Why the Boy was Buddhist!

Deep Truths can indeed be told by a Child:

A pious Sri Lankan Boy once stated it stout, steady & straight:
I am a Buddhist, not merely because my parents are Buddhists, but out of
assured conviction! After coming to an understanding of the truth of the
Noble Triple Gem, I decided to be a Buddhist... Whenever here starts a
religious, private, social or national event, the blessings of the Triple Gem
are invoked. But what does taking refuge in the Triple Gem really mean?
We must really understand this! Taking refuge in the Buddha means seeking
and understanding Nibbāna (Nirvana). Man's freedom, or the road, which
leads to Nibbāna, is closed from time to time. The Noble Person, who finds
this closed road and reveals it to the world is always the new Buddha!
The Dhamma, which we take refuge in, is the path to Nibbāna, preached by
the Buddha. There are many eminent persons, who went along that path &
understood Nibbāna. They also teach us to go along this correct path.
Those eminent persons are called the Maha Sangha. However, the Buddha
is not an automatic rescuer. We cannot get the freedom we are seeking by
just praying to the Buddha. Most Buddhists offer flowers to the Buddha
statues. They hold religious festivals. But Buddhists do not do those things
to satisfy the Buddha. They do it as a way to Nibbāna for all living beings.
Many offer flowers and go to temples to prove that they are practicing
Buddhists. But if we observe the precepts & the religious teachings and
by that gain a good understanding of the Dhamma, it will help us to become
good Buddhists and win a pleasurable and happy future. However, we can
seek & gain the truth of the Dhamma, only if we live  according to it...
Seeking the Dhamma is seeking the Buddha. So, I observe Buddhism by this
crucial taking refuge in the Noble Triple Gem… 

Dulani Dananga Kiriella, Rajasinghe Central College School, Grade 10,
Ruwanwella, Sri Lanka. Sadhu – Quite well spoken IMHO - …!!!

This sublime Buddha image is located at Kelaniya MahāVihara, Sri Lanka.

Real Buddhists take refuge in the triple gem & accept the 5 precepts:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Refuges_and_Precepts.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Saddhamma_Sangha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Sangha_Entry.htm

Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

On Thoughtfulness and Mindfulness:

Dear Friends,

1) In everything be thoughtful, in everything be Mindful, in all things be earnest and bold.

2) This is the Buddhist Way of Life.

3) All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of your thoughts.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thoughts, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him.
Therefore are pure thoughts important.

4) Be not thoughtless, watch your thought! Draw yourself out of evil ways, like an elephant sunk in mud.

5) Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are difficult to perceive, they rush wherever they lust; thoughts well-guarded bring happiness.

6) As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

7) As rain does not break through a well-thatched house passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.

8) This mind of mine went wandering about as it liked, as it pleased; but I shall now hold it an thoroughly,
as the Elder who holds the hook holds the furious elephant.

9) It is good to tame the mind which is difficult to rein in tightly, rushing wherever it wants; a tamed mind brings happiness.

10) Those who bridle their mind which travels so far so swiftly will be free from the bonds of temptation .

11) If a man’s faith is unsteady, if he does not know the true Dhamma, if his peace of mind is troubled, his knowledge will never be perfect.

12) Whatever a hater may do to a hater, or an enemy to an enemy, a wrongly directed mind will do him much greater mischief.

13) Not a mother, not a father will do so much, nor any other relatives as a well directed mind will do to us all.
Dhammacharini Jnanjyoti INDIA

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May all beings become thus Happy!
Friendship is the GREATEST!

Have a Nice Noble Day!

Bhikkhu Samahita

How to train endless Pity and Compassion!

Sitting alone, in silence, each early morning, with closed eyes, one wishes:
May I radiate and meet with only infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all the various beings on the 31 levels of existence develop & find
only this genuine gentleness of infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all beings on the sense-desire, fine-material, & the formless plane
develop & encounter this tender infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all beings in the front, to the right, the back, the left & below as
above develop & experience caring infinite pity, sympathy, & compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country, and universe always be fully aware
and deeply mindful of this warm infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country, and universe examine all details &
subtle aspects of this benevolent infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country, & universe put enthusiastic effort
in their praxis of this affectionate infinite pity, sympathy, & compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country and universe find enraptured joy &
jubilant gladness in this fond infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country, & universe cultivate the tranquillity
of quiet, silent, stilled, & endlessly merciful pity, sympathy, & compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country and universe attain concentrated &
absorbed one-pointedness by this infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion!
May I & all beings in this city, country, and universe dwell in imperturbable
equanimity joined with this loving infinite pity, sympathy, and compassion...
Yeah! Print this out, dwell in each state until clear, use ~ 25-45 minutes. 



Comment: All-Embracing Pity is the 2nd infinitely divine state (Appamaññā)
This gradually reduces all aggressiveness, cruelty, ferocity, viciousness,
rage, inner & outer violence, and unhappiness related with these states.
Joined with the 7 links to Awakening it will later cause formless jhānas...

More on Pity (Karunā = Compassion): Karuna_is_Pity, Space_Compassion,
What_is_Wrong, Safe_Medicine, Great_Compassion, Compassionate_Pity,
How_to_Cure_Cruelty_and_Revengefulness

Karunã is All-Embracing Endless Pity!

Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Sense Joys, Happiness, Release & Beyond!

 

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Bhikkhus, there are joys of the flesh, there are joys not of this world, and
there are rapturous joys far beyond even such subtle unworldly joys ...
There is happiness of the flesh, there is a happiness not of this world, and
there is exquisite bliss far beyond even such subtle unworldly happiness!
There is indifference of the flesh, there is an Equanimity not of this world,
and there is a serenity far beyond even such subtle unworldly Equanimity!
There is satisfation of the flesh, there is a mental release not of this world,
and there is a liberation far beyond even such subtle unworldly release ...
And what, bhikkhus, are then these simple joys of the flesh?
There are these five strings of sense-pleasure. What five?
Visible forms experiencable by the eye ...
Hearable sounds experiencable by the ear ...
Smellable odours experiencable by the nose ...
Tastable flavours experiencable by the tongue ...
Touchable objects experiencable by the body ...
All are attractive, captivating, desirable, irresistible, lovely, agreeable,
tempting, pleasing, sensually enticing, seductive, alluring, and tantalizing!
These are the 5 strings of sense-pleasure. Joy that arises from these
five strings of sense-pleasure: This is simply the Joy of the flesh ...

Blissful is being without passions in this world,
Blissful is the overcoming of all sense-desires!
Udana II, 1

More on the folly vanity of desire for simple Sense Pleasure (Hedonism):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Why_Not.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Craving_is_Pain.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.1-2.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Charcoal_Pit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4c.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Colourful_but_Muddy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Craving_is_Catastrophic.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Fire_of_Sense-Desire.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/What_is_Disadvantageous.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Joys_of_the_Flesch_and_Beyond.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Happiness_of_the_Flesh_and_Beyond.htm

Prince Siddhattha realizes the empty folly of sense pleasure...

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. Book IV [235-7]
section 36:11 On Feeling: Vedanā. Joys beyond this world ...
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Beyond Joy!

Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Control starts with Guarding the 6 Doors of the Senses!

The Buddha once explained
Bhikkhus by possessing three qualities, one lives in this very life full of ease,
pleasure and joy! Furthermore, one has thereby prepared the elimination of
the mental fermentations... What are these three advantageous qualities?

I:     One guards the doors of the senses,
II:   One is moderate in eating, and
III: One is devoted to wakefulness...

How is a Bhikkhu moderate in eating? While reflecting rationally, he eats
food neither for the sake of entertainment, nor of infatuation, nor wishing
for bodily beauty, but exclusively for the support and maintenance of this
body, for ending discomfort, and for assisting this Noble life, considering:
Thus will I now end this old feeling, yet without arousing any new feeling!
Thus will I remain healthy, blameless & in comfort...  Exactly as one treats
an open wound, only for the purpose healing it, or just as one greases an
axle only for the sake of easy transport of a heavy load, so does a Bhikkhu,
who is moderated in eating, while always reflecting rationally, eat food ...

More on Moderate Eating: Food_Disgust, The_Sons_Flesch, Oozing_Out

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. Book IV [176-7]
Section 35: The 6 Senses. Salayatana. The Horse-Wagon. Rato 239.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Moderate Eating...

Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

How to stop recurring Distracting Thoughts?

 

1: Redirect attention to a different advantageous object:
Like when driving out a coarse peg from a piece of wood, using a fine peg,
one can substitute and thereby replace :
A: Desire for living forms with thinking about a disgusting rotting corpse...
B: Desire for inanimate things with thinking about their impermanence...
C: Aversion towards living beings with the mental release of friendliness...
D: Aversion towards inanimate things by noting their composition...
E: Delusion, doubt, uncertainty & confusion by thorough investigation...

2: Consider the Danger in thoughts mixed with hate, greed & ignorance:
These thoughts of mine are disgusting, dangerous, bringing much misery
now & later, just like a young man or woman is disgusted & humiliated, if
somebody hangs a rotting carcass of a snake, dog or human around their
necks, so should one regard these disturbing distractions!

3: Stopping all flow of thought by Non-Attention and Non-Reflection: 
Like a man not wishing to see closes his eyes & turns away from the object.

4: Repeat reflection of the Root Cause of these Distractions:
Searching for the reason for these mental afflictions can cure them: 
Like a running man wishes calm finding no reason to run, starts walking...
Then finding no reason to walk, he sits down. Finding no reason to sit,
he lies down and is cured!

5: Beating the evil mind down with the force of the good mind:
By clenching the lower teeth against the upper teeth, and pressing the
tongue up against the palate, like a strong man holds down a weak man by
the shoulders so should one beat down mind with mind. Then these evil, ill
& detrimental thoughts rooted in greed, hate, & ignorance are eliminated,
and they vanish. By their evaporation mind settles down, becomes focused,
concentrated and unified on the purely good thought!

Attention Deficit occurs, when following after Distracting Thoughts!

Source: Moderate speeches of the Buddha: Majjhima Nikāya 21:
The Removal of Distracting Thoughts Full text and commentary is here:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/Wheels/wh021.pdf

Distractions Disturb Delight!

Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Selfless Release Disengages and Detaches!

The Buddha once explained how to enter the stream leading to Nibbāna:
One can cut off the 5 lower fetters and enter the Stream to Nibbāna by
resolving on this with unwavering determination: What is present here now,
what has come into being, all that I relinquish and leave behind here & now!
If it is neither 'Me' nor 'Mine' now, nor will it then ever be 'Me' or 'Mine'
in any future... All this accumulation is not-I, not what I am, not my self!
There is no reason to fear a peace, that is not frightening since:
All form is impermanent, painful, selfless, dependent and vanishing.
All feeling is transient, hurting, egoless, conditional and fading away.
All perception is passing, distress, not me, contingent and leaving instantly.
All construction is temporary, tender, not mine, reliant and always lost.
All consciousness is brief, misery, not-self, contingent and evaporating.
So nothing whatsoever is lost at all by leaving behind lust for form, feeling,
perception, construction and consciousness! When this desire, this craving
for these 5 elements, is all eliminated, then there remains neither object,
nor foundation, nor basis for the establishing of any consciousness...!
When that consciousness remains un-established, without any foot-hold,
without any object, disengaged, neither generating, nor proliferating, nor
propagating anything, then it is released, detached by non-construction,
non-display, non-projection, in a non-manifesting all stilled quietness...
Being thus liberated from its usual tasks, then consciousness stabilizes,
and settles. When consciousness becomes steady in this ease of peace,
it also becomes quite content... When content, then it is also unagitated!
Being thus fully imperturbable, one attains Nibbāna  right there and then,
and instantly understands: Rebirth is ended, this Noble Life is completed,
done is what should be done, there is no state beyond this ...!!!

     

More on the Noble Stream-Entry:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_4_Doors.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/How_to_Enter.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Stream-Enterer.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Stream_Entrance.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Fruits_of_the_Noble_Way.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Links_to_Stream_Entry.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/ariya_puggala.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Helpers_to_Stream_Entry.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Entering_the_Stream_Supreme.htm

Source (Edited excerpt):
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya III 55-58
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

No Ego = No Problems!

Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net