| PAGE ONE Fall, 2001 Issue: Spirit & Crisis EDITOR'S NOTE BUDDHASCOPE DHARMATALK FOUNDOBJECTS GUESTCOLUMN QUOTES POETRY READING ROOM REVIEWS CONTACT US SITE INDEX SUBSCRIBE |
By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
THE BUDDHA DOES NOT COME into our midst as a savior descended from on high. He comes as an enlightened teacher, a man who has found the key to the end of suffering and who points the way out to others. The path itself every man must follow for himself. It is each man's own delusions and defilements that chain him to the cycle of suffering, and again each man's own efforts at inner purification that pave the road to his deliverance.
Since bondage ultimately springs from ignorance (avijja), the key to liberation, for Buddhism, is found in wisdom (panna), a wisdom which must be generated inwardly as an immediate personal understanding of the basic truths of existence. The Dhamma is paccatam veditabbo vinnuhi (to be realized by the wise within themselves).
It is because personal realization of truth is needed to reach the end of suffering that meditation assumes a position of such crucial importance in the Buddhist formulation of the liberating path. Meditation, for Buddhism, is the means of generating the inner understanding required for deliverance from suffering.
Its diversity of techniques stems from the differences in the people to be taught, but its purpose and procedure is the same for all: to produce that purity of mind and clarity of vision needed for the liberating wisdom to arise.
--From "A Critical Analysis of the Jhanas in Therevadan Buddhist Meditation," (American University, 1980, a doctoral dissertation in philosophy)
RELATED:
"How to Breathe: Meditation Begins About Where the Nostrils End," an excerpt from Bhante Henepola Gunaratana's "Mindfulness in Plain English"
By Ven. Acariya Maha Bowa
YOU ARE A DISCIPLE of the Tathagata, with a mind that can be made to show its marvelousness through the practice of making it pure, just like the Buddha and the noble Disciples. So try to make it still and radiant, because the heart has long lain buried in the mud. As soon as you can see the harm of the mud and grow tired of it, you should urgently wake up, take notice and exert yourself till you can manage to make your way free. Nibbana is holding its hand out, waiting for you. Aren't you going to come out?
Rebelliousness is simply distraction. The end of rebelliousness is stillness. When the heart is still, it's at ease. If it's not still, it's as hot as fire. Wherever you are, everything is hot and troubled. Once it is still, then it's cool and peaceful wherever you are--cool right here in the heart.
So make the heart cool with the practice, because the heat and trouble lie with the heart. The heat of fire is one thing, but the heat of a troubled heart is hotter than fire. Try to put out the fires of defilement, craving and mental effluents burning here in the heart, so that only the phenomenom of genuine Dhamma remains. Then you will be cool and at peace, everywhere and always.
--From the book "Straight from the Heart," (Thailand, 1987), reprinted with permissions outlined in the book.
RELATED:
"Learning to Knock on the Right Skull," a chapter from "Straight From the Heart," talks by Ven. Acariya Maha Bowa
By Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta Mahathera
NO MATTER HOW GREAT the faults of others, they can't make us fall into hell. While our own faults can take us to the severest hell straightaway, even if they aren't very defiling at all.
So keep watch on your faults until it comes naturally.
When you see your faults clearly, cut them right away. Don't dawdle or delay or you'll never be rid of them.
--From "The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandas."
