Buddha

“Mendicants, meditate in retreat. A mendicant in retreat truly understands. What do they truly understand? They truly understand that the eye is impermanent. They truly understand that sights … eye consciousness … eye contact … the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by eye contact is impermanent. … They truly understand that the eye is impermanent.… ear… nose… tongue… body… They truly understand that the mind is impermanent. They truly understand that ideas … mind consciousness … mind contact … the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by mind contact is impermanent. Mendicants, meditate in retreat. A mendicant in retreat truly understands.” SN 35.100 Patisallanasutta: Retreat

Knowing and Seeing By Pa Auk Tawya Sayadaw HOW YOU DISCERN MENTALITY Part 1 of 7 INTRODUCTION In our last talk, we discussed how to develop four-elements meditation, and also how to analyse the particles of materiality called rupa-kalapas'. In this talk, we shall discuss briefly about how to discern mentality (nama- kammatthana), which is the next stage in vipassana meditation. Let me begin by explaining briefly the basic facts of the mind necessary to understand the discernment of mentality. As is explained in the Abhidhamma, the mind consists of a consciousness (citta) that knows its object, and associated mental factors (cetasika) that arise with that consciousness. There are fifty-two such associated mental factors, for example: contact (phassa), feeling (vedanya), perception (sanna), volition (cetana), one-pointedness (ekaggata), life faculty (jivitindriya), and attention (manasikara). There are a total of eighty-nine types of consciousness, and they can be classified according to whether they are wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate, or according to their sphere of existence, the sensual sphere (kamavacara), fine-material sphere (rupavacara), immaterial sphere (arupavacara), or according to whether they are mundane (lokiya) or supramundane (lokuttara). We may, however, speak of just two basic types of consciousness: 1) The consciousness of the mental process (citta vithi). 2) The process-separate' (vithi mutta) consciousness outside the mental process: at rebirth and death, and of the bhavanga. There are six types of mental process. The first five are the eye door-, ear door-, nose door-, tongue door-, and body-door processes, whose respective objects are visible forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles. They are together called the five-door process' (panca dvara vithi). The sixth type of process has all objects as its objects, and is called the mind-door process' (manodvara vithi). Each mental process comprises a series of different types of consciousness. The consciousnesses in any one mental process occur according to the natural law of consciousness (citta-niyama). If you want to discern mentality, you must see them as they occur in the order of that natural law. To do so, you must first have developed concentration with either anapanasati (mindfulness-of-breathing), another samatha meditation subject, or four-elements meditation. A pure-vipassana-vehicle yogi must also have finished the discernment of materiality , before he starts on discernment of mentality . A samatha-vehicle yogi, however, can choose: he can first discern materiality, or first discern the mentality of the jhanas he has attained (fine-material / immaterial mentality). Although to discern sensual realm mentality, he too needs first to have finished the discernment of materiality. === Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel: https://t.me/dhammapadas ===

Free Buddha Dharma ebook The Lotus, Buddhism’s Favourite Flower By Bhante Shravasti Dhammika It is said that the world’s most beloved flower is the rose and the second-most loved is the lotus. Found from northern China and Korea all the way through south, south-east and east Asia and down to northern Australia, the lotus plant has influenced all the fine arts, culinary science, medicine, horticulture, poetry and even architecture (e.g. the lotus bath in Polonnaruwa). It is an aquatic plant growing best in bodies of water with thick muddy bottoms and being a hardy plant it tends to dominate the lakes, ponds and reservoirs where it grows. Free download available: https://budblooms.org/the-lotus-buddhisms-favourite-flower/ ===

Free Buddha Dharma ebook The Lotus, Buddhism’s Favourite Flower By Bhante Shravasti Dhammika Free download available: https://budblooms.org/the-lotus-buddhisms-favourite-flower/ ===

Big sitting bronze Sakyamuni Buddha, Fo Guang Shan Buddhist monastery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. One of the largest sitting Buddha statue in the world.

The Chatra (or Chhatra) is the "umbrella" or parasol-like structure found at the very top of a Buddhist Stupa. It is one of the most recognizable features of Buddhist architecture, serving as a powerful symbolic crown for the monument. Symbolic Significance In ancient Indian culture, the umbrella was a symbol of royalty and protection. When placed atop a stupa, it signifies the Buddha’s status as a "Universal Monarch" (Chakravartin) of the spiritual realm. Three stacked chatras represent the Triratna while seven stacked chatras represent the seven factors of enlightenment.

It is like looking at ten banisters that support a hand-rail. We may look at them individually, as one, two, three, four etc. up to ten, and we may look at all ten at once, at a glance. When you are able to see all types of element at a glance, they become your object for vipassana: you see all the elements as impermanence, suffering and non-self. But if, even after completing the discernment of materiality, you are still unable to see them all at a glance, you take them individually, one-by-one, do it again and again, and try to see them all at a glance. This completes our discussion of the materiality meditation-subject. In the next talk we shall discuss the mentality meditation subject (nama kammatthana). === Words of the Buddha channel: https://t.me/wordsofbuddha ===

Knowing and Seeing By Pa Auk Tawya Sayadaw Part 15 of 15 Again, in those four or five generations of rupa-kalapas, there is temperature. Try again to discern that at its standing phase it too reproduces through many generations. Try also to discern that when the nutriment-born nutritive essence meets the nutritive essence of the eye's kamma-born body- and sex decad-kalapas, four or five generations of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad kalapas are produced. In also these many generations, the temperature reproduces through many generations. Furthermore, when the nutriment-born nutritive essence meets the nutritive essence of the eye's consciousness-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapa two or three generations of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas are produced, and in also these generations, the temperature reproduces through many generations. And again, there are two types of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapa: preceding and succeeding. When the preceding nutriment-born nutritive-essence meets the succeeding nutritive-essence of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas and the digestive heat, ten to twelve generations of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas are produced: the temperature also there reproduces through many generations. In every case, the nutritive essence of any rupa-kalapa (born of either kamma, consciousness, temperature or nutriment) reproduces only when it is supported by digestive heat. Having discerned all the types of nutritive-essence octad kalapa in the eye, how they reproduce, and how the materiality of the rupa-kalapas that they produce also reproduce, you will have discerned all fifty-four types of materiality in the eye. You should then do the same for all the types of materiality in the remaining five sense-organs: the ear, nose, tongue, body and heart. SUMMARY Today, we have discussed very briefly how to analyse rupa-kalapas, but the actual practice involves much more. For example, the so-called detailed method, involves analysing what are called the forty-two parts of the body mentioned in the Dhatu Vibhanga sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya : twenty earth-, twelve water-, four fire-, and six wind-element parts. If you wish to know how to develop this, you should approach a proper teacher. By practising systematically, you will gradually become proficient in the discernment of rupa-kalapas, which are born of the four causes: kamma, consciousness, temperature, and nutriment. With the complete discernment of materiality, you will have finished the first part of the first vipassana knowledge, the Mentality-Materiality Definition Knowledge (nama rupa pariccheda nana) . Let us then summarize the discernment of materiality (rupa kammatthana): To see the rupa-kalapas, you must develop concentration up to access concentration by concentrating on the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. When you can see the rupa-kalapas, you must analyse them to see all the different types of materiality in single rupa-kalapas, for example: in one eye decad-kalapa, you must see earth, water, fire, wind, colour, odour, flavour, nutritive-essence, life faculty, and eye translucency. With the brief method you must discern the different types of materiality in one sense-organ, and then do the same for the remaining five sense-organs. With the detailed method you must discern all the types of materiality in all forty-two parts of the body. When you have completed the discernment of materiality, you will be skilful enough to see all the elements of all six sense-organs at a glance, and see also all forty-two parts of the body at a glance. This was what you were aiming at as you progressed through the meditation, going from element to element, and then from sense-organ to sense-organ: from the easier to the more difficult.

Free Buddhism ebook Notes on Dhamma Practice By Ajahn Kalyano This book is an introduction to Dhamma Practice based on my own personal practice both as a lay person and as a monk. Free download here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CpU0gbK0rsqTFwfTZCu-cSFyAusoNhvR/view?usp=drive_link ===

Free Buddhism ebook Notes on Dhamma Practice By Ajahn Kalyano This book is an introduction to Dhamma Practice based on my own personal practice both as a lay person and as a monk. Free download here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CpU0gbK0rsqTFwfTZCu-cSFyAusoNhvR/view?usp=drive_link ===

Dagoba is a specific Sinhalese word derived from the Sanskrit dhatu-garbha (meaning "relic chamber"). It is the term exclusively used in Sri Lanka to describe their distinct, massive white or brick-domed stupas. In China and Japan, the design evolved into tall, multi-story wooden towers with prominent, projecting overlapping roofs. Hidden Anatomy: The Stupa Inside the Pagoda Even though a pagoda looks entirely different from a dome, it still retains the structural anatomy of the original Indian stupa—it is just stretched vertically. The Spire (Tee or Finial): at the very top of a pagoda, a metallic, ringed spire called a tiancha or sorin is actually a miniature, stylized model of the original Indian stupa's multi-layered umbrella crown. The Heart Pillar (Shinbashira): Many wooden pagodas (especially in Japan) feature a massive central log suspended down the middle of the tower. This piritually represents the axis mundi—the cosmic axis line that ran straight through the center of the earliest stupas.

Next, you need to discern these nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas as they spread out through the body, and reach, for example, the eye. Discern the eight types of materiality in them there, and see that their nutritive essence is nutriment-born nutritive essence. Then see what happens when it meets the kamma-born nutritive essence of the eye decad-kalapas: together with the digestive heat, it causes the nutritive essence of the eye decad-kalapas to produce four or five generations of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad kalapas. The number of generations produced depends on the strength of both the nutritive essences. === Vajrayana Tantrayana Buddhism channel: https://t.me/tantrayanabuddhism Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana, Tantrayana and esoteric Buddhism channel: https://t.me/tibetanbuddha ===

Knowing and Seeing By Pa Auk Tawya Sayadaw Part 14 of 15 HOW YOU SEE TEMPERATURE-BORN MATERIALITY As mentioned in the introduction, the fire element (tejo) is also called `temperature' (utu), and is found in all rupa-kalapas. The fire element of all rupa-kalapas produces temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas. They themselves contain the fire element, which produces further temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas. You need to see that this process takes place in all the types of rupa-kalapa in each sense-organ. First discern the fire element in, for example, an eye decad-kalapa. Then see that it produces temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas: that is the first generation. Then discern the fire element in a rupa-kalapa of that first generation of temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas, and see that it too reproduces: that is the second generation. In this way, see that the fire element in the eye decad-kalapa (which is itself kamma-born) reproduces through four or five generations, depending on the strength of the food and the power of the kamma. You need to see that this process takes place for each type of rupa-kalapa in each sense-organ, and need yourself to see how many generations of temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas each type of rupa-kalapa produces. HOW YOU SEE NUTRIMENT-BORN MATERIALITY As mentioned before, four parts of the body, namely, undigested food, digested food (faeces), pus, and urine, are nothing but inanimate temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas . And the body's digestive heat (which is most powerful in the alimentary canal) is just the fire element of life nonad-kalapas (jivita navaka kalapa), which are kamma-born. When the nutritive essence of the temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas meets with the digestive heat, further materiality is produced, namely, nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas (aharaja oj-atthamaka kalapa). They have themselves nutritive-essence (nutriment-born nutritive essence (aharaja oja)) which reproduces in the same way through many generations. Nutriment taken in one day reproduces like this for up to a week, during which time it also supports the nutritive essence in kamma-, consciousness-, and temperature-born rupa-kalapas, as well as preceding nutriment-born rupa-kalapas. Divine nutriment reproduces for up to one or two months. To see these things you meditate when eating. At that time the nutriment-born rupa-kalapas can be seen to spread throughout the body, from the entire alimentary canal: the mouth, the throat, the stomach, and the intestines. First you discern the four elements in the newly eaten food in those places, and see the rupa-kalapas there. Continue to look until you see that when the digestive heat (the fire element of the life nonad-kalapas) meets the nutritive essence of the newly eaten food (temperature-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas), many generations of nutriment-born nutritive-essence octad-kalapas are produced, which spread throughout the body. See that they are untranslucent, and contain the eight types of materiality. You can also see these things after you have eaten, in which case you analyse the undigested food in the stomach and intestines.

Rich Generosity Master Sheng Yen on transferring merit When a candle is lit in a dark room, it illuminates the room to some extent, but its power is limited. But if you use the same candle to light another candle, the total brightness increases. If you continue to do this, you can fill the room with brilliant illumination. The idea of transferring merit to others is like this. If we keep our own light selfishly hidden, it will only provide a limited amount of illumination. But when we share our light with others, we do not diminish our own light. Rather, we increase the amount of light available to all. Therefore, when others light our candle, we issue forth light. When out of gratitude we use our candle to light other people’s candles, the whole room gets brighter. This is why we transfer merit to others. This kind of light is continuous and inexhaustible. When we achieve a mind of gratitude and dedicate ourselves to helping others, we can practice generosity. We can be generous with our wealth, with ourselves, and with the Dharma. In some ways, giving wealth is the easiest. If we consume less and live more frugally, we can give away what we save. It is also useful to remember that the nature of giving is not necessarily dependent on the size or the value of the gift. Once, the Buddha was about to teach the Dharma to a congregation in the forest, but it got dark. Several people offered their lamps, but there was a homeless woman whose only possession was an alms bowl, which she offered to serve as an oil lamp. On realizing this, the Buddha exclaimed to his congregation that the old lady’s virtue was the most excellent, as she had offered her total wealth, the begging bowl. By making her offering, do you think she lost anything? So when out of gratitude we dedicate ourselves to benefit others, this is practicing generosity or giving. This is something we can learn. Some people think by giving everything away, you end up with nothing. But the Dharma is an inexhaustible well. However much you give of it, you can always go back for more, because in this well the more you take from it, the higher the water will rise. As long as you give the Dharma to nourish others, it will be there. As long as you are alive and are able to practice, this will be true. Being alive, you can learn more and more, and give more and more. Being alive, you can also take time to rest and recover, then go back to the source. This is how giving the Dharma works. From The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination by Master Sheng Yen. === Master Sheng Yen (1931-2009) was the resident teacher at the Chan Meditation Center in Elmhurst, New York, founder of Dharma Drum Mountain, and author of many books. === Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel: https://t.me/dhammapadas ===

The Method of No Method, The Zen Practice of Silent Illumination by Zen Master Sheng Yen