If someone were to ask you
“Tell me, which part of the Tripitaka is the most ancient? Which part would I want to read, study and practice if I look for the most authentic instructions?” The answer is very simple. There are two little collections of…
A Peaceful Vesakh 2553
…to you all! May you “live long and prosper” 😉 The above image, quite appropriate for the day, is one of the most skillful artistic representations of the “Buddha visiting the devas” (looks like the 33) I have ever seen…thanks…
Paticcasamuppada – Stop the burning flames
Famous words by the Buddha: Vuttaṃ kho panetaṃ bhagavatā: yo paṭiccasamuppādaṃ passati so dhammaṃ passati; yo dhammaṃ passati so paṭiccasamuppādaṃ passatīti. Paṭiccasamuppannā kho panime yadidaṃ pañcupādānakkhandhā. Yo imesu pañcasu upādānakkhandhesu chando ālayo anunayo ajjhosānaṃ so dukkhasamudayo. Yo imesu pañcasu upādānakkhandhesu…
More Metta for stream enterers
From time to time I wonder: How many of you out there scratch your heads when you read the first line of the metta sutta? Sure enough, translations of the metta sutta abound, and almost every (Theravadin) monastery in East…
As pure as the full moon – Theory and Practice
[This story is part of our Arahant series.] Once, they say, the elder Mahāsīva of ‘Mountainpeak’ lived in the city of Mahagama, in Tissa’s Abbey. There, he taught eighteen groups of young monks in the three baskets – the traditional…
Coming back to remember – Sati II
You do not need to see the end of your dish washing activity and the beginning of you moving to the fridge. That is not going to stop mental proliferation from happening. And it won’t stop suffering – not in…
Old Snow Lion’s sharp vision
What do Vibhajjavada and Early Tibetan Meditation have in common? Quick answer: they knew about the importance of insight meditation. Long answer: Just stumbled over this very interesting academic paper on a technical term called “bhūta-pratyavekṣā” used by the Mahayana…
Chattamanavaka Gatha
Sappuriso ca kho, bhikkhave, kataññū hoti katavedī. Sabbhi hetaṃ, bhikkhave, upaññātaṃ yadidaṃkataññutā kataveditā. Kevalā esā, bhikkhave, sappurisabhūmi yadidaṃ kataññutā kataveditā”ti. Katannu – Sutta, AN Just wanted to say “thank you” to all of you who came and shared time with…
Mālunkyaputta’s vipassana instruction
In an earlier post I pointed out one of my personal favorite suttas in the pali canon, Bahiya’s instruction. While the story surrounding Bahiya is very exciting and the instruction the Buddha gave him summarizes the gist of vipassana very…
Buddha’s path
This post is based on some of the observations made in this post. It might help to understand this article. One day the Buddha mentioned to his students that his own meditation object with which he realized Nibbana was the…