Explaining Buddhism through Einstein

The Triple Gem and Einstein

Oh, Buddha and wife Mileva, what is the A?

What if I, Ven. Subhuti (americanmonk.org), were to explain the Three Jewels (Triple Gem) to Westerners who know very little about Buddhism but do it in an unconventional way?

What if I were to use an analogy to understand what the Buddha (Teacher), the Dhamma (Teaching), and the Sangha (Taught) really mean?

• That might work, Bhante ("venerable sir"). Let's give it a try.

Westerners respect Real Fly Science Guy Alby Einstein and the laws of physics. The Buddha — The Awakened One — discovered the Path to Awakening. If I were to talk about the Buddha, I would say he’s a great scientist, but not just any great scientist. He’s the Alby Einstein of scientists.

Einstein has a physicist wife who gets no credit

The Buddha discovered (rediscovered because others in ancient times also awakened and taught the liberating truth) the laws of the spiritual (metaphysical) universe, the Dhamma, just as Einstein discovered (rediscovered) some laws of physics. All of these laws existed before, during, and after these discoveries. Neither the Buddha nor Einstein created them, of course. They are always there to be found.

Of course, the comparison is imperfect. Einstein is talking about the world we see and touch, whereas the Buddha goes far beyond to the unseen and hard to grasp. If one is worldly, the other seeks to go beyond. Beyond? Beyond the beyond, as the Heart Sutra claims. What is the use of worldly science to get beyond the world?

Do people understand that the Buddha’s realization was about ultimate truth? It’s not just counterintuitive, it’s timeless, beyond time, reaching universal laws of nature.

The Dhamma — The Liberating Truth

Dependent Origination (Brahm)

The Dhamma is the Truth, the Law, the Norm, the Regularity of thing, like E = mc² — a universal truth that does not depend on faith, belief, or even understanding. If no one understood, it would be no less true. (If no one entered nirvana, nirvana would remain just the same; like the ocean, it is neither increased nor decreased as rivers pour into it).

The Dhamma exists. It precedes things, succeeds them. It was existing before the Buddha realized it and continued just the same after him. But what truth could be true, unchanged, before and after?

For one thing, there’s the truth of suffering. Disappointment exists. It arises dependent on conditions. Three other more hopeful things are also true. Suffering has a cause. It has an end. And there is a path leading to the end of all suffering. This overview is known as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

India gave us great math.

These are not ideas, not mere hypotheses, but truths to be tested, each person for oneself. There is no need of acceptance or faith -- except the faith (saddha, confidence) to come and see, to investigate, to test the path for oneself.

Natural laws govern the mind, body, and life itself. When one understands these deeply, so deeply that they have been penetrated, one awakens. The Truth is that close. How to approach it for optimal results, that only a supremely awakened teacher can point out.

The Saṅgha — Those Who Understand

Who hears the Buddha? The Sangha.

How to explain the spiritual community of practitioners, the Saṅgha, whether taken as the entire community of practitioners of Buddhism, the accomplished Noble (Aryan) Community, or the elite researchers, the Monastic Community?

Anyone can study physics, but only a few reach the research level, where they truly see the laws at work. Likewise, anyone can hear the Buddha's Teaching, the Dhamma, and attempt to practice it.

However, only the Noble Community (Ariya Saṅgha) — those who have already directly realized it, penetrated it, and therefore entered the four stages of enlightenment — truly know-and-see it. Between the average practitioner and the accomplished practitioner, there are the avid practitioners, the monastics.

That’s why it is said that "going for guidance" (sarana) to the Triple Gem or Three Jewels is not just going to any community. It is approaching the Noble Saṅgha — the four pairs and eight individuals who have attained realization (bodhi) and directly glimpsed nirvana (nibbāna).

The Poster on the Wall

Oh, Alby, what is the right equation?

I once met a physicist who said he didn’t "believe" in religion. He said that many elite physicists do not believe either. Instead, they follow another religion of faith ("Scientism" or "White Labcoatism"). They think that when we die, that’s it, we’re dead and nothing happens.

• This is the materialist, annihilationist wrong view the Buddha warned about, which is as much in error as the spiritualist, eternalist wrong view. He cautioned to avoid both extremes, following the Middle Way that explains all phenomena in terms of Dependent Origination, so that what does not make sense and seems to be a binary, a dichotomy, resolves into a very rational and impersonal explanation of things in line with ultimate truth.

Orthodox Theravādins might think of the Buddha in similar terms. While an average person is subject to old age, sickness, death, and [incessant] rebirth, a fully enlightened person (arahant) and a supremely enlightened Buddha has gone beyond all suffering and is no longer subject to this painful cycle known as samsara (the Wheel of Life and Death).

When one passes away, there is no more the arising of the rebirth-linking-consciousness in the very next mind-moment as there is with everyone else.

A physicist who is an atheist might have a large poster of Einstein on the wall. When stuck on a problem, that research physicist might look at it and may at times say, “Help me, Einstein!”

One doesn’t believe Einstein is listening — yet feels inspired by approaching, bring to mind Einstein, and directing attention towards him to renew confidence and inspiration. "Einstein" lives on through the laws he discovered and made known and through those who continue to explore and realize the truth of those laws of physics.

The Buddha's life as allegory: the heroic journey

That’s exactly how the Buddha “lives” on through the Dhamma, the Teaching, the things made known through his great awakening.

The Buddha himself said, “Whoever sees the dhamma [the truth of phenomena] sees the Buddha.” So when someone knows and practices the Teachings, the Dhamma, that Dhamma is alive in that person, and that person knows the Buddha in that way and to that extent — not as a being abiding somewhere else but as that wisdom itself.

As long as Einstein’s physics are made known and kept alive, we may also say that Einstein also lives on.

Going Beyond Mind and Matter

In the end, all that arises — the Five Aggregates clung to as self, the mind and body — pass away.

When one truly knows Dhamma, that knowing leads beyond mind and matter. That’s nirvana: the complete cessation of ignorance and suffering with no more new arising of mind and matter.

So may this reflection help those on the path to develop right view so as to see clearly into the true nature of reality and reach the peace of nirvana safely and quickly.

Summary poem

The Buddha saw the timeless law

Pure, unwritten, free of flaw

Like Einstein beholding light of form

Knowing the effects of atom torn

The Dhamma lives when Truth is known

The Saṅgha walks a path of wisdom grown

Not in realms unseen at which angels gnaw

The Buddha lives by Dhamma's awe

• Bhante, Ven. Subhuti (americanmonk.org), Oct. 8, 2025; edited by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Parrots: Avoid fools, associate with wise

I had to get out of that situation. I'd rather fly alone than keep company with a fool.

25 funniest comics about parrots, illustrated by keeper of the birds herself (boredcomics.com)

• In honor of World Parrot Day (Protecting Our Feathered Friends) WORLD PARROT DAY 2025 (National Today), we bring back this classic post.

Stay far away from fools, and instead associate with the wise

Avoiding fools and

Associating with the wise,

Giving respect to the deserving,

This is [among] life's highest blessings.

Sattigumba and Pupphaka

Asevanā ca bālānaṃ, paṇḍitānañca sevanā;

Pūjā ca pūjaneyyānaṃ

etaṃ maṅgalamuttamaṃ.

Maṅgala Sutra

That's a good bird! - Thank you, sir.

These lines verses from the "Blessings Sutra" uttered by the Buddha who was asked, “What is life's highest blessing?” He spoke of 38 blessings. However, this first verse is perhaps the most important. We are smart to distinguish the fools from the wise.

The Commentary to this verse explains: Fools commit unskillful karma (demeritorious deeds of body, speech, and mind).

The wise create skillful karma (meritorious deeds of body, speech, and mind). The wise develop virtue (sila, morality, ethical conduct).

Lay Buddhists keep Five Precepts, Eight Precepts on fasting (lunar observance) days, and Ten Precepts on retreat or during intensive practice). Monastics vow to adhere to 227 Precepts, including eight more for females who follow the garudhammas.

When a wise person hears about or recollects the Five Precepts, or a wise monastic hears about or calls to mind the 227 Precepts, that person becomes happy.

When one hears of the unskillful karma created by breaking precepts, one becomes happy because of not having broken those precepts and knowing that bad karmic results (resultants and fruits or vipaka and phala) will be avoided.

When one hears of skillful karma due to virtue, one becomes happy, knowing that welcome results will come. This is true for "wise" people, according to the Bālapaṇḍita Sutra (MN 129).

I'm not a fool. I'm drunk -- and loving it. 🤢🤮

Fools (bāla) are described in the same discourse:

Suppose a fool is sitting in a council hall, street, or crossroads, where people are discussing what is proper and suitable. And suppose that fool is someone who kills living creatures, steals, engages in sexual misconduct, lies (deceives), and uses intoxicants that occasion negligence.  That fool thinks:

"‘These people are discussing what is proper and fitting; those things are found in me, and I am seen in them!’

"This is the first kind of suffering and sadness a fool experiences in the present life.

"Those who fail to uphold the Five Precepts [which are useful for all humans of whatever religion or philosophy] for lay practitioners or 227 for monastics become fearful when they hear these precepts and the negative results from breaking them. They are called fools."

Actually, the ones who become afraid have some hints of wisdom, for they know they should change [so as to avoid future suffering].

I'm starting to think you might be a bad influence on me. - Shut the front door, Birdbrain.

.

It is the ones without fear who do not become afraid at all when hearing these things who are absolute fools. They are the most dangerous because they hold wrong views and act on them. They are dangerous because they believe the unskillful actions they do are actually skillful, and they spread these wrong views with others.

The Commentary to the Maṅgala Sutra, "The Discourse on Blessings," says that this is like a house on fire, burning: It easily spreads to neighboring houses.

Spiritual development starts with being morally wise. After morality is developed, one is capable of developing stillness of mind (samatha, samadhi).

Those who have developed stillness (samadhi, unification, concentration, coherence) have completed the second part of “being wise.”

The third part is to develop insight knowledge or vipassana. One must have the ability to focus, be calm, and remain still to develop insight knowledge. And one must have virtue (morality) to develop focus (non-distractedness).

That is why it is said that virtue, stillness, and wisdom (sīla, samādhi, and paññā), in this order and not in any other order, is the path to enlightenment.

The highest level of insight is the glimpsing or realization of nirvana (Pali nibbāna). And the highest level of attaining nirvana (while still alive) is full enlightenment or arahant knowledge.

• While a person yet lives, this is called enlightenment with remainder because one is still experiencing the results of previous karma, while no longer accruing any new karma. All intentional actions at this point are called kriyas or "simple (functional) actions." They do not bear fruit. When one enters final nirvana or parinibbana, this is enlightenment without remainder.

An arhat (arahant) is someone in whom passion (greed and clinging), aversion (hatred and fear), and delusion (ignorance and wrong views) are completely destroyed without remainder. These are the noble ones who have laid down the burden, who have made an end of suffering and rebirth here and now.

Where do I ordain?

Wanting to practice a direct path to enlightenment free of all worldly distractions, many people ask where to ordain. To find a proper abbey, look for spiritually wise monastics. While this is difficult to discern by merely looking, morally wise monastics are easier to detect.

One cannot be spiritually wise without being morally wise. Therefore, start at a place where both the monastic rules (vinaya) and meditation are regarded as important.

Rotten apple

[In the West, one bad apple rots the entire barrel.] In addition to a burning house spreading fire to another, the Maṅgala Sutra Commentary speaks of rotten fish spreading rot to nearby objects.

One who ties up putrid fish

with blades of kusa grass

makes the kusa grass smell foul:

so it is in the following fools

(It 68, 9-12, Ja IV 435, 28-29, JaVI 236 4-5).

Maṅgala Sutra Commentary: In contrast, the commentary explains that if one were to wrap tagara jasmine flowers with leaves, those leaves would become wonderfully fragrant.

One who ties up tagara

with leaves [fallen from a tree]

makes the leaves sweetly fragrant:

So it is in following the wise

(It 68, 13-16, Ja IV 436, 1-2, Ja VI 236, 6-7).

Maṅgala Sutra Commentary: This is literally used to explain that whatever is near to us can easily “rub off” on us. Perhaps the best example of this is our language or accent.

Not long ago, if someone were from New York City or Long Island, one could easily tell by the way that person talked.

My father is from the Bronx, and everyone who hears him speak knows it. This is becoming a thing of the past because of TV and internet videos that are homogenizing us.

Think about it. Television and internet media affect us in deeply rooted and subconscious ways. They affect the way we speak without us realizing it. If they can affect the way we sound to others, why would they not impact our attitudes, beliefs, and morals without us realizing it?

As internet algorithms choose more and more polarizing and extreme material to present to us, those things will become a part of us. They become the new normal. They already have.

We are encouraged to associate or live with the wise, with those who are higher than us in terms of morality and wisdom. This is very important because it will be easy for this to rub off on us, such as the fragrance of flowers.

The twin parrots Buddhist birth story

The Sattigumba Jātaka is listed in the Commentaries quoted above to explain this point.

It is the tale of two parrots born as twins. A storm comes, and they are separated shortly after birth.

One bird is raised by a gang of thieves, the other by hermit wandering ascetics. The king comes across both parrots at different times. The first encounter is the bad parrot who speaks of stealing and killing, while the other speaks of sharing and kindness. The king is moved by the difference between the two.

This story may seem hard to believe, but we can find examples of parrots on YouTube that point this out. Believe it or not, many parrots are in need of shelter. Enter “parrot + a location” into a search engine and see the many organizations looking for new nests for their avian orphans. 

• The video above is about a rescued bird who lived with bad people and witnessed a terrible crime.

This parrot witnessed the murder of its owner. It became a key witness at the trial in the human world. Likewise, there are numerous channels with loving parrots who obviously had loving owners, such as this one:

Hey, give me a kiss. - Sure, 'bout time you asked. Hey, WTH? Why you you little love-blocker!

Hello? What the H do you want? - Les, is that U?

This post by Bhante, now edited by Wisdom Quarterly, is dedicated to Bhante’s cousin, Les Brodie, who died. He had a well-trained talking bird and told me about what a joy it was to have it. It had its own bike, and the bird would often pick up the house phone with its claw on the first ring and imitate his voice, “Hello? Uh huh...ummm...yes...uh huh…”

Apparently, sometimes his friends would have whole conversations with the bird without Les knowing it. He was a very special bird, and his person was not so bad either.

If we are parents, our children are our parrots. They are watching and listening whether we like it or not, and they will mimic and model themselves after us.

Moreover, WE are all talking birds, parroting whomever we follow and associate with. Those with whom we associate rub off on us like wrapping around stinky fish or fragrant flowers. So it is wise to be wise in choosing our associates.

Avoiding fools and

Associating with the wise,

Giving respect to those worthy of it,

This is life’s highest blessing.

• Pa Auk Sayadaw student Bhante Subhuti (americanmonk.org), 4/22/22; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly orig. published June 3, 2024

Celebrating Vesak in Malaysia (video)

Ven. Mahinda (Malaysia), May 6, 2020; CC Liu, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Significance of Vesak

(Malaysia Buddhist Festival) This Vesak 2020 message is given by Bhante Mahinda, who talks about its significance and meaning. Other than the usual making of merit, what else can we do during lockdown on this great day for Buddhists all over the world? This video is courtesy of the Australian Buddhist Mission, Inc. (ABM), of which Bhante Mahinda is the spiritual director

ABOUT

Ven. Mahinda was ordained in 1976 as a Buddhist monk in the Sri Lankan Theravada tradition under the tutelage of the late Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Thera, a well-known Sri Lankan monk residing in Malaysia for more than 50 years. After his ordination, Bhante undertook a Buddhist studies program at the Paramadhamma Buddhist Institute in Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1982. He was trained in meditation by several well-known masters in Sri Lanka, India, Burma, and Thailand. He was also inspired by Mahayana masters from China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, as well as by Vajrayana masters from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India. Bhante has taught mindfulness and metta meditation for more than 30 years in 20 countries. His participation in inter-religious conferences and Dharma propagation has taken him to more than 30 countries. Currently, he is the abbot of the Aloka Meditation Centre in Australia (AMC); founder, spiritual director of the Australian Buddhist Mission Inc. (ABM); Buddhist chaplain at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS); trustee of the University Buddhist Education Foundation (UBEF); and Training Committee member and training course presenter of the Australian Association of Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists (AABCAP). He is the founder and spiritual director of the Aloka Foundation, Malaysia; religious patron of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM); religious advisor to the Buddhist Missionary Society, Malaysia and a number of other Buddhist organizations in East and West Malaysia and Singapore.

BOOK: "What the Buddha Taught" (FREE)

Bhante Walpola Rahula (web.ics.purdue.edu); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations vii

Foreword ix

Preface xi

The Buddha xv

CHAPTER I

The Buddhist Attitude of Mind

Man is supreme—One is one's refuge—Responsibility—Doubt—Freedom of Thought—Tolerance—Is Buddhism Religion or Philosophy?—Truth has no label—No blind faith or belief, but seeing and understanding—No attachment even to Truth—Parable of the raft—Imaginary speculations useless—Practical attitude—Parable of the wounded man 1

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

CHAPTER II

The First Noble Truth: Dukkha

Buddhism neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic—Meaning of 'Dukkha'—Three aspects of experience—Three aspects of 'Dukkha'—What is a 'being'?—Five Aggregates—No spirit opposed to matter—Flux—Thinker and Thought—Has life a beginning? 16

CHAPTER III

The Second Noble Truth: Samudaya: 'The Arising of Dukkha'—Definition—Four Nutriments—Root cause of suffering and continuity Nature of arising and cessation—Karma and Rebirth—What is death?—What is rebirth? 29

CHAPTER IV

The Third Noble Truth: Nirodha: 'The Cessation of Dukkha'—What is Nirvana?—Language and Absolute Truth—Definitions of Nirvana Nirvana not negative—Nirvana as Absolute Truth—What is Absolute Truth?—Truth is not negative—Nirvana and Samsara—Nirvana not a result—What is there after Nirvana?—Incorrect expressions—What happens to an Arahant after death?—If no Self, who realizes Nirvana?—Nirvana in this life 35

CHAPTER V

The Fourth Noble Truth: Magga: 'The Path'
Middle Path or Noble Eightfold Path—Compassion and Wisdom—Ethical Conduct—Mental Discipline—Wisdom—Two sorts of Understanding—Four Functions regarding the Four Noble Truths 45

CHAPTER VI

The Doctrine of No-Soul: Anatta
What is Soul or Self?—God and Soul: Self protection and Self-preservation—Teaching 'Against the Current'—Analytical and Synthetical methods—Conditioned Genesis—Question of Free-will—Two kinds of Truths—Some erroneous views—The Buddha definitely denies 'Atman'—The Buddha's silence—The idea of Self a vague impression—Correct attitude—If no Self, who gets the result of Karma?—Doctrine of Anatta not negative 51

CHAPTER VII

'Meditation' or Mental Culture: Bhavana
Erroneous views—Meditation is no escape from life—Two forms of Meditation—The Setting-up of Mindfulness—'Meditation' on breathing—Mindfulness of activities—Living in the present moment—'Meditation' on Sensations—on Mind—on Ethical, Spiritual and Intellectual subjects 67

CHAPTER VIII

What the Buddha Taught and the World Today
Erroneous views—Buddhism for all—In daily life—Family and social life—Lay life held in high esteem—How to become a Buddhist—Social and economic problems—Poverty: cause of crime—Material and spiritual progress—Four kinds of happiness for laymen—On politics, war and peace—Non-violence—The ten duties of a ruler—The Buddha's Message—Is it practical?—Asoka's Example-The Aim of Buddhism 76

SELECTED TEXTS

Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta) 92

The Fire Sermon (Adittapariyaya Sutta) 95

Universal Love (Metta Sutta) 97

Blessings (Mangala Sutta) 98

Getting rid of All Cares and Troubles (Sabbasava Sutta) 99

The Parable of the Piece of Cloth (Vatthupama Sutta) 106

The Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipatthana Sutta) 109

Advice to Sigala (Sigalovada Sutta) 119

The Words of Truth (Dhammapada) 125

The Last Words of the Buddha (from the Mahaparinibbana Sutta) 136

Abbreviations 139

Selected Bibliography 140

Glossary 142

Index 148

• FREE: What the Buddha Taught (Purdue University)

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment explained

G.P. Malalasekera; Bhante, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha overlooking Borobudur temple, Java, Indonesia (Ulambert/flickr.com)

.

Nun J. Kalyani asks the Buddha for wisdom.

Bhante, we want to wake up! What is the secret?

The Buddha has laid out the path and detailed it. It is there to be unpacked with the help of practitioners and the Commentaries and your own investigation. It's wide open. The secret is that there is no secret.

Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmph! Any other secrets? (Laughter).

Do you know about the limbs or "factors of enlightenment"?

We've heard of them. Let me look them up. What are they again?

The Buddha and the Redhead, arhats in Thailand (AF2899 Jon ,,nails,,/flickr.com).

 
The Satta Bojjhanga or "Seven Factors of Enlightenment" are:

1. mindfulness (sati)
2. investigation of phenomena (dhamma-vicaya)
3. energy (viriya, persistent-effort, padhāna)
4. rapture (pīti, joy)
5. tranquility (passaddhi, serenity)
6. concentration (samādhi)
7. equanimity (upekkhā).

"Because they lead to enlightenment (awakening), therefore they are called factors of enlightenment" (S. XLVI, 5).

 

While in the second factor, dhamma-vicaya, the word dhamma is taken by many translators to stand for its most common meaning, the Buddha's Teaching or Doctrine (Pali the Dhamma, Sanskrit the "Dharma"), it much more likely refers to bodily-and-mental phenomena (nāma-rūpa-dhammā) as presented to the investigating mind by the first factor of enlightenment, mindfulness.

(This is clear from the four foundations, or satipatthāna, in the sutra on "How to Establish the Four Foundations of Mindfulness"). With this translation in mind, the term may be rendered "investigation of [material-and-mental] phenomena."

 

Sid came from the west to India.

In A.X.102, the seven factors are said to be the means of attaining the threefold wisdom, defined in Buddhism as the realization of three special knowledges: remembering past lives (previous rebirths), the divine eye, and the extinction of all cankers (full enlightenment).
 
They may be attained by means of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, as it is said in S.XLVI.1 and explained in the Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse (MN 118):

1. "Whenever, O meditators, one dwells contemplating the body (kāya), feeling (vedanā, sensation), mind (citta), and mind-objects (dhammā, mental phenomena), strenuous, clearly-conscious, mindful, after subduing worldly greed and grief, at such a time one's mindfulness is present and undisturbed. And whenever one's mindfulness is present and undisturbed, at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'mindfulness.' Thus this factor of enlightenment reaches fullest perfection.
   
2. "Whenever, while dwelling with mindfulness, one wisely investigates, examines, and considers the dhamma [physical-and-mental phenomena or Buddhist doctrine or both]...at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'investigation of phenomena' (dhamma-vicaya).
   
3. "Whenever, while wisely investigating, one's energy is firm and unshaken...at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'energy.'
   
4. "Whenever, while firm in energy, there arises in one super-sensuous rapture [joy, bliss, gladness, elation]...at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'rapture.'
   
5. "Whenever, while enraptured in mind, one's body and one's mind become composed...at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'tranquillity.'
   
6. "Whenever, while composed in body and happy, one's mind becomes concentrated...at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'concentration.'
   
7. "Whenever one looks with complete unbiased awareness on one's mind thus concentrated...at such a time one has gained and is developing the factor of enlightenment 'equanimity.'

• Literature: Bojjhanga Samyutta (S. XLVI); Bojjhanga Vibhanga 
• For the conditions leading to the arising of each of the seven factors, see the "Commentary to the Satipatthāna Sutra," The Way of Mindfulness by Soma Thera (3rd ed., 1967, BPS.lk)
• The Seven Factors of Enlightenment by Ven. Piyadassi Thera (Wheel 1)
• The 37 Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dipani) A Manual by Ven. Ledi Sayadaw (Wheel No. 171-4, also published as Book Publication BP412S)

The Seven Factors

Ven. Piyadassi Thera (BPS.lk, Wheel No. 1) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

The "Three Baskets" (the Tipitaka, or bundles of ola palm leaf writings recording the Sutras, Code of Discipline, and the Higher Teachings) called the Buddhist Pali canon, is replete with references to the Factors of Enlightenment expounded by the Enlightened One on different occasions.

In the Book of the Kindred Sayings, Book V (Samyutta Nikaya, Maha Vagga), one finds a special section under the title Bojjhanga Samyutta where the Buddha talks about the enlightenment factors in diverse ways.

In this section are three discourses or sutras that have been recited by Buddhists since the time of the Buddha as a protection (paritta or pirith) against pain, disease, and adversity.

 

The term bojjhanga is composed of bodhi (enlightenment or awakening) + anga (limb or factor).

Bodhi means enlightenment or insight concerned with the full realization of the Four Noble Truths that ennoble (enlighten) one, namely: the noble truth of unsatisfactoriness/suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering/disappointment, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering/disappointment, and the noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering/disappointment.

Anga means factors, limbs, or constituents. Bodhi+anga (bojjhanga), therefore, means the "factors of enlightenment, the factors of wisdom, the factors of liberating-insight.

 

“'Enlightenment factors! Enlightenment factors!' they say, venerable sir. Now, why are they called 'enlightenment factors'?” asked a monastic of the Buddha. The succinct reply of the Teacher was, “They conduce to enlightenment, recluse, that is why they are so called” (S V 72, PTS).

Further says the Buddha, “Just as, meditators, in a peaked house all rafters go together to the peak, slope to the peak, join at the peak, and of all of them the peak is reckoned chief, even so, meditators, the meditator who cultivates and makes much of the Seven Factors of Wisdom, slopes to nirvana, inclines to nirvana, tends to nirvana” (Kindred Sayings, V, p. 63). More

What's left of Siddhartha's seasonal capital and hometown, Kapilavastu/Bamiyan, Afghanistan?

Spiritual Makeover: Christine, Buddhist Nun

Thomas (ContemporaryNomad.com)
Raised in Alberta, Canada and a Buddhist for many years, she wanted to become a Tibetan nun, renouncing the household life, a life-altering decision made with confidence.

[Ani] Christine is only the second Western Buddhist nun I have ever met. The first nun, whom we met a couple of weeks ago at Dargye Gompa (monastery), was an ascetic, standoffish German woman who had no interest in talking to us.

Ani Christine is different. She would always have a smile on her face and say hi when we passed each other in the hostel. This was my chance to talk to her and satisfy my curiosity about who she was, so I approached her to find out.

I think she was surprised that I came up to her because many people, as she told me later, shied away from talking to her maybe out of fear of asking the wrong questions. I wasn’t afraid and asked all the wrong questions anyway:

• “What color is your underwear?”
• “Didn’t it feel weird to cut your hair off?”
• “Why did you choose THIS new career?”

She patiently answered my questions with a great deal of humor and did not seem to be insulted at all.

Ani Christine became a nun only two weeks ago. Her excitement about becoming a nun is so contagious that we can’t help but feel completely happy for her. While talking about her past, she eagerly showed us some “before pictures” of herself with long hair and Western clothes taken only a few weeks ago and admitted that she had never had short hair.

She looks totally cute, though, with her buzz cut and her red [Tibetan] nun outfit, which she recently bought in a clothes store catering to nuns and monks. More

• Western Buddhist nun's monastic life

  • Is your underwear undermining your values?

Buddhism in America (NBC News)

• nbc.com
• begintosee

African Buddhist Monk

Bhikkhu Buddharakkhita was born in Uganda (East Africa). He learned from various masters in India, Burma, and the US and was ordained in 2002 by the late Burmese master Sayadaw U Silananda. In 2005, he founded the first Buddhist Center in Uganda in Kampala, Uganda. He has been a resident monk at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia. Ven. Buddharakkhita is the first African monk to open a temple on the continent of Africa. There are other temples in Africa, but all of them were opened by Asian, European, and American teachers.

• UgandaBuddhistCentre.org