I think that the problem with the question is that 1. it assumes that at the time the Mahavihara was the "Theravada school" per se; 2. that the influence came after the move to Lanka; and 3. that even after moving to Lanka, there could be no influence from other schools. May want to think ...

I'm nearly done with and loving Bhikkhu Bodhi's anthology of the Sutta Pitaka "In The Buddha's Words". One thing I am having difficulties with is that Bhikkhu Bodhi doesn't give the title of sutta in his citations, just the name of the "book" followed by numbers. This has worked...

Hi, Thank you, piotr. Still, I wished to bring up the possibility that the compound can be read in a number of ways. Though nobody else seemed particularly interested in this point! :zzz: Well, I am. :) Could you elaborate more on this point? Thanks. Well, for example, by stating "suffering du...

Hi, The term "saṅkhāradukkhatā" is a compound. There are many ways to interpret compounds, and interpret one must for it to make any sense in English. The use of the words " due to " indicates one sort of compound interpretation, but it is obviously not the only one. For example...

Dear all, From the Jataka commentaries(Atthakatha) which compiled at the Mahavihara, the preface of the book had stated: Mahiṃsāsakavaṃsamhi, sambhūtena nayaññunā; Which means the teaching/tradition of the Theravada in Sinhalese was inherited from the Mahisasaka School, is that correct? :anjali: Wi...

Try Gombrich What the Buddha Thought, pg. 29-30. There are other references to "five fire wisdom" in the index, but less info or references than desired (a general problem with this whole book, in my opinion). There are a couple of references in Jurewicz, too, if you have a copy. ~~ Huifeng

The general position taken by Gombrich and others*, is that the "five skandhas" is a retake on the five fires used in the brahmanic fire sacrifice, turned to an entirely Buddhist meaning, but retaining the brahmanic terminology. Thanks, I'll check out the references. I've read Gombrich's ...

First, a question: The term "saṅkhāradukkhatā" is a compound. There are many ways to interpret compounds, and interpret one must for it to make any sense in English. The use of the words " due to " indicates one sort of compound interpretation, but it is obviously not the only on...

Search yielded nothing so forgive me if this is redundant: Are the khandas orginal to the Buddha? Ajaan Geoff says no, but I recall--but can't find the reference just now--reading a non-Buddhist scholar (probably Sue Hamilton) mentioning emerging evidence that the khandas existed in Indian culture ...

First, because the whole asana system is post-Buddhist. Second, because unlike the Jainas and other ajivikas, the Buddha did not put emphasis on physical acts (of tapas). The "coins" mentioned above are some of the images that I mentioned are now largely discredited as being signs of some ...

Greetings, I remember that someone once said in another forum that Siddharta Gotama had practiced yoga (asanas, pranayama) before his enlightenment (or before leaving the palace? - I don't remember. ;)) Is there any evidence for or against this? If there is no evidence, do you think it is rather pr...

And this is the good reason to consider bhikkhuni ordination invalid. As I said, Dhamma-Vinaya is a whole thing. Long time ago Dharmagupta Vinaya become one and whole with Mahayana views. And such mahayana monks could not hold uposatha with theravadin monks. And theravadin monks won't hold uposatha...

You should specify what you mean by "Theravada bhikkhuni" better, because -- unless they were ordained directly by Theravada bhikkhus only -- they would have had a Mahayana bhikkhuni as preceptor and should really follow the Vinaya that she follows (probably Dharmaguptaka). Or if we take ...

They are mere states ( dhamma ) occurring due to conditions and void. Sometime the Visuddhimagga, the Path of Purifications, gets a bum rap Hmm, the underlined portion looks like the object-denotation (kamma-sadhana) found all over the Commentarial definitions of 'dhamma" as an alternative to ...

Am thinking of ordering a book on buddhist ethics. So l'm wondering which is the more insightful author. Damien keown Peter harvey Hammalawa saddhatissa Others? Thanks. :anjali: They're all good. 1. --> more ethical theory. 2. --> buddhist responses to questions of ethics. 3. --> more traditional b...