Dawn of the Truth

  A Village headman by the name of Bhadraka Gamini approached Buddha one day and asked the Tathagata to teach him the origin of suffering (dukkha samudaya)) and its ending. 'If I preach you about arising of suffering and its ending with reference to the past and the future', said the Buddha, 'you will take it as applicable to the past or the future only , therefore, I will preach you the arising and the ending of suffering as it occurs in the present.' The Buddha asked him, 'Bhadraka, in Uruwela Kappa village, are there people about whom you will worry and be saddened if any harm come on them or they get imprisoned or die? Yes, my Lord there are some people in my village about whom I care for their wellbeing', replied Bhadraka. Then the Buddha asked him, 'are there people about whom you wouldn't be troubled and have any mental agony if they are met with death, harm or imprisonment', and Bhadraka answered, 'yes my Lord there are such people about ...

Teachings of Buddha primarily focus on knowing Dukkha(suffering) and ending Dukkha, by comprehending what Dukkha is, its cause, ending and the Path leading to end Dukkha.    Buddha’s approach to ending Dukkha or the Noble Path entered with the Right View called for a paradigm shift from the practices of the renowned teachers at the time like Alarakalama and Uddkaramaputta and the other seekers of the Truth, during and before his time. We come across some venerated Buddhist monks in the   present era who grasped this previously unseen radical approach of the sublime Teachings of the Buddha written   in the Sutra Pitaka of the Buddhist Cannon. Among them   are Venerable Nyanathiloka, Venerable Nyanaponika,   Venerable Nyanavimala Maha Theros form yester year and Venerable Denmarkaye Nyanadeepa and Ven Katukurunde Nyanananda Maha theros in recent times who had lived exemplary spiritual lives perfecting the three essentials of Buddhist tr...

Uggatasharira was a Brahmin who had planned to make a Great sacrifice (maha yañña) of the 500s (―500 bulls, 500 bullocks, 500 heifers, 500 goats, and 500 rams‖), but was given good advice by the Buddha on the true sacrifice.     Before lighting the inaugural fire and raising the flag post to conduct the Great Sacrifice which he thought was beneficial, the Brahmin visited the Buddha seeking his blessings. Having worshipped the Buddha the Brahmin reported the blessed one that he is about to light the inaugural fire and raise the flag post to begin the Yaga and inquired  if the Buddha agrees that such rituals are beneficial and has good consequences ( mahathpala mahanisansa ). The buddha agreed that such preparations will have worthy consequences provided they are done with good intentions. The Brahmins' intention was that conducting such sacrifice was a holy act, as done in the day, which was considered beneficial to the society and ...

There are four types of Posture meditation ( Iriyapatha Bhavana ) , which are  Sitting ( nisinna ), Standing ( ṭhita ), Walking ( gacchanta ), and Lying ( sayāna ).  Posture meditation techniques are commonly practiced to develop Samdhi or stillness.  However, the practice of Iriyapatha taught by the Buddha aims to develop insights to his profound Dhamma.  What is commonly practiced today is simply walking and to switch posture between sitting down, standing or lying positions maintaining concentration and mindfulness in whatever body posture or movement you choose to contemplate on. We need to know well how Iriypatha meditation can be practiced for e.g. walking ( sakman ) meditation. It is to be noted that Irriyapatha meditation was not invented by the Tathagatha but was practiced even before the Buddha's time by the practitioners or yogis who sought liberation.  However, the common understanding is that it is solely a Buddhist practice wher...

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...