The DPPN is a valuable reference with information collated from the Tipitaka and its Commentaries. Place names, people, and disourses are included. Following up some of the cross-references in the DPPN is a great way to broaden your knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings.
You can find this excellent discourse in English by Ajahn Jayasāro on the life of Ajahn Cha on the DhammaTube Channel. This is the first of 31 videos (total 3 hours). Ajahn Jayasāro is an English bhikkhu from the Isle of Wight. Until 1982 he was the abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat — Ajahn Cha's branch forest monastery for his western disciples near Bung Wai village, in NE Thailand.
Edited: Previous video was marked as "No longer available." Some of the series of talks still seems to be available. Search YouTube for "Ajahn Chah Biography."
This important discourse by the late Venerable Mahāsī Sayādaw was delivered over a period of several weeks. It was patiently transcribed from tape, then the Burmese edition was translated into English and published in Burma. I edited that edition over a period of eight years, until it was finally ready for publication.
This latest edition is simply a reformatting of my edition for easier reading as a PDF document. The previous PDF was formatted for printing as an A6 book, but this is formatted with a single A5 page to a sheet for reading on a computer.
One who understands Dependent Origination, understands the Buddha's teaching. One who does not, cannot understand the Buddha's teaching. Mostly, the misinformed students of Buddhism fall into one of two extreme views — eternalism or annihilationism. The self continues after death, or the self is annihilated at death.
After reading this book carefully, you should not need to ask again, “If there is no self, how is rebirth possible? Who or what is reborn?”
Click to download a PDF calendar for 2009 (1.52 Mbytes). I have found some new images of Burmese Pagodas, some of which you can also find on my Photos Page
The calendar shows the full-moon and new-moon (uposatha) days for next year. Links by each picture in the calendar provide further information about the illustrations.
The calendar was designed for printing on A4 paper. If you have a colour printer you can make yourself a copy. I used Serif™ PagePlus X3 to make the calendar, and IrfanView to resize the pictures.
This children's animation (in English with subtitles in Sinhala) does a decent job of telling the life of the Buddha and some key teachings in animations. Some artistic licence is taken, particularly in the story of Devadatta, but the gist is accurate enough.
Gotama Buddha's Life 1
Conception and birth of the Bodhisatta. Naming as Siddhattha. Prediction of the baby's destiny by Kondañña, the youngest and wisest of the King's astrologers. The young child Siddhattha is shocked by the suffering of animals preying on each other. He meditates and the king pays respects to him. When he is a boy, Siddhattha rescues a swan shot by Devadatta.
Gotama Buddha's Life 2
The wise men at the court decide that the swan belongs to Siddhartha who saved its life. Siddhattha's marriage to Yasodharā is arranged. Siddhattha has a nightmare of four walls moving in to crush him. He goes outside of the palace and sees the four sights: an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk.
Gotama Buddha's Life 3
The fourth sight (contd). The birth of Rāhula, and the Bodhisatta's renunciation. He meets the five ascetics, who join him to practise austerities. After six years, when he accepts milk from a cow herd and follows the Middle Way, the five ascetics leave him. Sujātā's maid finds the Bodhisatta meditating and tells Sujātā.
Gotama Buddha's Life 4
Sujātā offers rice to the Bodhisatta. The Bodhisatta battles with Māra and his daughters, and attains Enlightenment. Two merchants from Ukkala, Tapassu and Bhalluka, offer rice cakes and honey.
Gotama Buddha's Life 5
The Buddha gives Tapassu and Bhalluka some hairs. The first Sermon to the five ascetics. Moggallāna and Sāriputta meet Venerable Assaji and become the Buddha's two chief disciples. The Buddha urges a Brahmin to release animals brought for sacrifice.
Gotama Buddha's Life 6
A horseman arrives with an invitation from King Suddhodana to visit Kapilavatthu, the city where Siddhattha was born and raised. When the Buddha arrives, he goes begging in the street. The king is angry and rushes out to stop him. The Buddha performs the Twin Miracle. The Ordination of many Sākyan Princes including Ānanda, Devadatta, and Upāli. The Buddha meets Yasodhara and gives the going forth to Rāhula. His grandfather is deeply upset, so the Vinaya rule about asking parents' permission is laid down at King Suddhadana's request. The Buddha grants the ordination of women at Ānanda's request. Then follows the somewhat altered story of Devadatta's efforts to cause a schism, which in fact took place towards the end of the Buddha's life.
Gotama Buddha's Life 7
End of Devadatta schism episode. The Buddha goes to live in the forest for three months, waited on by monkeys and a parrot. The story of Angulimāla, and the offering to provide him with the requisites by King Pasenadi.
Gotama Buddha's Life 8
The story of Kisagotamī. The story of Ambapāli the courtesan. Many years later, the great earthquake when the Buddha renounces the remainder of his life span. He tells the monks about his forthcoming demise, admonishing them for the last time. The scene on the Buddha's deathbed between the Sāl trees when the Buddha says how best to honour and respect him. The ordination of the Buddha's last disciple, Subhadda Thera who has doubts about other religions. The Buddha says that wherever the eightfold path is found that is the true religion. The Buddha's last words: “Seek out your own salvation with diligence.” The film ends with the Dhammapada verse 183:
Not to do any evil,
to cultivate good,
to purify one’s mind,
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
They seem to be working well now in the programs that I need. I never had any problem typing Pāli in Opera because the keyboard is fully customisable, but in other programs like Serif Page Plus it is not possible. If you need to type European accents as well as Pāli, such as ãèîöú then that is also easy with the standard Pali UK or Pali US keyboards. If you need more, try the Pali Extended keyboard.
I recently added to my website a new edition of the Mahāsi Sayādaw's Discourse on the Sallekha Sutta.
A true follower of the Buddha should have few desires. He should be content with what he has and he should try to lessen his defilements. He should have little desire for material possessions or attendants. He should not want to speak of his accomplishments in the study of scriptures or in the practice of meditation. He should keep the depth of his learning or his spiritual attainments to himself. A true noble one does not reveal his spiritual insight although he wants to share it with other people. It is only the religious impostor who calls himself a noble one or an Arahant.
Contentment is also essential to spiritual development. One should be satisfied with whatever one has, whether it is good or bad. Equally essential is the effort to lessen one’s defilements. The self-training leading to this goal forms the subject of the Sallekha Sutta. The sutta is beneficial to meditators and non-meditators alike; it is helpful to all those who wish to overcome immoral desires and cultivate skilful, wholesome desires.
Western Buddhists may be unfamiliar with the practise of chanting Suttas unless they have regular contact with a monastic community. In Asia, almost every formal occasion such as alms giving in the monastery or in one's own home is concluded by the recitation of the Protection Discourses — most often the Metta Sutta and/or Mangala and Ratana Suttas.
This has become a ritual, but like all rituals, if you make the effort to understand the meaning of the ritual and of the Discourses recited, it takes on an entirely new, and deeper meaning. The Pāli text and translations can be found on my webpages, and I have written a few booklets explaining the meaning of two suttas in more detail. See An Exposition of the Mangala Sutta and An Exposition of the Metta Sutta
You can find two versions of each of the Protection Discourses on my website. One, in MP3 audio format is recited by Tipitakadhāra Sayādaw U Vicittasāra, while the other version is in Video form, and is recited by a younger Sayādaw. The links on my web pages will take you to the videos on YouTube.
I thought, “Why not set up a meditation group at Opera?” There must be at least a few people who are interested. Any posts about religion in the Discussion and Debates forums don't seem to lead anywhere.
I call it the "Diatribes and Disputes" forum.
Hopefully, this group will only attract those who are genuinely interested in meditation or Buddhism. Please don't think you have to be a Buddhist to join in. The main focus will be on meditation practice, but I will try to answer questions about other Buddhist topics too if people want to learn more.
WIDGETIZE