2024
What's New?
■
Individual articles on this page can be linked-to by appending '#' sign plus the abridged form of the entry date [e.g. #O.2.21.19]
to the end of the URL in the address bar.
For example: ~/dhammatalk/dhammatalk_forum/whats.new.2019.htm#O.2.21.19
Remember that this page will be renamed to "whats.new.0000.htm" at the end of the year and a new "whats.new.htm" will be started for the new year.
Disposition of BuddhaDust
The site is intended to be adopted by those interested in making the Dhamma their theme for meditation and for Dhamma researchers of all stripes. It is intended as a pattern, to be used as a basis for a personal desktop work environment or as a basis for promoting some view on the web, and should be seen as incomplete, needing correction, revision and improvement in all departments.
Oblog: [O.07.14.24] Sunday, July 14, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 11.13: Dutiya Mahānāma Suttaṃ: Mahānāma (b)
Almost the same as the previous sutta.
Oblog: [O.07.13.24] Saturday, July 13, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 11.12: Mahānāma Suttaṃ: Mahānāma (a)
Oblog: [O.07.06.24] Saturday, July 06, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 11.11: Mora-Nivāpa Suttaṃ; Peacocks' Feeding-ground.
Oblog: [O.07.05.24] Friday, July 05, 2024
New Olds translations:
AN 11.7: Saññā-Manasikārā Suttaṃ,(a); A Study in Perception (a) (slightly revised)
AN 11.8: Saññā-Manasikārā Suttaṃ,(b); A Study in Perception (b)
AN 11.9: Saññā-Manasikārā Suttaṃ,(c); A Study in Perception (c)
Oblog: [O.07.04.24] Thursday, July 04, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 11.6: Vyasana Suttaṃ, Ruin
Oblog: [O.07.03.24] Wednesday, July 03, 2024
New Olds translations:
AN 11.3: Paṭhama Upanisa Suttaṃ, Seating (1)
AN 11.4: Dutiya Upanisa Suttaṃ, Seating (2)
AN 11.5: Tatiya Upanisa Suttaṃ, Seating (3)
These three are all the same sutta spoken by 1. Gotama; 2. Sāriputta; 3. Ānanda ... (thank goodness for copy and paste!). I think, however, that they should all be read through and given a good pondering. Further, they should be read along with the previous two. It looks to me as though this was the way suttas were originally memorized. Certainly it explains how a sutta (or what was thought of as the important part of a sutta if #s 1-3 are to be read as one sutta) could be heard throughout a large audience.
Oblog: [O.07.01.24] Monday, July 01, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 11.2: Na Cetanā-Karaṇīya Suttaṃ, No Making Intentions
This sutta should be read with the previous one (just below). Although it is not overtly mentioned in the suttas, I believe it is taken as a matter of common knowledge (there, then, not here, now; which points to the fact that they had better vision then than is evident here now) that forming an intent brings about the thing intended. Not always when or how one would wish, but sooner or later. There is at least one school of Buddhism that uses this wish-fulfiling aspect of thought as the basis of its popularity. This is also similar to the way intent is used by Don Juan, though the function of his having his apprentices go around thinking and saying "Intent!" seems like a joke to me. What is the case here is that Gotama is telling us that forming an intent is not necessary for the purposes and advantages of attaining freedom through knowing and seeing if one is devoted to living according to the Buddhist understanding (skillful) of ethical standards.
Two Pali Text Society Dictionaries that are free to use on line:
A digital version of the Pali Text Society’s new Dictionary of Pāli (DoP) Written by Margaret Cone.
A Critical Pāli Dictionary Online is maintained by the Data Center for the Humanities at the University of Cologne in cooperation with the Pali Text Society.
Oblog: [O.06.30.24] Sunday, June 30, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 11.1: Kim Atthiya? Suttaṃ, What is the Purpose?
| Pāḷi | Olds | Woodward | Bhk. Thanissaro | Bhk. Bodhi* |
| kusalāni sīlāni | skillful ethical standards; ethical conduct* |
good conduct | skillful virtues | wholesome virtuous behavior* |
| avi-p-paṭisāra | being without self-reproach freedom from remorse* |
freedom from remorse | freedom from remorse | non-regret* |
| pāmujja | being glad; joy* |
joy | joy | joy* |
| pīti | approval; enthusiasm* |
rapture | rapture | rapture* |
| passaddhi | impassivity | calm | calm | tranquility* |
| sukhaṃ | being pleased; plesure* |
happiness | pleasure | pleasure* |
| samādhi | serenity | concentration | concentration | concentration* |
| yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa-dassanā | knowing and seeing things the way they are; knowing and seeing such as exists* |
knowing and seeing things as they really are, | knowledge and vision of things as they have come to be | knowledge and vision of things as they really are* |
| nibbidā | weariness; world weariness* |
revulsion | disenchantment | disenchantment* |
| virāga | dispassion | fading of interest | dispassion | dispassion* |
| vimutti-ñāṇa-dassana | freedom through knowing and seeing; knowing and seeing freedom* |
release by knowing and seeing | knowledge and vision of release | knowledge and vision of liberation* |
*From AN 10.1
The difference here from my translation of AN 10.1 is that I went from translating from the Pāḷi and PED to translating from the Pāḷi, PED and experience — not that I did not have the experience, such as it was at the time, but that I did not closely examine the terms I would use to describe the experience. Sīla can mean "virtues". There is nothing wrong with having virtue, but "virtue" is greatly misused today in that the emphasis is on conduct that would be better headed under morality (conduct approved of as good by the majority, rather than derived from a principle). There is no mention in the Pāḷi of "conduct", but I suppose that can be inferred. One sometimes has remorse from conduct that is not ethically good; sometimes not. What is consistently present in those striving for purity of ethical conduct is the self criticizing the self for breaches of such conduct. I do not see "joy" arising from following skillful ethical standards. What is there when one looks is congratulations or satisfaction with the self or relief from fear of the consequences of breaches. Getting "approval" from "pīti" requires only that one understand this term as encompassing all sorts of liking, from moderate liking to rapture. I do not see rapture there at all, but I also do not think that rapture leads to calm or tranquility. What liking the situation does lead to is being pleased with one's behavior. The difference between "through" and "by", and "knowledge of" comes from what you think this series is about — is it a method to accomplish the goal, or is it a method for seeing the goal as accomplished? The sutta purports to be discussing the purposes and advantages.
Oblog: [O.06.28.24] Friday, June 28, 2024
New Olds translations:
AN 10.189-198: Ariya-Magga-Vagga, The Aristocratic Highway
Oblog: [O.06.26.24] Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Some Valuable Resources:
Digital Pāḷi Dictionary. This links to a page which describes this dictionary and the many features of Golden Dictionary.
Open Buddhist University. A huge but very well organized and beautifully presented collection of references to Buddhist works of all sorts.
The Index at Reading Faithfully. The site defaults to the translations of Bhikkhu Sujato but these can be ignored and the translations here can be found by just using the sutta id. Links to some other translators such as those of Bhikkhu Anandajoti and Bhikkhu Thanissaro are obtainable there by clicking on the gear icon at the top of the page and selecting "reference helper".
As expected, the Bhikkhu Sujato translations are now increasingly being used throughout the web. The objection here to these translations is that they reflect the activist Buddhist view. It is not just that important words are mistranslated, but that the entire set is world-oriented. Using the set while changing a few words will not do. While the Buddha freely gives advice to the world-oriented, becoming (living, being, existing) of any sort (as low as the Hells to as high as becoming in the sphere of the ending of perception and experience in the world), any sort of sense-experience, world-orientation, is all considered a lesser, even a failure at achieving the goal in this system. The goal in this system is the escape from sense-experience, kamma, rebirth, pain, but not just wordly pain. It is a hopeless cause, but there may be some who find this world intolerable and really see the point of escape and the efficacy of the Buddha's methods for doing so. To be constantly thrown back into a worldly view by a translation is a very dangerous thing.
New Olds translations:
AN 10.178-188: Sādu-Vagga, Well Done
Oblog: [O.06.21.24] Friday, June 21, 2024
New Olds translations:
AN 10.155-166: Puggala-Vagga, Persons
Oblog: [O.06.18.24] Tuesday, June 18, 2024
New Olds translation:
AN 3.14: Cakkavatti Suttaṃ, Wheel Turner
Oblog: [O.06.17.24] Monday, June 17, 2024
New Olds translations:
AN 3.12: Sāraṇīya Suttaṃ, To Be Remembered Life-Long
AN 3.13: Āsaṃsa Suttaṃ, Aspiration
Oblog: [O.06.13.24] Thursday, June 13, 2024
When you get upset because the phone tree goes on forever before giving you the way to reach a live person, your mind is giving you a clue that you have expectations.
When you have an expectation and things turn out differently than the way you expected, and you get upset, that is a sign, a track of your having some investment in that expectation.
That is a sign that you think of yourself as occupying a station above the reality.
When you finally do reach a live person at the end of the phone tree and they do not have the information you were seeking and you take out your feelings of frustration on that person, that is an outward sign or track of the same belief that things should be going the way you think they should be going.
This is entirely a set-up for upset. Making yourself feel bad. And, for one thing that sign, or track fills the emptiness, and can be seen by those with clear sight as you holding on to that belief. So you have made yourself unhappy and you have given others reason to think you are, at the least, a fool.
Do not think you cannot be seen!
Then, when things do go your way, that delight you feel is just as much a sign of this same sort of belief system and has the same implications and gives the same information to anyone who wishes to know it.
One more thing: With expectations and reactions of liking and disliking the way things really are is obscured. You do not see the story the way it is really unfolding. You are missing one of the greatest joys of this life. That is another way of saying you are blind. To live without expectations, to be satisfied with things the way they are, is to see. And to see is to enjoy.
Just saying. Be mindful and get rid of those expectations!
I write many of these things as though advising myself. So in the spirit of having just been 'spoken to', let me, at this point, apologize to all those I have offended by my poor handling of a life-long shortness of temper. I see the fault there and the danger it poses and I work at eliminating this problem.
Oblog: [O.06.08.24] Saturday, June 08, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 3. 1-10.
Oblog: [O.06.06.24] Thursday, June 06, 2024
Here and there on the internet we find objections to the use by the Buddha of what is thought to be the harsh handling of fools, by the calling of them "fools" by the Buddha. This is really a mis-hearing of the tone of this term by those individuals. It is heard relative to the context. Those guilty of silly thinking will not feel the impact of being called a fool as deeply as those guilty of offences that will result in great unhappiness to many. As readers many centuries later we should rather think that the intent here was to shake up the person addressed. Get him to realize the seriousness of his offence. But, if the reader finds it difficult to believe that the Buddha would address foolish individuals as "foolish" or "fools", he should look to the origin of this term in Pāḷi (PED) where the word is actually "childish" or "young" with the meaning of the lack of understanding of the child or youth.
As for the use of this term on this site, it is done with the following ideas in mind:
it is rendered harmless today in that it is not directed at any living person;
it is used because today the pair "wise man" and "fool" are the usages in practice;
it is used because any person today that has intentions or thinks thoughts or speaks words or does acts that produce unpleasantness is a fool;
it is used because such an individual is not a real person, that is in reality such a one is a mindless robot that intentionally (even if not his own intentions) inflicts the unpleasant on others.
From Following the Footsteps of the Enlightened Beings,
by Pra Rachapavanavigrom (Luang Por Liem Ṭhitadhammo).
Illustrations by by Pra Ajahn Somdet Tikkhanyano
New PDF book.
Following the Footsteps of the Enlightened Beings, by Pra Rachapavanavigrom (Luang Por Liem Ṭhitadhammo.)
Not an especially enlightening work, but worth having a look at just for the illustrations.
Brought to my attention by a post from "vivica" on the Sutta Central Discussion site Discuss and Discover, which I do not recommend. Originally published on the intenet by Abhayagiri.org
Oblog: [O.06.03.24] Monday, June 03, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 2. 279-748.
This chapter, which concludes The Book of Twos, contains two wheels: the first starting at sutta #279 was aimed primarily at the bhikkhus, the second starting at sutta #579 is more for general consumption.
The second wheel tells you that for
understanding, all around knowledge, utter destruction, letting go, withering away, decay, dispassion, ending, giving up, and renunciation
of
passion, corruption, confusion, anger, fault-finding, hypocrisy, spite, irritation, selfishness, deceit, fraudulence, stubbornness, forcefulness, pride, arrogant pride, headiness, and carelessness,
you need to develop
calm (samatha) and insight (vipassanā).
Oblog: [O.05.28.24] Tuesday, May 28, 2024
AN 63-75, 76-85, 86-96, 97-116, 117-128, 129-139, 140-149, 150-161, 162-178, 179-278 were done previously. The words or phrases that I felt might have lead to confusion are footnoted. Some changes have been made to the later translations. In these translations samādhi is translated "High-getting" whereas now it is being translated "Serenity"; "āsava" is "no-goods" where now it is being translated "corrupting influences"; "etadagga" is "Superior" where now it is being translated "topmost"; "yoniso-manasikara" was changed in the earlier translations from "studious examination" to "tracing things back to their point of origin" (elsewhere on the site: "studious etiological examination").
Oblog: [O.05.27.24] Monday, May 27, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 2. 51-62.
Oblog: [O.05.12.24] Wednesday, May 22, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 2. 41-50.
It's No Laughing Matter
Take a look at AN 10.15. Ask yourself how it could be that a simple word like Appamāda, (translations: don't be careless, Earnestness, Seriousness, etc.) could be given such an exalted status.
One of the last things experienced by most people when they die is the thought, based on the perception that because the personal mind perceives things coming into existence as being simultaneous with their thoughts of such a thing coming into existence, that they were, after all, really God, the Creator, and that all their suffering was just a big joke. And they are overtaken by a laughter that carries them off to the new state of consciousness they deserve.
Time to wake up, my friends! Make yourselves aware of this problem! Really read and understand Pajāpati's Problem.
Oblog: [O.05.12.24] Sunday, May 12, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 2. 31-40.
Please note: I am doing these translations not to say that the other translations are incorrect, but for my (and hopefully your) personal enjoyment. I will use the terms used in other translations where I believe they have put the matter in the best way.
Oblog: [O.05.11.24] Saturday, May 11, 2024
What Language is the Pāḷi?
There is a lot of steam and paper wasted in the effort to prove one theory or another as to what exactly Pāḷi is as a language and what language the Buddha actually used. I think a more productive way to deal with this issue is to let it go.
Let what was said in the Pāḷi be what the Buddha said in his own words and forget looking for the "real" language he may have spoken or where Pāḷi might have come from. The place it came from doesn't exist! And except as a waste of time, it doesn't matter. What we have in the suttas as we have them, even in translation, will get you out of this mess if you take the time to understand what was said there.
The most reasonable way to think of this is the same way that today and yesterday and the day before that any writer worth his salt has used his own language, and it is really his own invention applicable to his works alone.
What that is is the language he grew up with, the language he has heard around him, the language he heard his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents use and that was the language they heard spoken by their parents and grandparents and great grandparents back seven generations or more. And it is what he invents at the time to convey his ideas.
What we see as his writing is going to have scraps from way back and from other languages and (especially in the case of a seer like Gotama) it will have an influence on the way language is used way into the future.
We can see that even in translation the Pāḷi is influencing the way English (and almost every other language) is being used today ... just take a look at the way the people are writing on the forums. You try to pin-point the one language this work came from you are barking up the wrong tree and you are distracting people! That is not a good thing.
You think there is no bad kamma comes with making a big thing of this study, you have another think coming.
Oblog: [O.05.07.24] Tuesday, May 07, 2024
Work on this website is basically done to the point of sufficiency for those interested in the study and practice of Buddhism. What you get from here is extra. Things that may be helpful, but are not essential to understanding. Corrections to errors will continue to be made.
The site was among the first dealing with the Buddhism found in the Pāḷi and had the idea of getting something helpful out there which others could work with and improve upon. The result was too much haste and the result of that was a super-sufficiency of typographical and spelling errors. For some time now it has been the effort here to rid the site of those errors, but many remain. Errors in doctrine are a matter of opinion and one of the purposes of the site was to provide a multiplicity of views on these matters. In recent times the number of differing opinions concerning doctrine has the appearance of having multiplied, but a careful reading will show that virtually all of these are sub-doctrines of those dealt with earlier.
Among the things that are being done in the very relaxed post-sufficiency way is adding italics to the foreign words of the Pāḷi dictionary found here. I am updating this file only haphazardly.
Doing this has necessitated reading the entries very closely and that has brought to my attention a lot of errors, some dating back as far as the original scanning, many introduced by my clumsy handling of regular expressions. "Pali" may have been converted to "Pāḷi", many commas "," may have been seen in the original scanning as periods "."; a massive regular expression error was the joining of "a" to the following word (e.g. "a house" became "ahouse"; and again I think in the original scan, some words have been broken up, as in "mo tion" for "motion."
I am, of course, correcting those errors as I find them, but the reader should be aware that this is a flawed work. There are now several Pāḷi/English dictionaries available in digital form, and several programs that allow one to find the English term used to translate the Pāḷi which, of course, just confirms the translation being used. I have not seen any dictionary or translation tool that is quite as complete as this version and I continue to use it almost every day because it provides word-history and relationships and allows choice by giving possible alternative meanings.
EDIT: Two Pali Text Society Dictionaries that are free to use on line:
A digital version of the Pali Text Society’s new Dictionary of Pāli (DoP) Written by Margaret Cone.
A Critical Pāli Dictionary Online is maintained by the Data Center for the Humanities at the University of Cologne in cooperation with the Pali Text Society.
PS: The entire dictionary is on one page (file) and can therefor be searched in your browser by using "CTRL f". Search main entries using "::[space][word]". It is most often necessary when looking up a word in this dictionary to strip off the prefixes and suffixes and the word-endings ā and ṃ, and sometimes it will require searching for the term not as a main entry but in the main body.
Faith and Its Connection to Stream-Winning
For the person who in the world,
attached to,
in bondage to,
having greed for,
being overtaken by
lust for sense-pleasures;
attached to,
in bondage to,
having greed for,
being overtaken by
lust for points of view,
it is impossible to see,
the existence of any other person.
This is not saying that belief in others is impossible,
indeed, it is not only not impossible,
it is usually the case,
but that case is a matter of belief,
it is not something that has actually been seen.
Seeing without resort to sensory perception is the difference that makes a person a Streamwinner-in-fact as opposed to the Streamwinner by belief.
The Streamwinner-in-fact does not slip back; the Streamwinner-by-belief becomes a Streamwinner-in-fact if he hangs on, but is subject to the possibility of slipping out of his belief.
Seeing without resort to perception through the senses is accomplished by a person when they see the problem of endlessly recycling rebirths in saṃsara and can see that this problem is solved by the idea that there is no thing there that is the self and that all sensory perception of the world as an existing thing can therefore be brought to an end.
Before this is seen the idea that someone out there has actually accomplished the deed is essential; seeing this as the solution to that problem is seeing that someone has actually accomplished the deed. This is faith in the Awakening of the Buddha.
This is seeing that this knowledge is the method that will bring the endless cycle of rebirths to an end. This is faith in the Dhamma.
Seeing what needs to be done is half the problem, the rest is accomplishing it. This is done by the step-by-step letting go of any identification (seeing anything as the self or as belonging to the self) with the entire existing world and the not-doing of any deed that extends identification with the existence of the world. Seeing that this is a gradual process is seeing the four basic stages: Streamwinning, Once Returning, Non-Returning, and Arahantship and the enjoyment, release in freedom, that follows such attainment. This is faith in the Saṇgha.
The step-by-step letting go of any identification with the entire existing world and the not-doing of any deed that extends identification with the existence of the world is accomplished by the application to the existing being of the steps found in the Way:
Consummate point of view — this is all essentially pain, this pain is a result of wanting, this pain is ended by ending the wanting, and this is the way to do all that — as a working hypothesis;
consummate principles based on that point of view — let it all go, inflict no intentional physical harm, inflict no intentional mental cruelty;
consummate speech — No intentional untrue, cruel, harsh, slanderous or useless talk;
consummate works — No intentional working harm, taking what has not been given, or straying from the path for pleasure's sake in your magic charms, works (deeds), or occupation.;
consummate lifestyle — Make a lifestyle out of identifying those elements of your personality that are contra-indicated, low, unskillful, un-Aristocratic, profitless, and dumping them;
consummate effort at self-control —
Exercise Self-control. Make effort, exert energy to
1. Restrain low unskillful conditions that have arisen in the here and now
2. Refrain from low unskillful conditions that have not yet arisen
3. Obtain high, skillful conditions that have not yet arisen
4. Retain high, skillful conditions that have arisen;
consummate mind — Live, while you live
in a body,
in sensation,
in the heart, and
in the word,
understanding body,
sensation,
the heart and
the word,
seeing them as they really are,
seeing how they arise,
seeing how they end,
watchful and diligent,
(Appamāda; non-carelessness),
Satisfied,
reviewing and calming down,
overcoming any hunger and thirst that may appear,
releasing it all,
above it all,
downbound to nothing at all in the world.;
consummate serenity — Achieve a state with no objectives,
no indications of lust,
anger, or
blindness, and
empty of
lust,
anger, and
blindness,
whether walking, standing sill, sitting down, or lying down.;
consummate vision — See that
Downbound blindness
rebounds bound up in own-making
That is: Blindness to the truth of consummate view
— or, in other words, blindness to the fact that
Whatsoever has Come to Be
is a Thing Destined to Come to an End —
results in identified-with acts of body, speech and mind intended to create existence for the self — in other words: a personal world.
Downbound own-making
rebounds bound up in re-knowing-knowing-knowledge.
Knowing the knowable as an individual;
self-consciousness, individualized consciousness.
Downbound re-knowing-knowing-knowledge
rebounds bound up in Named Form
"Phenomena" FaceName. The inter-operation of the individualized mind (called "name" because it distinguishes and identifies itself and other by an internal set of names) and matter (called "form" or "shape" or "appearance" or "entity" because it is whatever can be said to have become a "thing" in the world, including mental states, concepts, sounds, etc.)
Downbound Named Form
rebounds bound up in re-knowing-knowing-knowledge
Individualized — own-made — confounded — consciousness is the factor on which the name/form phenomena depends, and name/form is the factor on which individualized consciousness, re-knowing-knowing-knowledge, depends.
It is only in-so-far-as these three:
[1] re-knowing-knowing-knowledge (individualized consciousness),
[2] name and
[3] form
interact that there is that which is understood to be existence as a being in a state of being.
Downbound re-knowing-knowing-knowledge rebounds bound up in the realm of the senses.
Downbound being bound up in the realm of the senses
rebounds bound up in contact
In the "realm" or "sphere" or "state" characterized by experience through contact through the six senses
of the objects of those senses;
(being conscious of seeing sights, etc.)
Downbound contact
rebounds bound up in sensation
The experience of pleasure, pain, or neither pain nor pleasure
in connection with a sense stimulus)
Downbound sensation
rebounds bound up in wanting
(that's that 'hunger and thirst'; craving; appetite)
To get, to get away.
Downbound wanting
rebounds bound up bound up
Getting involved in getting.
Downbound getting bound up
rebounds bound up in living
Getting involved in living
in some state of being an "it"
in some place of being "at"
Downbound living
rebounds bound up being born
As some kind of an "it"
in some place of being "at".
Downbound being born rebounds bound up in
Aging, Sickness and Death
Grief and Lamentation
Pain and Misery
and Despair.
consummate detachment; — So seeing (High Vision), act accordingly.
Seeing the arising of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge and sense experience;
seeing the ending of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge and sense experience;
understanding that this seeing and all those mental states that came before are own-made,
made up of parts,
subject to breaking a-part,
ending,
resolve
(and do not just resolve, but actually do it)
to let go of own-making mental states
and by that
attain the uttermost objective detachment possible,
and at that point,
seeing that this is being free,
In freedom recognize freedom, and
Recognize that
birth has been left behind, and
Recognize that
duty's doing has been done, and
Recognize that
there is no more this side or that, and
Recognize that
there is no more being any kind of an "it"
at any place of "atness" left for you.
This is the ethical practice of the Aristocrat.
Together these constitute the four factors making up the accomplishment of Streamwinning-in-fact.
Oblog: [O.04.26.24] Friday, April 26, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 2. 11-20.
Oblog: [O.04.20.24] Saturday, April 20, 2024
New Olds translations of AN 2. 1-10.
Oblog: [O.04.15.24] Monday, April 15, 2024
"Incidentally, about Way: it is a noteworthy feature, completely overlooked, that the way as "eightfold' (aṭṭhangiko) finds no place in these Eights ..."
— Mrs. Rhys Davids, in her introduction to E.M. Hare's translation of Aṇguttara-Nikāya Aṭṭhaka-Nipāta. The Book of the Gradual Sayings, Volume IV. Page X, but not included on this site.
"Moreover, lord, by a canker-freed monk the eightfold Ariyan Way is made become and fully so. When, indeed, lord, by a canker-freed monk the eightfold Ariyan Way is made become and fully so; it is, lord, an attribute of the canker-freed monk by which he realizes that the cankers are destroyed and acknowledge: 'Destroyed by me are the cankers.'"
— E.M. Hare in his translation of Aṇguttara-Nikāya Aṭṭhaka-Nipāta. The Book of the Gradual Sayings, Volume IV. Page 152
Puna ca paraṃ Bhante, khīṇ'āsavassa bhikkhuno Ariyo Aṭṭhaṇgiko Maggo,||
bhāvito hoti subhāvito.|| ||
Yam pi Bhante khīṇ'āsavassa bhikkhuno Ariyo Aṭṭhaṇgiko Maggo,||
bhāvito hoti subhāvito,||
Idam pi Bhante, khīṇ'āsavassa bhikkhuno balaṃ hoti,||
yaṃ balaṃ āgamma khīṇ'āsavo bhikkhu āsavānaṃ khayaṃ paṭijānāti:
'Khīṇā me āsavā' ti.|| ||
— Sariputta speaking to Gotama. Aṇguttara-Nikāya Aṭṭhaka-Nipāta. Page 225
This is explicit, but there are numbers of other places where the Way is given without being so named.
Bala: Attributes or Powers?
"Monks, there are these eight attributes. What eight? The attribute of children is crying; of women-folk, scolding; of thieves, fighting; of rajahs, rule; of fools, contention; of wise men, suavity; of the learned, scrutiny; of recluses and godly man, patience."
— Hare, AN 8.27
Here I have translated bala as 'tools'; but most other places, and better, 'powers'.
"Crying, beggars, is the power of children;
anger, the power of mother-folk;
weaponry, the power of crooks;
might, the power of kings;
outrage, the power of fools;
understanding, the power of the wise;
reflection, the power of the learned;
forbearance, the power of the shaman and Brahman."
The difference is that "tools" or "powers" are things that can be used or not, whereas "attributes" are characteristics of all of the sort all of the time.
Oblog: [O.04.7.24] Sunday, April 07, 2024
On Worldly Activism Its an old story. Trying to change the ways of the world. Revenge. Self-defense. Stepping in to protect the underdog. Fighting, killing for the "right" thing. Its like trying to empty the sea with a sieve. In terms of what the Buddha taught, it is going the wrong direction. Paṭhave, apo, tejo, veyo: it all belongs to Māra, Death, The Evil One. Let it go.
Authenticity
"Those doctrines which lead one
not to complete world-weariness,
nor to dispassion,
nor to ending,
nor to calm,
nor to knowledge,
nor to awakening,
nor to Nibbāna —
regard them definitely as not Dhamma,
not discipline,
not the word of the Consummately Self-Awakened One.
But those doctrines which lead one
to complete world-weariness,
dispassion,
ending,
calm,
knowledge,
awakening,
Nibbāna —
regard them unreservedly as Dhamma,
discipline,
the word of the Consummately Self-Awakened One."
— Adopted from Hare's, Pali Text Society translation of AN 7 79
See also below,
Dhammatalk Forum Authenticity
I know I am repeating things. They need to be repeated. New ideas are hard to learn; old ideas are even harder to change. For both reasons they need to be drummed in.
Oblog: [O.04.3.24] Wednesday, April 03, 2024
Honoring The Teacher
The One That Has Shown the Way
All that which is perceived through the senses has come to be and comes to an end.
Locked into, identified with, perception through the senses, one is subject to, is not able to escape from, the coming to be and the destruction of all that which is perceived through the senses.
A visible object coming into contact with the eye is perceived by the individual identifying with perception through the senses through the consciousness of it in the mind of the perceiver. There is no direct perception of the visible object there.
In the same way, that is the same thing as saying: "Everything perceived is perceived as created by the self." There is no escape in Death. Rebirth is just the repetition of the same old problem. Endlessly.
This results, for one who sees the danger of this, for one who is fed-up with this, is the desire to escape the coming to be of perception through the senses.
The result of this is to see that faith in the Dhamma, Saṇghā, training, serenity, non-carelessness, and the willingness to give the method claimed by the Buddha to gain escape a shot is completely dependent on faith that this person has in fact found a way to escape identification with the coming to be of perception through the senses.
How does one establish such faith?
One begins with blind faith coupled with the working hypothesis that such a one did exist and correctly laid out the method for others who followed that path to achieve the same goal.
Here that path is described as:
1. Paṭisanthāra. Translated by Hare as "Good Will"; by bhikkhu Bodhi (his AN.7#70) as hospitality. I would say, rather, that it was being willing to give this method a shot.
2. Being so willing one acts without carelessness in following the directions found in the method.
3. Being without carelessness one is undisturbed, that is, serene. In the serene state things are clear.
4. Being serene one does not rebel against details of the training and one becomes trained and sees for the self the advantages of being trained.
5. Seeing these advantages, one sees the various stages that will be reached by one who follows the method. This is seeing the Saṇghā. The importance of seeing the Saṇghā is that so seeing one sees that others who have followed this method will have arrived at various stages within it right up to attaining the goal of complete escape from sensory perception ever after.
With this insight being a personal experience one is able to place confidence in the advantages in freedom of conformity with the Dhamma.
Following the method in this way one achieves the goal and in this achievement one no longer depends on trust in the fact that the Buddha has found a way to escape identification with the coming to be of perception through the senses and the destruction that follows. One has seen this as a matter of personal experience.
In this way one respects or honors the Consummately Awakened One.
For greater authenticity I refer readers to AN 7.66.
Oblog: [O.03.23.24] Saturday, March 23, 2024
When it was my stomach I went to grab,
it was my backbone I grabed,
when it was my backbone I went to grab,
it was my stomach I grabbed.
— Image shot by my mother.
See: MN 100
Oblog: [O.03.1.24] Friday, March 01, 2024
A-Dukkha-m-A-Sukhā Vedanā
A-dukkha-m-a-sukhā vedanā, not-unpleasant-but-not-pleasant sense experience, is not "neutral" feeling. This term is a name for the repercussion experienced by a wise person intending to escape kamma. When accompanied by blindness it results in the urge to experience pleasant sense-experience. When accompanied by wisdom it is a taste of Nibbāna.
If this repercussion were some sort of sense-experience, there would be no escaping kamma. This is the experience of not experiencing sense-experience that is either painful or pleasant.
Oblog: [O.02.23.24] Friday, February 23, 2024
Viññāṇā
I think we should be using the literal translation of this term: "Re-knowng-knowing-knowledge".
"Consciousness", the usual translation, is causing us great confusion because "viññāṇā" is used to describe both the state of sense-consciosness of the ordinary sense-bound individual and the state of the freed consciousness of the Arahant.
The careful reader will see my struggles to get this clear throughout the site. bhikkhus Thanissaro and Bodhi have also had problems with this term which they have handled each differently according to their thinking.
Sometimes "consciousness" will be used by me for both states; sometimes "consciousness" will be used only when describing the state of the Arahant and "sense-consciousness" will be being used for the ordinary person; sometimes "individualized-consciousness" will be used to describe the state of the ordinary person. None of these alternatives really reflect what is found in the Pāḷi.
If we used, instead, "re-knowing-knowing-knowledge" that could be used for both cases as "viññāṇā" is used in the Pāḷi and with this translation it would not be causing the confusion it is now causing.
"Re-knowing-knowing-knowledge" means simply having knowledge of knowing whatever has arisen as a consequence of perception. (There is perception beyond sense-experience. See: AN 11.7 and many others)
If the perception is of named-forms, or the sense realms then it is re-knowing-knowledge of sense-experience; if the perception is of freedom from perception of named-forms or the sense realms then it is re-knowing-knowledge of freedom.
Saññā
Sights, sounds, scents, tastes, touches, ideas.
Vedanā
Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking.
Viññāṇā
Re-knowng-knowing-knowledge of that.
Blind to how that ends,
the arising of identification with the intent to get sense-experience through acts of body, speech and mind,
with the arising of such own-making,
the arising of named-forms
with the arising of named-forms,
the arising of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge of that,
with the arising of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge of that,
the arising of the six realms of sense,
with the arising of the six realms of sense,
the arising of contact,
with the arising of contact,
the arising of sense-experience,
with the arising of sense experience,
the arising of thirst,
with the arising of thirst,
the arising of involvement with the effort to get or get away from,
with the arising of this involvement,
the arising of becoming,
with the arising of becoming,
the arising of birth,
with the arising of birth,
the arising of aging, sickness, and death,
grief and lamentation,
pain and misery, and
despair.
Such is the result of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge of things experienced through the senses.
Saññā
But if the perception is:
This is it!
This is the culmination!
That is, the calming of all own-making,
the resolution of all involvements,
the withering away of thirst,
dispassion,
extinction,
Nibbāna.'
Vedanā
the experience will be:
Lived has been the best of lives!
Done is duty's doing!
No further is there this side or that.
No more being any kind of an "it"
at any place of "atness" for me."
Viññāṇā
and the re-knowing-knowledge will be:
Re-knowng-knowing-knowledge of
seeing that how that ends,
there is no arising of identification with the intent to get sense-experience through acts of body, speech and mind,
that when there is no arising of such own-making,
there is no arising of named-forms
that when there is no arising of named-forms,
there is no arising of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge of that,
that when there is no arising of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge of that,
there is no arising of the six realms of sense,
that when there is no arising of the six realms of sense,
there is no arising of contact,
that when there is no arising of contact,
there is no arising of sense-experience,
that when there is no arising of sense experience,
there is no arising of thirst,
that when there is no arising of thirst,
there is no arising of involvement with the effort to get or get away from,
that when there is no arising of such involvement,
there is no arising of becoming,
that when there is no arising of becoming,
there is no arising of birth,
when there is no arising of birth,
there is no arising of aging, sickness, and death,
grief and lamentation,
pain and misery, and
despair.
Such is the result of re-knowing-knowing-knowledge of freedom from things experienced through the senses.
There is now little point in my making a change like this (in fact, if the difference is kept in mind, it might even be useful as the idea is understood as "consciousness" today anyway) so readers are advised to make the connection in their minds as they go along: there is consciousness experienced through the senses and there is consciousness apart from the senses. That which is experienced through the senses is said to exist and to have been own-made and therefore comes to an end in pain. That which is apart from experience through the senses is not said to exist and has not been own-made and because of that does not come to and end or bring about the experience of pain.
"Re-knowing-knowing-knowledge" was the translation first used here, I should have stuck with that, but peer pressure caused me to revert to "consciousness". It has been a confusing, debilitating, blind obstruction ever since.
See also: SN 3.22.53; My translation and the Discussion for a more detailed discussion of the situation.
Oblog: [O.02.3.24] Saturday, February 03, 2024
The Cloying Nature of Food
"Cloying" appears quite often in the translations of the suttas and however 'ancient' it may be, is a perfect description of the problem food creates for the student of the Dhamma. One seeking to properly set up the mind should make himself conscious of the cloying nature of food. I think a definition is useful.
To cloy is to create disgust by way of first creating thirst for enjoyment resulting in over-indulgence.
From the OED: Possibly from to claw, or scratch.
The first six meanings relate to problems created by nails.
Meaning 7: To overload with food, so as to cause loathing, to surfeit or satiate (with over-feeding) or with richness, sweetness, or sameness of food);
8: To satiate, surfeit, gratify beyond desire; to disgust, weary (with excess of anything.)
— AN 5 711-760, 511-560 etc.; AN 7 46; MN 50; AN 7 45; AN 5.62. 70, 71, 122, 69; SN 1.1.1
Temporary Freedom
Freedom from Things of Time
Every Once in a While
The first term to understand in AN 5.149 is 'samaya,' sam or sa + m = 'on' or 'with' aya: time, age, while. The 'Once upon a Time' or 'at one time' or 'once' of Nidana's. Temporal release; not temporary release; although the subject of the sutta is temporary release. Once in a while. The contemporary Indian English: 'Once in a way.' vimutti = freedom. The thing itself is having let go of some attachment, after the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms have passed off, reflecting on the bondage one had to a past habit one experiences a sense of freedom. This is often a matter of a profound sense of freedom accompanied by a 'sigh of relief.' If this is carefully examined, it is seen to be the whole process of attaining Arahantship in a nutshell.
This careful examination includes, as well as a reflection on the things that lead to falling away from that state (delight in activity, gab, sleep and company, and, in the next sutta, AN 5.150, not guarding the experiences at the senses and immoderate eating) not reflecting on the freedom of heart one has gained.
That last is: "athā-vimuttaṃ cittaṃ na pacc'avekkhati."
My translation: "... he does not reflect on the freedom of heart he has attained."
Hare: "he does not look at the mind apart"
Which he footnotes: "... our Comy. 'just in momentary flashes' (appit'appita-khaṇe, appeti means both to fix and to rush on) 'with the depravities discarded, there is a state of release' ..."
bhikkhu Bodhi (not among the freely released suttas): "... he does not review the extent to which the mind is liberated." He gives this note: "Mp.: 'One who is liberated in mind through a mundane liberation, a tentative liberation, through the suppression of the defilements in absorption.'" (I object to the idea of 'suppression'. Suppression is the forcing down of a thing which requires continuous contact whereas what is involved here is separation. Mundane here is also not realistic, this is a major accomplishment, next door to Nibbāna, and is directly on the path.
What has happened is that one has attained what is called "freedom from things of Time." This means freedom from any thing that has a beginning, middle, and end. It is temporary because the freedom so attained is focused on this world or on one or another of the things of this world. The problem described here, not reflecting on the mind apart (Hare's translation focuses on an important way of seeing this), is solved, and lasting freedom attained when, in stead of focusing on some worldly object, one focuses in stead on the freedom attained. This is reflecting on the mind as a thing apart from the things of this world.
Unable to Arise Again in the Future
This is not the one-dimensional thing that is restraint. This is when one has gone up a level or more so that a bad thing is not even seen. "This indicates that such and such a bad thing would arise if going that way." For example, one is tempted to go down a certain street but one knows that going that way one will see the fairest lass of the land which will result in lust arising, so one does not go that way and one avoids the arising lust. With repeated practice and habit the not going that way becomes automatic and is unaccompanied even by trepidation. With more practice and a clearer picture of things as they really are, the lust will not arise even when confronted with such a stimulus because one's mind is on something else altogether. One or more steps removed. A thing which gives one time and distance from a bad situation eventually to the point where whatever the stimulus the distance between that and the arising of some bad state will always produce detachment.
Oblog: [O.01.13.24] Saturday, January 13, 2024
Authenticity
If you do not understand rebirth, you do not really have a grasp of the point of Buddhism or the meaning of pain. If you understand these things then you can see that this business of authenticity has been used in these times as a way of not facing the work involved in bringing this system into your life. The whole of this research called "modern linguistic analysis", EBT (Early Buddhist Texts), "stratification", etc., is invalidated with the idea that a person, maybe hundreds or thousands of years after the Buddha's death might remember a saying that was not recorded in the sutta collections. Comparing sutta with sutta means that one is to take the Dhamma, the instructions or advice as to how to achieve Nibbāna or some other good state, or as to how to eliminate some bad state, and to compare that message and its construction with those suttas that are in the already-formed collection. What lines up with Dhamma should be accepted; what does not line up with Dhamma should be put to the side.
Nibbāna is not the Bodhi Mind
Nibbāna is not an existing thing outside there waiting for you to attain it. This is something that is very difficult to see for the translators. Almost all of them (including Bhk. Thanissaro and Bhk. Bodhi) have settled for this existing thing and that is making them, essentially, into Mahāyana Buddhists discovering or reaching a Bodhi Mind.
Nibbāna comes into being for the individual. It is conditioned by the following of the Magga, but it is not own-made (saṇkhāraed).
Following the Magga is a path of not-doings. Not doing this or that, the thing that results is not-done, not saṇkhāred. Following the Magga, Nibbāna is born, but is not "made by the individual".
In AN 5.57, a parallel construction is put this way but the connection between "the path" and Nibbāna: is not made by the translators.
When one often reflects on being subject to aging, sickness, death, separation from the loved, and being the owner of one's kamma, the path comes into existence."
Bhk. Thanissaro:
When he/she often reflects on this, the [factors of the] path take birth.
Bhk. Bodhi:
"As he often reflects on this theme, the path is generated."
E.M. Hare:
"And while he often contemplates this thing, the Way comes into being"
Take birth. The path is generated. Comes into being. Not "is reached," "is discovered."
Oblog: [O.01.06.24] Saturday, January 06, 2024
This image was posted by a user named Gabby on Discuss and Discover, the Sutta Central discussion board. I would like to give credit to the creator, (he carved this word on a bar of soap) but cannnot post on that board. Anyway: credit to Gabby for a really clever way to teach the principle of anicca.
Oblog: [O.01.01.24] Monday, January 01, 2024
You eat, drink, consume, taste,
then:
dumping-out, pouring-out.
This is the outcome.
You love,
then ...
(What did you think?)
... ripening, brings about
grief and lamentation
pain and misery
and despair.
This is the outcome.
■
Devoted to seeing the signs of ugliness
then
seeing signs of the disagreeable
in the attractive
is established.
This is the outcome.
Living seeing change
in the six spheres of contact,
then,
the disagreeability of contact
is established.
This is the outcome.
Living seeing the coming and going
of the five bound-up stockpiles
then
the disagreeability of the bound-up
is established.
This is the outcome.
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