The origin of the cycle of DO is "ignorance" or not seeing the reality of existence - so it applies to both the individual as well as the society at large. How else can the individual and the society as a whole be willing to sacrifice blood and tears for a "worthy" cause? And what is ignoble search?...

"When an untaught worldling is touched by a painful (bodily) feeling, he worries and grieves, he laments, beats his breast, weeps and is distraught. He thus experiences two kinds of feelings, a bodily and a mental feeling. It is as if a man were pierced by a dart and, following the first piercing, ...

... Many, many thanks. Yes it is a good posting. Does this mean that there is no Buddha to be found anywhere? What about the living Buddha? What about the Buddha after Parinibbana? Is Buddha like a child playing with the sand castles? Sand castles are demolished but the children are still there! Th...

What does sunnata mean? What's the sunnatta teaching? Sunnata means a lack of inherent existence ie. anatta or corelessness. For example- What is the ear? Is it the ear drum, ear canal, the fleshy part, ear bones, the nerves or brain? Without its parts, there is no ear! So the ear is dependent on i...

My understanding is Buddha did not go to two extremes of existence and non-existence. A simple example of this. You know that the USA doesn't truly exist but is a mere convention(mental creation). And yet try to cross from Mexico to the US and tell the border patrol that the border only exists in o...

Actually, the Buddha asked us to treat everything as not-self.
That even includes the Uncreated.

Sabbe sankhara anicca/dukkha
Sabbe dhamma anatta

Here is a point of controversy. Is there a "something" apart from the five aggregates? And if the five aggregates are all, then "what" is that is observing the rise and fall of those same aggregates? "Bhikkhus, how do you conceive it: is form permanent or impermanent?" — "Impermanent, venerable Sir....

Thousands didn't. They only listened to the Buddha with careful attention.

Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand bhikkhus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .nymo.html

Hello everyone, I recently considered the possibility that counting/following and otherwise focussing on the breath might be getting in the way of my sessions developing as they have been in a state of attrition for some time. This conclusion seems to have been correct - instead of seeing the breat...

The Second Noble Truth says the cause of dukkha is craving, not believing there is a being or a self. No cherry-picking and choosing only parts you like to suit your interpretation. Where does it say in the suttas that the belief in a self or atta is not dukkha? "This, monks, is the path of practic...

What's the point of knowing water as water, wind as wind, and so on, if these things don't exist, or worse, if you can't say they either do or don't exist? The Second Noble Truth says the cause of dukkha is craving, not believing there is a being or a self . Do beings or the self exist or not? What...

"'Everything exists': That is one extreme. 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle ...." What amazes me is how someone misunderstood this statement and then changed it to saying any particular thing exists or...

A question on a sutta in Saccasamyutta, it would be nice if you can help me out. It is a study group, kind of private, even though the public might read us. https://suttacentral.net/sn56.41/en/sujato But Buddha says "Nevertheless, Bhikkhus, what that man saw was actually real , not unreal"  "Once i...

"'Everything exists': That is one extreme. 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle ...." From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six se...

The point here in the above post is that you do not get angry when you have a self-view. Does this mean Sotapanna and Anagami also not get angry as they have eliminated self-view? Even if you are without a doubt that there is no fixed self, the perception of a centre still persists. The "I am" conc...