282 LESSON 29 05 2011 Cunda Sutta About Cunda FREE ONLINE eNālandā Research and Practice UNIVERSITY and BUDDHIST GOOD NEWS
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LESSON
282
Cunda Sutta: About Cunda
On one
occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in
Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Now at that time Ven. Sariputta was staying among the Magadhans
in Nalaka village — diseased, in pain, severely ill. Cunda the novice was his attendant. Then, because of that
illness, Ven. Sariputta attained total Unbinding.
So Cunda
the novice, taking Ven. Sariputta’s bowl & robes, went to Ven.
Ananda in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery, near Savatthi, and on
arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he
said to Ven. Ananda: “Venerable sir, Ven. Sariputta has attained total
Unbinding. Here are his bowl & robes.”
“Cunda,
my friend, this news is reason for seeing the Blessed One. Come, let’s go to
the Blessed One and report this matter to him.”
“Yes,
venerable sir,” Cunda the novice replied.
So Ven.
Ananda & Cunda the novice went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having
bowed down to him, sat to one side. As they were sitting there, Ven. Ananda
said to him, “Lord, just now Cunda the novice said to me, ‘Venerable sir,
Ven. Sariputta has attained total Unbinding. Here are his bowl & robes.’ It
was as if my body were drugged, I lost my bearings, things weren’t clear to me,
on hearing that Ven. Sariputta had attained total Unbinding.”
“But,
Ananda, when he attained total Unbinding, did Sariputta take the aggregate of
virtue along with him? Did he take the aggregate of concentration… discernment…
release… the aggregate of knowledge & vision of release along with
him?”
“No,
lord, when he attained total Unbinding, Ven. Sariputta didn’t take the
aggregate of virtue… concentration… discernment… release… the aggregate
of knowledge & vision of release along with him. It’s just that he was my
instructor & counselor, one who exhorted, urged, roused, & encouraged
me. He was tireless in teaching the Dhamma, a help to his companions in the
holy life. We miss the nourishment of his Dhamma, the wealth of his Dhamma, his
help in the Dhamma.”
“But,
Ananda, haven’t I already taught you the state of growing different with regard
to all things dear & appealing, the state of becoming separate, the state
of becoming otherwise? What else is there to expect? It’s impossible that one
could forbid anything born, existent, fabricated, & subject to
disintegration from disintegrating.
“Just as if the largest limb were to fall off of a great tree
composed of heartwood, standing firm; in the same way, Sariputta has attained
total Unbinding from this great community of monks composed of heartwood,
standing firm. What else is there to expect? It’s impossible that one could
forbid anything born, existent, fabricated, & subject to disintegration
from disintegrating.
“Therefore,
Ananda, each of you should remain with your self as an island,
your self as your refuge, without anything else as a refuge. Remain with the
Dhamma as an island, the Dhamma as your refuge, without anything else as a
refuge. And how does a monk remain with his self as an island, his self as his
refuge, without anything else as a refuge? How does he remain with the Dhamma
as an island, the Dhamma as his refuge, without anything else as a refuge?
There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself —
ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with
reference to the world. He remains focused on feelings… mind… mental
qualities in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside
greed & distress with reference to the world. This is how a monk remains
with his self as an island, his self as his refuge, without anything else as a
refuge, with the Dhamma as an island, the Dhamma as his refuge, without
anything else as a refuge. For those who — now or after I am gone — remain with
their self as an island, their self as their refuge, without anything else as a
refuge, with the Dhamma as an island, the Dhamma as their refuge, without
anything else as a refuge, they will be the highest of the monks who desire
training.”
Kindly
SMS the following to your friends:
5.Best Governance
of BSP in 4 yrs: Rs37000 crore, outlay
of 21.21&100%expenditure on develop of SC/ST increase in the rate of post matric.
6.BSP pursuing the path shown by great saints gurus & seers born
in backward classes,like Jotiba Phule,
Shahuji Maharaj, Shri Narayana Guru
7.BSP pursuing the path shown by great saints gurus & seers
born in backward classes,like Dr. BR
Ambedkar & Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji
8.in development and public welfare activities BSP government
following the policy of “Sarvajan Hitay – Sarvajan Sukhay”.
————————————————————————————-
9.To honour backward-born leaders magnificent memorials,museums,parks,etc
have been Constructed in less than 1% of the total govt funds
10.BSP Spent 99% funds on law and order, crime control, development
and public welfare activities.
11.Manuvadis attempt 2 curb land 4 the
world’s tallest Buddha statue in
Kushinara, handed over by BSP to Japan-based Maitreya Foundation.
12. In the last four years, the central government did not release
on time its
Share payable to the BSP state totalling Rs. 21,385 crore.
VOICE OF THE SARVAJAN HONEY LEAKSNamo Buddhay Jai bheem
Dear All please read the news below, It was one of the
historical step of Bahen Mayawati ji, however it is stoped systematically by all
Brahminise Parties.
We could just imagine what bahenji could do if she became Prime
Minister of PraBuddha Bharath. It is real shame for the selfish, opportunist, stooges, self
proclaimed leader and their followers in Maharashtra those are claiming
themselves as Buddhist and opposing BSP.
Mayawati abandons the takeover of agricultural land
Lucknow, May 26 (IANS) Stung by
the violent protests in Bhatta-Parsaul village in Greater Noida, the Mayawati
government has decided to abandon the takeover of agricultural land for
installation of the world’s tallest Buddha statue in Kushinagar district, about
250 km from here.
The district administration will
soon denotify some 527 acres of the 697 acres that were proposed to be acquired
for the purpose.
About 273 acres of land has
already been acquired and a large part of it was formally handed over to Japan-based Maitreya Foundation, which was to
undertake the project.
Maitreya Foundation had drawn up
a blueprint to erect a 500-feet-high statue of sitting Buddha – that would be
his tallest in the world.
While the entire estimated cost
of the project of about $195 million was to be borne by the Japanese
foundation, the state government agreed to provide land for it.
The acquisition involved about
2,800 farmers, of whom only about 600 had readily handed over their land.
Encouraged by the farmers
movements against acquisition of land in Noida, Greater Noida and other parts
of western Uttar Pradesh, the
farmers in this part of the state also formed a Bhumi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti
(save the land action committee) to raise their voice against the acquisition
of land for the Maitreya project.
In Mission
Sachin Gholap
(London)
Udupi: Nearly 2,000 Scheduled Castes returned back to Buddhism at a function organised
by the Karnataka Baudha Maha Sabha, and Karnataka DSS (Ambedkar Vada) here on Tuesday.
The initiation of the SCs into Buddhism took place under the
guidance of Buddhist monks Manorakhit Bhanteji, Lobsana, and Tenguru.
The initiation function was held as part of 2,600th birth anniversary
celebrations of Gautama Buddha.
The SCs came in a procession from the Ambedkar Bhavan to Sri
Narayanaguru Sabha Bhavan, where the initiation function was held.
Chief convener of the Samiti Mavalli Shankar told press persons that
Buddhism taught compassionate living. The teachings of Buddha kept
people away from bad desires. It was a known fact that priests
following the Vedic religion had driven out Buddhism from the country.
But the architect of Constitution B.R. Ambedkar was among those
responsible for the revival of Buddhism in the country, he said.
‘Needless statement’
On the comment of Vishwesha Tirtha of Pejawar Math that Buddhism had
little to offer to SC/STs, Mr. Shankar said he did not object to their
thoughts as they were free to express themselves in a democracy. The
swamiji should realize that by giving “Vaishnava Deekshe”, the lot of
SCs could not be improved. There had not been any change in the
lives of SC/STs in 60 years after Independence. Hinduism stood on the
basic premise of caste. The heads of maths did not want to remove
casteism as they feared that this would destroy Hinduism. “If Pejawar
seer wants, let him embrace Buddhism, but we will not accept his
Deekshe”, Mr. Shankar said.
President of Prajna Vedike Krishnappa, eminent persons T. Murugeshi,
Kantappa Alangar, Bellubbi Nandakur, office-bearers of the samiti
Rohitaksha, Byadarahalli Prakash, Sundar Master, Kempanna Kamble,
Ningaraj Mallady, and Hovappa Master were present.
Daijiworld Media Network – Puttur (SP)
Puttur, May 21: SCs from nearby villagers held a protest programme
at Kadaba in the taluk on Friday May 20, in protest against the
failure of the revenue department to drive away encroachers from 20
acres of government land located in Aittoor and Nekkiladi villages,
which have been earmarked for distribution among the SCs. The
revenue department, which swung into action in the evening, announced
that it had wrested back government land from six of the encroachers.
The protest was led by D S S (Ambedkar). The protestors said that six persons
from Aittoor and three from Nekkiladivillage had encroached upon 20 acres of
government land, and theincessant demand for their eviction over the years had
not been met by
the department. They demanded steps against the taluk tahsildar for his failure
to take back the encroached land and hand the same over to the SCs. The
protestors also accused MLA Angara, who got elected from Sullia, a constituency
reserved for scheduled communities, of becoming a puppet in the hands of upper classes
of the society and rich people, and thereby ignoring the interests of the SCs.
When deputy tahsildar, Vishwanath Poojary, approached the protestors
and assured them to convey their grievances to higher officials, the
protestors refused to budge.
Caste-discrimination is undermining India’s efforts to uplift the
oppressed through quotas in higher education.
Jason OverdorfMay 24, 2011 06:05
India SC suicides02011 05 22
NEW DELHI, India — Jaspreet Singh, a young student from a caste once
considered “untouchable” by other Hindus, was in his last year of
medical school when his life began to fall apart.
A talented student, and his family’s brightest hope for clawing their
way into the middle class, he was stunned to find that he had failed
community medicine, one of his easiest subjects. But he was even more
devastated by the alleged reason: His professor was determined to
flunk him because of his caste.
Like most students from the Scheduled castes, Singh had suffered the sly
digs and subtle slights of his classmates in silence for years at the
Government Medical College (Chandigarh). His professor’s alleged claim
that he would never allow Singh to get there was the last straw.
Singh hung himself from the ceiling fan in the bathroom in the college
library, writing in his suicide note that he could no longer bear the
insults and discrimination he’d endured from two fellow students and
his community medicine professor, Dr. N.K. Goel. (All three have been
charged with abetting Singh’s suicide, which is a crime under the
Indian penal code, but no ruling has been issued and the accused
maintain that they are innocent).
“The college says he couldn’t cope with the coursework, but he did
fine in all his other subjects,” said Jaspreet’s sister, Balwinder
Kaur. “In surgery he got 80 percent marks.”
Watch an interview with Singh’s family:
Sadly, cases like Jaspreet’s are all too common, according to the
Insight Foundation, a group of young SCs who are working to
eliminate discrimination in India’s higher education system.
No official effort has been made to determine how many of the more
than 16,000 school and college students who have killed themselves
over the past four years hail from India’s historically oppressed
castes, and only one study, covering only the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, has investigated discrimination on campus.
But the Insight Foundation believes that a disproportionate number of
the students committing suicides are SCs, and its members allege
that caste discrimination, a dirty secret, is ubiquitous at India’s
top universities — even as the government works to expand access to
higher education with quotas, or reservations, for historically
oppressed groups.
“The problem which we face in elite institutions is much worse,” said
Anoop Kumar, the Insight Foundation’s national coordinator, and a
SC himself. “These elite institutions are considered to be very
prestigious, and the SC students who enter there are thought to be
intruding into that space through reservations — they don’t deserve to
be there, this is such a competitive place, this is such a meritorious
place, and these guys have come through quota. So the hatred and
hostility is much more.”
MADURAI: SCs of Karadipatti near Tirupparankundram in Madurai have
alleged that they are not allowed to use the common water tank in the
village cemetery and, if used, they are subjected to verbal abuse and
discrimination.
Jeyaneedhi, Charanraj, Virumaandi of Ambedkar Street in Karadipatti
submitted a petition to the Collector here on Monday on the alleged
practices of discrimination against them by caste Hindus in the
village.
One of the alleged victims, Jayaneedhi, said that there were two
cemeteries in the village for caste Hindus and SCs respectively.
But there was only one water tank located near the cemetery of the
caste Hindus and whenever the SCs tried to use it they were either
prevented or abused.
On May 19, three SC youngsters, who went to take bath, were
intercepted by a group of caste Hindus stating that the tank was meant
for them and not for SCs. However, the SC youth defied them and
took bath. But they were repeatedly abused for two days.
Just a few months ago, Rahul Gandhi,
scion of
India’s famed Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was widely tipped as a
future prime minister — the only question was when he would take over
the job.
Now his appeal appears to be fading amid a stumbling performance in
his campaign to be champion of the nation’s poor and a string of
corruption scandals that have rocked the ruling Congress party to
which he belongs.
Gandhi, 41, drew headlines last week when he accused police in India’s
most populous state Uttar Pradesh of mass killings of farmers who had
been demonstrating for greater compensation for land sales to the
state.
Gandhi, son of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, described “a large
70-foot (21-metre pile of) ashes with dead bodies inside,” adding,
“We
can give you pictures” following clashes between farmers and state
police.
“There are quite severe atrocities taking place there. People have
been killed,” he said. “People are being murdered.”
Days later, Congress was forced into an embarrassing retreat with
Uttar Pradesh forensic officials calling the allegations nonsense and
saying preliminary tests showed the ashes were made up of “molten
synthetic” and “cowdung ash”.
“Common sense” should have told Gandhi “there is some distance
between
an inflamed accusation made by agitators and reality,” noted veteran
commentator M.J. Akbar.
The incident, along with the poor performances of many of his
handpicked candidates in recent state elections, raised fresh
questions about whether Gandhi is prime ministerial material.
“Rahul in Blunderland,” said The Hindu newspaper in an editorial,
commenting that the “predilection” of Congress’s crown prince
“to
shoot from the hip is proving to be a challenge for the party.”
Since India’s independence from Britain in 1947, power in Congress has
threaded from Gandhi’s great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s
first prime minister, to his grandmother Indira Gandhi, shot dead by
Sikh assassins, and then in dynastic succession to his father Rajiv,
slain by a suicide bomber.
It now rests with his Italian-born mother Sonia, seen as India’s most
influential politician. She has carefully managed her son’s career,
making sure he has had time to carry out his aim of learning politics
“brick by brick”.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 78, a Gandhi loyalist picked by Sonia
to lead the government, is seen as keeping the premier’s seat warm for
Rahul.
But Gandhi’s record has been lacklustre. He is not a natural orator
He has never dealt with such thorny issues as Pakistan or the economy,
preferring to be a grassroots activist embracing populist causes.
“Rahul does not have the fire in the belly… for ruling the nation,”
wrote Aditya Sinha, editor of Mumbai’s DNA newspaper, in a recent
column.
Many pundits are betting that Gandhi will not be running to be prime
minister in 2014 when the next national elections are due, he added.
Corruption scandals, including a telecom scam , S-Band, alleged to have cost
more than $40 billion and last year’s graft-plagued Commonwealth Games,
Gandhi, who never has stated outright he wants to lead India, has said
becoming premier is not the only “job” in the world and there
“are
many other jobs a person can do.”
But Congress billboards drill home the message he is the chosen
successor, showing the elderly Singh, proud mother Sonia — and in
front a handsome Rahul, poised to take the reins.
However, “with the gloss wearing out, Rahul Gandhi’s political flight
seems to be sputtering on the tarmac before a take-off.”
Exploited Scheduled Caste (SC) Girls Produce Garments in India for European and US Markets
AMSTERDAM, May 20, 2011
- Companies Have Taken Steps, But Exploitation Remains Widespread
Big garment brands and retailers have their products made under
exploitative and unhealthy conditions by girls in Tamil Nadu, South
India. The girls, mostly younger than 18 and from a SC (’untouchables’)
background are employed under the Sumangali Scheme. In its worst form,
this employment scheme stands for bonded labour, as described in
‘Captured by Cotton’, a report published today by the Centre for
Research on Multinational Corporation (SOMO) and the India Committee
of the Netherlands (ICN). The report features case studies of four
large manufacturers. These enterprises produce for Bestseller (e.g.
Only, Jack & Jones), C&A, GAP, Diesel, Inditex (e.g. Zara), Marks &
Spencer, Primark, Tommy Hilfiger, and many other European and US
garment companies. A number of companies have undertaken steps towards
the elimination of the Sumangali Scheme, but abusive labour practices
remain widespread.
Sumangali girls
The Sumangali girls are recruited with the promise of a decent wage,
comfortable accommodation, and, the biggest attraction, a considerable
sum of money upon completion of their three-year contract. This lump
sum, varying between 400 and 800 euros, may be used to pay for a
dowry. The reality stands in sharp contrast to the alluring promises:
wages below the legally set minimum, excessive overwork , non-payment
of overtime work, restricted freedom of movement, lack of privacy, no
possibility to lodge complaints or get redress, unhealthy and unsafe
working conditions, etc. This situation fits the definition of ‘worst
forms of child labour’ as laid down by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) for children up to 18 years old. This is a clear
breach of international labour standards and Indian labour law.
The promised sum is not a bonus, but is made up of withheld wages. In
a number of documented cases girls have not received the lump sum they
were entitled to, despite having completed the contractual three year
period.
The girls’ freedom of action is severely restricted with guards
keeping a constant eye on them. They are compulsory accommodated in
basic dormitories, often within the compound of the factory. This also
means workers hardly have a chance to get in touch with trade unions
or advocacy groups.