Dawn of the Truth

Titthayathana Sutta (AN) describes three sectarian doctrines ( Titthayathana ) which were declared as wrong views by the wise. “Monks, there are these three doctrines some recluses and Brahmins hold”, the Buddha preached. “However, all these when fully examined, investigated and discussed by the wise as wrong doctrines being of non- action ( akiriya vada ), they ignore such advice and continue to hold onto them.”     We need to examine these wrong views that the Buddha referred to closely, in such a way that it awakens Yonisomanasikara (wise attention). Our aim and effort must not be to gain mere understanding but to abandon the self-view ( sakkhaya ditti ) and develop the Right View ( samma ditti ) to embark on the path to nibbana. The Three Sectarian Doctrines What are these three doctrines? (a) There are, monks, some recluses and Brahmins who teach and hold this view, “Whatever a person experiences, whether pleasurable, painful or neutral, all that ...

Teaching of the Buddha was purely to see the Truth. The Buddha realising the extreme difficulty of attaining the true goal of seeing the Truth, does not favour any half-hearted measures and enjoins a holy life pure and perfect. Stream winner is the definition of a person who sees the truth by abandoning self-view. If one aims to become a stream winner treating it as a mundane qualification, it suggests that his aim is not to be free from the self-view but to strengthen it. The Enlightened One speaks of the feat of a holy aspirant as something much more difficult than that of a skilled archer. When Ananda reports to Buddha about the difficult feat of Liccavi youth who were shooting even with their arrows from a distance through a very small keyhole, and splitting an arrow, shot after shot, with never a miss, the Blessed One asked him, ''Now what do you think, Ananda? Which is the harder, which is the harder task to compass: To shoot like that or to pierce one stra...

The Buddha preached that knowing the four nutriments with wisdom (with insight) is the right view. “Monks, there are these four nutriments for the maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the support of those beings who are searching to be born. Which four? Bodily or physical food; contact as the second, mental volition or intention the third, and consciousness the fourth. These are the four nutriments for the maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the support of those beings who are searching to be born.” This teaching focuses on the cause and effect phenomena, reaching beyond the mundane self-view. The Suthra discusses about the origin of the beings and their existence in samsara (the repetitive cycle of birth & death) and not about the origin of the physical body or its maintenance. It describes the four nutriments and the way they come to be and contribute to the continuity of existence. It also explains the way the self-view is abandoned ...

Common practice is to watch the flow of breath, its beginning, continuation and passing away and its diverse nature. In essence this practice can be described as watching the flow of breath that exists which is done by 'me'. This technique can help to build calmness and tranquillity and hence can be misunderstood as an insight. For instance, I can feel & note the breath as I breathe in & breathe out, as it passes through the nostrils, sometimes in fragmented form, however, as an occurrence that is experienced by me. There is no difference in this process and where we contemplate on a building as a thing that is constructed with bricks, sand & cement, which is only a means of deconstructing an  object, a building that exist, mentally.  .  Buddha’s teaching reaches far beyond that.   During his time teachers such as Alarakalama and Uddakarama Putta practiced this technique to the highest state and succeeded in subduing sensual pleasures. They ...