2) Sutta Selections
- Buddha
- Nine Qualities of the Buddha
Itipi so 1) bhagavā 2) arahaṁ 3) sammāsambuddho 4) vijjācaraṇasampanno 5) sugato 6) lokavidū 7) anuttaro purisadammasārathi 8) satthā devamanussānaṁ 9) buddho bhagavā’ti.
He, 1) the Blessed One, is indeed 2) the Pure One, 3) the Perfectly Enlightened One; 4) he is impeccable in conduct and understanding, 5) the Accomplished One, 6) the Knower of the worlds. 7) He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained. 8) He is teacher of gods and humans. 9) He is awake and holy.
- Bhikkhu Khantipālo ‘Buddha, My Refuge’
“This small work … illustrates the nine virtues of the Buddha with sutta passages and stories.”
- A Sketch of the Buddha’s Life
“This selection of excerpts from the Pali canon provides a rough outline of the life of the Buddha. I hope you will find enough in this anthology to gain at least an inkling both of the range of the Buddha’s teachings and of the sweeping trajectory of his extraordinary life.”
- Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli The Life of the Buddha
“This anthology pieces together the biographical information about the Buddha into a continuous narrative from throughout the Pali canon. … Many books about the Buddha do not make clear where the material is coming from. In this book it gives clear references to the original texts or makes clear that material comes from the ancient commentaries. … This is one of the only easily available English sources of text from the Vinaya in print form … [where] many important parts of the Buddha’s life are explained”
- Dhamma
- Six Qualities of the Dhamma
1) Svākkhāto bhagavatā dhammo; 2) sandiṭṭhiko 3) akāliko 4) ehipassiko; 5) opaneyyiko 6) paccattaṁ veditabbo viññūhī’ti.
The Dhamma is 1) well expounded by the Blessed One, 2) apparent here and now, 3) timeless, 4) encouraging investigation, 5) leading inwards, 6) to be experienced individually by the wise.
- AN 8.53 ‘This is the Dhamma’
“As for the qualities of which you may know, ‘These qualities lead 1) to dispassion, not to passion; 2) to being unfettered, not to being fettered; 3) to shedding, not to accumulating; 4) to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; 5) to contentment, not to discontent; 6) to seclusion, not to entanglement; 7) to aroused persistence, not to laziness; 8) to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome’: You may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher’s instruction.'”
- Ud 5.5 ‘Eight Amazing Qualities of This Dhamma’
“1) This Dhamma & Vinaya has a gradual training, a gradual performance, a gradual practice, with a penetration to gnosis only after a long stretch… 2) my disciples do not — even for the sake of their lives — overstep the training rules I have formulated for them… 3) if an individual is unprincipled… even though he may be sitting in the midst of the community of monks, he is far from the community, and the community far from him… 4) when members of the four castes — noble warriors, brahmans, merchants, & workers — go forth from home to the homeless life in this Dhamma & Vinaya declared by the Tathāgata, they give up their former names and clans and are classed simply as ‘contemplatives, sons of the Sakyan’… 5) although many monks are totally unbound into the property of unbinding with no fuel remaining, no swelling or diminishing in the property of unbinding for that reason can be discerned… 6) this Dhamma & Vinaya has a single taste: that of release… 7) this Dhamma & Vinaya has these many treasures of various kinds: the four establishings of mindfulness, the four right exertions, the four bases of power, the five faculties, the five strengths, the seven factors for awakening, the noble eightfold path… 8) this Dhamma & Vinaya is the abode of such mighty beings as these: stream-winners & those practicing to realize the fruit of stream-entry; once-returners… non-returners…. arahants & those practicing for arahantship.”
- Sangha
- Nine Qualities of the Sangha
1) Suppaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 2) ujuppaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 3) ñāyappaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 4) sāmīcippaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; yadidaṁ cattāri purisayugāni, aṭṭha purisapuggalā. Esa bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 5) āhuneyyo 6) pāhuneyyo 7) dakkhiṇeyyo 8) añjalikaraṇīyo; 9) anuttaraṁ puññakkhettaṁ lokassā’ti.
They are the Blessed One’s disciples, 1) who have practiced well; 2) who have practiced directly; 3) who have practiced insightfully; 4) those who practice with integrity — that is the four pairs, the eight kinds of noble beings — these are the Blessed One’s disciples; such ones are 5) worthy of gifts, 6) worthy of hospitality, 7) worthy of offerings, 8) worthy of respect; 9) they give occasion for incomparable goodness to arise in the world.
- AN 8.13 ‘Worthy of Respect’
“A monk endowed with eight qualities is worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, worthy of respect, an incomparable field of merit for the world. Which eight? 1) There is the case where a monk is virtuous… 2) When given food, whether coarse or refined, he eats it carefully, without complaining… 3) He feels disgust at bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, mental misconduct, at the development of evil, unskillful [mental] qualities… 4) He is composed & easy to live with, and doesn’t harass the other monks… 5) Whatever tricks or deceits or wiles or subterfuges he has, he shows them as they actually are to the Teacher or to his knowledgeable companions in the holy life, so that the Teacher or his knowledgeable companions in the holy life can try to straighten them out… 6) When in training he gives rise to the thought, ‘Whether the other monks want to train or not, I’ll train here.’…. When going, he goes the straight path; here the straight path is this: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration… 8) He dwells with his persistence aroused, [thinking,] ‘Gladly would I let the flesh & blood in my body dry up, leaving just the skin, tendons, & bones, but if I have not attained what can be reached through human steadfastness, human persistence, human striving, there will be no relaxing my persistence.'”
- Iti 4.107 Mutual Benefit
“Monks, brahmans & householders are very helpful to you, as they provide you with the requisites of robes, alms food, lodgings, & medical requisites for the sick. And you, monks, are very helpful to brahmans & householders, as you teach them the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; as you expound the holy life both in letter & meaning, entirely complete, surpassingly pure. In this way the holy life is lived in mutual dependence, for the purpose of crossing over the flood, for making a right end to stress.”
- The Triple Gem (Tiratana)
- Taking the Three Refuges
Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Dutiyampi buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Dutiyampi dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi. Dutiyampi saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Tatiyampi buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Tatiyampi dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Tatiyampi saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi.
To the Buddha I go for refuge./ To the Dhamma I go for refuge./ To the Saṅgha I go for refuge./ For the second time, to the Buddha I go for refuge./ For the second time, to the Dhamma I go for refuge./ For the second time, to the Saṅgha I go for refuge./ For the third time, to the Buddha I go for refuge./ For the third time, to the Dhamma I go for refuge./ For the third time, to the Saṅgha I go for refuge.
- Dhp 188-192 Refuge Supreme
”Driven only by fear, do men go for refuge to many places — to hills, woods, groves, trees and shrines./ Such, indeed, is no safe refuge; such is not the refuge supreme. Not by resorting to such a refuge is one released from all suffering./ He who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, penetrates with transcendental wisdom the Four Noble Truths — suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the cessation of suffering./ This indeed is the safe refuge, this the refuge supreme. Having gone to such a refuge, one is released from all suffering.”
- AN 11.12 Leading to Concentration
”At any time when a disciple of the noble ones is recollecting the Buddha … Dhamma … Sangha, his mind is not overcome with passion, not overcome with aversion, not overcome with delusion. His mind heads straight, based on the Dhamma. And when the mind is headed straight, the disciple of the noble ones gains a sense of the goal, gains a sense of the Dhamma, gains joy connected with the Dhamma. In one who is joyful, rapture arises. In one who is rapturous, the body grows calm. One whose body is calmed experiences ease. In one at ease, the mind becomes concentrated.”
Review (Click text for answer)
“1) bhagavā 2) arahaṁ 3) sammāsambuddho 4) vijjācaraṇasampanno 5) sugato 6) lokavidū 7) anuttaro purisadammasārathi 8) satthā devamanussānaṁ 9) buddho”
“1) the Blessed One, is indeed 2) the Pure One, 3) the Perfectly Enlightened One; 4) he is impeccable in conduct and understanding, 5) the Accomplished One, 6) the Knower of the worlds. 7) He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained. 8) He is teacher of gods and humans. 9) He is awake.” Look inside 1) Svākkhāto bhagavatā dhammo; 2) sandiṭṭhiko 3) akāliko 4) ehipassiko; 5) opaneyyiko 6) paccattaṁ veditabbo viññūhī’ti.
The Dhamma is 1) well expounded by the Blessed One, 2) apparent here and now, 3) timeless, 4) encouraging investigation, 5) leading inwards, 6) to be experienced individually by the wise. “‘These qualities lead 1) to dispassion, not to passion; 2) to being unfettered, not to being fettered; 3) to shedding, not to accumulating; 4) to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; 5) to contentment, not to discontent; 6) to seclusion, not to entanglement; 7) to aroused persistence, not to laziness; 8) to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome’: You may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher’s instruction.'” 1) Suppaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 2) ujuppaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 3) ñāyappaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 4) sāmīcippaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; yadidaṁ cattāri purisayugāni, aṭṭha purisapuggalā. Esa bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho; 5) āhuneyyo 6) pāhuneyyo 7) dakkhiṇeyyo 8) añjalikaraṇīyo; 9) anuttaraṁ puññakkhettaṁ lokassā’ti.
They are the Blessed One’s disciples, 1) who have practiced well; 2) who have practiced directly; 3) who have practiced insightfully; 4) those who practice with integrity — that is the four pairs, the eight kinds of noble beings — these are the Blessed One’s disciples; such ones are 5) worthy of gifts, 6) worthy of hospitality, 7) worthy of offerings, 8) worthy of respect; 9) they give occasion for incomparable goodness to arise in the world. “Monks, brahmans & householders are very helpful to you, as they provide you with the requisites of robes, alms food, lodgings, & medical requisites for the sick. And you, monks, are very helpful to brahmans & householders, as you teach them the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; as you expound the holy life both in letter & meaning, entirely complete, surpassingly pure. In this way the holy life is lived in mutual dependence, for the purpose of crossing over the flood, for making a right end to stress.” “Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Dutiyampi buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Dutiyampi dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi. Dutiyampi saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Tatiyampi buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Tatiyampi dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi./ Tatiyampi saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi.
To the Buddha I go for refuge./ To the Dhamma I go for refuge./ To the Saṅgha I go for refuge./ For the second time, to the Buddha I go for refuge./ For the second time, to the Dhamma I go for refuge./ For the second time, to the Saṅgha I go for refuge./ For the third time, to the Buddha I go for refuge./ For the third time, to the Dhamma I go for refuge./ For the third time, to the Saṅgha I go for refuge.” “At any time when a disciple of the noble ones is recollecting the Buddha … Dhamma … Sangha, 1) his mind is not overcome with passion, not overcome with aversion, not overcome with delusion. His mind heads straight, based on the Dhamma. And when the mind is headed straight, the disciple of the noble ones 2) gains a sense of the goal, gains a sense of the Dhamma, gains joy connected with the Dhamma. In one who is joyful, 3) rapture arises. In one who is rapturous, 4) the body grows calm. One whose body is calmed 5) experiences ease. In one at ease, 6) the mind becomes concentrated.””
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