Rather than clutter up the Great Rebirth Debate http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 703#p15703" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I've got some observations regarding the picking and choosing of the Buddha's teachings.
I've been recently studying MN117: "The Great Forty" http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in the last few weeks. In various talks both Bhikkhu Bodhi http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/about- ... ?showall=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and Ajahn Brahmali http://www.bswa.org/audio/podcast/SuttaStudy.rss.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; point out that the discussion of mundane and supermundane paths in that Sutta is directly from the Abhidhamma and those concepts don't appear in many (if any) other Suttas. So if one has the inclination to reject Abhidhamma and Commentaries and go for the "pure teachings of the Buddha" then, in fact, it's in those more abstract Suttas such as MN117 that one should be suspicious of.
Metta
Mike
Picking and choosing the teachings...
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Re: Picking and choosing the teachings...
I don't think we should pick and choose, but we should Look and see and decide for ourselves.
those today who are of the sutta and vinaya inclination and don't use the commentaries seam to miss that the translations of these works have been done with the use of the Commentaries and not entirely based on the sutta evidence.
cant reply anymore just about to leave for my retreat!
those today who are of the sutta and vinaya inclination and don't use the commentaries seam to miss that the translations of these works have been done with the use of the Commentaries and not entirely based on the sutta evidence.
cant reply anymore just about to leave for my retreat!
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
Re: Picking and choosing the teachings...
Yes, it's clear from reading footnotes that many Suttas would be difficult to translate without the Commentaries.Manapa wrote:I don't think we should pick and choose, but we should Look and see and decide for ourselves.
those today who are of the sutta and vinaya inclination and don't use the commentaries seam to miss that the translations of these works have been done with the use of the Commentaries and not entirely based on the sutta evidence.
My particular point here is that passages such as
appear to be referring to the Abhidhamma concepts of "path" as a supramundane citta."And what is the right view that is without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path? The discernment, the faculty of discernment, the strength of discernment, analysis of qualities as a factor for Awakening, the path factor of right view of one developing the noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind is free from effluents, who is fully possessed of the noble path. This is the right view that is without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hxo ... Q#PPA28,M1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Metta
Mike
Re: Picking and choosing the teachings...
Mucho MettaManapa wrote:cant reply anymore just about to leave for my retreat!
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
Re: Picking and choosing the teachings...
The thing is, when we do this, it looks an awful lot like picking and choosing.Manapa wrote:I don't think we should pick and choose, but we should Look and see and decide for ourselves.
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Re: Picking and choosing the teachings...
I "pick and choose" on the criterion of whether I understand what I'm reading!
If I don't have anyone on hand to explain things to me, I'd rather just leave it to one side until I'm more able to understand it.
It has happened to me in the past that I have tried to absorb the teachings of a particular sutta and it's just gone straight over my head.... but that coming back to it a while later, it's been more easy to understand....
If I don't have anyone on hand to explain things to me, I'd rather just leave it to one side until I'm more able to understand it.
It has happened to me in the past that I have tried to absorb the teachings of a particular sutta and it's just gone straight over my head.... but that coming back to it a while later, it's been more easy to understand....
"Samsara: The human condition's heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.
Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!
Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself.
I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?!
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Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!
Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself.
I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?!
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