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