The Further Shore

Excerpts from the Sallatha Sutta: The Arrow

“…an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. A well-instructed disciple of the noble ones also feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?”

“When touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pains of two arrows; in the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental.”

“Now, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones, when touched with a feeling of pain, does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. So he feels one pain: physical, but not mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, did not shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pain of only one arrow. In the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. He feels one pain: physical, but not mental.”

Rejection/Acceptance

The criterion for rejection

4. “It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,’ abandon them.

The criterion for acceptance

10. “Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,’ enter on and abide in them.

“Kalama Sutta: The Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry”, translated from the Pali by Soma Thera. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wheel008.html .

Comments: 1) Kalamas in the above is in reference to the group of people that Buddha was teaching in a particular town. 2) I came across the Kalama Sutta while researching a fake Buddha quote that ends with “when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”  Reference: https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/do-not-believe-in-anything-simply-because-you-have-heard-it/  I support the “Fake Buddha Quotes” site and highly recommend it.

To your happiness – Mark

Three Poisons & Their Opposites

The three poisons (Sanskrit: triviṣa; Tibetan: dug gsum) or the three unwholesome roots (Sanskrit: akuśala-mūla; Pāli: akusala-mūla), in Buddhism, refer to the three root kleshasof Moha (delusion, confusion), Raga (greed, sensual attachment), and Dvesha (aversion, ill will).^[1][2] These three poisons are considered to be three afflictions or character flaws innate in a being, the root of Taṇhā (craving), and thus in part the cause of Dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness) and rebirths.^[1][3]

The three wholesome mental factors that are identified as the opposites of the three poisons are:^[9][10]

• amoha (non-delusion) or prajna (wisdom)
• alobha (non-attachment) or dāna (generosity)
• adveṣa (non-hatred) or mettā (loving-kindness)

Buddhist path considers these essential for liberation.^[9]

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_poisons

Such a Case is Impossible

93. “There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now and who, on five grounds, proclaim Nibbāna here and now for an existent being. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?

94. “Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin asserts the following doctrine or view: ‘When this self, good sir, furnished and supplied with the five strands of sense pleasures, revels in them — at this point the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now.’ In this way some proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being.

…

115. “When those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now proclaim on five grounds supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being —

120–129 (133–142). “When those recluses and brahmins who are extensionists proclaim their views; when those who are fortuitous originationists proclaim their views; when those who are speculators about the past and hold settled views about the past assert on eighteen grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the past; when those who maintain a doctrine of percipient immortality, non-percipient immortality, or neither percipient nor non-percipient immortality proclaim their views; when those who are annihilationists proclaim their views; when those who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now proclaim their views; when those who are speculators about the future and hold settled views about the future assert on forty-four grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the future — that too is conditioned by contact. That they can experience that feeling without contact — such a case is impossible.

“Brahmajāla Sutta: The All-embracing Net of Views” (DN 1), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.01.0.bodh.html .

True Value

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

Dhamma-talk or Noble Silence

Then the Blessed One, emerging from his seclusion in the late afternoon, went to the assembly hall and, on arrival, sat down on a seat laid out. Seated, he addressed the monks: “For what topic are you sitting together here? And what was the discussion that came to no conclusion?”

“Just now, lord, after the meal, on returning from our alms round, we were sitting gathered here at the assembly hall when this discussion arose: ‘Friends, which of these two kings has greater wealth, greater possessions, the greater treasury, the larger realm, the greater stock of riding animals, the greater army, greater power, greater might: King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha or King Pasenadi of Kosala?’ This was the discussion that had come to no conclusion when the Blessed One arrived.”

“It isn’t proper, monks, that sons of good families, on having gone forth out of faith from home to the homeless life, should talk on such a topic. When you have gathered you have two duties: either Dhamma-talk or noble silence.”[1]

Happiness is the Outcome of Good

   116. If a man would hasten towards the good, he should keep his thought away from evil; if a man does what is good slothfully, his mind delights in evil.

117. If a man commits a sin, let him not do it again; let him not delight in sin: pain is the outcome of evil.

118. If a man does what is good, let him do it again; let him delight in it: happiness is the outcome of good.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe10/sbe1011.htm

A Well-Stored Fund

A person stashes a fund away, deep underground, at the water line: “When a need or duty arises, this will provide for my needs, for my release if I’m denounced by the king, molested by thieves, in case of debt, famine, or accidents.” With aims like this in the world a reserve fund is stashed away.

But no matter how well it’s stored, deep underground, at the water line, it won’t all always serve one’s need. The fund gets shifted from its place, or one’s memory gets confused; or unseen water serpents make off with it, spirits steal it, or hateful heirs run off with it. When one’s merit’s ended, it’s totally destroyed.

But when a man or woman has laid aside a well-stored fund of giving, virtue, restraint, & self-control, with regard to a shrine, the Sangha, a fine individual, guests, mother, father, or elder sibling:

That’s a well-stored fund. It can’t be wrested away. It follows you along. When, having left this world, for wherever you must go, you take it with you.

Nidhi Kanda, The Reserve Fund, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu – Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License  https://dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=Khp_8_Nidhi_Kanda

Samanera Pañha
Questions to be Answered by a Novice

One is what? All beings subsist on food.[2]

Two is what? Name and form (mind and matter).

Three is what? Three kinds of feeling.

Four is what? Four Noble Truths.

Five is what? Five aggregates subject to grasping.

Six is what? Internal six-fold base.

Seven is what? Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

Eight is what? The Noble Eightfold Path.

Nine is what? Nine abodes of beings.

Ten is what? He that is endowed with ten attributes is called an arahant.

https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/Khp_4_Samanera_Panha – Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License