The Middle Way

The Tathagata, the Buddha continued, does not seek salvation in austerities, but neither does he for that reason indulge in worldly pleasures, nor live in abundance. The Tathagata has found the middle path.

“There are two extremes, O bhikkhus, which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow-the habitual practice, on the one hand, of self-indulgence which is unworthy, vain and fit only for the worldly-minded and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of self-mortification, which is painful, useless and unprofitable.”

“He who fills his lamp with water will not dispel the darkness, and he who tries to light a fire with rotten wood will fail. And how can any one be free from self by leading a wretched life, if he does not succeed in quenching the fires of lust, if he still hankers after either worldly or heavenly pleasures? But he in whom self has become extinct is free from lust; he will desire neither worldly nor heavenly pleasures, and the satisfaction of his natural wants will not defile him. However, let him be moderate, let him eat and drink according to the need of the body.”

BUDDHA, THE GOSPEL By Paul Carus Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company, [1894] http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/btg/btg17.htm

Comment: Few in our culture err on the side of self-mortification. Maybe when we diet. To your happiness – Mark

“Where there is uprightness, wisdom is there, and where there is wisdom, uprightness is there. To the upright there is wisdom, to the wise there is uprightness, and wisdom and goodness are declared to be the best thing in the world” (Dialogues of the Buddha p.156).

Dialogues of the Buddha {The Dîgha-Nikâya} Translated from the Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids London, H. Frowde, Oxford University Press [1899] http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/dob/dob-04tx.htm

The Missing Verses

   113. And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing beginning and end, a life of one day is better if a man sees beginning and end.

114. And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the immortal place, a life of one day is better if a man sees the immortal place.

115. And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the highest law, a life of one day is better if a man sees the highest law.

Like Drops of Water

116 Make haste in doing good; restrain your mind from evil; for whosoever is slow in doing good delights in evil.

117 If a man commits evil, let him not do it again and again, let him not delight in it; painful is the accumulation of evil.

118 If a man does good, let him do it again and again, let him take delight in it; happy is the accumulation of good.

119 The evil-doer sees good until his evil deed bears fruit. But when the fruit does ripen then does he see its ill effects.

From “Selections from The Dhammapada Sayings of the Buddha” Translated by Piyadassi Thera, Buddhist Publication Society Kandy • Sri Lanka, First published 1974.  https://www.bps.lk/olib/bl/bla0s_Piyadassi_Selections-from-the-Dhammapada.html

Comment: I see missing verses in the selections. Yesterday I quoted up to 112. There are no 114 or 115 listed, so I began today with 116. We’ll come back to that. The reason I’m posting these selections is that tomorrow we’ll begin with an often seen verses about drops of water and pots. I like to understand the context of what I’m reading. You can read about drops of water and pots now of course, or wait. To your happiness – Mark

Go for the Win

104–l05 Better is it to conquer oneself than to conquer others. Neither a god, nor a Gandhabba (demigod) nor Māra nor Brahma can undo the victory of a person who is self-mastered and ever conducts himself with restraint.

110 A single day’s life of a person who is virtuous and meditative is better than a life of one hundred years of a person who is immoral and uncontrolled.

112 A single day’s life of a person who strives with firm endeavour is better than a life of one hundred years of a person who is lazy and indolent.

From “Selections from The Dhammapada Sayings of the Buddha” Translated by Piyadassi Thera, Buddhist Publication Society Kandy • Sri Lanka, First published 1974.  https://www.bps.lk/olib/bl/bla0s_Piyadassi_Selections-from-the-Dhammapada.html

Six Specific Precepts
In the specific precepts, there are three things to avoid and three things to do.

Three Things to Avoid

1. Having taken refuge in the Buddha, you should not worship any gods who are still bound within the cycle of saṃsāra.
2. Having taken refuge in the Dharma, you should not inflict harm upon any sentient being.
3. Having taken refuge in the Saṅgha, you should not associate with friends who hold extreme views.

Three Things to Do

1. Practise according to the words of the Buddha and then, without forgetting them, generate faith and devotion. Show respect even for broken fragments of statues and images of the Buddha.
2. Exert yourself in studying, reflecting and meditating on the sacred Dharma. Show respect even for torn scriptures that represent the Dharma.
3. Respect the saṅgha who are followers of the Buddha, associate with virtuous friends, and treat even tiny pieces of yellow cloth as objects worthy of reverence.

From An Essential Instruction on Refuge and Bodhicitta by Patrul Rinpoche, | Translated by Adam Pearcey, Rigpa Translations, 2004.  http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/essential-instruction-refuge-bodhichitta

These four, O Monks, are distortions of perception, distortions of thought distortions of view…

Sensing no change in the changing,
Sensing pleasure in suffering,
Assuming “self” where there’s no self,
Sensing the un-lovely as lovely —

Gone astray with wrong views, beings
Mis-perceive with distorted minds.

Bound in the bondage of Mara,
Those people are far from safety.
They’re beings that go on flowing:
Going again from death to birth.

But when in the world of darkness
Buddhas arise to make things bright,
They present this profound teaching
Which brings suffering to an end.

When those with wisdom have heard this,
They recuperate their right mind:

They see change in what is changing,
Suffering where there’s suffering,
“Non-self” in what is without self,
They see the un-lovely as such.

By this acceptance of right view,
They overcome all suffering.

Mark’s Comment: I chose to post this translation as I prefer the use of the phrase suffering over stress. You may find the alternate preferable. I’ve not settled on distortions over perversions of the mind, certainly a deluded mind.

Meditation

282. Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let a man so conduct himself that his wisdom may increase.

283. Cut down the forest (lust), but not the tree; from the forest springs fear. Having cut down the forest and the underbrush (desire), be passionless, O monks! [20]

“Maggavagga: The Path” (Dhp XX), translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.20.budd.html .

Satipatthana Sutta – Discourse on the Arousing of Mindfulness – Breath

Mindfulness of Breathing
“And how, O bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu live contemplating the body in the body?

“Here, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, gone to the forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty place, sits down, bends in his legs crosswise on his lap, keeps his body erect, and arouses mindfulness in the object of meditation, namely, the breath which is in front of him.

“Mindful, he breathes in, and mindful, he breathes out. He, thinking, ‘I breathe in long,’ he understands when he is breathing in long; or thinking, ‘I breathe out long,’ he understands when he is breathing out long; or thinking, ‘I breathe in short,’ he understands when he is breathing in short; or thinking, ‘I breathe out short,’ he understands when he is breathing out short.

“‘Experiencing the whole body, I shall breathe in,’ thinking thus, he trains himself. ‘Experiencing the whole body, I shall breathe out,’ thinking thus, he trains himself. ‘Calming the activity of the body, I shall breathe in,’ thinking thus, he trains himself. ‘Calming the activity of the body, I shall breathe out,’ thinking thus, he trains himself.

“Just as a clever turner or a turner’s apprentice, turning long, understands: ‘I turn long;’ or turning short, understands: ‘I turn short’; just so, indeed, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, when he breathes in long, understands: ‘I breathe in long’; or, when he breathes out long, understands: ‘I breathe out long’; or, when he breathes in short, he understands: ‘I breathe in short’; or when he breathes out short, he understands: ‘I breathe out short.’ He trains himself with the thought: ‘Experiencing the whole body, I shall breathe in.’ He trains himself with the thought: ‘Experiencing the whole body, I shall breathe out.’ He trains himself with the thought: ‘Calming the activity of the body I shall breathe in.’ He trains himself with the thought: ‘Calming the activity of the body I shall breathe out.’

“Thus he lives contemplating the body in the body internally, or he lives contemplating the body in the body externally, or he lives contemplating the body in the body internally and externally. He lives contemplating origination-things in the body, or he lives contemplating dissolution-things in the body, or he lives contemplating origination-and-dissolution-things in the body. Or indeed his mindfulness is established with the thought: ‘The body exists,’ to the extent necessary just for knowledge and remembrance, and he lives independent and clings to naught in the world. Thus, also, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu lives contemplating the body in the body.”

“The Way of Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta and Its Commentary”, by Soma Thera. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html