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Simple Things on Higher Truth
By Venerable Ajahn Anan Akincano

The teachings in this book have been collected from various talks given in Thai, as well as informal, late-night Dhamma discussions. They have been selected with the hope of capturing Ajahn Anan's ability to help us overcome our difficulties and grow in wholesome qualities as a result. The book itself has been laid out a way that allows us to gradually progress to the higher truths, beginning with the suffering inherent in our situation.Though it may be something hard to grasp, once recognised we can then do something about it. The next sections give us guidance in practising mindfulness and meditation. Following this are teachings on the foundation of meditation practice-virtue and kindness for others. Lastly, we meet the wisdom which reminds us that the end of suffering is actually not that far away.

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Dhammapada Verses 331, 332 and 333
Mara Vatthu

Atthamhi jatamhi sukha sahaya
tutthi sukha ya itaritarena
punnam sukham jivitasankhayamhi
sabbassa dukkhassa sukham pahanam.

Sukha matteyya loke
atho petteyyata sukha
sukha samannata loke
atho brahmannata sukha.

Sukham yava jara silam
sukha saddha patitthita
sukho pannaya patilabho
papanam akaranam sukham.

Verse 331: It is good to have friends when the need arises; it is good to be content with anything that is available; it is good to have merit when life is about to end; it is good to be rid of all dukkha.

Verse 332: In this world it is good to be dutiful to one's mother; also it is good to be dutiful to one's father. In this world it is good to minister unto samanas1; also it is good to minister unto brahmanas2.

Verse 333: It is good to have virtue till old age, it is good to have unshakable faith, it is good to gain wisdom, it is good to do no evil.

1. Samana: Recluses.

2. Brahmanas: here means Buddhas, paccekabuddhas or arahats. (The Commentary)

The Story of Mara

While residing in a monastery near the Himalayas. the Buddha uttered Verses (331), (332) and (333) of this book, with reference to Mara, who tried to entice him to rule as a king.

Once, while the Buddha was residing near the Himalayas, he found that many people were being ill-treated by some wicked kings. It then occurred to him whether it would be possible to prevent them from ill-treating those who should not be ill-treated and make the kings rule justly and wisely. Mara knew what the Buddha was thinking and planned to entice the Buddha to rule as a king. To him the Buddha replied, "O wicked Mara! Your teaching and my teaching are quite different. You and I cannot have any discussion. This is my teaching".

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 331: It is good to have friends when the need arises; it is good to be content with anything that is available; it is good to have merit when life is about to end; it is good to be rid of all dukkha.


Verse 332: In this world it is good to be dutiful to one's mother; also it is good to be dutiful to one's father. In this world it is good to minister unto samanas; also it is good to minister unto brahmanas.


Verse 333: It is good to have virtue till old age, it is good to have unshakable faith, it is good to gain wisdom, it is good to do no evil.

End of Chapter Twenty-Three: The Elephant

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Then with the passing of those seven days, the Gracious One arose from that concentration. Then the Nāga King Mucalinda, having understood that the sky was now clear without a cloud, having unravelled his coils from the Gracious One’s body, and after withdrawing his own form, and creating the appearance of a young brāhmaṇa, stood in front of the Gracious One, revering the Gracious One with raised hands.

Then the Gracious One, having understood the significance of it, on that occasion uttered this exalted utterance:

“There is happiness and detachment for the one who is satisfied,
who has heard the Dhamma, and who sees,
There is happiness for him who is free from ill-will in the world,
who is restrained towards breathing beings.

“The state of dispassion in the world is happiness,
the complete transcending of sense desires,
But for he who has removed the conceit ‘I am’—
this is indeed the highest happiness.”


Udāna 2.1
Mucalindasuttaṁ 11

Nandopanandabhujagam vibhudhammahiddhim,

Puttena therabhujagena damapayanto.

Iddhupadesa vidhina jitava Munindo,

Tam tejasa bhavatu me jayamangalani.



The gifted but perverted king of the nagas, Nandopananda by name, possessed great psychic power and was hostile. By instructing the Elder Moggallana, his spiritual son, mighty in supernatural attainments, the Sovereign Sage rendered the Naga king powerless and transformed him. Thus, through a supernormal mode of spiritual instruction intelligible to his kind, did the Master conquer the naga. By this mighty triumph may joyous victory be mine!

Jaya Mangala Gatha

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Straight from the Heart: Thirteen Talks on the Practice of Meditation, by Venerable Ācariya Mahā Boowa, and translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

The talks in this collection all deal with the practice of meditation, and particularly with the development of discernment. These talks were originally given for the benefit of a follower of Venerable Ācariya Mahā Boowa who had contracted cancer of the bone marrow and had come to practice meditation at Wat Pa Baan Taad in order to contend with the pain of the disease and the fact of her approaching death.

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Dhammapada Verse 344
Vibbhantabhikkhu Vatthu

Yo nibbanatho vanadhimutto
vanamutto vanameva dhavati
tam puggalametha passatha
mutto bandhanameva dhavati.

Verse 344: Having left the forest of desire (i.e., the life of a householder), he takes to the forest of the practice (i.e., the life of a bhikkhu); but when he is free from the forest of desire he rushes back to that very forest. Come, look at that man who having become free rushes back into that very bondage.

The Story of an Ex-Bhikkhu

While residing at the Veluvana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (344) of this book, with reference to a bhikkhu who was a pupil of the Venerable Mahakassapa.

As a pupil of the Venerable Mahakassapa, this bhikkhu had achieved the four mental absorptions (jhanas). But one day, as he went for alms-food to his uncle's house, he saw a woman and felt a great desire to have her. Then he left the Order of the bhikkhus. As a layman, he was a failure as he did not work hard. So, his uncle drove him out of the house, and subsequently he became mixed up with some thieves. All of them were caught by the authorities and were taken to the cemetery to be executed. The Venerable Mahakassapa saw his pupil as he was being led out and said to him, "My pupil, keep your mind steadfastly on a subject of meditation." As instructed, he concentrated and let himself be established in deep mental absorption. At the cemetery, while the executioners were making preparations to kill him, the ex-bhikkhu was very much composed and showed no signs of fear or anxiety. The executioners and the onlookers were awe-struck and very much impressed by the man's courage and composure and they reported about him to the king and also to the Buddha. The king gave orders to release the man. The Buddha on hearing about the matter sent his radiance and appeared to the thief as if in person.

Then the Buddha spoke to him in verse as follows:
Verse 344: Having left the forest of desire (i.e., the life of a householder), he takes to the forest of the practice (i.e., the life of a bhikkhu); but when he is free from the forest of desire he rushes back to that very forest. Come, look at that man who having become free rushes back into that very bondage.

At the end of the discourse, the thief who was steadfastly keeping his mind on the arising and perishing of the aggregates discerned the impermanent, unsatisfactory and non-self nature of all conditioned things and soon attained Sotapatti Fruition. Later, he went to the Buddha at the Jetavana monastery where he was again admitted to the Order by the Buddha and he instantly attained arahatship.


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Mendicants, I urge you to spread a mind of love to the four royal snake families, for your own safety, security, and protection.

I love the Virūpakkhas, the Erāpathas I love, I love the Chabyāputtas, the Kaṇhāgotamakas I love.

I love the footless creatures, the two-footed I love, I love the four-footed, the many-footed I love.

May the footless not harm me! May I not be harmed by the two-footed! May the four-footed not harm me! May I not be harmed by the many-footed!

All sentient beings, all living things, all creatures, every one: may they see only nice things, may bad not come to anyone.

The Buddha is immeasurable, the teaching is immeasurable, the Saṅgha is immeasurable. But limited are crawling things,

snakes and scorpions, centipedes, spiders and lizards and mice. I’ve made this safeguard, I’ve made this protection: go away, creatures! And so I revere the Blessed One, I revere the seven perfectly awakened Buddhas.”

Anguttara Nikaya 4.67 : Ahirajasutta, The Snake King

Sunrise over Borobudur temple, Java island, Indonesia.

Benefits of Metta

“If, O Bhikkhus, the liberation of the mind through loving-kindness is practised, developed, made much of, made one’s vehicle and foundation, firmly established, consolidated, and thoroughly undertaken, eleven benefits are to be expected.

What eleven?

1. One sleeps in comfort;
2. One wakes in comfort;
3. One has no bad dreams;
4. One is dear to human beings;
5. One is dear to non-human beings;
6. One is protected by deities;
7. One is not harmed by fire, poison and weapon;
8. One can concentrate easily;
9. One’s facial complexion is calm and serene;
10. One dies unconfused;
11. If one does not attain anything higher, one will be reborn in the Brahma world after death.”

~ Anguttara Nikaya
Book of the Elevens

Paticcasamuppada

The twelve links in the Law of Dependent Origination provide an insight into the chain of existence.
By Joseph Goldstein

It is because of the mystery of birth, old age and death that Buddhas arise in the world. There is no realm of existence in which these realities do not exist, and it is the sole purpose of the Buddha’s enlightenment to penetrate into their root causes. Perhaps the most profound part of the Buddha’s teaching is the denoscription of how this wheel of life, death and rebirth continues rolling on. The insight into all the links of the chain of existence is expressed in what is called the Law of Dependent Origination.

There are twelve links in this Law of Dependent Origination. The first two have to do with causes in the last life which condition birth in this one. The first of these links is ignorance. Ignorance means not knowing the truth, not understanding the Dharma, ignorance of the four noble truths.

Volitional activity is conditioned by ignorance; because we don’t understand the truth, we are involved in all kinds of actions. And the karmic force of these actions conditions the second link in the chain. Because we do not perceive things clearly, because we do not perceive the fact of suffering and its cause and the way out, that force of ignorance conditions the next link in the chain: volitional actions of body, speech, and mind motivated by wholesome or unwholesome mental factors.

The third link is rebirth consciousness; that is, the first moment of consciousness in this life. Because ignorance conditioned the energy of karmic activity in our last life, rebirth consciousness arises at the moment of conception. Volition or intention is like the seed; rebirth consciousness, like the sprouting of that seed – a cause and – effect conditioned relationship. Because of ignorance there were all kinds of actions, all kinds of karmic formations. And because of karmic formations arises rebirth consciousness, the beginning of this life. Because of the first moment of consciousness in this life arise the whole mind-body phenomena, all the elements of matter, all the factors of mind. Finally, because of the mind-body phenomena arising, the sense spheres develop. This is during development of the embryo, before birth.

Rebirth consciousness at the moment of conception conditions the arising of mind-body phenomena. Because of that arise all the six spheres of the senses, the five physical senses and the mind, which in turn conditions the arising of contact, contact between the sense organ and its appropriate object: the eye and color, the car and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and sensation, mind and thoughts or ideas. Contact involves the coming together of an object through its appropriate sense door and the consciousness of either seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, or thinking.

Conditioned by the senses, contact comes into being. Because of the contact between the eye and color, the ear and sound, and the other senses and their objects, there arises feeling. Feeling means the quality of pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neither pleasantness nor unpleasantness involved in every mind moment, in every moment of contact. Whether it is contact through the five physical sense doors or through the mind, feeling is always present, and is called, therefore, a common mental factor. Conditioned by contact, there arises feeling; that is, the quality of pleasantness, unpleasantness or neutrality.

Because of feeling arises craving. Craving means desiring, hankering after objects. What is it that we desire? We desire pleasant sights and sounds, pleasant tastes and smells, pleasant touch sensations and thoughts, or we desire to get rid of unpleasant objects. Desire arises because of feelings. We start hankering after, or wishing to avoid, these six different objects in the world. Feeling conditions desire. Desire conditions grasping. Because we have a desire for the objects of the six senses, mind included, we grasp, we latch on to, we become attached.

Grasping is conditioned by desire. Because of grasping, again we get involved in karmic formations, repeating the kinds of volitions which, in our past life, produced the rebirth consciousness of this life.

Feeling conditions desire, desire conditions grasping, and grasping conditions the continual actions of becoming, creating the energy which is the seed for rebirth consciousness in the next life. Because of these karmic actions resulting from grasping, again there is birth.

Because there is birth, there is disease, there is sorrow. There is decay, pain, suffering, and death. And so the wheel goes on and on, an impersonal chain of causality.

The Buddha’s problem, and the problem of us all, is to discover the way out of this cycle of conditioning. It is said that on the night of his enlightenment he worked backward through the Law of Dependent Origination, seeking the place of release. Why is there old age, disease and death? Because of birth. Why is there birth? Because of all the actions of becoming, all the volitional activities motivated by greed, hatred and delusion. Why are we involved in these kinds of activities? Because of grasping. Why is there grasping? Because of desire in the mind. Why is there desire? Because of feeling, because the quality of pleasantness or unpleasantness arises. Why is there feeling? Because of contact. Why is there contact? Because of the sense-spheres and the whole mind-body phenomena.

But there’s nothing we can do now about being a mind-body process. That is conditioned by past ignorance and having taken birth. So there is no way to avoid contact. There’s no possible way of closing off all the sense organs even if that were desirable. If there’s contact, there’s no way of preventing feeling from arising. Because of contact, feeling will be there. It’s a common factor of mind. But, it is right at this point that the chain can be broken.

Understanding the Law of Dependent Origination, how because of one thing something else arises, we can begin to break the chain of conditioning. When pleasant things arise, we don’t cling. When unpleasant things arise, we don’t condemn. And when neutral things arise, we’re not forgetful. The Buddha said that the way of forgetfulness is the way of death. And that the way of wisdom and awareness is the path to the deathless. We are free to break this chain, to free ourselves from conditioned reactions. It takes a powerful mindfulness in every moment not to allow feelings to generate desire.

Finding The Real End

When there’s ignorance in the mind, feeling conditions desire. If there’s something pleasant, we want it; something unpleasant, we desire to get rid of it. But if instead of ignorance in the mind there is wisdom and awareness, then we experience feeling but don’t compulsively or habitually grasp or push away. If the feelings are pleasant, we experience them mindfully without clinging. If unpleasant, we experience them mindfully without condemning. No longer do feelings condition desire; instead, there is mindfulness, detachment, letting go. When there is no desire, there’s no grasping; without grasping, there’s no volitional activity of becoming. If we are not generating that energy, there’s no rebirth, no disease, no old age, no death. We become free. No longer driven on by ignorance and desire, the whole mass of suffering is brought to an end.

Every moment of awareness is a hammer stroke on this chain of conditioning. Striking it with the force of wisdom and awareness, the chain gets weaker and weaker until it breaks. What we are doing here is penetrating into the truth of the Law of Dependent Origination, and freeing our minds from it.
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Joseph Goldstein is cofounder and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and its Forest Refuge program, and helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. His recent books include A Heart Full of Peace and One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism.
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Dhammapada Verses 345 and 346
Bandhanagara Vatthu

Na tam dalham bandhanamahu dhira
yadayasam darujapabbajanca
sarattaratta manikundalesu
puttesu daresu ca ya apekkha.

Etam dalham bandhanamahu dhira
oharinam sithilam duppamuncam
etampi chetvana paribbajanti
anapekkhino kamasukham pahaya.

Verses 345 & 346: The wise do not say that bonds made of iron, of wood, and of hemp are strong bonds; they say that only passionate attachment to and care for gems and jewelry, children and wives are strong bonds. These drag one down (to lower planes of existence) and although they seem yielding are difficult to unfasten. The wise, cutting off this bond (of craving) and resolutely giving up sensual pleasures, renounce the world.

The Story on Imprisonment

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (345) and (346) of this book, with reference to some thieves who were kept in chains.

One day, thirty bhikkhus came into Savatthi for alms-food. While they were on their alms-round, they saw some prisoners being brought out with their hands and legs in chains. Back at the monastery, after relating what they had seen in the morning, they asked the Buddha whether there were any other bonds stronger than these. To them the Buddha answered, "Bhikkhus! These bonds are nothing compared to those of craving for food and clothing, for riches and for family. Craving is a thousand times, a hundred thousand times stronger than those chains, hand-cuffs and cages. That is the reason why the wise cut off craving and renounce the world and enter the Order of the bhikkhus."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verses 345 & 346: The wise do not say that bonds made of iron, of wood, and of hemp are strong bonds; they say that only passionate attachment to and care for gems and jewelry, children and wives are strong bonds. These drag one down (to lower planes of existence) and although they seem yielding are difficult to unfasten. The wise, cutting off this bond (of craving) and resolutely giving up sensual pleasures, renounce the world.

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The Crystal Sanctuary (Hall of mirrors) at the Crystal Temple, Wat Tha Sung Buddhist temple complex, Uthai Thani, Thailand.

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Into the Stream: A Study Guide on the First Stage of Awakening
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The Pali Canon recognizes four levels of Awakening, the first of which is called stream entry. This gains its name from the fact that a person who has attained this level has entered the “stream” flowing inevitably to nibbana.
He/she is guaranteed to achieve full awakening within seven lifetimes at most, and in the interim will not be reborn in any of the lower realms.
This study guide on stream entry is divided into two parts. The first deals with the practices leading to stream entry; the second, with the experience of stream entry and its results.

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