"Your choice of meditation technique needs to comply with and suit your mental state or current mood.”

"Your choice of meditation technique needs to comply with and suit your mental state or current mood.”

- - -
Question: How do I avoid getting exhausted when I meditate? I focus on two things while reciting 

'Buddho' when I meditate: the solar plexus and the in-and-out breaths. Once my mind is concentrated, I would get tired from focussing on one thing and so I switch to the other.

Than Ajahn: It is actually better to just focus on one thing or use just one meditation subject. If your mind is full of thoughts, you should resort to reciting 'Buddho' first to calm it down. When your mind lacks energy and no longer conjures up all the thoughts, you should then stop reciting 'Buddho' and carry on with watching your breath.

Don't do two things at once. You're overtaxing your own mind unnecessarily. However, certain people who are used to doing both in tandem would be an exception. It depends on each individual—each one of us has a different approach to calming one's own mind. Don't think that someone else's approach would also work for you. Their mental capacity is likely not at the same level as yours, being possibly higher or lower.

So you should take note of your own technique and practice to see what suits you most. From my observation, if your mind is prone to thinking, following your breath alone would not cut it. You should start with reciting 'Buddho'; if even that doesn't work, you can start with chanting. Keep chanting to drain your mental energy to a certain extent so that it will stop proliferating, and then you can either recite 'Buddho' or observe your breathing.

And if chanting doesn't help quell your mind from thinking, you can listen to or read some Dhamma to begin with. It will help you focus on the present, pulling your mind away from random thoughts. Once your mind is calm from reading, you can then close your eyes and watch your in-breath and out-breath.

Sitting in meditation is like driving. When a car is parked, which gear is it in? When you start the engine, you have to start from the first gear. You can't jump right to the fourth or fifth gear as it will stop the engine. It will also stop the car if you shift straight to the first gear when it is at a certain speed. You need to be aware of the car's speed and the road and use its gears accordingly.

The same goes for meditation practice, or mental cultivation (bhavana). You need to observe your mental state—whether it is pliable or not and whether it is unruly or not. Your choice of meditation technique needs to comply with and suit your mental state or current mood.

“Essential Teachings.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Question from Norway: “What to do at the moment of death?”

Question from Norway:  “What to do at the moment of death?”

Than Ajahn:  “You should pretend that you’re dying and you do it now. You control your mind not to become agitated or afraid. The way to do it is by having mindfulness. You have to practice dying before you die. You have to pretend that you are dying right now and the only thing that will keep your mind peaceful and calm, and not hurt by death is mindfulness.

So, you have to practice mindfulness until you are able to calm your mind, to enter into jhāna or samādhi. Once you know how to do it, when you are going to die, all you have to do is entering into jhāna. Then, your mind will not be hurt.

Once you have jhāna, you can develop the next method of coping with death, by using vipassanā or insight – by understanding that the body isn’t you; you are the mind; you are the one who look after the body; the body is like your servant. So, you should not cling to your body when your body wants to leave you.

If you can understand this truth – that the body is not you, that you’re the mind, you will not be able to keep your body forever, and you let the body die, then you won’t be hurt. This is the second way of coping with death, by using knowledge or insight. To be able to do this, you need to have a calm and detached mind before you can detach yourself from the body. If your mind is not calm, it will cling to the body and it will have the desire for the body to get well, not to die. This desire will cause the mind anguish and suffering.”

“Dhamma in English, Q&A session, Feb 27, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

"The body gets old, gets sick, and dies, but the mind doesn’t."

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

17 July 2025

"The body gets old, gets sick, and dies, but the mind doesn’t."

Question: What can you do with people who have delusion? 

Than Ajahn: If they cannot be taught, you must leave them alone. Buddhism does not seek to convert people. 

If they are willing to listen, then you can teach them. We consider things logically in Buddhism. 

We have to educate the mind in order to know what is right and what is wrong. We can then refrain from doing bad deeds and do only good ones.

We have to exercise restraints when it comes to acquiring things. This is because we usually acquire more than we actually need. Greed that comes from delusion and ignorance begets hatred— you get angry when you don’t get what you want. If you have experienced the mental calm, you will be content. You will not want anything other than the four requisites of life: food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.

The body gets old, gets sick, and dies, but the mind doesn’t. The mind is eternal and does not dissolve like the body. The mind goes from one existence to another because of the desire for a new body. Past actions (kamma) will decide what kind of body you will have in the next life.

The mind can exist by itself without having a body. We all have a body because we still have sensual desires. 

We need the body to experience the five sensual objects: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects. If we practise meditation, we can eliminate these desires; there will then be no need for a body. 

Therefore, there will be no rebirth. To do this successfully, we have to live like a monk—a life without sensual pleasures.

"Essential Teachings."

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijato
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest talks on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g/videos

RIGHT CONCENTRATION (Samma Samadhi) by Bhikkhu Bodhi

RIGHT CONCENTRATION (Samma Samadhi) by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The eighth factor of the path is right concentration, in Pali samma samadhi. Concentration represents an intensification of a mental factor present in every state of consciousness.

This factor, one-pointedness of mind (citt'ekaggata), has the function of unifying the other mental factors in the task of cognition. It is the factor responsible for the individuating aspect of consciousness, ensuring that every citta or act of mind remains centred on its object.

At any given moment the mind must be cognizant of something -- a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, or a mental object. The factor of one-pointedness unifies the mind and its other concomitants in the task of cognizing the object, while it simultaneously exercises the function of centring all the constituents of the cognitive act on the object.

One-pointedness of mind explains the fact that in any act of consciousness there is a central point of focus, towards which the entire objective datum points from its outer peripheries to its inner nucleus.

However, samadhi is only a particular kind of one-pointedness; it is not equivalent to one-pointedness in its entirety. A gourmet sitting down to a meal, an assassin about to slay his victim, a soldier on the battlefield -- these all act with a concentrated mind, but their concentration cannot be characterized as samadhi.

Samadhi is exclusively wholesome one-pointedness, the concentration in a wholesome state of mind. Even then its range is still narrower: it does not signify every form of wholesome concentration, but only the intensified concentration that results from a deliberate attempt to raise the mind to a higher, more purified level of awareness.

The commentaries define samadhi as the centring of the mind and mental factors rightly and evenly on an object. Samadhi, as wholesome concentration, collects together the ordinarily dispersed and dissipated stream of mental states to induce an inner unification.
The two salient features of a concentrated mind are unbroken attentiveness to an object and the consequent tranquillity of the mental functions, qualities which distinguish it from the unconcentrated mind.

The mind untrained in concentration moves in a scattered manner which the Buddha compares to the flapping about of a fish taken from the water and thrown onto dry land. It cannot stay fixed but rushes from idea to idea, from thought to thought, without inner control. Such a distracted mind is also a deluded mind.

Overwhelmed by worries and concerns, a constant prey to the defilements, it sees things only in fragments, distorted by the ripples of random thoughts.
But the mind that has been trained in concentration, in contrast, can remain focused on its object without distraction. This freedom from distraction further induces a softness and serenity which make the mind an effective instrument for penetration. Like a lake unruffled by any breeze, the concentrated mind is a faithful reflector that mirrors whatever is placed before it exactly as it is.

The Development of Concentration

Concentration can be developed through either of two methods -- either as the goal of a system of practice directed expressly towards the attainment of deep concentration at the level of absorption or as the incidental accompaniment of the path intended to generate insight. The former method is called the development of serenity (samatha-bhavana), the second the development of insight (vipassana-bhavana).

Both paths share certain preliminary requirements. For both, moral discipline must be purified, the various impediments must be severed, the meditator must seek out suitable instruction (preferrably from a personal teacher), and must resort to a dwelling conducive to practice. Once these preliminaries have been dispensed with, the meditator on the path of serenity has to obtain an object of meditation, something to be used as a focal point for developing concentration.[1]

If the meditator has a qualified teacher, the teacher will probably assign him an object judged to be appropriate for his temperament. If he doesn't have a teacher, he will have to select an object himself, perhaps after some experimentation. The meditation manuals collect the subjects of serenity meditation into a set of forty, called "places of work" (kammatthana) since they are the places where the meditator does the work of practice. The forty may be listed as follows:

ten kasinas
ten unattractive objects (dasa asubha)
ten recollections (dasa anussatiyo)
four sublime states (cattaro brahmavihara)
four immaterial states (cattaro aruppa)
one perception (eka sanna)
one analysis (eka vavatthana).

The kasinas are devices representing certain primordial qualities. Four represent the primary elements -- the earth, water, fire, and air kasinas; four represent colours -- the blue, yellow, red, and white kasinas; the other two are the light and the space kasinas. Each kasina is a concrete object representative of the universal quality it signifies. Thus an earth kasina would be a circular disk filled with clay. To develop concentration on the earth kasina the meditator sets the disk in front of him, fixes his gaze on it, and contemplates "earth, earth." A similar method is used for the other kasinas, with appropriate changes to fit the case.

The ten "unattractive objects" are corpses in different stages of decomposition. This subject appears similar to the contemplation of bodily decay in the mindfulness of the body, and in fact in olden times the cremation ground was recommended as the most appropriate place for both. But the two meditations differ in emphasis. In the mindfulness exercise stress falls on the application of reflective thought, the sight of the decaying corpse serving as a stimulus for consideration of one's own eventual death and disintegration. In this exercise the use of reflective thought is discouraged. The stress instead falls on one-pointed mental fixation on the object, the less thought the better.
The ten recollections form a miscellaneous collection. The first three are devotional meditations on the qualities of the Triple Gem -- the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; they use as their basis standard formulas that have come down in the Suttas. The next three recollections also rely on ancient formulas: the meditations on morality, generosity, and the potential for divine-like qualities in oneself. Then come mindfulness of death, the contemplation of the unattractive nature of the body, mindfulness of breathing, and lastly, the recollection of peace, a discursive meditation on Nibbana.

The four sublime states or "divine abodes" are the outwardly directed social attitudes -- lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity -- developed into universal radiations which are gradually extended in range until they encompass all living beings. The four immaterial states are the objective bases for certain deep levels of absorption: the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. These become accessible as objects only to those who are already adept in concentration. The "one perception" is the perception of the repulsiveness of food, a discursive topic intended to reduce attachment to the pleasures of the palate. The "one analysis" is the contemplation of the body in terms of the four primary elements, already discussed in the chapter on right mindfulness.
When such a variety of meditation subjects is presented, the aspiring meditator without a teacher might be perplexed as to which to choose. The manuals divide the forty subjects according to their suitability for different personality types. Thus the unattractive objects and the contemplation of the parts of the body are judged to be most suitable for a lustful type, the meditation on loving kindness to be best for a hating type, the meditation on the qualities of the Triple Gem to be most effective for a devotional type, etc.

But for practical purposes the beginner in meditation can generally be advised to start with a simple subject that helps reduce discursive thinking. Mental distraction caused by restlessness and scattered thoughts is a common problem faced by persons of all different character types; thus a meditator of any temperament can benefit from a subject which promotes a slowing down and stilling of the thought process. The subject generally recommended for its effectiveness in clearing the mind of stray thoughts is mindfulness of breathing, which can therefore be suggested as the subject most suitable for beginners as well as veterans seeking a direct approach to deep concentration. Once the mind settles down and one's thought patterns become easier to notice, one might then make use of other subjects to deal with special problems that arise: the meditation on loving kindness may be used to counteract anger and ill will, mindfulness of the bodily parts to weaken sensual lust, the recollection of the Buddha to inspire faith and devotion, the meditation on death to arouse a sense of urgency. The ability to select the subject appropriate to the situation requires skill, but this skill evolves through practice, often through simple trial-and-error experimentation.

The Stages of Concentration

Concentration is not attained all at once but develops in stages. To enable our exposition to cover all the stages of concentration, we will consider the case of a meditator who follows the entire path of serenity meditation from start to finish, and who will make much faster progress than the typical meditator is likely to make.

After receiving his meditation subject from a teacher, or selecting it on his own, the meditator retires to a quiet place. There he assumes the correct meditation posture -- the legs crossed comfortably, the upper part of the body held straight and erect, hands placed one above the other on the lap, the head kept steady, the mouth and eyes closed (unless a kasina or other visual object is used), the breath flowing naturally and regularly through the nostrils. He then focuses his mind on the object and tries to keep it there, fixed and alert. If the mind strays, he notices this quickly, catches it, and brings it back gently but firmly to the object, doing this over and over as often as is necessary. This initial stage is called preliminary concentration (parikkamma-samadhi) and the object the preliminary sign (parikkamma-nimitta).

Once the initial excitement subsides and the mind begins to settle into the practice, the five hindrances are likely to arise, bubbling up from the depths. Sometimes they appear as thoughts, sometimes as images, sometimes as obsessive emotions: surges of desire, anger and resentment, heaviness of mind, agitation, doubts. The hindrances pose a formidable barrier, but with patience and sustained effort they can be overcome. To conquer them the meditator will have to be adroit. At times, when a particular hindrance becomes strong, he may have to lay aside his primary subject of meditation and take up another subject expressly opposed to the hindrance. At other times he will have to persist with his primary subject despite the bumps along the road, bringing his mind back to it again and again.

As he goes on striving along the path of concentration, his exertion activates five mental factors which come to his aid. These factors are intermittently present in ordinary undirected consciousness, but there they lack a unifying bond and thus do not play any special role. However, when activated by the work of meditation, these five factors pick up power, link up with one another, and steer the mind towards samadhi, which they will govern as the "jhana factors," the factors of absorption (jhananga). Stated in their usual order the five are: initial application of mind (vitakka), sustained application of mind (vicara), rapture (piti), happiness (sukha), and one-pointedness (ekaggata).
Initial application of mind does the work of directing the mind to the object. It takes the mind, lifts it up, and drives it into the object the way one drives a nail through a block of wood. This done, sustained application of mind anchors the mind on the object, keeping it there through its function of examination. To clarify the difference between these two factors, initial application is compared to the striking of a bell, sustained application to the bell's reverberations. Rapture, the third factor, is the delight and joy that accompany a favourable interest in the object, while happiness, the fourth factor, is the pleasant feeling that accompanies successful concentration. Since rapture and happiness share similar qualities they tend to be confused with each other, but the two are not identical. The difference between them is illustrated by comparing rapture to the joy of a weary desert-farer who sees an oasis in the distance, happiness to his pleasure when drinking from the pond and resting in the shade. The fifth and final factor of absorption is one-pointedness, which has the pivotal function of unifying the mind on the object.[2]

When concentration is developed, these five factors spring up and counteract the five hindrances. Each absorption factor opposes a particular hindrance. Initial application of mind, through its work of lifting the mind up to the object, counters dullness and drowsiness. Sustained application, by anchoring the mind on the object, drives away doubt. Rapture shuts out ill will, happiness excludes restlessness and worry, and one-pointedness counters sensual desire, the most alluring inducement to distraction. Thus, with the strengthening of the absorption factors, the hindrances fade out and subside. They are not yet eradicated -- eradication can only be effected by wisdom, the third division of the path -- but they have been reduced to a state of quiescence where they cannot disrupt the forward movement of concentration.

At the same time that the hindrances are being overpowered by the jhana factors inwardly, on the side of the object too certain changes are taking place. The original object of concentration, the preliminary sign, is a gross physical object; in the case of a kasina, it is a disk representing the chosen element or colour, in the case of mindfulness of breathing the touch sensation of the breath, etc. But with the strengthening of concentration the original object gives rise to another object called the "learning sign" (uggaha-nimitta). For a kasina this will be a mental image of the disk seen as clearly in the mind as the original object was with the eyes; for the breath it will be a reflex image arisen from the touch sensation of the air currents moving around the nostrils.

When the learning sign appears, the meditator leaves off the preliminary sign and fixes his attention on the new object. In due time still another object will emerge out of the learning sign. This object, called the "counterpart sign" (patibhaga-nimitta), is a purified mental image many times brighter and clearer than the learning sign. The learning sign is compared to the moon seen behind a cloud, the counterpart sign to the moon freed from the cloud. Simultaneously with the appearance of the counterpart sign, the five absorption factors suppress the five hindrances, and the mind enters the stage of concentration called upacara-samadhi, "access concentration." Here, in access concentration, the mind is drawing close to absorption. It has entered the "neighbourhood" (a possible meaning of upacara) of absorption, but more work is still needed for it to become fully immersed in the object, the defining mark of absorption.

With further practice the factors of concentration gain in strength and bring the mind to absorption (appana-samadhi). Like access concentration, absorption takes the counterpart sign as object. The two stages of concentration are differentiated neither by the absence of the hindrances nor by the counterpart sign as object; these are common to both. What differentiates them is the strength of the jhana factors. In access concentration the jhana factors are present, but they lack strength and steadiness. Thus the mind in this stage is compared to a child who has just learned to walk: he takes a few steps, falls down, gets up, walks some more, and again falls down. But the mind in absorption is like a man who wants to walk: he just gets up and walks straight ahead without hesitation.
Concentration in the stage of absorption is divided into eight levels, each marked by greater depth, purity, and subtlety than its predecessor. The first four form a set called the four jhanas, a word best left untranslated for lack of a suitable equivalent, though it can be loosely rendered "meditative absorption."[3] The second four also form a set, the four immaterial states (aruppa). The eight have to be attained in progressive order, the achievement of any later level being dependent on the mastery of the immediately preceding level.

The four jhanas make up the usual textual definition of right concentration. Thus the Buddha says:
And what, monks, is right concentration? Herein, secluded from sense pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a monk enters and dwells in the first jhana, which is accompanied by initial and sustained application of mind and filled with rapture and happiness born of seclusion.
Then, with the subsiding of initial and sustained application of mind, by gaining inner confidence and mental unification, he enters and dwells in the second jhana, which is free from initial and sustained application but is filled with rapture and happiness born of concentration.

With the fading out of rapture, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending; and he experiences in his own person that bliss of which the noble ones say: "Happily lives he who is equanimous and mindful" -- thus he enters and dwells in the third jhana.
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhana, which has neither-pleasure-nor-pain and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.

This, monks, is right concentration.[4]

The jhanas are distinguished by way of their component factors. The first jhana is constituted by the original set of five absorption factors: initial application, sustained application, rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness. After attaining the first jhana the meditator is advised to master it. On the one hand he should not fall into complacency over his achievement and neglect sustained practice; on the other, he should not become over-confident and rush ahead to attain the next jhana. To master the jhana he should enter it repeatedly and perfect his skill in it, until he can attain it, remain in it, emerge from it, and review it without any trouble or difficulty.

After mastering the first jhana, the meditator then considers that his attainment has certain defects. Though the jhana is certainly far superior to ordinary sense consciousness, more peaceful and blissful, it still stands close to sense consciousness and is not far removed from the hindrances. Moreover, two of its factors, initial application and sustained application, appear in time to be rather coarse, not as refined as the other factors. Then the meditator renews his practice of concentration intent on overcoming initial and sustained application. When his faculties mature, these two factors subside and he enters the second jhana. This jhana contains only three component factors: rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness. It also contains a multiplicity of other constituents, the most prominent of which is confidence of mind.

In the second jhana the mind becomes more tranquil and more thoroughly unified, but when mastered even this state seems gross, as it includes rapture, an exhilarating factor that inclines to excitation. So the meditator sets out again on his course of training, this time resolved on overcoming rapture. When rapture fades out, he enters the third jhana. Here there are only two absorption factors, happiness and one-pointedness, while some other auxiliary states come into ascendency, most notably mindfulness, clear comprehension, and equanimity. But still, the meditator sees, this attainment is defective in that it contains the feeling of happiness, which is gross compared to neutral feeling, feeling that is neither pleasant not painful. Thus he strives to get beyond even the sublime happiness of the third jhana. When he succeeds, he enters the fourth jhana, which is defined by two factors -- one-pointedness and neutral feeling -- and has a special purity of mindfulness due to the high level of equanimity.

Beyond the four jhanas lie the four immaterial states, levels of absorption in which the mind transcends even the subtlest perception of visualized images still sometimes persisting in the jhanas. The immaterial states are attained, not by refining mental factors as are the jhanas, but by refining objects, by replacing a relatively gross object with a subtler one. The four attainments are named after their respective objects: the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.[5] These states represent levels of concentration so subtle and remote as to elude clear verbal explanation. The last of the four stands at the apex of mental concentration; it is the absolute, maximum degree of unification possible for consciousness. But even so, these absorptions reached by the path of serenity meditation, as exalted as they are, still lack the wisdom of insight, and so are not yet sufficient for gaining deliverance.
The kinds of concentration discussed so far arise by fixing the mind upon a single object to the exclusion of other objects. But apart from these there is another kind of concentration which does not depend upon restricting the range of awareness. This is called "momentary concentration" (khanika-samadhi). To develop momentary concentration the meditator does not deliberately attempt to exclude the multiplicity of phenomena from his field of attention. Instead, he simply directs mindfulness to the changing states of mind and body, noting any phenomenon that presents itself; the task is to maintain a continuous awareness of whatever enters the range of perception, clinging to nothing. As he goes on with his noting, concentration becomes stronger moment after moment until it becomes established one-pointedly on the constantly changing stream of events. Despite the change in the object, the mental unification remains steady, and in time acquires a force capable of suppressing the hindrances to a degree equal to that of access concentration. This fluid, mobile concentration is developed by the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, taken up along the path of insight; when sufficiently strong it issues in the breakthrough to the last stage of the path, the arising of wisdom.

Notes
1. In what follows I have to restrict myself to a brief overview. For a full exposition, see Vism., Chapters III-XI.
2. See Vism. IV, 88-109.
3. Some common renderings such as "trance," "musing," etc., are altogether misleading and should be discarded.
4. DN 22; Word of the Buddha, pp. 80-81.
5. In Pali: akasanancayatana, vinnanancayatana, akincannayatana, n'eva-sanna-nasannayatana.

Source: https://www.vipassana.com/resources/8fp7.php

Discourses of the Ancient Nuns (Bhikkhuni Samyutta)

Discourses of the Ancient Nuns  (Bhikkhuni Samyutta)

Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Bodhi Leaves No: 143

The growing interest in women's spirituality has led to a renewed focus upon the Therigatha, the Verses of the Elder Nuns, as the oldest existing testament to the feminine experience of Buddhism.
Despite this recent attention to the Therigatha, however, it seems that all but a few scholarly commentators have overlooked a short chapter in the Samyutta Nikaya that serves as an important supplement to the larger work.
This is the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, Chapter 5 of the Sagathavaggásamyutta, the Connected Discourses with Verses, Volume I of the Samyutta Nikaya.
The Bhikkhuni-samyutta is a compilation of ten short suttas in mixed prose and verse, with a total of thirty-seven verses. Though several of these verses have parallels in the Therigatha (mentioned in the notes), a significant number don't, and often the variations in roughly parallel versions are themselves of intrinsic interest.
At least one nun in the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, Vajira, does not appear in the Therigatha, while the case of another nun, Sela, is problematic. A comparison between the two collections also brings to light some noteworthy differences in the ascription of authorship; in one case — that of the three Cala sisters — a three-way shuffling of ascriptions occurs. Such differences can be readily understood once we realize that the texts were originally transmitted orally for several centuries and thus were contingent on less durable factors than paper and ink.
Since the Samyutta Nikaya and the Therigatha were evidently transmitted by different lines of reciters, it was only too easy for verses to break off from their original narrative setting and merge with a different background story connecting them to a different author.
The antiquity of this collection is attested to by the fact that it has a counterpart in the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Samyuktagama, which probably belonged to the Sarvastivada school. Anesaki's The Four Buddhist Agamas in Chinese gives a breakdown of the Chinese equivalent of the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, and though the order of suttas is different, the ten titles are almost identical, except that the Pali Sela Sutta is there entitled Viri (or Vira). This is strong evidence that the entire chapter had taken shape before the Pali and Sarvastivada schools went their separate ways.
All the ten suttas are constructed according to the same pattern, a direct confrontation between Mara the Evil One, the Lord of Sensuality, and an individual nun. This structure perhaps accounts for the placement of the Bhikkhuni-samyutta immediately after the Marásamyutta, in which the Evil One is shown trying to distract the Buddha and the monks.
In each sutta of our collection a nun goes off by herself to pass the day in solitary meditation. Then Mara approaches her with a challenge — a provocative question or a taunt — intending to make her fall away from concentration.
What Mara has failed to realize is that each of these nuns is an arahant and has seen so deeply into the truth of the Dhamma that she is utterly inaccessible to his wiles. Far from being flustered by Mara's challenge, the nun promptly guesses the identity of her adversary and overturns his challenge with a sharp reply.
Once Mara realizes that his number has been called he has no choice but to vanish on the spot, "sad and disappointed."
In a dialogue that brings together the Lord of Sensuality with a solitary nun one might expect each of Mara's overtures to be aimed at sexual seduction. This, however, is so only in several suttas. The actual themes of the discourses vary and expose us to a broad range of perspectives on the attitudes and insights of the renunciant life.
The contrast between the allurement and misery of sensual pleasures is the theme of § § 1, 4, and 5. In §1, Mara does not himself attempt to seduce the nun but only urges her to enjoy sense pleasures before her time runs out; in §4 he assumes the guise of a handsome youth who lavishes his seductive charms on the beautiful Vijaya; and in §5 he almost threatens to rape the nun Uppalavanna, who had actually been raped soon after her ordination by an infatuated youth. In all three cases the nuns sharply rebuke Mara with verses that reveal their utter indifference to his solicitations.
In §3, Mara approaches Kisagotami, the heroine of the well-known parable of the mustard seed, trying to arouse her maternal instincts to beget another son. His challenge thus touches on sensuality only indirectly. His primary appeal is aimed at awakening the feminine desire for children.
Mara's dialogue with Soma (§2) voices the ancient Indian prejudice that women are endowed with "mere two-fingered wisdom" (an obscure expression that tries the ingenuity of the commentators), and thus cannot attain Nibbana, a goal reserved for males. Soma's rejoinder is a forceful reminder that enlightenment does not depend on gender but on the mind's capacity for concentration and wisdom, qualities accessible to any human being who earnestly seeks to penetrate the truth.
In § §6, 7, and 8 we meet the three Cala sisters, the younger sisters of the Venerable Sariputta. From these three nuns Mara tries to elicit, respectively, an affirmation of birth (i.e., of life in general), of rebirth in the heavenly realms, and of heretical views.
In each case the nun replies with appropriate verses exposing the dangers in birth, in the entire triple world, and in the systems of the non-Buddhist thinkers.
The last two suttas are philosophical masterpieces, compressing into a few tight stanzas insights of enormous depth and wide implications. Full appreciation of their richness and power would require extensive acquaintance with the whole corpus of early Buddhist texts, particularly the Samyutta Nikaya chapters on dependent origination (No. 12) and the five aggregates (No. 22).
In §9, Mara challenges Sela with a question on the origins of personal existence. She replies with a masterly poem that condenses the whole teaching of dependent origination into three four-line stanzas, adorned with an illuminating simile.
In §10 he poses a similar problem to Vajira, who answers with a stunning exposition of the teaching of non-self, illustrating the composite nature of personal identity with the simile of the chariot. This simile was popularized by the famous Milindapañha, but Vajira's simpler version has an incisive edge that is blunted by the bombastic tone of the later work.
Though set against a mythological background in an ancient world whose customs and norms seem so remote from our own, these poems of the nuns of old still speak to us today through their sheer simplicity and uncompromising honesty.
They need no ornamentation or artifice to convey their message but startle us with the clarity of unadorned truth. Emerging from the depths of indubitable personal realization, crackling with insight, they point unwaveringly toward the rugged path of renunciation and wisdom that leads to the end of suffering.
The present translation is based primarily upon the Burmese script Chatthasangayana edition of the Samyutta Nikaya (Be), though I also consulted the Sinhala script Buddha Jayanti edition (Ce) and the PTS's Roman script edition (Ee). Numbers in square brackets are the page numbers of the PTS edition.
*
Discourses of the Ancient Nuns Bhikkhuni-samyutta (Samyutta Nikaya, Book V)
1. Alavika
[128] Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park.
Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Alavika dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.1 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove seeking seclusion.2
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Alavika, desiring to make her fall away from seclusion, approached her and addressed her in verse:
1. "There is no escape in the world, So what will you do with seclusion? Enjoy the delights of sensual pleasure: Don't be remorseful later!"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Alavika: "Now who is it that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from seclusion."
Then the bhikkhuni Alavika, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
2. "There is an escape in the world Which I have closely touched with wisdom. O Evil One, kinsman of the negligent, You do not know that state.3
3. Sensual pleasures are like sword stakes; The aggregates, their chopping block. What you call sensual delight Has become for me non-delight."4 [129]
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Alavika knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
2. Soma
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Soma dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.5 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove for the day's abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men's Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Soma, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
4. "That state so hard to achieve Which is to be attained by the seers, Can't be attained by a woman With her two-fingered wisdom."6
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Soma: "Now who is this that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Soma, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
5. "What does womanhood matter at all When the mind is concentrated well, When knowledge flows on steadily As one sees correctly into Dhamma.7
6. One to whom it might occur, 'I'm a woman' or 'I'm a man' Or 'I'm anything at all' — Is fit for Mara to address."8
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Soma knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
3. Gotami
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Kisagotami dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.9 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, [130] after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove for the day's abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men's Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Kisagotami, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
7. "Why now, when your son is dead, Do you sit alone with tearful face? Having entered the woods all alone, Are you on the lookout for a man?"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Kisagotami: "Now who is this that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Kisagotami, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
8."I've gotten past the death of sons; With this, the search for men has ended. I do not sorrow, I do not weep, Nor do I fear you, friend.10
9. Darkness has been sundered. Having conquered the army of Death, I dwell without defiling taints. 10. Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Kisagotami knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
4. Vijaya
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Vijaya dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.12
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Vijaya,
desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse: [131]
10. "You are so young and beautiful, And I too am in the bloom of youth. Come, noble lady, let us rejoice With the music of a fivefold ensemble."
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Vijaya: "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Vijaya, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
11. "Forms and sounds, tastes and odors, Tactile objects that delight the mind: I offer them right back to you, For I, O Mara, do not need them.
12. I am repelled and humiliated By this foul, putrid body, Subject to break up, fragile: I've uprooted sensual craving.
13. As to those beings who fare amidst form, And those who abide in the formless, And those peaceful attainments too: Everywhere darkness has been destroyed."13
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing "The bhikkhuni Vijaya knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
5. Uppalavanna
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna dressed... she stood at the foot of a sala tree in full flower.14
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
14. "Having gone to a sala tree with flowering top, You stand at its foot all alone, bhikkhuni. There is none whose beauty can rival your own: Foolish girl, have you no fear of rogues?"15
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna: [132] "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
15. "Though a hundred thousand rogues Just like you might come here, I stir not a hair, I feel no terror; Even alone, Mara, I don't fear you.16
16. I can make myself disappear Or I can enter inside your belly. I can stand between your eyebrows Yet you won't catch a glimpse of me.
17. I am the master of my own mind, The bases of power are well developed; I am freed from every kind of bondage, Therefore I don't fear you, friend."17
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Uppalavanna knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
6. Cala
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Cala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.18
Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Cala and said to her: "What don't you approve of, bhikkhuni?"
"I don't approve of birth, friend."
18. "Why don't you approve of birth? Once born, one enjoys sensual pleasures. Who now has persuaded you of this: 'Bhikkhuni, don't approve of birth'?" 19. "For one who is born there is death; Once born, one encounters sufferings — Bondage, murder, affliction — Hence one shouldn't approve of birth.
20. The Buddha has taught the Dhamma, The transcendence of birth; For the abandoning of all suffering He has settled me in the truth. [133]
21. As to those beings who fare amidst form, And those who abide in the formless — Not having understood cessation, They come again to re-becoming."19
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Cala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
7. Upacala
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Upacala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Upacala and said to her: "Where do you wish to be reborn, bhikkhuni?"
"I do not wish to be reborn anywhere, friend."
22. "There are Tavatimsa and Yama devas, And devatas of the Tusita realm, Devas who take delight in creating, And devas who exercise control. Direct your mind there And you'll experience delight."20
22. "There are Tavatimsa and Yama devas, And devatas of the Tusita realm, Devas who take delight in creating, And devas who exercise control. They are still bound by sensual bondage, They come again under Mara's control.
24.  All the world is on fire, All the world is burning, All the world is ablaze, All the world is quaking.
25. That which does not quake or blaze, That to which worldlings do not resort,
26. Where there is no place for Mara: That is where my mind delights."
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Upacala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
8. Sisupacala
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Sisupacala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Sisupacala and said to her: "Whose creed do you approve of, bhikkhuni?"
"I don't approve of anyone's creed, friend."
26. "Under whom have you shaved your head? You do appear to be a recluse, Yet you don't approve of any creed, So why wander as if bewildered?"21
27. "Outside here the followers of creeds Place their confidence in views. I don't approve of their teachings; They are not skilled in the Dhamma. [134]
28. But there is a scion of the Sakyan clan, The Enlightened One, without an equal, Conqueror of all, Mara's subduer, Who everywhere is undefeated.
29. Everywhere freed and unattached, The One with Vision who sees all, Who attained the end of all kamma, Released in the extinction of acquisitions: That Blessed One is my Teacher; His is the teaching I approve."22
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Sisupacala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
9. Sela
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Sela dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.23
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Sela, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
30. "By whom has this puppet been created? Where is the maker of the puppet? Where has the puppet arisen? Where does the puppet cease?"24
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Sela: "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Sela, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
31. "This puppet is not made by itself, Nor is this misery made by another. It has come to be dependent on a cause, When the cause dissolves then it will cease.
32. As when a seed is sown in a field It grows depending on a pair of factors: It requires both the soil's nutrients And a steady supply of moisture.
33. Just so the aggregates and elements, And these six bases of sensory contact, Have come to be dependent on a cause; When the cause dissolves they will cease."25
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Sela knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
10. Vajira
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Vajira dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.26 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi [135] and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove for the day's abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men's Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Vajira, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
"By whom has this being been created? Where is the maker of the being? Where has the being arisen? Where does the being cease?"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Vajira: "Now who is this that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Vajira, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
35. "Why now do you assume 'a being'? Mara, have you grasped a view? This is a heap of sheer constructions: Here no being is found.
36. Just as, with an assemblage of parts, The word 'chariot' is used, So, when the aggregates are present, There's the convention 'a being.'
37. It's only suffering that comes to be, Suffering that stands and falls away. Nothing but suffering comes to be, Nothing but suffering ceases."27
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Vajira knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.

Notes
Key to Abbreviations:
AN — Anguttara Nikaya
Be — Burmese script edition (Sixth Council)
BL — Buddhist Legends (trans. of DhpA)
Ce — Sinhala script edition (Buddha Jayanti) DhpA — Dhammapada Atthakatha
Ee — European edition (PTS)
EV II — Elders' Verses II (trans. of Thi)
SN — Samyutta Nikaya
SA — Samyutta Nikaya Atthakatha
ST — Samyutta Nikaya Tika
Thi — Therigatha ThiA— Therigatha Atthakatha (Ee) Vism — Visuddhimagga

1. Thi does not ascribe any verses to a bhikkhuni named Alavika, but two of the verses in this sutta are to be found among Sela's verses: v.1 = Thi 57 and v.3 = Thi 58. ThiA 64 confirms the identity of the two bhikkhunis, explaining that Sela was called Alavika because she was the daughter of the king of Alavaka. She heard the Buddha preach and became a lay follower. Later she took ordination as a nun and attained arahantship.
2. SA: Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis went there for seclusion. It was about three kilometers south of Savatthi and was protected by royal guards.
3. Strangely, this verse, the appropriate response to Mara's taunt, is not found in Thi. SA: The escape (nissarana) is Nibbana. With wisdom (pañña): with reviewing knowledge. ST: The intention is: "How much more, then, with the knowledge of the path and fruit?"
4. In pada b, khandhasam should be resolved khandha esam. SA glosses khandha tesam. See EV II, n.58.
5. ThiA 66 identifies her as the daughter of King Bimbisara's chaplain. The three verses here are also at Thi 60-62, also ascribed to Soma.
6. SA: That state (thana): arahantship. With her two-fingered wisdom (dvangulapaññaya): with limited wisdom (parittapaññaya); or else this is said of women because they cut the thread while holding the cotton ball between two fingers. ST and ThiA 67 offer a different explanation: "From childhood on they are always determining whether the rice is cooked by pressing the grains in the pot between two fingers. Therefore, because of the feebleness of their wisdom (acquired with two fingers), they are said to have 'two-fingered wisdom.'" It should be noted that it is Mara the Evil One who voices this ancient bias.
7. SA: When knowledge flows on steadily (ñanamhi vattamanamhi): while the knowledge of the attainment of fruition is occurring (phalasamapattiñane pavattamane). As one sees correctly into Dhamma (samma dhammam vipassato): seeing into the Dhamma of the four truths, or into the five aggregates which form the object of insight in the preliminary phase of practice.
SA explains in terms of the knowledge of fruition attainment because Soma, being already an arahant, would have been dwelling in the concentration of fruition.
8. One entertains such thoughts on account of craving, conceit, and views.
9. SA recapitulates the popular story of her search for the mustard seeds to bring her dead son back to life, told in greater detail at DhpA II 270-75; see BL 2:257-60. Her verses at Thi 213-23 do not correspond to the verses here.
10. Padas ab read: Accantam mataputtamhi/Purisa etadantika. A pun seems to be intended between two senses of being "past the death of sons." I translate in accordance with the paraphrase of SA: "I have 'gotten past the death of sons' as one for whom the death of a son is over and done with. Now I will never again undergo the death of a son... The ending of the death of sons is itself the ending of men. Now it is impossible for me to seek a man."
11. SA elaborates: "The delight of craving has been destroyed for me in regard to all the aggregates, sense bases, elements, kinds of becoming, modes of origin, destinations, stations, and abodes. The mass of ignorance has been broken up by knowledge."
12. ThiA 159 explains that in lay life she had been a friend of Khema, the chief consort of King Bimbisara. When she heard that Khema had gone forth under the Buddha, she visited her and was so inspired by their conversation that she too decided to take ordination. Khema became her preceptor. Her verses are at Thi 169-74. While the verses here are not among them, interestingly vv. 10 and 12 (with minor differences) are found among Khema's verses, Thi 139 and 140.
13. SA: Pada a refers to the form realm, pada b to the formless realm, and pada c to the eight mundane meditative attainments. By the mention of the two higher realms, the sensory realm is also implied. Hence in pada d she says, "everywhere the darkness of ignorance has been dispelled."
14. She was the foremost among the bhikkhunis in the exercise of supernormal powers (iddhi), to which she testifies in her verses below. Vv.14-17 correspond to Thi 230-33, but with significant differences. Thi 234 is identical with v.3, here ascribed to Alavika.
15. Pada c: Na c'atthi te dutiya vannadhatu. I translate freely in accordance with the gloss of SA: "There is no second beauty element like your beauty element; there is no other bhikkhuni similar to you." A pun on the bhikkhuni's name is probably intended. Ee includes an additional pada between padas c and d of the other eds., which seems a scribal error, as it is identical with pada b of the next verse, where it belongs.
16. SA explains padas ab as if they meant: "Though a hundred thousand rogues might come here, they would be treated just like you in that they would get no intimacy or affection." I translate, however, in accordance with the apparent sense, which also can claim support from ThiA's gloss on Thi 231.
17. The iddhipada, "bases of power," are the supporting conditions for the exercise of the iddhi or supernormal powers described in the previous verse.
18. Cala, Upacala, and Sisupacala — whose verses are at § §6-8 respectively — were the younger sisters of Sariputta, in descending order of age. Their verses are found at Thi 182-88, 189-95, and 196-203. However, not only is the correspondence between the two collections fragmentary, but the ascriptions of authorship also differ. Cala's v.19 corresponds to Thi 191, and v.20 is reflected obscurely in Thi 192, both of which are there ascribed to Upacala. Upacala's vv.22-25 correspond to Thi 197, 198, 200, and 201, there ascribed to Sisupacala. And Sisupacala's vv.26-28 correspond to Thi 183-85, but there are ascribed to Cala.
19. On padas ab, see n.13.
20. This verse alludes to five of the six sense-sphere heavens. Only the lowest plane, the heaven of the Four Great Kings, is not mentioned.
21. Pasanda, in pada c, refers to the "heretical" systems outside the Buddha's dispensation. I render it, inadequately, as "creed." SA explains the word derivation by way of "folk etymology": "They are called pasanda because they lay out a snare (Be: pasam denti; Ce: pasam oddenti); the meaning is that they throw out the snare of views among the minds of beings. But the Buddha's dispensation frees one from the snare, so it is not called pasanda; the pasanda are found only outside the dispensation." SED defines pasanda as "a heretic... anyone who falsely assumes the characteristics of an orthodox Hindu, a Jaina, a Buddhist, etc.; a false doctrine, heresy."
22. SA explains vimutto upadhisankhaye in pada d thus: "He is released into Nibbana, known as the extinction of acquisitions, as object."
23. There is no way to determine whether this bhikkhuni is identical with Alavika; see n.1. The verses do not appear in Thi.
24. SA: Both puppet (bimba) here, and misery (agha) at v.31b, refer to individual existence (or: the body; attabhava), in the latter case because individual existence is a foundation for suffering.
25. One key to the interpretation of Sela's reply is the Bhava Sutta (AN I 223-24), where it is stated that for beings hemmed in by ignorance and fettered by craving, kamma is the field, consciousness the seed, and craving the moisture, for the production of future re-becoming. The cause (hetu), then, would be the kammically constructive consciousness accompanied by ignorance and craving. When that dissolves through the elimination of ignorance and craving, there is no establishing of consciousness in a new existence, and thus no production of aggregates, elements, and bases in a future life. See too in this connection SN 12:38-40 and SN 22:54, which also shed light on these verses.
26. SA provides no personal identification, and no verses in her name have come down in Thi.
27. The simile of the chariot is elaborated at Milindapañha 27-28, which quotes the previous verse. Visuddhimagga 18:28 also quotes these two verses to confirm that "there is no being apart from name-and-form."
In v.37 suffering signifies the inherent unsatisfactoriness of the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhadukkha), which is identical with the heap of sheer constructions (suddhasankharapuñja) in v.36c. For clarification, see the lines from the famous Kaccanagotta Sutta (SN 12:15): "This world, Kaccana, is for the most part shackled by engagement, clinging, and adherence. But this one (with right view) does not become engaged and cling through that engagement and clinging, mental standpoint, adherence, underlying tendency; he does not take a stand about 'my self.' He has no perplexity or doubt that what arises is only suffering arising; what ceases is only suffering ceasing. His knowledge about this is independent of others. It is in this way, Kaccana, that there is right view."

Copyright © Kandy; Buddhist Publication Society, (1997) BPS Online Edition © (2006) Digital Transcription Source: Access to Insight Dhamma Transcription Project

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SEARCHING SUTTAS, DOING DHAMMA - Piya Tan

SEARCHING SUTTAS, DOING DHAMMA

With a growing number of scholars who are experts in Pali, and with more and better translations of the Pali texts, we have today more people than ever, not just Buddhists, but anyone interested in Buddhism, who know the suttas much better than the modern monastics of the world.

My point is that it is not just a matter of reading and knowing the suttas, but “searching” and living the suttas, so that we walk the path of awakening.

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PROFESSIONALS

As in any written texts, even sacred text or scripture, they can be and often are misused by the clever and the cunning. This problem takes a rather insidious turn in local Buddhism. For many “professional” teachers, teaching the suttas seems to be merely an extension of their profession.

In other words, the fact that they have some kind of professionalism, academic qualification or social status is sufficient as qualification or entitlement to speak on the suttas or anything Buddhist.

.
ANYONE WHO CAN SPEAK

Here is a real-life story. A Buddhist temple once invited a respectable professional because he seemed to have shown some interest in Buddhism. He spoke to a crowded hall of respectfully attentive audience. His talk, however, was highlighted by the belief in God and the eternity of the Soul!

Finally, a concerned Buddhist stood up and told the speaker that Buddhists neither subscribe to any God-idea nor believe in an eternal Soul. “Oh, I’m sorry,” at least he apologised, “but I am a Christian; I believe in God and the Soul!”

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LAUGH REFLEX

This is clearly embarrassing and plainly unwise. In some cases, we even have non-Buddhists who have been invited or accepted to run Buddhist social projects for years before anyone even suspected they were not Buddhists!

On a more insidious level, we should question ourselves how well we have understood, not to mention live and love, the suttas to speak so expertly on any of them, and to present them like some secular coffee-table subject to joke about.

Some local Buddhists, it seems, have reflexively laugh whenever they hear  Buddhism which is different from the way they think. Humour is sometimes defined as coping with the incongruous!

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FAKE TEACHINGS

When we are observant and concerned enough, we may wonder why some Sinhalese monks and their local followers speak of “transfer of merits,” as if good karma is some negotiable thing we can pass on to the dead (whether they can have it or not). No such teaching is found in any sutta. Perhaps, they wishfully equate this with “transfer of foreign currency” that have actually benefitted them since they came here.

Then, we righteously and loudly claim that we support LGBTQ rights, mainly because it is a “cool” thing to do: it gives us populist mileage; it attracts wealth. Are we then exploiting sex? Have we seriously examined or discussed the sutta teachings on sexuality, sexual identity and sexual morals?

Are monastics experts in these areas? Here’s a catch-22: if they do, why are they monastics?; if they don’t, why are they monastics?

The point is that monastics need not pretend to know everything; they must certainly know the Buddha Dhamma. What's the point of having a PhD or a lot of money when we cannot end suffering or reach the path in this life? Have we no faith in the the Dhamma?

.
ENDING SUFFERING

Let me not mention the sinister misquoting of the suttas—fake quotes—to promote racist ideas, social intolerance and religious violence amongst some quarters of ethnic Buddhists. The point here is vital and simple: we need “interpretive competence.” We must constanty ask how do we apply the Dhamma to our life.

It is not a matter of coming up with a different meditation or a new way of teaching Dhamma. We must competently present the suttas—only for explaining “suffering” and “ending suffering,” as the Buddha declares in the Anurādha Sutta (S 22.86), SD 21.13. This we must do well--with our life, with our love.

FEEL THE DHAMMA

The emphasis here is not merely on the act of “reading” or even “studying” the suttas (though these may have their own merits). It is about diligently “searching the suttas.”

The suttas are unlike other religious texts where the FIAT lies in the words. When we see the words of the suttas, we are FREED from our self, from self-delusion. We can FEEL the Dhamma, directly know the Dhamma, we then really see the Buddha.

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BETTER HUMAN

The suttas are a vital record of the Buddha’s SELF-AWAKENING and those lives of the great saints of his time. These are an eye-opening adventure for us, with our eyes wide open to new and better possibilities of being human.

And when we CLOSE our eyes, we SEE more of our heart and FREE our own divine qualities of love, ruth, joy and peace. The message of the suttas is that the path has been cleared again by the Buddha. He urges us to go on our journey from here to that path of awakening, and on to time-free nirvana.

MASTERING DHAMMA

Like going on any long journey, we need to be properly equipped to search the suttas—we need to master, at least, love language and literature—so that we understand the significance and nuances of the texts, and live the Buddha-word in our lives.

A musician must be able to read notes or at least be diligent in practising on his musical instrument to be competent and skilful players. Even then, not every musician is able to present the full potential of a piece of music.

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GOOD MUSIC

Good music calls for more than just knowing how to play an instrument, or even playing a piece well. The experience is richer when we understand music theory, playing techniques, and the life behind the composition.

Then, our enjoyment of that music will be far richer and rewarding. This is not to say that a good musician must be disciplined and diligent in order to engage music at its deepest and highest levels.

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SUTTA BACKGROUND

So it is with reading the suttas. The more we know about these earliest records we have of the Buddha’s life and teachings, the better we appreciate them. The more we know about their social, cultural and political environment, about their literary and rhetorical texture, and about our own self-conscious reading of these living words, the more likely we are to enter into meaningful dialogue with the suttas, so that we can fully, creatively, and responsibly grasp and give their intended sense and significance.

We understand the text; we appreciate the context.

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DOING DHAMMA

“Doing Dhamma” is different from talking Buddhism. Buddhism is secondary to living the DHAMMA. Buddhism is our often less-than-human exploitation of the Buddha’s teachings. The Dhamma is our desire to learn and discover ourself; to train our mind; to brighten and free our heart; to see and walk the path of awakening. All this requires honesty, courage, diligence and competence.

The one purpose of the SUTTA DISCOVERY (SD) translations with its modern commentaries is, hopefully, to create awareness of the truth and beauty of the Dhamma and respond to them wholesomely. To do this, we need to cultivate insight and skill in relevant areas, and to experiment with interpretive reading strategies so that we understand the suttas, so that we live and love them.

This can be done alone, but it is more fruitful when done together with others, and with the friendly guidance of a facilitator who has well searched and is still joyfully searching the suttas

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The World’s First Biography of the Buddha

❖ The World’s First Biography of the Buddha ❖

~ A series of bas-relief stone carvings predating Buddha images ~

In India there are bas-relief stone carvings of the Buddha’s biography which date back to an early period. They were created between 300 and 600 years after the passing of the Buddha, and were discovered at three landmarks: Bharhut Stupa in Northern India, Sanchi Stupas in Central India, and Amaravati Stupas in Southern India. These stone carvings were created not with images of the Buddha, but with symbolisms that represent the Buddha’s teachings: the absence of his image in the scenes, the footprints, the swastika, the fire pillar, and the triratna – the ancient symbol of the Triple Gem.

Buddhadasa found these stone-carved images extremely interesting and significant. After carrying out research and visiting India in 1955, he started to create five sets of replicas at Suan Mokkhabalarama Monastery, Chaiya, in Surat Thani Province. The Sculpture Hall was built and ten monks worked on the replicas, enlarging the many images that had been collected, including those sent from the British Museum in London. They were carved in three-dimensional bas-relief on clay and cast in cement.

One set is on display at the Spiritual Theatre of Suan Mokkhabalarama. Another set was given to Wat U-mong in Chiang Mai, and three sets are kept in the living quarters and the Sculpture Hall at Suan Mokkhabalarama. Some images relating to the Birth, growth, self-practice, Enlightenment, teachings, and the Great Decease of the Buddha are on display at the Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives. These help us learn about the life of the Buddha, which was filled with purity, wisdom, and loving compassion. They also reflect the ability of people in the early days of Buddhism to understand and focus on the true meaning of Dhamma rather than material objects such as Buddha statues.

Buddhism teaches us to not become attached to objects, people, or a self. Therefore, we must not cling to Buddha images forged in various styles as objects of worship and neglect the teachings of the Buddha, which focus on developing self-awareness and wisdom. It is unfortunate that in recent times Buddha images have overshadowed the Dhamma and the Buddha.

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Text from the book "Biography of the Buddha in Stone Bas-Reliefs” with explanation of pictures by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu

Photograph from the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives collection

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“Spiritual Theater in the City” is a series of weekly posts on the paintings and sculptures exhibited at the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives, Bangkok.

To discover other teachings by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, please visit:
www.bia.or.th/en  and  www.suanmokkh.org