The Snake

[Jechbi]

This teaching seems particularly apt at this moment as members debate religion.

One choice paragraph:

O monks, there are here some foolish men who study the Teaching; having studied it, they do not wisely examine the purpose of those teachings. To those who do not wisely examine the purpose, these teachings will not yield insight. They study the Teaching only to use it for criticizing or for refuting others in disputation. They do not experience the (true) purpose for which they (ought to) study the Teaching. To them these teachings wrongly grasped, will bring harm and suffering for a long time.

This could apply to any one of us if we're not careful.

[DNS]

Yes, that is a great sutta, especially about the similie of the raft:

13. "I shall show you, monks, the Teaching's similitude to a raft: as having the purpose of crossing over, not the purpose of being clung to. Listen, monks, and heed well what I shall say" — "Yes, Lord," replied the monks. and the Blessed One spoke thus:

"Suppose, monks, there is a man journeying on a road and he sees a vast expanse of water of which this shore is perilous and fearful, while the other shore is safe and free from danger. But there is no boat for crossing nor is there a bridge for going over from this side to the other. So the man thinks: 'This is a vast expanse of water; and this shore is perilous and fearful, but the other shore is safe and free from danger. There is, however, no boat here for crossing, nor a bridge for going over from this side to the other. Suppose I gather reeds, sticks, branches and foliage, and bind them into a raft.' Now that man collects reeds, sticks, branches and foliage, and binds them into a raft. Carried by that raft, laboring with hands and feet, he safely crosses over to the other shore. Having crossed and arrived at the other shore, he thinks: 'This raft, indeed, has been very helpful to me. Carried by it, laboring with hands and feet, I got safely across to the other shore. Should I not lift this raft on my head or put it on my shoulders, and go where I like?'

"What do you think about it, O monks? Will this man by acting thus, do what should be done with a raft?" — "No, Lord" — "How then, monks, would he be doing what ought to be done with a raft? Here, monks, having got across and arrived at the other shore, the man thinks: 'This raft, indeed, has been very helpful to me. Carried by it, and laboring with hands and feet, I got safely across to the other shore. Should I not pull it up now to the dry land or let it float in the water, and then go as I please?' By acting thus, monks, would that man do what should be done with a raft.

"In the same way, monks, have I shown to you the Teaching's similitude to a raft: as having the purpose of crossing over, not the purpose of being clung to.

14. "You, O monks, who understand the Teaching's similitude to a raft, you should let go even (good) teachings,14 how much more false ones!

Note that the raft (in this case could be defined as the "religion" of Buddhism) takes you to the other shore. Once there these labels no longer apply. But how many of us can honestly say at this time that we are fully enlightened?

Thus, we need this religion of Buddhism to carry us to the other shore.

[Ben]

This could apply to any one of us if we're not careful.

Sadhu!

[cooran]

Hello Jechbi,

Speaking of snakes and kamma-vipaka:

Remember how a boy looking on Google Earth found a photo of himself being attacked, and this allowed the police to catch the assailants?

Well - technology helped find a stolen snake and the thieves who took him:

Python's furry meal proves a lifesaver

A python stolen from a Perth wildlife centre has been found by using the tracking device on the animal it ate.
The two-metre carpet python swallowed a woylie, a small endangered marsupial, near Narrogin in WA's south.

The snake was taken to the Department of Environment and Conservation's (DEC) Woodvale research centre for treatment because the marsupial was still wearing a wristwatch-sized radio at the time it was swallowed.

It is alleged two people stole the python from the centre on Monday.
The DEC used a plane to locate the radio collar and found the snake, with the collar still inside it, at a house in Heathridge.

John Angus from the research centre says they were lucky to find the python.
"There's obviously a lot of hard work in relocating any stolen items," he said.

"The fact that we were able to pinpoint this animal ... we probably would have never of recovered it otherwise."
The python is recovering at the centre.

It is understood two men have been taken into custody.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 609148.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kamma-Vipaka work in unpredictable ways .....

metta
Chris