Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Discussion of ordination, the Vinaya and monastic life. How and where to ordain? Bhikkhuni ordination etc.
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mikenz66
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by mikenz66 »

SarathW wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 2:30 am
mikenz66 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 2:26 am Hi Sarath,
SarathW wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:32 am In my opinion you should not have a teacher who rejects Abhidhamma.
Do you have any experience with in-person teachers?

:heart:
Mike
I don't have a designated teacher even though i contact many different monks for my questions.
For instance you are also was my teacher and anyone answer my post are considered my teacher.
As I said it is my opinion. Nobody has to accept it.
:D
OK, but this thread sounds very theoretical. Have you visited Mahamevnawa? By the way, it would be helpful if you used the conventional spelling for this monastery, and for Pali terms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamevna ... _Monastery

Mike
SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

Actually I noticed it and I can't change it as it is locked now.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

mikenz66 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 2:26 am Hi Sarath,
SarathW wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:32 am In my opinion you should not have a teacher who rejects Abhidhamma.
Do you have any experience with in-person teachers?

:heart:
Mike
Actually what I mean here was, if you want to ordain under a particular monk, you will have problems if your teacher rejects Abhidhamma.
It will be very difficult if you are an Abhidhamma enthusiastic.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
BrokenBones
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by BrokenBones »

SarathW wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 3:53 am
mikenz66 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 2:26 am Hi Sarath,
SarathW wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:32 am In my opinion you should not have a teacher who rejects Abhidhamma.
Do you have any experience with in-person teachers?

:heart:
Mike
Actually what I mean here was, if you want to ordain under a particular monk, you will have problems if your teacher rejects Abhidhamma.
It will be very difficult if you are an Abhidhamma enthusiastic.
And if you're not it will be just dandy. I still don't see any evidence for the OP's subject headline.
BKh
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by BKh »

SarathW wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 1:51 am It appears only Mahamenua has an additional code of conduct except Vinaya.
Please stop spreading unfounded rumors.

Any group of monks will have community standards that they follow.
SarathW wrote: They chant in Sinhalese. In my opinion, this is OK with laypeople, but monks should learn Pali.
Seriously? Do you think they don't know Pali chanting? They have done more chanting of the Pali suttas than probably any other monastery in Sri Lanka. Whole books at a time. They do the Sinhala chanting for the benefit of the lay people.
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SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

BKh wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 7:10 am
SarathW wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 1:51 am It appears only Mahamenua has an additional code of conduct except Vinaya.
Please stop spreading unfounded rumors.

Any group of monks will have community standards that they follow.
SarathW wrote: They chant in Sinhalese. In my opinion, this is OK with laypeople, but monks should learn Pali.
Seriously? Do you think they don't know Pali chanting? They have done more chanting of the Pali suttas than probably any other monastery in Sri Lanka. Whole books at a time. They do the Sinhala chanting for the benefit of the laypeople.
Thank you. It appears you have some experience with this place. It is great to receive input from a person with the first-hand experience. By the way, do you agree that their community standards exclude Abhidhamma and certain parts of the Sutta?
Why cant they accept the complete Tipitaka. Can you tell any other temple that has the community standards exclude the selected parts of the Tipitaka? (perhaps except Ajahn Braham monastery - I hope James may chip in here)
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
BKh
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by BKh »

As someone else suggested, you really ought to go to one of their monasteries and talk with the monks there.

Venerable Gnanananda does not reject the Abhidhamma. This is a common misconception. He just doesn't use it in his public teaching, I think because he feels it is not useful for people. Or at least not as useful as the suttas are. There is no rule that monks can't study it. In fact, there are monks who are well learned in Abhidhamma, of course including Ven. Gnanananda. But if the monks there were really interested in the Abhidhamma, they probably would have found somewhere else to ordain.

I also don't have any idea what you mean about parts of the Suttapitaka being rejected. It's true that Ven. Gnananada has only translated the Digha Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Samyutta Nikaya, Anguttara Nikaya, Dhammapada (two translations), Udana, Itivuttaka, Sutta Nipata, Vimana Vatthu, Petavatthu, Theragatha, Therigatha, half the Jataka stories, and Nettipakaraṇa. Maybe there are others I'm forgetting. Anyway, the fact that he hasn't translated the others means nothing. Probably just that he's a little busy. You should just go and ask him.

You ask why they can't accept the complete Tipitaka. But they do. You really should verify these things before you go around spreading them. It's not a good look.
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SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

Comprehensive analysis of how Ven Kiribathgoda Nanananda discouraged his follower to study Abhidhamma.
Some of the contents.
- Abhidhamma was taught to Deva's so it is not suitable for human
- He claims Buddha did not teach the Abhidhamma to any human.
- Human (his old followers) can't understand Abhidhamma
- Enlightenment factors are not in Abhidhamma
- He challenges his followers to prove him wrong
- He warns his followers that they will get disoriented if they study Abhidhamma.
- Finally, he asks his followers to go to the Deva world where they can learn Abhidhamma. He encourages his followers to practice virtues, concentration and giving so as to go to Deva's world as his followers are not intelligent enough.

“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Ontheway
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by Ontheway »

SarathW wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:00 am Comprehensive analysis of how Ven Kiribathgoda Nanananda discouraged his follower to study Abhidhamma.
Some of the contents.
- Abhidhamma was taught to Deva's so it is not suitable for human
- He claims Buddha did not teach the Abhidhamma to any human.
- Human (his old followers) can't understand Abhidhamma
- Enlightenment factors are not in Abhidhamma
- He challenges his followers to prove him wrong
- He warns his followers that they will get disoriented if they study Abhidhamma.
- Finally, he asks his followers to go to the Deva world where they can learn Abhidhamma. He encourages his followers to practice virtues, concentration and giving so as to go to Deva's world as his followers are not intelligent enough.

Buddha never encourages us to take "heaven" as our final goal in practicing Dhamma. It is always "Nibbana" as its goal.

Again his points here above indicated that he followers still possess much greed towards "Heaven", if that's what he preached...
Hiriottappasampannā,
sukkadhammasamāhitā;
Santo sappurisā loke,
devadhammāti vuccare.

https://suttacentral.net/ja6/en/chalmer ... ight=false
SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

Again his points here above indicated that he followers still possess much greed towards "Heaven", if that's what he preached...
That is one of his main criticisms.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

Interesting story of an American monk who was ordained in Mahameuna Asapuwa.
He was a carpenter in his 20s. He said he has never been to a nightclub or used substances.
He said that he became a monk after listening to the following Dhamma verse.
He learned to speak fluent Sinhalese in five years.
Sorry for the video in the Sinhalese language.
“yaṃ kiñci samuda­ya­ dhammaṃ sabbaṃ taṃ nirōdha dhammam“ is in the Dhamma­cakkap­pa­vat­ta­na Sutta (SN 56.11); see, “Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.”

Translated: “If there are dhammā that give rise to suffering (i.e., any samudaya dhammā), all such dhammā can be stopped from arising (via the Noble Eightfold Path).”
“yaṃ kiñci samuda­ya­ dhammaṃ” means “any dhammā that eventually lead to suffering. And, “sabbaṃ taṃ nirōdha dhammam” means “all such dhammā” are nirōdha dhammā, i.e., they can be stopped from arising.
https://puredhamma.net/living-dhamma/tr ... a-dhammam/

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SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

In this video, Bhikku Ariyavimutti said that Bhikkhu Bodhi recommended Asapuwa.
He also mentioned that the Mahameuna Asapuwa is a great place to be a monk.
I was very impressed with his Dhamma teaching.
His understanding of Buddhism is completely the opposite of his teacher Venerable Kiribathgoda Gnananda.
I could not find a single flaw in his teaching.
To me, it is like the reincarnation of Bhikkhu Bodhi in Sri Lanka.
It appears he has already had a good knowledge of Dhamma by reading books by Bhikkhu Bodhi anyway.
Sorry, again the video is in Sinhalese. Short discussion from English starts at counter 1.28

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SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

It is interesting to note that they were two different monks. The name of the monk in the first video is Ven. Mahinda Bodhi.
It is pretty impressive how these monks picked up Sinhalese so quickly and fluently.
I have to admit even I can't communicate like that in Sinhalese :anjali: .
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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KeepCalm
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by KeepCalm »

Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thera visited my local Mahamevnawa branch and I asked him about why he was encouraging people to strive for a heavenly rebirth and he strictly denied holding this view. He wanted to know which of his Swaminwahansae had been teaching this. It is difficuilt to comment further as my Sinhala is practicaly non existent. Katta kerana Sinhala aarmarui.

I have also heard that Bhikkhu Bodhi recomends Mahamevenawa to ordain.
SarathW
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Re: Keep away from Mahamuna sect in Sri Lanka?

Post by SarathW »

Tangent-Man wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:06 am Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thera visited my local Mahamevnawa branch and I asked him about why he was encouraging people to strive for a heavenly rebirth and he strictly denied holding this view. He wanted to know which of his Swaminwahansae had been teaching this. It is difficuilt to comment further as my Sinhala is practicaly non existent. Katta kerana Sinhala aarmarui.

I have also heard that Bhikkhu Bodhi recomends Mahamevenawa to ordain.
There was a video saying this in a previous post but it has been taken down for some reason.
You also should ask him why he rejects Abhidhamma. Ask him whether he has read Abhidhamma and question him.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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