Devil says: "Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll"

Demon: Elizabeth Hurley, Faust: Brendan Frasier (Bedazzled US remake); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Liz Hurley sparks frenzy as she smolders in plunging red devil jumpsuit (Express.co.uk)

"Do it, Fat Boy, do it!" - "Restraint, Peter."

I'm going bad, breaking bad, wild! I've had it with the good life and the burdens of being upright! I want to tear loose and have some fun, sickening fun -- fornication, intoxicants, and loud music with a thunderous beat. It's my right as an American. The CIA and FBI made it so, and that's what our boys died for over there on foreign shores. They were fighting for peace, and now I want a piece of what they were fighting for.

If I do it, this will be my karma (intentional action). And as a result, that action will ripen and come to fruition in very unpleasant ways, over and over again, exponentially. Now, if I restrain myself, that will be my action (my present choice, my deed), and it will ripen, here or in the future, over and over again, exponentially. Which do I choose? Craving for painkilling pleasure drives me to choose the former, but sense and having heard the Dharma of the Buddha (the Teachings of the Awakened One) drives me to choose the later. What to do, what to do?

Mara ("The Devil") has many disguises

• What does "karma" mean in Buddhism?
• Is karma (our deeds) always intentional?
• Overcoming by repression (Pali pahāna)
• The [bad] Five Hindrances to progress
• Is Buddhism's Mara real, symbolic, both?
• "Going Down" with the Devil (Hair!)

Is everything due to past karma (action)?

Sabbamidaṁkammatotikathā — Shwe Zan Aung, C.A.F. Rhys Davids (Kv 17.3: SuttaCentral.net), Points of Controversy, 17.3 Of Everything as Due to Karma; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Karma (intention): a funny definition

Controverted point: That all this [that we are presently living and experiencing] is from [due to past] karma.

Theravādin: (PTS cs 17.3.1) Do you then include karma itself as due to karma [present actions are due to past actions rather than to present intention and choice]? And do you imply that all this is simply the result [vipaka and phala, resultant and fruit] of bygone causes? [If so] you are committed here to what you must deny.

(PTS cs 17.3.2) Again, you imply, by your proposition, that all this is not so much from [presently intended] karma as from the result of still earlier karma. If you deny, you deny your first proposition. If you assent, you imply that one may commit murder through not karma [a present intention], but the result of [previous] karma.

You assent? Then murder, though a result [phala], is itself productive of karmic result? You assent? Then the result of karma [vipaka] is productive of result? You deny? Then it is barren of result, and murder must a fortiori be barren of karmic result….

(PTS cs 17.3.3) This argument applies equally to other immoral [unskillful] acts — to theft, to wicked speech — lying, abuse, slander, and idle talk — to burglary, raiding, looting, highway robbery, adultery, destroying houses in village or town.

Karma, Rebirth, & Samsara (bps.lk)

It applies equally to moral acts: to giving gifts [letting go, sharing, donating, helping others] — e.g., giving the four necessaries to the religious [four requisites to monastics, food, clothing, shelter, and medicine].

If any of these is done as the result of karma, and themselves produce karmic result, then you are on the horns of this dilemma: that either result-of-karma can itself produce effects, which is heterodox [a heresy], or any good or bad deed has no karmic result, which is heterodox [heretical]….

Rājagirika, Siddhatthika: (PTS cs 17.3.4) But was it not said by the Exalted One [the historical Buddha]:

“'Tis karma makes the world go round,

Karma rolls on the lives of humans.

All beings are to karma bound

As lynchpin is to chariot-wheel.”

“By karma praise and fame are won.

By karma, too, birth, death, and bonds.

Who that this karma's diverse modes discerns

Can say, “There is no karma in this world”?

Hence surely all this is due to karma?

The Buddha's past BAD karma (sutra)

Pubbakammapilotikabuddhaapadāna—Jonathan S. Walters (trans.), Therāpadāna, "The Legends of the Theras [Elder Monastics]," edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

387. {390.} The Rags of Previous Karma

(Walt 3341) Near the lake named Anotatta,

on the lovely level rock ground,

where sparkled gems of different sorts

and varied perfumes filled the woods, (Verse 1)

(Walt 3342) surrounded by the Assembly

of monastics, the Best of the World,

while seated there, did then explain

the former deeds he had done: (Verse 2)

(Walt 3343) Hear from me, O meditators, the karma

which formerly I did [intentionally],

and how those karma rags’ effects

ripen in the Buddha himself. (Verse 3)

(Walt 3344) Among my other, former rebirths

I was a jerk named Munāli.

I told lies about Sarabhu,

an innocent Silent Buddha. (Verse 4)

(Walt 3345) As a result of that karma [deed],

a long time I circled through hell.

I experienced suffering

for numerous thousands of years. (Verse 5)

(Walt 3346) As its final karmic effect,

here in my final existence,

I received some nasty slander

connected with Sundarīkā. (Verse 6)

(Walt 3347) I was Nanda, a follower

of the Buddha Sabbābhibhu.

My rebirth was in hell

for long after I slandered him. (Verse 7)

(Walt 3348) My long rebirth in hell

continued for 10,000 years.

When I again got human rebirth,

I also got lots of slander. (Verse 8)

(Walt 3349) Through what remained of that karma,

Lady Ciñca did slander me

in front of a group of people

without any grounding in fact. (Verse 9)

(Walt 3350) I was an erudite Brahmin,

attended on, given reverence.

In a large wood, I was teaching

mantras to many young men. (Verse 10)

(Walt 3351) To that place had come Sage Gīma,

who possessed vast superpowers.

After having seen him coming,

I slandered that blameless person. (Verse 11)

(Walt 3352) I said this to my students then:

“This sage delights in sense pleasures!”

The young men there took that to heart

when I made that declaration. (Verse 12)

(Walt 3353) Then all the young men, my students,

going for alms from clan to clan,

repeated to a lot of folks,

“This sage delights in sense pleasures!” (Verse 13)

(Walt 3354) As a result of that karma,

these many monastics now with me

all received some nasty slander

connected with Sundarīkā. (Verse 14)

(Walt 3355) One time eying wealth I murdered

brothers by a second mother.

I put them on a mountain road

and crushed them in an avalanche. (Verse 15)

(Walt 3356) As a result of that karma,

Devadatta threw a boulder

and a splinter off that boulder

then crushed the big toe on my foot. (Verse 16)

(Walt 3357) One time I was a little boy,

playing by the great thoroughfare.

Having seen a Silent Buddha,

I threw a clod of dirt at him. (Verse 17)

(Walt 3358) As a result of that karma,

here in my final existence,

Devadatta hired some killers

for the sake of murdering me. (Verse 18)

(Walt 3359) Once, while I was on my tusker,

I saw a supreme Silent Sage,

wandering about for alms food —

with that elephant I attacked him. (Verse 19)

(Walt 3360) As a result of that karma,

the elephant Nāḷāgiri,

agitated, cruel, ran at me

in the fine town at Vulture’s Peak. (Verse 20)

(Walt 3361) I was the King Patthiva;

I killed a man with a dagger.

As a result of that karma,

I roasted in hell a long time. (Verse 21)

(Walt 3362) Through what remained of that karma,

the skin on my foot got all cracked

and caused me a lot of trouble —

karma surely does not just vanish! (Verse 22)

(Walt 3363) I once lived as a fisher-boy,

in a village of fishermen.

Having seen the fish getting killed,

pleasurable thoughts filled my mind. (Verse 23)

(Walt 3364) As a result of that [mental] karma,

I suffered a headache one time;

all of the Ścythians (Shākyans) were murdered,

when Viḍuḍabha murdered them. (Verse 24)

(Walt 3365) I reviled the holy words and

followers of the Buddha Phussa,

“Chomp and eat inferior grain,

you all, and don’t eat any rice.” (Verse 25)

(Walt 3366) As a result of that karma,

I had to eat grain for three months

when, invited by a Brahmin,

I lived in various kingdoms. (Verse 26)

(Walt 3367) In the midst of a wrestling match,

a wrestler’s son, [I broke a back in a] fight;

as a result of that karma,

one time I suffered a backache. (Verse 27)

(Walt 3368) I was a practicing doctor

and purged the son of a rich man;

as a result of that karma,

I contracted dysentery. (Verse 28)

(Walt 3369) One time I, Jotipāla, said

to [the Buddha] Kassapa, the Well-Gone One,

“Whence then this baldy’s Waking Up,

Awakening so hard to reach?” (Verse 29)

(Walt 3370) As a result of that karma,

I practiced great austerities

in Uruvela, six long years,

and then achieved Awakening. (Verse 30)

(Walt 3371-72) “Along that path I did not reach

supreme Awakening,” I thought,

“along which path then should I search,

hindered by previous karma?

Exhausting skillful and unskillful karma

and avoiding every torment

free of grief, troubles, and outflows,*

I shall realize nirvana.” (Verse 31-32)

(Walt 3373) Thus did he explain, the Victor,

Endowed with All Superpowers,

in front of the Assembly of monastics,

at the great Lake Anotatta. (Verse 33)

Thus, indeed the Blessed One spoke this short discourse on Dharma, revealing his own previous unskillful conduct [as the Bodhisatta, "a being bent on supreme-enlightenment" but not yet a buddha], the Buddha-apadāna named “The Rags of Previous Karma.”

The Buddha-apadāna named “The Rags of Previous Karma” is finished.

The Summary:

Avaṇṭa and Labuja, too,

Udumbara and Pilakkhu,

Phāru, Valli, and Kadali,

Panasa, Koṭivīsaka

and the Rags of Former Karma,

the legend of the Sage so Great:

verses numbering 91

are counted by those who are wise.

THE AVAṆṬAPHALA CHAPTER, THE THIRTY-NINTH

• [*EDITORIAL NOTE: "Outflows" = "taints" (asavas), "defilements" (kilesas), "corruptions" (upakkilesas).]

Fall begins: Autumnal Equinox (summer ends)

Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to explain an EQUI-NOX ("equal night") in simplest terms? (gfycat.com)

Today is the "fall equinox." Here's what that means (ScienceAlert.com)

Fall finally begins in the Northern Hemisphere; explaining the autumnal equinox | WWMT

.

Faeries love the fall. Merry meet!

September equinox is the evening or equaling as the seasons change, going from summer to autumn. The Southwest has just had a heat wave on top of a drought with monsoon rains and drastic flooding. When it rains it pours. And when it doesn't, it all dries out.

The Wiccans will soon be dancing. Halloween is on its way. And the dead are stirring. No one really dies, except that this ego is fading constantly, rebuilding, and falling apart until the transition we call "death" seems to take them away, from this dimension to another, from the human to the ghost, heavenly, hellish, or another human realm.

Eric Dubay disagrees on cause of equinox

The human plane is very large, much larger than earth, extending into space in all directions.

Rebirth is a crapshoot. Based on Abhidharma ("Higher Doctrine" or "The Dharma Explained in Ultimate Terms"), whatever "mind moment" or citta comes up will condition and determine the rebirth plane and circumstances.

There goes the summer, the craziest summer our society has had in decades!

.

If an entheogen (DMT) could make us see reality

Every act (karma) left countless impulsions (javanas) that can serve as the basis for the future. So unless we're very careful and doing something about it right now, we could be in for a world of hurt in any of the lower planes or in a bad way on this plane in the future. It won't all be devi bliss and enhanced celestial pleasures all the time, like so many of us seem to imagine.

Hey, Gwen, what's up at Woodstock III?

Gwendolyn in Berkeley was a hippie who didn't believe in religion, but she did believe in heaven -- at least to the extent to constantly say, "If there is one, that's where I'm going." How did she know, and what did she think was preventing her for destinies elsewhere in the downward-path (niraya), the Fall, the hellish unfortunate destinations (naraka)? She didn't think that far. She just loved keeping it in the moment and not thinking too much. Aren't many of us like that more than we care to admit? Phish, Grateful Dead, slob rock (lo-fi), and everything is groovy.

Results of KARMA: vipaka and phala

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; YK; Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Resultant (vipaka)

Krishnan on vipaka (Numen)

"Karmic result," is any karmically (morally) neutral mental phenomenon (e.g., bodily agreeable or painful feeling, sense-consciousness, etc.), that is the result of wholesome or unwholesome "karma" (volitional action through body, speech, or mind) done either in this or some previous life.

Totally wrong is the belief that, according to Buddhism, everything is the result of previous karma (action). Never, for example, is any karmically wholesome or unwholesome volitional action the result of former action, being in reality itself karma.

On this subject see titthāyatana, karma, Table at the end of the book I; Fundamentals of Buddhism II, Ven. Nyanatiloka (BPS.lk). Cf. A. III, 101; Kathāvatthu 162 (Guide through the Abhidhamma Pitaka, Ven. Nyanatiloka, 3rd ed. 1971, BPS.lk, p. 80).

Karma-produced (karma-ja or karma-samutthāna) corporeal (bodily) things are never called karma-vipāka, as this term may be applied only to mental phenomena (like intimation).

Fruit (phala)

Phala (lit. "fruit") 1. result, effect (often together with hetu, cause); 2. benefit (e.g., in Sāmañña-phala Sutra, "The Discourse on the Fruits [Benefits] of Recluseship," DN 2).

As "path-result," or "fruition," it denotes those moments of supermundane consciousness that flash forth immediately after the moment of various stages path-consciousness (see the noble ones, or ariya-puggala, on the stages of enlightenment and which, until the attainment of the next higher path-consciousness, may recur innumerable times during the practice of insight (vipassanā).

If thus repeated they are called the "attainment of fruition" (phala-samāpatti), which is explained in detail in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXIII).

Causes of one's DOWNFALL (sutra)

Ven. Narada Thera (1898-1983) adapted from the old-timey translations in Everyman's Ethics: Four Discourses of the Buddha edited by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

CONTENTS

1. Sigalovada Sutra: The Layperson's Code of Discipline (DN 31)
2. Great Mangala Sutta: Blessings (Snp, Verses 258-269)
3. Parabhava Sutra: Downfall (Snp, Verses 91-115)
4. Vyagghapajja Sutra: Conditions of Welfare (AN 54)

These translations are adapted from the translations and notes in The Light of the Dhamma by the Venerable Narada Thera. The introductory notes to the last three texts have been supplied by the editor of this series. And all have been updated and re-edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Parabhava Sutra: The Downfall Discourse

A celestial deva or "shining one" asks the Buddha.

Whereas the "Blessings Discourse" (Mangala Sutra) deals with the way of life most conducive to progress and happiness, this "Downfall Discourse" (Parabhava Sutra) supplements it by pointing out the causes of downfall. One who allows oneself to become tarnished by these behavioral blemishes blocks one's road to worldly, moral, and spiritual progress and lowers all that is noble and human in humans. But one who is heedful of these dangers keeps open the road to all those 38 blessings of which human nature is capable.

Thus have I heard. Once the Exalted One was dwelling at Anathapindika's monastery, in Jeta's Grove, near Savatthi.

When the night was far spent, a certain deity (deva, "shining one") whose surpassing splendor illuminated the entire Jeta Grove, came into the presence of the Exalted One and, drawing near, respectfully saluted him and stood respectfully to one side. Standing there, he addressed the Exalted One in verse:

Causes of Downfall

O, what karma has caused this?! (Machell)

The Deity: Having come here with our questions to the Exalted One, we ask, O Gautama, about humanity's decline. Pray, tell us the cause of human downfall!

The Buddha: Easily known is the progressive, easily known is one who declines. One who loves Dharma progresses; one who is averse to it, declines.

The Deity: This much do we see: This is the first cause of one's downfall. Pray, tell us the second cause.

• [These lines again asking the question are repeated after each cause of downfall but have been left out for brevity.]

The Buddha: The wicked are dear to one, with the virtuous one finds no delight, one prefers the creed of the wicked — this is a cause of one's downfall.

Being fond of sleep, fond of company, indolent, lazy, and irritable — this is a cause of one's downfall.

Though being well-to-do, not to support father and mother who are old and past their youth — this is a cause of one's downfall.

To deceive by falsehood a Brahmin or wandering ascetic or any other mendicant — this is a cause of one's downfall.

To have much wealth and ample gold and food, but [out of miserly greed] to enjoy one's luxuries alone — this is a cause of one's downfall.

To be proud of one's birth, wealth, or clan, and to despise one's own kin — this is a cause of one's downfall.

To be a rake, a drunkard, a gambler, and to squander all one earns — this is a cause of one's downfall.

Not to be contented with one's own spouse, but to consort the spouses of others and prostitutes — this is a cause of one's downfall.

Though being past one's youth, to take a young spouse and to be unable to sleep for jealousy — this is a cause of one's downfall.

To place in authority a person given to drink and squandering — this is a cause of one's downfall.

To be of noble birth, with vast ambition yet slender means, but to crave for rulership — this is a cause of one's downfall.

Knowing well these causes of downfall in the world, the noble sage endowed with insight shares a happy realm.

Ajahn Chah: study, practice, and attain

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Here, c'mon, have some fruit. Good to see ya!

With the Dharma, it’s like going to the home of friends or family and they give you fruit. When you take the fruit in your hand, you don’t know whether it’s sour, sweet, or unripe.

In other words, if you simply hold the fruit, you can’t know its taste. To know its taste, you have to bite into it and savor it. That’s when you’ll know that it’s sweet or sour or what its various flavors are, in line with your own perceptions.

It’s the same with the Dharma, the Truth the Buddha made known. In everything, the Buddha has you take yourself as your own witness. You don’t have to look to anyone else.

Three things lead to full enlightenment.

The affairs of other people are hard to judge because they are the affairs of other people. If something is your own affair, however, it’s easy—because the truth rests within us. It has you as its witness, not anyone else.

When you hear the Dharma -- strange, never-before-heard Truth -- you have to meditate on it to be complete in three things: study, practice, and attainment.

1. Study is pariyatti, to make the effort to know.
2. Practice is patipatti: After you know, you apply it.
3. Attainment is pativedha, when knowledge in line with the Truth we've studied and practiced arises within us [as certainty, as verified faith, so that we know our confidence in the Buddha was well placed].

If we simply listen, our knowledge is just perceptions and concepts [mental fabrications, ideas, assumptions, distortions]. If we talk about it, we speak in line with our concepts. We aren’t bringing the actual Truth out to talk about. This means we haven’t reached the Dharma, haven’t contemplated the Dharma.

Our heart isn’t Dharma, but we can speak the Dharma and act as if we were Dharma. This is called being incomplete according to the standards of the Buddha’s teachings.

Karma is a Bitch and a Best Friend (audio)

Bhikkhu Bodhi via The Buddhist, March 12, 2016; Dhr. Seven, Ellie Askew, Wisdom Quarterly

The Lesser Exposition on the Workings of Karma

Culakammavibhanga Sutra "Karma (deeds) and their Results" from the "Middle-Length Discourses" (Majjhima Nikaya) as explained by the American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, Part 16 MP3. This segment is from the Dharma talk CD collection "Exploring the Word of the Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya, M0015 MN-135, Cula-kamma-vibhanga Sutta, "Kamma and its Results Discourse."

The Five Natural Orders (Niyamas)

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Karma is my ticket to everywhere.

Karma ("intentional action," "volitional deed," or cetana) together with its mental resultants and ripening fruits (vipaka and phala) is very complex.

It powers us and makes our lives what they are. Its working out is imponderable, but there are general trends one can discover. As we know so we do; mind precedes all conditions (Dhp. 1).

Therefore, learning can help us a great deal. The Buddha was not called a "Buddhist" in his day. He was called a karmavadin, a "teacher of the efficacy of action."

One act (deed) will have many results: It will produce like a seed produces, producing many more similar seeds. So it is not "the law of cause and effect," which states that for "every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." The commentaries talk about another complexity of karma, its orderliness or fixity. This complexity is distinguished into five kinds of natural orders.

Natural order: niyama

A niyama is the "natural order, fixedness, constraint, or lawfulness" of all things. In Buddhist psychology and philosophy or Abhidharma, they are distinguished into five categories in the post-sutra commentarial tradition.

In Buddhist commentaries (from the 5th to 13th centuries CE) we find the Five Orders (pañcavidha niyama), which occurs in the following texts:

• The Aṭṭhasālinī (272-274), the commentary on the Dhammasangaṅi attributed to Buddhaghosa, the first book of Theravāda's "Collected Teachings in Ultimate Terms" (Abhidhamma Piṭaka) [30];
• the Sumaṅgala-Vilāsinī (DA 2.431), Ven. Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dīgha Nikāya) [31];
• the Abhidhammāvatāra (PTS p.54), a verse summary of Abhidhamma by Buddhaghosa’s contemporary Buddhadatta [32].
• Abhidhammamātika Internal Commentary (p.58) The Abhidhamma-mātika is a matrix of abstracts for the Abhidhamma, with lists of pairs and triplets of terms from which the whole of the text can theoretically be reconstructed. The passage on the orders (niyamas) is from an internal commentary on the mātika associated with the Dhammasaṅgaṇī. (The orders do not appear to be mentioned in the matrix itself but only in this appendix), composed in South India by Ven. Coḷaraṭṭha Kassapa (12th-13th century).
• Abhidhammāvatāra-purāṇatīkā (p.168) composed in Sri Lanka by Ven. Vācissara Mahāsāmi circa 13th century or Ven. Sāriputta circa 12th century. This text is a commentary on the text of the Abhidhammāvatāra Nāmarūpa-parichedo (ṭīka) so is technically a sub-sub-commentary. This commentary is an incomplete word-by-word commentary.

The Five Natural Orders

1. The utu-niyāma or “natural order of the seasons” reveals itself in the fact that, for example, in certain locations or regions of the earth, at certain times, the flowering and fruiting of trees takes place at one time (ekappahāreneva), the blowing or ceasing of wind, the degree of heat from the sun changes, the amount of rainfall changes, some flowers like the lotus open during the day and close at night, and so on.

2. The bīja-niyāma or the “natural order of seeds,” that is, a seed [DNA] produces its own kind of plant, for example, barley seed producing barley.

3. The kamma-niyāma or the “natural order of karma,” that is, skillful actions produce welcome results, and unskillful actions produce unwelcome results. This order is said to be epitomized by Dhammapada Verse 127, which explains that the results and consequences of actions are inescapable.

• Dhp. 127: Neither in the sky nor in mid-ocean, nor by entering into mountain clefts, nowhere in the world is there a place where one may escape from the results of unwholesome deeds.

4. The citta-niyāma or the “natural order of mind” or mind-moments, that is, the orderliness of the process of mental-activities, such as the preceding mind-moment causing and conditioning the succeeding one in a cause-and-effect relationship.

5. The dhamma-niyāma or the “natural order of dhammas” (Dharma-related things), that is, events like the quaking of the ten thousand world-systems when a Bodhisattva is conceived for the last time in a mother’s womb and again when he is born.

At the end of the discussion in the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī passage, the Commentary says that dhamma-niyāma explains the term dhammatā in the text of the Mahāpadāna Sutra (DN ii.12) (Cf. S 12.20 for a discussion of the use of the word dhammaniyamatā in the sutras).

In these texts the Five Orders were introduced into commentarial discussions not to illustrate that the universe was intrinsically ethical, but as a list that demonstrated the universal scope of Dependent Origination (paṭicca-samuppāda).

The original purpose of expounding the Five Orders was, according to Burmese scholar-monk Ledi Sayadaw, neither to promote or to demote the Law (or Fixedness) of Karma, but to show the scope of natural law as an alternative to the claims of theism [33]. Things do not depend on a creator god, but rather they depend on impersonal forces or regularities.

C.A.F. Rhys Davids' system

Mrs. Caroline A.F. Rhys Davids (wife of the famous British Buddhist scholar Mr. Thomas Rhys Davids) was the first Western scholar to draw attention to the list of the Fivefold Order in her small 1912 book simply titled Buddhism.

Her reason for mentioning it was to emphasize how for Buddhism we exist in a "moral [or apparently ethical] universe" in which actions lead to just results and consequences according to a natural karmic order of things, a situation she called a "cosmodicy" in contrast to the Christian theodicy [34][35].

In Rhys Davids' scheme the Five Orders become:

1. kamma niyama: ("action, karma, deeds") consequences of one's intentions/actions.
2. utu niyama: ("time, season") seasonal changes and climate, law of inanimate matter.
3. bīja niyama: ("seed") laws of heredity.
4. citta niyama: ("mind") will of mind.
5. dhamma niyama: ("law") nature's tendency to perfect.

This is similar to the scheme proposed by Ledi Sayadaw [36]. Western Buddhist Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood of the FWBO) has taken up Mrs. Rhys Davids conception of the orders and made it an important aspect of his own Buddhist teachings [37].

In the exclusively Buddhist Pāli language, the word is spelled both niyama and niyāma (long ā), and the Pali Text Society Dictionary says that the two forms have become confused [38]. It is likely that niyāma is from a causative form of the verb ni√i. More

• See Karma in Buddhism

Whose is this Buddhism?

Ajahn Khamdee via Ven. Sujato; Dhr. Seven, Ellie Askew, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

[Who is the] Owner of Practice?

Thank you for the Dharma.

There are three sorts of Dharma: the Dharma of theory, the Dharma of practice, and the Dharma of attainment.

The Dharma of theory refers to the teachings of the Buddha: the discourses (sutras), the (monastic) discipline, and the higher teachings (Abhidharma), all "84,000" sections of the Pali language canon. This sort of Dharma is everyone's common property.

As for practice and attainment, they're the individual property of those who do them.

The Dharma as the teachings: sutras/discourses.

For example, [one of the Buddha's four chief disciples, two of them nuns, two of them monks like] Ven. Moggallana's practice was his own practice. His attainment of the paths and fruitions leading to nirvana was his own attainment.

The same holds true for [the other chief male disciple] Ven. Sariputra and each of the noble disciples, all the way down to all of us practicing here [and now].

The practice and attainments of each person are that person's very own. It's like our own land and fields. They belong to us individually; they are not common property.

[Therefore, it is wise to take our common property and make it our own, take the Dharma (teaching) and make it our own. For our practice of it and attainment through it will be our own. Only then will we really benefit from what the Buddha made known.]

The problem with beauty (sutra)

Samuel Beal (trans.) Dhammapada Verses and Their Origin Stories, "33. Advantageous Service" (SuttaCentral.net) edited by Dhr. Seven, Sayalay, Wisdom Quarterly

Beauty? It's only skin deep. But that's pretty deep when you're beautiful (D.M.I.).

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What's the big deal? So what if I'm pretty?

Formerly the Buddha, along with his followers, having gone to the kingdom of Kosambī, took up residence in the monastic compound (vihara) called Mi-yin ("lovely sound"). There he preached the Dharma for the sake of [unseen] "shining ones" (devas) and humans.

At that time the king of the country was Udayana (Yau-tien), whose queen was of remarkably pure character. Having heard that the Buddha had come to his kingdom, the king and the queen, with her attendants, went to visit him. Having paid him the usual  respectful salutations, they sat down and the Buddha, for their sake, began to teach to show the impermanence, disappointment, and vanity of things, from which all our misery comes.

Then he illustrated how heavenly rebirths were the reward of merit (virtue) and hellish ones the result of demerit (unwholesome actions). In consequence of this discourse (sutra) both the king and queen came to accept the Five Precepts of a lay-disciple then returned to the palace.

Now at this time there was a certain Brahmin [caste man] named Kih-sing ("lucky star"), who had a daughter incomparable for beauty, just 16 years old. On her account the Brahmin, for 90 days, exposed a heap of 1,000 gold masurans and challenged anyone to find a single fault in her so that whoever could do so would get the gold. No one was able to, so desiring to find someone fit for her to marry, the Brahmin again challenged anyone to bring a man equal to his daughter in grace. To him he would give his daughter as a wife.

Now, having heard that the family of the shaman Gautama, known as the Shakyians [Scythians], were remarkable for their beauty and therefore fit to possess his daughter, he came to the place where the Buddha was staying. Taking his daughter with him, after the usual salutations, he said:

"My daughter is extremely beautiful, unequalled in womanly grace. You also, Gautama, are remarkable for your beauty. You may, therefore, have my daughter and make her your companion (wife).”

The Buddha's beauty

The beauty of a buddha is incomparable.

The Buddha replied: “Your daughter's beauty, sir, is according to your own estimation, whereas my beauty is according to that of the buddhas. My beauty and a woman's beauty are wholly different. Your daughter's loveliness, sir, is like that of the picture on the jar (vessel), in the middle of which there is only filth and excrement. How can that be considered as 'beauty' that belongs only to the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the body? It is this 'beauty' of external (outside) form that causes disappointment, overturns families, destroys kinship, sacrifices relationships, kills children. All of these come from this [love of] womanly beauty. But I am a shaman. I stand by myself and would rather endure any calamity than comply with your request. Sir, you may go. I decline your offer.”

Reaction

Shhh, what the old king doesn't know won't...

At this the Brahmin, who was very irate, departed. Then, coming into the presence of the king, he expanded on his daughter's beauty and offered her to the king. The king, very pleased at the 16-year-old's appearance, accepted her and made her his second queen.

He weighed her down with presents and jewelry. Nevertheless, his mind began to fill with jealous thoughts on account of the young beauty, and discontentment and dislike grew for his first queen.

This at last persuaded him to send for her on a certain occasion to indulge her fancy (knowing that she would not come). When the king sent for her, the first queen declined to appear on the grounds that she was engaged in some spiritual exercise (fasting) and so for several occasions.

The king, enraged by that, sent a man with a rope to drag her into his presence. When she was brought in, he took his bow and arrow and shot her through the body. But the arrow he discharged returned again towards the king and did her no harm. And so it happened again and again.

At this the king, filled with astonishment (awe and fear), said to her: “By what magic power have you been able to bring this about?”

She replied: “I have but taken guidance (sarana) in the Three Gems and the whole day have been engaged in spiritual observances (fasts), and on this account the World-Honored One [the Buddha] has protected me.”

At this the king exclaimed, “Wonderful!” Dismissing the beautiful, young second queen, he sent her back to her parents and re-established the first queen in undisputed authority. Then, with the queen's attendants, he went to see the Buddha and, after due salutations, he explained to him what had happened, at which the Buddha (after a short sutra) repeated these lines:

“If heaven were to rain down the seven precious items, yet the covetous person would not be satisfied. That person's pleasure would be little but the sorrow much. The wise person, possessed of virtue, although possessing the pleasures of heaven, would wisely let them go and not covet them. One who finds happiness in removing thoughts of lustful enjoyment, this person is the [real] disciple of the Buddha.”

Then the Buddha explained to the king the inevitable result of an unwholesome life: it would redound 10,000 times more miserably on the guilty person, while the reward of spiritual exertions and self-improvement [unselfishness] would certainly be the enjoyment of heaven.

Having spoken, the king and queen and their attendants realized perfect release (enlightenment) and became partakers of the Paths.