Lets talk about the world!

Normally, when we talk about the world, we think of mountains, oceans, rivers, valleys, towns, transportation, globalisation, earth, planets, the universe. When the Buddha spoke about “the world” he had something else in mind: As he was sitting there, he…

Are you a monk? – Consider only one duty left!

If you are a monk, i guess you do not read (online). But if you do, this text was written exactly for you šŸ™‚ In 100 BC Buddhist monks faced a tough question: “Should we preferably memorize and thus keep…

Can you feel the sense stream’s drag?

There are a couple of instances in the Pitaka, where the Buddha compares our moment to moment experience (zoom out and you would call it “life”) with a swift river. In some similes he compares our journey from Samsara to…

Ingredients of insight progress

Even at Buddha’s time insight meditators went through times of doubt regarding their meditation practice. In the following case one monk thought he might simply ask his fellow monks how they practice and solve his own uncertainty. Unfortunately, they practiced…

Smiling like the morning sun

The story of the elder Mahāmitta: The elder Mahāmitta, as they say, dwelled in the “plougher cave”. Close to the cave was a little village where he went for alms. An old lady cared for him like her own son…

Dassanabhumi – studies in context II

Continuing on where i stopped the other day, i was amazed to see the interpretation of the next line of the Sutta Nipata by our alleged Mahakaccayana: ā€˜ā€˜PaƱƱā ceva sati ca, NāmarÅ«paƱca mārisa; Etaį¹ƒ me puį¹­į¹­ho pabrÅ«hi, katthetaį¹ƒ uparujjhatÄ«ā€™ā€™ti. ā€˜ā€˜Yametaį¹ƒ…

Anusayā – studies in context

Caveat: This post is probably very boring for most of you. However, if you manage to read it, you might a.)get a clearer picture what anusayā (‘latent tendencies’) are and b.)see how one can arrive at filling pali terms with…

Karma and stock price action

Thinking about karma (pali: kamma), many people entertain a popular notion that your past bad and good karma is similar to a bag pack which you carry with you. On occasion the understanding of kamma also comes pretty close to…

The hidden meaning of ‘yathabhuta’

In the context of liberating wisdom the Buddha frequently employs a term called “yathabhuta” when describing the practice of insight meditation. Usually this term is translated as “as it really is”. So, a passage like this: Sāvatthinidānaį¹ƒ. ā€˜ā€˜RÅ«paį¹ƒ, bhikkhave, anattā….

Lankavatara – reinventing the wheel

This posting, in a way, continues the discussion on whether there can be craving for Nibbana. We concluded that there well can be such a desire which is more like a motivation for the goal and the craving for Nibbana…