Ajahn Chah was famous for his Koan like teachings.
Have you ever seen flowing water?... Have you ever seen still water?... If your mind is peaceful it will be just like still, flowing water. Have you ever seen still, flowing water? There! You've only ever seen flowing water and still water, haven't you? But you've never seen still, flowing water. Right there, right where your thinking cannot take you, even though it's peaceful you can develop wisdom. Your mind will be like flowing water, and yet it's still. It's almost as if it were still, and yet it's flowing. So I call it ''still, flowing water.'' Wisdom can arise here.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
I've already spoken of this, but some of you may be interested to hear it again: if you practice consistently and consider things thoroughly, you will eventually reach this point . . . At first you hurry to go forward, hurry to come back, and hurry to stop. You continue to practice like this until you reach the point where it seems that going forward is not it, coming back is not it, and stopping is not it either! It's finished. This is the finish. Don't expect anything more than this, it finishes right here. Khinasavo- one who is completed. He doesn't go forward, doesn't retreat and doesn't stop. There's no stopping, no going forward and no coming back. It's finished. Consider this, realize it clearly in your own mind. Right there you will find that there is really nothing at all.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
A visiting Zen student asked Ajahn Chah, "How old are you? Do you live here all year round?" "I live nowhere," he replied. "There is no place you can find me. I have no age. To have age, you must exist, and to think you exist is already a problem. Don't make problems; then the world has none either. Don't make a self. There's nothing more to say."
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
Thanks bodom. The first two statements were metaphors. The last one was an irritated response to a dumb question. I'd do the same.
No Koans there. Similar in appearance but different in substance.
alan wrote:Thanks bodom. The first two statements were metaphors. The last one was an irritated response to a dumb question. I'd do the same.
No Koans there. Similar in appearance but different in substance.
In case you missed it the first time around:
bodom wrote
Ajahn Chah was famous for his Koan "like" teachings.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
"When one thing is practiced & pursued, ignorance is abandoned, clear knowing arises, the conceit 'I am' is abandoned, latent tendencies are uprooted, fetters are abandoned. Which one thing? Mindfulness immersed in the body." -AN 1.230
alan wrote:I've seen that video before and on a second look it is still unsatisfying. Maybe if I ever approach Ajahn Brahm's level I'll understand, but my unenlightened mind sees vast differences between the sects. Differences that are not only impossible to ignore but that really matter in terms of practice.
Hi Alan & all,
The six perfections taught in the bodhisattvayāna are all contained in the standard threefold higher training (i.e. adhiśīlaśikṣā, adhicittaśikṣā, adhiprajñāśikṣā). The only difference is that bodhisattvas have a different goal than śrāvakas. And to this end a bodhisattva must be thoroughly knowledgeable of both the śrāvakayāna and the bodhisattvayāna. This is the knowledge of all paths (mārgākārajñatā).
alan wrote:A comprehensive reading will reveal fundamental differences.
A comprehensive reading will also reveal fundamental commonalities in terms of practice. For example:
Silk, Jonathan. The Origin and Early History of the Mahāratnakūṭa Tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism With A Study of the Ratnarāśisūtra and Related Materials. Doctoral Dissertation, 1994.
alan wrote:Since this thread seems to be about differences between the sects, I'd say it is a valid to point that out.
The Mahāyāna isn't a sect. It's a vehicle for those to aspire to awaken to buddhahood. Thus there are Theravāda bodhisattvas and Mūlasarvāstivāda bodhisattvas and Dharmaguptaka bodhisattvas.
Ñāṇa wrote:The six perfections taught in the bodhisattvayāna . . . The Mahāyāna isn't a sect. It's a vehicle for those to aspire to awaken to buddhahood. Thus there are Theravāda bodhisattvas and Mūlasarvāstivāda bodhisattvas and Dharmaguptaka bodhisattvas.
And it probably should go without saying, but probably should be said, the above is a Mahayana framework that has no real bearing upon the Theravada.
>> Do you see a man wise[enlightened/ariya]in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
Ñāṇa wrote:The six perfections taught in the bodhisattvayāna . . . The Mahāyāna isn't a sect. It's a vehicle for those to aspire to awaken to buddhahood. Thus there are Theravāda bodhisattvas and Mūlasarvāstivāda bodhisattvas and Dharmaguptaka bodhisattvas.
And it probably should go without saying, but probably should be said, the above is a Mahayana framework that has no real bearing upon the Theravada.
The Theravāda also teaches the bodhisattvayāna. Thus a Theravāda bodhisattva wouldn't necessarily need to learn Mahāyāna sūtras, but it certainly wouldn't hurt since the bodhisattvayāna isn't explicitly taught in the Pāḷi Canon. (Hence Ven. Dhammapāla's use of the Bodhisattvabhūmi from the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra when composing his commentary on the Pāramī-s for Theravāda practitioners who wish to engage in the perfections and practice the mahābodhiyāna of bodhisattas.)
You are assuming your conclusion, which in itself is intellectually dishonest, and the rest what you have said is smoke, designed to obscure. I don't buy it.
Ñāṇa wrote:The six perfections taught in the bodhisattvayāna . . . The Mahāyāna isn't a sect. It's a vehicle for those to aspire to awaken to buddhahood. Thus there are Theravāda bodhisattvas and Mūlasarvāstivāda bodhisattvas and Dharmaguptaka bodhisattvas.
And it probably should go without saying, but probably should be said, the above is a Mahayana framework that has no real bearing upon the Theravada.
The Theravāda also teaches the bodhisattvayāna. Thus a Theravāda bodhisattva wouldn't necessarily need to learn Mahāyāna sūtras, but it certainly wouldn't hurt since the bodhisattvayāna isn't explicitly taught in the Pāḷi Canon. (Hence Ven. Dhammapāla's use of the Bodhisattvabhūmi from the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra when composing his commentary on the Pāramī-s for Theravāda practitioners who wish to engage in the perfections and practice the mahābodhiyāna of bodhisattas.)
The Theravāda teaches a bodhisattva path, but there is no need to put it into a Mahayana framework. Also, the Buddha did not teach it. As for the Mahayana sutras, naw.
>> Do you see a man wise[enlightened/ariya]in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723