Tag Archives: therevada

The Vinaya Pitaka

06 Sunday Aug 2017

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Theravada Monks

Theravada Monks

The Vinaya Pitaka is considered to be the first ‘basket’ of the Tipitaka. It contains the codes of practice, rules, regulations and ceremonies that the Theravadin Monk or Nun must obey. Vinaya Pitaka literally means ‘basket of discipline’.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu has done a wonderful job of compiling a two-volume essay on the Vinaya Pitaka that will be of interest to anyone considering the Monk or Nun’s life. This volume will also be of interest to those researching the deeper aspects of Buddhist life and what it entails.

The Buddhist Monastic Code Vol 1 & 2 should be read by the lay person more as an educational exercise than a practice teaching. You may wish to include certain aspects into your daily life but it is not necessary to do so unless you are ordained.

May all sentient beings reside in peace.

Ajahn Chah – A Pillar of the Thai Forest Tradition

03 Thursday Aug 2017

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Ajahn Chah

Ajahn Chah

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The Teachings of Ajahn Chah

Ajahn Chah was possibly the most influential monk regarding the dissemination of Theravada Buddhism in the West. There are multiple monasteries in the USA and the UK that he had instituted during his ministry. Amaravati Monastery and Abhayagiri Monastery are just two of the many that have sprung up in the last 50 years or so.

His official website is https://ajahnchah.org/, however the Venerable Ajahn Chah passed on in 1992 and due to his residence primarily in Thailand, the recorded teachings of him are somewhat sparse. The PDF, made available above, weighs in at a hefty 725 pages, but that is pretty much everything that was recorded during his life.

He spent much of his time at Wat Nong Pah Pong Monastery which he founded in 1954, where he, to quote his website:

led a simple and pure life in a harmoniously regulated community where virtue, meditation and understanding may be skillfully and continuously cultivated.

Wat Nong Pah Pong currently has over 200 branch monasteries in Thailand alone. Ajahn Chah was one of the first Thai monks to ordain westerners into the Thai Forest tradition and thus started the spread of his valuable teachings to the West.

The Teachings of Ajahn Chah are made available on this site under the agreement cited within the PDF document. That is to say, it can be freely distributed, electronically. To distribute hard copies then permission must be obtained from the original publisher.

The Four Noble Truths by Ajahn Sumedho

02 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Ascetic Bodhisatta Gautama with the Group of Five

For those with further interest in the Four Noble Truths, I provide this short, downloadable, booklet by the Venerable Ajahn Sumedho.

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The Four Noble Truths by Ajahn Sumedho

Ajahn Sumedho, or Luang Por Sumedho, was ordained in Thailand in 1966 and has had a long and varied career. He was Abbot of Amaravati Monastery in England from 1984 until 2010, when he retired back to Thailand. Luang Por Sumedho is considered one of the primary figures in the dissemination of Therevada Buddhism in the West.

The booklet I attach here is directly related to the Four Noble Truths, as can be seen by it’s title, and will serve as a backup, and reinforcement to the Suttas I have already provided. Over time I hope to increase the online library available to the discerning reader with much more valuable insight.

I have also launched a new page. eLibrary, in the top menu where such documents will appear in future.

The Tipitaka: The Recorded Teachings of the Buddha.

24 Monday Jul 2017

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Burmese-Pali Manuscript.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

The Tipitaka, or Three Baskets, are the corpus of recorded teachings of the Buddha written in the ancient language of Pali. Reputed to contain approximately 84,000 discourses, it could be said it would take a little while to get familiar with them.

The term ‘Pali’ actually means ‘text’, yet it was a simple translational mistake made years ago that meant that the language used to write the Suttas was actually named Pali in itself.

Tipitaka, in Pali, literally means ‘Three Baskets’ and refers to the three divisions of the Pali Canon:

  1. The Vinaya Pitaka
  2. The Sutta Pitaka
  3. The Abidhamma Pitaka

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The Therevada Tradition.

22 Saturday Jul 2017

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A Rock cut Seated Buddha Statue at Bojjannakonda, Visakhapatnam District

A Rock cut Seated Buddha Statue at Bojjannakonda, Visakhapatnam District

Theravada… from Pali means “School of the Elder Monks”. I believe it to be the closest existing school to what the Buddha actually taught. Mahayana Buddhism is the other major school of thought and literally means, from Sanskrit, “Major School”. Mahayana tends to concentrate on the path of the Bodhisattva, someone who dedicates their lives to attaining Arahantship then returning in the next life to train and teach others in the Buddhist way, thus delaying their entrance to Nibbana for the sake of other beings.

Theravada Buddhism uses the teachings preserved in the Pali Canon as it’s doctrine and concentrates more on the words of the Buddha. Mahayana has many commentaries on the canon that they follow, which is no bad thing but I find they tend to loose site of the Suttas. But that is just my position. Should you find yourself drawn to the Mahayana form of Buddhism, then please follow it. Truth is in their teachings and any form of truth is better than no truth at all.

Theravada has it’s origins primarily in Sri Lanka, where the Pali Canon was originally committed to writing during the first century BCE. If you wish to read these writings then a major part of them are available on Amazon from Wisdom Publications. I believe the best introduction to the Pali Cannon is an anthology compiled by the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi called “In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Cannon.” This work gives a valuable and systematic introduction to the teachings of the Buddha that any beginner will benefit from. I, myself, have a copy and have used this very work to start my journey toward enlightenment.