Forwarded from Buddha
The Brahma-viharas: Head & Heart Together
Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches us how to use wisdom to cultivate compassion
Part 3 of 3
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.
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.
Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches us how to use wisdom to cultivate compassion
Part 3 of 3
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.
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.
Telegram
Buddha
Buddha dharma teachings from the suttas and commentaries
👌1😍1
Forwarded from Buddha
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.
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.
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.
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.
🥰1🙏1
Forwarded from Buddha
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’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website:
www.dhammatalks.org
===
Part 1 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha/3899
Part 2 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas/2761
Part 3 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha/3194
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha
===
===
Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website:
www.dhammatalks.org
===
Part 1 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha/3899
Part 2 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas/2761
Part 3 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha/3194
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha
===
Telegram
Buddha
Buddha dharma teachings from the suttas and commentaries
❤1👏1
Chapter 3
Citta Vagga
Mind
CONTROL YOUR MIND
3. Dunniggahassa lahuno
yattha kamanipatino
Cittassa damatho sadhu
cittam dantam sukhavaham. 35.
3. The mind is hard to check, swift, flits wherever it listeth: to control it is good. A controlled mind is conducive to happiness. 35.
Story
A devout woman, receiving instruction from the monks, attained Anagami, the third stage of Sainthood, with supernormal powers such as reading others' thoughts, even before the monks had gained their Deliverance. Understanding the physical needs of the monks, she ministered to them well. Before long they too attained Arahantship. An avaricious monk, hearing of her powers, visited the place. She did everything he desired. The monk, fearing that evil thoughts might arise in him, went to the Buddha and reported the matter. The Buddha advised him to subdue his uncontrollable mind.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://invite.viber.com/?g2=AQAKw1y3rv%2F6sk61PI2W4izuIiaEZj8YZujhY1tSzL%2B07s7rFnVFDAd0bAYFaMLw
===
Citta Vagga
Mind
CONTROL YOUR MIND
3. Dunniggahassa lahuno
yattha kamanipatino
Cittassa damatho sadhu
cittam dantam sukhavaham. 35.
3. The mind is hard to check, swift, flits wherever it listeth: to control it is good. A controlled mind is conducive to happiness. 35.
Story
A devout woman, receiving instruction from the monks, attained Anagami, the third stage of Sainthood, with supernormal powers such as reading others' thoughts, even before the monks had gained their Deliverance. Understanding the physical needs of the monks, she ministered to them well. Before long they too attained Arahantship. An avaricious monk, hearing of her powers, visited the place. She did everything he desired. The monk, fearing that evil thoughts might arise in him, went to the Buddha and reported the matter. The Buddha advised him to subdue his uncontrollable mind.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://invite.viber.com/?g2=AQAKw1y3rv%2F6sk61PI2W4izuIiaEZj8YZujhY1tSzL%2B07s7rFnVFDAd0bAYFaMLw
===
Viber
Buddha
Buddha dharma teachings from the suttas and commentaries from Theravada tradition
🥰1👌1💯1
Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
Free Buddha Dharma ebook
Volition: an introduction to the law of Kamma
By Sayadaw U Silananda
Free download here:
https://static.sariputta.com/pdf/tipitaka/759/volitionpdf.pdf
===
Volition: an introduction to the law of Kamma
By Sayadaw U Silananda
Free download here:
https://static.sariputta.com/pdf/tipitaka/759/volitionpdf.pdf
===
👏1💯1
Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
Free Buddha Dharma ebook
Volition: an introduction to the law of Kamma
By Sayadaw U Silananda
WHAT IS kamma? Buddha said: “Oh monks, it is volition that I call kamma.”
The popular meaning of kamma is action or doing, but as a technical term, kamma means volition or will. When you do something, there is volition behind it, and that volition, that mental effort, is called kamma.
Buddha explained that, having willed, one then acts through body, speech, and mind. Whatever you do, there is some kind of kamma, mental effort, will, and volition. Volition is one of the fifty-two mental states which arise together with consciousness.
If you are unfamiliar with the term kamma, then this booklet, Volition, An Introduction to the Law of Kamma – a Dhamma talk given by a well-known Burmese Buddhist monk, Sayadaw U Sãlànanda to students of Vipassana meditation and Abhidhamma in America – might be for you.
Free download here:
https://static.sariputta.com/pdf/tipitaka/759/volitionpdf.pdf
===
Volition: an introduction to the law of Kamma
By Sayadaw U Silananda
WHAT IS kamma? Buddha said: “Oh monks, it is volition that I call kamma.”
The popular meaning of kamma is action or doing, but as a technical term, kamma means volition or will. When you do something, there is volition behind it, and that volition, that mental effort, is called kamma.
Buddha explained that, having willed, one then acts through body, speech, and mind. Whatever you do, there is some kind of kamma, mental effort, will, and volition. Volition is one of the fifty-two mental states which arise together with consciousness.
If you are unfamiliar with the term kamma, then this booklet, Volition, An Introduction to the Law of Kamma – a Dhamma talk given by a well-known Burmese Buddhist monk, Sayadaw U Sãlànanda to students of Vipassana meditation and Abhidhamma in America – might be for you.
Free download here:
https://static.sariputta.com/pdf/tipitaka/759/volitionpdf.pdf
===
❤1👍1💯1
Chapter 3
Citta Vagga
Mind
4. Sududdasam sunipunam
yatthakamanipatinam
Cittam rakkhetha medhavi
cittam guttam sukhavaham. 36.
GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS
4. The mind is very hard to perceive, extremely subtle, flits wherever it listeth. Let the wise person guard it; a guarded mind is conducive to happiness. 36.
Story
A devout follower entered the Order, but soon found the Holy Life too embarrassing, owing to the large number of obligatory rules. The Buddha advised him not to worry about them but to guard only his thoughts.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://invite.viber.com/?g2=AQAFqzqlj7FmI061PX17rxWMAtZ%2BRuso%2FH2KmHKZSgnv7v9DD8X0bDkKnZDr9JDq
===
Citta Vagga
Mind
4. Sududdasam sunipunam
yatthakamanipatinam
Cittam rakkhetha medhavi
cittam guttam sukhavaham. 36.
GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS
4. The mind is very hard to perceive, extremely subtle, flits wherever it listeth. Let the wise person guard it; a guarded mind is conducive to happiness. 36.
Story
A devout follower entered the Order, but soon found the Holy Life too embarrassing, owing to the large number of obligatory rules. The Buddha advised him not to worry about them but to guard only his thoughts.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://invite.viber.com/?g2=AQAFqzqlj7FmI061PX17rxWMAtZ%2BRuso%2FH2KmHKZSgnv7v9DD8X0bDkKnZDr9JDq
===
Viber
Words Of The Buddha
Daily teachings from Buddha Dharma
👌1💯1
Bhikkhus, there are these five defilements of gold, defiled by which gold is not malleable, wieldy, and luminous, but brittle and not properly fit for work. What five? Iron, copper, tin, lead, and silver. But when gold is freed from these five defilements, it is malleable, wieldy, and luminous, pliant and properly fit for work. Then whatever kind of ornament one wishes to make from it—whether a bracelet, earrings, a necklace, or a golden garland—one can achieve one’s purpose.
“So too, bhikkhus, there are these five defilements of the mind, defiled by which the mind is not malleable, wieldy, and luminous, but brittle and not properly concentrated for the destruction of the taints. What five? Sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. But when the mind is freed from these five defilements, it becomes malleable, wieldy, and luminous, pliant and properly concentrated for the destruction of the taints.
Partially excerpted from AN 5.23 Upakkilesasutta : Defilements
“So too, bhikkhus, there are these five defilements of the mind, defiled by which the mind is not malleable, wieldy, and luminous, but brittle and not properly concentrated for the destruction of the taints. What five? Sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. But when the mind is freed from these five defilements, it becomes malleable, wieldy, and luminous, pliant and properly concentrated for the destruction of the taints.
Partially excerpted from AN 5.23 Upakkilesasutta : Defilements
❤2🥰1🤩1
Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Great Victory over King of Dragons Nandopananda
Nandopananda was the king of celestial dragons. By his supernatural power he could assume a very huge form. He could kill other animals by emitting strong fumes blazing fire and violent hot nasal breath. Being a holder of wrong view, he had no respect for the Triple Gems.
One day, in order to enjoy a feast of drinks, he was seated with great pomp and formality on his celestial throne. A white umbrella was placed over him, and his retinue of dragons including female dancers of various ages attended on him.
That morning, when the Buddha looked at the world with his knowledge of Great Compassion, he found Nandopananda who should be liberated from the round of rebirths. So he went to Tavatimsa celestial realm together with five-hundred bhikkhus, passing over Nandopananda and his retinue.
On seeing the Buddha and the bhikkhus, Nandopananda said angrily: “These ascetics used to pass over our heads on going to Tavatimsa. Now, they drop dust from their feet on us as they go up to Tavatimsa. I shall not allow them to go now”. He got up from his throne and went to Mount Meru. He assumed the form of a huge dragon and wound Mt. Meru with his body in seven coils. He covered the Tavatimsa abode with his big hood, creating darkness all over Tavatimsa.
When Mount Meru, the seven surrounding mountains, Tavatimsa celestial abode, Vejayanta mansion with tiered roof and the Sakka’s flag were not visible, the Venerable Ratthapala asked the Buddha for the reason. When the Buddha revealed the true cause to them, Venerable Ratthapala, Venerable Bhaddiya, Venerable Rahula, etc., asked for permission to subdue the dragon. The Buddha turned down their request. However, when the Venerable Moggallana asked for permission, the Buddha assented.
Venerable Moggallana transformed himself into a dragon much larger than Nandopananda. Then he wound himself around Mount Meru in fourteen coils. He placed his huge hood over the dragon’s hood and pressed it against Mt.Meru. When Nandopananda emitted strong fumes and a blaze of fire, Moggallana emitted stronger fumes and a blaze of fire. The fumes and the blaze of fire emitted by Nandopananda did not harm the Venerable Moggallana whereas the former was burnt and hurt by the latter’s.
When Nandopananda knew who his enemy really was, he asked Moggallana to assume his original bhikkhu form. So Venerable Moggallana changed himself into the bhikkhu form. Then he went into the dragon’s left ear and went out of the right ear, and again he went into the right ear and came out of the left ear. Similarly, he entered the head through the nostril and came out of the ears of the dragon king. Besides he entered the dragon’s belly through his mouth and walked up and down in it.
While he was demonstrating thus, the Buddha warned him: “Be careful Moggallana, that dragon is very powerful”. Venerable Moggallana replied: “Venerable Sir, I have proficiently practised the four bases of psychic powers in five skillful ways. Hence I can subdue thousands of dragon kings like Nandopananda”.
While Venerable Moggallana was walking inside the dragon’s belly, Nandopananda thought of chewing him up when he came out. So he asked Venerable Moggallana to come out of his belly. No sooner did the bhikkhu come out than the dragon blew out very hot nasal breath to the bhikkhu. However, Moggallana protected himself by being absorbed in the fourth jhana.
Although other bhikkhus could exercise many miraculous powers, only the Buddha and Venerable Moggallana could protect themselves against such violent hot nasal breath. Thus the Buddha permitted Moggallana to subdue Nandopananda.
Nandopananda was the king of celestial dragons. By his supernatural power he could assume a very huge form. He could kill other animals by emitting strong fumes blazing fire and violent hot nasal breath. Being a holder of wrong view, he had no respect for the Triple Gems.
One day, in order to enjoy a feast of drinks, he was seated with great pomp and formality on his celestial throne. A white umbrella was placed over him, and his retinue of dragons including female dancers of various ages attended on him.
That morning, when the Buddha looked at the world with his knowledge of Great Compassion, he found Nandopananda who should be liberated from the round of rebirths. So he went to Tavatimsa celestial realm together with five-hundred bhikkhus, passing over Nandopananda and his retinue.
On seeing the Buddha and the bhikkhus, Nandopananda said angrily: “These ascetics used to pass over our heads on going to Tavatimsa. Now, they drop dust from their feet on us as they go up to Tavatimsa. I shall not allow them to go now”. He got up from his throne and went to Mount Meru. He assumed the form of a huge dragon and wound Mt. Meru with his body in seven coils. He covered the Tavatimsa abode with his big hood, creating darkness all over Tavatimsa.
When Mount Meru, the seven surrounding mountains, Tavatimsa celestial abode, Vejayanta mansion with tiered roof and the Sakka’s flag were not visible, the Venerable Ratthapala asked the Buddha for the reason. When the Buddha revealed the true cause to them, Venerable Ratthapala, Venerable Bhaddiya, Venerable Rahula, etc., asked for permission to subdue the dragon. The Buddha turned down their request. However, when the Venerable Moggallana asked for permission, the Buddha assented.
Venerable Moggallana transformed himself into a dragon much larger than Nandopananda. Then he wound himself around Mount Meru in fourteen coils. He placed his huge hood over the dragon’s hood and pressed it against Mt.Meru. When Nandopananda emitted strong fumes and a blaze of fire, Moggallana emitted stronger fumes and a blaze of fire. The fumes and the blaze of fire emitted by Nandopananda did not harm the Venerable Moggallana whereas the former was burnt and hurt by the latter’s.
When Nandopananda knew who his enemy really was, he asked Moggallana to assume his original bhikkhu form. So Venerable Moggallana changed himself into the bhikkhu form. Then he went into the dragon’s left ear and went out of the right ear, and again he went into the right ear and came out of the left ear. Similarly, he entered the head through the nostril and came out of the ears of the dragon king. Besides he entered the dragon’s belly through his mouth and walked up and down in it.
While he was demonstrating thus, the Buddha warned him: “Be careful Moggallana, that dragon is very powerful”. Venerable Moggallana replied: “Venerable Sir, I have proficiently practised the four bases of psychic powers in five skillful ways. Hence I can subdue thousands of dragon kings like Nandopananda”.
While Venerable Moggallana was walking inside the dragon’s belly, Nandopananda thought of chewing him up when he came out. So he asked Venerable Moggallana to come out of his belly. No sooner did the bhikkhu come out than the dragon blew out very hot nasal breath to the bhikkhu. However, Moggallana protected himself by being absorbed in the fourth jhana.
Although other bhikkhus could exercise many miraculous powers, only the Buddha and Venerable Moggallana could protect themselves against such violent hot nasal breath. Thus the Buddha permitted Moggallana to subdue Nandopananda.
👍1🏆1
Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Then Venerable Moggallana, assuming a garuda-form, made a storm break out. When the dragon fled in fear, he chased the dragon closely. As the dragon knew that he could not escape, he assumed the form of a young man and said: “Venerable Sir, I take refuge in you”. Then he paid homage to the thera respectfully. Venerable Moggallana took him to the Buddha.
Nandopananda took refuge in the Three Gems in the presence of the Buddha. In this way Nandopananda became a devotee of Three Gems.
Original story in Visuddhimagga (XII, 106–16)
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
Nandopananda took refuge in the Three Gems in the presence of the Buddha. In this way Nandopananda became a devotee of Three Gems.
Original story in Visuddhimagga (XII, 106–16)
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
Telegram
Words of the Buddha
Daily teachings of Buddha Dharma
👍1🏆1