"The Drum Discourse" (Ani Sutta)
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| A supremely awakened teacher is rare in universe |
"Whenever the Summoner was dull, the Dasarahas inserted another peg [under its straps], until the time came when the Summoner's original wooden body had disappeared and only a mass of pegs remained.
[The Commentary to this sutra notes that the Summoner drum could originally be heard for 12 yojanas (leagues), but in its final condition could not be heard even from behind a curtain.]
Historical drum with ropes and pegs - [What is a drum? In ancient times, it was an elastic head held tight around a resonant base with a strap system and pegs placed under them to pull it tighter. A djembe is a rope-tuned, skin-covered goblet drum. According to the Bambara people in Mali, Africa, the name comes from the saying, Anke djé, anke bé, "everyone gather together in peace," defining the drum's purpose. Djé is the verb for "gather"; similarly, the drum here is the "Summoner." To apply more tension, wooden pegs are wedged between shell and lacing could be used to increase tension still further [55]. More
"In the same way, in the course of the future there will be meditators who no longer listen when sutras (discourses) that are words of the Tathagata [the Buddha, Wayfarer, Thus Come One, Well Gone One] — profound, full of depth of meaning, transcendent, regarding emptiness — are being recited. (CONTINUED BELOW)
Who are the 20 best rock drummers?
Was John "Bonzo" Bonham the best?
Nyango Star rules this world?
Original full-length video: 【にゃんごすたー】アンパンマンのマーチ
The Drum Sutra (continued)
[The Heart Sutra, most famous discourse in Buddhism, is not the historical Buddha speaking nor is it even about the Buddha. It is about making the point that there are certain "perfections" (paramitas) to be mastered, one of which is wisdom (prajna). What is the mastery of wisdom? It is the culminating realization that ALL things are empty: Form (this body) is emptiness, and emptiness is form (meaning one implies the other, cannot not exist without the other, yin and yang, this and its opposite, front and back, up and down...). The Prajna Paramita is the "Perfection of Wisdom," a body of literature in at least 100,000 lines to bring one who studies it to this direct realization. But the "heart" sutra is the core, the culmination, the pith of that body of literature. Casual chanters, reciters, or students of it seem to think the mantra or the summary is the teaching, when in fact it is the culmination of all that literature. That's why it has confusing parts in it like the ayatanas, which no one who has not gone through the Buddha's ancient teachings in detail seems to understand. The eye, ear, nose and those exhaustive lists are mentioned, so it must be pointed out that each is without self (an identity for itself or an overall "self" of which each is a component). Because there are components (which are constantly changing, disappointing, and impersonal), there is no "self" no matter how the five heaps of factors cling to the illusion that there is a "self" there.]
What's the Heart Sutra, Avalokita?
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| We shall summon everyone with this beat! |
"However, they will listen when literary works, the works of poets — elegant in sound, elegant in rhetorical devices, the works of outsiders [non-Buddhists], words of disciples — are recited.
"They will lend ear and set their hearts on learning them. They will regard those teachings as worth grasping and mastering.
"In this way the sutras that are the words of the Tathagata [the historical Buddha] — profound, full of depth of meaning, transcendent, regarding emptiness — will disappear.
"Thus, train yourselves: 'We will listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — profound, full of depth of meaning, transcendent, regarding emptiness — are being recited.
"'We will lend ear, will set our hearts on learning them, will regard these Teachings as worth grasping and mastering.' Train yourselves thus."
What does the Buddha call "emptiness"?
Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary suñña entry edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Suññatā (noun) or shunyata: "emptiness." In Theravada Buddhism, this is a reference to the doctrine of anattā ("not self"), the fact that all [psycho-physical] phenomena are impersonal [insubstantial, composite, without core].
So it is said, suññam attena vā attaniyena vā. "Empty is the world...because the world is devoid of a self and anything belonging to a self" (S. XXXV, 85).
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| The enso or 'Zen zero' calligraphy |
See also MN 43, MN 106. In the Cula Niddesa (CNidd), quoted in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXI, 55), it is said:
"Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, visual objects...mind-objects, visual consciousness...mind-consciousness, corporeality...consciousness, and so on are ALL empty (devoid) of a self and anything belonging to a self.
"They are devoid of permanence and of anything that is lasting, eternal, or immutable.
"They are coreless (insubstantial): without a core of permanence or core of fulfillment [satisfaction, lasting happiness, sukha], or a core of self."
In MN 121, the voiding (clearing) of the mind/heart of the taints [asavas, influxes, cankers, mental defilements], through the attainment of full enlightenment (complete awakening, arahantship), is regarded as the "fully purified and incomparably highest [concept of] emptiness.
See Sn.v.1119; MN 121; MN 122 (BPS.lk, Wheel 87); Pts.M. II: Suñña-kathā; The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXI, 53ff.) Source
More words on "emptiness"
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| Here is a symbol of the all (enso) |
In Mahayana Buddhism, there seems to be an added dimension to this "emptiness," which is also understood in Theravada but not emphasized. That is the simple fact that ALL things are empty, not just the self (atta, atman, soul, ego). Why?
Everything we see around us is a composite, with no element being the thing itself. An aggregation of elements composes or comprises the thing. So there is no-thing there, just those constituent factors. But it goes even one step beyond in profundity: each of those elements is a "thing" (assemblage) composed of things (sub-elements).
So everything in the world is without an identity (a "true self," a "being-ness" the same from one moment to the next). But that this should be true of everything in the world is not that big of a deal, for what are we humans and devas most concerned with in all the universe?
We are concerned and often obsessed with ourselves, this "soul," "ego," "personality," this collection (aggregation) of form, feelings, perceptions, formations, and conscious experiences. So the historical Buddha emphasizes this general truth to the very specific truth of anatta of "no self."
- One often hears Mahayana Buddhists, like their counterparts the Hindus and Brahmins and other theists, making the same mistake in understanding: It is said in Buddhism that there is no "separate" self. There is no independent self (soul, ego). This is very true, but what does it mean? It means that this "self" that seems to exist separately (from other selves) is utterly dependent for its seeming-existence on the factors of which it is composed. It is inseparable from the Five Aggregates clung to as self. Many foolishly, thoughtlessly (deceived by words and their common usage) say that this means "We are all one," that "no one is separate [from that One]," that there is no existing "separately" as if there is existing nonseparately. The problem? Yes, it's true, but it isn't what it sounds like. We the selves, the drops of ocean water, the beams of light scattering from One Great Source (presumably Brahminism's Brahman/GOD, the godhead, or Brahma Creator God, maybe even Buddhism's Maha Brahma or "Great Supremo" of anyone's choice in henotheism calling itself monotheism), have no separate existence apart from the constituent factors called "self." It is much easier to see with an impersonal example. This /, this \, and _ make this: triangle. It's still just those three lines, the rest being an illusion dependent on those lines.
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| I love Buddhism's Rumi, Bard, and other poets |
That is to say, it is NOT what it seems. What does it seem? It seems to us to be lasting, enduring, permanent. But from moment to moment, it is not that. It seems to us to be able to fulfill and satisfy us, to giving lasting satisfaction, comfort, happiness, but it can't. It seems to us to be personal, real (a thing in itself in a world of illusions where things for themselves are not themselves), a "soul" (eternal atman) in a fiery world that is burning up. It's all burning.
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| What did the Buddha know and see to awaken? |
That element is what the Buddha and all the awakened and also the partially-enlightened beings (the noble ones) along the stages of full awakening called the "unconditioned element," the "deathless" (amata), the summum bonum of Buddhism: nirvana (nibbana). That is real, that is lasting, that is without constituents, unaffected by time and/or whether anyone realizes it.
Best drummer in the world today?
(El Estepario Siberiano) "Gangnam Style" by PSY | drum cover
This is bull, bullcr*p and a half! It's impossible and can't be done
- Preserving the Buddha's Teachings | Gautama Buddha
- El Estepario Siberiano, John Bonham, Nyango Star; Dhr. Seven (editing and translation), sutra based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans), definition of "emptiness" by Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Doctrines and Terms), Wisdom Quarterly
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