Dr Dosti Regmi Blog

T HERAVADA B UDDHISM IN A N UTSHELL  - Ajahn Amaro (Adapted from a talk given on a retreat held at the Angela Center, Santa Rosa, California, November 1997) A couple of days ago   a few people asked: “What is Theravada Buddhism?” It’s a good question. Often people have come across vipassana , insight meditation, and its related teachings, disconnected from their origins. Sometimes they are unaware that vipassana has anything to do with Buddhism or who the Buddha was. How it began The Buddha started his life as the crown prince of a small kingdom in what is now Nepal. He was born around 563 BCE although, of course, scholars and different Buddhist lineages disagree on the exact date. After being cosseted within the confines of the palace for his first 29 years, the spiritual impulse led him to take up the life of a wandering ascetic. After a few years of intense meditation practice and many pointless austerities, he found t...

  “I teach only two things, suffering and end of suffering” - Buddha The first verses of the Dhammapada: Actions based on the three unwholesome roots of greed ( lobha ), ill will ( dosa ), and delusion ( moha ) are unwholesome, resulting in bad consequences, while actions based on the three wholesome roots of non-greed ( alobha ), non-ill will ( adosa ) and non-delusion ( amoha ) result in good consequences. In the first two verses of the Dhammapada, the Buddha described the central role of the mind in performing wholesome or unwholesome actions and how the consequences of one’s bad or good actions will follow the one who performed them.  “All mental phenomena have the mind as their forerunner,   They have mind as their chief, they are mind-made,    If one speaks or acts with an evil mind,      Pain follows him just as the wheel follows the hoof of the ox that draws the    cart”  “All mental phenomena have the mind as their for...

एउटा बुढो मान्छेलाई पनि जिन्दगीको बाटोमा हिँड्दै गरेको देख्छु; सायद जिन्दगीको बाटो पुग्नलाई भन्दा हिँड्नकै लागि होला।

सानो तिनो झगडाको बीच, तिमीले मेरो बारेमा कस्तो मिठो कुरा भन्यौ; तिमीले भन्यौ,  "तिमी कस्तो मान्छे हो भन्ने मैले पहिलेनै जानेको हो के " खैर,  मेरो आधा जिन्दगी "म को हुँ?" भन्ने खोज्दैमा बित्यो।  तैपनि , तिमीले मेरो बारेमा भनेको कुरा , न त म स्वीकार नै गर्न सक्छु, न त म इन्कार नै गर्न सक्छु।   (अध्यपान्त आफुलाइ आफैले जे भनेर चिनेको छ, त्येही होइन भनेर चिन्नु नै आफुलाई सहि रुपमा चिन्नु रहेछ। ) “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment” – Lao Tzu

   चेतनाको आँखाले आफ्नै मनलाई हेर्छु। आफ्नै विचारलाई हेर्छु। कडा तर्कहरूका साथ आफ्नै वकालत गरिरहेको मन, झुट पकडिसकेपछिको आरोपित जस्तै मौनता साँधी दिन्छ, र चुपचाप हराइदिन्छ।

  I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Gayā at Gayā Head with 1,000 monks. There he addressed the monks: “Monks, the All is aflame. Which All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Eye-consciousness is aflame. Eye-contact is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on eye-contact—experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain—that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. “The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame… “The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame… “The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame… “The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame… “The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Intellect-consciousness is aflame. Intellect-contact is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on intellect-contact—experienced as pleasur...

Nothingness, Peace, Responsibility, and Freedom Shunya: Nothingness. Realization of the emptiness of true, eternal and separate essence in any phenomenon is what Buddha meant by sunyata. It is all dependent on the others to exist.  Pleasure depends upon pain or the absence of it. Zen relates pleasure to shifting positions while sleeping. If you are uncomfortable lying on the right, you can shift to the left side and feel relieved. If you feel uncomfortable in that position, you can turn to the right side. Hence, comfort is not in any position but is dependent on how long you have been in that position. It relates to time. The pain nerves are not activated, and lactic acid is not compiling. The sensations do not reach the threshold of pain. Shanti: We seek pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. But it's not the pleasure but peace that matters much to us. Responsibility: Equanimity is not a passive attitude towards life and its happenings. It is a sheer sense of response-ability. You respond ...