Yawares Daily Dhamma Thread

[yawares]

Dear Members,

This beautiful Friday, I have a 'Daily Dhamma' to share with you all.



Daily Dhamma
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD]

The Buddha says in SN 35.24, Pahanaya Sutta, that the All phenomenon should be
abandoned. How is it abandoned?

The Commentary says passion and desire that arise at the eye, etc. are to be
abandoned. How to abandon?

Five kinds of abandoning are:
i) temporary suspension of five hindrances during jhanas;
ii) overcoming (passion & desire, akusala) by the opposite;
iii) overcoming by destruction;
iv) overcoming by tranquilization; and
v) overcoming by escape.

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear members,

This Thursday is so nice to share daily dhamma 2 with you all.

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Daily Dhamma 2
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD/JTN]]

A meditator who knows he/she has passion(raga), but has not made a strong and consistent effort(viriya) to abandon it, may never succeed in meditation.

Why? In brief, samatha-vipassana meditation supports clear knowing. When tranquillity(samatha) is developed, the mind is developed.
And when the mind is developed, passion is abandoned. When insight(vipassana) is developed, discernment(pa~n~na) is developed.
And when discernment is developed, ignorance(avijja) is abandoned.

"Defiled by passion, the mind is not released. Defiled by ignorance, discernment does not develop. Thus from the fading of passion is there awareness-release(ceto-vimutti). From the fading of ignorance is there discernment-release(pa~n~na-vimutti)." [AN 2.30 Vijja-bhagiya Sutta]
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Please let me share a short/nice article with you all.
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Daily Dhamma 3
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD/JTN]

There are some suttas that are not well understood by the general Buddhists. Fortunately, more than half of the suttas are very precise -- they leave no room for argument or disagreement. For example, MN 6 Aakankheyyasutta clearly states that there are 17 benefits to be expected by any monk who fulfills the precepts (siilesvevassa paripuurakaarii), is devoted to internal serenity of mind(ajjhatta.m cetosamathamanuyutto), does not neglect jhaana (aniraakatajjhaano), is possessed of insight (vipassanaaya samannaagato bruuhetaa), and dwells in an empty hut (su~n~naagaaraana.m). These benefits include the four ariya-magga (sotapatti magga - arahatta magga).

"If the bhikkhu should desire: 'May I, with the destruction of three fetters and with the attenuation of lust, hate, and delusion, become a once-returner, returning once to this world to make an end of suffering', let him fulfill the precepts, be devoted to internal serenity of mind, not neglect meditation, be possessed of insight, and dwell in empty huts. ... ... http://metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/ ... ta-e1.html
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

This manic Monday, please let me introduce this short article to you all.
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Daily Dhamma 4
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD and JTN]

I believe most Buddhists practice 'metta bhavana' by at least regularly thinking (or chanting) this:
'Sabbe satta avera hontu; sabbe satta abyapajjha hontu, anigha hontu, sukhi attanam pariharantu.'
<"May they be free from hostility, free from affliction, free from distress; may they live happily.">

Metta Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5JAVk3Q ... egcF0cIPLA

But I wonder, how many of them think 'metta' (good-will) with the intention imbued with love --truly the opposite of ill-will--, rather than just routinely thinking and chanting? The following discourse tells us how to practice 'metta bhavana' the Buddha's way:

[b]"May the Blessed One teach me the Dhamma in brief! May the One Well-gone teach me the Dhamma in brief! It may well be that I will understand the Blessed One's words. It may well be that I will become an heir to the Blessed One's words."

"Then, monk, you should train yourself thus: 'My mind will be established inwardly, well-composed. No evil, unskillful qualities, once they have arisen, will remain consuming the mind.' That's how you should train yourself. "Then you should train yourself thus: 'Good-will, as my awareness-release, will be developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken.' That's how you should train yourself.Sankhitta Sutta]
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/su ... 8-063.html

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

This Uposatha Day, please let me share this nice article with you all.

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Daily Dhamma 5: Benefits
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD and JTN]

[Arahant Sariputta in SN 22.2 Devadaha Sutta:]
'When one is free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for form, then with any change & alteration in that form, there does not arise any sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or despair.
'When one is free from passion for feeling ...
'When one is free from passion for perception ...
'When one is free from passion for fabrications...
'When one is free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for consciousness, then with any change & alteration in that consciousness, there does not arise any sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or despair.
'Seeing this benefit, our teacher teaches the subduing of passion & desire for form... for feeling... for perception... for fabrications ... for consciousness.'

[Itivuttaka 1.1;] "Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon greed as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

I think I love this article very much.
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Daily Dhamma 6 : Incapable of Falling Away!
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri@ SD/JTN]

If someone asks , "what is the Dhamma in the nutshell?", my reply will be "Siila, Samaadhi, Pa~n~naa".
If he asks further, "what is the briefest way to practice the Dhamma?", my answer wil be to develop Siila, Samaadhi, Pa~n~naa.
If he asks for a single sutta that briefly explains how to develop Siila-Samaadhi-Pa~n~naa, then my choice will be the Aparihaani Sutta [AN 4.37].
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

In the Aparihaani Sutta [AN 4.37] the Greatest Teacher gave a group of four aparihaaniya (not-falling-away) dhammas briefly as follows:

"Endowed with four qualities, a monk is incapable of falling away and is right in the presence of Unbinding(Nibbana). Which four?

"There is the case where a monk is (i) consummate in virtue, (ii) guards the doors to his sense faculties, (iii) knows moderation in eating, & (iv) is devoted to wakefulness.

"The monk established in virtue,
restrained with regard to the sense faculties,
knowing moderation in food,
& devoted to wakefulness:
dwelling thus ardently,
day & night, untiring,
he develops skillful qualities
for the attainment of rest from the yoke.
The monk delighting in heedfulness
and seeing danger in heedlessness
is incapable of falling away,
is right in the presence of Unbinding."
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Thursday again, how days/time fly...let us live with Buddha's dhamma in our hearts so our last days on earth will be glorious...never have to worry about going to the bad world!

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Daily Dhamma 7: Contemplation of Dualities
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD and JTN]

The long Dvayatanupassana Sutta (Snp 3.12) talks about sixteen dualities for contemplation(anupassana). A meditator who is heedful, ardent, and resolute in the contemplation can attain either the Fruit of Non-return or the Fruit of Arahantship. Let me give two examples of the 'dualities'.

Example 1:
(1) 'This is dukkha[suffering; stress]. This is the origination of dukkha'.
(2) 'This is the cessation of dukkha. This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of dukkha'.

Example 2:
(1) 'Whatever dukkha comes into play is all from vedana [feeling] as a requisite condition'.
(2) 'From the remainderless fading & cessation of that very feeling, there is no coming into play of dukkha'.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Please let me share this short Sutta with you all this Friday.

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Daily Dhamma 8: Abandoning Feelings
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri@ SD and JTN]

The indisputable truth about feeling (and other conditioned dhammas) is that it is impermanent. And we all know that 'whatever is impermanent, it is dukkha'. Just this understanding is enough for the wise to "abandon" feeling and all other conditioned dhammas. But, abandoning in what sense?

[MN 74 Dighanakha Sutta: ]
"Pleasant feeling is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, having the nature of wasting, vanishing, fading and ceasing. The painful feeling and the neutral feeling, too, are impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, having the nature of wasting, vanishing, fading and ceasing.
"When a well-taught disciple perceives this, he becomes dispassionate towards pleasant feelings, dispassionate toward painful feelings and dispassionate toward neutral feelings. Being dispassionate, his lust fades away, and with the fading away of lust, he is liberated. When liberated, there comes to him the knowledge that he is liberated. He now knows: 'Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived, done is what was to be done, there is no more of this to come.'
"A monk whose mind is thus liberated, concurs with none and disputes with none; he employs the speech commonly used in the world, but without misapprehending it. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

Note: Becoming "dispassionate towards pleasant feelings" means abandoning (letting go of) the pleasant feelings such that they do not condition craving. That's why "his lust fades away" due to the lack of nutriment.

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

This Saturday is the right day to share this article with you all.

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Daily Dhamma 9: Timeless
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri@ SD and JTN]

The Dhamma is said to be timeless (akaliko: not subject to time, i.e. unconditioned by time or season; without delay, immediate). 'The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One, to be seen here & now, timeless, inviting verification, pertinent, to be realized by the wise for themselves.'

It is clear, there is nothing doubtful about why the Dhamma is 'timeless'. Yet, a devata did not know that sensual pleasures are time-dependent: subject to change over time.

SN 1.20 Samiddhi Sutta:

Then the devata, coming down to earth, said to Ven. Samiddhi, "You have gone forth while young, monk ��" black-haired, endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life ��" without having played with sensual pleasures. Enjoy human sensuality, monk. Don't drop what is visible here-&-now in pursuit of what's subject to time."

"My friend, I'm not dropping what's visible here-&-now in pursuit of what's subject to time. I'm dropping what's subject to time in pursuit of what's visible here-&-now. For the Blessed One has said that sensual pleasures are subject to time, of much stress, much despair, & greater drawbacks; whereas this Dhamma is visible here-&-now, not subject to time, inviting all to come & see, pertinent, to be known by the wise for themselves".

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Daily Dhamma 10: Effacement
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri@ SD and JTN]

Whatever a person pursues with his thinking and pondering, his/her mind is bent by that thinking -whether wholesome or unwholesome. Many discourses(Sutta) of the Buddha stress the importance of the practce to displace unwholesome(akusala) volition by its opposite wholesome volition before any advancement in the Dhamma practice (e.g. the noble eightfold path) may be possible. Such process of displacing (by cutting off; destroying) an akusala dhamma by its opposite is called effacement(sallekha in the Pali). For example:

"Others will have wrong intention; we shall have right intention here -thus effacement can be done.
"Others will be negligent; we shall be heedful here -thus effacement can be done.
"Others will be lacking in mindfulness; we shall be established in mindfulness here -thus effacement can be done.
"Others will misapprehend according to their individual views, hold on to them tenaciously and not easily discard them; we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease -thus effacement can be done.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... -mn-008-17
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Daily Dhamma 11: Living Only in the Present
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri@ SD/JTN]

This conversation in SN 1.10 between the Buddha and a deity(devata) shows that a peace of mind is obtained whenever one lives only in the present, without grieving and yearning ! Does it sound easy?[/color]

[color=#BF00BF]SN 1.10 Aranna Sutta..[Translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki]

[Devata:]
Those who abide in the forest,
Peaceful, living the holy life;
Those who eat but a single meal;
� why is it their face is so calm?

[The Buddha:]
They do not grieve over the past,
Nor do they yearn for the future;
They live only in the present
� That is why their face is so calm.

It's from yearning for the future,
And from grieving over the past;
This is how fools become withered
� Like a fresh reed that's been hacked down.

The difficulty is, in my opinion, in abandoning greed<yearning, abhijjhaa> and distress <grieving, domanassa> with reference to 'the world', and continuously establishing mindful-awareness in the present moment.

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[gavesako]

This is a beautiful Dhamma verse, I was just looking at it today because I remembered it. This is called "synchronicity".

[yawares]

This is a beautiful Dhamma verse, I was just looking at it today because I remembered it. This is called "synchronicity".

Dear Bhikkhu Gavesako,

Yes, I agreed with you 100%...Aranna Sutta...beautifully translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki.
yawares

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Daily Dhamma 12: Self-overrating
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD/JTN]

This year 2012 is a turning point in my dhamma-study: I have paid much attention to and more conviction in the Sutta Commentaries. An immediate benefit that I have enjoyed as the consequence is deeper and broader understanding of the Suttas. For example, allow me to share with you another thing I have learned from the valuable Comy of the Sallekha Sutta (MN 8).

[Maha Cunda, talking to the Buddha:] "Venerable sir, there are these various views that arise in the world concerning self-doctrines or world-doctrines[attavada, lokavada]. Does the abandoning and discarding of such views come about in a monk who is only at the beginning of his [meditative] reflections?"[Comy. One who is at the beginning of his insight-meditation (vipassana-bhavana) and has not yet attained to stream-entry.]

[Nyanaponika Thera:] "According to the Comy., the Thera's question concerns those who overrate the degree of their achievement, i.e., those who believe that, in their meditative practice, they have achieved this or that result while actually they have not. Overestimation (abhimana), in that sense, "does not arise in ignorant common people (bala-puthujjana) who are entirely engrossed in worldly life, nor does it arise in Noble Disciples (ariya-savaka); because in a stream-winner the overestimation does not arise that he is a once-returner", etc.

"Self-overestimation can occur only in one who actually practices (meditation) and has temporarily subdued the defilements by way of tranquillity or insight. Maha-Cunda Thera, being an arahant, was no self-overrater himself, but in formulating his question, he put himself in the place of one who is; or, as others say, there may have been such "self-overraters" among his pupils, and for conveying to them the Buddha's reply, he put his question."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... n-mn-008-3
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Without any doubt, that kind of over-estimation in a knowledgeable & skillful meditator who "has temporarily subdued the defilements by way of tranquillity or insight" may obstruct his/her further progress in the meditation. So we Buddhist meditators have to be aware of this obstruction for our own sake!

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Today is the 4th of July... HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG69wPAJ ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE
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Daily Dhamma 13: Freedom from Passion
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD/JTN]

The question and answer below, about benefits of mental freedom from passion, are taken from Devadaha Sutta, SN 22.2.

Question: Seeing what benefit does the Buddha teach the subduing of passion & desire for form (rupa), feeling, perception, formations(sankhara), and consciousness?

Answer: When one is free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for form, then with any change & alteration in that form, there does not arise any sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or despair. When one is free from passion etc. for feeling... for perception... for fabrications... When one is free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for consciousness, then with any change & alteration in that consciousness, there does not arise any sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or despair.

Because one who enters & remains in unskillful(akusala, unwholesome) mental qualities has a stressful abiding in the here & now � threatened, despairing, & feverish � and on the break-up of the body, after death, can expect a bad destination, that is why the Blessed One advocates the abandoning of unskillful mental qualities.

Because one who enters & remains in skillful(kusala, wholesome) mental qualities has a pleasant abiding in the here & now � unthreatened, undespairing, unfeverish � and on the break-up of the body, after death, can expect a good destination, that is why the Blessed One advocates entering into skillful mental qualities. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
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Love AMERICA the best country in the world,
yawares/sirikanya/tep

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Daily Dhamma 14:The Root of All Virtues
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SD/JTN Groups]

In the Sallekha Sutta (MN 8) the Buddha talks about 44 kinds of effacement for removal of the corresponding defilements(kilesas). The very first effacement is harmlessness; this wholesome quality is most important since it is the root of all other virtues.

"But herein, Cunda, effacement should be practiced by you:
(1) Others will be harmful; we shall not be harmful here — thus effacement can be done."
...
(42) Others will be lacking in mindfulness; we shall be established in mindfulness here — thus effacement can be done.
(43) Others will be without wisdom; we shall be endowed with wisdom — thus effacement can be done.
(44) Others will misapprehend according to their individual views, hold on to them tenaciously and not easily discard them; we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease — thus effacement can be done.

Commentary: "Harmlessness is called 'effacement,' because it effaces harmfulness, i.e., it cuts it off (chindati). ...
It has the characteristic mark of making one refrain from immorality which, on its part, has the mark of harming. Hence harmlessness is an especially strong productive cause of morality; and morality, again, is the basis for concentration of mind, while concentration is the basis for wisdom. In that way harmlessness (non-violence) is the root of all virtues."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... -mn-008-17

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Daily Dhamma 15: Meditation for Purification of Mind
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SariputtaDhamma Group/JTN]

This short Buddha's discourse sums up the practice for guarding mental faculty in everyday living.
"Whether walking,
standing, sitting,
or lying down
��" his mind inwardly restrained ��"
he arrives right at peace." {Iti 3.37; Iti 81}
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... ml#iti-076
...................
Tep: Puification of mind, the inward cleansing, is impossible in the presence of mental defilements (even when they exist in small amount). The above verse essentially states that the goal of guarding against mental defilements is to establish a peaceful mind within. It also shows that 'peace' is a present-moment dhamma; with mind inwardly restrained, one can be at peace in any body position, day or night.

Talking about purification of mind, I think the following Dhamma talk by the venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi is priceless :

"Purification of mind as understood in the Buddha's teaching is the sustained endeavor to cleanse the mind of defilements, those dark unwholesome mental forces which run beneath the surface stream of consciousness vitiating our thinking, values, attitudes, and actions. The chief among the defilements are the three that the Buddha has termed the "roots of evil" ��" greed, hatred, and delusion ��" from which emerge their numerous offshoots and variants: anger and cruelty, avarice and envy, conceit and arrogance, hypocrisy and vanity, the multitude of erroneous views."

"The defilements, the Buddha declares, lie at the bottom of all human suffering. Burning within as lust and craving, as rage and resentment, they lay to waste hearts, lives, hopes, and civilizations, and drive us blind and thirsty through the round of birth and death. The Buddha describes the defilements as bonds, fetters, hindrances, and knots; thence the path to unbonding, release, and liberation, to untying the knots, is at the same time a discipline aimed at inward cleansing.

"The work of purification must be undertaken in the same place where the defilements arise, in the mind itself, and the main method the Dhamma offers for purifying the mind is meditation."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ay_04.html

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Daily Dhamma 16: Contemporary Buddhist Attitudes
[Presented by Dr.Tep Sastri @ SariputtaDhamma/JTN/Mult]

The venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi's comment below is both interesting and entertaining.

"Contemporary attitudes do not look favorably upon such notions as defilement and purity, and on first encounter they may strike us as throwbacks to an outdated moralism, valid perhaps in an era when prudery and taboo were dominant, but having no claims upon us emancipated torchbearers of modernity. Admittedly, we do not all wallow in the mire of gross materialism and many among us seek our enlightenments and spiritual highs, but we want them on our own terms, and as heirs of the new freedom we believe they are to be won through an unbridled quest for experience without any special need for introspection, personal change, or self-control.[/color]

[color=#008000]"However, in the Buddha's teaching the criterion of genuine enlightenment lies precisely in purity of mind. The purpose of all insight and enlightened understanding is to liberate the mind from the defilements, and Nibbana itself, the goal of the teaching, is defined quite clearly as freedom from greed, hatred, and delusion. From the perspective of the Dhamma defilement and purity are not mere postulates of a rigid authoritarian moralism but real and solid facts essential to a correct understanding of the human situation in the world.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ay_04.html

In my humble and sincere opinion , neither a "torchbearer of modernity" nor an "authoritarian moralist" of "prudery and taboo" has any clue about the Buddha's middle-path dhamma principle.

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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares/sirikanya

[gavesako]

All too often, we are following our cultural conditioning without being aware of it, or reacting against it, when we approach the Buddhist teachings. A lot also depends on the words which are chosen to translate Buddhist terms and their cultural connotations.
Ajahn Sumedho often spoke about this, how he was conditioned by his childhood Christian upbringing to see the world in black & white terms only, Good/Bad, Right/Wrong. There was no middle way approach at all.

[yawares]

All too often, we are following our cultural conditioning without being aware of it, or reacting against it, when we approach the Buddhist teachings. A lot also depends on the words which are chosen to translate Buddhist terms and their cultural connotations.
Ajahn Sumedho often spoke about this, how he was conditioned by his childhood Christian upbringing to see the world in black & white terms only, Good/Bad, Right/Wrong. There was no middle way approach at all.

Dear Bhikkhu Gavesako,

Tep volunteered to give you his reply as follows:

Tep: I think one's prior religious belief and attachment to 'me and mine' most strongly affect a person's ability to accept extreme views as wrong and the midle-way as right.
Once the five ascetics were given the teaching of the Dhamma-cakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11) about the middle way that "produces vision and knowledge" that lead to self-awakening, they rightly followed the path. After that they only needed to listen to the Anattalakkhana Sutta(SN 22.59) in order to break through to Arahantship.

Yawares: I always love your comment.