1. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person

    Comment

    Great compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world. ― Maha Ghosananda

  2. Make the world a better place for people

    Comment

    Maybe it’s wrong-footed trying to fit people into the world, rather than trying to make the world a better place for people. ― Paul McHugh, in The New Yorker

    Snow scene on Thursday March 15, 2018.

  3. To be without desires is more pleasurable still

    Comment

    There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
    But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
    Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires,
    But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.

    ~Nagarjuna

  4. The Story of Samanera Pandita

    Comment

    Verse 80: Farmers (lit., makers of irrigation canals ) channel the water; fletchers straighten the arrow; carpenters work the timber; the Wise tame themselves.

    The Story of Samanera Pandita

    While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (80) of this book, with reference to Samanera Pandita.

    Pandita was a young son of a rich man of Savatthi. He became a samanera at the age of seven. On the eighth day after becoming a samanera, as he was following Thera Sariputta on an alms-round, he saw some farmers channeling water into their fields and asked the thera, “Can water which has no consciousness be guided to wherever one wishes ?” The thera replied, “Yes, it can be guided to wherever one wishes.” As they continued on their way, the samanera next saw some fletchers heating their arrows with fire and straightening them. Further on, he came across some carpenters cutting, sawing and planing timber to make it into things like cart-wheels. Then he pondered, “If water which is without consciousness can be guided to wherever one desires, if a crooked bamboo which is without consciousness can be straightened, and if timber which is without consciousness can be made into useful things, why should I, having consciousness, be unable to tame my mind and practise Tranquillity and Insight Meditation?”

    Then and there he asked permission from the thera and returned to his own room in the monastery. There he ardently and diligently practised meditation, contemplating the body. Sakka and the devas also helped him in his meditation by keeping the monastery and its precincts very quiet and still. Before meal time Samanera Pandita attained Anagami Fruition.

    At that time Thera Sariputta was bringing food to the samanera. The Buddha saw with his supernormal power that Samanera Pandita had attained Anagami Fruition and also that if he continued to practise meditation he would soon attain arahatship. So the Buddha decided to stop Sariputta from entering the room, where the samanera was. The Buddha went to the door and kept Sariputta engaged by putting some questions to him. While the conversation was taking place, the samanera attained arahatship. Thus, the samanera attained arahatship on the eighth day after becoming a novice.

    In this connection, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus of the monastery, “When one is earnestly practising the Dhamma, even Sakka and the devas give protection and keep guard; I myself have kept Thera Sariputta engaged at the door so that Samanera Pandita should not be disturbed. The samanera, having seen the farmers irrigating their fields, the fletchers straightening their arrows, and carpenters making cart-wheels and other things, tames his mind and practises the dhamma; he has now become an arahat.”

    The Buddha then spoke in verse as follows:

    Verse 80: Farmers (lit., makers of irrigation canals) channel the water; fletchers straighten the arrow; carpenters work the timber; the Wise tame themselves.

    Dhammapada Verse 80
    Panditasamanera Vatthu

    Udakam hi nayanti nettika
    usukara namayanti tejanam
    darum namayanti tacchaka
    attanam damayanti pandita.

    Source: Tipitaka

  5. Abandoning hope

    Comment

    Hope and fear is a feeling with two sides. As long as there’s one, there’s always the other. This is the root of our pain. In the world of hope and fear, we always have to change the channel, change the temperature, change the music, because something is getting uneasy, something is getting restless, something is beginning to hurt, and we keep looking for alternatives.

    In a nontheistic state of mind, abandoning hope is an affirmation, the beginning of the beginning. You could even put “Abandon hope” on your refrigerator door instead of more conventional aspirations like “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better.  ~ Pema Chödron

  6. Clinging to our hopes and fears

    Comment

    Most of the time we are trying to make the good things last, or we are thinking about replacing them with something even better in the future, or we are sunk in the past, reminiscing about happier times. Ironically, we never truly appreciated the experience for which we are nostalgic because we were too busy clinging to our hopes and fears at the time. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

  7. What is merit

    Comment

    From one perspective, merit is “ability”; all the abilities, in fact, that make it possible for us to hear, contemplate, meditate on and practise the dharma, including the ability to feel curious.

    These days our merit is so limited that the vast majority of human beings are unable to recognise how special dharma is. Not only do we lack the merit to practise the dharma, we have so little that we can’t even enjoy samsaric life. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

  8. As they truly are

    Comment

    As the Buddha said to the gathering of monks during his teachings on the vinaya, discipline helps us maintain samadhi, becoming accustomed to samadhi lengthens our periods of sobriety, and sobriety is none other than wisdom. Having realised wisdom, we are no longer bound by desire, anger and ignorance, and are able to perceive all phenomena as they truly are. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

  9. Mind’s ultimate nature

    Comment

    Mind’s ultimate nature, emptiness endowed with vividness,
    I was told is the real Buddha.
    Recognizing this should help me
    Not to be stuck with thoughts of hierarchy.

    Mind’s ultimate nature, its emptiness aspect,
    I was told is the real Dharma.
    Recognizing this should help me
    Not to be stuck with thoughts of political correctness.

    Mind’s ultimate nature, its vivid aspect,
    I was told is the real Sangha.
    Recognizing this should help me
    Not to be stuck with thoughts of equal rights.

    One cannot disassociate emptiness from vividness.
    This inseparability I was told is the Guru.
    Recognizing this should help me
    Not to be stuck with depending on chauvinist lamas.

    This nature of mind has never been stained by duality,
    This stainlessness I was told is the deity.
    Recognizing this should help me
    Not to be stuck with the categories of “gender” or “culture.”

    This nature of mind is spontaneously present.
    That spontaneity I was told is the dakini aspect.
    Recognizing this should help me
    Not to be stuck with fear of being sued.

    ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche


Live & Die for Buddhism

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Khmer Tipitaka 1 – 110

 ព្រះត្រៃបិដក

ព្រះត្រៃបិដក ប្រែថា កញ្រ្ចែង ឬ ល្អី​ ៣ សម្រាប់ដាក់ផ្ទុកពាក្យពេចន៍នៃព្រះសម្មាសម្ពុទ្ធ

The Tipitaka or Pali canon, is the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. The three divisions of the Tipitaka are: Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Maha Ghosananda

Maha Ghosananda

Supreme Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism (5/23/1913 - 3/12/07). Forever in my heart...

Samdech Chuon Nath

My reflection

វចនានុក្រមសម្តេចសង្ឃ ជួន ណាត
Desktop version

Listen to Khmer literature and Dhamma talk by His Holiness Jotannano Chuon Nath, Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia Buddhism.

Shantidevas’ Bodhisattva vows

My reflection

Should anyone wish to ridicule me and make me an object of jest and scorn why should I possibly care if I have dedicated myself to others?

Let them do as they wish with me so long as it does not harm them. May no one who encounters me ever have an insignificant contact.

Regardless whether those whom I meet respond towards me with anger or faith, may the mere fact of our meeting contribute to the fulfilment of their wishes.

May the slander, harm and all forms of abuse that anyone should direct towards me act as a cause of their enlightenment.

As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are not shaken by blame and praise. As a deep lake is clear and calm, so the wise become tranquil after they listened to the truth…

Good people walk on regardless of what happens to them. Good people do not babble on about their desires. Whether touched by happiness or by sorrow, the wise never appear elated or depressed. ~The Dhammapada

Hermit of Tbeng Mountain

Sachjang Phnom Tbeng សច្ចំ​​ ភ្នំត្បែង is a very long and interesting story written by Mr. Chhea Sokoan, read by Jendhamuni Sos. You can click on the links below to listen. Part 1 | Part 2

Beauty in nature

A beautiful object has no intrinsic quality that is good for the mind, nor an ugly object any intrinsic power to harm it. Beautiful and ugly are just projections of the mind. The ability to cause happiness or suffering is not a property of the outer object itself. For example, the sight of a particular individual can cause happiness to one person and suffering to another. It is the mind that attributes such qualities to the perceived object. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Nature is loved by what is best in us. The sky, the mountain, the tree, the animal, give us a delight in and for themselves. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Our journey for peace
begins today and every day.
Each step is a prayer,
Each step is a meditation,
Each step will build a bridge.

—​​​ Maha Ghosananda