~ Itivuttaka 15

"Monks, I don't envision even one other fetter — fettered by which beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long time — like the fetter of craving. Fettered with the fetter of craving, beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long time."

Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta - "And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action?

There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. 

Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them.

Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. 

This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action."

5 Practices for Nurturing Happiness

BY THICH NHAT HANH| JANUARY 2, 2016 Lion's RoarPhoto © Unified Buddhist Church.

The great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh suffered a serious stroke in November of 2014. (You can contribute to his relief effort, here.) We join practitioners around the world in sending our prayers and good wishes for his full recovery. Thich Nhat Hanh’s life is inspiring, his benefit great, and his teaching, like the dharma itself, profound and practical.

Nibbedhika Sutta, AN 6.63

"'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said. In reference to what was it said?

"Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.

"And what is the cause by which kamma comes into play? Contact is the cause by which kamma comes into play.

"And what is the diversity in kamma? There is kamma to be experienced in hell, kamma to be experienced in the realm of common animals, kamma to be experienced in the realm of petas, kamma to be experienced in the human world, kamma to be experienced in the world of the devas. This is called the diversity in kamma.

"And what is the result of kamma? The result of kamma is of three sorts, I tell you: that which arises right here & now, that which arises later [in this lifetime], and that which arises following that. This is called the result of kamma."

“It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults....

“It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one’s own faults as a cunning gambler conceals his dice.”

The Illustrator of Ultimate Meaning, 21

Sānusayakilesabyādhiharaṇasamatthatāya vā kusalo vejjo viya buddho, sammā payuttabhesajjamiva dhammo, bhesajjapayogena samupasantabyādhi viya janasamudāyo samupasantakilesabyādhānusayo saṅgho. (Paramatthajotikā, 21)

The Buddha is like a skilled physician because he is able to cure the sickness of the latent defilements. The Dhamma is like the rightly applied medicines. The Sangha, with their latent defilements cured, are like people whose sicknesses are cured by that medicine. 

Upaddha sutta, SN 45.2

And how does a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, develop & pursue the noble eightfold path? There is the case where a monk develops right view dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in relinquishment. He develops right resolve... right speech... right action... right livelihood... right effort... right mindfulness... right concentration dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in relinquishment. This is how a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, develops & pursues the noble eightfold path.

"And through this line of reasoning one may know how admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life."

Thinking Big: Russia Launching Global Buddhist Messenger for 500Mln People

Sputnik. 18:06 28.05.2016  

Former President of Russia’s Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is launching a new messenger which seeks to unite 500 million Buddhists all around the world.

In an interview with NSN, Ilyumzhinov recalled that the concept of a Buddhist messenger entered his mind while he was speaking at an international conference in Thailand’s capital Bangkok three years ago.

Seeking a happiness that no money or wealth can buy

“…The Dhamma that allows our mind to be calm and peaceful is mindfulness. But before we can arouse mindfulness, we first need virtue (sīla). And before are able to have virtue, we first must be generous in giving donations (dāna). Being unable to be charitable shows that people still have greed, that they desire to accumulate wealth, are still possessive of their assets and property, and thus they are ones who will not be able to maintain their virtue.

The first kuti in Slovenia!

First kuti at Samanadipa Forest Hermitage completed in less than 2 months upon the formal arrival of Ajahn Hiriko at the monastery 

Vakkali Sutta SN 22.87

Ven Vakkali: "For a long time, Lord, I have wanted to come and set eyes on the Blessed One, but I had not the strength in this body to come and see the Blessed One."

Buddha: "Enough, Vakkali! What is there to see in this vile body? He who sees Dhamma, Vakkali, sees me; he who sees me sees Dhamma. Truly seeing Dhamma, one sees me; seeing me one sees Dhamma."

Emptiness True Health, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

Posted on 30 May 2016 by Buddhism Now

Emptiness is the most difficult to understand of all the Buddhist Teachings because it is their innermost heart. Being called a heart it must obviously be something subtle and profound. Its understanding does not lie within the scope of mere conjecture or the sort of pondering that ordinary people are accustomed to. It can only be understood by determined study.

Buddha's foremost upasakas and upasikas (14)

Candala sutta, AN 5.175

A lay-follower (upasaka) who has five qualities is a jewel of a lay-follower, is like a lily, like a lotus. What are these five qualities? He has faith; he is virtuous; he is not superstitious; he believes in action (kamma) and not in luck or omen; he does not seek outside (of the Order) for those worthy of support and does not attend there first.

What do we Talk about when we get together?

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. Now at that time a large number of monks, after the meal, on returning from their alms round, had gathered at the meeting hall and were engaged in many kinds of bestial topics of conversation: conversation about kings, robbers, & ministers of state; armies, alarms, & battles; food & drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, & scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women & heroes; the gossip of the street & the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity, the creation of the world & of the sea; talk of whether things exist or not.

Bhikkhu Bodhi, Tolerance and Diversity

"For Buddhism, religious tolerance is not achieved by reducing all religions to a common denominator, nor by explaining away formidable differences in thought and practice as accidents of historical development. From the Buddhist point of view, to make tolerance contingent upon whitewashing discrepancies would not be to exercise genuine tolerance at all; for such an approach can "tolerate" differences only by diluting them so completely that they no longer make a difference. True tolerance in religion involves the capacity to admit differences as real and fundamental, even as profound and unbridgeable, yet at the same time to respect the rights of those who follow a religion different from one's own (or no religion at all) to continue to do so without resentment, disadvantage or hindrance."

Facing Uncertainty Today

27 May 2016

`Every morning I wake to hope, irrational as it may seem; hope for a more civilized world, for kinder, gentler societies and social systems, and concomitant best wishes for our overused, abused, and slowly dying planet.

To help muster the energy required to face the challenges of our complex world, I rely on what Buddhist activists call the 3 freedoms: Freedom from undue hope & expectations; Freedom from fear & anxiety; and Freedom from selfishness & bias. Ah, yes: although it's tough for an old dog, lama or not, to learn new tricks: undo old egocentric preoccupations and bias; and step away from the natural inclination to overlook and even deny the scientific and socioeconomic facts of life---while simple-mindedly hoping for the best, voting with my gut, and assuming it shall all be and be well.

Dhammapada 252-253

"Easily seen is the fault of others, but one's own fault is difficult to see. Like chaff one winnows another's faults, but hides one's own, even as a crafty fowler hides behind sham branches.

He who seeks another's faults, who is ever censorious — his cankers grow. He is far from destruction of the cankers."

Vajjiya Sutta or -Vajjiyamāhita Sutta AN 10.94 (Righteous Refutation)

Theravada Buddhist Council of Malaysia

Righteous Refutation

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Campa, on the shore of Gaggara Lake. Then Vajjiya Mahita the householder left Campa in the middle of the day to see the Blessed One, but the thought then occurred to him, "Now is not the right time to see the Blessed One, for he is in seclusion. And it is not the right time to see the monks who develop the mind, for they are in seclusion. What if I were to visit the park of the wanderers of other persuasions?" So he headed to the park of the wanderers of other persuasions.

Kalyanamitta

MahaParinibbana sutta

"And why, Ananda, is a Tathagata, an Arahant, a Fully Enlightened One worthy of a stupa? Because, Ananda, at the thought: 'This is the stupa of that Blessed One, Arahant, Fully Enlightened One!' the hearts of many people will be calmed and made happy; and so calmed and with their minds established in faith therein, at the breaking up of the body, after death, they will be reborn in a realm of heavenly happiness."