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This blog is created by a Buddhist living in Singapore. He embraces the Mahayana spirit of Bodhicitta, deeply respecting all Buddhist Traditions as expressions of Kindness guiding us on the path towards human perfection ~ Buddhahood.

He likes to post stuff that he had read or think is good to share here, sometimes he adds a little comments here and there... just sometimes..

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“Sariputra, if there are people who have already made the vow, who now make the vow, or who are about to make the vow, ‘I desire to be born in Amitabha’s country,’ these people, whether born in the past, now being born, or to be born in the future, all will irreversibly attain to anuttarasamyaksambodhi. Therefore, Sariputra, all good men and good women, if they are among those who have faith, should make the vow, ‘I will be born in that country.’”

~ Amitabha Sutra

When I obtain the Buddhahood, any being of the boundless and inconceivable Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters whose body if be touched by the rays of my splendour should not make his body and mind gentle and peaceful, in such a state that he is far more sublime than the gods and men, then may I not attain the enlightenment.

~ Amitabha Buddha's Thirty-Third Vow

Saturday, July 26, 2008

All About Change

by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Article source)

Change is the focal point for Buddhist insight — a fact so well known that it has spawned a familiar sound bite: "Isn't change what Buddhism is all about?" What's less well known is that this focus has a frame, that change is neither where insight begins nor where it ends. Insight begins with a question that evaluates change in light of the desire for true happiness. It ends with a happiness that lies beyond change. When this frame is forgotten, people create their own contexts for the teaching and often assume that the Buddha was operating within those same contexts. Two of the contexts commonly attributed to the Buddha at present are these:


Insight into change teaches us to embrace our experiences without clinging to them — to get the most out of them in the present moment by fully appreciating their intensity, in full knowledge that we will soon have to let them go to embrace whatever comes next.

Insight into change teaches us hope. Because change is built into the nature of things, nothing is inherently fixed, not even our own identity. No matter how bad the situation, anything is possible. We can do whatever we want to do, create whatever world we want to live in, and become whatever we want to be.


The first of these interpretations offers wisdom on how to consume the pleasures of immediate, personal experience when you'd rather they not change; the second, on how to produce change when you want it. Although sometimes presented as complementary insights, these interpretations contain a practical conflict: If experiences are so fleeting and changeable, are they worth the effort needed to produce them? How can we find genuine hope in the prospect of positive change if we can't fully rest in the results when they arrive? Aren't we just setting ourselves up for disappointment?

(Photo source: flickr.com)

Or is this just one of the unavoidable paradoxes of life? Ancient folk wisdom from many cultures would suggest so, advising us that we should approach change with cautious joy and stoic equanimity: training ourselves to not to get attached to the results of our actions, and accepting without question the need to keep on producing fleeting pleasures as best we can, for the only alternative would be inaction and despair. This advice, too, is often attributed to the Buddha.

But the Buddha was not the sort of person to accept things without question. His wisdom lay in realizing that the effort that goes into the production of happiness is worthwhile only if the processes of change can be skillfully managed to arrive at a happiness resistant to change. Otherwise, we're life-long prisoners in a forced-labor camp, compelled to keep on producing pleasurable experiences to assuage our hunger, and yet finding them so empty of any real essence that they can never leave us full.

These realizations are implicit in the question that, according to the Buddha, lies at the beginning of insight:

"What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term well-being and happiness?"


This is a heartfelt question, motivated by the desire behind all conscious action: to attain levels of pleasure worthy of the effort that goes into them. It springs from the realization that life requires effort, and that if we aren't careful whole lifetimes can be lived in vain. This question, together with the realizations and desires behind it, provides the context for the Buddha's perspective on change. If we examine it closely, we find the seeds for all his insights into the production and consumption of change.

The first phrase in the question — "What, when I do it, will lead to ..." — focuses on the issues of production, on the potential effects of human action. Prior to his Awakening, the Buddha had left home and gone into the wilderness to explore precisely this issue: to see how far human action could go, and whether it could lead to a dimension beyond the reach of change. His Awakening was confirmation that it could — if developed to the appropriate level of skillfulness. He thus taught that there are four types of action, corresponding to four levels of skill: three that produce pleasant, unpleasant, and mixed experiences within the cycles of space and time; and a fourth that leads beyond action to a level of happiness transcending the dimensions of space and time, thus eliminating the need to produce any further happiness.

Because the activities of producing and consuming require space and time, a happiness transcending space and time, by its very nature, is neither produced nor consumed. Thus, when the Buddha reached that happiness and stepped outside the modes of producing and consuming, he was able to turn back and see exactly how pervasive a role these activities play in ordinary experience, and how imprisoning they normally are. He saw that our experience of the present is an activity — something fabricated or produced, moment to moment, from the raw material provided by past actions. We even fabricate our identity, our sense of who we are. At the same time, we try to consume any pleasure that can be found in what we've produced — although in our desire to consume pleasure, we often gobble down pain. With every moment, production and consumption are intertwined: We consume experiences as we produce them, and produce them as we consume. The way we consume our pleasures or pains can produce further pleasures or pains, now and into the future, depending on how skillful we are.

The three parts of the latter phrase in the Buddha's question — "my / long-term / well-being and happiness" — provide standards for gauging the level of our skill in approaching true pleasure or happiness. (The Pali word, here — sukha — can be translated as pleasure, happiness, ease, or bliss.) We apply these standards to the experiences we consume: if they aren't long-term, then no matter how pleasant they might be, they aren't true happiness. If they're not true happiness, there's no reason to claim them as "mine."

This insight forms the basis for the Three Characteristics that the Buddha taught for inducing a sense of dispassion for normal time- and space-bound experience. Anicca, the first of the three, is pivotal. Anicca applies to everything that changes. Often translated as "impermanent," it's actually the negative of nicca, which means constant or dependable. Everything that changes is inconstant. Now, the difference between "impermanent" and "inconstant" may seem semantic, but it's crucial to the way anicca functions in the Buddha's teachings. As the early texts state repeatedly, if something is anicca then the other two characteristics automatically follow: it's dukkha (stressful) and anatta (not-self), i.e., not worthy to be claimed as me or mine.

If we translate anicca as impermanent, the connection among these Three Characteristics might seem debatable. But if we translate it as inconstant, and consider the Three Characteristics in light of the Buddha's original question, the connection is clear. If you're seeking a dependable basis for long-term happiness and ease, anything inconstant is obviously a stressful place to pin your hopes — like trying to relax in an unstable chair whose legs are liable to break at any time. If you understand that your sense of self is something willed and fabricated — that you choose to create it — there's no compelling reason to keep creating a "me" or "mine" around any experience that's inconstant and stressful. You want something better. You don't want to make that experience the goal of your practice.

So what do you do with experiences that are inconstant and stressful? You could treat them as worthless and throw them away, but that would be wasteful. After all, you went to the trouble to fabricate them in the first place; and, as it turns out, the only way you can reach the goal is by utilizing experiences of just this sort. So you can learn how to use them as means to the goal; and the role they can play in serving that purpose is determined by the type of activity that went into producing them: the type that produces a pleasure conducive to the goal, or the type that doesn't. Those that do, the Buddha labeled the "path." These activities include acts of generosity, acts of virtue, and the practice of mental absorption, or concentration. Even though they fall under the Three Characteristics, these activities produce a sense of pleasure relatively stable and secure, more deeply gratifying and nourishing than the act of producing and consuming ordinary sensual pleasures. So if you're aiming at happiness within the cycles of change, you should look to generosity, virtue, and mental absorption to produce that happiness. But if you'd rather aim for a happiness going beyond change, these same activities can still help you by fostering the clarity of mind needed for Awakening. Either way, they're worth mastering as skills. They're your basic set of tools, so you want to keep them in good shape and ready to hand.

As for other pleasures and pains — such as those involved in sensual pursuits and in simply having a body and mind — these can serve as the objects you fashion with your tools, as raw materials for the discernment leading to Awakening. By carefully examining them in light of their Three Characteristics — to see exactly how they're inconstant, stressful, and not-self — you become less inclined to keep on producing and consuming them. You see that your addictive compulsion to fabricate them comes entirely from the hunger and ignorance embodied in states of passion, aversion, and delusion. When these realizations give rise to dispassion both for fabricated experiences and for the processes of fabrication, you enter the path of the fourth kind of kamma, leading to the Deathless.

This path contains two important turns. The first comes when all passion and aversion for sensual pleasures and pains has been abandoned, and your only remaining attachment is to the pleasure of concentration. At this point, you turn and examine the pleasure of concentration in terms of the same Three Characteristics you used to contemplate sensual experiences. The difficulty here is that you've come to rely so strongly on the solidity of your concentration that you'd rather not look for its drawbacks. At the same time, the inconstancy of a concentrated mind is much more subtle than that of sensual experiences. But once you overcome your unwillingness to look for that inconstancy, the day is sure to come when you detect it. And then the mind can be inclined to the Deathless.

That's where the second turn occurs. As the texts point out, when the mind encounters the Deathless it can treat it as a mind-object — a dhamma — and then produce a feeling of passion and delight for it. The fabricated sense of the self that's producing and consuming this passion and delight thus gets in the way of full Awakening. So at this point the logic of the Three Characteristics has to take a new turn. Their original logic — "Whatever is inconstant is stressful; whatever is stressful is not-self" — leaves open the possibility that whatever is constant could be (1) easeful and (2) self. The first possibility is in fact the case: whatever is constant is easeful; the Deathless is actually the ultimate ease. But the second possibility isn't a skillful way of regarding what's constant: if you latch onto what's constant as self, you're stuck on your attachment. To go beyond space and time, you have to go beyond fabricating the producing and consuming self, which is why the concluding insight of the path is: "All dhammas" — constant or not — "are not-self."

When this insight has done its work in overcoming any passion or delight for the Deathless, full Awakening occurs. And at that point, even the path is relinquished, and the Deathless remains, although no longer as an object of the mind. It's simply there, radically prior to and separate from the fabrication of space and time. All consuming and producing for the sake of your own happiness comes to an end, for a timeless well-being has been found. And because all mind-objects are abandoned in this happiness, questions of constant or inconstant, stress or ease, self or not-self are no longer an issue.

This, then, is the context of Buddhist insight into change: an approach that takes seriously both the potential effects of human effort and the basic human desire that effort not go to waste, that change have the potential to lead to a happiness beyond the reach of change. This insight is focused on developing the skills that lead to the production of genuine happiness. It employs the Three Characteristics — of inconstancy, stress, and not-self — not as abstract statements about existence, but as inducement for mastering those skills and as guidelines for measuring your progress along the way. When used in this way, the Three Characteristics lead to a happiness transcending the Three Characteristics, the activities of producing and consuming, and space and time as a whole.

When we understand this context for the Three Characteristics, we can clearly see the half-truths contained in the insights on the production and consumption of change that are commonly misattributed to the Buddha. With regard to production: Although it may be true that, with enough patience and persistence, we can produce just about anything, including an amazing array of self-identities, from the raw material of the present moment, the question is: what's worth producing? We've imprisoned ourselves with our obsession for producing and consuming changeable pleasures and changeable selves, and yet there's the possibility of using change to escape from this prison to the freedom of a happiness transcending time and space. Do we want to take advantage of that possibility, or would we rather spend our spare time blowing bubbles in the sunlight coming through our prison windows and trying to derive happiness from their swirling patterns before they burst?

This question ties in with wisdom on consumption: Getting the most out of our changing experiences doesn't mean embracing them or milking them of their intensity. Instead it means learning to approach the pleasures and pains they offer, not as fleeting ends in themselves, but as tools for Awakening. With every moment we're supplied with raw materials — some of them attractive, some of them not. Instead of embracing them in delight or throwing them away in disgust, we can learn how to use them to produce the keys that will unlock our prison doors.

And as for the wisdom of non-attachment to the results of our actions: in the Buddha's context, this notion can make sense only if we care deeply about the results of our actions and want to master the processes of cause and effect that lead to genuine freedom. In other words, we don't demand childishly that our actions — skillful or not — always result in immediate happiness, that everything we stick into the lock will automatically unlatch the door. If what we have done has been unskillful and led to undesirable results, we want to admit our mistakes and find out why they were mistakes so that we can learn how to correct them the next time around. Only when we have the patience to look objectively at the results of our actions will we be able to learn, by studying the keys that don't unlock the doors, how finally to make the right keys that do.

With this attitude we can make the most of the processes of change to develop the skill that releases us from the prison of endless producing and consuming. With release, we plunge into the freedom of a happiness so true that it transcends the terms of the original question that led us there. There's nothing further we have to do; our sense of "my" and "mine" is discarded; and even the "long-term," which implies time, is erased by the timeless. The happiness remaining lies radically beyond the range of our time- and space-bound conceptions of happiness. Totally independent of mind-objects, it's unadulterated and unalterable, unlimited and pure. As the texts tell us, it even lies beyond the range of "totality" and "the All."

And that's what Buddhist practice is all about.




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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology

A distinguished scholar of Buddhism, Lewis Lancaster founded the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to use the latest computer technology to map the spread of various strands of Buddhism from the distant past to the present. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion & Society" [6/2008] [Humanities] [Show ID: 14331]



~End of post~





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Friday, July 04, 2008

The Potter Ghatikara & Jotipala

MAJJHIMA NIKAAYA II

II. 4.1. Gha.tiikaarasutta.m
(81) The Potter Ghatikara

I heard thus.

At one time the Blessed One, was going on a tour in the country of Kosala, with a large community of bhikkhus. The Blessed One, coming to a certain region, stepped out of the path and smiled. Then it occurred to venerable Ananda. The Blessed One does not smile for nothing. Why did the Blessed One smile? Then venerable Ananda, arranging his robe on one shoulder, clasped his hands towards the Blessed One and said. ‘Venerable sir, for what reason did the Blessed One smile?’ ‘Ananda, in the past in this region, there was a chief village named Vebhalinga. It was very prosperous and highly populated. The perfect rightfully enlightened one Kassapa abode suppoted on this village. Ananda, the perfect rightfully enlightened one Kassapa sat here and adivsed the community of bhikkhus.’

Venerable Ananda folded the robe in four and placing it there said. ‘Then venerable sir, sit here, so that it would be partaken by two perfect rightfully enlightened ones.’ The Blessed One sat on it and addressed venerable Ananda. ‘In this chief village Vebhalinga there was a potter named Ghatikara the chief supporter of the Blessed One, and he had an apprentice named Jotipala, a young lovable man. Then the potter Ghatikara addressed the young man Jotipala. Friend, Jotipala, let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect, and rightfully enlightened. It is good to see such enlightened ones. Ananda. When this was said, the young man Jotipala said thus: Friend, ghatikara, what use comes seeing these monkish shavellings. For the second time the potter Ghatikara said Friend, Jotipala, let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect, and rightfully enlightened. It is good to see such enlightened ones.. For the third time the potter Ghatikara said Friend, Jotipala, let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect, and rightfully enlightened. It is good to see such enlightened ones,--- For the third time the young man Jotipala saidFriend, Ghatikara, what use comes seeing these monkish shavellings.

Photo source: Flickr.com

Then friend Jotipala, take the soap powder and the brush and let’s go to the river, to bathe. To that he agreed and and they went to the river to bathe. At the river too the potter Ghatikara addressed the young man. Good friend, Jotipala, the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect and rightfully enlightened one’s monastery is close by. Let us go and see him, it is good to see such enlightened ones. When this was said, again the young man said, Friend, Ghatikara, what use comes seeing these monkish shavellings. Ananda, for the second and third time the young man Jotipala said this. Then the potter Ghatikara took hold of the young man Jotipala by his girdle and said again, Friend, Jotipala, let us go to see the Blessed one Kassapa, perfect, and rightfully enlightened. It is good to see such enlightened ones. The young man released himself from that hold and said, Friend, ghatikara, what use comes seeing these monkish shavellings. Then the potter Ghatikara, held the young man’s well washed hair and said. Good friend, Jotipala, the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect and rightfully enlightened one’s monastery is close by. Let us go and see him. It is good to see such enlightened ones. Ananda, then it occurred to the young man Jotipala, it is wonderful, how this potter Ghatikara should think to touch the washed hair of one of high birth like me. He does not think it should not be touched. Then he said. ‘Let it be your wish.’ ‘Good friend, Jotipala, let it be your wish too!Seeing, these perfect rightfully enlightened ones is good.’. .

Friend, Ghatikara loosen the hold and let us go now. Then Ananda, the potter Ghatikana and the young man Jotipala approached the monastery of the perfect, rightfully enlightened one, Kassapa. The potter Ghatikara worshipped the Blessed One and sat on a side, the young man Jotipala exchanged friendly greetings with the perfect rightfully enlightened Blessed One Kassapa and sat on a side. The potter Ghatikara said thus to the perfect, rightfully enlightened one Kassapa. ‘Venerable sir, this is my loveable friend and assistant, Jotipala, give him the Teaching.’. The Blessed One Kassapa perfect, rightfully enlightened one adviced, instructed incited and made the hearts light of the young man Jotipala and the potter Ghatikara. Then the two of them delighted and pleased got up from their seats, worshipped, circumambulated the Blessed One and went away.

Then the young man Jotipala said to the potter Ghatikara. ‘Friend, Ghatikara, you hear this Teaching, why don’t you leave the household and become a homeless?’

‘Friend, Jotipala, don’t you know, that I support my mother and father, who are blind and decayed?’

‘Then friend, Ghatikara I will leave the household and become a homeless.’

.The young man Jotipala and the potter Ghatikara approached the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect, rightfully enlightened, worshipped and sat on a side. Then the potter Ghatikara said thus to the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened. ‘Venerable sir, this is my loveable friend and assistant Jotipala, give him the going forth.’. The young man Jotipala received the going forth and the higher ordination from the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect, rightfully enlightened. Ananda, the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened two weeks after confering the higher ordination on the young man Jotipala, went on a tour to Benares, and gradually reached Benares.

Then, Ananda, the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened lived in Benares in the deer park in Isipatana. The king of Benares Kiki Kaasiraajaa heard, the Blessed One Kassapa perfect, rightfully enlightened has arrived in Benares and he got good conveyances arranged for himself, and came to see the Blessed One Kassapa in all royal splendour. Covering as far as the conveyances could go, he approached the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened on foot. Worshipped the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened and sat on a side. The Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened, advised, instructed, incited and made the heart light of the king of Benares, Kiki Kaasiraajaa. Then the delighted and pleased king invited the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened for the next day’s meal together with the community of bhikkhus. The Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened, accepted the invitation in silence. Then king Kiki Kaasiraajaa knowing that the Blessed One Kassapa had accepted the invitation got up from his seat worshipped and circumambulated the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened and went away. King Kiki Kaasiraajaa in his palace made preparations of various nourishing eatables and drinks, with cooked rice with the fine rice of the colour pale yellow with the dark seeds picked and informed the Blessed One: Venerable sir, the meal is ready, and it's time for the meal.

Then Ananda, the Blessed One Kassapa putting on robes in the morning and taking bowl and robes, together with the Community of bhikkhus approached the palace of king Kiki Kaasiraajaa and sat on the seats prepared. The king served and satisfied the Blessed One Kassapa perfect, rightfully enlightened and the community of bhikkhus with his own hands. When the meal was over and the bowl was put away. KingKikiKaasiraajaatook a low seat and siting said thus to the Blessed One: Venerable sir, may the Blessed One accept to spend the rains in Benares, I will attend on the Blessed One and the community in this manner. The Blessed One Kassapa perfect and rightfully enlightened said I have already accepted to spend the rains. King Kiki Kaasiraajaa entreated the Blessed One up to the third time and the Blessed One Kassapa said I have already accepted to spend the rains. Then king Kiki Kaasiraajaa was displeased and unpleasant, thinking, the Blessed One Kassapa perfect rightfully enlightened does not accept my invitation. He asked the Blessed One Kassapa.Venerable sir, is there some other enticing supporter? Great king, in the chief village, Vebhalinga there is a potter named Ghatikara, he is my chief supporter. To you, great king there is a change in the mind (* and displeasure thinking the Blessed One Kassapa does not accept my invitation to spend the rains in Benares. To the potter Ghatikara, such a thing does not happen, and will not happen. Great king, the potter Ghatikara has taken refuge in the enlightenment, in the Teaching and the Community of bhikkhus. Abstains from destroying life, abstains from taking what is not given, abstains from misbehaviour in sexuality, abstains from telling lies and abstains from intoxicating drinks. Great king, the potter Ghatikara has unwavering faith in Enlightenment, in the Teaching and the Community of bhikkhus. Is endowed with the virtues of the noble ones. Great king, the potter Ghatiara has overcome doubts about unpleasantness, about the arising of unpleasantness, about the cessation of unpleasantness and the path to the cessation of unpleasantness. Great king, the potter Ghatikara takes one meal per day, is virtuous and leads a holy life. Great king, he has put aside gold and gems, soverign gold and silver. He does not till the ground with a mammoty or with his hand. He puts rats, mice and dogs into a box in a friendly manner and puts the left overs of rice, green grams or chick peas into it and leaves them saying take away whatever you wish. Great king, the potter Ghatikara supports his blind decayed mother and father. Great king, the potter Ghatikara has destroyed the five lower bonds to the sensual world, is born spontaneously, will not proceed from that world and will extinguish in that same birth.

Great king, at one time I lived in the chief village Vebhalinga, then in the morning I put on robes and taking bowl and robes approached the mother and father of the potter Ghatikara, and told them. ‘Now, where has this good one gone?’ ‘Venerable sir, your supporter has gone out. Venerable sir, take the cooked rice from the pot and soups and curries and partake of the food.’ ‘Then great king I take the cooked rice from the pot and soups and curries, partake of the food and go away. Then, great king, the potter Ghatikara would approach his mother and father and would ask: Who is it that came, took the rice from the pot and the soups and curries, partaking them, got up from the seat and has gone away?’ ‘Dear one, it is the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect and rightfully enlightened that took the rice from the pot and the soups and curries and partaking them, getting up from the seat has gone away.’ ‘Then it occurs to the potter Ghatikara, it is great gain for me, that the Blessed One, perfect and rightfully enlightened has taken me into such confidence. That pleasant joy would not leave him for two weeks, and for the mother and father it lasted one week.

Great king, at one time I lived in the chief village Vebhalinga, then in the morning I put on robes and taking bowl and robes approached the mother and father of the potter Ghatikaara, and told them.. Now, where has this good one gone?’ ‘Venerable sir, your supporter has gone out. Venerable sir, take the bread from the caldron and soups and curries and partake of the food.’ ‘Then great king I take the bread from thecaldronand soups and curries, partake of the food and go away. Then, great king, the potter Ghatikaara would approach his mother and father and would ask: Who is it that came, took the bread from the caldron and the soups and curries, partaking them, got up from the seat and has gone away?’ ‘Dear one, it is the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect rightfully enlightened that took the bread from the caldron and the soups and curries partakingthem, getting up from the seat has gone.’ ‘Then it occurred to the potter Ghatikara, it isgreat gain for me, that the Blessed One, perfect rightfully enlightened has taken me into such confidence. That pleasant joy would not leave him for two weeks, and for the mother and father it lasted one week.

Great king, at one time I lived in the chief village Vebhalinga, at that time my perfumed chamber was leaking, then I addressed the bhikkhus: Bhikkhus, do you know,the grassin the potter Ghatikara’s house? Go! bring them. Great king, when this was said, the bhikkhus said. ‘Venerable sir, there is no grass in the potter Ghatikara’s house. There is his thatched roof of grass.’Then I said, ‘Go bhikkhus, bring the grass of the thatched roof of the potter Ghatikara’s house.’ Then the bhikkhus removed the grass from the thatched roof of the potter Ghatikara’s house. Then great king, the mother and father of the potter Ghatikara said.’ ‘Who is it that removes the grass from the roof?’ ‘Sister, it is the bhikkhus, the Blessed One perfect rightfully enlightened one’s perfumed chamber is leaking.’ ‘Take them! Good ones, you speak good words.’ Then great king, the potter Ghatikara coming home approached his mother and father and asked. ‘Who removed the grass from the roof?’‘It’s the bhikkhus, dear one, the roof of the perfumed chamber of the Blessed One Kassapa, perfect and rightfully enlightened one is leaking.’ Then it occurred to the potter Ghatikara. It is great gain for me, that the Blessed One perfect and rightfully enlightened has taken me into such confidence. That pleasant joy would not leave him for two weeks, and for the mother and father it lasted one week. Then that house stood roofless for three months and it did not rain. Great king, the potter Ghatikara is such a one.’

‘Venerable sir, it is great gain for the potter Ghatikaarathatthe Blessed One spend the rains in this manner.’

‘Then Ananda, king Kiki Kaasiraajaa sent about five hundred cart loads of pale yellow coloured, fine rice, and as much accompanying necessary things for them to the potter Ghatikaara. The royal messenges approached the potter Ghatikaara and said Good sir, these five hundred cart loads of pale yellow coloured fine rice, and as much accompanying necessary things are sent to you by king Kiki Kaasiraajaaaccept them. The king has much work to do, it may be to me from the king.’

Ananda, it might occur to you. ‘Did this young man Jotipala attain perfection then?’. ‘It should not be thought in that manner. I was Jotipala at that time.’

The Blessed One said thus and venerable Ananda delighted in the words of the Blessed One.’

Notes:

(*) A change in the mind ‘ na bhagavaa vassa.m adhivaaseti atthi a~n~nathatta.matthi domaanassa.m’ The change in the mind is, the mind feeling unpleasant instantly. It happened to the king, when the Blessed One Kassapa would not accept to spend the rains in his kingdom


Text source: http://zencomp.com/greatwisdom/ebud/majjhima/081-ghatikara-e1.htm



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Canki Sutta With Canki (excerpt)

A pompous brahman teenager questions the Buddha about safeguarding, awakening to, and attaining the truth. In the course of his answer, the Buddha describes the criteria for choosing a reliable teacher and how best to learn from such a person.

Photo Source: Flickr.com

Canki Sutta With Canki (excerpt)
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Text Source: www.accesstoinsight.org

... Now at that time the Blessed One was sitting & exchanging courtesies & conversation with some very senior brahmans. It so happened that a brahman student named Kapadika was seated in the assembly: young, shaven-headed, sixteen years old, a master of the Three Vedas with their vocabularies, liturgy, phonology, & etymologies, and the histories as a fifth; skilled in philology & grammar, well-versed in cosmology & the marks of a great man. While the very senior brahmans were conversing with the Blessed One, he kept breaking in & interrupting their talk. So the Blessed One scolded him, "Venerable Bharadvaja, don't break in & interrupt while the very senior brahmans are conversing. Wait until they are finished talking."

When this was said, the brahman Canki said to the Blessed One, "Master Gotama, don't scold the brahman student Kapadika. He is a clansman, learned, wise, with good delivery. He is capable of taking part in this discussion with Master Gotama."

Then the thought occurred to the Blessed One, "Yes, this brahman student Kapadika must be accomplished in the texts of the Three Vedas, inasmuch as the brahmans honor him so."

Then the thought occurred to Kapadika, "When Gotama the contemplative meets my gaze with his, I will ask him a question."

And so the Blessed One, encompassing Kapadika's awareness with his awareness, met his gaze. Kapadika thought, "Gotama the contemplative has turned to me. Suppose I ask him a question." So he said to the Blessed One, "Master Gotama, with regard to the ancient hymns of the brahmans — passed down through oral transmission & included in their canon — the brahmans have come to the definite conclusion that "Only this is true; anything else is worthless." What does Master Gotama have to say to this?"

"Tell me, Bharadvaja, is there among the brahmans even one brahman who says, 'This I know; this I see; only this is true; anything else is worthless?'"

"No, Master Gotama."

"And has there been among the brahmans even one teacher or teacher's teacher back through seven generations who said, 'This I know; this I see; only this is true; anything else is worthless?'"

"No, Master Gotama."

"And among the brahman seers of the past, the creators of the hymns, the composers of the hymns — those ancient hymns, sung, repeated, & collected, which brahmans at present still sing, still chant, repeating what was said, repeating what was spoken — i.e., Atthaka, Vamaka, Vamadeva, Vessamitta, Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bharadvaja, Vasettha, Kassapa & Bhagu: was there even one of these who said, 'This we know; this we see; only this is true; anything else is worthless?'"

"No, Master Gotama."

"So then, Bharadvaja, it seems that there isn't among the brahmans even one brahman who says, 'This I know; this I see; only this is true; anything else is worthless.' And there hasn't been among the brahmans even one teacher or teacher's teacher back through seven generations who said, 'This I know; this I see; only this is true; anything else is worthless.' And there hasn't been among the brahman seers of the past, the creators of the hymns, the composers of the hymns... even one who said, 'This we know; this we see; only this is true; anything else is worthless.' Suppose there were a row of blind men, each holding on to the one in front of him: the first one doesn't see, the middle one doesn't see, the last one doesn't see. In the same way, the statement of the brahmans turns out to be a row of blind men, as it were: the first one doesn't see, the middle one doesn't see, the last one doesn't see. So what do you think, Bharadvaja: this being the case, doesn't the conviction of the brahmans turn out to be groundless?"

"It's not only out of conviction, Master Gotama, that the brahmans honor this. They also honor it as unbroken tradition."

"Bharadvaja, first you went by conviction. Now you speak of unbroken tradition. There are five things that can turn out in two ways in the here-&-now. Which five? Conviction, liking, unbroken tradition, reasoning by analogy, & an agreement through pondering views. These are the five things that can turn out in two ways in the here-&-now. Now some things are firmly held in conviction and yet vain, empty, & false. Some things are not firmly held in conviction, and yet they are genuine, factual, & unmistaken. Some things are well-liked... truly an unbroken tradition... well-reasoned... Some things are well-pondered and yet vain, empty, & false. Some things are not well-pondered, and yet they are genuine, factual, & unmistaken. In these cases it isn't proper for a knowledgeable person who safeguards the truth to come to a definite conclusion, 'Only this is true; anything else is worthless."

"But to what extent, Master Gotama, is there the safeguarding of the truth? To what extent does one safeguard the truth? We ask Master Gotama about the safeguarding of the truth."

"If a person has conviction, his statement, 'This is my conviction,' safeguards the truth. But he doesn't yet come to the definite conclusion that 'Only this is true; anything else is worthless.' To this extent, Bharadvaja, there is the safeguarding of the truth. To this extent one safeguards the truth. I describe this as the safeguarding of the truth. But it is not yet an awakening to the truth.

"If a person likes something... holds an unbroken tradition... has something reasoned through analogy... has something he agrees to, having pondered views, his statement, 'This is what I agree to, having pondered views,' safeguards the truth. But he doesn't yet come to the definite conclusion that 'Only this is true; anything else is worthless.' To this extent, Bharadvaja, there is the safeguarding of the truth. To this extent one safeguards the truth. I describe this as the safeguarding of the truth. But it is not yet an awakening to the truth.

"Yes, Master Gotama, to this extent there is the safeguarding of the truth. To this extent one safeguards the truth. We regard this as the safeguarding of the truth. But to what extent is there an awakening to the truth? To what extent does one awaken to the truth? We ask Master Gotama about awakening to the truth."

"There is the case, Bharadvaja, where a monk lives in dependence on a certain village or town. Then a householder or householder's son goes to him and observes him with regard to three mental qualities — qualities based on greed, qualities based on aversion, qualities based on delusion: 'Are there in this venerable one any such qualities based on greed that, with his mind overcome by these qualities, he might say, "I know," while not knowing, or say, "I see," while not seeing; or that he might urge another to act in a way that was for his/her long-term harm & pain?' As he observes him, he comes to know, 'There are in this venerable one no such qualities based on greed... His bodily behavior & verbal behavior are those of one not greedy. And the Dhamma he teaches is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. This Dhamma can't easily be taught by a person who's greedy.

When, on observing that the monk is purified with regard to qualities based on greed, he next observes him with regard to qualities based on aversion: 'Are there in this venerable one any such qualities based on aversion that, with his mind overcome by these qualities, he might say, "I know," while not knowing, or say, "I see," while not seeing; or that he might urge another to act in a way that was for his/her long-term harm & pain?' As he observes him, he comes to know, 'There are in this venerable one no such qualities based on aversion... His bodily behavior & verbal behavior are those of one not aversive. And the Dhamma he teaches is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. This Dhamma can't easily be taught by a person who's aversive.

When, on observing that the monk is purified with regard to qualities based on aversion, he next observes him with regard to qualities based on delusion: 'Are there in this venerable one any such qualities based on delusion that, with his mind overcome by these qualities, he might say, "I know," while not knowing, or say, "I see," while not seeing; or that he might urge another to act in a way that was for his/her long-term harm & pain?' As he observes him, he comes to know, 'There are in this venerable one no such qualities based on delusion... His bodily behavior & verbal behavior are those of one not deluded. And the Dhamma he teaches is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. This Dhamma can't easily be taught by a person who's deluded.

When, on observing that the monk is purified with regard to qualities based on delusion, he places conviction in him. With the arising of conviction, he visits him & grows close to him. Growing close to him, he lends ear. Lending ear, he hears the Dhamma. Hearing the Dhamma, he remembers it. Remembering it, he penetrates the meaning of those dhammas. Penetrating the meaning, he comes to an agreement through pondering those dhammas. There being an agreement through pondering those dhammas, desire arises. With the arising of desire, he becomes willing. Willing, he contemplates (lit: "weighs," "compares"). Contemplating, he makes an exertion. Exerting himself, he both realizes the ultimate meaning of the truth with his body and sees by penetrating it with discernment.

"To this extent, Bharadvaja, there is an awakening to the truth. To this extent one awakens to the truth. I describe this as an awakening to the truth. But it is not yet the final attainment of the truth.

"Yes, Master Gotama, to this extent there is an awakening to the truth. To this extent one awakens to the truth. We regard this as an awakening to the truth. But to what extent is there the final attainment of the truth? To what extent does one finally attain the truth? We ask Master Gotama about the final attainment of the truth."

"The cultivation, development, & pursuit of those very same qualities: to this extent, Bharadvaja, there is the final attainment of the truth. To this extent one finally attains the truth. I describe this as the final attainment of the truth."

"Yes, Master Gotama, to this extent there is the final attainment of the truth. To this extent one finally attains the truth. We regard this as the final attainment of the truth. But what quality is most helpful for the final attainment of the truth? We ask Master Gotama about the quality most helpful for the final attainment of the truth."

"Exertion is most helpful for the final attainment of the truth, Bharadvaja. If one didn't make an exertion, one wouldn't finally attain the truth. Because one makes an exertion, one finally attains the truth. Therefore, exertion is most helpful for the final attainment of the truth."

"But what quality is most helpful for exertion? We ask Master Gotama about the quality most helpful for exertion."

"Contemplating is most helpful for exertion, Bharadvaja. If one didn't contemplate, one wouldn't make an exertion. Because one contemplates, one makes an exertion. Therefore, contemplating is most helpful for exertion."

"But what quality is most helpful for contemplating?..."

"Being willing... If one weren't willing, one wouldn't contemplate..."

"But what quality is most helpful for being willing?..."

"Desire... If desire didn't arise, one wouldn't be willing..."

"But what quality is most helpful for desire?..."

"Coming to an agreement through pondering dhammas... If one didn't come to an agreement through pondering dhammas, desire wouldn't arise..."

"But what quality is most helpful for coming to an agreement through pondering dhammas?..."

"Penetrating the meaning... If one didn't penetrate the meaning, one wouldn't come to an agreement through pondering dhammas..."

"But what quality is most helpful for penetrating the meaning?..."

"Remembering the Dhamma... If one didn't remember the Dhamma, one wouldn't penetrate the meaning..."

"But what quality is most helpful for remembering the Dhamma?... "

"Hearing the Dhamma... If one didn't hear the Dhamma, one wouldn't remember the Dhamma..."

"But what quality is most helpful for hearing the Dhamma?... "

"Lending ear... If one didn't lend ear, one wouldn't hear the Dhamma..."

"But what quality is most helpful for lending ear?... "

"Growing close... If one didn't grow close, one wouldn't lend ear..."

"But what quality is most helpful for growing close?... "

"Visiting... If one didn't visit, one wouldn't grow close..."

"But what quality is most helpful for visiting? We ask Master Gotama about the quality most helpful for visiting."

"Conviction is most helpful for visiting, Bharadvaja. If conviction [in a person] didn't arise, one wouldn't visit [that person]. Because conviction arises, one visits. Therefore, conviction is most helpful for visiting."

"We have asked Master Gotama about safeguarding the truth, and Master Gotama has answered about safeguarding the truth. We like that & agree with that,1 and so we are gratified. We have asked Master Gotama about awakening to the truth, and Master Gotama has answered about awakening to the truth. We like that & agree with that, and so we are gratified. We have asked Master Gotama about finally attaining the truth, and Master Gotama has answered about finally attaining the truth. We like that & agree with that, and so we are gratified. We have asked Master Gotama about the quality most helpful for finally attaining the truth, and Master Gotama has answered about the quality most helpful for finally attaining the truth. We like that & agree with that, and so we are gratified. Whatever we have asked Master Gotama, Master Gotama has answered it. We like that & agree with that, and so we are gratified.

"We used to think, 'Who are these bald-headed "contemplatives," these menial, dark offspring of [Brahma] the Kinsman's feet?2 Who are they to know the Dhamma?' But now Master Gotama has inspired within us a contemplative-love for contemplatives, a contemplative-confidence in contemplatives, a contemplative-respect for contemplatives. Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to point out the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to the Dhamma, & to the community of monks. May Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forward, for life."

Notes

1. Notice that Kapadika is careful to safeguard the truth in the way he expresses his approval for the Buddha's teachings.

2. The brahmans regarded Brahma as their original ancestor, and so called him their "Kinsman." The commentary notes that they regarded themselves as born from his mouth, while other castes were born from lower parts of his body, down to contemplatives (samana), who they said were born from his feet.

PTS: M ii 64
Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.
Copyright © 1999 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight edition © 1999
For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and redistributed in any medium. It is the author's wish, however, that any such republication and redistribution be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and that translations and other derivative works be clearly marked as such.



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