မေထရ္ျမတ္တုိ႔ ႐ုပ္ပုံလႊာ (ေမွာ္ဘီၿမိဳ႕၊ သာသနာ့၀န္ေဆာင္ဆရာေတာ္)

ME01

on Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Buddhist Doctrines of the Pāli Nikāyas: Analysis and Interpretation
ME01  25-03-2011     (2:00 to 3:00)
(Class Notes Only)
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Theravada different from Mahayana is you must have a three folds training. Normally in Buddhism you have karūna (compassion) and pañña (wisdom), but Theravada stresses vīsuṭṭi (purity). This is a strength and weakness of Theravada. The three fold training is sīla(morality), samādhi (mindfulness), pañña (wisdom). Sīla is really the basis for purity. From this, once you develop pañña, karūna also expresses itself.

"Karunā sītala hadayam -pañña pajjota vihāta mohataman Sanāramara loka garum - vande sugatam gativimuṭṭam..” which means, He who has a kind heart soaked with compassion and kindness, who destroyed the darkness of delusion with the kindled lamp of wisdom, and became the teacher of divine beings (gods) and human beings, and who has ended the circle of rebirths with heartfelt reverence, I prostrate before him.

Attitude to aesthetics: Kevaḍḍha sutta- Story of the monk who travelled to the heavenly abodes to find a solution to his question and finally returning to the Buddha.

Kevaḍḍha sutta, The Lord Buddha was staying at Nālanda in Pavarika's mango grove.
Then Kevaḍḍha approached the Lord and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. We have the position taken up by the early Buddhists, and no doubt by Gotama himself, as to the practice of the wonders or miracles, in which there was then universal belief. They were not, however, miracles in our Western sense. There was no interference by an outside power with the laws of nature. The Buddha is represented as not taking the trouble to doubt or dispute the fact of the existence of such powers. He simply says that he loathes the practice of them; and that a greater and better wonder than any or all of them is education in the system of self-training which culminates in Arahantship.

'So these, Kevaḍḍha, are the three wonders I have understood and realized myself, and made known to others. Once upon a time, Kevaḍḍha, there occurred to a certain brother in this very company of the brethren, a doubt on the following point: "Where now do these four great elements--earth, water, fire, and wind--pass away, leaving no trace behind?" So that brother, Kevaḍḍha, worked himself up into such a state of ecstasy that the way leading, to the world of the Gods became clear to his ecstatic vision. 'Then, Kevaḍḍha, went up to the realm of the Four Great Kings; and said to the gods thereof: "Where, my friends, do the four great elements--earth, water, fire, and wind--cease, leaving no trace behind?"

'Then, Kevaḍḍha, went to the Four Great Kings, and put the same question, and was sent on, by a similar reply, to the Thirty-three, who sent him on to their king, Sakka; who sent him on to the Yâma gods. who sent him on to their king, Suyâma; who sent him on to the Tusita gods, who sent him on to their king, Santusita; who sent him on to the Nimmâna-rati gods, who sent him on to their king, Sunimmita; who sent him on to the Para-nimmita Vasavatti gods, who sent him on to their king, Vasavatti; who sent him on to the gods of the Brahmâ-world.’

Of the three miracles, the Lord Buddha held the miracle of instruction in high regard as it allows for the instruction and the training of others to attain Nibbāna and end suffering (dukkha).
The miracles of psychic power and telepathy can be viewed as "cheap tricks" by others so was not held in high regard by the Lord Buddha.
As he was sitting there he said to the Lord: "Lord, this Nālanda is powerful, both prosperous and populous, filled with people who have faith in the Lord. It would be good if the Lord were to direct a monk to display a miracle of psychic power from his superior human state so that Nalanda would to an even greater extent have faith in the Lord." when this was said, the Lord said to him, " Kevaḍḍha, I don't teach the monks in this way: 'Come, monks, display a miracle of psychic power to the lay people clad in white.'"

In the First time: The Lord Buddha explains the various psychic powers that a monk can have..., a monk becomes many, and then becomes one again, he vanishes and re-appears, goes through walls, ramparts and mountains, dives in and out of earth, walks on water, flies through the air, with his hand touches and strokes the sun and the moon (!), and can reach even as far as the Brahma divine worlds. He says that someone who has conviction/confidence in the monk would be astounded by such powers; however someone who does not have conviction/confidence in the monk say that these powers were wielded by using a charm (Gandhari), and seeing this risk the Lord Buddha was fearful of, ashamed of and was disgusted with the miracle of psychic power.

In the second time: The Lord Buddha explains the telepathic power that a monk can have, a monk reads the minds, mental events, thoughts and mental ponderings of other beings and is able to say 'You thought in such a way, this is where your thinking is up to now, this is the way your mind is.' He says that someone who has conviction/confidence in the monk would be astounded by such powers; however someone who does not have conviction/confidence in the monk could say that these powers were wielded by using a charm (Manika), and seeing this risk the Lord Buddha was fearful of, ashamed of and was disgusted with the miracle of telepathy.

Finally: The Lord Buddha explains the miracle of instruction, where a monk instructs another
saying direct your thinking in this (positive) way and not in that (negative) way, do things in this (positive) way and not in that (negative) way, let go of this (negative thing) and become
established in that (positive thing).

The Buddha told him about the three kinds of miracles which he had known and realized by himself through supernormal knowledge. The first miracle, iddhipatihariya was rejected by the Buddha because it could be mistaken as the black art called Gandhari magic. The Buddha
also rejected the second miracle, adesana patihariya which might be mistaken as practice of Cinemania charm. He recommended the performance of the third miracle, the anusasani patihariya, the miracle of the power of the Teaching as it involved practice in Morality, Concentration and Knowledge leading finally to the extinction of Asavas, Asavakkhaye Nana.
by Ashin Indaka(Kyone Pyaw)

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