Daily Dhamma Drops from Ceylon!

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Freeing and Fruitful is Faith!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

How is Faith & Confidence Advantageous?

Image

Faith is the first of the 5 Elements of Effort (padhaniyanga):
1: Faith, 2: Health, 3: Sincerity, 4: Energy, and 5: Understanding.

Faith is main factor of the 4 Streams of Merit (puñña-dhara):
1: Unshakable faith in the Buddha,
2: Unshakable faith in the Dhamma,
3: Unshakable faith in the Sangha,
4: Quite Perfected Morality.


Faith is the first of the 7 Treasures (dhana):
1: Faith,
2: Morality,
3: Shame,
4: Fear of Wrongdoing,
5: Learning,
6: Generosity,
7: Understanding.


Faith is seed, the entrance, the initiator, the ticket, the beginning.
Understanding is the highest, the goal, the diamond-cutter, the end!
Both are Floods of Advantage, Fabulous Fruits, Leading to Happiness!

Image
Yeah! So it is Really and not otherwise!

For Fabulously Fine Faith (Saddha) please see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/G ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/O ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/U ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/A ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/P ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Highest_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Leaping_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/F ... _Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Mutual_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Dual_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Fine_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Rich_Faith.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Lay_Faith.htm

Freeing and Fruitful is Faith!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/F ... _Faith.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Foul Flesh Frame!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

The Body is a bone-frame plastered with fat and skin:

The body's nature: 300 bones, jointed by 180 joints, sewn into a chain by 900 sinews,
plastered over with pieces of flesh, enveloped by inner membrane, fat and outer skin,
with 9 openings constantly dribbling and trickling with tears, snot, saliva, slime, urine
and excrement. Its bowels are inhabited by many fold bacteria, parasites and worms,
the home of disease, the source of painful states, perpetually oozing from the nine
orifices like a chronic open boil, and from thousands skin pores the stale sweat seeps,
with bluebottles and their like buzzing round it, which when untended with tooth brush,
washing, shaving, bathing, underclothing and dressing up looks just like a living corpse!
In its natural wild then a body is a stinking nauseating repulsiveness, but by concealing
its private parts under several cloths, by daubing it with various perfumes and salves,
by pranking it with jewellery, it is faked up into a state being mistaken as 'I' & 'mine'!
So men delight in women, and women in men, without perceiving the true nature of this
body's characteristic foulness, now masked by this adventitious adornment. But in the
ultimate sense, there is no place on any body even the size of an atom fit to lust after!
Comically we loove the whole of this 'our precious temple, but when any such bits of it
as head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, spittle, snot, excrement or urine have dropped
off the body, then beings will not touch them! Though somewhat absurd, they are now
ashamed, humiliated & disgusted with exactly the same matter as they adored before!
But as long as any one of these disgusting things remains inside the body, though it is
just as repulsive when inside, they take this body as agreeable, desirable, permanent,
pleasant, & 'my beautiful self', since they are wrapped in the murk of ignorance and
dyed with unseen and unrecognised affective greed for a physical self... Vism I 196

Image

More on this seeing this body (Kaya) as it really is: A foul frame of bones & flesch:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Skeleton.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_32_Parts.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Ev ... g_body.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Co ... tation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Bo ... lation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/B ... y_Form.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... ations.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Im ... e_Mind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Me ... a-Sati.htm

Image

Have a nice noticing day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Foul Flesh Frame!
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Awareness Awakens!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

The 7 Links to Awakening produce Final Enlightenment...

Image

There are these 7 links leading to final Enlightenment...

1: Awareness is a link to Awakening.
2: Investigation of the states is a link to Awakening.
3: Energy is a link to Awakening.
4: Joy is a link to Awakening.
5: Tranquillity is a link to Awakening.
6: Concentration is a link to Awakening.
7: Equanimity is a link to Awakening.


They lead to and induce enlightenment! Thus are they links to awakening:
They are themselves enlightened, in this way are they links to awakening.
They are enlightened, since they embrace the root cause of awakening.
They are enlightened, since they provide & equip the cause of awakening.
They are enlightened, since they induce ripening of the cause of awakening.
They are enlightened, since they enhance the root cause of awakening.
They are enlightened, since they completely perfect the cause of awakening.

Image

How do the 7 Links to Awakening remain established and anchored in mind?
The Awareness link remains by no attention being given to other states.
The Awareness link remains by the sign of being directed to continuously.
The Awareness link remains by the sign-less state being given attention.
The Awareness link remains by no attention given to mental construction.
The Awareness link remains by attention being given to ceasing of craving.
The Awareness link to Awakening indeed remains fixed & anchored in mind
in these 5 ways. Exactly & similarly so with the other 6 links to Awakening.

Image

On these 7 Links to Awakening (Sambojjhanga):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Sun.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Peak.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Clothes.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/R ... rgence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/S ... _Seven.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/V ... ration.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... Fruits.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/U ... _Seven.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/W ... mes_14.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_7 ... kening.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/L ... enment.htm

ImageImage

Source (edited extract): Sariputta
Path of Discrimination: Patisambhidamagga. On the Links to Awakening XIII.

Awareness Awakens!
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/III/E ... kening.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

The Sublime Supreme Exists!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

Some Fine Facts:

Image

Only he is bright, who shines by himself!
What is good, is really ... Good!
What is excellent, is really ... Excellent!
What is perfect, is really ... absolutely Perfect!
A rose is a rose is a rose. ;-) And just that.

Image

Canal makers direct the water.
Arrow makers straighten the shafts.
Carpenters plane the planks of wood.
The Clever Nobles train their Mind...
Dhammapada 80

Image

Those who meditate regularly;
Those who endure enthusiastically;
Those who exert much right effort;
These wise ones attain Nibbana:
The supreme Peace, the sublime Bliss.
Dhammapada 23

Image

Health is the greatest gain!
Contentment is the finest treasure!
Certainty is the foremost helper!
Nibbana is the highest Happiness...
Dhammapada 204

Image

The Sublime Supreme Exists!

Some Fabulously Fine Facts!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/En ... rousal.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

The 4 Lasting Advantages!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

The 4 Hard-core-real Lasting Advantages:

Image

A deity once asked the Buddha
What is good even when one is old?
What is good when established?
What is human's most precious treasure?
What is hard for thieves to steal?

The blessed Buddha answered:

1: Morality is good even when one is old!

Image

2: Faith is good when firmly established!

Image

3: Understanding is human's most precious treasure!

Image

4: Merit well earned is hard for thieves to steal!

Image

More on these 4 Everlasting Advantages:
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/Might ... rality.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/III/Faith_Summary.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/Under ... _Chief.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPP ... /punna.htm

ImageImage

Source: Samyutta Nikaya I 36

The 4 Lasting Advantages!

Morality, Faith, Understanding, and Merit....
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/4_Goods.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Watch the Thought!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

Thought solidifies into kammically effective behaviour!

Image

The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests into acted out behaviour!
The deed develops into habit, which hardens into deep-grown stubborn character!
So watch the thought and its ways with care and let it spring from infinite friendliness;
Born out of kindness for all sentient beings.

Ignorance leads to ego, Ego leads selfishness,
Selfishness leads to aversion, Aversion leads to anger,
Anger leads to hatred, Hatred leads to Suffering…


The creator of man was greed; For countless lives this was his drive..
With Ignorance at its helm, this suffering grows! No end for it until he knows...

Image

On how to cure Desire (Chanda):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Why_Not.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Just_a_Flash.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Th ... al_Pit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ho ... _Greed.htm

Watch the Thought!

Thought solidifies into words, which acts out as behaviour!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Manifestation.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Purity means Integrity...

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

Purity of Virtue is the root of Perfection!

Image

His virtue is immaculate. His wearing the bowl and robe pleases and inspires trust.
His going forth will bear its fruit. A pure Bhikkhu never fears that self-reproach
will obsess and consume the mind, since there is indeed no darkness inside this sun...
A Bhikkhu of bright virtue shines forth even in the forest of reclusive ascetics,
by the radiance of his past deeds, just like the moon lights up the clear night sky...
Now if the body smell of purity a Bhikkhu can succeed in pleasing even the deities,
what then of the perfume of his virtue? It is a far more splendid scent than all the
other fine fragrances in the world, because the fragrance of pure morality spreads
unhindered in all directions! The favours done for a pure and virtuous one, even when
only a few, will bear great fruit! The pure one thus becomes a fountain of advantage!
No fetid fermentations plagues a virtuous one, since his ultra-pure behaviour dug out
the root of future suffering in lives to come. Excellence among humans and also even
among deities, if longed for, is not hard to gain for one whose morality is perfected!
However, when ethics is fully perfected, then mind seeks only the supreme Nibbana:
The state where utterly pure peace prevails! Such is the blessed fruit of clean virtue,
ethics, rectitude, goodness, integrity, righteousness and high-mindedness: It awards
fulfillment, so let a wise one know it well: This root of all the branches of perfection!

Image

More on Virtue (Sila):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Happy_Habbit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/What_is_Virtue.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Be ... ection.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Might ... rality.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... Basics.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/O ... ance_I.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/O ... nce_II.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/O ... nce_IV.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/O ... ance_V.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Bu ... _Law_1.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Bu ... _Law_2.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Bu ... _Law_3.htm

Image

Immaculate Virtue...
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/imm ... virtue.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

How to gain access?

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

How does the 7 Links to Awakening induce Breakthrough?

Image

The Blessed Buddha once said:
And what, bhikkhus, is the way that induce penetration?
It is: The Seven Links to Awakening! What seven?

1: The Awareness Link to Awakening: sati-sambojjhanga.
2: The Investigation Link to Awakening: dhammavicaya-sambojjhanga.
3: The Energy Link to Awakening: viriya-sambojjhanga.
4: The Joy Link to Awakening: piti-sambojjhanga.
5: The Tranquillity Link to Awakening: passaddhi-sambojjhanga.
6: The Concentration Link to Awakening: samadhi-sambojjhanga.
7: The Equanimity Link to Awakening: upekkha-sambojjhanga.


Then, the Venerable Udayi asked the Blessed Buddha:
Venerable Sir, how are these 7 Links to Awakening developed and cultivated
so that they lead up to, and induce vast penetration?
Udayi, when a Bhikkhu develops the Seven Links to Awakening supported
by seclusion, disillusion, and ceasing, it culminates in a mental release,
which is vast, exalted, and infinite, without any trace of ill will or opposition.
With such exalted mind matured and refined by these 7 Links to Awakening,
he penetrates, smashes and eliminates the mass of greed, that he has never
before penetrated, smashed and eliminated; he penetrates, demolishes and
eradicates the heap of hate, that he has never before penetrated, demolished
and eradicated; and he penetrates, disintegrates and disperses the accumulation
of confusion, that he has never before penetrated, disintegrated and dispersed...
It is, Udayi, when these Seven Links to Awakening are developed and cultivated
in exactly this way, that they lead to this incisive breakthrough of penetration...

ImageImage

On the 7 Links to Awakening (Sambojjhanga):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Sun.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Peak.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Clothes.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/R ... rgence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/S ... _Seven.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/V ... ration.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... Fruits.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/U ... _Seven.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/W ... mes_14.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_7 ... kening.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/L ... enment.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... kening.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... Vision.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... kening.htm

Image

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V: 87-88] section 46: The Links.28: Leading to Penetration...

Breakthrough!

How to gain access?
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/V ... ration.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

What is Solidity?

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

What is the Solidity Quality in any Cluster of Form?

Image

The Blessed Buddha once explained:
What is this cluster of Form (rupa-khandha)= [literally 'group that can break up']?
It is just these 4 primary elements, and all the forms derived from them...
What are these 4 Primary Elements (maha-bhuta) = [literally 'great processes']?

These 4 Primary Elements (=~ Qualities =~ Qualia) are:
1: The Qualia of Solidity... (pathavi-dhatu) = [literally 'earth-like' property]
2: The Qualia of Fluidity... (apo-dhatu) = [literally 'water-like' property]
3: The Qualia of Heat... (tejo-dhatu) = [literally 'fire-like' property]
4: The Qualia of Motion... (vayo-dhatu) = [literally 'wind-like' property]

What, now, is this Quality of Solidity? The quality of solidity may be defined as one's
'own' or internal, or it may be external, and not a part of one's 'own' individuality..
And what is one's own quality of Solidity? Whatever there is inside one's own body of
kammically caused hardness, firmness, and becoming into a solid state, such as the hairs of
the head, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin, muscle, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver,
diaphragm, spleen, lungs, stomach, bowels, mesentery, and excrement: This is called own
quality of Solidity. Now, whether it appears as one's own quality of Solidity, or whether it be
the like an external quality of Solidity (e.g. of mountains of stone, hammers of iron etc.), they are
both merely this Qualia of Solidity. One should understand, according to this absolute reality:
This is not 'me'. This does not belong to me! This I am not! This is neither a self, nor a substance!

Image

One may add:
This mind-like conceptual experience of solidity is not a 'matter-like compact thing out there...'
This quality is not lasting but transient, this is not a real substance, this is thus not stable or safe...
This ephemeral is therefore not pleasure, this solidity is not happiness, this quality is also suffering...
Seeing this analytic break-up of solidity induces releasing disillusion with even very attractive forms
of form... Whether own or other, internal or external, whether alive or dead, whether present or not...

Comment: The crucial and essential 'take-home-message' here is:
The 4 'Primary Elements' in early Buddhism are thus not 'real substances out there', but more
realistically: Experienced qualities or properties appearing as representations inside the mind...
They are manifestations of form, and not 'substantial entities, or constituents of matter'...
The assertion of their 'material' appearance depends on the subjective level of observation:
Macroscopic solidity is merely a manifested appearance of extension on the microscopic level!

Image

On these 4 Primary Elements (maha-bhuta):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Wh ... lidity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Wh ... uidity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Heat.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Motion.htm

Source (edited extract:)
The Middle Length Sayings of the Buddha. Majjhima Nikaya. MN 28.
Maha-hatthipadopama Sutta: The Great Elephant Footprint Simile:
Splendid Book: http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=25072X
Text: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

What is Solidity?

Neither Matter nor Substance!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Wh ... lidity.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Embracing is Metta :-)

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

The Buddha's Speech on Friendliness:

What should the clever one advantageously do:
To attain this State called Peace, is this:
He should be intelligent, straight, honest,
Humble, gentle and never proud,
Contented, and easy to support,
Not busy, careful, and silenced…
In abilities & senses, cautious, and modest,
Neither flattering families, nor be demanding.
He should not do even a minor trifle at all,
That other wise men might criticize!

Image

Then he should think:
May all beings be joyous and safe!
Let every creature's mind rejoice.
Whatever breathing beings there are,
No matter whether feeble or firm,
With none excepted, whether long;
Tall, big, medium, short or small;
Whether seen or unseen, visible or not;
Whether living far away or near, here or there;
Whether existing or just about to come into being;
Let every living being's mind be exultantly jubilant!
Let no one ever kill or another one undo,
Nor ever harm anyone anywhere at all...
Let no one wish for another any even minor evil,
neither from provocation, nor from revenge.
Thus, as a mother with her own life
Might guard her son, her only baby child, thus
Should he maintain an infinite friendliness :-)
for every living being, in gentle sympathy for
this entire universe, unlimited, endless and vast!
Above, below, and all around, unimpeded,
without any hatred, purged of all enmity!
Whether standing, walking, seated or lying down
while slumbering, he should always maintain such
Awareness of gentle and benevolent kindness...
This is the Divine Abiding here, they say!
He that do not traffic with various views,
Perfected in seeing what is right and wrong,
Purged of lust for sense-pleasures, he will
surely not come back here to any womb...

Image

More on Friendliness (Metta) & Friendship: (The Pali root word is Mitta = Friend)
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sy ... mpathy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Th ... ve_Saw.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/The ... ntages.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Eva ... _Enemy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ge ... odwill.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Bl ... odwill.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Cosmic_Goodness.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Unbounded_Mind.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Goodness_Galore.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Loving-Kindness.htm

Image

Source: Minor Readings and the Illustrator
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=130231

ImageImageImage

Friendly is Mettaah :-)

The Buddha's Speech on Friendliness:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Metta.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Wild Horses!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

The Senses run after pleasing objects like Wild Horses!

Image

The eye likes to see beautiful and attractive forms. The ear likes to hear
sounds that are beautiful, melodious and pleasing to the mind. The nose likes
to smell things that are pleasantly scented, making one feel elated & joyful.
The tongue likes to taste things that are delicious. The body likes to touch
and feel things that are soft and smooth, which produces a mental state of
absorbed fascination all the time without ever having too much of it.
All of this originates from the mind, which is the overlord of all these sense
sources. The mind is the one that wants to play about with them all the time
without being the least bit concerned to consider what is right or wrong,
what is good or bad. All the mind wants, is to fulfill its desires. This makes
all the fields of sense, including the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body, whirl
about according to the emotional dictates of the mind. It is the the mental
defilements that force the mind to this rampage of struggling for stimuli.
When guarding each sense field, we must keep a guard on the mind at the
same time. The mind is the ringleader, which constantly creates the desire
to see sights, to hear sounds, to smell scents, to taste foods and to sense
touches. The mind is the one that desires, that craves, that is ever hungry
and thirsty, the one that goes searching for sensations. So the mind uses its
instruments, which are the eyes, ear, nose, tongue and body, as the paths by
which it travels out to search for all sorts of objects that induce pleasure.
So you must guard the mind with awareness and investigate it carefully with
understanding. Don’t let it roam about getting involved in things, which are
dangerous. Use awareness to control the mind & understanding to examine
the objects that arise from making contact with forms, sounds, smells,
tastes and things which contact the body, so as to learn the basic truth of
such momentary contacts. Then mind will remain detached and indifferent.
It will not love some things and hate others, and so become angry. It will
then easily enter into a state of calm & peacefulness without always being
burdened or troubled by external matters. When the mind is replete and
satisfied in that calm state, it will withdraw from it & examine the internal
sense sources of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body as being merely empty
instruments of the mind. It will then examine those objects in relation to the
mind, seeing that they both become intimately blended together, as though
they were one and the same thing. You will see that sensations are things,
which infiltrate the mind, and so are not one & the same thing as the mind,
which nevertheless run out after these empty sensations as wild horses...

Image

More on the Sense Sources (Ayatana):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Th ... ung_to.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Gu ... _Doors.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Th ... s_Hook.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/So ... ources.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Mi ... erence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPP ... yatana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Th ... of_All.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Hands_and_Feet.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Source_of_What.htm

Image

Source (edited extract): Venerable Ajaan Khao Analayo Biography.
by Ajaan Maha Boowa Ñanasampanno. Translated by Ajaan Paññavaddho:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/pdf ... yo_Bio.pdf
Published by: Forest Dhamma Books. Baan Taad Forest Monastery. Udon
Thani 41000, Thailand [email protected], http://www.forestdhammabooks.com

ImageImage
Venerable Ajaan Khao Analayo. 1888-1983. He was a Bhikkhu for 64 years!
"Analayo" means without desire...


Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

The Senses run out for pleasing objects!

Wild Horses!
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Wild_Horses.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Gracious is Gratitude!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

Appropriate Appreciation is Gratitude!

Image

One should be grateful towards one's Parents! Why so?
They have worked hard and very long raising one into being!

One should be grateful towards one's Teachers! Why so?
They do much to make one learn and understand the good...

One should be grateful towards one's Friends! Why so?
They have shown one an open kindness and much goodwill!

One should be grateful towards one's Spouse! Why so?
They have loyally accompanied one along a long way...

Image

What is the future kammic effect of gratitude or ungratefulness?
The one who is grateful will receive gifts and favours ever again!
The one who is ungrateful will never again receive gifts or favours!
Thankfulness wisely invested thus pays back quite a lot!
Yet the ideal altruism is that, which does not expect/demand anything in return..
Since 'giving' with the one hand, while wanting something back with the other hand
is not really "giving", but plain business under cover of a craving unawareness ...

Therefore: Always Say Thanx!

Image

Thanx for Your Attention! ;-)

Image

On Contentment and Rejoicing Appreciation:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Contentment.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Mutual_Joy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Rejoi ... Mudita.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/I ... usness.htm

Image

Gracious is Gratitude!

Any Appreciation Echoes Back... :-)
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ap ... iation.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

What is Fluidity?

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

What is Fluidity in any Cluster of Form?

Image

The Blessed Buddha once explained:
What is this cluster of Form (rupa-khandha)= [literally 'group that can break up']?
It is just these 4 primary elements, and all the forms derived from them...
What are these 4 Primary Elements (maha-bhuta) = [literally 'great processes']?

These 4 Primary Elements (=~ Qualities =~ Qualia) are:
1: The Qualia of Solidity... (pathavi-dhatu) = [literally 'earth-like' property]
2: The Qualia of Fluidity... (apo-dhatu) = [literally 'water-like' property]
3: The Qualia of Heat... (tejo-dhatu) = [literally 'fire-like' property]
4: The Qualia of Motion... (vayo-dhatu) = [literally 'wind-like' property]

What, now, is the element of fluidity? The element of fluidity may be one's own and internal,
or it may be external. And what is one's own inner element of fluidity? Whatever in one's own
body there is of kammically created liquidity or fluidity, such as bile, lymph, pus, blood, sweat,
fat, tears, skin grease, spit, snot, oil of the joints, and urine: This is one's own internal element
of fluidity. However, whether it be one's own internal element of fluidity, or whether it be the
external element of fluidity, such as oceans and rivers, they are both merely the same element
of fluidity... One should understand, according to the utter reality and true Wisdom:
This does not belong to me! This I am not! This is not my self! This is a not compact substance.

Image

One may add:
This mind-like conceptual experience of fluidity is not a 'matter-like thing out there...'
This quality is not lasting, this is not a real substance, this is thus not stable or safe...
This ephemeral is not pleasure, this fluidity is not happiness, this quality is also suffering...
Seeing this analytic break-up of fluidity induces releasing disillusion with even very
attractive forms of form... Whether own or other, internal or external, whether alive or
dead, whether present or not...

Image

Comment:
The 4 Primary Elements are not 'real substances out there', but more realistically:
Experienced qualities or properties appearing 'in here'... They are manifestations of form,
and not lasting 'substantial entities'! Their 'material' appearances depending on the level
of observation: Macroscopic Fluidity is a mere manifestation of microscopic cohesion!
In all forms of materiality coexists all the 4 primary elements in different degrees.
In water, the element of fluidity is domination at ambient temperature. But the element
of heat, solidity and motion is also there. The solidity in water is felt when splashing it.
When frozen into ice, the solidity element becomes the dominant aspect, while the fluidity
heat and element is diminished. In stone, the element of solidity is domination at ambient
temperature. When melted into lava, the fluidity element becomes the main feature...
In forceful wind the element (~qualia) of motion dominates over the 3 other qualities.

Image

On these 4 Primary Elements (maha-bhuta):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Wh ... lidity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Wh ... uidity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What _is_Heat.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Motion.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Middle Length Sayings of the Buddha. Majjhima Nikaya. MN 28.
Maha-hatthipadopama Sutta: The Great Elephant Footprint Simile:
Splendid Book: http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=25072X
Text: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

What is Fluidity?

The Cohesive Quality: Neither a Substance, nor Material!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Wh ... uidity.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

Absolute Drilling ..

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

Understanding comes by the 18 principal insights:

Image

1: Reflection on impermanence leaves the illusion of permanence,
2: Reflection on pain renounces the misapprehension of pleasure,
3: Reflection on no-self evaporates the imagination of a my-self,
4: Reflection on dispassion and disillusion abandons naive delight,
5: Reflection on disgust eradicates voracious and insatiable greed,
6: Reflection on ceasing desists from blind and initiating origination,
7: Reflection on relinquishment releases the lock of grasped clinging,
8: Reflection on fragility leaves the misconception of compact solidity,
9: Reflection on the breakup of all constructions shuts down accumulation,
10: Reflection on change corrects the deception of any lasting constancy,
11: Reflection on the signless eliminates the captivating appearance of a sign,
12: Reflection on the desireless diminishes the feverish urge within all craving,
13: Reflection on voidness erases the insistence on the self-deception: 'I am...',
14: Reflection on higher understanding uproots clinging to the fix idea of a core,
15: Reflection on direct knowledge & vision removes confused misinterpretation,
16: Reflection on danger extirpates false assumption of reliance on the unstable,
17: Reflection on resolute contemplation shelves the neglect of non-contemplation,
18: Reflection on turning away exterminates mistaken insistence on self-bondage...


ImageImage

More on Insight (Vipassana):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ca ... nsight.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/In ... y_Life.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Hi ... ibbana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Br ... nsight.htm

Image

Source: The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga.
An excellent if not legendary translation by Bhikkhu Nanamoli.
Written by 'the Great Explainer' Buddhaghosa in 5th century AC:
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=771100

Absolute Drilling ..

The 18 Principal Insights!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Th ... sights.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
User avatar
Bhikkhu_Samahita
Posts: 2750
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:26 am
Location: Ceylon
Contact:

The Amazing Grace of Goodwill!

Post by Bhikkhu_Samahita »

Friends:

How to Beam & Extend Amity Universally:

Image

The Grace of Goodwill: A Meditation on Friendliness (Metta):
May my mind be filled with the thought of Kind Friendliness & open Amity.
May the minds of my good teachers be filled with the thought of Friendliness.
May the minds of my parents and dear ones be filled with the thought of Friendliness.
May the minds of all unfriendly persons be filled with the thought of Friendliness.
May the minds of all living beings be filled with the thought of Friendliness.
May the minds of all strangers be filled with the thought of Friendliness.
May we be free from fear, tension, anxiety, worry, and restlessness.
May our hearts become soft. May our words be pleasing to others.
May we be generous. May we be gentle. May we be relaxed.
May we be happy and peaceful. May we be healthy.
May we be a source of pure peace and happiness.

Image

May the minds of everyone in this room be free from greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, and fear.
May the peace and tranquillity of tender Friendliness pervade their entire bodies and minds.
May they have good fortune. May they be prosperous. May they have really good friends
May the minds of everyone in this building, in this street, in this city, in this nation on
this continent, on this planet & in this universe be free from greed, anger, & doubt.
May these thoughts of Friendliness embrace them, charge them and envelope them.
May every cell, every drop of blood, every atom, be charged with kind amity.
May the peace & tranquillity of goodwill pervade their entire bodies & minds.
May they be happy-hearted. May they be free from worries and troubles.
May all beings in all directions throughout this multiverse be happy.
May they be filled with Friendliness, abundant, exalted, & infinite!
May they be free from enmity affliction, and anxiety.
May they live happily.

ImageImage

May all beings in all directions, all around the universe be happy.
May they have good fortune. May they be prosperous.
May they be famous. May they have good friends.
May they be reborn in a happy destination.
May they be reborn in the heavens.
May all beings Awaken swiftly!
May they become thus Happy!

ImageImage

Inspired by 2 really good friends.

More on this shining, radiating through all & everywhere beaming Friendliness:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/In ... liness.htm

Image

Audio explanation of how to do Metta-Meditation:
https://soundcloud.com/bhikkhu-samahita ... meditation

The Grace of Goodwill!

Fabolous Friendliness Frees :-)
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/IV/Th ... odwill.htm
Image

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita, Ceylon.

Theravada Forest Tradition.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
Post Reply