Daily Dhamma Drops Part 2

federica · March 2010

Welcome all to the new thread.
here to achieve the second thousand posts......

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What is this vital Right Motivation?

The Noble 8-fold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View
Right Motivation
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Awareness
Right Concentration
But what is Right Motivation?

Right Motivation is Triple:

1: The Motivation for Withdrawal:
Being motivated by a general absence of greed, craving, and desire!
Being motivated by generous giving relinquishing all possessiveness.
Being motivated by detachment from the five sense-desires of urge
for alluring and tempting sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches...
Being motivated by cutting attachment to the 5 clusters of clinging
to forms, feelings, perceptions, constructions and consciousness...
Such radical renunciation is Right Motivation!

2: The Motivation for Non-Ill-Will = Friendly Goodwill:
Being motivated by universal friendliness, infinite goodwill, care,
non-anger, hatelessness and a sympathy wishing and working for all
sentient being's happiness, content, comfort, benefit and welfare...
Such gentle kindness is Right Motivation!

3: The Motivation for Non-Violence = Harmlessness:
Being motivated by absolute non-violence, absence of cruelty, and by
compassionate pity, thereby offering all sentient beings guaranteed
safety and protection from any evil, painful, bad or wrong treatment...
Such giving of protective fearlessness to all is Right Motivation!

The opposites of these advantageous intentions are Wrong Motivation...

http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Pics/buddhists_praying.jpg

More on Right Motivation (Samma-Sankappa):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Sincere_Motivation.htm

Further study:
Majjhima Nikaya 117. Maha-cattarisaka Sutta: The Discourse on The Great Forty:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn117.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Right Motivation!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What is this essential Right Action?

The Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Awareness and
Right Concentration. But what is Right Action?

The 3-fold Definition of Right Action:
1: Avoiding all killing and harming of any living being...
2: Abstaining from taking and thus stealing what is not given...
3: Stopping all adultery and all abuse of any sense-pleasure...
That is Right Action!

The Characterization of Right Action. The blessed Buddha said:

Friends, it is caused by behaviour in conflict with the Dhamma,
by reason of immoral behaviour, that some beings here, right at
the breakup of the body, after death, reappear lost in states of
pain, in an unhappy destination, in the downfall, even in the hells...
It is caused by behaviour in harmony with the Dhamma, by reason
of moral behaviour, that some beings here, on the breakup of the
body, right after death, reappear in a happy destination, even in
the divine worlds!!! And which, friends, are the 3 kinds of bodily
moral behaviour in harmony with the Dhamma?
Here someone, stop all killing of living beings, abstains from injuring
living beings; with rod & weapon laid aside, gentle and kind, such one
dwells sympathetic towards all living beings.
Avoiding the taking of what is not given, one refrains from stealing,
what is not freely give. One does not take by way of theft the wealth
and property of others, neither in the village nor in the forest.
Abandoning abuse of sensual pleasures, such one gives up misuse in
sensual pleasures. One does not have intercourse with partners, who
are protected by their mother, or father, or mother and father, or
brother, or sister, or relatives, who is married, betrothed to another,
who are protected by law, in prison, or who are engaged to other side.
That is how there are three kinds of bodily moral behaviour in harmony
with the Dhamma... Such is Right Action!

Explanation:
Primary of these is the ending of intentional killing or destroying of
other beings either by physical action or by verbal incitement, ranging
from killing eggs of lice and bugs, or causing abortion, to any slaughter
of living creatures, including human beings.
Restraint from taking, what is not given, means abstaining from taking,
with intention to steal, living beings or non-living articles, which have
an owner. Removing or appropriating them, without owner's consent,
either by physical effort or by inciting another to do so.
Restraint from wrong behaviour in sensual pleasures means abstention
from any kind of sex, which will cause pain and suffering to others.
Examples will be adultery, since this causes the disruption of marriage,
rape, intercourse with minors protected by parents, and perversion of
others. Included here also are abstention from use of booze, drugs
and any kinds of intoxicants, which causes carelessness, and gambling
with cards, dices, on horses, teams etc.

Knowing right and wrong action as right and wrong action, is right view.
Awareness of presence of right and wrong action, is right awareness.
Exchanging wrong action with right action, is right effort...
The factors of the Noble 8-fold way mutually enhance each other!
Any intentional action - good as bad - determines whether the future
will be pleasant or painful...

Further study of Buddhist Right Action (Samma-Kammanta):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-kammanto.html
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Action_Determines.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Right Action!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What is this critical Right Livelihood?

The Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Awareness and
Right Concentration. But what is Right Livelihood?

The 5-fold Definition of Right Livelihood:
1: Earning a living not by trading with Living Beings.
2: Earning a living not by selling Meat, Fish or Flesh.
3: Earning a living not by selling Weapons.
4: Earning a living not by dealing in Alcohol or Drugs .
5: Earning a living not by selling any form of Poison.
That is Right Livelihood!

The Characterization of Right Livelihood:
Any livelihood that neither involves any killing, injuring, harming nor any
imprisoning of any living being, nor stealing, taking what is not given,
cheating, any bribery or corruption, or lying, or false deceiving, tricks, or
use of false measures and weights, neither sensual nor sexual abuse,
neither use or selling of alcohol, nor intoxicating illegal drugs, that causes
carelessness, neither by oneself, nor by getting other employees to do so,
such is Right Livelihood!

The Explanation of Right Livelihood for Buddhist Monks and Nuns:
Neither living nor receiving food by astrology, soothsaying, prediction of future
events, nor by palmistry, geomancy, dream-reading, charms and spells, or fake
divination, nor by any rituals, running errands, or messages, flattering, arranging
marriages, funerals or divorces, medical praxis, or by producing art or poetry, or
by disputation or debate, this is Right Livelihood!

Knowing right and wrong Livelihood as right and wrong Livelihood, is Right View.
Awareness of presence of right and wrong Livelihood, is Right Awareness.
Exchanging wrong Livelihood with right Livelihood, is Right Effort...

Further study of Buddhist Right Livelihood (Samma-Ajiva):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-ajivo.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Right Livelihood!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What is this vital Right Effort?

That Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration.
But what is Right Effort?

The 4-fold Definition of Right Effort:
1: The effort to overcome already present disadvantageous mental states..
2: The effort to prevent future disadvantageous mental states from arising..
3: The effort to begin developing so far absent advantageous mental states..
4: The effort to maintain and perfect already arisen advantageous mental states..
This is Right Effort!

The Characterization of Right Effort:
Striving for replacing wrong view with right view, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong motivation with right motivation, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong speech with right speech, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong action with right action, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong livelihood with right livelihood, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong effort with right effort, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong awareness with right awareness, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong concentration w. right concentration, is Right Effort!

The Explanation of the 4 Right Efforts:
The 4 right efforts are 1: Control 2: Overcoming 3: Development 4: Maintenance!
What is the effort of control? When seeing an object with the eye, one neither
grasps after the whole object, nor any of its details, thereby one strives well to
prevent bad, detrimental states, such as longing and misery, to flood in on one!
One guards and controls the sense of sight and do similarly with the other senses.
What is the effort of overcoming? One does not accept any lust, hate or anger,
that has arisen, but leaves it instantly, dispels it, destroys it, and makes it vanish.
What is the effort of development? One develops the enlightenment-factor of
awareness, of investigation, of energy, of joy, of tranquility, of concentration,
and the enlightenment-factor of equanimity based on solitude, seclusion, and
ceasing, which is leading to maturity and culmination of spiritual self-surrender.
What is the effort of maintenance? One dominated by desire maintains firmly
in his mind a favourable object of concentration, such as a skeleton, or a corpse
that is full of worms, bluish-black, full of holes, and bloated, while one dominated
by anger maintains firmly in his mind a favourable object of concentration, such
as infinite friendliness, universal pity, mutual joy or well balanced equanimity...

Thus knowing right and wrong effort as right and wrong effort, is Right View.
Awareness of presence of right and wrong effort, is Right Awareness.
Right effort has the function of striving, exertion and endurance...
Keep on keeping on! Never give up! Always Come again!

Further study of Buddhist Right Effort (Samma-Padhana):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-vayamo.html
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Avoiding_Effort.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Avoiding_Effort2.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_River_of_Energetic_Effort.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Right Effort!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What is this Fundamental Right Awareness?

That Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration.
But what is Right Awareness?

The 4-fold Definition of Right Awareness:
1: Awareness of the Body merely as a transient and compounded Form..
2: Awareness of Feelings just as conditioned emotional Responses..
3: Awareness of Mind only as habituated and temporary Moods..
4: Awareness of Phenomena only as constructed Mental States..
Right Awareness is of these 4, while being alert, & clearly comprehending,
will put away longing towards and aversion against anything in this world!

The Characterization of Right Awareness:
Awareness of wrong view or right view present now, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong motivation or right motivation, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong speech or right speech now, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong action or right action, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong livelihood or right livelihood, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong effort or right effort, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong awareness or right awareness, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong or right concentration now, is Right Awareness!

The Explanation of Acute Awareness and Clear Comprehension:
When inhaling & exhaling long, one notices and is fully aware of just that..
When inhaling & exhaling short, one notices & is fully aware of just that..
One trains: I will breathe in-&-out clearly comprehending the entire body.
One trains: I will breathe in-&-out calming the breath & all bodily activity.
When walking, one notices and clearly comprehends, that one is walking.
When standing, one notices and clearly comprehends, that one is standing.
When sitting, one notices & clearly comprehends, that one is sitting down.
When lying down, one notices & clearly comprehends, that one is lying.
Going forward one notices & clearly comprehends, this going forward.
When returning one notices and clearly comprehends, this returning.
When looking in front or back, one is notices, & is clearly aware of that.
When bending or stretching, when lifting or carrying, when eating or
drinking, chewing or tasting, one is aware of and comprehends just that.
When passing excrement or urine one clearly comprehends exactly that.
While falling asleep and waking up, when speaking or keeping silence,
one notices, knows and understands exactly that & clearly comprehends,
that this is, what one is doing just right here and exactly now...
Continuous awareness of purpose, suitability, domain and nature of one's
current behaviour, whether mental, verbal or bodily is Right Awareness
and clear comprehension...

The Function of Right Awareness and its associates:
Knowing right/wrong awareness as right/wrong awareness, is right view.
Exchanging wrong awareness with right awareness is right effort.
Right awareness has the function of observing, noticing, remembering &
knowing the reality that neither any body, nor any form, nor any feeling,
nor any mentality, nor any phenomena, nor any mental state is happiness,
truly attractive, lasting, satisfying or even personal, something keepable...
All phenomena are momentary: They pass away right after the moment of
their arising and occurrence! Nothing is permanent, everything is in a state
of flux: Arising and ceasing, emerging and vanishing, coming and going,
again and again and again and again and ever again...!!! Anicca = Change...

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What is this Sublime Right Concentration?

That Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration…
But what is Right concentration?

The Buddha explained The 4-fold definition of Right Concentration:
Having eliminated the 5 mental hindrances, mental defects that obstruct
understanding, quite secluded from sensual desires, protected from any
detrimental mental state, one enters and dwells in the 1st jhana; full of joy
and pleasure born of solitude, joined with directed and sustained thought.
One makes this joy and pleasure born of seclusion drench, saturate, soak,
and suffuse the body, so that no part of the entire body is unperfused by
this intense joy and pleasure! Just as a skilled bath-man puts soap powder
in a copper basin and sprinkling it gradually with water, whips it until the
water soaks and pervades all the soap powder, yet without dripping, so too,
does the noble friend make the joy and pleasure born of solitude permeate
and pervade the entire body! Again, friends, with the stilling of directed
and sustained thought, one enters and dwells in the 2nd jhana: a calmed
assurance of unification of mind with even deeper joy and pleasure now
born of concentration, devoid of any thought! One makes this exquisite
joy and pleasure born of concentration drench, saturate, soak, & suffuse
the body, so no part of the whole body is unperfused by this profound joy
and pleasure: Just as a lake whose waters welled up from below within it
itself, & it had no other sources neither by showers of rain, then this cool
fount of water welling up from deep within would immerse, fill, & pervade
the entire lake, even and exactly so does one make this joy & pleasure born
of concentration infuse this entire body! Furthermore, friends, with the
fading away of the joy, the friend dwells in even equanimity, just aware &
clearly comprehending, still feeling pleasure in the body, one enters upon
and remains in the 3rd jhana, regarding which the Noble Ones declare:
"In aware equanimity one dwells in pleasure!" One makes the pleasure apart
from of joy flood, saturate, soak, and suffuse the body, so that there is no
part of one's whole body unperfused by this pleasure divested of joy...
Just as in a lotus pond some lotuses are born, grow and thrive immersed
under the water & the cool water soaks them from their roots to their tips,
so too, do the noble friend make the pleasure divested of joy drench, fill,
flood and pervade this entire body. Finally, friends, with the leaving behind
of both pleasure and pain, and with the prior disappearance of both joy and
sorrow, one enters and dwells in the 4th jhana; a completely stilled mental
state of awareness, purified by an equanimity of neither-pain-nor-pleasure.
One sits illuminating the body internally with this pure bright mind, so that
there is no part of one's whole body not illuminated by this pure bright mind!
Just as a man were sitting covered from the head down with a white cloth,
so that no part of his whole body was uncovered by this white textile; even
so does one sit encompassing this entire body with a pure bright & radiant
mind, so that there is no part of one's whole body not illuminated by this
pure, bright, and luminous mind...

Comment: No trivial worldly pleasure can ever surpass such sublime bliss!

The Function of Right concentration and its associates is:
Seeing right/wrong concentration as right/wrong concentration, is right view.
Exchanging wrong concentration with right concentration is right effort.
Right concentration functions as a drill: Focusing, unifying, & penetrating!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Why not indulge in Hedonism? Change!

Venerable Sariputta once pointed out the danger of delight:
If, friends, one is not freed of lust, desire, attraction, thirst,
passion and craving for the manifold various forms, feelings,
experiences, constructions and types of consciousness, then
with the inevitable change in and alteration of these forms,
feelings, experiences, constructions and types of consciousness,
one invariably experiences disappointment, dissatisfaction,
discontent, frustration, sorrow, pain and despair...!!! One who
lives immersed in these derivatives of greed, therefore suffers
in this very life from the continual fever of wanting, needing,
longing, frustration and urge... Moreover, when dying and this
body is breaking up, the greedy one can expect a bad destination!!!
This is the immanent danger and side-effect of desire and craving...

If, however, one is freed of all lust, desire, attraction, thirst,
passion and craving for the manifold various forms, feelings,
experiences, constructions and types of consciousness, then
with the inevitable change in and alteration of these, one does not
experience any disappointment, dissatisfaction, discontent, pain,
frustration, sorrow, nor any despair... Not living immersed in these
derivatives of greed, one does therefore not suffer from any hot
fever of neither wanting, nor longing, nor any urge. Moreover, when
dying and this body is breaking up, such cooled and calmed one can
expect a good destination!!! This is the quite blissful advantage
and assured benefit of removal of desire and craving here and now...

Source: Venerable Sariputta, General of the Dhamma.
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya III 7-9
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Why not Hedonism?

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Anger, Irritation, and Stubborn Contrariety!

Evil and ill-will is the mental hindrance, which is resisting against and
opposing phenomena. It can be quite violent when manifesting as quarrels,
conflict, hate, hostility and war. Aversion instantly destroys all harmony
and peace and thus any potential for happiness. It can only be cured by
meditation on the four infinitely divine states (Brahma-viharas).

First priority: Noticing evil Ill-Will arise -in itself- makes it fade away:
The Buddha said: When ill-will is present in him then he understands:
"There is ill-will in me now" and when ill-will is absent, he also notices:
"There is no ill-will in me now". He understands how unarisen ill-will arises.
He understands how to leave behind any arisen ill-will, and he understands
how left ill-will will not ever arise again in the future. MN 10

What is the feeding cause that makes ill-will arise?
There are displeasing and repulsive features and aspects of any object,
frequently giving irrational & unwise attention to them, this is the feeding
cause of the arising of unarisen ill-will, and the feeding cause of the very
increase and expansion of ill-will that already has arisen. SN 46:51

The 3 paranoid thoughts that induces resentment:
1: He or she has done, is doing or will in the future do me some wrong!
2: He or she has done, is doing or will do those I like some wrong!
3: He or she has done, is doing or will do those I dislike some good!

What is the starving cause that makes ill-will cease?
There is the release of mind through Universal Good-Will and Friendliness,
frequently giving rational and wise attention to this is the starving cause
of the non-arising of unarisen ill-will, and the starving cause of decrease
and shrinking of ill-will that already has arisen. SN 46:51

Which medicine cures ill-will, so that it does not re-arise ever again?
One should cultivate the meditation on Universal Friendliness (Metta)!
For the meditation on universal friendliness gradually evaporates ill-will.
One should cultivate the meditation on All-embracing Pity (Karuna)!
Meditation on embracing pity, makes cruel harming violence fade away.
One should cultivate the meditation on Sympathetic Mutual Joy (Mudita)!
Meditation on mutual joy eliminates discontent, green envy and jealousy.
One should cultivate the meditation on composed Equanimity (Upekkha)!
Meditation on imperturbable equanimity can make anger & aversion cease.
MN 62

Some advantageous reflections to return to:
Remember the Simile of the Saw... The Blessed Buddha once said:
Friends, even if bandits were to cut you up, savagely, limb by limb, with a
two-handled saw, you should not be angry with them but do my bidding:
Remain pervading them with a friendly mentality imbued only with an all
embracing good will, kind, rich, expansive, and immeasurable. Free from
hostility, free from ill will. Always remembering this Simile of the Saw
is indeed how you should train yourselves... MN 21

Being OWNER of ANGER is Pain: Know that everyone is the owner of the
consequences of all their actions (Kamma), whether good or bad...

The 11 advantages won by cultivating Universal Friendliness (Metta):
1: One sleeps happy!
2: One wakes happy!
3: One dreams no evil dreams!
4: One is liked and loved by all human beings!
5: One is liked and loved by all non-human beings too!
6: One is guarded and protected by the divine devas!
7: One cannot be harmed by fire, poison or weapons!
8: One swiftly attains the concentration of absorption!
9: Ones appearance becomes serene, calm and composed!
10: One dies without confusion, bewilderment or panic!
11: One reappears after death on the Brahma level if gone no higher!
AN V342

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

How is constant Awareness Established only by Breathing?

Sitting cross-legged, with straight back, elevated chin, in a silent place, the
yogi remains focusing all attention on the touch point of air in his nostrils:

Fully aware one inhales and fully aware one exhales...
When inhaling a long breath, one notices that...
When exhaling a long breath, one notices that...
When inhaling a short breath, one notices that...
When exhaling a short breath, one notices that...
Experiencing the whole body, one inhales...
Experiencing the whole body, one exhales...
Calming all bodily activity, one inhales...
Calming all bodily activity, one exhales...

One trains thus: Experiencing joyous rapture, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Experiencing joyous rapture, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Experiencing a happy pleasure, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Experiencing a happy pleasure, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Experiencing all mental activity, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Experiencing all mental activity, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Calming all mental activity, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Calming all mental activity, I will exhale...

One trains thus: Experiencing all mentality as mood, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Experiencing all mentality as mood, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Satisfying and gladdening the mind, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Satisfying and gladdening the mind, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Focusing the mind by concentration, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Focusing the mind by concentration, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Releasing the mind from hindrance, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Releasing the mind from hindrance, I will exhale...

One trains thus: Considering the impermanence of change, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Considering the impermanence of change, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Considering the detachment in disillusion, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Considering the detachment in disillusion, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Considering the stilling within cessation, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Considering the stilling within cessation, I will exhale...
One trains thus: Considering open and freed relinquishing, I will inhale...
One trains thus: Considering open and freed relinquishing, I will exhale...

This is how continuous Awareness is established just by breathing!!!
Breathing meditation can bring the yogi into 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Jhana...
It is a unique praxis used by all Buddhas at their very Enlightenment!!!

Details are found in this Meditation Manual:
http://what-buddha-said.net/library/pdfs/anapanasati.pdf

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Not Examining causes Assumption to Arise:

The wanderer Vacchagotta approached the Blessed One and greeted him.
Concluding their compliments, he sat down aside and asked the Buddha:
Master Gotama, what is the cause, condition and reason, why these various
speculative views arise in the world: This Universe is eternal, or the universe
is not eternal. This universe is finite, or infinite. Vitality and the body are
the same, or biological life, metabolism is one thing, the body is another.
The Tathagata exists after death, or he does not exist after death.
The Tathagata both exists and does not exist after death. Or finally:
The Tathagata neither exists, nor does not exist after death?
The Blessed Buddha replied:
It is, Vaccha, because of neither knowing form, nor feeling, nor perception,
nor mental construction, nor consciousness, nor the cause of origin of form,
feeling, perception, mental construction, and consciousness, nor the cause
of ceasing of form, feeling, perception, construction, and consciousness,
nor the way to cease form, feeling, perception, construction, & consciousness
that these various speculative views, such as: "This Universe is eternal,
finite etc. " arise in the world! This ignorance, this not seeing, blindness,
this not understanding, this not fully knowing, this not breaking through,
this not comprehending, this not penetrating, this not discerning, this not
discriminating, this not differentiating, this not closely investigating, this
not directly experiencing and realizing, friend Vaccha, is the cause, and
is the reason, why those various speculative views arise in this world!

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book III 257-263
The Vacchagotta section 33. Thread on Not Knowing: Aññana Sutta (1-55)
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Not Examining!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Morality is not a Prison, but the only Effective Protection!

What is Morality?
Morality is the root cause of all success and all what is good.
Morality is the intention behind avoidance of all wrongdoing.
Morality is the mental combination of non-envy, goodwill and right view.
Morality is the self-control enabled by awareness, tolerance & restraint.
Morality is the non-breaking of the rules one have accepted and respects.

What is the Meaning of Morality?
Morality means consistency between all mental, verbal & bodily actions.
Morality means upholding the foundation of all advantageous states.

What is the Function of Morality?
To STOP bad and evil behaviour and it’s painful future effects.
To ATTAIN blameless mental purity and the blissful joy of innocence.

What is the Manifestation of Morality?
The virtuous blameless innocence of mental, verbal and behavioural purity.

What is the Proximate Cause of Morality?
The scrupulous shame within conscience is the cause of any moral ethics.
The fear of the results of wrongdoing is the Cause of any moral ethics.
Shame and fear of wrongdoing are therefore 2 protectors of the world!

Ultra-Cut:
Doing Good creates Pleasure!
Doing Bad creates Pain!

More on this basic first cause of all Good: Morality (Sila)!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Sila_1_to_5.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Happy_Habbit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/What_is_Virtue.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Best_Protection.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Five_Basics.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Best_Buddhist_Praxis.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sila_Contemplation.htm

Source: The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga.
Written by 'the great explainer' Ven. Buddhaghosa in 5th century AC.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=771100

The Best Protection!

upekka · March 2010

when i read the post 'not examining' i was convinced that i contributed to a good project

bante samahita knows what i meant

may bante be able to spread dhamma!!!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Simple Satisfaction, Mental Liberation, and the Ultimate Release!

The Blessed Buddha once said:
There is the satisfaction of the flesh.
There is a mental liberation not of this world.
There is an ultimate release far beyond even subtle unworldly liberation!
And what, Bhikkhus, is carnal satisfaction?
Satisfaction with whatever form, or sensation is carnal satisfaction.
And what is the mental liberation, which is not of this world?
Liberation from any formless state is liberation, which is not of this world.
Finally, friends, what is the ultimate release beyond unworldly liberation?
When a Bhikkhu, whose mental fermentations are eliminated, reviews his
stilled mind released from all lust, freed from any hatred, and entirely
cleared from all confusion, then there occurs a transcendental deliverance.
This is called the release beyond that release, which is not of this world...

More on Mental Release (Vimokkha, Vimutti):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Freed_by_Knowing.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_8_Deliverances.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/u_v/vimutti.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Self-Control_Releases.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/u_v/vimokkha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Fulfilling_Release_by_Wisdom.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [235-7]
Section 36:11 On Feeling: Vedana. Joys beyond this world ...
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Beyond Release!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Luminous is the Mind released by Friendliness!

The Blessed Buddha once explained:
Whatever meritorious action one performs, all these together are not worth
1/16th part of a mind released into friendliness, since the mind released into
friendliness blazes forth, & outshines all with an unsurpassable brilliance...
Just as the radiance from all the stars and planets does not match even a
1/16th part of the radiance from the moon, which thus outshines all the stars
and planets, similarly; whatever intention making one do meritorious actions,
all these together are not worth one-sixteenth fraction, of the mind released
by infinite friendliness!!! Since a mind released into friendliness - all alone -
friends!! blazes forth, outshine all these with an incomparable radiance...
Just as the mighty sun rising at autumn dawn, by making any fog evaporate,
scattering any dark thundercloud, makes the sky all blue & clear, so it alone
freely shines, blazes in a blue brilliance, - exactly so - whatever thoughts
there may be for gaining merit, all together these are not worth one 16th
fraction, of a mind released into friendliness!!! Since the mind released into
friendliness - all alone - outshines all these with inestimable luminosity!
So did the Lord Buddha state this matter, and he further added:
For the Noble friend, who by will, who fully aware and deliberately bring
infinite, boundless and endless friendliness into being, this mountain like
limitless goodwill makes all evil substrate evaporate, & the chains of mind,
these mental fetters become thin, slender and slack. If a friend without
ill will cares for even one single living being, such friend, through that,
becomes quite skilled and clever, so far more for the Noble Friend, who
by possessing a caring heart for all sentient beings, without even a single
exception, accumulates great, massive, and immense amounts of merit!!!
Those gurus and priests who sacrifices life, objects or fire, who baths
ceremoniously, devoted to mere forms and empty ritual, blindly attached
to and obsessed by culture, tradition of primeval & often unknown origin,
do never experience even a 16th of this release of mind by friendliness
fully brought into being, just like the vagueness of even all the stars cannot
either ever outshine the moon! Since there cannot exist any evil animosity
whatsoever, nor enmity at all, neither even an atomic trace of hate in a
Nobly Released One, who by caring indiscriminately and infinitely for all
living beings, who by possessing such treasure of a mind relinquished by
friendliness, simply cannot ever suppress, dominate, harm, or kill even the
smallest sentient breathing being! Luminous is a perfectly released mind!

More on the Mind:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/In_Control.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Non-Control.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Luminous_is_Mind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.8-10.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Magnificent_Mind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Highway_to_Nibbana.htm

Source:
The Itivuttaka 27: Thus was it Said:
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=404214
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/khuddaka/iti/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Luminous Mind!

upekka · March 2010

Merits to bante samahita and all!!!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Detached from both Bodily and Mental Feeling!

The Blessed Buddha once said: Bhikkhus, the uninstructed ordinary person
feels pleasant feelings, painful feelings, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant
feelings... Such does the instructed Noble Disciple also feel. What then is
the difference, the variation, and the distinction between the instructed
Noble Disciple and the uninstructed ordinary person? Bhikkhus, when the
uninstructed ordinary person is being touched by a painful feeling, then he
cries, grieves, moans, weeps, beats his breast and becomes bewildered!
He feels actually two feelings: A bodily pain and a mental sadness...!!!
Imagine they hit a man with a dart, and then they pricked him immediately
after with another dart, then that man would indeed feel two feelings
caused by both the two darts. Similarly is it in this case where this poor
uninstructed ordinary person touched by a painful feeling, actually feels
two feelings: A bodily pain and another mental frustration over that pain.
Whenever touched by pain, he responds with aversion towards that painful
feeling, then the latent tendency to aversion towards painful feeling grows
even deeper. When touched by painful feeling, he seeks for sense pleasure!
Why? Because the uninstructed ordinary person does not know any other
escape from painful feeling than seeking to relief by new sense pleasure.
When he seeks towards delight by sensual pleasure, the latent tendency
to lust for pleasant feeling grows even deeper. He does not at all really
understand as it really is neither the cause, nor the fading away, nor the
satisfaction, nor the danger, nor the escape regarding these feelings!#
Not understanding any of these things, then when touched by a neutral
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling the latent tendency to ignorance also
grows deeper. When feeling a pleasant feeling, he feels it as if attached
to it, and as the owner ("my feeling") being involved in it. When feeling a
painful feeling, he also feels this as if attached to it and involved in it. If
he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it as if attached
to it and involved in it... This, bhikkhus, is called an uninstructed ordinary
person, who is attached & clings desperately to birth, aging, death, sorrow,
pain, discontent, and despair. I tell you: What he clings to is Suffering ...!
Bhikkhus, when the instructed Noble Disciple is being touched by a painful
feeling, he neither cries, nor grieves, nor moans, nor weeps, nor beats his
breast, nor does he become bewildered! He feels actually only one feeling:
Bodily pain, yet no mental sadness or frustration! Imagine they hit a man
with only one single dart, and not any other dart, then that man would feel
a single feeling caused by only one single dart. So too, when the instructed
Noble Disciple is contacted by a painful feeling, then he feels one feeling:
A bodily pain, but not any mental sadness or frustration. Touched by that
painful feeling, he neither develops nor reinforces any aversion towards it!
Because he develops no aversion towards this painful feeling, the latent
tendency to aversion towards painful feeling does not grow deeper!
When touched by painful feeling, he does not wish for sense pleasure.
For what reason? Because the instructed Noble Disciple knows another
escape from painful feeling other than sensual pleasure! Since he does not
seek delight in sensual pleasure, the latent tendency to lust for pleasant
feeling does not grow deeper in him. He indeed understands as it really is,
the cause, the fading away, the satisfaction, the danger, and the escape
in the case of feelings. Since he understands all these things, the latent
tendency to ignorance, when touched by a neither-painful-nor-pleasant
feeling, does not grow deeper in him. When feeling a pleasant feeling, he
feels it as if detached from it, as something remote, irrelevant and alien.
When feeling a painful feeling, he also feels this as if detached from it,
as if remote and alien. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling,
he feels even that neutrality as if disconnected from it, remote and alien.
This, Bhikkhus, is called a Noble Disciple, who is released from birth, aging,
and death! Who is separated from sorrow, lamentation, pain, discontent,
and desperate despair... I tell you, such one is separated from Suffering.
This, is the difference, variation, and distinction, between the learned
Noble Disciple and an uninstructed ordinary person! The wise, clever and
learned one does not feel the adjoined pleasant & painful mental feeling!
This is the great difference between the wise and learned one and the
ordinary person. For the learned one, who has comprehended the Dhamma,
who clearly sees this world and the next, the desirable things do neither
incite, nor stir up, nor stimulate his mind...Towards whatever disgusting,
he has no aversion. All mental attraction and repulsion has ceased in him...
Both have been extinguished, brought to silence. Having known this stain
and sorrow-less state, such transcender of existence rightly understands:

Pleasant feeling induces greed...
Painful feeling produces hate...
Neither-painful-nor-pleasant neutral feeling
causes neglect and therefore generates ignorance...

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [208-10]
section 36: Feeling. Vedana. The Dart. Sallatena. 6.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Everything Converges on Feeling!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

The Buddha on Kamma (Intentional Action):

I am the owner of my actions (kamma), inheritor of my actions, born of
my actions, created by my actions, and have my own actions as my judge!
Whatever I do, good or evil, I will feel the resulting effects of that ...
Source: AN V 57

Intention, Bhikkhus, is what I call action=kamma, for through intention one
initiates these actions through the door of the body, speech or mind.
There is kamma (intentional action), Bhikkhus, that ripens in hell....
There is kamma that ripens in the animal world..
There is kamma that ripens in the world of humans....
There is kamma that ripens in the divine world....
Threefold, however, is this ripening fruit of kamma:
ripening during here in this life, or
ripening in the next rebirth life,
or ripening in even later rebirths ...
Source: AN VI 63

The 10 advantageous courses of action (=Good Kamma):
The 3 bodily actions: Avoidance of killing, stealing, and abusive sexuality.
The 4 verbal actions: Avoidance of lying, slandering, angry & empty speech.
The 3 mental actions: Doing Withdrawal, Good-will, and Right Views.
Source: MN 9

Greed, Bhikkhus, is a condition for the arising of kamma.
Hate is a condition for the arising of kamma.
Confusion is a condition for the arising of kamma.
Source: AN III 109

One who kills & harms goes either to hell or will be short-lived elsewhere.
One who torments others will be afflicted with disease or disability.
The angry one will look ugly, the envious one will be without influence.
The stingy one will be poor, the stubborn will be placed low and stupid.
The lazy will be without knowledge, understanding and certainty.
In the contrary case, one will be reborn in heaven or reborn as man.
One will be long-lived, beautiful, influential, highborn and intelligent!
Source: MN 135

There are 10 meritorious actions leading to human or divine rebirth:
1: Giving.
2: Morality.
3: Meditation.
4: Reverence by paying respect to monks and elders.
5: Performing services to others.
6: Transference of merits to others.
7: Rejoicing in others' merit.
8: Learning this true Dhamma.
9: Teaching this true Dhamma.
10: Correcting one's wrong views.

To the extent that there are beings, past, and future, dying & re-arising,
all beings are the owners of their actions, inheritor to their actions, are
born of their actions, created by their action, conditioned by their actions,
related to their actions, and are dependent on the effect of past actions.
Whatever they do, for good or for evil, from that will they feel the result...
Source: AN V 57

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Rational Causal Attention Breaks Mental Hindrances:

The Blessed Buddha once said:
When attending rationally sense-desire does neither arise, nor expand.
When attending rationally evil-will does neither arise, nor later expand.
When attending rationally lethargy & laziness does not emerge or grow.
When attending rationally restlessness & regret cannot arise or amplify.
When attending rationally doubt & uncertainty does not begin or blow up.
Furthermore, when attending carefully & rationally to cause and effect:
The awareness link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed.
The investigation link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed.
The energy link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed.
The joy link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed.
The tranquillity link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed.
The concentration link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed.
The equanimity link to awakening arises, and is gradually completed!

More on Attention: (Manasikara):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Careful_Attention.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/manasikaara.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V:93-4] section 46: The Links. 35: Careful Attention...

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Causal Attention!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

What are the Causes of Ignorance?

First: Ignorance is not seeing and not knowing the 4 Noble Truths fully!

The near and proximate cause is:
Ignorance comes into being caused by the 5 mental hindrances!
That is right here and now:
Ignorance grows up caused by desire and lust...
Ignorance arises caused by aversion and ill-will...
Ignorance emerges caused by lethargy and laziness...
Ignorance appears caused by restlessness and regret...
Ignorance comes into being caused by doubt and uncertainty...
All these 5 factors will obscure, obstruct and distort the 4 truths!

The remote and subtle cause is fermentation ~ assuming and supposing:
Conditioned by mental fermentation (asava) does ignorance emerge:
That is multi-factorially, on the long-term, as a hidden latent tendency:
Ignorance is caused by the mental fermentation linked with sense-desire.
Ignorance is caused by the mental fermentation associated with views.
Ignorance is caused by the mental fermentation coupled with becoming.
Ignorance is caused by the mental fermentation joined with ignorance itself!

The emotional component is:
Ignorance is caused by a feeling of neutral indifference, since this absence
of both pleasure and pain promotes neglect leading to no examination, which
then results in not knowing the specifics of the object = ignorance...

Ignorance thus grows in a fatal positively self-enhancing feedback-loop!

The Blessed Buddha said:
Bhikkhus, a beginning of ignorance cannot be pointed out in this way:
Before this point in time, there was no ignorance, afterward it came.
But, Bhikkhus, it can be pointed out in this way:
Caused by this, ignorance comes to be. Bhikkhus, I tell you, ignorance too
has a causing condition! What is the causing condition of ignorance?
The five mental hindrances is the reply...
Source: AN X 61, AN X 62

What is ignorance, what is the origin of ignorance, what is the ceasing of
ignorance, and what is the way leading to the ceasing of ignorance?
Not knowing about suffering, not knowing about the origin of suffering,
not knowing about the ceasing of suffering, not knowing about the way
leading to the ceasing of suffering, this is called ignorance!
With the arising of the mental fermentations, ignorance also arises.
With the ceasing of the mental fermentations, ignorance also ceases!
The way leading to the ceasing of ignorance is just this Noble 8-fold Way:
That is; Right view, right motivation, right speech, right action,
right livelihood, right effort and right concentration.
Source: MN 9

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

How to eliminate & leave behind Wrong View?

The Blessed Buddha once explained how right view induces release:
Friends, when one regards this eye, visibility, and all that can be seen,
which actually indeed is impermanent, as transient: That is a right view.
When one regards this ear, hearing and all sounds, which really are just
passing things, as fleeting: Then that indeed is a quite right view.
When one regards this nose, smelling and all odours, which are temporary,
as transient: That is right view. When one regards this tongue, tasting, &
all tastes, which also are non-lasting, as transient: That is also right view.
When one regards this body, the tactile sense and all that can be touched,
which is inconstant, as a impermanent: Then that is surely a right view.
When one regards this mind, thinking, and all ideas, which actually also are
quite ephemeral, as just momentary: Then that too is a quite accurate view.
Seeing these fading phenomena rightly, one develops dispassion & disgust!
Disillusion, dispassion and disgust gradually destructs delight and desire..
With the gradual destruction of delight, comes the full elimination of lust.
With the gradual destruction of lust, comes the full elimination of delight.
With the complete elimination of both delight and lust, the mind is said to
be well released from the addictive obsession of sense-desire...

Comments: The real prison is not physical & outside, but mental & inside!
The released mind does not want anything, need anything, seek anything..
The released mind does not yearn, hunt, crave, or hanker after anything..
Being thus without urge, thirst or hunger, such mind is entirely stilled...
This serene tranquillity is a bliss, freedom and peace not of this world!!!
Final Freedom... Yeah!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Contentment is the most supreme Treasure!

The Blessed Buddha often noted contentment as the highest treasure:
There is the case where a Bhikkhu is quite content with whatever old robe,
quite content with whatever old almsfood, quite content with whatever hut,
and quite content with whatever bitter medicine for curing sickness.
This Dhamma is for one who is content, not for one who is discontent!
Thus was it said. And with reference to exactly this salient contentment
with whatever little one has, was this simple, serene modesty well spoken...
AN VIII 30

Contentment with whatever little one has!

And how is a Bhikkhu content?
Just as a bird, wherever it goes, flies with its wings as its only burden,
even so is he content with a single set of robes to protect his body and
begged almsfood to pacify his hunger. Wherever he goes, he takes only
these few simple necessities as robes, belt, bowl and razor along with him.
This is how a Bhikkhu is content...
DN 2

There is the case where a Bhikkhu is content with whatever old robe at all,
with whatever old almsfood at all, with whatever old hut at all. He speaks in
praise of being content with any old requisite at all. He does not, for the sake
of any requisite, do anything unsuitable or inappropriate. When not getting any
requisites, he is not troubled. When getting requisites, he just uses it without
being attached to it. He is not obsessed, blameless, and seeing the drawbacks
and dangers of possessions, he realizes the escape from them. He does not,
on account of his contentment with any old requisite at all, exalt himself or
disparage others. Thus is he modest, clever, energetic, alert, & acutely aware!
This, Bhikkhus, is called a Bhikkhu standing quite firm in the ancient, original
lineage of the Noble Ones... AN IV 28

Good are friends, when need arises.
Good is contentment with just what one has.
Good is merit done well, when life is at the end.
Good is the elimination of all Suffering!
Dhammapada 331

Solitude is happiness for one who is content,
who has heard the Dhamma and clearly understands.
Harmlessness is happiness in all worlds!
Harmlessness towards all breathing beings.
Udana 10

Therefore be capable, upright, and straight,
easy to instruct, gentle, and not proud,
content and easy to support with little,
with few duties, living simple and light,
with peaceful abilities, mastering all,
modest, and with no greed for support.
Do not do even a minor thing that the
wise and noble would later criticize.
Sutta Nipata I, 8

More on Contentment (santutthi), which is caused by rejoicing mutual joy:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Calm_and_Content.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Rejoicing_Bliss_is_Mudita.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Cause_of_Contentment.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/ariya_vamsa.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Contentment Causes Calm Cool Comfort!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

No Urge for Delight Ceases the Suffering!

The Venerable Migajala once drew near to the Accomplished One, bowed,
paid his respects, sat down, and asked him: Venerable Sir, it would be good
if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief, then I might dwell
alone, withdrawn to the forest, attentive, keen, and determined...
The Consummated Buddha then explained:
There are here, Migajala, forms experiencable by the eye, sounds that are
experiencable by the ear, odours experiencable by the nose, many tastes
experiencable by the tongue, tactile objects experiencable by the body,
and mental phenomena cognizable by the mind, that are quite attractive,
charming, enjoyable, pleasing, enticing, and very tantalizing. In anyone who
seeks delight in them, welcomes them, and clings to them, delight arises!
With the arising of this delight, Migajala, there is the arising of Suffering!
In anyone who does not seek delight in them, who does not welcome them,
who does not remain holding on or clinging to them, that delight ceases...
With the ceasing of this delight, there comes the cessation of suffering...
Then Venerable Migajala, agreeing & rejoicing in what the Buddha had said,
rose from his seat, & after having bowed for the Blessed One, keeping him
on his right, he left for the forest. There, alone, withdrawn, enthusiastic,
devoted, & resolute, Venerable Migajala, realized it by direct experience,
himself, in this very life, by entering & abiding in that unsurpassed goal of
the Noble life for which men of good family rightly go forth from the dusty
household life into homelessness. He directly knew: Destroyed is rebirth,
the holy life has been lived, done is what had to be done, there is no state
of being beyond this! The Venerable Migajala became one of the Arahats...

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV 35-7
The 6 senses section 35. Thread on Delight: Migajala Sutta (63)
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Crushing the Carrot!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

How to cure hesitant Doubt and Uncertainty!

Noticing Doubt-&-Uncertainty (vicikiccha) emerge can make it fade away:
Herein, Bhikkhus, when Doubt-&-Uncertainty is present in him, the bhikkhu
notes & understands: "There is Doubt-&-Uncertainty in me", and when this
Doubt-&-Uncertainty is absent, he similarly notices and understands: "Now
no Doubt-&-Uncertainty is in me". He also fully understands how unarisen
Doubt-&-Uncertainty arises. He also understands how to leave behind any
arisen Doubt-&-Uncertainty, and he understands how left and eliminated
Doubt-&-Uncertainty will not arise again in the future. MN 10

What is the feeding cause that makes Doubt-&-Uncertainty arise?
There are doubtful, unclear, indeterminable, and inconclusive ambiguities!
Often giving irrational and unwise attention to such matters, is the feeding
cause of the arising of yet absent Doubt-&-Uncertainty, and the feeding
cause of worsening and aggravation of Doubt-&-Uncertainty, that already
emerged. SN 46:51

What is the starving cause that makes Doubt-&-Uncertainty cease?
There are advantageous & detrimental states, blameable and blameless,
average and excellent states, and dark and bright states, frequently giving
rational and wise attention to these, is the starving cause for prevention of
unarisen Doubt-&-Uncertainty, and the starving cause for the elimination
of Doubt-&-Uncertainty, that has already appeared. SN 46:51

Some advantageous reflections regarding Doubt-&-Uncertainty:
There are these 6 things, which help to throw out doubt:
1: The state of being learned in the Buddha-Dhamma.
2: Examining the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
3: Understanding the advantageousness of Moral Discipline.
4: Being decided and convinced about the 3 Jewels.
5: Sympathetic, clever and helpful friends, who knows directly.
6: Explaining talk and teachings that can dispel doubt.

Doubt-&-Uncertainty is like a Desert:
Doubt-&-Uncertainty is just as when a rich man travels through a desolate
desert where there is no food and much danger.
Freedom from Doubt-&-Uncertainty is like when he has crossed the desert,
and gradually reaches safety near a village, a secure place, free from danger.
There he is relieved. DN 2

So is it when doubts about one of the 8 objects of doubt has arisen. See #
Doubting whether the Master really is a perfectly Enlightened One or not,
one cannot become assured of it with confidence. Unconvinced one remains
unable to attain to the paths and fruits of Nobility. Thus, as the traveller
in the desert is uncertain whether robbers are there or not, he produces in
his mind, again & again, a state of wavering & vacillation, a lack of decision,
a state of anxiety, and thus he creates in himself an obstacle for reaching
the safe ground of the Noble Ones (ariya-bhumi). In that way, is sceptical
doubt like travelling in a barren and dry desert!

#: They are, according to the Vibhanga: doubt in regard to the Buddha,
the Dhamma, the Sangha, the (threefold) training, the past, the future,
and the conditionality of dependently arisen phenomena.

Doubt and uncertainty can only be indecisive about which action to choose
and thus paralyzes the skeptic by hesitancy leaving the problem unsettled!
Doubt can only be eliminated by examining and scrutinizing the object much.

Once elderly yet undecided brahman Dhotaka asked the Buddha:

I see here in the world of beings divine & human, good ones,
who lives simply by possessing nothing. I thus bow for you All-around Eye.
Please Sakyan, release me from my doubts!

The Buddha answered: No one in this world, Dhotaka, can I ever release
from doubting. But knowing the most excellent Dhamma, you will cross the
raving ocean of vacillating uncertainty.

Dhotaka now more confident: I admire, Great Seer, that peace supreme,
all stilled, knowing which, living aware and detached, I'll go beyond the
imprisoning entanglement of this world.

Then I will teach you that peace even right here, not just hearsay words,
understanding which, living aware and detached, you will go beyond the
incarcerating entanglement of this world.

Teach me as your friend, O best one, the Dhamma of detachment so that I
may know directly, so that I, as unaffected as space, may live right here,
at ease in peace, calmed, stilled and not dependent on anything...

Whatever you are aware of, Dhotaka, above, below, across, or in between;
know this as a chain to this world! Thus, do not create any craving for any
form of being in existence, any form of new becoming or any non-becoming!
Sutta Nipata V 6

Entering the jungle of views and opinions, one will never reach certainty!

See also:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Barren_Stagnation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Suitable_Substitution.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Doubt_and_Uncertainty.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/u_v/vicikicchaa.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/How_to_Overcome_Doubt.htm

Have a nice, noble & assured day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Doubt and Uncertainty creates Hesitation!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

How to cure Heavy Lethargy and Laziness!

Lethargy-&-Laziness may often be induced by self-destructive behaviour
such as: Alcohol, drugs, dope, pills, marihuana, sniffing, over-eating,
excessive masturbation and night-living. Such often life-long chemical or
behavioural causes of Lethargy-&-Laziness should be eradicated...
As long as this is not achieved one remains a phlegmatic & apathetic zombie,
drifting downwards due to inability to initiate advantageous behaviour.

Noticing Lethargy-&-Laziness (thina-middha) emerge can make it evaporate:
Herein, Bhikkhus, when Lethargy-&-Laziness is present in him, the bhikkhu
notes & understands: There is Lethargy-&-Laziness in me, and when this
Lethargy-&-Laziness is absent, he notes & understands: Now there is no
Lethargy-&-Laziness in me. He indeed also understands how yet unarisen
Lethargy-&-Laziness arises. He understands how to leave behind any arisen
Lethargy-&-Laziness, and he understands how left Lethargy-&-Laziness will
not arise again in the future. MN 10

What is the feeding cause that makes Lethargy-&-Laziness arise?
There are boredom, apathy, tiredness, lazy stretching of the body, heavy
drowsiness after too big meals, and mental sluggishness. Frequently giving
irrational and unwise attention to these mental states, this is the feeding
cause of the arising of yet unarisen Lethargy-&-Laziness, and the feeding
cause of worsening and deepening of already present Lethargy-&-Laziness.
SN 46:51

What is the starving cause that makes Lethargy-&-Laziness cease?
There is the quality of initiative. There is the quality of launching action.
There is the quality of tenaciously enduring persistence. Frequently giving
rational & wise attention to these three mental elements, is the starving
cause for the non-arising of unarisen Lethargy-&-Laziness, and the starving
cause for the arousing and stirring of already present Lethargy-&-Laziness.
SN 46:51

The Supreme Ideal:
Before the Buddha sat down to meditate in order to attain enlightenment,
he made this determination: May just all flesh and blood of this body dry up
into a stiff frame of only bones, tendons and skin... Not a second before
having achieved, what can be achieved by male strength, power, and energy,
will I rise from this seat... MN 70

How to stimulate the mind:
How does one stimulate the mind at a time when it needs stimulation?
If due to slowness of understanding or due to not having yet reached the
happiness of tranquillity, one's mind is dull, then one should rouse it through
reflecting on the eight objects stirring urgency. These 8 objects are: birth,
decay, disease & death; the suffering in hell, demon, ghost & animal world!
The suffering in the past and the the future rooted in this Samsara.
The suffering of the present rooted in the pursuit for food and living.
Vism. IV,63

Perceiving the suffering in impermanence:
In a Bhikkhu, who is used to see the suffering in impermanence and who
frequently reflects on this, there will be established in him such an acute
sense of the danger in laziness, apathy, inactivity and lethargy, just as if
he was threatened by a mad murderer with drawn sword!
AN 7:46

Lethargy-&-Laziness is an inner mental Prison:
Just as when a man has been forced into prison is Lethargy-&-Laziness,
but later when he gets released from this (inner) prison, then he is safe,
fearing no loss of property. And at that good he rejoices glad at heart...
Such is the breaking out of Lethargy-&-Laziness...
Another person has been kept in jail during a festival day, and so could see
none of the shows. When people say: Oh, how fun was this festival! He will
remain shy, mute and silent because he did not enjoy any festival himself...
Similarly is prison of Lethargy-&-Laziness... Another person that once had
been in jail on a festival day. But when freed and celebrating the festival
on a later occasion, he looks back: Before due to my own careless laziness,
I was in prison on that day & could not enjoy this fine festival. Now I shall
therefore be alert and careful. Since he remains thus alert and careful no
detrimental state can overcome his mind. Having fully enjoyed the festival,
he exclaims: What a fun festival! Good is absence of Lethargy-&-Laziness...

Whoever lives in search & urge only or pleasure and beauty,
unguarded in senses, immoderately indulging in eating,
lazy, lethargic, inactive, dulled into apathy;
Such ones Mara sweeps away like breaking
a branch of a tiny bush ...
Dhammapada 7

Even if one should live a hundred years,
if lazy and idle, better it would be
to live but just a single day
striving with all one got.
Dhammapada 112

Easy is the shameless life now.
Easy is it to be bold, retaliating,
lazy, uninformed and wrong-viewed.
Dhammapada 244

Rouse yourself! Sit up!
Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.
Do not let the king of death, seeing you
lazy, lead you astray and dominate you.
Sutta Nipata II, 10

More on curing this common defilement: Laziness (Thina-middha):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Lethargy_and_Laziness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Enthusiastic_is_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Arousal_Get_Up_and_Going.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Suitable_Substitution.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/thiina_middha.htm

Have a nice, noble & active day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Lethargy and Laziness Lays Life in Ruins!

samahita · March 2010

Friends:

Please kindly forward this invitation to your Dhamma-Friends per email.

U R indeed quite cordially Welcome to Join this:

New Bhikkhu Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=103043813069554

and/or

New Buddha-Dhamma Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108649555825451&ref=mf

samahita · March 2010

Friends: How to be a Real Buddhist through Observance?
Medin Poya day is the full-moon of March. This holy day celebrates that the Buddha visits his parental home after his supreme Enlightenment, and ordains his son prince Rahula, & half brother Nanda. This day is also called: The Sangha Day, since on this full-moon 1250 Arahats spontaneously met & assembled around the Buddha without any call. Buddha then spoke the famous Ovada Patimokkha core teaching!
On such Full-Moon Uposatha Poya Observance days:
Any Lay Buddhist simply joins the Three Refuges and undertakes the Five Precepts like this:

Newly bathed, shaved, white-clothed, with clean bare feet, one kneels at a shrine with a Buddha-statue, and bows first three times, so that feet, hands, elbows, knees & head touch the floor. Then, with joined palms at the heart, one recites these memorized lines in a loud, calm & steady voice:
As long as this life lasts: I hereby take refuge in the Buddha. I hereby take refuge in the Dhamma. I hereby take refuge in the Sangha.
I hereby seek shelter in the Buddha for the 2nd time. I hereby seek shelter in the Dhamma for the 2nd time. I hereby seek shelter in the Sangha for the 2nd time.
I hereby request protection from the Buddha for the 3rd time. I hereby request protection from the Dhamma for the 3rd time. I hereby request protection from the Sangha for the 3rd time. I will hereby respect these Three Jewels the rest of my life!

I accept to respect, keep & undertake these 5 training rules: I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Killing. I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Stealing. I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Sexual Abuse. I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Lying & Cheating. I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Alcohol & Drugs. As long as this life lasts: As long as this life lasts, I am thus protected by these 5 precepts...

Then, one keeps and protects these sacred vows better than one's own eyes & children!, since they protect you & all other beings much better than any army! They are the highest offer one can give in & to this world! The journey towards Nibbana: The Deathless is hereby started! This is the Noble Way to Absolute Peace, to Complete Freedom, to Ultimate Happiness, initiated by Morality, developed further by Dhamma-Study and fulfilled by training of Meditation...

Today indeed is Pooya or Uposatha or observance day, where any lay Buddhist normally keeps also the Eight Precepts from sunrise until the next dawn...
If any wish an official recognition by the Bhikkhu-Sangha, they may simply forward the lines starting with "I hereby ..." signed with name, date, town, & country to me or join here. A public list of this new quite rapidly growing global web Saddhamma-Sangha is set up here!

The New Noble Community of Buddha's Disciples: The Saddhamma Sangha: http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Saddhamma_Sangha.htm

Can quite advantageously be Joined Here: http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Sangha_Entry.htm
May your journey hereby be light, swift, and sweet. Never give up !!

Bhikkhu Samahita: [email]what.buddha.said@gmail.com[/email]

For Details on The Origin of Uposatha Observance Days: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/uposatha.html

Buddha with his Rahula, who also awakened into enlightenment!

Have a nice observance day!
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri Lanka! http://What-Buddha-Said.net Sangha Poya Day!

samahita · March 2010

Sorry for the messy format in last post. It cannot be repaired. The Auto-Editor here eats all newlines and line-breaks and out the posts like this mess... :-)

samahita · March 2010

Friends: Cutting all Craving Ends all Suffering!

At Savatthi the Blessed Buddha said this: Bhikkhus: Whatever desire & lust there is for form, feeling, perception, mental construction and consciousness, whatever greed, urge and craving, whatever engagement, entanglement and clinging, any habitual addiction, obsession, and underlying tendency there is for form, feeling, perception, mental construction and consciousness, overcome, cut and eliminate it all! Then all form, feeling, perception, mental construction and consciousness will be overcome & conquered, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, completely destroyed, so that it is unable to ever re-arise again... This - only this - is the End of all Suffering...!

Craving => Clinging => Fear => Panic => Suffering! More on this thorny Craving causing all pain: http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Cut_Craving.htm http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Craving_is_Pain.htm http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Craving_is_Cause.htm http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Origin_of_Suffering.htm http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ceasing_of_Suffering.htm http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Craving_is_Catastrophic.htm http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_3_kinds_of_Craving.htm

Craving can be cut due to the neuro-plasticity of learning. Source: The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya 22:112 III 162 http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day! Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka. http://What-Buddha-Said.net Cut all Catastrophic Craving!

samahita · March 2010

If glad-2-get these Early Buddhism Dhamma Drops by e-mail: then click join here: http://groups.google.com/group/What_Buddha_Said Much better format with embedded link. Have a nice, noble and easy day.. _/\_ :-)

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Real Peace is without urge for Pleasant Feeling!

The Blessed Buddha once explained this to some gravely sick Bhikkhus:
A Bhikkhu should spend his time acutely aware & clearly comprehending...
This is our instruction to you! While a Bhikkhu lives in this way, aware and
clearly comprehending, enthusiastic, keen, and determined, if there arises
in him a pleasant feeling, then he understands this: There has arisen in me
an event of pleasant feeling. Now that is dependent, it is not independent.
Dependent on what? Dependent on this sense-contact! But all contact is
impermanent, passing, conditioned, constructed and dependently arisen...
So when this pleasant feeling has arisen in dependence on sense-contact,
that indeed is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, how could it
ever then itself be lasting and permanent? He dwells in this way always
contemplating this impermanence of contact and also of pleasant feeling,
and he considers the inevitable vanishing, fading away, and total ceasing,
that entails relinquishment of all constructions. While he reflects thus,
then the underlying tendency to lust for contact and pleasant feeling is
gradually reduced. This deep craving fades way and is finally eliminated...
He understands: With the breakup of this body, at the exhaustion of this
fragile life, whatever feeling, and all that is felt, whether pain or pleasure,
neither being hankered after, nor clung to, will cool down right there...

Sense Organ + Sense Object + Sense Consciousness = Sense-Contact
Visibility of Eye + Visible Form + Visual Consciousness = Eye-Contact
Ear Sensitivity + Sound + Auditory Consciousness = Ear-Contact
Nose Sensitivity + Smell + Olfactory Consciousness = Nose-Contact
Tongue Sensitivity + Taste + Gustatory Consciousness = Tongue-Contact
Skin Sensitivity + Touch Object + Tactile Consciousness = Body-Contact
Mind Receptivity + Thought + Mental Consciousness = Mental-Contact

Contact is not the outer physical impact, but an inner mental construction!

The Buddha on Contact (Phassa):
Dependent on the eye and the forms, eye-consciousness arises.
The coming-together of these three phenomena, is sense-contact. MN 18

For those overcome by contact, flowing along in the stream of becoming,
following a miserable path, the ending of fetters is quite far away.
While those, who comprehend contact, delighting in stilling through insight,
they, by breaking through contact, free from craving, are totally unbound!
Sn 736-7

Subduing desire for both the inner and the outer, comprehending contact,
with no greed. Doing nothing, which he himself would rebuke himself for,
the enlightened person doesn't cling to what is seen, or to what is heard!
Sn 778

Not attaching to the future, without sorrow over the past, he constructs
no wrong 'ego-self-I-me' view fancying mere contact as 'my' experience.
Sn 851

Pleasure, pain and indifference all have their source in sense-contact.
When this sense-contact is absent, these affective states are also absent.
The idea of appearing & disappearing, existence & non-existence, and any
event of becoming & non-becoming also emerges from this same contact!
Sn 870

What is the cause of sense-contact? From what arises so much clinging?
By the absence of what, is there no selfish possessiveness or attachment?
By the disappearance of what, does sense-contact, not make contact?
Sn 871

Sense-contact depends on mentality and materiality: Name-and-Form.
Clinging possessiveness has its source in longing for & wanting something!
When not longing for anything, then there is no egoistic possessiveness...
By the vanishing of formed objects, sense-contact cannot make contact!
Sn 872

When a Bhikkhu is touched by bodily painful contact, he does not bemoan.
He wouldn't long for coming into another state, or tremble at any terror!
Sn 923

More on Contact (Phassa):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Diversity_of_Contacts.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/In_Dependence_on_Contact.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [214]
section 36: Feeling. Vedana. The Sick-Ward. 8.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice, noble and independent day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Depending on Contact!

samahita · April 2010

How is the gradual refinement of the 5 mental abilities?

There are these 5 mental Abilities:
The ability of faith,
The ability of energy,
The ability of awareness,
The ability of concentration,
The ability of understanding!

What are the six aspects of these abilities?
They are dominant.
They are initiating.
They makes quality.
They are stabilizing.
They are completing.
They are the foundation.

How are the abilities to be understood in the sense of being dominant?
When one leaves behind skeptic doubt, the faith ability is found in one as being dominated
by definitive decision. This faith ability dominated by resolute determination to decision,
then facilitates exertion, presence, non-distraction and seeing.

When one leaves behind laziness, the energy ability is found in one as being dominated
by exertion of effort. This energy ability dominated by exerting effort, then facilitates
presence, non-distraction, seeing and decisiveness.

When one leaves behind negligence, the awareness ability is found in one as being dominated
by presence. This awareness ability dominated by presence, firmly founded, then facilitates
non-distraction, seeing, decisiveness and exertion.

When one leaves behind agitation, the concentration ability is found in one as being dominated
by non-distraction. This concentration ability dominated by non-distraction, calm, then facilitates
seeing, decisiveness, exertion and presence.

When one leaves behind ignorance, the understanding ability is found in one as being dominated
by seeing. This understanding ability dominated by seeing, penetrative and clear, then facilitates
decisiveness, exertion, presence and non-distraction.

This is how the abilities are to be found and understood as through dominance!

More on these 5 Mental Abilities:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Faith_Summary.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Ability_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Awareness_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Concentration_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Understanding_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Five_Abilities_Summary.htm

Source: Sariputta in: The Path of Discrimination: Patidasambhidamagga
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=133494

Have a nice able day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Authoritative Abilities!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Stilling Desire and Lust, Stops the Yearning!

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Friends, you should abandon all desire and any lust for whatever there is
impermanent, vanishing, and neither me, nor mine, nor owned by any self!
And what is impermanent, suffering & neither me, nor mine, nor any self?
The eyes and all forms are impermanent, suffering, and all impersonal...
The ears and all sounds are transient, affliction, and without any self...
The nose and all smells are fleeting, miserable, and not belonging to any..
The tongue & all flavours are temporary, addictive, and always ownerless.
The body and all touches are passing, obsessive, remote, alien, & non-self!
The mind and all thoughts are momentary, imaginary and without a core...
Friends, you should eliminate all desire and any lust for whatever there is
impermanent, suffering, and impersonal, whether these appearances are
past, present or future, internal or external, high or low, fine or gross,
far or near... That will indeed ease your well-fare for a long, long time...
Why so? Because - Craving in itself! - is the very cause of all Suffering...
This is the 2nd Noble Truth, unheard of before, the Buddha discovered it!

Source:
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [149-151]
Section 35: On The 6 Senses. The abandoning of desire & lust: 168-183.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Stilling Desire Stops the Yearning!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Detachment from Feeling gives Immunity towards Suffering!

The Blessed Buddha once explained this to some sick bhikkhus:
If one keen on mental training feels a pleasant feeling, he understands:
"This impermanent pleasure is neither to be clung to, nor indulged in."
If he feels a painful feeling, he also understands and observes:
"As this pain is transient, it is neither to be clung to, nor engaged in..."
If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he similarly notes:
"This passing neutral feeling is neither to be clung to, nor delighted in..."
When he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it, as if detached from it!
When he feels a painful feeling, he feels it, as if detached from it!
When he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it, as if detached from it!
He feels all feelings as something remote, alien, and not belonging to him.
When he feels a feeling terminating with the body, he understands:
"I feel a feeling terminating with the body..." (all bodily feeling!)
When he feels a feeling terminating with life, he understands:
"I feel a feeling terminating with life..." (all mental feeling!)
He understands: With the breakup of this body, at the exhaustion of life,
any feeling, neither being delighted in, nor clung to, will cool down right
then and there... Just as, bhikkhus, an oil lamp burns depending on the oil
and the wick, at the exhaustion of the oil and the wick, the burning flame
is extinguished through lack of fuel, exactly so similarly here, bhikkhus,
when a bhikkhu feels a feeling terminating with the body... or terminating
with life... He understands: With the breakup of this body, at the very
exhaustion of this life, all that is felt, not being indulged in, nor clung to,
will vanish right there and then... This - only this - is the end of Suffering!

Pleasant feeling induces greed...
Painful feeling produces hate...
Neither-painful-nor-pleasant neutral feeling
causes neglect & thus generates ignorance...

The Buddhas are the very best Doctors!

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [211-3]
section 36: Feeling. Vedana. The Sick-Ward. 7.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Detached from Feeling!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Doubt and Uncertainty Perplex the Mind!

A Brahmin once asked the Blessed Buddha:
Master Gotama, what is the cause of being unable to remember something
that has been memorized over a long period? The blessed Buddha answered:
Brahmin, when mind is perplexed by doubt & uncertainty, undecided, baffled
wavering and wobbling by doubt & uncertainty, and one does not understand
any actual safe escape from this arisen states mental doubt & uncertainty,
then one can neither see, nor ever understand any of what is advantageous,
neither for oneself, nor for others, nor for both oneself and others!
Then, consequently, what have been long memorized, cannot be remembered…
Why is this neglect & amnesia so? Imagine a bucket of water that is muddy,
unclear, cloudy, blurred and dark. If a man even with good eye-sight were
to inspect the reflection of his own face in it, he would neither see, nor ever
recognize it, as it really is! So too, brahmin, when mind is confused by doubt
& uncertainty, baffled, bewildered and hesitating by doubt & uncertainty,
on such occasion even things that have been long memorized, cannot recur
to the mind, not to speak of those texts, events and important information,
that have not been memorized at all…

On how to prevent Skeptical Doubt & Uncertainty (Vicikiccha):
Systematic Attention to scrutinizing investigation, examination & probing:
1: What is advantageous and what is detrimental here?
2: What is blameable and what is blameless in this situation?
3: What is ordinary and what is excellent in this particular case?
4: What is on the bright side and what is on the dark side in this aspect?

Doubt, Uncertainty, Hesitation & Vexation leads to Frustrating Perplexity!
Doubt stupefies action since decision to choose any alternative is blocked.

Medicine for Doubt and Uncertainty:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Barren_Stagnation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4c.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Suitable_Substitution.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Understanding_is_the_Chief.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/How_to_Overcome_Doubt.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Curing_Doubt_and_Uncertainty.htm

Vexation, Hesitation, Confusion and Painful Perplexity...

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V:123-4] section 46: The Links. 55: To Sangarava...

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Doubt & Uncertainty...

samahita · April 2010

Daily Words of the Buddha for 9 April 2010

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Sabbapapassa akaranam,
kusalassa upasampada,
sacittapariyodapanak -
etam buddhana sasanam.

Harmless + Good + Pure = Success!
Avoiding all Harm;
Doing only Good;
Purifying own Mind;
So all Buddhas teach!

Source: Dhammapada 183:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/KN/Dhammapada.htm

Have a nice day!

Friendship is the Greatest
Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

If glad-2-get Early Buddhism by e-mail then click join here:
http://groups.google.com/group/What_Buddha_Said

Harmless + Good + Pure = Success!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

The Four Modes of Direct Experience:

The Exalted Buddha once said:
Bhikkhus, there are these 4 realizable states:
What four?
By the body one realizes the 8 releasing liberations.
By memory one realizes one's prior lives in all diverse detail.
By the divine eye one realizes the death & rebirth of beings.
By understanding one realizes elimination of the mental fermentations.
These, Bhikkhus, are the 4 realizable states...

Source: The Numerical Sayings of the Buddha. Anguttara Nikaya II 182
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=204050
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=132552
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/anguttara/index.html

Have a nice day!

Friendship is the Greatest
Bhikkhu Samahita ] Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
http://groups.google.com/group/Buddha-Direct
http://groups.google.com/group/What_Buddha_Said

4 x Realizable Release ...!!!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Jhãna Absorption eliminates all Physical Pain!

The Blessed Buddha once pointed out:
Where does all bodily pain cease, without any even trace remaining?
Aloof of all sense-desire and secluded from any disadvantageous state,
one enters and remains in the first jhana absorption of directed thought
and sustained thinking, joined with pleasure and joy, born of sole isolation.
It is right there, that all bodily pain ceases without a trace remaining...

Comments:
Therefore do beings reborn at the fine-material brahma level, never feel
any physical pain, since they are continuously absorbed in this first jhana..!

On how to attain the Jhana absorptions:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Requisites_for_Jhana_Absorption.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/What_is_Right_Concentration.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Concentration_Samadhi.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/jhaana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Jhana_Absorption.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Art_of_Absorption.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Samma-Samadhi.htm

Microscopic, astronomic, or other visions are not uncommon during jhana

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book V 213-4
The Abilities section 48. Thread on The Irregular Order: Uppatika 40
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice, noble and absorbed day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Absorbed = Pain Absent!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Instantly Evaporating all Evil Mental States!

The Blessed Buddha once said:
When, bhikkhus and friends, while one is trying to behave good & cleaver,
if occasionally due to a lapse of awareness, a momentary neglect occurs &
evil detrimental memories and bad intentions arise in one, slow might be
the re-arising of one's awareness, but one should the ultra-quickly leave
these thoughts, dispel these obsessions, and end these impulses, thereby
eradicating both any phobia and mania. Imagine a man who let a tiny drop
of water fall onto an iron plate heated for a whole day on the stove...
Slow might be his letting go of the water drop, but then it would quickly
vaporize and vanish when hitting the pan. Even so, while one is neglecting
the presence of acute awareness & the mind strays back into the mental
habits of evil detrimental memories and bad intentions, slow might be the
re-arising of one's awareness, yet then one should instantly leave these
thoughts, dispel these obsessions, end these impulses, thereby eradicating
any disadvantageous and afflicting phobia and mania. It is in exactly this
way that a bhikkhu has comprehended the ideal mode of behaviour & habit
of living that prevents any evil detrimental mental state of avariciousness,
lust, greed, envy, jealousy and discontent in flowing in upon, enveloping &
completely dominating him...

What is Evil, Bad, Wrong, Disadvantageous and Detrimental (Akusala)?
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Detrimental.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/What_is_Disadvantageous.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [190-] 35:
6 Senses. Salayatana. States that entail Suffering. Dukkha-Dhamma 244.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Evaporating all Evil...

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Present evil action aggravates the effects of prior evil action!

The Blessed Buddha once explained:
Regarding the effects of actions, Ananda, as to the person here who kills
living beings, who takes what is not given, who abuses in sex, who speaks
false, who speaks divisively, who speaks aggressively, who speaks idle and
empty gossip, who is envious and jealous, who is of ill will, and who holds
wrong views and who at the breakup of the body, right after death, thus
is reborn in a state of deprivation, a dreadful destination, in the painful
purgatory, in one of the hells: Either earlier - prior to this - such one also
did evil actions to be felt as painful, or later - after this - such one also
did evil actions to be felt as pain, or right at the death-moment such fool
entered and maintained wrong views! Because of one or more of these ills,
then right after the death moment, such one is reborn in a distressing state
of deprivation, a dreadful destination, in the painful purgatory, in one of
the hells. And since such one furthermore has here also now in the present
killed living beings, taken what is not given, misconducted himself in sensual
pleasures, spoken false, spoken divisively, spoken aggressively, and spoken
empty and idle gossip, and since such one also now is envious and jealous,
and since such one also now is of ill will, and since such one and now holds
wrong views, such one will experience the result of that either here & now,
or the next rebirth, or in some subsequent coming into being...

ONE'S OWN ENEMY
The worst enemy of the simple fool, is himself!
This his self commit the doings from which he
himself reaps the later result of bitter pain...
Dhammapada 66

BITTER FRUIT
That action, which one later regrets, is not good...
Experiencing the result of such ill and evil deed,
one later weeps with a tearful face.
Dhammapada 67

CAUSE, DELAY, EFFECT
Initially, the taste of the evil deed appears as sweet
honey to the fool. Later, however, when the evil result
ripens, he grieves in pain.
Dhammapada 69

SMOULDERING SMUDGE
Just as fresh milk do not sour just at once, then the evil
action does not ripen immediately. Rather it burns the fool
after a long smouldering, like embers covered with ashes.
Dhammapada 71

ABUSE
Whatever power, fame or skill the evil fool acquires,
abused, it destroys his future, as if cleaving his head.
Dhammapada 72

ULTIMATE WRONG
All sentient beings feel pain from violence...
All sentient beings fear death in panic!
Seeing other beings are like oneself;
Treating other beings like oneself;
One should never ever harm or kill ...
Dhammapada 129

LOSS
Whoever injures, with weapon or stick, beings
searching for their happiness - when after death -
seeking some happiness, such fool never finds it!
Dhammapada 131

BOOMERANG
Do not ever speak harsh or angry words.
Such is always retaliated with angry talk.
Painful indeed is arrogant speech...
The inevitable retaliation invariably
falls back on such proud boaster.
Dhammapada 133

BURNT
When doing evil the fool does not recognize the bad as wrong.
Afterwards such simpleton is burnt, as with a fire lit by himself.
Dhammapada 136

10 CONSEQUENCES OF ILL ACTION
Whoever is violent against the harmless;
Whoever offends the innocent;
Such fool quite quickly experiences one of these 10 states:
The fool may suffer acute pain, disaster, injures of body,
severe sickness, insanity, lawsuits from police, accusations,
loss of wealth, fire burns his house and right after death,
he re-arise in the painful worlds or the niraya hells ...
Dhammapada 137-140

Source:
The Moderate speeches of the Buddha: The great speech on Action. MN 136
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=25072X Full Text
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn136.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Evil grows more Evil!
Bad behaviour Worsens prior Evil action!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Any Advantageous Mental State Improves the Future!

Train yourself in doing good
that lasts and brings happiness.
Cultivate generosity, the life of peace,
and a mind of boundless love.
Itivuttaka 16

Generosity, kind words,
doing a good turn for others,
and treating all people alike:
these bonds of sympathy are to the world
what the axle is to the wagon wheel.
Anguttara Nikaya II, 32

Good are friends, when the need arises;
Good is contentment with just what one has;
Good is merit done, when life is at an end,
and good is the elimination of all Suffering!
Dhammapada 331

Come on! Do Good! Good Gets Better!

In this world, good it is to serve one's mother,
Good is it to serve one's father,
Good is it to serve the monks, and
Good it is to serve the holy pure ones.
Dhammapada 332

Good is pure moral virtue until life's end,
Good is fine Faith, that is unwavering,
Good is the acquisition of understanding, and
Good is the avoidance of all evil wrong-doing.
Dhammapada 333

To avoid all evil,
to cultivate only good,
and to purify one's mind
this is the teaching of all the Buddhas!
Dhammapada 183

Yes We Can!

The good relinquish attachment to everything.
The wise do not prattle with yearning for pleasures.
The clever show neither elation, nor depression,
when touched either by happiness, or by sorrow...
Dhammapada 83

With good-will for the entire cosmos,
Cultivate a limitless & infinite kindness:
Above, below, across and all around,
unobstructed, without hostility or hate.
Sutta Nipata I, 8

Let all guard themselves against irritability in thought;
Let every one be controlled in mind,
Leaving mental misery & misconduct,
Let every one practice good behaviour in any thought.
Dhammapada 233

Seeding Good, Sprouts in Good!

Let any being guard himself against irritability in speech;
Let every one be controlled in speech.
Leaving all verbal misconduct,
Let every one practice good behaviour in all speech.
Dhammapada 232

Overcome the angry by kindness;
Overcome the wicked by goodness;
Overcome the miser by generosity;
Overcome the liar by truth.
Dhammapada 223

Consort only with the good,
Come together only with the good.
To learn the Teaching of the Noble ones,
Gives an understanding nowhere else found!
Samyutta Nikaya I, 17

Same are all beings, just different! ;-)

Neither mother, nor father, nor
any other family or friend can do
greater good for oneself, than a
well trained & well directed mind!
Dhammapada 43

Think not lightly of good, saying, "It will not return to me."
Since: Drop by drop is the water pot filled with rain!
Likewise, the wise one, gathering it little by little,
fills himself with advantageous good...
Dhammapada 122

Doing Good => Gets Better Future!

More on Generosity (Dana) = The 1st mental perfection:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Glad_Giving.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/b_f/daana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Openhanded_Generosity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Generosity_Contemplation.htm

Forest Sangha Support:
If you wish to help the Forest Sangha materially with upholding and sharing
the Saddhamma, then a quite good opportunity is open right here and now!
Any support is indeed needed and very appreciated. Many Thanx in advance :-)
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/various/Dhammadhara_Foundation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/various/Subscribe_to_Regular_Donation.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Yes We Can!

samahita · April 2010

Daily Words of the Buddha for 15 April 2010

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Sabbadanam dhammadanam jinati;
sabbarasam dhammaraso jinati;
sabbaratim dhammarati jinati;
tanhakkhayo sabbadukkham jinati.

THE SUPREME GIFT
The gift of Dhamma surpasses all other gifts.
The taste of Truth excels every other taste.
The joy of Understanding exceeds any other joy.
The elimination of Craving overcome, quenches &
triumphs all ill, all pain, all sorrow, & all suffering ...
Dhammapada 354

Be understanding to your perceived enemies.
Be loyal to all your good friends.
Be strong enough to face the changing world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.
Be generous to those who need your help.
Be frugal with that you need yourself.
Be wise enough to know, that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in the unknown miracle.
Be willing to share your joys, resources & riches.
Be willing to share & bear the sorrows of others.
Be a leader, when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower, when you are shrouded by the mists of uncertainty.
Be the first to congratulate an opponent, who succeeds.
Be the last to criticize a colleague, who fails.
Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not tumble.
Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way.
Be loving to those who love you, and also those who don't...
Be friendly to those who do not love you, since then they may change.
Above all: BE AWARE!

Thanks & Best Regards

Forwarded by Friend Nilanthi

Have a nice day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
http://groups.google.com/group/Buddha-Direct
http://groups.google.com/group/What_Buddha_Said

Be Good

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

What Feeds the Five Hindrances?

At Savatthi the Blessed Buddha once explained:
Just as this body, is sustained by food, is dependent on food, and cannot
continue without food, even so, friends, are the five mental hindrances
indeed also sustained by a kind of food, they are also dependent on food,
and cannot continue without ever renewed feeding…

And what, friends, is feeding for the arising and growth of sense-desire?
It is frequent and careless attention to the alluring & attractive features!
This food makes sensual lust arise and feeds also growth of habitual greed…

And what, friends, is feeding for the arising and aggravation of ill-will?
It is frequent & careless attention to the displeasing & repulsive features!
This is food makes aversion arise and feeds also growth of habitual anger…

And what is feeding the emergence & deterioration of lethargy-&-laziness?
It is frequent & careless attention to drowsiness, & eaten too much Dullness!
This is food makes sloth arise and feeds also worsening of habitual Laziness…

And what is feeding for the arising and escalation of restlessness-&-regret?
It is frequent & careless attention to the excited, agitated & stressed mind!
This food upsets and stirs the mind and feeds also habitual anxiety & worry…

And what feeds the arising, deepening & expansion of doubt-&-uncertainty?
It is frequent & careless attention to doubtful theories & speculative views!
This food bewilders the mind & feeds also escalation of habitual confusion...

Just as this body, is supported by food, is dependent on food, and cannot
go on without food, exactly so, friends, are these 5 Mental Hindrances
supported by feeding, dependent on feeding, and cannot persist without
this continual mental feeding by wrongly directed attention…

Though not visible the 5 Hindrances effectively Obstruct beings!

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V:64-5] section 46: The Links. 2: The Body...

Have a nice, noble and unhindered day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

What Feeds the Hindrances?

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Magnificent is Merit well done in good time!

The Blessed Buddha explained DOING GOOD like this:
Here and now the good-doer rejoices...
Even so after passing away and re-emerging,
the doer of good reaps only joy and satisfaction ...
So both here and there the wise with merit well done
enjoys the purity of his prior good actions.
Dhammapada 16

THE PRECIOUS POSSIBILITY
Just as one can make many varied bouquets from a single
big bunch of flowers, a mortal among the humans can
make many kinds of merit by doing various good deeds.
Dhammapada 53

HONOURABLE
Those who honours those worthy of honour:
That is the Buddha and his disciples;
Who are unhindered, sorrowless, and fearless,
finders of Nibbana, their merit gained from such
worthy & well directed honour cannot be estimated
by anyone...
Dhammapada 195

More on Merit (Puñña) which support beings in their next life:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/4_Goods.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Pure_Merit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/n_r/punna.htm

Magnificent is Merit!
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Magnificent_is_Merit.htm

Doing good elevates our Future!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

What are the characteristics of the State called Nibbâna?

Total ease, complete calm, absolute stillness, safe freedom, perfect happiness & pure peace…
Absence of any uncertainty, any doubt, any confusion, any delusion & all ignorance…
Presence of confidence, cleared certainty, understanding all, and direct experience…
Absence of any greed, lust, desire, urge, attraction, hunger, temptation and pull…
Presence of imperturbable indifference, serene composure & all stilled equanimity…
Absence of any hate, anger, aversion, hostility, irritation, & stubborn rigidity…
Presence of universal goodwill, infinite friendliness, all-embracing & boundless kindness…
Not a place, not an idea, not a fantasy, not a deception, not a conceit, not a conception…
Not a cause, not an effect, not finite, not definable, not formed, not changing, but eternal…
Unborn, unbecome, unmade, uncreated, uncaused, unconditioned & unconstructed, yet real…
Void of eye, visible objects & visual consciousness, void of ear, sounds & auditory consciousness,
Void of nose, smells & olfactory consciousness, void of tongue, tastes & gustatory consciousness,
Void of body, touch & tactile consciousness and void of mind, thoughts & mental consciousness…
Pure Peace @ Rest …

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Hard it is to see the unconstructed, the undistorted! This independent state is not easily realized.
Craving is all cut for the One, who so knows, since he sees, that there is nothing to cling to ... !!! …
Udana – Inspiration: VIII - 2

In any dependence there is bound to be instability. In Independence there cannot be any instability.
When there is no liable instability, no feeble wavering, there is a quiet calm, stillness, serenity & peace.
When there is such solid tranquillity, then there is no tendency to drift, no attraction, neither mental push
nor pull, nor any strain of appeal or repulsion. When there is no attraction, no drift, no bending, then there
is no movement, no development, and neither any coming nor any going. Neither any starting nor any ending...
When there is neither any coming nor any going, then there is neither any ceasing nor any reappearing...
There being neither ceasing nor reappearing, then there is neither any here, there, beyond, nor in between...
This – just this – is the End of Suffering. Udana – Inspiration: VIII - 4

Having understood this unconstructed state, released in mind, with the chain to becoming eliminated,
they attain to the sublime essence of all states. Delighting in the calmed end of craving, those steady
Noble Ones have left all being & becoming behind. Itivuttaka: Thus spoken 38

Nibbana is The Highest Bliss!
One, who so knows, sees, that there is nothing to cling to ... !!! …

Have a nice released, relaxed & peaceful day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Silly Confrontational Opposition:

"I"-dentification = Egoism leads to Conflict:
I am ... green, while you are... blue...
Therefore I am against you!
Therefore are you against me...
Therefore I fear you!
Therefore I hate you!

Non-I-Dentification = selflessness leads to Harmony:
This is green, while that is blue ...
So is it! So be it! Let it be! Let it go!...
Polarity is Pain and Diversity is Noise...
Unity is Peace and Harmony is Bliss...
As we both and all can, so let us meditate!
Dwelling in kind peace is a sweet silent ease.

Please repeat the argument exchanging the Green/Blue pair with these:
Black/White, Rich/Poor, Educated/Uneducated, High/Low, Big/Small,
Man/Woman, Young/Old, Intelligent/Stupid, Beautiful/Ugly,
Strong/Weak, Eastern/Western, North/Southern, Race-X/Race-Y,
Religion-X/Religion-Y, Culture-X/Culture-Y, etc...
Skin-X/Skin-Y Nationality-X/Nationality-Y, etc...
Political-X/Political-Y, Color-X/Color-Y, etc...
Family-X/Family-Y, Group-X/Group-Y etc....!
Opposition is a diluted derivative of Hate!
Hate produces only suffering!
Foolish, absurd self-torture...

More on Narcissism, Egoism, and Personality View (Sakkaya Ditthi):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Leash.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/I-dentification.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Input_I-dentification.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Sweet Selfless Ease!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Feel Pity for all those Falling:

It is a great pity with all those beings thinking:
Pleasure is the only good; by that they fall!
Terror is the only goal; by that they fall!
Sensuality is innocent; by that they fall!
Violence is allowable; by that they fall!
Money makes happy; by that they fall!
Power is progress; by that they fall!
Falsehood is OK; by that they fall!
Stealing makes rich; by that they fall!
Conceit covers up; by that they fall!
Science knows all; by that they fall!
Killing can be good; by that they fall!
Hunting is only fun; by that they fall!
Adultery is matured; by that they fall!
Paedophilia is harmless; by that they fall!
Drugs is fantastic; by that they fall!
Booze is medicine; by that they fall!
Giving does not help; by that they fall!
After death is nothing!; by that they fall!
The Hells do not exist; by that they fall!
Action has no effect; by that they fall!
I am the better than...; by that they fall!
Making merit cannot elevate; by that they fall!

It is a great pity with all those beings:
who is veiled by wrong view; by that they fall!
who is fooled by own opinion; by that they fall!
who is gripped by greed and lust; by that they fall!
who is stirred by hate and anger; by that they fall!
who is clinging to anything worldly; by that they fall!
who is confused by not knowing; by that they fall!
who prostitute themselves; by that they fall!
who cheat and deceives; by that they fall!
who pretends what is not; by that they fall!
who hide what is actual fact; by that they fall!
who destroy beings or things; by that they fall!
who pollute milieu and society; by that they fall!
who deliberately do evil knowing it; by that they fall!
who fail their duties and obligations; by that they fall!
who miss the obvious opportunities; by that they fall!
It is a great pity with all those blinded by ignorance,
bound and dragged by craving, while pushed by aversion:
By that they surely fall into states of pain, agony and despair!
As if gripped by the arms by two strong men and hurled into a big fire...

More on this caring Great Compassion (maha-karuna)!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Endless_Pity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Karuna_is_Pity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Space_Compassion.htm

Have a nice compassionate day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ , Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Great Compassion!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Divine Dwelling is infinite and produces Gods!

Contemplation of infinitely friendly Loving-Kindness (Metta)
Having seen that like oneself all beings whatsoever searches only happiness
Patiently then cultivate friendly loving-kindness for all beings like this:
May I always be happy. May I always be free from suffering.
May all my friends always be happy and always be free from suffering.
May all neutral beings always be happy and always be free from suffering.
May all my enemies always be happy and always be free from suffering too!

Within this town, this country, this continent, this planet, all the galaxies,
May all sentient beings, all persons, all creatures, and all breathing things,
Be happy, be free, joyous, content and peaceful in their various destinies.

Whatever living beings there may be, men, women, Noble, or ordinary,
Animals, Devas, or unhappy ones, who lives in one of the ten directions,
whether weak or strong, long or large, short or small, far or near
seen or unseen, in existence or seeking to become this or that,
With none excepted: May creatures all be of a blissful heart!

May I be free from enmity! May I be free from distress!
May I be free from misery! May I live happily!
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from enmity!
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from distress!
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from misery!
Whatever beings there are: May they live happily!

May all beings … all breathing things … all creatures … all persons …
all entities … women … men … the Noble Ones … those not noble ones …
gods … humans … beings in the realms of deprivation in the east … west …
north … south … above … as below … and all around be free from enmity,
be free from distress, be free from misery, and live fully happily!

The Four Divine Abidings (Brahmavihãra):

I: Loving-kindness (Metta):
Whatever beings there are: May they be happy!
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from enmity!
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from distress!
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from misery!
Whatever beings there are: May they live happily!

II: Compassionate Pity (Karuna):
Whatever beings there are: May they be free from all pain & all suffering!

III: Mutual Joy with other's success (Mudita):
Whatever beings there are: May they not be separated from their gains!

IV: Equanimity (Upekkha):
Whatever beings there are: they are the owners of their kamma, inherit
their kamma, born of their kamma, related to their kamma, abide supported
by their kamma; whatever kamma they do, whether good or evil, the effect
of that will be the theirs only...

Contemplation on Equanimity (Upekkha):
Just as a mighty rock doesn't shake with the wind,
So the wise are not disturbed, neither by praise, nor by blame.
Neither clinging to the state of happiness, nor in pain when depressed.
Composed and ballanced I remain! This is my perfect equipoise... Yeah!

Source: BPS Wheel no 54 (Edited Excerpt):
The Mirror of the Dhamma. A Manual of Buddhist Devotional Texts.
By Narada Thera and Bhikkhu Kassapa. Revised By Bhikkhu Khantipalo:
http://www.bps.lk/wh054-u.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Divine Dwelling...

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Only by Guarding the 6 Sense Doors is one in Control!

The Blessed Buddha once explained mental control like this:
Friends, having seen a form with the eye, one remains neither attracted
towards any nice form, nor repelled by any disgusting form...
Having heard a sound with the ear, one remains neither captivated by any
fine sound, nor repulsed by any horrible sound...
Having smelled a smell with the nose, one remains neither allured by any
pleasant smell, nor rejected by any repulsive smell...
Having tasted a taste with the tongue, one remains neither fascinated by
any delightful taste, nor reversed by any revolting taste...
Having touched a touch with the body, one remains neither tempted by
any delicate touch, nor disgusted by any unpleasant touch...
Having thought an idea with the mind, one remains neither enticed by any
agreeable thought, nor disappointed by any disagreeable thought...
One resides having established constant awareness of the body & within
an infinite mind. Thereby one comes to know directly that release of mind
and that release by understanding, wherein all harmful detrimental states
irreversibly cease without remaining traces left behind... It is in this very
way, that one lives in full mental control with the 6 sense doors guarded...

Comments:
Awareness of the body means seeing it as an afflicting skin-bag of bones,
bowels, tendons, excrement and urine, with nine holes oozing with filth...!
Such continuous awareness disables any arising of desire, lust and greed!
Dwelling within an infinite mind means constant attention to the aspects of:
Universal friendliness, endless pity, mutual joy, & imperturbable equanimity.
Such continuous good-will prevents any arising of hate, anger & irritation!
One should dwell like the snake, which sees the mouse hide in ant-hill with
six openings! By lying rolled up on the anthill - constantly watching! - the
snake remains thinking: Out of which hole may this mouse now appear?
Even so one thinks: Through which sense door may the next contact appear?

More on these Sense Sources (Ayatana):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Hands_and_Feet.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Source_of_All.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/aayatana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Mistaken_Reference.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sour_Sense_Sources.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Fisherman's_Hook.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Things_that_can_be_clung_to.htm

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya 35:132 IV 117-21
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Guarding the Senses!

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Calm is Sound Realistic Reason...!

Buddha praised this simple contemplation for everyday progress:
Five things have been well taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees,
the Purified One, Perfectly Self-Enlightened by himself, that is, the five
subjects for daily recollection by women and men, monks and householders.
What are the five?
1: I am of a nature to decay, I have not yet got beyond decay.
2: I am of a nature to get a disease, I have not yet got beyond disease.
3: I am of a nature to die, I have not yet got beyond this certain death.
4: All that is mine, dear and delightful, will change, crumble and then vanish.
5: I am the owner of my kamma, born of my kamma, created & conditioned
by my kamma, inheritor of my kamma, related and joined to my kamma, my
life now is supported by my prior kamma. Whatever kamma I will perform,
whether good or evil, of that shall I only experience the resulting effects!
Anguttara Nikaya V, 57

Source: BPS Wheel no 54 (Edited Excerpt):
The Mirror of the Dhamma. A Manual of Buddhist Devotional Texts.
By Narada Thera and Bhikkhu Kassapa. Revised By Bhikkhu Khantipalo:
http://www.bps.lk/wh054-u.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Sound Reason...

samahita · April 2010

Friends:

Genuine Devotion is a rare Delight!

Homage to that Perfectly Self-Enlightened One!
Thus, indeed, is that the Blessed One: He is the worthy One, fully enlightened,
endowed with clear vision and virtuous conduct, sublime, the knower of worlds,
the incomparable leader of men to be tamed, the teacher of gods and men,
awakened and blessed. Forever do I reverence for the Buddhas of the past,
those of the times to come, those Buddhas of the present time...
No other refuge do I seek: The Buddha is my only true refuge. By this Truth
may peaceful victory be mine! I revere with my head the dust on his holy feet.
If I have wronged the Buddha, may the Buddha bear with me.
Until life’s end, to the Buddha I go for saving refuge.
Who is the foremost speaker among mankind, The Sakyan Sage, O Holy One,
whose task is done, gone beyond, possessed of supreme power and energy!
To you, the wellcome and wellgone One, I go for refuge!

Homage to that perfectly formulated Dhamma!
The Dhamma of the Blessed One is perfectly explained, to be seen here and
now, inviting one to come and see, leading onward to Nibbana; to be known
by any wise, each for himself. Homage to that Dhamma leading out of this
suffering, out of samsara! The Dhamma of the ages past, the Dhamma of
the times to come, the Dhamma of the present time, forever do I reverence.
No other refuge do I seek, the Dhamma is my true refuge. By this Truth:
May peaceful victory be mine! I revere with my head this triple Dhamma of
the three supreme qualities: Morality, Concentration and Understanding...
If I have wronged the Dhamma: May the Dhamma bear with me.
Until life’s end to the Dhamma I go for refuge.
Freed from lust, cleared of craving, sorrow-free: An absolute Law, gracious,
gratifying and satisfying, sweet, potent, profound, an analytic science...
To this very Dhamma I go for refuge!

Homage to that Great Sangha Community of the Eight Noble persons.
The Sangha of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered on the good way;
the straight way; the true way ; on the direct way, that is to say: the 4 pairs
of men, the 8 types of persons. This Sangha of the Blessed One’s disciples is
fit for gifts, fit for hospitality, fit for offerings, and fit for reverential
salutation with joined palms, as an incomparable field of merit in the world.
Forever do I reverence: The Sanghas of the past ages, those of the times
to come, and the Sanghas of the present time. No other refuge do I seek.
The Sangha is my true refuge. By this very Truth: May peaceful victory be
mine! I revere with my head this peerless Sangha. If I have wronged this
Sangha: May the Sangha bear with me. Until life’s end, to the Sangha I go
for refuge. Whatever is given to the four pure pairs of persons and these
eight kind of people, who have realized the Truth, this bears great fruit...!
To this very Sangha I go for refuge!

More on Faith (Saddha) and Devotion (Bhakti):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Leaping_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Outstanding_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Power_of_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Mutual_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Full_Faith_Frees.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Going_Forth_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Hand_Wealth_and_Seed.htm

How to become a real Buddhist formally? Take refuge here!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Sangha_Entry.htm

Source: BPS Wheel no 54 (Edited Excerpt):
The Mirror of the Dhamma. A Manual of Buddhist Devotional Texts.
By Narada Thera and Bhikkhu Kassapa. Revised By Bhikkhu Khantipalo:
http://www.bps.lk/wh054-u.html

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Devotion is Delight!

Daily Dhamma Drops Part 2

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