Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Jeta's Grove, near Savatthi, at the millionaire's monastery. There he addressed the meditators, "Meditators!"
"Yes, venerable sir," the practitioners replied.
Then the Blessed One said:
"Wrong view arises in an ignorant person who is immersed in ignorance.
In one of wrong view, wrong intention [motivation, aspiration, volition, resolve] arises.
In one of wrong intention, wrong speech arises.
In one of wrong speech, wrong action arises.
In one of wrong action, wrong livelihood arises.
In one of wrong livelihood, wrong effort arises.
In one of wrong effort, wrong mindfulness arises.
In one of wrong mindfulness, wrong stillness (samadhi, concentration) arises.
"Clear knowing [vipassana, insight, wisdom] is the leader in the attainment of skillful things, followed by conscience and concern. [This is the EnnoblingEightfold Path now being described:]
"Right view arises in a wise person, immersed in clear knowing.
In one of right view, right intention arises.
In one of right intention, right speech arises.
In one of right speech, right action arises.
In one of right action, right livelihood arises.
In one of right livelihood, right effort arises.
In one of right effort, right mindfulness arises.
In one of right mindfulness, right stillness arises."
What is avijjā?
What did the Buddha teach about avijja?
avijjā: "ignorance," nescience, unknowing. It is synonymous with delusion (moha, one of the root causes of all harm. See mūla). Ignorance is the primary root of all unskillfulness and suffering in the world, veiling our mental eyes and preventing us from seeing the true nature of things.
Ignorance is the delusion tricking living beings by making life appear permanent (rather than constantly passing away), able to fulfill (happy, pleasing, satisfactory), personal (substantial, self, with essence), and beautiful (not repulsive), hindering and preventing us from seeing that everything in reality is impermanent, disappointing (liable to pain and suffering), void of any "I," "me," or "mine" and basically impure. (See "perversions" of view, vipallāsa).
Ignorance is defined as "not knowing [penetrating, having gnosis of] the Four Truths, namely, disappointment, its origin, its cessation, and the way to its cessation" (S. XII, 4).
As ignorance is the foundation of all rebirth-affirming karma, of all harm and disappointment, therefore it stands first in the formula of Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppāda).
For that reason, The Path of Purification (Vis.M., XVII, 36f) says ignorance should NOT be regarded as "the causeless root-cause of the world... Ignorance is NOT causeless. For a cause of it is stated thus: 'With the arising of cankers (āsava), there is the arising of ignorance' (MN 9).
"But there is a figurative way in which ignorance can be treated as a root-cause; namely, when it is made to serve as a starting point in an exposition of the Round of Rebirth...
"As it is said: 'No first beginning of ignorance can be perceived, meditators, before which ignorance was not and after which it came to be. But it can be perceived that ignorance has its specific condition (idappaccaya)'" (A.X.61). The same statement is made (A.X.62) about the incessant craving for becoming (bhava-tanhā).
Ignorance and this kind of craving are called "the outstanding causes of karma that lead to unhappy and happy destinies" (Vis.M. XVII, 38).
Because ignorance still exists -- though in a very refined and residual way -- until the attainment of full enlightenment (arahantship), it is counted as the last of the Ten Fetters (samyojana) that bind beings to the cycle of rebirth.
As the first two roots (mūla) of all that is unskillful, greed and hate, are themselves rooted in ignorance. Consequently, ALL unwholesome states of heart/mind are inseparably bound up with ignorance.
Ignorance (delusion) is the most obstinate of the Three Poisons or Roots of Evil. Ignorance is one of the cankers (āsava) and proclivities (anusaya).
Ignorance is often called a "hindrance" or nīvarana (e.g., in S.XV.3; A.X.61) but is not listed together with the usual Five Hindrances [since it itself is the root cause of the other five].
DEFINITIONS: Pali Text Society (PTS) Pali English Dictionary: avijjā (fem.) "ignorance"; the main root of evil [unskillful conduct] and of continual rebirth. (See Dependent Origination, paṭicca-samuppāda, cp. SN.ii.6, SN.ii.9, SN.ii.12; Snp.p.141, and many other passages). See on term; Cpd. 83 n. 3, 187 sq, 262 sq. and for further detail; vijjā ("knowing").
Avijjā is termed an anusaya (DN.iii.254, DN.iii.282; SN.iv.205, SN.iv.208 sq., SN.iv.212); it is one of the āsavā (Vin.iii.4; DN.i.84; DN.iii.216; Iti.49; Ds.1100, Ds.1109), of the oghā (DN.iii.230, DN.iii.276; Ds.390, Ds.1061, Ds.1162), of the nīvaraṇāni (SN.ii.23; AN.i.223; Iti.8; Ds.1162, Ds.1486), of the saṁyojanāni (DN.iii.254; Ds.1131, Ds.1460). See for various characterizations the following passages: Vin.i.1; Vin.iii.3; DN.iii.212 DN.iii.230, DN.iii.234, DN.iii.274; MN.i.54, MN.i.67, MN.i.144; SN.ii.4, SN.ii.26, SN.ii.263; SN.iii.47 SN.iii.162; SN.iv.256; SN.v.52; AN.i.8, AN.i.285; AN.ii.132, AN.ii.158, AN.ii.247; AN.iii.84 sq. AN.iii.414; AN.iv.228; Iti.34 (yā kāc’ imā duggatiyo asmiṁ loke paramhi ca avijjāmūlakā sabbā icchā-lobha-sammussayā), Iti.57, Iti.81; Snp Verse 199, Snp Verse 277, Snp Verse 729 (jāti-maraṇa-saṁsāraṁ ye vajanti punappunaṁ… avijjāy’eva sā gati), Snp verse 730, Snp Verse 1026, Snp Verse 1033 (avijjāya nivuto loko); Dhp.243; Cnd.99; Pp.21; Ds.390 Ds.1061, Ds.1162; Dhp-a.iii.350; Dhp-a.iv.161 (˚paligha). Sanskrit avidyā; from a ["not"] + vid ["knowing"]♦️Digital Pāḷi Dictionary: avijjā (fem.) "ignorance; illusion; not knowing; not understanding" [na + √vid + yā].
"Discourse on Ignorance," Avijja Sutta (SN 45.1 PTS: S v 1 CDB ii 1523) translated by Dhr. Seven based on Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation (accesstoinsight.org); Ven. Nyanaponika (Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Doctrines and Terms); Wisdom Quarterly
Don't look at my bikini butt, okay, you perverts? It's just flesh for sitting on toilet seats.*
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Good (beneficial) "desire"
I want to meditate now to make progress.
Chanda: "intention," "desire," "will." 1. As an ethically neutral psychological term, in the sense of "intention," it is one of those general mental concomitants or factors (cetasika, Table II) taught in the Abhidhamma (the "Dhamma in Ultimate Terms"), the moral quality of which is determined by the character of the volition (cetanā) associated with it.
The Commentary explains it as "a wish to do" (kattu-kamyatā-chanda). If intensified, it acts also as a "predominance condition" (see paccaya 3).
Definition of terms: "GOOD": wholesome, skillful, beneficial. "BAD": unwholesome, unskillful, leading to an increase in suffering when karma (deed) eventually ripens and fruits into karmic-resultants in spite of the fact that a deed performed now may seem to bring about an immediate increase in pleasantfeeling.
2. As an evil quality it has the meaning of "desire," and is frequently coupled with terms for "sensuality," "greed," and so on, for instance: kāma-cchanda, "sensuous desire," one of the Five Hindrances (nīvarana); chanda-rāga, "lustful desire" (kāma). It is one of the Four Wrong Paths (agati, motivated by greed/chanda, hate/dosa, delusion/moha, or fear/bhaya).
3. As a good quality, it is a wholesome (kusala) will, motive, or zeal (dhamma-chanda) and occurs, for example, in the formula of the Four Right Efforts (padhāna): "The meditator rouses will (chandam janeti)..." If intensified, it becomes one of the Four Roads to Power (iddhipāda).
Bad (harmful) "desire"
Oh, hells yeah, look at that butt!
Tanhā (lit. "thirst"): "craving," the chief root of suffering [behind ignorance], and of the ever-continuing cycle of rebirths [known as samsara].
"What, O meditators, is the origin of suffering (disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, off-kilter woe)? It is this craving that gives rise to ever-fresh rebirths and, bound up with [sensual] pleasure and lust, now here, now there, [continues wandering on, trying] to find ever fresh delight.
"It is [threefold:] sensual craving (kāma-tanhā), craving for [eternal] existence (bhava-tanhā), and craving for non-existence (vibhava-tanhā)'' (D.22).
Tanhā is the eighth link in the formula of the Dependent Origination (paticcasamuppāda). Compare also at the kinds of "truth" (sacca).
Corresponding to the six sense-objects, there are six kinds of craving, craving for:
There are 18 "thought-channels of craving" (tanhā-vicarita) induced internally, and 18 induced externally; and as occurring in past, present, and future, which total 108. (See A. IV, 199; Vibh., Ch. 17 Khuddakavatthu-Vibhanga).
According to Dependent Origination, craving is conditioned by feeling; on this see DN 22 (section on the Second Ennobling Truth).
As for "craving for [continued or eternal] existence" (bhava-tanhā), it is said (A.X.62):
"No first beginning of the craving for [continued] existence can be perceived, O, meditators, before which it was not and after which it came to be. But it can he perceived that craving for existence has its specific [cause and] condition. I say, O, meditators, that craving for existence also has its condition that feeds it (sāharam) and is not [subsisting] without it. And what is that condition? It is 'ignorance,' one must reply."
The most frequent synonyms of tanhā are rāga ("lust," "greed," "passion") and lobha ("greed"). See the "roots" of good and evil, the skillful and the unskillful, at mūla).
"Recollection of death" (maranānussati) is one of the ten recollections treated in detail in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII):
The Buddha taught: ''Recollection of death, developed and frequently practiced, yields great reward, great blessing, has deathlessness (amata) as its goal and objective. But how may such recollection be developed?
"As soon as the day declines, as the night vanishes and the day is breaking, the meditator reflects:
I'm indestructible and strong.
One reflects, "Truly, there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent or be stung by a scorpion or a centipede, and thereby I may lose this life. This would be an obstacle for me. Or I may stumble and fall to the ground, or the food I eat may not agree with my health. Or [the humors] bile, phlegm, and piercing gases [bodily winds] may become disturbed. Humans or ghosts may attack me, and I may lose my life. This would be an obstacle for me."
Then a meditator considers thus: "Are there still to be found in me unsubdued unskillful, unwholesome things which, if I should die today or tonight, might lead me to greater suffering?"
Now, if one understands that this is the case, one should use one's utmost resolution, determination, energy (viriya), effort, endeavor, steadfastness, attentiveness, and clear-mindedness (sati-sampajanna) in order to overcome these harmful, unwholesome things" (A VIII, 74).
In the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII) it is said: "One who wishes to develop this meditation should retreat to solitude [a private, quiet place], and while living secluded one should wisely reflect: 'Death will come to me! The vital energy will be cut off!' Or [recall,] 'Death! Death!'
"To one who does not wisely reflect, sorrow may arise by thinking about [recalling] the death of a loved one, just as it does to a mother while thinking of the death of a beloved child.
"Again, by reflecting on the death of a disliked person, joy [schadenfreude] may arise -- just as enemies while thinking about the death of their enemies.
"Through thinking about the death of a neutral (indifferent) person, however, no emotion will arise, just as none arises in a worker whose work consists of cremating dead bodies at the sight of a dead body.
"By reflecting on one's own death fright may arise...just as at the sight of a murderer with drawn sword one becomes filled with terror.
"Therefore, whenever seeing here or there slain or other dead [formerly living] beings, one should reflect on the death of such deceased persons who once lived in happiness.
One should rouse one's attentiveness, emotion, and knowledge and consider thus: 'Death will come, and so on.
Only in one who considers in this way, will the Five Hindrances (nīvarana) be repressed. Through the idea of death, attention becomes steadfast, and the exercise reaches [meditative] neighborhood-concentration (upacāra-samādhi).
According to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), one may also reflect on death in the following various ways:
One may think of Death [personified] as a murderer with a drawn sword standing in front of oneself;
or one may bear in mind that all happiness ends in death;
or that even the mightiest beings on this earth are subject to death;
or that we must share this body with all innumerable worms and other tiny beings [microbes] residing throughout the intestines and tissues;
or that life is something dependent on in-and-out breathing, and bound up with it; or that life continues only as long as the elements, food, breath, etc. are properly performing their functions; or that nobody knows when, where, and under what circumstances, death will take place, and what kind of fate we have to expect after death; or, that life is very short and limited. As it is said: 'Short, indeed, is this life of men, limited, fleeting, full or woe and torment; it is just like a dewdrop that vanishes as soon as the sun rises; like a water-bubble; like a furrow drawn in the water; like a torrent dragging everything along and never standing still; like cattle for slaughter that every moment look death in the face" (A. VII, 74).
The meditator devoted to this recollection of death is at all times indefatigable and gains the realization of disgust with regard to all forms [31 planes] of existence, gives up delight in [samsara, endless rebirth], detests evil [that traps one in experiencing the results of miserable karma], does not hoard up things, is free from stinginess with regard to the necessities of life.
And the realization of [radical] impermanence (anicca) becomes familiar.
And through pursuing it, the idea of disappointment (dukkha).
And the impersonal (anattā) nature of all things becomes present to one....
Free from fear and bewilderment will one pass away at death. And should that person not yet realize the Deathless State [full enlightenment, nirvana, arahantship] in this lifetime, one will at the dissolution of the body attain to a happy course of existence (Vis.M. VIII).
See Buddhist Reflections on Death by V. F. Gunaratna (Wheel 102/103)
Buddhism and Death by M.Q.C. Walshe (Wheel 260)
Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, maranānussati based on Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Bhāvanā: "mental development" (lit. "bringing into being, calling into existence, producing") is what in English is generally and vaguely called "meditation."
There are actually two other terms that might be better translated as meditation, jhana ("absorption") and kammatthāna ("field of endeavor, domain of effort, ground of cultivation, or field of karma"). One distinguishes two kinds of development or mental cultivation.
development of tranquility (samatha-bhāvanā), that is, stillness, coherence, concentration (samma-samādhi = first four jhanas)
development of insight (vipassanā-bhāvanā), that is, the cultivation of wisdom (paññā).
Can anyone "meditate" or only Buddhists?
These two important terms, tranquility and insight (see samatha-vipassanā), are very often met with and explained in the sutra collection as well as in the Abhidhamma (collection of texts known as the Higher Doctrine or Dharma in Ultimate Terms).
Tranquility (samatha) is the concentrated, unshaken, peaceful, and therefore undefiled state of mind.
Insight (vipassanā) is the direct perception and penetration (insight) into the three inherent characteristics of all things: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonal nature (anicca, dukkha, anattā, known collectively as ti-lakkhanaor Three Marks of All Conditioned Existence) of all bodily and mental phenomena of existence.
This includes the Five Aggregates (or groups of existence) clung to as self, namely, form (body, corporeality, rupa, kaya), feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. (See khandha).
Tranquility -- or stillness (purification, concentration, quietude) of mind, according to Sankhepavannana (the Commentary to the Abhidhammattha-sangaha) -- bestows a threefold blessing:
favorable rebirth,
present happy life, and
purity of mind, which is the foundation and necessary condition for insight to arise.
Stillness (samādhi) is the indispensable foundation and precondition of insight by purifying and temporarily clearing the mind/heart of the Five Mental Defilements or Hindrances (nīvarana).
Insight (vipassanā) produces the four supramundane stages of enlightenment and liberation of mind/heart.
The Buddha therefore says, "May you develop mental stillness, O meditators, for who is mentally still sees things as they actually are (in accordance with reality)" (S.XXII.5).
And in Mil. it is said: "Just as when a lamp is brought into a dark room, light destroys the darkness and produces and spreads light, just so insight, once arisen, destroys the darkness of ignorance and produces the light of wisdom."
The Path of Purification (Vis.M. III-XI) gives full directions on how to attain full stillness and the meditative absorptions (jhāna) by means of practicing 40 meditation subjects (kammatthāna):
10 kasina-exercises. These produce the first four absorptions
10 repulsive subjects (asubha). These produce the first absorption.
Among these, the recollection (mindfulness) of in-and-out breathing is able to produce the first four absorptions, the body the first absorption, the rest only neighborhood-stillness (upacāra-samādhi, see samādhi).
The Four Divine Abidings (Sublime Abodes) (brahma-vihāra):
loving-kindness (mettā)
compassion (karunā)
altruistic joy (muditā)
equanimity (upekkhā).
Of these, the first three exercises are able to produce the first three absorptions, the last one only the fourth absorption.
The Four Immaterial Spheres (arūpāyatana, the fifth through eighth jhānas):
sphere of unbounded space,
sphere of unbounded consciousness,
sphere of nothingness,
sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.
These are based on the fourth absorption.
One perception of the repulsiveness of food (āhāre patikkūla-saññā), which is able to produce neighborhood-stillness.
Four Elements Meditation
One analysis of the Four Elements (catudhātu-vavatthāna, see dhātu-vavatthāna), which is able to produce neighborhood-stillness.
Mental development forms one of the three kinds of meritorious action (puñña-kiriya-vatthu).
"Delight in meditation" (bhāvanā-rāmatā) is one of the noble usages (ariya-vamsa).
Ven. Nyanatiloka (German Theravada monk, formerly Anton Walther Florus Gueth), Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, bhavana; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
We ask to understand. We sit still to know things directly and awaken (DBM/InsightLA).
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The "power of reflection" (patisankhāna-bala) or contemplation is one thing, and the "power of mental development" (bhāvanā-bala) or cultivation is another. About these two powers (bala) it is said in A. II, 10:
It's time to reflect: What have I done?
"What, O meditators, is the power of reflection? O meditators, if someone thinks, 'Unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts really bears unwelcome fruits both in this life as well as in the life to come' and, as a result of this consideration, one abandons unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts, follows a skillful course of conduct, and keeps one's heart/mind pure, this, O meditators, is the power of reflection.
Now it is time for stillness, body breathing
"What, O meditators, is the power of mental development (meditation, mental cultivation)? O meditators, if a meditator develops the [Seven] Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), bent on seclusion, on letting go, on cessation, culminating in liberation [following awakening, enlightenment], namely:
mindfulness,
investigation,
energy,
rapture,
tranquility,
stillness, and
equanimity,
this, O meditators, is the power of mental development."
Ven. Nyanatiloka(formerly Anton Gueth) Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Doctrines and Terms (palikanon.com) edited and updated translation by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, June 2024
(Brian Oblivion) 12/19/11. The interesting bit begins at Minute 38. This BBC 4 documentary examines the question, "Did Jesus die?" It looks at many ideas around this question until Minute 25, when this examination of ideas takes a very logical and grounded turn with surprising conclusions that demonstrate that the Three Wise Men were Tibetan Buddhist monks who sought and found Jesus/Yeshua/Issa (as a tulku) and came back for him about the time of puberty. At that time, they traveled to the Buddhist monastery known as Hemis Gompa in India, traveling with Jewish merchants who regularly crossed between the two regions. After being trained in that Buddhist monastery or lamasery (gompa), Jesus spread the Buddhist philosophy, survived the crucifixion (through bribery and complicity of corrupt Roman guards), and escaped back to Kashmir, Afghanistan, where he died an old man at the age of 80 and was buried at his marked grave. The monastery housed written records of all this, as discovered by Westerner Nicolas Notovitch and made known to a skeptical world. Their presence was verified and corroborated by Swami Abhedananda.
The Sermon on the Mount is very good as a sutra (spiritual discourse, sermon). It may be understood in Buddhist terms. However, the opening sentence (Line 1) defies comprehension. Who are "the poor in spirit," the followers of Christs/Christians? They are "the poor," but they have spirit (spiritus, Holy Ghost, paraclete).
Line 3 seems to be a blessing he is imparting, assuring followers that he will comfort them later (when they inherit the results of their karma (phala and vipaka) for the good deeds done here.
Line 5's "meek" would seem to be the humble, the awakened (who are free of the delusion of ego and are therefore not proud as arrogant and defiant humans tend to be, the kind and compassionate. But as they "inherit the earth," which is to say are reborn on this lowly human plane rather than one of the lowly celestial/space/heavenly worlds (sagga), the meek would seem to be those did not have heart and the courageousness to stand up for what is right.
Line 7 indicates that those who are courageous and stand up for what is right (righteousness) will find their reward or fortunate outcome as a result of this skillful karma (beneficial deed) because they will see fulfillment of it: Skillful karma (merit) will beget welcome results.
Line 10 is even more clear in teaching the Buddha's message of karma, which elsewhere Jesus explains as "You reap what you sow," which is to say we will harvest what we have planted in terms of karmic seeds. Like begets like. Good begets good.
Line 12 is a clear declaration that those who gain purity of heart as a result are reborn in a heavenly place (and in accordance with some Christian schools as in all Buddhist schools, there are many heavens or levels of heaven (sagga), among the 31 Planes of Existence beings find themselves reborn in). There are countless worlds, but they have been classified into 31 major groupings or planes. For example, we are in the human plane. But that does not mean earth. Earth is but one place humans/humanoids exist throughout a world system (cakkavala).
Line 14 is perhaps the most interesting. The karma of being a "peacemaker" will result in a particularly good outcome, rebirth among the devas (shining ones, light beings, angels, deities, godlings). That is called becoming a devaputra, literally a "son of God," but figuratively refers to being "reborn among devas," which includes females in the Sensual Sphere heavens, at least up to Seventh Heaven. Above that, the brahmas (more radiant devas) do not have sexual dimorphism and therefore are neither male nor female).
Line 16 similarly assures followers/practitioners of Christ's doctrine will be pleased for the hardships endured in the name of what is right. Standing up for what is right is not easy, but that kind of karma (action) comes with very pleasant results (fruit and resultants). These are not literally "rewards" meted out by anyone but natural consequences of the Law of Karma, the regularity in the universe to produce results in accordance with types of intentional-actions. The result of following this advice will be rebirth in a heaven for some duration.
NOTE: Consulting a Protestant Christian to explain some words and passages, we were made aware of a book on Vedanta (Hinduism's "Best of the Vedas") that goes line by line, agreeing with Christ: The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta by Swami Prabhavananda.
In Buddhist terms this is relatively good but not worthy of pursuing. It is far better to pursue the end of rebirth and therefore the end of all suffering (nirvana). But most beings are not interested in that. They far prefer exhaustible rewards. Reborn in a heaven, one experiences the pleasant fruits of one's actions. But the unskillful deeds have not been exhausted, excused, expunged, extirpated or anything else. They are still there to be experienced. So one falls from that lofty height onto this or lower planes and experiences much suffering on account of the. The idea that "sin is forgiven" in the sense of eliminated is completely mistaken.
Indeed, a God may look the other way on bad deeds of the past while recognizing and approving of good deeds. But both sets of deeds have not gone away. They cannot be made to go away by magic. Only by awakening/enlightenment do deeds cease to control us for long. While we linger on in this world or another, they certainly will keep affecting us for good and ill, for a pleasant and unpleasant abiding. But be that as it may -- with Christianity being quite like Hinduism in its promise of "eternal" rewards in heaven -- what Jesus has here is an excellent message, not the "liberal talking points" Evangelical Christians are accusing the American Protestant Church of promoting for the sake of a temporal leader named Trump.
Blessings: The Buddha's Sermon on the Mount (Mangala Sutra)
Jesus Christ (Saint Issa) was a Buddhist monk, claims the BBC. He traveled to India
Now when the night was far spent, a certain deity [deva, light being, angel, lit. a "shining one"] whose surpassing splendor illuminated the entire grove, came into the presence of the Buddha.
Drawing near, the deity saluted him and stood respectfully to one side. Standing there, he addressed the Buddha in verse:
"Many deities and humans, yearning after the good, have pondered blessings [4]. Tell me, what are the greatest blessings?"
[The Buddha replied:]
"To not associate with the foolish [5] but to associate with the wise; to honor those worthy of honor — this is the greatest blessing.
"To reside in a suitable location [6], to have done meritorious deeds [skillful karma, profitable actions] in the past and to set oneself on the right course [7] — this is the greatest blessing.
"To have acquired much learning, to be skillful in some craft [8], well-trained in discipline [9], and to be of good speech [10] — this is the greatest blessing.
"To support mother and father, to cherish spouse and children, and to be engaged in a peaceful occupation* — this is the greatest blessing.
*Peaceful occupation: "Right livelihood" (sammā-ājīva): abstaining from a means of self-support that brings harm to others, such as the weapons trade, dealing in living beings (trafficking, slavery, exploitation), intoxicating drinks, poisons; slaughtering animals, fishing, soldiering, deceit, treachery, soothsaying, trickery, usury, and so on.
"To be generous in giving, to be righteous in conduct [11], to assist one's relatives, and to be blameless in deeds — this is the greatest blessing.
"To loathe the doing of harm and to abstain from it, to refrain from intoxicants [12], and to be steadfast in virtue — this is the greatest blessing.
"To be respectful [13], humble, contented, and grateful; to listen to the Dhamma [Teaching] on suitable occasions [14] — this is the greatest blessing.
"To be patient and trainable, to associate with monastics, and to have spiritual discussions on suitable occasions — this is the greatest blessing.
"A mind unruffled by the vagaries of fortune [16], from sorrow freed, from defilements cleansed, from fear liberated [17] — this is the greatest blessing.
*Eight vicissitudes of life, otherwise known as the Eight Worldly Winds or Conditions: (1) loss and (2) gain, (3) fame and (4) shame, (5) praise and (6) blame, (7) misery and (8) happiness (the attha loka dhamma that oppose sweet contentment).
"Those who thus abide ever remain invincible, in happiness established. These are the greatest blessings" [18].
NOTES (derived mainly from the ancient Buddhist Commentaries)
On second thought, get a sword.
1.
This sutra appears in the Sutta Nipata (v.258ff) and in the Khuddakapatha. See Maha-mangala Jataka (No. 453). For a detailed explanation, see Life's Highest Blessing by Dr. R. L. Soni, Wheel No. 254/256 (bps.lk).
2.
Anathapindika: an epithet that literally means "One who gives alms to the helpless." His name was Sudatta, a very rich and prominent merchant/banker from Savatthi. After he became a Buddhist and attained the first stage of enlightenment as a layperson, he purchased a grove belonging to Prince Jeta to establish a Buddhist monastery (vihara) on the land, which was subsequently called Jetavana ("Jeta's Grove"). It was in this monastery that the Buddha observed most of his Rains Retreat (Vas) periods (the annual three months' period of not wandering but remaining in one monastery, beginning on the full moon of July). Many are the sutras delivered and many the incidents connected with the Buddha's life at Jeta's Grove. He ministered to a sick monk who was neglected by his companions, advising them: "Whoever, monks, would wait upon me, let him wait upon the sick." It was here that the Buddha poignantly taught that all things are radically impermanent, by asking a grief-stricken young mother named Kisagotami who carried around her dead child, to fetch some mustard seed from a home where no one had ever died.
3.
Identified with modern Sahet-Mahet, near Balrampur.
4.
According to the Commentary, mangala means that which is conducive to happiness and prosperity.
5.
This refers not only to the stupid and uncultured, but also includes the wicked in thought, word, or deed.
6.
Any place where monks, nuns, and lay men and women continually reside, where the pious are bent on the performance of the ten meritorious deeds, and where the Dharma exists as a living practice.
7.
Making the right resolve (intention) for abandoning immorality for virtue, doubt for faith, and selfish self-interest for sharing and generosity.
8.
The harmless crafts or occupations of a householder are those by which no living being is injured and nothing unrighteous done; this includes the crafts of left-home monastics, such as stitching robes, etc.
9.
Vinaya is the Monastic Code of Discipline in thought, word, and deed. The Commentary speaks of two kinds of discipline, that of householders, which is abstaining from the ten unskillful actions (akusala-kammapatha) and that of monastics, which refers to the non-transgression of the offences enumerated in the Patimokkha (the Code of Monastic Rules) or the "fourfold moral purity" (catu-parisuddhi-sila).
10.
Good speech that is opportune, truthful, friendly, profitable, and spoken with thoughts of loving-kindness.
11.
Righteous conduct is the observance of the ten skillful actions (kusala-kammapatha) in thought, word, and deed: freeing the mind of greed (lust), hatred (aversion), and delusion (wrong views); avoiding speech that is untruthful, slanderous, abusive, or frivolous; and abstaining from all acts of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct (defined as celibacy for monastics and avoiding the ten forbidden partners for laypeople).
12.
Total abstinence from alcohol and intoxicating drugs that occasion heedlessness.
13.
Towards monastics (and also other religieux), teachers, parents, elders, superiors, etc.
14.
For instance, when one is harassed by unskillful/unwholesome thoughts.
15.
Self-restraint (tapo): the suppression of lust and hate by the guarding of the senses; the suppression of laziness by rousing energy.
16. Loka-dhamma, i.e., conditions necessarily connected with the world; there are eight of them: gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pain and joy.
17.
Each of these three expressions refers to the mind of a full enlightened person (arahant): asoka (sorrowless), viraja (stainless), i.e., free of passion (lust), aversion (hatred), and ignorance (delusion), khema (security from the bonds of sense desires or kama, rebirth (bhava), wrong views (ditthi), and ignorance (avijja).
According to Western Buddhist monk Ven. Nyanatiloka, these 37 or 38 mangalāni ("blessings" or "beneficial things"), include avoiding fools, associating with the wise, honoring those worthy of honor, and so on (Khp.pp.2f). They are actions that lead to welcome results.
The Commentary (KhpA.vii.; SNA.i.300) explains that at the time this discourse was preached, there was a discussion across the whole of this world (Jambudīpa) trying to decide what was and wasn't a mangala.
The devas ("angels") heard this discussion and debated among themselves until the matter spread to the highest brahma world.
Then Sakka, King of the Devas (Buddhism's Archangel Michael figure) suggested that a devaputta ("one reborn among the devas") should visit the Buddha on earth and ask him about the matter.
In the Sutta Nipāta (SN., pp. 46f) this discourse is called Mahāmangala ("Great Blessings"). It is one of the sutras at the preaching of which countless devas were present and countless beings realized the Truth (SNA.i.174; BuA.243; AA.i.57,320).
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