Rattanakosin Buddha, Wat Nong Hoi Buddhist temple, Lamphun, Thailand.

Dhammapada Verse 158
Upanandasakyaputtatthera Vatthu

Attanameva pathamam
patirupe nivesaye
athannamanusaseyya
na kilisseyya pandito.

Verse 158: One should first establish oneself in what is proper; then only one should teach others. A wise man should not incur reproach.

The Story of Thera Upananda Sakyaputta

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (158) of this book, with reference to Upananda, a thera of the Sakyan Clan.

Upananda was a very eloquent preacher. He used to preach to others not to be greedy and to have only a few wants and would talk eloquently on the merits of contentment and frugality (appicchata) and austere practices (dhutangas). However, he did not practise what he taught and took for himself all the robes and other requisites that were given up by others.

On one occasion, Upananda went to a village monastery just before the vassa. Some young bhikkhus, being impressed by his eloquence, asked him to spend the vassa in their monastery. He asked them how many robes each bhikkhu usually received as donation for the vassa in their monastery and they told him that they usually received one robe each. So he did not stop there, but he left his slippers in that monastery. At the next monastery, he learned that the bhikkhus usually received two robes each for the vassa; there he left his staff. At the next monastery, the bhikkhus received three robes each as donation for the vassa; there he left his water bottle. Finally, at the monastery where each bhikkhu received four robes, he decided to spend the vassa.

At the end of the vassa, he claimed his share of robes from the other monasteries where he had left his personal effects. Then he collected all his things in a cart and came back to his old monastery. On his way, he met two young bhikkhus who were having a dispute over the share of two robes and a valuable velvet blanket which they had between them. Since they could not come to an amicable settlement, they asked Upananda to arbitrate. Upananda gave one robe each to them and took the valuable velvet blanket for having acted as an arbitrator.

The two young bhikkhus were not satisfied with the decision but they could do nothing about it. With a feeling of dissatisfaction and dejection, they went to the Buddha and reported the matter. To then the Buddha said, "One who teaches others should first teach himself and act as he has taught."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 158: One should first establish oneself in what is proper; then only one should teach others. A wise man should not incur reproach.

At the end of the discourse the two young bhikkhus attained Sotapatti Fruition.
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Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:

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Free Buddha Dharma ebook

The Four Noble Truths
By Ajahn Sumedho

This small booklet was compiled and edited from talks given by Venerable Ajahn Sumedho on the central teaching of the Buddha: that the unhappiness of humanity can be overcome through spiritual means.

The teaching is conveyed through the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, first expounded in 528 B.C. in the Deer Park at Sarnath near Varanasi and kept alive in the Buddhist world ever since.

Venerable Ajahn Sumedho is a bhikkhu (mendicant monk) of the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. He was ordained in Thailand in 1966 and trained there for ten years. He is currently the Abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery as well as teacher and spiritual guide to many bhikkhus, Buddhist nuns and lay people.

This booklet has been made available through the voluntary efforts of many people for the welfare of others.

Free download available:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VpyJE2B0cEZvg1rmPYWFqyVJf3-f-VN0/view?usp=drivesdk

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Ulun Danu Tamblingan water temple, Lake Tamblingan, Bali, Indonesia. Ulun Danu = lakeshore, Tamblingan = heal the soul/ awareness. A place by the lakeside to heal the soul.

Dhammapada Verse 159
Padhanikatissatthera Vatthu

Attanance tatha kayira
yathannamanusasati
sudanto vata dametha
atta hi kara duddamo.

Verse 159: One should act as one teaches others; only with oneself thoroughly tamed should one tame others. To tame oneself is, indeed, difficult.

The Story of Thera Padhanikatissa

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (159) of this book, with reference to Thera Padhanikatissa.

Thera Padhanikatissa, after taking a subject of meditation from the Buddha, left for the forest with five hundred other bhikkhus. There, he told the bhikkhus to be ever mindful and diligent in their meditation practice. After thus exhorting others he himself would lie down and go to sleep. The young bhikkhus did as they were told. They practised meditation during the first watch of the night and when they were about to go to bed, Padhanikatissa would get up and tell them to go back to their practice. When they returned after meditation practice during the second and third watches also he would say the same thing to them.

As he was always acting in this way, the young bhikkhus never had peace of mind, and so they could not concentrate on meditation practice or even on recitation of the texts. One day, they decided to investigate if their teacher was truly zealous and vigilant as he posed himself to be. When they found out that their teacher Padhanikatissa only exhorted others but was himself sleeping most of the time, they remarked, "We are ruined, our teacher knows only how to scold us, but he himself is just wasting time, doing nothing." By this time, as the bhikkhus were not getting enough rest, they were tired and worn out. As a result, none of the bhikkhu made any progress in their meditation practice.

At the end of the vassa, they returned to the Jetavana monastery and reported the matter to the Buddha. To them the Buddha said, "Bhikkhus! One who wants to teach others should first teach himself and conduct himself properly."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 159: One should act as one teaches others; only with oneself thoroughly tamed should one tame others. To tame oneself is, indeed, difficult.

At the end of the discourse those five hundred bhikkhus attained arahatship.
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Ajahn Chah, Buddhist teacher of Thai forest meditation of Theravada Buddhism channel:


https://news.1rj.ru/str/ajahnchah_buddhism

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Dhammapada Verse 160
Kumarakassapamatuttheri Vatthu

Atta hi attano natho
ko hi natho paro siya
attana hi sudantena
natham labhati dullabham.

Verse 160: One indeed is one's own refuge; how can others be a refuge to one? With oneself thoroughly tamed, one can attain a refuge (i.e., Arahatta Phala), which is so difficult to attain.

The Story of the Mother of Kumarakassapa

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (160) of this book, with reference to the mother of Kumarakassapa.

Once, a young married woman asked permission from her husband to become a bhikkhuni. Through ignorance, she went to join some bhikkhunis who were the pupils of Devadatta. This young woman was pregnant before she became a bhikkhuni, but she was not aware of the fact at that time. But in due course, the pregnancy became obvious and the other bhikkhunis took her to their teacher Devadatta. Devadatta ordered her to go back to the household life. She then said to the other bhikkhunis, "I have not intended to become a bhikkhuni under your teacher Devadatta; I have come here by mistake. Please take me to the Jetavana monastery, take me to the Buddha." Thus she came to the Buddha. The Buddha knew that she was pregnant before she became a bhikkhuni and was therefore innocent; but he was not going to handle the case. The Buddha sent for King Pasenadi of Kosala, Anathapindika, the famous rich man, and Visakha, the famous donor of the Pubbarama monastery, and many other persons. He then told Thera Upali to settle the case in public.

Visakha took the young girl behind a curtain; she examined her and reported to Thera Upali that the girl was already pregnant when she became a bhikkhuni. Thera Upali then declared to the audience that the girl was quite innocent and therefore had not soiled her morality (sila). In due course, a son was born to her. The boy was adopted by King Pasenadi and was named Kumarakassapa. When the boy was seven years old, on learning that his mother was a bhikkhuni, he also became a samanera under the tutelage of the Buddha. When he came of age he was admitted to the Order; as a bhikkhu, he took a subject of meditation from the Buddha and went to the forest. There, he practised meditation ardently and diligently and within a short time attained arahatship. However, he continued to live in the forest for twelve more years.

Thus his mother had not seen him for twelve years and she longed to see her son very much. One day, seeing him, the mother bhikkhuni ran after her son weeping and calling out his name. Seeing his mother, Kumarakassapa thought that if he were to speak pleasantly to his mother she would still be attached to him and her future would be ruined. So for the sake of her future (realization of Nibbana) he was deliberately stern and spoke harshly to her: "How is it, that you, a member of the Order, could not even cut off this affection for a son?" The mother thought that her son was very cruel to her, and she asked him what he meant. Kumarakassapa repeated what he had said before. On hearing his answer, the mother of Kumarakassapa reflected: "O yes, for twelve years I have shed tears for this son of mine. Yet, he has spoken harshly to me. What is the use of my affection for him?" Then, the futility of her attachment to her son dawned upon her, and then and there, she decided to cut off her attachment to her son. By cutting off her attachment entirely, the mother of Kumarakassapa attained arahatship on the same day.

One day, at the congregation of bhikkhus, some bhikkhus said to the Buddha, "Venerable Sir! If the mother of Kumarakassapa had listened to Devadatta, she as well as her son would not have become arahats. Surely, Devadatta had tried to do them a great wrong; but you, Venerable Sir, are a refuge to them!" To them the Buddha said, "Bhikkhus! In trying to reach the deva world, or in trying to attain arahatship, you cannot depend on others, you must work hard on your own."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 160: One indeed is one's own refuge; how can others be a refuge to one? With oneself thoroughly tamed, one can attain a refuge (i.e., Arahatta Phala), which is so difficult to attain.
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Free Buddhism books, teachings, podcasts and videos from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/buddha_ebooks
====================

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Sakkapañha Sutta
By Mahasi Sayadaw Gyi

Buddha Sasana Nuggha Organization requested Mahasi Sayadawgyi to deliver a Buddhist discourse which would be universally applicable to all human beings. Sayadawgyi was, at that time, compiling a discourse on “Sakkapañha Sutta”, so he delivered that discourse on new moon day of Pyatho, 1326B.E. (7th February 1978) at Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha.

Free download here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/s1gqixy7x1yjmw9/
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On Ajaan Lee’s ‘Keeping the Breath in Mind’

Theravada monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu on the timeless importance of a classic Forest Tradition meditation guide.

The morning after I met him, Ajaan Fuang gave me a copy of Ajaan Lee’s Keeping the Breath in Mind, told me to read the seven steps in Method 2, and sent me up the hill behind the monastery to meditate for the rest of the day. That’s what I did, and what I continued to do every day for the three weeks of my first visit to Ajaan Fuang’s monastery in a wild area of Rayong, Thailand.

That was how I became acquainted with two things at once: Ajaan Fuang and the book he gave me. Each taught me a lot about the other. Because Ajaan Lee was Ajaan Fuang’s teacher, the book taught me about the approach to the dhamma that had made Ajaan Fuang the extraordinary person he was. His personal example and instructions gave me a sense of what the meditation method described in the book could do.

Of course, both Ajaan Fuang and the book ended up teaching me a lot about myself. Practicing Method 2 had a radical impact on the way I’ve related to my body and mind ever since. The more I got to know it—it’s a book that, if you follow its instructions, keeps revealing new layers of meaning each time you read it—the more it has suggested possibilities in my body and mind that I otherwise would have never suspected.

My initial impression was that the book was liberating. I had been practicing meditation on and off for five years at that point, but hadn’t yet found a satisfactory approach. The different vipassana and concentration techniques I had tried all seemed to put my mind into a straitjacket or through a meat grinder. Concentrating on the breath, I had been told, required that you limit your awareness to the tip of the nose, and that you not adjust or manipulate the breath in any way. Vipassana required that I accept the truth of the three characteristics of inconstancy, stress, and not-self, and verify those truths by not interfering with sensations as they presented themselves to my awareness.

However, concentrating on one point felt physically oppressive, and gave me headaches. Following the breath as it did its own thing I found to be dreary and boring. On the other hand, doing what I was told was vipassana, I couldn’t help feeling that I was simply submitting to someone else’s agenda. Not allowed to think for myself, I wondered how any of these meditation techniques could lead to liberation. Instead of finding freedom within any of these approaches, my mind kept looking to free itself from them.

So imagine my relief when I found in Method 2 that I could regard the breath as a full-body experience, and that I was allowed to adjust it to my liking:

"""
Observe the breath as it goes in and out, noticing whether it’s comfortable or uncomfortable, broad or narrow, obstructed or free-flowing, fast or slow, short or long, warm or cool. If the breath doesn’t feel comfortable, adjust it until it does. For instance, if breathing in long and out long is uncomfortable, try breathing in short and out short.

As soon as you find that your breathing feels comfortable, let this comfortable breath sensation spread to the different parts of the body. To begin with, inhale the breath sensation at the base of the skull and let it flow all the way down the spine. Then, if you are male, let it spread down your right leg to the sole of your foot, to the ends of your toes, and out into the air. Inhale the breath sensation at the base of the skull again and let it spread down your spine, down your left leg to the ends of your toes, and out into the air . . . .

Then let the breath from the base of the skull spread down over both shoulders, past your elbows and wrists, to the tips of your fingers, and out into the air.

Let the breath at the base of the throat spread down the central nerve at the front of the body, past the lungs and liver, all the way down to the bladder and colon.