Mediation on Death

Like the flame blown out by the wind,
This life of ours is headed for destruction.
Seeing the cycle of birth and death in all things
Mindfulness of death is a skill we need to use.

Just as people who have achieved great wealth and fame
Must surely fall in death.
This thing called death will not leave me behind;
Death is always beckoning me to follow.

Death is the true companion of birth
And never far behind,
Searching for an opening
Like a samurai in battle.

It's course cannot be changed
This life we call our own,
Is rushing to its end
Like the sun moving form east to west.

Death takes those from us who are great in strength and wisdom,
No need to speak of one like me.
Because this life of mine lacks in so many ways
I die in every moment with little chance of a good rebirth.

Our life is filled with so much uncertainty
Its length cannot be known. It is difficult just to stay alive, each day
Filled with the fear and anguish of the death about to come.

There is no chance that life shall not end in death.
Having reached old age what can be next,
Death is part of our true nature.
As the nature of fruit is to fall when ripe.

Just as a potters jar must break and turn to dust
So to these bones of ours will one day break and end the same way.
The young, the old, the foolish and the wise,
The hand of death is always open;

The end is known for sure.

Impermanent is all conditioned things,
All things rise and fall away,
Conditions give us birth,
Conditions give us death.

This body and mind of ours, will soon be lying on the ground
Like a useless piece of drift wood, washed upon the shore.
Our consciousness will vanish, the mind will not be there,
Just like a bubble bursting on the water, turning into air.

We came into this world without an invitation, and
We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave.
We rise to birth that always ends in death;

we come just as we go.

Does the candle shed a tear when the flame goes out? Don't be sad, be mindful.

Happiness

Happiness is having a quiet mind.

Happiness is being completely mindful, so mindful that there is no thought, no sense of ‘I’!

This happiness comes when all thoughts of past and future do not occur. No ‘I’, no tomorrow, no plan. In that time that moment there isn’t an ‘I’ experiencing that bliss. There is only the happiness.

Real happiness has no reason.

When you are really happy you cannot say ‘I am happy because….’ If you try to be happy, you are sure to fail. Real happiness comes without being invited.

‘Why am I so happy?’

See, when you are happy you want to know why you are happy. That’s the way the mind is. Always wanting to know why.

Keep watching how the mind creates stories and pulls you in.

You don’t look at the story, you look at that function of the mind. You don’t look at the concept, the story, look at how the mind creates the story, and not you.

The mind is one thing the story is another thing.

The mind makes a story and serves it to you. You buy it.

By watching that, you will be able to see how the mind creates its own unhappiness.

Look how things affect the mind; desirable things rob it from its mindfulness, calm and wisdom and turn it into a slave of greed.

Look how delusion (the stories created by the mind) drag it away from paramattha (realities).

Watch how anger arises and takes over it and controls it unwisely even dangerously.

You can see the anger arising, but can you see the cause of that anger? Can you see that it is Pride? It is because of that pride that this ‘how can you do or say that to me’ arises.

This is very important. This is how one really learns.

Learning from the defilement, anger, frustration, lust, envy, pride, jealousy, desire, greed, all that. Watching them can teach us so much about the Dhamma, and ourselves and by watching them we can overcome them.

Protect the mind and be patient, it’s all just passing by.

Seeing images in the mind, thinking, remembering, and imagining, planning, are not paramattha (reality). All these different minds arising in the mind are not paramattha. The knowing of it is.

The Difference Between Happiness and Suffering

how true..how you view things..same but different reaction..

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"The Difference Between Happiness and Suffering"(Two Dining Rooms)

Long ago there lived a boy who learned about heaven and hell while working

hard at learning the Buddha's teachings. He meditated in the front of his

Buddha image, wondering "What is hell like? What is heaven like? I want to

know more about the difference!"

That night, he dreamed of a Buddha. "Hello, little boy," the Buddha said to

him. "You asked to know more about heaven and hell. First, I will show you

hell."

In his dream, the boy was taken to a blue door. As he got closer, it opened

without a sound. He carefully stepped through the door, and inside was a

dining room. He saw a beautiful table with delicious-looking dishes of meat

and fish and piles of fruit spread all over it. It was the most wonderful

feast he had ever seen.

"How could this place be hell?" the boy wondered.

Then, suddenly, appearing out of nowhere, ghosts began to gather. Restless

and impatient, they were unhappy and scary-looking. The boy had never seen

anything like them before.

When all the ghosts were finally seated, they picked up their chopsticks.

The chopsticks started to grow, becoming longer and longer and longer, until

they were all a yard (a meter) long. The ghosts tried to eat with their long

chopsticks, but they couldn't. Even when they could pick something up, they

couldn't put it into their mouths. They tried again and again, but it was no

use. Frustrated, they started getting upset and fighting with each other.

Suddenly, the back doors of the dining room opened, and a large gaping black

hole appeared. Mealtime was over. The ghosts were still very hungry, but

they disappeared into the dark hole.

The Buddha turned to the boy and said, "You look so sad. Now let me show you

the dining room in heaven."

Quietly, another door opened to a dining room that looked exactly like the

room in hell.

"What's the difference?" he wondered. Just then, happy-looking people

started to quietly gather around the table. "But how are they going to eat

with those same long chopsticks?" the boy asked.

After sitting down, the people began picking up food with their very long

chopsticks and, instead of trying to feed themselves, they began putting the

food into the mouths of the people sitting on the other side of the table.

They took turns feeding each other, giving the other person whatever they

wanted to eat. They enjoyed the meal so much!

"You see," said the Buddha gently, "the rooms are the same. It all depends

on your heart. Your kindness makes heaven."

The boy nodded and said, "Thank you so much for showing me the two worlds.

Now I understand. The difference between heaven and hell is in the hearts of

people themselves!"

The Buddha smiled and said good-bye to the boy, just as he awoke from the

dream. But he never forgot the teaching, and helped many other people to

find the difference between heaven and hell.

Just watch

easier said than done

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To see our own mind clearly,

without being caught up in its movement,

to watch thought

without trying to do anything with or about it,

simply seeing it and letting it go,

this is the way to freedom from dukkha.

Why do we shout when we are angry

how very very true.. and how saddening it is..

I had it.. n i lost it.. almost total loss

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Why do we shout when we are angry. Please read on ... ... ...

One day, a professor asked his students 'Why do we SHOUT instead of speak when we are ANGRY?' All the students thought for a while. One answered 'Because we lost our cool. That's why we SHOUT.' Asked the professor again, 'But the person is just right next to you, why can't we talk softly but have to SHOUT?' Everyone gave their opinions but none was accepted by the professor. Lastly explained by the professor 'When we are ANGRY, our hearts drift apart. To mask the DISTANCE we felt, we instinctively SHOUT instead of speak so the other party can hear us.' 'But as we SHOUT, we get ANGRIER. And we felt we drift apart further. So we SHOUT even louder...' 'It is the opposite when we are in love. Not only we do not shout, we whisper into each other ears. Why?' 'This is because our hearts are very close, almost never apart. As our love deepen, we reach a state of communication where there is no need for words.' 'We understand each other well enough just by exchanging look,' concluded the professor. 'Therefore, when we are arguing, DO NOT speak words that will make our hearts drift apart. WAIT a few days. When you feel your hearts are no longer far apart, pick up the conversation and continue from there..

Seeing and hearing

Live for the moment..take in what u experience..

easy to say.. and one may say hard to do.. but is it really that hard?

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We're all looking for something to hang our hopes on, but when we really get down to the present moment, to our own experience, to clear seeing, we come to what Buddha said: "In hearing there is only hearing; no one hearing and nothing heard." There is just that moment, that hearing.

You might think, "Oh, a beautiful bird."
How do you know it's a bird? It might be a tape recorder. It might be bicycle brakes squeaking.

In the first moment, there is just hearing, then we get busy, our minds and concepts get involved. The Buddha went through all the five senses. "In seeing there is just seeing; no one seeing and nothing seen." And so on, with tasting, touching, smelling, and thinking. Thoughts without a thinker. In thinking there is just thinking. There is just that momentary process. There is no thinker.

The notion of an inner thinker is just a thought. We imagine that there is somebody thinking. It's like the Wizard of Oz. They thought there was this glorious wizard, but it was just a little man back there behind the screen, behind the veil. That's how it is with the ego. We think there's a great big monkey inside working the five windows, the five senses. Or maybe five monkeys, one for each sense; a whole chattering monkey house, which it sometimes feels like. But is there really a concrete individual or permanent soul inside at all? It seems more like that the lights are on, but no one is home!

This moment now is as it is

how nice.. i will really wan to do it..but in the current hectic life..

is it possible?

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“Doing one thing at a time.” This is how one Zen Master defined the essence of Zen.

Doing one thing at a time means to be total in what you do, to give it your complete attention. This is surrendered action–empowered action.

Your acceptance of what is takes you to a deeper level where your inner state as well as your sense of self no longer depend on the mind's judgment of “good” or “bad.”

When you say “yes” to the “isness” of life, when you accept this moment as it is, you can feel a sense of spaciousness within you that is deeply peaceful.

On the surface, you may still be happy when it's sunny and not so happy when it's rainy; you may be happy at winning a million dollars and unhappy at losing all your possessions.Neither happiness nor unhappiness, however, go all that deep anymore. They are ripples on the surface. The background peace within you remains undisturbed regardless of the nature of the outside condition.

The “yes” to what is reveals a dimension of depth within you that is dependent neither on external conditions nor on the internal conditions of constantly fluctuating thoughts and emotions.

Surrender becomes so much easier when you realize the fleeting nature of all experiences and that the world cannot give you anything of lasting value. You then continue to meet people, to be involved in experiences and activities, but without the wants and fears of the egoic self. That is to say, you no longer demand that a situation, person, place, or event should satisfy you or make you happy.

Its passing and imperfect nature is allowed to be.

Ego

I had foolishly thought that i will not fall into this.

but i was so wrong. on looking back.. i had let down my love only once too many.. and i shall live with pain and regret..

Why do i categorise this as mediation? isn't a reflection on your deeds worth mediating? to reflect and think

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Sometimes love is for a moment, sometimes love is for a lifetime.

Sometimes a moment is a lifetime.

Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived.

One day there was a storm in the sea and the island was about to get drowned.

Every feeling was scared but Love made a boat to escape.

Every feeling boarded the boat.

Only 1 feeling was left.

Love got down to see who it was.

It was EGO.

Love tried and tried but Ego refused to bulge.

The water was rising.

Every one asked love to leave him and come in the boat, but love simply loves all.

At last all the feelings escape and Love dies with Ego on the island.

Love died because of Ego.

But if ego had slowly got smaller and smaller, love would have carried him away on its arms, and love would not have died.

But because EGO was so strong and stubborn, love died.

An Argument wins the situations but loses the person. So when arguing with our loved ones, remember that situations are not more important than our loved ones.

aga covering the Buddha with its Hood

it may seem like a simple story...but i get new perspectives when i re-read this for another time..

to give without expecting return.. to contribute and serve as you deem fit

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Udana II.1

Mucalinda Sutta About Mucalinda

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Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying at Uruvela beside the river Nerañjara at the foot of the Mucalinda Tree, having just realized full enlightenment.

At that time the Lord sat cross-legged for seven days experiencing the bliss of liberation. Now it happened that there occurred, out of season, a great rainstorm and for seven days there were rain clouds, cold winds, and unsettled weather. Then Mucalinda the naga-king left his dwelling place and having encircled the Lord's body seven times with his coils, he stood with his great hood spread over the Lord's head (thinking) to protect the Lord from cold and heat, from gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and the touch of creeping things.

At the end of those seven days the Lord emerged from that concentration. Then Mucalinda the naga-king, seeing that the sky had cleared and the rain clouds had gone, removed his coils from the Lord's body. Changing his own appearance and assuming the appearance of a youth, he stood in front of the Lord with his hands folded together venerating him.

Then, on realizing its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:

Blissful is detachment for one who is content,
For one who has learned Dhamma and who sees;
Blissful is non-affliction in the world,
Restraint towards living creatures;

Blissful is passionlessness in the world,
The overcoming of sensual desires;
But the abolition of the conceit "I am" --
That is truly the supreme bliss.

Simply the moment

Meditation is the training where the Mind is trained to function calmly, objectively and dispassionately, freed from the distractions of the senses and the emotions.

Wisdom arises when a person with such a calm and peaceful mind sees life AS IT IS, its beauty and its ugliness, its impermanence and its conditioned state; adapting himself to function harmoniously and wholesomely, minimizing suffering and pain in the process.

Anger & Fury

something so simple..yet so hard to follow

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Anger is stupidity, fury is madness – if you don’t succumb to anger, you won’t succumb to stupidity and madness.

Nothingness & emptiness

We humans tend to think that we are special. We like to think that we are apart from and can control nature. We can never be other than nature itself and as such subjected to its laws of impermanence. There is no permanent unchanging self to be found anywhere. What is born must die. Aging, sickness, death and separation is our lot. Unlike plants and animals we are capable of intelligent thoughts and creativity, of love, kindness and compassion but also of the great cruelty and horrors. We create stories, concepts etc and believe them to be true. Imagine what would happen if "Earth" was to be struck by a giant comet tomorrow. What then is the meaning of life? No one has the answer but know only this: All is impermanent, unsatisfacory and not self. Nothing is to be clung to as me, mine or myself. ----------------- Emptiness The teaching of "emptiness" (shunyata) or "no-thing-ness," tells us the impermanent nature of all forms and states of being in relation to the five aggregates, and that nothing posseses what could be considered an enduring, unique identity. Insight into this basic truth leads to wisdom. The primary principle of shunyata is that everything, including the "self," is interrelated and mutually dependent, without inherent existence.

IS

First experience the Is-ness of the gap between 2 moments of thought, then the Is-ness of the thought between 2 moments of gap.

Even if those who begin to practice this find it difficult to continue in this state for more than an instant,there is no need to worry about it. Without wishing for the state to continue for a long time and without fearing the lack of it altogether, all that is necessary is to maintain pure presence of mind, without falling into the dualistic situation of there being an observing subject perceiving an observed object.

If the mind, even though one maintains simple presence, does not remain in this calm state, but always tends to follow waves of thoughts about the past or future, or becomes distracted by the aggregates of the senses such as sight, hearing, etc., then one should try to understand that the wave of thought itself is as insubstantial as the wind. If one tries to catch the wind, one does not succeed; similarly if one tries to block the wave of thought, it cannot be cut off. So for this reason one should not try to block thought, much less try to renounce it as something considered negative.

In reality, just as there is no distinction whatever between the sun and its rays, or a stream and its ripples, so there is no distinction between the mind and thought. If one considers the calm state as something positive to be attained, and the wave of thought as something negative to be abandoned, and one remains thus caught up in the duality of accepting and rejecting, there is no way of overcoming the ordinary state of mind.

Let it go

How i wish i can practise what is written here..is it that hard??
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記住 anger ( 發怒 ) 與 danger ( 危險) 只差一個字
別看少這一個字
它會影響我們這份職業、甚至人際關係
正所謂「禍從口出…」
專家講:
「人，面對外人時，
總是可以表現得雍容大肚、心平氣和，
但面對自己最親近的家人，
卻往往一點小事就足以皺起眉頭，
甚至出言相傷。」
正如你永遠只對你最愛、最親的人生氣
你會對住你上司、老板生氣嗎 ?
如果形容人類是一種
「出門高E.Q ，回家低E.Q 」的動物，
我想一點兒也不誇張，
多拿出一點耐心與包容給家人吧！
否則您自己也不會快樂，不是嗎？
曾在報上看過
英文中的 stressed （壓力），與 desserts （甜點）兩字，
有很微妙的相關。是什麼相關呢？
仔細一瞧，好像沒什麼關係嘛！
可是，再看一下，咦，
stressed 這個字從後面倒過來拼寫，不就是 desserts 嗎？
所以，「Stressed is just desserts if you can reverse. 」
（壓力就是甜點，只要你能逆向觀看。）
哈，這真是有趣的妙論呀！
人生之中，有許多「壓力、挫折」，
但只要轉個念、換個角度看，
它也就是我們生命中的「甜點」呀！
此外，也有人說：
「人生就像一碗飯，一半是甜的，一半是苦的，
你不知道會先吃到哪一邊，但終究必須把飯吃完。」
是呀，生命有甜、有苦、有酸、也有辣；
但都必須去經歷它、走過它呀！
有一個小學老師在偏遠的鄉里教書，
這天，他來到自己班上的教室，
問班上的小朋友：「你們大家有沒有討厭的人啊」
小朋友們想了想，有的未作聲，有的則猛力地點點頭。
老師接著便發給每人一個袋子，說：
「我們來玩一個遊戲。現在大家想想看，過去這一 週，
曾有那些人得罪過你他到底做了怎麼樣可惡的事想到後，
就利用放學時間到河邊去找一塊石頭，
把他的名字給用小紙條貼在石頭上如果他實在很過份，
你就找一塊大一點的石頭，如果他的錯是小錯，
你就找一塊小一點的石頭。
每天把戰利品用袋子裝到學校來給老師看哦！」
學生們感到非常有趣且新鮮，
放學後，每個人都搶著到河邊去找石頭。
第二天一早，
大家都把裝著從河邊撿來的鵝卵石的袋子帶到學校來，
興高采烈地討論著。
一天過去了，兩天過去了，三天過去了….. ，
有的人的袋子越裝越大，幾乎成了負擔。
終於，
有人提出了抗議「老師，好累喔」老師笑了笑沒說話，
立刻又有人接著喊：
「對啊每天背著這些石頭來上課， 好累喔 」
這時，老師終於開口了，
她笑著說：「那就放下這些代表著別人過犯的石頭吧」
孩子們有些訝異，
老師又接著講：
「學習寬恕別人的過犯 ，
不要把它當寶一樣的記在心上，扛在肩上，
時間久了，任誰也受不了…」
這個星期，這班的同學上到了人生中極寶貴的一課。
袋裡裝入越多、越大的「石頭」，
心中存留越多、越深的仇恨，
所造成的負擔就越重。
假如你有寫上我名字的石頭
你應當知道該怎樣做了吧！
我很喜歡一句名諺：
「寬恕人的過失，便是自己的榮耀。」
懂得「放下」，何等自在。
請不吝分享，或許今天正有人需要它！
相愛容易相處難，婚姻與戀愛最大的不同，
就是「戀愛看的是對方的優點」，
而「婚姻卻是要包容對方的缺點」。

Made with .... 緣份是找到包容你的人
用心過好每一天．相信每天都是美好的一天 ；
好運會降臨在樂觀開朗的人身上!

Now

It is so so true..why are we always chasing the past? Not treasuring the present, you will always be chasing the past
-------------------
On the surface it seems that the present moment is only one of many, many moments. Each day of your life appears to consist of thousands of moments where different things happen. Yet if you look more deeply, is there not only one moment, ever?

Is life ever not this moment? This one moment, now, is the only thing you can never escape from. The one constant factor in your life. No matter what happens. No matter how much your life changes. One thing is certain. Its always now.

Since there is no escape from the now, why not welcome it, become friendly with it.

When you make friends with the present moment, you feel at home no matter where you are. When you don't feel at home in the now, no matter where you go, you will carry unease with you.
The present moment is as it is, always. Can you let it be?

The division of life into past, present and future is mind made, and, ultimately, illusory.The past and future are thought forms, mental abstractions. The past can only be remembered Now. What you remember is an event that took place in the Now and you remember it Now.

The future, when it comes, is the Now. So the only thing that is real, the only thing that ever is, is the Now

Living the moment

what a way to write or summarize about living the moment..

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Am I saying, “Enjoy this moment. Be happy?” No.

Allow the “suchness” of this moment. That's enough.

Surrender is surrender to this moment, not to a story through which we interpret this moment and then try to resign ourself to it.

For instance, we may have a disability and can't walk anymore. The condition is as it is.

Perhaps our mind is now creating a story that says, “This is what my life has come to. I have ended up in a wheelchair. Life has treated me harshly and unfairly. I don't deserve this.”

Can we accept the "isness" of this moment and not confuse it with a story the mind has created around it?

Surrender comes when we no longer ask “Why is this happening to me?"

Even within the seemingly most unacceptable and painful situation is concealed a deeper good, and within every disaster is contained the seed of grace.

Throughout history, there have been women and men who, in the face of great loss, illness, imprisonment, or impending death, accepted the seemingly unacceptable and thus found “the peace that passeth all understanding.”

Acceptance of the unacceptable is the greatest source of grace in this world.

Man's Search for Meaning

how very true...

why are you living..for what who or.. are you living for?

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Man's Search for Meaning; Please weigh in

---

Viktor Frankl's 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate


“An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature.

But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man’s attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces.

A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him.

But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful.

If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering.

Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death.

Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”



The key to this passage is in understanding the metaphor Viktor Frankl is laying out.

First he portrays the obvious span between active creative living as opposed to passive enjoyment of life.

He says that each of these two aspects have certain inherent and assumed sets of value that, though different, provide equal access to meaning and purpose.

Where meaning and purpose are the necessary ingredients of fulfillment which are necessary to a worthwhile life.

Then Viktor Frankl introduces a third extreme in this metaphoric structure, suffering, which he implies has previously been assumed to be effectively barren of any ingredients for worth in life, or for “high moral behavior” as he puts it.

Making his point he asserts authoritatively that meaning is not the exclusive province of just the two extremes of creativity and enjoyment.

His concept is that life is an empty container in which meaning and purpose reside.

He is saying that meaning and purpose are pervasive throughout the container of life, therefore, as a consequence of simply being within the container of life, suffering also has meaning and purpose.

Contrary to popular belief, he asserts, suffering cannot negate nor restrict access to meaning and purpose.

Viktor Frankl is saying that we have a generally accepted idea that life is inherently meaningful except for the areas of life in which suffering occurs.

When you observe a person in a state of suffering you get the impression that meaning and purpose are absent or that the suffering person is prevented from accessing them.

Viktor Frankl assumes that life is inherently meaningful, so he points out how suffering must also be meaningful because of the fact that it is part of life, ipso facto.

Since life is inherently meaningful then any assumption that is made about the inherent meaninglessness or purposelessness of suffering is false, an illusion.





Other Quotations

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

"Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"

"We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering."

"Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment."

"When we are no longer able to change a situation - just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer - we are challenged to change ourselves. "

4 values

Ever thought about how are the values being defined in buddhism?

Or can you actually define it?

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AN 8.54

Dighajanu Sutta: To Dighajanu


I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Koliyans. Now the Koliyans have a town named Kakkarapatta. There Dighajanu the Koliyan went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "We are lay people enjoying sensuality; living crowded with spouses & children; using Kasi fabrics & sandalwood; wearing garlands, scents, & creams; handling gold & silver. May the Blessed One teach the Dhamma for those like us, for our happiness & well-being in this life, for our happiness & well-being in lives to come."

[The Blessed One said:] "There are these four qualities, TigerPaw, that lead to a lay person's happiness and well-being in this life. Which four? Being consummate in initiative, being consummate in vigilance, admirable friendship, and maintaining one's livelihood in tune.

"And what does it mean to be consummate in initiative?There is the case where a lay person, by whatever occupation he makes his living — whether by farming or trading or cattle tending or archery or as a king's man or by any other craft — is clever and untiring at it, endowed with discrimination in its techniques, enough to arrange and carry it out. This is called being consummate in initiative.

"And what does it mean to be consummate in vigilance?There is the case when a lay person has righteous wealth — righteously gained, coming from his initiative, his striving, his making an effort, gathered by the strength of his arm, earned by his sweat — he manages to protect it through vigilance [with the thought], 'How shall neither kings nor thieves make off with this property of mine, nor fire burn it, nor water sweep it away, nor hateful heirs make off with it?' This is called being consummate in vigilance.

"And what is meant by admirable friendship? There is the case where a lay person, in whatever town or village he may dwell, spends time with householders or householders' sons, young or old, who are advanced in virtue. He talks with them, engages them in discussions. He emulates consummate conviction in those who are consummate in conviction, consummate virtue in those who are consummate in virtue, consummate generosity in those who are consummate in generosity, and consummate discernment in those who are consummate in discernment. This is called admirable friendship.

"And what does it mean to maintain one's livelihood in tune? There is the case where a lay person, knowing the income and outflow of his wealth, maintains a livelihood in tune, neither a spendthrift nor a penny-pincher, [thinking], 'Thus will my income exceed my outflow, and my outflow will not exceed my income.' Just as when a weigher or his apprentice, when holding the scales, knows, 'It has tipped down so much or has tipped up so much,' in the same way, the lay person, knowing the income and outflow of his wealth, maintains a livelihood in tune, neither a spendthrift nor a penny-pincher, [thinking], 'Thus will my income exceed my outflow, and my outflow will not exceed my income.' If a lay person has a small income but maintains a grand livelihood, it will be rumored of him, 'This clansman devours his wealth like a fruit-tree eater.' If a lay person has a large income but maintains a miserable livelihood, it will be rumored of him, 'This clansman will die of starvation.' But when a lay person, knowing the income and outflow of his wealth, maintains a livelihood in tune, neither a spendthrift nor a penny-pincher, [thinking], 'Thus will my income exceed my outflow, and my outflow will not exceed my income,' this is call maintaining one's livelihood in tune.

"These are the four drains on one's store of wealth:debauchery in sex; debauchery in drink; debauchery in gambling; and evil friendship, evil companionship, evil camaraderie. Just as if there were a great reservoir with four inlets and four drains, and a man were to close the inlets and open the drains, and the sky were not to pour down proper showers, the depletion of that great reservoir could be expected, not its increase. In the same way, these are the four drains on one's store of wealth: debauchery in sex; debauchery in drink; debauchery in gambling; and evil friendship, evil companionship, evil camaraderie.

These are the four inlets to one's store of wealth: no debauchery in sex; no debauchery in drink; no debauchery in gambling; and admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie. Just as if there were a great reservoir with four inlets and four drains, and a man were to open the inlets and close the drains, and the sky were to pour down proper showers, the increase of that great reservoir could be expected, not its depletion. In the same way, these are the four inlets to one's store of wealth: no debauchery in sex; no debauchery in drink; no debauchery in gambling; and admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.

"These, TigerPaw, are the four qualities that lead to a lay person's happiness and well-being in this life.

"There are these four qualities that lead to a lay person's happiness and well-being in lives to come. Which four?Being consummate in conviction, being consummate in virtue, being consummate in generosity, being consummate in discernment.

"And what does it mean to be consummate in conviction? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones has conviction, is convinced of the Tathagata's Awakening: 'Indeed, the Blessed One is worthy and rightly self-awakened, consummate in knowledge and conduct, well-gone, an expert with regard to the world, unexcelled as a trainer for those people fit to be tamed, the Teacher of divine and human beings, awakened, blessed.' This is called being consummate in conviction.

"And what does it mean to be consummate in virtue? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking life, abstains from stealing, abstains from illicit sexual conduct, abstains from lying, abstains from taking intoxicants that cause heedlessness. This is called being consummate in virtue.

"And what does it mean to be consummate in generosity? There is the case of a disciple of the noble ones, his awareness cleansed of the stain of miserliness, living at home, freely generous, openhanded, delighting in being magnanimous, responsive to requests, delighting in the distribution of alms. This is called being consummate in generosity.

"And what does it mean to be consummate in discernment? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones is discerning, endowed with discernment of arising and passing away — noble, penetrating, leading to the right ending of stress. This is called being consummate in discernment.

"These, TigerPaw, are the four qualities that lead to a lay person's happiness and well-being in lives to come."

Heedful at administering or working at one's occupation, maintaining one's life in tune, one protects one's store of wealth. A person of conviction, consummate in virtue, magnanimous, free of selfishness, constantly clears the path to security in the lives to come. Thus for one who seeks the household life, these eight qualities, leading to welfare & happiness both in this life & in lives to come, have been declared by the one whose name is truth. And this is how, for householders, generosity & merit increase.

Interesting view..

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Dogmas — religious, political, scientific— arise out of the erroneous belief that thought can encapsulate reality or the truth.Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange thing is that people love their prison cells because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of “I know.”

Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its dogmas. It is true that every dogma crumbles sooner or later, because reality will eventually disclose its falseness; however, unless the basic delusion of it is seen for what it is, it will be replaced by others.

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day."

Boredom

Time is never wasted..its how you make use of it :)

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The mind exists in a state of “not enough” and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus, more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied.

When you feel bored, you can satisfy the mind’s hunger by picking up a magazine, making a phone call, switching on the TV, surfing the web, going shopping, or — and this is not uncommon — transferring the mental sense of lack and its need for more to the body and satisfy it briefly by ingesting more food.

Or you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless. As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it, as it were. A little at first, but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance.

So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.

You discover that a “bored person” is not who you are.

Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not “yours,” not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go.

Nothing that comes and goes is you.

“I am bored.” Who knows this?

“I am angry, sad, afraid.” Who knows this?

You are the knowing, not the condition that is known.

Destiny after death

How very true.

Only one thing is certain after death. that you are dead. and what happens after death? you will know at that point in time.

So we try hard to live well now so that we can live well after death? up to you to decide

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Whether we believe in god or gods or is an atheist, or believe in rebirth or in heaven and hell, it does not matter. After you die, you will KNOW! No need to believe in anything.

We will experience what we deserve. If one is a kind and sincere person, that is the purpose of religion, to improve ourselves step by step till perfection. Who cares what we wish to call the name of the religion? It depends on how we conduct our everyday lives. That is the essence of spiritual practice.

The ultimate goal for students of the Buddha-Dhamma is to escape the cycle of samsara, the endless rebirths, and attain the peace of Nibbana. While those of theistic faiths hope to be 'born again in Heaven,' the Buddhist aims not to be born anymore. This is indeed a huge difference.

The idea of extinction is very often misunderstood. Greed, hatred and Ignorance is what is extinguished, ego is what is being extinguished - the sense of separation and isolation of "I" from the rest of existence.

But the idea that people are striving to literally not exist in any possible sense of the word is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Dhamma.

Every action you take, every decision you make, everything you do causes an immediate effect on those around you - and on you. Well that's kamma! And it is an empirical truth, no need to believe in anything! If you don't eat, you feel hungry, if you fall down, you feel pain! And this is the common sense important bit.

It is your bed and you are going to have to lie in it. Your actions will dictate whether in general your life is going to run happily or badly, smoothly or as if the wheels have fallen off. If you are selfish and manipulative it will rebound on you. If you are generally loving and thougtful you will get your just rewards - and not in heaven (or the next life or whatever you believe) but right here, right now too.

Affirmation And Prayer

I wonder.... does prayer affirms and add weight to what you had wanted all along?

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A prayer (avhayana or pathana) is a collection of words addressed to God or to gods.

Normally there are two types of prayers – (1) requests for help and (2) praise of the deity, both of these mentioned in the passage from the Tipitaka, ‘to beseech, praise and worship with joined hands’ ( D.I,240). Such prayers can be either silent or vocalized, done individually or in a group. The Vedas, the sacred scriptures of Brahmanism, contain hundreds of prayers to various gods.

Buddhism does not consider prayer to have a role to play in the spiritual life and the Buddha denied that prayer works. The things that people long for most – happiness, long life, rebirth in heaven, etc – cannot, he said, ‘be acquired by vows and prayers’ (A.II,47).

Affirmation (adhinnana or dhiti) does, however, have a significance in Buddhism.

An affirmation is a strong resolve, avowal or determination to do or to achieve something. When we make an affirmation it clarifies and bring to the forefront of consciousness the goal we desire, it marshals and intensifies all the power of the mind and it focuses that power on the goal. An affirmation can make one ‘resolute for the highest goal, firm-minded…steadfast and endowed with strength and energy’ (Sn.68).

When prayers work, as they sometimes seem to, it is actually due to the power of the mind, not the intervention of a deity.

Affirmation had a part to play in the Buddha attaining enlightenment. He declared, ‘Gladly will I let only my skin, sinews and bones remain after my flesh and blood had dried up, but my resolution shall not falter until I have attained what can be attained by human power, human strength, human persistence’ (A.I,50).

These words aroused and focused the energy, the confidence and the courage he needed for his final push to attain Nirvana. The Buddha also mentioned that a strong affirmation can have a role to play in mental purification. He said that effective way to efface negative mental states was to make the affirmation not to give into them.

‘Effacement can be done by thinking like this …“Others may be contemptuous, we will not be contemptuous. Others may be domineering, we will not be domineering. Others may be envious, we will not be envious” ’ (M.I,42-3).

Kamma simplified

A fine example of things never stop..time don't stop

events just continue happening.. our brain and conscious is much more active than you think.

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When we say that whatever we do intentionally is Kamma, what in scientific terms is that whatever we intentionally do leaves an imprint in our stream of consciousness. This imprint no matter how subtle is Never forgotten. This is why when one is under hypnosis, one is able to recall events long "Forgotten", and even past lives.

The stream of consciousness just keeps flowing on, every moment and act contributing further to it and changing it endlessly. Of course wholesome events change it positively!

We are the result of all our past actions, good and bad, we are the heirs of our kamma! You may understand now why it is said that kamma no matter how 'latent' will come to fruition when the conditions are right. When the condition for your thought to appear is there, your thought appeared! Dreams included!

Is there a beginning of time?

Well.. will say that value of time is relative to each person, as one will have heard about ask the value of 10 months and a pregnant lady will tell u.. ask about the value of 1 sec, a sport athlete will tell you another..

so whats a beginning? from the big bang or from something that you have defined. instead of asking the past, shouldn't one be treasuring the present?

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There is NO beginning as time is beginningless, it is man's 70 years that makes him look at everything as having a beginning and an end.

The Buddha is clear that it is to man's folly to imagine a beginning or an end of the universe, for a point in time where Ignorance started is simply NOT there. Time is beginningless and the std joke being "what was "god" doing before creation???.... Well he was preparing a place for people like you and me who ask such questions!!!!"

The Buddhist texts basically dispute that the world/universe is Created by some 'being'. Instead, it provides a picture of an EVOLVING universe and beings from a simple to a more complicated form.

The Buddha implied the theory of the Evolution of the Universe, where it is said to shrink and then expand in repeated cycles.

In Digha Nikaya Sutta 14, the Buddha stated that 6 Buddhas appeared over the past 91 world-cycles. On average, a Buddha appears once in over 10 world-cycles.

Our present world cycle from Big Bang to Big Collapse is estimated to last about 30BILLION years before ANOTHER world cycle restarts with a Big Bang again (The Big Bounce hypothesis). Extremely Rare, indeed, is a Sammasambuddha. We are truly blessed to live in the age of the Dhamma!

The pristine Dhamma is still available to us in the 4 Nikayas. What are we waiting for? Let us study the Great Teacher's words carefully while it is still with us, instead of debating over many things!

There is NO ONE point in time that everything began but that everything is cyclical including the universe; it states clearly that the universe begins and ends and then begins again et infinatum. This teaching predated the scientific principles of Big Bounce and Big Bang by 2600 years! But The aim of Buddhism is to develop wisdom and compassion and thereby attain Nibbana. Knowing how the universe began is academic and contributes nothing to this task .

Once a man demanded that the Buddha tell him how the universe began. The Buddha said to him "You are like a man who has been shot with a poison arrow and who, when the doctor comes to remove it, says 'Wait! Before the arrow is removed I want to know the name of the man who shot it, what clan he comes from, which village he was born in. I want to know what type of wood his bow is made from, what feathers are on the end of the arrow, how long the arrows are, etc etc.' That man would die before all these questions could be answered. My job is to help you to remove the arrow of suffering from yourself" (Majjhima Nikáya Sutta No. 63).

The Buddha aimed to help us solve the practical problems of living - it does not encourage speculation. And if a Buddhist wants to know how and when the universe began he would ask a scientist.

Disciplines within in Buddhism

Wonder...

It is true that buddhism should have been kept under one stream and teaching but there are also tales of different buddhism groups..

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The authentic teachings of the Buddha Gotama have been preserved and handed down to us.

The Suttanta Pitaka contains the Discourses.


It is known, that whenever the Buddha gave a discourse in the course of his forty-five year ministry, his devoted and learned monks then present would immediately commit his teachings word for word to memory. And because it was a chanting of the words done collectively by many people, any deviation will immediately be noted. Thus the Buddha's words were preserved accurately and were passed down orally from teacher to pupil.

One such monk was Ananda. Ananda was highly intelligent and gifted with the ability to remember whatever he had heard spoken. Indeed, it was his express wish that the Buddha always relate all of his discourses to him, and he deliberately committed to memory word for word all the Buddha's sermons with which he exhorted monks, nuns and his lay followers.

Indeed, in this day and age we are fortunate to have the authentic teachings of the Buddha preserved for future generations through the conscientious and concerted efforts of his ordained disciples down through the ages.

The Buddha had said to his disciples that when he was no longer amongst them, that it was essential that the Sangha should come together for the purpose of collectively reciting the Dhamma, precisely as he had taught it. This ensures its accuracy. In compliance with this instruction the first Elders duly called a council and systematically recited them word for word in concert.

These discourses number thousands and have always been recited word for word ever since the First Council was convened. Subsequently, more Councils have been called for a number of reasons but at every one of them the entire body of the Buddha's teaching has always been recited by the Sangha participants, in concert and word for word.

The first council took place three months after the Buddha's death and attainment of Parinibbana and was followed by five more, two of which were convened in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

King Ajatasattu sponsored the First Council. It was convened in 544 B.C. three months after the Buddha had passed away. A detailed account of this historic meeting can be found in the Cullavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka.

The Second Council was held near the city of Vesali in 100 B.E. (Buddhist Era) (443 B.C). It was held because the bhikkhus of the Vajji clan from Vesali practised ten unlawful modifications in the Rules of the Order. The seven hundred Arahants, led by Venerable Yasa, Venerable Sabbakami and Venerable Revata, took part in that council. At this council, the erring monks broke away to form a new branch, this was the great schism.

The Third Council was held in the city of Pataliputta in 235 B.E, (308 B.C). Sixty thousand ascetics had already infiltrated into the Sangha Order and polluted the Master's Teaching by their corrupt and heretical views. That is the main reason why the Third Council was held by one thousand Arahants, presided over by Venerable Mahamoggaliputta Tissa. The authentic teachings were again recited and approved and subsequently, nine missions were sent to nine different places, as far as Indonesia, to propagate the Sasana.

The Fourth Council was held in Sri Lanka, in 450 B.E (94 B.C). Later in 83 B.C., the Tipitaka was, for the first time committed to writing in Ceylon (Sri Lanka, now) on the ola leaves. Five hundred bhikkhus, led by Venerable Mahadhammarakkhita, inscribed the entire words of the Buddha's Teachings on palm leaves. When books of these leaves were piled together, it was said to exceed the heights of six elephants.

The Fifth Council was convened at Mandalay in Burma (Myanmar now) in 2415 B.E (AD 1871). The scriptures were inscribed on seven hundred and twenty-nine marble slabs at the foot of Mandalay Hill. This is the BIGGEST OPEN book in the world! The words of the Buddha were literally carved in stone!

The Sixth and the last Great Council was held at Rangoon (Yangon now) again in Burma in 2498 B.E (AD1954). The Most Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw and Mingun Sayadaw took the leading roles in that council. At that Council, not only the canonical Pali Texts of the Buddha but also the commentaries and sub-commentaries were re-examined and approved.



The most wonderful thing about all these massive instructions, both in theory and practical aspects, is that it can be verified at any time by any able person who will steadfastly practise with Nibbana as the ultimate goal and realises the Truths and joins the exclusive membership of Enlightened Beings (Ariya persons) even in this very life.

The size of the Tipitaka Texts do not frighten the followers as the Buddha made it clear in His numerous discourses that only the knowledge realised through meditation is the final key to Nibbana, the ultimate peace. But before we become enlightened in this life or future lives, we as Buddhists, have to live the Buddhist way of life, in accordance with what the Buddha taught. So, preservation of the Buddha's Teaching (Buddha's Sasana) is very important for us as well as for the future generations.