All the original sermons chanting heard during the Buddha’s forty-five year teaching career.

Most of these sermons therefore begin with the disclaimer, “Evam me sutam” — “Thus have I heard.”

After
the Buddha’s death the teachings continued to be passed down orally
within the monastic community, in keeping with an Prabuddha Bharathian
oral tradition

that long predated the Buddha.

By 250 BCE the Sangha had systematically
arranged and compiled these teachings into three divisions: the Vinaya
Pitaka (the “basket of discipline” — the texts

concerning
the rules and customs of the Sangha), the Sutta Pitaka (the “basket of
discourses” — the sermons and utterances by the Buddha and his close
disciples), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (the “basket of special/higher
doctrine” — a detailed psycho-philosophical analysis of the Dhamma).
Together these three are known as the Tipitaka, the “three baskets.” In
the third century BCE Sri Lankan monks began compiling a series of
exhaustive commentaries to the Tipitaka; these were subsequently
collated and translated into Pali beginning in the fifth century CE.

The
Tipitaka plus the post-canonical texts (commentaries, chronicles, etc.)
together constitute the complete body of classical Theravada
literature.

Pali
was originally a spoken language with no alphabet of its own. It wasn’t
until about 100 BCE that the Tipitaka was first fixed in writing, by
Sri Lankan scribe-monks, who wrote the

Pali
phonetically in a form of early Brahmi script. Since then the Tipitaka
has been transliterated into many different scripts (Devanagari, Thai, Burmese, Roman, Cyrillic, to name a few).

Although
English translations of the most popular Tipitaka texts abound, many
students of Theravada find that learning the Pali language — even just a
little bit here and there — greatly deepens their understanding and
appreciation of the Buddha’s teachings.

It is the truth towards which the words in the Tipitaka point that ultimately matters, not the words themselves.

Tipitaka
will quietly continue to serve — as it has for centuries — as an
indispensable guide for millions of followers in their quest for
Awakening.

A Brief Summary of the Buddha’s Teachings

The Four Noble Truths

Shortly
after his Awakening, the Buddha delivered his first sermon, in which he
laid out the essential framework upon which all his later teachings
were
based. This framework consists of the Four Noble Truths, four
fundamental principles of nature (Dhamma) that emerged from the Buddha’s
radically honest and penetrating assessment of the human condition. He
taught these truths not as metaphysical theories or as articles of
faith, but as categories by which we should frame our direct experience
in a way that conduces to Awakening:

Dukkha: suffering, unsatisfactoriness, discontent, stress;

The
cause of dukkha: the cause of this dissatisfaction is craving (tanha)
for sensuality, for states of becoming, and states of no becoming;

The cessation of dukkha: the relinquishment of that craving;

The
path of practice leading to the cessation of dukkha: the Noble
Eightfold Path of right view, right resolve, right speech, right action,
right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Because of our ignorance (avijja) of these Noble Truths,
because of our inexperience in framing the world in their terms, we
remain bound to samsara, the wearisome cycle of birth, aging, illness,
death, and rebirth. Craving propels this process onward, from one moment
to the next and over the course of countless lifetimes, in accordance
with kamma, the universal law of cause and effect. According to this
immutable law, every action that one performs in the present moment —
whether by body, speech, or mind itself — eventually bears fruit
according to its skillfulness: act in unskillful and harmful ways and
unhappiness is bound to follow; act skillfully and happiness will
ultimately ensue. As long as one remains ignorant of this principle, one
is doomed to an aimless existence: happy one moment, in despair the
next; enjoying one lifetime in heaven, the next in hell.

The
Buddha discovered that gaining release from samsara requires assigning
to each of the Noble Truths a specific task: the first Noble Truth is to
be comprehended; the second, abandoned; the third, realized; the fourth,
developed. The full realization of the third Noble Truth paves the way
for Awakening: the end of ignorance, craving, suffering, and kamma
itself; the direct penetration to the transcendent freedom and supreme
happiness that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha’s teachings;
the Unconditioned, the Deathless, Unbinding — Nibbana the Eternal Bliss.

The Eightfold Path and the Practice of Dhamma

Because
the roots of ignorance are so intimately entwined with the fabric of
the psyche, the unawakened mind is capable of deceiving itself with
breathtaking ingenuity. The solution therefore requires more than simply
being kind, loving, and mindful in the present moment. The practitioner must
equip him- or herself with the expertise to use a range of tools to
outwit, outlast, and eventually uproot the mind’s unskillful tendencies.
For example, the practice of generosity (dana) erodes the mind’s
habitual tendencies towards craving and teaches valuable lessons

about
the motivations behind, and the results of, skillful action. The
practice
of virtue (sila) guards one against straying wildly off-course and into
harm’s way. The cultivation of goodwill (metta) helps to undermine
anger’s seductive grasp. The ten recollections offer ways to alleviate
doubt, bear physical pain with composure, maintain a healthy sense of
self-respect, overcome laziness and complacency, and restrain oneself
from unbridled lust. And there are many more skills to learn.

The
good qualities that emerge and mature from these practices not only
smooth the way for the journey to Nibbana; over time they have the
effect of transforming the practitioner into a more generous, loving,
compassionate, peaceful, and clear-headed member of society.

The individual’s sincere pursuit of Awakening is thus a priceless and timely gift to a world in desperate need of help.

Discernment (pañña)

The
Eightfold Path is best understood as a collection of personal qualities
to be developed, rather than as a sequence of steps along a linear
path. The development of right view and right resolve (the factors
classically identified with wisdom and discernment) facilitates the
development of right speech, action, and livelihood (the factors
identified with virtue). As virtue develops so do the factors identified
with concentration (right effort, mindfulness, and concentration).

Likewise,
as concentration matures, discernment evolves to a still deeper level.
And so the process unfolds: development of one factor fosters
development of the next, lifting the practitioner in an upward spiral
of spiritual maturity that eventually culminates in Awakening.

The
long journey to Awakening begins in earnest with the first tentative
stirrings of right view — the discernment by which one recognizes the
validity of the four Noble Truths and the principle of kamma.

One
begins to see that one’s future well-being is neither predestined by
fate, nor left to the whims of a divine being or random chance. The
responsibility for one’s happiness rests squarely on one’s own
shoulders. Seeing this, one’s spiritual aims become suddenly clear: to relinquish
the habitual unskillful tendencies of the mind in favor of skilful
ones. As this right resolve grows stronger, so does the heartfelt desire
to live a morally upright life, to choose one’s actions with care.

At
this point many followers make the inward commitment to take the
Buddha’s teachings to heart, to become “Buddhist” through the
act of taking refuge in the Triple Gem: the Buddha (both the historical
Buddha and one’s own innate potential for Awakening), the Dhamma (both
the Buddha’s teachings and the ultimate Truth towards which they point),
and the Sangha (both the unbroken monastic lineage that has preserved
the teachings since the Buddha’s day, and all those who have achieved at
least some degree of Awakening). With one’s feet thus planted on solid
ground, and with the help of an admirable friend or teacher
(kalyanamitta) to guide the way, one is now well-equipped to proceed
down the Path, following in the footsteps left by the Buddha himself.

Virtue (sila)

Right
view and right resolve continue to mature through the development of
the path factors associated with sila, or virtue — namely, right speech,
right action, and right livelihood.

These
are condensed into a very practical form in the five precepts, the
basic code of ethical conduct to which every practicing Buddhist
subscribes: refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying,
and using intoxicants. Even the monks’ complex code of 227 rules and
the nuns’ 311 ultimately have these five basic precepts at their core.

Concentration (samadhi)

Having
gained a foothold in the purification of one’s outward behavior through
the
practice of sila, the essential groundwork has been laid for delving
into the most subtle and transformative aspect of the path: meditation
and the development of samadhi, or concentration. This is spelled
out in detail in the final three path factors: right effort, by which
one learns how to favor skillful qualities of mind over unskillful ones;
right mindfulness, by which one learns to keep one’s attention
continually grounded in the present moment of experience; and right
concentration, by which one learns to immerse the mind so thoroughly and
unwaveringly in its meditation object that it enters jhana, a series of
progressively deeper states of mental and physical tranquillity.

Right
mindfulness and right concentration are developed in tandem through
satipatthana (”frames of reference” or “foundations of mindfulness”), a
systematic approach to meditation practice that embraces a wide range of
skills and techniques. Of these practices, mindfulness of the body
(especially mindfulness of breathing) is particularly effective at
bringing into balance the twin qualities of tranquillity (samatha) and
insight (vipassana), or clear-seeing. Through persistent practice, the
meditator becomes more adept at bringing the combined powers of

samatha-vipassana to bear in an exploration of the fundamental nature of mind
and bodyAs the meditator masters the ability to frame his immediate
experience in terms of anicca (inconstancy), dukkha, and anatta
(not-self), even the subtlest manifestations of these three
characteristics of experience are brought into exquisitely sharp focus.

At
the same time, the root cause of dukkha — craving — is relentlessly
exposed to the light of awareness. Eventually craving is left with no
place to hide, the entire karmic process that fabricates dukkha
unravels,
the eightfold path reaches its noble climax, and the meditator gains,
at long last, his or her first unmistakable glimpse of the Unconditioned
Nibbana the Eternal Bliss.

Awakening

This
first awakenment experience, known as stream-entry (sotapatti), is the
first of four progressive stages of Awakening, each of which entails the
irreversible shedding
or weakening of several fetters (samyojana), the manifestations of
ignorance that bind a person to the cycle of birth and death.

Stream-entry marks an unprecedented and radical turning point both in the
practitioner’s current life and in the entirety of his or her long
journey in samsara. For it is at this point that any lingering doubts
about the truth of the Buddha’s teachings disappear; it is at this point
that any belief in the purifying efficacy of rites and rituals
evaporates; and it is at this point that the long-cherished notion of an
abiding personal “self” falls away. The stream-enterer is said to be
assured of no more than seven future rebirths (all of them favorable)
before eventually attaining full Awakening.

But full Awakening is still
a long way off. As the practitioner presses on with renewed diligence,
he or she passes through two more significant landmarks:

once-returning
(sakadagati), which is accompanied by the weakening of I the fetters of
sensual desire and ill-will, and non-returning (agati), in which these
two fetters are uprooted altogether.

The final stage of Awakening —
arahatta — occurs when even the most refined and subtle levels of
craving and conceit are irrevocably extinguished.

At
this point the practitioner — now an arahant, or “worthy one” — arrives
at the end-point of the Buddha’s teaching. With ignorance, suffering, stress,
and rebirth having all come to their end, the arahant at last can utter
the victory cry first proclaimed by the Buddha upon his Awakening:

“Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done! There is nothing further for the sake of this world.”

— MN 36

The
arahant lives out the remainder of his or her life inwardly enjoying
the bliss of Nibbana, secure at last from the possibility of any future
rebirth. When the arahant’s aeons-long trail of past kamma eventually
unwinds to its end, the arahant dies and he or she enters into
parinibbana — total Unbinding. Although language utterly fails at
describing this extraordinary event, the Buddha likened it to what
happens when a fire finally burns up all its fuel.

“The
serious pursuit of happiness” Buddhism is sometimes naïvely criticized
as a “negative” or “pessimistic” religion and philosophy. Surely life is
not all misery and disappointment: it offers many kinds of happiness
and sublime joy. Why then this dreary Buddhist obsession with
unsatisfactoriness and suffering?

The
Buddha based his teachings on a frank assessment of our plight as
humans: there is unsatisfactoriness and suffering in the world. No one
can argue this fact. Dukkha lurks behind even the highest forms of
worldly pleasure and joy, for, sooner or later, as surely as night
follows day, that happiness must come to an end. Were the Buddha’s teachings
to stop there, we might indeed regard them as pessimistic and life as
utterly hopeless. But, like a doctor who prescribes a remedy for an
illness, the Buddha offers both a hope (the third Noble Truth) and a
cure (the fourth). The Buddha’s teachings thus give cause for
unparalleled optimism and joy. The teachings offer as their reward the
noblest, truest kind of happiness, and give profound value and meaning
to an otherwise grim existence. One modern teacher summed it up well:

“Buddhism is the serious pursuit of happiness.”

Theravada Comes West

Until
the late 19th century, the teachings of Theravada were little known
outside of southern Asia, where they had flourished for some two and
one-half millennia. In the past century, however, the West has begun to
take notice of Theravada’s unique spiritual legacy in its teachings of
Awakening.
In recent decades this interest has swelled, with the monastic Sangha
from various schools within Theravada establishing dozens of monasteries
across Europe and North America. Increasing numbers of lay meditation
centers, founded and operated independently of

the
monastic Sangha, strain to meet the demands of lay men and women —
Buddhist and otherwise — seeking to learn selected aspects of the
Buddha’s teachings.

The
turn of the 21st century presents both opportunities and dangers for
Theravada in the West: Will the Buddha’s teachings be patiently studied
and put into practice, and allowed toestablish deep roots in Western
soil, for the benefit of many generations to come? Will the current
popular Western climate of “openness”
and cross-fertilization between spiritual traditions lead to the
emergence of a strong new form of Buddhist practice unique to the modern
era, or will it simply lead to confusion and the dilution of these
priceless teachings? These are open questions; only time will tell.

Spiritual
teachings of every description inundate the media and the marketplace
today. Many of today’s popular spiritual teachings borrow liberally from
the Buddha, though only rarely do they place the Buddha’s words in
their true context. Earnest seekers of truth are therefore often faced
with the unsavory task of wading through fragmentary teachings of
dubious accuracy.

How are we to make sense of it all?

Fortunately
the Buddha left us with some simple guidelines to help us navigate
through this bewildering flood. Whenever you find yourself questioning
the authenticity of a particular teaching, heed well the Buddha’s advice
to his stepmother:

[The
teachings that promote]
the qualities of which you may know, ‘These qualities lead to passion,
not to dispassion; to being fettered, not to being unfettered; to
accumulating, not to shedding; to self-aggrandizement, not to modesty;
to discontent, not to contentment; to entanglement, not to seclusion;
to laziness, not to aroused persistence; to being burdensome, not to
being unburdensome’: You may categorically hold, ‘This is not the
Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher’s instruction.’
[As for the teachings that promote] the qualities of

which
you may know, ‘These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to
being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to
accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment,not
to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence,
not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome’: You
may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is
the Teacher’s instruction.’

— AN 8.53

The truest test of these teachings, of course, is whether they yield the

promised results in the crucible of your own heart.

The Buddha presents the challenge; the rest is up to you.

END

NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3

TIMES ).

RESEARCH THEREVADA RELIGION BY BACH LIEN HOA.( TAM THANH

).MHDT.30/3/2012.