most distilled dhamma?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
alan...
Posts: 824
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:37 pm

most distilled dhamma?

Post by alan... »

as small as you can get it but have it still be a complete path that someone could follow without anything else.

the theravada dhamma is IMMENSE, i'm constantly trying to whittle it down to something that i can wrap my head around.

a book?

a practice?

a certain school?
User avatar
Alex123
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:32 pm

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by Alex123 »

There is the case, monk, where a monk has heard, 'All things are unworthy of attachment.' Having heard that all things are unworthy of attachment, he directly knows every thing. Directly knowing every thing, he comprehends every thing. Comprehending every thing, he sees all themes[2] as something separate.SN35.80
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by tiltbillings »

alan... wrote:as small as you can get it but have it still be a complete path that someone could follow without anything else.

the theravada dhamma is IMMENSE, i'm constantly trying to whittle it down to something that i can wrap my head around.

a book?

a practice?

a certain school?
Theravada is immense, though not as immense as some other schools. Quite frankly, you can make this as complicated or as simple as you want. To re-word what you are asking: What is the bare minimum one needs to know and needs to do? (But even that will take work.)
>> 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
User avatar
DNS
Site Admin
Posts: 17169
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
Contact:

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by DNS »

alan... wrote: a book?
Anguttara Nikaya
a practice?
Samatha-Vipassana
a certain school?
Theravada.
User avatar
LonesomeYogurt
Posts: 900
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:24 pm
Location: America

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya - nothing should be clung to as me or mine.

It may not be all that you need, but in terms of the essential nature of the Buddha's teaching, I'd say you can't get much better.
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
User avatar
Bhikkhu Pesala
Posts: 4644
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:17 pm

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Be mindful.
BlogPāli FontsIn This Very LifeBuddhist ChroniclesSoftware (Upasampadā: 24th June, 1979)
User avatar
reflection
Posts: 1116
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:27 pm

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by reflection »

Just stop trying to get your head around it. Buddhism is not a thing of the intellect. Be happy to have a "don't know" mind. If there is not a lot you are sure of, simply see it as it is. You can't follow anything external forever, anyway. You'll have to become your own guide trough your own suffering and its causes. The practice then simply becomes to let go of these causes.

Good luck!
:anjali:
daverupa
Posts: 5980
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by daverupa »

Distilling the Dhamma means thinking with it, not thinking about it, neh?
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
User avatar
LonesomeYogurt
Posts: 900
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:24 pm
Location: America

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:Be mindful.
Gah, you had to top me! :tongue:
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27839
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
daverupa wrote:Distilling the Dhamma means thinking with it, not thinking about it
Yes.

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."
User avatar
Polar Bear
Posts: 1348
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:39 am

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by Polar Bear »

"It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief such that, having heard the Dhamma from the Blessed One, I might dwell alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute."

"Gotami, the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to passion, not to dispassion; to being fettered, not to being unfettered; to accumulating, not to shedding; to self-aggrandizement, not to modesty; to discontent, not to contentment; to entanglement, not to seclusion; to laziness, not to aroused persistence; to being burdensome, not to being unburdensome': You may categorically hold, 'This is not the Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher's instruction.'

"As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome': You may categorically hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'" http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
:sage:
"I don't envision a single thing that, when developed & cultivated, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed & cultivated, leads to great benefit."

"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."
lojong1
Posts: 607
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by lojong1 »

alan... wrote:...the theravada dhamma is IMMENSE...
Neat; i'd never thought of it that way before.
User avatar
Prasadachitta
Posts: 974
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:52 am
Location: San Francisco (The Mission) Ca USA
Contact:

Somwhat distilled Dhamma

Post by Prasadachitta »

Pay attention.

Know the state of your mind.

Pay attention.

See how the mind changes.

Pay attention.

Renounce what is unwholesome.

Pay attention

Cultivate what is wholesome.

Pay attention and continue to strive.
"Beautifully taught is the Lord's Dhamma, immediately apparent, timeless, of the nature of a personal invitation, progressive, to be attained by the wise, each for himself." Anguttara Nikaya V.332
User avatar
ground
Posts: 2591
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:01 am

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by ground »

The most distilled version of dhamma is transmitted in SN 35.23: Sabba sutta. But the only appropiate way of dealing with such distilled versions of dhamma is immediate understanding which is an understanding that is abandonment. That may appear too difficult since the habit to do something in order to build up something is so deeply engrained.
The next but already more elaborate version of distilled dhamma is SN 35.28: Adittapariyaya Sutta ("the fire sermon") which may however be felt to be as inappropriate as SN 35.23 for the same reason. :sage:
User avatar
Bhikkhu Pesala
Posts: 4644
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:17 pm

Re: most distilled dhamma?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

LonesomeYogurt wrote:
Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:Be mindful.
Gah, you had to top me! :tongue:
Nothing should be clung to as me or mine! :hug:
BlogPāli FontsIn This Very LifeBuddhist ChroniclesSoftware (Upasampadā: 24th June, 1979)
Post Reply