Author: buddha21_wp

Without Pushing Forward, Without Staying In Place

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Then a certain devata, in the far extreme of the night, her extreme radiance lighting up the entirety of Jeta’s Grove, went to the Blessed One. On arrival, having bowed down to him, she stood to one side. As she was standing there, she said to him, “Tell me, dear sir, how you crossed over the flood.”

“I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place.”[1]

“But how, dear sir, did you cross over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place?”

“When I pushed forward, I was whirled about. When I stayed in place, I sank. And so I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place.”

[The devata:]

At long last I see
a brahman, totally unbound,
who without pushing forward,
without staying in place,
has crossed over
the entanglements
of the world.

That is what the devata said. The Teacher approved. Realizing that “The Teacher has approved of me,” she bowed down to him, circumambulated him — keeping him to her right — and then vanished right there.

Translator’s note: This discourse opens the Samyutta Nikaya with a paradox. The Commentary informs us that the Buddha teaches the devata in terms of the paradox in order to subdue her pride. To give this paradox some context, you might want to read other passages from the Canon that discuss right effort.

“Ogha-tarana Sutta: Crossing over the Flood” (SN 1.1), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn01/sn01.001.than.html

A Sense of Danger in the Least Offence

19. If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, by the destruction of the great evils, by himself, and even in this very world, to know and realise and attain to Arahatship, to emancipation of heart, and emancipation of mind, let him then fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to that quietude of heart which springs from within, let him not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through things, let him be much alone!’

20. ‘Continue therefore, Brethren, in the practice of Right Conduct, adhering to the Rules of the Order; continue enclosed by the restraint of the Rules of the Order, devoted to uprightness in life; train yourselves according to the Precepts, taking them upon you in the sense of the danger in the least offence. For to this end alone has all, that has been said, been said!’

21. Thus spake the Blessed One. And those Brethren, delighted in heart, exalted the word of the Blessed One.

From the Âkankheyya Sutta, Buddhist Suttas
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids
Oxford, the Clarendon Press [1881]
Vol. XI of The Sacred Books of the East
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1106.htm

In Brief
(First Few Paragraphs)

“May the Blessed One teach me the Dhamma in brief! May the One Well-Gone teach me the Dhamma in brief! It may well be that I will understand the Blessed One’s words. It may well be that I will become an heir to the Blessed One’s words.”

“Then, monk, you should train yourself thus: ‘My mind will be established inwardly, well-composed. No evil, unskillful qualities, once they have arisen, will remain consuming the mind.’ That’s how you should train yourself.

“Then you should train yourself thus: ‘Good-will, as my awareness-release, will be developed, pursued, given a means of transport, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken.’ That’s how you should train yourself. When you have developed this concentration in this way, you should develop this concentration with directed thought & evaluation, you should develop it with no directed thought & a modicum of evaluation, you should develop it with no directed thought & no evaluation, you should develop it accompanied by rapture… not accompanied by rapture… endowed with a sense of enjoyment; you should develop it endowed with equanimity.

From:
In Brief (Sublime Attitudes, Mindfulness, & Concentration)
Saṅkhitta Sutta (AN 8:70)
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Phra Ajaan Geoff)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN8_70.html
Meant for free distribution only. The author and copyright holder of the content on this site considers any sale, including by non-profit entities for non-profit purposes, to be ‘Commercial’ and a copyright violation.

A Single Thing (First 4 Verses)

21. “I don’t envision a single thing that, when undeveloped, is as unpliant as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped, is unpliant.”

22. “I don’t envision a single thing that, when developed, is as pliant as the mind. The mind, when developed, is pliant.”

23. “I don’t envision a single thing that, when undeveloped, leads to such great harm as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped, leads to great harm.”

24. “I don’t envision a single thing that, when developed, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed, leads to great benefit.”

From:
A Single Thing, Ekadhamma Suttas (AN 1:21–30, 39–40)
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Phra Ajaan Geoff)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/index.html
Meant for free distribution only. The author and copyright holder of the content on this site considers any sale, including by non-profit entities for non-profit purposes, to be ‘Commercial’ and a copyright violation.

THE WAY.

278. ‘All created things are grief and pain,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.

279. ‘All forms are unreal,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.

From The Dhammapada, Translated from the Pâli by F. Max Müller
Oxford, the Clarendon Press [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe10/index.htm

THE WAY.

   273. The best of ways is the eightfold; the best of truths the four words; the best of virtues passionlessness; the best of men he who has eyes to see.

274. This is the way, there is no other that leads to the purifying of intelligence. Go on this way! Everything else is the deceit of Mâra (the tempter).

275. If you go on this way, you will make an end of pain! The way was preached by me, when I had understood the removal of the thorns (in the flesh).

276. You yourself must make an effort. The Tathâgatas (Buddhas) are only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage of Mâra.

From The Dhammapada, Translated from the Pâli by F. Max Müller
Oxford, the Clarendon Press [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe10/index.htm

Dear Ones

Then the king, descending from the palace, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One, “Just now, when I had gone with Queen Mallikā to the upper palace, I said to her, ‘Mallikā, is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?’

“When this was said, she said to me, ‘No, great king. There is no one dearer to me than myself. And what about you, great king? Is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?’

“When this was said, I said to her, ‘No, Mallikā. There is no one dearer to me than myself.'”

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

No Trace

“Where do earth, water, fire, and wind,
And long and short, and fine and coarse.
Pure and impure, no footing find?
Where is it that both name and form{1}
Die out, leaving no trace behind?”

‘On that the answer is: ‘The intellect of Arahatship, the invisible, the endless, accessible from every side

‘There is it that earth, water, fire, and wind,
And long and short, and fine and coarse,
Pure and impure, no footing find.
There is it that both name and form
Die out, leaving no trace behind.
When intellection ceases they all also cease.’

Thus spake the Exalted One.

From the Kevaddha Sutta, Dialogues of the Buddha {The Dîgha-Nikâya}
Translated from the Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids
London, H. Frowde, Oxford University Press [1899]
Vol. II of The Sacred Books of the Buddhists
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/dob/dob-11tx.htm

Regard them all With Deep-Felt Love

   76. {1}’And he lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of Love, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, and everywhere, does he continue to pervade with heart of Love, far-reaching, grown great, and beyond measure.

77. ‘Just, Vâsettha, as a mighty trumpeter makes himself heard–and that without difficulty–in all the four directions; even so of all things that have shape or life, there is not one that he passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt love.

‘Verily this, Vâsettha, is the way to a state of union with Brahmâ.

78. ‘And he lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of pity{1}, . . . sympathy{1}, . . . equanimity{1}, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, and everywhere, does he continue to pervade with heart of pity, . . . sympathy, . . . equanimity, far-reaching, grown great, and beyond measure.

79. ‘Just, Vâsettha, as a mighty trumpeter makes himself heard–and that without difficulty–in all the four directions; even so of all things that have shape or life, there is not one that he passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt pity, . . . sympathy, . . . equanimity.

‘Verily this, Vâsettha, is the way to a state of union with Brahmâ.’

{1. These paragraphs occur frequently; see, inter alia, Mahâ-Sudassana Sutta II, 8, in my ‘Buddhist Suttas’ (S. B. E.). It will be seen from ‘Buddhism.’ pp. 170, 171, that these meditations play a great part in later Buddhism, and occupy very much the place that prayer takes in Christianity. A fifth, the meditation on Impurity, has been added, at what time I do not know, before the last. These four (or five) are called the Brahma Vihâras, and the practice of them leads, not to Arahatship, but to rebirth in the Brahmâ-world.}

Good Conduct

  42. ‘When he has thus become a recluse he passes a life self-restrained by that restraint which should be binding on a recluse. Uprightness is his delight, and he sees danger in the least of those things he should avoid. He adopts and trains himself in the precepts. He encompasses himself with goodness in word and deed. He sustains his life by means that are quite pure; good is his conduct, guarded the door of his senses; mindful and self-possessed, he is altogether happy!’

43-75. ‘And how, Vâsettha, is his conduct good?’

1. The confidence of heart that results from the sense of goodness.

2. The way in which he guards the doors of his senses.

3. The way in which he is mindful and self-possessed.

4. His habit of being content with little, of adopting simplicity of life.

5. His conquest of the Five Hindrances, each with the explanatory simile.

6. The joy and peace which, as a result of this conquest, fills his whole being.

From the Tevigga Sutta, Dialogues of the Buddha {The Dîgha-Nikâya}
Translated from the Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids
London, H. Frowde, Oxford University Press [1899]
Vol. II of The Sacred Books of the Buddhists
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/dob/dob-13tx.htm