Search found 23 matches

by EOD
Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:35 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Why isn't the Visuddhimagga free?
Replies: 102
Views: 23195

Re: Why isn't the Visuddhimagga free?

As there were no texts at the time of the Buddha, I'm not sure what you are referring to ~ Please post for us the relevant quotes you are referring to. DN 16: "In this fashion, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu might speak: 'Face to face with the Blessed One, brethren, I have heard and learned thus: This is...
by EOD
Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:33 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Why isn't the Visuddhimagga free?
Replies: 102
Views: 23195

Re: Why isn't the Visuddhimagga free?

I noticed that Bhikkhu Nanamoli's translation of Visuddhimagga is being sold for $37. I understand the economics of publishing, even non-profit publishing. But I'm wondering why this book is being sold while others are available for free online, e.g. Bhikkhu Bodhi's Noble Eightfold Path , books by ...
by EOD
Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:58 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: What is it that clings?
Replies: 23
Views: 6028

Re: What is it that clings?

What is it that clings? It's attention. It seems to me that (the focus) of attention likes to rest on or to stay with certain objects. An attractive/pleasant object for example easily catches our attention, like a magnet. And then our attention is stuck on that object. We don't want to separate. We...
by EOD
Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:43 pm
Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
Topic: questions about meditation
Replies: 11
Views: 3514

Re: questions about meditation

Is there different results from doing one one-pointed concentration and meditation described by Ajahn Brahm and Vimalaramsi? Although both Ajahn Brahm and Bhante Vimalaramsi mention not to observe the breath at a certain spot, their descriptions of the jhanas appear totally different from each othe...
by EOD
Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:07 pm
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: How does the 'Silent Mind' affect the intellectual mind?
Replies: 9
Views: 3172

Re: How does the 'Silent Mind' affect the intellectual mind?

would a very good meditator with extraordinary sila (let's say a stream-winner) also be, necessarily, a very good scientist? Hello, I doubt that. Not because of a lack of intellectual abilities but of interest. If your main goal or first priority in life is nibbana, you will most certainly not spen...
by EOD
Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:34 am
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?
Replies: 29
Views: 7370

Re: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?

mikenz66 wrote:With enough calm and mindfulness it is possible to notice discontinuities.
I agree.

Best wishes,

EOD
by EOD
Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:53 am
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?
Replies: 29
Views: 7370

Re: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?

how can you see gaps between moments of consciousness? This perception is described in the Progress of Insight outlined in the Commentaries and Visuddhimagga. Here is Mahasi Sayadaw's explanation: http://aimwell.org/Books/Mahasi/Progres" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... m...
by EOD
Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:18 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Jhana, Upekkha & the the 5 Hindrances
Replies: 50
Views: 13124

Re: Jhana, Upekkha & the the 5 Hindrances

Don't extrapolate the debate over the degree of Right Concentration necessary, with the need for Right speech, and morality. That is flawed logic my friend. I'm sorry, but don't think so. We surely agree that morality and concentration are not the same, but they belong to the same (noble eightfold)...
by EOD
Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:36 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Jhana, Upekkha & the the 5 Hindrances
Replies: 50
Views: 13124

Re: Jhana, Upekkha & the the 5 Hindrances

I think it's clear to say one does not need Jhana to achieve nibbana. Hello, I doubt that. The path leading to the cessation of dukkha (fourth noble truth) is the noble eightfold path. And one part of that path is right concentration. But right concentration is defined as the jhanas: " And wha...
by EOD
Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:27 am
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?
Replies: 29
Views: 7370

Re: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?

Ajahn Brahm has used the metaphor of sand on a beach to describe consciousness. At a distance when you look at a beach it looks like it is a solid surface but up close when you look at each grain of sand individually you see that there are gaps between the sand. In a similar way, our ordinary exper...
by EOD
Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:05 pm
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?
Replies: 29
Views: 7370

Re: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?

One moment of consciousness conditions the next. Hello, I'm not sure what you mean with "moment of consciousness". A kind of "atomic theory" of mind or time? Or just consciousness as it is right now? I'm not aware that the Buddha taught that consciousness is a succession of caus...
by EOD
Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:25 pm
Forum: Theravāda for Beginners
Topic: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?
Replies: 29
Views: 7370

Re: What is the Theravadan Aim for Rebirth?

So I personally don't believe that you have to practice Buddhadhamma to be reborn as a human, but it certainly helps! In AN 8.36 the Buddha says that the requirements for a human rebirth are a small to medium degree of generosity and virtuousness. A high degree of them will lead to a rebirth as hea...
by EOD
Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:48 pm
Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
Topic: how breathing helps
Replies: 14
Views: 3627

Re: how breathing helps

If someone has practiced meditation for example twenty years. Practiced meditation für twenty years or practized meditation for let's say one hour a day for twenty years? ;-) That's not the same thing. After 20 years of meditation (not the one-hour-a-day-thing) you should already be liberated if yo...
by EOD
Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:46 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: number of sentient beings
Replies: 2
Views: 1265

Re: number of sentient beings

Is the number of sentient beings in the universe infinite, limitless, countless, or is there a limited number of beings? I hope that this question is not an imponderable. If I remember correctly, the Buddha said in one sutta that one can't reach the end of the world by walking or flying or somethin...
by EOD
Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:55 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: where to go from here?
Replies: 55
Views: 9256

Re: where to go from here?

The suttas also say that it is better to look after our own well being before trying to help others. Apologies for my ignorance, but where specifically, please? The following sutta (AN 4.95) seems to indicate that: "Monks, these four types of individuals are to be found existing in the world. ...