Tag: suttas
At Naḷakapāna: Did the Buddha “Scheme to Deceive”?
A couple of weeks ago I attended a lecture by jhana-expert Leigh Brasington where he brought up the Naḷakapāna Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya 68; the linked translation is from Bhikkhuni Upalavanna, I use Ñaṇamoli/Bodhi). Brasington cited it as an example of where the Buddha may have opened the kimono a bit on some of his claimed supernormal [...]
The Buddha’s Manifesto on Miracles and Revelation
The Kevaddha Sutta* (Dīgha Nikāya 11) opens with Kevaddha, a householder, who tells the Buddha that there are many potential converts to the Buddha dhamma living nearby in Nāḷandā. He suggests that the Buddha get one of his monks to use miracles to excite and amaze them. This would, he says, be sure to gain many [...]
Who Is The Ultimate Authority?
The concept of authority in Buddhism shouldn’t be complicated — yet it is. Many of us are already familiar with the Kalama Sutta‘s talk about how we shouldn’t rely on outside authorities but weigh what we’re told against our own experience. For many here this was one of the first reasons we became interested in [...]
A Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #0 The Taints
There are three taints: the taint of sensual desire, the taint of being and the taint of ignorance. With the arising of ignorance there is the arising of the taints. With the cessation of ignorance there is the cessation of the taints. The way leading to the cessation of the taints is just this Noble [...]
A Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #12 Aging and Death
The aging of beings in the various orders of beings, their old age, brokenness of teeth, grayness of hair, wrinkling of skin, decline of life, weakness of faculties — this is called aging. The passing of beings out of the various orders of beings, their passing away, dissolution, disappearance, dying, completion of time, dissolution of [...]
A Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #11 Birth
The birth of beings into the various orders of beings, their coming to birth, precipitation [in a womb], generation, manifestation of the aggregates, obtaining the bases for contact — this is called birth. With the arising of being there is the arising of birth. — MN 9 translated by Bhikkhus Nanamoli and Bodhi On one [...]
A Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #10 Becoming
There are these three kinds of being: sense-sphere being, fine-material being and immaterial being. . — MN 9 translated by Bhikkhus Nanamoli and Bodhi This link is second only to sankhara in giving translators and students of Buddhism trouble. The examples of the field are not much help to us because they are embedded in [...]
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