Aug 14

The Lotus and the Fire – Bhikkhu Katukurunde Ñāṇananda

If the life of the emancipated sage is a puzzle for us, his death is even more puzzling. What becomes of him when he passes away — does he exist or does he not? Both conjunctively or neither disjunctively?

This, as we saw earlier, was one of the problems which found expression in four of the ten indeterminates (avyâkata). All the four alternative propositions were laid aside by the Buddha, and again the scholars are in a quandary. Various interpretations of the Buddha’s stand on this problem have been bandied back and forth. But the reasons for laying aside those four alternatives are sometimes explained in the suttas to the satisfaction of, the respective interlocutors. The term ‘Tathâgata’ in its wider sense of the Perfect Man (uttamapuriso paramapuriso paramapattipatto, S. N. IV. 399) is applicable to the Buddha as well as to the emancipated monk (vimuttacitto bhikkhu, M. N. I. 140, 486). The four alternatives seek to categorise him in terms of existence and non-existence. We have already seen how at A. N. IV. 68 these four alternatives were
described as products of craving (taõhâgata), of sense-perceptions (saññâgata), of imagination (maññita), of conceptual prolificity (papañcita), and of delusion (vippañisâro). The implication, therefore, is that these four propositions are fallacious and misleading. This fact is clearly brought out in the Aggivacchagotta Sutta (M. N), There the Buddha exposes their fallacy to Vacchagotta with the help of the following simile of fire.

Extracted from Concept and reality – Bhikkhu Katukurunde Ñāṇananda

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Aug 03

Sappurisa Sutta – Uparipannasapali,Anupadavaggo,Majjima Nikaya

සප්පුරිසසුත්තං – මජ්ඣිමනිකාය » උපරිපණ්ණාසපාළි » අනුපදවග්ගො

මෙම සූත්‍රයේ සවිස්තරව පැහැදිලි කර ඇති පරිදි ශික්ෂණය අවසානයේ මඤ්ඤනා කිරීමට තුඩුදෙන අනුසයෙන් පවා මිදී සඤ්ඤ වෙදයිත නිරෝධ සමාපත්තියට පත්වීමට මග සලසයි.  සටහන අවසන්

” සප්පුරිසො ච ඛො, භික්ඛවෙ , ඉති පටිසඤ්චික්ඛති – ‘නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතනසමාපත්තියාපි ඛො අතම්මයතා වුත්තා භගවතා. යෙන යෙන හි මඤ්ඤන්ති තතො තං හොති අඤ්ඤථා’ති. සො අතම්මයතඤ්ඤෙව අන්තරං කරිත්වා තාය නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතනසමාපත්තියා නෙවත්තානුක්කංසෙති, න පරං වම්භෙති. අයම්පි, භික්ඛවෙ, සප්පුරිසධම්මො.”

‘‘පුන චපරං, භික්ඛවෙ, සප්පුරිසො සබ්බසො නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතනං සමතික්කම්ම සඤ්ඤාවෙදයිතනිරොධං උපසම්පජ්ජ විහරති. පඤ්ඤාය චස්ස දිස්වා ආසවා  පරික්ඛීණා හොන්ති. අයං , භික්ඛවෙ, භික්ඛු න කිඤ්චි මඤ්ඤති, න කුහිඤ්චි මඤ්ඤති, න කෙනචි මඤ්ඤතී’’ති. ( එහෙත් සත්පුරුෂයා මෙසේ සලකා බලයි. නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතනසමාපත්තිය පිළිබඳව පවා අතම්මයතාව භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ විසින් වදාරන ලදී. ‘යම් යම් දැයකින්’ මඤ්ඤනා කරත්ද එයින්ම එය ‘අන්සේ’ වෙයි යනුවෙනි. හෙතෙම අතම්මයතාවයම ඇතුළුකොට ඒ නෙවසඤ්ඤානාසඤ්ඤායතනසමාපත්තියෙන් තමා හුවාද නොදක්වයි. අනුන් හෙළාද නොදක්වයි. මෙයද මහණෙනි සත්පුරුෂ ධර්මයකි.)………..සම්පූර්ණ සප්පුරිස සූත්‍රය කියවීමට  සැ.යු: ආසන්න වශයෙන් සිංහල තේරුම මෙහි ඇත්තත්, නිතරම පාළිය සමගම කියවීමෙන් පරිවර්ථන දෝෂ මග හරවා ගත හැක.

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Aug 03

Muni is silent even when he does speak.

The ‘Muni’ is silent not only when he does not speak; he is silent even when he does speak.
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Hence the seemingly incongruous statement of the Buddha: “Monks, I do not dispute with the world; it is the world that disputes with me.” Not only the Buddha, but the emancipated monk, too, has no dispute with the world but merely uses the worldly parlance without clinging to it. The Madhupiõóika and Sakkapañha Suttas, as well as several suttas like Kalahavivâda, Cûlaviyûha and Mahâviyûha of the Aññhaka Vagga of the Sutta Nipâta, lay particular stress on this strange aspect of the ‘muni’. Strange indeed it might appear, when in numerous suttas we find the Buddha and the arahants vigorously debating with the heretics and refuting their views.
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Yet even in the thick of the debate the sage is silent within, and holds himself aloof, since he has no axe to grind – has nothing to gain or lose by it. He has no attachment (taõhâ) to his arguments, no conceit (mâna) to be safeguarded and no views (diññhi) to be dogmatically entertained. Perhaps the most remarkable is the last mentioned. In many a context it is said that the muni has abandoned all views. He has no views because he has got rid of the point of view, that is, the illusion of the ego. Hence he neither formulates nor proffers any views.
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Extracted from Concept and reality – Ven Katukurunde Nanananda Thero

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Jul 26

Panchasila_Samaadaaniya_Sthaviradaanaya_KhuddakaNikaya_ApadanaPali.

පඤ්චසීලසමාදානියත්ථෙරඅපදානං – ඛුද්දකනිකාය » අපදානපාළි-1 » සුභූතිවග්ගො » 
‘‘අනොමදස්සිස්ස මුනිනො, නිසභො නාම සාවකො; තමහං උපසඞ්කම්ම, පඤ්චසික්ඛාපදග්ගහිං. 
‘‘පරිපුණ්ණානි ගොපෙත්වා, පඤ්චසික්ඛාපදානහං; අපරිමෙය්‍යෙ ඉතො කප්පෙ, විනිපාතං න ගච්ඡහං. 
‘‘ස්වාහං යසමනුභවිං, තෙසං සීලාන වාහසා; කප්පකොටිම්පි කිත්තෙන්තො, කිත්තයෙ එකදෙසකං. 
‘‘පඤ්චසීලානි ගොපෙත්වා, තයො හෙතූ ලභාමහං; දීඝායුකො මහාභොගො, තික්ඛපඤ්ඤො භවාමහං.
ආසන්න වශයෙන් සිංහල තේරුම:–
“අනවමදර්ශී බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේගේ නිසභ නම් ශ්‍රාවකයෙක් විය. මම උන්වහන්සේ වෙත එළඹ පඤ්ච ශික්‍ෂාපද (පන්සිල්) ගතිමි. “මම සම්පූර්‍ණ සිල් රැක, මින් අපරිමෙය්‍ය කල්පයෙහි (සිට) දුගතියකට නොගියෙමි. “එම පන්සිල්වල අනුහසින් ඒ මම යසස් අනුභව කෙළෙමි. (එම යසස) කල්ප කෝටියක් මුළුල්ලෙහි කියන්නේ නමුදු ස්වල්පමාත්‍රයක්ම කියන්නේය. “මම පන්සිල් රැක අනුසස් තුනක් ලබමි. (කවර නම් අනුසස් තුනක්ද යත්) මම දීර්‍ඝායු ඇත්තේ වෙමි. මහත්වූ භෝග සම්පත් ඇත්තේ වෙමි. තීක්‍ෂණ ප්‍රඥා ඇත්තේද වෙමි.
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Jul 16

URAGA-JĀTAKA

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born in a brahmin household, in a village outside the gates of Benares……

He had two children, a son and a daughter. When the son was grown up, the father brought a wife home for him from a family of equal rank with his own. Thus with a female servant they composed a household of six……

….The Bodhisatta thus admonished the other five; “According as ye have received, give alms, observe holy days, keep the moral law, dwell on the thought of death, be mindful of your mortal state. For in the case of beings like ourselves, death is certain, life uncertain: all existing things are transitory and subject to decay. Therefore take heed to your ways day and night.” They readily accepted his teaching and dwelt earnestly on the thought of death.

Now one day the Bodhisatta went with his son to plough his field. Not far from where he was, lived a snake in an anthill. The smoke hurt the snake’s eyes. Coming out from his hole in a rage, it thought, “This is all due to that fellow,” and fastening upon him with its four teeth it bit him. The youth fell down dead.  The Bodhisatta on seeing him fall, left his oxen and came to him, and finding that he was dead, he took him up and laid him at the foot of a certain tree, and covering him up with a cloak, he neither wept nor lamented. 

death is dead. All compound existences are transitory and liable to death.” And recognizing the transitory nature of things he went on with his ploughing. Seeing a neighbour pass close by the field, he asked, “Friend, are you going home?” And on his answering “Yes,” he said, “Please then to go to our house and say to the mistress, “You are not to-day as formerly to bring food for two, but to bring it for one only. And hitherto the female slave alone has brought the food, but to-day all four of you are to put on clean garments, and to come with perfumes and flowers in your hands.”……….

[pdf]http://www.dhammikaweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Uraga_Jathaka_English_No.pdf[/pdf]

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Jul 15

Gems of Buddhist Wisdom

Gems of Buddhist Wisdom Gems of Buddhist Wisdom This book is not intended to be read from cover to cover at one sitting. It is hoped that the reader will go through each article mindfully. but at leisure, ponder the arguments presented by each writer before proceeding to another article. The articles are also not arranged in any strict logical sequence so that they may be read in any order and not necessarily as they are presented here. 

The writers represented in this book are well known authors of scholarly treatises on Buddhism who are highly respected in academic Institutions all over the world.      

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Jul 05

An Ancient Buddhist Historical Record edited and translated by Hermann Oldenberg

This edition is based on the reprint of the 1879 edition made by the Pali Text Society in 2000. There were no errata published there, and although there appear to be numerous mistakes, which are meant to be there – as accurate reflections of the manuscript evidence – and which are printer’s errors I have been unable to determine.

I have tried, therefore, as far as possible, to reproduce what I saw in the printed edition, following Oldenburg when he says in his Introduction: “In many passages I have refrained from correcting manifest grammatical blunders, errors in numbers of years etc., because I was afraid of correcting not the copyist but the author himself.” – Hermann Oldenberg

The Dīpavaṁsa, an edition of which I here lay before the public, is a historical work composed in Ceylon by an unknown author. George Turnour, who first drew the attention of European scholars to the Dīpavaṁsa,2 declared it to be identical with a version of the Mahāvaṁsa to which the Mahāvaṁsa Ṭīkā occasionally alludes, the version preserved in the Uttaravihāra monastery.

This is certainly wrong. We must undertake, therefore, a research of our own as to the origin of the Dipavaṁsa and its position in the ancient literature of the Ceylonese.

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Jun 29

Buddhism in South India by Pandit Hisselle Dhammaratana Mahāthera

 It is not generally known that Buddhism flourished in South India in ancient times. The ancient chronicles of Sri Lanka such as the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa are silent on the subject. While studying Tamil literature, I became interested in this subject, which is one of which we should not be ignorant. Therefore, in order to acquaint myself with it, I had to peruse books on the history of South India and Sri Lanka, the Pāli texts and commentaries, in addition to studies in Tamil literature. The Tamil book entitled Bauddhamum Tamil Ilakkiamum (Buddhism and Tamil Literature) by Seeni Vengadasamy of Madras was particularly helpful to me. In this work I propose to deal with the arrival of Buddhism in South India, its spread and its decay. I shall also touch on famous Buddhist cities, the impact of Buddhism on the local Hindu religion, and on Buddhist teachers and their literary work. There is a division of opinion regarding the period in which Buddhism was introduced to South India………

…….Emperor Asoka provided medical facilities in the kingdoms of South India. Nothing is mentioned here of the spread of Buddhism. Yet in edict number XIII found near Peshawar, there is reference to the Buddhist missions of Asoka. Among the countries referred to are Coḷa, Pāṇḍya, and Sri Lanka. This inscription was
written in 258 B.C. and is direct evidence of the Buddhist missions of Asoka to South India and Sri Lanka. As
Buddhist missions to Sri Lanka had to come by way of South India, the spread of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and South India should be considered contemporary events….Pandit Hisselle Dhammaratana
Mahāthera

[pdf]http://www.dhammikaweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Buddhism_In_South_India_Bhante_Dhammaratana_.pdf[/pdf]

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Jun 12

Alagaddūpama Sutta – Opamma Vagga, Muulapannasapali, Majjhima Nikāya

Bhikkhus, a certain foolish man learns the prose sections, prose and verse sections, the answers and explanation expositions, stanzas, solemn utterances, thus said sections, birth stories, wonderful things, a series of questions and answers. He thoroughly learns the Teaching but does not examine the meanings with wisdom. So he cannot take pleasure in the Teaching. He learns the Teaching for the purpose of finding fault. He takes a wrong grasp of the Teaching and that conduces for his unpleasantness for a long time.

The reason is the wrong grasp of the Teaching. Like a man wandering in search of a serpent would come to a huge serpent, he would take hold of the serpent by the hood or the tail and it would turn round and sting the hand or foot or any other limb. On account of this wrong grasp of the serpent he would meet death or deadly unpleasantness. In the same manner a certain foolish man learns the prose sections, prose and verse sections, the answers and explanation expositions, stanzas, solemn utterances, thus said sections, birth stories, wonderful things, a series of questions and answers. He thoroughly learns the Teaching but does not examine the meanings with wisdom. So he cannot take pleasure in the Teaching. He learns the Teaching for the purpose of finding fault. He takes a wrong grasp of the Teaching and that conduces for his unpleasantness for a long time. The reason is the wrong grasp of the Teaching.

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Jun 12

Alagaddūpama Sutta – Opamma Vagga, Muulapannasapali, Majjhima Nikāya

අලගද්දූපමසුත්තං – මජ්ඣිමනිකාය » මූලපණ්ණාසපාළි » ඔපම්මවග්ගො » 

238 “මහණෙනි, මේ ශාසනයෙහි ඇතැම් හිස් පුරුෂයෝ සූත්‍ර ගෙය්‍ය, වෙය්‍යාකරණ, ගාථා, උදාන, ඉතිවුත්තක, ජාතක, අද්භූතධර්ම, වෙදල්ල යන ධර්ම ඉගෙනගන්නාහුය. ඔහු ඒ ධර්ම ඉගෙන ඒ ධර්මයන්ගේ අර්ථය නුවණින් සලකා නොබලන්නාහුය. නුවණින් අර්ථය සලකා නොබලන්නාවූ ඔවුනට එය හොඳින් නොවැටහෙයි. ඔව්හු අන්‍ය වාදවලට දොස් දැක්වීමේ හෝ තමන්ගේ වාදය අන්‍යයන්ගේ දෝෂාරොපනයෙන් නිදහස් කරගැනීමේ හෝ අදහසින් ධර්මය උගනිති. යම්කිසි ප්‍රයෝජනයක් සඳහා ධර්මය උගනිත් නම් ඒ ප්‍රයෝජනයද නොලබත්. නොමනාව ගන්නා ලද්දාවූ ඔවුන්ගේ ඒ ධර්මය බොහෝ කාලයක් මුළුල්ලෙහි ඔවුනට අවැඩ පිණිස දුක් පිණිස පවතී. ඊට හේතු කවරේද යත්? මහණෙනි, ධර්මය නොමනාව ගත් බැවිනි.

“මහණෙනි, සර්පයින්ගෙන් ප්‍රයෝජන ඇත්තාවූ සර්පයන් සොයන්නාවූ සර්පයන් සෙවීමෙහි හැසිරෙන්නාවූ පුරුෂයෙක් තෙම මහත් සර්පයෙකු දක්නේය. හෙතෙම ඒ සර්පයා කඳෙන් හෝ නගුටින් හෝ අල්වාගන්නේය. ඒ සර්පතෙම ආපසු කරකැවී ඔහුගේ අත හෝ බාහුව හෝ මින් පිටත් අන් අඟපසගක් හෝ දෂ්ට කරන්නේය. හෙතෙම ඒ හේතු කොටගෙන මරණයට හෝ පැමිණෙන්නේය. මරණය සමාන දුකට හෝ පැමිණෙන්නේය. ඊට හේතු කවරේද? මහණෙනි, ඒ සර්පයා වරදවා අල්වාගත් හෙයිනි.

238‘‘ඉධ, භික්ඛවෙ, එකච්චෙ මොඝපුරිසා ධම්මං පරියාපුණන්ති – සුත්තං, ගෙය්‍යං, වෙය්‍යාකරණං, ගාථං, උදානං, ඉතිවුත්තකං, ජාතකං, අබ්භුතධම්මං, වෙදල්ලං. තෙ තං ධම්මං පරියාපුණිත්වා තෙසං ධම්මානං පඤ්ඤාය අත්ථං න උපපරික්ඛන්ති. තෙසං තෙ ධම්මා පඤ්ඤාය අත්ථං අනුපපරික්ඛතං න නිජ්ඣානං ඛමන්ති. තෙ උපාරම්භානිසංසා චෙව ධම්මං පරියාපුණන්ති ඉතිවාදප්පමොක්ඛානිසංසා ච. යස්ස චත්ථාය ධම්මං පරියාපුණන්ති තඤ්චස්ස අත්ථං නානුභොන්ති. තෙසං තෙ ධම්මා දුග්ගහිතා දීඝරත්තං අහිතාය දුක්ඛාය සංවත්තන්ති. තං කිස්ස හෙතු? දුග්ගහිතත්තා, භික්ඛවෙ, ධම්මානං.

‘‘සෙය්‍යථාපි, භික්ඛවෙ, පුරිසො අලගද්දත්ථිකො අලගද්දගවෙසී අලගද්දපරියෙසනං චරමානො. සො පස්සෙය්‍ය මහන්තං අලගද්දං. තමෙනං භොගෙ වා නඞ්ගුට්ඨෙ වා ගණ්හෙය්‍ය. තස්ස සො අලගද්දො පටිපරිවත්තිත්වා. හත්ථෙ වා බාහාය වා අඤ්ඤතරස්මිං වා අඞ්ගපච්චඞ්ගෙ ඩංසෙය්‍ය. සො තතොනිදානං මරණං වා නිගච්ඡෙය්‍ය මරණමත්තං වා දුක්ඛං. තං කිස්ස හෙතු? දුග්ගහිතත්තා, භික්ඛවෙ, අලගද්දස්ස. එවමෙව ඛො, භික්ඛවෙ, ඉධෙකච්චෙ මොඝපුරිසා ධම්මං පරියාපුණන්ති – සුත්තං, ගෙය්‍යං, වෙය්‍යාකරණං, ගාථං, උදානං, ඉතිවුත්තකං, ජාතකං, අබ්භුතධම්මං, වෙදල්ලං. තෙ තං ධම්මං පරියාපුණිත්වා තෙසං ධම්මානං පඤ්ඤාය අත්ථං න උපපරික්ඛන්ති. තෙසං තෙ ධම්මා පඤ්ඤාය අත්ථං අනුපපරික්ඛතං න නිජ්ඣානං ඛමන්ති. තෙ උපාරම්භානිසංසා චෙව ධම්මං පරියාපුණන්ති ඉතිවාදප්පමොක්ඛානිසංසා ච. යස්ස චත්ථාය ධම්මං පරියාපුණන්ති තඤ්චස්ස අත්ථං නානුභොන්ති. තෙසං තෙ ධම්මා දුග්ගහිතා දීඝරත්තං අහිතාය දුක්ඛාය සංවත්තන්ති. තං කිස්ස හෙතු? දුග්ගහිතත්තා භික්ඛවෙ ධම්මානං……

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