Chapter 7

Arahatta Vagga 1
The Worthy
(Text and Translation by Ven. Narada)



1. Gataddhino visokassa
vippamuttassa sabbadhi
Sabbaganthappahinassa
parilaho na vijjati. 90.

NO SUFFERING FOR THE EMANCIPATED

1. For him who has completed the journey, 2 for him who is sorrowless, for him who from everything 3 is wholly free, 4 for him who has destroyed all Ties, 5 the fever (of passion) exists not. 6 90.

Story

The Venerable Devadatta attempted to kill the Buddha by hurling a stone from a rock above. It struck against another rock and a flying splinter hit His foot, causing intense physical pain. Jivaka the physician dressed the wound and left, saying that he would return to undress it after seeing a patient in the city. He could not return in due time as the city gate was closed. He was worried that the Buddha would be subject to intense pain. The Buddha read his thought and ordered the Venerable Ananda to remove the dressing. On the following morning Jivaka hurried to the monastery and inquired whether the Buddha was subject to much pain. Then the Buddha explained the mental attitude of an Emancipated One.
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Words of the Buddha channel:

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Free Buddhism ebook

Sotapattimagga
The Path of the Sotapanna
By Ajahn Anan Akincano

Free download here:

https://www.lotuslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2048-sotapattimagga_Akincano.pdf
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Free Buddhism ebook

Sotapattimagga
The Path of the Sotapanna
By Ajahn Anan Akincano

This collection of talks was originally given to the monastic community at Wat Marp Jan. As these talks were specifically directed to monastics, they often refer to many of the fundamental practices and routines of monastic life. In addition, one can find details on the higher levels of practice. Though these talks were not originally aimed towards those in the lay life, laypeople dedicated to the practice are sure to find inspiration and benefit nevertheless.

Free download here:

https://www.lotuslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2048-sotapattimagga_Akincano.pdf
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A Tough But Not Impossible Act to Follow

Can we awaken in this very life?
By Andrew Olendzki

I believe that awakening is possible in this very lifetime. I know this is one of the ideas we, as modern secular Buddhists, are invited to discard, along with belief in rebirth, heavenly beings, and miraculous powers. I prefer to suspend judgment and remain agnostic regarding the latter three, saying neither “If the Buddha said so, it must be so” nor “It can’t be, therefore it isn’t.” But awakening is another story. I think it can be possible for a person, even a rather ordinary person, to awaken. Furthermore, I think it is a goal to which we can all aspire.

Awakening (aka enlightenment, but this latter term is not a good translation of bodhi) is understood in the early discourses as a process of gradual mental purification culminating in a profound psychological transformation. This happened to the Buddha while he was seated under the Bodhi tree in Uruvela (now Bodhgaya), and it is important to distinguish this event from what happened to him 45 years later as he lay on his right side between two sal trees in Kusinara.

I have no idea how to understand the Buddha’s parinirvana, his final passing away after 80 years as a human being. Lots of people asked him beforehand what happens to a Tathagata (Buddha) beyond death, and he refused to answer. When pressed to say why he would not answer, he gave explanations ranging from “You wouldn’t understand” to “There is no way of expressing it” to “You don’t need to know” to (loosely paraphrased) “You have your hands full understanding what is happening in your own experience here and now—so get back to work meditating and stop asking irrelevant questions.”

I am actually fine with his silent response and am happy to leave the matter of “what happened to him” to the Buddhist theologians who tackled it in the centuries after his last days. But getting some handle on what happened to the Buddha under the Bodhi tree is more accessible, particularly since he talked about it quite a lot in language both empirical and psychological. In the earliest strata of Buddhist discourse, awakening is not about transcending this life as much as it is about accessing the deepest levels of inherent well-being, here and now.

Simply put, there are emotional and behavioral habits within us, many deeply embedded, which are toxic and cause suffering. Greed, hatred, and delusion, along with the emotions they engender, may sometimes be gratifying and even useful in the short term, but they invariably cause harm to oneself or others (or both). Think of common chemical toxins such as caffeine, sugar, nicotine, or alcohol, which can have pleasurable immediate effects but cause damage to our biological health over time. Psychological health is not unlike physical health, which can be diminished or augmented by behaviorally adjusting the levels of pollutants and nutriments in the system.

The Buddha showed us through his example that it is possible to become radically healthy and then live out one’s life in this world. His awakening consisted of so transforming his mind that toxic states rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion no longer occurred, while a full range of healthy emotions and other cognitive capabilities remained active and were even enhanced. Is this such an impossible act to follow? Many of his followers apparently succeeded in freeing their minds by following his instructions, leaving us in their own words compelling images of a person deeply at peace. Why should we not aspire to the same thing?

We know we are all capable of generous actions, compassionate words, and insightful thoughts. We also know that when we commit a selfish act, speak a hurtful word, or indulge the wishful thinking of a deluded thought, we are not entirely compelled to do so. We have some influence on what we choose to experience from moment to moment, and can, through conscious intervention, make a healthier choice even in the presence of a toxic tendency.

Is it such a stretch to think that this modest fulcrum point might be made to move the world, given a lever of sufficient length? If we can somehow manage to be kind instead of cruel in this moment, why not the next?

There are many good-hearted people in this world. There are many who are truthful and trustworthy, who do what is right more often than not, who sacrifice for the sake of others, who spontaneously feel kindness and compassion. There are some who understand that everything is moving and flowing around them, and that one thrives by letting go rather than holding on. There are those at peace, who are deeply well, even in challenging circumstances. We may not be able to point to any one person and say they are perfectly awakened, their minds free forever from the three poisons, but surely we can recognize moments of awakened behavior when we see them.

Though the Buddha woke up suddenly and unshakably, I don’t think we need to regard awakening in such an all-or-nothing way. Life is a series of mind moments, each one a new creation. Every moment we inherit something from our past, transform it in our present experience, and thereby seed the consequences of our future. At each moment the toxins we encounter may be either compounded or abandoned. A moment without greed, hatred, or delusion is an awakened moment. A person may not be considered awakened unless the toxins are thoroughly eliminated, but even an unawakened person can have an awakened moment. As the Buddha says,

If one shows kindness with a clear mind—
Even once!—for living creatures
By that one becomes wholesome.
(Itivuttaka 1.27)

My suggestion is simply this: As we walk the path, let us not look up so much at the destination, high above in the mist, but carefully place one foot in front of the other. A path keeps us centered, guiding us from veering right or left into dangerous territory. It may also deliver us to the summit, but only if each step is well taken. Every mindful moment in which generosity displaces greed, compassion takes the place of hatred, and insight dislodges delusion, is a moment in which we are awake. If we can manage one moment of wisdom, why not another?
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Andrew Olendzki is a professor at Lesley University and the director of its graduate program in Mindfulness Studies.
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Words of the Buddha channel:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
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Big Buddhas of Wat Pha Sorn Kaew Buddhist temple, Phetchabun, Thailand

2. Uyyunjanti satimanto
na nikete ramanti te
Hamsa' va pallalam hitva
okam okam jahanti te. 91.

ARAHANTS ARE FREE FROM ATTACHMENT

2. The mindful exert themselves. To no abode are they attached. Like swans that quit their pools, home after home they abandon (and go). 7 91.

Story

Some monks misconstrued the conduct of the Venerable Kassapa and discussed amongst themselves that he still had attachment to his supporters and kinsmen. The Buddha heard their talk and remarked that the Venerable Kassapa was free from attachment.
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Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:

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“But Vaccha, suppose they were to ask you: ‘This fire in front of you that is quenched: in what direction did it go—east, south, west, or north?’ How would you answer?”

“It doesn’t apply, worthy Gotama. The fire depended on grass and logs as fuel. When that runs out, and no more fuel is added, the fire is reckoned to have become quenched due to lack of fuel.”

“In the same way, Vaccha, any form [feeling … perception … choices … consciousness] by which a realized one might be described has been given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future. A realized one is freed from reckoning in terms of form [feeling … perception … choices … consciousness]. They’re deep, immeasurable, and hard to fathom, like the ocean. ‘They’re reborn’, ‘they’re not reborn’, ‘they’re both reborn and not reborn’, ‘they’re neither reborn nor not reborn’—none of these apply.

Partial excerpts from MN 72: Aggivacchasutta

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Shape of Suffering, The: A Study of Dependent Co-arising
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu


Free download available:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/shapeofsuffering.pdf

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Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Shape of Suffering, The: A Study of Dependent Co-arising
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

This book started as a handful of readings from the Pali Canon that I have used to teach dependent co-arising at various centers in the United States. I planned to turn the readings into a brief study guide, but the project quickly grew in size as I came to realize how much explanation the readings needed in order to be useful and clear.
I was especially struck by the need for apt analogies to explain how dependent co-arising works as an explanation both for the arising of dukkha—stress or suffering—and for the fact that dukkha can be ended through a path of practice.
The two most prominent analogies offered by the post-canonical Buddhist tradition—depicting dependent co-arising as a wheel or as a circle of mirrors—are inadequate to this task. The wheel is too deterministic in its implications; the circle of mirrors, too static. Thus I felt the need to search elsewhere for appropriate analogies, and I came across two.
The first analogy is in the Pali Canon itself, where the Buddha compares causality as a whole—and dependent co-arising in particular—to the process of eating: Eating entails suffering because it requires hunger and yet cannot put an end to hunger, which the Buddha described as the foremost illness (Dhammapada 203). However, the path of practice to the end of suffering depends on eating both physical and mental food.
The second analogy was inspired by another canonical image, comparing the effects of dependent co-arising to a tangled skein. This image inspired me to look for parallels in modern scientific studies of tangled skeins: i.e., complex nonlinear systems, such as the weather, the behavior of financial markets, and the forces interacting within physical structures, such as bridges. Studies of these systems have helped to explain how complex systems can behave in unexpected ways: containing the seeds for a radical reconfiguring of their behavior—as when the factors of dependent co-arising can be converted to a path to the end of suffering—and for their total collapse—as when the path leads to a goal totally undefined in causal terms.

Free download available:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/shapeofsuffering.pdf

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“Mendicants, there are eight causes and reasons that lead to acquiring the wisdom fundamental to the spiritual life, and to its increase, growth, and full development once it has been acquired. What eight?

5. They’re very learned, remembering and keeping what they’ve learned. These teachings are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased, describing a spiritual practice that’s entirely full and pure. They are very learned in such teachings, remembering them, reinforcing them by recitation, mentally scrutinizing them, and comprehending them theoretically. This is the fifth cause.


8. They meditate observing rise and fall in the five grasping aggregates. ‘Such is form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness] such is the origin of form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness], such is the ending of form [feeling, perception, choices, consciousness]. This is the eighth cause.

Partial excerpts from AN 8.2 Paññāsutta: Wisdom

3. Yesam sannicayo natthi
ye parinnatabhojana
Sunnato animitto ca
vimokkho yassa gocaro
Akase'va sakuntanam
gati tesam durannaya. 92.

BE NOT ATTACHED TO FOOD

3. They for whom there is no accumulation, 8 who reflect well over their food, 9 who have Deliverance 10 which is Void and Signless, as their object - their course, like that of birds in the air, cannot be traced. 92.

Story

A monk stored food for future use. The Buddha advised him not to do so and explained the right attitude of a good monk.
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Ajahn Chah, Buddhist teacher of Thai forest meditation of Theravada Buddhism channel:


https://news.1rj.ru/str/ajahnchah_buddhism
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Now how is mindfulness of in-&-out breathing developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit?

"There is the case where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.

"Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.'He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'

Partially excerpted from MN 118 : Anapanasati Sutta.

It’s when a mendicant—gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut—sits down cross-legged, sets their body straight, and establishes mindfulness in their presence. Just mindful, they breathe in. Mindful, they breathe out. Breathing in heavily they know: ‘I’m breathing in heavily.’ Breathing out heavily they know: ‘I’m breathing out heavily.’ When breathing in lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing in lightly.’ Breathing out lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing out lightly.’ They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe in experiencing the whole body.’ They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe out experiencing the whole body.’They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe in stilling the physical process.’ They practice like this: ‘I’ll breathe out stilling the physical process.’ As they meditate like this—diligent, keen, and resolute—memories and thoughts tied to domestic life are given up. That’s how a mendicant develops mindfulness of the body.

Partial excepts from MN 119 : Kāyagatāsatisutta