မေထရ္ျမတ္တုိ႔ ႐ုပ္ပုံလႊာ (ေမွာ္ဘီၿမိဳ႕၊ သာသနာ့၀န္ေဆာင္ဆရာေတာ္)

ME35

on Saturday, July 2, 2011

Theravada Tradition: A Historical and Doctrinal Study
ME35  10-03-2011     (4:00 to 5:00)
(Class Notes Only)
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The Theravāda Tradition accepted teachings at the first Buddhist Council. Pāli commentaries are very important sources for stud of Early Buddhism and for study of the brief history of Pāli commentaries. The Pāli commentaries are the commentaries on the Pāli Tripitaka, it contains many aspects of the Buddha's teachings. Theravāda Buddhism has a long history covering almost 2,500 years from the time of the Buddha up to now. Therefore, you must specify which Buddhism you are dealing with, if you are studying Theravāda Buddhism; Buddhism in Tripiṭaka or in the Pāli commentaries, in Tikā or Anu-Tikā. As we know out of 84,000 texts in the Tripiṭaka.

The last point, regarding the value of using the Pāli commentaries as the research material for the study of Theravāda Buddhism, the Pāli commentaries are not well organized in the Theravāda countries, these were translated by Buddhagosa in fifth century A.D. Before Mahinda Thera came to Sri lankā, the commentaries had been preserved in India. So the beginning of commentarial tradition in Sri Lanka can go back to the time of Mahinda in the third century B.C.

The Sutta nipāta of the Mahāvagga, that has twenty two gāthās while the commentary says that it contains only twenty gāthās. So most probably those two gāthās were added later, that is Philological studies. Philology is the study of text; in this case, the study of the Pāli text; how it is developed. This philological approach to the Buddhist text is to examine the Pāli texts in a critical method. If you compare the Pāli Sutta- piṭaka with the Pāli commentaries have very long compounds which are not found in the Sutta piṭaka. The Pāli canon it-self we find some facts which seen sometimes contradictory with the details given above. The Jātakapāli, one of the fifteen texts of the khuddhakanikāya, explains the former livers or births (Introductions of the Buddha Biography) of the Buddha, and the Niddesa is, one of the Kuddhakanikāya.

According to Sri Lanka tradition, when we consider the Kuddhakanikāya, it contains fifteen books. Khuddhakapātha Atthakathā and Suttanipāta Atthakathā have a common name, is called Paramathajotikā, and their authorship is traditionally attributed to Buddhaghosa. Visuddhimagga cannot be commentary, it is an independent work of buddhaghosa. Samantapāsādika is a regarding text of the Vinaya Atthakathā, we don't know which of them was written first, and Sumangalavilāsinī is one of the Dighanikāya Atthakathā. The Buddhaghosa wrote seven Abhidhamma commentaries such as Atthasālinī (Dhammasaṅganī Atthakathā), Sammohavinodani (Vibhaṅga Atthakathā), and Pañcappakaranatthakathā, but other Atthakathā of the remaining five texts. So Abhidhamma is Theravāda production in methology.

Necessity of Aṭṭhakathās for the interpretation of Tipiṭaka. e.g. Theragāthā and Therīgāthā- the dialogues have been identified separately only in the commentary. Jatakapalishort incidents recorded here are expanded as full stories only in the commentary. Niddesapali is a commentary on Suttanipata…. And, Necessity of Abhidhamma for the interpretation of Suttas. Suttas (discourse) in the Suttapiṭka have been delivered by the Buddha for various people on different occasions on various conditions. So……, After the introduction of the systematic philosophy of Abhidhamma the suttas were interpreted following the method of Abhidhamma.{ from the hand-out}
e.g. Mano pubbaṅgamā dhammā
       Mano - citta
       dhammā – cetasika
Theravāda Buddhism has long history covering almost 2,500 years from the time of the Buddha up to now. According to the Thearvāda Tradition, the Theravāda tradition as accepted teaching at the First Buddhist Council, the ten points presented by Vajjians were main reason for the Second Council. So the beginning of commentarial tradition in Sri Lanka can go back to the time of Mahinda that is the third century B.C. We need more people to be involved in the study of the Pāli commentaries.

The collection of Buddha teaching was done at the Buddhist council. Therefore, the Theras considered that if the Buddha's teachings are available in common people language. They were preserved as Dhamma-sutras, because those discourses were included only the Dhamma.

Now, we should be study Mangala sutta, the Mangala sutta is found in the suttanipāta. The suttanipāta contains the three most poular Paritta Sutta; Metta, Mangala and Ratana Sutta. The commentary explains that, at that time in India. The Buddha replied with a graduated discourse in verse, enumerating thirty eight practical blessing. These seven stages of purity must be followed;
     1. Four defiled action.
     2. Four avenues to wrong path.
     3. Six causes for the decline of wealth.
     4. Four good friends.
     5. Four bad friends.
     6. Method of earning and expend it.
     7. Doing duties.
The Mangala Sutta teaches us how we can ascend to the highest good in gradual Buddhism. Mettā is only meditation. Metta meditation is regularly recommended to the Buddha's followers, in the 2,500 years old Pāli camon. The mettā always will the beings not to fall to hell and apāya bhūmis, but to forward the human, divine or brahma worlds and heartily wish them able to reach the Nibbāna, the sooner the better at the end. Do keep observance of moral precepts (sīla), do practice good deeds bodily, verbally and mentally as possible as it can go like mettā brahmavihāra (samādhi), do forge a dhamma career in search of insight wisdom and knowledge of truths, realities as well as worldliness (pañña). These are meaningful words of wisdom.

To avoid all evils (to drill sīla), to cultivate good (to practice samādhi), and to cleanse one's mind (to forge Paññā), this is the teaching of the Buddhas. It is the frame of reference by all Buddhas to recommend the holy living of brahmavihara (metta, karunā and muditā) with mettā meditation.
by Ashin Indaka (Kyone Pyaw)

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