__ධර්ම මාර්ගය "Dharma Margaya"__

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           The Buddha taught us that ethics is the foundation for all of the good qualities we can develop in the mind. By following five basic training rules we can eliminate worry and regret that disturbs our meditation. As well, we avoid all the unpleasant results of unwholesome actions. These are the five basic ethical rules the Buddha asked his lay disciples to follow: I observe the precept of abstaining from killing living beings. This means not intentionally causing the death of any living beings. I observe the precept of abstaining from stealing. This means not taking things that do not belong to us. I observe the precept of abstaining from sexual misconduct. This means not having sex with people we are not married to and with people against their will. I observe the precept of abstaining from telling lies. This means saying what is true at the proper time. I observe the precept of abstaining from using intoxicating drinks and drugs. ...

An aeon is a very long period of time. This is how it was shown through a simile. There is a huge rock which is ten kilometres high, 10kms wide and 10kms long. A person wipes this rock with a smooth cloth once in every hundred years. After a long time, that rock will be waned to the level of the ground. But the aeon would not have finished yet. How many billions of aeons made up of such a long durations, would we have passed in this samsara journey? Even the one who gains the state of universal kingship will not be free from the four bad destinations until the Four Noble Truths have been realised. How many times would we also have been universal kings? Now, we do not have any of the thirty-two special signs that those universal kings had back then. Very rarely, we went to the heavenly worlds and the brahma worlds. Now we arrived to the human world. Who knows of how long of a period of time we have spent in the animal world? Who knows of how long of a period of time we have suffere...

The Benefits of Long-term Meditation Bhante Gunaratana Spending time in a retreat is like recharging a battery. Once you have charged a battery, you don’t let it just sit around. You install it in an appliance and use it until it runs out. Then you recharge it. Similarly, when you need to recharge yourself you go for retreats. The difference between charging a battery and going for a retreat is that the length of time spent in a retreat cannot really be equated with the time you charge a battery. If you charge a battery longer, that does not mean it can run longer. Once the battery has reached full capacity it cannot be charged any more. Charging after that point is useless. But this does not happen when you go on a long-term retreat. First, before you go for long retreats, you should have undertaken short weekend retreats. Also, be aware of the length of the longer retreat you hope to accomplish—ten days, twenty days, a month, three months, or a year or two? You have t...

Do It Yourself Bhante Gunaratana The Venerable Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, spent twenty-five years with the Buddha serving him. The Buddha asked him several times to strive hard and attain enlightenment. He had known all the Dhamma and theories of meditation. However, as he enjoyed serving the Buddha and other fellow bhikkhus, he neglected his own attainment of enlightenment until finally a great pressure came from the 499 Arahants assembled to hold the first Buddhist council. They insisted that he should attain enlightenment before the designated date for the council planned for the third month after the Buddha’s passing away. Buddha had already said: “Monks, meditate. Don’t be heedless. Don’t let your mind be filled with defilements. Don’t weep and wail saying: “This life is full of trouble, full of misery, full of pain, full of agony.” The mind not developed through the practice of mindfulness meditation creates tension, anxiety and worry. Don’t keep crying ...

The Seeds of Dhamma Take Root: the Lifetime Precepts Ceremony Libby Reid On August 7 through 9,1998, the Bhavana Society held its first formal Lifetime Precepts Retreat, culminating in a Precepts-taking ceremony on Sunday, August 9. In Pali, the word “bhavana” means cultivation. In the years since Bhante Gunaratana and Bhante Rahula began teaching in this country, the seeds of Dhamma have been planted in many hearts. Over the years, Bhante Gunaratana, Bhante Rahula, and other members of the Bhavana Sangha have lovingly cultivated these seedlings. One fruit of these efforts was the decision by thirty six of us to attend this retreat and take the Eight Lifetime Precepts. Like tomato plants newly staked, we found ourselves with additional support and room to grow. Those of us interested in taking the precepts were asked to fill out an application explaining why we wanted to take this step. Some expressed hesitation and concern that Buddhism was not about rules and ritual...

Translated from the original Pali with introductory essay and explanatory notes.   Piyadassi Thera   Download

        Disciples of the Supreme Buddha are divided into two main groups. The first group consists of monks and nuns, and the second group consists of lay people. These disciples have gone for refuge only to the Noble Triple Gem. Disciples of the Supreme Buddha are not like ordinary people who go for refuge to various beliefs based on blind faith. Disciples of the Supreme Buddha are full of confidence in the realization of the Buddha (Saddhā). They are wise, brave, and dignified. They do not possess cowardly and weak personalities that wilt and bend over in the face of various other false beliefs. They do not have a slimy nature that wavers from one belief to another. During the time of the Supreme Buddha, the invasions from other religions were more powerful than seen in the present day. Religious leaders with false views such as Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta always tried to weaken disciples who had gone for refuge to the Noble Triple Gem. However, it was impossible for them...

Ancient Buddhist Scriptures Everything we teach comes from the ancient sermons taught by Gautama Buddha and his enlightened disciples that lived with him. They have been preserved in the Sutta Pitaka by the  Theravada Buddhist tradition . Shortly after the Buddha passed away, 500 fully enlightened monks gathered at the First Great Council to recite all of the sermons they remembered that the Buddha and his enlightened disciples preached. They then organized them into five collections known as Nikayas. Groups of monks were assigned to memorize these collections and get together frequently to recite them. At the time in India there was a strong tradition of memorization like this among members of the Brahmin caste. Eventually because of dangers such as war and famine, there was the fear that there would not be enough monks alive to keep up this tradition, so the sermons were written down in the original language of Pali. The translations ...