Posts Tagged ‘suttas’
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…
Read MoreWho 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…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreA 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 level,…
Read MoreA 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 their…
Read MoreA Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #9 Clinging
There are these four kinds of clinging: clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rituals and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self. — MN 9 translated by Bhikkhus Nanamoli and Bodhi The word translated as “clinging” is “upadana” and it actually makes reference to fuel — another form of nutriment, or food…
Read MoreA Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #8 Craving
There are these six classes of craving: craving for forms, craving for sounds, craving for odors, craving for flavors, craving for tangibles, craving for mind-objects. — MN 9 translated by Bhikkhus Nanamoli and Bodhi What is being defined by “craving for sense-objects” is actually far more complex than the simple words of the sutta indicate. This…
Read MoreA Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #7 Feeling
There are these six classes of feeling: feeling born of eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, feeling born of nose-contact, feeling born of tongue-contact, feeling born of body-contact, feeling born of mind-contact. — MN 9 translated by Bhikkhus Nanamoli and Bodhi Still in the field of sense information, here we are being asked to look at what…
Read MoreA Secular Understanding of Dependent Origination: #6 Contact
Up to this point what has been covered in the first five steps is an overview of the problematic situation as it’s given to us.The model for what’s going on in these first five steps is a well-known origin myth that gets referred to in various different places in the suttas: the story of the…
Read More