28 05 2012 MONDAY LESSON 622 FREE ONLINE eNālāndā Research And Practice UNIVERSITY And THE BUDDHISTONLINE GOOD NEWS LETTER by ABHIDHAMMA RAKKHITA through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
Dhammapada: Verses and Stories Dhammapada
Verse 181. Gods And Men Adore The Buddha
Verse 181. Gods And Men Adore The
Buddha
E’er intent on concentration,
joyful in peace of letting go,
mindful, wise, the perfect Buddhas,
to even devas they are dear.
Explanation: Those noble and wise ones are intent on
meditation. They are bent on conquering defilements - that is achieving
Nibbana. They are mindful; and such enlightened ones are beloved by everyone.
Dhammapada Verse 181
Devorohana Vatthu
Ye jhanapasuta dhira
nekkhammupasame rata
devapi tesam pihayanti
sambuddhanam satimatam.
Verse 181: The wise who practise jhana concentration and
Insight Meditation take delight in the peace of liberation from sensual
pleasures and moral defilements. Such wise and mindful ones, who truly
comprehend the Four Noble Truths (i.e., Arahats and Buddhas) are held dear also
by the devas.
The Story of the Buddha’s Return from the Tavatimsa Deva
World
On return from the Tavatimsa deva world, the Buddha
uttered Verse (181) of this book at Sankassanagara, in reply to Thera
Sariputta’s words of welcome.
On one occasion, while at Savatthi, the Buddha performed
the Miracle of the Pairs in answer to the challenge of the ascetics of various
sects. After this, the Buddha went to the Tavatimsa deva world; his mother who
had been reborn in the Tusita deva world as a deva known as Santusita also came
to the Tavatimsa deva world. There the Buddha expounded the Abhidhamma to the
devas and the brahmas throughout the three months of the vassa. As a result,
Santusita deva attained Sotapatti Fruition; so did numerous other devas and
brahmas.
During that period Thera Sariputta spent the vassa at
Sankassanagara, thirty yojanas away from Savatthi. During his stay there, as
regularly instructed by the Buddha, he taught the Abhidhamma to the five
hundred bhikkhus staying with him and covered the whole course by the end of
the vassa.
Towards the end of the vassa, Thera Maha Moggalana went
to the Tavatimsa deva world to see the Buddha. Then, he was told that the Buddha
would return to the human world on the full moon day at the end of the vassa to
the place where Thera Sariputta was spending the vassa.
As promised, the Buddha came with the six coloured rays
shining forth from his body to the city-gate of Sankassanagara, on the night of
the full moon day of the month of Assayuja when the moon was shining brightly.
He was accompanied by a large following of devas on one side and a large
following of brahmas on the other. A large gathering headed by Thera Sariputta
welcomed the Buddha back to this world; and the whole town was lit up. Thera
Sariputta was awed by the grandeur and glory of the whole scene of the Buddha’s
return. He respectfully approached the Buddha and said, “Venerable Sir! We
have never seen or even heard of such magnificent and resplendent glory.
Indeed, Venerable Sir, you are loved, respected and revered alike by devas,
brahmas and men!” To him the Buddha said, “My son Sariputta, the
Buddhas who are endowed with unique qualities are truly loved by men and devas
alike.”
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
|
Verse |
At the end of the discourse the five hundred bhikkhus who
were the pupils of Thera Sariputta attained arahatship and a great many from
the congregation attained Sotapatti Fruition.
https://www.goohttp://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/s_canon.htm
The Tripitaka [Sanskrit] [Pali: Tipitaka] is the Canon of the Buddhists,
both Theravada and Mahayana. Thus it is possible to speak of several Canons
such as the Sthaviravada, Sarvastivada and Mahayana as well as in term of
languages like Pali, Chinese and Tibetan. The word is used basically to refer
to the literature, the authorship of which is directly or indirectly ascribed
to the Buddha himself.
It is generally
believed that whatever was the teaching of the Buddha, conceived under Dhamma
and Vinaya, it was rehearsed soon after his death by a fairly representative
body of disciples. The later systematised threefold division, into Sutta,
Vinaya and Abhidhamma is based on this collection. Sharing a common body of
Dhamma and Vinaya, the early Buddhist disciples appear to have remained united
for about a century.
The Council of Vesali
or the second Buddhist Council saw the break up of this original body and as
many as eighteen separate schools were known to exist by about the first
century B.C. It is reasonable to assume that each of these schools would have
opted to possess a Tripitaka of their own or rather their own recension of the
Tripitaka, perhaps with a considerably large common core.
It has long been
claimed that the Buddha, as he went about teaching in the Gangetic valley in
India during the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.E., used
Magadhi or the language of Magadha as his medium of communication. Attempts
have been made to identify this Magadhan dialect with Pali, the language in
which the texts of the Sthaviravada school are recorded. Hence we speak of a
Pali Canon, i.e., the literature of the Sthaviravadins which is believed to be
the original word of the Buddha.
At any rate, this is
the only complete recension we possess and the Pali texts seem to preserve an
older tradition much more than most of the extant Buddhist works in other
languages. Further, the Sthaviravadins admit two other major divisions of Pali
Buddhist literature which are non-Canonical. They are:
1. Post-Canonical
Pali literature including works like Petakopadesa and Milindapanha,
the authorship of which is ascribed to one or more disciples.
2. Pali Commentarial
literature which includes:
(a) Atthakatha or
Commentaries, the original version of which is believed to have been taken over
to Sri Lanka by Thera Mahinda, the missionary sent by Asoka and
(b) the different
strata of Tika or Sub-Commentaries, contributions to which were made by
Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka, India and Burma.
Besides this Pali
recension of the Sthaviravada school there are fragmentary texts of the
Sarvastivada or of the Mulasarvastivada which are preserved in Sanskrit. A
large portion of their Vinaya texts in Sanskrit is preserved in the Gilgit
manuscripts. But a more complete collection of the Sarvastivada recension
(perhaps also of the Dharmapuptaka and Kasyapiya), i.e., a Sanskrit Canon, must
have possibly existed as is evident from the Chinese translations preserved to
us. These include complete translations of the four agamas (the equivalent of
the Pali nikayas). Of the Ksudraka (Pali: Khuddaka), only some texts are
preserved in Chinese. In addition to these, the Chinese translations seem to
preserve, to the credit of the Sarvastivadins, a vast Vinaya literature and an
independent collection of seven Abhidhamma treatises. Thus what could be
referred to as a Sarvastivada Canon ranges between fragments of texts preserved
in Sanskrit and the more representative collection of the Tripitaka preserved
in Chinese. It may be mentioned here that a version of the Mulasarvastivada
Vinaya consisting of seven parts, even more faithful than the Chinese version,
is preserved in Tibetan. Of the Abhidharma collection only the Prajnaptisastra
appears to have been translated into Tibetan.
Speaking further of
the Tripitaka in terms of language we have in Chinese different recensions of
the Canon (preserved in part) belonging to different schools. These recensions
are primarily based on the Tripitaka of Indian origin. In addition to the
ancient texts which these recensions preserve they also contain independent
expositions of the early doctrines or commentarial literature on them. The
Chinese Canon preserves the Vinaya texts of as many as seven different schools.
In place of the division into ‘canonical groups’ of Sutra, Abhidharma and
Vinaya, this new arrangement seems to reckon with a live and continuous
tradition in accepting as authoritative both the Sutra (or words of Buddha) and
Sastra (or commentaries, treatises, etc. of disciples of a later date).
It becomes clear from the foregoing analysis that in
speaking of a Buddhist Canon one has to admit that it is both vast in extent
and complex in character. While the earlier and more orthodox schools of
Buddhism reserved the term Canonical to refer to the Body of literature, the
greater part of which could be reasonably ascribed to the Buddha himself, other
traditions which developed further away from the centre of activity of the
Buddha and at a relatively later date choose to lay under the term Canon the
entire mosaic of Buddhist literature in their possession, which is of varied
authorship and is at times extremely heterogeneous in character.
http://www.suttareadings.net/audio/index-readers.html
The
Readers
Click on 
to learn more about a sutta.
Click on ![[Loudspeaker icon]](file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHOME%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image002.gif){kind=small}
to listen to a reading.
Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Macintosh) to download to your hard
disk.
Guy Armstrong has practiced insight meditation for over 30
years. His training includes practice as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Ajahn
Buddhadasa and in Burma with Pa-Auk Sayadaw. He began teaching in 1984 and has
led retreats worldwide. He is a guiding teacher at the »Insight Meditation Society
and a member of the »Spirit
Rock teachers council. [Source: »”Insight Meditation Society Faculty
2006″ (Insight Meditation Society, January 2006).]
SN 22.95: Phena Sutta — A Lump of Foam (06′57″
2.3 MB)
SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta — Setting in Motion the
Wheel of Dhamma (10′06″ 3.4 MB)
Steve Armstrong has studied the Dhamma and practiced
insight meditation since 1975. As a layman he was active for many years at the »Insight Meditation Society
in Barre Massachusetts as manager and board member. He lived for five years as
a monk in Burma, under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita at the Mahasi
Meditation Center in Rangoon, where he undertook the intensive, silent practice
of insight and loving-kindness meditation. He has also studied Buddhist
psychology (abhidhamma) with Sayadaw U Zagara in Australia. Since 1990
he has been leading meditation retreats, including at the annual three month
retreat at IMS. He now makes his home in Hawaii and is a guiding teacher at »Vipassana Metta on Maui. [Source: »”Guiding Teachers” (Vipassana Metta on Maui,
January 2006).]
MN 29: Mahasaropama Sutta — The Heartwood of the Spiritual Life
(16′11″ 5.5 MB)
AN, Iti: Various Suttas — On Giving (11′01″
3.7 MB)
Leigh Brasington has been practicing since 1985 and is the
senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya
Khema, who confirmed Leigh’s practice and requested that he begin
teaching. Leigh began assisting Ven. Ayya Khema in 1994 and began teaching retreats
on his own in 1997. He continues to teach in Europe and North America. His
teaching emphasizes using concentration as a preliminary to insight practice.
He lives in Alameda and works as a software engineer. [Source: »”Talks by Leigh Brasington
“ (Insight Meditation Center, May 2006).]
SN 12.15: Kaccayanagotta Sutta — To Kaccayana Gotta (03′47″ 1.3 MB)
SN 12.23: Upanisa Sutta — Transcendental Dependent Origination
(05′44″ 2.0 MB)
SN 12.65: Nagara Sutta — The Ancient City (08′16″
2.8 MB)
Ajaan Candasiri (b. 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland) ordained
at »Amaravati
in 1979 and was one of the original group of four women to establish the nun’s
community at the Chithurst Buddhist Monastery. [Source: personal communication,
2006.]
MN 58: Abhayarajakumara Sutta — To Prince Abhaya (09′55″ 2.8 MB)
MN 62: Maharahulovada Sutta — The Greater Discourse to Rahula
(19′50″ 6.8 MB)
SN 47.19: Sedaka Sutta — The Acrobat (03′18″
1.1 MB)
Sn 3.1: Pabbajja Sutta — The Going Forth (04′38″
1.6 MB)
Sn 3.2: Padhana Sutta — The Striving (05′23″
1.9 MB)
Sister Cittapala was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1949. She
joined the monastic community at »Amaravati in 1997. [Source: personal
communication, 2006.]
Sn 4.11: Kalahavivada Sutta — Disputes and Contention (06′13″ 2.1 MB)
Sally Clough began practicing vipassana meditation in India
in 1981. She spent five years in England, where she managed a retreat center
and was a founding member of the »Sharpham meditation community. When she
moved to California in 1988, she continued her Dharma service at »Spirit Rock Meditation Center in a
number of roles, including executive director. Sally began teaching in 1996,
and is one of the guiding teachers of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner
Program. [Source: »”Sally
Clough” (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, January 2006).]
MN 10: Satipatthana Sutta — The Four Establishments of Mindfulness
(27′47″ 9.4 MB)
Sarah Doering (b. 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa) has practiced
meditation since 1981, with Larry Rosenberg, Joseph Goldstein, Nyoshul Kenpo
Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. She taught meditation at the »Cambridge Insight Meditation
Center, the »Insight
Meditation Society, and the »Forest Refuge. She is now retired.
[Source: personal communication, 2006.]
MN 143: Anathapindikovada Sutta — Advice to Anathapindika (11′18″ 3.8 MB)
SN 56.31: Simsapa Sutta — The Simsapa Grove (02′36″ 0.9 MB)
Ud 1.10: Bahiya Sutta — Bahiya (08′39″
2.9 MB)
Gil has practiced Zen and Vipassana since 1975 and has a
Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford. He has trained in both the Japanese
Soto Zen tradition and the Insight Meditation lineage of Theravada Buddhism of
Southeast Asia. Gil was trained as a Vipassana teacher by Jack Kornfield and is
part of the Vipassana teachers’ collective at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was
ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San
Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 he received Dharma
Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He is the
primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.
He is a husband and father of two boys. [Source: “Teachers,”
Insight Meditation Center, April, 2006.]
Dhp 1-20: Yamaka Vagga — Dichotomies (04′49″
1.7 MB)
Dhp 21.32: Appamada Vagga — Vigilance (03′03″
1.1 MB)
Dhp 33.43: Citta Vagga — The Mind (02′41″
0.9 MB)
Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and
lovingkindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a cofounder of
the »Insight Meditation Society
in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the resident guiding teachers. In
1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation,
he helped establish the »Barre
Center for Buddhist Studies. He is currently developing »The Forest Refuge, a new center for
long-term meditation practice. He is the author of »Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom,
»The Experience of Insight, and
co-author of »Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and Insight
Meditation: A Correspondence Course. His latest book is »One Dharma: The Emerging
Western Buddhism. [Source: »”Joseph’s Biography” (Insight
Meditation Society, January 2006).]
SN 22.86: Anuradha Sutta — Anuradha (4′54″
1.7 MB)
SN 22.101: Nava Sutta — The Adze Handle/The Boat (5′24″ 1.8 MB)
SN 43.1-44: Various Suttas — Thirty-three Synonyms for Nibbana
(03′05″ 1.1 MB)
SN 45.2: Upaddha Sutta — Good Friendship (02′25″
0.8 MB)
Ven. Gunaratana (Ekanayaka Mudiyanselage Ukkubana) was born
in Henepola, Sri Lanka in 1927. He became a novice monk at the age of 12. He received
his higher education at Vidyalankara College and Buddhist Missionary College,
Colombo, and in 1947 received higher ordination in Kandy. He worked for five
years as a Buddhist missionary among the Harijans (Untouchables) in India and
for ten years with the Buddhist Missionary Society in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In 1968 he came to the United States to serve as general secretary of the
Buddhist Vihara Society at the Washington Buddhist Vihara. In 1980 he was
appointed president of the Society. He received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from
The American University, where he also served for many years as Buddhist
Chaplain. He is now president of the »Bhavana Society and abbot of the
monastery in West Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley, about 100 miles west of
Washington, D.C. He is the author of Come and See, The Path of
Serenity and Insight, »The Jhanas, and Mindfulness
In Plain English. His articles have been published in the U.S.A., Malaysia,
India, Sri Lanka, England and France. He continues to teach meditation and
conduct retreats worldwide. [Source: »”Bhante Henepola
Gunaratana” (Bhavana Society, January 2006).]
SN 22.59: Anattalakkhana Sutta — The Discourse on the Not-self
Characteristic (08′48″ 3.0 MB)
SN 35.28: Adittapariyaya Sutta — The Fire Sermon (08′37″ 2.9 MB)
Read his articles at »Access to Insight
Kamala is one of the founders and teachers of the »Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui, where she is
developing Ho’omalamalama, a sanctuary-hermitage for long term practice. She
teaches retreats in the Theravada tradition at venues worldwide, including
being a Core Teacher at the »Insight Meditation Society
at Barre, Massachusetts. Practicing since 1975, her teachers have been the late
Anagarika Munindra of India and Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma with whom she
continues to practice. Kamala has a commitment to carrying and offering the
purity of the teachings of the Buddha in a way that touches our common sense
and compassion as human beings, and allows the natural inner growth of wisdom.
She lives on Maui where she raised four children, and is now blessed
with six grandchildren.
Kamala has practiced both insight and loving kindness
meditations intensively under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita. [Source:
personal communication, 2007]
SN 56.31: Simsapa Sutta — A Handful of Leaves (02′20″ 0.8 MB)
AN 4.62: Anana Sutta — Debtlessness/Four Kinds of Happiness
(03′36″ 1.2 MB)
AN 5.57: Upajjhatthana Sutta — Five Contemplations for Everyone
(06′35″ 2.2 MB)
AN 5.161: Aghatapativinaya Sutta — How to Remove Grudges (01′16″ 0.4 MB)
Dhp 1-20: Yamaka Vagga — Dichotomies/Pairs (04′30″ 1.5 MB)
Ayya Medhanandi was born Mary Fiksel in Montréal, Canada.
After university and working with the elderly and disabled, she went on pilgrimage
to India. There, an Advaita sage became her guru and for several years she
lived as a nun in the rural villages. She continued to receive guidance from
him until his death thirteen years later. Following a postgraduate degree at
Tufts University, she served as a project manager of international aid programs
in Thailand, Senegal, Ecuador and Nepal. In 1987, she took ordination in
Myanmar with Sayadaw U Pandita and later joined the »Amaravati
Nuns’ Community in England where she spent ten years under the tutelage of
Ajaan Sumedho. Since 1999, she has been based in New Zealand. [Source: personal
communication, 2005.]
MN 20: Vitakkasanthana Sutta — The Removal of Distracting Thoughts
(11′31″ 3.9 MB)
SN 7.2: Akkosa Sutta — Abuse (05′05″
1.7 MB)
Sn 5.10: Kappa-manava-puccha — Kappa’s Question (02′08″ 0.7 MB)
Read her articles at »Access to Insight
Larry Rosenberg is the founder and a guiding teacher at the
»Cambridge Insight Meditation
Center, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also a senior teacher at
the »Insight Meditation Society. Larry is
the author of Breath
by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation and Living
in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Fully Alive. Larry’s
spiritual practice began more than 30 years ago with J. Krishnamurti and Vimala
Thakar. He received Zen training with Korean Master Seung Sahn and Japanese
Master Katagiri Roshi for 8 years before coming to Vipassana. Anagarika
Munindra was his first Vipassana teacher. Larry’s main influence has been the »Thai Forest tradition.
He has practiced with Ajahn Maha Boowa, Ajahn Suwat, and Ajahn Buddhadasa.
Larry has also practiced with Thich Nhat Hanh. [Source: »”CIMC Teachers and Instructors”
(CIMC, January 2006).]
MN 131: Bhaddekaratta Sutta — An Auspicious Day (08′24″ 2.8 MB)
Sharon Salzberg has practiced Buddhist meditation since
1971. A co-founder of the »Insight
Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and the »Barre Center for Buddhist
Studies, she has been teaching worldwide since 1974. She is an IMS
guiding teacher and author of The Force of Kindness, Faith, and Lovingkindness.
[Source: »”Insight Meditation Society Faculty
2006″ (IMS, January 2006).]
MN 21: Kakacupama Sutta — The Simile of the Saw (excerpt) (01′22″ 0.4 MB)
MN 99: Subha Sutta — To Subha (01′07″
0.4 MB)
SN 56.31: Simsapa Sutta — A Handful of Leaves (01′44″ 0.6 MB)
Iti 27: Itivuttaka Sutta — The Development of Loving-kindness
(01′51″ 0.7 MB)
Iti 84: Itivuttaka Sutta — For the Welfare of Many (02′16″ 0.8 MB)
Ajahn Sucitto is an English Buddhist monk in the »Thai forest tradition of Ajahn
Chah. Born in Londonastery).
Since 1983 he has been actively involved in the training of ten-precept nuns.
In 1984 he helped establish the »Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. He has
been abbot of Cittaviveka since 1992. [Source: personal communication (2006)
and Seeing the Way: Buddhist Reflections on the Spiritual Life (Hemel
Hempstead: »Amaravati Publications,
1989).]
SN 12.40: Cetana Sutta (3) — Volition (02′38″
0.9 MB)
AN 11.2: Cetana Sutta — An Act of Will (04′58″
1.7 MB)
Sn 5.4: Mettagu-manava-puccha — Mettagu’s Questions (04′41″ 1.6 MB)
Sn 5.6: Upasiva-manava-puccha — Upasiva’s Questions (03′11″ 1.1 MB)
Sn 5.10: Kappa-manava-puccha — Kappa’s Question (01′32″ 0.5 MB)
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) is an American
Buddhist monk of the Thai forest kammathana tradition. After graduating
from Oberlin College in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History, he
traveled to Thailand, where he studied meditation under »Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, himself a student of the late »Ajaan Lee. He ordained in 1976 and lived at Wat
Dhammasathit, where he remained following his teacher’s death in 1986. In 1991
he traveled to the hills of San Diego County, USA, where he helped »Ajaan Suwat Suwaco establish »Wat Mettavanaram (Metta Forest Monastery). He was made
abbot of the monastery in 1993. He teaches meditation at the monastery and at
retreats across the United States. His publications include translations from
Thai of Ajaan Lee’s meditation manuals; Handful of Leaves, a four-volume
anthology of sutta translations; »The Buddhist Monastic Code,
a two-volume reference handbook for monks; »Wings to Awakening;
and (as co-author) the college-level textbook »Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction.
[Source: »”Contributing Authors and
Translators: Biographical Notes” (Access to Insight, January
2006).]
MN 61: Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta — Instructions to Rahula at
Mango Stone (11′29″ 3.9 MB)
SN 3.25: Pabbatopama Sutta — The Mountain Simile (04′18″ 1.4 MB)
Khp 9: Karaniya Metta Sutta — Good Will (01′56″
1.7 MB)
Read his articles at »Access to Insight
on in 1949, he ordained in Thailand in 1976, where
he crossed paths with Ajahn Sumedho, one of Ajahn Chah’s first western
disciples. In 1978 Ajahn Sucitto returned to Great Britain and stayed with
Ajahn Sumedho, helping to establish Cittaviveka (Chithurst Buddhist M28
27 05 2012 SUNDAY LESSON 621 FREE ONLINE eNālāndā Research And Practice UNIVERSITY And THE BUDDHISTONLINE GOOD NEWS LETTER by ABHIDHAMMA RAKKHITA through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
Dhammapada: Verses and Stories
Dhammapada
Verse 179
The Buddha Cannot Be Tempted
Verse 179.
The Buddha Cannot Be Tempted
That
Buddha traceless of infinite range
whose victory none may e’er undo,
whose vanquished follow to no world,
then by which track will you trace him?
Explanation:
The Buddha’s victory has not been won incorrectly. No one can turn Buddha’s
victory into defeat. Nothing that he has conquered can return, or pursue him,
because his conquest is so complete: His ken infinite, In what way can you
tempt or ensnare him.
Verse 180.
The Buddha Cannot Be Brought Under Sway
That
Buddha traceless of infinite range
in whom’s no entangling craving
and no ensnaring not anywhere lead,
then by which track will you trace him?
Explanation:
The Buddha, in whom there is no thirst (tanha) for grasping to the net that
lures, whose ken is infinite, in what way can you lure him away?
Dhammapada
Verses 179 and 180
Maradhitara Vatthu
Yassa
jitam navajiyati1
jitam yassa no’yati koci loke2
tam buddhamanantagocaram3
apadam4 kena padena nessatha.
Yassa
jalini visattika
tanha natthi kuhinci netave
tam buddhamanantagocaram
apadam kena padena nessatha5.
Verse
179: The Buddha, whose conquest (of moral defilements) is complete, in whom
there cannot arise any further defilements in this world, that Buddha of
infinite range of wisdom, who is trackless, - by what track will you lead him?
Verse
180: The Buddha, in whom there is no craving, which like a net would bring him
back to any existence (in samsara), that Buddha of infinite range of wisdom,
who is trackless, - by what track will you lead him?
1.
jitam navajiyati: ‘the conquest is complete’ means there is no need for further
conquests as there are no more moral defilements to be conquered.
2.
jitam yassa no’yati koci loke: lit., whose conquered defilements cannot be
followed by any further defilements in this world.
3.
anantagocaram: The range of wisdom of the Buddha is infinite by reason of his
omniscience, Sabbannuta nana. (The Commentary)
4.
apadam: lit., ‘trackless’. The Buddha, being free from conditions of rebirth,
such as craving, clinging, passion, etc., his track or passage through samsara
has come to an end. (The Com.)
[The
same idea is conveyed in verses 92 and 93 which express the idea that the
arahat passes away, leaving no more trace of existence than a bird leaves its
passage through the air.]
5.
kena padena nessatha: lit., by what track will you lead him? It means he cannot
be lured by any temptation whatsoever.
The
Story of the Three Daughters of Mara
The
Buddha first uttered Verses (179) and (180) of this book while residing near
the Bodhi tree, with reference to the three daughters of Mara. He repeated
these verses to the brahmin Magandiya while journeying through the Kuru
country.
Magandiya
the Brahmin and his wife lived in the kingdom of the Kurus with their daughter
Magandiya who was exceedingly beautiful. She was so beautiful that her father
rudely turned down all her suitors. One day, early in the morning, when the
Buddha surveyed the world, he found that time was ripe for the brahmin
Magandiya and his wife to attain Anagami Fruition. So, taking his bowl and the
robes, the Buddha set out for the place where the brahmin usually went to offer
fire sacrifice.
The
brahmin, seeing the Buddha, promptly decided that the Buddha was the very
person who was worthy of his daughter. He pleaded with the Buddha to wait there
and hurriedly went off to fetch his wife and daughter. The Buddha left his
footprint and went to another place, close at hand. When the brahmin and his
family came, they found only the footprint. Seeing the footprint, the wife of
the brahmin remarked that it was the footprint of one who was free from sensual
desires. Then, the brahmin saw the Buddha and he offered his daughter in
marriage to him.
The
Buddha did not accept nor did he refuse the offer, but first, he related to the
brahmin how the daughters of Mara tempted him soon after his attainment of
Buddhahood. To the beautiful Tanha, Arati and Raga, the daughters of Mara, the
Buddha had said, “It is no use tempting one who is free from craving,
clinging and passion, for he cannot be lured by any temptation
whatsoever.”
Then
the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
|
Verse |
|
|
|
Verse |
Then,
the Buddha continued, “Brahmin Magandiya, even when I saw those peerless
daughters of Mara, I felt no sensual desire in me. After all, what is this body
of your daughter? It is full of urine and filth; I don’t like to touch it even
with my foot!” On hearing those words of the Buddha, both the brahmin
and his wife attained Anagami Fruition. Later, they joined the Order and
eventually both of them attained arahatship.
VOICE OF SARVAJAN
Press
release National Campaign for SC/ST Human Rights
SC/ST rights activists enraged at the
failure of Indian delegations to address questions raised at the UN today
Geneva, May 24, 2012 - Dalit rights
activists gathered in Geneva are disappointed at the Indian delegation’s
immediate response to the real challenges that SC/STs face, when India was
reviewed at the UN Universal Periodic Review of India on 24 May.
Activists comment that the delegation
failed to adequately address concerns about strengthening the Prevention of
Atrocities Act, bringing in anti-discrimination law, the socio- economic development
of Scheduled Castes (SC/STs) and Scheduled Tribes (Tribals), and caste and
gender intersectionality, among a number of other key concerns.
http://dharmafarer.org/wordpress/sutta-discovery
SUTTA DISCOVERY (SD)
THE LIVING WORD OF THE BUDDHA
[Buddhist Sutras in Singapore]
SUTTA TRANSLATION PROJECT (since 2002 – )
PRINTING THE SUTTAS
That the World May Hear the Buddha Word
Sutta Discovery Publication Project
The Most Detailed Sutta Translation
(1) Why a new translation?
All the available English translations of the Suttas are
either faulty and out of date (done about a hundred years ago) or restricted by
space (as a single-volume work and lacking notes). So they are useful almost
only to the specialists.
20
reasons for Sutta Discovery series
- It is a global resource for Buddhism scholars and Buddhist
students. - The SD series is based on themes to sustain an interesting
and connected reading. (SD 37 for example is based on Right Livelihood.) - Detailed notes on
difficult words, names, and doctrines; & bibliographies. - The Sutta’s peyyala (repetitive
cycles) (especially those on Dharma training) are translated in full,
for reflection by monastics and lay practitioners. - The works are paragraphed, subtitled and numbered in a
reader-friendly way for easy reading in a scribal tradition (opposite of oral
tradition). - A high standard of referencing and cross-references to other
Suttas, essays, journal articles, etc, that are helpful to specialists
and students, for discussion or self-study. - A broad-based translation that uses alternative translations, amplified translations,
and comparative studies with Sanskrit, Chinese and other texts where
necessary. - It includes a digest of the related and latest scholarly
researches and writings, summarized, explained and discussed. - They serve as comprehensive sources and resources for study
and teaching notes for Dharma teachers, researchers and students. - Easy-to-use handbook for monastics (especially forest monks)
and practitioners for Sutta readings (for recording on MP3 etc)
and for meditation. - Socially-engaged studies to inspire Buddhist social workers: it addresses
various social and historical issues affecting Buddhism and religion. - The SD texts are freely available online at our websites, http://dharmafarer.googlepages.com & http://dharmafarer.org, and also
separately on CDs & USB drives. They can be freely used as is. - The SD texts form the basis of an online Buddhist studies
course. - The SD notes and studies are the materials for other reference
projects such as Dictionary of the Buddha’s
Words, A Sutta Dictionary, A Dharma Dictionary, Numerical Dictionary of Dharma and Sutta Index. - The translated Suttas will be published separately according to
Nikaya, that is, The Long Texts, The
Middle-length Texts, The Connected Texts and the Numerical Texts. - The SD series is inspired by the Mere Buddhist vision,
simple Dharma-moved living that brings awakening in this life itself. - The SD series is the basis for Dharma-based reforms in
Buddhism today. - It is a historical and practical guide to early Buddhist
meditation. - A helpful introduction to the study of key Pali terms and
passages. - 20. An excellent and enduring gift of the Dharma to
others.
(2) A history of the Sutta Discovery
The Sutta Discovery (SD) series started with the NUS
Buddhist Society weekly Sutta Study Group (SSG) classes in February 2002 and
the Buddhist Fellowship in February 2003. A new volume of translations and
essays (A4 size, averaging 180 pages) is released every three months.
These new SD volumes appear once every 3 months. These
volumes are fully studied in the BF (every Tuesday, since 2003) and the TMC
(every Wednesday, since 2006). By December 2009, Piya has completed at least 32
volumes of the Sutta Discovery. By 2030, over 100 SD volumes have been
projected. This current series is registered as ISBN
978-981-08-xxxx-x.
Beginning 2010, the SD Publication Project plans to publish
SD vol 1 onwards in book form, hopefully releasing 1-3 volumes each year, depending on funds. You can help us print
the Suttas.
3 Projected costs of Printing the
Suttas
3.1 This pioneer effort will be a “LIMITED
EDITION” of 1500 copies of the Sutta Discovery series, but more may be printed
if we have sufficient funds and demand.
3.2 FREE COPIES will be distributed to
interested Sangha members, Buddhist centres, tertiary societies, libraries, and
students.
3.3 Part of the publication will be
available on the open market TO GENERATE FUNDS for printing other SD volumes
and related works, and for supporting Piya Tan’s Dharma work.
3.4 YOU CAN HELP in the following ways,
besides publicizing this project for us:
(1) READER:
Donation of $25.00 or more, entitled to a free copy.
(3) STEWARD:
Donation of $500.00 and above.
(4) FULL SPONSOR: Donation of $5000.00 (cost
of printing 1500 copies of each SD Volume and mailing charges).
Your continued donations keeps the Sutta Translation project & this website going.
KNOW DHARMA, MAKE DHARMA KNOWN.
.
Sutta
Discovery are available in two formats
CD version and quarterly ring-bound volumes. The Sutta
Discovery CD version available (with Pali fonts & SD pdf versions, plus
Piya’s current works).
Books and CDs/USB flash drives are available on a donation basis, to get your copies, please email: dharmafarer@gmail.com or call 82110879 (ask for Ratna Lim).
.
FEEDBACK
from Bhante Kaccayana (27 May 2008)
Metta Vihara Forest Monastery, Germany
Dear Piya Tan,
Thousand thanks for the two CD´s with your precious Sutta material, which
arrived two days back! I also downloaded some from the website you mentioned.
All that is very precious and most useful for our sutta study group over here.
26 05 2012 SATURDAY LESSON 620 FREE ONLINE eNālāndā Research And Practice UNIVERSITY And THE BUDDHISTONLINE GOOD NEWS LETTER by ABHIDHAMMA RAKKHITA through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
Dhammapada: Verses and Stories
Dhammapada
Verse 178 Being Stream-Winner Is
Supreme
VOICE OF SARVAJAN
Editorial in toiletnews of India(Times) giving false information that Dr. Ambedkarc was not the chief architect of the Constitution.Brahmin Trivedi wrote today in TOI all wrong info about making Consttution of India , We all citizens of INDIA must condemn this false propaganda
- Dr Rahul
Verse
178. Being Stream-Winner Is Supreme
Than o’er the earth sole sovereignty,
than going to heaven,
than lordship over all the worlds:
better the Steam-winner’s fruit.
Explanation: The achievement of the stream-winner is the
primary stage in the attainment of spiritual success. The state is greater than
being a universal monarch, or reaching heaven.
Dhammapada
Verse 178
Anathapindikaputtakala Vatthu
Pathabya
ekarajjena
saggassa gamanena va
sabbalokadhipacce na
sotapattiphalam varam.
Verse
178: Far better than sovereignty over the earth, or far better than going to
the abodes of the devas, or far better than ruling supreme over the entire
universe, is (the attainment of) Sotapatti Fruition.
The
Story of Kala, son of Anathapindika
While
residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (178) of this
book, with reference to Kala, son of Anathapindika, the well renowned rich man
of Savatthi.
Kala,
son of Anathapindika, always kept away whenever the Buddha and his company of
bhikkhus came to their house. Anathapindika was afraid that if his son kept on
behaving in this way, he would be reborn in one of the lower worlds (apayas).
So, he enticed his son with the promise of money. He promised to give one
hundred if the youth consented to go to the monastery and keep sabbath for one
day. So, the youth went to the monastery and returned home early the next day,
without listening to any religious discourses. His father offered him rice
gruel, but instead of taking his food, he first demanded to have the money.
The
next day, the father said to his son, “My son, if you learn a stanza of
the Text from the Buddha I will give you one thousand on your return.” So,
Kala went to the monastery again, and told the Buddha that he wanted to learn
something. The Buddha gave him a short stanza to learn by heart; at the same
time he willed that the youth would not be able to memorize it. Thus, the youth
had to repeat a single stanza many times, but because he had to repeat it so
many times, in the end, he came to perceive the full meaning of the Dhamma and
attained Sotapatti Fruition.
Early
on the next morning, he followed the Buddha and the bhikkhus to his own house.
But on that day, he was silently wishing, “I wish my father would not give
me the one thousand in the presence of the Buddha. I do not wish the Buddha to
know that I kept the sabbath just for the sake of money.” His father
offered rice gruel to the Buddha and the bhikkhus, and also to him. Then, his
father brought one thousand, and told Kala to take the money but surprisingly
he refused. His father pressed him to take it, but he still refused. Then,
Anathapindika said to the Buddha, “Venerable Sir, my son is quite changed;
he now behaves in a very pleasant manner.” Then he related to the Buddha
how he had enticed the youth with money to go to the monastery and keep sabbath
and to learn some religious texts. To him the Buddha replied, “Anathapindika!
Today, your son has attained Sotapatti Fruition, which is much better than the
riches of the Universal Monarch or that of the devas or that of the
brahmas.”
Then
the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
|
Verse 178: |
End
of Chapter Thirteen: The World (Lokavagga)
Research on
Buddhist Suttas translation
http://www.tipitaka.net/pali/strans/
|
Sutta Translation |
In this project, we strive to translate suttas from the
Pali Tipitaka with elegance, clarity and accuracy. It is in our best interest
they reflect the importance and relevance of Buddha’s message in our time.
These words of wisdom and compassion, we hope, are able to warm the hearts and
enlighten the minds of many as they did in the last twenty five centuries.
The work of translation is by no means an easy one.
However, it is a task we will diligently undertake to accomplish. We provide a
full word list for every sutta we translate to share the precious moments of
delight and joy in getting each word correct. By doing so, we take you through
the translation process word by word, and sentence by sentence instead of you
having to reinvent the wheel. These have proven to be valuable assets to
students of the Tipitaka and Pali language. We hope you enjoy this active learning
approach. Should you have any comments, kindly forward it to the Pali discussion
group. Thank you.
Majjhima Nikaya � Collection of
Middle Length Discourses
MN62: Maharahulovada Sutta [ Completed ]
Anguttara Nikaya � Collection of
Numerically Grouped Discourses
AN07-068: Aggikkhandopama Sutta - The Mass of Fire Comparison [
Completed ]
contributed by the good folks at the Pali discussion group
[ http://www.tipitaka.net/maillist.htm ]
Inaugurated on 1, August 2002
Maintained by Ong Yong
Peng
http://www.suttareadings.net/faq.html
Frequently asked Questions
About SuttaReadings.net
- What is this
website? - How can I contact
you? - What’s the relationship
between SuttaReadings and
Access to Insight? - Why don’t
you have such-and-such a sutta? - Why don’t you
have any readings by so-and-so? - May I send you a
recording to put on the website? - Why isn’t the reader
reading the text exactly as it is printed in the book? - Where can I find more
audio Dhamma recordings? - How do I download the
sound files so I can play them later? - May I copy these
sound files and redistribute them? - What is the RSS
newsfeed ()
and how do I use it? - I sometimes hear
little clicks, pops, or dropouts while listening with my web browser.
What’s wrong? - I have a question
about Buddhism. Can you help me? - I’d like to get in
touch with one of the readers. How do I do that? - How did you prepare
the sound files?
SuttaReadings.net is a library of free audio recordings of English
translations of Pali suttas, selected and read aloud by respected Dhamma
teachers within the Theravada Buddhist tradition.
SuttaReadings.net is one person’s website, and is not affiliated
with any organization or institution.
My goal here is not to build a
comprehensive archive of sutta readings. Instead, I hope to assemble a modest
collection of outstanding suttas that teachers — our wise Dhamma elders, our
learned kalyanamittas — have singled out from among thousands of others
as being most worthy of attention and most expeditious in instilling Right View
and in guiding the listener further along the Path. To that end, I have begun
inviting teachers to choose a few suttas that they believe to be especially
significant and useful, and to read them aloud for others to hear.
As this collection slowly grows over time,
I hope it will become representative of the broad spectrum of voices — both
literal and figurative — within Theravada Buddhism: male and female; old and
young; monastic and lay; Western and Asian; well-known and reclusive. Our
voices may differ, but in the words of the suttas we find a common tongue.
The Dhamma has always been essentially an
oral tradition. Since the Buddha’s day, generations of teachers have passed
down the teachings to their students by way of the spoken word and through
their living example. Although written sutta translations are invaluable in the
careful study of Dhamma, rich new layers of meaning often emerge when hearing
those same suttas read aloud. I am often astounded at how immediately and
deeply the meaning of a sutta — even one I’ve read many times before — can
penetrate my stubborn heart when I finally make the time to listen to
it.
I invite you to download these readings,
settle down in a quiet place with your laptop or iPod, close your eyes, rest
your attention lightly on your breath, and open your ears. Imagine yourself in
a peaceful forest setting on a warm day, sitting under the cooling shade of a
tree, as the Buddha himself takes a breath and begins to speak…
See also:
- » “What is Theravada Buddhism?”
- »
Sutta Pitaka - »
Tipitaka - » Kalyanamittata (admirable friendship)
- »
Samma-ditthi (right view)
You can reach me (John Bullitt), via e-mail
at:
(john [AT] suttareadings [DOT] net)
or via postal mail at:
John Bullitt
P.O. Box 37
Milbridge, ME 04658
USA
Or you can visit 
my website.
What’s
the relationship between SuttaReadings
and Access to Insight?
Although I manage both websites, they are
two separate projects. »
Access to Insight is devoted to the printed word; SuttaReadings to the spoken.
May I
send you a recording to put on this website?
At the moment, I am collecting recordings
by invitation only. This is both to keep the focus of the project clear and to
keep it to a manageable scale.
Why don’t you have such-and-such a sutta?
It is up to the readers (the teachers) to
decide which suttas should be included here. That’s what makes this project
unique.
If you’d like to explore more suttas,
you’ll find plenty more to choose from at »Access to Insight.
Why don’t you have any readings by so-and-so?
It’s much easier to maintain a high
standard of quality when a project like this is allowed to grow slowly. So
please be patient.
If you are a senior English-speaking
Dhamma teacher and you haven’t heard from me yet, please be patient: you may be
hearing from me soon. 
I’d
like to get in touch with one of the readers. How do I do that?
On the The Readers
page, you’ll find website URLs and other publicly available information that
can help you locate the reader. I do not give out e-mail addresses or other
private contact information.
Why
isn’t the reader reading the text exactly as it is printed in the book?
Occasionally a reader omits small portions
of the text that, in his or her opinion, would distract from the key teaching
of the sutta or interfere with the flow of the text to the modern listener’s
ears. This is the teachers’ prerogative. Similarly, readers may sometimes
replace the translation of a word with an alternative one that they believe
better captures the intended meaning of the sutta. Remember that translation is
an art, not a science — especially when the texts concern ineffable aspects of
the human heart.
Where
can I find more audio Dhamma recordings?
There are many websites that offer
downloadable audio Dhamma. For a partial list of such sites, see »Access to
Insight’s “Audio recordings and streams” page.
I
have a question about Buddhism. Can you help me?
Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor
the expertise to field questions about Buddhist teachings or practice. A good
place to start is Access to Insight’s »”Frequently
Asked Questions About Buddhism”. Or consider contacting one of the
teachers listed on the The Readers
page.
May I
copy these sound files and redistribute them?
Absolutely, yes — provided you give them
away free of charge. Any commercial use of these recordings is strictly
a no-no.
What is
the RSS newsfeed () and how do I use it?
RSS (”Rich Site Summary” or
“Really Simple Syndication”) is a simple yet powerful technology
widely used by news organizations (e.g., the » BBC and » The New York Times) to keep their online readers
up-to-date. The same technology can also alert you when new recordings appear
on SuttaReadings, without you
actually having to keep checking the website.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Get an RSS
newsreader
A
newsreader is a small, easy-to-use program that runs on your computer, in the
background, while you go about your business. Its job is to quietly keep track
of RSS websites that you like and to alert you when they post announcements to
RSS subscribers like you. In SuttaReadings’s
case, you will be alerted whenever I add a new recording to the website. Once
alerted, you can get the full story either by following a link from the
newsreader itself or by visiting SuttaReadings.
Which newsreader
should you get? I can’t tell you. There are dozens of them. Some are free, some
are shareware. I can’t possibly evaluate them all and make intelligent
recommendations. Of the various newsreaders I’ve tried for the Macintosh (OS
X), two stand out as particularly easy to use: NetNewsWire Lite (free) and » NewsFire (alas, no longer free).
Also, the » Firefox web browser
supports “live bookmarks” that allow you to subscribe to RSS sites
with a single click. For help finding a newsreader, try this » Google search.
2. Subscribe
Follow
your newsreader’s instructions on subscribing. This is very simple. Depending
on which reader you have, you may either have to (a) visit the SuttaReadings
home page and click a button on your newsreader; (b) visit the home page and click the RSS
icon (); (c) type in the SuttaReadings
URL (http://www.suttareadings.net) by hand; or (d) some other equally simple
procedure. Either way, it’s easy.
3. Sit back and relax
Your
newsreader will let you know when anything new appears on SuttaReadings.
How do I
download the sound files so I can play them later?
When you click on a link to a sound file
(indicated by ![[Loudspeaker icon]](file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHOME%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image005.gif){kind=small}
), your
browser will probably start playing it immediately, using its mp3 plugin (for
example, QuickTime). If you’d prefer to save the sound file for later use,
simply right-click (Windows) or control-click (Macintosh) on the link and
follow your browser’s prompts to save the file to your hard disk. Once the mp3
file has finished downloading to your hard disk, you can use your favorite mp3
software to play the file. Not sure how to do that? Just double-click on the
mp3 file and your computer should launch the appropriate sound player program.
I
sometimes hear little clicks, pops, or dropouts while listening with my web
browser. What’s wrong?
Fortunately, there’s nothing wrong with
the sound files. It’s a common problem that occurs when you play an mp3 file in
a web browser before the file has finished loading into the browser. If you
find it annoying, you can either wait for the file to load completely or
download the sound file to your hard disk and play it using some other mp3
player program (such as iTunes).
See also: How
do I download the sound files so I can play them later?
How
did you prepare the sound files?
Note to techies: If you have any suggestions for how the recordings
or mp3 files could be improved, please let me know!
Recording
In
those readings that I personally recorded1 I used a »Sennheiser MKH 418S P48
mid-side stereo shotgun mic pointed at the reader’s mouth, about 6″ away,
and about 30° off-axis. I used a »Marantz PMD670
solid state digital recorder, saving the audio as uncompressed (44.1kHz/16 bit)
.wav files. (This all may be overkill for mp3 speech files, but I prefer to
start with the cleanest signal possible.) Files that are sent to me are
typically recorded direct to mp3, using a home PC or MD recorder, using
whatever mic is available.
Editing
I
edit the audio (mono) using »ProTools LE 7.0 on a Macintosh. After
editing out the glitches, I generally apply a high-pass rumble filter (60Hz @
6dB/octave) and a low-pass filter (~ 6kHz @ 6dB/octave) to soften the high end
for cheapo computer speakers. Some recording environments, of course, demand
more creative EQ (e.g., the carpet cleaner upstairs in MN 131). I
apply a little (a little!) compression before normalizing.
MP3 conversion
22.05kHz@48kHz
bitrate (constant) seems to give a reasonable tradeoff between file size and
sound quality. I hope Sennheiser will forgive me.
Note:
1.
Recordings on the The
Suttas page that say “recorded by jtb” are by me.
25 05 2012 FRIDAY LESSON 619 FREE ONLINE eNālāndā Research And Practice UNIVERSITY And THE BUDDHISTONLINE GOOD NEWS LETTER by ABHIDHAMMA RAKKHITA through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
Dhammapada: Verses and Stories
Dhammapada
Verse 177 Happiness Through Partaking In Good Deeds
Verse 177.
Happiness Through Partaking In Good Deeds
To
heavenly realms the mean don’t fare,
fools magnanimity ne’er acclaim,
but the one of wisdom rejoices at giving
and happy will be in future lives.
Explanation: The extreme misers do not reach the heavenly
worlds. The evil ignorant ones do not approve acts of charity. But those noble
ones approve and partake of charity. In consequence, they are happy in the next
birth.
Dhammapada Verse 177
Asadisadana Vatthu
Na
ve kadariya devalokam vajanti
bala have nappasamsanti danam
dhiro ca danam anumodamano
teneva so hoti sukhi parattha.
Verse
177: Indeed, misers do not go to the abode of the devas; fools do not praise
charity; but the wise rejoice in charity and so gain happiness in the life
hereafter.
The
Story of the Unrivalled Alms-Giving
While
residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (177) of this
book, with reference to the unrivalled alms-giving of King Pasenadi of Kosala.
Once,
the king offered alms to the Buddha and other bhikkhus on a grand scale. His
subjects, in competition with him, organized another alms-giving ceremony on a
grander scale than that of the king. Thus, the king and his subjects kept on
competing in giving alms. Finally, Queen Mallika thought of a plan; to
implement this plan, she asked the king to have a grand pavilion built. Next,
she asked for five hundred white umbrellas and five hundred tame elephants;
those five hundred elephants were to hold the five hundred white umbrellas over
the five hundred bhikkhus. In the middle of the pavilion, they kept ten boats
which were filled with perfumes and incense. There were also two hundred and
fifty princesses, who kept fanning the five hundred bhikkhus. Since the
subjects of the king had no princesses, nor white umbrellas, nor elephants,
they could no longer compete with the king. When all preparations were made,
alms-food was offered. After the meal, the king made an offering of all the things
in the pavilion, which were worth fourteen crores.
At
the time, two ministers of the king were present. Of those two, the minister
named Junha was very pleased and praised the king for having offered alms so
generously to the Buddha and his bhikkhus. He also reflected that such
offerings could only be made by a king. He was very glad because the king would
share the merit of his good deeds with all beings. In short, the minister Junha
rejoiced with the king in his unrivalled charity. The minister Kala, on the
other hand, thought that the king was only squandering, by giving away fourteen
crores in a single day, and that the bhikkhus would just go back to the
monastery and sleep.
After
the meal, the Buddha looked over at the audience and knew how Kala the minister
was feeling. Then, he thought that if he were to deliver a lengthy discourse of
appreciation, Kala would get more dissatisfied, and in consequence would have
to suffer more in his next existence. So, out of compassion for Kala, the
Buddha delivered only a short discourse and returned to the Jetavana monastery.
The king had expected a lengthy discourse of appreciation, and so he was very
sad because the Buddha had been so brief. The king wondered if he had failed to
do something which should have been done, and so he went to the monastery.
On
seeing the king, the Buddha said, “Great King! You should rejoice that
you have succeeded in making the offering of the unrivalled charity
(asadisadana). Such an opportunity comes very rarely; it comes only once during
the appearance of each Buddha. But your minister Kala had felt that it was a
waste, and was not at all appreciative. So, if I had given a lengthy discourse,
he would get more and more dissatisfied and uncomfortable, and in consequence,
he would suffer much more in the present existence as well as in the next. That
was why I preached so briefly.”
Then
the Buddha added, “Great King! Fools do not rejoice in the charities
given by others and go to the lower worlds. The wise rejoice in other people’s
charities and through appreciation, they share in the merit gained by others Aand
go to the abode of the devas”.
Then
the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
|
Verse 177: |
24 05 2012 WEDNESDAY LESSON 618 FREE ONLINE eNālāndā Research And Practice UNIVERSITY
And THE BUDDHISTONLINE GOOD NEWS LETTER by ABHIDHAMMA
RAKKHITA through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
Dhammapada: Verses and Stories
Dhammapada Verse 176 A Liar Can Commit Any Crime
Verse
176. A Liar Can Commit Any Crime
For one who falsely speaks,
who disregards the Dhamma,
who other lives denies:
no evil this one will not do.
Explanation: The evil person who has given up the virtue of
truthfulness has abandoned all hope of the next world.
Dhammapada Verse 176
Cincamanavika Vatthu
Ekam dhammam
atitassa
musavadissa jantuno
vitinnaparalokassa
natthi papam akariyam.
Verse 176: For one who transgresses the Truth, and is given to
lying, and who is unconcerned with the life hereafter, there is no evil that he
dare not do.
The Story of Cincamanavika
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse
(176) of this book, with reference to Cincamanavika.
As the Buddha went on teaching the Dhamma, more and more people
came flocking to him, and the ascetics of other faiths found their following to
be dwindling. So they made a plan that would harm the reputation of the Buddha.
They called the very beautiful Cincamanavika, a devoted pupil of theirs, to
them and said to her, “If you have our interests in your heart, please
help us and put Samana Gotama to shame.” Cincamanavika agreed to comply.
That same evening, she took some flowers and went in the direction
of the Jetavana monastery. When people asked her where she was going, she replied,
“What is the use of you knowing where I am going?” Then she would go
to the place of other ascetics near the Jetavana monastery and would come back
early in the morning to make it appear as if she had spent the night at the
Jetavana monastery. When asked, she would reply, “I spent the night with
Samana Gotama at the Perfumed Chamber of the Jetavana monastery.” After
three or four months had passed, she wrapped up her stomach with some cloth to
make her look pregnant. Then, after eight or nine months, she wrapped up her
stomach with a round piece of thin wooden plank; she also beat up her palms and
feet to make them swollen, and pretended to be feeling tired and worn out.
Thus, she assumed a perfect picture of a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy.
Then, in the evening, she went to the Jetavana monastery to confront the
Buddha.
The Buddha was then expounding the Dhamma to a congregation of
bhikkhus and laymen. Seeing him teaching on the platform, she accused the
Buddha thus: “O you big Samana! You only preach to others. I am now
pregnant by you, yet you do nothing for my confinement. You only know how to
enjoy your self!” The Buddha stopped preaching for a while and said to
her, “Sister, only you and I know whether you are speaking the truth or
not,” and Cincamanavika replied, “Yes, you are right, how can
others know what only you and I know?”
At that instant, Sakka, king of the devas, became aware of the
trouble being brewed at the Jetavana monastery, so he sent four of his devas in
the form of young rats. The four rats got under the clothes of Cincamanavika
and bit off the strings that fastened the wooden plank round her stomach. As
the strings broke, the wooden plank dropped, cutting off the front part of her
feet. Thus, the deception of Cincamanavika was uncovered, and many from the
crowd cried out in anger, “Oh you wicked woman! A liar and a cheat! How
dare you accuse our noble Teacher!” Some of them spat on her and drove her
out. She ran as fast as she could, and when she had gone some distance the
earth cracked and fissured and she was swallowed up.
The next day, while the bhikkhus were talking about Cincamanavika,
the Buddha came to them and said. “Bhikkhu;, one who is not afraid to
tell lies, and who does not care what happens in the future existence, will not
hesitate to do any evil.”
Then the Buddha
spoke in verse as follows:
|
Verse 176: For one who transgresses the Truth, and is |
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Dhammapada:
Verses and Stories
Dhammapada
Verse 175 The Wise
Travel Beyond The Worldly
Verse
175. The Wise Travel Beyond The Worldly
Swans upon the sun’s path fly,
the powerful through space,
conquering Mara and his host
away from the world the wise are led.
Explanation: The swans fly away in the sky - as the path of the
sun. Those possessing psychic power travel through the sky. Those diligent,
wise saint conquer death with his armies and leave the world and reach Nibbana.
Dhammapada Verse 175
Timsabhikkhu Vatthu
Hamsa diccapathe yanti
ikase yanti iddhiya
niyanti dhira lokamha
jetva maram savahinim.
Verse 175: Swans travel in the sky; those with supernormal powers
travel through space; the wise having conquered Mara together with his army, go
out of this world (i.e., realize Nibbana).
The
Story of Thirty Bhikkhus
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse
(175) of this book, with reference to thirty bhikkhus.
Once, thirty bhikkhus came to pay homage to the Buddha. When they
came in, the Venerable Ananda, who was then attending on the Buddha, left the
room and waited outside. After some time, Thera Ananda went in, but he did not
find any of the bhikkhus. So, he asked the Buddha where all those bhikkhus had
gone. The Buddha then replied, “Ananda, all those bhikkhus, after
hearing my discourse, had attained arahatship, and with their supernormal
powers, they let travelling through space.”
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
|
Verse 175: Swans travel in
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Dhammapada: Verses
and Stories
Dhammapada Verse
173
Verse 173. Evil Is
Overcome By Good
Who by
wholesome kamma
covers up the evil done
illumines the world
as moon when free from clouds.
Explanation: If the evil habits of behaviour of an individual get replaced by
his good behaviour, he will illuminate the world.
Dhammapada
Verse 173
Angulimalatthera Vatthu
Yassa papam katam kammam
kusalena1 pidhiyati
so’mam lokam pabhaseti
abbha muttova candima.
Verse 173: He who overwhelms with good the evil that he has done
lights up this world (with the light of Magga Insight), as does the moon freed
from clouds.
1.
kusalena: with good deed; the good in this context means Arahatta Magga, the
fourth and final Path knowledge. (The Commentary)
The
Story of Thera Angulimala
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse
(173) of this book, with reference to Thera Angulimala.
Angulimala was the son of the Head Priest in the court of King
Pasenadi of Kosala. His original name was Ahimsaka. When he was of age, he was
sent to Taxila, a renowned university town. Ahimsaka was intelligent and was
also obedient to his teacher. So he was liked by the teacher and his wife; as a
result, other pupils were jealous of him. So they went to the teacher and
falsely reported that Ahimsaka was having an affair with the teacher’s wife. At
first, the teacher did not believe them, but after being told a number of times
he believed them; and so he vowed to have revenge on the boy. To kill the boy
would reflect badly on him; so he thought of a plan which was worse than
murder. He told Ahimsaka to kill one thousand men or women and in return he
promised to give the boy priceless knowledge. The boy wanted to have this
knowledge, but was very reluctant to take life. However, he agreed to do as he
was told.
Thus, he kept on killing people, and not to lose count, he
threaded a finger each of everyone he killed and wore them like a garland round
his neck. In this way, he was known as Angulimala, and became the terror of the
countryside. The king himself heard about the exploits of Angulimala, and he
made preparations to capture him. When Mantani, the mother of Angulimala, heard
about the king’s intention, out of love for her son, she went into the forest
in a desperate bid to save her son. By this time, the chain round the neck of
Angulimala had nine hundred and ninety-nine fingers in it, just one finger
short of one thousand.
Early in the morning on that day, the Buddha saw Angulimala in his
vision, and reflected that if he did not intervene, Angulimala who was on the
look out for the last person to make up the one thousand would see his mother
and might kill her. In that case, Angulimala would have to suffer in niraya
endlessly. So out of compassion, the Buddha left for the forest where
Angulimala was.
Angulimala, after many sleepless days and nights, was very tired
and near exhaustion. At the same time, he was very anxious to kill the last
person to make up his full quota of one thousand and so complete his task. He
made up his mind to kill the first person he met. Suddenly, as he looked out he
saw the Buddha and ran after him with his knife raised. But the Buddha could not
be reached while he himself was completely exhausted. Then, looking at the
Buddha, he cried out, “O bhikkhu, stop! stop!” and the Buddha
replied, “I have stopped, only you have not stopped.”
Angulimala did not get the significance of the words of the Buddha, so he
asked, “O Bhikkhu! Why do you say that you have stopped and I have not
stopped?”
The Buddha then said to him, “I say that I have stopped,
because I have given up killing all beings, I have given up ill-treating all
beings, and because I have established myself in universal love, patience, and
knowledge through reflection. But, you have not given up killing or
ill-treating others and you are not yet established in universal love and
patience. Hence, you are the one who has not stopped.” On hearing
these words from the mouth of the Buddha, Angulimala reflected, “These are
the words of a wise man. This bhikkhu is so very wise and so very brave ; he
must be the ruler of the bhikkhus. Indeed, he must be the Buddha himself! He
must have come here specially to make me see the light.” So thinking, he
threw away his weapon and asked the Buddha to admit him to the Order of the
bhikkhus. Then and there, the Buddha made him a bhikkhu.
Angulimala’s mother looked for her son everywhere in the forest
shouting out his name, but failing to find him she returned home. When the king
and his men came to capture Angulimala, they found him at the monastery of the
Buddha. Finding that Angulimala had given up his evil ways and had become a
bhikkhu, the king and his men went home. During his stay at the monastery,
Angulimala ardently and diligently practised meditation, and within a short
time he attained arahatship.
Then, one day, while he was on an alms-round, he came to a place
where some people were quarrelling among themselves. As they were throwing
stones at one another, some stray stones hit Thera Angulimala on the head and
he was seriously injured. Yet, he managed to come back to the Buddha, and the
Buddha said to him, “My son Angulimala! You have done away with evil.
Have patience. You are paying in this existence for the deeds you have done.
These deeds would have made you suffer for innumerable years in niraya.” Soon
afterwards, Angulimala passed away peacefully; he had realized parinibbana.
Other bhikkhus asked the Buddha where Angulimala was reborn, and
when the Buddha replied “My son has realized parinibbana”,
they could hardly believe it. So they asked him whether it was possible that a
man who had killed so many people could have realized parinibbana. To this question,
the Buddha replied, “Bhikkhus! Angulimala had done much evil because he
did not have good friends. But later, he found good friends and through their
help and good advice he had been steadfast and mindful in his practice of the
dhamma. Therefore, his evil deeds have been overwhelmed by good (i e., Arahatta
Magga).
Then
the Buddha spoke in verse as follows Verse freed from clouds.
|
http://awakeningtheindianwithin.com/nalanda-university-restoring-a-glorious-past/ Awakening with Awareness the
|
Mayawati also said that PL Punia was appointed as chief
secretary so that he could work for SC/STs, but he hardly did anything for
them. “But the reality was otherwise as he belonged to the Gandhi school of
thought instead of Ambedkar’s.”
Mayawati
also termed the various probe committees against her as “baseless”.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120520/jsp/nation/story_15510995.jsp
No third front for me: Maya
RADHIKA
RAMASESHAN
New Delhi, May 19: Mayawati today said she would reveal her choice for
President after the UPA and the NDA named their candidates, and indicated she
would steer clear of “third front” politics.
The
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president hinted that her presidential candidate
would be someone committed to the SC/ST cause. “Whoever the candidate is, I
will first assess his credentials on the Bahujan movement,” she said.
The former
Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s comments came at her first news conference in
Delhi.
“I am
waiting to see who the UPA and the NDA field. Only after that shall I reveal my
plans,” she told a questioner.
Asked to
comment on Pranab Mukherjee, who is being mentioned as a possible consensus
candidate, she said: “It is inappropriate to jump the gun and respond to mere
speculation.”
On P.A.
Sangma, sponsored by the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal, she said: “I learnt of
it from the newspapers but the scenario is unclear.”
Mayawati
made it clear that her priority was to fight the Samajwadi Party government in
Uttar Pradesh, and not to get entangled in “third front” politics at the
Centre.
A
political aide said Mayawati would focus on the BSP’s “high growth” states in
the heartland and Maharashtra and try to maximise her gains in the next Lok
Sabha polls on her own.
“No third
front for me,” Mayawati said today. Her previous experiment with such a front —
when the Left tried to bring her onto the national centre-stage in 2009 — had
ended with the bitter taste of defeat.
The BSP
chief arrived at the venue. A security retinue and confidant Satish Mishra were
in tow. She occupied the lone seat placed on the dais and read out a long
opening statement.
She
answered the queries patiently.
Asked how
her successor Akhilesh Yadav compared with his father Mulayam Singh, Mayawati
said: “You may draw your inferences from the reports filtering out of the state
every day. Father and son share the same mindset and adhere to the same party
line on policies and issues, so there is no change in their style of thinking
and functioning.”
She
accused the Samajwadi government of allowing law and order to spin out of
control and alleged that in the two months of its existence, nearly 800 murders,
270 rapes, 245 armed robberies and 256 kidnappings had been reported.
“These
are crimes that have come to light because FIRs were filed. Because of
political pressure, many crimes go unrecorded. You can imagine what a
disastrous condition the state will be in by the time this government completes
its term,” Mayawati said.
“Businessmen
and traders feel insecure. Nobody wants to step out of their homes after
sunset. If a family’s male member does so, the women cannot sleep peacefully
till he returns.”
Most
people, especially women, had lauded Mayawati for restoring the rule of law in
Uttar Pradesh.
Mayawati
accused Akhilesh of targeting the SC/STs. “Police stations are out of bounds
for SC/STs. Samajwadi musclemen are grabbing land that was allotted to SC/STs.
At least 2,000 SC/ST officials were shunted out to the boondocks,” she said.
On the
probe Akhilesh has initiated into the various “scams” associated with her rule,
Mayawati said: “If an investigation is unbiased and transparent, I have no
problems.”
She added: “When my party
came to power, we inherited the corrupt legacies bequeathed by previous
governments. We tried to clean the rot; I took action against errant ministers,
MLAs and officials. The Samajwadi dispensation has stooped to an unprecedented
low and is doing cheap politics in the guise of cleaning the system up.”
Mayawati slams Akhilesh Yadav government
over breakdown of law and order in Uttar Pradesh
The
Mayawati juggernaut has arrived in Delhi.The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief
has assumed centrestage in the national Capital.
On Saturday, she held a press conference at a five-star hotel,
her first in Delhi in the past three years, and launched a blistering attack on
the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government in UP for “complete
breakdown of law and order”.
Mayawati, who she shifted base to the Capital after becoming a
Rajya Sabha member last month, also lashed out at the Congress and the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But it was the SP that was her main target.
Her ‘chargesheet’
Mayawati brought out a long list of charges against the Akhilesh
government: People are scared in the state to venture out in the evening; a SP
flag on a car amounts to the licence to kill; Akhilesh is managing the media to
highlight his government’s non-xistent achievements and to malign her rule; the
government is ordering probes into her decisions with an anti- SC/ST agenda.
True to her style, she dished out statistics - reading out from
a seven-page text written in Hindi - to claim that “loot, arson, murder,
kidnapping, extortion and dacoity” had become routine since the SP came to
power.
Mayawati alleged that in the past two months, 800 murders, 270
rapes, 256 kidnappings and 720 cases of loot had taken place in Uttar Pradesh
and the criminals who were behind bars when she was in office had been
released.
Accusing the SP of carrying out the politics of vendetta, she
alleged that the Akhilesh government was ordering probes into her government’s
policies and decisions to deflect attention from these issues. She said the SP
had scrapped 26 welfare schemes run by her government in 13 departments.
Mayawati said the Congress and the BJP shared the blame for this
state of affairs because their “false propaganda” against her party
and government ensured the SP’s win.
“We always knew that the people of UP would, within one
year, repent voting the SP to power. But within two months, disappointment is
writ large on their faces,” the former CM said.
Eye on 2014
Analysts said the sinking law and order situation in UP within
two months of the SP’s comeback appeared to have emboldened Mayawati. The BSP
chief’s eyes are set on the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Her goal, they said, would be
to stop Mualayam Singh from winning enough seats to try his luck as the next
Prime Minister.
Indicating her plans to consolidate the BSPcontinuing with
’sarvajan’ politics, Mayawati said: “I am not going to move even an inch
from the line of party’s movement.”
On the presidential polls, Mayawati was dismissive of the
candidatures of P. A. Sangma and Pranab Mukherjee and indicated that the BSP
would prefer a Dalit or minority. “We will support a candidate who is
suitable to us in the line of our party’s movement. We’ll support whoever fits
in our party line of movement,” she said.
Party leaders not spared
When these two leaders S. C. Mishra and Dara Singh Chauhan.or any
MP of my party speaks… the main points are mostly prepared by me.
“When I was the CM, I used to send briefs to my MPs. The
situation sometimes was that the MPs could not speak on the correct party line
and I had to call a press meet in Lucknow to specify the correct party
line,” she said
Mayawati said that P. L. Punia, her former chief secretary who
later joined the Congress, had spread rumours that it was he who used to
discharge all responsibilities.
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