BUDDHISM IN KERALA

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Friends:
By very Nature - inherently & inevitably - Decaying & Vanishing!

At Savatthi the Blessed Buddha said:
Bhikkhus, All is by nature subject to birth... All is by nature subject to ageing...
All is by nature subject to decay & sickness... All is by nature subject to death...
All is by nature subject to trouble... All is by nature subject to corruption...
All is by nature subject to destruction... All is by nature subject to vanishing...
All that is by nature subject to emergence is also by nature subject to ceasing...
And what, bhikkhus, is this All, that is by nature subject to birth, ageing, decay,
sickness, death, trouble, corruption, destruction, vanishing, ever arising & ceasing ?
The Eye ... Forms ... Eye-consciousness ... Eye-contact... Whatever feeling arised
caused by eye-contact, that is by nature subject to ever arising and ceasing...
The Ear ... Sounds ... Auditory-consciousness ... Ear-contact...
The Nose ... Smells ... Olfactory-consciousness ... Nose-contact...
The Tongue ... Tastes ... Gustatory-consciousness ... Tongue-contact...
The Body ... Touches ... Tactile-consciousness ... Body-contact...
The Mind ... Thoughts ... Mental-consciousness ... Mind-contact... & whatever feeling
arised caused any contact, that is by nature subject to ever arising and ceasing...
Understanding this, the intelligent noble disciple becomes disgusted with this All ...
Being thus disgusted produces disillusion... This disillusion induces a mental release!!!
When detached, the mind remains unagitated! Being utterly imperturbable one attains
Awakening right there & instantly understands: This mind is irreversibly freed ...!!!
Repeated rebirth is ended, this Noble Life is completed, done is what should be done,
there is no state ever beyond, after or surpassing this ...

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV 27-28
The 6 senses section 35. Thread on Birth: Jāti Sutta (33-4)
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice day!

Friendship is the Greatest [
Bhikkhu Samahita ] Sri Lanka J
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Friends:
By very Nature - inherently & inevitably - Decaying & Vanishing!

Have a nice day!

Friendship is the Greatest [
Bhikkhu Samahita ] Sri Lanka J
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Friends:
Feverish Fire of Lust, Hate & Ignorance!

The Blessed Buddha once said:
On this occasion the Blessed One was staying at Gaya's Head, together
with a thousand bhikkhus. There the Blessed One told these bhikkhus this:
Bhikkhus, All this is burning! And what, bhikkhus, is that All that is burning?
The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body & mind is burning. Forms, sounds, smells,
flavours, touches, and mental states are also burning! Any eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body & mental consciousness is also burning! Any eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body & mental contact is also burning! Any feeling arised caused by
eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mental contact, whether pleasant, painful or
neutral, that too is indeed also burning...
Burning with what? I say: Burning with the fire of lust, hate and confusion,
birth, ageing, death, sadness, weeping, pain, frustration, & with desperation!
Seeing this, bhikkhus, the instructed Noble disciple is disgusted with any eye,
ear, nose, tongue, body & mind, he is disgusted with any form, sound, smell,
flavour, touch, and any mental state, he is disgusted with any eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body & mental consciousness & contact, and with whatever feeling,
whether pleasant, painful or neutral, caused by whatever sensed contact,
with that too is he dismayed, disgusted, sickened, revolted, and horrified!!!
Understanding this, the intelligent Noble disciple is disgusted with this All ...
Being disgusted creates disillusion... Disillusion evaporates clinging and this
relinquishment of all forms of sensing and feeling induces mental release!!!
When detached the mind is unagitated! Being fully imperturbable one attains
Awakening right there & instantly understands: This mind is forever freed !!!
Rebirth is ended, the Noble Life is completed, done is what should be done,
there is no state beyond or surpassing this...
This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, those bhikkhus was pleased with
the Blessed One's speech. While this teaching was being spoken, the minds
of the thousand bhikkhus were released from fermentation by non-clinging...
Comments: The Fire Sermon!
These bhikkhus were all prior fire-worshippers, who in blinded superstition
sacrificed to the fire morning and evening! This fact made Buddha realize:
If I teach them, that the 12 sense-sources are blazing & burning with pain,
they will awaken right there in their seats by relinquishing all clinging...

Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV 19-20
The 6 senses section 35. Thread on Burning: Ādittam Sutta (28)
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Have a nice day!

Friendship is the Greatest [
Bhikkhu Samahita ] Sri Lanka J
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Friends:

Detachment from Feeling gives Immunity towards Suffering!

The Blessed Buddha once explained this to some sick bhikkhus:
If one keen on mental training feels a pleasant feeling, he understands:
"This impermanent pleasure is neither to be clung to, nor indulged in."
If he feels a painful feeling, he also understands and observes:
"As this pain is transient, it is neither to be clung to, nor engaged in..."
If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he similarly notes:
"This passing neutral feeling is neither to be clung to, nor delighted in..."
When he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it, as if detached from it!
When he feels a painful feeling, he feels it, as if detached from it!
When he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it, as if detached from it!
He feels all feelings as something remote, alien, and not belonging to him.
When he feels a feeling terminating with the body, he understands:
"I feel a feeling terminating with the body..." (all bodily feeling!)
When he feels a feeling terminating with life, he understands:
"I feel a feeling terminating with life..." (all mental feeling!)
He understands: With the breakup of this body, at the exhaustion of life,
any feeling, neither being delighted in, nor clung to, will cool down right
then and there... Just as, bhikkhus, an oil lamp burns depending on the oil
and the wick, at the exhaustion of the oil and the wick, the burning flame
is extinguished through lack of fuel, exactly so similarly here, bhikkhus,
when a bhikkhu feels a feeling terminating with the body... or terminating
with life... He understands: With the breakup of this body, at the very
exhaustion of this life, all that is felt, not being indulged in, nor clung to,
will vanish right there and then... This - only this - is the end of Suffering!

Pleasant feeling induces greed...
Painful feeling produces hate...
Neither-painful-nor-pleasant neutral feeling
causes neglect & thus generates ignorance...

Curing even Death The Buddhas are the very best Doctors!

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. Book IV [211-3]
section 36: Feeling. Vedanā. The Sick-Ward. 7.
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 _/\_ Sri Lanka ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Friend Kevin cleverly asked:

Question:
I feel compelled to ask how one is able to reduce
the influence of greed, hatred, and delusion
in speech, action, and thoughts?

Answer:
Greed is reduced by repeated reflection on disgust (=corpse meditation)
Hatred is reduced by repeated reflection on friendliness (=metta meditation)
Delusion is reduced by repeated reflection on cause & effect (=vipassana meditation)
This works in all the three doors.

http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/III/The_9_Corpse_Meditations.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Loving-Kindness.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/III/Four_Foundations_of_Awareness.htm

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!

Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ Sri Lanka ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Monday, April 5, 2010

Friends:

Stilling Desire and Lust stops the Yearning!

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Friends, you should abandon all desire and any lust for whatever there is
impermanent, vanishing, and neither me, nor mine, nor owned by any self!
And what is impermanent, suffering & neither me, nor mine, nor any self?
The eyes and all forms are impermanent, suffering, and all impersonal...
The ears and all sounds are transient, affliction, and without any self...
The nose and all smells are fleeting, miserable, and not belonging to any..
The tongue & all flavours are temporary, addictive, and always ownerless.
The body and all touches are passing, obsessive, remote, alien, & non-self!
The mind and all thoughts are momentary, imaginary and without a core...
Friends, you should eliminate all desire and any lust for whatever there is
impermanent, suffering, and impersonal, whether these appearances are
past, present or future, internal or external, high or low, fine or gross,
far or near... That will indeed ease your well-fare for a long, long time...
Why so? Because - Craving in itself! - is the very cause of all Suffering...
This is the 2nd Noble Truth, unheard of before, the Buddha discovered it!

Source:
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. Book IV [149-151]
Section 35: On The 6 Senses. The abandoning of desire & lust: 168-183.
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 _/\_ Sri Lanka ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Friends
How is the gradual refinement of the 5 mental abilities?

There are these 5 mental Abilities:
The ability of faith,
The ability of energy,
The ability of awareness,
The ability of concentration,
The ability of understanding!

What are the six aspects of these abilities?
They are dominant.
They are initiating.
They makes quality.
They are stabilizing.
They are completing.
They are the foundation.

How are the abilities to be understood in the sense of being dominant?
When one leaves behind sceptic doubt, the faith ability is found in one as being dominated
by definitive decision. This faith ability dominated by resolute determination to decision,
then facilitates exertion, presence, non-distraction and seeing.

When one leaves behind laziness, the energy ability is found in one as being dominated
by exertion of effort. This energy ability dominated by exerting effort, then facilitates
presence, non-distraction, seeing and decisiveness.

When one leaves behind negligence, the awareness ability is found in one as being dominated
by presence. This awareness ability dominated by presence, firmly founded, then facilitates
non-distraction, seeing, decisiveness and exertion.

When one leaves behind agitation, the concentration ability is found in one as being dominated
by non-distraction. This concentration ability dominated by non-distraction, calm, then facilitates
seeing, decisiveness, exertion and presence.

When one leaves behind ignorance, the understanding ability is found in one as being dominated
by seeing. This understanding ability dominated by seeing, penetrative and clear, then facilitates
decisiveness, exertion, presence and non-distraction.

This is how the abilities are to be found and understood as through dominance!

More on these 5 Mental Abilities:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Faith_Summary.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Ability_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Awareness_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Concentration_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Understanding_Ability.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Five_Abilities_Summary.htm

Source: Sariputta in: The Path of Discrimination: Patidasambhidamagga
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=133494

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!

Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ Sri Lanka ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Friends:

Real Peace is without urge for Pleasant Feeling!

The Blessed Buddha once explained this to some gravely sick Bhikkhus:
A Bhikkhu should spend his time acutely aware & clearly comprehending...
This is our instruction to you! While a Bhikkhu lives in this way, aware and
clearly comprehending, enthusiastic, keen, and determined, if there arises
in him a pleasant feeling, then he understands this: There has arisen in me
an event of pleasant feeling. Now that is dependent, it is not independent.
Dependent on what? Dependent on this sense-contact! But all contact is
impermanent, passing, conditioned, constructed and dependently arisen...
So when this pleasant feeling has arisen in dependence on sense-contact,
that indeed is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, how could it
ever then itself be lasting and permanent? He dwells in this way always
contemplating this impermanence of contact and also of pleasant feeling,
and he considers the inevitable vanishing, fading away, and total ceasing,
that entails relinquishment of all constructions. While he reflects thus,
then the underlying tendency to lust for contact and pleasant feeling is
gradually reduced. This deep craving fades way and is finally eliminated...
He understands: With the breakup of this body, at the exhaustion of this
fragile life, whatever feeling, and all that is felt, whether pain or pleasure,
neither being hankered after, nor clung to, will cool down right there...

Sense Organ + Sense Object + Sense Consciousness = Sense-Contact
Visibility of Eye + Visible Form + Visual Consciousness = Eye-Contact
Ear Sensitivity + Sound + Auditory Consciousness = Ear-Contact
Nose Sensitivity + Smell + Olfactory Consciousness = Nose-Contact
Tongue Sensitivity + Taste + Gustatory Consciousness = Tongue-Contact
Skin Sensitivity + Touch Object + Tactile Consciousness = Body-Contact
Mind Receptivity + Thought + Mental Consciousness = Mental-Contact

Contact is not the outer physical impact, but a neural & mental construction!

The Buddha on Contact (Phassa):
Dependent on the eye and the forms, eye-consciousness arises.
The coming-together of these three phenomena, is sense-contact. MN 18

For those overcome by contact, flowing along in the stream of becoming,
following a miserable path, the ending of fetters is quite far away.
While those, who comprehend contact, delighting in stilling through insight,
they, by breaking through contact, free from craving, are totally unbound!
Sn 736-7

Subduing desire for both the inner and the outer, comprehending contact,
with no greed. Doing nothing, which he himself would rebuke himself for,
the enlightened person doesn't cling to what is seen, or to what is heard!
Sn 778

Not attaching to the future, without sorrow over the past, he constructs
no wrong 'ego-self-I-me' view fancying mere contact as 'my' experience.
Sn 851

Pleasure, pain and indifference all have their source in sense-contact.
When this sense-contact is absent, these affective states are also absent.
The idea of appearing & disappearing, existence & non-existence, and any
event of becoming & non-becoming also emerges from this same contact!
Sn 870

What is the cause of sense-contact? From what arises so much clinging?
By the absence of what, is there no selfish possessiveness or attachment?
By the disappearance of what, does sense-contact, not make contact?
Sn 871

Sense-contact depends on mentality and materiality: Name-and-Form.
Clinging possessiveness has its source in longing for & wanting something!
When not longing for anything, then there is no egoistic possessiveness...
By the vanishing of formed objects, sense-contact cannot make contact!
Sn 872

When a Bhikkhu is touched by bodily painful contact, he does not bemoan.
He wouldn't long for coming into another state, or tremble at any terror!
Sn 923