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453 LESSON 01 12 2011 Bhaddiya Kaligodha Sutta About Bhaddiya Kaligodha-In whom there exists no provocation,&for whom becoming&non-becoming are overcome,he is one-beyond fear,blissful,without grief,whom the devas can’t see.-Buddha-Plz read Ms.Mayawatiji’s proposal to divide UP into 4 States that goes far beyond disturbing the State’s politics in FRONTLINE News Magazine cover story.

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453 LESSON 01 12 2011 Bhaddiya Kaligodha Sutta About Bhaddiya Kaligodha

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THE BUDDHIST ON LINE GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE PROGRAM
LESSON 453

Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps
Dukkha Away

In whom there exists no provocation,&for whom becoming&non-becoming
are overcome, he is one-beyond fear, blissful, without grief, whom the devas
can’t see.-The Blessed One

POLITICS is SACRED with Highly performing best and meritorious governance of Ms Mayawati

Mayawati will
be the next PM of PraBuddha Bharath

The Lok Sabha election is on the way. Predictions on the hot
topic - who will be the next Prime Minister of PraBuddha Bharath?

The assertion is that a Scheduled
Caste (Untouchable) will soon replace Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
There is a lot of economic
uncertainty in the Country as crucial decisions are not being taken.
Even Country’s investors are now
talking of country hedging.

Citing the report, many started speculating that Mayawati also
can be the next Prime Minister as the report mentioned about a Untouchable
(Scheduled Caste)

Here it can be recalled that the BSP leader and the Chief
Minister of Uttar Pradesh always has been noticed of using her Sarvajan Hithay Sarvajan
Sukhay i.e., the welfare and happiness of the entire people of the Country card.
The report will enhance Maywati’s dreamwho is looking forward to the assembly
election, 2012.

http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-bsp-will-return-to-power-in-up-mayawati-10275291.html?utm_source=ConnectMailAlert

Video on
BSP
will return to power in UP: Mayawati says Opposition is scared of BSP.
Youraj came running to UP leaving the Parliament in middle of the session.

Show of strength at Ramabhai Ambedkar Ground

Mayawati’s
proposal to divide Uttar Pradesh into four States goes far beyond disturbing
the State’s politics ahead of the elections.

“THE elephant has set
a political cat among the pigeons.” Lucknow-based political analyst Sudhir
Panwar thus succinctly summed up the immediate effect of Chief Minister
Mayawati’s announcement of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government’s proposal
to divide Uttar Pradesh into four smaller States. “Everybody knows that the
processes for the formation of the proposed new States – Paschim Pradesh,
Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Awadh Pradesh – cannot even be initiated properly
before the State Assembly elections, which are due early next year. But,
undoubtedly, this has added a new, if contentious, dimension to the election run-up
as a whole and particularly to the early electioneering launched by the major
players – the principal opposition Samajwadi Party [S.P.], the Bharatiya Janata
Party [BJP], the Congress, and the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal [RLD] – in
State politics. How exactly this will ultimately impact the electoral trend
cannot be gauged at this point. But there is no doubt that this too will come
up time and again on the poll scene,” Panwar said.

Early
reactions from political forces in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country
as well as ground reactions in the State indicate that through the November 16
announcement the BSP Chief Minister has, in one stroke, delivered several
political blows.

The
announcement has also put three important political players – the Congress, the
BJP and the RLD – on the defensive, at least in one aspect of the political
campaign. None of the three parties can overtly oppose the announcement, on
account of a variety of factors.

They
find themselves incapable of discussing the merits or demerits of the proposal

The RLD has been for
long demanding a separate Harit Pradesh, comprising the western districts of
U.P. The contours of Paschim Pradesh correspond to the RLD’s Harit Pradesh. The
BJP is for smaller States in principle and has been supporting the movement for
the creation of Telangana by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. Sections of the
Congress in at least three of the four proposed new States – Bundelkhand,
Poorvanchal and Paschim Pradesh – have periodically articulated their support
to the idea of dividing U.P. The Congress’ national leadership, including Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, has repeatedly pointed to the possibility of a second
States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to consider the demands for smaller
States on the basis of developmental concerns, ethnicity and regional
aspirations.

Naturally,
the leaderships of all the three parties have been vague in their reactions to
Mayawati’s proposal.

At the level of
national politics too, the proposal is bound to cause great discomfort to the
Congress and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by it at the
Centre. The government is already grappling with the Telangana agitation, which
has not only generated turbulence from time to time but also led to dissensions
within the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit. The Congress has sought a number of
“middle ground” options to deal with the situation without much success. The
political climate created by Mayawati’s announcement is bound to accentuate the
emotive element in the Telangana movement. This will naturally add to the woes
of the Congress governments in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre.

There are also
indications that Mayawati’s proposal has acted as a spur to other long-standing
demands for statehood. These include the demands for Vidarbha, Gorkhaland and
Bodoland. The National Federation for New States (NFNS) has already regrouped
in the context of the announcement. Niroop Reddy, convener of the NFNS, told
Frontline that the organisation was planning to meet in Delhi in early December
to concretise a new action plan for launching a broad agitation in different
parts of the country. Interestingly, the NFNS has representatives of another
demand for statehood from Uttar Pradesh, namely Brij Pradesh. The demand
visualises the creation of Brij Pradesh comprising certain parts of western and
central Uttar Pradesh. Niroop Reddy says that if Mayawati decides to support
the demand for Telangana and Vidarbha, she will gain greater acceptance in the
southern and western parts of India. “Vidarbha is Ambedkar’s home State and
Telangana has only 10 per cent upper caste population,” he says.

Indications from the
higher echelons of the BSP are that the party is looking at suggestions such as
these seriously in order to renew and strengthen its effort to gain greater
prominence in national politics. “Through the proposal for four new States,
Behenji has made it clear that the BSP is not a one-person party. By any
standards, the BSP is a very powerful force in the regions of Poorvanchal and
Bundelkhand, and if these attain statehood, we will have Chief Ministers from
different sections of the organisational hierarchy. In many ways, the
announcement also signifies a concrete move to decentralise the organisation as
well as empower more party leaders. Undoubtedly, this is the path for greater
national prominence,” a senior BSP Member of Parliament told Frontline on
condition of anonymity, as is the wont among second-level leaders in the party.

A number of political
analysts, including the academic Sudha Pai of Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU), who has carried out fundamental research on the reorganisation of
States, are of the view that the cumulative impact of all these developments
will ultimately make the Centre consider the formation of a second SRC. “Such
an entity could look at the multitude of issues and aspirations behind
different demands and come up with concrete and objective parameters for
reorganisation. There is no need to see this as promotion of fissiparous
tendencies but has to be perceived as part of a continuing process of
democratisation that will address the concerns of social groups and regions
hitherto excluded from the mainstream of governance,” Sudha Pai said.

The views expressed
by analysts like Sudha Pai do find reverberations in the Congress. A number of
leaders admit that the Union government will be forced to grapple with the
cumulative effect of the statehood demands. In fact, a number of them even
advocate the setting up of a second SRC before the U.P. elections. This, said a
senior Minister from south India, would help the party in two ways. “One, [it
will] minimise the political damage caused by Mayawati’s announcement as it
will show that the Congress too is serious in pursuing the agenda, and two,
give the party and the government some biding time on issues such as Telangana
on account of the processes involved in the setting up of the second SRC and
getting it into motion.” As things stand, all these ideas are at the debating
stage only, although there is the realisation that “something needs to be done”
at the earliest in order to put up a good show in U.P. and also to stave off
the problems that are bound to emerge from other parts of the country.

In terms of caste
equations, the 2007 elections signified desertion by a section of the Other
Backward Classes (OBC) votes from the party, including votes from its most
prominent support base, the Yadav community.

While travelling in
parts of western, central and eastern districts of the State over the past
month is that this combination will be as effective as it was in 2007.

The upper castes, has
stayed back in BSP since the 2007 Assembly and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, as
they feel secure with the highly performing best and meritorious governence of
Ms Mayawati. MLAs and Ministers belonging upper castes are cofident of 300
seats in the coming elections.

The corruption
charges faced by the Union government and the anti-Congress thrust of the
anti-corruption movement are not doing them any good.

The
BSP, on its part, is trying hard to advance the SC/ST-Brahmin Bhaichara (SC/ST-Brahmin
brotherhood) political equation it had promoted in 2007.

Its Chamar base is
intact. The leadership is apparently hopeful that this, along with the addition
of a section of Muslim and upper caste votes, will help the BSP emerge once
again as the single-largest party. The BSP also hopes to get some support from
the groups that have campaigned for the division of Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati’s proposal
for new States was apparently based on a consideration of the impact of small
groups in a localised situation.

Ud 2.10

PTS: Ud 18

Bhaddiya Kaligodha Sutta: About Bhaddiya Kaligodha

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Alternate translation: Ireland

I have heard that on one
occasion the Blessed One was staying at Anupiya in the
Mango Orchard. Now at that time, Ven. Bhaddiya Kaligodha,
on going to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, would
repeatedly exclaim, “What bliss! What bliss!” A large number of monks
heard Ven. Bhaddiya Kaligodha, on going to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or
to an empty dwelling, repeatedly exclaim, “What bliss! What bliss!”
and on hearing him, the thought occurred to them, “There’s no doubt but
that Ven. Bhaddiya Kaligodha doesn’t enjoy leading the holy life, for when he
was a householder he knew the bliss of kingship, so that now, on recollecting
that, he is repeatedly exclaiming, ‘What bliss! What bliss!’” They went to
the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As
they were sitting there, they told him: “Ven. Bhaddiya Kaligodha, lord, on
going to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, repeatedly
exclaims, ‘What bliss! What bliss!’ There’s no doubt but that Ven. Bhaddiya
Kaligodha doesn’t enjoy leading the holy life, for when he was a householder he
knew the bliss of kingship, so that now, on recollecting that, he is repeatedly
exclaiming, ‘What bliss! What bliss!’”

Then the Blessed One told a
certain monk, “Come, monk. In my name, call Bhaddiya, saying, ‘The Teacher
calls you, my friend.’”

“As you say,
lord,” the monk answered and, having gone to Ven. Bhaddiya, on arrival he
said, “The Teacher calls you, my friend.”

“As you say, my
friend,” Ven. Bhaddiya replied. Then he went to the Blessed One and, on
arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there,
the Blessed One said to him, “Is it true, Bhaddiya that, on going to a
forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, you repeatedly exclaim,
‘What bliss! What bliss!’?”

“Yes, lord.”

“What meaning do you
have in mind that you repeatedly exclaim, ‘What bliss! What bliss!’?”

“Before, when I was a
householder, maintaining the bliss of kingship, I had guards posted within and
without the royal apartments, within and without the city, within and without
the countryside. But even though I was thus guarded, thus protected, I dwelled
in fear — agitated, distrustful, and afraid. But now, on going alone to a
forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, I dwell without fear,
unagitated, confident, and unafraid — unconcerned, unruffled, my wants
satisfied, with my mind like a wild deer. This is the meaning
I have in mind that I repeatedly exclaim, ‘What bliss! What bliss!’”

Then, on realizing the
significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

In whom there exists no provocation, & for whom becoming &
non-becoming are overcome, he is one — beyond fear, blissful, without grief,
whom the devas can’t see.

Please SMS the following:

In
whom there exists no provocation,&for whom becoming&non-becoming are
overcome,he is one-beyond fear,blissful,without grief,whom the devas can’t
see.-Buddha

Plz
read Ms.Mayawatiji’s proposal to divide UP into 4 States that goes far beyond
disturbing the State’s politics in FRONTLINE News Magazine cover story.

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452 LESSON 30 11 2011 Sudatta Sutta About Sudatta Anathapindika

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452 LESSON 30 11 2011 Sudatta Sutta About Sudatta Anathapindika

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THE BUDDHIST ON LINE GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE PROGRAM
LESSON 452

Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps
Dukkha Away

Please Visit:

SN 10.8

PTS: S i 210

CDB i 311

Sudatta Sutta: About Sudatta (Anathapindika)

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Translator’s note

Many discourses are set in
Jeta’s Grove, the monastery donated by Anathapindika. Here we learn how Anathapindika
first met the Buddha. A dramatic point in the story revolves around the fact
that most people knew of him by his epithet — Anathapindika means
“Almsgiver to those without protection” — rather than by his given
name. Thus he is surprised to hear the Buddha, at their first meeting, address
him correctly.

The Cullavagga (VI) gives
this same story in greater detail and adds more incidents: After reciting the
verse with which this discourse ends, the Buddha gives Anathapindika a
step-by-step teaching, culminating in an explanation of the four noble truths.
At the end of the teaching, Anathapindika attains stream-entry. He then returns
home to Savatthi, purchases a grove from Prince Jeta at immense price, and
establishes a monastery for the Buddha and the Sangha. There, according to the
commentaries, the Buddha spent more rains retreats than at any other monastery.

I have heard that on one
occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha in the
Cool Grove. Now at that time Anathapindika the householder had arrived in
Rajagaha on some business. He heard, “An Awakened One, they say, has
appeared in the world,” and he wanted to go right then to see the Blessed
One. Then the thought occurred to him, “Today is not the proper time to go
to see the Blessed One. Tomorrow I will go to see the Blessed One at the proper
time.” With his mindfulness immersed in the Awakened One he lay down to
sleep. Three times he got up during the night, thinking it was light. Then he
went to the gate to the charnel ground. Non-human beings opened the gate.

When Anathapindika the
householder had left the city, the light vanished and darkness appeared. Fear,
terror, & horripilation arose, and because of that he wanted to turn back.
Then Sivaka the yakkha-spirit, invisible, proclaimed:

A hundred elephants, a hundred horses, a hundred mule-drawn carts, a
hundred-thousand maidens adorned with jewels & earrings aren’t worth
one-sixteenth of one step forward. Go forward, householder! Go forward,
householder! Going forward is better for you, not back!

The darkness then vanished
for Anathapindika and the light appeared. The fear, terror, & horripilation
he had felt subsided.

For a second time… a
third time, the light vanished and darkness appeared. Fear, terror, &
horripilation arose, and because of that Anathapindika wanted to turn back.
Then for a third time, Sivaka the yakkha-spirit, invisible, proclaimed:

A hundred elephants, a hundred horses, a hundred mule-drawn carts, a
hundred-thousand maidens adorned with jewels & earrings aren’t worth one-sixteenth
of one step forward. Go forward, householder! Go forward, householder! Going
forward is better for you, not back!

The darkness then vanished
for Anathapindika and the light appeared. The fear, terror, & horripilation
he had felt subsided.

So Anathapindika went to
the Cool Grove. Now at that time, the Blessed One — having gotten up as the
night was ending — was pacing back & forth in the open air. He saw
Anathapindika the householder coming from afar. On seeing him, he got down from
his meditation path and sat on a seat made ready. As he was sitting there he
said to Anathapindika, “Come, Sudatta.”

Then Anathapindika,
[thinking,] “The Blessed One is calling me by my given name!” threw
himself down right there at the Blessed One’s feet and said to him, “Lord,
I hope the Blessed One has slept in ease.”

[The Buddha:]

Always, always, he sleeps in ease: the brahman totally unbound, who
doesn’t adhere to sensual pleasures, who’s without acquisitions & cooled.
Having cut all ties & subdued fear in the heart, calmed, he sleeps in ease,
having reached peace of awareness.

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11/28/11

451 LESSON 29 11 2011 Sangaha Sutta The Bonds of Fellowship

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451 LESSON
29 11 2011 Sangaha
Sutta The Bonds of Fellowship

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GOOD NEWS LETTER Through}^{http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org}

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THE BUDDHIST ON LINE GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE PROGRAM
LESSON 451

Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps
Dukkha Away

AN 4.32

PTS: A ii 32

Sangaha Sutta: The Bonds of
Fellowship

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

“There
are these four grounds for the bonds of fellowship. Which four? Generosity,
kind words, beneficial help, consistency. These are the four grounds for the
bonds of fellowship.”

Generosity, kind words,
beneficial help, & consistency in the face of events, in line with what’s
appropriate in each case, each case. These bonds of
fellowship [function] in the world like the linchpin in a moving cart. Now, if
these bonds of fellowship were lacking, a mother would not receive the honor
& respect owed by her child, nor would a father receive what his child owes
him. But because the wise show regard for these bonds of fellowship, they
achieve greatness and are praised.

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11/27/11

449 and 450 LESSONS 27 and 28 11 2011 Hatthaka Sutta About Hatthaka 1 and II

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449 and 450
LESSONS 27 and 28 11 2011 Hatthaka Sutta About Hatthaka 1 and II

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NEWS LETTER
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LESSON 449 and 450

Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps
Dukkha Away

AN 8.23

PTS: A iv 216

Hatthaka
Sutta: About Hatthaka (1)

translated
from the Pali by

Thanissaro
Bhikkhu

Translator’s note: On the surface, the
qualities the Buddha attributes to Hatthaka in this sutta do not seem
especially “amazing” or “astounding.” Keep in mind,
however, that the Canon depicts Hatthaka as very wealthy, and the Commentary
adds that he is a prince. To find such qualities in a person of power and
wealth is fairly amazing.

On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Alavi
at the Aggalava Shrine. There he addressed the monks:
“Monks, remember Hatthaka of Alavi as being endowed with seven amazing,
astounding qualities. Which seven? Monks, Hatthaka of Alavi is endowed with
conviction. He is virtuous. He has a sense of conscience. He has a sense of
concern.[1]
He is learned. He is generous. He is discerning. Remember Hatthaka of Alavi as
being endowed with these seven amazing, astounding qualities.”

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said it, the One
Well-gone, getting up from his seat, went into his dwelling.

Then early in the morning a certain monk, having put on his
robes and carrying his bowl & outer robe, went to Hatthaka of Alavi’s home.
On arrival, he sat down on a seat made ready. Then Hatthaka of Alavi approached
the monk and, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting
there the monk said to him, “Friend, the Blessed One has described you as
being endowed with seven amazing, astounding qualities. Which seven? ‘Hatthaka
of Alavi is endowed with conviction. He is virtuous. He has a sense of
conscience. He has a sense of concern. He is learned. He is generous. He is discerning.’
Friend, the Blessed One has described you as being endowed with these seven
amazing, astounding qualities.”

“I hope, sir, that there were no white-clad householders
there.”

“No, friend, there were no white-clad householders
there.”

“It’s good, sir, that there were no white-clad householders
there.”

Then the monk, having received alms at Hatthaka of Alavi’s home,
departed. After his meal, returning from his alms round, he went to the Blessed
One. On arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, he sat to one side. As
he was sitting there, [he told the Blessed One what had happened.]

[The Blessed One replied:] “It’s good, monk, it’s very good
that the clansman is modest and does not want others to know of the skillful
qualities present in him. In that case, monk, remember Hatthaka of Alavi as
being endowed with this eighth amazing, astounding quality: modesty.”

AN 8.24

PTS: A iv 218

Hatthaka
Sutta: About Hatthaka (2)

translated
from the Pali by

Thanissaro
Bhikkhu

Translator’s note: The four grounds for the
bonds of fellowship (see AN 4.32) appear in the early Mahayana sutras as
guidelines for every aspiring bodhisattva — one of the few teachings that even
the more radical Mahayana sutras adopt from the early canons. The following
sutta, which maintains that these four qualities are required for developing
any large following, may account for this fact.

On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Alavi at the
Aggalava Shrine. Then Hatthaka of Alavi, surrounded by approximately 500
[other] lay followers, went to the Blessed One. On arrival, having bowed down
to the Blessed One, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed One
said to him, “Large is your following, Hatthaka. How have you won over
this large following?”

“Lord, I have won over this large following through the four
grounds for the bonds of fellowship taught by the Blessed One. When I know
that, ‘This person is to be won over by giving,’ then I win him/her over by
giving. When I know that, ‘This person is to be won over by kind words,’ then I
win him/her over by kind words. When I know that, ‘This person is to be won
over by beneficial help,’ then I win him/her over by beneficial help.[1] When I know that, ‘This person is to be won
over by consistency,’ then I win him/her over by consistency.[2]
Awed by the wealth of my family, they regard me as worth listening to, which
would not be the case if I were poor.”

“It’s good, Hatthaka, it’s very good that this is the means by
which you have won over a large following. All those in the past who have won
over a large following have done so by means of these four same grounds for the
bonds of fellowship. All those in the future who will win over a large
following will do so by means of these four same grounds for the bonds of
fellowship. All those at present who are winning over a large following do so
by means of these four same grounds for the bonds of fellowship.”

Then, having been instructed, urged, roused, & encouraged by the
Blessed One with a talk on Dhamma, Hatthaka of Alavi got up from his seat,
bowed down to the Blessed One, circled him — keeping him on his right — and
left. Not long after he had left, the Blessed One said to the monks,
“Monks, remember Hatthaka of Alavi as being endowed with eight amazing,
astounding qualities. Which eight? Hatthaka of Alavi is endowed with
conviction. He is virtuous. He has a sense of conscience. He has a sense of
concern (for the results of unskillful actions). He is learned. He is generous.
He is discerning. He is modest. Remember Hatthaka of Alavi as being endowed
with these eight amazing, astounding qualities.”

VOICE
OF SARVAJAN

Fwd: Dr B R Ambedkar - Proposed
personality for your next project of wax figures for the 2013-2014 commissions
at the Madame-Tussauds

shivaram ramaiah

shivramaiah@gmail.com

VERY URGENT & IMPORTANT

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Please peruse the following correspondence between one of
our members, Mr. Pirthi Kaeley and Liz Edwards, PR Manager, Madame-Tussauds
regarding commissioning of Dr Ambedkar’s statue in the Madame-Tussauds’ gallery.
I request you, your organisation, your friends , and your contacts to
write to Madame-Tussauds’ and support this project for inclusion of ‘Dr. B R
Ambedkar’ in their next project. The contact details of Madame-Tussauds and
their website are given below.

You can also recommend/ vote Dr. Ambedkar on their
facebook website. Dr. Ambedkar’s name will be shortlisted on the basis of
support he gets from all of you and as many people. In addition to
writing to Madame Tussauds, It is also important to follow the facebook
link and suggest/recommend that there should be a Wax figure of Dr B R
Ambedkar at the Madame-Tussauds.

Madame-Tussauds Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/officialmadametussaudslondon?sk=wall

Contact Details for Madame-Tussauds:

Liz Edwards

PR
Manager - Madame Tussauds London

Madame
Tussauds
Marylebone Road
London, NW1 5LR

e-mail:
liz.edwards@madame-tussauds.com

Please forward this message to your contacts and of their
contacts as many as possible.

With kindest Regards,

Arun Kumar

General Secretary

Dr. Ambedkar Mission Society, Bedford.

NB: Please also feel free to browse the following links
for Madame-Tussauds below:

Web Links:

Visit us across the globe: http://www.madametussauds.com/

London: http://www.madametussauds.com/London/Default.aspx

From: P.Kaeley [mailto:p.kaeley28a11@sky.com]

Sent: Tuesday, 22 November, 2011 1:33 PM
To: ‘Liz Edwards’
Subject: Proposed personality for your next project of figures for the
2013-2014 commissions at the Madame-Tussauds

Dear Liz,

Thank you for a prompt reply.

I wish to propose the name of ‘Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’
to be added to the figures along with the other prominent world leaders, who
has made the difference for the betterment of the humanity worldwide,
especially for the rights of the women and the oppressed peoples around the
globe including India. Below is the brief summary of his life and
contributions to the humanity as a whole:

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

I wish to draw your attention to a great personality, Dr.
Bheem Ramji Ambedkar, popularly also known as Babasaheb Ambedkar. He was one among the tallest leaders in the world who
fought for the dignity of all humans irrespective of all artificial barriers –
caste, race, gender, religion, ethnicity etc. He is no less in stature than
Dr King, Nelson Mandela, or anyone else who fought for the human dignity. Lately he is becoming a
world phenomenon and the oppressed people across the Globe get inspiration from
him. Whole of his life he struggled for the basic human rights of millions of
people living in the Indian sub-continent. Schools opened in the name of Ambedkar
in Hungary by the Roma community are an evidence of his growing popularity.
Contribution of Dr. Ambedkar to eradicate
caste based discrimination (CBD) and his work to improve the conditions of
nearly 200 million oppressed people in India alone are being recognised in
academic and political circles not only in India but also all over the world.
On the demand of Dalit network Netherlands, on 30th June, 2011, Dutch
Parliament adopted a motion by two third majorities requesting the Minister of
Foreign Affairs to continue an active approach to combat CBD and improving the
position of over 300 million Dalits in South Asian countries. It was also
requested to raise issue on the European Union, UN organisations, the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Parliament was further asked to
accept Ambedkar Principles framed by International Dalit Solidarity
Network, Netherlands as an integral part of the Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) policy of Dutch and the European companies including in the supply chain
who are active in the countries where CBD is practised.

Dr. Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, political leader, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator,
prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, a revolutionary and one of the
founding fathers of independent India. He was born as untouchable community
which is considered inherently so much low and inferior that their mere shadow
polluted others. Overcoming numerous social and financial obstacles, Ambedkar
became one of the first so-called outcastes to obtain a college education in
India and earning law degrees and multiple doctorates for his study and
research in law, economics and political science from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. Despite all his learning, he was still considered low. He
fought ideological wars with his opponents (including Gandhi) to get minimum
human rights for his people. Overcoming all prejudices, he became the Chairman of the Drafting
Committee of the Indian Constitution and which
was adopted on January 26, 1950.
Ambedkar’s work on the constitution provided the legal framework for the
abolition of many oppressive features of Indian society and transformed the
lives of over three hundred million people by abolishing age old scourge of
humanity- Untouchability in modern India.

Ambedkar gave
preference to social reforms over political reforms. After his education in
London, he started a social movement to improve the conditions and social
status of Untouchables. He started newspapers and authored many books to
highlight the plight of untouchables. As they were not allowed to enter into
temples and fetch water from common water tanks, he started campaign to enter
into these places and drink water. Their admission in schools was prohibited.
In 1927, he led the Mahad March at the Chowdar Tank at Colaba, near Bombay, to
give the untouchables the right to draw water from the public tank where he
burnt copies of the ‘Manusmriti’ (a Hindu scripture advocating caste
based discrimination) publicly. This marked the beginning of the anti-caste and
anti-priest movement. The temple entry movement launched by Dr. Ambedkar in
1930 at ‘Kalaram Temple’, Nasik is another landmark in the struggle for human
rights and social justice His campaign caught the attention of Gandhi and he
also started talking about it. But unfortunately he was only
against untouchability but supported caste system where Dr. Ambedkar differed
from him.

Dr. Ambedkar,
organised the Independent Labour Party, participated in the provincial
elections and was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly. During these days
he stressed the need for abolition of the feudal system and pleaded for
workers’ right to strike.

He
attended all Round Tables Conferences held in London to negotiate more
political rights to the Indians. Each time, he forcefully projected his
views in the interest of the ‘untouchable’. He also exhorted the downtrodden
sections to raise their living standards and to acquire as much political power
as possible. In 1930s, the British government set up Simon Commission
to give representation in the government to various groups. Ambedkar pleaded
his case for the untouchables. The British Prime Minister, Ramsay McDonald
announced the findings of the Commission and as a result several communities
including the ‘depressed classes’(Untouchables) were given the right to have
separate electorates. As a Hindu leader, Gandhiji didn’t want to see the Hindu
community divided and went on a fast unto death to oppose it. Pressure was
put on Ambedkar to abandon his demand and save Gandhi’s life. Consequently on
24th September 1932, Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi reached an agreement by which
reservations (quotas) were provided for untouchables in Government jobs and
legislative assemblies. Gandhi very cunningly was successful in stopping
untouchables electing their own representatives to voice their concerns. But
the agreement carved out a clear and definite position for the downtrodden on
the political scene of the country. It opened up opportunities of education and
government services for them and also gave them a right to vote.

During
the Second World War, he called upon Indians to join the Army in large
numbers to defeat Nazism, which he said, was another name for Fascism.

Before
Independence of India, Ambedkar was appointed the Labour Minister in the
Viceroy’s Council. As a Labour Minister, he fixed the working hours of the
labourers. He also stopped pregnant women working in the mine industry.

As Law Minister in
the Independent India, he framed a Hindu Code Bill by which an Indian women
received an equal rights at par with men. For the first time she could inherit
the parents property. She was given a right to divorce to leave an unhappy
married life. Because of the pressure from the conservative Hindus, the
government was not prepared to pass this bill. Rather than compromising on this
issue, he resigned from the government. Later on this bill was passed in
instalments.

In 1952, Columbia
University from where he earned his MA in 1915 and PhD in 1927 presented him
with an honorary doctorate for his service as “a great social reformer and
a valiant upholder of human rights’. In 1995 a bronze bust of Dr. Ambedkar was
installed in the Lehman library of the Columbia University. Similarly a bronze
bust of Ambedkar also adores the London School of Economics from where he
obtained a DSc degree in Economics. Ambedkar was also posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award,
in 1990.

I hope that the above synopsis should give you the idea
of the proposed personality and hope that you consider the proposal seriously
to do the justice to the contribution he has made to the rights of women and
the oppressed people across the globe.

I’m sure that you would carry out your own research on
the proposed personality and come up with the favourable right conclusion and
include ‘Dr B R Ambedkar’ to your next project of figures for the 2013-2014
commissions.

I shall look forward to hearing from you.

With Kindest Regards

Pirthi Kaeley

NB: I’ve also attached a copy of the above synopsis and a
copy of a brief life & work of the proposed personality as a separate files
for your convenience.

From: Liz Edwards [mailto:Liz.Edwards@madame-tussauds.com]
Sent: Monday, 21 November, 2011 2:59 PM
To: P.Kaeley
Subject: RE: How one should go about suggesting the display of next
figures at the Madame-Tussauds?

Dear Pirthi

Thank you for your email and interest in Madame Tussauds London.

I would be delighted to hear your request and then I can add
him/her to the list. We’ve already decided our figures for 2012 and until March
2013 but it’s still great to get feedback from our guests.

Best wishes,

Liz

From: P.Kaeley [mailto:p.kaeley28a11@sky.com]
Sent: 21 November 2011 12:08
To: Liz Edwards
Subject: How one should go about suggesting the display of next figures
at the Madame-Tussauds?

Dear Liz Edwards,

Regarding the above, would you be so kind to provide me
with the relevant information on the decision process of who’s figure is
commissioned next and displayed at the ‘Madame-Tussauds’.

One of my friend has recently visited the
‘Madame-Tussauds’ at London and there was a message displayed outside asking
the public “Who’s figure you would like to see next at the Madame–Tussauds?”.
I’m not sure of the exact text of the message, but I’m sure you would
understand what I mean.

Please advise on how one should go about suggesting the
name of the next important personality/celebrity for his figure to be displayed
at the Madame-Tussauds?

Your help in the above would be very much appreciated. I
shall look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest Regards

Pirthi Kaeley

comments (0)

11/25/11

448 LESSON 26 11 2011 Hatthaka Sutta To Hatthaka excerpt On Sleeping Well in the Cold Forest

Filed under: General
Posted by: site admin @ 4:20 pm

448 LESSON 26 11 2011 Hatthaka Sutta To Hatthaka excerpt On Sleeping Well in the Cold
Forest

^{FREE ONLINE eN}^ā^land^ā^{Research and Practice UNIVERSITY &}

^{BUDDHIST GOOD NEWS LETTER

Through}^{http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org}

^{FREE ONLINE CONCENTRATION PRACTICE INSTITUTE FOR

STUDENTS(FOCPIS)-}

^{The Narratives for the Levels

of Departmental Curricula- Course Descriptions-}

THE BUDDHIST ON
LINE GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE PROGRAM
LESSON 448

Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps Dukkha Away

AN 3.34

PTS: A i 136

Thai III.35; BJT III.35

Hatthaka Sutta: To Hatthaka

(excerpt)

On Sleeping Well in the Cold Forest

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

On one occasion the
Blessed One was staying near Alavi on a spread of leaves by a
cattle track in a simsapa forest. Then Hatthaka of Alavi,
out roaming & rambling for exercise, saw the Blessed One sitting on a
spread of leaves by the cattle track in the simsapa forest. On seeing him, he
went to him and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he
was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, “Lord, I hope the Blessed
One has slept in ease.”

“Yes, young man. I
have slept in ease. Of those in the world who sleep in ease, I am one.”

“But cold, lord, is
the winter night. The ‘Between-the-Eights’[1]
is a time of snowfall. Hard is the ground trampled by cattle hooves. Thin is
the spread of leaves. Sparse are the leaves in the trees. Thin are your ochre
robes. And cold blows the Verambha wind. Yet still the
Blessed One says, ‘Yes, young man. I have slept in ease. Of those in the world
who sleep in ease, I am one.’”

“In that case, young
man, I will question you in return. Answer as you see fit. Now, what do you
think: Suppose a householder or householder’s son has a house with a gabled
roof, plastered inside & out, draft-free, with close-fitting door &
windows shut against the wind. Inside he has a horse-hair couch spread with a
long-fleeced coverlet, a white wool coverlet, an embroidered coverlet, a rug of
kadali-deer hide, with a canopy above, & red cushions on either side. And
there a lamp would be burning, and his four wives, with their many charms,
would be attending to him. Would he sleep in ease, or not? Or how does this
strike you?”

“Yes, lord, he would
sleep in ease. Of those in the world who sleep in ease, he would be one.”

“But what do you
think, young man. Might there arise in that householder or householder’s son
any bodily fevers or fevers of mind born of passion so that — burned with those
passion-born fevers — he would sleep miserably?”

“Yes, lord.”

“As for those
passion-born fevers — burned with which the householder or householder’s son
would sleep miserably — that passion has been abandoned by the Tathagata, its
root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development,
not destined for future arising. Therefore he sleeps in ease.

“Now, what do you
think, young man. Might there arise in that householder or householder’s son
any bodily fevers or fevers of mind born of aversion so that — burned with
those aversion-born fevers — he would sleep miserably?”

“Yes, lord.”

“As for those
aversion-born fevers — burned with which the householder or householder’s son
would sleep miserably — that aversion has been abandoned by the Tathagata, its
root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of
development, not destined for future arising. Therefore he sleeps in ease.

“Now, what do you
think, young man. Might there arise in that householder or householder’s son
any bodily fevers or fevers of mind born of delusion so that — burned with
those delusion-born fevers — he would sleep miserably?”

“Yes, lord.”

“As for those
delusion-born fevers — burned with which the householder or householder’s son
would sleep miserably — that delusion has been abandoned by the Tathagata, its
root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of
development, not destined for future arising. Therefore he sleeps in ease.

“Always, always, he sleeps in ease: the
brahman totally unbound, who doesn’t adhere to sensual pleasures, who’s without
acquisitions & cooled. Having cut all ties & subdued fear in the heart,
calmed, he sleeps in ease, having reached peace of awareness.”

I. Introduction

Since the origin of the
world, birth, aging, illness, and death have been unavoidable. Prince Siddhartha learned of this truth
when he ventured beyond his palace and visited the poor area of town. Here, amidst beggars, sick people, and
decrepit elders, he saw the reality of life.
Immediately, a desire arose in his heart to relieve the pain and
suffering of these people. Thus, he
renounced his life of luxury and became a monk, hoping that through
meditation and cultivation he could find solutions for the poor and ailing
people.

From the beginning, the
Buddha realized that just as one can suffer from physical disease, one could
also suffer from an unhealthy mindset. To cure both diseases of the body and mind,
the Buddha devoted his entire life to passing down the knowledge of the
Tripitaka1. While the Buddha sought to cure both physical
and mental illness, emphasis was placed upon the mind. He used the knowledge of the Dharma to
heal the illness that arose from the three poisons: greed, anger, and
ignorance. The Buddha’s medicine treats
disease starting from the patients’ minds, curing them of the three poisons. Psychologists also treat illness by working
with their patient’s mental state, but this is quite different from the
Buddhist practice of treating the mind.
According to Buddhism, the pure and wondrous Dharma is the perfect
medication for an ailing mind, as well as a sick body.

Keeping both the mind and
body healthy is important, for the body is the vehicle in which we can practice
the Dharma. Like all things, the mind
and the body are interdependent; the health of the mind influences the health
of the body, and vice versa – the health of the body influences the health of
the mind. With a healthy body as a tool,
we can cultivate a compassionate heart and a clear mind. With a cultivated mind, we are able to
examine ourselves, clearly see the nature of our problems, and then work to
resolve them. We will then be
approaching the path to true health.

II.
Buddhism and Medical Science

In the sutras, we can
find analogies that describe the Buddha as the doctor, knowledge of the Dharma
as the medicine, monastics as the nursing staff, and all people as the
patients. According to this medical
analogy, Buddhism is considered a medication with a broad meaning – a
medication that can cure the ailments in all aspects of life. In general, but with exceptions, Western
medicine functions within a much smaller framework. Western medicine typically approaches illness
through physical symptoms. This approach
tends to temporarily reduce the suffering and remove the symptoms for a period,
but a lack of symptoms does not mean that the root cause has been identified
and removed. Therefore, the complete
elimination of the disease has not occurred.
Buddhism offers patients not only symptomatic relief, but also spiritual
guidance to ensure overall and long-lasting health.

While Western researchers have conducted
massive studies on pathology, pharmacology, immunology, and anatomy, enabling
them to develop more sophisticated medical techniques, scientists still doubt
that religion can help explain the cause of a disease. Without validating the role of religion in
disease, scientists remain quite distant from the definition of disease, its
causes, and its treatments as understood from a religious perspective. According to Buddhism, it is not enough to
approach to medicine in a manner that simply eradicates symptoms; the spiritual
aspect of disease and its mind-based causes and remedies must be the primary consideration.

Only recently have science and religion
started to communicate and blend in a manner that is beginning to narrow the
gap between a scientific approach to disease and one rooted in religion. For instance, the U.S. government coordinated
international conferences on “The Relationship Between Religion and
Health.” Also, Harvard Medical School
offers a class entitled “The Essence of Medicine.” Religion is gradually influencing the
biological, psychological, and social medicine of Western society. Buddhism has played a significant role in
uniting spirituality and medicine in the West.

In the East, religion has impacted the field
of health and medicine for a much longer time.
Eastern medical practitioners never doubted the role of religion in
disease; the two have been integrated for thousands of years. Out of thousands of documents in the
Tripitaka, a significant number contain records about Buddhist medicine. When this canon of discourses and sutras was
brought to China, the most salient aspects of Indian Buddhism blended with the
most highly regarded aspects of Chinese medicine. Through modifications and improvements
contributed by numerous Buddhist masters from the past and present, the Chinese
Buddhist medical system has evolved into the one that presently exists. In the following pages, I will elaborate
further on the Buddhist understanding of illness and disease and the Buddhist
approach to medicine and healing.

III.
The Buddha as the Great Doctor

When the Buddha was young, he learned the
science of medicine2. He became very knowledgeable
about the nature and cure of diseases.
According to the sutras, a famous physician named Jivaka further
advanced his medical practice and mastered additional skills by learning from
the Buddha and following the Buddha’s instructions. Jivaka performed several remarkable surgical
procedures, earning a respectable reputation in the medical field. One of his well-known operations involved the
repair of an obstructed colon. Jivaka
performed this surgery using a sequence of techniques similar to contemporary
practices: administering anesthesia,
opening the abdominal region, repairing the colon, and finally, closing the
incision with stitches. Though a trained
physician, Jivaka became even more competent in his mastery of medicine under
the Buddha’s spiritual and medical guidance.

In addition to records about the Buddha and
Jivaka, numerous sutras such as The Sutra of Buddha’s Diagnosis, The
Sutra of the Buddha as a Great Doctor, The Sutra on Relieving Piles, The Sutra
on Healing Mental Distractions of Improper Meditation, The Sutra of Healing
Dental Diseases, The Sutra of Dharani for Healing All Diseases, The Sutra of
Dharani for Season’s Diseases, Suvarnaprabhasottama Sutra, Vinaya of the Five Categories,
Vinaya of the Four Categories, Ten Recitations Vinaya, and Mahasanghavinaya, contain
many other references to the Buddha’s knowledge about medicine. The Buddha truly deserved to be regarded as
the grand patriarch of Buddhist medicine.
He was capable of curing diseases not only of the body but also of the
mind, which were his specialty. Today,
when a patient seeks a physician’s care for a physical ailment, the physician
typically only pays attention to the painful symptoms in the body, ignoring both
the causes and the suffering in the mind.
By not investigating and discovering the true roots of the disease, they
only accomplish a fraction of real healing.
They do very little to heal the patients’ unhappiness, for they do not
recognize and understand the true cause of the human life cycle of birth,
aging, illness, and death. They do not
take into account that karma and mental constructs have something to do with
the origins of illness.

The Buddha’s realization of what induces the
perpetual cycle of rebirth and the stages of aging, illness, and death, enabled
him to guide others to live with ultimate physical and mental health. The Buddha eliminated disease by going to the
heart of the cause and drawing upon his knowledge of the proper remedy. In Anguttara-nikaya, the Buddha
explained that an imbalance of chi3, an overabundance of phlegm, and an increase or
decrease in the body’s temperature could be treated with clarified butter,
honey, and oil-based food respectively.

Regarding mental health, greed, anger, and
ignorance are understood as the three gravest psychological diseases. The Buddha taught that greed could be cured
by the contemplation of impurity, anger by the contemplation and practice of
kindness, and ignorance by the contemplation of the true nature of all things
and the cultivation of wisdom. These are
the medications that the Buddha encouraged everyone to use in order to heal the
diseases of both body and mind.

In The Sutra of Buddha’s Diagnosis the
Buddha explained that a doctor should progress through four steps when helping
a patient. Doctors must: 1) discover the
origin of the illness, 2) achieve a thorough understanding of the illness, 3)
prescribe the appropriate medication to cure the illness, and 4) completely
cure the illness in a manner that prevents it from reoccurring. In addition to mastering these four criteria,
a good doctor should always act with a generous heart when treating patients,
considering them as his or her dearest friends.

The Buddha also identified five important
practices for caretakers – nurses, family members, friends, and others – to be
aware of as they cared for patients. He
encouraged caretakers to: 1) insure that the patients are tended to by
good-hearted and skillful doctors, 2) wake up earlier and go to bed later than
patients and always remain alert to the patient’s needs, 3) speak to their
patients in a kind and compassionate voice when they are feeling depressed or
uneasy, 4) nourish the patients with the proper food in the correct amounts and
intervals according to the nature of the ailment and according to the doctor’s
instructions, and 5) talk with skill and ease about the Dharma with the
patients; instructing them in proper healthcare for the body and mind.

Lastly,
the Buddha offered advice to patients in order to help them heal quickly and
thoroughly. He recommended that
patients: 1) be cautious and selective about the food they eat, 2) consume food
at the proper intervals, 3) stay in touch with their doctors and nurses, always
acting kindly and graciously towards them, 4) keep an optimistic or hopeful
outlook, and 5) be kind and considerate of those who are caring for you. The Buddha believed that a cooperative effort
from the doctors, caretakers, and patients yielded the best results from
treatment. The Buddha was not just an
average doctor; he was an exceptional doctor who had vision and insight.

IV.
Medical Theories in Buddhism

According to Chinese
medicine, diseases are caused by seven internal
and six external elements. The internal elements are extreme levels of
happiness, anger, anxiety, a ruminating mind, sadness, fear, and shock. The external elements are coldness,
summer-heat, dryness, heat, dampness, and wind.
The seven internal elements, also referred to as emotions, are believed
to cause illness because they directly impair the healthy functioning of the
five main organs of human beings.
Extreme levels of either happiness or fear damage the heart, anger harms
the liver, anxiety harms the lungs, a ruminating mind affects the spleen, and
shock hurts the kidneys. According to
Chinese medicine, a healthy and balanced emotional life is essential in
maintaining one’s physical health.

Various Buddhist sutras describe the causes of
disease in a similar manner. For
example, The Sutra of Buddha’s Diagnosis mentions that there are ten
causes and conditions of sickness. These
reasons are: 1) sitting for too long a period without moving, 2) eating too
much, 3) sadness, 4) fatigue, 5) excessive sexual desire, 6) anger, 7)
postponing excrement, postponing urination, 9) holding the breath, and 10)
suppressing gas. Approaching the causes
of disease from a slightly different angle, The Discourse of Great
Equanimity and Insightful Meditation points out six origins for
disease. They are described as: 1) an
imbalance of the four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind), 2) irregular dietary habits, 3)
incorrect meditation methods, 4) disturbances by spirits, 5) demon possession,
and 6) the force of bad karma. Illness
that originates from most of these origins can be cured if people improve their
diet, become more aware of their bodies’ natural processes, and get plenty of
rest. However, the last three causes 4)
– 6) are related to karma, and one must work on improving his/her character and
purifying his/her mind in order to be cured.
A person afflicted for the last three reasons needs to spend time in
spiritual practice, repentance, and doing good deeds. Only then will his/her illness begin to go
away. The Mahaprajnaparamita Sastra states that illness is caused either by
internal or external causes and conditions.
Still, Visuddhimagga mentions additional causes of disease, but
they are too numerous to list here. All
of the theories on the various causes of illness can be grouped into two main
categories: A) the imbalance of the four elements and B) the presence of three
poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance.
The following is a detailed discussion of these two
classifications.

A.
The Imbalance of the Four Elements

According to Buddhism, the body is composed of four impermanent
elements – earth, water, fire, and wind.
Only consciousness is reborn in one of the six realms. This theory is the foundation of Indian
Buddhist medical science. Chinese
medicine believes the body to be comprised of a unique system of subsidiary
channels that transmits vital energy (chi), blood, nutrients, and other
substances through the five organs and six internal regions in one’s body. When this intricate circulation system is
flowing properly, the four elements stay in balance, the major organs can
perform their essential functions, and the body remains healthy.

The Discourse of
Condensed Equanimity and Insightful Meditation states that each of the four elements is able to cause one
hundred and one diseases, with a total of four hundred and four diseases
possible. Each element is connected to
certain types of diseases. For instance,
the earth element is related to diseases that make the body become heavy,
stiff, and painful, such as arthritis; the water element afflicts the body with
diarrhea, stomach aches, and difficult digestion; the fire element causes
fever, constipation, and problems urinating; lastly, the wind element is
related to breathing difficulties and vomiting.

The third volume of Nanhai Ji Gui Neifa Zhuan states that,
“If diseases are related to the four elements, they are usually caused by
overeating or overexertion.” An
imbalance of the four elements and the resulting illness can also occur due to
a diet that is not in tune with the four seasons. When the seasons change and the temperature
varies from cool to cold to warm to hot, it is important to adjust our diet in
a manner that enables the body to function at its best. In The Suvarnaprabhasottama Sutra, a
young man asked his father who was a doctor, “How do we cure the suffering of
human beings and cure diseases that arise from the imbalance of the four
elements?” The doctor responded to his
son by saying, “We live our lives through four seasons of three months, or six
seasons of two months in some parts of the world. Whether four or six, we must live according
to the seasons, eating food that corresponds with hot and cold, warm and cool.
In this way, our bodies will benefit. A
good doctor is well learned in prescribing the right food and medicine to
adjust the four elements and nourish a patient’s body during a particular
season. When the season and the food are
in balance, so too will the body be in balance.”

Eating a reasonable amount and adjusting what we eat according
to seasonal changes are two important factors in maintaining balance among the
four elements and allowing chi to circulate unimpeded through our bodies. We automatically dress differently when the
seasons change in order to comfort and protect ourselves during a particular
temperature change or weather conditions.
If we adopt this practice and adjust our diet with the weather and
seasons, we help our bodies to stay balanced and guard against disease.

B.
Greed, Anger, and Ignorance

Greed, anger, and ignorance, sometimes referred to as “the three
poisons,” are also reasons why people are afflicted with sickness. When one is stuck in any one of these
destructive mental states, one opens the door and invites disease. The
Vimalakirti Sutra states, “All the diseases I have right now are derived
from illusory thoughts I have had in the past … because human beings are
attached to a “self”, affliction and diseases have the chance to be born their
bodies.” When one allows oneself to be
ruled by the three poisons, the psychological and physical health hazards are
numerous and can be quite debilitating. The following descriptions provide
insight into how greed, anger, and ignorance cause illness:

1. Greed

Greed
is defined as an improper and excessive desire for something. For example, one is more likely to overeat
when one is having a favorite meal. Such
greed can then lead to an overly full stomach and the food will not be well
digested. Or, one may like food so much
that he/she eats much too frequently.
This type of desire which cannot be satisfied can cause obesity,
fatigue, and heart problems. Greed is
never without consequences.

People can also have excessive desires for sensory
experience. In The Discourse of Interpretation Great Equanimity and Insightful
Meditation, it is stated that too much attachment to what we perceive
through sound, smell, sight, taste, and touch can cause both psychological and
physical illness. A person may cling to
the experience of these five sensations, which can cause an imbalance in our
rational thoughts and disturb our ability to make moral choices. Physical health problems can also arise. In
the Buddhist health theory, those who are too attached to physical appearance
will suffer from diseases of the liver.
Those who are too attached to sounds will suffer from kidney
diseases. Those who are too attached to
aromas will suffer from lung diseases.
Those who are too attached to taste will suffer from heart diseases; and
those who are too attached to the sensation of touch will suffer from spleen
diseases. Thus, when we encounter the
multitude of sensations that are a natural part of daily life, it is best to
maintain a balanced attitude and practice the Middle Path4.
In order to maintain optimum physical and mental health, the Middle Path
is also the best way to approach sleeping, eating, and exercising. When one sleeps too much, one will not have a
clear mind. When one eats too much food
that is high in cholesterol and sugar, one is gradually increasing the risk
of poor health and could ultimately face chronic disease, such as diabetes or
heart disease. In today’s fast-paced
society that promotes working excessively and watching hours of television,
people do not exercise enough, and eventually, this has an adverse affect on
their bodies. Additionally, nowadays
people are constantly exposed to a noisy and stressful environment, which can
cause people to become sick more easily.
If one decreases one’s greed and desire and approaches life with the
attitude of the Middle Path, one can lead a healthier life.

2. Anger

The fourteenth volume of The
Mahaprajnaparamita Sastra states that, “Anger is the most toxic emotion
compared to the other two poisons; its harm far exceeds all of the other
afflictions as well. Of the ninety-eight
torments5,
anger is the hardest one to subdue; among all psychological problems, anger is
the most difficult to cure.” Although
anger is a psychological problem, it can also lead to severe physical
consequences. For example, when aversion
and anger arise in a person, the blood vessels become constricted, causing a
rise in blood pressure and thus increasing the risk of heart attack.

In writing about anger, Venerable Punengsong
from the Qing Dynasty tells us,

A good doctor always finds out

The cause of
a sickness first.

Anger is quite
harmful

To someone who is sick.

The relationship between a patient’s pulse

And
his illness is delicate.

With the correct prescription,

We can heal ourselves of our illness.

As doctors examine their patients to determine the cause of
illness and the proper medication to prescribe, one of the most essential
ingredients of treatment is pacifying the patients’ emotions. Anger causes poor circulation, which can have
devastating effects on the entire body.
It acts as a blockade, causing the body and mind to be less receptive to
treatment. When agitated emotions
subside and the patient is able to experience a sense of tranquility,
recuperating is both easier and quicker.
Anger and hatred are particularly detrimental to the healing process,
and in fact, often worsen the problem.

3. Ignorance

When one is ignorant, one is unable to understand or see things
as they really are. Many of us are like
this when it comes to illness. We are
unable or unwilling to look at the root of the illness. Instead of pinpointing
the true cause and effect that will help us to eradicate the illness, and
instead of using wisdom to guide us to the proper care, we take a detour and
become distracted by ineffective remedies.
We sometimes look for a “quick fix,” using unsubstantiated methods,
unscientific therapies, and unsound doctors.
Meanwhile, the illness is usually causing us both physical and
psychological suffering. Using wisdom to
investigate the actual cause of our illness will help us to set foot on the
road to complete and long-lasting recovery.

While it is usually easy to detect the symptoms of a physical
disease, we often remain ignorant of psychological diseases. They follow us like a shadow. We do not examine the constructs of our mind
with wisdom and awareness, and poor psychological health follows. If we remain blind to our psychological
diseases, the problems can compound and cause more severe sickness within our
bodies. Modern scientists agree that
anger, extreme happiness, anxiety, terror, sadness, and other emotions can
impact one’s physical well being.
According to recent medical research, “When a person is unhappy, angry,
or under pressure, his or her brain will release the hormones called adrenaline
and nor-adrenaline, which can act as a toxin.”
In addition, if the body is influenced by extreme emotions for a long
period of time, the illness induced by the emotional imbalance or stress is
harder to cure. For example, a digestive
disorder rooted in a prolonged emotional condition is more difficult to cure
than one caused by an external factor.
There is scientific evidence, not just religious theory, that emotions
indeed impact the healthy functioning of the body. Therefore, it is in our best interest to
cultivate awareness of our emotional condition, handle our emotions well, and
not become too attached to or controlled by them.

In Buddhism, there are eighty-four thousand methods that are
used to cure eighty-four thousand illnesses.
For instance, the Buddha taught that to eliminate greed, one can use the
contemplation of impurity. Once a person
meditates on impurity, he or she will experience a decrease in desire. The Buddha taught people afflicted with anger
or hatred to practice universal kindness and compassion in order to reduce
their hostility. When they feel
themselves becoming angry, they should become mindful of the meaning of
compassion. In doing so, they will
understand that getting mad is not an appropriate or helpful response. Gradually, their angry words and thoughts
will dissipate.

If people are ignorant, they should contemplate cause and effect
and the law of impermanence, to help them nurture the mindset of
non-attachment. Nothing arises outside of dependence origination and nothing
that arises will last forever; all phenomena will one-day cease to exist. Since everything behaves like dust, which
comes and goes, what is the purpose of being attached to it? Realizing there is no immunization for
impermanence helps to reorient our minds from ignorance to wisdom and allows us
to live with greater overall health.

Master Hanshan Deqing from the Ming Dynasty said, “No one can
get sick, age, die, or be born for you.
This suffering, only you must bear.
All bitterness and sweetness one must go through on one’s own.” If we can accept the inevitability of
suffering and impermanence with equanimity, it is like taking a dose of the
finest medicine. Thus, when we adjust
our emotions, subdue our temper, and act generously toward others, we will find
our way through life’s problems with more ease and reduce the chance of
illness. If we apply these principles of
Buddhist medicine to nurture our minds and restore our bodies, generosity will
emerge out of greed, compassion will emerge out of anger, wisdom will emerge
out of ignorance, and health will emerge out of sickness. When we treat the poisons of the mind and
act with equanimity in all circumstances, there will be harmony of body and
mind and disease will be kept at bay.

V. The Medicine of Buddhism

The occurrence of a disease is closely related
to one’s mental health, physical health, spiritual health, behavior, habits,
living environment, and even the society and culture in which one lives. Harmonizing all of these elements and
engaging in specific practices can help to bring about optimum health and
prevent illness. Gaining awareness about
the cause of illness and conducting our lives in a manner that nourishes and
maintains long-term good health can drastically improve our overall
well-being. The Buddha offers us several
suggestions and practices that can serve as medicine for all aspects of our
lives:

Practice Healthy Dietary Habits: A Chinese idiom states, “Troubles are caused by words flowing
out of the mouth; illness is caused by food going into the mouth.” Using caution and moderation in what we
consume is an important practice for good health. Before consuming any food, we should
determine if the food is fresh, if it is thoroughly cleaned, and what would be
a reasonable amount to eat. The Sutra of Buddha’s Bequeath Teachings
(Ch. I-chiao-ching Sutra) states, “When we eat, we should regard our food
as medicine, for consuming too much or too little is not healthy. A regular and proper dose can support our
bodies, cure our hunger, relieve our thirst, and prevent us from becoming
ill. Like bees gathering honey, they
take what they need, but they don’t consume the whole flower.” As Xingshi Chao states, we should adjust the
type of food we eat according to the season, consuming various combinations of
food in order to maintain our body’s equilibrium. Our bodies are susceptible to different
ailments depending on the season, and a diet conscious of this fact offers a
better chance of staying healthy.

The Regulation for Chan Monastery outlined five contemplations to be mindful of when we take our
meals:

I consider the effort required

To grow and prepare the food;

I am grateful for its sources.

In observing my virtue;

If impeccable in mind and heart,

I shall deserve this offering.

I shall protect my heart

From being ensnared by faults;

I shall guard myself

Particularly against greed.

To cure my weakening body,

I shall consume this food as medicine.

To tread the path

Of spiritual cultivation;

I shall accept this food

As an offering.

One should maintain a balanced diet and approach food with a
gracious attitude. When our bodies are
given the right amount of food, our digestive organs will function properly,
and our body’s metabolism will be in prime condition, thus preventing digestive
diseases and other health problems.
Being mindful of and grateful for the food we consume contributes to the
health of our mind as well as our body.

Meditation: Our mind is constantly
exploring the world around us and as a result, illusory thoughts are always
arising and ceasing. Our over-active
mind rarely gets a chance to rest. The
constant stream of thoughts we experience can affect our ability to concentrate
without interruption and can have a negative affect on our daily life. In addition to psychological health risks,
one’s physiology can also be adversely affected by an overwhelming amount of
mental activity. The brain can cease to
function properly due to our continual clutter of thoughts or an instance of
severe mental excitation. For example,
when one experiences a tremendous surprise, the face may appear discolored, the
hands and feet become cold, and one’s ability to concentrate normally will be
impaired. However, if this person can
take a deep breath to slow down the heartbeat and calm the emotions, the
presence of tranquility will return the body to its normal state and the chance
for harming any vital organs will decrease.

Through the meditative practice of breathing slowly and
concentrating on the breath, one’s psychological and physiological well-being
can dramatically improve. In The Medicine Chan, written by a Japanese
physician, three specific physical benefits derived from meditation were
mentioned: 1) increased energy and a prolonged period of prime years 2)
improved blood circulation, and 3) a renewed endocrine system6. Through meditation, our body achieves a
greater state of balance and our breathing becomes regulated. Our mind becomes focused, clear, and
organized. Desires are dissolved and
improper thoughts are eliminated.
When our mind is clear and focused at all times, even as we walk, sit,
and sleep, we will be calm and peaceful, which eventually results in a greater
degree of overall health – both mental and physical. Master Tiantai Zhizhe recognizes the
significant impact that meditation can have on overall health. He commented that if meditation is practiced
on a regular basis and applied to daily occurrences with wisdom, all four
hundred and four illnesses can be cured.

With a mind that is free from the exhaustion and confusion of
constant thoughts, we can accomplish significant things in our lives, instead
of merely thinking about doing so.
Through acting, instead of just thinking, one can more authentically
experience each moment and ultimately encounter the truth of life.

Paying Respect to the Buddha: The benefits of paying respect to the Buddha are numerous and
come in many forms, nurturing both physical and mental health. Bowing to the Buddha increases the strength
and flexibility of the body. When one
bows, one’s neck, hands, arms, waist, and legs stretch, giving the whole body
an opportunity to exercise. By
stretching the body, stiffness decreases and blood circulation increases, thus
reducing the chance of becoming ill.

Although bowing results in distinct physical benefits, the act
of bowing and the resulting benefits have more to do with our state of mind
than our physical action. Our mental
presence when bowing is of utmost importance.
When we bow, we should show respect and sincerity, remaining deep in
concentration as a slow bow is performed.
As we pay respect in this manner, we should contemplate the Buddha then
expand our focus to include unlimited Buddhas in all directions. When we pay respect to unlimited Buddhas,
unlimited beings are benefited.
Ourselves, the Buddha – in fact all true nature is empty. However, though empty, if one bows before the
Buddha with a sincere and respectful heart, an amazing spiritual experience can
take place. Contemplating the truth of
emptiness teaches us to reorient our self-centered way of being and realize
that the notion of self is merely illusory.
Bowing, therefore, is performed not only to express our deepest
gratitude to the Buddha and all Buddhas, but also an effective way to eliminate
our ignorance, decrease our attachment to self, dissolve the burden of karma,
and cultivate our spiritual practice. As
we can see, bowing is a health-giving gesture that nourishes both our body and
mind.

Repentance: Confession is another
practice that helps to restore and maintain our health. It is like clean water that washes away the
dirt from one’s heart and the dust from one’s mind. A story about a Tang Master named Wuda offers
us an example of how confession can be a healing agent. Master Wuda had a man killed in a previous
life. Seeking revenge in future lives,
the man who was killed was reborn as a sore on Master Wuda’s foot. No doctor could cure the sore because it was
a manifestation of Master Wuda’s bad karma.
After seeking guidance from an Arhat who helped him to realize his
wrongdoing, Master Wuda repented with a sincere heart, cleansed his wound with
pure water, and the sore disappeared.
Only the heart of repentance could cure Master Wuda of his ailment. Thus, all of us should repent our mistakes
and misdeeds to the Buddha and vow not to repeat the same behavior and create
more bad karma. In addition, with the
heart and mind of a bodhisattva, we may compassionately repent for all beings,
thereby relieving their suffering as well as our own. Psychologically, repentance is believed to
release impure thoughts and worrisome guilt that act like toxins in our bodies.
It alleviates our mental burdens and reduces the potential for illness.

Reciting Mantras7: Mantras are powerful in curing diseases when
recited with a sincere heart, deep concentration, and proper intentions. The Great Compassion Mantra and the
Medicine Buddha Mantra are two such examples. When recited, each Mantra generates a
tremendous amount of merit and has amazing healing and transforming
effects.

Reciting the Buddha’s Name: Many people are distressed by anxiety, agitation, improper
desires, and delusional thought. These
torments not only disturb our psychological well-being and eventually take a
toll on our physical health, they also hinder our ability to perceive the truth
of life and attain enlightenment. When
we recite the name of the Buddha, the torment of improper and delusional
thoughts will cease and our mental anguish will evaporate. The heart calms down, the mind is awakened
and purified, and no greed, anger, ignorance, or other toxins will arise, thus
giving us greater protection from illness and delivering us from our ignorance. Reciting the Buddha’s name also helps us to reduce
our bad karma, eliminating as many misdeeds as there are grains of sand in the
Ganges. A Buddhist saying tells us,
“Reciting the Buddha’s name once can diminish one’s bad karma, and bowing to
the Buddha can increase one’s good karma.”
Thus, reciting the Buddha’s name is an effective practice for healing
the distress of our minds and bodies, as well as benefiting our cultivation and
awakening us to the truth of life.

Using the Dharma as Medicine: Our
world is ailing from a broad range of modern diseases that, while not actually
classified as standard medical illnesses, still cause overwhelming suffering
and need to be treated. Some of these
are environmental diseases, which include pollution, resource destruction, and
loud noise, and societal diseases, including violence, harassment, materialism,
kidnapping, and crime. There are also,
educational diseases, such as the physical and emotional abuse of students and
the growing lack of respect for authority, and economic diseases, such as
opportunism, greed, and corruption.
There also exist religious diseases, which could be explained as
superstitious practices, religions that encourage harmful practices, and
incorrect interpretations of religious concepts. Relationship diseases refer to infidelity,
polygamy, and rape, and mental diseases include jealousy, distrust, and
resentment. We may seek a doctor’s help
for physical illness, but the diseases listed above can only be cured by our
own efforts to develop our character, cultivate our wisdom, and practice the
Dharma. Buddhism can be used as a medicine to cure our minds of
destructive and unhealthy thoughts, which create the conditions for all of the
diseases mentioned above. A pure mind
creates a pure world, and the wondrous Dharma is the perfect medicine to guide
us to healthy thoughts, healthy behavior, and healthy lives.

In particular, the six paramitas8 can be used to cure six kinds of
diseases in Buddhism: 1) Generosity cures greed, 2) Observing the precepts
cures violation of the precepts, 3) Tolerance cures hatred, 4) Diligence
cures laziness, 5) Meditation cures the frenzied mind, and 6) Prajna (wisdom)
cures ignorance. The medicine of the six
paramitas enables us to treat our mind and generate peace and harmony in all
aspects of our lives. When we embrace
the Dharma, we can resolve the conflicts in our daily life with more ease and
develop a healthy mind and a gracious character.

Master Wuchih created a recipe of ingredients that can be used
to turn an unhealthy mind into a healthy one.
In the spirit of Master Wuchih, I created my own recipe for health:

One strand of compassionate heart,

One slice of morality

And original nature,

A pinch of cherishing good fortune,

Three portions of

Gratitude and appreciation,

A complete package of

Sincere words and actions,

One
piece of observation of

Precepts and upholding
the Dharma,

One piece of humility,

Ten portions of diligence and
frugality,

Combine all cause and effect,

And unlimited skillful means,

Establishing affinities,

The more the better!

Topped off with all your
faith,

Vows, and practice.

Use the pot called magnanimity,

Use the heart called
open-mindedness,

Don’t burn it!

Don’t let it dry out!

Lower your hot temper by three degrees,

(Mellow out and lose in a little
gentleness.)

Put into a bowl and grind into small pieces.

(Like people entering
each other’s hearts and cooperating with each other.)

Think everything over three times,

Give encouragement as a pill,

Each day take this medicine three times,

Drink it down with the soup of

Love and compassion,

Remember when you take the medicine,

You cannot have clarity in speaking

But a muddled being.

Or benefit yourself at the expense of others.

Ambushing others from behind,

And harboring malice within,

Using a smile to masquerade the desire

To strike,

Or speaking from both sides of your mouth,

Creating disharmony just for the heck of it,

Refrain from engaging in the seven
above,

Along with no jealousy or suspicion,

Use self-discipline,

And Truth to calm the troubled heart,

If you can do this, all ills will
disappear.

VI.
The Contribution of Monastics to Medicine

In India, most monastics are well educated in
the five sciences, especially in medicine, which they are required to
study. Because knowledge of medicine is
mandatory for monastics, throughout Buddhist history there are many well-known
monastic physicians, medical scholars, and medical texts. For example, in the Buddhist sutras, we find
countless references to and discussions about medicine. Evidence also demonstrates that Buddhism has
made a significant contribution to the world of medicine not only through the
development of respectable health theories and principles but also through
actual practice. While by no means an
exhaustive list, the following are brief accounts of Buddhist masters who have
stood out in the history of Buddhist medicine.

In China, Master Buddhasimha was dedicated as the Honorable
National Master of the East Gin Dynasty by Emperors Shile and Shihu. He was exceptionally skillful in reciting
curative prayers and administering medicine.
He tended to many patients who were paralyzed, in great pain, and were
hopeless about finding a cure for their ailment. Master Buddhasimha never gave up on them,
faithfully devoting his heart to caring for them as they suffered, prescribing
the proper medication, and finding a lasting cure for their diseases.

Master Zhu fatiao came to China from India, and stayed in
Changshan Temple most of the time. He
was quite famous for his ability to cure people, and patients journeyed
hundreds of miles to seek his help.
After skillfully diagnosing the problem and prescribing the appropriate
treatment, nearly all of his patients were restored to good health.

Master Faxi lived during the Tang Dynasty. When he resided in the capital, he assumed
full responsibility for all of his patients’ needs and cared for them
personally, including cleaning up their excrement. He never complained about this task or
considered it filthy or difficult. On
the contrary, he was always enthusiastic and joyful as he tended to his
patients. Both the patients and fellow
monastics praised his compassionate conduct.
Master Faxi not only cured patients’ physical diseases, he also
patiently brought them the knowledge of the Dharma to comfort them when they
were feeling hopeless or in pain.

Buddhists have also been credited for contributing to the cure
of leprosy, a dangerous and contagious illness that often drove people
away. However, many Buddhists chose not
to avoid victims of leprosy but instead worked among them to help ease their
suffering and cure their debilitating illness.
Many monks put forth great effort to help leprosy patients, caring for
them, encouraging them, changing their bandages, draining their infected sores,
and doing their laundry. These people
risked their lives by performing services that most people avoided. Their tenderness touched many people.

VII.
Conclusion

As we have discussed, numerous physical and mental diseases
afflict us and cause great suffering.
While Buddhist medical theories acknowledge and treat the devastating
effects of physical diseases, they regard diseases of the mind as the most
destructive to health and happiness.
According to Buddhism, people suffer from disease when they:

Cannot

Settle into peace of mind

Control
anger

Resolve
hatred

Calm a
fearful heart

Dissolve sadness and worry

Cannot

Cease arguing

Stop competing

Practice humility and
offer tolerance to others

Recognize when quietude
is appropriate

Maintain a healthy
balance of chi

Cannot

Endure life’s
difficulties

Lead a simple lifestyle

Practice proper etiquette

Cease their fear of death

Reorient erroneous
perceptions

All of these diseases are caused by our rigid attachment – to an
idea, belief, person, appearance, possession, emotion, status, or experience –
to anything at all. If we can understand
the true meaning of detachment and the true nature of emptiness and treat all
illness with this awareness, we will then have the perfect, miracle medicine to
remove the roots of disease. Both the body
and the mind need to be taken care of, and the medicine of Buddhism is the
ideal remedy. Use the Dharma to heal
your mind, and the path of true health will open up for you. I wish you health and happiness!

1 The Tripitaka is the canon of Buddhist teachings, including Sutras
(sermons of the Buddha), the Vinaya (precepts and rules of Buddhist
discipline), and the Abhidharma (commentary on the Buddha’s teachings).

2 Medicine is one of the five sciences whose study is mandatory for
monastics. The other four are language, arts and mathematics, logic, and the
philosophy of Buddhism.

3 According to Chinese medicine, chi is the energy or life force that
circulates throughout the body; this vital power is believed to flow throughout
the entire universe.

4 In practicing the Middle Path, one avoids both extremes of indulgence
and asceticism.

5 Sometimes referred to as “temptations” or “afflictions,” these
mind-torments, e.g. greed, anger, sloth, jealousy, and many others, inhibit one from
residing in true, original, pure mind.

6 System of glands that secrete hormones directly into the lymph or
bloodstream.

7 Powerful spiritual practice of reciting a word, sound, or verse, used
to cultivate wisdom, deepen concentration, and effect a change in
consciousness.

8 Literally meaning “crossing over to the other shore,” paramitas are
the core virtues of the bodhisattva path.

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SN 1.20

PTS: S i 8

CDB i 97

Samiddhi Sutta:
Samiddhi

translated from the
Pali by

Maurice O’Connell
Walshe

Alternate translation: Thanissaro

The Pali title of this
sutta is based on the PTS (Feer) edition.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was staying at
Raajagaha in the Tapodaa Park. Now the Venerable Samiddhi, as dawn approached,
arose and went to the Hot Springs [1]
to bathe. Having bathed, he came out of the Hot Springs and stood, clad in a
single garment, drying his limbs. Then a certain she-deva,[2]
as the night was passing away, lighting up the entire Hot Springs lake with her
effulgent beauty, approached the Venerable Samiddhi and, hovering in the air,
addressed him thus in verse:

Having had no sport,
monk seeking alms,[3]
Having none today, just seeking alms, Why not get your fill, monk, then seek
alms, Lest your fleeting hour should slip away?[4]

[Samiddhi replied:]

“Hour” you
say, but I know not the hour. Hidden is my hour, and not revealed: Therefore,
self-restrained, I just seek alms, Lest my fleeting hour should slip away.[5]

Then the she-deva came down to earth and said to Samiddhi:
“You are young, bhikkhu, to have left the world, black-haired, with the
bloom of youth. In your youthful prime you do not enjoy the pleasures of the
senses. Get your fill, bhikkhu, of human pleasures. Don’t reject the present
moment to pursue what time will bring.”[6]

“I, friend, do not reject the present moment to pursue what
time will bring. I reject what time will bring to pursue the present moment.
Time’s pleasures, friend, as the Blessed One has said, are fraught with pain,
fraught with tribulation, leading to greater danger. This Dhamma is
here-present, out of time, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be realized
by the wise each for himself.”[7]

“In what way, bhikkhu, has the Blessed One said that time’s
pleasures are fraught with pain, fraught with tribulation and leading to
greater danger? In what way is this Dhamma here-present, out of time, inviting
inspection, leading onward, to be realized by the wise each for himself?”

“I, friend, am fresh, having not long left the world, a
newcomer. I am not able to explain in detail this Dhamma and discipline. But
the Blessed One, the Arahant, the Fully Self-Enlightened One is staying at
Raajagaha in the Tapodaa Park. Go to the Blessed One and ask him about the
matter. Then bear in the mind the explanation he gives to you.”

“It is not easy for us, bhikkhu, to approach the Blessed One.
He is surrounded by other devas of great power. If you, bhikkhu, will approach
the Blessed One and ask him about the matter, then perhaps we can come to hear
the teaching.”

“Very well, friend,” the Venerable Samiddhi replied to
her, and he went to the Blessed One, made his obeisance and sat down to one
side.

[He then told the whole story in identical words to the
Buddha.]

“If, Lord, that deva was telling the truth, she is right
here, not far away.”

When he had said this, the deva said to the Venerable Samiddhi:
“Ask him, bhikkhu, ask him! I’ve managed to get here!”

Then the Blessed One addressed the deva in verse:

Those who go by names,
who go by concepts, Making their abode in names and concepts, Failing to
discern the naming-process, These are subject to the reign of death, He who has
discerned the naming-process Does not suppose that one who names exists. No
such case exists for him in truth, Whereby one could say: “He’s this or
that”[8]
If you know what this means,[9]
tell me, fairy.[10]

“Lord, I do not fully grasp the meaning of what Your
Blessedness has expressed in brief. It would be well for me, Lord, if your
Blessedness would explain in full what has been expressed in brief, that I may
know its meaning.”

[The Blessed One said:]

“Equal I am, or
better, of less degree”: All such idle fancies lead to strife, Who’s
unmoved by all these three conceits Such vain distinctions leaves unmade.[11]
If you know what this means, tell me, fairy.

“Lord, neither do I full grasp the meaning of this which
Your Blessedness has expressed in brief. It would be well for me, Lord, if Your
Blessedness would explain in full what has been explained in brief, that I may
know its meaning.”

[The Blessed One said:]

Who labels not, and
holds no vain conceits, Has cut off craving here for name-and-form [12]
Free from bonds and pain, with no desires, Vainly seeking, none will find that
man, Neither gods nor men, on earth, above, Not in heaven, nor in any sphere.[13]
If you know what this means, tell me, fairy. If you know what this means, tell
me, fairy.

“Lord, the meaning of what Your Blessedness has expressed
in brief I understand in full like this:

One should do no evil
by one’s speech, Not anywhere, by body or in thought, Leave desires, be mindful
and aware, Thus avoiding pain that’s purposeless.”[14]

Notes

This is the meaning of Tapodaa. Cf. place-names such as Teplaa,
Teplice in Czecho-Slovakia, all associated with hot springs.

Strictly speaking, “she-deva” is ungrammatical, since
deva (Wheel 318, n.1) is masculine (the fem. devii usually means
“queen.” In all of these little stories the Pali text has the
abstract noun devataa which, like our “deity,” covers both
sexes. It is clear from the context as well as the pronouns used later in some
(but not all) manuscripts that this one is female. In its anglicized form,
“deva” can perhaps legitimately be taken to denote either sex.

In Pali there is an untranslatable play here on the two meanings
of bhutvaa, “having eaten,” and “having enjoyed
oneself.” Such puns and similar ambiguities are not infrequent in the
texts, and are often difficult to bring out in translation.

As will be seen, the devas, (none of whom, of course, are
enlightened) are at various stages of spiritual development. This one is
clearly not very advanced!

The hour Samiddhi means is that of his death.

Kaalika:
“concerned with time” (”time-ish”: Mrs. Rhys Davids). The
deva probably means “there is time for all that as you are young,”
but the word is no doubt introduced together with sandi.t.thika (here
rendered “the present moment”) to enable Samiddhi to quote the
standard formula on the Dhamma (n. 7).

Sandi.t.thiko akaaliko ehipassiko opanayiko paccata.m veditabbo
viññuuhi. Sandi.t.thiko lit
means “visible” but has the sense of “present, at the present
time, in this life”; akaaliko “timeless” can mean both
“immediate” and “not involving time, outside of time,” ehi-passiko
= “come-and-see-ish”; opanayiko (from upa-neti
“leads towards”) means “leading to the goal.” The Dhamma as
Truth can only be realized individually by insight.

Mrs Rhys Davids says “The Buddha rebukes the fairy [see
below, n. 10] for her
suggestive ambiguities.” But the real ambiguity lies deeper than such
frivolity, being concerned with the difference between conventional truth (sammuti-sacca)
which takes beings, etc., as being real, and the ultimate truth (paramattha-sacca)
which does not (see also SN 1.25, The
Arahant).

Sace vijaanaasi: Mrs. Rhys Davids renders “If thou knowest [such a
man].” But the clear meaning is “if you can grasp this distinction,”
which is how the she-deva takes it, admitting that she cannot.

10.

“Fairy”: yakkhii, a female yakkha. These
(Sanskrit yak.sa) are somewhat ambiguous creatures, sometimes helpful,
sometimes harmful to man, though later they are thought of as demons (see PED).
There is doubtless an implied rebuke in the Buddha’s choice of this form of
address. “Fairy” (also an ambivalent expression) is probably the best
word here (as used by Mrs. Rhys Davids).

11.

The three forms of conceit (maana) are to think one is
equal to, less than, or better than another. All three are due to the
ego-illusion (see SN 22.49).

12.

Naama-ruupa.

13.

He has passed into Nibbaana, and therefore cannot be found
anywhere.

14.

She has, according to SA, rightly discerned the Middle Way
between self-indulgence and self-torture. In fact, it looks as if her
understanding is still somewhat limited: she has, however, grasped the fact
that she was indulging in wrong speech at the ethical, if not the ontological
level referred to by the Buddha, and she has also understood that one should
“leave desires.” If she has been cured of her frivolity, that at
least is a good start!

This body not “mine”, not “me” and not “myself”…

Figure 1

Figure 2

BSP supporters greet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as she arrives to inagurate the party’s office in Mumbai on Saturday. Photo: Vivek Bendre

Four years in office:Chief Minister Mayawati inspects foundation stones that she “dedicated” to the people of UP on Friday for new projects worth Rs.2,000 crores on completion of her four years in office in Lucknow.– PHOTO: Subir Roy

The Only Hope of the
Nation is Elephant of BSP!

People are just fed up
with Congress, other regional parties and BJP!

To capture the Master
Key!

It is do or die!

Bahujan Samaj Party Of Mayawati: Bahujan Samaj Party Of Mayawati ...

Mayawati Photo, Mayawati Pictures, Stills, Uttar Pradesh state Chief ...

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati attending<br /><br />
a function on her birthday on January 15 in Lucknow. Photo: Subir Roy

Mayawati

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Happy Birthday 'Behenji': Mayawati turns 55

The opposition accused Mayawati of spending two billion rupees (40 million dollars) on the celebrations alt

POLITICS is SACRED with Highly
performing best and meritorious governance of Ms Mayawati

Mayawati will be the next PM
of PraBuddha Bharath

The Lok Sabha
election is on the way. Predictions on the hot topic - who will be the next
Prime Minister of PraBuddha Bharath?

The assertion is that a Scheduled
Caste (Untouchable) will soon replace Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
There is a lot of economic uncertainty
in the Country as crucial decisions are not being taken.
Even Country’s investors are now
talking of country hedging.

Citing the
report, many started speculating that Mayawati also can be the next Prime
Minister as the report mentioned about a Untouchable (Scheduled Caste)

Here it can be recalled that the BSP leader and the Chief
Minister of Uttar Pradesh always has been noticed of using her Sarvajan Hithay
Sarvajan Sukhay i.e., the welfare and happiness of the entire people of the
Country card. The report will enhance Maywati’s dream who is looking forward to
the assembly election, 2012.

None can
stop Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati from setting a record.

By the time the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are held
next year, the BSP boss will have scored over G.B. Pant, Kamalapati Tripathi,
Sampurnanand, Sucheta Kriplani, N.D. Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh and all the other chief ministers the
state has had since Independence.

She will be the first Uttar Pradesh chief minister to
complete five years in office ‘ that is, a full, uninterrupted term.

The country’s most populous and politically vital state
has till now not had a chief minister who served a full term.

Even Pant, a legendary figure and freedom fighter who in
1937 became chief minister of the then United Province, could not complete a
full term.

Pant, whose political skills were highly regarded by both
Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, served as chief minister four times ‘
twice before Independence and twice after.

But his stints were separated by Assembly polls and then
by his appointment as the country’s home minister in December 1954.

Sampurnanand, a teacher and a towering figure during the
freedom struggle, succeeded Pant. He served from December 1954 to December
1960, his tenure broken by the April 1957 Assembly polls.

Sampurnanand’s successor Chandra Bhan Gupta was regarded
as a politician among politicians. His uneasy ties with Indira Gandhi and
one-upmanship with Kamalapati Tripathi and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna resulted in
political instability and the emergence of the first non-Congress government in
the heartland when Charan Singh became chief minister in 1967. Between 1962 and 1967, several
chief ministers came and went.

Gupta had several stints between December 1960 and April
1967. Kriplani, who came from a Bengali family, took over in October 1963.
Gupta was back on March 14, 1967, but couldn’t survive beyond 18 days.

Throughout
the 1970s, governments led by Charan Singh, Tribhuvan Narain Singh, H.N.
Bahuguna, N.D. Tiwari, Ram Naresh Yadav and Banarsi Das kept collapsing, paving
the way for four spells of President’s rule.

In 1980,
Sanjay Gandhi picked V.P. Singh, who moved to the Centre in 1982. Vir Bahadur
Singh ruled between September 1985 and June 1988. The state was again handed
over to Tiwari, who took up the job for the third and last time as a Congress
chief minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh.

Mulayam Singh Yadav worked out a deal with the Congress
to become chief minister in December 1989, but the June 1991 polls saw a
resurgent BJP win the elections. But December 6, 1992, marked Kalyan Singh’s
dismissal.

December 1993 saw the short-lived coming together of
Mulayam and Mayawati under a Kanshi Ram-supervised power-share formula.

The BJP’s rule between 1997 and 2002 saw Kalyan, Ram Prakash Gupta and
Rajnath Singh occupy the chair. Mulayam’s tenure between August 2003 and May
2007 provided some degree of stability.

In May 2007, Mayawati defied her critics by getting a
decisive mandate. Her paradigm-bending alchemy of Brahmin and SC/ST votes now
faces no challenge.

By victory, Mayawati will still take a trophy.

http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-bsp-will-return-to-power-in-up-mayawati-10275291.html?utm_source=ConnectMailAlert

Video on
BSP will return to power in UP: Mayawati says
Opposition is scared of BSP. Youraj came running to UP leaving the Parliament
in middle of the session.
Show of strength at Ramabhai Ambedkar Ground

Mayawati’s proposal to divide Uttar Pradesh into four States goes
far beyond disturbing the State’s politics ahead of the elections.

Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday announced massive bonanza
for several cities, especially drought-hit Bundelkhand.

Laying down foundation stones for 160 projects worth Rs 1400 crore on
the death anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Mayawati also
blown poll bugle for the 2012 assembly elections.

Mayawati announced electricity project of 375.22 crore while gave 276
crore for Bundelkhand region. The uttar Pradesh government also allotted
Rs 42 crore for Jhansi, Rs 14 crore for Mahoba and Rs 17.9 crore for
Chitrakoot.

Speaking on the occasion, she thanked people for supporting her BSP
government. She said that her government has been working on the
principal of ‘Sarva Jan Hitaya and Sarva Jan Sukhai’.

Mayawati said that Baba Saheb’s hard struggle for the SC/ST communities
played major role in her good governance and helped her to uplift the
backwards.

“We have reached at this position after hard struggle and will not leave
this position despite of all political conspiracies pull down BSP
government. My party always emerged strongly after crisis. I believe
that once again Opposition will taste dust in the assembly elections.”

She urged people to vote BSP in the forthcoming assembly election to fulfill the dreams of Baba Saheb.

Attacking opposition political parties, Mayawti said that previous governments utterly failed to uplift the SC/STs.

“Don’t get hoodwink by the false promise of such opportunistic political
parties. SC/STs didn’t get their rights during the last governments.”

Mayawati Photo,Mayawati Pictures, Stills, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP ...

Mayawati looks to repeat ‘07 formula

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati will hold a grand rally of
Muslims, Thakurs and Vaishyas on December 18 in Lucknow as part of her
campaign to replicate her sarvjan (all communities) formula of 2007.

The BSP has already held two such rallies: a Brahmin rally, and a SC/ST-OBCs rally. The
pre-poll return to this formula comes after a perception that she had
returned to her core SC/ST base and sidelined the sarvjan idea.

Bhaichara Samitis — vehicles of SC/ST outreach to other castes — are
also back in action. “Bhaichara samitis have been activated once again
in the last 1-1.5 years. SC/STs too are solidly behind her, and this
means that BSP’s candidates are likely to be most winnable.”

Mayawati’s core SC/ST vote is 21% of UP’s population. It is this huge
base that makes the BSP’s Brahmin (9%), Thakur (7.9%), Muslim (18%) and
OBC candidates tend to gain: some in their own castes see them as more
winnable than candidates from other parties, leading to a vote split in
favour of the BSP.

Mayawati’s strategy is harping on graft charges against the central government and BJP governments in

Karnataka and Uttarakhand. She has also got a resolution for splitting UP passed to divert the debate.

BSP sources insist the construction of statues in the memory of
SC/ST/OBC icons will work in her favour. She will also showcase her
populist schemes like the Kanshi Ram Shehri Awas Yojana (giving two lakh
houses

to BPL families, half of them SC/STs); a scheme to give Rs 25,000 plus
bicycles for girls of BPL families who have passed school; and
development work in Ambedkar (high SC/ST population) villages. She can
also showcase her ‘strong’ action against BSP politicians accused of
crime and graft as an improvement over the SP regime’s perceived
‘criminal-friendliness’.

SC/STs must conquer Delhi, says Maya

LUCKNOW: UP chief minister and BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday launched 160 development projects worth

Rs 1,500 crore on the occasion of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar’s
Mahaparinibban (death anniversary) diwas. While invoking Ambedkar, she
reminded SC/STs that their ultimate aim is to form government at the
Centre.

Mayawati said “Babasaheb
struggled to provide SC/STs rights in the Constitution to bring them at
par with other sections of society and now we have to take his mission
to all the corners of the country”. For which, she added, SC/STs will
have to keep in mind that they not only have to ensure BSP’s victory in
UP but also have to capture power in Delhi.

The projects announced by Mayawati included several related to drinking
water and electricity supply worth Rs 267 for the Bundelkhand region
comprising seven districts. While Rs 179 crore has been marked for
Chitrakoot, Jhansi has been given Rs 42 crore and Mahoba Rs 14 crore.
The projects will provide benefit to the people in the other four
districts as well. Rest of the development projects worth Rs

1,233 crore are for other parts of the state.

Mayawati made announcements after paying tribute to Ambedkar. While
addressing lakhs of party workers assembled at Smajik Prerna Sthal,a
memorial built for SC/ST/OBC icons in Lucknow, Maya lashed out at

Opposition parties for targeting her party leaders through media and
exhorted her supporters to give a befitting reply to rivals by ensuring
the victory of BSP in the coming assembly polls.

Mayawati said Opposition parties were constantly attacking her party and
its leaders on petty issues because they have no other issues to talk
about.

“With only some time left for the assembly polls, Opposition have lost
their sleep,” she said. Describing rival parties as
anti-SC/ST/OBC/Minorities/poor among Upper Castes, she said that none of
them gave due honour to SC/ST/OBC saints and leaders and created
hurdles in construction of SC/ST.OBC memorials in UP by her

government.

The chief minister said that only BSP is taking forward the work started
by Babasaheb to uplift and empower SC/ST/OBC/Minorities/Poor amon Upper
Castes and marginalised sections of the society. However, she added,
despite working relentlessly for the cause for last two decades, still a
lot has to be done for the masses suppressed since ages. She claimed
that her government has been working for poor in all castes and
communities,

particularly SC/STs, back.

Thus spoke Ambedkar

Last Message to the people

“Whatever
I have done, I have been able to do after passing through crushing
miseries and endless struggle all my life and fighting with my
opponents. With great difficulty I have brought this caravan where it is
seen today. Let the caravan march on despite the hurdles that may come
in its way. If my lieutenants are not able to take the caravan ahead
they should leave it there, but in no circumstances should they allow
the caravan to go back. This is the message to my people.”

Anyone Can Attain Eternal Bliss Just Visit:http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org that is part of the MARCH of the CARAVAN from PRABUDDHA BHARATH to PRABUDDHA UNIVERSE for “Sarvjan
Hitay and Sarvajan Sukhay” i.e., for the Welfare and Happiness of
Entire People & all Sentient and Non-Sentient beings

Dr Ambedkar’s Buddha painting with open eye at Chicholi

MAYAWATI STATUE CASE

VOICE OF SARVAJAN

“THE elephant has set a political cat among
the pigeons.” Lucknow-based political analyst Sudhir Panwar thus succinctly
summed up the immediate effect of Chief Minister Mayawati’s announcement of the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government’s proposal to divide Uttar Pradesh into
four smaller States. “Everybody knows that the processes for the formation of
the proposed new States – Paschim Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Awadh
Pradesh – cannot even be initiated properly before the State Assembly elections,
which are due early next year. But, undoubtedly, this has added a new, if
contentious, dimension to the election run-up as a whole and particularly to
the early electioneering launched by the major players – the principal
opposition Samajwadi Party [S.P.], the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP], the
Congress, and the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal [RLD] – in State politics.
How exactly this will ultimately impact the electoral trend cannot be gauged at
this point. But there is no doubt that this too will come up time and again on
the poll scene,” Panwar said.

Early reactions from political forces in Uttar
Pradesh and other parts of the country as well as ground reactions in the State
indicate that through the November 16 announcement the BSP Chief Minister has,
in one stroke, delivered several political blows.

The announcement has also put three important
political players – the Congress, the BJP and the RLD – on the defensive, at
least in one aspect of the political campaign. None of the three parties can
overtly oppose the announcement, on account of a variety of factors.

They find themselves incapable of discussing
the merits or demerits of the proposal

The RLD has been for long demanding a separate
Harit Pradesh, comprising the western districts of U.P. The contours of Paschim
Pradesh correspond to the RLD’s Harit Pradesh. The BJP is for smaller States in
principle and has been supporting the movement for the creation of Telangana by
bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. Sections of the Congress in at least three of the
four proposed new States – Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Paschim Pradesh – have
periodically articulated their support to the idea of dividing U.P. The
Congress’ national leadership, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has
repeatedly pointed to the possibility of a second States Reorganisation
Commission (SRC) to consider the demands for smaller States on the basis of
developmental concerns, ethnicity and regional aspirations.

Naturally, the leaderships of all the three
parties have been vague in their reactions to Mayawati’s proposal.

At the level of national politics too, the
proposal is bound to cause great discomfort to the Congress and the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by it at the Centre. The government
is already grappling with the Telangana agitation, which has not only generated
turbulence from time to time but also led to dissensions within the party’s
Andhra Pradesh unit. The Congress has sought a number of “middle ground”
options to deal with the situation without much success. The political climate
created by Mayawati’s announcement is bound to accentuate the emotive element
in the Telangana movement. This will naturally add to the woes of the Congress
governments in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre.

There are also indications that Mayawati’s
proposal has acted as a spur to other long-standing demands for statehood.
These include the demands for Vidarbha, Gorkhaland and Bodoland. The National
Federation for New States (NFNS) has already regrouped in the context of the announcement.
Niroop Reddy, convener of the NFNS, told Frontline that the organisation was
planning to meet in Delhi in early December to concretise a new action plan for
launching a broad agitation in different parts of the country. Interestingly,
the NFNS has representatives of another demand for statehood from Uttar
Pradesh, namely Brij Pradesh. The demand visualises the creation of Brij
Pradesh comprising certain parts of western and central Uttar Pradesh. Niroop
Reddy says that if Mayawati decides to support the demand for Telangana and
Vidarbha, she will gain greater acceptance in the southern and western parts of
India. “Vidarbha is Ambedkar’s home State and Telangana has only 10 per cent
upper caste population,” he says.

Indications from the higher echelons of the
BSP are that the party is looking at suggestions such as these seriously in
order to renew and strengthen its effort to gain greater prominence in national
politics. “Through the proposal for four new States, Behenji has made it clear
that the BSP is not a one-person party. By any standards, the BSP is a very
powerful force in the regions of Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand, and if these
attain statehood, we will have Chief Ministers from different sections of the
organisational hierarchy. In many ways, the announcement also signifies a
concrete move to decentralise the organisation as well as empower more party
leaders. Undoubtedly, this is the path for greater national prominence,” a
senior BSP Member of Parliament told Frontline on condition of anonymity, as is
the wont among second-level leaders in the party.

A number of political analysts, including the
academic Sudha Pai of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who has carried out
fundamental research on the reorganisation of States, are of the view that the
cumulative impact of all these developments will ultimately make the Centre
consider the formation of a second SRC. “Such an entity could look at the
multitude of issues and aspirations behind different demands and come up with
concrete and objective parameters for reorganisation. There is no need to see
this as promotion of fissiparous tendencies but has to be perceived as part of
a continuing process of democratisation that will address the concerns of
social groups and regions hitherto excluded from the mainstream of governance,”
Sudha Pai said.

The views expressed by analysts like Sudha Pai
do find reverberations in the Congress. A number of leaders admit that the
Union government will be forced to grapple with the cumulative effect of the
statehood demands. In fact, a number of them even advocate the setting up of a
second SRC before the U.P. elections. This, said a senior Minister from south
India, would help the party in two ways. “One, [it will] minimise the political
damage caused by Mayawati’s announcement as it will show that the Congress too
is serious in pursuing the agenda, and two, give the party and the government
some biding time on issues such as Telangana on account of the processes
involved in the setting up of the second SRC and getting it into motion.” As
things stand, all these ideas are at the debating stage only, although there is
the realisation that “something needs to be done” at the earliest in order to
put up a good show in U.P. and also to stave off the problems that are bound to
emerge from other parts of the country.

In terms of caste equations, the 2007
elections signified desertion by a section of the Other Backward Classes (OBC)
votes from the party, including votes from its most prominent support base, the
Yadav community.

While travelling in parts of western, central
and eastern districts of the State over the past month is that this combination
will be as effective as it was in 2007.

The upper castes, has stayed back in BSP since
the 2007 Assembly and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, as they feel secure with the
highly performing best and meritorious governence of Ms Mayawati. MLAs and
Ministers belonging upper castes are cofident of 300 seats in the coming
elections.

The corruption charges faced by the Union
government and the anti-Congress thrust of the anti-corruption movement are not
doing them any good.

The BSP, on its part, is trying hard to
advance the SC/ST-Brahmin Bhaichara (SC/ST-Brahmin brotherhood) political
equation it had promoted in 2007.

Its Chamar base is intact. The leadership is
apparently hopeful that this, along with the addition of a section of Muslim
and upper caste votes, will help the BSP emerge once again as the
single-largest party. The BSP also hopes to get some support from the groups
that have campaigned for the division of Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati’s proposal
for new States was apparently based on a consideration of the impact of small
groups in a localised situation

“We believe that no matter who
your are or where you come from. every person can fulfill their
god-given potential, just as an Scheduled Caste( Untouchable) like
Dr.Ambedkar could lift himself up and pen the words of the Constitution
that protect the rights of all Indians.”Obama’s speech text. sent by
Gopinath BSP Karnataka

President Barack Obama Meets With the Dalai Lama, February 2010.

These
three things, monks, are conducted in secret, not openly. What three?
Affairs with women, the mantras of the brahmins, and wrong view.

“But
these three things monks, shine openly, not in secret. what three? The
moon, the sun and the Dhamma and Decipline proclaimed by the Tathagata.”

p, animated GIF

ostrich orchid-hat fashion show animated GIF

Animated stereoview of old Japan --

skiing without skis animated GIF lake Mendota, animated GIF

Up effect Down effectLeft effect Right

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JohnnyJX

Out of Curiosity and Enthusiasm comes
everything - JC

^{cula- Course

Descriptions-}

Astronomy

THE
BUDDHIST ON LINE
GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE PROGRAM
LESSON 447

Practice
a Sutta a Day Keeps Dukkha Away

Harita
(2)

translated
from the Pali by

Thanissaro
Bhikkhu

Whoever
wants to do later what he should have done first, falls away from the easeful
state & later burns with remorse. One should speak as one would act, &
not as one wouldn’t. When one speaks without acting, the wise, they can tell.
How very easeful: Unbinding, as taught by the Rightly Self-awakened One —
sorrowless, dustless, secure, where stress & suffering cease.

Astrology and Astronomy

‘I believe in astrology but not astrologers.’

From the very beginning of time man has been fascinated by the stars
and he has always tried to find some links between them and his own destiny.
His observation of the stars and their movements gave rise to two very
important areas of study, namely, Astronomy and Astrology. Astronomy can be
considered a pure science which is concerned with the measurements of
distances, the evolution and destruction of stars, their movements, and so on.
Of course all these calculations are always made in relation to planet earth
and how these interplanetary movements affect mankind on a physical level.
Modern astronomy seeks to find answers to the still unanswered questions
regarding the origin of man and the final, possible end of his existence as a
member of the human race. It is a fascinating area of study and our new
knowledge of the universe and the galaxies has put much pressure on many
religions to evaluate their age-old postulations regarding the creator and the
creation of life.

Buddhism does not face any dilemma, simply because the Buddha did
not encourage His followers to speculate on things beyond their comprehension.
However, He has made many allusions which in the light of our new knowledge
gained through science, shows us that the Buddha was very much aware of the
true nature of the Universe, that it was never created in one glorious moment,
that the earth is merely a tiny, even unimportant speck in all of space, that
there is constant creation and destruction, and that everything is in constant
motion.

Astrology, however, is a completely different area of study
altogether. Ever since early man began to think, he was deeply concerned about
his relationship with the universe. When human societies became involved in
agricultural activities man progressed from hunting as a livelihood and began
to notice a link between the movement of the sun through the years and his own
activities of planting, harvesting, and similar projects. As he became more
sophisticated he was able to predict the movement of the sun and he invented
time measurement, dividing into years, months, days, hours, minutes and
seconds.

He associated this knowledge with his existence whereby he felt that
there was a relationship between his own life cycle and the movement of the
planets. That gave rise to the Zodiac–A study of these movements in relation
to a human being’s personal life is called a horoscope.

The study of astrology involves a great understanding of human
nature, an ability to assess planetary movements precisely, together with an
insight into the seemingly unexplainable phenomena in the universe. There have
been many brilliant astrologers in the past and some exist even today.
Unfortunately there are an even larger number of charlatans who give astrology
a bad name. They hood-wink people by predicting seemingly true events about
their future. They make large sums of money by exploiting the ignorance and
fear of the gullible. As a result, for a long time scientists scoffed at
astrology and did not depend on it. However their hostile attitude is not
really justifiable. The main purpose of reading a horoscope should be to give
one an insight into one’s own character, in the same way that an X-ray
photograph can show the physical make-up of a man.

Statistics have shown that the influence of the sun in the signs of
the Zodiac accounts for the birth of unusual people during certain months.
Certain crimes have been found to correspond with zodiac signs in which the sun
is moving during certain months of the year.

Thus an understanding of this relationship will help a man to plot
his life more meaningfully in harmony with his innate tendencies, so that there
is less friction as he goes through life.

A new-born baby is like a seed. It contains within itself all the
ingredients which will make it a similar, yet completely different individual
from all its fellow human beings. How its potential is developed depends, like
the seed, on the kind of nurture it receives. The nature of a man is born
within him, but his own free will determines whether he will make really good
use of his talents and abilities. Whether he will overcome his potential for
vice or weakness depends on how he is trained in his youth. If we recognize our
nature–our tendency towards laziness, irritability, worries, frustrations,
wickedness, cunnings, jealousy–we can take positive steps to overcome them.
The first step in solving problems is to recognize them for what they are.

Astrological interpretations indicate our inclinations and
tendencies. Once pointed out, we must take the necessary steps to chart our
lives in a manner that will make us useful citizens of the world. Even a person
with criminal tendencies can become a saint, if he recognizes his nature and
takes steps to lead a good life.

A horoscope is a chart drawn to show the karmic force a man carries,
calculated from the time of his birth. The force determines the time of birth
and knowing this time, a skillful astrologer can accurately chart a man’s
destiny within a given life-span.

Everybody knows that the earth takes approximately one year to move
around the sun. This movement, viewed from the earth, places the sun in various
zodiacal areas during the year. A person is born (not accidentally, but as a
result of karmic influence)when the sun is on transit in one of the twelve
Zodiacal signs.

Through the horoscope you can determined certain times in your life
when you have to slow down, or push yourself to great levels of creativity, or
when you have to watch your activities and health.

Buddhist Attitude Towards
Astrology

The question most people ask is whether Buddhism accepts or rejects
astrology. Strictly speaking, the Buddha did not make any direct pronouncement
on this subject because as in many other cases, He stated that discussion on
matters such as these do not pertain to spiritual development. Buddhism, unlike
some other religions, does not condemn astrology and people are free to used
the knowledge they can get from it to make their lives more meaningful.
However, if we study the Buddha’s teaching carefully, we will come to accept
that a proper and intelligent understanding of astrology can be a useful tool.
There is a direct link between the life of an individual human being and the
vast workings of the cosmos. Modern science is in accordance with the teachings
of Buddhism. We know for example that there is a close link between the
movement of the moon and our own behavior. This is seen especially among
mentally disturbed and abnormally violent people. It is also true that certain
sicknesses like asthma and bronchitis are aggravated when the moon waxes. There
is, therefore, sufficient basis for us to believe that other planets can also
influence our lives.

Buddhism accepts that there is an immense cosmic energy which
pulsates through every living things, including plants. This energy interacts
with the karmic energy which an individual generates and determines the course
that a life will take. The birth of an individual is not the first creation of
a life but the continuation of one that had always existed and will continue to
exist so long as the karmic energy is not quelled through final liberation in
the unconditioned state. Now, for a life to manifest itself in a new existence,
certain factors, namely seasons, germinal order and nature must be fulfilled.
These are supported by mental energy and karmic energy and all these elements
are in constant interaction and interdependent with each other resulting in
constant changes to a human being’s life.

According astrologers, the time at which a person is born is
predetermined by the cosmic energy and the karmic energy. Hence, it can be
concluded that life is not merely accidental: it is the result of the
interaction between an individual’s karma and the universal energy force. The
course of a human life is predetermined, caused partly by a being’s own actions
in the past and the energies that activate the cosmos. Once started, a life is
controlled by the interaction between these two forces even to the moment at
which a birth takes place. A skillful astrologer then, as one who understands
cosmic as well as karmic influence, can chart the course of one’s life, based
on the moment of the person’s birth.

While we are in one sense at the mercy of these forces, the Buddha
has pointed out a way through which we can escape its influence. All karmic
energies are stored in the subconscious mind formally described as mental
purifies and impurities. Since karmic forces influence one’s destiny, a person
can develop his mind and negate certain evil influences caused by previous bad
kamma. A person can also ‘purify’ his mind and rid himself of all karmic
energies and thus prevent rebirth. When there is no rebirth, there is no
potential life and there will consequently be no ‘future’ existence which can
be predicated or charted. At such a stage of spiritual and mental development ,
one will have transcended the need to know about his life because most
imperfections and unsatisfactoriness would have been removed. A highly
developed human being will have no need for a horoscope.

Since the beginning of the 20^th century, psychologists
and psychiatrists have come to recognize that there is much more to the human
mind than the hard core materialists have been ready to accept. There is more
to the world than can be seen and touched. The famous Swiss psychologist, Carl
Jung, used to cast the horoscopes of his patients. On one occasion when he made
an astrological analysis of about 500 marriages, he discovered that the
findings of Ptolemy, on which modern Western astrology is based, were still
valid, that favorable aspects between the sun and the moon of the different
partners did produce happy marriage.

The well-known French psychologist, Michel Gauguelin, who originally
held a negative view of astrology, made a survey of about 20,000 horoscopical
analyses and found to his surprise that the characteristics of the persons
studied coincided with characterization produced by modern psychological
methods.

The planting of certain flowers, trees and vegetables at different
times of a year will produce differences in strength or appearance of the
plants. So there is no reason to doubt that people born in certain times of the
year will have different characteristics from people born at other times. By
knowing his weaknesses, failures and short-comings, a man can do his best to
overcome them and make himself a better and more useful person to society. It
will also help him a great deal to get rid of unhappiness and disappointments.
(Going away from the country where a person is born for example, can sometimes
help one avoid the influence of the stars.).

Shakespeare says: ‘The fault is not in our stars but in
ourselves”. A well known astrologer has said: ‘The stars impel; they do
not compel’. St. Thomas Aquinas says: ‘The planets influence the more elemental
part of man than passions’, but through his intellect man can arrange his life
in harmony with the planets, and also cultivate his inherent talents and
manipulate them for his betterment.

Astrology cannot automatically solve all your problems. You must do
that yourself. Just like a doctor who can diagnose the nature of diseases, an
astrologer can only show certain aspects of your life and character. After that
it is left to you to adjust your way of life. Of course, the task will be made
easier, knowing what it is you are up against. Some people are too dependent on
astrology. They run to the astrologer everytime something happens or if they
have a dream. Remember, even today astrology is very much an imperfect science
and even the best astrologers can make serious mistakes. Use astrology
intelligently, just as you would use any tool which would make your life more
comfortable and more enjoyable. Above all, beware of fake astrologer who are
out to cheat you by telling you not the truth, but what you want to hear.

Do not expect good luck to come to you or be handed to you easily
without any effort on your part. If you want to reap the harvest, you must sow
the seed and it must be the right seed. Remember, ‘Opportunity knocks at the
door, but never break the lock to gain entrance.’

-ooOoo-

VOICE of SARVJAN

Unfair criticism: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati during the inauguration of the Rashtriya Dalit Smarak Park in Noida. (HT)

Comments on:

http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/fullstory-up-mayawati-government-stole-money-meant-for-poor-21406889-in-1.html

Nehru Dynasty down to Youraj is stealing the money meant for
poor for the favour of rich.Peoples verdict in the coming electionswill come to
know who parked how much after the results as they are fed up with the Central
Government rulers and the media which is in favour of this ruling caste.

http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/fullstory-up-mayawati-government-stole-money-meant-for-poor-21406889-in-1.html

Real fact is that the Country, like the United States which
felt Obama was a better President, the people of this country, just like Uttar
Pradesh feel that Ms Mayawati would make a better Prime Minister.

http://connect.in.com/mayawati/article-how-we-love-to-hate-mayawati-551-416c57a33651f358ef31c063f12fd3ffb87e8aaa.html

Pandit Nehru down to Youraj, the bankers and the media love
to hate not only Mayawati but the entire poor and the untouchables. That is
traditional dominating attitude with full of defilement of their minds with
full of anger, jealousy and hatred. But the common people wants the highly
performing best and mertorious governance of UP CM and the future PM of
PraBuddha Bharath Ms. Mayawati to rule this country.

To say that Mayawati rakes up or uses caste politics is
missing the point. It is because she has highlighted the plight of SC/STs, that
they are finally today able to raise their heads high and not be humiliated and
brutalized by upper castes as they always have been in UP. The growth
rate of the state is the same as the national average for the last 5 years.
Contrary to most media commentary, UP hasn’t done too poorly with Mayawati.- Sinchan70

http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/fullstory-rahul-flays-insensitive-mayawati-mulayam-21407255-in-1.html

Ms Mayawati has awakened the entire people (Sarvjan
Samaj)with awareness by her highly performing best and meritorious governance
of Uttar Pradesh as Chief Minister and as the next Prime Minister of PraBuddha
Bharath, she will become an International personality. The angry dynastic
youraj cant stop this.

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11/23/11

446 LESSON 24 11 2011 Harita

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446 LESSON 24 11 2011 Harita

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Metaphysics

THE BUDDHIST ON Metaphysics LINE
GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE PROGRAM
LESSON 446

Practice a Sutta a Day
Keeps Dukkha Away

Harita
(Thag 1.29) {Thag
29}

Harita, raise yourself
up- right and, straightening your mind — like a fletcher, an arrow — shatter
ignorance to bits.

Metaphysics- (used with a sing. verb) Philosophy The branch of
philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the
relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and
value.

Sunyatâ, the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness

The metaphysics of Buddhism center around the conception of emptiness. Much
quoted is: “emptiness is form and form is emptiness”. This even comes
back into popsongs. Let us see what H.P. Blavatsky says about this. First, in
the Theosophical Glossary she says under “Sunyatâ”: “Void,
space, nothingness. The name of our objective universe in the sense of its
unreality and illusiveness.”

This sums it all up. She links Sunyatâ to Space, her first principle in the
Secret Doctrine, to emptiness or nothingness, which is the excepted translation
of the term and to unreality and illusiveness, which are the same as the Hindu
term maya.

Before turning to the way a few Buddhists explain the term, let us look at
H.P. Blavatsky’s position in a bit more detail. Starting with what she says in
the Proem to the Secret Doctrine (p. 7):

“In the sense and perceptions of finite
“Beings,” THAT is Non-”being,” in the same sense that it is
the one BE-NESS; for, in this ALL lies concealed its coeternal and coeval
emanation or inherent radiation, which, upon becoming periodically Brahmâ (the
male-female potency), becomes or expands itself into the manifested Universe.
Nârâyana moving on the (abstract) waters of Space, is transformed into the
Waters of concrete substance moved by him, who now becomes the manifested WORD
or Logos.”

also on p. 8:

“the One All is, like Space - which is its only mental
and physical representation on this Earth, or our plane of existence - neither
an object of, nor a subject to, perception.”

Going backward in time, we find that in 1882, in the Theosophist H.P.
Blavatsky says the following on the Buddhist secret doctrine:

“The Buddhists, on the other hand, deny either
subjective or objective reality even to that one Self-Existence. Buddha
declares that there is neither Creator nor an ABSOLUTE Being. Buddhist
rationalism was ever too alive to the insuperable difficulty of admitting one
absolute consciousness, as in the words of Flint - “Wherever there is
consciousness there is relation, and wherever there is relation there is
dualism.” The ONE LIFE is either “MUKTA” (absolute and
unconditioned) and can have no relation to anything nor any one; or it is
“BADDHA” (bound and conditioned), and then it cannot be called the
ABSOLUTE; the limitation, moreover, necessitating another deity as powerful as
the first to account for all the evil in this world. Hence, the Arahat secret
doctrine on cosmogony admits but one absolute, indestructible, eternal, and
uncreated UNCONSCIOUSNESS (so to translate), of an element (the word being used
for want of a better term) absolutely independent of everything else in the
universe; a something ever present or ubiquitous, a Presence which ever was,
is, and will be, whether there is a God, gods or none; whether there is a
universe or no universe; existing during the eternal cycles of Maha Yugas,
during the Pralayas as during the periods of Manvantara: and this
is SPACE, the field for the operation of the eternal Forces and natural Law,
the basisSakti - the breath or power of a
conscious deity, the theists would say - the eternal energy of an eternal,
unconscious Law, say the Buddhists. Space then, or Fan, Bar-nang (Mahâ-Sûnyatâ)
or, as it is called by Lao-Tze, the “Emptiness” is the nature of the
Buddhist Absolute. (See Confucius’ “Praise of the Abyss.“)(1) (as our correspondent [Subba Row] rightly calls it) upon which
take place the eternal intercorrelations of Akâsa-Prakriti, guided by the
unconscious regular pulsations of

The emptiness is getting closer. In a footnote she says in the same article
in the Theosophist:

Or, in other words, “Prakritie, Svabhavat or Akasa
is - SPACE as the Tibetans have it; Space filled with whatsoever substance
or no substance at all; i.e., with substance so imponderable as to be
only metaphysically conceivable. Brahman, then, would be the germ thrown
into the soil of that field, and Sakti, that mysterious energy or force
which develops it, and which is called by the Buddhist Arahats of Tibet -
FO-HAT. “That which we call form (rupa) is not different from that
which we call space (Sûnyatâ) . . . . Space is not different from Form.
Form is the same as Space; Space is the same as Form. And so on with the other
skandhas, whether vedana, or sanjna, or samskara or vijnana,
they are each the same as their opposite.” (Book of the Sin-king or
the Heart Sutra. Chinese translation of the Maha-Prajna-Paramita-Hridaya-Sutra.
Chapter on the Avalokiteshwara, or the manifested Buddha.) (2)

Searching the internet on explanations of emptiness, I find that the focus
of Buddhism in this respect is more on the practical everyday use, than on the
metaphysical. This does not make comparison easier, but I find it is still
possible. Here goes:

Buddhism and Thai culture

from http://www.landfield.com/faqs/thai/culture/section-3.html

Central to buddhism is the concept of Three Characteristics (Trilaxana)
which proposes that all composite things (matter or mind, i.e. everything
excluding Nirvana) are:

1. Impermanent (anicca)
2. Of suffering/unsatisfactory nature (Dukkha)
3. Without Self entity/Empty (Anatta/Sunyata)

(1) is by now almost universal in the scientific world. But sciences only
address the materialistic part of things whereas Buddhism claims anicca in the
mental world as well. Implicit in this is also that there is no (permanent)
soul in Buddhism.

(2) is a corollary of (1). If things are changing every moment then they are
not as they appear to be (permanent) , thus they are unsatisfactory by nature.
Both material and mental entities change continually according to causes and
conditions. This is buddhist’s objective way of looking at things as they are;
it’s not pessimistic nor optimistic. If one doesn’t see ’sufferings’ in all
these changing conditions of things then one is not mentally suit to be a
buddhist. To see ’sufferings’, however, does not mean that one has to feel
suffered for that. A true buddhist will enjoy life in a much more objective way
than others because s-he realizes that happiness itself is the result of
interplays of causes and conditions which are bound to change over time.
Suffering will definitely ensue if one does not understand the ever changing
nature of causes and conditions of happiness.

(3) is unique to Buddhism and is very difficult to understand. There are two
types of Emptiness: Ontological and Psychological. Buddhism claims that a thing
cannot exist INHERENTLY by its own self. Its existence depends on the
existences of other things, ad infinitum. In other words, there is no
permanent, pure element as a basis for the existence of anything. Things exist
because of the inter-dependency on one another. This is the basic argument
behind ‘ontological Emptiness’. It should be clear now that Emptiness in
Buddhism is not ‘nothingness.’ In fact, Emptiness means All and Everything
being co-dependent, co-arising. On the coarsest level, one can argue that
material thing exists only if mind exists first. Material is thus dependent on
mind. Mind is also dependent on its own self. Some buddhists refer to the
primordial Truth as ‘the original mind.’ This is simply a mind devoid of all
attachments, which is often regarded as the ‘core’ of a living entity or
‘Buddha nature’; but this is just a way of language and should not be confused
with Self or Atman in Hinduism for even the Buddha nature is also Empty. …

Sunyata (Pali: Sunnata)

Sunyata (Pali Sunnata) = Emptiness; The belief that all phenomena are
dependent on and caused by other phenomena, thus without intrinsic essense.

(From http://www.edepot.com/budglossary.html
: a Buddhist Glossary)

The heart of Buddhadasa’s teaching is that the Dhamma (Sanskrit,Dharma) or
the truth of Buddhism is a universal truth. Dhamma is equated by Buddhadasa to
the true nature of things It is everything and everywhere. The most appropriate
term to denote the nature of Dhamma is sunnata (Sanskrit, sunyata)
or the void. The ordinary man considers the void to mean nothing when, in
reality, it means everything–everything, that is, without reference to the
self. (3)

footnotes

(1)Collected Writings III, p. 422,423.

(2)Collected Writings III, p. 405,406. Henk Spierenburg, in his work
“The Buddhism of H.P. Blavatsky” found two other translations of this
same text (p. 160 footnote):

The translation of Leon Hurvitz, also from the
Chinese, we find in Lewis Lancaster (ed.), Prajnaparamita and Related
Systems: Studies in honor of Edward Conze, Berkeley 1977, p. 107:
“Visible matter is not different from Emtiness nor is Emtiness different
from visible matter. Sensation, notion, action and cognition are also like
this.”

Edward Conze himself, translating from the Sanskrit:
The Short Prajnaparamita texts, London 1973, gives on p. 140:
“There are five skandhas, and those he sees in their own being as empty.
Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness
is no other than form, form is no other than emptiness; whatever is form that
is emptiness, whatever is emptiness that is form. The same is true of feelings,
perception, impulses and consciousness.”

(3)(from http://jbe.la.psu.edu/2/inada1.html, A Buddhist Response to
the Nature of Human Rights by Kenneth Inada [This article was first
published in Asian Perspectives on Human Rights, eds. Claude E.Welch,
Jr., and Virginia A. Leary (Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 1990), pp.91-103. The
editors are grateful to Claude E.Welch, Jr. and Kenneth Inada for permission to
republish it. The orthography of the original version has been retained.] )

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445 LESSON 23 11 2011 Makkata Sutta The Monkey

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445 LESSON 23 11 2011 Makkata Sutta The Monkey

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Buddhist
philosophy

THE BUDDHIST ONLINE GOOD NEWS LETTER
COURSE
PROGRAM
LESSON
445

Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps Dukkha Away

SN 47.7

PTS: S v 148

CDB ii
1633

Makkata
Sutta: The Monkey

translated
from the Pali by

Thanissaro
Bhikkhu

Alternate
translation: Olendzki

“There are in the Himalayas, the king
of mountains, difficult, uneven areas where neither monkeys nor human beings
wander. There are difficult, uneven areas where monkeys wander, but not human
beings. There are level stretches of land, delightful, where both monkeys and
human beings wander. In such spots hunters set a tar trap
in the monkeys’ tracks, in order to catch some monkeys. Those monkeys who are
not foolish or careless by nature, when they see the tar trap, avoid it from
afar. But any monkey who is foolish & careless by nature comes up to the
tar trap and grabs it with its paw. He gets stuck there. Thinking, ‘I’ll free
my paw,’ he grabs it with his other paw. He gets stuck there. Thinking, ‘I’ll
free both of my paws,’ he grabs it with his foot. He gets stuck there.
Thinking, ‘I’ll free both of my paws and my foot,’ he grabs it with his other
foot. He gets stuck there. Thinking, ‘I’ll free both of my paws and my feet as
well,’ he grabs it with his mouth. He gets stuck there. So the monkey, snared
in five ways, lies there whimpering, having fallen on misfortune, fallen on
ruin, a prey to whatever the hunter wants to do with him. Then the hunter,
without releasing the monkey, skewers him right there, picks him up, and goes
off as he likes.

“This is what happens to anyone who wanders into what is
not his proper range and is the territory of others.

“For this reason, you should not wander into what is not
your proper range and is the territory of others. In one who wanders into what
is not his proper range and is the territory of others, Mara
gains an opening, Mara gains a foothold. And what, for a monk, is not his
proper range and is the territory of others? The five strands
of sensuality. Which five? Forms cognizable by the eye — agreeable, pleasing,
charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Sounds cognizable by the
ear… Aromas cognizable by the nose… Flavors cognizable by the tongue…
Tactile sensations cognizable by the body — agreeable, pleasing, charming,
endearing, fostering desire, enticing. These, for a monk, are not his proper
range and are the territory of others.

“Wander, monks, in what is your proper range, your own
ancestral territory. In one who wanders in what is his proper range, his own
ancestral territory, Mara gains no opening, Mara gains no foothold. And what,
for a monk, is his proper range, his own ancestral territory? The
four frames of reference. Which four? 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 in & of themselves… mind in & of itself… mental
qualities in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside
greed & distress with reference to the world. This, for a monk, is his
proper range, his own ancestral territory.”

Press Information Bureau

(C.M. Information Campus)

Information and Public
Relations Department, U.P.

U.P. Chief Minister Ms.
Mayawati visits U.P. Pavilion,

Expresses Happiness over
Depicts

Pavilion showcases Formula-1
Race and tableaux dedicated to Dalit Icons

Visitors throng U.P. Pavilion

Lucknow : Nov. 16, 2011

The Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister, Ms. Mayawati visited the U.P. Pavilion at the India International
Trade Fair at New Delhi today. She evinced keen interest in the attractive
tableauxshowcasing the saga of development in Uttar Pradesh. She was all praise
for the tableaux showing the memorials at Lucknow and Noida, dedicated to the
saints, gurus and great souls born in the dalit and OBC communities. Uttar
Pradesh has the distinction of hosting the first Formula -1 Race at Noida. The
Chief Minister expressed happiness that the

detailed information about
the Race has been provided at the Pavilion. It may be noted that the
“Uttar Pradesh Day” also coincides today. She had a look at the
depicts pertaining to the

progress made by the State. As
mandated by the I.T.P.O., the theme for this year’s Trade Fair is, “Indian
Handicrafts, the Magic of Gifted Hands”. The Manyawar Shri Kanshi Ram ji memorial
at Lucknow, the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden at Noida, have
been elegantly

exhibited at the U.P.
Pavilion. U.P. Pavilion also offers detailed information on State’s
industrialization and export promotion. The exhibits at the U.P. Pavilion,
include world famous

exquisite woollen carpets of
Bhadohi made by perfect artisans, mini-tractors, battery lift cranes,
transformers and several products from Meerut. The Theme Hall showcases
handicraft items of the State that have earned world acclaim. Besides, a
glimpse of State’s

progress is presented through
the translight. The development works in Noida and Greater Noida also feature
at the Pavilion. In addition, the schemes, like pension and those relating to

maximization of production
and marketing, aimed at the promotion of handicraft items of the small and
cottage industries sector, being implemented by the State Government, have been
exhibited. Main depicts of this sector include brassware of Moradabad, leather goods
of Kanpur, perfumes of Kannauj, sports goods of Meerut, marble of Agra, zari
work, woodart of Bijnore, Chikan work of Lucknow, artistic woodworks of
Saharanpur, glasswork of Firozabad and export quality garments of Ghaziabad. U.P.
Pavilion is being visited by the people in large numbers for the last two days.
They are visiting the Pavilion to witness the

depicts and make big
purchases. The visitors are enchanted by the traditional handcraft products of
Uttar Pradesh. They are spontaneously praising the State’s handcrafts. It may
be recalled that the total industrial capital investment that stood at about
Rs. 4,600 crore during 2006-07, rose to Rs.10,446 crore in 2010-11, as a result
of the industry-friendly policies of the State Government. During the current
financial year, this figure touched Rs. 10,818 crore mark till October last.
About 5400 craftsmen have benefited so far under the craftsmanship skill development
scheme started by the Government. The State Government also provides a monthly
pension of Rs. 1000 to the awardee craftsmen. Besides, a financial assistance
of about Rs. 25 lakh is provided to the craftsmen and small scale entrepreneurs

participating at the Trade
Fair under the marketing development scheme, so that the participants are not
put to unnecessary difficulties. Uttar Pradesh accounts for about 2.5 lakh
weavers and 80 thousand handlooms. Employment was provided to as many as

21,582 weavers this year and
the figure is expected to go up further. Clusters are set up in weaver
dominated areas for ensuring benefites like base line survey, supply of raw
material, design development, development of infrastructure, advertisement, marketing
expenditure on project management and skill upgradation. Similarly, assistance
is given to handloom clusters for the strengthening and promotion of marketing.
Currently, as many as 17,000 weavers of 50 clusters are benefiting under the
scheme. In addition, 8000 weavers have been covered under the group approach.
About, 1,12,339 insurance cards have been distributed to the people engaged in
weaving under the group health insurance scheme. The success of these schemes
has been lively depicted at the Pavilion.

Buddhist
philosophy

Buddhist
philosophy
deals extensively with problems in metaphysics,
phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology.

Some scholars assert that
early Buddhist philosophy did not engage in ontological
or metaphysical
speculation, but was based instead on empirical
evidence gained by the sense organs (ayatana).^[1]
Buddha is said to have assumed an unsympathetic attitude toward speculative
thought in general.^[2]
A basic idea of the Buddha is that the world must be thought of in procedural
terms, not in terms of things or substances.^[3]
The Buddha advised viewing reality as consisting of dependently originated phenomena;
Buddhists view this approach to experience as avoiding the two extremes of reification and nihilism.^[4]
Nevertheless, Buddhist scholars have addressed ontological and metaphysical
issues subsequently.

Particular points of
Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different schools of Buddhism. While
theory for its own sake is not valued in Buddhism, theory pursued in the
interest of enlightenment is consistent with Buddhist values and ethics.

[hide]

1 Philosophy

1.3 Interpenetration

1.4 Ethics

2 History

2.2.1 Cataphatic
presentations

3 Comparison with other
philosophies

4 See also

4.1 Buddhist philosophers

5 Notes

6 References

7 External links

Philosophy

Historical context

The
historical Buddha lived during a time of spiritual and philosophical
revival in Northern India when the established mythologies and cosmological
explanations of the vedas
came under rational scrutiny. As well as the Buddha’s own teachings, new
ethical and spiritual philosophies such as those of Mahavira
became established during this period when alternatives to the mainstream religion
arose in an atmosphere of freethought and renewed
vitality in spiritual endeavour. This general cultural movement is today known
as the Sramanic
tradition and the epoch of new thought as the axial
era. These heterodox groups held widely divergent opinions but were
united by a critical attitude towards the established religion whose
explanations they found unsatisfactory and whose animal
sacrifices increasingly distasteful and irrelevant. In Greece, China
and India there was a return to fundamental questions and a new interest in the
question of how humans should live. In this atmosphere of freethought the
Buddha discouraged his followers from indulging in intellectual disputation for
its own sake, saying that this is fruitless and distracting from true
awakening. The Buddha saw himself as a physician
rather than a philosopher. Like a doctor he
was concerned with identifying the fundamental problem of human existence
(diagnosis), its cause (etiology), and treatment. However, the Buddha’s
doctrine did have an important philosophical component: it negated the major
claims of rival positions while building upon them at a new philosophical and
religious level.

The Buddha’s method of
enquiry in disputation with others was like the Socratic
method, his approach to metaphysical questions apophatic
and his attitude to the accepted pantheon of gods and goddesses somewhat
iconoclastic. He asserted the insubstantiality of the ego and in doing so countered
those Upanishadic
sages who sought knowledge of an unchanging ultimate self. The Buddha
created a new position in opposition to their theories, and held that
attachment to a permanent self in this world of change is the cause of
suffering and the main obstacle to liberation. He broke new ground by going on to
explain the source for the apparent ego: it is merely the result of
identification with the temporary aggregates (skandhas)
which constitute the sum total of the individual human being’s experience at
any given moment in time. His avoidance of theological speculation or assertions
and non-assertion of the existence of any Supreme Being or essential substance
may be seen as evidence of his mystical apophasis rather than skepticism or
nihilism. The Buddha was concerned with advancing human happiness by teaching
people the correct method of liberation.

The Buddha’s teaching is
rationalistic, scientific and empirical. Though he uses parables and similes in
common with other religious teachers he is somewhat unique in bringing a highly
logical and analytical approach to questions of ultimate significance for human
beings. In this breaking down into constituent elements, the Buddha was heir to
earlier element philosophies which had sought to characterize existing things
as made up of a set of basic elements.^[^{citation needed}^]
The Buddha, however, eliminated mythological rhetoric, systematized world
components into five groups, and used this approach not to characterize a
substantial object, but to explain a delusion. He coordinated material
components with psychological ones. The Buddha criticized the Brahmins’
theories of an Absolute as yet another reification, instead giving a path to self-perfection as a
means of transcending the world of name
and form.^[5]

Epistemology

Decisive
in distinguishing Buddhism from what is commonly called Hinduism is the issue of epistemological justification. All schools of Indian
logic
recognize various sets of valid justifications for knowledge, or pramāṇa – Buddhism recognizes a set that is
smaller than the others’. All accept perception and inference, for example, but for
some schools of Hinduism and Buddhism the received textual tradition is an
epistemological category equal to perception and inference (although this is
not necessarily true for some other schools).^[6]

Thus,
in the Hindu schools, if a claim was made that could not be substantiated by
appeal to the textual canon, it would be considered as ridiculous as a claim
that the sky was green and, conversely, a claim which could not be
substantiated via conventional means might still be justified through textual
reference, differentiating this from the epistemology of hard
science.

Some
schools of Buddhism, on the other hand, rejected an inflexible reverence of
accepted doctrine. As the Buddha said, according to the canonical scriptures:^[7]

Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by
legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by
analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the
thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves
that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these
qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried
out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain
in them.

Early
Buddhist philosophers and exegetes of one particular early school (as opposed to Mahāyāna), the Sarvāstivādins, created a pluralist metaphysical and phenomenological
system, in which all experiences of people, things and events can be broken
down into smaller and smaller perceptual or perceptual-ontological units called “dharmas“. Other schools incorporated some
parts of this theory and criticized others. The Sautrāntikas, another early school, and the Theravādins, now the only modern survivor of the
early Buddhist schools, criticized the realist standpoint of the Sarvāstivādins.

The
Mahāyānist
Nāgārjuna, one of the most influential Buddhist
thinkers, promoted classical Buddhist emphasis on phenomena and attacked Sarvāstivāda
realism and Sautrāntika
nominalism in his magnum opus, The Fundamental Verses on the Middle
Way
(Mūlamadhyamakakārikā).^[8]

Speculation versus direct
experience

According
to the scriptures, during his lifetime the Buddha
remained silent when asked several metaphysical questions. These regarded issues such as whether
the universe is eternal or non-eternal (or whether it is finite or infinite),
the unity or separation of the body and the self, the complete inexistence of a person
after Nirvana and death, and others. One explanation for this silence is that
such questions distract from activity that is practical to realizing enlightenment ^[9] and bring about the danger of
substituting the experience of liberation by conceptual understanding

POLITICS is SACRED with Highly performing best and meritorious governance of Ms Mayawati

Mayawati will be the next PM of PraBuddha Bharath

Translator’s note

Mayawati an Untouchable (SC) will be the next PM of PraBuddha Bharath because of economic uncertaninity as per investors here & UK

Gautam Buddha Pictutres Buddhism Images

Notes

This body not “mine”, not “me” and not “myself”…

Mayawati will be the next PM of PraBuddha Bharath

Thus spoke Ambedkar

Last Message to the people

Anyone Can Attain Eternal Bliss Just Visit:http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org that is part of the MARCH of the CARAVAN from PRABUDDHA BHARATH to PRABUDDHA UNIVERSE for “Sarvjan Hitay and Sarvajan Sukhay” i.e., for the Welfare and Happiness of Entire People & all Sentient and Non-Sentient beings

Dr Ambedkar’s Buddha painting with open eye at Chicholi

Up effect Down effectLeft effect Right

Sunyatâ, the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness

Buddhism and Thai culture

from http://www.landfield.com/faqs/thai/culture/section-3.html

Sunyata (Pali: Sunnata)

(From http://www.edepot.com/budglossary.html : a Buddhist Glossary)

footnotes

Contents

Philosophy

Historical context

Epistemology

Speculation versus direct experience

Mayawati will
be the next PM of PraBuddha Bharath

Mayawati an Untouchable (SC)
will be the next PM of PraBuddha Bharath because of economic uncertaninity as per
investors here & UK

Mayawati will be the next PM
of PraBuddha Bharath

Anyone Can Attain Eternal Bliss Just Visit:http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org that is part of the MARCH of the CARAVAN from PRABUDDHA BHARATH to PRABUDDHA UNIVERSE for “Sarvjan
Hitay and Sarvajan Sukhay” i.e., for the Welfare and Happiness of
Entire People & all Sentient and Non-Sentient beings

(From http://www.edepot.com/budglossary.html
: a Buddhist Glossary)

Speculation versus direct
experience