Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Sep 23, 2018 3:17 PM
Title: Re: Suttas where bhikkhuni teach rebirth ?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:34 AM
Title: Re: Abhidhamma Chant vs Abhidhamma
Content:
What is chanted in that link is only a tiny portion of each of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka’s seven books. It comprises:

1. Dhammasaṅgaṇī: first paragraph after the conclusion of the mātikā (“matrix”, i.e. the opening summary of contents).

2. Vibhaṅga: first paragraph of the book.

3. Dhātukathā: first paragraph of the book.

4. Puggalapaññatti: first paragraph after the conclusion of the mātikā.

5. Kathāvatthu: a paragraph describing the Theravāda’s opening sally in the first debate against the Pudgalavādins.

6. Yamaka: first paragraph of the book.

7. Paṭṭhāna: just the mātikā.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:41 PM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
I'm actually already familiar with all the canonical texts in which the ten terms (not nine!) are used.

I was replying, however, to your earlier claim that the said terms are: "...discussed in detail mostly in the three commentaries included in the Tipitaka: Patisambhidamagga, Petakopadesa, and Nettippakarana."

But they are not! They are not even briefly discussed in these texts. Moreover, in no Pali text whatever are the terms ever expounded in a manner that lends any support to your teacher's "nine-stages-in-a-citta's-life" theory. In all texts that expound the terms in detail they are treated as synonyms.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:52 PM
Title: Re: JE Carpenter, digha nikaya
Content:
He was a Unitarian minister and Sanskrit scholar. He assisted Thomas Rhys Davids with the editing of the romanised Pali editions of the Dīgha Nikāya and its commentary, but I don't think he translated any Pali texts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Estlin_Carpenter

The other Dīgha Nikāya translations beside Walshe's are those of Th. Rhys Davids and the Burmese Sāsanā Piṭaka Association.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:18 PM
Title: Re: Wrong Livelihood: Monk’s Alms round
Content:
So, unless one can either read a monk’s mind or else knows his character well through long acquaintance, it seems a bit imprudent to publicly accuse him of wrong livelihood merely because his praise for his supporters, and so on, might be interpreted as proceeding from evil wishes and an ambition for gain, honours and renown.

According to Dhammapāla kindly or affectionate speech has harsh speech as its far-enemy and ingratiating flattery as its near-enemy. As with all kusala things and their near-enemies, the one is easily mistaken for the other.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:07 PM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:39 PM
Title: Re: Theravada and Sex: Sexual Misconduct
Content:
Now when young Thin Thin is reading chemistry at Keble College, Oxford, while her daddy sits smoking cheroots in Mandalay, in what (uncontrived) sense can it possibly be said that the latter is guarding, watching over or wielding authority over his daughter?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:20 PM
Title: Re: Throwing food
Content:
I don't think that it would be, at least not in the case of any of the normal ways in which people get rid of excess food.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:36 PM
Title: Re: Theravada and Sex: Sexual Misconduct
Content:
What do you mean by this? The first sentence seems to contradict everything that you’ve been saying up to this point. What are sammā- and micchā-kammantā if not right and wrong actions?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:15 PM
Title: Re: Theravada and Sex: Sexual Misconduct
Content:
But the passage doesn’t say that “kamma is the only thing we will inherit from life to life. It says that we shall be the heirs of our kamma, not that we shall be the heirs of our kamma and nothing else. If you were the heir to your kamma and nothing else, then the ripening of some past kusala kamma might have caused you to encounter the Buddha’s teaching but it wouldn’t have caused you to respond to it in the way that you have. For example, if it wasn’t for natural decisive support condition (pakatūpanissaya-paccaya) you’d have been incapable of any sort of response beyond that of flopping about like a beached sea cucumber.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:02 PM
Title: Re: Theravada and Sex: Sexual Misconduct
Content:
This isn’t quite correct. If you were to search the Pali texts for the masculine forms piturakkhito, māturakkhito, etc., you would come up empty-handed. Likewise if you searched Brahminical texts for the cognate Sanskrit terms. No male is ever described in this way. In saying this I don’t of course mean to imply that a male child was not subject to some sort of guardianship, nor that it would be morally blameless to have sex with him. My point, rather, is that in the boundaries set by King Mahāsammata, the very particular (and peculiarly Indian) mode of guardianship called rakkhakā was applicable to females only.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:41 PM
Title: Re: Throwing food
Content:
In Thai wats some of it will be eaten by the laypeople who brought it, some by the temple boys or any laypeople who’ve come to work in the wat, some (in town and city wats) by beggars, and some by the wat’s cats, dogs and chickens. In a large wat on a festival day the surplus will often be enormous, and so the leftovers will be loaded in a truck and distributed to the local orphanages.

The only place I’ve seen food being thrown away was at Wat Pa Baan Taad. Becaue of Ajahn Maha Bua’s fame, at weekends there would coachloads of merit-makers coming from all over Thailand – sometimes a thousand or more people bringing food for just 52 monks and novices. After the meal some meat would be kept aside for the ajahn’s dogs and some bananas for his parrot and squirrels. Everything else would be dumped in a deep pit and burned.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:20 PM
Title: Re: Theravada and Sex: Sexual Misconduct
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:28 PM
Title: Re: Theravada and Sex: Sexual Misconduct
Content:
Bhante, 

Having now read your article, I am certainly one of those who would question what you write. I question it, however, not because it's at odds with what is popularly taught by Buddhist teachers in the West, but because it's both textually and historically uninformed, with no citations provided in support of one its most pivotal contentions. I refer here (as Sam Vara did earlier in this thread) to your claim that a woman should be considered "guarded by her father [mother, brothers, etc.]" so long as she remains an unmarried woman and these people are still living. That is, she will still be piturakkhitā, māturakkhitā, etc., even if she has left home, obtained employment and established an independent life for herself. Your argument up to now seems to amount to no more than: "This is what modern Asian Theravādins believe, so it must be right." But this just won't do. In the Kathāvatthu we can find at least twenty views that were rejected as heretical at the Third Council, but which are nowadays widely believed in Asian Theravādin countries; in some cases even widely believed by learned ajahns and sayadaws.

Furthermore, I question what you say because my own investigation (admittedly many years ago) of the terms piturakkhitā, māturakkhitā, etc., led me to quite different conclusions. I began by surveying every occurrence of these terms in the Tipiṭaka, Atthakathā and Ṭīkā, and then ventured further afield by examining their use in Jainist sūtras and Brahminical legal texts. My conclusions, in brief, were:

1. Guardianship of the X-rakkhitā type is limited to custodial situations. That is, if Susan is not regularly domiciled with X, then she cannot be said to be X-rakkhitā.

2. The view of modern Asian Theravādins that you champion is not only not supported in the Pali Buddhist texts, it's not even supported in the (far more paternalistic) Brahminical works like the Dharmaśāstra or Medhātithi's commentary to the Laws of Manu.

3. I strongly suspect that the modern Asian view is a case of wanting to have your cake and eat it. In bygone ages the normal practice was that a daughter would reside at home until her menstrual cycle began and would then be wedded off at the earliest opportunity. But now we have parents who want to send their daughters away to college (which may entail their going away to another city or country) and yet they retain an emotional need for ownership and control of their daughters. To get the best of both worlds they've invented the fiction that piturakkhitā-ship is for life.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:51 AM
Title: Re: Star Water Blessing...
Content:
Sorry, this is the corrected link:

https://www.theses.fr/2015EPHE5032.pdf

I'm afraid I don't know anything about the matter beyond what's stated in Kourilsky's thesis. I've spent most of my years in the North of Thailand, but the custom you're asking about seems to belong to the Northeast and Laos.

Anyhow, this is the Kourilsky's French translation of the gāthā:

“De ses cheveux [l’eau] s’écoulait comme le flot des eaux du Gange. Alors, l’armée de Māra, incapable de tenir, prit la fuite. Par la puissance des Perfections (parāmitā), l’armée de Māra fut défaite. Ayant été détruit, elle se dispersa dans toutes les directions, sans qu’il n’en reste rien.”

["From her [i.e., Mother Thoranee's] hair [water] flowed like the stream of water of the Ganges. Then, the army of Māra, unable to hold, fled. By the power of the perfections (parāmitā) Māra's army was defeated, having been destroyed and scattered in all directions, with nothing left."]


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:49 AM
Title: Re: Star Water Blessing...
Content:
If you read French, the gāthā is discussed by Grégory Kourilsky on pp. 197-99 of his doctoral thesis:

La place des ascendants familiaux dans le bouddhisme des Lao

www.theses.fr/2015EPHE5032.pdf


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:42 AM
Title: Re: Star Water Blessing...
Content:
Gāthā Mae Thoranee

tassā kesīsato yathāgaṅga sotaṃ pavattanti
mārasenā patiṭṭhātuṃ asakkonto palāyiṃsu
pāramitānubhāvena mārasenā parājitā
disodisaṃ palāyanti vidaṃsenti asesato.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:09 PM
Title: Re: what's on your raft? (the indispensable sutta passages to memorize)
Content:
I think it would be better to wait until you're in a monastery or you're almost certain to develop chanting habits that are at odds with the style used in your wat, and so will then have to waste time unlearning them. Even the ordination can't really be prepared for in advance unless you know where you're going to be - Dhammayuts and Mahanikaya Ajahn Chah wats use different formulas for the ordination liturgy.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:31 PM
Title: Re: what's on your raft? (the indispensable sutta passages to memorize)
Content:
There’s considerable variation between wats. At one extreme there are some forest wats where you’d expected to memorise nearly as much as city-based scholar monks (e.g., virtually everything in the Dhammayut chanting book at Access to Insight). Then at the other extreme there are places like Wat Pa Baan Taad where a monk might easily get away with knowing only the meal-time blessing chant and the sutta passages chanted after the Pātimokkha recital, because this is the only chanting they ever do.

A fairly common pattern, however, would be something like this:

1. Meal-time blessing (anumodanā) chants to be learned as soon as possible; ideally within a week or two of arriving.

2. King Rama IV-style morning and evening services to be learned during the first month or two. Also, if it’s a wat where a probationary period as a sāmanera is required, then you might be expected to learn the seventy-five sekhiya rules and Sāmanerasikkhā during this period.

3. More frequently-chanted suttas and parittas – chiefly those that make up the Jed Tamnaan and Sib-song Tamnaan paritta cycles – to be learned during the first year or two.

4. The Pāṭimokkha - some time during the first five years. Though in recent years fewer and fewer wats have been insisting on this.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2018 1:42 PM
Title: Re: assada adinava and nissarana
Content:
They don't have one, but if one were needed, then "four noble truths compressed to three" would do, based on the equivalences given in the Nettipakaraṇa Atthakathā:

dukkha = ādīnava
samudaya = assāda
magga &amp; nirodha = nissaraṇa


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:23 AM
Title: Re: Any teachers follow Ariyavamsa Patipada ?
Content:
In Thailand there are probably several thousand monks who practise items 1, 2 and 4 in your description, but making one's robes out of discarded pieces of cloth (as practised by Ajahn Mun) is very uncommon nowadays. No doubt at least some of the monks in question are meditation teachers.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:26 AM
Title: Re: Marks of existence sutta
Content:
If ‘lakkhaṇa’ wasn’t available to me, then the only sutta terms I can think of are those found in the AN’s Uppādāsutta.

Using Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation, that would mean ‘three laws’ (dhātu), ‘three stablenesses of the Dhamma’ (dhammaṭṭhitatā), or ‘three fixed courses of the Dhamma’ (dhammaniyāmatā).

Using Ajahn Thanissaro’s: ‘properties’, ‘steadfastnesses of the Dhamma’, ‘orderlinesses of the Dhamma’.

And the second sermon might then be Khandhadhammaṭṭhitatā or Khandhadhammaniyāmatā Sutta.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2018 1:18 AM
Title: Re: Any teachers follow Ariyavamsa Patipada ?
Content:
What is your source for this description?

In the Ariyavaṃsa and Saṅgīti Suttas the first three ariyavaṃsa practices are the mental ones of being contented with any robes, lodgings or almsfood one happens to get. They also include the verbal practice of not praising oneself on account of one's contentment. And so if any bhikkhu were in fact contented in the manner described, you wouldn't know because he wouldn't tell you.  

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/an4.28


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 10, 2018 7:00 PM
Title: Re: Marks of existence sutta
Content:
Nor was I accusing you of doing so; nor even suspecting it.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:45 PM
Title: Re: what's on your raft? (the indispensable sutta passages to memorize)
Content:
In the Northern Thai sub-tradition with whose monks I've been loosely affiliated for the last couple of decades we have two chanting cycles, one used on even-numbered days, the other on odd-numbered days and Uposathas. The first of the cycles is simply the Bangkok one that was composed by King Rama III or Rama IV (I forget which of the two it was) and then imposed willy-nilly on the whole country. The less said about that the better, as it's dull as ditchwater. The other more interesting cycle is an abbreviated version of an old Lanna one. It comprises the following:

1st day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Inviting the devatās
(sarajjaṃ sasenaṃ sabandhuṃ narindaṃ…)

(2) Pubbabhāganamakāra
(namo tassa bhagavato…)

(3) Saraṇagamanaṃ, Lanna-style going for refuge
(buddhaṃ jīvitaṃ yāvanibbānaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi…)

(4) Sambuddhe
(sambuddhe aṭṭhavīsañca, dvādasañca sahassake…)

(5) Namokāraṭṭhakagāthā
(namo arahato sammāsambuddhassa mahesino…)

(6) Verses for initiating a paritta cycle
(ye santā santacittā…)

(7) Rājato
(rājato vā corato vā manussato vā…)

(8) Maṅgala Sutta
(Sn. 46-7)

(9) Jayamaṅgala-aṭṭhagāthā
(bāhuṃ sahassamabhinimmitasāvudhantaṃ…)

(10) Bhojanasuttagāthā
(= AN. iii. 42)

(11) The Bodhisatta’s ten perfections / Itipi so mahājaya
(Itipi so bhagavā dānapāramīsampanno…)

(12) Temiyo / Ten former lives of the Buddha
(temiyo nāma bhagavā…)

(13) Sukho Buddhānaṃ
(comprising Dhp. 194, verses from the Mahākappina Sutta, SN. ii. 284, and Dhp. 204)

(14) Taṅkhaṇikapaccavekkhaṇaṃ (morning) / Atītapaccavekkhaṇaṃ (evening)

(15) Dhātupaṭikūlapaccavekkhaṇaṃ

(16) Pattidānagāthā (morning), Uddissanādhiṭṭhānagāthā (evening)

(17) Asking forgiveness of Triple Gem, etc.
(vandāmi buddhaṃ sabbaṃ me dosaṃ…)

(18) Asking forgiveness of senior monk
(vandāmi bhante sabbaṃ aparādhaṃ…)

(19) Therābhithutigāthāyo
(verses praising the merits of Khrubar Srivichai and Khrubar Prommajak)

Parts 1-2 and 13-19 are chanted every day, so I won't list them again.

3rd day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Namakārasiddhigāthā
(yo cakkhumā mohamalāpakaṭṭho…)

(2) Namokāraṭṭhakagāthā
(namo arahato sammāsambuddhassa mahesino…)

(3) Ratana Sutta
(Sn. 38-42)

(4) Cullamaṅgalacakkavāḷa
(sabbabuddhānubhāvena…)

(5) Verses from the Aggappasāda Sutta
(AN. ii. 35)

(6) Keṇiyānumodanagāthāyo
(= verses starting aggihuttaṃ mukhā yaññā… in the Sn’s Sela Sutta)

5th day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Karaṇīyametta Sutta
(Sn. 25-6)

(2) Khandha Paritta
(= verses from the Ahirāja Sutta, AN. ii. 72-3)

(3) Mora Paritta
(= verses from the Mora Jātaka, Jāt. ii. 33-4)

(4) Vaṭṭaka Paritta
(= verses from Vaṭṭaka Jātaka, Jāt. i. 214-5)

(5) Mahāmaṅgalacakkavāḷa
(siridhitimatitejojayasiddhimahiddhi…)

(6) Vihāradānagāthā
(= Vin. ii. 147-8. sītaṃ uṇhaṃ paṭihanti…)

7th day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Dhajagga Sutta
(SN. i. 218-20)

(2) Ratanattayappabhāvasiddhigāthā
(arahaṃ sammāsambuddho lokānaṃ anukampako…)

(3) Devatādissadakkhiṇānumodanāgāthā
(verses from the DN’s Mahāsudassana Sutta or Udāna’s Pāṭaligāmiya Sutta. yasmiṃ padese kappeti…)

(4) Devatābhisammantanagāthā
(yānīdha bhūtāni samāgatāni…)

Morning chanting for the Aṭṭhaṃī Uposatha

(1) Aṭṭhavīsatibuddha Paritta
(namo me sabbabuddhānaṃ dvattiṃsā varalakkhaṇo…)

(2) Metteyyo
(metteyyo uttaro rāmo…)

(3) Verses relating to the four protective meditations:

(3.1) Buddhānussati
(anantā vitthāraguṇaṃ…)
(3.2) Mettabhāvanā
(attuppamāya sabbesaṃ sattānaṃ…)
(3.3) Asubha
(aviññāṇasubhanibhaṃ saviññāṇasubhaṃ…)
(3.4) Maraṇānussati
(pavātādipatulyā yassāyusantatiyā khayaṃ…)

(4) Vipassanābhūmipāṭha
(pañcakkhandhā rūpakkhandho…)

(5) Mettāpharaṇa
(puratthimāya disāya puratthimāya anudisāya…)

(6) Buddho Sabbaññū
(buddho sabbaññū taññāṇo…)

(7) Buddho Maṅgalasambhūto
(buddho maṅgalasambhūto sambuddho dīpaduttamo…)

Evening chanting for all Uposatha days

(1) Asking forgiveness of the Five Jewels
(namāmi buddhaṃ guṇasāgarantaṃ…)

(2) Lanna Uposatha day vandanā
(yo sannisinno varabodhimūle…)

(3) Kammaṭṭhāna - a long chant comprising the pubbabhāga and saraṇagamanaṃ, verse summaries of the first three anussatis and kāyagatāsati, Dhammapada 41, the four elements, five khandhas, three characteristics, and verses to the Vepullapabbata Sutta.

(4) Pañca Mahāpariccāga - a very long (and for me deadly boring) vandanā that pays homage to almost everything that’s sacred in the cakkavāḷa.

9th day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Āṭānāṭiya Paritta

(2) Aṅgulimāla Paritta

(3) Bojjhaṅga Paritta

(4) Abhaya Paritta

(5) Devatā Uyyojanagāthā

(6) Jaya Paritta

(7) Hiri-ottappasampannā

11th day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Dhammasaṅgiṇī mātikā
(kusalā dhammā akusalā dhammā…)

(2) Vinaya
(= opening paragraphs of the first pārājika’s origin story)

(3) Sutta
(= opening paragraphs of the Brahmajāla Sutta)

(4) Opening paragraphs of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka…

(4.1) Dhammasaṅgaṇī
(4.2) Vibhaṅga
(4.3) Dhātukathā
(4.4) Puggalapaññati
(4.5) Kathāvatthu
(4.6) Yamaka
(4.7) Mahāpaṭṭhāna

(5) Sappaccayā
(= Cūḷantaradukka passage of the Dhammasaṅgaṇī)

(6) Paṃsukūla
(6.1) For the deceased
(6.2) For self-reflection
(6.3) For the living

(7) Tirokuḍḍakaṇḍapacchimabhāga
(= last four verses of the Tirokuḍḍa Sutta)

13th day of waxing or waning moon

(1) Pabbatopamagāthā
(= verses from the Pabbatūpama Sutta, SN. i. 101-2)

(2) Ariyadhanagāthā
(= verses from the Dalidda Sutta, SN. i. 232, or Theragāthā verses of Sirimitta)

(3) Dhammaniyāma Sutta
(aka Uppāda Sutta, AN. i. 286)

(4) Tilakkhaṇādigāthā
(= Dhp. 277-279, &amp; 85-89)

(5) Paṭiccasamuppāda anuloma and paṭiloma

(6) Paṭhamabuddhabhāsitagāthā
(= Dhp. 153)

(7) Buddha-udānagāthā
(= verses to the first three suttas of the Udāna)

(8) Bhaddekarattagāthā
(= verses to the MN’s Bhaddekaratta Suttas)

(9) Devatā-uyyojanagāthā
(dukkhappattā ca niddukkhā…)

Morning chanting for full moon and new moon Uposathas

(1) Paṭiccasamuppāda anuloma and paṭiloma

(2) Paṭhamabuddhabhāsitagāthā
(= Dhp. 153)

(3) Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

(4) Yo dhīro
(comprising verses from Vin. i. 38, Vin. i. 40 and the Udāna’s Sāriputta Sutta)

(5) Yo kho Ānanda
(= the Buddha’s last speech in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta)

(6) Ākāsaṭṭhā
(ākāsaṭṭhā ca bhummaṭṭhā devā…)

(7) Buddho Sabbaññū
(buddho sabbaññū taññāṇo…)

(8) Buddho Maṅgalasambhūto
(buddho maṅgalasambhūto sambuddho dīpaduttamo…)


_______________________________


Now that I’m living alone, although I still more or less follow the above cycle, I have made a few supplements and a few replacements of those chants that I find tedious. The shorter ones listed below I chant in full every day, while the longer ones are spread over several days.

Sīla-related

(1) Dasadhamma Sutta
(aka Pabbajita-abhiṇha Sutta, AN. vi. 87-8)

(2) Bhikkhupātimokkha
(I recite a third of it each day)

Sutta passages customarily chanted in Thailand after a Pātimokkha recital:

(3) Ovādapātimokkha
(= Dhp. 184, 183, 185)

(4) Verses from Tāyana Sutta
(SN. i. 49)

(5) Aparihāniyādhamma Sutta
(aka Paṭhamasattaka Sutta, AN. iv. 21-2)

(6) Chasārāṇīyadhamma Sutta
(AN. iii. 288-9)

Samādhi-related

(1) Thirty-two marks of a Great Man in the Lakkhaṇa Sutta
(chanted daily as I do a visualisation practice based on them)

(2) Twenty suttas in the SN’s Ānāpānasaṃyutta

(3) Ānāpānakathā in the Paṭisambhidāmagga

(4) Full versions of the sutta passages cited in brief in the Visuddhimagga’s Brahmavihāra chapter

Paññā-related

(1) Aṭṭhaka and Parāyana Vaggas of the Suttanipāta

(2) DN’s Saṅgīti and Dasuttara Suttas

(3) Visuddhimagga’s chapter on the five aggregates
(Path of Purification ch. XIV)

(3) Sutta passages quoted in the Visuddhimagga’s chapter on the faculties and truths
(Path of Purification ch. XVI)

(5) Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha chapters 1, 2 &amp; 6.

Miscellaneous

(1) Mahāsamaya Sutta
(because it’s beautiful to chant and I want to be on friendly terms with any yakkhas, gandhabbas, nāgas, etc. that might be hanging around)

(2) Āṭānāṭiya Sutta
(ditto)

(3) Uppātasanti
(I’m not really sold on this one, but it was a great favourite of my late Burmese Pali teacher, so I chant it once a month for auld lang syne)

(4) Abhiṇhapaccavekkhaṇaṃ

(5) Salla Sutta
(Sn. 112-113)

(6) Sigalovāda Sutta

(7) Parābhava Sutta

The last two are useful to know if you’re unexpectedly called on to give a talk to laypeople and can’t think of anything to say. Likewise with the Salla Sutta if it’s a funeral sermon that’s required.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 10, 2018 5:41 PM
Title: Re: Marks of existence sutta
Content:
We did once have a thread pointing out that the convention of referring to aniccatā, dukkhatā and anattatā as the "three characteristics" (tilakkhaṇaṃ or tīṇi lakkhaṇāni) is a post-canonical development, unexampled anywhere in the Tipiṭaka.

But I don't recall any thread relating the bolder hypothesis that you describe, though I am familiar with it (and I've no doubt missed many threads). The claim that Theravādins inserted dukkhatā later and that in earliest Buddhism the lakṣaṇa probably conformed to one of the Mahāyāna-favoured formulations (e.g., "samskāras are anitya, dharmas are anātmān, nirvāṇa is peace", or something like that) was advanced by Thich Nhat Hanh and Hsing Yun. As with most of this duo's revisionist hypotheses, it's very poorly argued and afaik no scholar in early Buddhist studies takes it seriously.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Sep 9, 2018 1:27 AM
Title: Re: petavatthu
Content:
The "Siamese theologians" (!) never excluded the Petavatthu from printed editions of the Canon.

I suspect what Gehman meant is that the said theologians did with the Petavatthu exactly what they did with the Dhammapada and the Jātaka: printed the verses (which are canonical) in the Tipiṭaka but the background stories (which are commentarial) separately.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Sep 7, 2018 10:44 PM
Title: Re: Momentariness
Content:
But by what is the body seen standing all these years? By the eye of flesh, maṃsacakkhu.

Abhidhammic momentarism, however, is not an account of how things appear to the eye of flesh, but of how they appear to the developed paññindriya of an accomplished yogi. As such, there isn't any conflict between what is said in this sutta and what is said in momentarist theory.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Sep 7, 2018 3:26 PM
Title: Re: What is Māyā (Deceit) in the Buddhist teachings?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Sep 6, 2018 10:47 AM
Title: Re: Momentariness
Content:
Mind and matter (both internal and external), but with the momentarism of the mind (i.e. of cittas and cetasikas/caittas) coming in for the most discussion.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Sep 3, 2018 10:16 AM
Title: Re: The Buddha's Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations
Content:
See MN 125 and this discussion of it at Sutta Central.

https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/three-watches-of-the-night/6944


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Sep 2, 2018 7:46 PM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
Usually it's ñeyyadhamma but the Patisambhidamagga uses abhiññeyyadhamma.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 8:52 PM
Title: Re: petavatthu
Content:
There is a pioneering translation of both texts, Petavatthu and Vimānavatthu, available here:

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.282259


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 8:41 PM
Title: Re: Does this five pungent flavours prohibited for monastic consumption ?
Content:
The Vinaya requirement is not that we have to accept what's given to us, but rather that we can't consume any edible unless it has been given to us.

In the case of being offered garlic, the answer is in Volovsky's quotation from Ajahn Thanissaro's BMC:

 "An alternative interpretation, accepted by many Communities, is that the original prohibition is against eating garlic by itself. Following this interpretation, garlic mixed with other ingredients would be allowable even when one is not ill."

Though if my experience in Thailand is anything to go by, one might need to replace "many Communities" with "virtually all Communities".


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 8:11 PM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
I will later, though it may take me a while as there's roughly seven times as much material on dukkha in these three texts as there is on anicca and anattā. The Peṭakopadesa and the Netti in particular are very rich in dukkha-related passages, for the underlying premise of these hermeneutics texts is that every word the Buddha ever uttered is in some way related to one or another, or several, of the four nobletruths; the principal task of a commentator is that of bringing out this relevance.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 7:59 AM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
Miscellaneous quotes on anattā


Yā ca anattānupassanā yā ca suññatānupassanā, ime dhammā nānatthā ceva nānābyañjanā ca, udāhu ekatthā, byañjanameva nānanti? Yā ca anattānupassanā yā ca suññatānupassanā, ime dhammā ekatthā, byañjanameva nānaṃ.

“Contemplation of not-attā, and contemplation of emptiness — are these dhammas different in meaning and different in phrasing, or are they one in meaning and only the phrasing is different?
“Contemplation of not-attā, and contemplation of emptiness — these dhammas are one in meaning and only the phrasing is different.”
(Paṭisambhidāmagga ii. 63)

______________________________

Dhammesu dhammānupassī viharanto ‘anattani attā’ ti vipallāsaṃ pajahati ... attavādupādānena ca anupādāno bhavati.

“One who dwells contemplating dhammas as dhammas abandons the
hallucination that there is attā in the not-attā, ... and with regard to clinging to self-doctrines he becomes one who is free of clinging.”
(Nettippakaraṇa 84)

______________________________


Cattārome, bhikkhave, saññāvipallāsā cittavipallāsā diṭṭhivipallāsā. Katame cattāro? ... Anattani, bhikkhave, attāti saññāvipallāso cittavipallāso diṭṭhivipallāso.

“Bhikkhus, there are these four hallucinations of perception, hallucinations of mind, hallucinations of view. What four? [...] Seeing attā in what is not attā is an hallucination of perception, an hallucination of mind, an hallucination of view.”
(Paṭisambhidāmagga ii. 80)

[Here Sāriputta is quoting the Buddha’s words in the Vipallāsasutta (AN. ii. 52). The grammar of the passage is sufficient to show the error of equating attā and anattā with attha and anattha. The word anattani can only be anattā in the locative singular case. Anattha in this sentence would need to take the form anatthasmiṃ, anatthamhi or anatthe.]

______________________________

Paṭhame vipallāse ṭhito kāme upādiyati, idaṃ vuccati kāmupādānaṃ.
Dutiye vipallāse ṭhito anāgataṃ bhavaṃ upādiyati, idaṃ vuccati bhavupādānaṃ.
Tatiye vipallāse ṭhito saṃsārābhinandiniṃ diṭṭhiṃ upādiyati, idaṃ vuccati diṭṭhupādānaṃ.
Catutthe vipallāse ṭhito attānaṃ kappiyaṃ upādiyati, idaṃ vuccati attavādupādānaṃ.

“Established in the first hallucination [which perceives attractiveness in what is unattractive] one clings to sensual desires; this is called clinging to sensuality.
“Established in the second hallucination [which perceives sukha in what is dukkha] one clings to future existence: this is called clinging to existence.
“Established in the third hallucination [which perceives nicca in what is anicca] one clings to the view that delights in saṃsāric continuance; this is called clinging to views.
“Established in the fourth hallucination [which perceives attā in what is not-attā] one clings to that which one has supposed to be an attā; this is called clinging to self-doctrines.”
(Nettippakaraṇa 115f)

______________________________

Tattha katamā anattasaññā? ‘Sabbesu dhammesu anattā’ ti yā saññā sañjānanā vavatthapanā uggāho, ayaṃ anattasaññā. Tassā ko nissando? Anattasaññāya bhāvitāya bahulīkatāya ahaṅkāro cittaṃ nānusandhati na sandhati, mamaṅkāro na saṇṭhahati, upekkhā vā paṭikkūlatā vā saṇṭhahati, ayamassā nissando.

“Herein, what is perception of anattā?”
“Any perception, perceiving, defining or apprehending that ‘All dhammas are anattā’, this is perception of anattā.”
“What is its outcome?”
“When perception of anattā is developed and made much of, then ‘I’-making does not keep linking up with, connecting with or moulding the mind; [rather] it is either equanimity or revulsion that moulds it. This is its outcome”
(Peṭakopadesa 126)

______________________________

Khandhadhātu-āyatanesu attādhimuttassa nānādhātu-anekadhātu-vinibbhogam-apaccavekkhato anattasaññā na upaṭṭhāti.

“Perception of anattā does not become established in one who, believing in an attā in the aggregates or elements or bases, does not recollect the resolution into the different and plural elements.”
(Peṭakopadesa 129)

______________________________


Tattha niccasaññādhimuttassa aparāparacittapavattiyaṃ santatiṃ paṇāmento apaccavekkhato aniccasaññā na upaṭṭhāti.

“Herein, the perception of anicca does not become established in one who believes in the perception of nicca because of non-reviewing of the process of mental alteration in the [mental] continuum.”
(Peṭakopadesa 128)

______________________________


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 7:56 AM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
A formal definition of anattā

Tattha katamo anattaṭṭho? Anissariyaṭṭho anattaṭṭho, avasavattanaṭṭho, akāmakāriṭṭho parividaṭṭho, ayaṃ anattaṭṭhoti.

“Herein, what is the meaning of anattā?”
“The meaning of unamenability to lordship-rule is the meaning of anattā. The meaning of unsusceptibility to the wielding of power, the meaning of unsusceptibility to be done with as one wishes, the meaning of being secluded from identification. This is the meaning of anattā.”
(Peṭakopadesa 140)

This is Ñāṇamoli’s rather stilted rendering. The Thai one published by the Bhumibalo Bhikkhu Foundation is much simpler:

.


./download/file.php?id=4612&mode=view


.

“The meaning of having no boss, the meaning of having no self, the meaning of not being subject to control, the meaning of [dhammas] not acting according to one’s wishes, the meaning that nothing can penetrate [them]. This is the meaning of anattā.”

What is anattā is ‘other’, etc.

Paratoti, anattānupassanā .. rittatoti, anattānupassanā ... tucchatoti, anattānupassanā, suññatoti, anattānupassanā, anattatoti, anattānupassanā ... asārakatoti, anattānupassanā.

“Seeing the five aggregates as ‘other’ is contemplation of not-attā.
“Seeing ... as ‘hollow’ is contemplation of not-attā.
“Seeing ... as ‘vain’ is contemplation of not-attā.
“Seeing ... as ‘empty’ is contemplation of not-attā.
“Seeing ... as ‘not attā’ is contemplation of not-attā.
“Seeing ... as ‘lacking any core’ is contemplation of not-attā.
(Paṭisambhidāmagga ii. 241f)

______________________________


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 7:53 AM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
Anicca = destruction; anattā = coreless or empty

Kathaṃ ‘sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā’ ti sotāvadhānaṃ, taṃpajānanā paññā sutamaye ñāṇaṃ?
‘Rūpaṃ aniccaṃ khayaṭṭhenā’ ti ... sotāvadhānaṃ.

“How is it that understanding of applying the ear thus: ‘All saṅkhāras are anicca’ is knowledge consisting in what has been heard?”
“The ear is applied thus: Materiality is anicca in the sense of destruction.”

(Repeat for the other aggregates and all the 201 knowable dhammas)
(Paṭisambhidāmagga i. 37)

______________________________

Kathaṃ vedanāya upaṭṭhānaṃ viditaṃ hoti? Aniccato manasikaroto khayatupaṭṭhānaṃ viditaṃ hoti ... anattato manasikaroto suññatupaṭṭhānaṃ viditaṃ hoti. Evaṃ vedanāya upaṭṭhānaṃ viditaṃ hoti.

“How is the appearance of feeling recognized? When he gives attention [to feeling] as anicca, the appearance as destruction is recognized; ... when he gives it attention as not attā the appearance as emptiness is recognized. This is how the appearance of feeling is recognized.”
(Paṭisambhidāmagga i. 178)

______________________________

Aniccato manasikaroto kathaṃ saṅkhārā upaṭṭhanti? ... Anattato manasikaroto kathaṃ saṅkhārā upaṭṭhanti? Aniccato manasikaroto khayato saṅkhārā upaṭṭhanti ... anattato manasikaroto suññato saṅkhārā upaṭṭhanti.

“When he gives attention to saṅkhāras as anicca, how do they appear to him? ... When he gives attention to saṅkhāras as not attā, how do they appear to him?”

“When he gives attention to formations as anicca, they appear to him as destruction ... When he gives attention to formations as not attā, they appear as empty.”
(Paṭisambhidāmagga ii. 48)

______________________________

Kathaṃ ‘sabbe dhammā anattā’ ti sotāvadhānaṃ, taṃpajānanā paññā sutamaye ñāṇaṃ?
‘Rūpaṃ anattā asārakaṭṭhenā’ ti sotāvadhānaṃ.

“How is it that understanding of applying the ear thus: ‘All dhammas are not attā’ is knowledge consisting in what has been heard?”
“The ear is applied thus: Materiality is not attā in the sense of lacking any core.”

(Repeat for the other aggregates and all the 201 knowable dhammas)
(Paṭisambhidāmagga i. 37)

______________________________

Rūpaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ aniccaṃ khayaṭṭhena ... anattā asārakaṭṭhenāti tulayitvā tīrayitvā vibhāvayitvā vibhūtaṃ katvā rūpanirodhe nibbāne khippaṃ javatīti: javanapaññā.

“Having calculated and judged and clarified and made clear that past, future and presently-arisen materiality is anicca in the sense of destruction ... and not attā in the sense of lacking any core, it soon gives the impulse to the cessation of materiality, Nibbāna, thus it is called ‘impulsive understanding’.”
(Paṭisambhidāmagga ii. 200)

______________________________


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 7:51 AM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
Anicca and arising-and-passing-away

Aniccan ti kiṃ aniccaṃ? Pañcakkhandhā aniccā. Kenaṭṭhena aniccā? Uppādavayaṭṭhena aniccā.

“‘Anicca’ — What is anicca? The five aggregates are anicca.”
“In what sense are they anicca?”
“They are anicca in the sense of arising and passing away.”
(Paṭisambhidāmagga i. 192)

______________________________

Tattha katamā aniccasaññā? ‘Sabbe saṅkhārā uppādavayadhammino’ ti ca yā saññā sañjānanā vavatthapanā uggāho, ayaṃ aniccasaññā. Tassā ko nissando? Aniccasaññāya bhāvitāya bahulīkatāya aṭṭhasu lokadhammesu cittaṃ nānusandhati na sandhati na saṇṭhahati, upekkhā vā paṭikkūlatā vā saṇṭhahati, ayamassā nissando.

“Herein, what is perception of anicca?”
“Any perception, perceiving, defining or apprehending that ‘All dhammas are of the nature to arise and pass away’, this is perception of anicca.”
“What is its outcome?”
“When perception of anicca is developed and made much of, then the eight worldly dhammas [gain, loss, fame, disrepute, praise, blame, pleasure and pain] do not keep linking up with, connecting with or moulding the mind; [rather] it is either equanimity or revulsion that moulds it. This is its outcome”
(Peṭakopadesa 126)

______________________________

Saṅkhatalakkhaṇānaṃ dhammānaṃ samanupassanalakkhaṇā aniccasaññā, tassā uppādavayā padaṭṭhānaṃ.

“Perception of anicca has the characteristic of discerning dhammas that have the characteristic of being conditioned. Its footing is arising and passing away.”
(Nettippakaraṇa 27-8)

______________________________

Saṅkhatānaṃ dhammānaṃ vināsaggahaṇalakkhaṇā aniccasaññā, tassā udayabbayo padaṭṭhānaṃ.

“Perception of anicca has the characteristic of apprehending the destruction of conditioned dhammas. Its footing is arising-and-passing away.”
(Peṭakopadesa 127)

______________________________


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 7:48 AM
Title: Re: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
Formal definitions of anicca and aniccānupassanā

Tattha katamo aniccaṭṭho? Pīḷanaṭṭho aniccaṭṭho pabhaṅgaṭṭho sampāpanaṭṭho vivekaṭṭho aniccaṭṭho, ayaṃ aniccaṭṭho.

Herein, what is the meaning of anicca? The meaning of pressure is the meaning of anicca; the meaning of not nicca; the meaning of ephemeral; the meaning of causing to terminate; the meaning of seclusion [from nicca] is the meaning of anicca. This is the meaning of anicca.
(Peṭakopadesa 140)

______________________________

Aniccato ti, aniccānupassanā ... palokato ti, aniccānupassanā ... calato ti, aniccānupassanā ... pabhaṅguto ti, aniccānupassanā ... addhuvato ti aniccānupassanā ... vipariṇāmadhammato ti, aniccānupassanā ... vibhavato ti, aniccānupassanā ... saṅkhatatoti, aniccānupassanā ... maraṇadhammato ti, aniccānupassanā.

“Seeing the five aggregates as ‘anicca’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘disintegrating’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘fickle’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘perishable’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘unenduring’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘subject to change’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘due to be annihilated’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘conditioned’ is contemplation of anicca.
“Seeing ... as ‘subject to death’ is contemplation of anicca.
(Paṭisambhidāmagga ii. 241f)

______________________________


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Sep 1, 2018 7:46 AM
Title: ‘Anicca’ and ‘anattā’ in the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettippakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa
Content:
Instead it is claimed that anicca needs to be understood as aniccha, attā as attha, and anattā as anattha, as taught by Abhayaratanalankara. Furthermore it is claimed that this supposedly correct understanding of these terms, though blatantly in conflict with the Mahāvihāra Atthakathās (not to mention the understanding of all Indian Buddhist schools whose texts survive), can nonetheless be supported by three exegetical works preserved in the Khuddaka Nikāya: the Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Nettipakaraṇa and the Peṭakopadesa.

Below I shall append a collection of passages from these three texts which I hope will suffice to show that this is not in fact the case. I trust it will be clear from these that not only is it not “impossible” to translate anicca as “impermanent” and anattā as “not-self” (or else with synonyms of these), but that it really isn’t feasible to translate them in any other way.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:51 PM
Title: Re: Abortion
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:13 PM
Title: Re: medicine , career and medicine
Content:
Same principle applies. If you were a bhikkhu you wouldn't be allowed to study medicine. If you happened to have acquired medical skills before ordaining then you could use them to treat (1) fellow monks; (2) family members; (3) anybody at all if it was an emergency. However, it would be considered wrong livelihood if you took any payment for this or even if you offered your services in order to curry favour with people. For lay Buddhists in the medical profession none of this applies.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:52 PM
Title: Re: The three shrines
Content:
Those holding to the first of the above opinions might argue that there was nothing amiss in mentioning disapproved cetiyas along with approved ones, for the disapproval of the former was only temporary.

Those holding to the second opinion might point to all the numerous suttas in which good and bad things are included by the Buddha in single lists.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:07 PM
Title: Re: The three shrines
Content:
No. A sārīrika cetiya is a shrine containing the Buddha's bodily relics. This is not unqualifiedly disapproved in the Kāliṅgabodhi Jātaka, but it has to be built after his parinibbāna and not while he's still walking around.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:01 PM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
There's no way that a scholar of Kalupahana's calibre would suppose the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka to have started its life as a Sarvāstivādin work.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:19 AM
Title: Re: The three shrines
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 28, 2018 11:42 AM
Title: Re: what is the opposite of nibbidā?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:29 PM
Title: Re: Pali pronunciation
Content:
Naturally, since I don't have the necessary equipment to produce an acoustic spectrogram of the recording, which I think is the only way one could objectively demonstrate the sound to be [dʒɑ] and not [ɟɑ].


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:43 PM
Title: Re: Pali pronunciation
Content:
I was commenting on the pronunciation given in the link supplied by Sabbamitta:

http://wisdomandwonders.org/itp/

I don't know who the speaker is, but it sounds like a Sinhalese of advanced years, not Dhammaruwan.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:04 PM
Title: Re: A bird chanting Buddha name ?
Content:
The Pali texts have stories of such things happening, but they are very few in number and with no suggestion that what was done by the animals in question could be done by any old animal.

You'll find a few such stories in the attached file, the opening chapter of Rita Langer’s book on Sri Lankan Buddhist funerary procedures.

.


 ./download/file.php?id=4606
(273.49 KiB) Downloaded 55 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 23, 2018 4:06 PM
Title: Re: A bird chanting Buddha name ?
Content:
The narrative convention in Jātaka tales is that when Bodhisattas get born as animals, through the power of their paramī they become rather remarkable animals in one respect or another. 

One can't assume, however, that the skills attributed to them will necessarily be shared by all animals. And so, if, for example, a conflagration should break out in the rubber forest where I'm now spending the rains retreat, I should prefer to trust in the local fire brigade rather than in the mystical chanting powers of baby quails.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 23, 2018 12:28 PM
Title: Re: A bird chanting Buddha name ?
Content:
There are several Jātakas that tell of the Buddha or his disciples making saccakiriyās during previous lives as animals.

The Bodhisatta as a baby quail
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j1/j1038.htm

Sāriputta as a nāga
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j5/j5011.htm

The Bodhisatta as a peacock
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j4/j4055.htm

As another peacock
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j2/j2012.htm


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:56 AM
Title: Re: Steve Saslav/Ajahn Santacitto
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2018 12:33 AM
Title: Re: Transfer/Sharing merit limits
Content:
The morning one was composed by King Rama IV. The evening one is probably rather older since we find it used in all Theravāda countries, but it doesn't come from any canonical source.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Aug 20, 2018 7:01 PM
Title: Re: Transfer/Sharing merit limits
Content:
It's an example of a tendency found in folk Buddhism everywhere, namely, that if the official Theravada doctrine seems comfortless or unpalatable, then it's likely that in in popular belief and practice it will be replaced by something more consolatory.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:16 PM
Title: Re: Islamic connections from: AN 7.63 Bhariyā Sutta. Kinds of Wives.
Content:
The Buddha and Muhammad seem to be saying quite different things. In effect:

Muhammad: A husband may beat his wife if she persists in disobedience.

The Buddha: A wife who is patient when threatened by her husband is superior to a wife who gets angry.

In the Sabbāsava Sutta patience is prescribed as the appropriate response to "ill-spoken, unwelcome words." It doesn't follow that the Buddha approves of those who speak such words.

In the Kakacūpama Sutta it's deemed admirable to not get angry when being sawn to pieces by bandits with a two-handed saw. It doesn't follow that the Buddha approves of bandits who practise their carpentry skills in this manner.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2018 10:41 PM
Title: Re: Transfer/Sharing merit limits
Content:
As far as the subject of parittas is concerned, the Milindapañha and commentaries are our only source of information. As the Buddha rejected haphazardism (ahetukavāda) there must be some kind of causal factors that make parittas work. Those stated in the commentaries seem very plausible to me.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2018 4:50 PM
Title: Re: What is palāsa : (m.) leaf; foliage; malice; spite.?
Content:
Like any defilement, palāsa is a state of mind. It may well be a cause for manipulative behaviour but it doesn’t follow that it can be equated with it.

There’s another word, however, palāsī, which means a person who has palāsa, a domineering person. This term could refer either to those who have domineering urges and act on them or to those who merely have them but forbear acting on them. In the former case it could be applied to a manipulative person, but also to those who indulge in oneupmanship by other means.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 17, 2018 3:20 PM
Title: Re: Why Believe Commentaries? [From Transfer/Sharing merit limits]
Content:
Simply by virtue of the fact that they will be reading translations of suttas, new people will ineluctably have some sort of commentator defining and interpreting for them, 

How do the translators know what Pali words mean? They look them up in dictionaries.
How do the compilers of Pali dictionaries know what they mean? See my last post.

And when it happens that some translator decides that the commentators were in error on such and such point and proceeds to translate according to his personal understanding, it doesn't mean that his readers will thereby have evaded having a commentator define and interpret for them. It's just means that it will now be the modern translator rather than the ancient commentator who is doing the defining and interpreting.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 17, 2018 1:32 PM
Title: Re: Why Believe Commentaries? [From Transfer/Sharing merit limits]
Content:
Whether one believes them or disbelieves them, loves them or hates them, consulting later texts is very often the only possible way of ascertaining what important terms in the earlier texts mean.

An hour ago, for example, I replied to a post enquiring about the meaning of palāsa. In my reply I cited the definition given in the Sammohavinodanī, Buddhaghosa's commentary to the Vibhaṅga. Had I attempted to answer the question relying solely on the Suttas, I could only have told the poster three things:

(1) Palāsa is a defilement. 
(2) Palāsa is a cause for decline in sekha disciples. 
(3) Palāsa is something that makes a bhikkhu not dear to his fellow bhikkhus. 

That's all! The Suttas never define the term, nor do they ever present it in any context from which its meaning might be plausibly inferred. Presumably the Buddha was addressing audiences to whom the word palāsa was so well-known as to need no defining. We ourselves, sad to say, are not in that position.

Had I resorted to the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, then I could have told the poster a little bit more, but not very much. For example, I could have told him that palāsa is an anger-related state and is twinned with another defilement called makkha, whose precise meaning is also impossible to determine from the Suttas. I could have told him that its synonyms are paḷāsāyanā, paḷāsāhāra, vivādaṭṭhānaṃ, yugaggāha and appaṭinissagga ("being domineering", "state of being domineering", "causing dispute", "competing" and "not giving in") — none of which are defined in the Suttas and for which I can only give translations based on how the commentaries define them.

In short, had I been committed to relying on the Suttas alone I should scarcely have been able to shed any light on the word's meaning at all.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 17, 2018 10:05 AM
Title: Re: What is palāsa : (m.) leaf; foliage; malice; spite.?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:22 AM
Title: Re: Transfer/Sharing merit limits
Content:
With humans it can be beneficial if the chanting is done in their presence and if all the factors that make a paritta recital efficacious are fulfilled. For details of these see Mingun Sayadaw's Great Chronicle of the Buddhas, pp. 537-42.

https://www.bps.lk/olib/mi/mi014.pdf

With animals it seems very unlikely to me that the factors could be fulfilled. Nevertheless I do it anyway, for example when I see a dog get run over and it's obvious that its death is imminent.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 17, 2018 1:51 AM
Title: Re: sankappa equivalent with vitakka or not?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:42 PM
Title: Re: Transfer/Sharing merit limits
Content:
No. When the term paradattūpajīvī is applied to humans (e.g., in the Muni Sutta and the Mātaṅga Jātaka) it refers to living off others' gifts of food, as practised by those gone forth into the homeless life. But applied to petas it means those of them who subsist on merit dedicated to them by humans.

Khettūpamā arahanto, dāyakā kassakūpamā,
Bījūpamaṃ deyyadhammaṃ, etto nibbattate phalaṃ.

Etaṃ bījaṃ kasi khettaṃ, petānaṃ dāyakassa ca,
Taṃ petā paribhuñjanti, dātā puññena vaḍḍhati.

“Like a field are the arahants, like farmers are those who give;
Like seed is the merit-offering: from this the fruit is produced.

“This seed, field and cultivation are (desirable) for both the petas and the giver;
The petas make use of it, whilst the donor grows through that merit.”
(Petavatthu 1)

See the attached file for the commentary to these verses.

.


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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:06 PM
Title: Re: Transfer/Sharing merit limits
Content:
In the Milindapañha the benefit of dedicating the merit of a gift to one's deceased relatives is limited to those who have been reborn as just one of the four sub-species of peta. It's explicitly denied that there can be any benefit to those reborn in hell, heaven, as animals or in the other three peta sub-species. Curiously nothing is stated one way or the other about those reborn as humans.

Rhys Davids' translation:

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/mil6.3.4

I.B. Horner's:


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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:11 PM
Title: Re: Order of Precedence
Content:
I've no idea what caused the use of āvuso to decline (assuming it was ever a common practice, for which there seems to be no evidence one way or the other). I do know of a few monks who've taken to using the address in their online interactions, but I'm not one of them. It seems to me that the practice has fallen into such desuetude that resorting to it now would be as ceremonious and affected as trying to revive an archaism like "sirrah".


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:55 AM
Title: Re: how do we know what the buddha looked like?
Content:
In Pali sources there is no mention of the question ever being raised.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:50 AM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
The point of my post was to show that European scholars did not err in treating Pali anicca as a cognate of the Buddhist Sanskrit anitya. And so on with the other words.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:49 AM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
Nonsense. There are hundreds of parallel passages in Sanskrit Buddhist texts where Pali nicca appears as Sanskrit nitya, anicca as anitya, attā as ātmān, and anattā as anātmān.

There are no occurrence of these words in the forms that we should expect if there was any truth in your teacher's hare-brained theories.

Below I give some examples of parallels from the Pali Dhammapada and Sanskrit Udānavarga (not a composition of any naughty Europeans!)

Nicca / Nitya

attā have jitaṃ seyyo
yā cāyaṃ itarā pajā
attadantassa posassa
niccaṃ saññatacārino
(Dhammapada 104)

ātmā hy asya jitaḥ śreyāṃ
yac ceyam itarāḥ prajāḥ
ātmadāntasya puruṣasya
nityaṃ saṃvṛtacāriṇaḥ
(Udānavarga 23/4)

Anicca / Anitya

sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā ti
yadā paññāya passati
atha nibbindatã dukkhe
esa maggo visuddhiyā
(Dhammapada 277)

anityāṃ sarvasaṃskārāṃ
prajñayā paśyate yadā
atha nirvidyate duḥkhād
eṣa mārgo viśuddhaye
(Udānavarga 12/5)

Attā / Ātman

anupubbena medhāvī
thokathokaṃ khaṇe khaṇe
kammāro rajatasseva
niddhame malam attano
(Dhammapada 239)

anupūrveṇa medhāvī
stokaṃ stokaṃ kṣaṇe kṣaṇe
karmāro rajatasyaiva
nirdhamen malam ātmanaḥ
(Udānavarga 2/10)

Anattā / Anātman

sabbe dhammā anattā ti
yadā paññāya passati
atha nibbindati dukkhe
esa maggo visuddhiyā

sarvadharmā anātmānaḥ
prajñayā paśyate yadā
atha nirvidyate duḥkhād
eṣa mārgo viśuddhaye
(Udānavarga 12/8)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:25 AM
Title: Re: Order of Precedence
Content:
Yes and yes.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:24 AM
Title: Re: Captivates the Mind of a Man
Content:
When the third precept is expounded in the suttas it is done by listing the classes of women with whom a man should not have sexual relations. Not only is there no discussion of what observance of the precept would mean for men of non-heterosexual orientation, there isn't even anything said about how a heterosexual woman should observe the precept. Would you conclude from this that kāmesu micchācārā is an impossibility for a woman?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:12 PM
Title: Re: SN 20.7 Āṇi Sutta. The Drum Peg.
Content:
No, it's a bizarre mistake by the PED compilers, given that the "four pairs of persons, eight kinds of individuals" who make up the sāvaka-saṅgha include arahants and that certain persons known to have been arahants (e.g. Kumārakassapa in the Payasisutta) are called "sāvaka". Perhaps the compilers were confusing sāvaka and sekha.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2018 5:55 PM
Title: Re: Suttas for the Householder
Content:
When helping other Westerners to get ordained in Thailand, I've encountered a few very strict abbots who required the candidates to provide written evidence that they had obtained their parents' consent (and wouldn't have ordained them without it), but these were the exception. The great majority didn't even ask about it. And so in practice matters will most often hinge on how strict the candidate is going to be with himself. If he has failed to obtain his parents' consent it would be easy enough for him to cut corners and get ordained anyway, but obviously it would be a highly inauspicious way to begin. For a start, it would mean having to lie to his two ācāriyas during the ordination ceremony interrogation.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:31 AM
Title: Re: "Ko nu kho"? "What" or "who"?
Content:
In the great majority of cases the context alone will suffice to show whether "what?" or "who?" is the more apt translation of ko. In your second passage, for example, clearly "What?" is needed, for the answer to the question is a mode of behaviour, not a person.

In cases where either translation might arguably make sense, the translator will probably base his decision either on (1) His knowledge of typical/natural ways of framing questions in sutta usage; it will sometimes happen that one of the two options, though semantically possible, would amount to an inelegant or unnatural way of phrasing the question; (2) His knowledge of Buddhist doctrine.

In the case of your first passage, if "What?" were used in place of "Who?" then it's hard to see why it would be an "unfit question", for elsewhere in the suttas we do find the Buddha saying things like "contacts contact," "feeling feels", etc., and so it would actually be an easily answerable question.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:18 AM
Title: Re: Āṇi sutta: a question on pali text
Content:
I'm sure you get my point, though it's possible of course that I'm mistaken. I'll look into the matter.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:11 AM
Title: Re: SN 20.7 Āṇi Sutta. The Drum Peg.
Content:
That doesn't seem to be the commentators' intention, for in contexts where the sāvaka in sāvakabhāsita plainly refers to Buddhists, they limit the term to the Buddha's personal disciples, giving the example of the speakers in the Mahā- and Culla-vedalla Suttas. And so in the eyes of the commentators an opinion voiced by Buddhaghosa or by you or me wouldn't count as sāvakabhāsita.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 9, 2018 8:41 PM
Title: Re: Āṇi sutta: a question on pali text
Content:
No, for the adjectival form is bāhira and the addition of -ka is precisely for the purpose of forming a noun from it.

Having said that (and as Mike quotes Bhikkhu Bodhi saying in the other Āṇisutta thread), the sāvaka in sāvakabhāsita is understood in the commentaries as being the disciples of outsiders, not the disciples of the Buddha. I'm told that this way of construing the passage is supported also in the Chinese translations of Sanskrit sūtras containing the word śravakabhāṣita.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 9, 2018 3:54 AM
Title: Re: Suttas for the Householder
Content:
Nothing would happen to the monk, for ordaining without one's parents' permission isn't deemed a serious enough infraction to invalidate an ordination. But the preceptor who ordained him might have to confess a misdemeanour.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Aug 9, 2018 12:44 AM
Title: Re: Suttas for the Householder
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 8, 2018 1:04 PM
Title: Re: Abhidhamma Resources
Content:
Andrew Dicks, Enlightening the Bats: Sound and Place Making in Burmese Buddhist Practice
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/803/

Jeffrey Wayne Bass, The Practicality of the Abhidhammattha-Sangaha
http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/4476/

Athukorala Kanthie, Identity, Gender, and Class: Contributions from the Abhidhamma for self and social transformation, with a case study of a women's housing collective in Namibia
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2328/


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 8, 2018 11:48 AM
Title: Re: paṇḍaka
Content:
Yes. The allowance applies in situations where there is no bhikkhu available who is qualified to give nissaya. A bhikkhu taking advantage of it needn't be a skilled practitioner. However, to avoid committing the offence of living without nissaya before he's attained the requisite seniority he has to make a resolve to take nissaya with a qualified thera as soon as one comes along.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 8, 2018 6:19 AM
Title: Re: paṇḍaka
Content:
The Vinaya, which requires that the early years after his ordination (at least the first five, and ideally the first ten) have to be spent living in dependence on a teacher. In practice this will virtually always entail living in a community. Admittedly in practice this is a rule that's more honoured in the breach nowadays, and so if a man wanted to just get ordained and then go gallivanting off by himself he could probably get away with it. He wouldn't, however, be doing things properly.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 7, 2018 11:41 AM
Title: Re: Can an Arahant improve their understanding after awakening?
Content:
The traditional Theravada nirukti for pacceka (Sanskrit pratyeka; Prakrit patteya) is paṭi + eka (Skt. prati + eka). Hence, “singly”, “individually”. This nirukti seems to be very widely (though not universally) accepted by modern scholarship.

A rival nirukti from the Sanskritic Buddhist schools derives it from pratyaya (= Pali paccaya), meaning causal condition. Here the term is understood as referring to the links in paṭiccasamuppāda. This derivation is what informs the Northern Buddhist notion that Pratyekabuddhas awaken by personal discovery of the twelve paṭiccasamuppāda nidānas.

To avoid talking at cross purposes I'd prefer not to address your other questions as they seem to be premised on a use of the terms "paccekabuddha" and "tathāgata" that's quite alien to both the Theravada and to every other form of Buddhism. Indeed in virtually all of the posts in which you have brought up these terms, your understanding of them seems to be informed by the meanings they bear in Blavatsky's Theosophy and the works of various Vedanta-centric New Age writers. The allegedly "esoteric" meanings assigned to the terms in these works have only a very tenuous connection (if any) with what they mean in Buddhism.

The attached file is Ria Kloppenborg's very thorough study of the Paccekabuddha as he appears in Pali sources.


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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 7, 2018 1:21 AM
Title: Re: Taking Refuge Phonetic Pronounciation
Content:
This is quite a clear recording...

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Aug 7, 2018 1:04 AM
Title: Re: Can an Arahant improve their understanding after awakening?
Content:
A Tathāgata and a Paccekabuddha are both persons in the suttas but are not synonymous. "Tathāgata" occurs in numerous suttas and is one of the more "numinous" titles of the Buddha.

"Paccekabuddha" is a much rarer term in the suttas and refers to another kind of enlightened person. Like Sammāsambuddhas (such as Gotama) Paccekabuddhas awaken by their own efforts rather than under a Buddha's guidance. Unlike Sammāsambuddhas, Paccekabuddhas don't establish a Buddhasāsanā.


Isigili Sutta - some names of past Paccekabuddhas.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.116.piya.html

Khaggavisāṇa Sutta - traditionally held to be a collection of Paccekabuddhas' sayings.
https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/snp1.3


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Aug 6, 2018 8:56 PM
Title: Re: Tips for renewing my enthusiasm?
Content:
Have you checked in the World Buddhist Directory at Buddhanet?

http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Aug 6, 2018 6:09 PM
Title: Re: Taking Refuge Phonetic Pronounciation
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Aug 5, 2018 7:17 PM
Title: Re: Quick death is worse than torture?
Content:
No. There seems to be an error in the translation. There are actually three related scenarios but the translator's compression of the text doesn't make this clear:

1. The monks start a forest fire not intending to kill anyone but some people get burned to death: no offence (because they weren't aiming to kill anyone).

2. The monks start a fire intending to kill people and some people do get killed: a defeating offence.

3. The monks start a fire intending to kill people but nobody is killed: grave offence.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 1, 2018 4:05 PM
Title: Re: Information about Abhidhamma
Content:
It's available online and certainly would be a good way to get one's bearings regarding the contents of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210336


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 1, 2018 3:58 PM
Title: Re: samatha retreats/teachers
Content:
Though it isn't quite what your asking for, the Samatha Trust — a UK-based but Thailand-derived lay meditation group — will be holding its next online course from the 9th October. The course is free of charge, with instruction via weekly Skype interviews with one's teacher and uploaded instruction files.

https://www.samatha.org/online-course

I think that for most people this might be a better way of going about things as hardly any of the really good meditation teachers in Thailand speak English.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 1, 2018 3:08 PM
Title: Re: Why prayer was performed on the first and fifteenth of each month ?
Content:
The matter of lunar observance days comes up most often in the Vinaya Piṭaka in connection with the fortnightly recital of the Pāṭimokkha, and in the Aṅguttara Nikāya in connection with the benefits that come to householders who observe the eight precepts on these days.

The Vinaya's Uposatha Khandhaka describes how the custom evolved in the bhikkhusaṅgha:

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/pi-tv-kd2

The relevant Aṅguttara suttas are found mainly in the Uposatha Vagga in the Book of the Eights.

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/an8


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 1, 2018 12:39 PM
Title: Re: DhammakAya TipiTaka edition
Content:
If you have a gmail account you could upload it to Google Drive and then post a download link:

https://www.google.com/drive/


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 1, 2018 12:25 PM
Title: Re: Help with R. Gethin's article on Abhidhamma/Abhidharma
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Aug 1, 2018 12:20 PM
Title: Re: Help with R. Gethin's article on Abhidhamma/Abhidharma
Content:
I don't think there is anything more than what's on that page - i.e., just Gethin's brief introduction to the OUP's Abhidhamma/Abhidharma bibliography.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:32 PM
Title: Re: Climate change will make heatwaves very dangerous for monks
Content:
South, not Southeast, Asia. In the accompanying charts the alleged future danger zones where Buddhists live are Bangladesh and the far North of Sri Lanka, not Cambodia and Thailand.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jul 30, 2018 4:41 AM
Title: Re: Hand movement during meditation
Content:
If the arm movements are just up and down (as stated in the OP), then it's more likely to be the method of Ajahn Dhammadharo, the late abbot of Wat Sai Ngam in Suphanburi. Dhammadharo (not to be confused with Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo) was the teacher of Ajahn Jumnien and Chris Titmus.



I've never practised the method myself and frankly can't make head or tail of it. Here's an exposition by his Thai disciple Phra Paññāvuḍḍho:

http://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN173.pdf


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2018 2:02 PM
Title: Re: Pronounce Mae Chee Kaew
Content:
IPA: /mɛː ʨʰiː kɛːw/.

IPA with tone marks: /mɛ̂ː ʨʰiː kɛ̂ːw/

Mary Haas system: /mɛ̂ɛ chii kɛ̂ɛw/

/mɛː/ is exactly like ‘mare’ as it is pronounced in RP English, i.e., without the American or Southwest English rhotacization. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English

/ʨʰiː/ is not exactly like the chee in ‘cheese’ but it’s close enough. If you want to be a perfectionist, the consonant /ʨʰ/ is an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_affricate, while the ch in cheese is /tʃ/, an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_palato-alveolar_affricate.

/kɛːw/ - If you say ‘care’ without rhoticizing it, then add ‘oo’, and then try to pronounce both sounds together without any hiatus, then you’ll have a fair approximation.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2018 2:33 AM
Title: Re: The Buddha's Masters are in hell?
Content:
The Ekottarikāgama has a considerable amount of very late and dodgy material in it. I suspect that the sutra you cite postdates the period when certain Buddhists had come to view Ālāra and Uddaka as proponents of the Saṃkhyā philosophy, despite the total absence of evidence for this in early sources.

The Pali commentaries, along with several non-Theravādin Buddha biographies, present a more credible report in which the two ascetics are reborn in the formless realms corresponding to their meditative attainments: Ākiñcaññāyatana in the case of Ālāra and Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana in the case of Uddaka.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2018 2:06 AM
Title: Re: Is Nibbana experienced at mind-sense base? Nope it is not.
Content:
What then could cognize it if not manāyatana? To propose another āyatana would be to make Nibbāna into a visible object, sound, taste, odour or tangible. To propose an agent of cognition outside the āyatanas would be to posit another "all".

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/vb2


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:14 PM
Title: Re: pharitvā in brahmaviharas
Content:
You are confusing the verbs pharati and paharati. Pharitvā ("having pervaded") is the absolutive of the former, while that of the latter is paharitvā ("having beaten").


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:06 PM
Title: Re: Paradox of absence of imperative mood.
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jul 27, 2018 6:20 PM
Title: Re: Differences with the Pāḷi for chanting?
Content:
If you're chanting in a group use the group's preferred version. If you're chanting alone use whichever one you prefer. For example, when I recite the Suttanipāta in the privacy of my kuti I use my own version which is heavily informed by K.R. Norman's preferences among the variant readings. But when I'm chanting parittas with a group of Thai monks I'll use the Royal Siamese version of Suttanipāta parittas like the Karaṇīyametta, Ratana and Maṅgala Suttas.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jul 27, 2018 2:09 AM
Title: Re: Avici hell
Content:
What makes Avīci Avīci is that the suffering undergone there has no pause or respite (vīci), not that it has no end.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:53 AM
Title: Re: "ta" in arahatta
Content:
No, the ending is -tta (= Sanskrit -tva), the same as found in abstract nouns like naggattaṃ (the state of being naked, nakedness); nānattaṃ (the state of being diverse, diversity); mohattaṃ (the state of being deluded); sātattaṃ (sweetness), etc. As a former of abstract nouns it has the same function as -tā but the nouns that it forms are neuter rather than feminine.

If one wished to form a term for “arahantship” using the -tā suffix, then it would be arahantatā, but this is a very late and rare coinage found only in a couple of ṭīkās from Sri Lanka's mediaeval period.

For arahattaṃ there is also the commentarial nirukti:

Arahattaṃ attani asantaṃ ‘atthi me’ ti

“Arahantship means the non-existence of [the conceit] ‘This is mine’ within oneself.”


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:15 AM
Title: Re: Why Buddha can't tell "yes I will"?
Content:
What’s described in the quoted sutta is the Buddha’s only way of responding affirmatively to the fifty or so invitations he gets in the Sutta and Vinaya Piṭakas. The same response is used regardless of the sex of the inviter, most of whom are male.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:51 PM
Title: Re: When was Gotama a sotapanna?
Content:
You mean the other two fetters? In the case of misapprehension of habitually undertaken and vowed observances (sīlabbataparāmāsa), this is regarded as a form of wrong view and so its destruction would be included in the destruction of diṭṭhi āsava.

In the case of doubt (vicikicchā), its destruction isn't mentioned when one is describing stream-entry in relation to the four āsavas.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:10 PM
Title: Re: When was Gotama a sotapanna?
Content:
In the Suttas' account of a Buddha's enlightenment he attains knowledge of the destruction of the āsavas in the third watch of the night.

In the more detailed commentarial account this destruction is effected by the arising of the four Ariyan path and fruition consciousnesses in rapid succession.

With the arising of the path of stream-entry, diṭṭhi āsava is destroyed.
With the arising of the path of once-returning, kāma āsava is weakened.
With the arising of the path of non-returning, kāma āsava is destroyed and bhava āsava weakened.
With the arising of the path of arahatta, bhava and avijjā āsava are destroyed.

So according to this understanding the Bodhisatta was a virtuous worldling (kalyāna-puthujjana) until the end of the middle watch of the night and then at some point during the last watch he was very briefly a sotāpanna.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:23 AM
Title: Re: Non ill will in pali
Content:
I would say definition rather than translation. That is, in the Abhidhamma's treatment of the second factor of the Eightfold Path, thoughts of non-ill-will (abyāpāda-vitakkā) are equated with thoughts of mettā, and thoughts of non-harming (avihimsā-vitakkā) are equated with thoughts of karuṇā.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jul 25, 2018 8:19 AM
Title: Re: Incest (genetics)
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jul 24, 2018 10:42 AM
Title: Re: Loving kindness developed for 7 years
Content:
I don't think it offers any support for either of the competing opinions on this matter, for it concerns a bodhisatta. Though not a sotāpanna, a bodhisatta is by nature free from the possibility of rebirth in any of eighteen "inauspicious states" (abhabbaṭṭhānāni), one of which is hell.

http://aimwell.org/DPPN/bodhisatta.html#TheBodhisattasCareer


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jul 21, 2018 6:49 AM
Title: Re: Which Sutta I this ?
Content:
It's from the Girimananda Sutta ... sort of. You won't find it, however, in the Girimananda Sutta as it's preserved in the Anguttara Nikaya. Rather it's from an early 20th century Thai paraphrase of the sutta by Somdet Upali, which came to be included in the syllabus for the Nak Tham course. The paraphrase is a very expansive one, perhaps a dozen times longer than the sutta itself.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jul 1, 2018 1:13 PM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
If the terms are synonyms, then any arising of viññāṇa is an arising of viññāṇakkhandha.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jul 1, 2018 10:05 AM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:22 PM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
There are actually ten terms in all; your two articles inexplicably omit the mind-consciousness-element (manoviññāṇadhātu).

None of the sources that you cite describe the ten terms as being stages in a citta's evolution. Nor do any other Pali texts describe them so. 

On the other hand, many texts explicitly state that the terms are synonyms for citta. Indeed the author of the Nettipakaraṇa —which I understand is a text that meets with your approval— cites several of the terms for the precise purpose of illustrating what the word "simile" (vevacanaṃ) means. (See the Netti's Vevacanahāravibhaṅga, "Analysis of the Mode of Conveying Similes"; Nett. 53-4).

The very idea that a momentary citta might undergo some sort of change in character (e.g., a pure citta becoming impure, or vice versa) would contravene one of the most elementary premises of Abhidhammic momentarism, namely, that each momentary citta has but a single jāti. A citta of one jāti (e.g. a kusala citta) may arise, pass away and then be followed by a citta of a different jāti, but a citta does not undergo a change of jāti during the brief span of its existence.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 30, 2018 10:18 AM
Title: Re: Hell from doing metta?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jun 29, 2018 6:56 PM
Title: Re: The teachings of Ven. Waharaka Abhayaratanalankara Thero
Content:
The terms Lal lists are not stages in a citta's evolution but rather the synonyms for "citta", as given in the Niddesa and Paṭisambhidāmagga of the Sutta Piṭaka and the Dhammasaṅgaṇī and Vibhaṅga of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. The stages of a citta are referred to in the Abhidhamma commentaries as the sub-moments of arising, persistence and dissolution (uppāda, ṭhiti, bhaṅga).


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 27, 2018 10:13 PM
Title: Re: Do buddhist monks need their parents appoval to disrobe?
Content:
It isn't required by Vinaya and so in theory a monk could just change into lay clothes, walk out of the monastery and tell the first passing stranger he meets: "I'm giving up the training and returning to the lower life of a householder." In practice, however, it would be unthinkable to do it in such a casual way. Also in Thailand omitting the disrobing ceremony could result in legal difficulties for the ex-monk.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 27, 2018 6:08 PM
Title: Re: Do buddhist monks need their parents appoval to disrobe?
Content:
Obtaining their parents' approval is not a Vinaya requirement for sāmaṇeras to disrobe, but in practice it would virtually always be necessary if they haven't yet reached the age of majority. A Buddhist abbot with such young boys in his charge would exercise an in loco parentis responsibility comparable to that of the headmaster of a boarding school. And so like the headmaster, the abbot isn't just going to let a six-year-old unilaterally decide to quit and walk out unless he knows that the parents are agreeable to this and ready to receive their son.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 27, 2018 12:58 AM
Title: Re: Does a Buddha Suffer after Enlightenment
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:33 PM
Title: Re: full Buddhavamsa in English
Content:
Of the “translations” listed on the Wikipedia page....

1. Rev. Morris’s isn’t a translation at all but rather the PTS romanised Pali text.

2. U Vicittasārābhivaṃsa’s is the writer’s own narration of the lives of the twenty-four Buddhas. It happens to be an extremely good narration, but it’s not a translation of the Buddhavaṃsa.

3. M.V. Takin’s I’m not familiar with.

4. Those of Law and Horner are earlier and later PTS translations, respectively. As far as scholarly apparatus goes there isn’t much to choose between them; both translators were capable Pali scholars and both were fond of footnotes. Though I haven’t compared the two renderings against the Pali text, I suspect that Horner’s will be the better one, both because it was done later than Law’s and because Horner had also translated the commentary to it: published as Clarifier of the Sweet Meaning. Law’s translation got a slightly unfavourable review from E.J. Thomas in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, though this seems to have been prompted more by the reviewer’s aversion to the content of the text than by the quality of the translation.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:40 PM
Title: Re: Dhamma disappears, could that mean..?
Content:
Dhamma in the sense of a phenomenon isn't the same as dhamma in the context of Dhamma-ending Age. In the case of the latter it is a Buddha's teaching that is referred to.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:32 AM
Title: Re: bad knees. want to ordain. is it possible?
Content:
Most wats affiliated with Burmese dry insight traditions like that of Mahasi Sayadaw, and quite a number of wats affiliated with the Dhammayutt forest tradition of Ajahn Mun, would fit the description I gave in my earlier post. But as to which particular wats would be good for Westerners to train in, I'm afraid I can't really advise you. I've been living mostly alone and isolated for some years, have seldom travelled anywhere or met any other Western monks; consequently I'm completely out of the loop and behind the times with regard to suitable and unsuitable wats.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:37 AM
Title: Re: bad knees. want to ordain. is it possible?
Content:
There are plenty of monasteries in Thailand where meditation practice is an entirely solitary activity, undertaken in the privacy of one's kuti, and so you would be free to sit in a chair. In such a place the only times you would need to sit on the floor would be during the fortnightly Pātimokkha recital, which takes about 45 minutes, and (in wats where communal eating is mandatory) during the morning meal, which would be for about 20 minutes.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:23 AM
Title: Re: Ten grounds Vs Eighteen grounds of a schism
Content:
te imehi dasahi vatthūhi

Thanissaro: On the basis of these eighteen grounds...
Bodhi &amp; Sujāto: On these ten grounds...

All three translators have treated the case as ablative in form but locative in meaning. To do that is to favour an exceptional and esoteric possibility over a normal-practice one. I would treat it as a common-or-garden ablative of cause:

"Because of these ten grounds..."

For āveṇi I prefer Thanissaro and Bodhi’s “separately” to Sujāto’s “autonomously”. The latter adds a degree of complexity that is not present in the Pali term.

The other differences seem to be matters of phrasing rather than meaning.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:23 AM
Title: Re: Reading Mahayana books
Content:
Probably. At least here in Thailand a Tripitaka cabinet containing the hundred or so volumes of the Chinese Tripitaka seems to be a standard feature in the Chinese and Vietnamese temples that I've visited.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:04 AM
Title: Re: Reading Mahayana books
Content:
I once met a member of Soka Gakkai who had never even heard of the four truths and eightfold path, but I think this was rather exceptional. In general Mahayanists will be acquainted with them and will accept them as foundational.

As to where they learn them from, with the Tibetans the primary source is probably Vasubandhu's auto-commentary to his Abhidharmakośa; with East Asians it's the Āgama sūtras and/or the older strata of Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:57 PM
Title: Re: Reading Mahayana books
Content:
I think that in general the tendency in the Theravada is for teachers to be assessed on their merits, rather than on fictitious connection to some lineal forebears. Exceptions to this are rare, but one does meet with them occasionally, for example in the case of the U Ba Khin tradition.

http://www.vridhamma.org/Myanmar-Teacher-Disciple-Tradition


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 17, 2018 4:33 PM
Title: Re: Reading Mahayana books
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 17, 2018 3:27 AM
Title: Re: Reading Mahayana books
Content:
"Kaśyapa/Kassapa" is a one of the gotra names for those of the brahmin class, and so there are quite a few disciples with this name.

The Kassapa/Kaśyapa whom Chinese Ch'an Buddhists made their first Indian patriarch is a different character from the fire-worshipping Kassapa whose conversion swelled the ranks of the early saṅgha. The former was Mahākassapa, aka Pippali; the latter were three brothers, Uruveḷakassapa, Gayākassapa, and Nadīkassapa, along with their respective disciples.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:01 AM
Title: Re: Ten grounds Vs Eighteen grounds of a schism
Content:
One is preserved in the the Anguttara Nikāya's Book of the Tens and so perforce must comprise ten items; the other is in the Vinaya Piṭaka, where it is not subject to such a numerical constraint. 

Both lists are correct, but in the list of eighteen, items 11 to 18 are to be understood as an expanded enumeration of items 9 and 10 common to both lists.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:01 PM
Title: Re: in my opinion the buddha knew science and technology
Content:
What bearing does this have on the thread's topic?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:47 PM
Title: Re: Shambhala international
Content:
You can find one http://www.bartleby.com/40/51.html.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:26 PM
Title: Re: What is merit?
Content:
It was indeed. Thank you!


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2018 5:14 PM
Title: Re: What is merit?
Content:
As others have said, merit is synonymous with wholesome kamma.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:56 AM
Title: Re: Gradual practice
Content:
May I ask what you mean when you speak of the Nepali boy being able to confirm his claims? Are you referring just to his ability to sit for lengthy periods or is there something more than this?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:10 AM
Title: Re: Should Buddhist monks read a passage from Sutta Pitaka when attending to funeral blessings?
Content:
Yes. And then on the day of the cremation this one is chanted just before the pyre is lit:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ChantingGuide/Section0045.html


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:16 AM
Title: Re: milestone for western Theravada:
Content:
Done.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:56 PM
Title: Re: On Impossibility of Guiding the Dead to a Better Destination by the Living Kin
Content:
I believe this too corresponds to some different term in the suttas, but what it is escapes my memory at the moment. I'll let you know when it comes back to me.

In any case, in the form of the verb pattānumodati we first meet with pattānumodanā in the Yasodharā section of the Therī Apadāna.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:50 AM
Title: Re: Should Buddhist monks read a passage from Sutta Pitaka when attending to funeral blessings?
Content:
It wouldn't be very good for that purpose as there is only one opening at the coffin's end. So once you'd drunk the lemonade near the entrance you would have to crawl inside the freezing-cold coffin to reach the bottles further away.

For keeping one's drinks cool a more suitable option would be this coffin with an air-conditioning device embedded in the lid:

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:56 PM
Title: Re: Should Buddhist monks read a passage from Sutta Pitaka when attending to funeral blessings?
Content:
Actually the rites do sometimes go on for a long time here too, especially for senior monks, aristocracy and royalty. The heat isn't a problem as most wats nowadays are equipped with long yen - large, ornate, refrigerator coffins inside which the smaller wooden coffin will be placed. From a long yen manufacturer's advert:

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:48 PM
Title: Re: Khmer Temple Song/Chanting for Nirvana Day
Content:
As the word gets inconsistently romanised as smot, smut, smaut, smoth ... etc., you'll probably find a lot more using the Khmer spelling: ស្មូត


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:45 PM
Title: Re: Purge of Thai sangha
Content:
I think keeping a regular concubine would probably be the least common way for unchaste monks to pursue their irregularities. As it isn't something that laypeople would tolerate, any monk doing so would need to do it secretly, which for most monks would be logistically impossible. For example, in Thailand if a monk is seen regularly spending the night at the home of a single woman, widow or divorcee, then the neighbours are likely to phone the police, who will then launch a nighttime raid on the house. Likewise if a woman is seen sneaking into a monk's quarters after dark.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:28 PM
Title: Re: Have you used the thematic guide to the Numerical Discourses (AN)?
Content:
At present the works of Heidegger are of no interest to me at all. I did, however, read Being and Time in 1986 as there was something of a craze for existentialism and phenomenology among Western bhikkhus in Thailand and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 10, 2018 1:27 AM
Title: Re: Have you used the thematic guide to the Numerical Discourses (AN)?
Content:
All the passages that logical positivists love to quote when they're heaping ridicule on the whole thing.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 9, 2018 11:24 AM
Title: Re: Have you used the thematic guide to the Numerical Discourses (AN)?
Content:
None of the above. 

Unless it's something like Finnegans Wake or Being and Time I generally prefer to read books unguided.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jun 8, 2018 9:03 PM
Title: Re: The Idea of the Historical Buddha
Content:
That wasn't originally a name, but rather an epithet based on his tribe. It's rarely used in early Buddhist texts but assumed great importance in Mahayana ones, where it became in effect the normative name for the Buddha, the earlier names and epithets being largely sidelined by it. As the pioneering Pali scholar Robert C. Childers remarked: "It is rather as if some eccentric Christian sect were to insist on Jesus being referred to in no other way than "Lion of the Tribe of Judah."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jun 8, 2018 1:33 PM
Title: Re: Is the term "cessation of greed, hatred & delusion" in the suttas?
Content:
Then in the peyyālas to this passage:

1. Abhiññāya is replaced with pariññāya, parikkhayāya, pahānāya, khayāya, vayāya, virāgāya, nirodhāya, cāgāya, and paṭinissaggāya.

2. Rāgassa is replaced with dosassa, mohassa … kodhassa, upanāhassa, makkhassa, paḷāsassa, issāya, macchariyassa, māyāya, sāṭheyyassa, thambhassa, sārambhassa, mānassa, atimānassa, madassa and pamādassa.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 6, 2018 2:12 PM
Title: Re: Should Buddhist monks read a passage from Sutta Pitaka when attending to funeral blessings?
Content:
The most widespread practice in Thailand is that each evening four monks will be invited to recite the mātika to each of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka while seated beside the coffin, either at the deceased's home or in a special funeral sālā in the local wat. This is usually done each evening for at least three days before the cremation. The Abhidhamma recitation may or may not be accompanied by a sermon by the senior monk present, though it nearly always will be on the day of the cremation. The practice is premised on the popular belief in an intermediate state: the spirit of the deceased is assumed to be still hanging around the body and chanting Abhidhamma encourages it to move on.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 6, 2018 1:00 PM
Title: Re: Should Buddhist monks read a passage from Sutta Pitaka when attending to funeral blessings?
Content:
In Sri Lanka isn't it already the custom to recite the Salla Sutta at funerals? I'd always supposed that it was because it's given as such in the chanting book of the Chiswick Vihāra, a Sri Lankan temple in London.

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/snp3.8


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 6, 2018 9:22 AM
Title: Re: Does Theravada have a practice similar to Tonglen in Mhayana?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 6, 2018 1:10 AM
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Ven Dhammanando!
Content:
Thank you.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jun 6, 2018 1:08 AM
Title: Re: Did Buddha predict world revolution?
Content:
Thais with a serious interest in Dhamma don't waste their time talking to the gullible nitwits at the Palungjit Forum. This is where they go:

larndham.org


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 5, 2018 2:14 PM
Title: Re: The Story of the Hero
Content:
Other than the shared theme of liberation I don't see much resemblance myself. The main point of Ven. A.M's story —the subsequent concealing of the path to liberation— has no parallel in Plato's cave allegory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 5, 2018 10:39 AM
Title: Re: How to say "Thank You"
Content:
On any occasion when you wish to express approval or appreciation for what another has said or done. If what has been said or done has been said or done for your benefit, then saying "sādhu" would be a speech-act identical to saying "thank you".


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 5, 2018 9:54 AM
Title: Re: The Story of the Hero
Content:
The link seems to have changed.

https://kusalagavesi.wordpress.com/1eng/

The story is quite similar to Ven. Ānanda Maitreya's Pseudo-Pilgrims.

https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=23368


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 5, 2018 9:22 AM
Title: Re: The Buddha's Politics
Content:
I don't know. I'm afraid Sutta Central doesn't work on my computer - I just get blank pages.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 5, 2018 8:45 AM
Title: Re: How to say "Thank You"
Content:
In his Aids to Pali Conversation and Translation Rev. A.P. Buddhadatta gives “Thuti atthu,” – most likely a modern coinage. 

https://dhamma.ru/paali/aids_to_pali_conversation.pdf

In Pali texts the idiomatic functional equivalents would be “anumodanā” (when the person being thanked has done something meritorious), “sādhu”, and “sundaraṃ”.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jun 5, 2018 7:49 AM
Title: Re: The Buddha's Politics
Content:
It's the two Goose King birth stories (Mahāhaṃsa Jātaka and Cullahaṃsa Jātaka) in the PTS romanised Pali edition. Translations:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j5/j5027.htm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j5/j5026.htm


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Jun 3, 2018 2:46 PM
Title: Re: The Buddha's Politics
Content:
Also, with regard to the Cakkavattī Sutta itself some people draw a quite different lesson from the redistributive part of it than that drawn by left-wing Buddhists. I remember when the sutta came up for discussion in a Facebook group for Buddhist conservatives and libertarians there were no fewer than five different readings (one socialist and four conservative - MRDA!) proposed and defended.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 9:51 PM
Title: Re: What was the first book of suttas you read?
Content:
On my own.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 8:38 PM
Title: Re: Brahma Sutta AN 4.63. Brahma Sutta
Content:
Here's the complete article:


.


 ./download/file.php?id=4386
(350.13 KiB) Downloaded 425 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 3:07 PM
Title: Re: Did Buddha predict world revolution?
Content:
You will probably have better luck at Palungjut, a Thai language forum aimed at those for whom Buddhism is chiefly about thaumaturgy rather than liberation.

https://palungjit.org/


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 2:52 PM
Title: Re: Did Buddha predict world revolution?
Content:
Then I think you may be in for a long search. The ajahn in question is an undiscriminating writer of sensationalist works that draw upon anything and everything prophetic or New Agey that he happens to have heard about (Mother Shipton, Shirley MacLaine, Nostradamus, Taoists, Native Americans... etc.).

 

If you an especial interest in the prophetic content of the Pali suttas, I would recommend you start with the Anāgatabhayāni Suttas ("Discourses on Future Dangers") in the Aṅguttara Nikāya's Book of the Fives. (Though I should warn you that you might be a little disappointed if you're hoping to find the kind of claptrap that was in your link).

https://suttacentral.net/an5


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 8:26 AM
Title: Re: Did Buddha predict world revolution?
Content:
As are the Mahayana sutras, the Burmese Zandok (folk Jātaka) literature, the Thai Mahamalai, Tibetan termas, channelled messages of Elizabeth Clare Prophet, dialogues of Bahaullah with the Buddha in the Bahai heaven, and much else whose attribution to the historical Buddha no scholar worth his salt would take seriously.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 4:06 AM
Title: Re: Did Buddha predict world revolution?
Content:
The Mahāsupina Jātaka's sixteen dreams are the only thing in your link that is from the Pali texts. All the other prophetic material is Thai home-grown stuff, mainly from the outer fringes of the forest tradition.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2018 1:04 AM
Title: Re: What is the Vipaka of Samatha meditation?
Content:
It's classifying it as a sense-sphere consciousness rather than a form-sphere one.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jun 1, 2018 4:49 PM
Title: Re: What is the Vipaka of Samatha meditation?
Content:
It should be ‘inferior’, not ‘minor’.

In the commentaries each jhāna is called inferior (hīna) if the yogi has just attained it, ‘medium’ (majjhima) if it’s been developed to a limited extent, and ‘superior’ (paṇīta) if it’s been mastered. Each of the three leads to rebirth in a successively higher Brahmā realm.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Jun 1, 2018 9:32 AM
Title: Re: What is the Vipaka of Samatha meditation?
Content:
If samatha is developed to the point of appanā-samādhi, the vipākas are (1) rebirth in a Brahmā realm and (2) the form-realm resultant consciousnesses (rūpāvacara-vipākacitta) that arise while dwelling there (and which cannot arise in any other realm).

If samatha development falls short of appanā-samādhi, the types of vipāka will be the same as those produced by sense-sphere great wholesome consciousnesses on any occasion of doing something meritorious.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 31, 2018 9:44 PM
Title: Re: What is the Vipaka of Samatha meditation?
Content:
Samatha-bhāvanā and its synonym samatha-kammaṭṭhāna are mainly commentarial terms, though the former does occur once in the Piṇḍapātapārisuddhi Sutta in the uncompounded genitive form samatha-vipassanānaṃ bhāvanāya.

More common in the suttas are expressions involving the verb bhāveti from which bhāvanā derives:

samathaṃ bhāveti - develops samatha.

samathapubbaṅgamaṃ bhāveti - develops samatha first.

samatho bhāvito - samatha [that is/has been] developed.

samatho bhāvetabbo - samatha should be developed.

samathaṃ bhāvayato - of one developing samatha.

bhāvehi samathaṃ - Develop samatha!


Other sutta expressions include:

samathanimittaṃ yonisomanasikārabahulīkāro - one who makes much of proper attention to the samatha sign.

cetosamathamanuyuttā viharatha - Dwell devoted to mental samatha!

samathaṃ paṭipādesiṃ - I practised samatha.

cetosamathe yogo karaṇīyo - devotion with regard to mental samatha is [something] to be done.

ajjhattaṃ cetosamathaṃ anuyuñjati - he pursues mental samatha internally.

paccattaṃ samathaṃ labhāmi - I personally obtain samatha.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 31, 2018 10:08 AM
Title: Re: Compassion for Women
Content:
I think Ajahn Thanissaro's introduction to his Buddhist Monastic Code is a fine overview of how one should go about interpreting Vinaya.

https://www.dhammatalks.org/vinaya/bmc/Section0006.html

As to how it should be followed, see the Non-Decline Suttas in the AN's Book of the Sevens:

https://suttacentral.net/an7


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 31, 2018 4:43 AM
Title: Re: Compassion for Women
Content:
That's true with regard to the fifth and eighth bhikkhuni pārājika rules, where the same acts would be the lesser (though still weighty) offence of saṅghādisesa if committed by a bhikkhu.

On the other hand, homosexual acts on the part of a bhikkhu would be pārājika if they involved penetration, while lesbian acts on the part of a bhikkhuni would at most be pācittiyas. Masturbation by a monk is a saṅghādisesa, but again only a pācittiya for a bhikkhuni.

The Vinaya has lots of asymmetries like this. Though I've never bothered to do it, I suspect that if one counted up all those where bhikkhus are held to a stricter standard than bhikkhunis, and then all those where bhikkhunis are held to a stricter standard that bhikkhus, they'd roughly balance each other out.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 30, 2018 7:53 PM
Title: Re: Not Feeling the Breath
Content:
Peter Harvey, with whom I've been taking an online meditation course for the last six months, lays a lot of stress on diaphragmatic breathing. One source that he recommended to me and which I found very helpful is a series of six videos by the singing instructor Marnell Sample:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE6sSBqFLoybs5HwL48E7Dy6MCZFfb-ug


The second video is particularly good.

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 30, 2018 10:06 AM
Title: Re: The best UFO report I've ever read
Content:
Which rather suggests that it might be an advertising gimmick by Ferrero, the Italian confectionery manufacturers. They're a pretty shameless lot who'll stop at nothing to get people to buy their teeth-rotting piddling little mints, at one point even appropriating Dick Tracy in pursuit of this end.

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 30, 2018 9:52 AM
Title: Re: Can I apply Anatta to inanimate objects?
Content:
1. The Pali terms used for living beings in the context of the first precept (i.e., satta and pāṇa) don’t include plants.

2. One Pali term for living beings that does (in some contexts) include plants (i.e. bhūta) is never used in connection with the first precept.

3. In the monastic Vinaya the rule that prohibits the damaging of plants is entirely separate from those relating to the killing of living beings.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 30, 2018 8:29 AM
Title: Re: Can I apply Anatta to inanimate objects?
Content:
A living body is “with consciousness” (saviññāṇaka) while a dead one is “with consciousness departed” (apetaviññāṇa).
“Before long, alas, this body will lie on the earth, discarded, with consciousness departed, like a useless log of wood.”
(Dhammapada 41)


“Before long my body, with consciousness departed, will be carried to the charnel ground, discarded like a log of wood, despised even by my own relatives.”
(Therīgāthā verses of Sumedhā Therī)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 22, 2018 1:53 PM
Title: Re: Harry, Meghan and my Papañca
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 22, 2018 11:59 AM
Title: Re: Trump and the NHS
Content:
Trump Derangement Syndrome

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trump-derangement-syndrome


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 20, 2018 8:08 PM
Title: Re: Why can't conceit and wrong view arise together?
Content:
There is no general answer to this. Rather, it's a question would need to be addressed on a case by case basis. In some cases it's very easy to understand why two cetasikas couldn't arise together, e.g., sloth with restlessness, or sympathetic joy with envy, or wisdom with delusion. In other cases we need to give careful attention to all four items in the cetasika's fourfold description, i.e. not just its characteristic but also its function, manifestation and proximate cause.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 20, 2018 2:33 AM
Title: Re: no birth without rebirth
Content:
My belief (and that of Theravāda orthodoxy) is that all rebirths are instantaneous. I suspect that the concept of an intermediate state was invented by corrupt branches of the sangha, probably with the aim of: (1) pandering to the desires of mourners for a more consolatory view of the afterlife and (2) making money out of them. (I won't, however, be drawn into an argument on the subject, for it's already been flogged to death).


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 19, 2018 5:49 PM
Title: Re: Cakkhu Sutta SN 18.1. The Eye, etc.
Content:
I would want to read Mun-keat's article before commenting.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 19, 2018 5:43 PM
Title: Re: Why can't conceit and wrong view arise together?
Content:
To revert to your earlier example, suppose a Christian thinks to herself: "(1) Christians will go to heaven for ever; (2) Buddhists will go to hell for ever; (3) Going to heaven is better than going to hell; (4) Therefore it's better to be a Christian than a Buddhist; (5) I'm a Christian; (6) Therefore I'm better than I would be if I were a Buddhist; (7) And if I'm better than I would be if I were a Buddhist, then I must be better than anyone who is in fact a Buddhist."

Some of these thoughts are reflections based on wrong view, while others are reflections involving conceited comparison of oneself with another. Isn't it self-evident that the Christian can't be doing the two things at the same time? In any moment when she is occupied with thinking about the implications of Christian eschatology, then she's not occupied with comparing herself with another. In any moment when she's occupied with comparing herself with another, then she's not occupied with thinking about Christian eschatology.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 19, 2018 4:01 PM
Title: Re: no birth without rebirth
Content:
If he had, then he would have stayed around for only seven lives at the most. As it is, no such thing is mentioned in either of the Ghaṭīkāra Suttas (M.ii.46-8; S.i.34-5), which report only that Jotipāla was inspired with Kassapa Buddha's teaching and became a bhikkhu.

The Buddhavaṃsa (Bu. 62) adds that he mastered the ninefold dispensation and that Kassapa Buddha predicted his buddhahood.

The Milindapañha (Mil. 223) has him attaining the samāpattis and mundane abhiññās, and then getting reborn in the Brahmā world. It's also (along with the Apadāna) the source of the belief that it was Jotipāla's insulting speech about Kassapa that made it necessary for him to practise austerities for six years as Gotama.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 19, 2018 11:22 AM
Title: Re: Harry, Meghan and my Papañca
Content:
Reuters TV will start its coverage online at 4:30 ET. Here's a https://www.reuters.tv/live if you'd like to watch. They will also be streaming via https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__itunes.apple.com_us_app_reuters-2Dtv_id944245256&d=CwMFaQ&c=4ZIZThykDLcoWk-GVjSLm9hvvvzvGv0FLoWSRuCSs5Q&r=kTRVny-p3a9nLlpEIVjMcC-id0cvgdSEKb6dpLOEhwI&m=ezQTZR_7C7NvJ5iWqDlEro7jz7pPZ_lcvZwPKpPx35M&s=zxFKPvlkjVI9q7KoCgkqhc6s9ujJ6uFyS1TTVcUtBug&e= and https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__play.google.com_store_apps_details-3Fid-3Dcom.thomsonreuters.reuterstv&d=CwMFaQ&c=4ZIZThykDLcoWk-GVjSLm9hvvvzvGv0FLoWSRuCSs5Q&r=kTRVny-p3a9nLlpEIVjMcC-id0cvgdSEKb6dpLOEhwI&m=ezQTZR_7C7NvJ5iWqDlEro7jz7pPZ_lcvZwPKpPx35M&s=EnIPwTlzM4_CTBOKqnnhkRPdxp4AF_32PuWnmm_WOaA&e= apps, https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__channelstore.roku.com_details_114091_reuterstv&d=DwMFAg&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=a01O9QqtYwkBhERK3zjeACzdWyzF0S18P8yb6uBevAo&m=J-1cIk7oOMope-Oqf-DQ6DWFoqhU9rdDig3hM-ofP_c&s=mXe5rp74RPb6b9VBb6Hiliqea4I00B_N__0WllYEdrk&e=, https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Thomson-2DReuters-2DTV-2DVideo-2DNews_dp_B075RDWBG9&d=DwMFAg&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=a01O9QqtYwkBhERK3zjeACzdWyzF0S18P8yb6uBevAo&m=J-1cIk7oOMope-Oqf-DQ6DWFoqhU9rdDig3hM-ofP_c&s=VWRM-tvUPLMXtkU6WDY5_cPuwStTR9E3h1_4mG6tZZU&e= and https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__itunes.apple.com_us_app_reuters-2Dtv-2Dvideo-2Dnews_id944245256-3Fmt-3D8&d=DwMFAg&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=a01O9QqtYwkBhERK3zjeACzdWyzF0S18P8yb6uBevAo&m=J-1cIk7oOMope-Oqf-DQ6DWFoqhU9rdDig3hM-ofP_c&s=9Z2N4xTSYx_X5-FSAchRCBrvPAxDt9Y1fBPNmSoCKYw&e=


https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/05/royal-wedding-order-of-service, including two unexpected musical choices.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 19, 2018 2:56 AM
Title: Re: no birth without rebirth
Content:
Among Indian Buddhist schools a gandhabba/gandharva was universally understood to be a deceased being who was about to be reborn. I don't think there were any dissenting opinions on this point.

What they did disagree about was the nature of the being in question. The schools which held to the doctrine of an intermediate state claimed that it was a subtle-bodied being or (in the case of the Pudgalavādins) an indescribable being who was waiting in that intermediate state. The schools which held to instantaneous rebirth (which includes the Theravāda) maintained that it was only conventional truth to speak of the gandhabba as a being; in ultimate truth the gandhabba was a term for the rebirth-linking consciousness.

By the way, the article on the gandhabba by Wijesekera (the one praised by Bhikkhus Bodhi and Sujāto) is available online. You'll find it on pages 176-212 of his Buddhist and Vedic Studies.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463583


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 19, 2018 12:26 AM
Title: Re: Why can't conceit and wrong view arise together?
Content:
It will be better if you ask again after finishing the second chapter, for then you'll have a better graps of the general characteristics of cittas and cetasikas.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 18, 2018 10:29 PM
Title: Re: Why can't conceit and wrong view arise together?
Content:
An additional reason is that when wrong view is present, then the proximate cause of conceit is absent, the latter being diṭṭhivippayutta-lobha, greed dissociated from wrong view.

As for the example you give, the Abhidhamma doesn't deny that conceit and wrong view may sometimes arise in close temporal propinquity, nor that there may be causal relations between one and the other. All that's denied is the possibility of their simultaneous presence in one and the same citta.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 18, 2018 9:20 PM
Title: Re: no birth without rebirth
Content:
The belief that a certain stage arrived at early in a Bodhisattva's career is the equivalent of stream-entry is a doctrinal innovation peculiar to the Mahayana's daśa-bhūmi conception of the path to Buddhahood. It's not to be found in any early Buddhist texts.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 18, 2018 9:14 PM
Title: Re: Harry, Meghan and my Papañca
Content:
A positive regard for monarchy is something that any classical Theravadin might arrive at upon discovering that the Buddha's conception of the social contract was essentially a prefiguration of that found in Hobbes's Leviathan. Having said that, I've never heard of any monastery where being a royalist was either a job requirement or something that the community would attempt to instil in an ordination candidate.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 18, 2018 6:43 PM
Title: Re: Harry, Meghan and my Papañca
Content:
You can cheer yourself up with this delightful talk by historian David Starkey who takes a rather more optimistic view.

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 17, 2018 8:23 AM
Title: Re: Why did the Buddha's monks shave their heads & beards?
Content:
It's a term that stands for any kind of clothes that are characteristic of householders. Paccekabuddhas are gone-forth persons and so dress accordingly in rags.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 17, 2018 5:49 AM
Title: Re: Why did the Buddha's monks shave their heads & beards?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 16, 2018 9:25 PM
Title: Re: Why did the Buddha's monks shave their heads & beards?
Content:
However, the rule happens to appear in the midst of a lot of other rules that are aimed at curtailing vanity, and so it's widely assumed that this is likely to be the purpose here too.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 16, 2018 10:57 AM
Title: Re: Buddhists and copyright
Content:
In the Vinaya smuggling goods through customs to avoid paying duty on them is theft, even though nothing is taken. Here the theft consists not in taking but in evading what one ought to pay.

I think those who argue that adinnādāna necessarily involves the physical movement of something are being over-literal in a way that they almost certainly wouldn't be with any of the other precepts. Nobody argues, for example, that it's not false speech when you tell a deliberate lie in a written letter or a Morse code message, on the grounds that you're not actually speaking.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 16, 2018 12:30 AM
Title: Re: Tantric Theravada?
Content:
I don't think that was universally the case. Many a Ch'an/Zen master, for example, was also a Tripitaka master, and one didn't become one of those without knowing the Āgama sūtras. Dōgen Zenji, for example, in his Shōbōgenzō seems to cite the Āgamas nearly as often as he does Mahāyāna texts.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 15, 2018 11:16 PM
Title: Re: Labyrinths and Mazes
Content:
For the rest of the story...
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j2/j2134.htm

It's not exactly a maze, but certainly a very tortuous route that the parrot has to take to find the "middle mango".


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 15, 2018 1:14 AM
Title: Re: Tantric Theravada?
Content:
There is no mention in your link of even one Āgama. The sūtra sub-link in it consists mostly of Mahāyāna sutras, with the Āgamic texts being limited to the handful of mahāsūtras.

http://read.84000.co/section/O1JC114941JC14668.html


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon May 14, 2018 10:34 PM
Title: Re: Tantric Theravada?
Content:
It was stated in a post by Malcolm Smith on the old E-sangha, but I didn't keep a copy.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon May 14, 2018 9:47 PM
Title: Re: Tantric Theravada?
Content:
Oh? Are you referring to the ten https://www.amazon.com/Mahasutras-P-Skilling/dp/0860133745 and suchlike or do you mean that the canon contains complete Āgamas?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 13, 2018 3:24 PM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 13, 2018 12:01 PM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
I don't think that follows. "[He] often did not leave until 11 p.m." doesn't mean that he never left until that time. Also the Scotch Congregationalists were pretty strict sabbatarians in those days, so on Sunday he could have spent the morning preaching and the afternoon playing with sand-monsters.


.



Murray and the Monster.jpg (19.05 KiB) Viewed 2616 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 13, 2018 11:41 AM
Title: Re: Bollywood Buddha ZeeTV series
Content:
In the Canon the Nālaka Sutta
https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/snp3.11

And in the Commentaries the Nidānakathā pp. 157-9 (with the name Kāḷa Devala)
https://archive.org/details/buddhistbirth00daviuoft


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 13, 2018 9:44 AM
Title: Re: If you become a Sotapanna will you know that?
Content:
The Ratanasutta doesn't specify exactly how naughty it's possible for sotāpannas to be (a much debated subject on which Dhamma Wheel already has several threads). It says only: (1) that they are incapable of committing the "six great crimes", and (2) that any evil kammas of body, speech or mind that they do commit will not be concealed by them. The six great crimes are the usual five (patricide, matricide, etc.) together with taking refuge in an outside teacher.

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/kp6


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 13, 2018 8:24 AM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 12, 2018 3:45 PM
Title: Re: If you become a Sotapanna will you know that?
Content:
Collectively all those that deal with the subject of vicikicchā.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 12, 2018 10:24 AM
Title: Re: If you become a Sotapanna will you know that?
Content:
To "deprogram" those who mistakenly believe themselves to have attained it, since the real sotāpanna and the delusional puthujjana may both feel certitude.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 12, 2018 7:34 AM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
The writers and Oxford lexicographers were cited by me to illustrate English usage, not to serve as exemplars of any particular moral excellence. That being so, the extent to which they evince goodwill and good faith is quite beside the point.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat May 12, 2018 7:32 AM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
... a convention contradicted by a wealth of citations from native English speakers.

In the Araṇavibhaṅgasutta this is called samaññāya atisāra, "an overstepping of agreed usage."
“Here, bhikkhus, insistence on provincialisms and overstepping of agreed usage is a state beset by suffering, vexation, despair, and fever, and it is the wrong way. Therefore this is a state with conflict.

“Here, bhikkhus, non-insistence on provincialisms and non-overstepping of agreed usage is a state without suffering, vexation, despair, and fever, and it is the right way. Therefore this is a state without conflict.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 11, 2018 8:24 PM
Title: Re: Garava Sutta - Pali translation assistance
Content:
And for readers of German this is the 1940 article that first broached the problem:

Friedrich Weller. Über die Formel der vier edlen Wahrheiten. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 43.3/4: 73–79.


 ./download/file.php?id=4289
(155.45 KiB) Downloaded 226 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 11, 2018 8:21 PM
Title: Re: Garava Sutta - Pali translation assistance
Content:
This passage has generated a lot of discussion among scholars on account of its use of the accusative form dukkhasamudayaṃ (and later dukkhanirodhaṃ), when what the reader would expect to see are the masculine nominative forms dukkhasamudayo and dukkhanirodho.

In the first of the links below Bhikkhu Anālayo summarizes the various hypotheses that have been advanced to resolve the problem. The other files and links are to some of the works that he refers to.


Bhikkhu Anālayo, 2006. The Ekottarika-āgama Parallel to the Saccavibhaṅga-sutta and the Four (Noble) Truths”. Buddhist Studies Review, 23.2: 145–153.
https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/BSR/article/view/734

Peter Harvey, 2009. The Four Ariya-saccas as ‘True Realities for the Spiritually Ennobled’– the Painful, its Origin, its Cessation, and the Way Going to This – Rather than ‘Noble Truths’ Concerning These”. Buddhist Studies Review, 26.2:197–227.
https://www.academia.edu/33846046/The_Four_Ariya-saccas_as_True_Realities_for_the_Spiritually_Ennobled_the_Painful_its_Origin_its_Cessation_and_the_Way_Going_to_This_Rather_than_Noble_Truths_Concerning_These

Rune Johansson, 1973. Pali Buddhist Texts Explained to the Beginner, 23-5.


 ./download/file.php?id=4288
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Also of interest, though I can’t find an online copy:

K.R. Norman, 1984. “The Four Noble Truths: A Problem of Pāli Syntax”. In L.A. Hercus (ed.), Indological and Buddhist Studies, Volume in Honour of Professor J.W. de Jong on his 60th birthday, 377–391, Delhi: Sri Satguru.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 10, 2018 1:41 PM
Title: Re: Prediabetes
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 10, 2018 11:34 AM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 10, 2018 10:54 AM
Title: Re: What are these Ajahn Chah sangha monks' names?
Content:
Possibly the American monk Ajahn Santacitto (now the layman Stephen Saslav). But I'm not certain since I never got to meet Santacitto in person.

https://www.budsas.org/ebud/see-way/love-and.htm


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 10, 2018 8:06 AM
Title: Re: Accusative Case vs Locative Case
Content:
Dative: ñātīnaṃ, relatives.
Accusative: suciṃ paṇītaṃ ... kappiyaṃ pānabhojanaṃ, pure, excellent, suitable drink and food

2. With other verbs it's merely a grammatical convention that this verb governs this case and that verb governs that case. Semantically there's no discernible reason for it.

3. Sometimes it's uncertain whether a verb is an example of #1 or #2.

4. Some verbs are inconsistent with regard to which case they govern. For example, the object of dubbhati (to injure) will sometimes be in the locative and sometimes in the dative (and for no obvious reason).

In the case of nibbindati I would be inclined to class it as #3.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 9, 2018 9:36 PM
Title: Re: Garava Sutta - Pali translation assistance
Content:
When a noun is used as the initial or medial item in a compound it will most often take its pre-inflected form (i.e., the form in which it is listed in most dictionaries). And so sāvakānaṃ saṅgha (community of disciples), for example, will become sāvakasaṅgha, not sāvakānaṃsaṅgha. In the case of saddhammagaruno, the compound is to be analysed as saddhamme (locative singular) + garuno. When made into a compound saddhamme reverts to its pre-inflected form: saddhamma.

As for saddhammo, this is in the nominative case as the subject-patient of a passive sentence: saddhammo garukātabbo, “the Good Dhamma should be revered.” But as mentioned already, most translators have opted to translate it as the object of an active sentence.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 9, 2018 6:10 PM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
It might get to you less if you would do the monk the courtesy of accepting his clarification of what he means: "I attach no importance to..."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 9, 2018 4:44 PM
Title: Re: Garava Sutta - Pali translation assistance
Content:
while the latter is favoured by Ven. Sujāto along with the Thai translators of both Mahachula and Mahamakut Universities.


I’ll address the other questions later unless someone beats me to it.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 9, 2018 12:11 PM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
They would be relevant in cases where a different sense of "to care" is intended by the speaker and where "I don't care" would mean more or less: "I don't have mettā and karuṇā."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 9, 2018 10:00 AM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
What I meant by "I don't care..." is "I attach no importance to..."

Whether or not it's fitting to attach no importance to someone's views on Dhamma depends, I think, on who the person is. For example, if I hear that scholars of the calibre of Bhikkhus Bodhi or Anālayo, or Professors Gethin or Harvey, have voiced some view differing from my own, then I would care. I would want to look into the matter to see what texts and what chain of reasoning had led them to their views. As these are men who've earned the right to have their views on Dhamma taken seriously, to dismiss anything they say without troubling to investigate it would strike me as rash and imprudent.

But in the case of the Layt — and for reasons that I'm sure are as obvious to you as they are to me — the boot's on the other foot.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 9, 2018 2:29 AM
Title: Re: On not caring
Content:
Given the commentaries frequent praise of truthfulness, it would be quite in conformity with them to say that one doesn’t care if one doesn’t care.

.
Saccena vinā sīlādīnaṃ asambhavato paṭiññānurūpaṃ paṭipattiyā abhāvato ca. Saccadhammātikkame ca sabbapāpadhammānaṃ samosaraṇato. Asaccasandhassa apaccayikabhāvato āyatiñca anādeyyavacanatāvahanato. Sampannasaccassa ca, sabbaguṇādhiṭṭhānabhāvato. Saccādhiṭṭhānena sabbabodhisambhārānaṃ pārisuddhipāripūrisāmatthiyato.

“Without truthfulness, the qualities of moral habit and so on are impossible, and there can be no practice in accordance with one’s vows. All evil dhammas converge upon the transgression of truth. One who is not devoted to truth is unreliable and his word cannot be accepted in the future. On the other hand, one devoted to truth secures the foundation of all noble qualities. With truthfulness as the foundation, he is capable of purifying and fulfilling all the requisites of enlightenment.”
(Cariyā-a. 299-300)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 8, 2018 7:25 PM
Title: Re: Need details
Content:
That the explanation fails to confirm your prejudices hardly makes it unreal.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 8, 2018 6:45 PM
Title: Re: Need details
Content:
Meanings needs to be gleaned from how terms are used and what the texts say about them. An examination merely of their etymology and manner of formation won't by itself be adequate.

The asaññā-samāpatti is not the same as nirodha in the sense of cessation of suffering, for those who attain it are reborn as impercipient devas and so remain saṃsāric beings.

Nor is asaññā-samāpatti the same as nirodha in the sense of the attainment of the cessation of apperception and feeling (saññāvedayita-nirodha-samāpatti). The principal differences:

Asaññā-samāpatti depends upon: (1) the fourth jhāna; (2) the wrong view that some neutral mental factor (usually saññā, though it could be any neutral factor) is the cause of dukkha; (3) a special mode of cultivation called saññāvirāga-bhāvanā undertaken by a yogi after emergence from the fourth jhāna.

Saññāvedayita-nirodha-samāpatti depends upon: (1) attainment of the four jhānas and four āruppas; (2) being already an anāgāmin or arahant.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 8, 2018 11:42 AM
Title: Re: Concept of Five Tathāgatas in Theravāda?
Content:
Yes, but from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries Cambodian Buddhism was predominantly Mahayanist with considerable Tantric input.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Cambodia


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 8, 2018 8:25 AM
Title: Re: Need details
Content:
I think you mean the impercipient beings, asaññasattā. In their human existence they arrived at the so-called impercipient attainment, but this isn't the same as the attainment of cessation of perception and feeling.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon May 7, 2018 7:45 PM
Title: Re: Abhidhamma Resources
Content:
Amod Lele: Buddhaghosa on Seeing Things as They Really Are

A 3-part article. The first two parts have been posted already, while the third is yet to come.

http://indianphilosophyblog.org/2018/04/15/buddhaghosa-on-seeing-things-as-they-are-1/

http://indianphilosophyblog.org/2018/04/29/buddhaghosa-on-seeing-things-as-they-are-2/


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 6, 2018 8:39 PM
Title: Re: The original meaning of "viññāṇa"
Content:
I see. 

You'll find it discussed by Joanna Jurewicz in her article Playing with Fire and perhaps in some of the other ones too.

http://uw.academia.edu/JoannaJurewicz


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun May 6, 2018 6:46 PM
Title: Re: The original meaning of "viññāṇa"
Content:
The Paṭiccasamuppāda-vibhaṅga Sutta defines viññāṇa:
“And what, bhikkhus, is consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness. This is called consciousness.

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/sn12.2


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri May 4, 2018 10:41 PM
Title: Re: What does "saṅkhāya uccārapassāvaṃ sandhāreti" mean here?
Content:
I take Bhikkhu Bodhi to be referring to the expression "to be anal-retentive". If I'm right, and if his conjecture is right, then it would mean for example a monk who acts in a very fastidious and pernickety way about minor rules of Vinaya, not because he really takes sīla seriously but because he wants householders to think that he does.

The phrase doesn't occur anywhere else in the canon and isn't defined in the commentaries. The Vinaya Piṭaka contains the similar-sounding vaccaṃ sandhāreti, "to retain one's faeces", but this is used only in a literal sense:

Now at that time monks relieved themselves in the privy according to seniority. Newly ordained monks, having arrived first, waited and through restraining themselves (vaccaṃ sandhārentā), they fell down fainting. They told this matter to the Lord. He said: “Is it true, as is said, monks?” “It is true, Lord.” Having rebuked them, having given reasoned talk, he addressed the monks, saying:

“Monks, you should not relieve yourselves in a privy according to seniority. Whoever does (this), there is an offence of wrong-doing. I allow, you monks, to relieve yourselves according to the order of arrival.”
(Vin. ii. 221)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu May 3, 2018 1:25 AM
Title: Re: Does buying fenced goods result in unwholesome karma?
Content:
The policy in Thailand is that any bhikkhu who is arrested and charged with a criminal offence will be forced to disrobe even before the case has been tried. This doesn't have any basis in the Vinaya however.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed May 2, 2018 10:43 AM
Title: Re: Does buying fenced goods result in unwholesome karma?
Content:
From Ajahn Thanissaro's Buddhist Monastic Code:
Receiving stolen goods.

Accepting a gift of goods or purchasing them very cheaply, knowing that they were stolen, would in Western criminal law result in a penalty similar to stealing itself. However, neither the Canon nor the commentaries mention this case. The closest they come is in the Vinitavatthu, where a groundskeeper gives bhikkhus fruit from the orchard under his care, even though it was not his to give, and there was no offense for the bhikkhus. From this it can be inferred that there is no offense for receiving stolen goods, even knowingly, although a bhikkhu who does so would not be exempt from the civil law [sic. I think he means secular law - Dhammanando] and the consequent proceedings, in the course of which the Community would probably urge him to disrobe.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue May 1, 2018 7:44 PM
Title: Re: Sexual intercourse with other woman with the consent of wife
Content:
In the suttas diṭṭhadhamma-nibbāna is in some places a term of censure (as in your quoted passage) but in others it's a term of approval. See for example:

Devadūtasutta, MN iii. 178-87
Dhammakathikasutta, SN. ii. 18
Naḷakalāpīsutta, SN. ii. 115
Dhammakathika and Dutiyadhammakathikasuttas, SN. iii. 163-5
Dhammakathikapucchasutta, SN. iv. 141
Diṭṭhadhammanibbānasutta, AN. iv. 454
Sambodhisutta, AN. iv. 351

“Though warned by the divine messengers, 
Full many are the negligent, 
And people may sorrow long indeed 
Once gone down to the lower world. 
But when by the divine messengers 
Good people here in this life are warned, 
They do not dwell in negligence 
But practise well the noble Dhamma. 
Clinging they look upon with fear 
For it produces birth and death; 
And by not clinging they are freed 
In the destruction of birth and death. 
They dwell in bliss for they are safe 
And reach Nibbāna here and now. 
They are beyond all fear and hate; 
They have escaped all suffering.”
(Devadūta Sutta)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Apr 28, 2018 10:11 PM
Title: Re: Why many Buddhist monks are over weight?
Content:
When the home owner has provided all the food herself then it's less likely to happen. But if the guests have each brought along an item of food then it's common for them to sit watching the monks while they eat to ensure that their particular offering is being consumed. When the meal's about halfway through if none of the monks have touched it or are eating only a little of it, it's then that the hinting begins: "Oh luang por, have compassion for me. I really need some merit, but you haven't eaten any of the water buffalo's afterbirth that I brought!" At that point the senior monk will start pointing to the dishes that nobody has eaten and giving orders to his juniors to "Chalong satthaa chao baan!"


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:36 PM
Title: Re: Why many Buddhist monks are over weight?
Content:
In Thailand I think a major contributory cause of obesity among town and village monks is the wholesale neglect of the Kathāvatthu, the Abhidhamma Piṭaka's record of the debates at the Third Council. Not only is the text not included in the national Pali syllabus but even in the Abhidhamma colleges they don't teach it.

If Thai Buddhists would take the time to read the Kathāvatthu's https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/kv7.5 debate then they would realise that it's wrong view to hold that merit increases with utility, which at present most of them do in fact believe. Having discarded this wrong view, when inviting monks to their homes for a meal they will stop trying to coax us to eat as much as possible out of the superstitious belief that the more we eat the merit they'll get. And the senior monks in turn will stop nudging the junior monks, saying: "Go on, try and eat a little more to encourage the donors' faith!" 

And so with the revival of Kathāvatthu studies, Thai monks will stop flopping about like beached whales and become restored to the gracile and willowy slenderness that befits a samaṇa.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:10 PM
Title: Re: vinaya rule against ordaining in two traditions
Content:
The Vinaya Commentary's explanation is that since they were members of the Buddha's own clan it could be safely assumed that Sakyan titthiyas would be deferential towards their clansman's Dhammavinaya and would not be seeking ordination in order to find fault with it.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:27 PM
Title: Re: Looking for resources on particularly Islamic Meditation techniques
Content:
A very thorough account of the Shi’ite understanding and practice of the “inner jihad” ...

Ayatollah Khomeini, https://www.al-islam.org/forty-hadith-an-exposition-second-edition-imam-khomeini - An Exegesis of Surat Al-Tawhid and Some Verses of Surat Al-Hadid


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:09 PM
Title: Re: vinaya rule against ordaining in two traditions
Content:
https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/pi-tv-kd1


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:37 PM
Title: Re: Which view on DO resonates with you the most?
Content:
Pali text of Visuddhimagga ch. XVII with line-by-line English and Russian translations:

https://www.theravada.su/node/2332

(To remove the Russian just uncheck the box marked "Русский khantibalo")


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:48 PM
Title: Re: What is Facebook?
Content:
Impressively efficient of Holy Mother Church to bless them in large batches like that. In Thailand I've only ever seen monks blessing individual motorcycles.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:40 PM
Title: Re: Right Livelihood & sattavaṇijjā - business in humans or in beings?
Content:
Presumably because the commentary glosses the term that way (sattavaṇijjā = manussavikkayo, "the sale of humans"), and on this occasion he believes the commentary to be correct.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Apr 14, 2018 5:46 PM
Title: Re: Boran kammatthana
Content:
You could try paying a visit to the lay teacher Nai Boonman Poonyathiro at his tektites and fossils shop. His English is reasonable and his daughter Kathi's is fluent. I don't know whether he would call his method "boran kammatthan", but the meditation instruction that I've received from one of his disciples seems to bear at least a family resemblance to it.

House of Gems
1218 Charoenkrung Road
Bangkok

http://houseofgems.info/about_us.php




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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Apr 13, 2018 7:04 PM
Title: Re: vsm asubha
Content:
Clearly enough nirodha and uparujjhati cannot be synonyms, for one is a noun and the other a verb. What are synonyms, however, (at least in some contexts) are the verbs nirujjhati (from which we get nirodha) and uparujjhati.

The answer to the question, “Why would two different terms be used here?” is simply metri causa.

Generally in prose passages nirodha is used in conjunction with its etymological kinsman nirujjhati. But in Pali verse nirujjhati doesn’t always fit the metre and so other verbs will be substituted. In the case of the Ajitamāṇavapucchā, Ajita has posed his questions in the śloka metre, which comprises 8 syllables per pāda and 16 per line, and so the Buddha —following the convention of the day— replies in the same:

Yattha nāmañca rūpañca, asesaṃ uparujjhati,
Viññāṇassa nirodhena, etthetaṃ uparujjhati.

Since using the four-syllable nirujjhati would have produced a metrically defective pāda, the five-syllable uparujjhati is substituted. In other metres the replacement verbs indicating “to cease” include vūpasammati, atthaṃ gacchati, samati, upasamati, and paṭippassambhati.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:09 PM
Title: Re: Is the idea that Nibbāna is seen at each of 4 stages of awakening canonical?
Content:
It’s straightforwardly inferable from the Suttas. Were it the case that the sotāpanna had not seen Nibbāna, then it couldn’t be said of him that he had seen the third noble truth. The Suttas, however, say that he has seen all four of the noble truths:

“But when one sees with correct wisdom 
The truths of the noble ones—
Suffering and its origin, 
The overcoming of suffering, 
And the Noble Eightfold Path 
That leads to suffering’s appeasement—
Then that person, having wandered on 
For seven more times at most,
Makes an end to suffering 
By destroying all the fetters.”
(SN. ii. 185-6)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:34 PM
Title: Re: Bill V. on Theravadan nihilism
Content:
I think it is implicitly, for in the SN's Asaṅkhatasaṃyutta it is called dhuva, "the stable", which in sutta accounts of eternalism is one of the synonyms of nicca:

At that time, monks, an evil wrong view came to have accrued to Baka the Brahmā like this: ‘This is permanent (niccaṃ), this is stable (dhuvaṃ), this is eternal (sassataṃ), this is entire (kevalaṃ), this is not liable to passing away (acavanadhammaṃ), this is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, does not uprise, and there is not another further escape from this.’


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:28 PM
Title: Re: Western Teachers of the Thai Forest Tradition
Content:
I'm not presently in touch with them, but if they're living in Thailand it's unlikely they'll lack the four requisites.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Apr 5, 2018 5:07 PM
Title: Re: Creating a Practice When Life is Hard
Content:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Apr 4, 2018 9:43 PM
Title: Re: Does Noble Eightfold Path include both Samatha and Vipassana?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Apr 3, 2018 10:04 AM
Title: Re: Enlightenment is difficult...
Content:
This equation doesn't accurately reflect the weakened use of "extremely" in modern English. Perhaps in bygone days it would have been thought a solecism to say, "Mangos are extremely sweet, but mangosteens are sweeter still," but nowadays it wouldn't raise the eyebrows of even the most officious grammar Nazi.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Apr 3, 2018 12:34 AM
Title: Re: What is the proper method for reading lists in suttas?
Content:
Suppose you were tasked with drawing up a list of a number of items and the particular order in which they were to be listed didn't really matter. How would you go about it? Instinctively what you would probably do is to list them in the order that sounded most natural and pleasing to the ear. Each language has its own (usually unstated) conventions governing this. English, for example, is an example of a "waning syllables language", which means that a native speaker will start by listing the items whose names have the most syllables and then gradually work down to those which have the least. For example, if you were listing the names of adherents of the world's religions, it would sound most euphonic if you put the Zarathustrians and Spiritualists first and the Sikhs, Jains and Jews last.

Pali and Sanskrit, on the other hand, follow the waxing syllables principle: begin with the shortest words and then gradually move up to the longest.

So, any time the Buddha lists a number of items, observe whether or not the list's sequence is waxing syllables-compliant. If it is, then it tells you that the order is probably of no doctrinal significance. For example:

nacca-gīta-vādita-visūkadassana
"dancing, singing, music, unseemly shows."

mālā-gandha-vilepana-dhāraṇa-maṇḍana-vibhūsanaṭṭhānā
"garlands, perfumes, cosmetics, ornaments and adornments."

āhuneyyo pāhuneyyo dakkhiṇeyyo añjalikaraṇīyo
"worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, worthy of reverential salutation."

But if the Buddha's list is non-compliant then it tells us that the order of items probably matters. For example, it might mean that they constitute a progressive sequence of development, as with the Maṅgalasutta's thirty-eight blessings or the seven bojjhaṅgas:

sati, dhammavicayo, viriyo, pīti, passaddhi, samādhi, upekkhā
"Mindfulness, investigation of dhammas, energy, zest, calm, concentration, equanimity."

Or the factors of the Eightfold Path.

One caveat, however, is that the above only applies when the items are listed in one and the same sentence or paragraph. If they are listed in separate paragraphs, as is often the case with the lists in the Aṅguttara Nikāya, then all bets are off.

Attached files:

Ven. Anālayo, Waxing Syllables (entry in the Encyclopedia of Buddhism, ed. G.P. Malalasekera)

Mark Allon, The Oral Composition and Transmission of Early Buddhist Texts (in Indian Insights: Buddhism, Brahmanism and Bhakti, ed. Peter Connolly and Sue Hamilton)



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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Apr 2, 2018 10:41 PM
Title: Re: Enlightenment is difficult...
Content:
and then the less literal sense of "extremely good" which has been the word's dominant meaning for the last three centuries.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Apr 2, 2018 9:26 PM
Title: Re: What is the difference between God's plan and Kamma?
Content:
If it's that sort of God you have in mind then the answer's easy: The law of kamma and vipāka doesn't play favourites. That sort of God does.

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated," (and before they were even born!)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+9&version=AKJV


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Apr 2, 2018 1:21 PM
Title: Re: Enlightenment is difficult...
Content:
Only if one supposes that "highest" is to be taken literally. 

The commentators, however, recognized both a literally superlative use of uttama and a merely hyperbolical use.

When it’s to be understood as literally superlative the commentary’s gloss is “foremost, acme” (seṭṭha agga). When it’s to be taken as commendatory hyperbole, the gloss is “distinguished, excellent” (visiṭṭha pavara). The Maṅgala Sutta is an example of the latter.

__________________________

“So many highest superlatives achieved by man are followed by new higher; and dwindle into comparatives and positives!”
(Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Apr 1, 2018 5:37 AM
Title: Re: Abhidhamma Resources
Content:
Six articles by Rupert Gethin

https://www.academia.edu/24132029/The_M%C4%81tik%C4%81s_Memorization_Mindfulness_and_the_List

https://www.academia.edu/24142623/Wrong_view_micch%C4%81-di%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADhi_and_right_view_samm%C4%81-di%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADhi_in_the_Therav%C4%81da_Abhidhamma

https://www.academia.edu/24142507/Bhava%E1%B9%85ga_and_Rebirth_According_to_the_Abhidhamma

https://www.academia.edu/24132372/The_Five_Khandhas_Their_Treatment_in_the_Nik%C4%81yas_and_Early_Abhidhamma

https://www.academia.edu/11728668/On_some_definitions_of_mindfulness

https://www.academia.edu/33205031/He_who_sees_dhamma_sees_dhammas_dhamma_in_early_Buddhism

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Apr 1, 2018 4:54 AM
Title: Re: Can we become Buddhas?
Content:
What does perhaps originate with modern EBT studies is the insistence on the second reading being the historically original one.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Apr 1, 2018 4:03 AM
Title: Re: Bhikkhunis is not Aj Brahm's project.
Content:
Well, they might. It would depend — precisely as it does with Thai monks — on what the mae chee has spent her time doing. For example, if she's an old peasant lady of little education who's ordained out of a wish to devote herself to a life of service in order to accumulate merit for the next life, and if she aspires to nothing more than this, then naturally no Thai is going to think of consulting her on matters of Dhamma. But nor would they think of consulting an ignorant village monk (whose motivation will in many cases by very similar to the aforementioned mae chee) on matters of Dhamma.

For a more balanced picture, dealing with an aspect of mae chee-ship seldom addressed in Western texts, see the attached article on the role of mae chees in Thai monastic education.

Steven Collins and Justin McDaniel: Buddhist ‘Nuns’ (mae chi) and the Teaching of Pali in Contemporary Thailand


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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Mar 31, 2018 2:49 PM
Title: Re: mettā in commentarial tradition (refutation)
Content:
To put it less pedantically:

In pop Buddhist presentations of mettabhāvanā, verse seven of the Karaṇīyamettasutta is often read as saying that one should love all beings as a mother loves her only child.

Thanissaro thinks that they're wrong to read it this way. In his construal it is the mettā-ful state of mind that is to be developed as a mother guards her only child.

The point of my post was to show that the grammar of the passage clearly supports Thanissaro's construal, not the pop Buddhist one.

And so when you stated that you disagreed with Thanissaro and were going to substantiate this I would have expected you to present some argument showing that the simile doesn't mean what Thanissaro thinks it means; rather, it means whatever you think it means.

Instead you posted a reply that doesn't touch on the Mettasutta at all.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:01 PM
Title: Re: Buddhist Scholar Steven Collins Dies at 66
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Mar 31, 2018 5:33 AM
Title: Re: Paccekabuddhas ... can't teach? or don't teach?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Mar 31, 2018 3:09 AM
Title: Re: mettā in commentarial tradition (refutation)
Content:
But in the remainder of your post I don’t think you’ve quite succeeded at this.

There are two questions here:

1. Can what the suttas call "mettā" be aptly compared to maternal love?
2. Can an affirmative answer to the above question be supported by appealing to the mother simile in the Mettasutta?

Thanissaro is giving a no answer to the second question: repudiating the common use made of the Mettasutta in support of the "mettā = maternal love" comparison. But your post seems aimed at arguing for a yes answer to the first question and as such doesn’t really touch on what Thanissaro is saying.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:35 AM
Title: Re: masturbation what's wrong?
Content:
One of the ten kinds of masturbation described in Buddhaghosa's Vinaya Commentary is called dānaṃ dassāmīti sukkavisaṭṭhi, "emitting semen with the aim of giving a gift." For example, a man might ejaculate onto an anthill out of a compassionate wish to feed the ants.

However, in their innovatively erotic Christology, Cook and Moore seem to have had something else in mind when citing Matthew 6:3.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:53 AM
Title: Re: masturbation what's wrong?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:33 AM
Title: Re: Pa Auk In The West
Content:
But this stipulation applies only to bhikkhus ordained from five to ten rains who wish to be released from nissaya early, i.e., before they become theras. It doesn't apply to monks of ten rains or more, for whom release from nissaya is automatic, even if they haven't memorised a single gāthā. 

Are you saying that learned Burmese theras in the Pa Auk tradition are not aware of this rather elementary point of Vinaya?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 11, 2018 8:27 AM
Title: Re: How common is stream entry?
Content:
I don't think it's out of place. Being in the General Theravada forum just means that posters are at liberty to dissent from and to challenge the commentarial understanding, whereas in the Classical Forum one is required to assume for discussion purposes that the Abhidhamma and Commentaries get things right.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:57 AM
Title: Re: How common is stream entry?
Content:
No. All grades of sekha disciple, from sotāpanna to anāgāmin, have seen Nibbāna.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:53 AM
Title: Re: How common is stream entry?
Content:
I assume that these texts carry some weight with you.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:41 AM
Title: Re: Grammatical Rules Regarding "vā"
Content:
The English distinction between “either x or y” and “x or y” is merely stylistic, not semantic, and has no equivalent in Pali.

In their discussion of vā Pali grammarians drew a distinction between vikappana and sampiṇḍana, that is, a disjunctive ‘or’ and a conjunctive ‘and’.

Vikappana
samaṇā vā brāmaṇā vā

Sampiṇḍana
bhūtā vā sambhavesī vā
sabbe sattā bhavantu sukhitattā
(Karaṇīyamettasutta)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 4, 2018 6:20 PM
Title: Re: Do plants feel pain?
Content:
The author was actually Dr. Bhagchandra Jain Bhaskar. Dr. Hiralal only wrote the foreword. It's available here:

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.320363


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 4, 2018 5:54 PM
Title: Re: Catholicism and Buddhism
Content:
I've never heard this claim before. As far as I know the white elephant was merely Mahāmayā's dream.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Jan 4, 2018 1:06 PM
Title: Re: Catholicism and Buddhism
Content:
Mary. 

Avalokiteśvara, a male Bodhisattva, didn't appear until mid-2nd century CE in the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sūtra and didn't undergo his Chinese sex change until several centuries later.

The veneration of Mary, by contrast, features almost from the beginning of Christian history.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Jan 3, 2018 2:39 PM
Title: Re: Feminism for men
Content:
Same question: what learned behaviours would result in a Biddulph-reared boy "definitely stay[ing] a virgin for ever"?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jan 2, 2018 8:11 PM
Title: Re: Parajika
Content:
The Pali has mahācora, lit. "great thief", and I.B. Horner rendered it so. But the version of the English Vinaya at Sutta Central has been greatly revised, in part to correct Horner's errors, but also to present the whole work in a much more modernised and demotic idiom. 

While the corrections are certainly welcome, the modernising and vulgarising of the translation are not always well-conceived. For example, neither Horner's literal rendering "great thief" nor Sutta Central's free and vulgar rendering "gangster" are good translations of mahācora — a term that denotes a master thief, as opposed to a thief's apprentice. "Great thief" fails to convey this, while "gangster" is simply misleading, for a mahācora is not necessarily a member of any gang.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jan 2, 2018 4:15 PM
Title: Re: -yuṃ ending (randhayuṃ)
Content:
You do need to know the active voice optative endings as it's a very common grammatical mood...

1. -eyyāmi -eyyāma
2. -eyyāsi -eyyātha
3. -eyya -eyyuṃ

And it can also be helpful to be able to recognize the middle voice optative endings, for although these are much less common they are sometimes used in Pali verse in place of the active endings in order to fit the metre...

1. -eyyaṃ -eyyāmhe
2. -etho -eyyavho
3. -etha -eraṃ


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jan 2, 2018 10:24 AM
Title: Re: Parajika
Content:
I don't know if there's any mention of this being done in the early texts, but it wouldn't be at all surprising. If shameless bhikkhus resorted to it, then it seems likely that shameless wanderers and ascetics of other persuasions would have done so too.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jan 2, 2018 10:02 AM
Title: Re: Buddhist monk jumped off motorway bridge
Content:
I didn't know Colin, but to judge from the photos on his Facebook memorial page I would guess that he was relatively new to Buddhism, for as recently as 2015 he was pictured drinking and sea-fishing.

https://web.facebook.com/cnashwba/photos_albums


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jan 2, 2018 8:24 AM
Title: Re: Parajika
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Jan 2, 2018 7:29 AM
Title: Re: -yuṃ ending (randhayuṃ)
Content:
Optative third person plural randheyyuṃ shortened to fit the metre.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:10 PM
Title: Re: Why does Dalai Lama do the things he does?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:20 PM
Title: Re: Is Ganges river back flow in Varanasi?
Content:
The power of augury operating via dhammaniyāma, prophetic dreams, earthquakes occurring at pivotally auspicious moments, marvels wrought by saccakiriyās, etc. are all impeccably Buddhist, even if they happen not to find favour with protestant Buddhists of the drearily modernist sort.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:29 PM
Title: Re: Is Ganges river back flow in Varanasi?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:39 PM
Title: Re: Is Ganges river back flow in Varanasi?
Content:
Of course not. It's an abbhutadhamma or miracle story. It would hardly have been worth reporting if the dish had just acted normally and floated in the direction one would expect it to float.


.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 8:33 PM
Title: Re: Alone not lonely
Content:
Firstly, adopt an eremitical life only if your natural inclinations happen to lie that way and not because you feel it's something you ought to do or that you'll hasten your progress in Dhamma by doing so (you probably won't).

Secondly, have a feline, canine or equine companion with you.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/alternative-medicine/3342048/Pets-are-better-than-Prozac.html


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 8:20 PM
Title: Re: Doubt is fully eliminated only by Arahnats?
Content:
No. When a particular defilement has been eliminated by "cutting off", as happens with the ariyan attainments, then its further arising is an impossibility.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:39 PM
Title: Re: Are there any EBT suttas not found in the paali collection?
Content:
My understanding is that they are free but that the copyright is held by that Japanese Mahayana outfit that distributes Buddhist Gideon Bibles to Asian hotels. I've forgotten its name now.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:09 PM
Title: Re: Doubt is fully eliminated only by Arahnats?
Content:
Well, you're in good company – Socrates, as reported by Aristotle, seems to have shared your intuition. On the other hand, it is not shared by those whose intuitions tell them that humans have multi-part souls whose parts sometimes conflict with each other, and that akrasia is due to a conflict between passion and reason, or whatever.

Buddhist ābhidhammikas would agree that what your intuition tells you is true in the ultimate sense, for it’s not possible for the wholesome and the unwholesome to be present in one and the same citta and cittas arise only one at a time. But even ābhidhammikas would concede that a rapid oscillation between wholesome and unwholesome javana processes can produce the appearance of a moral struggle even though in any one single moment there is no struggle – just a good impulse or a bad one.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:26 AM
Title: Re: Watching defilements come and go
Content:
The Arahā Sutta is in the Aṅguttara Nikāya's Book of Sevens, so three of the ten fetters are omitted: rūpa-rāga, arūpa-rāga and uddhacca.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:31 AM
Title: Re: Are there any EBT suttas not found in the paali collection?
Content:
You would need to ask him. We're not acquainted.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:03 AM
Title: Re: Watching defilements come and go
Content:
The wordplay is well-known in Thailand because the standard Thai translation of 'arahant' (based on one of the Visuddhimagga's niruktis) means 'one far from defilement'.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:34 PM
Title: Re: the 5th precept
Content:
In Vinaya texts there is never any stated reason as to why guilt under one rule depends upon mens rea, while under another actus reus suffices. One can always conjecture of course, and in the present case I suspect the aim may be to foster in bhikkhus a heightened circumspection about anything they put in their mouths.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:26 PM
Title: Re: How to get over being wronged?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:27 PM
Title: Re: Are there any EBT suttas not found in the paali collection?
Content:
Those who don't know any of the relevant languages would best begin with those non-Pali collections that Sutta Central has in English translation. Unfortunately owing to copyright issues with Ven. Anālayo's translations the only ones presently available are a small number by Ven. Ānandajoti, Sāmaṇerī Dhammadinnā, and Marcus Bingenheimer...

Sanskrit Arthaviniścaya
https://suttacentral.net/arv

Tibetan Upāyikā texts
https://suttacentral.net/up

Second Part of the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama
https://suttacentral.net/sa-2


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 27, 2017 12:30 PM
Title: Re: the 5th precept
Content:
Yes if you're a bhikkhu, for the Vinaya classes the 51st Pācittiya as an acittaka rule - one where the mere act is an offence and the bhikkhu's knowledge, perception and intention are treated as irrelevant.

No if you're a sāmaṇera, for the Khuddakapātha Commentary makes intention relevant in the case of the fifth of the ten precepts.

Probably not if you're layperson. The texts don't actually say so, but one wouldn't expect a five-precept layperson to be required to hold to a more scrupulous standard than a ten-precept sāmaṇera.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Dec 25, 2017 7:42 PM
Title: Re: Merry Christmas!
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 24, 2017 3:42 PM
Title: Re: I got a tax cut! What will I do with it?
Content:
Lyndon's "Trickle Up" theory was discussed in this thread...

https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=28735


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:53 AM
Title: Re: All dhammas are personal, not public
Content:
Dhātu Sutta

“Pathavīdhātu, bhikkhave, aniccā vipariṇāmī aññathābhāvī.

“Āpodhātu … tejodhātu … vāyodhātu … ākāsadhātu … viññāṇadhātu aniccā vipariṇāmī aññathābhāvī.

“Yo, bhikkhave, ime dhamme evaṃ saddahati adhimuccati, ayaṃ vuccati ‘saddhānusārī’.

“Monks, the earth property is inconstant, changeable, alterable.

“The liquid property... The fire property... The wind property... The space property... The consciousness property is inconstant, changeable, alterable.

"One who has conviction &amp; belief that these phenomena (dhammā) are this way is called a faith-follower...”
(SN. iii. 227)
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn25/sn25.009.than.html


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:15 AM
Title: Re: I got a tax cut! What will I do with it?
Content:
It's usually called GDP ("gross domestic product") in English. I don't think many readers will have heard of produit intérieur brut.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 7:32 PM
Title: Re: All dhammas are personal, not public
Content:
If you make the two words into a compound, its initial (pre-inflected) form will be buddhadhamma. When it's the subject of a sentence it will take an -o inflection: buddhadhammo.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 6:48 PM
Title: Re: question about gītassara sutta!
Content:
Whoops.  

Thanks for the correction.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 5:33 PM
Title: Re: question about gītassara sutta!
Content:
No, I didn't say that. I don't know whether what the Thais call "sarabhañña-style" is the same as what goes by this name in the suttas. In my post I merely remarked on the oddity of naming a style of recitation after something the Buddha disapproved.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 4:35 PM
Title: Re: All dhammas are personal, not public
Content:
Dhammo and dhammā.

That is, the singular form more often (though not always) means the Dhamma rather than dhammas. The plural more often (though not always) means dhammas rather than the Dhamma.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 4:02 PM
Title: Re: question about gītassara sutta!
Content:
The Thais, oddly enough, have chosen to name one of their styles of chanting after the very thing one isn't supposed to do.

Buddhamaṅgalagāthā in the sarabhañña / sawraphanya style.

.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:12 PM
Title: Re: Tribal law (common law) vs Civilized people law (civil law)
Content:
And Dame Hazel Genn, QC...


.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:07 PM
Title: Re: Tribal law (common law) vs Civilized people law (civil law)
Content:
Here's the same writer explaining matters to an American audience:

https://home.isi.org/node/190


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:18 PM
Title: Re: Winter Solstice
Content:
It's ignored. We use a lunar calendar, so the sun is only relevant for determining day and night.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:34 PM
Title: Re: All dhammas are personal, not public
Content:
None of the suttas in this saṃyutta state what the dhammas of dhammānupassanā are.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:00 AM
Title: Re: All dhammas are personal, not public
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 20, 2017 8:15 PM
Title: Re: Is Life Actually Worth Living?
Content:
I would say that there's considerable overlap between those things that the Buddhist texts regard as saṃvega-generating and those things that lead anti-natalists to claim that begetting children is morally indefensible. The drawback is that the latter comes accompanied by un-dhammic stuff and so would need to be carefully sifted.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 20, 2017 5:33 PM
Title: Re: how to choose a date
Content:
The dragons being fought by St. Georgina are now so small one would think the game was hardly worth the candle.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:29 PM
Title: Re: Compassion in Theravada
Content:
The commentary to the Cariyāpiṭaka.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel409.html


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:20 PM
Title: Re: 10 perfections?
Content:
The paraṃ/further shore etymology is usually associated with the Mahayana's Prajñāpāramita sūtras. I don't think it occurs in any Pali sources earlier than the mediaeval sub-commentaries.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:41 PM
Title: Re: Is Life Actually Worth Living?
Content:
An old thread on Benatar:

https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=23194


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:28 PM
Title: Re: Did the Buddha live & pass away in Sri Lanka?
Content:
The distance is actually only 250 km. But even 350 km would still be doable. In the British army the training of the Gurkha regiments includes marching 70 km a day in Himalayan mountainous terrain with a 50 lb backpack. The route to Sarnath, by contrast, is mostly flat and the Buddha would have had only an almsbowl to carry.

.



map.jpg (80.75 KiB) Viewed 626 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Dec 18, 2017 6:24 PM
Title: Re: Members Bios - please contribute yours
Content:
Oh? Are you planning to nail someone's head to a coffee table?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Dec 18, 2017 8:33 AM
Title: Re: Compassion in Theravada
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:40 AM
Title: Re: Report on UK "Faith Schools"
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:32 PM
Title: Re: Trump. And why I hate him.
Content:
If the horse's ass is a jenny, then we can expect a hinny to come out of her.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:11 PM
Title: Re: Buddhism and alcohol
Content:
Have you considered going to Austria? Your westerly neighbours have an excellent state health service, coming in 9th place in the World Health Organization's ranking of national healthcare systems, while Hungary ranks a miserable 66th.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:17 PM
Title: Re: Why telling lie is so bad?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:39 PM
Title: Re: Why telling lie is so bad?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 13, 2017 5:46 PM
Title: Re: Political Compass
Content:
Authoritarian right, but only just, and looking pretty moderate for a UKIP voter.

 

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March of the Mods.JPG (76.01 KiB) Viewed 3015 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 13, 2017 5:06 PM
Title: Re: Yogic practice in Sutta-Nipata
Content:
I doubt it has anything to do with the khecarī mudrā. The Pali says: "jivhāya tāluṃ āhacca". That is, the tongue is in contact with the hard palate. Not with the velum or nose cavity.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:16 PM
Title: Re: Religion quiz
Content:
Well done! I doubt I shall ever pass it myself. I keep giving the same answers every time, only changing my mind about how much emphasis to place on each answer.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 13, 2017 8:13 AM
Title: Re: Religion quiz
Content:
Probably. 

I always seem to get something unexpected in the third place. This time it's Orthodox Quakerism. In the past I've had Mormonism and Neo-Paganism.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:57 AM
Title: Re: Religion quiz
Content:
1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2. Jainism (99%)
3. Orthodox Quaker (90%)
4. Hinduism (89%)
5. Sikhism (85%)
6. Orthodox Judaism (71%)
7. Unitarian Universalism (65%)
8. Seventh Day Adventist (60%)
9. Taoism (58%)
10. Mahayana Buddhism (57%)
11. Liberal Quaker (52%)
12. Mormon (52%)
13. Eastern Orthodox (50%)
14. Roman Catholic (50%)
15. Jehovahs Witness (47%)
16. Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (44%)
17. Islam (43%)
18. Scientology (43%)
19. Bahai (42%)
20. Secular Humanism (41%)
21. Neo-Pagan (37%)
22. New Age (36%)
23. Mainline - Conservative Christian Protestant (34%)
24. Reform Judaism (33%)
25. Non-theist (27%)
26. Christian Science Church of Christ, Scientist (22%)
27. New Thought (22%)


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:07 PM
Title: Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand
Content:
I can't say for sure, for though I've heard that accounts of Dr. Bell are to be found in many people's memoirs, I've only read one myself, that of the Unstan folklorist Jessie Saxby. According to her, Bell was like Holmes in every way but one, namely, that he was kinder than Holmes and more interested in getting the innocent acquitted than in bringing the guilty to justice.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:19 PM
Title: Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:04 AM
Title: Re: the 5th precept
Content:
The Sigalovādasutta commentary defines surā and meraya as two kinds of alcoholic beverage and majja as any substance that intoxicates (taṃ sabbampi madakaraṇavasena "majjaṃ").

The Surāmerayasutta commentary repeats the Sigalovādasutta's definitions of surā and meraya, and then defines majja as either: (1) both surā and meraya together, or (2) any non-alcoholic substance (surāsavavinimutta) whose consumption causes intoxication (madanīya).

The Khuddakapāṭha commentary offers two glosses of majja: (1) as an adjective ("besotting") qualifying surā and majja, and (2) the same as the Surāmerayasutta commentary:

Majjan ti tadubhayameva madaniyaṭṭhena majjaṃ, yaṃ vā panaññampi kiñci atthi madaniyaṃ, yena pītena matto hoti pamatto, idaṃ vuccati majjaṃ.

"Both these are 'besotting' in the sense of causing intoxication; or alternatively, whatever else there is that causes intoxication, by consuming which one becomes mad and negligent, is called 'besotting'."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 10, 2017 8:24 PM
Title: Re: How to exercise sense restraint in instances where aversion might arise?
Content:
Okay.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 10, 2017 8:17 PM
Title: Re: How to exercise sense restraint in instances where aversion might arise?
Content:
It's the stock description of the attainment of stream-entry, found in dozens of suttas. The one I quoted is the MN's Brahmayu Sutta. Sutta Central links to Sister Uppalavaṇṇā's translation of it, which is probably rubbish. Here's the Ñāṇamoli/Bodhi one:

https://tinyurl.com/ydejdl3k


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 10, 2017 5:55 PM
Title: Re: How to exercise sense restraint in instances where aversion might arise?
Content:
Because whereas the lower fetters are eliminated by vision, the higher ones are to be eliminated by development.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 10, 2017 2:24 PM
Title: Re: How to exercise sense restraint in instances where aversion might arise?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:57 AM
Title: Re: General question about confession of wrong doing.
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 9, 2017 11:44 AM
Title: Re: If life is suffering, then wouldn't it be unethical to have children?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 9, 2017 4:50 AM
Title: Re: This Diagram
Content:
Indeed.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 5:42 PM
Title: Re: Will certain Buddhists on DW please stop disparaging other faiths
Content:
But this is a Meccan revelation. Members of the "heretical" Muslim sects referred to in my earlier post may quote the "no compulsion" passage in good faith, but when mainstream Muslims do so (without mentioning that it's abrogated by the intolerant Medina revelations) it's nearly always an exercise in dissimulation.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 5:36 PM
Title: Re: Will certain Buddhists on DW please stop disparaging other faiths
Content:
But no mention of any rejection of naskh by anybody in the Islamic mainstream.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 5:27 PM
Title: Re: Will certain Buddhists on DW please stop disparaging other faiths
Content:
This doesn't really answer my question. You charged Modus with advancing interpretations of the Quran that are "in direct contradiction to those of recognized Islamic scholars." But the interpretive principle that Modus referred to — that the Medina revelations abrogate the Mecca ones whenever the two conflict — is about as mainstream as you can get.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 5:07 PM
Title: Re: Will certain Buddhists on DW please stop disparaging other faiths
Content:
Whom do you have in mind? Which recognized Islamic scholar either rejects naskh / "abrogation", or interprets it differently from Modus?

I can personally think of one scholar who did reject it, claiming that true Islam is to be found only in the peaceful tolerant Mecca revelations and that the later and nastier Medina ones should be discarded on the grounds that they had only a provisional relevance. Unfortunately the scholar in question didn't become mainstream and in 1985 he was hanged for apostasy and heresy.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/09/11/the-moderate-martyr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Mohammed_Taha


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 12:35 PM
Title: Re: This Diagram
Content:
It's an Abhidhamma chart of the 89 or 121 kinds of citta. Starting from the left...

1st column
The first four rows are the 12 unwholesomes.
The second three rows are the 18 rootless resultants.

2nd column
8 great wholesomes.
8 great resultants.
8 great functionals.

The rest are the 15 refined-form and 12 formless jhāna cittas and the 8 or 40 supramundane cittas.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 11:18 AM
Title: Re: I disrobed and returned to "normal" life
Content:
I think the kind of Thai monks you're talking about would probably reply that you're presenting a false dichotomy here. They would say that their "personal spiritual way of life" consists in accumulating merit as they don't believe themselves to have the paramī to attain anything higher in the present life. And that the way they aim to accumulate merit is by devoting themselves to this or that approved social role: sangha administration (in the case of urban bureaucrat monks), monastic education (in the case of Pali teachers, Abhidhamma teachers, etc.) or preaching dāna and sīla, performing apotropaic rituals, interceding in village disputes, etc. (in the case of village monks).


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 10:58 AM
Title: Re: Will certain Buddhists on DW please stop disparaging other faiths
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Dec 7, 2017 12:40 AM
Title: Re: Gods goddesses worship in Thailand
Content:
Phra Mae Thoranee/Dharaṇī (พระแม่ธรณี) or Phra Sii Wasuntharaa / Phra Śrī Vasundharā (พระศรีวสุนธรา) is the earth goddess and is popular with almost everyone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phra_Mae_Thorani

There is also a rice goddess called Mae Phosop (แม่โพสพ), or Mae Khosok (แม่โคสก) in the North and Northeast of the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosop

https://web.archive.org/web/20070526103719/http://www.awakenedwoman.com/pairin_rice_mother.htm

These are the three main ones. Then a couple of minor ones are Phra Suratsawadee (พระสุรัสวดี) = Sarasvatī, who's popular among artists and entertainers, and Phra Mae Khongkha (พระแม่คงคา). Goddess of the Ganges and, by extension, of all rivers.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 6, 2017 10:17 PM
Title: Re: Looking for meditation guidance over Skype
Content:
And no charge at all for their online Skype course.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 6, 2017 6:34 PM
Title: Re: Looking for meditation guidance over Skype
Content:
See also this talk by Lance Cousins, the co-founder of the Samatha Trust:

http://journal.samatha.org/issues/2015-16/samatha-meditation-and-insight-meditation-complementary-or-competing


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Dec 6, 2017 6:15 PM
Title: Re: Looking for meditation guidance over Skype
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Dec 5, 2017 8:14 AM
Title: Re: Ordination in Thailand
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Dec 4, 2017 8:22 AM
Title: Re: what skills are invaluable
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Dec 4, 2017 7:53 AM
Title: Re: Ordain as a monk and still stay vegetarian/vegan?
Content:
One needs to distinguish between the requirements and prohibitions of Vinaya and those of popular custom.

The Vinaya prohibits a bhikkhu's eating of anything that hasn't been offered to him. It doesn't, however, require him to accept everything that's offered. Nor does it require him to eat everything that he's accepted.

Popular Asian custom, on the other hand, deems it bad form for a bhikkhu to decline any lawful food offering. In some places it's also deemed courteous for a bhikkhu to eat anything he's accepted if the donors are watching him.

The confusion of custom with Vinaya often leads to the erroneous assertion that the Vinaya requires bhikkhus to accept and eat everything they're offered.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Dec 4, 2017 5:37 AM
Title: Re: Buddha's skin colour
Content:
They certainly are, for in the Vassakārasutta the first of the four features of a great man of great wisdom includes the words, "... is one who has established the manyfolk in the ariyan method" (bahussa janatā ariye ñāye patiṭṭhāpitā). This is a descriptor that is only ever applied to Sammāsambuddhas.

That being so, the only difference between mahāpurisa in the Vassakārasutta and mahāpurisa in (some of) the thirty-two marks contexts is that in the former it it is a term for Sammāsambuddhas alone, while in the latter it may denote either Sammāsambuddhas or Wheel-turning Monarchs.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 3, 2017 1:38 PM
Title: Re: Buddha's skin colour
Content:
I know. It is nonetheless relevant as a response to the claim that the Buddha doesn't describe himself as a mahāpurisa.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Dec 3, 2017 7:06 AM
Title: Re: 2018 World Cup
Content:
1. England
2. Iceland
3. Anyone as long as it's not Belgium, Germany or Argentina


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 2, 2017 2:06 PM
Title: Re: 2018 World Cup
Content:
The World Cup draw.

Group A Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay
Group B Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran
Group C France, Australia, Peru, Denmark
Group D Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
Group E Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
Group F Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea
Group G Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England
Group H Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Dec 2, 2017 12:57 AM
Title: Re: Buddha's skin colour
Content:
It does more than that:

Vassakāra gives his view of the characteristics of a mahāpurisa.
The Buddha gives his view.
Vassakāra expresses approval of the Buddha's view and goes on to say that the Buddha possesses those characteristics.
The Buddha confirms that he possesses them. 

Given what has preceded it, the Buddha's confirmation is tantamount to asserting his own mahāpurisa-ness.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 1, 2017 8:27 PM
Title: Re: Buddha's skin colour
Content:
Not in the Lakkhaṇasutta, but he does elsewhere.

https://suttacentral.net/en/an4.35


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Dec 1, 2017 9:48 AM
Title: Re: Joke!!! 2.0
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 30, 2017 5:28 PM
Title: Re: Kasina meditations taught by the Buddha or no?
Content:
Aren't you confusing arūpaloka (i.e. the realm where formless beings live) with arūpajjhāna (a meditative state attainable by humans) ?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:22 AM
Title: Re: Animal Rebirth
Content:
It's a theoretical possibility but there are no narratives of it happening. For it to happen the animal would need to have developed jhāna in a former life as a human. Then, at the end of its animal life, it would be necessary that there be no weighty kamma or death-proximate kamma or habitual kamma capable of ripening at that time. Such circumstances would provide the occasion for the ripening of the jhānic reserve kamma. In practice I think this would only be likely to happen if the animal was very short-lived; otherwise it's almost certain that it will have created habitual kamma and that this will take priority.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 29, 2017 9:42 PM
Title: Re: Driving is
Content:
Yeah, they have their uses, I suppose.



.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:52 PM
Title: Re: Driving is
Content:
An Opinion on a Matter of Public Safety

“Air Bag” sounds like eminent sickness
This device should not be permitted
General Motors was right to suppress it
and wrong to have relented
and Nader should stay out of it.

Driving is based on alertness
whether that be loose or tight
Those who let their attention wander
must not be encouraged to survive
by a bag full of air.

— http://cuneiformpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Dorn-Hello-La-Jolla-Complete.pdf


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 29, 2017 6:21 PM
Title: Re: Buddhanet.net - Down or Gone?
Content:
Probably technical issues. The site is working fine for me today, but a few days ago it was unavailable.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:41 PM
Title: Re: Pleiades, Elves & BuddhaDharma
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:08 PM
Title: Re: Contemporary threats to free speech
Content:
I think the most recent report on how American opinion is divided on these questions is last month's publication of a survey commissioned by the Cato Institute: The State of Free Speech and Tolerance in America.

https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/state-free-speech-tolerance-america

It's very long and I haven't myself digested it yet, so I'm posting it as something of interest, not as something that will prove you wrong.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 29, 2017 2:08 PM
Title: Re: Pleiades, Elves & BuddhaDharma
Content:
Elves!? Who says elves know how to cut well?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:36 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
A friend posted this on her Facebook page. The Thai caption, wan phra yai, is a pun. Normally it would mean the "great/major uposatha day", but in the present context its other possible meaning seems more fitting: "the day of the big monk".

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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:26 AM
Title: Re: Monastic use of cosmetics
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:00 AM
Title: Re: Animal Rebirth
Content:
In Dhammapada 37 a citta is said to be "singly-occurring". From this it follows that a mental continuum cannot throw out branches. One citta is followed by another citta, not by two simultaneously arising cittas.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 27, 2017 6:03 PM
Title: Re: Theravada Buddhism and Trans Folk
Content:
Not according to the Vinaya commentary on the quoted passages, which attributes the changes to kamma and says that they occurred overnight while the bhikkhu and bhikkhuni were sleeping. There are a few other sex-change stories in the commentaries (I can't locate them now) and in every case the change is represented as an unplanned (and unwelcome) one.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:21 PM
Title: Re: Theravada Buddhism and Trans Folk
Content:
It is common for miscellaneous Vinaya rules to be inserted in places where they have only a tangential connection with the general context. I would suppose this to have been a decision based on the mnemonic consideration that even a tangential connection is better than no connection at all.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:43 AM
Title: Re: Theravada Buddhism and Trans Folk
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:17 PM
Title: Re: Right Speech: Virtue Signaling
Content:
MRDA is a response that could use a bit of clarification when addressed to someone who doesn't know what "All animals are equal..." means. I mean it could easily be mistaken as referring to the heteronymous Serbian footballer, Dragan Mrđa. And if it was, it would be all your fault!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRDA_%28slang%29


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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 26, 2017 12:28 AM
Title: Re: AN 7.72 [AN 7.68] Aggikkhandhopama Sutta. The Mass of Fire Comparison.
Content:
It's just a stock description of a very bad bhikkhu. In the Āsaṃsasutta a bhikkhu of this description is called "without hope", as contrasted with the bhikkhu "with hope" and the bhikkhu "beyond hope".

Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation, using "one without expectation", "one full of expectation", and "one who has overcome expectation," ...
https://suttacentral.net/en/an3.13

And Nyanatiloka's German rendering of a parallel passage in the Puggalapaññatti, using „hoffnungslos“, „hoffnungsvoll“ and „hoffnungsgestillt“ ...
https://suttacentral.net/de/pp2.3


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 25, 2017 8:39 PM
Title: Re: What is it about Hollywood?
Content:
Well, one can always read Hamlet.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 25, 2017 7:04 PM
Title: Re: Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Content:
The Buddha’s policy seems to have been to give whatever kind of teaching would conduce to the highest good that his listeners were capable of. In this case, apparently, it was conversion to the Dhamma, not penetration of the Dhamma.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:27 PM
Title: Re: Who is Mara?
Content:
Opapātika has both a narrow and a broad sense. In its narrow sense it means beings born apparitionally, such as devas, pretas and hell beings. In its broad sense it is connected with the upapāta part of cutūpapāta(-ñāṇa), "(knowledge of) the passing away and reappearance of beings". In other words, it refers to any being who has been reborn.

In the commentaries opapātika in the context of mundane right view is understood as being used in the broad sense. And so according to this understanding, the proper translation will not be, "There are apparitionally generated beings", but rather, "There are beings who reappear/get reborn." Mundane right view here is belief in rebirth, not belief in devas, māras, brahmās, petas, etc.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:07 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
Yes, some people do it like that. Others, as Mike mentioned, will prefer to follow the calendar of the particular tradition that they're affiliated with. For example, the Dhammayutt calendar if they're involved with Wat Metta or some other Dhammayutt wat, the Mahānikāya calendar if they're involved with an Ajahn Chah monastery, the Burmese calendar if it's a Burmese vihāra, etc.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 25, 2017 1:33 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
Yes. Two great uposathas, when monks hold a Pāṭimokkha recitation, and two lesser uposathas on the eighth days of the waxing and waning moons.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:39 PM
Title: Re: Buddhism and Islam in Asia: A Long and Complicated History
Content:
India's Mughal rulers were broadly divided between (1) religiously zealous Muslims who wanted to forcibly convert the infidels and exterminate the recalcitrant, and (2) avaricious Muslims who preferred not to convert the infidels but to let them remain in their unbelief so that they could be fleeced via the jizya tax. Hinduism survived largely because the venal rulers happened to outnumber the pious ones and because large numbers of Hindus chose to pay jizya rather than convert. The enforcement of these tributary payments lasted from the 11th to the 19th century, with occasional interruptions, notably under the (relatively) enlightened rule of Akbar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya#India


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:59 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
The calendars show only the full moon and new moon uposathas. The other uposathas always fall on the eighth day after each of these.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 6:18 PM
Title: Re: The case against coffee (important)
Content:
Over the years I’ve experimented with virtually every coffee-making device, with the exception of the cezve (as I don’t much like Turkish coffee) and the vacuum coffee-maker (which I only recently learned about). Still, despite the insistence of some of my Thai colleagues that nothing beats coffee filtered through an old bowl-wiping cloth...

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I always revert in the end to my good old moka:

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While for grinding the beans I use this nice manual grinder from Vietnam. From time to time people offer me electrical grinders, but I decline their offers as I’ve never known one whose friction didn’t burn the beans at least slightly.

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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 3:22 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
And it appears to be on this date in all the other calendars too. You can compare them here:

https://dharma-records.buddhasasana.net/texts/uposatha-calendars-2017


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 3:09 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
Between the calendars of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and between those of the Mahānikāya and Dhammayuttika Nikāya within Thailand, it's not uncommon for there to be a one-day difference in the calculation of uposatha days. I don't think there is ever a 2-day difference.

According to the Thai Mahānikāya calendar the eighth day of the waxing moon will be on 26th November.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 4:59 AM
Title: Re: Are Vipassana Nanas silly?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 4:45 AM
Title: Re: How do you use the quote button in DW?
Content:
The function doesn't exist.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 24, 2017 4:36 AM
Title: Re: Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Content:
Rāhula was only seven and newly ordained, so the Buddha gave him an exhortation on sīla. It's in the Cūḷarāhulovāda Sutta that he is given an insight-related discourse that leads him to arahatta.

http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/middle-length-discourses-buddha/selections/middle-length-discourses-147-cularahulovada-sutta


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:44 PM
Title: Re: Alternative Forms of Vipassana
Content:
Jack Kornfield's Living Buddhist Masters is available from archive.org, https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8InEkEp5FtEC.
The relevant chapters for dry insight are those on all of the sayādaws in the book, plus U Ba Khin and Ajahn Naeb.

Other resources for the Bhaddanta U Vilāsa / Ajahn Naeb method:

Frank Tullius, http://www.vipassanadhura.com/PDF/vipassanabhavana.pdf
James Baraz, http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/86/talk/2571/
Ajahn Naeb, https://web.archive.org/web/20081015140307/http://www.roundfree.org:80/roundfree_achannaeb.htm

Ajahn Prani Samreungrat


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Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 22, 2017 10:55 PM
Title: Re: The path of the Bodhisattva in Theravada Buddhism
Content:
In the commentarial treatment of the Sammāsamuddha, Paccekabuddha and Arahant, there are differences regarding the length of time that they have to develop the perfections, how many of the ten Tathāgata powers they can possess, how far back they can see their former lives, etc, etc. But the essential difference between the first and second is whether or not they start a dispensation, while that between both of these and the third is whether bodhi was attained by personal discovery or by being taught.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 22, 2017 12:40 PM
Title: Re: The path of the Bodhisattva in Theravada Buddhism
Content:
I don't think it's really precise enough, for it would apply equally to a Sammāsambuddha and a Paccekabuddha. It would also apply to the last remaining arahant disciple of a Buddha after all the others have passed away. 

What distinguishes a Sammāsambuddha is his rediscovery of the Dhamma in an age when it has been lost and his founding of a dispensation (sāsanā) to preserve and transmit it. A Paccekabuddha also rediscovers the Dhamma but does not found a sāsanā.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:41 PM
Title: Re: Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Content:
I don’t think that and I haven’t implied that.

I regard religious affiliation as a matter of self-definition and would never presume to tell a self-described Buddhist that she isn’t one. If she happens to like Kabat-Zinn’s books then I’d regard her as a Buddhist with lousy literary taste, not a non-Buddhist. I would just hope that she would sooner or later move on to more reliable sources of Dhamma.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:13 PM
Title: Re: Right Speech: Getting Personal
Content:
“Obstinate” is qualifying “persistence”, by which I meant a course of behaviour, not a state of mind.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 20, 2017 1:04 PM
Title: Re: Feeding on rapture
Content:
"Feeding on rapture" pītibhakkha by itself is also found in three of the Dīgha Nikāya suttas: the Brahmajāla, Pāthika, and Aggañña.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:52 PM
Title: Re: Right Speech: Getting Personal
Content:
... coupled with an obstinate persistence in this error even after multiple clarifications and corrections had been patiently presented to you.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:57 PM
Title: Re: Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:51 PM
Title: Re: Are there any account of Sotapanna was reborn as a human while Buddha alive?
Content:
In every reported case, canonical and commentarial, they were reborn as devas.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:44 PM
Title: Re: Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Content:
It seems an awful long way from bhāvanā on the banks of the Nerañjarā to fusion cuisine dining in Nantucket. I'm not sure if this is quite what the Buddha had in mind when he said that "satipaṭṭhāna is helpful everywhere."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:38 AM
Title: Re: Who can ordain a Samaneri?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:19 AM
Title: Re: List of rules for monks relevant for lay women
Content:
Below is a list of all of the rules in the Pāṭimokkha (though not all of the rules in the whole of the Vinaya) that are in some way connected with women. I’ve omitted those that concern only bhikkhunīs, female wanderers or queens. 

Pārājika: Rules entailing expulsion from the Sangha (Defeat)

1. Should any bhikkhu — participating in the training and livelihood of the bhikkhus, without having renounced the training, without having declared his weakness — engage in sexual intercourse, even with a female animal, he is defeated and no longer in affiliation.

3. Should any bhikkhu intentionally deprive a human being of life, or search for an assassin for him, or praise the advantages of death, or incite him to die (saying,): "My good man, what use is this evil, miserable life to you? Death would be better for you than life," or with such an idea in mind, such a purpose in mind, should in various ways praise the advantages of death or incite him to die, he also is defeated and no longer in affiliation.
[The Vinaya's extended treatment of this rule includes a prohibition against performing abortions or advising a woman to have one]

Saṅghādisesa: Rules entailing an initial and subsequent meeting of the Sangha

2. Should any bhikkhu, overcome by lust, with altered mind, engage in bodily contact with a woman, or in holding her hand, holding a lock of her hair, or caressing any of her limbs, it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Community.

3. Should any bhikkhu, overcome by lust, with altered mind, address lewd words to a woman in the manner of young men to a young woman alluding to sexual intercourse, it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Community.

4. Should any bhikkhu, overcome by lust, with altered mind, speak in the presence of a woman in praise of ministering to his own sensuality thus: "This, sister, is the foremost ministration, that of ministering to a virtuous, fine-natured follower of the celibate life such as myself with this act" — alluding to sexual intercourse — it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Community.

5. Should any bhikkhu engage in conveying a man's intentions to a woman or a woman's intentions to a man, proposing marriage or paramourage — even if only for a momentary liaison — it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Community.

Aniyata: Indefinite rules

1. Should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a woman on a seat secluded enough to lend itself (to sexual intercourse), so that a female lay follower whose word can be trusted, having seen (them), might describe it as constituting any of three cases — entailing defeat, communal meetings, or confession — then the bhikkhu, acknowledging having sat (there), may be dealt with in line with any of the three cases — entailing defeat, communal meetings, or confession — or he may be dealt with for whichever case the female lay follower whose word can be trusted described. This case is indefinite.

2. In case a seat is not sufficiently secluded to lend itself (to sexual intercourse) but sufficiently so to address lewd words to a woman, should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a woman on such a seat, so that a female lay follower whose word can be trusted, having seen (them), might describe it as constituting either of two cases — entailing communal meetings or confession — then the bhikkhu, acknowledging having sat (there), may be dealt with in line with either of the two cases — entailing communal meetings or confession — or he is to be dealt with in line with whichever case the female lay follower whose word can be trusted described. This case too is indefinite.

Pācittiya: Rules entailing confession

6. Should any bhikkhu lie down together (in the same dwelling) with a woman, it is to be confessed.

7. Should any bhikkhu teach more than five or six sentences of Dhamma to a woman, unless a knowledgeable man is present, it is to be confessed.

44. Should any bhikkhu sit in private on a secluded seat with a woman, it is to be confessed.

45. Should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a woman, it is to be confessed.

67. Should any bhikkhu, by arrangement, travel together with a woman, even for the interval between one village and the next, it is to be confessed.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 17, 2017 8:27 AM
Title: Re: Using Iddhi for Personal Gain
Content:
Not in the Pali suttas. There is, however, a German translation of a Tibetan gterma called Die Große Rumpelstilzchen Sūtra. It was discovered in the mid-19th century by a pair of Hessian tertöns called the Brothers Grimm and reveals a secret technique for converting straw into gold. Unfortunately using it carries the unwelcome obligation of having to give away one’s first-born child to an evil dwarf.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:15 AM
Title: Re: A woman reporting a monk?
Content:
I don't know. Almost certainly there'll be differences of opinion among Vinaya scholars. If it hasn't already started, I expect sooner or later there'll be committees of Vinaya scholars holding meetings to discuss how such and such Vinaya rule is to be applied in online interactions. Maybe after some months or some years rulings will be issued.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:33 PM
Title: Re: A woman reporting a monk?
Content:
So if a monk teaches a woman, speaking more than the permitted number of sentences and without another male present, then clearly he breaks the above rule.

As to whether a woman has any recourse when a monk breaks it, in theory she does, under the second of the two http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Buddhist_Monastic_Code_I:_Chapter_6_Aniyata_by_Thanissaro_Bhikkhu rules. Whether this will mean much in practice will depend on how seriously Vinaya is taken in the tradition the monk belongs to.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:08 PM
Title: Re: The Buddha and sleep
Content:
No idea. If there is, maybe it would like apartment 306, where lying down is enforced 24/7.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 3:17 PM
Title: Re: personal attack vs ad hominem
Content:
As the TOS phrase is "ad hominem attack" and not "ad hominem argument", I should have thought it obvious that the proscribed behaviour was bad manners and not bad reasoning.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:21 AM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
Besides being "guardians of the world", hiri and ottappa also make up two of the https://tinyurl.com/yb48pfbt (bala) upon which the eight path factors depend. For example, without them there would be no possibility of right speech, right action and right livelihood for there would be nothing to predispose one against their contraries.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:00 AM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:42 AM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
Bhagavaṃ mūlakā no dhammā, Bhagavaṃ nettikā, Bhagavaṃ paṭisaraṇā.
“Our teachings are rooted in the Blessed One, guided by the Blessed One, take recourse in the Blessed One.”

Goes without saying, eh?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 2:00 AM
Title: Re: New Analyo Bhikkhu Book to be Released
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 16, 2017 12:21 AM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
Assuming that they are good standards, hiri and ottappa are the two mental factors that ensure that you do live up to them.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 15, 2017 10:20 PM
Title: Re: Uposatha Observance Club
Content:
This might be the case on some other planet,  but on ours the next uposatha is the new moon day on the 18th.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 15, 2017 6:38 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
I think it's fearfulness of his anger.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 15, 2017 6:07 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
I don't know of anything better than "moral shame" for hiri, while for ottappa I'm torn between "moral caution" and "regard for consequences".


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 15, 2017 5:25 PM
Title: Re: New Analyo Bhikkhu Book to be Released
Content:
The adverb just would imply "a populist Dharma teacher and nothing more." Do you seriously think that this is the venerable's intention?

Personally I think: "... regularly supplementing his scholarly expositions of the Dhamma with more popular ones," would be both a more charitable way of putting it and probably closer to the truth.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 15, 2017 5:13 PM
Title: Re: Can old PDFs be converted into functional eBook formats?
Content:
The https://calibre-ebook.com/ program is great for most ebook format conversions, but those involving pdf files are an exception — though the program can do it, the results are highly unsatisfactory, as the program makers themselves admit.

What I normally do is to convert the pdf to an html file with Acrobat Pro. I then open the html file with Nisus Writer, format it in my preferred way and save it as an epub. Finally I use Calibre to convert the epub to a mobi file for my Kindle.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 14, 2017 4:00 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:42 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
The translation is I.B. Horner's.

On Sutta Central if someone posts a link to an English translation, like this:
https://suttacentral.net/en/mn61

you can find out who the translator is by removing the "en" from the url:

https://suttacentral.net/mn61

which will take you to a page where all the site's available translations of the sutta are listed and the translators identified.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:40 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 12, 2017 5:50 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:
Shame (hiri) is what restrains one from unwholesome acts by way of self-regard. Lack of shame (ahiri) is its opposite. 

"Lack of remorse" is just a bad translation. Ottappa is moral caution or regard for consequences. It's what restrains one from unwholesome acts either by consideration of how they will be viewed by others or out of regard for their undesirable consequences. Anottappa is its opposite: moral recklessness or disregard for consequences.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 12, 2017 5:42 PM
Title: Re: AN 10.76: What do shame, remorse, and negligence refer to?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 12, 2017 5:19 PM
Title: Re: Bikkhu Bodhi on the errors of modern mindfulness
Content:
Spiny spoke of "suttas [in which] there is the idea of turning away from the conditioned, and towards the unconditioned." The sutta I cited is certainly an example of this. In this case it happens to be first jhāna that is the conditioned thing that one turns away from. In other suttas the phrase is used in connection with other things that one turns away from, having come to realize their coarseness in comparison to the unconditioned.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 12, 2017 5:09 PM
Title: Re: not pooping everyday
Content:
Uppalavanna is not a very competent translator. The verb asuci muccati means to have a nocturnal emission, not to strew excreta.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:04 AM
Title: Re: Bikkhu Bodhi on the errors of modern mindfulness
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 10, 2017 12:34 PM
Title: Re: The arising of the four paths endures for only one mind-moment
Content:
You are still mistaking the inessential for the essential. What makes a path a path is that it leads from one thing to another. It may be short in distance or it may be long, or in some cases it may a path of such a kind that any talk of distance would be a category mistake.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:31 AM
Title: Re: The arising of the four paths endures for only one mind-moment
Content:
While locomotion on a cycle-path takes no steps at all.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 9, 2017 8:24 AM
Title: Re: Why did Buddha passed away in fourth Jhana?
Content:
If the sayādaw’s right, then realizing Parinibbāna after emerging from only the second jhāna would not be dwelling in the "bliss of the absorptions to the full". It would be like a traveller departing after embracing and kissing only his sisters and his cousins and his aunts, but forgetting his parents and children.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 9, 2017 5:46 AM
Title: Re: Animal Rebirth
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 8, 2017 4:01 AM
Title: Re: Does illegal downloading violate the 2nd precept?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 7, 2017 6:22 PM
Title: Re: Does illegal downloading violate the 2nd precept?
Content:
If something is dinnaṃ, "given", it means either (1) nobody owns it or (2) Smith, the person who owns it, chooses to give it to Jones without any coercion or deception on Jones's part. If Smith doesn't choose to do so, then it's adinnaṃ, "not given", and therefore an improper thing for Jones to take.

Where secular law comes into play is with regard to defining what counts as "owned" and "ownerless". This will vary from one society to another and one age to another, but whatever it happens to be when and where one is living must be accepted. For example, in the Buddha's time it was the custom for rag-robe-wearing bhikkhus to go into charnel grounds, remove the winding sheets from corpses and sew them into robes for themselves. This was a permitted practice because the laws of that time regarded the cloth on a corpse as ownerless. But as far as I know this is not generally the case today, and so if a bhikkhu went into a modern city morgue or funeral parlour, unwrapped the cloths from some corpses and then carried them away to use as robe-material, he would be taking what is adinnaṃ because such cloth is nowadays deemed to have an owner.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 7, 2017 11:07 AM
Title: Re: 8 conditions for samma-sam-buddha
Content:
No. A person might have attained the jhānas, vimokkhas and mundane abhiññās, yet not have sufficient paramī for arahantship when he encounters a Buddha. Or he might have sufficient paramī for arahantship but lack the aforesaid accomplishments. To be eligible for a Buddha's prediction of sammāsambodhi he needs to have both.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Nov 7, 2017 1:34 AM
Title: Re: 8 conditions for samma-sam-buddha
Content:
The prior development of the ten perfections for many aeons.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 6, 2017 7:48 PM
Title: Re: Does illegal downloading violate the 2nd precept?
Content:
I think you're oversimplifying. There are some Buddhist moral precepts that are wholly independent of what any worldly law might decree (e.g., the first, fourth and fifth); there are others that are not. The second precept is of the latter sort. Although it cannot be equated with worldly law, nor can it be wholly separated from it, for the key term "what is not-given" (adinnaṃ) is (in part) to be understood with reference to what the laws of the land decree as counting as property.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Nov 6, 2017 8:36 AM
Title: Re: The arising of the four paths endures for only one mind-moment
Content:
Ābhidhammikas accept that there are eight kinds of individuals, but maintain that since path-attainment is followed immediately by fruition-attainment, four of the eight individuals don't last for very long.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 5, 2017 4:03 PM
Title: Re: False admonishment?
Content:
One could deny the admonisher leave to speak on account of, say, his ineptness or ignorance. If he doesn't accept that he's inept or ignorant and believes that his case is sound, then he would be obliged to pursue it by calling a meeting of the sangha, where hopefully wiser heads would prevail.

In the unlikely event that an entire monastery consisted of Dhammic anosognosiacs, the Vinaya wouldn't be of much help, but nor would anything else. In practice, however, I should imagine such a monastery would quickly acquire a certain notoriety and prudent bhikkhus would simply stay away from it.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Nov 5, 2017 1:16 PM
Title: Re: False admonishment?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Nov 4, 2017 6:15 AM
Title: Re: sutta reading
Content:
Frank hasn't logged in here since August, but he's at Sutta Central nearly every day.

https://discourse.suttacentral.net/u/frankk/summary


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Nov 3, 2017 3:10 AM
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Retro!!!
Content:
Happy birthday!


.



Pepe.jpg (183.12 KiB) Viewed 1917 times


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 2, 2017 12:35 PM
Title: Re: The Buddha and sleep
Content:
I suppose the wording would allow such a reading, though this isn't how it's usually understood.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Nov 2, 2017 11:54 AM
Title: Re: The Buddha and sleep
Content:
No. In fact it wouldn't transgress any Vinaya rule at all. The offence would be against the Dhamma principle of devotion to wakefulness (jāgariyānuyoga).


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 1, 2017 10:58 PM
Title: Re: The Buddha and sleep
Content:
I don't know if the texts ever state that they were of equal length, but the Vibhaṅga commentary states that the middle watch is one sixth of the day and night, which would make it a four-hour period. In Thailand, since daylight and darkness are roughly twelve hours each throughout the year, the middle watch is taken to be what I stated. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh I suppose that the time when the middle watch begins would be subject to some seasonal variation, though its duration would still be four hours.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 1, 2017 7:01 PM
Title: Re: The Buddha and sleep
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Nov 1, 2017 1:18 PM
Title: Re: Animals Reborn In Heaven?
Content:
His opinion is merely that such a rebirth would not be due to kammas performed as an animal but rather to unripened kammas performed in former human lives.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:14 PM
Title: Re: Sam Harris and Robert Wright
Content:
It's probably too soon for there to be an edited transcript, but this link will allow you to download auto-generated subtitles from the youtube version.

http://downsub.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Di9SGs89x8lY


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:11 AM
Title: Re: Ven. Dhammanando Appreciation Thread
Content:
Najlepša hvala. 
 

Thanks everyone.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 29, 2017 11:26 PM
Title: Re: Is this a proper test for solipsism ?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 29, 2017 10:50 PM
Title: Re: Victims of Communism
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:12 PM
Title: Re: Looking for a sutta/verse
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:06 PM
Title: Re: AN 3.10 Mala Sutta. Stains.
Content:
Many other examples are given of things that may look like macchariya but are not.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 4:34 PM
Title: Re: Regarding paying off ALL of ones debts first.
Content:
I didn't say that it necessarily would. I was just describing what would happen in Thailand if it did.

In general I think that it would amount to a pretty bad start in monastic life if one ordained in the full knowledge that one had debts of a kind that one could be sued for. As for student debts of the kind where repayment is only required when one is engaged in paid employment and where there is no requirement to pay if one is not earning, these seem to be something of a grey area. As far as I know debts of this kind didn't have any counterpart in the Buddha's time. I think in Thailand most abbots probably would accept a man in this state, but whether it would be agreeable to the man's own conscience is another story.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:35 PM
Title: Re: Regarding paying off ALL of ones debts first.
Content:
No, you have to have some high-ranking Thai monks who are willing to back your application. But if it ever became public knowledge that a foreign monk was being sued by a creditor, then he would have a hard time finding anyone willing to back him. And if the plaintiff's case seemed strong enough for a court to accept it, then the monk would be required to disrobe even before the case was heard. The Thais don't want to see monks appearing as respondents or defendants in a court room.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:02 AM
Title: Re: Regarding paying off ALL of ones debts first.
Content:
In Thailand foreign monks have to apply for a visa extension once a year. The application requires a sponsorship letter from one's abbot, and a form signed by the abbot, the head monk of the district and the head monk of the province. It's usually fairly routine though once in a while you might run into an awkward monk who doesn't want to sign the form or who imposes some extra bureaucratic conditions of his own, like demanding that you provide him with letters of approval from the head monk of the sub-district or the village headman or the sheriff of the local police. Monks are also required to report to the immigration police once every three months.

At the age of fifty you'll be eligible to apply for a retirement visa which is permanent, though you'll still need to report to the immigration police regularly.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:20 AM
Title: Re: Is this a proper test for solipsism ?
Content:
The question of whether Ñāṇavīra and Ñāṇānanda are reading the Kaccāna Sutta correctly is logically distinct from the question of whether their reading of it would entail solipsism. It seems to me that only the second question is really relevant to the current topic, namely, whether your proposed test for ferreting out solipsists is a sound one. 

Is there any particular post in your link (or anywhere else) where you think that you've demonstrated beyond doubt that solipsism is a necessary consequence of their reading of this sutta?


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:48 AM
Title: Re: Iu Mien Buddhism - what tradition does it resemble?
Content:
It seems to be just regular mainland East Asian Mahayana. Iu Mien is not the name of a Buddhist tradition but rather of the Sino-Vietnamese ethnic group that founded the temple. In Thailand they're called Yao.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iu_Mien_Americans


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:17 AM
Title: Re: Is this a proper test for solipsism ?
Content:
Since it seems you are only allowing "yes", "no" or "don't know" as admissible answers, clearly the test is useless. All three of these answers will show that the person is not a solipsist:

"Yes" = My family do exist now and will continue to exist after I die.
"No" = My family do exist now but will cease to exist after I die.
"Don't know" = "My family do exist now, but I don't know whether they will continue to exist after I die.

Might we then say that a solipsist is anyone who declines to give one of these three answers?
Unfortunately no, for there are https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=30460#p442223 for rejecting the question than solipsistic ones.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:01 PM
Title: Re: How and where to ordain?
Content:
Though there are a number of drawbacks to ordaining in the West, getting fed isn't usually one of them. The main problem in my view is that of over-exposure: as a bhikkhu in the West you're in effect something of a public figure right from day one, and at a stage in your training when you should really be as anonymous, withdrawn and low-key as possible.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:21 PM
Title: Re: jhānaṃ why not jhāne
Content:
The word was jhānaṃ, which can only be nominative or accusative singular. The dative plural would be jhānānaṃ.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2017 5:19 PM
Title: Re: Regarding paying off ALL of ones debts first.
Content:
The ordination would still be valid under Vinaya, but there may be consequences for the bhikkhu under secular law. For example, in Thailand if a debtor ordains as a bhikkhu (or goes into debt after ordaining) and then his creditors come chasing after him, if he can't or won't pay them, then under one of the Sangha Acts he would be forced to disrobe.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2017 5:05 PM
Title: Re: jhānaṃ why not jhāne
Content:
I don't think it makes any sense. Abiding in jhāna, with jhāna in the accusative, is normally expressed in the way I described in my earlier post.

The locative jhāne is most commonly used when one wants to describe the mental factors that are present in jhāna. I've never seen it used with viharati.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:12 PM
Title: Re: This precious human birth?
Content:
I can't say for sure. Perhaps you haven't yet embraced the Buddhist world view. Or perhaps you have but it's not yet very visceral or hasn't yet become the lens through which you habitually see things.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:48 AM
Title: Re: jhānaṃ why not jhāne
Content:
Where did you find this? The normal expression is [paṭhamaṃ ... dutiyaṃ, etc.] jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati — "Having entered [the first second, etc.] absorption, he abides [in it]."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 AM
Title: Re: This precious human birth?
Content:
Replacing the Mahāyānic "precious" with the correct phrase, "difficult to obtain", I would make the following observations:

1. It isn't just the human state, but a whole bunch of things that are described as "difficult to obtain". For example, the appearance of a Buddha, an occasion for listening to the Dhamma, the opportunity to go forth into the homeless life, etc.
2. The point of all the teachings that speak of such-and-such being hard to obtain is to counter any tendency to complacency. That being so...
3. If one feels skeptical about the claim that a human birth is something hard to obtain, one can always focus on something else that is incontestably hard to obtain, such as the sight of a Buddha.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 23, 2017 8:32 PM
Title: Re: Debt to ones parents
Content:
Note that the Samacitta Sutta does not ascribe the debt to the fact that a child's parents conceived him and his mother then carried him to term. It ascribes it only to actions performed by the parents for the child's sake after he was born. That being so, I believe the sutta is most reasonably read as describing what is typically the case, rather than what is invariably so. In that case, there wouldn't be a debt of gratitude towards parents who had neglected to "care for the child, nourish him, and introduce him to the world."

Note also that in the Sigalovāda Sutta the child's first filial duty is phrased: 'I will support them who supported me,' which might be taken as suggesting that the child's obligation is contingent upon his parents' having fulfilled theirs.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 23, 2017 7:16 PM
Title: Re: What is it about Hollywood?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 23, 2017 6:29 PM
Title: Re: Debt to ones parents
Content:
I take this sutta to be a rhetorically elaborate and ingenious encomium to the four qualities of dāna, sīla, saddhā and paññā. I don't believe that it was ever intended as a prescription regarding our duties to our parents. I think those who read it the latter way (e.g., everybody in this thread!) are making the very same mistake that Tibetan lamas make (though without the lamas' excuse that they've only got the first half of the sutta available to them).

If one were to compare the Samacitta Sutta with other discourses in the Canon, it would not be with those like the Sigalaka Sutta, which do indeed give prescriptions regarding domestic obligations. Rather, it would be with a discourse like the Itivuttaka's Dāna Sutta, where the Buddha says that if a person knew the benefit of generosity as well as he does, he wouldn't eat even a single meal without inviting someone to come and share it. In saying this the Buddha is rhetorically (and perhaps hyperbolically) impressing upon his listeners the value of dāna. He is not laying down the prescription: "My disciples should not eat solitary meals. Before sitting down to eat they should always look around for somebody with whom to share it."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:42 PM
Title: Re: Debt to ones parents
Content:
The important part is the part in bold type, which astonishingly has gone quite unremarked in this thread. 

I once wrote about it https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=23072#p330745.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 23, 2017 6:50 AM
Title: Re: Original Pali Reference of the Eight Great Merits Stanza
Content:
The best online edition of the Pali text of the Mahāvaṃsa is the one at the GRETIL site:

http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/2_pali/3_chron/mahava_u.htm

I can't paste the relevant passages, however, because I have no idea which occurrence of each of the key terms was the one that the composer of the Eight Great Merits Stanza had in mind. The offering of kaṭhina robes, for example, is mentioned in no fewer than twelve gāthās.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:13 PM
Title: Re: Original Pali Reference of the Eight Great Merits Stanza
Content:
The Sinhala Wikipedia gives the Mahāvaṃsa as the source, but I can't find it. Although each of the eight is individually mentioned in the Mahāvaṃsa as having been performed by this or that king, they are never grouped together under the heading of aṭṭha mahākusala, nor under any other heading. Perhaps some commentator on the Mahāvaṃsa decided to group them so.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 22, 2017 7:47 PM
Title: Re: Mahaparinibbana sutta - Pukkusa's golden robes
Content:
Siṅgīvaṇṇaṃ means gold-coloured.

Actually the siṅgī part can also mean ginger, but here the commentary defines it as gold (suvaṇṇa).


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 22, 2017 7:22 PM
Title: Re: Story about Deerghayu or similar name
Content:
The full story in the Dhammapada Atthakathā can be read here:

https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/English-Texts/Buddhist-Legends/08-08.htm


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:59 PM
Title: Re: Original Pali Reference of the Eight Great Merits Stanza
Content:
I've never heard of this before and suspect it may be some regional composition. The terms aṭṭha puññāni, aṭṭhapuññaṃ and puññāni aṭṭha don't appear in any text on the CSCD. The closest I can find is the aṭṭha puññābhisandā of AN.iv.245, but the eight items are completely different.

https://suttacentral.net/en/an8.39


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 21, 2017 10:40 AM
Title: Re: Buddhist quote reference
Content:
The difference is that some translators render hoti as 'is' and others as 'becomes'.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 21, 2017 9:01 AM
Title: Re: SN 16.10 Bhikkhunūupassaya Sutta. The Bhikkhunīs’ Quarters.
Content:
Ven. Mahākassapa was ordained first.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 21, 2017 8:53 AM
Title: Re: About 'Hatha Yoga' by Yogi Ramacharaka
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 21, 2017 7:56 AM
Title: Re: Better to kill oneself than to marry a "hideous widow": Thoughts on Nanavira's suicide
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 21, 2017 6:58 AM
Title: Re: Buddhist quote reference
Content:
1. Yena yena hi maññanti tato taṃ hoti aññathā.

“For in whatever way they conceive, the fact is ever other than that.”

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.113.than.html
https://suttacentral.net/en/ud3.10
https://suttacentral.net/en/snp3.8
https://suttacentral.net/en/snp3.12

2. Yañhi bhikkhave maññati, yasmiṃ maññati, yato maññati, yaṃ meti maññati, tato taṃ hoti aññathā.

“For, bhikkhus, whatever one conceives, whatever one conceives in, whatever one conceives from, whatever one conceives as ‘mine’—that is otherwise.”

https://suttacentral.net/en/sn35.31
https://suttacentral.net/en/sn35.91


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:50 PM
Title: Re: Stoicism and Buddhism
Content:
Well, anybody can afford it. If you have a Stoic outlook on life, then not "doing relatively well in the material sense" is treated merely as an aproêgmena (dispreferred indifferent), not as an evil. It's not an evil because its power to impede aretê and eudaimôn is not absolute and in the case of the Stoic sage has been wholly eradicated.

As to whether one can manage to have it, I think probably not (at least not via Stoic methods) given the Stoic writers' admissions of personal failure that I mentioned in an earlier post. Nonetheless, even attempting it and falling short led to some pretty class acts on the part of the more virtuous Romans.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:24 PM
Title: Re: cheerios commercial
Content:
The Lone Ranger doesn't seem especially annoying. If you want to see how annoying a cowboy commercial can be, try searching youtube for the "Milky Bar Kid".


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:08 PM
Title: Re: Abhidhamma: Is an abortion killing a living being?
Content:
No. In regard to pregnancy, the first precept has solely to do with not killing a human that has been conceived. But conceiving a child in the first place is not treated even as a desideratum, let alone an obligation in the Buddha's teaching.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:11 AM
Title: Re: uposatha
Content:
The lay observance is in the Cātumahārāja Sutta; the monastic one somewhere in the Vinaya's Khandhakas.

https://suttacentral.net/en/an3.37


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 8:22 AM
Title: Re: Stoicism and Buddhism
Content:
The Cynics were passable enough, I suppose, if one's taste runs to pratyekabuddhas. Still, they never produced anyone comparable to that trio of mensches: Cato the Younger, Musonius Rufus and Epictetus.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:54 AM
Title: Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas
Content:
I’m afraid I have no opinion at all. Moreover, it sounds as if you have already gone into this matter much more deeply than I ever have (or am ever likely to), and so even if I did have an opinion, telling it to you would be rather as if “a needle-seller would think he could sell a needle to a needle-maker,” to quote https://suttacentral.net/en/sn16.10.

Having said that, if I ever did feel an uncontrollable urge to have an opinion on this, I think I should probably concur with Sāmaṇera Bodhesako that the Dīghabhāṇakas likely started out as bhikkhus who happened to live in close proximity to villages and were much more occupied than the other groups of bhāṇakas in preaching to householders.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sat Oct 14, 2017 12:04 AM
Title: Re: Prompted/unprompted cittas in the suttanta
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:36 PM
Title: Re: Stoicism and Buddhism
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:35 PM
Title: Re: Stoicism and Buddhism
Content:
I remember Christmas Humphreys, the British Buddhist popularizer, would often tell the story of Epictetus's equanimity when his sadistic master was torturing him by squeezing his leg in a vice.

"If you tighten the vice any more, my leg will break," said Epictetus.

The master gleefully went on tightening it. There was a sharp crack.

"There," said Epictetus, "I told you that my leg would break."


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:17 PM
Title: Re: ordaining in theravada and zen?
Content:
The rule that you cite is in the sacittaka class, meaning that culpability is contingent upon certain mental factors — knowledge, perception, intention, or some combination of these. It's not an acittaka rule where the mere act is an offence, regardless of what the bhikkhu knows, perceives or intends.

That being so, it's irrelevant whether Zen is actually inside or outside the Buddhasāsanā. If the bhikkhu perceives it as being inside, then he cannot be said to have the intention of ordaining outside.

That's not to say that the act wouldn't be blameworthy on other grounds; just not under the terms of this particular rule.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:49 PM
Title: Re: relationship between a healthy body and enlightenment
Content:
The "mundane concentration" referred to is the development of samatha-bhāvanā with the mundane jhānas as its aim.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:55 PM
Title: Re: Where are the enlightened westerners?
Content:
In your question you offered the alternatives that either "enlightened is actually a Buddhist term" or "enlightened is a term that has migrated from another Indian philosophical/religious school". But these possibilities are not mutually exclusive. It could be that the enlightenment-related terms that the Buddha frequently used (e.g., bujjhati, bodhi and buddha) existed before the Buddha's time but that he adopted and adapted them in his own teaching, just as he did with a great many Jain and Brahminical terms. And so the terms would then be both derivative and impeccably Buddhist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

http://wiki.c2.com/?FalseDichotomy


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:14 PM
Title: Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas
Content:
I don't think so. In the Nettipakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa you will find a lot of sutta passages being quoted and then classified as being an utterance of such-&amp;-such type or serving such-&amp;-such purpose. But neither work treats any whole suttas in this way and very few of the quoted passages are from the Dīgha Nikāya — just 2 in the Peṭakopadesa and 4 in the Nettipakaraṇa.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:55 PM
Title: Re: uposatha
Content:
All four are uposatha days for eight-precept observance, though for the monastic sangha only the full and new moons are for Pāṭimokkha recital.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:49 AM
Title: Re: Where are the enlightened westerners?
Content:
I think this is a false dichotomy. The Buddha used no end of terms that were also used by brahmins and/or Jains. They are "Buddhist terms" nonetheless, for each of them was used by the Buddha in his own way.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:05 AM
Title: Re: relationship between a healthy body and enlightenment
Content:
I think it's an over-generalization. In the Suttas there are no arahants under the age of seven and the commentaries say that seven is in fact the minimal age for any ariyan attainment. They also say that the fifth decade of one's life is the optimal age. After that the task becomes increasingly difficult because of the decline in mental sharpness (nipuṇatā). In the first of the Vuḍḍhapabbajitasuttas, nipuṇatā is given as the first of the five qualities that are seldom found in those who go forth in old age.

As for strong health, this is essential for development of the jhānas, but not for insight development.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:31 PM
Title: Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method
Content:
But no such stipulation is found in the Suttas or the Visuddhimagga or in any other Theravadin source. The status of the claim in the Theravada is not that of a "traditional understanding" but merely that of a widely held modern opinion, though not by any means a universally held one.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 10, 2017 7:06 PM
Title: Re: History of Buddhism
Content:
The poster's request was for an "authoritative book", not a cheap one. 

On Buddhist history you don't get much more authoritative than the Belgian indologist Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and his star pupil Monsignor Lamotte — a Jesuit who mastered seven Asian languages and for four decades is reported to have spent every day but Sunday studying Buddhist texts from dawn until late into the night.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:32 PM
Title: Re: Forest Monasteries around Lampung or Chiang Mai
Content:
Regarding #2, exactly how eremitical do you want it to be? I mean do you wish to be entirely by yourself with little or no interaction with other monks? Or is it enough that you'll be alone for the greater part of the day?

As for #3, you don't really need to concern yourself with it. If it's a forest wat it will be quiet; if it's in Thailand it will be hygienic.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:42 PM
Title: Re: Palenglish fallacies
Content:
It's a bit long.

Atimānissa ekaṃsavibhajjapaṭipucchābyākaraṇīyapañhaṃ ṭhapanaṃ vā mūgasūkarova tuṇhībhavanaṃ vā vippaṭipatti.

“The fallacy that consists in a conceited person's setting aside of a question that merits either a direct answer, an analytical answer, or an answer with a counter-question, or else his remaining silent [in response to the question] like a dumb pig.”


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:45 PM
Title: Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method
Content:
Thanks! I've just signed up for it. If anyone else wishes to do so there is still time. Though the link states that the course starts on 9th October, Peter Harvey in his e-mail says it's actually the 14th.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:09 AM
Title: Re: Who are the (modern) protestant Buddhists?
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 6:10 PM
Title: Re: Any followers of Thanisarro Bhikkhu who drink?
Content:
But maintaining outward restraint while inwardly seething with desires to do perform unwholesome acts isn't the end of the journey. It's just a way-stage on a path of progressive development. And while the risk you describe may be a real one for some people, surely it's a much lesser risk than that entailed by the abandoning of any effort at restraint.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 2:07 PM
Title: Re: Any followers of Thanisarro Bhikkhu who drink?
Content:
Going for refuge to the Three Jewels, or (according to the commentaries) to any one of the Three Jewels.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 1:21 PM
Title: Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method
Content:
See also their online books.

https://www.samatha.org/explore-publications/texts

Two that are worth downloading are their translation of the DN's Lakkhaṇasutta and Abhidhamma Papers. 

Lance Cousins, the late co-founder of the Samatha Trust, was a great Dīgha Nikāya enthusiast and would use the Lakkhaṇasutta's account of the Buddha's thirty-two marks (and their past life kammic causes) as the basis for a rather elaborate and visually rich form of buddhānussati. As for Abhidhamma Papers, this was a collective production based on a group study of the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha led by Lance.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 8:19 AM
Title: Re: History of Buddhism
Content:
Étienne Lamotte, Histoire du bouddhisme indien (1958); English translation: The History of Indian Buddhism, (1988).

Though much of Lamotte's scholarship has now been superceded, his work is still required reading in Buddhist history courses simply because nobody has yet produced any work of comparable thoroughness and detail.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 4:32 AM
Title: Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method
Content:
Actually the interest in Ajahn Lee's approach had already been established to a certain extent during the pioneering days of the lay vipassanā movement in America. The person responsible was the veteran German monk Ven. Vimalo (now, as a layman, Vimalo Kulbarz). Although Vimalo's original training had been under Mahasi Sayadaw at Sasana Yeiktha, he later took up Ajahn Lee's practice using Thanissaro's translation of Keeping the Breath in Mind and was teaching it to Germans and Americans about two decades before Thanissaro himself returned to the States.

http://imsrc.dharmaseed.org/teacher/793/talk/43211/


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 3:54 AM
Title: Re: Evola: Dharma for Fascists
Content:



Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 2:51 AM
Title: Re: Evola: Dharma for Fascists
Content:
I think that at the time it was published Evola's book was probably the finest account of early Buddhism (and particularly early Buddhist ascesis) in several decades. One would probably need to go all the way back to Thomas Rhys Davids' Buddhist India to find a work of comparable quality.

It's also quite beautifully written, though the credit here may possibly be due to Musson/Ñāṇavīra, the translator, for Evola's other books in English read horribly and have no literary merit at all.

As for the fascism business, that's hardly an issue here. If the reader skips the last two chapters, where the author is lauding the Samurai, he'd be hard-pressed to assign any particular political bias to Evola.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2017 1:33 AM
Title: Re: Looking for a new way
Content:
Greetings and welcome to Dhamma Wheel,

from Dhammanando and his three cats.


Author: Dhammanando
Date: Sun Oct 8, 2017 10:50 PM
Title: Re: Sutta help (finding certain texts)
Content:
It’s in both the Dhammacetiya Sutta (MN. 89) and Mahāsakuludāyi Sutta (MN. 77).

https://suttacentral.net/en/mn77

http://awake.kiev.ua/dhamma/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima2/089-dhammacetiya-e1.html


