Dawn of the Truth

The teaching of the Buddha, 'sukha kamani bhutani' is that the worldlings often seek happiness and therefore they are attracted to sensual pleasure for satisfaction. On one occasion the Buddha said that a person with uncontrolled craving `jumps from here to there like a monkey searching for fruit in the forest'( Dhammapada 334 ). Over indulgence in sensual pleasures often end in dissatisfaction, making people look for ways to detach from sensual pleasures.   In Search of Liberation   Interestingly, looking for ways to refrain from sense pleasures, the worldlings, still yearn for satisfaction, the Buddha has also said that the beings are insatiable. There are some who take up spiritual meditation practices which enable them to experience some form of happiness by relinquishing greed and ill will to which they tend to get attached and like to dwell in. Those practitioners often leave their lay life (i.e. sensual pleasures) to live in isolation and move to forests. Such yogis...

The pain and fear are experienced (felt) when one takes it as 'I' who feels the pain or fear .  As long as it is a person who  experiences fear and pain, he or she cannot see the truth of experiencing (feeling). This was pointed out by the Buddha.  When a person is  tormented with pain & fear the mind becomes agitated and therefore how could a person look for the truth, or be heedful? When one is disgruntled and bored the mind gets unsettled and the person with a perturbed mind makes way  to lower realms. Though the person will begin to find the value of the dhamma at such point, it is beyond his or her reach by that time . A mind that is unsettled, deprives one of the opportunity (to seek Dhamma) that is in reach. Nevertheless, the one who sought the truth of experiencing (feeling) and developed wisdom can dwell in equanimity. Overcoming the perplexity, such person begins to see the path ,observing the erroneous notion that 'I" am experiencing and it...

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 ...