I searched briefly for this online and couldn't find it (paraphrased perhaps?) -- I'm curious which sutta(s) Ajahn Chah is referencing here, any help?The teaching of the Buddha is the unchanging truth whether in the present or in any other time. The Buddha revealed this truth 2,500 years ago and it's been the truth ever since. This teaching should not be added to or taken away from. The Buddha said, "What the Tathagata has laid down should not be discarded, what has not been laid down by the Tathagata should not be added on to the teachings". He 'sealed off' the Teachings. Why did the Buddha seal them off? Because these Teachings are the words of one who has no defilements. No matter how the world may change these Teachings are unaffected, they don't change with it.
Help finding sutta Ajahn Chah quotes/paraphrases here?
Help finding sutta Ajahn Chah quotes/paraphrases here?
In a transcription of a Dhamma talk (found in the short collection Living Dhamma, in the sixth talk titled "Living In the World With Dhamma"), Ajahn Chah stated the following:
"To reach beyond fear and danger we must sharpen and widen our vision. We have to pierce through the deceptions that lull us into a comfortable complacency, to take a straight look down into the depths of our existence, without turning away uneasily or running after distractions." -- Bhikkhu Bodhi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
- retrofuturist
- Posts: 27858
- Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Re: Help finding sutta Ajahn Chah quotes/paraphrases here?
Greetings Tex,
That sounds remarkably similar to what I just quoted with respect to the Vinaya at http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 895#p16090" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Metta,
Retro.
That sounds remarkably similar to what I just quoted with respect to the Vinaya at http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 895#p16090" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Metta,
Retro.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Re: Help finding sutta Ajahn Chah quotes/paraphrases here?
Hartridge Buddhist Monastery, Devon, England
- Dhammanando
- Posts: 6512
- Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:44 pm
- Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun
Re: Help finding sutta Ajahn Chah quotes/paraphrases here?
Hi Tex,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Probably the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. On uposatha days in Thai wats, after the Patimokkha has been recited monks will chant various sutta passages, of which the following is very common:Tex wrote:I searched briefly for this online and couldn't find it (paraphrased perhaps?) -- I'm curious which sutta(s) Ajahn Chah is referencing here, any help?
- “As long as the monks hold regular and frequent assemblies, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as they meet in harmony, break up in harmony, and carry on their business in harmony, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as they do not authorise what has not been authorised already, and do not abolish what has been authorised, but proceed according to what has been authorised by the rules of training, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as they honour, respect, revere and salute the elders of long standing who are long-ordained, fathers and leaders of the order, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as they do not fall prey to desires which arise in them and lead to rebirth, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as they are devoted to forest-lodgings, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as they preserve their personal mindfulness, so that in future the good among their companions will come to them, and those who have already come will feel at ease with them, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.
“As long as the monks hold to these seven things and are seen to do so, they may be expected to prosper and not to decline.”
(from Mahaparinibbana Sutta, DN. 16. Walshe trans.)
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.
In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.
In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
- pink_trike
- Posts: 1130
- Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:29 am
- Contact:
Re: Help finding sutta Ajahn Chah quotes/paraphrases here?
Clearly a precise definition of "Teachings" is needed here in light of the scholarly evidence that quite a few suttas evolved over time, many centuries after Siddhārtha Gautama died (whenever that might have been).Tex wrote:In a transcription of a Dhamma talk (found in the short collection Living Dhamma, in the sixth talk titled "Living In the World With Dhamma"), Ajahn Chah stated the following:
The teaching of the Buddha is the unchanging truth whether in the present or in any other time. The Buddha revealed this truth 2,500 years ago and it's been the truth ever since. This teaching should not be added to or taken away from. The Buddha said, "What the Tathagata has laid down should not be discarded, what has not been laid down by the Tathagata should not be added on to the teachings". He 'sealed off' the Teachings. Why did the Buddha seal them off? Because these Teachings are the words of one who has no defilements. No matter how the world may change these Teachings are unaffected, they don't change with it.
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss
- Dawa Gyaltsen
---
Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss
- Dawa Gyaltsen
---
Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.