Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
The Karma of Now
Why the present moment isn’t the goal
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Part 2 of 3
And the fact that this activity comes prior to sensory contact—and even prior to sensory consciousness—means that the mind isn’t simply a passive recipient of contact. Instead, it’s proactive, on the prowl, out looking for contact to feed on. We can see this in the way people turn on their personal devices looking for things to aggravate their greed, lust, or anger: online shopping, Internet porn, or hate radio. Even before you see a sight or hear a sound, you’ve already fashioned acts of consciousness, intention, attention, and perception that shape what you’ll perceive in the sensory contact, what you’ll pay attention to, and what you’ll try to get out of it. As Samyutta Nikaya 22.79 notes, fabrication is always “for the sake of ” creating activities that serve the desires that drive them.
The present moment is never simply to be accepted as is.
This is why, when you’re trying to put an end to suffering, the Buddha doesn’t tell you to blame the suffering on the world outside: painful sights, sounds, or tactile sensations. Instead, you have to look at the fabrications you’re carrying out right now—your present karma— to see how they can create suffering out of sensory contact—the results of past karma—regardless of whether that contact is painful or pleasant.
At the same time, because the present moment is fabricated in this way, and because fabrication is always “for the sake of ” something, the present is, at best, only a temporary resting spot. Even when you manage to “be the knowing” in the present, that knowing has been fabricated, and the underlying fabrication has a time-arrow embedded in it, pointing to a purpose beyond itself. Usually that purpose is happiness, either right now or in the future.
This is why, when stepping fully into the present moment, you don’t really step out of time. In fact, the present is where the conditions for future time are being created. Even when the process of fabrication aims solely at pleasure in the present with no thought for the future, it’s always creating karma that has both present and future ramifications. The way you build your home in the present creates the raw material from which you’ll fashion present moments in the future, along with the habits—good or bad—by which you’ll shape them. The hedonists and meditators who pride themselves on not sacrificing the present moment for the sake of a future happiness are simply turning a blind eye to an important aspect of what they’re doing: the long-term karmic consequences of how they search for pleasure now.
And the blindness of that eye doesn’t shield them from those consequences. If it did, the Buddha would have simply taught you to follow your bliss, without feeling obliged to teach the precepts or to warn you against the dangers of getting stuck in the calm pleasures of a still mind. He wouldn’t have taught that wisdom begins by looking both at present actions and at their long-term results (MN 135). Actually, a blind eye is a symbol for ignorance, which is the underlying condition for acts of fabrication leading to suffering. So those who focus on being in the present for its own sake are simply setting themselves up to suffer more.
But if we bring the proper knowledge to the process of fabrication, we can turn fabrication from a cause of suffering into the path leading to its end. That knowledge begins with right views about how the present moment is constructed, but it first becomes effective when you get hands-on experience in trying to build something really skillful and pleasant out of the activities that make up the present moment. This is the role of the more active factors of the path: right resolve, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Right resolve sets your intention to look for a happiness that’s harmless and free from sensuality. Right effort actually carries through with that intention.
Why the present moment isn’t the goal
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Part 2 of 3
And the fact that this activity comes prior to sensory contact—and even prior to sensory consciousness—means that the mind isn’t simply a passive recipient of contact. Instead, it’s proactive, on the prowl, out looking for contact to feed on. We can see this in the way people turn on their personal devices looking for things to aggravate their greed, lust, or anger: online shopping, Internet porn, or hate radio. Even before you see a sight or hear a sound, you’ve already fashioned acts of consciousness, intention, attention, and perception that shape what you’ll perceive in the sensory contact, what you’ll pay attention to, and what you’ll try to get out of it. As Samyutta Nikaya 22.79 notes, fabrication is always “for the sake of ” creating activities that serve the desires that drive them.
The present moment is never simply to be accepted as is.
This is why, when you’re trying to put an end to suffering, the Buddha doesn’t tell you to blame the suffering on the world outside: painful sights, sounds, or tactile sensations. Instead, you have to look at the fabrications you’re carrying out right now—your present karma— to see how they can create suffering out of sensory contact—the results of past karma—regardless of whether that contact is painful or pleasant.
At the same time, because the present moment is fabricated in this way, and because fabrication is always “for the sake of ” something, the present is, at best, only a temporary resting spot. Even when you manage to “be the knowing” in the present, that knowing has been fabricated, and the underlying fabrication has a time-arrow embedded in it, pointing to a purpose beyond itself. Usually that purpose is happiness, either right now or in the future.
This is why, when stepping fully into the present moment, you don’t really step out of time. In fact, the present is where the conditions for future time are being created. Even when the process of fabrication aims solely at pleasure in the present with no thought for the future, it’s always creating karma that has both present and future ramifications. The way you build your home in the present creates the raw material from which you’ll fashion present moments in the future, along with the habits—good or bad—by which you’ll shape them. The hedonists and meditators who pride themselves on not sacrificing the present moment for the sake of a future happiness are simply turning a blind eye to an important aspect of what they’re doing: the long-term karmic consequences of how they search for pleasure now.
And the blindness of that eye doesn’t shield them from those consequences. If it did, the Buddha would have simply taught you to follow your bliss, without feeling obliged to teach the precepts or to warn you against the dangers of getting stuck in the calm pleasures of a still mind. He wouldn’t have taught that wisdom begins by looking both at present actions and at their long-term results (MN 135). Actually, a blind eye is a symbol for ignorance, which is the underlying condition for acts of fabrication leading to suffering. So those who focus on being in the present for its own sake are simply setting themselves up to suffer more.
But if we bring the proper knowledge to the process of fabrication, we can turn fabrication from a cause of suffering into the path leading to its end. That knowledge begins with right views about how the present moment is constructed, but it first becomes effective when you get hands-on experience in trying to build something really skillful and pleasant out of the activities that make up the present moment. This is the role of the more active factors of the path: right resolve, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Right resolve sets your intention to look for a happiness that’s harmless and free from sensuality. Right effort actually carries through with that intention.
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Right mindfulness—which, in the Buddha’s analysis, is a function of memory—remembers how to develop skillful states and abandon unskillful ones (MN 117; AN 4.245). And right concentration turns the mind’s activities into a pleasant and bright dwelling: “an easeful abiding in the here-and-now” (AN 4.41).
The important point to notice here is that, just as fabrication in general is proactive, the Buddha’s approach to really comprehending fabrication—with the purpose of going beyond it—is proactive as well. You don’t learn about fabrications simply by watching them come and go on their own, because they don’t come and go on their own.They’re driven by purposeful desires. And the best way to learn about those desires is to create skillful desires to thwart any unskillful purposes lurking behind them. That’s when those purposes will show themselves. Just as the Army Corps of Engineers has learned a lot about the Mississippi River by proactively trying to keep it in its channel, you learn a lot about fabrication by proactively trying to put it and keep it in right concentration.
Those who focus on being in the present for its own sake are simply setting themselves up to suffer more.
Even the seemingly passive and accepting qualities that the Buddha recommends as part of the path—such as equanimity, patience, and contentment—are types of karma, and they have to play their role in a primarily proactive context. They focus acceptance only on the results of past karma, not on the prospect of creating more new unskillful karma in the present.
Equanimity, for instance, is never taught as a positive value on its own. As the Buddha notes, it can be either skillful or unskillful, and if developed exclusively it can lead to stagnation in the path. This is why he teaches equanimity in the context of other qualities to ensure that it plays a positive role. For instance, in the context of the sublime attitudes (Pali, brahma-viharas—goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity), he teaches the equanimity of a doctor: The ideal doctor is motivated by goodwill for his patients, compassionate when they’re suffering and joyful with their recovery, but he also needs equanimity in the face of diseases that—because of his or the patient’s past karma—he can’t cure. This doesn’t mean that he abandons his efforts, simply that he learns to be equanimous about the areas where he can’t help so that he can focus his compassion on areas where he can.
Similarly, the Buddha distinguishes between skillful and unskillful patience. He advises being patient with painful feelings and harsh, hurtful words, but impatient with unskillful qualities arising in the mind. His patience is not the patience of a water buffalo who simply endures the work and punishments imposed on it. Instead, it’s the patience of a warrior who, despite wounds and setbacks, never abandons the desire to come out victorious.
===
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===
The important point to notice here is that, just as fabrication in general is proactive, the Buddha’s approach to really comprehending fabrication—with the purpose of going beyond it—is proactive as well. You don’t learn about fabrications simply by watching them come and go on their own, because they don’t come and go on their own.They’re driven by purposeful desires. And the best way to learn about those desires is to create skillful desires to thwart any unskillful purposes lurking behind them. That’s when those purposes will show themselves. Just as the Army Corps of Engineers has learned a lot about the Mississippi River by proactively trying to keep it in its channel, you learn a lot about fabrication by proactively trying to put it and keep it in right concentration.
Those who focus on being in the present for its own sake are simply setting themselves up to suffer more.
Even the seemingly passive and accepting qualities that the Buddha recommends as part of the path—such as equanimity, patience, and contentment—are types of karma, and they have to play their role in a primarily proactive context. They focus acceptance only on the results of past karma, not on the prospect of creating more new unskillful karma in the present.
Equanimity, for instance, is never taught as a positive value on its own. As the Buddha notes, it can be either skillful or unskillful, and if developed exclusively it can lead to stagnation in the path. This is why he teaches equanimity in the context of other qualities to ensure that it plays a positive role. For instance, in the context of the sublime attitudes (Pali, brahma-viharas—goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity), he teaches the equanimity of a doctor: The ideal doctor is motivated by goodwill for his patients, compassionate when they’re suffering and joyful with their recovery, but he also needs equanimity in the face of diseases that—because of his or the patient’s past karma—he can’t cure. This doesn’t mean that he abandons his efforts, simply that he learns to be equanimous about the areas where he can’t help so that he can focus his compassion on areas where he can.
Similarly, the Buddha distinguishes between skillful and unskillful patience. He advises being patient with painful feelings and harsh, hurtful words, but impatient with unskillful qualities arising in the mind. His patience is not the patience of a water buffalo who simply endures the work and punishments imposed on it. Instead, it’s the patience of a warrior who, despite wounds and setbacks, never abandons the desire to come out victorious.
===
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https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
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Forwarded from Buddha
Free Buddhism Dharma ebook
The True Power of Kanni Meditation
The Essential Guide to Anapanassati & Vipassana
By Venerable Sumangala
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN437.pdf
===
The True Power of Kanni Meditation
The Essential Guide to Anapanassati & Vipassana
By Venerable Sumangala
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN437.pdf
===
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Forwarded from Buddha
Free Buddhism Dharma ebook
The True Power of Kanni Meditation
The Essential Guide to Anapanassati & Vipassana
By Venerable Sumangala
Kanni meditation practice is a logical and systematic method to attain Magga Nana (Path to Nibbana) in a short period of time. Decades ago, this meditation was a tradition revealed only to monks. This Kannī meditation is included in samatha leading vipassanā meditation.
Although being a samatha leading meditation, it is practiced only to attain upacāra samādhi (access concentration) and switches to vipassanā.
Being supported by the upacāra samādhi, its yogī can clearly see the characteristics of vipassanā objects (nāma and rūpa). It is used in ānāpānassati meditation as the permanent practice till the 4th method of the 1st stage.
It takes 35 days to practice samatha, and 20 days for vipassanā. In samatha, it is practiced using the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th method according to the Pāḷi texts and commentaries. The practice of applying a nimitta (light sign acquired from ānāpānassati) was excluded from the commentary. Within 15 days of practising the 1st method, a yogī can attain the nimitta, send the nimitta and see the object through the power of nimitta. And by practising samatha meditation, this makes the nimitta stronger and stable and the yogī can increase greater faith and confidence in the practice and himself. After the 4th method, yogī’s samādhi (concentration) becomes as strong as upacāra samādhi. Finally, the nimitta is put inside the heart base through the samatha practice of the 4th method. In this stage, the yogī can see the object of meditation (nāma and rūpa) as a visible haze (rūpa kalāpa) all the time. Then, switch over to vipassanā practice. To see the visible haze of an object, nāma and rūpa, it will take a long time for yogīs in other traditions. They will only be able to see the visible haze in Udayabbaya ñāṇa. Therefore, up to this stage, Kannī yogīs are 4 steps advanced in their knowledge compared to that of other yogīs. By using the visible haze as the vipassanā object, the yogī will see the arising and vanishing of nāma and rūpa clearly. Thus, the yogī will attain Nāma-rūpa pariccheda ñāṇa without difficulty. Throughout the vipassanā practice, by using the visible haze as a permanent object, the yogī will attain the Vipassanā ñāṇa quickly.
Then the yogī will attain the Magga ñāṇa faster and easier than other traditions’ yogīs.
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN437.pdf
===
The True Power of Kanni Meditation
The Essential Guide to Anapanassati & Vipassana
By Venerable Sumangala
Kanni meditation practice is a logical and systematic method to attain Magga Nana (Path to Nibbana) in a short period of time. Decades ago, this meditation was a tradition revealed only to monks. This Kannī meditation is included in samatha leading vipassanā meditation.
Although being a samatha leading meditation, it is practiced only to attain upacāra samādhi (access concentration) and switches to vipassanā.
Being supported by the upacāra samādhi, its yogī can clearly see the characteristics of vipassanā objects (nāma and rūpa). It is used in ānāpānassati meditation as the permanent practice till the 4th method of the 1st stage.
It takes 35 days to practice samatha, and 20 days for vipassanā. In samatha, it is practiced using the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th method according to the Pāḷi texts and commentaries. The practice of applying a nimitta (light sign acquired from ānāpānassati) was excluded from the commentary. Within 15 days of practising the 1st method, a yogī can attain the nimitta, send the nimitta and see the object through the power of nimitta. And by practising samatha meditation, this makes the nimitta stronger and stable and the yogī can increase greater faith and confidence in the practice and himself. After the 4th method, yogī’s samādhi (concentration) becomes as strong as upacāra samādhi. Finally, the nimitta is put inside the heart base through the samatha practice of the 4th method. In this stage, the yogī can see the object of meditation (nāma and rūpa) as a visible haze (rūpa kalāpa) all the time. Then, switch over to vipassanā practice. To see the visible haze of an object, nāma and rūpa, it will take a long time for yogīs in other traditions. They will only be able to see the visible haze in Udayabbaya ñāṇa. Therefore, up to this stage, Kannī yogīs are 4 steps advanced in their knowledge compared to that of other yogīs. By using the visible haze as the vipassanā object, the yogī will see the arising and vanishing of nāma and rūpa clearly. Thus, the yogī will attain Nāma-rūpa pariccheda ñāṇa without difficulty. Throughout the vipassanā practice, by using the visible haze as a permanent object, the yogī will attain the Vipassanā ñāṇa quickly.
Then the yogī will attain the Magga ñāṇa faster and easier than other traditions’ yogīs.
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN437.pdf
===
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The Karma of Now
Why the present moment isn’t the goal
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Part 3 of 3
And as for contentment, the Buddha teaches contentment with some things and discontent with others. When he lists the customs of the noble ones, for instance, he starts with contentment with food, clothing, and shelter, but then concludes the list with a more proactive custom: delighting in abandoning unskillful qualities and delighting in developing skillful ones (AN 4.28). In other words, you don’t content yourself with the unskillful qualities in the mind, and you don’t rest content with the level of skillfulness you’ve already attained. In fact, the Buddha once stated that discontent even with skillful qualities was one of the crucial factors leading to his awakening (AN 2.5).
This element of discontent is what drives the path. In the beginning, it inspires you to construct right concentration as your dwelling place so that you can use the pleasure and stability it provides to pry loose your attachment to building unskillful mental dwellings that lead to blatant suffering and stress. You see that the normal pleasures of the senses are aflame—that so much of sensual pleasure lies not in the actual contact at the senses but in all the mental fabrications that dress it up to be more than it is. In this way, you come to appreciate all the more the pleasure of concentration. It’s much cooler, more easeful, and requires less dressing up. But as you get more proficient in this skill, you become more sensitive to subtler levels of stress and disturbance in the mind, to the point where you sense that even the concentration, because it’s constructed, is not fully a place of rest. It requires constant care and management.
This is where you come to appreciate why the Buddha calls right concentration jhana. This word means “absorption,” but its corresponding verb—jhayati, to do jhana—also means to burn with a steady flame, like the flame of an oil lamp. Because the pleasures of the senses are like fires that burn with a flickering flame, the pleasures of jhana seem much less disturbing. And they’re easier to read by—in other words, dwelling in jhana makes it easier to read the processes of fabrication as they’re happening. But still, your jhana-dwelling is a home subtly on fire. When this realization goes deep into the heart, you’re inclined to abandon all fabrication of every sort. And because present-moment fabrication underlies your experience of the present, then when fabrication stops, the present moment fades away—as does space and time altogether—exposing a first taste of unbinding (nibbana).
Because unbinding is unfabricated, it doesn’t exist for the sake of anything.This is why it’s fully a place of refuge and rest. The Buddha describes it as pleasure, but it’s not a pleasant feeling, and so it’s not an aggregate. Similarly, he describes it as a type of consciousness, but one that’s not known in conjunction with the six senses. In other words, it has no object (Samyutta Nikaya 12.64). Because it doesn’t fall within the consciousness-aggregate, it lies outside of past, present, and future. Outside of space, it has “neither coming nor going nor staying in place.” It’s a separate dimension entirely (Udana 8.1).
After the mind withdraws from this dimension, it returns to fabricating the present moment, but with a big difference. It now knows that it has experienced something that time and the present moment can’t touch, and this realization informs your practice from that point onward. You have no more doubts about the Buddha, because you’ve seen that what he taught is true: There really is a deathless happiness. You no longer identify with fabrications in any way as you or yours, because you’ve seen what lies beyond them. And you would never engage in them in a way that would break the precepts, because you’ve seen that your harmful actions in the past were what kept you from realizing that dimension in the first place.
You don’t have to resign yourself to accepting the present as the only reality there is.
Why the present moment isn’t the goal
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Part 3 of 3
And as for contentment, the Buddha teaches contentment with some things and discontent with others. When he lists the customs of the noble ones, for instance, he starts with contentment with food, clothing, and shelter, but then concludes the list with a more proactive custom: delighting in abandoning unskillful qualities and delighting in developing skillful ones (AN 4.28). In other words, you don’t content yourself with the unskillful qualities in the mind, and you don’t rest content with the level of skillfulness you’ve already attained. In fact, the Buddha once stated that discontent even with skillful qualities was one of the crucial factors leading to his awakening (AN 2.5).
This element of discontent is what drives the path. In the beginning, it inspires you to construct right concentration as your dwelling place so that you can use the pleasure and stability it provides to pry loose your attachment to building unskillful mental dwellings that lead to blatant suffering and stress. You see that the normal pleasures of the senses are aflame—that so much of sensual pleasure lies not in the actual contact at the senses but in all the mental fabrications that dress it up to be more than it is. In this way, you come to appreciate all the more the pleasure of concentration. It’s much cooler, more easeful, and requires less dressing up. But as you get more proficient in this skill, you become more sensitive to subtler levels of stress and disturbance in the mind, to the point where you sense that even the concentration, because it’s constructed, is not fully a place of rest. It requires constant care and management.
This is where you come to appreciate why the Buddha calls right concentration jhana. This word means “absorption,” but its corresponding verb—jhayati, to do jhana—also means to burn with a steady flame, like the flame of an oil lamp. Because the pleasures of the senses are like fires that burn with a flickering flame, the pleasures of jhana seem much less disturbing. And they’re easier to read by—in other words, dwelling in jhana makes it easier to read the processes of fabrication as they’re happening. But still, your jhana-dwelling is a home subtly on fire. When this realization goes deep into the heart, you’re inclined to abandon all fabrication of every sort. And because present-moment fabrication underlies your experience of the present, then when fabrication stops, the present moment fades away—as does space and time altogether—exposing a first taste of unbinding (nibbana).
Because unbinding is unfabricated, it doesn’t exist for the sake of anything.This is why it’s fully a place of refuge and rest. The Buddha describes it as pleasure, but it’s not a pleasant feeling, and so it’s not an aggregate. Similarly, he describes it as a type of consciousness, but one that’s not known in conjunction with the six senses. In other words, it has no object (Samyutta Nikaya 12.64). Because it doesn’t fall within the consciousness-aggregate, it lies outside of past, present, and future. Outside of space, it has “neither coming nor going nor staying in place.” It’s a separate dimension entirely (Udana 8.1).
After the mind withdraws from this dimension, it returns to fabricating the present moment, but with a big difference. It now knows that it has experienced something that time and the present moment can’t touch, and this realization informs your practice from that point onward. You have no more doubts about the Buddha, because you’ve seen that what he taught is true: There really is a deathless happiness. You no longer identify with fabrications in any way as you or yours, because you’ve seen what lies beyond them. And you would never engage in them in a way that would break the precepts, because you’ve seen that your harmful actions in the past were what kept you from realizing that dimension in the first place.
You don’t have to resign yourself to accepting the present as the only reality there is.
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The canon says that when you finally reach full awakening, you go beyond a taste of unbinding to full immersion. And when you emerge, your experience of the present moment is even more radically altered. You still engage in intentions, but they leave no seeds for future rebirth (AN 3.34). You engage in fabrication, but experience is “disjoined” from it—not in the sense of a person suffering from dissociation but in the sense of having no more need to commandeer fabrications to construct a place in which to live. You dwell instead in a dwelling of emptiness—not the emptiness of the six senses or of fabrications but the emptiness of an awareness free from the disturbances of defilement (MN 121; Itivuttaka 44). At death, liberated entirely from space and time, you have no need for any dwelling of any sort. The fires are totally out, and you’re totally freed.
This freedom may seem very far away, but it’s good to learn about it from the very beginning of the path. That way, you can come into the present right now and know what to do with it. At the very least, you know that you don’t have to resign yourself to the present moment as a given. You can develop the skills to make it more livable, through your generosity, virtue, and meditation, even in the face of negative influences from the past. In doing so, you can create good conditions for many present moments in the future. You can rest assured that long-term happiness comes not by lowering your expectations but by adopting expectations that are good for you, and then raising them.
Beyond that, you know that the Buddha is focusing you on the present moment not for its own sake but for the sake of something that lies beyond. You don’t have to resign yourself to accepting the present as the only reality there is, and you don’t have to perform a self-lobotomy, denying the flames that consume it. Instead, the Buddha is advising you to dampen the flames so that you can find, right in the midst of the present, the passage leading from the burning house to the safety of the nonflammable freedom outside.
For further reading on the Buddhist principle of karma, read Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s in-depth explanation in “The Buddha’s Baggage: Everything you wanted to know about karma but were afraid to ask.”
===
Part 1 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha/3291
Part 2 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha/4038
Part 3 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas/2871
===
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas
===
This freedom may seem very far away, but it’s good to learn about it from the very beginning of the path. That way, you can come into the present right now and know what to do with it. At the very least, you know that you don’t have to resign yourself to the present moment as a given. You can develop the skills to make it more livable, through your generosity, virtue, and meditation, even in the face of negative influences from the past. In doing so, you can create good conditions for many present moments in the future. You can rest assured that long-term happiness comes not by lowering your expectations but by adopting expectations that are good for you, and then raising them.
Beyond that, you know that the Buddha is focusing you on the present moment not for its own sake but for the sake of something that lies beyond. You don’t have to resign yourself to accepting the present as the only reality there is, and you don’t have to perform a self-lobotomy, denying the flames that consume it. Instead, the Buddha is advising you to dampen the flames so that you can find, right in the midst of the present, the passage leading from the burning house to the safety of the nonflammable freedom outside.
For further reading on the Buddhist principle of karma, read Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s in-depth explanation in “The Buddha’s Baggage: Everything you wanted to know about karma but were afraid to ask.”
===
Part 1 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha/3291
Part 2 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha/4038
Part 3 of 3:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas/2871
===
Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dhammapadas
===
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7. Na paresam vilomani
na paresam katâkatam
Attano'va avekkheya
katani akatani ca. 50.
SEEK NOT OTHERS' FAULTS BUT YOUR OWN
7. Let not one seek others' faults, things left done and undone by others, but one's own deeds done and undone. 50.
Story
A naked ascetic through jealousy, prevented a female follower of his from listening to the Teaching of the Buddha. She, however, invited the Buddha to her house through her son. When she was hearing the Dhamma from the Buddha the ascetic suddenly appeared on the scene and abused her and the Buddha. As the woman was perturbed in mind at this sudden outburst the Buddha advised her not to seek the faults of others but her own.
===
Free Buddhism books, teachings, podcasts and videos from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/buddha_ebooks
===
na paresam katâkatam
Attano'va avekkheya
katani akatani ca. 50.
SEEK NOT OTHERS' FAULTS BUT YOUR OWN
7. Let not one seek others' faults, things left done and undone by others, but one's own deeds done and undone. 50.
Story
A naked ascetic through jealousy, prevented a female follower of his from listening to the Teaching of the Buddha. She, however, invited the Buddha to her house through her son. When she was hearing the Dhamma from the Buddha the ascetic suddenly appeared on the scene and abused her and the Buddha. As the woman was perturbed in mind at this sudden outburst the Buddha advised her not to seek the faults of others but her own.
===
Free Buddhism books, teachings, podcasts and videos from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions:
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8. Yatha'pi ruciram puppham
vannavantam agandhakam
Evam subhasita vaca
aphala hoti akubbato. 51.
9. Yatha'pi ruciram puppham
vannavantam sagandhakam
Evam subhasita vaca
saphala hoti sakubbato. 52.
PRACTICE IS BETTER THAN MERE TEACHING
8. As a flower that is lovely and beautiful but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practise it. 51.
9. As a flower that is lovely, beautiful, and scent-laden, even so fruitful is the well-spoken word of one who practises it. 52.
Story
Two ladies of the court studied the Dhamma under the Venerable ânanda. One studied well, but the other made little progress. The Buddha declared that like a scentless flower, fruitless becomes the Dhamma to the person who makes no effort to study it well.
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vannavantam agandhakam
Evam subhasita vaca
aphala hoti akubbato. 51.
9. Yatha'pi ruciram puppham
vannavantam sagandhakam
Evam subhasita vaca
saphala hoti sakubbato. 52.
PRACTICE IS BETTER THAN MERE TEACHING
8. As a flower that is lovely and beautiful but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practise it. 51.
9. As a flower that is lovely, beautiful, and scent-laden, even so fruitful is the well-spoken word of one who practises it. 52.
Story
Two ladies of the court studied the Dhamma under the Venerable ânanda. One studied well, but the other made little progress. The Buddha declared that like a scentless flower, fruitless becomes the Dhamma to the person who makes no effort to study it well.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha
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Buddha
Buddha dharma teachings from the suttas and commentaries
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:
“When an ethical person with trusting heart gives a proper gift to unethical persons, trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, that offering is purified by the giver.
When an unethical and untrusting person, gives an improper gift to ethical persons, not trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, that offering is purified by the receivers.
When an unethical and untrusting person, gives an improper gift to unethical persons, not trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, I declare that gift is not very fruitful.
When an ethical person with trusting heart gives a proper gift to ethical persons, trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, I declare that gift is abundantly fruitful.
But when a passionless one gives to the passionless a proper gift with trusting heart, trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, that’s truly the best of material gifts.”
Partial excerpts from MN 142 : Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta
“When an ethical person with trusting heart gives a proper gift to unethical persons, trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, that offering is purified by the giver.
When an unethical and untrusting person, gives an improper gift to ethical persons, not trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, that offering is purified by the receivers.
When an unethical and untrusting person, gives an improper gift to unethical persons, not trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, I declare that gift is not very fruitful.
When an ethical person with trusting heart gives a proper gift to ethical persons, trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, I declare that gift is abundantly fruitful.
But when a passionless one gives to the passionless a proper gift with trusting heart, trusting in the ample fruit of deeds, that’s truly the best of material gifts.”
Partial excerpts from MN 142 : Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Free Buddhism Dharma ebook
In My Teacher's Footsteps - Following Ajahn Sumedho to Mount Kailash
By Nick Scott
Free download available:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN436.pdf
===
In My Teacher's Footsteps - Following Ajahn Sumedho to Mount Kailash
By Nick Scott
Free download available:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN436.pdf
===
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Free Buddhism Dharma ebook
In My Teacher's Footsteps - Following Ajahn Sumedho to Mount Kailash
By Nick Scott
Travel accounts are usually straightforward to write and easy to read. The problem, if anything, is that the repetitive ‘we went there, then we went there’, can become too predictable. Not so this book. This is an account of several walks: those I undertook and those Ajahn Sumedho undertook, journeying to the holy mountain of Mount Kailash, recounted side by side. Each of the walks proved fascinating and both of us were eventually taken to the absolute limit of what we could endure. So you, the reader, are not going to be bored.
My concern is that you might be confused. On each walk we have different companions, we visit the same places but at very different times, and Ajahn Sumedho’s attempts are recounted not by him, but by several of his companions. To help you, there are maps, most of them at the start of each chapter, and there are photos showing the participants, including group photos where they are named. The first block of photos are for the first half of the book, which describes our journeys to Mount Kailash, and the second block is of the sacred kora, the circling of the mountain which includes climbing a pass of 18,500 feet. As a final aid I give a list of the walks at the book’s start, with dates and participants, that you can return to.
Free download available:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN436.pdf
===
In My Teacher's Footsteps - Following Ajahn Sumedho to Mount Kailash
By Nick Scott
Travel accounts are usually straightforward to write and easy to read. The problem, if anything, is that the repetitive ‘we went there, then we went there’, can become too predictable. Not so this book. This is an account of several walks: those I undertook and those Ajahn Sumedho undertook, journeying to the holy mountain of Mount Kailash, recounted side by side. Each of the walks proved fascinating and both of us were eventually taken to the absolute limit of what we could endure. So you, the reader, are not going to be bored.
My concern is that you might be confused. On each walk we have different companions, we visit the same places but at very different times, and Ajahn Sumedho’s attempts are recounted not by him, but by several of his companions. To help you, there are maps, most of them at the start of each chapter, and there are photos showing the participants, including group photos where they are named. The first block of photos are for the first half of the book, which describes our journeys to Mount Kailash, and the second block is of the sacred kora, the circling of the mountain which includes climbing a pass of 18,500 feet. As a final aid I give a list of the walks at the book’s start, with dates and participants, that you can return to.
Free download available:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN436.pdf
===
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Form [Feeling, Perception, Choices, Consciousness] is not-self. For if form were self, it wouldn’t lead to affliction. And you could compel form: ‘May my form be like this! May it not be like that!’ But because form is not-self, it leads to affliction. And you can’t compel form: ‘May my form be like this! May it not be like that!’
What do you think? Is form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness] permanent or impermanent?”
“Impermanent”
“But if it’s impermanent, is it suffering or happiness?”
“Suffering”
“But if it’s impermanent, suffering, and perishable, is it fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self’?”
“No”
“So you should truly see any kind of form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness ] with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’
Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed...Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed.
Partial excerpts from SN 22.59 : Anattalakkhaṇasutta
What do you think? Is form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness] permanent or impermanent?”
“Impermanent”
“But if it’s impermanent, is it suffering or happiness?”
“Suffering”
“But if it’s impermanent, suffering, and perishable, is it fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self’?”
“No”
“So you should truly see any kind of form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness ] with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’
Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed...Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed.
Partial excerpts from SN 22.59 : Anattalakkhaṇasutta
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10. Yatha'pi puppharasimha
kayira malaguue bahu
Evam jatena maccena
kattabbam kusalam bahum. 53.
DO MUCH GOOD
10. As from a heap of flowers many a garland is made, even so many good deeds should be done by one born a mortal. 53.
Story
Visakha, the chief benefactress of the Buddha, erected a monastery at great expense. So great was her delight that, with her children and grandchildren, she went round the monastery singing paeans of joy. When this was reported to the Buddha He remarked that Visakha was doing so as she had fulfilled a past aspiration of hers and added that much merit should be done by all.
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kayira malaguue bahu
Evam jatena maccena
kattabbam kusalam bahum. 53.
DO MUCH GOOD
10. As from a heap of flowers many a garland is made, even so many good deeds should be done by one born a mortal. 53.
Story
Visakha, the chief benefactress of the Buddha, erected a monastery at great expense. So great was her delight that, with her children and grandchildren, she went round the monastery singing paeans of joy. When this was reported to the Buddha He remarked that Visakha was doing so as she had fulfilled a past aspiration of hers and added that much merit should be done by all.
===
Vajrayana Tantrayana Buddhism channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/tantrayanabuddhism
Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana, Tantrayana and esoteric Buddhism channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/tibetanbuddha
===
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Buddha teachings from the Vajrayana, esoteric, secret or Tantrayana vehicle
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Jayagiri Victory Mountain Buddhist temple, known as the Bayon, the state temple of King Jayavarman VII of the kingdom of Khmer, Cambodia, famous for the thousands faces of Lokesvara.
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