There’s simply the principle that actions have results and that your present experience of pleasure or pain is the combined result of past and present actions. You may have some very unskillful actions in your past, but if you learn to think skillfully when those actions bear fruit in the present, you don’t have to suffer.
A third principle applies to the question of whether the person who’s suffering “deserves” your compassion. You sometimes hear that everyone deserves your compassion because they all have Buddha-nature. But this ignores the primary reason for developing compassion as a brahma-vihara in the first place: you need to make your compassion universal so that you can trust your intentions. If you regard your compassion as so precious that only Buddhas deserve it, you won’t be able to trust yourself when encountering people whose actions are consistently evil.
At the same time, you have to remember that no human being has a totally pure karmic past, so you can’t make a person’s purity the basis for your compassion. Some people resist the idea that, say, children born into a war zone suffering from brutality and starvation are there for a karmic reason. It seems heartless, they say, to attribute these sufferings to karma from past lives. The only heartlessness here, though, is the insistence that people are worthy of compassion only if they are innocent of any wrongdoing. Remember that you don’t have to like or admire someone to feel compassion for that person. All you have to do is wish for that person to be happy. The more you can develop this attitude toward people you know have misbehaved, the more you’ll be able to trust your intentions in any situation.
The Buddha illustrates this point with a graphic analogy: even if bandits attack you and saw off your limbs with a two-handled saw, you have to feel goodwill starting with them and then spreading to include the entire world. If you keep this analogy in mind, it helps to protect you from acting in unskillful ways, no matter how badly provoked.
The fourth principle to remember concerns the karma you’re creating right now in reaction to other people’s pleasure and pain. If you’re resentful of somebody else’s happiness, someday when you get happy there’s going to be somebody resentful of yours. Do you want that? Or if you’re hard-hearted toward somebody who’s suffering right now, someday you may face the same sort of suffering. Do you want people to be hard-hearted toward you? Always remember that your reactions are a form of karma, so be mindful to create the kind of karma that gives the results you’d like to see.
When you think in these ways, you see that it really is in your interest to develop the brahma-viharas in all situations. So the question is, how do you do that? This is where another aspect of the Buddha’s teachings on causality plays a role: his teaching on fabrication, or the way you shape your experience.
Fabrication is of three kinds: bodily, verbal, and mental. Bodily fabrication is the way you breathe. Verbal fabrications are thoughts and mental comments on things—your internal speech. In Pali, these thoughts and comments are called vitakka—directed thought, and vicara, evaluation. Mental fabrications are perceptions and feelings: the mental labels you apply to things, and the feelings of pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain you feel about them.
Any desire or emotion is made up of these three types of fabrication. It starts with thoughts and perceptions, and then it gets into your body through the way you breathe. This is why emotions seem so real, so insistent, so genuinely “you.” But as the Buddha points out, you identify with these things because you fabricate them in ignorance: you don’t know what you’re doing, and you suffer as a result. But if you can fabricate your emotions with knowledge, they can form a path to the end of suffering. And the breath is a good place to start.
A third principle applies to the question of whether the person who’s suffering “deserves” your compassion. You sometimes hear that everyone deserves your compassion because they all have Buddha-nature. But this ignores the primary reason for developing compassion as a brahma-vihara in the first place: you need to make your compassion universal so that you can trust your intentions. If you regard your compassion as so precious that only Buddhas deserve it, you won’t be able to trust yourself when encountering people whose actions are consistently evil.
At the same time, you have to remember that no human being has a totally pure karmic past, so you can’t make a person’s purity the basis for your compassion. Some people resist the idea that, say, children born into a war zone suffering from brutality and starvation are there for a karmic reason. It seems heartless, they say, to attribute these sufferings to karma from past lives. The only heartlessness here, though, is the insistence that people are worthy of compassion only if they are innocent of any wrongdoing. Remember that you don’t have to like or admire someone to feel compassion for that person. All you have to do is wish for that person to be happy. The more you can develop this attitude toward people you know have misbehaved, the more you’ll be able to trust your intentions in any situation.
The Buddha illustrates this point with a graphic analogy: even if bandits attack you and saw off your limbs with a two-handled saw, you have to feel goodwill starting with them and then spreading to include the entire world. If you keep this analogy in mind, it helps to protect you from acting in unskillful ways, no matter how badly provoked.
The fourth principle to remember concerns the karma you’re creating right now in reaction to other people’s pleasure and pain. If you’re resentful of somebody else’s happiness, someday when you get happy there’s going to be somebody resentful of yours. Do you want that? Or if you’re hard-hearted toward somebody who’s suffering right now, someday you may face the same sort of suffering. Do you want people to be hard-hearted toward you? Always remember that your reactions are a form of karma, so be mindful to create the kind of karma that gives the results you’d like to see.
When you think in these ways, you see that it really is in your interest to develop the brahma-viharas in all situations. So the question is, how do you do that? This is where another aspect of the Buddha’s teachings on causality plays a role: his teaching on fabrication, or the way you shape your experience.
Fabrication is of three kinds: bodily, verbal, and mental. Bodily fabrication is the way you breathe. Verbal fabrications are thoughts and mental comments on things—your internal speech. In Pali, these thoughts and comments are called vitakka—directed thought, and vicara, evaluation. Mental fabrications are perceptions and feelings: the mental labels you apply to things, and the feelings of pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain you feel about them.
Any desire or emotion is made up of these three types of fabrication. It starts with thoughts and perceptions, and then it gets into your body through the way you breathe. This is why emotions seem so real, so insistent, so genuinely “you.” But as the Buddha points out, you identify with these things because you fabricate them in ignorance: you don’t know what you’re doing, and you suffer as a result. But if you can fabricate your emotions with knowledge, they can form a path to the end of suffering. And the breath is a good place to start.
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If, for example, you’re feeling anger toward someone, ask yourself, “How am I breathing right now? How can I change the way I breathe so that my body can feel more comfortable?” Anger often engenders a sense of discomfort in the body, and you feel you’ve got to get rid of it. The common ways of getting rid of it are two, and they’re both unskillful: either you bottle it up, or you try to get it out of your system by letting it out in your words and deeds.
So the Buddha provides a third, more skillful alternative: Breathe through your discomfort and dissolve it away. Let the breath create physical feelings of ease and fullness, and allow those feelings to saturate your whole body. This physical ease helps put the mind at ease as well. When you’re operating from a sense of ease, it’s easier to fabricate skillful perceptions as you evaluate your response to the issue with which you’re faced.
Here the analogy of the lump of salt is an important perception to keep in mind, as it reminds you to perceive the situation in terms of your need for your own goodwill to protect yourself from bad karma. Part of this protection is to look for the good points of the person you’re angry at. And to help with this perception, the Buddha provides an even more graphic analogy to remind you of why this approach is not mere sentimentality: If you see someone who’s been really nasty to you in his words and deeds but has moments of honesty and goodwill, it’s as if you’re walking through a desert—hot, trembling, thirsty— and you come across a cow footprint with a little bit of water in it. Now what do you do? You can’t scoop the water up with your hand because that would muddy it. Instead you get down on your hands and knees and very carefully slurp it up.
Notice your position in this image. It may seem demeaning to have your mouth to the ground like this, but remember: You’re trembling with thirst. You need water. If you focus just on the bad points of other people, you’re going to feel even more oppressed with the heat and the thirst. You’ll get bitter about the human race and see no need to treat it well. But if you can see the good in other people, you’ll find it easier to treat them skillfully. Their good points are like water for your heart. You need to focus on them to nourish your own goodness now and in the future.
If, however, the person you’re angry about has no good qualities at all, then the Buddha recommends another perception: Think of that person as a sick stranger you’ve found on the side of the road, far away from any help. You have to feel compassion for him and do whatever you can to get him to the safety of skillful thoughts, words, and deeds.
What you’ve done here is to use skillful verbal fabrication— thinking about and evaluating the breath—to turn the breath into a skillful bodily fabrication. This in turn creates a healthy mental fabrication—the feeling of ease—that makes it easier to mentally fabricate perceptions that can deconstruct your unskillful reaction and construct a skillful emotion in its place. This is how we use our knowledge of karma and fabrication to shape our emotions in the direction we want— which is why head teachings are needed even in matters of the heart. At the same time, because we’ve sensitized ourselves to the role that the breath plays in shaping emotion, we can make a genuine change in how we physically feel about these matters. We’re not playing make believe. Our change of heart becomes fully embodied, genuinely felt.
This helps to undercut the feeling of hypocrisy that can sometimes envelop the practice of the brahmaviharas. Instead of denying our original feelings of anger or distress in any given situation, smothering them with a mass of cotton candy or marshmallow cream, we actually get more closely in touch with them and learn to skillfully reshape them.
So the Buddha provides a third, more skillful alternative: Breathe through your discomfort and dissolve it away. Let the breath create physical feelings of ease and fullness, and allow those feelings to saturate your whole body. This physical ease helps put the mind at ease as well. When you’re operating from a sense of ease, it’s easier to fabricate skillful perceptions as you evaluate your response to the issue with which you’re faced.
Here the analogy of the lump of salt is an important perception to keep in mind, as it reminds you to perceive the situation in terms of your need for your own goodwill to protect yourself from bad karma. Part of this protection is to look for the good points of the person you’re angry at. And to help with this perception, the Buddha provides an even more graphic analogy to remind you of why this approach is not mere sentimentality: If you see someone who’s been really nasty to you in his words and deeds but has moments of honesty and goodwill, it’s as if you’re walking through a desert—hot, trembling, thirsty— and you come across a cow footprint with a little bit of water in it. Now what do you do? You can’t scoop the water up with your hand because that would muddy it. Instead you get down on your hands and knees and very carefully slurp it up.
Notice your position in this image. It may seem demeaning to have your mouth to the ground like this, but remember: You’re trembling with thirst. You need water. If you focus just on the bad points of other people, you’re going to feel even more oppressed with the heat and the thirst. You’ll get bitter about the human race and see no need to treat it well. But if you can see the good in other people, you’ll find it easier to treat them skillfully. Their good points are like water for your heart. You need to focus on them to nourish your own goodness now and in the future.
If, however, the person you’re angry about has no good qualities at all, then the Buddha recommends another perception: Think of that person as a sick stranger you’ve found on the side of the road, far away from any help. You have to feel compassion for him and do whatever you can to get him to the safety of skillful thoughts, words, and deeds.
What you’ve done here is to use skillful verbal fabrication— thinking about and evaluating the breath—to turn the breath into a skillful bodily fabrication. This in turn creates a healthy mental fabrication—the feeling of ease—that makes it easier to mentally fabricate perceptions that can deconstruct your unskillful reaction and construct a skillful emotion in its place. This is how we use our knowledge of karma and fabrication to shape our emotions in the direction we want— which is why head teachings are needed even in matters of the heart. At the same time, because we’ve sensitized ourselves to the role that the breath plays in shaping emotion, we can make a genuine change in how we physically feel about these matters. We’re not playing make believe. Our change of heart becomes fully embodied, genuinely felt.
This helps to undercut the feeling of hypocrisy that can sometimes envelop the practice of the brahmaviharas. Instead of denying our original feelings of anger or distress in any given situation, smothering them with a mass of cotton candy or marshmallow cream, we actually get more closely in touch with them and learn to skillfully reshape them.
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All too often we think that getting in touch with our emotions is a means of tapping into who we really are—that we’ve been divorced from our true nature, and that by getting back in touch with our emotions we’ll reconnect with our true identity. But your emotions are not your true nature; they’re just as fabricated as anything else. Because they’re fabricated, the real issue is to learn how to fabricate them skillfully, so they don’t lead to trouble and can instead lead to a trustworthy happiness.
Remember that emotions cause you to act. They’re paths leading to good or bad karma. When you see them as paths, you can transform them into a path you can trust. As you learn how to deconstruct emotions of ill will, hard-heartedness, resentment, and distress, and reconstruct the brahma-viharas in their place, you don’t simply attain an unlimited heart. You gain practice in mastering the processes of fabrication. As the Buddha says, that mastery leads first to strong and blissful states of concentration. From there it can fabricate all the factors of the path leading to the goal of all the Buddha’s teachings, whether for head or for heart: the total happiness of nirvana, unconditionally true.
Which simply goes to show that if you get your head and your heart to respect each other, they can take each other far. Your heart needs the help of your head to generate and act on more skillful emotions. Your head needs your heart to remind you that what’s really important in life is putting an end to suffering. When they learn how to work together, they can make your human mind into an unlimited brahma-mind. And more: They can master the causes of happiness to the point where they transcend themselves, touching an uncaused dimension that the head can’t encompass, and a happiness so true that the heart has no further need for desire.
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Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai Forest Tradition. He currently serves as abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County, California and is a frequent contributor to Tricycle. His latest book is Good Heart, Good Mind: The Practice of the Ten Perfections. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website
www.dhammatalks.org
===
Free Buddhism books, teachings, podcasts and videos from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/buddha_ebooks
_
Remember that emotions cause you to act. They’re paths leading to good or bad karma. When you see them as paths, you can transform them into a path you can trust. As you learn how to deconstruct emotions of ill will, hard-heartedness, resentment, and distress, and reconstruct the brahma-viharas in their place, you don’t simply attain an unlimited heart. You gain practice in mastering the processes of fabrication. As the Buddha says, that mastery leads first to strong and blissful states of concentration. From there it can fabricate all the factors of the path leading to the goal of all the Buddha’s teachings, whether for head or for heart: the total happiness of nirvana, unconditionally true.
Which simply goes to show that if you get your head and your heart to respect each other, they can take each other far. Your heart needs the help of your head to generate and act on more skillful emotions. Your head needs your heart to remind you that what’s really important in life is putting an end to suffering. When they learn how to work together, they can make your human mind into an unlimited brahma-mind. And more: They can master the causes of happiness to the point where they transcend themselves, touching an uncaused dimension that the head can’t encompass, and a happiness so true that the heart has no further need for desire.
===
Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai Forest Tradition. He currently serves as abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County, California and is a frequent contributor to Tricycle. His latest book is Good Heart, Good Mind: The Practice of the Ten Perfections. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website
www.dhammatalks.org
===
Free Buddhism books, teachings, podcasts and videos from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/buddha_ebooks
_
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Paticcasamuppada
By Mahasi Sayadaw Gyi
Paticcasamuppada or the Doctrine of Dependent Origination is one of the most important doctrines in Buddhism and Lord Buddha had preached this Doctrine for many times.
The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw had delivered this discourse at Fan Yin Hall of Mahasi Meditation Centre on eleven Sabbath days commencing from 8th Day of Nayone, 1324(Myanmar Era)(25th. June, 1962) and completing on 8th waning Day of Tawthalin (21st . September, 1962). These talks were tape-recorded, transcribed and submitted for final approval to Mahasi Sayadaw.
Free download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/huyhkod3xgs1oz0/
=============
Paticcasamuppada
By Mahasi Sayadaw Gyi
Paticcasamuppada or the Doctrine of Dependent Origination is one of the most important doctrines in Buddhism and Lord Buddha had preached this Doctrine for many times.
The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw had delivered this discourse at Fan Yin Hall of Mahasi Meditation Centre on eleven Sabbath days commencing from 8th Day of Nayone, 1324(Myanmar Era)(25th. June, 1962) and completing on 8th waning Day of Tawthalin (21st . September, 1962). These talks were tape-recorded, transcribed and submitted for final approval to Mahasi Sayadaw.
Free download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/huyhkod3xgs1oz0/
=============
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The Wheel of Life depicting The twelve links of interdependent origination.
Dependent on ignorance (avijjā) mental formations arise. From mental formations (saṅkhārā), rebirth consciousness arises. Consciousness (viññāṇa) gives rise to mental and physical phenomena. From mental and physical phenomena (nāma rūpa), the spheres of the six senses arise. From the spheres of the six senses (saḷāyatana), contact arises. Contact (phassa) causes sensation. Sensation (vedanā) leads to craving. From craving (taṇhā), attachment results. Attachment (upādāna) produces becoming. From becoming (bhava) birth arises. Finally, birth (jāti) leads to decay (jarā), death (maraṇaṃ), grief (soka), lamentation (parideva), pain (dukkha), sorrow (domanassa), despair (upāyāsa).
Paṭiccasamuppādasutta, Saṁyutta Nikāya 12.1
Dependent on ignorance (avijjā) mental formations arise. From mental formations (saṅkhārā), rebirth consciousness arises. Consciousness (viññāṇa) gives rise to mental and physical phenomena. From mental and physical phenomena (nāma rūpa), the spheres of the six senses arise. From the spheres of the six senses (saḷāyatana), contact arises. Contact (phassa) causes sensation. Sensation (vedanā) leads to craving. From craving (taṇhā), attachment results. Attachment (upādāna) produces becoming. From becoming (bhava) birth arises. Finally, birth (jāti) leads to decay (jarā), death (maraṇaṃ), grief (soka), lamentation (parideva), pain (dukkha), sorrow (domanassa), despair (upāyāsa).
Paṭiccasamuppādasutta, Saṁyutta Nikāya 12.1
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Atha kho bhagavā satthā catunnaṃ rājūnaṃ paṭiggahita-patte ekato katvā ekapattaṃ akāsi.
So pana patto nacirasseva mahāsamudde patiṭṭhāsi. Tattha pana nāgānaṃ mahāsamārambho ahosi: “Ayaṃ amhākaṃ bhavissati, ayaṃ amhākaṃ bhavissatī” ti.
Te aññamaññaṃ ghātesuṃ. Tato pacchā “ayaṃ sammāsambuddhassa patto, na amhākaṃ yuttan” ti samaggā hutvā nivattiṃsu.
Then the Blessed One, having accepted the four bowls from the Four Great Kings, made them into one bowl.
That bowl, before long, came to rest in the great ocean. And there the nāgas held a great quarrel: “This will be ours, this will be ours!”
They fought with one another. But afterwards they thought: “This is the bowl of the Perfectly Enlightened One; it is not fitting for us,” and, becoming reconciled, they withdrew.
Jātaka vol. I, Nidānakathā, PTS edition, p. 70–72
Translation: Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories (1880), pp. 95–97
So pana patto nacirasseva mahāsamudde patiṭṭhāsi. Tattha pana nāgānaṃ mahāsamārambho ahosi: “Ayaṃ amhākaṃ bhavissati, ayaṃ amhākaṃ bhavissatī” ti.
Te aññamaññaṃ ghātesuṃ. Tato pacchā “ayaṃ sammāsambuddhassa patto, na amhākaṃ yuttan” ti samaggā hutvā nivattiṃsu.
Then the Blessed One, having accepted the four bowls from the Four Great Kings, made them into one bowl.
That bowl, before long, came to rest in the great ocean. And there the nāgas held a great quarrel: “This will be ours, this will be ours!”
They fought with one another. But afterwards they thought: “This is the bowl of the Perfectly Enlightened One; it is not fitting for us,” and, becoming reconciled, they withdrew.
Jātaka vol. I, Nidānakathā, PTS edition, p. 70–72
Translation: Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories (1880), pp. 95–97
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Dhammapada Verse 111
Khanu Kondannatthera Vatthu
Yo ca vassasatam jive
duppanno asamahito
ekaham jivitam seyyo
pannavantassa jhayino.
Verse 111: Better than a hundred years in the life of an ignorant person, who has no control over his senses, is a day in the life of a wise man who cultivates Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice.
The Story of Khanu-Kondanna
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (111) of this book, with reference to Khanu Kondanna.
Thera Kondanna, after taking a subject of meditation from the Buddha, went into the jungle to practise meditation and there attained arahatship. Coming back to pay homage to the Buddha, he stopped on the way because he was very tired. He sat on a large stone-slab, his mind fixed in jhana concentration. At that moment five hundred robbers after looting a large village came to the place where the thera was. Taking him for a tree stump they put their bundles of loot all over and around the body of the thera. When day broke they realized that what they took to be a tree stump was, in fact, a living being. Then again, they thought it was an ogre and ran away in fright.
The thera revealed to them that he was only a bhikkhu and not an ogre and told them not to get frightened. The robbers were awed by his words, and asked his pardon for having wronged him. Soon after wards, all the robbers requested the thera to admit them into the Order. From that time, Thera Kondanna came to be known as "Khanu Kondanna" (tree-stump Kondanna)
The thera accompanied by the new bhikkhus went to the Buddha and told him all that had happened. To them the Buddha said, "To live for a hundred years in ignorance, doing foolish things, is useless; now that you have seen the Truth and have become wise, your life of one day as a wise man is much more worthwhile."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 111: Better than a hundred years in the life of an ignorant person, who has no control over his senses, is a day in the life of a wise man who cultivates Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice.
====================
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Khanu Kondannatthera Vatthu
Yo ca vassasatam jive
duppanno asamahito
ekaham jivitam seyyo
pannavantassa jhayino.
Verse 111: Better than a hundred years in the life of an ignorant person, who has no control over his senses, is a day in the life of a wise man who cultivates Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice.
The Story of Khanu-Kondanna
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (111) of this book, with reference to Khanu Kondanna.
Thera Kondanna, after taking a subject of meditation from the Buddha, went into the jungle to practise meditation and there attained arahatship. Coming back to pay homage to the Buddha, he stopped on the way because he was very tired. He sat on a large stone-slab, his mind fixed in jhana concentration. At that moment five hundred robbers after looting a large village came to the place where the thera was. Taking him for a tree stump they put their bundles of loot all over and around the body of the thera. When day broke they realized that what they took to be a tree stump was, in fact, a living being. Then again, they thought it was an ogre and ran away in fright.
The thera revealed to them that he was only a bhikkhu and not an ogre and told them not to get frightened. The robbers were awed by his words, and asked his pardon for having wronged him. Soon after wards, all the robbers requested the thera to admit them into the Order. From that time, Thera Kondanna came to be known as "Khanu Kondanna" (tree-stump Kondanna)
The thera accompanied by the new bhikkhus went to the Buddha and told him all that had happened. To them the Buddha said, "To live for a hundred years in ignorance, doing foolish things, is useless; now that you have seen the Truth and have become wise, your life of one day as a wise man is much more worthwhile."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 111: Better than a hundred years in the life of an ignorant person, who has no control over his senses, is a day in the life of a wise man who cultivates Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice.
====================
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
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“There are four persons, ananda, worthy of a stupa. Who are the four? A Tathagata, a Fully Awakened Buddha; a Paccekabuddha; a disciple of the Tathagata who is an Arahant; and a universal monarch (Chakravartin).”
“And why, Ananda, is a stupa for the Tathagata worthy of a stupa? At the thought: ‘This is the stupa of the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Fully Awakened Buddha,’ the hearts of many people are inspired, and they gain in happiness and faith, leading to a good rebirth.”
“And likewise with regard to the other three: a Paccekabuddha, an Arahant disciple of the Tathagata, and a universal monarch. That is why, ananda, there are four persons worthy of a stupa.”
Digha Nikaya, Sutta 16 : Mahaparinibbana Sutta
“And why, Ananda, is a stupa for the Tathagata worthy of a stupa? At the thought: ‘This is the stupa of the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Fully Awakened Buddha,’ the hearts of many people are inspired, and they gain in happiness and faith, leading to a good rebirth.”
“And likewise with regard to the other three: a Paccekabuddha, an Arahant disciple of the Tathagata, and a universal monarch. That is why, ananda, there are four persons worthy of a stupa.”
Digha Nikaya, Sutta 16 : Mahaparinibbana Sutta
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The Colour Illustrated Story of the Buddha
By Piyaratne Hewabattage
This is a book which tells a story. The story is unlike many others, because, although it has all the right ingredients, (kings, princesses, chariots and the like), this particular one is about a historical person who lived in India in the 6th century, B.C.
The Way of Life taught by the Buddha is followed by more than one fifth of the world population today and it is hoped that this book may promote interest in Buddhism as well as help to bring about under- standing between different cultures. It meets a long-felt need in the West for a book to be read by and to children about the Buddha's life and times.
The publishers would like to thank everyone who helped to make this book a fact, both friends here in England and those in Sri Lanka. We hope very much that this will be the first in a series of books and that our helpers will continue to give us their kind assistance in the future.
Stories are for children, but they are also for adults so we hope that this rather special one will be enjoyed by everyone who has the capacity and imagination which is so uniquely a privilege of children the whole world over.
Free download here:
http://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN063.pdf
=============
The Colour Illustrated Story of the Buddha
By Piyaratne Hewabattage
This is a book which tells a story. The story is unlike many others, because, although it has all the right ingredients, (kings, princesses, chariots and the like), this particular one is about a historical person who lived in India in the 6th century, B.C.
The Way of Life taught by the Buddha is followed by more than one fifth of the world population today and it is hoped that this book may promote interest in Buddhism as well as help to bring about under- standing between different cultures. It meets a long-felt need in the West for a book to be read by and to children about the Buddha's life and times.
The publishers would like to thank everyone who helped to make this book a fact, both friends here in England and those in Sri Lanka. We hope very much that this will be the first in a series of books and that our helpers will continue to give us their kind assistance in the future.
Stories are for children, but they are also for adults so we hope that this rather special one will be enjoyed by everyone who has the capacity and imagination which is so uniquely a privilege of children the whole world over.
Free download here:
http://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN063.pdf
=============
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Dhammapada Verse 112
Sappadasatthera Vatthu
Yo ca vassasatam jive
kusito1 hinaviriyo
ekaham jivitam seyyo
viriyamarabhato dalham.
Verse 112: Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who is idle and inactive, is a day in the life of one who makes a zealous and strenuous effort (in Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice).
1. kusito: an idle person; according to the Commentary, an idle person is one who passes his time only in evil thoughts.
The Story of Thera Sappadasa
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (112) of this book, with reference to Thera Sappadasa.
Once a bhikkhu was not feeling happy with the life of a bhikkhu; at the same time he felt that it would be improper and humiliating for him to return to the life of a householder. So he thought it would be better to die. So thinking, on one occasion, he put his hand into a pot where there was a snake but the snake did not bite him. This was because in a past existence the snake was a slave and the bhikkhu was his master. Because of this incident the bhikkhu was known as Thera Sappadasa. On another occasion, Thera Sappadasa took a razor to cut his throat; but as he placed the razor on his throat he reflected on the purity of his morality practice throughout his life as a bhikkhu and his whole body was suffused with delightful satisfaction (piti) and bliss (sukha). Then detaching himself from piti, he directed his mind to the development of Insight Knowledge and soon attained arahatship, and he returned to the monastery.
On arrival at the monastery, other bhikkhus asked him where he had been and why he took the knife along with him. When he told them about his intention to take his life, they asked him why he did not do so. He answered, "I originally intended to cut my throat with this knife, but I have now cut off all moral defilements with the knife of Insight Knowledge." The bhikkhus did not believe him; so they went to the Buddha and asked. "Venerable Sir, this bhikkhu claims, that he has attained arahatship as he was putting the knife to his throat to kill himself. Is it possible to attain Arahatta Magga within such a short time?" To them the Buddha said, "Bhikkhus! Yes, it is possible; for one who is zealous and strenuous in the practice of Tranquillity and Insight Development, arahatship can be gained in an instant. As the bhikkhu walks in meditation, he can attain arahatship even before his raised foot touches the ground."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 112: Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who is idle and inactive, is a day in the life of one who makes a zealous and strenuous effort (in Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice).
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas
====================
Sappadasatthera Vatthu
Yo ca vassasatam jive
kusito1 hinaviriyo
ekaham jivitam seyyo
viriyamarabhato dalham.
Verse 112: Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who is idle and inactive, is a day in the life of one who makes a zealous and strenuous effort (in Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice).
1. kusito: an idle person; according to the Commentary, an idle person is one who passes his time only in evil thoughts.
The Story of Thera Sappadasa
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (112) of this book, with reference to Thera Sappadasa.
Once a bhikkhu was not feeling happy with the life of a bhikkhu; at the same time he felt that it would be improper and humiliating for him to return to the life of a householder. So he thought it would be better to die. So thinking, on one occasion, he put his hand into a pot where there was a snake but the snake did not bite him. This was because in a past existence the snake was a slave and the bhikkhu was his master. Because of this incident the bhikkhu was known as Thera Sappadasa. On another occasion, Thera Sappadasa took a razor to cut his throat; but as he placed the razor on his throat he reflected on the purity of his morality practice throughout his life as a bhikkhu and his whole body was suffused with delightful satisfaction (piti) and bliss (sukha). Then detaching himself from piti, he directed his mind to the development of Insight Knowledge and soon attained arahatship, and he returned to the monastery.
On arrival at the monastery, other bhikkhus asked him where he had been and why he took the knife along with him. When he told them about his intention to take his life, they asked him why he did not do so. He answered, "I originally intended to cut my throat with this knife, but I have now cut off all moral defilements with the knife of Insight Knowledge." The bhikkhus did not believe him; so they went to the Buddha and asked. "Venerable Sir, this bhikkhu claims, that he has attained arahatship as he was putting the knife to his throat to kill himself. Is it possible to attain Arahatta Magga within such a short time?" To them the Buddha said, "Bhikkhus! Yes, it is possible; for one who is zealous and strenuous in the practice of Tranquillity and Insight Development, arahatship can be gained in an instant. As the bhikkhu walks in meditation, he can attain arahatship even before his raised foot touches the ground."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 112: Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who is idle and inactive, is a day in the life of one who makes a zealous and strenuous effort (in Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice).
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas
====================
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