What is the one?

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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thang
Posts: 241
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2018 10:37 pm

What is the one?

Post by thang »

What is called the one?
"Bhikkhus, whatever the Tathāgata speaks, _ all that is just so and NOT otherwise."
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Dhammanando
Posts: 6491
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun

Re: What is the one?

Post by Dhammanando »

"All beings subsist on food."
(sabbe sattā āhāraṭṭhitikā)

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/kp4
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
thang
Posts: 241
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2018 10:37 pm

Re: What is the one?

Post by thang »

Even the lady Jambukaparibbajika who conquered the India by sophistry didn't know the answer and had to become a bhikkhuni to learn the answer.
The Paribbajikas taught her all their one thousand problems in sophistry; being intelligent she mastered all of them within a short time. Then her teachers told her to go out into the world and if she should find somebody who could answer all her questions, to become a pupil to him. Kundalakesi went throughout the length and breadth of Jambudipa, openly challenging everyone else to compete with her. Accordingly, she came to be known as "Jambukaparibbajika."

On one occasion, she came to Savatthi. Before entering the city for alms-food she made a mound of sand and stuck a branch of eugenia on it, her usual sign of invitation to all others to take up her challenge. Thera Sariputta took up her challenge. Kundalakesi asked him a thousand questions and Thera Sariputta answered them all. When his turn came, he asked her just this, "What is the one? (ekam nama kim)." Kundalakesi could not answer, so she asked Thera Sariputta to teach her the answer to the question. Thera Sariputta replied that she should first become a bhikkhuni;
The Story of Theri Kundalakesi
"Bhikkhus, whatever the Tathāgata speaks, _ all that is just so and NOT otherwise."
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