Continuity of Life

There are three main concepts that hold away regarding the ultimate origin of beings. Two of them are religious concepts and the other is a scientific concept. Some scientists believe that all beings originated or evolved from matter. Many religious leaders attribute the ultimate origin of man to God and are of opinion that God created man. But Buddha rejected both these concepts.

The Visuddhi Magga or Path of Purification mention “Na hetha – Devo và Brahmà và Saüsàrassathi kàrako Suddhadhammà pavattanti Hetusambhàrapaccayati”

There is no God or Brahma who is the creator of this world. Empathy phenomena rolls on, all subject to causality.

Whatever other religions and science may teach with regard to the ultimate origin of human beings, Buddhism pertinently says “Anamataggo yaü Bhikkhave Sansàra pubbàkoti na pannàyati avijjànivaranànaü sattàü tanhà saüyojanànaü sandhàvataü” ( Anamatagga Sutta)

Inconceivable is the beginning monks, of this faring on. The earliest point beginning is not revealed of this running on, the faring on, of beings located in ignorance, tied to craving.

What is the Buddha’s concept? The Buddha’s concept is Beings are subjected to endless round of Birth. That all beings are result of a Karmic process determined by past/ present actions, which is the cause for effects of rebirth.

In this manner, action and re-action cause and effect death and rebirth, prevail and continue to prevail. It is like the tree producing the fruit and the fruit in turn producing the tree and continues to prevail as an unbroken process. We can only see it happening in the present context. But we cannot trace back to the beginning of this process nor can we visualize the end before the attainment. However much we try we would never find the first mango tree nor can we find the last mango tree but we can see how a tree produces the fruit and how the fruit produces another tree.

The fully matured fruit separation from the tree is like the death. Its contact with the earth is birth. There is no interval as such between the tree and the fruit and the fruit and tree. It continues to grow. Thus from the day the fruit was born by the tree and up to the producing of another tree, similarly within the human mind there is energy to produce another being, human being may die but the energy to be reborn does not die completely. It grows gradually. But it faces to the momentary decay and death, as (uppàda, tithi, bhanga) genetic, static and dissolving. This energy is craving and ignorance and the resultant Karmas or action, which will continue to accumulate till one gets rid of all defilements with the rise of wisdom and the resultant cessation of craving and kamma which will put an end to rebirth ultimately reach Nibbàna.

In the Kosala Sanyutha, The Buddha has mentioned, whatever kamma that we accumulate in this life are being carried over to the next.

Eso nidhã sunihito Ajeyya anugàmiko Pahàya gamanãyesu Etaü àdàya gacchati. (Nidhi Kandha Sutta)

Whatever good or bad kammas that you have accumulated, are like a treasure, cannot be taken away by another. It follows you and is being carried by you to the next life.

May all beings be well and happy & attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

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The Ten Useful Talks (Dasa katha)

The Ten Useful Talks (Dasa katha): 

These are the 10 useful talks a lay devotee must engage after refraining from 32 unskillful talks (Dethis katha) discussed in the previous post. These ten useful talks are ;

1. Having only few wishes & talks about on fewness of wishes ( Appichcha Katha)

2. Content himself/ herself & talks about on contentment ( Santuthti Katha)

3. Secluded himself/ herself & talks about on seclusion (paviweka Katha)

4. Aloof from society & talks about on aloofness from society (Asansagga Kata)

5. Energetic himself/ herself & talks on arousing energy (Weeryaramba Katha)

6. Attained to virtue himself/ herself & talks on the attainment of virtue (Seela Katha)

7. Attainment to concentration himself/ herself & talks on the attainment of the concentration (Samadhi Katha)

8. attained to wisdom himself/ herself & talks on the attainment of wisdom ( Pragna Katha)

9. Attained to deliverance himself/ herself & talks on the attainment of deliverance (Vimukthi Katha)

10. Attained to the knowledge and vision of deliverance himself/ herself & talks on the attainment of the knowledge and vision of deliverance (Vimukthi Gnanadassana Katha)

He/She is the one who advises, informs, instructs, urges, rouses, and gladdens his companions in the holy life. Those are the 10 useful talks that will guide us toward the ultimate bliss of Nibbana.

May all beings be well & happy and attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

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The 32 types of unskillful talks ( Dethis Katha )

The 32 types of unskillful talks ( Dethis Katha ) :

A lay devotee must refrain from 32 types of unskillful talks after observing eight or ten precepts or any kind of Uposatha Sila as these talks of the ordinary people not conductive to good, to giving up, to detachment, to cessation, to appeasement, to knowledge, to enlightenment. They are:

1. Raja katha - Talk about kings,

2. Chora Katha - Talk about robbers,

3. Mahamachcha Katha - Talk about ministers,

4. Sena Katha - Talk about armies,

5. Bhaya Katha - Talk about fears,

6. Uadda Katha - Talk about wars,

7. Anna Katha - Talk about eatables,

8. Paana Katha - Talk about drinks,

9. Waththa Katha - Talk about clothes,

10. Mala Katha- Talk about flowers,

11. Ghanda Katha - Talk about scents,

12. Knathi Katha - Talk about relations,

13. Yana Katha - Talk about Vehicles or conveyances,

14. Gama Katha - Talk about villages,

15. Nigama Katha - Talk about hamlets,

16. Nagaralankara Katha - Talk about towns,

17. Janapada Katha - Talk about states,

18. Eththi Katha - Talk about women,

19. Shura Katha - Talk about heroes,

20. Sura Katha - Talk about intoxicants,

21.Visika Katha - gossip at the street corner and

22. Kumbattana Katha - gossip at the well,

23. Pubba Petha Katha - Talk of those dead and gone,

24. Narnatta Katha - various useless talk apart from these 32.

25. Lokaikika Katha - Talk about the beginning of the world,

26. Samuddakkaikika Katha - Talk about the ocean,

27. Shaswatha Ditti Katha - Talk about eternal soul after death,

28. Uchcheda Ditti Katha - Talk about annihilation of soul after death,

29. Wuridi Katha - Talking about others prosperity,

30. Hani Katha - Talking about others debacle or less fortune,

31. Pancha Kama Suka Katha : Talking about various sensuous pleasures,

32. Attakilamathanuyogi Katha - Talking about Self mortification as a form of liberation.

By engaging in these 32 types of talks, one will develop greed (lobha), ill-will (Dosa), ignorance (Moha) which are hazardous to the eight fold path or Nibbana. There fore one must abstain from these 32 types of talks & engage in 10 types of useful talks Preached in Rathavineeta Sutta in Majjima Nikaya which will be discussed in the next post.

May all beings be well & happy and attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

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The six kinds of people who recollect past lives

The six kinds of people who recollect past lives :

The knowledge concerning recollection of past lives is limited to meditators who attained fourth Jhana through tranquility meditation where he directs, inclines, his mind to the knowledge of recollection of past lives. That meditator recollects his manifold past lives, that is to say, one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many aeons of world contraction, many aeons of world expansion: many aeons of world contraction and expansion: “There I was so named, of such a race, with such an appearance, such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life span; and passing away from there, I reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named, of such a race, with such an appearance, such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life span; and passing away from there, I reappeared here.”

* There are six kinds of people who recollect past lives. They are:

1. Other sectarians : other sectarians recollect only as far back as forty aeons (Kappa), but not beyond that. Why? Because their understanding is weak for lack of delimitation of mind and matter. .

2. Ordinary disciples : ordinary disciples recollect as far back as a hundred aeons and as far back as a thousand aeons because their understanding is strong.

3. The eighty great disciples : The eighty great disciples recollect as far back as a hundred thousand aeons. Ex : Ven. Maha Kassapa, Anuruddha, Ananda, Rahula, Maha Kappina, Maha kottitha, etc, Ven nuns like Maha prajapathi gothami, patachara, baddhakachchayana, etc.

4. The two chief disciples : The two chief disciples Ven. Sariputta & Moggallana recollect as far back as an one incalculable age ( Asankeheyya Kappa ) and a hundred thousand aeons.

5. The individual Buddhas ( Pacceka buddhas ) : The individual buddhas or Paccekabuddhas recollect as far back as two incalculable ages and a hundred thousand aeons.

6. The Buddhas : there is no limit in the case of Buddhas. Except for buddhas, all other five types of people recollect past lives without letting go of the succession of aggregates but Buddhas, however, have nothing to do either with succession of aggregates or with tracing through death and rebirth-linking; for whatever instance they choose in many millions of aeons, or more or less, even skipping over many millions of aeons is evident to them like a lion’s descent wherever they want.

* Among these beings with recollection of past lives, the sectarians’ vision of past lives seems like the light of a glow-worm, that of ordinary disciples like the light of a candle, that of the great disciples like the light of a torch, that of the chief disciples like the light of the morning star, that of Paccekabuddhas like the light of the moon, and that of Buddhas like the glorious autumn sun’s disk with its thousand rays.

* Other sectarians see past lives as blind men go with the point of a stick. Ordinary disciples do so as men who go on a log bridge. The great disciples do so as men who go on a foot bridge. The chief disciples do so as men who go on a cart bridge. Pacceka buddhas do so as men who go on a main footpath. And Buddhas do so as men who go on a high road for carts.

May all beings be well and happy & attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

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The suitable & unsuitable during Fasting

The suitable & unsuitable during Fasting : 

"Vikalabhojana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami" or undertaking the precept to refrain from eating at the forbidden time (i.e., after noon) will limit food intake to the hours between dawn and noon.The practice of not eating in the afternoon is a very old tradition mentioned in the earliest Suttas & included in many precepts like Eight Precepts of the lay devotees ,etc. 'Food' here refers to things like cooked grains; sweets made from flour, beans, etc.; fish; meat; fresh milk and sour milk;... fruits, tubers and all 'main course' foods.

After observing this precept of fasting, one should not eat fruit — which is food — after midday, they can drink the 'fruit juice' any time throughout the day. However, When preparing fruit juice, it is important that to be well strained so that no pulp or fruit particles remain, for the fruit itself counts as food and so can not be consumed in the afternoon.

Juices made from any large fruits like — Palmyra fruit, coconut, jack fruit, breadfruit, bottle gourd, white gourd, musk melon, water melon, and squash considered unsuitable as it would fall under the same class as the juice of grain. From this judgment, large fruits such as pineapple or grapefruit, could not be consumed in the afternoon.

"Juice drinks made out of the freshly squeezed juice of sugar cane, lotus root, all fruits except grain, all leaves except cooked vegetables, and all flowers except the [bassia latifolia] are also allowed according to the Mahaavagga pali in vinaya pitaka. Apart from these things 'tonic-medicines' (sattaahakaalika) can also be consumed at any time.

* Juices made from of small fruit items like Mango, apple, avocado, wood apple, lime, orange, bananas, etc, even tea, coffee without milk powder are some examples for suitable during this period.

May all beings be well & happy and attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

http://www.thebuddhadhamma.wordpress.com

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The Lord Buddha's Daily Routine

The Lord Buddha's Daily Routine:

The Lord Buddha's daily routine was divided into five parts:

* The morning session (Perabath Kisa)

* The afternoon session (pasubath kisa)

* The first watch (Perayam kisa)

* The middle watch (Madiyam kisa)

* The last watch (Pasuluyam kisa)

1. The Morning Session (4.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon) : The Lord Buddha would get up at 4.00 a.m. and as soon as he had had a wash would sit for meditation & then he would look around the world with Great compassion from his mental eye to see if anybody needed help. When appropriate time arrived, the blessed one would put on his robe and either go out and help the needy or alms round. When on alms round the Buddha would go from house to house, eyes fixed to the ground, receiving in silence any food that was put into his bowl. Sometimes he would go with his disciples, who would walk behind him in single file. Often people would invite buddha to their houses to offer alms during noon.

2. The Afternoon Session (12.00 noon to 6.00 p.m.) : In the afternoon the monks would usually go to the Buddha to ask questions and be taught and advised. The Buddha would then retire to his room and look around the world with his mental eye to see if anyone was looking for his help. He would then go and meet people who were waiting for him. He would teach to them in such a way that everybody felt that the Buddha was teaching to each one of them separately, "giving joy to the wise, promoting the intelligence of the average people and dispelling the darkness of the dull-witted".

3. The First Watch (6.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m.) : During this time the followers would come again to the Buddha, either listen Dhamma or ask questions to clarify their doubts. The blessed one normally preach Doctrine during this period to monks & laities gathered in Damsaba Mandapa(Dhamma Hall).

4. The Middle Watch (10.00 p.m. to 2.00 a.m.) : During this period the deities would seize the opportunity to go to see the Buddha and learn the truth of life. The Buddha, on answering their questions, would complete the middle watch of the night.

5. The Last Watch ( 2.00 a.m. to 4.00 a.m.) : For the first hour the Buddha would walk up and down meditating and freeing himself from the discomfort of sitting all day. He then would sleep for an hour.

Thus we can see the Lord Buddha was busy the whole day. In fact he only slept one hour each day during this 45 years of teaching. During the early hours of the day he saw the whole universe, blessed it with his boundless love and brought happiness to millions.

May all beings be well & happy and attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

http://www.thebuddhadhamma.wordpress.com

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The Satipattana Sutta & Psychotherapy

THE SATIPATTANA SUTTA & PSYCHOTHERAPY :

In this post I like to discuss the Buddha's Satipattana discourse (The Foundation of Mindfulness) and its relationship to Western psychotherapy as a means for coping with the problem of mans' suffering in the midst of his daily life.

The Satipattana Sutta was the most significant discourse which the historical Buddha Gauthama delivered to his followers some 2500 years ago. It deals with meditative techniques of body and mind awareness which reveal the true nature of the body- mind organism, its relationship to its environment and how it becomes involved with suffering on the physical and mental levels, and how to eliminate this suffering.

The Buddha's Enlightenment was centered primarily on what he called the Four Noble Truths: The Truth that suffering (mental and physical) exists; How this suffering arises and continues; That there is or can be an end to all this suffering; And the practice (the way to live, think and meditate) which leads to the complete end of suffering. Most of the meditation techniques which the Buddha taught in his day were directed at helping the individual first of all, to see his problem face to face, see the causes of it and thereby he would also see the way out of it.

The way in which the Buddha tackled this problem was through developing a systematic method of examining and experiencing the body and mind activities through directed and detached awareness. This is all detailed out in his Maha Satipattana Sutta, the Great discourse of the Setting up of mindfulness. Buddha teaches us in this discourse how to use our own body and mind as, so to speak, our own test- tube or laboratory to discover exactly what we are made of physically and mentally, what makes us tick, our relationship with the environment, and how we create our own suffering or happiness in our mind. Seeing the situation and problems face to face in one's own direct confrontation with his mind has a much more effective and direct impact than just having someone tell you about it, because this direct confrontation and realization is gained from within and the person understands more clearly and is motivated more effectively in transforming himself.

Buddha's deep wisdom penetrated to the very core of the mind and experienced all the mental processes which gave rise to and created the experience of the world around him. In this experience he saw that the physical body is just an aggregation of material qualities and the mind is just an aggregation of constantly changing sensations, perception, reactions and 'I' centered consciousness which flows like a swift-moving river. He experienced that the individual ego or the feeling of a separate 'I' inside somewhere was merely an elusive notion deeply ingrained in the conditioned patterns of the sub-conscious mind and that it has no concrete, independent or eternal Self-existence.

The Buddha further realized that it is through this basic delusion of 'individual-self' that the alienation and separation from other arises and from which attachment, greed, aversion, hatred and all the other defilements of the mind arise. As this condition grows unchecked there arise all of the other types of mental disturbances and imbalances such as psychosis, schizophrenia, depression and many others which are so prevalent in society today and which affect also the consciousness of society as a whole. The Buddha saw all of this in perspective and therefore he wanted to devise some systematic method of gradual self-discovery which would enable each person to realize face-to- face, within the depths of his own being, how all of his problem originate. To some extent this is what Western psychotherapy is trying to do. The majority of the patients of psychotherapists suffer from psychic disorientation of different sorts, ego alienation, sociological alienation and so forth.

The psychotherapist usually deals with the patient on the basis of being a separate organism who is out of line with the 'norm of Society'. He tries to get to the source of the patient's problems by going back in the patient's history and trying to find something which could serve as a good guide to what has caused the patient's problems such as incidents in childhood etc. The idea is to get the patient back into a so- called normal state of mind, but usually it is still ego centered. The psychoanalyst tries to eliminate the symptoms which the patient has and when the surface symptoms disappear, then he is thought to be cured. This seems to be the main point or difference in the way psychotherapy handles the situation and how the Buddha sought to remedy the situation.

The analyst observes and tries to figure out the patient's problem for him according to the symptoms which the patient is exhibiting, and then gives him advice based on the relationship of his 'individual-Self' to his environment. This type of therapy gets the person back into a healthier, positive frame of mind about his life and society. But his method still does not tackle the real gut of the problem and that is the ego itself and the way it works itself back into similar problems or further complications. Although the person may find functioning in family and society a smoother process, he still may develop other mental problems such as attachment to things, anger, envy, jealousy, conceit and so forth which stem from deeper reaches of the subconscious.

The Buddha wanted to go to the very root of the whole problem of existence and that was even to realize that the ego as a separate entity was also a mental aberration. It is from this very root delusion/illusion that all other mental conditions and limitations arise. In this way the person no longer conceives himself as a separate individual immersed in an objectified world for his self-centered gratification, but rather he realizes that he is just part of a whole integrated, complex manifestation of different forces. He sees the way in which these forces are integrated and how they flow, their cause and effect relationship and thus he is able to get into that harmonious flow. In this way the whole problem of imbalance and suffering on all levels is gradually once and forever solved. 

This is, in brief, a look at the general scheme of the situation facing man in the Buddhist conception of man's predicament. We see how the Buddha went about to find the real end to the problem of suffering, by a system of self-discovery and self-psychotherapy to go to the very root of the whole problem and to bring about total reorientation and harmony in life, based on 'Reality'. We can also see that the methods of psychotherapists are well and good insofar as they help the individual regain standard reorientation and balance in regard to functioning in society according to the established norm of that region. But the Buddha went a little further to integrate man's consciousness into the flow of reality, so that no possibility of further complications could arise. It is with the guidance of the Satipattana Sutta and our own skillful awareness that we can completely harmonize our mind with 'Reality' and transcend all suffering.

May all beings be well & happy and attain the fruits of Nibbana.

Suranda Weediyage

BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,

surandalk@gmail.com

http://www.thebuddhadhamma.wordpress.com

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