Friday, November 12, 2010

How to be a Real Buddhist through Observance?

Friends: 
  How to be a Real  Buddhist through Observance?
Vap Poya day is the full-moon of October. This holy day celebrates the
end of the Bhikkhu's three months rains retreat and marks the Kathina
month of robes , where lay people donate a set of robes to the Sangha.
This also celebrates the day that Buddha began to teach the Abhidhamma!


The Buddha descending from the Tusita Level after having spent a rains
retreat there explaining the Abhidhamma to the assembled devas during
a single three months long speech! His biological mother Mahāmāyā, who
died 7 days after his birth, and was reborn there as a deva, was present.
He is followed down by the deva rulers Sakka and Mahā-Brahmā.

More about this Higher Abhidhamma Science:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/abhi/index.html

More about the Kathina Ceremony:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Kathina_Ceremony.htm





The Kathina Ceremony of giving robes to the Māha-Sangha and receive blessing merit thereby!
On such Full-Moon Uposatha Poya Observance days:
Any Lay Buddhist simply joins the Three Refuges and undertakes the
Five Precepts like this: Newly bathed, shaved, white-clothed, with clean
bare feet, one kneels at a shrine with a Buddha-statue, and bows first
three times, so that feet, hands, elbows, knees & head touch the floor.
Then, with joined palms at the heart, one recites these memorized lines
in a loud, calm & steady voice:

As long as this life lasts:
I hereby take refuge in the Buddha.  
I hereby take refuge in the Dhamma.
I hereby take refuge in the Sangha.
I hereby seek shelter in the Buddha for the 2nd time.
I hereby seek shelter in the Dhamma for the 2nd time.
I hereby seek shelter in the Sangha for the 2nd time.
I hereby request protection from the Buddha for the 3rd time.
I hereby request protection from the Dhamma for the 3rd time.
I hereby request protection from the Sangha for the 3rd time.

I will hereby respect these Three Jewels the rest of my life!

I accept to respect & undertake these 5 training rules: 
I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Killing.
I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Stealing.
I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Sexual Abuse.
I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Dishonesty.
I hereby accept the training rule of avoiding all Alcohol & Drugs.

As long as this life lasts, I am thus protected by these 5 precepts...
Then, one keeps and protects these sacred vows better than one's
own eyes & children!, since they protect you & all other beings much
better than any army! They are the highest offer one can give in & to
this world! So is the start towards Nibbāna: the Deathless Element!
This is the Noble Way to Peace, to Freedom, to Ease, to Happiness,
initiated by Morality, developed further by Dhamma-Study and
fulfilled by training of Meditation...

Today indeed is Pooya or Uposatha or observance day, where any lay
Buddhist normally keeps even the Eight Precepts from sunrise until the
next dawn... If any wish an official recognition by the Bhikkhu-Sangha,
they may simply forward the lines starting with "I hereby ..." signed with
name, date, town & country to me or join here.  A public list of this new
quite rapidly growing global Saddhamma-Sangha is set up here!

The True Noble Community of Buddha's Disciples: Saddhamma Sangha:      
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Saddhamma_Sangha.htm
Can quite advantageously be Joined Here:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/sangha/Sangha_Entry.htm
May your journey hereby be light, swift and sweet. Never give up !!
Bhikkhu Samahita: what.buddha.said@gmail.com


For Details on The Origin of Uposatha Observance Days:     
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/uposatha.html
For the 2010 Calendar of Uposatha Observance Days:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/various/Poya.Uposatha.Observance_days.2010.htm
Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Leaving all Quarrels enables Social Harmony!

Friends:
Leaving all Quarrels enables Social Harmony!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
When this subtle Dhamma has been taught by me, in many various ways,
using different methods of explanation, then it is only to be expected
that those, who cannot agree, accept, allow, & approve of what really
is well
stated and well spoken by others, that they will become angry,
quarrelsome and start disputes, where they will stab each other with
verbal daggers! Yet too, when this sublime Dhamma has been taught by
me, in many variable ways, using diverse methods of explanation, it is
also only to be expected, that those, who can agree, accept, allow, and
approve of what really is well formulated and well spoken of by others,
that they will live in harmony, in calm, friendly and mutual appreciation,
without arguments, blending like milk and water, regarding each other
with kind eyes. In this very way can they come to sleep with open doors
and dance with their children in their arms ... 
So we can sleep with open doors & dance with the children in our arms!

More on High Harmony:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/United_in_Harmony.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Unique_Unity.htm


Source:

The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [225]
Section 36: On Feeling. The Carpenter. Pancakanga: 19.
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 Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

The Senses run after objects like Wild Horses!

Friends:
The Senses run after objects like Wild Horses!

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


Source (edited extract):
 
Venerable Ajaan Khao Anālayo Biography.
by Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ñānasampanno. Translated by Ajaan Paññāvaddho:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/pdfs/Ajaan_Khao_Analayo_Bio.pdf
Published by: Forest Dhamma Books. Baan Taad Forest Monastery. Udon
Thani 41000, Thailand fdbooks@gmail.com, www.forestdhammabooks.com

Venerable Ajaan Khao Anālayo. 1888-1983. He was a Bhikkhu for 64 years!
Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Learning The Five Grades of Mental Purity:

Friends:
 Learning The Five Grades of Mental Purity:
 
Initially the Noble Learner temporarily disables the mental hindrances
and bindings by "Substitution by the Opposite" using insight. Lust is thus
temporarily substituted by disgust, anger by friendliness, restlessness
by calm, laziness by energy and doubt is substituted by certainty.
Later the Noble Learner temporarily overcomes the mental hindrances
and bindings by "Suppression" by entering one-pointed absorption of
concentration, which is unmixed, unpolluted and untainted by hindrances.
Later the Noble Learner permanently eliminates another fraction of the
hindrances & bindings by "Cutting Off" at reaching path-moment of the
Stream-entry, Once-Returner, Non-Returner and Arahat (Magga) state.

Later the Noble Learner permanently eliminates the remaining fraction
of hindrances by effortless "Calming" at reaching the fruition-moment of
the Stream-entry, Once-Returner, Non-Returner & Arahat (Phala) state.
Finally the Noble Learned irreversibly leaves behind all mental hindrances
and bindings by "Escape" into the unconditioned and unconditional element
of Nibbāna, without remaining traces of either clinging or other fuel...
Take Home: Substitution => Suppression => Cut Off => Calming => Escape!

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

The last Relinquishment:

Friends:
The Last Relinquishment:
When ignorance of the 4 Noble Truths finally fully evaporates,
One no longer clings to any sense pleasure, any views, or any rules and rituals!
One no longer clings to any idea of a self, I, Me, Ego, Soul or Identity at all...
When one does not cling, one is not agitated! One remains imperturbable...
When one is not agitated, one attains the state of Nibbāna  right there!
One then understands: Rebirth is ended, this Noble life has been lived,
What had to be done is done, there is no more relapsing into any state of being...

Ignorance Meltdown is the Entrance!
Comment:
Nibbāna is a phase transition of consciousness!
Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Monday, November 8, 2010

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Serene Equanimity promotes Imperturbable Peace:

Friends:
Serene Equanimity promotes imperturbable Peace:


Equanimity just looks on and observes, while calmly settled in composed neutrality.
Equanimity is characterized as promoting the aspect of impartiality among beings.
Its function is to see the equality of all beings. It is manifested as the quieting of
both resentment and approval. Its proximate cause is seeing and comprehending
the ownership and efficacy of kamma thus: All beings are owners of their deeds,
born, created and conditioned by the accumulated effect of their past intentions!
Whose, if not theirs, is the choices by which they have become happy, or unhappy,
or will break free from suffering, or have fallen down from their past good state?
Equanimity succeeds, when it makes both resentment and approval subside, and it
fails, when it instead produces a bored, indifferent, & careless state of negligence
!
Vism I 318

Comments:
Non-involved and even Equanimity is a subtle form of happiness... By stabilization
it perfects and consummates all the other six links to awakening: Awareness,
Investigation, Energy, Joy and Concentration. Equanimity is the proximate cause
for knowing and seeing it, as it really is. Equanimity quenches any upset agitation!
When seeing and noting: All this is constructed, conditioned, coarse and transient!
But this state of serene equanimity is indeed exquisitely peaceful, then instantly
ceases any arisen agreeable or nasty feeling, when Equanimity takes its stance!

The Power of Equanimity: Not agitation, wavering or panic there!
Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Aware and Composed Dwelling

Friends:
Aware and Composed Dwelling:

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Monks, a Noble should dwell Aware and Composed…
This is our instruction to you!

And how does a monk dwell Aware?
Herein a friend dwells contemplating any body as a void frame only;
as a transient, painful and impersonal neither-me-nor-mine appearance,
while alert, ballanced and deliberately aware, thereby overcoming
any mental rejection of reality, arised from coveting this world…
Exactly so does he dwell with regard to any feeling..
with regard to any mood and mentality..
with regard to any phenomenon..
Only precisely so is this Noble One Acutely Aware!


And how does a monk dwell Composed?
Herein a friend dwells fully aware of all feelings, that arise..
fully aware of all feelings, that settle..
fully aware of all feelings, that cease..
Such Noble One dwells fully aware of all thoughts, that arise..
fully aware of all thoughts, that remain..
fully aware of all thoughts, that stop..
Such clever one dwells fully aware of all perceptions, that arise..
fully aware of all perceptions, that persist..
fully aware of all perceptions, that end..
Just so is this Noble One Calm, Cool and Composed!



Any disciple should dwell Aware and Composed.
This is our instruction to you…
Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net