This course involves lessons which lead students through a stepwise, progressive enumeration of groups of Dhammas similar to that found in the Aṅguttara Nikāya. The Course is broken up into Eight Units with each unit providing enough material for a suggested two weeks of in-depth study. The course discussion forum hosted through Discord can be reached through the link to the right.
In a Theravadan country, the three elements which are the focus of this lesson are typically the first learned, the most central, and the most synergistic of all the Buddha’s teachings. This is the teaching of the Three Gems or Three Jewels (tirattana): the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. Also referred to and conceived of as the Triple Refuge (tisaraṇa), these three complimentary bulwarks of the path are conceived of in various ways. The Buddha is both the historic, Enlightened teacher and our own awakened nature. The Dhamma is both his recorded Teachings and our own practice of them. The Sangha is both the Enlightened group of Noble Disciples past and present and the mundane collective of aspirants to that end. In this lesson, we will explore both traditional and conceptual understandings of each of these jewels – seeing them as external objects for worship, as internal mindstates for contemplation, and as prospective attainments to aim toward.
You may download the topic’s flashcard deck on Quizlet or Anki for further study.
(Oxford English Dictionary entry) Also with the: (a title for) Siddhārtha Gautama, or Śākyamuni, a spiritual teacher from South Asia on whose teachings Buddhism is based, and who is believed to have been born in what is now Nepal and flourished in what is now Bihar, northeastern India, during the 5th cent. b.c. Also: (a title given to) any Buddhist teacher regarded as having attained full awakening or enlightenment.
(Oxford English Dictionary entry) Cf Dharma: Right behaviour; law; esp. in Buddhism and Hinduism: moral law, truth.
Note: Though other meanings of “dhamma” exist (e.g. “phenomena,” “of a nature,” etc.), this lesson will focus on The (Capital-D) Dhamma – as it is written in English – of the Triple Gem with the more restricted meanings listed here.
(Oxford English Dictionary entry) The community or order of monks.
Cultural Note: As Buddhism has moved West, the term Sangha has broadened in scope to include any assemblage of practitioners – including wholly un-ordained groupings.
Spelling Note: Both ‘Sangha’ and ‘Saṅgha’ are acceptable spellings in Pali.
Review (Click text for answer)
Look within.
Look within.
Look within.
Yes. Each have entries in the Oxford English Dictionary
’The Buddha’s Teaching’, The Truth’, ‘The Law’, or left untranslated – with a capital ‘D’: ‘Dhamma’
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.
“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.”
“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”
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.
“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.'”
“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.”
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.
“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.'”
“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.
”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.”
”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.””
“]”Now, a meditator with absolute confidence who wants to develop firstly the recollection of the Enlightened One … should go into solitary retreat in a favourable abode and recollect the special qualities of the Enlightened One, the Blessed One … Here is the way he recollects: ‘That Blessed One is such since he is accomplished, fully enlightened, endowed with [clear] vision and [virtuous] conduct, sublime, the knower of worlds, the incomparable leader of men to be tamed, the teacher of gods and men, enlightened and blessed.’ — he is so for these several reasons, is what is meant. Herein, what he recollects firstly is that the Blessed One is accomplished (arahanta) for the following reasons: (i) because of remoteness (āraka), and (ii) because of his enemies (ari) and (iii) the spokes (ara) having been destroyed (hata), and (iv) because of his worthiness (araha) of requisites, etc., and (v) because of absence of secret (rahābhāva) evil-doing …”
“]”One who wants to develop the recollection of the Dhamma (Law) should go into solitary retreat and recollect the special qualities of both the Dhamma (Law) of the scriptures and the ninefold supramundane Dhamma (state) as follows: (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.) … Herein, the Dhamma of the scriptures is well (expounded) because it is good in the beginning, the middle, and the end, and because it announces the life of purity that is utterly perfect and pure with meaning and with detail …”
“]”One who wants to develop the recollection of the Community should go into solitary retreat and recollect the special qualities of the community of Noble Ones as follows:’The community of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered on the good way,the community of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered on the straight way, the community of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered on the true way, the community of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered on the proper way, that is to say, the four pairs of men, the eight persons; this community of the Blessed One’s disciples is fit for gifts, fit for hospitality, fit for offerings, fit for reverential salutation, as an incomparable field of merit for the world’. Herein, entered on the good way (supaṭipanna) is thoroughly entered on the way (suṭṭhu paṭipanna). What is meant is that it has entered on a way (paṭipanna) that is the right way (sammā-paṭipadā), the way that is irreversible, the way that is in conformity [with truth], the way that has no opposition, the way that is regulated by the Dhamma. They hear (suṇanti) attentively the Blessed One’s instruction, thus they are his disciples (sāvaka—lit. “hearers”). The community of the disciples is the community of those disciples. The meaning is that the total of disciples forms a communality because it possesses in common both virtue and [right] view …
Review (Click text for answer)
“One should go into solitary retreat in a favourable abode and recollect the special qualities of the Enlightened One … the Dhamma … the Community.”
”The Blessed One is accomplished (arahanta) for the following reasons:
(i) because of remoteness (āraka), and
(ii) because of his enemies (ari) and
(iii) the spokes (ara) having been destroyed (hata), and
(iv) because of his worthiness (araha) of requisites, etc., and
(v) because of absence of secret (rahābhāva) evil-doing …”
”Herein, the Dhamma of the scriptures is well (expounded) because it is good in the beginning, the middle, and the end, and because it announces the life of purity that is utterly perfect and pure with meaning and with detail”
“Herein, entered on the good way (supaṭipanna) is thoroughly entered on the way (suṭṭhu paṭipanna). What is meant is that it has entered on a way (paṭipanna) that is the right way (sammā-paṭipadā), the way that is irreversible, the way that is in conformity [with truth], the way that has no opposition, the way that is regulated by the Dhamma. They hear (suṇanti) attentively the Blessed One’s instruction, thus they are his disciples (sāvaka—lit. “hearers”). The community of the disciples is the community of those disciples. The meaning is that the total of disciples forms a communality because it possesses in common both virtue and [right] view”
“Though the Buddha stands so far back from us in time, further back than all the later teachers who rose to eminence in the river of Buddhist history, it is still his voice that speaks to us most directly, in a language we can immediately understand, in words, images, and ideas to which we can immediately respond … In attitude and perspective the Buddha comes so close to us it is hard to believe he is separated from us by a gulf of some 2,500 years.”
“The Buddha, as a teacher, was adamant about the power of action, and focused special attention on what skillful actions could accomplish in bringing about a true and unchanging happiness. So it’s only natural to want to know what he himself did, and what he was able to accomplish through his actions. An account of his life allows people who are not yet convinced of his awakening to assess him as a teacher and the value of his teachings, to see if he practiced what he taught and if it was a good thing that he did so. It also allows those of us who are convinced of his awakening to learn by example what the Buddha regarded as skillful action and to gain inspiration from the way he lived his life.”
“Since I started practicing Buddhism, I have found the Suttas to be an invaluable refuge. There is so much wisdom, so many amazing things – they are an inexhaustible trove of Dhamma. I encourage all Buddhists to have the habit of daily, or at least weekly, reading of the Suttas. The Suttas are not immediately striking. They are often repetitive, and can be mundane. But their beauty is a subtle thing. It lies in the balance, the sense of form, the reasonableness, the Buddha’s serenity and wisdom in every imaginable situation. It’s best to read them a little at a time.”
“Every one of us can develop a deep and personal relationship with the teachings of the Supremely Enlightened Buddha as found in the suttas of the Pali Canon taught in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. On this site you will find a method for developing a daily practice with the suttas themselves. This is strengthened by various techniques of deep engagement such as creating a personal anthology.”
“The Sangha — the order of fully ordained monks and nuns — is the visible representation of the Buddha in the world; for twenty-five centuries, it has sustained the continuity of the Dharma among humankind; by its procedures of ordination and transmission it ensures that the Buddha’s legacy remains alive. The presence of the Triple Gem thus depends upon the Sangha, which symbolizes the Third Gem, the ariyan Sangha or community of noble sages who have realized the ultimate, world-transcending truth. The Sangha has survived for some 2500 years: that’s longer than the Roman Empire, longer than all the dynasties of the Chinese emperors, longer than the British Empire. And it has survived without weapons, without financial resources, without armies, merely through the power of wisdom and virtue. However, there is no guarantee that it will continue to survive or that it will continue to make vital and important contributions to human life. This is a task that depends on the members of the Sangha themselves, on each new generation of monks and nuns, and this is an extremely important task, because the future of Buddhism depends on the future of the Sangha.”
“I think it’s important that occasionally we reflect upon ourselves as a part of a larger community of beings all united in our inclination to Nibbāna, peace. The transforming effect of a virtuous community is the power of Sangha. Though literally the word can mean any sort of group or gathering, its usage in Buddhist practice is quite specific. Sangha is one of the precious Triple Gems, one of the Three Refuges to which Buddhists continually go in their skilful effort to return and re-establish themselves on the Way, moment to moment. I go to Buddha, I go to Dhamma, I go to Sangha. What is this ‘going to Sangha’, Sanghaṃ saranaṃ gacchāmi, and what does it have to do with Nibbana?”
“This book is a short introduction to the basic principles of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dhamma (his teachings), and Sangha (the community of his noble disciples), also known as the Triple Gem or the Triple Refuge. The material is divided into three parts:
(I) an introductory essay on the meaning of refuge and the act of going for refuge;
(II) a series of readings drawn from the earliest Buddhist texts illustrating the essential qualities of the Triple Gem; and
(III) a set of essays explaining aspects of the Triple Gem that often provoke questions in those who are new to the Buddha’s teachings. This last section concludes with an essay that summarizes, in a more systematic form, many of the points raised in the earlier parts of the book.”
Review (Click text for answer)
Ajahn Thanissaro suggests there are benefits for those who don’t yet have confidence in the Dhamma and those who do: “An account of his life allows people who are not yet convinced of his awakening to assess him as a teacher and the value of his teachings, to see if he practiced what he taught and if it was a good thing that he did so. It also allows those of us who are convinced of his awakening to learn by example what the Buddha regarded as skillful action and to gain inspiration from the way he lived his life.”
”I encourage all Buddhists to have the habit of daily, or at least weekly, reading of the Suttas … It’s best to read them a little at a time.”
1)the bhikkhu Sangha or “the order of fully ordained monks and nuns”, and 2) “the ariyan Sangha or community of noble sages who have realized the ultimate, world-transcending truth.”
