All conditioned phenomena arise due to one of four causes. These are known as the four foods, or four nutriments:

1. Physical food.
2. Climate.
3. Mind or consciousness.
4. Kamma (including, but not confined to kamma in past lives).

Physical food is essential for life and strength. Good healthy food eaten in moderation gives us health, beauty, long-life, and strength. Too much rich food can cause poor health, while insufficient or poor quality food can also cause disease.

Climate is another factor. In cold climates we need heating, in hot climates we need air-conditioning. Extremes of cold and heat can also cause diseases or death.

Mind or consciousness is important too. Too much anger, lust, fear, or worry is not good for one’s well-being. How we stimulate the mind affects our happiness. We need wisdom to avoid stimulating the mind in unskilful ways.

Then there is kamma. We do not know what we did in the past, and can do nothing about it now. It will give its result when the conditions are ripe, and if it was powerful bad kamma, we will have to suffer. If we are enjoying good results, we can be happy, but we must plant good seeds for the future while enjoying the fruits of the past.

Pain and Disease

Pain and disease comes from having a body. We have to accept it the way it is. When we were young, we had lots of energy and recovered quickly from diseases, as we get older the body decays and finally perishes. The Buddha’s chief supporter, Anāthapiṇḍika, was in agony on his death-bed, even though he had done heaps of powerful wholesome kamma during his lifetime. However, when Venerable Sāriputta taught him the method of insight meditation he was able to transcend the pain and attained bliss as he lay dying.

Actually all pain is mental, not physical. If you are unconscious, you cannot feel any pain. When we talk about physical pain, we mean the unpleasant feeling that arises through physical contact. Mental pain is the unpleasant feeling arising through mental contact.

If one meditates seriously, it is possible to separate mind and matter and observe even severe physical pain and discomfort with equanimity. It is not easy to sit in meditation at first. The beginner may claim to be in agony after only twenty minutes of sitting still, whereas an experienced meditator can sit still for two hours or more without difficulty. It is not that they have no pain, but they do not magnify it with fear and aversion. When mindfulness and concentration are strong enough, pain is not a problem.

Healing Through Insight Meditation

Ardent meditators with strong faith in the Dhamma have overcome serious medical conditions such as cancer, eczema, tuberculosis, gall stones, etc. Even the average person can soon learn to overcome mild ailments such as colds, headaches, high blood-pressure, etc., and minor mental disorders such as stuttering, acute anxiety, compulsive obsessions, phobias, and depression.

We do not claim that meditation is a cure for all ills. Medication and therapy should also be used, but the concentrated mind has powerful healing qualities.

Severe mental disorders cannot usually be overcome, because the unfortunate victim’s mind is just too weak and distracted.

Not my first discourse, I hasten to add, but the Buddha’s first discourse.

That seems like an appropriate place to start. If you are reading this thread then I assume that you wish to know more about the teaching of the Buddha. I will be do my best to reply to any questions that you may have, as long as they are respectful and sincere.

Preamble

The bodhisatta, Prince Siddhattha Gotama, renounced his palace at the age of 29 after seeing four signs: an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk. Seeing that all living beings were trapped by old age, sickness, and death, he resolved to find an escape from this predicament. His noble quest began with the practice of self-mortification because it was believed at the time to be the way to liberation. He practised with five other ascetics as his companions. After six years of strenuous austerities, he realised that this was not the right path, and resumed taking adequate food and rest. Because of this, his five companions thought he had given up the quest, so they left him.

After regaining his strength and health the bodhisatta meditated the whole night and discovered the path leading to enlightnement. By the morning he had eradicated all craving and ignorance, and he gained Buddhahood with the rising of the dawn. Reflecting on the Dhamma that he had realised, he was at first disinclined to teach it, as it went against the current of human desires, and was difficult to understand. Nevertheless, he reasoned that some “with little dust in their eyes” would understand it, so he resolved to teach it.

Realising that his two former meditation teachers had already passed away, he went to Saranath to teach it to the five ascetics who had been his companions in the quest for liberation. When he told them that he had found liberation, at first they did not believe him, because they thought he had given up the path of striving. However, by reminding them of his lifelong honesty, he won them around and they agreed to listen to him. So he gave his first discourse, which is called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta – the setting in motion of the wheel of the truth.

This first discourse deals with the Middle Way, and the Four Noble Truths including the Eightfold Noble Path. It is very concise. By the end of the discourse only one of the five ascetics, Kondañña, understood it properly and realised nibbana, the other four had to practise meditation as instructed by the Buddha for some time before realising nibbana. Because he was so quick to understand this concise discourse, Kondañña became known as “Kondañña the Wise.”

The Middle Way

The Buddha began by stating that the way to liberation was the middle way, avoiding the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification. This middle way comprised eight factors: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

He didn’t explain it in detail, he just stated it in brief.

The Four Noble Truths

Then he stated the Four Noble Truths that he had realised:

1. The truth of suffering (dukkha): birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unloved is suffering, separation from the loved is suffering, not getting what one wants is suffering, in brief the five aggregates of attachment are suffering.

2. The truth of the cause of suffering is the craving that causes repeated becoming, and takes delight now here now there, namely sensual craving, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence.

3. The truth of the cessation of suffering is the complete cessation and abandonment of this craving, and liberation from it without any remainder.

4. The truth of the way to attain the end of suffering, which is the noble eightfold path: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

That, very briefly, is the essence of the first discourse. The Buddha went on to explain that until he had thoroughly realised these four noble truths he did not claim to be fully enlightened. Merely knowing these four truths intellectually is not enough, we have to thoroughly understand them to gain liberation.

In his discourse on the Vammika Sutta, the Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw relates the following incident that took place in Thanbyuzayat, a town within Moulmein District, and was published in one of the Daily Newspapers.

Four or five elders from that town were chatting on a religious topic. It is customary in Burma among knowledgeable elderly people to meet whenever there is any social or religious function such as a memorial service for the deceased. They usually discuss religious topics while the reception is going on with light refreshments such as green tea and some delicacies like pickled tea-leaf (laphet). Sometimes, heated discussions take place, and the participants disagree on controversial points. On this occasion, the elders became indignant and assaulted one another ending up with them being interviewed by police officers. The news editor who reported the story, remarked that the elders concerned had been placed in police custody, but “a redeeming feature” was that the topic of discussion happened to be on patience (khantī).

The editor hit the nail right on the head. Intolerance is the worst thing when discussing the topic of patience, which needs to be exercised as advised by the Buddha. Indignation resembles the toad that swells up. It gives a great deal of trouble and therefore really needs to be discarded.

 

Spoiling with too much Kindness

Parents and grandparents who are too kind to children spoil their character. Doing whatever one wants, and being given everything that one asks for, is not the way for children to learn and grow up. They should be taught the values of contentment, gratitude, respect, and frugality from a young age. As my mother once said, when I asked for another apple: “Apples don’t grow on trees.” Well, we know that what she meant was: “The money to buy apples does not grow on trees.”

The current generation of computer and Internet users expect everything to be tailored to suit their demands.  Software developers cannot possibly satisfy everyone. Even free software or nearly free software is not good enough for them. If something is not to their liking, instead of simply requesting improvements, or asking for temporary solutions, they make demands such as: “This software is unusable, until this feature is added, I will go back to using my old software.” Of course, such threats are empty. If their old software was perfect, why are they trying out something else?

The problem lies between the keyboard and the chair. Negativity breeds dissatisfaction, and obstructs the learning process.

Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity

Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely. Over time, you find it’s easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around you. Complaining becomes your default behavior, which changes how people perceive you.

And here’s the kicker: complaining damages other areas of your brain as well. Research from Stanford University has shown that complaining shrinks the hippocampus — an area of the brain that’s critical to problem solving and intelligent thought. Damage to the hippocampus is scary, especially when you consider that it’s one of the primary brain areas destroyed by Alzheimer’s. (Travis Bradberry)

Vivaldi’s Horrible Bookmarking System

“The one thing stopping me from using Vivaldi as my main browser is the horrible bookmarking system that I simply can’t and don’t want to use, coupled with the fact that I can’t import my existing bookmarks although the latter wouldn’t make me use Vivaldi as my main browser, without the simple system as well.” (Alviv)

The above complaint is typical. A new user does not know how to import bookmarks, nor how to add them via the icon in the address bar or keyboard shortcut. Rather than asking how it can be done, he/she just complains.  After a couple of users respond with sarcasm, a moderator edits their replies, fixes the thread title, and locks the thread. This is idiot compassion at work. The fault lies with the new user, who failed to ask before complaining, and threatened not to use the software unless the perceived, but non-existent, faults were fixed.

Constructive Criticism

Since everything is imperfect, everything can also be improved, given time, money, patience, and resourcefulness. Good people respond well to constructive criticism. Even bad people do sometimes. Almost no one likes harsh criticism that is unjustifiable, unfair, untrue, or simply the expression of someone’s negativity.

Did the Buddha Criticise Anyone?

It is true that the Buddha never slandered or abused anyone. He was completely free from jealousy and ill-will. However, he certainly did say some things that were displeasing to others. When he started teaching the Dhamma, the Brahmins were well-established as the “Church” of the day. They held that the Brahmins or priests were a superior caste to workers, farmers, merchants, and nobles. The Buddha ridiculed them in many ways, both in private with his loyal disciples and in public when non-believers were present. They lost most of their support, and conspired to discredit the Buddha by hiring a prostitute to pretend she had had an affair with him, then hiring some thugs to murder her.

The Buddha also criticised evil-doers among his own followers and constantly admonished his loyal disciples not to be heedless. He said, “Ānanda, I will not treat you [gently] as a potter treats an unbaked pot. I will instruct and admonish you repeatedly [robustly if necessary]. The sound core will stand the test.”

A basic assumption in Buddhism is that living beings are imperfect. They have defects rooted in greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddha, or Fully Awakened One, is a human being who began his career as a Bodhisatta many aeons ago, and cultivated spiritual perfections to achieve Buddhahood.

When Siddhattha Gotama was born, he was still an unenlightened Bodhisatta. Although already free from the vast majority of human defects shared by ordinary folk, he was still not a Buddha. He left the comfort of his palace, and meditated strenuously for six years to achieve perfection. Thereafter, he became a Buddha, and spent the remainder of his life teaching to others the meditation method that he had discovered for himself under the Bodhi tree.

Those who have faith in the Buddha’s teaching may become lay disciples, monks, or nuns. They become trainees who willingly undertake the discipline prescribed by the Buddha to train the mind, leading the practitioner towards perfection.

The Buddha would encourage his disciples with kindness and admonish them with harshness when necessary to remove their faults. If they did not respond to instruction, he would stop speaking to them. For a disciple this was the ultimate punishment. It is a spiritual death to refuse admonishment from one’s teachers and fellow monks or nuns. (See the Kesi Sutta).

The picture in my blog header shows the man-made cave used for the Sixth Buddhist Council.

Soon after regaining Independence, the Government of Myanmar began plans to hold a Sixth Buddhist Council (Chaṭṭha  Saṅgāyana) in Myanmar, with four other Theravāda Buddhist countries (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos) participating. For this purpose the Government dispatched a mission to Thailand and Cambodia, composed of Nyaungyan Sayādaw, Mahāsi Sayādaw, and two laymen. The mission discussed the plan with leading Buddhist monks of those two countries.

In the historic Sixth Buddhist Council, which was inaugurated with every pomp and ceremony on 17th May 1954, Mahāsi Sayādaw played an eminent role, undertaking the exacting and onerous tasks of Final Editor (Osana) and Questioner (Pucchaka). A unique feature of this Council was the editing of the commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā) and Subcommentaries (Ṭīkā), as well as the canonical texts. In the editing of this commentarial literature, Mahāsi Sayādaw was responsible for making a critical analysis, sound interpretation, and skilful reconciliation of several crucial, but divergent passages.

A significant result of the Sixth Buddhist Council was the revival of interest in Theravāda Buddhism among Mahāyāna Buddhists. In 1955, while the Council was in progress, twelve Japanese monks and a Japanese laywoman arrived in Myanmar to study Theravāda Buddhism. The monks were initiated into the Theravāda Buddhist Saṅgha as novices while the laywoman was made a Buddhist nun. Then, in July 1957, at the instance of the Buddhist Association of Moji, the Buddha Sāsana Council of Myanmar sent a Theravāda Buddhist mission to Japan. Mahāsi Sayādaw was one of the leading representatives of the Burmese Saṅgha in that mission.

Also in 1957, Mahāsi Sayādaw undertook the task of writing an introduction in Pāli to the Visuddhimagga Atthakathā, to refute certain misstatements about its famous author, Ven. Buddhaghosa. The Sayādaw completed this difficult task in 1960, his work bearing every mark of distinctive learning and depth of understanding. By then the Sayādaw had also completed two volumes (out of four) of his Burmese translation of this famous commentary and classic work on Buddhist meditation.

The image of a Reclining Buddha that I use in my Forum Profile has great significance in Buddhism. The image is not of the Buddha sleeping, but of him lying on his death-bed just before his final passing away (parinibbāna). For most people, the last hours of a beloved parent is a moment of great sadness, and the dying person may be greatly distressed too, fearful of what might lie ahead, or grief at separation from loved ones. However, in the case of the Buddha, it was the moment of his final victory over Māra. On the eve of his Enlightenment, he gained personal realisation of the truth and liberation from suffering, but his duty was not yet complete. He had to strive and face adversity for forty-five more years in order to propagate and establish his teaching.

During his last Rains Retreat (August to October) the Buddha was visited by Māra urging him to pass away as he had already accomplished his task of establishing the monastic communities of monks and nuns, and his teaching would therefore be continued after his demise. The Buddha told Māra to wait, and declared that three months from that time he would attain the final nibbāna. This event recorded in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta is significant, because it would put the date of the Buddha’s demise sometime in January, not in May when the Buddha’s final demise is usually commemorated in most Buddhist traditions.

In Theravāda countries, the anniversary of this great event passes by unnoticed in January. The full-moon day this year is 12th January.

The photograph in my profile is, I think, taken of the “Nine-storey Buddha” in Rangoon, which is a huge reclining Buddha not far from the Mahāsi meditation centre. There is an older and more famous statue in Pegu, called the “Shwethalyaung Piya.”

If there is one thing that I cannot stand, it’s intolerance. Many countries are populated by people from a wide range of ethnic origins, speaking different languages, and holding divergent views on religion and ethics. Diversity is not a new phenomenon, and intolerance is not a new human trait. The caste system existed during the time of the Buddha, and it still exists now. Barbaric practices and punishments existed then, and they still exist today in many places.

Buddhists are supposed to be tolerant, but there’s a lot of Islamophobia and prejudice among some Buddhists. Burmese soldiers are rarely pious Buddhists, but they are only able to slaughter innocent Moslems or Christians because they are ignorant of the Buddha’s teaching, and urged on by a climate of fear, hatred, and intolerance. 

Tolerance should not be confused with some kind of bleeding-heart liberalism that is afraid to criticise what is blameworthy. When a country’s leaders are intolerant and stir up racial tensions, it’s disastrous for the entire nation. No one needs to tolerate what they find agreeable and supportive to their own views. It is when others hold obnoxious views that tolerance is required.

I think that most people are wasting their lives with sensual indulgence, politics, war-mongering, or other worthless pursuits, but that’s their choice. If I don’t approve of what they doing, I can do whatever I think is worthwhile and beneficial to myself and others. If others ask, ”What should I do?“ I can advise them to meditate, study the Buddha’s teaching, etc., which will be for their long-term welfare. If they don’t ask, it is nothing that I need to worry about. I can give my opinion, even unasked, but that is rarely effective.

Extreme Views to be Avoided

There are many religious views that are intolerant, and that do not fit with the Buddha’s teaching of openness and freedom of inquiry. Communities like the Hasidic Jews isolate themselves from the larger society, as it is the only way to maintain their narrow-minded view of the world. Their reasons for isolation are similar to those of the Amish, who see modern education as a threat to their community. Cults of all kinds rely on the same kind of restrictions on their members to keep them from leaving to seek their own happiness, and liberation from clinging to views.

If one makes a thorough inquiry into Buddhism, one will find therein methods for the abandoning of views.  At one time, a wanderer known as Dīghanakha (long nails) approached the Buddha and stated his own view: “I do not approve of anything.” The Buddha replied: “If this is your view, Aggivessana, ‘I do not approve of anything,’ do you also not approve of this view?” The Buddha immediately showed that Dīghanakha was attached to his own view.

There is right-view, and there are many wrong-views, but even right-views should not be clung to, even more then should wrong-views be abandoned. The teaching of the Buddha should be regarded as a raft for crossing over a river in flood. After crossing, one should abandon the raft, not carry it on one’s shoulders.

There are three wrong-views that are particularly dangerous:

1. The belief in Almighty God. The idea that the happiness and sorrow experienced by living beings is the will of an Almighty God. There is no evidence for any such being that stands up to scrutiny.
2. The second dangerous belief is the idea that the happiness and sorrow experienced by living beings is the result of previous kamma. This is fatalism, not the teaching of the Buddha on causality. Some things are the result of kamma done in previous existences, but much more depends on our actions, speech, and thoughts in the present life. The law of kamma gives us the power to create our own happiness, and to remove the causes for our own misery.
3. The third dangerous belief is that there is no cause or reason for anything. If this view is adopted there is no reason to do good or to avoid evil; no benefit to be gained by seeking knowledge or spiritual development.

The above three wrong views should be shunned. Each of them is very dangerous to society. Others will believe and follow such wrong-views, whatever one says, but it is right to criticise intolerant views. The views that a person holds are the seeds that he or she plants and nourishes. Sooner or later they bear fruit in speech and actions that have consequences. If one plants mango seeds, one will obtain mango fruits; if one plants bitter-gourd seeds, one will harvest only bitter-gourds.

See the Bīja Sutta (The Seed) on one’s view being the determining factor that leads to good or bad results.

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