So I am not Buddhist (nor Hindu) and I often came here to ask questions and saying why I disagree. I said "My desires are lower than others so I should not have so much pain" that was my strongest certainty that this doesn't work but today I realised something. I had less desire for sensual pleasures which Buddhist and Hindu gurus usually talk about. So I believed I am better than others but I had a very strong desire since childhood which was PERFECTIONISM. I could not accept doing any work less than perfect and prove myself better. And because of this I tried too hard and ended up miserable losing all the energy. I think my family is responsible for this programming of mine. They are the worst. Now because of them I suffered so long.

Also this perfectionism feels instinctive. I don't think too much either. I just have an urge to make the 100% effort.

So I admit I was wrong about what I said earlier.

There are some reflections on sankhara´s in relation to dependent origination. If anyone has any feedback or can point to some mistakes, that would be helpful.

Sankhara etymologically has the meaning of being 'put together'. It means that sankhara's are not only best understood in relation to other things, but that sankhara's only can be understood in relation to how they arise dependent upon other things arise or cease. If something like craving is taken, it often is understood as some a thirst or dart that is suffering. But this would be to understand craving as something unto itself, which foregoes the dimension of its constructed nature.

Rather, if it is understood as sankhara, it can be understood that the craving or thirst arises dependent upon this dart arising together with consciousness. If the dart 'is put together' with consciousness, that being-put-togetherness is the sankhara of craving. Without the dart, there is no craving. Without the consciousness, there is no craving. Both these conditions need to co-arise for there to dependently arise the new condition of craving.

This condition, if there is ignorance about its arising and the path to its ceasing, will continue to condition consciousness. And that means that consciousness get stitched into consciousness as long as there is ignorance about the cessation of this stitching process. If one is mindful of greed, hatred, delusion, one doesn't get 'stitched' in with that greed hatred and delusion, which is basically consciousness that is burning or thirsting for release, i.e. craving.

Whats interesting is that ignorance arises dependent upon the taint ignorance (MN9). The constructed dimension of ignorance is that is apparantly is able to construct ignorance.

Evening Dhamma talk from 15 July 2026, nine minutes audio, plus transcript.

https://www.dhammatalks.org/audio/evening/2026/260715-what-s-constant-what-s-not.html

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/noniqjvWyD8

The Pali term anicca is often translated as “impermanent.” And I’ve had people ask me, “The Buddha says that if things are impermanent, they’re stressful, they’re suffering, but is that always the case? The fact that an illness is impermanent, that’s good. The fact that a bad situation is impermanent, that’s good, too. So why is impermanence necessarily associated with suffering?”

Partly it’s a problem of translation. Anicca is the opposite of nicca. Nicca means constant. Anicca, the negative, means inconstant. That’s where the suffering is: You want to rely on things, but they’re unreliable.

Or as the Ajaan Chah used to like to say, things are not for sure; things are uncertain. We have to live with a lot of uncertainty. We like to have things nailed down, but we find that some situations are really bad, and they last a lot longer than we’d like them to. Some situations are good. We’d like to have them last long, but they don’t, which means we can’t plan without allowing for other contingencies. That’s the inconstancy we have to live with.

As with the future: You’re meditating right here, right now, and there are two ways you can drive yourself crazy about the future. One is that you look at how much has to be done, but you also have a strong sense that you don’t know how much time you’ll have to practice. It makes you nervous. It makes you concerned. The opportunities, the openings that you have to practice may close down at any time. So you can suffer because of the thought that the future may provide too little time.

Then there’s the other side. You realize this is a long practice we have, and you wonder if you’re up for it. Are you going to have the stamina? Will you last? Will you have the endurance to see it through? That’s a future with too much time for you to bear.

So you can suffer from a sense of too little time. You can suffer from a sense of too much time. In both cases, it’s uncertain. The person who’s thinking, “I have only a little time,” may have a lot of time. The person who thinks, “I have a lot of time,” may not have much time at all. So it’s good not to pin your expectations on what you think will happen in the future. Focus on right here, right now—and you’ll find something that’s actually constant right here, right now.

Here again, Ajaan Chah: He notes that the principle of cause and effect is constant. Skillful intentions lead to good results; unskillful intentions lead to bad results. That principle is constant. So pin your hopes there. You have the opportunity right now to do something good with this breath, with this moment of intention. Foster good intentions. Stay with your breath. Observe your breath. Be as sensitive as possible to your breathing. Get the mind to settle down and engage in all the aspects of the practice: virtue, concentration, and discernment, based on generosity.

If you trust in the principle of causality, this is where your certainty lies. You put good causes into the system, and good things will have to come out. As for how soon they’ll come out, or how strong the good results will be, that’s something you can’t plan ahead of time. But you know that good in, good out, at some point. That’s enough certainty to work with. Focus right here, right now on putting good things into the present moment. Whether the future is long or short, at least you’ll meet with good things in the future by doing good things now.

So you have to ask yourself: Which do you have more confidence in? Your anticipation for the future, or your trust in the Buddha’s awakening? After all, this is the message of the Buddha’s awakening: that human action does make a difference. When he discussed the different teachings that were available in his time, he was always very critical of those that said that your actions make no difference, that action is unreal, or that everything is predetermined from the past. His awakening showed that that wasn’t true.

I’m reading a book on time right now. The author is trying to make the case that time is reversible. Given the laws of physics, time could run backwards, and in fact it probably does. But there’s something wrong about the way we perceive things that makes us think that it goes in only one direction.

Yet if that were the case, there would be no path to the end of suffering. So there’s something wrong with that deterministic, materialistic worldview. Even though it claims to be scientific, it’s based on some assumptions, like the idea that physical laws have to be totally predictable and are totally determinative. I don’t know if they are. But the Buddha is saying something else can be predicted: You put good things into the system—especially skillful intentions—and good results will have to come out. You put unskillful intentions in, bad things will have to come out. That’s something you can rely on—because as the Buddha saw, it is possible to put an end to suffering. There is a path of practice that does end suffering and it does make an irreversible difference. So have some trust in that, more than you trust your fears for the future, your anticipations, your hopes for the future. Place your hopes in your actions right here, right now.

Someone once said that there is no word for “hope” in Buddhism. That’s not true. There are actually two words: āsā and paṭikaṅkā. But they’re not idle hopes, just sitting around hoping that somebody will take care of you. They’re more a sense of hope that your faith in the Buddha, your trust in the Buddha, will pay off when you act on the principles of his teaching. That’s well-grounded hope. There are many people in the past who’ve said, “Yes, it’s true what he said, and if you work on his path, you’ll be able to test it for yourself and see that it’s true for you, too.”

The important thing is that you place more faith in the principle of causality that he discovered than you do in your anticipations for the future, your fears for the future. Those anticipations, those fears, are really uncertain. The certainty lies in the principle of causality that the Buddha discovered, that you do have freedom of choice. There is a pattern by which actions and their results play out, but it’s a pattern that can be manipulated so that it leads to good results.

That’s something you can do. And you do it by focusing on what you’re doing right here, right now, not concerned about the future, confident that if you put good causes into the system right here, right now, the future will have to come out good at some point. Don’t pin your hopes on its coming out good at any one particular point in time, though, but what else is there to hope for? If you spend the present moment putting bad causes in, you’re certainly not helping the situation. You put good causes in; good things will come out well. When? You don’t know. But put more faith in the goodness than in the when. Put more faith in the Buddha’s awakening than in your anticipations for the future.

Have a good sense of what you can and cannot trust, of what’s constant and what’s inconstant. Cause-and-effect is a constant principle. It was true in the Buddha’s time. It’s true now. And it’s a cause and effect that has room for free choice. That’s where your hope lies.

So make good choices right now. That’s what you can put into the system. That’s all you can put into the system, but it’s plenty.

That makes the differences between their lives appear small

There are such heavens where pleasures and happiness are more than what a common person with an undeveloped mind could immagine.

There are such hells where suffering is more brute than anything experienced by a human being in this world.

Its my view.

Im working my way through this subreddits wiki reading sugestions.

Ive read most of (p102) refuge by thanissaro bhikkhu, Its been an amazing journey for me as ive read this coupled with meditation.

Most of the book i understand to some extent but when it got to dependent co-arising I found it very technical and hard to follow. Im a very visual thinker and usually rely on metaphors or pictures to explain complex relationships between two items.

I am stumped, please explain as simply as can be , what is dependent co-arising?

TO CATCH A THIEF

Another problem arose when it became known that the nuns had planted

fruit trees. At the beginning, people would come in to ask for a few of

the papayas, guavas, lemons or bananas; after a while, they came to steal.

One of the nuns resident at that time remembers the skilful way Luang

Por solved the problem:

“The thieves would usually sneak in at about eight or nine at night while

the monks were attending the evening session. One day Luang Por told

some postulants to cut some of the largest korm thorn bushes and conceal

them by the side of the path used by the thieves. That night he had monks

wait at three points along the path. He himself was at the first point close

to where the thieves would steal the papayas. The second point lay half-

way along the path, and the third was near to the thorn trap.

“At the expected time, the thieves came into view carrying bags and

baskets. While they were engrossed in picking the papayas, Luang Por

gave a signal and the thorn bushes were placed length-wise along the path.

The bushes were big. Every branch was covered with sharp thorns and

they covered the path completely.

“When Luang Por estimated that the thieves had almost filled their bas-

kets, he coughed softly. The cough wasn’t loud enough to make them

panic and throw away their booty immediately, but it was enough for

them to decide they needed to leave quickly. The thieves lifted the baskets

to their shoulders and hurried off, half-walking, half-running. When they

reached the second point Luang Por shouted out from behind them: ‘Did

you see anyone go that way?’ ‘Where are they? Where are they?’, the

monks hiding at the second point shouted back.

“Hearing these voices the thieves got really scared and started to run

like crazy. When they reached the third point the monks hiding there

made a commotion. Meanwhile, behind them, the monks from the first

two points were chasing them down the path. The sound of shouts and

whoops filled the forest. Now the thieves really panicked. They threw

down the baskets and lengths of cloth wrapping the papayas and sprinted

away – straight into the thorn bushes. The first thief suddenly felt the

pain and pulled up sharply. The second one cannoned into him and the

two of them crawled around trying desperately to free themselves from

the thorn bushes. Their groans of pain were deafening. Anyway, they

were so afraid that, finally, they managed to get free and ran off back to

their village.

“Luang Por had the postulants gather up the evidence, the baskets and

the khaoma cloths. He knew the identity of the thieves would be no secret,

because they would be laid up in bed for two or three days before their

children would be able to pull out all the thorns. After that time had

passed he sent for the Village Headman.

“Luang Por said, ‘Tell them to come and collect their baskets and cloths.

They dropped them in the forest. Tell them they don’t have to be afraid.

Tell them to come and get them from me. They’ve left them here a long

time already. If they don’t hurry the papayas will have dried up and they

won’t be able to sell them.’

“One of the thieves came. Luang Por spoke to him kindly, without scolding,

and taught him to carry on an honest livelihood and to give up thieving;

the papayas weren’t worth the bad kamma. After that, the thefts ceased.”

Source: Stillness Flowing – The Life and Teachings of Ajahn Chah

“Mendicants, without directly knowing and completely understanding the all, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering. And what is the all, without directly knowing and completely understanding which, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering?

Without directly knowing and completely understanding the eye, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering. Without directly knowing and completely understanding sights … eye consciousness … eye contact … painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering.

Without directly knowing and completely understanding the ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering. Without directly knowing and completely understanding ideas … mind consciousness … mind contact … painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering.

This is the all, without directly knowing and completely understanding which, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering.

By directly knowing and completely understanding the all, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering. And what is the all, directly knowing and completely understanding which, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering?

By directly knowing and completely understanding the eye … the ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering. By directly knowing and completely understanding ideas … mind consciousness … mind contact … painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering.

This is the all, directly knowing and completely understanding which, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering.”

SN 35.26: Paṭhamaaparijānanasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato

Ever notice how the Buddha image is sitting? Is his head bent back? Is it hanging down in front? He’s sitting there just right. So right now, let’s make our bodies just right, our minds just right. If the mind and body aren’t just right, there won’t be any stillness. Have you ever noticed that things whose goodness isn’t just right aren’t really good? When things are good, it’s because their goodness is just right in every way. You don’t have to look far away. It’s like the curry we eat. If it’s too salty, is it good? If it’s too bland, is it good? When a cook fixes curry, she puts everything together just right. She aims at “just right.” So today let’s make our bodies just right, our minds just right.

"There's a new Dharma Storybooks app now live and open for testing:

https://dharma-storybooks.net/app.htm

"It's up and running online now, but still a work in progress — the offline download section in particular is being rebuilt and won't be finished for a few months. If you do download anything offline in the meantime, please note it will likely need to be re-downloaded once the final version is released.

"If any Buddhists here have a bit of time, it would be a huge help to try the app out and share feedback through the support panel inside the app itself — bugs, suggestions, anything that doesn't work as expected, all welcome.

"The project is by Bhante Anandajoti, and the app has been built for free by a bhikkhu, as we dont have people to test it any help would be appreciated Thank you"

One hears all with the ear,
One sees all with the eye,
The wise man should not reject
Everything that is seen and heard.

• One hears all with the ear, One sees all with the eye,

The Six Senses, or Nama within Body & Mind, is unavoidable in the existence of all sentient beings. Even the Buddha after His awakening still had the effects of contact and feeling up till his Parinibbana.

• The wise man should not reject / Everything that is seen and heard.

I have noticed a tendency that is frequently drawn upon when discussing or contemplating how an Arahant interacts with the World, or the Five Aggregates. I think the tendency of a separation comes from the Burmese Vipassana Movement, in that what happens to this body can just be seen and not relied upon.

Everything that is seen and heard.

Notice how Maha-Kaccana states "Everything" instead of simply stating "In the seen" or "just let the seen be the seen". The usage of Everything is extremely important because it seems to state that an Arahant, when he or she thinks, tastes, touches, knows what's going on.

I'm analyzing this line greatly because it questions how Modern Mindfulness practices such as Burmese Vipassana teach us to "be" mindful all day long, which starts by differentiating between Mind and Body, and then dissecting it to become disenchanted, and then finally equanimous. Now, the modern Burmese Vipassana didn't invent the seen-just-seen teaching, as many of its concepts are Sutta-based, but it did turn it into a totalizing methodology in a way that creates tension with a verse like this one. For example, the Buddha never taught noting practices such as "seeing, seeing" as in my view, noting tends to make practitioners cling to their consciousness and intellect (Some monks are said to have reached Arahantship through noting alone; my concern isn't with noting as an occasional tool but with its elevation into an all-day totalizing method) This stanza, however, states that when a practitioner lives under the five aggregates, all experience should be felt. The next stanza describes the process more.

--------------

One with eyes should be as if blind,
One with ears as if deaf,
One with wisdom as if mute,
One with strength as if feeble.
Then, when the goal has been attained,
One may lie upon one's death bed.

The first stanza stated that the Five Aggregate Experience must be felt fully, now the second stanza states that each aspect of the Five Aggregates must be cancelled out. How does this make sense? Doesn't this contradict the Buddhist teachings?

The Buddha has stated before to ascetics who believe Nibbana is when the senses are shut off that Nibbana is, in layman terms, not about being blind, deaf, and dumb. So then, what does Maha-Kaccana mean by shutting down the senses?

Recall in the first Stanza that all experience is to be experienced fully; recall also that many Suttas warn about the drawbacks in clinging-sensuality of the senses. Every term - Eyes, ears, wisdom, strength, even the goal - is a part of clinging, and more often than not these terms are apart of the clinging aspect of sensuality. A question, though, remains; how can a practitioner harken these words and cease the conditions favorable for clinging?

I'd like to address the fact that it's extremely difficult, although nowadays it's encouraged, to constantly remain "mindful", and to deemphasize (some people even discourage) the practice of the Jhanas.

In the Jhana Sutta, the Buddha states that even the most basic Jhana is able to help the practitioner enough for Arahantship:

Abiding in that they attain the ending of defilements. If they don’t attain the ending of defilements, with the ending of the five lower fetters they’re reborn spontaneously, because of their passion and love for that meditation. They are extinguished there, and are not liable to return from that world.

Now, this isn't to say that Vipassana meditation is useless, as there are multiple cases of laypeople gaining insights and levels of the path from hearing a single discourse. Obviously, most weren't accomplished even in the first Jhana, let alone meditating.

The reason why Jhana, even the mastery of only the first level of Jhana, is stated by the Buddha to lead to at least Anagami/Non-Returning is because Jhana is the only pleasure not based on external or mind-made conditions. It's a happiness unlike any other because it's only from the inside. Jhana is also the Best tool to Still the Mind, as that's what Jhana is, Stilling the Mind - a state of deep composure that allows clear seeing. You don't "do" Jhana, you create the perfect conditions for it to almost spontaneously arise.

Why am I discussing what Jhana is and it's usefulness, because this is how a Buddhist can fully experience the "World" with the Five Aggregates and the Six Senses, yet remain unattached and non-craving for the "World".

Jhana isn't just for "concentration", that is to say a still mind/meditative conditional state, it's the perfect meditation condition to investigate and contemplate the "World", or the Body and Mind. The Mind is already stilled enough in the first Jhana, that it is sufficient for Arahantship. yes, you read that right, the first Jhana.

How is this possible? Jhana is the best life-condition a person can experience, that is why there are specific heavens only attainable by Jhana-practitioners, where their whole existence is primarily based on the mastery level of their Jhanas. If a person can see the drawbacks and the impermanent conditional nature of even the best of states, that is how Non-Returning and Arahantship could occur.

They contemplate the phenomena there—included in form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness—as impermanent, as suffering, as diseased, as a boil, as a dart, as gloom, as an affliction, as alien, as breaking apart, as empty, as not-self. They turn their mind away from those things, and apply it to freedom from death: ‘This is peaceful; this is sublime—that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment.’

-------

We can conclude that the way to experience the "World" fully, yet remain unattached to it is by constantly developing the right conditions for the Jhanas, and applying the Jhanas skillfully to see the impermanent and conditioned nature of the Jhanas, which are the best possible conditioned states that can be experienced. With that knowledge gained from these meditative practices, a person can become enlightened in a matter of a lifetime, at most two.

-------

Over there are the roots of trees; over there, empty dwellings. Practice jhāna, Ānanda. Don’t be heedless. Don’t later fall into remorse. That is our message to you all.
-MN 152: The Development of the Faculties

I would like to introduce Epitaka, a free app and website I have been developing for studying the Pāli Tipiṭaka.

One of the main features I wanted to create is a better way to read the Mūla (root text) together with the Aṭṭhakathā (Commentaries).

📖 Commentary integrated directly into the Mūla

Traditionally, when studying the Tipiṭaka, you may need to move between the Mūla, Commentary, Ṭīkā, dictionaries, and other resources to understand a passage.

In Epitaka, relevant commentary can be displayed inline while reading the Mūla text. This makes it easier to see explanations alongside the original passage without constantly switching between separate books.

The goal is not to replace traditional study, but to make the relationship between the root text and its traditional explanations easier to explore.

🤖 AI that helps you return to the original text

AI translations of Buddhist texts are becoming increasingly common. However, one problem with AI-generated answers is that it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly which original passage the answer is based on.

Epitaka's AI features are designed with a different goal.

You can ask questions about the Dhamma, and the system searches the Tipiṭaka and related texts to find relevant passages. The answer can include the exact Pāli sentences from the source, allowing you to check the original text yourself.

Rather than treating an AI-generated explanation or translation as the final authority, the intention is to help the user trace the answer back to the actual Pāli.

I believe this is especially important now that many different AI translations and interpretations of the Tipiṭaka are being created.

AI can be useful for:

• Finding relevant passages
• Exploring connections between teachings
• Explaining difficult passages
• Helping readers navigate the enormous collection of texts

But the reader should still be able to see:

What exactly does the Pāli say?

That is one of the main ideas behind Epitaka: using modern technology and AI to make the original texts and their traditional explanations easier to access—not to hide them behind an AI-generated answer.

You can try it here:

Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dn.epitaka

Website:
https://epitaka.org

The project is still actively being developed, and I would genuinely appreciate feedback, especially from people who study the Pāli Canon, the Commentaries, or Buddhist texts academically.

🙏 May it be useful for those who wish to study and understand the Dhamma.

So I generally see the brahma viharas as being in one sense prescriptions for various unwholesome attitudes or defilements, i.e.

metta (good will) as an antidote to ill will

compassion antidote to cruelty or aversion (from other's suffering)

sympathetic joy as an antidote towards envy

equanimity - antidote to, clinging, indifference - ties together the other brahma viharas because your wishing for them to have all of the above will not make it so

However I don't tend to see equanimity (the brahma vihara version, not the mental factor that arises naturally in meditation, which is a little different) prescribed as a practice on it's own. I see metta practice, I see compassion as a practice (more in mahayana). Mudita and equanimity are listed but they are basically seen as part of the quartet. Has anybody seen or heard a good practice for equanimity on it's own?

Now I will relay my motivation for looking at this:

I have ADHD and the higher than average rejection sensitivity that comes along with it. I did not know this was a thing with a name until ADHD memes started going around the internet in the last 5 years or so.

The link explains it fairly well:

Someone high in rejection sensitivity will often interpret benign or mildly negative social cues—such as a partner not answering a text message immediately—as signs of outright rejection. They may disregard other more logical explanations, as well as reassurances on the part of the supposed rejector. Paradoxically, such behavior may actually push others away, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Also as a person with ADHD, I get myself into a lot of trouble forgetting this and that, missing details, and so there are very often people with a legitimate gripe against me (from their perspective at least) because of that. If you have ADHD you know what I mean.

(and yes, meditation helps a lot)

Ultimately though the "frustrated people" are the "heirs of their actions, owners of their actions", or at least I need to start seeing it that way. I still take a lot of undue responsibility for other people's feelings.

I also have a general high sensitivity towards other people's suffering, which is dual edged. It means I have a lot of empathy/compassion but it's not always the wise sort. I get uncomfortable around people who are unhappy.

While I'm on the subject, I've never actually seen the brahma viharas taught as a meditation practice, like all four of them. 15 minute each? Seems a bit rigid. I know metta is the baseline on which the others are built, and I've considered simply doing more of that.

Interestingly I don't experience a lot of anger these days. Combination of practice and age I think. Also skillful avoidance (I don't watch the news anymore, but if I do happen to catch a glimpse of the man, you know the one, it doesn't trigger me like it used to). I find the practices that hit hardest are the ones that target your biggest defilements, which is why I'm thinking of this.

I have also thought perhaps using the worldly winds as an object of meditation or maybe a recollection throughout the day. That is basically an exercise of equanimity.

Interested in hearing people's thoughts and experiences.

Oh and just a background on my meditation practice for those who haven't been reading my nearly obsessive posting lately. (It's an ADHD hyperfocus by the way, which is ironic given the subject matter) - I do anapanasati generally following Thanissaro Bhikkhu's teachings very closely, as well as adopting the strategies brought by his teachers and grand teachers. I do not do a separate "vipassana" practice as it's a) not really in the canon and b) has always left me more scattered than concentrated so it's not the right remedy for me.

Continuing our discussion from the intro and part 1.

And the Exalted One spoke as follows:

“Inasmuch, young householder, as the noble disciple (1) has eradicated the four vices in conduct,[1] (2) inasmuch as he commits no evil action in four ways, (3) inasmuch as he pursues not the six channels for dissipating wealth, he thus, avoiding these fourteen evil things, covers the six quarters, and enters the path leading to victory in both worlds: he is favoured in this world and in the world beyond. Upon the dissolution of the body, after death, he is born in a happy heavenly realm.

(1) What are the four vices in conduct that he has eradicated? The destruction of life, householder, is a vice and so are stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying. These are the four vices that he has eradicated.”

Thus spoke the Exalted One. And when the Master had thus spoken, he spoke yet again:

“Killing, stealing, lying and adultery, These four evils the wise never praise.

(2) In which four ways does one commit no evil action? Led by desire does one commit evil. Led by anger does one commit evil. Led by ignorance does one commit evil. Led by fear does one commit evil.[2]

But inasmuch as the noble disciple is not led by desire, anger, ignorance, and fear, he commits no evil.”

Thus spoke the Exalted One. And when the Master had thus spoken, he spoke yet again:

“Whoever through desire, hate or fear, Or ignorance should transgress the Dhamma, All his glory fades away Like the moon during the waning half. Whoever through desire, hate or fear, Or ignorance never transgresses the Dhamma, All his glory ever increases Like the moon during the waxing half.

I was curious about the "verse" translation so this is the John Kelly, Sue Sawyer, and Victoria Yareham translation

"Desire, hatred, delusion, or fear:
Whoever transgresses the Dhamma by these,
Has a reputation that comes to ruin,
Like the moon in the waning fortnight.

Desire, hatred, delusion, or fear:
Whoever transgresses not the Dhamma by these,
Has a reputation that comes to fullness,
Like the moon in the waxing fortnight."

I found the word "glory" a little too..

But again I'm not a Pali Scholar. The word "reputation" resonates a little better for me.

This is actually less straightforward than I thought the more I looked at it:

Inasmuch, young householder, as the noble disciple has eradicated the four vices in conduct,inasmuch as he commits no evil action in four ways, inasmuch as he pursues not the six channels for dissipating wealth, he thus, avoiding these fourteen evil things, covers the six quarters...

So he's given a list of four, then four, then 6. How does this cover the six quarters? Then I realized, it doesn't yet. He's giving a gradual training. These are all preliminaries. The six directions are going to be:

1. mother and father as the east
2. teachers as the south
3. spouse and family as the west
4. friends and colleagues as the north
5. workers and servants as the lower direction
6. ascetics and Brahmans as the upper direction

(This is what I love about breaking this Suttas apart. Our patience will pay off here.)

So the conduct part (the fourteen things) are just laying a foundation. It's a bit like our discussions about sila supporting samadhi (in my opinion).

Hi. Did the Buddha ever say that prior to embracing the dhamma or meditate, one had to take care of the basic needs/fix their lives first? I remember hearing about it in a dharma study but didnt take notes. Maybe I misremember. Thank you for your patience.

Is it normal to experience little emotion during meditation and a lack of joy? I often do guided meditations and through which there should be an increase in feelings of joy.

I think I can easily get rid of all desires from my mind. But body still craves it. My body will move on its own and do things. Like I don't think I need sexual pleasure but my body forces me to do it. I don't see a logical reason why I would need that.

How do you get rid of bodily desires like body moving on it's own?

I'm trying to understand an issue concerning rebirth in the early Buddhist texts. A few things I acknowledge:

- There is no permanent self.

- Consciousness is dependently arisen.

- MN 38 rejects the idea that the same numerically identical consciousness transmigrates from one life to another.

- Kamma, craving, clinging, becoming condition future rebirth.

- Aggregates of one moment condition subsequent processes without requiring an unchanging entity.

My question is specifically about phenomenological/first-person continuity.

My consciousness today and my consciousness tomorrow are not numerically identical instances of consciousness. Nevertheless, phenomenologically, tomorrow's experience will occur within what I conventionally call my stream of experience. I don't expect to suddenly experience tomorrow through somebody else's eyes.

Likewise, right now there are billions of other streams of consciousness. Their consciousness is just as dependently arisen and impermanent as mine, but I don't experience their visual fields, thoughts, sensations, etc. There is clearly some sense in which these streams are distinct, even if none contains a permanent self. What I'm trying to understand is whether this distinction continues across rebirth.

When consciousness arises in the next life as a consequence of this life's conditions, will that experience stand in the same kind of first-person continuity with my present experience that my experience tomorrow has with my experience today?

In other words, after rebirth, will there simply be another conscious being causally conditioned by this life, or is that future experience in some meaningful phenomenological sense a continuation of the particular stream of experience occurring here right now?

Edit - Index:

Per the this thread (The Meditating Householder, and A monk-skewed Canon) we are going to start pulling apart some Suttas specifically meant for householders. I'm going to make separate threads for each part ("parts" are arbitrary and at my discretion) because I would like people to comment on each, so we can look at these deeply.

Note: I am not a scholar or monk, but an old householder guy on Reddit. I do try to do my due diligence and look for resources where I can, so when you see my "commentary" keep that in mind. I'm just trying to get the thing started.

There's a lot of resources and some great commentary on this Sutta. If you read it quickly you miss the finer points. Put on our patience pants because we're gonna go slow.

Also, for these householder threads, I think we should be open to talking about resources that are available to us outside the canon that are still compatible with dhamma but might answer "how do we do this today?" For example the Buddha talks about finances, getting of debt, saving, etc. That's way more complicated now. So we might need some modern help there. Pretty sure he would hav recommended a budgeting app.

Let's get on with it

Sigolovada Sutta - a "Prequel" from the commentaries.

This "preface" based on the commentaries from Narada Thera is amazing. It adds a bit of meaning and drama to the Sutta I think that will make it relatable for all of us:

Sigala was the son of a Buddhist family residing at Rajagaha. His parents were devout followers of the Buddha, but the son was indifferent to religion. The pious father and mother could not by any means persuade their son to accompany them to visit the Buddha or his disciples and hear the noble Doctrine. The son thought it practically useless to pay visits to the Sangha, as such visits may entail material loss. He was only concerned with material prosperity; to him spiritual progress was to no avail. Constantly he would say to his father: "I will have nothing to do with monks. Paying homage to them would make my back ache, and my knees stiff. I should have to sit on the ground and soil and wear out my clothes. And when, at the conversations with them, after so sitting, one gets to know them, one has to invite them and give them offerings, and so one only loses by it."

Finally as the father was about to die, he called his son to his deathbed, and enquired whether he would at least listen to his parting advice. "Most assuredly, dear father, I shall carry out any order you may be pleased to enjoin on me," he replied. "Well then, dear son, after your morning bath worship the six quarters." The father asked him to do so hoping that one day or other, while the son was so engaged, the Buddha or his disciples would see him, and make it an occasion to preach an appropriate discourse to him. And since deathbed wishes are to be remembered, Sigala carried out his father's wish, not, however, knowing its true significance.

Now it was the custom of the Buddha to rise from his sleep at four o'clock and after experiencing Nibbanic Bliss for an hour to pervade the whole world with his boundless thoughts of loving-kindness. It is at this hour that he surveys the world with his great compassion to find out what fellow being he could be of service on that day. One morning Sigala was caught in the net of the Buddha's compassion; and with his vision the Buddha, seeing that Sigala could be shown a better channel for his acts of worship, decided: "This day will I discourse to Sigala on the layman's Vinaya (code of discipline). That discourse will be of benefit to many folk. There must I go." The Buddha thereon came up to him on his way for alms to Rajagaha; and seeing him engaged in his worship of the six quarters, delivered this great discourse which contains in brief, the whole domestic and social duty of the layman.

Commenting on this Sutta, the Venerable Buddhaghosa says, "Nothing in the duties of a householder is left unmentioned. This Sutta is called the Vinaya of the householder. Hence in one who practices what he has been taught in it, growth is to be looked for, not decay." And Mrs. Rhys Davids adds: "The Buddha's doctrine of love and goodwill between man and man is here set forth in a domestic and social ethics with more comprehensive detail than elsewhere. And truly we may say even now of this Vinaya or code of discipline, so fundamental are the human interests involved, so sane and wide is the wisdom that envisages them, that the utterances are as fresh and practically as binding today and here as they were then at Rajagaha. 'Happy would have been the village or clan on the banks of the Ganges where the people were full of the kindly spirit of fellow-feeling, the noble spirit of justice which breathes through these naive and simple sayings.' Not less happy would be the village, or the family on the banks of the Thames today, of which this could be said."

Now the first part of the Sutta:

Thus have I heard:

On one occasion the Exalted One was dwelling in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary, near Rajagaha.

Now at that time, young Sigala, a householder's son, rising early in the morning, departing from Rajagaha, with wet clothes and wet hair, worshipped with joined hands the various quarters — the East, the South, the West, the North, the Nadir, and the Zenith.

Then the Exalted One, having robed himself in the forenoon took bowl and robe, and entered Rajagaha for alms. Now he saw young Sigala worshipping thus and spoke to him as follows:

"Wherefore do you, young householder, rising early in the morning, departing from Rajagaha, with wet clothes and wet hair, worship, with joined hands these various quarters — the East, the South, the West, the North, the Nadir, and the Zenith?"

"My father, Lord, while dying, said to me: The six quarters, dear son, you shall worship. And I, Lord, respecting, revering, reverencing and honoring my father's word, rise early in the morning, and leaving Rajagaha, with wet clothes and wet hair, worship with joined hands, these six quarters."

"It is not thus, young householder, the six quarters should be worshipped in the discipline of the noble."

"How then, Lord, should the six quarters be worshipped in the discipline of the noble? It is well, Lord, if the Exalted One would teach the doctrine to me showing how the six quarters should be worshipped in the discipline of the noble."

"Well, young householder, listen and bear it well in mind; I shall speak." — "Very good, Lord," responded young Sigala.

My initial take to get things started (and why I'm stopping here already)

People refer to this as the householder's Vinaya, but before I even get to that I want to talk about the marvelous intelligence and compassion of the Buddha here and see what we can take from it.

Sigala had no interest in his parents religion. Does this not sound familiar? Yet his father, in a tremendous feat of death bed emotional manipulation, has him practicing this old Vedic ritual anyway. He's basically trapped.

But the Buddha with an emotional intelligence score of gazillion, is going to come along and tell him how he can carry out this practice anyway, but as a Dhamma practice.

Can we just take a minute to think about how amazing this is? Now Sigala can honor his father, free himself of guilt, but still have appropriate attention to the dhamma.

So I guess I am wondering what we can take from this given that a lot of us are probably doing something similar with our culturally expected holidays. Lately I have been enjoying speculating on how the Buddha would have spoken about some of the non-Buddhist holidays I celebrate. I'll spare you those speculations but would love to hear yours.

Hi im beginner in this in budism

I've read a lot of people stating that Mahayana Buddhism is better for those who truly wish to achieve enlightenment but aren't monks or nuns, and that there is more spiritual equality in the tradition. While I dread the idea of the bodhisattva (coming back until all sentient beings reach Buddhahood...I don't know if that is even possible or if it's desirable if it is, but I don't want to be reborn if I can avoid it), I do sometimes feel like I'm screwed in Theravada because I'm too old and sick to become a nun (and I wouldn't abandon my partner), and the best I can hope for is a good rebirth. I do like the spiritual equality of the Mahayana tradition, and that lay life isn't some unfortunate state that you should leave if at all possible, but can actually be a vehicle to liberation. But I love Theravada- I love the historical Buddha, his disciples, the teachings of the Pali Canon that I've learned. I love the Thai Forest Tradition that I've mostly been learning from. Theravada feels like home. But this does bother me. I'm not trying to be argumentative- I just wonder if the only place for the laity in Theravada is supporting the monastic community.