Daily Dhamma Drops from Ceylon!

Friends:

Praise or Blame. Fame or Failure!

The Buddha said about BLAME:
This, Atula, is an ancient saying, yet timeless and thus relevant even today:
They blame the one, who talks much. They blame the one, who says little.
They even blame the silent one... No one in this world is never blamed!
Dhammapada 227



FACT
There never was, nor will there ever be, nor does there exist one now,
who is only praised or only blamed ....
Dhammapada 228



PRAISED
The one examined carefully by the wise, yet still praised as peerless,
wise, learned and genuinely good, like a ring of refined gold, who can
ever rightly blame such one? Even the divine and Brahma praise such one!
Dhammapada 229-30



Comments: The Buddha once asked his students, "And what is right speech?
Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle
chatter: This is called right speech." -SN 45.8

He also taught: "Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken,
not ill-spoken. It is blameless & faultless by knowledgeable people. Which five?
It is spoken at the right time. It is truth. It is kind. It is advantageous. And it
is spoken with a mind of good-will." -AN 5.198

In addition to right speech, the Exalted Master taught us to develop other
skilful qualities of intention, thoughts, words, and actions, in order to become
peerless, wise, learned, good, blameless, and praised. These are right view,
right motivation, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right awareness
and right concentration. Practicing in this way, we not only acquire peace for
ourselves, through admiration, we also improve society, and our reputation...

Other skilful qualities we can develop are present moment awareness,
conviction, persistence, understanding, and analysis as well as kind metta,
compassion, truly altruistic joy, equanimity, generosity, virtue, and patience.
The development, prolonging and maintenance of these skilful states of mind
not only benefit ourselves, they expand outward, like sweet rings in water!

When we meditate upon which of these qualities we need to develop and how
to go about increasing and sustaining them, we are rightly praised by all beings
EVEN THE DIVINE, and are able to gradually approach the pure, tranquil,
and entirely stilled state, NIBBANA! As pure as gold!

More on Right Speech (Samma-Vaca):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-vaca.html
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Truth_Triumphs.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/What_to_Say.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Not_Splitting.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Not_Scolding.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Not_Gossiping.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Not_Deceiving.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/What_is_Right_Speech.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Fourfold_Right_Speech.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Optimal_Observance_IV.htm



With Metta, Jonathan

Pure as GOLD!

Friends:

The Ten Mental Liberators Frees!



Venerable Sariputta once explained:
1: The experience of deep disgust.
2: The experience of death approaching.
3: The experience of disliking whatever food.
4: The experience of dispassion with the entire world.
5: The experience of the inevitable impermanence.
6: The experience of frustration inherent in decay.
7: The experience of the impersonality of existence.
8: The experience of letting go and leaving all behind.
9: The experience of disinterested, & detached disillusion.
10: The experience of calming, stilling, ceasing, and ending.



These 10 perceptions are real, true, exactly so and not otherwise,
perfectly realized, comprehended and formulated by the Buddha!
They cool all craving, relinquish all clinging, and still all urge...
They are therefore to be remembered, recited and reflected over
repeatedly.. When made arise, they release mind into Bliss and Peace!

More on Liberation (Vimokkha) via directed Perception (Sañña):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Liberation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_10_Experiences.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Danger.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Disgust.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Ceasing.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Elimination.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Egolessness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Creation_versus_Liberation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Fading_Away.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Impermanence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Disappointment.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Universal_Transience.htm



Source: The Exhaustive Speeches of the Buddha. Digha Nikaya 34
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=25103
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/digha/index.html

Liberating Rescue!

Hey Friend: Refine your Mind!

Every friend is an extension of me. Every friend has taught me what I am.
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who cared me, loved me,
and gave me a warm experience of the feeling of love?
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who made me feel that I am
so beautiful, and given me the feeling of being on the top of the world?
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who has given me the knowledge
and helped me to stand in front of the world with the feeling of security.
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who went away from me and
gave me the experience of detachment from loved ones and loneliness?
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who cheated me and thereby
gave me the experience of the feelings of hate and anger?
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who left me and found another
friend and thereby gave me experience of jealousy?
How can I not be thankful to those friends, who put me down and made me
inferior by showing my weakness, giving me the experience of deprivation?
How can I not be thankful to ALL those friends, who just made me think
that my mind is in the control of others and nothing is in my own control?
One day I sat in the corner of my room, thinking and thinking, looking here
and there, and then saw what: A glance at a book of Buddha!



How can I not be thankful towards the Buddha who explained me compassion.
My dear friend, destroy these mental seeds of those feelings that control your mind.
Why don’t you try to destroy these mental seeds of hate?
Why don’t you try to destroy these mental seeds of anger?
Why don’t you try to destroy these mental seeds of jealousy?
Why don’t you try to destroy these mental seeds of greed?
Why don’t you try to destroy these mental seeds of laziness?
Why don’t you try to destroy these mental seeds of clinging?



These emotions are very harmful to your mind…
Reform your mind my dear friend!
Dhamma will teach you, how to reform nothing other than your mind!



Poem by: Deepali Nandeshwar deepsee30@gmail.com



Wonderful it is to train the mind,
so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants.
Good is it to have a well-trained mind,
for a well-trained mind brings happiness.
Dhammapada 35

More on Friendliness (Metta):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Metta.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Calm_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Loving-Kindness.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Unbounded_Mind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Cosmic_Goodness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Genuine_Goodwill.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_Friendliness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Grace_of_Goodwill.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/All_Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Buddha_on_Noble_Frienship.htm

Hey Friend!

Friends:

Seeking Delight inherently Creates Craving!

At Savatthi the Buddha once said: Friends, any who seeks delight in form
seeks delight in suffering. I tell you, anyone seeking delight in suffering,
is not freed from suffering. Anyone who seeks delight in feeling, or seeks
delight in perception, or seeks delight in mental constructions, or seeks
delight in consciousness, indeed thereby also seeks delight in suffering...
One who seeks delight in suffering cannot be liberated from suffering...!
Anyone who does not seek any delight, neither in form, nor in feeling, nor
in perception, nor in mental constructions, nor in consciousness, does not
seek delight in any suffering! Anyone who does not seek any delight in any
form of suffering, is therefore and thereby released from all suffering...!


"Garden of Earthly Delight" by Hieronymus Bosch. (1450-1516)

Comments:
Delight is a mixed state of craving camouflaged by the joy of satisfaction.
However, in the end, all craving will create suffering either sooner or later.
Seeking delight is therefore - ultimately speaking - creating suffering...
All beings in the sense-world (kama-loka) are devoured by their own delight...
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Devoured_by_Delight.htm



Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya 22(29) [III 31]
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Seeking Delight!

Friends:

Withdrawal is the 3rd Mental Perfection:

Withdrawal is Removal of Misery
Withdrawal is Extraction of Disease.
Withdrawal is Pulling out the splinter of Pain.
Withdrawal is Retraction from Danger.
Withdrawal is Renunciation of Ill.
Withdrawal is Letting Go of what is Burning.
Withdrawal is Turning Away from what is Sorrow.
Withdrawal is Seclusion from what is Grief.
Withdrawal is Clearing of Captivating Illusions.
Withdrawal is Waking Up from Enthralling Trance.
Withdrawal is Freedom from Enslaving Addiction.
Withdrawal is Protection from what is Entrapping.
Withdrawal is Giving Up what is Detrimental.
Withdrawal is Discharge of what is Infested.
Withdrawal is Breaking out of the Prison.
Withdrawal is Release from all Suffering...


"Back to Nature" by Robert Storm Petersen. (1882 – 1949)

The Withdrawn, as the man newly freed from prison
does not at all wish himself back in prison!
The Basket of Conduct, Cariyapitaka

Infatuated with lust, impassioned and obsessed,
they are caught in their own self-created net,
like a spider, which spins it's own web!
Cutting through, the Noble Friend withdraw and go free,
Without longing, without greed, leaving all misery behind.
Dhammapada 347



The Bodhisatta as the King Culasutasoma gave up his whole kingdom.
Knowing withdrawal to be an advantageous victory, he remembered:
A mighty kingdom I possessed, as if it was dropped into my hands...
Yet all this tantalizing luxury, I let fall and go without any even slight
trace of longing or clinging. This was my perfection of Withdrawal...
Jataka no. 525

Lust, I say, is a great flood, a whirlpool sucking one down,
a constant yearning, seeking a hold, continually active, and
difficult to cross is such morass of sense and sensual desire...
A sage does not deviate from the good, but remains steady!
A recluse stands on firm ground, when solitarily secluded:
When withdrawn from all, truly he is calmed and silenced!
Having directly touched the Dhamma, he is independent!
He behaves right and does not envy anyone anywhere...
He who has left behind all pleasure arised from sensing,
an attachment difficult to cut, is freed of both depression and
longing, since he has cut across this great flood, and is released.
Sutta Nipata IV.15



Any being, that cools down all desires and greedy lusts,
by being alert and ever aware of the inherent danger,
by directing attention only to the disgusting aspects of
all phenomena, such one withdraw from all craving and
thereby wears down and breaks the bars of the inner prison.
Dhammapada 350

If one gains an infinite ease by leaving a minor pleasure,
the clever one would swap the luminous for what is a trifling
sense delight, by withdrawing from this trivial banal boredom.
Dhammapada 290

The one who has reached the sublime end all perfected,
is fearless, freed of craving, desireless and detached..
Such one has broken the chains of being and is certainly
withdrawing into the final phase, wearing his last frame...
Dhammapada 351



Prince Siddhattha Gotama reflected thus:
"Why do I, being subject to birth, decay, disease, death, sorrow and
defilement, thus search after things of the same nature. What if I,
who am subject to things of such nature, realize their disadvantages
and seek the unattained and unsurpassed, perfect security: Nibbana!"

"Cramped and confined is the household life, a den of dust, but the life
of the homeless is in the free open air of heaven! Hard is it for him who
abides at home to live the Holy Life as it should be lived, in all its true
perfection, and in all its purity."
"The household life is a cramped way, choked with dust. To leave it, is
like coming out into the free space of open air! It is not easy for one,
who lives at home, to live the Noble life completely perfect and pure,
bright as mother-of-pearl. Surely I will now shave off my hair and go
forth into homelessness."



Only Misery Arises.
Only Misery Ceases.
Nothing good is thus lost
by withdrawing from it all...

Nothing is Worth Clinging to!

More of the 10 mental perfections (paramis) and Withdrawal (Nekkhamma)
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Ten_Perfections.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Levels_of_Leaving_Behind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Withdrawn_and_Accomplished.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Withdrawal Wins!

Friends:

Without Ego, Friendship can even be Infinite:

The Blessed Buddha said of this beautiful Friendship (Kalyanamittata):
By this following method, Ananda, it may be understood how the entire
Holy & Noble Life is sole good friendship, good companionship, and good
comradeship: By relying upon me as a good friend, Ananda, beings subject
to birth are freed from birth, ageing beings are freed from their ageing,
beings subject to disease are freed from illness, beings subject to death
are freed from death, beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, and
desperate despair are freed from this grief, pain, frustration and misery!
Therefore, Ananda it may be emphasized, how this entire Noble Life is all
based on good friendship, beautiful amity, and benevolent harmony...



Comments:
Selfless friendship is the most deep, genuine, sincere and sweet!
Why so? It is not limited or tainted by any egoistic self-interest,
which otherwise interferes, as soon as an assumed 'self' suspects
even minor overstepping of it's perceived territorial 'my' domain..
If there is no self present, how can it ever be possessive? ")

The Blessed Buddha often emphasized: Sabbe Dhamma Anatta...
All states are selfless, egoless, ownerless, & void of any core "I"-dentity!



More on this very best good within beautiful friendship (Kalyanamittata):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Buddha_on_Noble_Frienship.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Selfless_Friendship_is_Sweetest.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/All_Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Infinite_Friendliness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_Friendliness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/United_in_Harmony.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Good_Friend.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Goodwill_Encore.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Good-Will_Again.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Bon_Benevolence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_&_Bright.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Good_Friendship.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Friendliness_Frees.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Unique_Unity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kalyanamitta.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Metta.htm

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya 3(18): [I 88]
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice, noble & friendly day!

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

Friendship is the Greatest!

Friends:

The 3 Universal Characteristics are Absolute:

All form is unstable, falling apart, transient and inevitably vanishing!
Therefore is all form fragile, frustrating, and ultimately disappointing!
Therefore is all form ownerless, neither what I am, nor mine or self!

All feeling is unsteady, disintegrating, temporary and just fading away!
Therefore is all feeling feeble, annoying, and really a painful suffering!
Therefore is all feeling unkeepable, alien, not-me-nor-mine-nor-any-self!

All perception is fickle, collapsing, transitory and quickly disappearing!
Therefore is all perception frail, bothering, and never quite enough!
Therefore is all perception foreign, strange, not-me-nor-mine-nor-self!

All construction is insecure, subsiding, ephemeral and always leaving!
Therefore is all construction brittle, irksome, and invariably inadequate!
Therefore is all construction impersonal and not-me-nor-mine-nor-self!

All consciousness is momentary, fleeting, passing, evanescent and lost!
Therefore is all consciousness insubstantial, tedious, and quite miserable!
Therefore is all consciousness egoless, alien and neither-me-nor-I-nor-self!

Thus seeing, thus knowing, thus assured, and clearly comprehending, but
shattered, and disgusted, yet still calm, cool and collected, one gradually
stops taking up and accumulating these things, since only fools pick up pain!
One instead Relinquishes! This -only and exactly this release by letting go-
is the liberating escape from all suffering, be it past, future or present!



The Blessed Buddha said:

Whether Perfect Ones appear in the world, or whether Perfect Ones do not
appear in the world, this still remains the same condition, an immutable fact,
and a fixed regular nature-law: That all constructions are impermanent, that
all constructions are subject to suffering, that everything is without a self...
Anguttara Nikaya III 134

Constructions are all impermanent:
When he sees thus with understanding
And turns away from what is ill,
Then that is the path to mental purity.
Constructions are all suffering:
When he sees thus with understanding
And turns away from what is sick,
Then this is the path to mental purity.
All states are all without a same self:
When he sees thus with understanding
And turns away from what is illusory,
This is verily the path to mental purity.
Dhammapada 277-79



Regarding these 3 general characteristics or signs (Ti-lakkhana) see also:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_3_Universal_Characteristics.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/ti_lakkhana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Anything_Whatsoever.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

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

The 3 Ultimate Facts!

Friends:

The Three Undeniable Global Properties:



Q: Is the body and all external form, lasting or transient? A: Transient
Q: Is feeling, pleasant or not, lasting or transient? A: Transient!
Q: Is experienced perceptions lasting or transient? A: Transient!
Q: Is the mental constructions lasting or transient? A: Transient!
Q: Is naked awareness = consciousness lasting or transient? A: Transient!
Q: Is the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind, lasting or transient?
Q: Is form, sound, smell, taste, touch and thought, lasting or transient?
Q: Is solidity, fluidity, heat, motion, and space, lasting or transient?
Answer: All these are Transient!, Impermanent!, Temporary!, Fleeting!



Q: Is what is transient, happiness or suffering? A: Decay is Suffering!
Q: Is what is transient, ever changing and therefore frustrating pain
suitable to be regarded as: "This is Mine, This I Am, This is Me"
"This I can Keep, This I can control, This I Posses, This is my Self" ... ???
Answer: No certainly Not ...!!!, since what is self must be keepable, same,
constant, controllable, under one's own full power, and thus pleasant...
As all these phenomena are none of this, they cannot ever be self!



Seeing this, understanding this, comprehending this, the Noble Learner is
disgusted by all form, disgusted by all sensing, by all physical, by all mental.
Being thus disgusted, one experiences an opening disillusion... The veil is off.
Without illusions, the mind is fully released and one immediately knows:
This mental liberation is final and irreversible. This - exactly this state -
is called Nibbana, experienced is this very life ...



Regarding these 3 general characteristics or signs (Ti-lakkhana) see also:
http://what-buddha-said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/ti_lakkhana.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Anything_Whatsoever.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_3_Ultimate_Facts.htm


Life always involves Suffering and is inevitably Sorrowful!

Source:
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya II 244-5
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice, noble and realistic day!

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

The 3 Signs...

Friends:

What are the 5 Primary Categories of Being?



I: There is the Cluster of Clinging to Material Form (Rupa):
Form or materiality is composed of these 4 Primary Elements:
1: Solidity based microscopically on the force of extension.
2: Fluidity based microscopically on the force of cohesion.
3: Heat based microscopically on the property of vibration.
4: Motion based microscopically on the property of energy.
From these 4 can be derived all other formed phenomena...
Form (Rupa) in Buddhism is a quality, but not a substance...
Whatever there are of formed things, whether past, present
or future, internal or external, fine or gross, high or low,
far or near, all these belong to this form group. Desire, lust
craving and clinging to that, is the cluster of clinging to form!

II: There is the Cluster of Clinging to Mental Feeling (Vedana):
There are these five kinds of Feeling:
1: Bodily pleasant feeling and 2: Bodily painful feeling.
3: Mentally glad feeling and 4: Mentally sad feeling. And finally:
5: Indifferent feeling = Neither painful, pleasant, sad, nor glad.
Feeling is born as effect of eye contact, or ear contact, or nose
contact, or tongue contact, or body contact, or mental contact...
Whatever there is of feeling, whether past, present or future,
internal or external, fine or gross, high or low, far or near, all
that belongs to this feeling group. Desire, lust, craving for, and
clinging to these reactions, is the cluster of clinging to feeling!

III: There is the Cluster of Clinging to Mental Perception (Sañña):
There are these six kinds of Perception:
1: Visual perception of form and color. 2: Auditory perception of sound.
3: Olfactory perception of smell. 4: Gustatory perception of taste.
5: Tactile perception of touch. 6: Mental perception of ideas and states.
Whatever there is of perception, whether past, present or future,
internal or external, fine or gross, high or low, far or near, all that
belongs to this perception group. Desire, lust, craving for and clinging to
these perceived experiences, is the cluster of clinging to perception!

IV: There is the Cluster of Clinging to Mental Construction (Sankhara):
There are six kinds of mental construction dealing with visual objects,
or hearable objects, or smellable, or tastable, or touchable objects, or
thinkable objects. Whatever there is of mental construction, whether past,
present or future, internal or external, fine or gross, high or low, far or
near, all that belongs to this mental construction group. Desire, craving for
and clinging to these objectives, is the cluster of clinging to construction!
Wanting to see some special form is the mental construction of intention...

V: There is the Cluster of Clinging to Consciousness (Viññana):
There are six kinds of consciousness:
1: The Visual Consciousness of seeing. 2: The Auditory Consciousness of hearing.
3: Olfactory Consciousness of smelling. 4: Gustatory Consciousness of tasting.
5: Tactile Consciousness of touching. 6: The Mental Consciousness of thinking.
Whatever there is of consciousness, whether past, present or future, internal
or external, fine or gross, high or low, far or near, all that belongs to this very
consciousness group. Desire, craving for and clinging to this aware recognition,
is the cluster of clinging to consciousness!



The Blessed Buddha said:
Recluses and priests, who knows the causation, the ceasing, and the way leading
to the ceasing of these five clusters of clinging, who are practicing for disgust
towards these, for their fading away and dissolution, they are practicing well!
They are later released and well liberated through this very non-clinging...
Those who are well liberated are consummate ones, completed ones...
There is no way of describing such utterly perfected ones...

There is nothing in this or any Universe apart from these 5 Clusters of Clinging...

More on these 5 Clusters of Clinging (Khandha):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Any_Kind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Not_Yours.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Leash.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Like_Foam.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/House_on_Fire.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Fingernail_of_Soil.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Acquisition_of_Fuel.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Clustered_Truths.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Burning_Five.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Burden_and_Prison.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Breaking_the_Bonds.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Stilling_of_Clinging.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/khandha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_5_Clusters_of_Clinging.htm


If Clinging: How can one ever be Free?
If Not Free: How can one ever be Happy?

Source: The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya XXII (56); [III 59-61]
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507 A Vast Ocean of True Dhamma Teaching!
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/samyutta/index.html#Khandha On these Clusters!

Have a nice, noble and relinquished day!

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

The 5 Clusters!

Friends:

Transcendence from Ignorance to Nibbâna!



Buddha once explained the entire chain of causes leading to Nibbana:
Ignorance is the proximate cause of mental construction.
Mental construction is the proximate cause of consciousness.
Consciousness is the proximate cause of name-&-form.
Name-&-form is the proximate cause of the 6 senses.
The 6 senses is the proximate cause of contact.
Contact is the proximate cause of feeling.
Feeling is the proximate cause of craving.
Craving is the proximate cause of clinging.
Clinging is the proximate cause of becoming.
Becoming is the proximate cause of birth.
Birth is the proximate cause of ageing, decay and death.
Ageing, decay and death is the proximate cause suffering.
Suffering is the proximate cause of faith.
Faith is the proximate cause of elation.
Elation is the proximate cause of joy.
Joy is the proximate cause of calmness.
Calmness is the proximate cause of happiness.
Happiness is the proximate cause of concentration.
Concentration is the proximate cause of seeing and knowing reality.
Seeing and knowing reality is the proximate cause of disgust.
Disgust is the proximate cause of disillusion.
Disillusion is the proximate cause of mental release.
Mental release is the proximate cause of ending all mental fermentation
linked with ignorance, associated with becoming, and caused by sensing.
Ending all mental fermentation is the proximate cause of Freedom..
Ending all mental fermentation is the proximate cause of Peace..
Ending all mental fermentation is the proximate cause of Bliss..
This - only this - is Nibbana ...


The Butterfly Effect => A Storm! 1 Cause => Many Effects!

More on this uncreated state - Nibbana (Sanskrit = Nirvana):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Peace.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Final_Freedom.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/climax_of_calm.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Reaching_Peace.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_2_Nibbanas.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/What_is_Nibbana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Nibbana_or_non-return.htm


Multi-factorial are Phenomena: Caused by many factors...

On Causality as general principle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Caused_by_What.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Causes_of_Emergence.htm

Source: The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya II 29-32
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Causality!

Friends:

Sliced by Praise, Fame, Name, Gain and Honour:



At Savatthi the blessed Buddha said: Friends, horrible are gain, honour,
fame, name and praise! As if they cut through the outer skin, then through
the inner skin, then through the flesh, then through the sinews, then right
through to the bone! Having cut through the bone, they reach the marrow
itself. So terrible indeed friends, are gain, honour, fame, name and praise...
They are as if splattering pig bile over a mad dogs nose, bitter, vile, wicked,
tricky, obstructive to achieving this incomparable security from domination!
Friends, I have known of a certain person here whose mind I penetrated with
my own mind and have thereby realized: This venerable one would not tell a
deliberate lie even for the sake of his own life! Yet, sometime later, I see him
telling a deliberate lie, because his mind was overwhelmed & obsessed by gain,
honour, fame, name & praise... So destructive, friends, are gain, honour, fame,
name and praise, so bitter, so vile and blocking any achievement of matchless
security from bondage. Therefore, friends, you should train yourselves thus:
"We will leave behind any arisen gain, honour, fame, name & praise and we will
not let the arisen gain, honour, fame, name and praise remain obsessing or
consuming our minds Thus should you train yourselves...!!!"



Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya II 238
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html



Have a nice & noble day!

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

Cut down by Name and Fame!

Friends:

The 3 Jewels of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha:



Worthy, honourable and perfectly self-Enlightened is the Buddha!
Consummated in knowledge and behaviour, totally transcended,
expert in all dimensions, knower of all worlds, unsurpassable trainer
of those who can be tamed, both teacher and guide of gods as well as of
humans, blessed, exalted, awakened and enlightened is the Buddha!

Perfectly formulated is this Buddha-Dhamma, visible right here and now,
immediately effective, timeless, inviting each and everyone to come and
see for themselves, inspect, examine and verify. Leading each & everyone
through progress towards perfection. Directly observable, experiencable
and realizable by each intelligence...

Perfectly training is the Noble Sangha community of Buddha's disciples;
training the right way, the true way, the good way, and the direct way!
Therefore do these 8 kinds of individuals, the 4 Noble pairs, deserve both
gifts, self-sacrifice, offerings, hospitality and reverential salutation with
joined palms, since this Noble Sangha community of the Buddha's Noble
disciples, is an unsurpassable and forever unsurpassed field of merit, in
this world, for this world, to honour, respect, support and protect...



Repeating this verbal device daily induces growth of faith, confidence and
conviction, which is the initiating spiritual ability... By thorough examination
this matures into the ability to understand! Just like a razor blade which
can be sharpened on a mirror... Faith emanates from the heart!!!

More on these 3 Jewels - the Trinity- in Buddhism:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/ti_ratana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/buddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/b_f/dhamma.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/sangha.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Jewels

Have a nice & noble day!

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

The 3 Jewels!

Friends:

The Seven Latent Tendencies (Anusaya):



1: The Latent Tendency to Sense-Desire.
2: The Latent Tendency to Aversion and Anger.
3: The Latent Tendency to Skeptical Doubt.
4: The Latent Tendency to Speculative Views.
5: The Latent Tendency to the Conceit "I am".
6: The Latent Tendency to Craving for Becoming.
7: The Latent Tendency to Blind Ignorance.

These are inherently deeply imbedded, hidden in the core of the mind,
where these subtle tendencies ever again exert their harmful influence
over our thoughts, speech & behaviour. Biased by such corrupt inclinations,
any intention to act will produce detrimental and painful future results...
The only tool capable of overcoming and extracting them is this quite
Noble Eightfold Way: The Ariya Magga:

1. Right View (samma-ditthi)
2. Right Motivation (samma-sankappa)
3. Right Speech (samma-vaca)
4. Right Action (samma-kammanta)
5. Right Livelihood (samma-ajiva)
6. Right Effort (samma-vayama)
7. Right Awareness (samma-sati)
8. Right Concentration (samma-samadhi)



More on the Latent Tendencies (Anusaya):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Conceit_I_Am.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Latent_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/anusaya.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_7_Latent_Tendencies.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Bodily_and_Mental_Feeling.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

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

The 7 Latent Tendencies...

Friends:

The Twin Truths won by Dual Consideration:

The blessed Buddha once said:
Friends, the first consideration is:
Whatever Suffering arises, all that is caused by Mental Construction!
The consequent second consideration is:
Stilling of all Mental Construction thereby ceases all Suffering completely!



Knowing this danger: - All Suffering is caused by Mental Construction -,
by silencing all experience, sensation and feeling, the wise escape all Pain!
Considering these twin truths cautiously, resolutely and enthusiastically,
one may either enter the state of Nibbana right here and now in this life,
or if there is remaining traces of clinging left, the state of a non-returner.
Those who neglect understanding of mental construction, the origin of
mental construction, the end of mental construction, and how mental
construction is eliminated, are incapable of release by understanding,
are incapable of mental release, are incapable of direct knowledge, and
are thereby incapable of making an end...They repeat birth, ageing, decay,
sickness and death ever again... While those who undertake understanding
of mental construction, Origin, End and Way, indeed are capable of mental
release by understanding, sure certainty, and capable of making an end...
They are near the deathless dimension!

More on Mental Construction (Sankhara):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/DPPN/wtb/s_t/sankhaara.htm



Source: The Bundle of Threads. The Sutta-Nipata 724-765
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/khuddaka/suttaNipata/index.html
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=201818

Have a nice & noble day!

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

The Twin Truths!

Friends:

Honest Truth is the 7th Mental Perfection:



Honesty is Trust
Honesty is Truthful
Honesty is Guarantee
Honesty is Confidence
Honesty is Consistence
Honesty is Convincing
Honesty is Certainty
Honesty is Credibility
Honesty is Reliability
Honesty is Authenticity
Honesty is Integrity
Honesty is Accuracy
Honesty is Commitment
Honesty is Sincerity
Honesty is Security
Honesty is Reality
Honesty is a Must!



Honesty characteristically never deceives, it's function is to verify what
is actual and factual. Honesty's manifestation is sheer excellence...
Sincere and exact truthfulness is the proximate cause of honesty!
All evil states and crimes converge upon transgression of Truth...
Devotion to Truth is the only reliable foundation of all Nobility!

Like The Buddha demand of your own mind:
You have to give me an honest answer, understand! I won't accept anything
phony. And once you've answered, you have to stick to that very answer and
not slide or glide around. Don't be a traitor to yourself! Be sober & straight!
Therefore: Accept now this 4th training rule of avoiding all false speech!



If one is not true to the Buddha's teachings, the Buddha's teachings will
not be true to oneself, either! That Dhamma, which is used as a costume,
surface, uniform or alibi, does not bear fruit, as it's intention is not true!
True Honesty, however, makes you quite worthy of respect!

If one is painstakingly honest towards oneself, one thereby also becomes
meticulously honest towards others. If one on the contrary deceives oneself,
believing own lies, one automatically also deceives others, betraying them.
Honesty, however, always makes you quite worthy of respect...



Make an island of yourself, be your own light and illumination,
make yourself your only safe haven; there is no other protection.
Make Truth your only island, make Truth your sole refuge;
Make Truth your only lamp; there is no other luminosity.
Digha Nikaya, 16

The straight person, self-controlled, keeping precepts,
open and honest, is both worthy and fit for the yellow robe.
The hiding person, imposting, immoral, keeping secrets,
not honest, is neither worthy, nor fit for the yellow robe.
Dhammapada 9+10



Overcome the furious by friendship.
Overcome the evil one by goodness.
Overcome the miser by generosity;
Overcome the liar by truth.
Dhammapada 223

The one who destroys life;
The one who speaks false;
The one who takes what is not given;
The one who mates with another's partner;
The one who is addicted to drugs or alcohol;
Such one - even in this world - digs up his own root!
Dhammapada 246-47

They who falsely declare: "That happened" about what did not happen, or:
"I did not do that" about what they actually did, they earn themselves a
ticket to grilling in Hell.
Dhammapada 306



When the Blessed One heard about the king’s spies, who for money stole
information from others, he explained: One should not take just any job.
One should not be another’s man. One should not depend on any other.
One should not sell the truth for money…
Udana VI-2

The Bodhisatta was once caught by a man-eater, which sat him free on the
condition that he returned the next day. He kept his word and did so...
Much later remembered: Protecting this way of truth, having given up my
life and kingdom, I thereby set free 100 captured nobles, as the man-eater
lost his nerve. In honesty I thereby reached the ultimate perfection!
Mahasutasoma-Jataka no. 537



More of the 10 mental perfections (paramis):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Ten_Perfections.htm

Have a nice, honest and noble day!

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

Truth always Triumphs!

Friends:

Understanding is the 4th Mental Perfection:



Understanding penetrates, illuminates and guides right.
Concentration is the proximate cause of Understanding.
Understanding is the very manifestation of Concentration.
Understanding is the proximate cause of Equanimity.
Only understanding comprehends the meaning and essence.
Understanding purifies all the other mental perfections:
Energy acquires right purpose only, when guided by Understanding.
Only fortified by Understanding, is determination unshakeable.
Only Understanding can patiently tolerate other beings abuse.
Only Understanding induces indifference towards gain and loss.
Only Understanding can secure both own and other's welfare.



The Blessed Buddha said:
Just as red sandalwood is reckoned as the best of all scented woods, even
and exactly so is the ability to understand reckoned the supreme among all
the 7 mental qualities, that are the links to self-awakening, by leading to
enlightenment.
SN V 48-55 Indriya-samyutta

And of what kind, friends, is this evaluating ability of Understanding ?
In this, friends, The Noble learner is possessed of direct knowledge about
the arising and ceasing of all phenomena, which is a Noble insight, a fully
penetrating and ultimate understanding, that gradually realizes and leads
to the utter elimination of all Suffering...
The learner (sekha) understands, as it really is: Thus is Suffering.
The learner understands, as it really is: Thus is the Cause of Suffering.
The learner understands, as it really is: Thus is the End of Suffering.
The learner understands, as it really is: Thus is the Way to end Suffering.
This, friends, is the discriminating ability of Understanding ...
SN V 48-10 Indriya-samyutta



Of minor importance, is the loss of family and wealth...
Catastrophic among losses is the loss of Understanding.
Of minor consequence, is the increase of family and wealth.
Supreme among all the gains is the increase of comprehension...
Therefore, friends, you must train yourself to win that!
AN I 14-5

When the Noble friend avoids ignorant persons, but instead cultivates,
frequents and honors persons who comprehend, teach and review the
effects of profound knowledge, then is the ability to understand refined
in these three aspects... When the Noble friend is thus leaving ignorance all
behind, there is development of the ability to Understand. When the Noble
friend is developing the ability to understand, then ignorance is left behind.
Thus mutual is this enhancement.
The Path of Discrimination



A learned man, who due to his great understanding, despises those of little
learning, is like a blind man walking around with a lamp in his high hand...
Theragatha 1026

Happy indeed are those possessing nothing...
Those who have won Understanding, clings to nothing.
While those attached to family, friends and property,
both possessed and obsessed, are as tied to torture... !!!
Udana II 6



What sort of person is released by Understanding (Panna-Vimutti) ?
Here a person without experiencing all the 8 stages of absorption, anyway
eliminates all mental fermentations completely, after having perceived them
through insight. Such person is said to be released by Understanding.
Designation of Human Types 31

Buddha once said:
Just as the great Ocean slopes down gradually, deepens gradually, inclines
gradually, and not abruptly like an abyss, even so Paharada, is this teaching
and discipline: a gradual training (anupubba-sikkha), a gradual practice
(anupubba-kiriya), and a gradual progress (anupubba-patipada);
One does not suddenly penetrate to this highest Understanding...
Anguttara Nikaya II 47

Asking Questions logically leads to Understanding:
As a Bhikkhu walking for alms beg from both low, middle and high folks,
if one search and ask both slightly, moderately and highly wise teachers,
then the insight of the Buddhas shall come to shine inside the mind!
The Basket of Conduct, Cariyapitaka



More of the 10 mental perfections (paramis):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Ten_Perfections.htm

More on the supreme Understanding Ability:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Freed_by_Knowing.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Chief_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/n_r/pannaa.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Right_Understanding.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Understanding_is_the_Chief.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Supreme_Understanding.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Revealing_Understanding.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Understanding_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Outstanding_Understanding.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Understanding is the Chief!

Friends:

What are the 10 Advantageous Anti-Actions?

1: No killing or harming is Advantageous.
2: No stealing or cheating is Advantageous.
3: No adultery or abuse is Advantageous.
4: No false speech is Advantageous.
5: No divisive speech is Advantageous.
6: No angry speech is Advantageous.
7: No empty gossip is Advantageous.
8: No jealousy or envy is Advantageous.
9: No angry ill will is Advantageous.
10: No wrong view is Advantageous!



Comments:
Resisting and abstaining from, and avoiding doing something wrong, is
actually actively doing something very good! Such good action is quite
advantageous, since it results in the sweet fruit of a pleasant future!

More on what is Advantageous (Kusala):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Advantageous2.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/kusala.htm

Have a nice, noble and advantageous day!

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

Advantageous Anti-Actions!

Friends:

What is this crucial Right View?

The Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View
Right Motivation
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Awareness
Right Concentration
But what is Right View?

Right View of Ownership of Kamma:
All beings are owners of their kamma, inherit their kamma,
are born of their kamma, are created by their kamma, are
linked to their kamma and any intentional action (=kamma)
they do, whether good or bad, the effects of that will be
theirs only, following them like a shadow, that never leaves...
This is Right View!



Right View of the Ten Phenomena:
Giving alms has good effects, any self-sacrifice results in pleasure,
small gifts are also beneficial. There is resulting fruition thus of any
good and any bad behaviour. There is moral efficacy of any relation
to mother and father. There is this world and there are other worlds.
There are beings who are spontaneously and instantaneously born.
There exist good and pure recluses and priests in this world, who
having followed the right method of practice, themselves by their
own supra-human abilities, have directly experienced the other worlds
and who explain them and thereby make them known here...
This is Right View!



Right View of the Four Noble Truths:
Right view of this is Suffering...
Right view of Craving is the Cause of Suffering...
Right view of No Craving is the End of Suffering...
Right view of the Noble 8-fold Way leads to the end of Suffering...
This is Right View!



More on Right View (Samma-ditthi):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/magga.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Advanced_Right_View.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Certain_Rightness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Sun.htm

Further study:
Majjhima Nikaya 9. Samma-ditthi Sutta: The Discourse on Right View:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn009.html

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Right View...

Friends:

What is this vital Right Motivation?



The Noble 8-fold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View
Right Motivation
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Awareness
Right Concentration
But what is Right Motivation?

Right Motivation is Triple:

1: The Motivation for Withdrawal:
Being motivated by a general absence of greed, craving, and desire!
Being motivated by generous giving relinquishing all possessiveness.
Being motivated by detachment from the five sense-desires of urge
for alluring and tempting sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches...
Being motivated by cutting attachment to the 5 clusters of clinging
to forms, feelings, perceptions, constructions and consciousness...
Such radical renunciation is Right Motivation!

2: The Motivation for Non-Ill-Will = Friendly Goodwill:
Being motivated by universal friendliness, infinite goodwill, care,
non-anger, hatelessness and a sympathy wishing and working for all
sentient being's happiness, content, comfort, benefit and welfare...
Such gentle kindness is Right Motivation!

3: The Motivation for Non-Violence = Harmlessness:
Being motivated by absolute non-violence, absence of cruelty, and by
compassionate pity, thereby offering all sentient beings guaranteed
safety and protection from any evil, painful, bad or wrong treatment...
Such giving of protective fearlessness to all is Right Motivation!

The opposites of these advantageous intentions are Wrong Motivation...

http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Pics/buddhists_praying.jpg

More on Right Motivation (Samma-Sankappa):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Sincere_Motivation.htm



Further study:
Majjhima Nikaya 117. Maha-cattarisaka Sutta: The Discourse on The Great Forty:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn117.html



Have a nice & noble day!

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

Right Motivation!

Friends:

What is this essential Right Action?

The Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Awareness and
Right Concentration. But what is Right Action?

The 3-fold Definition of Right Action:
1: Avoiding all killing and harming of any living being...
2: Abstaining from taking and thus stealing what is not given...
3: Stopping all adultery and all abuse of any sense-pleasure...
That is Right Action!



The Characterization of Right Action. The blessed Buddha said:

Friends, it is caused by behaviour in conflict with the Dhamma,
by reason of immoral behaviour, that some beings here, right at
the breakup of the body, after death, reappear lost in states of
pain, in an unhappy destination, in the downfall, even in the hells...
It is caused by behaviour in harmony with the Dhamma, by reason
of moral behaviour, that some beings here, on the breakup of the
body, right after death, reappear in a happy destination, even in
the divine worlds!!! And which, friends, are the 3 kinds of bodily
moral behaviour in harmony with the Dhamma?
Here someone, stop all killing of living beings, abstains from injuring
living beings; with rod & weapon laid aside, gentle and kind, such one
dwells sympathetic towards all living beings.
Avoiding the taking of what is not given, one refrains from stealing,
what is not freely give. One does not take by way of theft the wealth
and property of others, neither in the village nor in the forest.
Abandoning abuse of sensual pleasures, such one gives up misuse in
sensual pleasures. One does not have intercourse with partners, who
are protected by their mother, or father, or mother and father, or
brother, or sister, or relatives, who is married, betrothed to another,
who are protected by law, in prison, or who are engaged to other side.
That is how there are three kinds of bodily moral behaviour in harmony
with the Dhamma... Such is Right Action!



Explanation:
Primary of these is the ending of intentional killing or destroying of
other beings either by physical action or by verbal incitement, ranging
from killing eggs of lice and bugs, or causing abortion, to any slaughter
of living creatures, including human beings.
Restraint from taking, what is not given, means abstaining from taking,
with intention to steal, living beings or non-living articles, which have
an owner. Removing or appropriating them, without owner's consent,
either by physical effort or by inciting another to do so.
Restraint from wrong behaviour in sensual pleasures means abstention
from any kind of sex, which will cause pain and suffering to others.
Examples will be adultery, since this causes the disruption of marriage,
rape, intercourse with minors protected by parents, and perversion of
others. Included here also are abstention from use of booze, drugs
and any kinds of intoxicants, which causes carelessness, and gambling
with cards, dices, on horses, teams etc.

Knowing right and wrong action as right and wrong action, is right view.
Awareness of presence of right and wrong action, is right awareness.
Exchanging wrong action with right action, is right effort...
The factors of the Noble 8-fold way mutually enhance each other!
Any intentional action - good as bad - determines whether the future
will be pleasant or painful...

Further study of Buddhist Right Action (Samma-Kammanta):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-kammanto.html
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Action_Determines.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Right Action!

Friends:

What is this critical Right Livelihood?

The Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Awareness and
Right Concentration. But what is Right Livelihood?



The 5-fold Definition of Right Livelihood:
1: Earning a living not by trading with Living Beings.
2: Earning a living not by selling Meat, Fish or Flesh.
3: Earning a living not by selling Weapons.
4: Earning a living not by dealing in Alcohol or Drugs .
5: Earning a living not by selling any form of Poison.
That is Right Livelihood!


The Characterization of Right Livelihood:
Any livelihood that neither involves any killing, injuring, harming nor any
imprisoning of any living being, nor stealing, taking what is not given,
cheating, any bribery or corruption, or lying, or false deceiving, tricks, or
use of false measures and weights, neither sensual nor sexual abuse,
neither use or selling of alcohol, nor intoxicating illegal drugs, that causes
carelessness, neither by oneself, nor by getting other employees to do so,
such is Right Livelihood!



The Explanation of Right Livelihood for Buddhist Monks and Nuns:
Neither living nor receiving food by astrology, soothsaying, prediction of future
events, nor by palmistry, geomancy, dream-reading, charms and spells, or fake
divination, nor by any rituals, running errands, or messages, flattering, arranging
marriages, funerals or divorces, medical praxis, or by producing art or poetry, or
by disputation or debate, this is Right Livelihood!



Knowing right and wrong Livelihood as right and wrong Livelihood, is Right View.
Awareness of presence of right and wrong Livelihood, is Right Awareness.
Exchanging wrong Livelihood with right Livelihood, is Right Effort...

Further study of Buddhist Right Livelihood (Samma-Ajiva):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-ajivo.html

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Right Livelihood!

Friends:

What is this vital Right Effort?

That Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration.
But what is Right Effort?

The 4-fold Definition of Right Effort:
1: The effort to overcome already present disadvantageous mental states..
2: The effort to prevent future disadvantageous mental states from arising..
3: The effort to begin developing so far absent advantageous mental states..
4: The effort to maintain and perfect already arisen advantageous mental states..
This is Right Effort!



The Characterization of Right Effort:
Striving for replacing wrong view with right view, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong motivation with right motivation, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong speech with right speech, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong action with right action, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong livelihood with right livelihood, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong effort with right effort, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong awareness with right awareness, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong concentration w. right concentration, is Right Effort!



The Explanation of the 4 Right Efforts:
The 4 right efforts are 1: Control 2: Overcoming 3: Development 4: Maintenance!
What is the effort of control? When seeing an object with the eye, one neither
grasps after the whole object, nor any of its details, thereby one strives well to
prevent bad, detrimental states, such as longing and misery, to flood in on one!
One guards and controls the sense of sight and do similarly with the other senses.
What is the effort of overcoming? One does not accept any lust, hate or anger,
that has arisen, but leaves it instantly, dispels it, destroys it, and makes it vanish.
What is the effort of development? One develops the enlightenment-factor of
awareness, of investigation, of energy, of joy, of tranquility, of concentration,
and the enlightenment-factor of equanimity based on solitude, seclusion, and
ceasing, which is leading to maturity and culmination of spiritual self-surrender.
What is the effort of maintenance? One dominated by desire maintains firmly
in his mind a favourable object of concentration, such as a skeleton, or a corpse
that is full of worms, bluish-black, full of holes, and bloated, while one dominated
by anger maintains firmly in his mind a favourable object of concentration, such
as infinite friendliness, universal pity, mutual joy or well balanced equanimity...



Thus knowing right and wrong effort as right and wrong effort, is Right View.
Awareness of presence of right and wrong effort, is Right Awareness.
Right effort has the function of striving, exertion and endurance...
Keep on keeping on! Never give up! Always Come again!



Further study of Buddhist Right Effort (Samma-Padhana):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-vayamo.html
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Avoiding_Effort.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Avoiding_Effort2.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_River_of_Energetic_Effort.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Right Effort!

Friends:

What is this Fundamental Right Awareness?

That Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration.
But what is Right Awareness?



The 4-fold Definition of Right Awareness:
1: Awareness of the Body merely as a transient and compounded Form..
2: Awareness of Feelings just as conditioned emotional Responses..
3: Awareness of Mind only as habituated and temporary Moods..
4: Awareness of Phenomena only as constructed Mental States..
Right Awareness is of these 4, while being alert, & clearly comprehending,
will put away longing towards and aversion against anything in this world!



The Characterization of Right Awareness:
Awareness of wrong view or right view present now, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong motivation or right motivation, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong speech or right speech now, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong action or right action, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong livelihood or right livelihood, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong effort or right effort, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong awareness or right awareness, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong or right concentration now, is Right Awareness!



The Explanation of Acute Awareness and Clear Comprehension:
When inhaling & exhaling long, one notices and is fully aware of just that..
When inhaling & exhaling short, one notices & is fully aware of just that..
One trains: I will breathe in-&-out clearly comprehending the entire body.
One trains: I will breathe in-&-out calming the breath & all bodily activity.
When walking, one notices and clearly comprehends, that one is walking.
When standing, one notices and clearly comprehends, that one is standing.
When sitting, one notices & clearly comprehends, that one is sitting down.
When lying down, one notices & clearly comprehends, that one is lying.
Going forward one notices & clearly comprehends, this going forward.
When returning one notices and clearly comprehends, this returning.
When looking in front or back, one is notices, & is clearly aware of that.
When bending or stretching, when lifting or carrying, when eating or
drinking, chewing or tasting, one is aware of and comprehends just that.
When passing excrement or urine one clearly comprehends exactly that.
While falling asleep and waking up, when speaking or keeping silence,
one notices, knows and understands exactly that & clearly comprehends,
that this is, what one is doing just right here and exactly now...
Continuous awareness of purpose, suitability, domain and nature of one's
current behaviour, whether mental, verbal or bodily is Right Awareness
and clear comprehension...



The Function of Right Awareness and its associates:
Knowing right/wrong awareness as right/wrong awareness, is right view.
Exchanging wrong awareness with right awareness is right effort.
Right awareness has the function of observing, noticing, remembering &
knowing the reality that neither any body, nor any form, nor any feeling,
nor any mentality, nor any phenomena, nor any mental state is happiness,
truly attractive, lasting, satisfying or even personal, something keepable...
All phenomena are momentary: They pass away right after the moment of
their arising and occurrence! Nothing is permanent, everything is in a state
of flux: Arising and ceasing, emerging and vanishing, coming and going,
again and again and again and again and ever again...!!! Anicca = Change...



The Blessed Buddha once said:
Friends, this is the only direct way to the mental purification of beings,
to the overcoming & elimination of sorrow, frustration, pain and misery,
to gaining the right method, to the realization of Nibbana, that is:
This establishing of the 4 Foundations of Awareness...
The 4 frames of reference...

Awareness is therefore a Mountain of Advantage!

Take Home: The 4 Foundations of Right Awareness are:
1: Being aware of the BODY as a mere transient form.
2: Being aware of the FEELING as a mere reactive response.
3: Being aware of the MIND as a mere passing set of moods.
4: Being aware of the PHENOMENON as a mere mental state.

Further study of Buddhist Right Awareness (Samma-Sati):

Root texts by the Buddha:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/index.html#satipatthana

Studies, anthologies and commentaries:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-sati.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/misc/wayof.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel370.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel019.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/part2.html#part2-a

Complete reference on Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization:
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=209540

For further study on the illuminating presence of Awareness:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Sati_Studies.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Causes_of_sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Sati_Summary.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sati_in_Solitude.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Clear_Comprehension.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Noble_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/One_and_only_Way.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Feeding_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Analysis.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sati_a_la_Anuruddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/What_is_Right_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Careful_and_Rational_Attention.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Clear_and_Aware_Comprehension.htm

Have a nice, noble and aware day!

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

Right Awareness!

Friends:

What is this Sublime Right Concentration?

That Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbana, is simply this:
Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration…
But what is Right concentration?



The Buddha explained The 4-fold definition of Right Concentration:
Having eliminated the 5 mental hindrances, mental defects that obstruct
understanding, quite secluded from sensual desires, protected from any
detrimental mental state, one enters and dwells in the 1st jhana; full of joy
and pleasure born of solitude, joined with directed and sustained thought.
One makes this joy and pleasure born of seclusion drench, saturate, soak,
and suffuse the body, so that no part of the entire body is unperfused by
this intense joy and pleasure! Just as a skilled bath-man puts soap powder
in a copper basin and sprinkling it gradually with water, whips it until the
water soaks and pervades all the soap powder, yet without dripping, so too,
does the noble friend make the joy and pleasure born of solitude permeate
and pervade the entire body! Again, friends, with the stilling of directed
and sustained thought, one enters and dwells in the 2nd jhana: a calmed
assurance of unification of mind with even deeper joy and pleasure now
born of concentration, devoid of any thought! One makes this exquisite
joy and pleasure born of concentration drench, saturate, soak, & suffuse
the body, so no part of the whole body is unperfused by this profound joy
and pleasure: Just as a lake whose waters welled up from below within it
itself, & it had no other sources neither by showers of rain, then this cool
fount of water welling up from deep within would immerse, fill, & pervade
the entire lake, even and exactly so does one make this joy & pleasure born
of concentration infuse this entire body! Furthermore, friends, with the
fading away of the joy, the friend dwells in even equanimity, just aware &
clearly comprehending, still feeling pleasure in the body, one enters upon
and remains in the 3rd jhana, regarding which the Noble Ones declare:
"In aware equanimity one dwells in pleasure!" One makes the pleasure apart
from of joy flood, saturate, soak, and suffuse the body, so that there is no
part of one's whole body unperfused by this pleasure divested of joy...
Just as in a lotus pond some lotuses are born, grow and thrive immersed
under the water & the cool water soaks them from their roots to their tips,
so too, do the noble friend make the pleasure divested of joy drench, fill,
flood and pervade this entire body. Finally, friends, with the leaving behind
of both pleasure and pain, and with the prior disappearance of both joy and
sorrow, one enters and dwells in the 4th jhana; a completely stilled mental
state of awareness, purified by an equanimity of neither-pain-nor-pleasure.
One sits illuminating the body internally with this pure bright mind, so that
there is no part of one's whole body not illuminated by this pure bright mind!
Just as a man were sitting covered from the head down with a white cloth,
so that no part of his whole body was uncovered by this white textile; even
so does one sit encompassing this entire body with a pure bright & radiant
mind, so that there is no part of one's whole body not illuminated by this
pure, bright, and luminous mind...

Comment: No trivial worldly pleasure can ever surpass such sublime bliss!



The Function of Right concentration and its associates is:
Seeing right/wrong concentration as right/wrong concentration, is right view.
Exchanging wrong concentration with right concentration is right effort.
Right concentration functions as a drill: Focusing, unifying, & penetrating!


Concentration induces the intense Breakthrough!

On how to attain the Jhana absorptions:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Details_of_the_Jhana_Absorptions.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Requisites_for_Jhana_Absorption.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Concentration_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Feeding_Concentration.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Concentration_Samadhi.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/jhaana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Jhana_Absorption.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Samma-Samadhi.htm

Further study of Buddhist Right concentration (Samma-Samadhi):

Root texts by the Buddha:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-samadhi.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/jhana.html

The Jhanas in Theravadin Buddhist Meditation:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel351.html

Complete Manual on Meditation and Absorption: The Path of Purification:
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=771100

Have a nice, noble and concentrated day!

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

Right Concentration!

Friends:

Why not indulge in Hedonism? Change!



Venerable Sariputta once pointed out the danger of delight:
If, friends, one is not freed of lust, desire, attraction, thirst,
passion and craving for the manifold various forms, feelings,
experiences, constructions and types of consciousness, then
with the inevitable change in and alteration of these forms,
feelings, experiences, constructions and types of consciousness,
one invariably experiences disappointment, dissatisfaction,
discontent, frustration, sorrow, pain and despair...!!! One who
lives immersed in these derivatives of greed, therefore suffers
in this very life from the continual fever of wanting, needing,
longing, frustration and urge... Moreover, when dying and this
body is breaking up, the greedy one can expect a bad destination!!!
This is the immanent danger and side-effect of desire and craving...

If, however, one is freed of all lust, desire, attraction, thirst,
passion and craving for the manifold various forms, feelings,
experiences, constructions and types of consciousness, then
with the inevitable change in and alteration of these, one does not
experience any disappointment, dissatisfaction, discontent, pain,
frustration, sorrow, nor any despair... Not living immersed in these
derivatives of greed, one does therefore not suffer from any hot
fever of neither wanting, nor longing, nor any urge. Moreover, when
dying and this body is breaking up, such cooled and calmed one can
expect a good destination!!! This is the quite blissful advantage
and assured benefit of removal of desire and craving here and now...



Hunting pleasure produces delayed and therefore hidden pain...
Relinquishing desire for pleasure gives ease now and bliss later...

More on this dual Desire (Chanda):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Fire_of_Sense-Desire.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Desire_as_Way_to_Force.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Obstructing_Corruption.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Desireless_is_Deathless.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Two_kinds_of_Desire.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Colourful_but_Muddy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/b_f/chanda.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Charcoal_Pit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Desire_and_Lust.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Just_a_Flash.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism



Source: Venerable Sariputta, General of the Dhamma.
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya III 7-9
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice & noble day!

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

Why not Hedonism?