the Higher Ordination and the functions of a novice (samanera) and a monk (bhikkhu), in Theravada Buddhism.

The article that follows gives a graphic account of a Higher Ordination ceremony as witnessed by Mr. J. F. Dickson at Malwatta monastery, Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1872. A few shortcomings and errors in the essay have been corrected.

The Buddha lived over 2,500 years ago, and was known  as Siddattha Gotoma and His father ruled over the Land of the Sakayans. Mahamaya the princess was his queen ....

Ven. Piyadassi Mahathera in The Elimination of Anger (1994) has written:

"It is no wonder if we, at times, in our everyday lives, feel angry with somebody about something. But we should try to curb it at the very moment it has arisen

There are ways to curb and control anger: --

Piyadassi Maha Thera, (1960) in The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, translates from the Pali and explains what the Buddha said about the enlightenmant factor of keen Investigation:

The second enlightenment factor is "dhammavicaya," keen investigation of the Dhamma. It is the sharp analytical knowledge of understanding the true nature of all constituent things, animate or inanimate, human or divine. It is seeing things as they really are; seeing things in their proper perspective. It is the analysis of all component things into their fundamental elements, right down to their ultimates.

[Today] ....  let us dwell on the psychological aspect of Buddhism. A dispassionate student of Buddhism who carefully reads through the books of early Buddhism is confronted with a dynamic personality, a religious teacher, who had attained supreme enlightenment and security from bondage through moral, intellectual and spiritual perfection, a teacher with an indefatigable zeal and steel determination for propagating the truth he had realised. That dynamic personality is none other than Siddhattha Gotama (Sanskrit, Siddhartha Gautama) popularly known as the Buddha. This teacher, who did not claim to be other than a human being, was not just one more philosopher among many others, but a teacher of a way of life, who set in motion the matchless Wheel of Truth (dhammacakka) which was to revolutionise the thought and life of the human race. His self-sacrificing zeal, large love, kindliness and tolerance combined with his remarkable personality, aroused the Indians from their slumber of ignorance and inspired them.

The seven factors are: 1. Mindfulness (sati), 2. Keen investigation of the dhamma (dhammavicaya), [3] 3. Energy (viriya), 4. Rapture or happiness (pīti), 5. Calm (passaddhi), 6. Concentration (samādhi), 7. Equanimity (upekkhā).

“Go forth, my brethren, for the gain of many, for the welfare of many, out of compassion for the world.” In these words the Buddha, gave a message to the first sixty Arahants, and through them, to the Sangha for all time. This mandate was fully carried out for centuries, and in obedience to it, the Arahant Mahinda came to Lanka. On being asked by King Tissa who they were, the Arahant replied “Samaóas are we, Oh King, Disciples of the King of Truth. Out of compassion for thee have we come from Jambudìpa.” The message he brought was the message of the Buddha Dhamma, the way to the attainment of happiness here and now and in the hereafter; from happiness which is transient, to the “Highest Happiness” the incomparable security of “Nibbána.” Mahinda’s work was twofold; one was to teach the “way to Happiness” and the other was the organisation of a national Sangha, which was to maintain by practice and by teaching, the message of the Dhamma. 

The Buddha's gradual teaching follows a progression from the establishment of (1). morality (2) to mental concentrtion and (3) to the development of wisdom. These three: virtue, concentration and wisdom are the cardinal teachings of the Buddha  and must be properly understood before we begin a gradual process of development which leads from darkness to light, from passion to dispassion, from turmoil to tranquility.

Venerable Mahathera Piyadassi was one of the world’s most eminent Buddhist monks having traveled widely carrying the message of the Buddha-Dhamma, both to the East and to West, he was able to write in a style that has universal appeal.

The purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive description of the universe and its inhabitants as they were understood by the Buddhists of ancient India. This is the context within which the teachings of the Buddha were situated. The material in this book should be of interest to both Buddhists and to students of myth and folklore. For the modern Buddhist, especially in the Western countries outside the historical range of the religion, the material in this book will hopefully fill a gap in her knowledge. The understanding of this background should make the experience of reading the suttas richer and more meaningful. This is the imaginative space in which all Buddhists lived until very recently, and even if it is no longer held literally in all details, this cosmology and mythology is still very much a living tradition in Buddhist countries today. 

THE prospects of Ceylon Buddhism in the sixties of the last century were dark indeed. Successive, waves of Portuguese, Dutch and British invasion had swept away much of the traditional culture of the country. Missionaries had descended upon the copper-coloured Island like a cloud of locusts. Christian schools of every conceivable denomination had been opened, where Buddhist boys and girls were crammed with bible texts and taught to be ashamed of their religion; their culture, their language, their race and their colour.

We are going to cover twelve lectures including, under others, the life of the Buddha, the four noble thrths, the noble eightfold path; kamma, rebirth, dependent origination, the three chsracteristics and the five aggregates. We will present a systematic buildup, in the same way the Buddha taught a gradual development,

 In the past twenty five years, many books have appeared, focussed on the topics of Nagarjuna and causality and emptiness. It could, indeed, be said that, especially in recent times, Nagarjuna has become a favorite subject for scholars from many fields both within and without Buddhist Studies. 

IN TIMES long past, fully twenty-five hundred years ago, where are now the border-lands between Nepal and the northern parts of the provinces of Oudhand North Bihar, there were a number of little kingdoms inhabited by different races of people, each ruled over by its own Raja or King. One of these little kingdoms which lay some distance north of the present-day town of Gorakhpore, on the north side of the river Rapti, was the land of a race called the Sakyas, the king who ruled over them at that time being called Suddhodana. The family to which King Suddhodana of the Sakyas belonged was called the Gotama family, so that his full name was King Suddhodana Gotama; and the name of the chief city in his kingdom where he had his chief palace, was Kapilavatthu.

The Abhidhammatthasangaha ṅ is a small book that was probably written by an Indian monk named Ācariya Anuruddha in about the twelfth century. That small book provides an introduction to subjects taught in the Abhidhamma texts of the Tipi aka. Actually in order to understand the Abhidhamma ṭ texts in the Pā i Canon, it is essential that the ḷ Abhidhammatthasa gaha ṅ be thoroughly mastered.

The no-self doctrine (anatta) is what makes Buddhism different fron other religions and perhaps one of the most misunderstood ideas in the Dhamma, but Sayadaw U Silananda, who was chosen by Mahasi Sayadaw to teach Buddhist doctrines in America, explains the anatta doctrine in the way the Buddha meant it to be understood

"Nyanatiloka Maha Thera was the first and foremost Pali scholar and expert to open the words of the actual texts of Theravada Buddhism to the West. He laid the foundation upon which later scholars like Nanamoli Thera and Nyanaponika Maha Thera and many devoted monk-scholars/practitioners built, culminating in Venerable BhikkhuBodhi."

The popular meaning of "kamma" is action or doing, but in the Buddhist sense it means volition or willing or intending. When we do something, there is volition or willing behind it, and that effort of the will is called "kamma." You intend to do what you do and you reap the result of your intentions and actions.

The Buddha’s message consists of the doctrine (dhamma) and discipline (vinaya). The discipline has to do with conduct, virtue and morals—the ethical side of the message—and the doctrine with the rest. In the threefold division of the path to happiness, produced by the destruction of craving, the discipline comes under the aggregate of virtue (sīla), and the doctrine belongs to the aggregates of concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā). The discipline concerns the activity of speech and bodily behaviour; the doctrine is connected with the activities of the intellect and with understanding. 

The Buddha’s message consists of the Doctrine (Dhamma) and the Discipline (Vinaya). The Discipline has to do with conduct, virtue, morals, the ethical side of the message; the Doctrine with the rest. In the threefold division of the Noble Eightfold Path, the Discipline comes under the aggregates of virtue (sīla); the Doctrine belongs to the aggregates of concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā). The Discipline concerns the activity of speech and bodily behaviour; the Doctrine is connected with the activities of the intellect and of the understanding.

For seven weeks after his enlightenment, the Buddha, staying near the Bodhi Tree, thought over the implications of the discovery he had made, and its bearing upon the destiny of beings. He had seen life truly as it is; that is, as an arising and a passing away; he knew that when there is an arising, there is only the arising of ill, and when there is a ceasing, only a ceasing of ill. His compassion urged him to pass this knowledge on to the world for the benefit of living beings. So, after much thought upon the way of presenting the doctrine to the world, he decided to seek out his 3 old companions in struggle, the group of five ascetics, Koṇḍañña, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahānāma, and Assaji, who, next to two great teachers, Ālāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, now dead, had been of greatest assistance to him in his quest.These five were then staying at Isipatana, the Sages’ Resort, in the deer park near Benares, and the Buddha went there to preaent his first sermon. 

The Kalamas of Kesaputta go to see the Buddha

1. I heard thus. Once the Blessed One, while wandering in the Kosala country with a large community of bhikkhus, entered a town of the Kalama people called Kesaputta. The Kalamas who were inhabitants of Kesaputta: "Reverend Gotama, the monk, the son of the Sakyans, has, while wandering in the Kosala country, entered Kesaputta. The good repute of the Reverend Gotama has been spread in this way: Indeed, the Blessed One is thus consummate, fully enlightened, endowed with knowledge and practice, sublime, knower of the worlds, peerless, guide of tamable men, teacher of divine and human beings, which he by himself has through direct knowledge understood clearly. He set forth the Dhamma, good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end, possessed of meaning and the letter, and complete in everything; and he proclaims the holy life that is perfectly pure. Seeing such consummate ones is good indeed."

 Dharmapradīpikā, which may aptly be translated as Lamp (pradīpikā) of the Law (Dharma), is a sort of commentary on the Mahābodhivaṃsa, the “Chronicle of the Tree of Enlightenment’, written in Pāli by that erudite author, Upatissa Mahā Thera. Judging from the style of language it can be said that the Dharmapradīpikā was written either toward the end of 12th century A. C. or beginning of the 13th century. As our author himself says in his other work, Amāvatura, the “Perennial Spring’, Dharmapradīpikā is a work dealing with the doctrine (Dhamma) of the Buddha while Amāvatura 4 speaks of the life of the Buddha. 

Like an experienced carpenter or carpenter’s apprentice, striking hard at, pushing out, and getting rid of a coarse peg [and replacing it] with a fine one, should the bhikkhu in order to get rid of the adventitious object, reflect on a different object which is connected with skill. Then the evil unskillful thoughts connected with desire, hate and delusion are eliminated; they disappear. By their elimination the mind stands firm, settles down, becomes unified and concentrated, just within (his subject of meditation).

The treasures of the noble disciples of the Buddha are not precious stones and pearls, silver and gold, or fields and houses. Nor are the noble treasures connected with the power and glory of earthly sovereignty; These are the seven treasures the noble have: Confidence, virtue, the sense of shame and fear, Learning, bounty, and understanding right. Not poor is the man endowed with these, Not empty is his life of worthy things. Therefore should he who is in understanding fixed, Be diligent working to gain confidence, Virtue, clarity, and vision of the truth, Mindful of the law of him who understood.

The Satipaþþhána Sutta, the Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, is generally regarded as the canonical Buddhist text with the fullest instructions on the system of meditation unique to the Buddha’s own dispensation. The practice of Satìpaþþhána meditation centres on the methodical cultivation of one simple mental faculty readily available to all of us at any moment. This is the faculty of mindfulness, the capacity for attending to the content of our experience as it becomes manifest in the immediate present. What the Buddha shows in the sutta is the tremendous, but generally hidden, power inherent in this simple mental function, a power that can unfold all the mind’s potentials culminating in final deliverance from suffering

"Truly it will be not long before this body lies in the earth, bereft of consciousness, like a useless piece of wood, which is thrown away."

Usually, uninstructed worldly minded people do not think of death and do not like any pointed reference made to it by others. Such unreflecting, uninstructed people often shut their minds deliberately to the fact that death is waiting for them. They reject the possibility of a future life, and occupying themselves only with things of this life immerse themselves in the ephemeral joys of the five strands of sense desire.

This sutta contains a compact list of the world’s thirty-eight highest blessings, which makes references to all of the Buddha’s main points of teaching, within one, tight, sequential discourse.

"Many of us come to Buddhism from different directions and find it hard to get to the core of where it all comes from, and the following essay on the origins of the texts will be helpful to some."

"Everything goes back originally to the word of the Buddha and his instructions for the Noble Life, and the following essay explains how there is only one Dhamma outlining the path that leads to the destination of purification and ultimate peace."

There is an essential difference between Buddhist Meditation and that practiced in other world systems which put different emphases on different things. In Buddhism there are two root causes which must be addressed, and they are ignorance (avijja) and desire (thanha) which form a viscious circle, when due to ignorance, desire cannot be satisfied. So in Buddhist meditation, we contemplate the root causes of mental dissatisfaction in order to to get rid of them, and this practice leads to satisfaction..

Francis Story shares some of his writings, firstly, on the uniqueness and beauty of Buddhism and the Buddhist world view in the age of science; followed, secondly, by observations on the origin of life and  the omniscience of the Buddha; and then, thirdly, completed by thoughts on the Dhamma from the author's notebooks.

Mankind, pondering and disputing, has been engaged for so long in trying to find an answer to the enigma of existence, and so many first-class minds have been devoted to the task, that had the problem been open to solution by the intellect alone we should certainly have been furnished with the definitive blueprint of our being, beyond all doubt or conjecture, many centuries ago.

Thus is he, the Blessed One, the Arahat, the Fully Enlightened, endowed with Knowledge and Conduct, the Happy One, Knower of the World, Peerless Charioteer of men to be tamed, Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the Blessed One.

Of the thirty-four discourses (suttas) that make up the Digha Nikaya (Collection of Long Discourses), ours, the sixteenth, is the longest, and so altogether maintains the first place where length is concerned.

It preserves the principal feature of the Buddhist sutta, insofar as it is, like others, a rehearsal of events as they have been witnessed. On account of its unique composition, however, it is, more than other suttas, capable not only of winning the affection of the pious Buddhist, as it naturally does, but also of attracting the general reader, since it is indeed a fine specimen of sacred universal literature.

It gives a good general idea of the Buddha's Teaching, too, even though it hardly offers anything that is not found and often more extensively dealt with in other suttas.

Francis Story, a prolific author, wrote many books for the Buddhist Publication Society under thr editorship of venerable Nyanaponika, and in the present text, he shares two useful essays. The first is about Samsara, the worldly world, of worldly ways and wants, and the second follows by describing how man loses his interest in and becomes dispassionate about worldly things when he chooses to cultivate and develop highrer and purer phenomena.

The ultimate goal of Buddhism is the attainment of nibbana, but many people are unsure about what nibbana is. One view, which is wrong, is that nibbana is eternal life. The opposite view is that  is that nibbana is annihilaton, but that is a false idea too. Nibbana is better termed in negative words "like a flame which has gone out," but that needs to be better explained

The doctrine of rebirth, the ceaseless round of being reborn, is not confined to Buddhism and Hinduism. It is found in some form in many other ancient religions and philosophical systems in many parts of the world, In recent times, interest in rebirth has been greatly stimulated by several cases of people who have remembered previous lives, whereby inducing a state of hypnosis has allowed a therapist to get the subject  to go back in time and speak about experiences in past lives.

From time to time, in the course of aeons, a being by his own efforts penetrates the thick veil of ignorance -- in which there is no stability, in which there is no peace or security --  From time to time, a supreme being penetrates the thick veil of ignorance and then teaches mankind the ultimate way to peace, which involves cessation from becoming, the achievement of equilibrium, leading to fulfillment. This person is destined to become a Buddha  -- a supreme warrior -- a supreme conqueror.

One of the main tenets in the Buddha's Teachings is that all things happen due to a cause. In the context of birth and death, these two phenomena are actually one process. Death is followed by immediate rebirth in accordance with a law known as the Law of Causality. Death signals the end of a phase of kamma and at that point the beginning of the next phase of kamma gives immediate rebirth in another plane of existence as dictated by the quality of the kamma arising at that moment in time. I can do no better than to append herewith some pertinent writings by Anagarika Sugatananda (Francis Story) on the spirit world in introducing The Thirty-One Planes of Existence by Venerable Bhante Suvanno.

In this discourse, the Buddha shows the factors that go into deciding what is and is not worth saying. The main factors are three: whether or not a statement is true, whether or not it is beneficial, and whether or not it is pleasing to others. The Buddha himself would state only those things that are true and beneficial, and would have a sense of time for when pleasing and unpleasing things should be said. Notice that the possibility that a statement might be untrue yet beneficial is not even entertained.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi, at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Then the wanderer Vacchagotta went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he asked the Blessed One: "How is it, Master Gotama, does Master Gotama hold the view: "The cosmos is eternal: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless"?"

In our day and age, the practice of going into the forest to meditate and follow the ascetic dhutanga practices began with Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo, the teacher of Phra Ajaan Mun and, by extension, Phra Ajaan Singh and Phra Ajaan Lee.

Phra Ajaan Sao was inclined to be, not a preacher or a speaker, but a doer. When he taught his students, he said very little. And those who studied directly under him are now elders who speak very little, who rarely preach, having picked up the habit from their teacher. Thus, as Phra Ajaan Sao was not a preacher, I would like to tell you a little of the way in which he taught meditation.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha, at the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Feeding Ground.

At that time Ven. Rahula was staying at the Mango Stone. Then the Blessed One, arising from his seclusion in the late afternoon, went to where Ven. Rahula was staying at the Mango Stone. Ven. Rahula saw him coming from afar and, on seeing him, set out a seat & water for washing the feet. The Blessed One sat down on the seat set out and, having sat down, washed his feet. Ven. Rahula, bowing down to the Blessed One, sat to one side.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in the Kuru country. Now there is a town of the Kurus called Kammasadhamma. There the Blessed One addressed the monks: "Monks!"

"Yes, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said: "Monks, sensuality is inconstant, hollow, vain, deceptive. It is illusory, the babble of fools. Sensuality here & now; sensuality in lives to come; sensual perceptions here & now; sensual perceptions in lives to come: both are Mara’s realm, Mara’s domain, Mara’s bait, Mara’s range. They lead to these evil, unskillful mental states: greed, ill will, & contentiousness. They arise for the obstruction of a disciple of the noble ones here in training.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. And at that time in King Pasenadi’s realm there was a bandit named Angulimala: brutal, bloody-handed, devoted to killing & slaying, showing no mercy to living beings. He turned villages into non-villages, towns into non-towns, settled countryside into unsettled countryside. Having repeatedly killed human beings, he wore a garland (mala) made of fingers (anguli).

I have heard that at one time the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. There he addressed the monks, saying, "Monks."

"Yes, lord," the monks responded to him.

The Blessed One said, "Monks, Sariputta is wise, of great discernment, deep discernment, wide... joyous... rapid... quick... penetrating discernment. For half a month, Sariputta clearly saw insight into mental qualities one after another. This is what occurred to Sariputta through insight into mental qualities one after another:

"There was the case where Sariputta” quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities” entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Whatever qualities there are in the first jhana” directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention” he ferreted them out one after another. Known to him they arose, known to him they remained, known to him they subsided. He discerned, "So this is how these qualities, not having been, come into play. Having been, they vanish." He remained unattracted & unrepelled with regard to those qualities, independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an awareness rid of barriers. He discerned that "There is a further escape," and pursuing it there really was for him.

The Buddha often likened himself to a doctor, offering a treatment for the sufferings of the heart. Unlike ordinary doctors, however, he could not show newcomers the state of health ”nibbana” that his teaching was supposed to produce. If they followed his teaching, they would see it for themselves. But until they followed his teaching, he could offer them no empirical proof that nibbana was a genuine possibility. As he stated in MN 27, the proof that he was awakened” and that awakening was a good thing” came with one’s first taste of the Deathless, at the first level of awakening, called stream-entry. However, stream-entry could be attained only through a serious commitment to the practice. Thus he had to provide other, non-empirical, means of persuasion to induce his listeners to give his teachings a serious try.

I have heard that on one occasion Ven. Ananda was staying near Vesali at Veluvagamaka. Now on that occasion Dasama the householder from Atthakanagarahad arrived at Pataliputta on some business. Then he went to a certain monk at Kukkata Monastery and on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the monk, "Where is Ven. Ananda staying now? I’d like to see him."

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary.

Then, early in the morning, Ven. Bhumija put on his robes and, carrying his bowl & outer robe, went to Prince Jayasena’s residence.1 On arrival, he sat down on a seat made ready. Prince Jayasena went to Ven. Bhumija and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to Ven. Bhumija, "Master Bhumija, there are some priests & contemplatives who espouse this teaching, espouse this view: "If one follows the holy life, even when having made a wish [for results], one is incapable of obtaining results. If one follows the holy life even when having made no wish, one is incapable of obtaining results. If one follows the holy life even when both having made a wish and having made no wish, one is incapable of obtaining results. If one follows the holy life even when neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, one is incapable of obtaining results."2 With regard to that, what does Master Bhumija’s teacher say, what is his view, what does he declare?"

In this sutta, the Buddha faces two antagonists: Baka, a brahma who believes that his brahma-attainment is the highest attainment there is; and Mara, who wants to keep Baka under his power by allowing Baka to maintain his deluded opinion, and  to prevent the Buddha from sharing his awakened knowledge with others. Of the two, Mara is the more insidious, a point illustrated by the fact that Mara always speaks through someone else and never directly shows his face. (Another interesting point is illustrated by the fact that Mara is the source of the demand that one obey a creator god.)

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. There he addressed the monks: "Monks!"

"Yes, lord," the monks responded to him.

"Monks, I will teach you the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; I will expound the holy life both in its particulars & in its essence, entirely complete, surpassingly pure "in other words, the six sextets. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said: "The six internal media should be known. The six external media should be known. The six classes of consciousness should be known. The six classes of contact should be known. The six classes of feeling should be known. The six classes of craving should be known.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. There he addressed the monks: "Monks!"

"Yes, lord," the monks replied.

"Monks, there are these four ways of taking on practices. Which four? There is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future. There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present and yields pain in the future. There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present but yields pleasure in the future. There is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present and yields pleasure in the future.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Then, as Ven. Malunkyaputta was alone in seclusion, this train of thought arose in his awareness: "These positions that are undeclared, set aside, discarded by the Blessed One  "The cosmos is eternal," "The cosmos is not eternal," "The cosmos is finite," "The cosmos is infinite," "The soul & the body are the same," "The soul is one thing and the body another," "After death a Tathagata exists," "After death a Tathagata does not exist," "After death a Tathagata both exists & does not exist," "After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist" ” I don’t approve, I don’t accept that the Blessed One has not declared them to me. I’ll go ask the Blessed One about this matter. If he declares to me that "The cosmos is eternal," that "The cosmos is not eternal," that "The cosmos is finite," that "The cosmos is infinite," that "The soul & the body are the same," that "The soul is one thing and the body another," that "After death a Tathagata exists," that "After death a Tathagata does not exist," that "After death a Tathagata both exists & does not exist," or that "After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist," then I will live the holy life under him. If he does not declare to me that "The cosmos is eternal,"... or that "After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist," then I will renounce the training and return to the lower life."

In this sutta, the Buddha refutes the theories of the Jains ”here called the Niganthas” an order of contemplatives flourishing in India during his time. Although on the surface this sutta may seem to be of strictly historical interest, it makes two important points that are very relevant to some common misunderstandings about Buddhism alive today.

The first point concerns the Buddhist teaching on action, or kamma (karma). The general understanding of this teaching is that actions from the past determine present pleasure and pain, while present actions determine future pleasure and pain. Or, to quote a recent book devoted to the topic, "Karma is the moral principle that governs human conduct. It declares that our present experience is conditioned by our past conduct and that our present conduct will condition our future experience." This, however, does not accurately describe the Buddha’s teaching on karma, and is instead a fairly accurate account of the Nigantha teaching, which the Buddha explicitly refutes here. As he interrogates the Niganthas, he makes the point that if all pleasure and pain experienced in the present were determined by past action, why is it that they now feel the pain of harsh treatment when they practice asceticism, and no pain of harsh treatment when they don’t? If past action were the sole determining factor, then present action should have no effect on their present experience of pleasure or pain.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary. Now, on that occasion Ven. Sariputta was wandering in the Southern Mountains with a large community of monks. Then a certain monk who had spent the Rains in Rajagaha went to the Southern Mountains, to Ven. Sariputta. On arrival, he exchanged courteous greetings with Ven. Sariputta and” after an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies” sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Sariputta said to him, "I trust, friend, that the Blessed One is strong & free from illness?"

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha on Vulture’s Peak Mountain, in the Boar’s Cave. Then LongNails the wanderer went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he stood to one side. As he was standing there, he said to the Blessed One, "Master Gotama, I am of the view, of the opinion, that "All is not pleasing to me.'"

I have heard that on one occasion Ven. Ananda was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary, not long after the Blessed One’s total Unbinding.

Now at that time King Ajatasattu Vedehiputta of Magadha, suspicious of King Pajjota, was having Rajagaha fortified.

Then in the early morning, Ven. Ananda, having put on his robes and carrying his bowl and outer robe, went into Rajagaha for alms. The thought occurred to him, "It’s too early to go for alms in Rajagaha. What if I were to go to the brahman Moggallana the Guardsman at his construction site?" So he went to Moggallana the Guardsman at his construction site. Moggallana the Guardsman saw him coming from afar, and on seeing him said to him, "Come, Master Ananda. Welcome, Master Ananda. It has been a long time since Master Ananda has found the time to come here. Sit down, Master Ananda. Here is a seat made ready for you."

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Kajjangalas in the Bamboo Grove. Then the young brahman Uttara, a student of Parasiri went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged friendly greetings & courtesies.

After this exchange of courteous greetings he sat to one side.

As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: "Uttara, does the brahman Parasiri teach his followers the "development of the faculties?"

"Yes, master Gotama, he does."

"And how does he teach his followers the development of the faculties?"

"There is the case where one does not see forms with the eye, or hear sounds with the ear [in a trance of non-perception].

That"s how the brahman Parasiri teaches his followers the development of the faculties."

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in the Deer Park at Kannakatthala. And at that time King Pasenadi Kosalahad arrived on some business or other. So King Pasenadi Kosala said to one of his men, "Come, my good man. Go to the Blessed One and, on arrival, showing reverence with your head to his feet in my name, ask whether he is free from illness & affliction, is carefree, strong, & living in comfort, saying: "King Pasenadi Kosala, lord, shows reverence with his head to your feet and asks whether you are free from illness & affliction, are carefree, strong, & living in comfort." And then say: "Lord, today King Pasenadi Kosala will come to see the Blessed One after his morning meal.""

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Now at that time a large number of monks, after the meal, on returning from their alms round, had gathered at the meeting hall when this discussion arose: "Isn’t it amazing, friends! Isn’t it astounding!” the extent to which mindfulness immersed in the body, when developed & pursued, is said by the Blessed One who knows, who sees ” the worthy one, rightly self-awakened — to be of great fruit & great benefit." And this discussion came to no conclusion.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was wandering on a tour of Kasi with a large community of monks. There he addressed the monks: "I abstain from the night-time meal. As I am abstaining from the night-time meal, I sense next-to-no illness, next-to-no affliction, lightness, strength, & a comfortable abiding. Come now. You too abstain from the night-time meal. As you are abstaining from the night-time meal, you, too, will sense next-to-no illness, next-to-no affliction, lightness, strength, & a comfortable abiding."

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Anguttarapans at an Anguttarapan town named Apana. Then, early in the morning, having put on his robes and carrying his outer robe & bowl, went into Apana for alms. Having wandered for alms in Apana and returning from his alms round after his meal, he went to a certain forest grove for the day’s abiding. Plunging into the grove, he sat down for his day’s abiding at the root of a certain tree.

Introduction

Magandiya, suppose that there was a leper covered with sores and infections, devoured by worms, picking the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a pit of glowing embers.

His friends, companions, and relatives would take him to a doctor. The doctor would concoct medicine for him, and thanks to the medicine he would be cured of his leprosy: well and happy, free, master of himself, going wherever he liked.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Savatthi, in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. There he addressed the monks: "Monks!"

"Yes, lord," the monks replied.

The Blessed One said, "Monks, I will teach you noble right concentration with its supports and requisite conditions. Listen, and pay close attention. I will speak."

"Yes, lord," the monks replied.

The Blessed One said: "Now what, monks, is noble right concentration with its supports  & requisite conditions? Any singleness of mind equipped with these seven factors ” right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, & right mindfulness — is called noble right concentration with its supports & requisite conditions.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. There he addressed the monks: "Monks!"

"Yes, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said: "Monks, a cowherd endowed with eleven factors is incapable of looking after a herd so that it prospers & grows. Which eleven? There is the case where a cowherd is not well-versed in forms (appearances), unskilled in characteristics,1 doesn’t pick out flies’ eggs, doesn’t dress wounds, doesn’t fumigate [the cattle pen], doesn’t know fords, doesn’t know what it is [for the cattle] to have drunk, doesn't know the road, is not skilled in pastures, milks dry, and shows no extra respect for the bulls who are fathers & leaders of the herd. A cowherd endowed with these eleven factors is incapable of looking after a herd so that it prospers & grows.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migara’s mother. And on that occasion” the uposatha of the fifteenth, the night of a very full moon ” he was sitting out in the open with the community of monks.

Then a certain monk, rising from his seat, arranging his robe over one shoulder, and placing his hands palm-to-palm over the heart, said to the Blessed One: "Lord, there is an area where, if the Blessed One would give me leave, I would like the answer to a question."

"Very well, then, monk. Sit back down in your seat and ask whatever you want."

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Vesali, at the Gabled Hall in the Great Forest. And on that occasion he had finished dressing in the morning and was carrying his bowl and outer robe, planning to enter Vesali for alms.

Then Saccaka, a Nigantha (Jain), while walking and wandering around to exercise his legs, went to the Gabled Hall in the Great Forest. Ven. Ananda saw him coming from afar and, on seeing him, said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, here comes Saccaka the Nigantha: a debater, a shrewd talker, assumed by many to be a saint. He is intent on the disparagement of the Buddha, the disparagement of the Dhamma, the disparagement of the Sangha. It would be good if the Blessed One would sit down for a moment, out of sympathy (for him)." So the blessed One sat down on a prepared seat. Then Saccaka the Nigantha went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side.

The word "satipatthana" is the name for an approach to meditation aimed at establishing sati, or mindfulness.

The term "sati" is related to the verb sarati, to remember or to keep in mind.

It is sometimes translated as non-reactive awareness, free from agendas, simply present with whatever arises, but the formula for satipatthana doesn’t support that translation.

This sutta gives many valuable lessons on practical issues surrounding the attempt to develop an internal meditative dwelling of emptiness, to maintain it, and to see it through to Awakening. Some of these issues include the need for seclusion as a conducive setting for the practice, types of conversation and thinking that are beneficial and harmful for the practice, the dangers of being distracted by visitors, and the proper attitude to have toward one’s teacher. However, for an explanation of emptiness in and of itself, it’s necessary to look elsewhere in the Canon.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Savatthi, in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s Monastery. Then Ven. Maha Kotthita, arising from his seclusion in the late afternoon, went to Ven. Sariputta and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi, at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Then Mahapajapati Gotami, together with about 500 other nuns, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, stood to one side. As she was standing there she said to him, "Exhort the nuns, lord. Instruct the nuns, lord. Give the nuns a talk on Dhamma."

Now at that time the elder monks were taking turns in exhorting the nuns, but Ven. Nandaka didn’t want to exhort the nuns when his turn came. So the Blessed One addressed Ven. Ananda: "Ananda, whose turn is it to exhort the nuns today?"

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Now at that time a certain householder’s dear & beloved little son, his only child, had died. Because of his death, the father had no desire to work or to eat. He kept going to the cemetery and crying out, "Where have you gone, my only little child? Where have you gone, my only little child?"

"Suppose a dog, overcome with weakness & hunger, were to come across a slaughterhouse, and there a dexterous butcher or butcher’s apprentice were to fling him a chain of bones” thoroughly scraped, without any flesh, smeared with blood. What do you think: Would the dog, gnawing on that chain of bones ” thoroughly scraped, without any flesh, smeared with blood” appease its weakness & hunger?"

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One, on a wandering tour among the Kurus with a large community of monks, arrived at Thullakotthita, a town of the Kurus. The brahmans & householders of Thullakotthita heard it said, "Gotama the contemplative” the son of the Sakyans, having gone forth from the Sakyan clan” has arrived at Kesaputta. And of that Master Gotama this fine reputation has spread: "He is indeed a Blessed One, worthy, & rightly self-awakened, consummate in knowledge & conduct, well-gone, a knower of the cosmos, an unexcelled trainer of those persons ready to be tamed, teacher of human & divine beings, awakened, blessed. He has made known” having realized it through direct knowledge” this world with its devas, maras, & brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives & priests, their rulers & common people. He has explained the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; has expounded the holy life both in its particulars & in its essence, entirely perfect, surpassingly pure. It’s good to see such a worthy one.""

Despite the abstract format of this discourse, it deals with an emotional topic: the source of emotions, the use of the emotions in the course of the practice, and the ideal emotional state of a person who has completed the path and is fit to teach others. In particular, this discourse counters a common misperception: that the distress that comes from having an unachieved goal is an obstacle in the practice, and that the antidote for that distress is to renounce any sense of goals. In actuality, that distress termed "renunciation distress” has an important role in the practice: to overcome the distress that comes with a sense of loss over sensual pleasures that have not been attained, or those that have been attained in the past but now no longer exist. Renunciation distress serves as a reminder that the loss of sensual pleasures is not a serious matter. As for renunciation distress, it is overcome, not by abandoning any sense of goal, but by following the path and realizing the joy that comes when the goal is reached.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Now on that occasion Uggahamana, who was a follower of Mundika the contemplative together with a large following of about 500 wanderers, had taken up residence in the debating hall near the Tinduka tree in the single-pavilion park of Queen Mallika. Then Paacakanga the carpenter left Savatthi in the middle of the day to see the Blessed One, but the thought occurred to him, "Now is not the right time to see the Blessed One, for he is in seclusion. And it is not the right time to see the mind-developing monks, for they too are in seclusion. Why don’t I go to the debating hall near the Tinduka tree in the single-pavilion park of Queen Mallika to see Uggahamana, a follower of Mundika the contemplative?" So he headed to the debating hall near the Tinduka tree in the single-pavilion park of Queen Mallika.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in the Kuru country. Now there is a town of the Kurus called Kammasadhamma. There the Blessed One addressed the monks, "Monks."

"Lord," the monks replied.

The Blessed One said this: "This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right method, & for the realization of Unbinding — in other words, the four frames of reference. Which four?

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyans at Kapilavatthu in the Banyan Park. Now at that time a new reception hall had just been built by the Kapilavatthu Sakyans, and it had not yet been dwelled in by any contemplative, priest, or anyone at all in human form. So the Kapilavatthu Sakyans went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. As they were sitting there they said to him, "Lord, a new reception hall has just been built by the Kapilavatthu Sakyans, and it has not yet been dwelled in by any contemplative, priest, or anyone at all in human form. May the Blessed One be the first to use it. When the Blessed One has used it first, the Kapilavatthu Sakyans will use it afterwards. That will be for their long-term welfare & happiness."

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Vesali in the Great Forest, at the Peaked Pavilion. Now at that time a large number of monks had declared final gnosis in the Blessed One’s presence: "We discern that "Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world.""

Is there such a thing as a deathless happiness that can bring suffering and stress to a total end?

If there is, can this happiness be found through human effort?

If so, can it be found in a harmless and blameless way?

These are the questions that, 2,600 years ago, led a young man in northern India to leave his family, go into the wilderness, and search for the answer within himself. Eventually he awakened to the fact that the answer to all three questions was Yes: Yes, there is a deathless happiness that brings suffering to a total end. Yes, it can be found through human effort. And Yes, that effort is harmless and without blame. In awakening to these facts, he became the Buddha: the Awakened One. Devoting the rest of his life to teaching others how to find the same happiness for themselves, he established an apprenticeship of practice and thought that has branched into the many forms of Buddhism we know today.

The Wings to Awakening constitute the Buddha’s own list of his most important teachings. Toward the end of his life he stated several times that as long as the teachings in this list were remembered and put into practice, his message would endure. Thus the Wings cover, in the Buddha’s eyes, the words and skills most worth mastering and passing along to others.

The Buddha’s Awakening

When discussing the Buddha’s teachings, the best place to start is with his Awakening. That way, one will know where the teachings are coming from and where they are aimed. To appreciate the Awakening, though, we have to know what led Prince Siddhattha Gotama, the Buddha before his Awakening, to seek it in the first place. According to his own account, the search began many lifetimes ago, but in this lifetime it was sparked by the realization of the inevitability of aging, illness, and death. In his words:

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery.

There he addressed the monks: "Monks!"

"Yes, lord," the monks replied.

The Blessed One said: "Monks, I will teach you a statement & its analysis. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said this: "A monk should investigate in such a way that, his consciousness neither externally scattered & diffused, nor internally positioned, he would from lack of clinging/sustenance be unagitated. When his consciousness neither externally scattered & diffused, nor internally positioned  from lack of clinging/sustenance he would be unagitated, there is no seed for the conditions of future birth, aging, death, or stress."

Meditation is training for the mind, to help it develop the strengths and skills it needs to solve its problems. Just as there are many different remedies for the various illnesses of the body, there are many different types of meditation for the various problems of the mind.

The little book you are now holding in your hand grew from the faith and conviction of a Westerner of Jewish extraction, named Dr. Philip, who came to study Buddhism in Thailand in 1963, when I was staying on Phuket Island. He practiced meditation with me for a full six months and seemed to develop not only peace of mind but also a great appreciation for Buddhism’s worth.

Before returning to Hawaii, he asked me to jot down a few short, simple points for him to take and continue practicing, so I wrote down ten points. Afterwards, I learned that he had had them printed abroad in a periodical whose name slips my mind at the moment.

The thought has occurred to me that this little book might be of use to those who are interested in practicing meditation, as it is small, easy to carry and read through quickly without taxing the brain.

"U Ba Khin and Webu Sayadaw were contemporaries in Burma, in the middle of the last century, and their method of theory and practice of vipassana bhavana has since gained adept adherents around the world because of its effectiveness in developing, energetic, one-pionted concentration leading towards fulfillment of the final goal. These are challenging, seminal documents."

I consider it a great privilege to be in your midst today and to have this opportunity of addressing you on the subject of What Buddhism Is. At the outset, I must be very frank with you. I have not been to a university and I have no knowledge of science except as a man in the street. Nor am I a scholar in the theory of Buddhism with any knowledge of Pali, the language in which the Tipitakas (literally, the Three Baskets of Buddha-Dhamma) are maintained. I may say, however, that I have read in Burmese to some extent the treatises on Buddhism by well-known and learned Buddhist monks. As my approach to Buddhism is more by practical than by theoretical means, I hope to be able to give you something of Buddhism which is not easily available elsewhere. I must admit, however, that for the time being I am just a student of practical Buddhism which, an experimentalist trying to learn through Buddhism the truth of the nature of forces. As this has to be done as a householder and within a limited time available in between the multifarious duties of a responsible officer of Government, the progress is rather slow and I do not claim for a moment that what I am going to say is absolutely correct. I may be right or wrong. But when I say a thing, I assure you that it is with a sincerity of purpose, with the best of intentions and with conviction.

Tan Chao Khun Upali Gunupamajahn (1856-1932) was something of an anomaly as a monk. Equally at home chatting about administration with ecclesiastical monks in the great halls of Bangkok, teaching Pæli or points of doctrine at the Royal Palace lecture-grounds, or discussing ascetic wandering and meditation in the wild upcountry forests with Luang Pu Mun, he seemed to be accomplished at everything. Luang Pu Mun would often tell his disciples “Chao Khun Upælø is an expert practitioner, he’s an expert scholar; he’s the scriptural model of a monk”. Tan Chao Khun Upælø devised and established the monastic education system in Ubon Ratchathani that would give a solid grounding in the Buddha’s teachings to dozens of Thailand’s greatest forest Ajahns. He was so respected that Luang Pu Mun actually accepted a one-year period as abbot of the most important city temple in Chiang Mai out of deference to his request. Tan Chao Khun Upælø had many connections with Luang Pu Mun. 

Nina Van Gorkom has written in Dana: The Practice of Gving: Selected Essays, edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi, (Van Gorkem 1-5, 1990),

"The giving away of useful or pleasant things is an act of generosity. However, if we only pay attention to the outward deeds, we do not know whether or not we are being sincerely generous.

We should learn more about the mind which motivates our deeds. True generosity is difficult. While we are giving, our thoughts may not all be good and noble. Our motives for giving may not all be pure.

Vedanta and Buddhism are the highlights of Indian philosophical thought. Since both have grown in the same spiritual soil, they share many basic ideas: both of them assert that the universe shows a periodical succession of arising, existing and vanishing, and that this process is without beginning and end. They believe in the causality which binds the result of an action to its cause (karma), and in rebirth conditioned by that nexus. Both are convinced of the transitory, and therefore sorrowful character, of individual existence in the world; they hope to attain gradually to a redeeming knowledge through renunciation and meditation, and they assume the possibility of a blissful and serene state, in which all worldly imperfections have vanished for ever. The original form of these two doctrines shows however strong contrasts. The early Vedanta, formulated in most of the older and middle Upanishads, in some other passages, and still alive today (though greatly changed) as the basis of several Hinduistic systems, teaches an ens realissimum (an entity of highest reality) as the primordial cause of all existence, from which everything has arisen and with which it again merges, either temporarily or for ever.

“Luang Pu Waen never talked about superior states of human attainment. He said that whoever talked about superior states of human attainment was only interested in gain, praise and fame! He said that whoever was interested in laypeople was only interested in gain, praise and fame. Luang Pu Waen wasn’t interested in laypeople. When laypeople came, he would just go into his kuṭi and lie down on the floor with his legs in the air! Whenever monks would come or go, Luang Pu Waen wasn’t interested in monks. Luang Pu Waen wasn’t interested in novices. Luang Pu Waen wasn’t interested in nuns. Luang Pu Waen had one special, defining characteristic: he was only interested in one thing – Dhamma-Vinaya.”

The Pali scriptures here have been translated from the Tipitaka and consist of the longerdiscourses, regarded as the canonical teachings of the  Buddha as established throughout S.E Asia. The claim is that the Theravada school preserves the origional teachings of the Buddha, and here we find a collection of the longer suttas as distinguished fro the middle length and the shorter suttas. They are particularly philosophical in nature as opposed to the middle length suttas which reflect more the teachings and questions of everyday monastic and lay life at the time of te Buddha. 

Somdet Phra Wanrut (Tup Buddhasiri) was born in 1806 in the area of the newly established capital of Bangkok, at that time situated on the western side of the Chao Phraya River in Thonburi, during the reign of the first King of the present dynasty (called in Thai the ‘Ratanakosin’ Era). As a young boy, he was so brilliant in his studies that he started receiving royal patronage. He began studying Pāli as a boy even before he ordained as a novice. As a gifted scholar while still a teenager, he was introduced to Prince Mongkut and became his friend and tutor. At the age of twenty, he ordained as a monk as did Prince Mongkut. After a few years, they became uninspired by the state of the monkhood in Siam. Coming across Mon monks of the Rāmaṇa Nikāya who were strict and faithful in their practise of the monks’ monastic code, they reordained. Together with a strong interest in studying the original teachings of the Buddha in the Pāli scriptures, this germinal act blossomed into a full-on reform movement in Thai Buddhism – the Dhammayuttika Nikāya.

You have taken up moral conduct (sīla). Now that you have undertaken to perfect yourselves in the perfection of morality (sīlapāramī), fulfil it to the utmost. Only if you fulfil sīla to the utmost will all your aspirations be met. You will be happy now and in the future. Only the teachings of the Buddha can give you real happiness—in the present and in the remainder of saṃsāra. 

While we are fulfilling our duties, is it not possible to practise mindfulness of breathing too? If we do not fulfil these duties, can we say that our sīla is complete? If our sīla is not perfect, can we expect to experience the happiness we aspire for? If we are not happy, if we can’t get good concentration, and if our mind is not concentrated, we can’t attain insight wisdom (paññā).