Pali Canon Puns

I keep hearing people say how certain branches of Buddhism deny the authenticity of certain texts that other traditions hold to be important so is the Pali canon accepted in all Buddhist schools to be the legitimate teachings of the Buddha that were complied?

It’s just that if the Pali canon is the oldest known collection of the Buddha’s teachings from the first and oldest school of Theravada then how is it possible that the Pali canon isn’t “canon” for certain schools?

Where do those schools get there basis from if not from the oldest compiled scriptures? If those schools get their basis from later texts written by different masters then how could we possibly consider those more “recent” scriptures to be more authentic then the first complied scriptures?

How close, would you say, is the content of the Pali Canon to what was actually taught by the Buddha? Did politics or competing interests interfere with what was written down and (potentially) omitted?

Edit: just found in comment, of course there is this app that probably makes my method redundant:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samuiinteractive.ati&hl=gsw&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/access-to-insight/id349225338

Just wanted to say, I found the method while conserving other websites for offline use, just the access to insight is free and even encouraged to share, I thought I'd just try...

And it even seems legit to share, as long as no money is involved. I wanna share this method here, because I feel that it might be as useful for other people, as it was to me. This is nothing big, but a little good thing is already worth some words on reddit I feel.

Maybe here are people with some spare webspace (70mb file, unknown traffic...), a little computer skill and connection to communities, who would like to share an english offline copy of the pali canon? Wanna try to share some free Dharma with the people? I'd be happy to help with generating the file I talk about down in this text.

Now the background is the https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ website. It offers a free download of the whole page as it was in 2013 zipped up here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tech/download/bulk.html

Even the license on the page states that it is allowed to modify and share all that is on the page, as long as no money is charged in the process. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/faq.html#copyright - Sharing the whole zipped website of course also automatically shares the license texts.

But the website in zipped format is pretty useless on smartphones in the beginning. As I experimented with saving the page on my smartphone, the standard browsers all made troubles with displaying content that is saved locally on the smartphone. Additionally, when unzipping the file, it takes a long time and the smartphone can get troubles because too many small files are created in the storage.

Luckily I found a solution to the problem. There exists a free software project named "kiwix", that was made as what seems a noncommercial effort to bring an offline reader for wikipedia (or other wiki) content. Due to the connection to wikipedia, the app seems

Recently I've been reading the Pali Canon and commentaries by the translator, Thanissaro Bikhhu, on Dhammatalks.org. He expounds upon the original breath meditation technique that is attributed to the Buddha himself, as recorded in the Pali Canon. Most profound for me have been his writings, "Right Mindfulness", "With Each and every breath", and "Buddhist Romanticism". In Buddhist Romanticism he writes about the history of Western Romantic thought and how it has influenced the Western conception of Buddhism and specifically "Mindfulness." It will be hard for me to convey just how influential I've found his writings to be. In short, he teaches what the Buddha taught, that breath meditation is a skill to be developed--not simply to sit in "bare awareness" or to have creative insights, and especially not to come to the conclusion that you have multiple selves in the dream realm--but instead, as your mind becomes stiller and more concentrated, the purpose of breath meditation is to gain direct insight into how your mind fabricates mental worlds--"becomings"-- that lead to suffering and stress. The noble eightfold path, then, can be understood as a framework for structuring your life so that every aspect of your behavior and thought supports your ability to sit with a clear, concentrated mind in meditation as you go further in gaining insight into the stress your mind creates, learning to manipulate the processes of your mind, and eventually letting go of your attachment to those very processes. I, myself, was introduced to Buddhism through a Western psychological perspective, and I am coming to understand that the western perspective is doing a massive injustice to the Buddhist tradition, completely selling it short by separating mindfulness from the effortful framework that is meant to support it. Someone in these comments specifically said not to use any effort in meditation, directly contradicting what the Buddha taught about right effort, a factor in the eightfold path. Breath meditation must be done with a framework in mind that teaches you to notice and develop skillful qualities (with effort) as they arise in your mind and to notice and abandon unskillful qualities as they arise. Please, visit dhammatalks.org , read his books and share

Dana, giving, is extolled in the Pali canon as a great virtue. It is, in fact, the beginning of the path to liberation. When the Buddha preaches to a newcomer he starts his graduated sermon with an exposition on the virtues of giving (danakatha, Vin.i,15,18). Of the three bases for the performance of meritorious deeds (punnakiriyavatthu), giving is the first, the other two being virtue and mental culture (A.iv,241). It is also the first of the ten paramita perfected by a Buddha. Therefore, on the march towards liberation as an arahant or a Buddha, one initially has to practice dana.

Giving is of prime importance in the Buddhist scheme of mental purification because it is the best weapon against greed (lobha), the first of the three unwholesome motivational roots (akusalamula). Greed is wrapt up with egoism and selfishness since we hold our personalities and our possessions as "I" and "mine". Giving helps make egoism thaw: it is the antidote to cure the illness of egoism and greed. "Overcome the taint of greed and practice giving," exhorts the Devatasamyutta (S.i,18). The Dhammapada admonishes us to conquer miserliness with generosity (jine kadariyam danena, Dhp. 223).

Credit: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel367.html#pali

I've just been reading random suttas that interest me but is there a certain order or reading plan I can follow??

Morning friends,

I realise that the above citation is from the Anguttara Nikāya but that's about as much as I understand about how to read the reference. Could someone please assist me how to interpret the rest of the citation?

A lot of abrahamic religions emphasise the reading of their holy books like Quran, Bible etc.

The Tipitaka (Pali Canon) is a huge collection of lectures/discourses given by the Buddha and offer a much better understanding of the great man and his teachings in his own words.

for those interested, Link to entire Tipitaka in English can be found at https://suttacentral.net a short Sutta a day is a fun and easy way to read the Tipitaka if you are short of time.

View Poll

I am thinking of reading the manga book series, I am not into manga but as a Buddhist I thought about giving this series a read. Has anyone read the series and if so, how closely does it follow Buddha's Story in relation to the Pali Canon (Theravada).

I had a app on my old phone, it was absolutely excellent. It offered offline use, I can not recall the name of it. Can someone help me out?

🙏

Hello everyone!

I'm an inquirer into Mahayana Buddhism (I'm currently attending a Zen Buddhist center at my temporary location; I'll be moving back to my main residence and have to find another Buddhist Temple / Center in a couple of weeks).

I wanted to get started reading, studying, and meditating on the Sutras, and considering that I'm not set in a specific school yet (due to these circumstances - there's a Zen place and Vietnamese place that both seem welcoming, but I'll have to check them out myself when I get there - who knows) - I've decided that the best place to start off are the bodies of text common to most traditions - namely the Tripitaka - as I was under the impression that most Mahayana schools use a Sanskrit or East-Asian language version of the Pali Canon and then build off of it with additional sutras - so I bought the "Long Discourses of the Buddha" translated from the Pali Digha Nikaya by Maurice Walshe. It was on sale for half off, so I bought it for $25.

However, to my dismay, I've found out after purchasing it that what I read online was only sort of true, because while it seems that there is incredible overlap between the Pali and Sanskrit / East-Asian canons such that they seem to be based off the same texts and early doctrines of the Buddha, the Pali canon has additional sutras not in the Sanskrit / East-Asian tradition and some sutras outright substantively differing in content.

So...with that being said...are the Therevada texts still seen as legitimate / orthodox / authentic by the Mahayanan Buddhists? Are they legitimate teachings by the Buddha? Are they worth reading? Is there anything wrong from a Mahayana view in these texts that I should be worried about?

Thanks

What I encounter when looking into Buddhism is to start with mindfulness meditation, which is understandable for a beginner to start with since mindfulness is the cornerstone to practice as a Buddhist. From what I know there are other forms of meditation the Buddha laid out in the Pali Canon as well as things such as Jhanas, etc. What is the general "progression" of practice that is laid out or "Check marks" in progressing to different types of meditation techniques, if there is one, when one is accustomed to a basic practice of mindfulness meditation? What steps are laid out also in terms of learning and understanding things in the Dhamma?

When I see references such as SNA, ii.571 or DhA.iv.146f ( these are from the "Dictionary of Pali Names" ) how can I go read them on Sutta Central or a similar website? Putting those references in search yields nothing, as does typing Dhammapada or another chapter name. I guess I need this explained like I am five because I have no idea what to do. Thanks.

I am only familiar with the Bhikku Bodhi and Pali text society versions of the English Pali canon. I want to buy the some of the books of the Suttapitaka (Hardcopy), which author offers the better English translation of the Pali canon? Also is there some kind of deal if I buy the whole set to reduce the price or do I have to buy the books individually?

I understand more recent translations have also been done by other monks such as Ajahn Sujato , but his translations are only online.

So I've been reading In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi and in this sutra the Buddha tells that each being has had countless lives as many different literal beings. Here's an excerpt:

>"Monks, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. What do you think, monks, which is more: the stream of blood that you have shed when you were beheaded as you roamed and wandered through this long course - this or the water in the four great oceans?"

>"As we understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, venerable sir, the stream of blood that we have shed when we were beheaded as we roamed and wandered through this long course - this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans."

>"Good, good, monks! It is good that you understand the Dhamma taught by me in such a way. The stream of blood that you have shed as you roamed and wandered through this long course - this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans. For a long time, monks, you have been cows, and when as cows you were beheaded, the stream of blood that you shed is greater than the waters in the four oceans. For a long time you have been buffalo, sheep, goats, deer, chickens, and pigs.... For a long time you have been arrested as burglars, highwaymen, and adulterers, and when you were beheaded, the stream of blood you shed is greater than the water in the four great oceans. For what reason? Because, monks, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. For such a long time, monks, you have experienced suffering, anguish and disaster, and swelled the cemetery. It is enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them." (SN 15:13; II 187:89)

Thich Nhat Hanh and my local sangha are part of Zen Buddhism. My teacher said that after death we will live on different mental or material or informational components, I don't remember his exact words. I don't think I've ever heard or read Thich Nhat Hanh speaking about people having past or future lives as hell-beings or hungry ghosts or devas or such things of Buddhist cosmology, his approach is much more focused on our lives, our world and day-to-day matters like mindful breathing, mindful walking, and other kind of mindful actions. He

I understand that such meditational techniques have not been practised continuously (or if they have, then they are not publicly available teachings), but I have yet to read a book systematically discussing such techniques' rediscovery.

I've read many times that the pali canos is "the sacred scripture of theravada buddhism", but I always thought that all kinds of buddhism read the pali canon. If not so, are the prajñaparamita sutras more important to mahayana buddhism than the pali canon? What are other important mahayana scriptures that are not read in theravada and are not prajñaparamita?

Edit: orthography

So I've just started reading Thich Nhat Hanhs 'The Heart of The Buddhas Teaching" and how he speaks of perception strikes me as drastically counter to how it's described in the Pali canon.

>To perceive always means to perceive something. We believe that the object of our perception is outside of the subject, but that is not correct. When we perceive the moon, the moon is us. When we smile to our friend, our friend is also us because she is the object of our perception.

^(The Heart of The Buddhas Teaching . Part 2 / Chapter 9)

Compare that to

>“Any kind of feeling whatsoever … Any kind of perception whatsoever … Any kind of volitional formations whatsoever … Any kind of consciousness whatsoever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near, all consciousness should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’

^(Samyutta Nikaya 22:59)

Am I misinterpreting Thich Nhat Hanh's suggestion that by perceiving the flower, it's apart of consciousness, ergo apart of us? The Pali Canon directly contradicts this. Why would his interpretation of perception be so counter to how it is described in the actual discourses of the Buddha? The Pali Canon does seem to really drive home that perception, and consciousness is nonself.

Discourses of the elder nuns excerpt:

21. As to those beings who fare amidst form,
    And those who abide in the formless —
    Not having understood cessation,
    They come again to re-becoming."[19]

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bl143.html

When the searching pali canon for a certain word or phrase, what tools do you use? Searching via suttacentral alone seems unsatisfactory to me. Especially if I only want to search certain texts.

The Case Of The Senior bhikkhu with the ailment of dysentery.

& The Buddha said, “My bhikkhus, you have no father, you have no mother, who is there then to attend to you. If you do not attend to one another, whom shall then attend unto you? Whomsoever shall tend to me, should attend-to as well the ill (& those ones in need).”

(1)

Now at that time, a certain senior bhikkhu, as one from the Order there, Was suffering from an ailment of dysentery. He laid fouled in his own waist, for no one was attending him. The Buddha, as on an inspection of the dwellings there with the one called the venerable Ananda, (& who was His first hand attendant). They came across the senior bhikkhu’s dwelling, & at arriving they saw how he laid: Fouled in his own waist for no one was attending him. Upon seeing this, The Buddha, went to this senior bhikkhu & asked him:

“My sir, what is your ailment?”

“I have an ailment of dysentery, O Blessed One.”

“Whom here is attending you, then?”

“No one, O Blessed One.”

“How come the bhikkhus here do not attend to you (as one amongst them)?”

“I cannot do anything for the bhikkhus here, my Lord, which is why they have not attended to me.”

Then The Buddha addressed the venerable Ananda whom was near him: “Go & fetch a vessel of water, Ananda. We shall wash this one here (for he is ill & no one is attending to him).”

& the venerable Ananda replied (swiftly): “As you say, Lord”. & he did so, bringing forth a vessel of water.

The Buddha then sprinkled some of the water upon that of the senior bhikkhu’s face & body. & too with the venerable Ananda They washed him, bathing him & his wounds thoroughly. Then, as They had finished, with The Buddha taking hold of his head, & the venerable Ananda taking hold of his feet- they raised the senior bhikkhu, who was ill, up, & They transferred him to a bed that was freshly made & was clean.

Then at an immediate time after, The Buddha, in response to this cause, due to this event of neglect, He had the sangha (the order there) assembled before him, & asked them (as pointing to the senior bhikkhu’s dwelling): “Is there a fellow bhikkhu ill in that dwelling over there?”

“Yes, O Blessed One, there is” They replied.

“& what is his ailment?”

“He has an ailment of dysentery, O Blessed One.”

“Who amon

I am reading the Pali Canon I’ve begun with the Digha Nikaya. Is there a reading companion/summary/commentary text for the Pali Canon so I can check I understood what I read from the original text.

Getting one’s head around what is even in the Pali canon is rather a project in its own right! I’m always looking for diagrams and summaries, and this outline might take the cake for completeness:

>An Analysis of the Pāli Canon, edited by Russell Webb, Buddhist Publication Society
>
>https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh217_Webb_Analysis-of-the-Pali-Canon.html

It has very brief descriptions of what each part of the canon contains, down to the sutta level.

The index of suttas is also very useful! It answers questions like “Where is the Dhammacakkapavattana sutta in the canon?"

Here, also, is a print (PDF) version of the same text, together with _A Reference Table of Pali Literature” compiled by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita:

https://budsas.net/sach/en159.pdf

I'm not complaining as I understand it was written many, many centuries ago and they didn't necessarily have a 21st century literary style, but I still find many parts of the Pali Canon impenetrable.

Part of it can be its length, style issues, confusing metaphors, parts that seemingly aren't relevant to me (at least currently), etc.

I'm not sure if an annotated version would be best or if there is some sort of "Pali Canon in 300 pages" kind of text. If anything, I'd like to not lose the essence of the text, but figured I'd ask if anyone had advice.

By extremes of devotion, I mean basically being willing to tolerate a guru's criminal/unethical behaviour or to engage in criminal/unethical behaviour if one's guru tell one to do so. For example, the Varayana Buddhist master Tilopa supposedly said to his disciple Naropa, when the two of them saw a prince with his attendants, "Well, this time there are not so many people [with the prince]. You should go to hit the prince, take his ornaments, and then come back to me. In case there are any problems, call me."

I don’t understand why this school would change something like this.

Thank you!

I do stand to be corrected here - but it is my understanding that the Pali canon as we have it today, is a form of Buddhist scripture.. But I am just wondering if it was the case - at least historically - that the Buddha (Sidhartta Gotama) wanted to have a scripture? Did the Buddha want to "write down" and document his philosophy?

Sometimes if one is suffering, there is an "unspoken" thought or memory, that is not fully in consciousness, but if you explore the feelings of the unpleasant emotions one can bring it into full consciousness. Sometimes there are multiple layers and when they are brought into consciousness the suffering is lessened.

Did Buddha discuss this aspect to relieving suffering in the Pali Canon? Where? What did he say?

I think it might have something to do with karma which is discussed but specifically, what about the work of trying to bring out suppressed thoughts and memories into full consciousness?

Thanks in advance.

Is this true or apocryphal?

I've heard that the Buddhavamsa in the Khuddaka Nikāya has a story about multi-colored light rays coming from the Buddha's body. However I can't find an English copy of this sutta to verify that fact and I don't know of any other stories from the Pali Canon where light emits from the Buddha's body. Does anyone know if this comes from the Pali Canon? Thanks!

This will probably be no surprise to seasoned practitioners, but might be of interest to other beginners. For some time I've wondered why translations from the Pali Canon always seem to take the form of anthologies and selections rather than a simple translation. Why can't I just buy a one-volume English edition of the Pali Canon to stick on my bookshelf? Maybe it would be thick, but surely it could fit into a single tome if the pages were thin and the type was tiny.

Well, I just came across this page about the length of various editions of the Canon, and comparing it to the Bible. One recent Thai edition was 40 volumes, 15,470 pages, 2,708,706 Pali words, or 20,606,104 letters in Latin script. In comparison, the King James Version of the Bible contains 899,931 words, 4,630,356 letters. In other words, the Pali Canon contains more than four times the characters of the King James Bible. And if you've ever looked at a typical Bible edition, you know they have to print it in minuscule text on onionskin in order to cram it into a portable volume.

I simply didn't realize how copious the Pali Canon was.

The Case Of The Senior bhikkhu with the ailment of dysentery.

(1)

Now at that time, a certain senior bhikkhu, as one from the Order there, Was suffering from an ailment of dysentery. He laid fouled in his own waist, for no one was attending him. The Buddha, as on an inspection of the dwellings there with the one called the venerable Ananda, (& who was His first hand attendant). They came across the senior bhikkhu’s dwelling, & at arriving they saw how he laid: Fouled in his own waist for no one was attending him. Upon seeing this, The Buddha, went to this senior bhikkhu & asked him:

“My sir, what is your ailment?”

“I have an ailment of dysentery, O Blessed One.”

“Whom here is attending you, then?”

“No one, O Blessed One.”

“How come the bhikkhus here do not attend to you (as one amongst them)?”

“I cannot do anything for the bhikkhus here, my Lord, which is why they have not attended to me.”

Then The Buddha addressed the venerable Ananda whom was near him: “Go & fetch a vessel of water, Ananda. We shall wash this one here (for he is ill & no one is attending to him).”

& the venerable Ananda replied (swiftly): “As you say, Lord”. & he did so, bringing forth a vessel of water.

The Buddha then sprinkled some of the water upon that of the senior bhikkhu’s face & body. & too with the venerable Ananda They washed him, bathing him & his wounds thoroughly. Then, as They had finished, with The Buddha taking hold of his head, & the venerable Ananda taking hold of his feet- they raised the senior bhikkhu, who was ill, up, & They transferred him to a bed that was freshly made & was clean.

Then at an immediate time after, The Buddha, in response to this cause, due to this event of neglect, He had the sangha (the order there) assembled before him, & asked them (as pointing to the senior bhikkhu’s dwelling): “Is there a fellow bhikkhu ill in that dwelling over there?”

“Yes, O Blessed One, there is” They replied.

“& what is his ailment?”

“He has an ailment of dysentery, O Blessed One.”

“Who among you is attending to him, then?”

“No one among us, O Blessed One.”

“Has there been any other (that attended to him)?”

“No one, O Blessed One.”

“Then why do not his fellow bhikkhus attend to him?”

“He has not done anything for the bhikkhus here, my Lord, which is why we have not attended to him.”

& The Buddha said, “My bhikkhus, you have no father, you have no mother, who is there then to attend to

What is the Pali Canon and how do I read it? Thank you!