buddha-Buddhism

The Story of Thera Kondadhana

Comment January 20, 2021
Verse 133: Do not speak harshly to anyone; those who are thus spoken to will retort. Malicious talk is indeed the cause of trouble (dukkha) and retribution will come to you.

Verse 134: If you can keep yourself calm and quiet like a broken gong which is no longer resonant, you are sure to realize Nibbana, there will be no harshness in you.

sarambkakatha: Malacious talk. According to the Commentary it means talk belittling others.

The Story of Thera Kondadhana

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (133) and (134) of this book, with reference to Thera Kondadhana.

Since the day Kondadhana was admitted to the Order, the image of a female was always following him. This image was seen by others, but Kondadhana himself did not see it and so did not know about it.

When he was out on an alms-round, people would offer two spoonfuls to him, saying, “This is for you, Venerable Sir, and this is for your female companion.” Seeing the bhikkhu going about with a woman, people went to King Pasenadi of Kosala and reported about the bhikkhu and the woman. They said to the king, “O king! Drive out the bhikkhu, who is lacking in moral virtues, from your kingdom.” So the king went to the monastery where that bhikkhu was staying and surrounded it with his men.

Hearing noises and voices, the bhikkhus came out and stood at the door, and the image also was there not far from the bhikkhu. Knowing that the king had come, the bhikkhu went into the room to wait for him. When the king entered the room, the image was not there. The king asked the bhikkhu where the woman was and he replied that he saw no woman. The king wanted to make sure and he asked the bhikkhu to leave the room for a while. The bhikkhu left the room, but when the king looked out, again he saw the woman near the bhikkhu. But when the bhikkhu came back to the room the woman was nowhere to be found. The king concluded that the woman was not real and so the bhikkhu must be innocent. He therefore invited the bhikkhu to come to the palace every day for alms-food. Continue reading →
The Story of Many Youths

Comment January 19, 2021

Verse 131: He who seeks his own happiness by oppressing others, who also desire to have happiness, will not find happiness in his next existence.

Verse 132: He who seeks his own happiness by not oppressing others, who also desire to have happiness, will find happiness in his next existence.

The Story of Many Youths

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (131) and (132) of this book, with reference to a number of youths.

Once, the Buddha was out on an alms-round at Savatthi when he came across a number of youths beating a snake with sticks. When questioned, the youths answered that they were beating the snake because they were afraid that the snake might bite them. To them the Buddha said, “If you do not want to be harmed, you should also not harm others: if you harm others, you will not find happiness in your next existence.”

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows: Continue reading →
The Dhammapada – The Buddha’s Path of Wisdom

Comment January 18, 2021

Preface

The Dhammapada is the best known and most widely esteemed text in the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The work is included in the Khuddaka Nikaya (“Minor Collection”) of the Sutta Pitaka, but its popularity has raised it far above the single niche it occupies in the scriptures to the ranks of a world religious classic. Composed in the ancient Pali language, this slim anthology of verses constitutes a perfect compendium of the Buddha’s teaching, comprising between its covers all the essential principles elaborated at length in the forty-odd volumes of the Pali canon.

According to the Theravada Buddhist tradition, each verse in the Dhammapada was originally spoken by the Buddha in response to a particular episode. Accounts of these, along with exegesis of the verses, are preserved in the classic commentary to the work, compiled by the great scholiast Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa in the fifth century C.E. on the basis or material going back to very ancient times. The contents of the verses, however, transcend the limited and particular circumstances of their origin, reaching out through the ages to various types of people in all the diverse situations of life. For the simple and unsophisticated the Dhammapada is a sympathetic counselor; for the intellectually overburdened its clear and direct teachings inspire humility and reflection; for the earnest seeker it is a perennial source of inspiration and practical instruction. Insights that flashed into the heart of the Buddha have crystallized into these luminous verses of pure wisdom. As profound expressions of practical spirituality, each verse is a guideline to right living. The Buddha unambiguously pointed out that whoever earnestly practices the teachings found in the Dhammapada will taste the bliss of emancipation.

Due to its immense importance, the Dhammapada has been translated into numerous languages. In English alone several translations are available, including editions by such noted scholars as Max Muller and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. However, when presented from a non-Buddhist frame of reference, the teachings of the Buddha inevitably suffer some distortion. This, in fact, has already happened with our anthology: an unfortunate selection of renderings has sometimes suggested erroneous interpretations, while footnotes have tended to be judgmental.

The present translation was originally written in the late 1950’s. Some years earlier, while consulting a number of English-language editions of the Dhammapada, it was observed that the renderings were either too free and inaccurate or too pedantic, and it was therefore felt that a new translation avoiding these two extremes would serve a valuable purpose. The finished result of that project, presented here, is a humble attempt by a practicing follower of the Buddha to transmit the spirit and content, as well as the language and style, of the original teachings. Continue reading →
Chabbaggiya Bhikkhu Vatthu

Comment January 2, 2021

Verse 130: All are afraid of the stick, all hold their lives dear. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should not beat or kill others.

The Story of a Group of Six Bhikkhus

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (130) of this book, with reference to a group of six bhikkhus.

After coming to blows the first time, the same two groups of bhikkhus quarrelled again over the same building. As the rule prohibiting beating others had already been laid down, the group of six threatened the other group with upraised hands. The group of seventeen, who were junior to the chabbaggis, cried out in fright. The Buddha hearing about this laid down the disciplinary rule forbidding the raising of hands in threat.

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 130: All are afraid of the stick, all hold their lives dear. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should not beat or kill others.

Dhammapada Verse 130
Chabbaggiya Bhikkhu Vatthu

Sabbe tasanti dandassa
sabbesam jivitam piyam
attanam upamam katva
na haneyya na ghataye.

Source: Tipitaka
The Fourth Noble Truth

Comment December 29, 2020

What is the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

There is this Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before….

This Noble Truth must be penetrated to by cultivating the Path….

This Noble Truth has been penetrated to by cultivating the Path: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

[Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11]

The Fourth Noble Truth, like the first three, has three aspects. The first aspect is: ‘There is the Eightfold Path, the atthangika magga – the way out of suffering.’ It is also called the ariya magga, the Ariyan or Noble Path. The second aspect is: ‘This path should be developed.’ The final insight into arahantship is: ‘This path has been fully developed.’

The Eightfold Path is presented in a sequence: beginning with Right (or perfect) Understanding, samma ditthi, it goes to Right (or perfect) Intention or Aspiration, samma sankappa; these first two elements of the path are grouped together as Wisdom (panna). Moral commitment (sila) flows from panna; this covers Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood – also referred to as perfect speech, perfect action and perfect livelihood, samma vaca, samma kammanta and samma ajiva. Continue reading →
The Story of a Group of Six Bhikkhus

Comment December 29, 2020

Verse 129: All are afraid of the stick, all fear death. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should not beat or kill others.

The Story of a Group of Six Bhikkhus

While residing at the Javana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (129) of this book, with reference to a group of six bhikkhus (chabbaggi) who picked a quarrel with another group comprising seventeen bhikkhus.

Once seventeen bhikkhus were cleaning up a building in the Jetavana monastery-complex with the intention of occupying it, when another group comprising six bhikkhus arrived on the scene. The group of six said to the first group, “We are senior to you, so you had better give way to us; we will take this place.” The group of seventeen did not give in, so the chabbaggis beat up the other group who cried out in pain. The Buddha learning about this reprimanded them and laid down the disciplinary rule forbidding bhikkhus to beat others.

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 129: All are afraid of the stick, all fear death. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should not beat or kill others.

Dhammapada Verse 129
Chabbaggiya Bhikkhu Vatthu

Sabbe tasanti dandassa
sabbe bhayanti maccuno
attanam upamam katva
na haneyya na ghataye.

Source: Tipitaka
The Third Noble Truth

Comment December 28, 2020

What is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering? It is the remainderless fading and cessation of that same craving; the rejecting, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it. But whereon is this craving abandoned and made to cease? Wherever there is what seems lovable and gratifying, thereon it is abandoned and made to cease.

There is this Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

This Noble Truth must be penetrated to by realising the Cessation of Suffering….

This Noble Truth has been penetrated to by realising the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

[Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11]

The Third Noble Truth with its three aspects is: ‘There is the cessation of suffering, of dukkha. The cessation of dukkha should be realised. The cessation of dukkha has been realised.’

The whole aim of the Buddhist teaching is to develop the reflective mind in order to let go of delusions. The Four Noble Truths is a teaching about letting go by investigating or looking into – contemplating: ‘Why is it like this? Why is it this way?’ It is good to ponder over things like why monks shave their heads or why Buddha-rupas look the way they do. We contemplate…the mind is not forming an opinion about whether these are good, bad, useful or useless. The mind is actually opening and considering. ‘What does this mean? What do the monks represent? Why do they carry alms bowls? Why can’t they have money? Why can’t they grow their own food? We contemplate how this way of living has sustained the tradition and allowed it to be handed down from its original founder, Gotama the Buddha, to the present time. Continue reading →
The Buddha Teaches a Lesson on Forgiveness

1 December 27, 2020

3-year-old Ananda

The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Or if they were cowards and weaklings, they had smiled, trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said, “What next?” There was no reaction on his part.

Buddha’s disciples became angry, they reacted. His closest disciple, Ananda, said, “This is too much, and we cannot tolerate it. He has to be punished for it. Otherwise everybody will start doing things like this.”

Buddha said, “You keep silent. He has not offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me. He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me? Continue reading →
The Story of King Suppabuddha

Comment December 27, 2020

Verse 128: Not in the sky, nor in the middle of the ocean, nor in the cave of a mountain, nor anywhere else, is there a place where one cannot be oppressed by Death.

The Story of King Suppabuddha

While residing at the Nigrodharama monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (128) of this book, with reference to King Suppabuddha.

King Suppabuddha was the father of Devadatta and father-in-law of Prince Siddhattha who later became Gotama Buddha. King Suppabuddha was very antagonistic to the Buddha for two reasons. First, because as prince Siddhattha he had left his wife Yasodhara, the daughter of King Suppabuddha, to renounce the world; and secondly, because his son Devadatta, who was admitted into the Order by Gotama Buddha, had come to regard the Buddha as his arch enemy. One day, knowing that the Buddha would be coming for alms-food, he got himself drunk and blocked the way. When the Buddha and the bhikkhus came, Suppabuddha refused to make way, and sent a message saying, “I cannot give way to Samana Gotama, who is so much younger than me.” Finding the road blocked, the Buddha and the bhikkhus turned back. Suppabuddha then sent someone to follow the Buddha secretly and find out what the Buddha said, and to report to him.

As the Buddha turned back, he said to Ananda, “Ananda, because King Suppabuddha had refused to give way to me, on the seventh day from now he would be swallowed up by the earth, at the foot of the steps leading to the pinnacled hall of his palace.” The king’s spy heard these words and reported to the king. And the king said that he would not go near those steps and would prove the words of the Buddha to be wrong. Further, he instructed his men to remove those steps, so that he would not be able to use them; he also kept some men on duty, with instructions to hold him back should he go in the direction of the stairs. Continue reading →
The Second Noble Truth

Comment December 27, 2020

What is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering?

It is craving which renews being and is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that: in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being. But whereon does this craving arise and flourish? Wherever there is what seems lovable and gratifying, thereon it arises and flourishes.

There is this Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering:such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

This Noble Truth must be penetrated to by abandoning the origin of suffering….

This Noble Truth has been penetrated to by abandoning the origin of suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

[Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11]

The Second Noble Truth with its three aspects is: ‘There is the origin of suffering, which is attachment to desire. Desire should be let go of. Desire has been let go of.’

The Second Noble Truth states that there is an origin of suffering and that the origin of suffering is attachment to the three kinds of desire: desire for sense pleasure (kama tanha), desire to become (bhava tanha) and desire to get rid of (vibhava tanha). This is the statement of the Second Noble Truth, the thesis, the pariyatti. This is what you contemplate: the origin of suffering is attachment to desire. Continue reading →