Glosses: Pāli Canon
“Could you speak a little about the structure of the Pāli Canon? How much was written down in the Buddha’s time?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tipiṭaka ] [History/Early Buddhism ] [Dhamma books] // [Culture/India] [Memory] [Chanting] [Vinaya] [Sutta] [Abhidhamma]
2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5, Excerpt 4
“MN 49.26 says that the Buddha made himself invisible. Are the suttas always to be taken literally?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Psychic powers] [Tipiṭaka ] // [Brahma gods] [Culture/India] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.7.8: The Buddha conceals Yasa.
13. “In your opinion, why do you think Moggallana is portrayed in the scriptures as mostly an idiot/unwise and Sariputta is portrayed as wise?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tipiṭaka] [Great disciples] // [Psychic powers] [Saṅgha] [Conflict] [Mahāyāna] [Personality]
Quote: “But Ānanda, since when has Anuruddha been involved in disciplinary issues in the midst of the Saṅgha?” AN 4.243 [Vinaya]
Story: Moggallāna sees a yakkha clobber Sāriputta. Ud 4.4 [Non-human beings]
3. “Where in the Pāli Canon does the Buddha discuss physical pain and how to deal with it? Is physical pain categorized as a sense hindrance or a mental object?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tipiṭaka] [Pain] [Sense bases] [Volitional formations] // [Patience] [Feeling]
Sutta: SN 36.6: The Dart. [Similes]
Sutta: MN 86.17: Aṅgulimāla Sutta. [Kamma] [Arahant]
Sutta: MN 44.25: The underlying tendencies associated with feeling.
18. “Can you recommend any particular books which share the teachings of the Buddha in more user-friendly ways—‘Dhamma for Dummies’? I found the readings from the discourses/Canon repetitive and hard to relate to, yet you share so many Dhamma tidbits that are captivating and memorable.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Yatiko. [Dhamma books ] [Tipiṭaka] [Teaching Dhamma] // [Bhikkhu Bodhi]
Reference: Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness by Bhante Gunaratana (commercial). [Eightfold Path]
Reference: In the Buddha’s Words by Bhikkhu Bodhi (commercial). [Sutta]
Reference: The Life of the Buddha According to the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. [Buddha/Biography]
23. “Did the Buddha have chanting in his time? Did he create any of the chants or were they all created after his passing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Chanting ] [Buddha/Biography] [History/Early Buddhism ] // [Tipiṭaka] [Culture/India] [Memory] [Culture/Other Theravāda traditions]
Sutta: AN 6.25: The nine qualities of the Buddha (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 4). [Recollection/Buddha]
The three cardinal suttas: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting Book); SN 22.59: Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (Chanting Book); SN 35.28: Ādittapariyāya Sutta (Chanting Book). [Sutta]
Sutta: MN 2.13-17: The Four Requisites (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 53). [Requisites]
Sutta: Snp 1.8: The Buddha’s Words on Lovingkindness (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 36). [Goodwill]
Sutta: AN 4.125: “I will abide pervading one quarter ...” (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 42). [Divine Abidings]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 32: Verses of Sharing and Aspiration.
Sutta: Ud 5.6.17: The Buddha praises Venerable Soṇa’s recitation.
7. “Reference to ‘spirit’ is conspicuously absent from Buddhist scripture. However, there is acknowledgement of rebirth, so the belief that man is more than physical matter exists. Why is there so little written about spirit?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of mind ] [Tipiṭaka] [Rebirth] // [Culture/West] [Sense bases] [Impermanence] [Naturalness] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: SN 56.31: The Handful of Leaves.
2. “You referred to the Visuddhimagga by Buddhagosa a few times this week. Is this a principle source of suttas and discourses? Would it be valuable for a layperson to study, assuming it has been translated into English?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Commentaries ] [Sutta] [Translation] // [Tipiṭaka] [History/Early Buddhism] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism]
Reference: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli.
3. “If one has read the Majjhima Nikaya, what text of the Pali canon do you recommend reading next?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Learning] [Sutta ] [Tipiṭaka]
14. “Where are the paramis listed and described in the Pali Canon?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perfections] [Tipiṭaka] // [Commentaries]
7. Quote: “Do you still have anger?” “Yes, but I don’t take it.” — Ajahn Dune. Quoted by Debbie Stamp. [Ajahn Dune] [Aversion] [Right Mindfulness]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Arahant]
Follow-up: “Do we know if the Buddha had anger?” [Buddha] [Tipiṭaka]
Comment: Māra came to the Buddha many times after the Buddha’s enlightenment. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Māra] [Buddha/Biography]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Idealism] [Culture/West]
3. “Are any of the lists in this sutta (MN 95) explained in other suttas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Sutta] // [Bhikkhu Bodhi]
Reference: P.A. Payutto’s Dictionary of Numerical Dhammas (in Thai). [P. A. Payutto] [Tipiṭaka] [Pāli]
Explanation of volume and page numbers in the Pāli Tipitaka.
Comment by Debbie Stamp: Similar listings often refer to the gradual training. [Gradual Teaching] [Tipiṭaka]
Sutta: MN 107: Gaṇakamoggallāna Sutta.
Sutta: MN 47: Vīmaṃsaka Sutta.
1. “You showed pictures of the statue at Bodh Gaya. It seems like the Bodhi Tree is more important. Does the statue have no historical importance?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Bodhi Tree] [Buddha images] [Visiting holy sites] // [Devotional practice] [History/Early Buddhism] [History/Indian Buddhism] [Symbolism/metaphor] [Tipiṭaka]
4. “Could you speak a little about the structure of the Pāli Canon? How much was written down in the Buddha’s time?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tipiṭaka ] [History/Early Buddhism ] [Dhamma books] // [Culture/India] [Memory] [Chanting] [Vinaya] [Sutta] [Abhidhamma]
12. “A longtime Buddhist friend told me that Buddha gave a sermon extolling his followers to bury gold to protect themselves from the government. I find this unlikely and have not been able to find any such reference in the liturgy. Is there any such sermon?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Commerce/economics] [Tipiṭaka]
10. The story of the Bodhisattva seeing the old person, the sick person, and the dead person isn’t in the scriptures. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography ] [Tipiṭaka] [Stories] // [Jātaka Tales] [Postulants]
Sutta: DN 14.2 ascribes this story to the previous Buddha Vipassī. [Previous Buddhas]
Sutta: Snp 3.1 describes the Bodhisattva’s going forth.
8. “Did the Buddha ever say to send lovingkindness to oneself?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Goodwill] [Tipiṭaka] // [Heart/mind] [Spaciousness]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 43.
Note: Not all translations of this passage include the phrase “to all as to myself.” For examples, see the available online translations of AN 4.125 and AN 3.65.
5. “During the Buddha’s time do you know anything similar to the precepts or did the precepts come after the Buddha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Precepts] [Buddha/Biography] // [Tipiṭaka]
Follow-up: “People practiced a lot before the Buddha’s time. Did they establish something like the precepts?” [Geography/India]
Comment: The Jain movement had quite strong ethical conduct. [Jainism]
3. Reflections by Ajahn Amaro on the career of the Bodhisattva. [Bodhisattva ] // [Compassion] [Perfections] [Tipiṭaka] [Mahāyāna] [History/Early Buddhism]
Sutta: MN 26.19: The Buddha hesitates to teach.
5. “Is there any reference in the Pāli Canon to Maitreya, the next Buddha’s aspiration being made to the Buddha Gotama?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Tipiṭaka] [Metteyya Bodhisatva] [Buddha/Biography] // [Āgama]
Sutta: DN 26.25: The Pāli Nikaya’s only reference to Metteyya Bodhisattva.
Āgama: MĀ 66: Two aspirants make vows to the Buddha Gotama.
3. “What is the earliest source that mentions the three kinds of dukkha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] // [Tipiṭaka]
Sutta: SN 45.165.
1. “For those who accept only the three-lifetime interpretation of Dependent Origination, how do they interpret the arising of contact and feeling?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Dependent origination] [Rebirth] [Contact] [Feeling] // [P. A. Payutto] [Tipiṭaka] [Commentaries] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, pp. 533-608: Dependent Origination.
Sutta: MN 140.31: “The sage at peace is not born, does not age, and does not die.”
Quote: I don’t deny that the Buddha speaks about past life and present life and future life, but in most circumstances that’s irrelevant. “Ajahn Buddhadāsa” — answering a sincere inquiry about rebirth. [Tipiṭaka]
3. “Does the Buddha speak about karma in relation to the family we find ourselves in?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Tipiṭaka] [Kamma] [Family] // [Jātaka Tales] [Great disciples] [Rebirth] [Buddha/Biography] [Previous Buddhas] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Sutta: MN 81 Ghaṭīkāra Sutta
Story: An eight-year-old girl remembers being her grandmother’s mother.
1. Discussion about why the bhikkhus did not approve of the Buddha’s teachings in the Mūlapariyāya Sutta (MN 1). [Teaching Dhamma] [Blame and praise] // [Culture/India] [Tipiṭaka] [Right View] [Hinduism]
4. “Is it correct that name-and-form and consciousness can’t be separated, contact and feeling can’t be separated, and the same for becoming and birth? Is it correct that those links can’t be interrupted?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Dependent origination] // [Tipiṭaka] [Conditionality] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Direct experience]
Sutta: DN 15: Mahānidāna Sutta.
Reference: “Hetu paccayo, ...” Funeral Chanting in Amaravati Chanting Book Volume 2, p. 66.
Sutta: MN 43.9: Feeling, perception, and consciousness are conjoined.
1. “You mentioned very precise words and actions of the Buddha [in MN 26], but how do we know this is a genuine story because they were written hundreds of years ago?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography ] [Tipiṭaka] // [Faith] [Cessation of Suffering]
Sutta: MN 26.25: The encounter with Upaka.
4. “The Pāli word for conceit is very similar to the Pāli word for conceiving. In the Pāli Canon, does conceiving always have an element of ‘I’ in there?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conceit] [Tipiṭaka] [Pāli] [Language]
1. “MN 49.26 says that the Buddha made himself invisible. Are the suttas always to be taken literally?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Psychic powers] [Tipiṭaka ] // [Brahma gods] [Culture/India] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.7.8: The Buddha conceals Yasa.
8. Comments about the everyday use of the words corresponding to mano and dukkha in Indian languages. Contributed by Anagārikā Deepa. [Language] [Pāli] [Culture/India] [Heart/mind] [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya] [Tipiṭaka] [Humor] [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi]
11. “I’m curious about the timeline when the Buddha established the Five Precepts for householders.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Five Precepts] [Lay life] // [Vinaya]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 2.1: The Buddha establishes the Uposatha observance for the Saṅgha. [Lunar observance days] [Saṅgha]
Sutta: AN 8.41: Observing the Eight Precepts on Uposatha days. [Eight Precepts]
Sutta: AN 8.39: The eight streams of merit. [Merit] [Three Refuges] [Generosity]
Follow-up: “Did the ritual of requesting the Five Precepts originate in the time of the Buddha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ceremony/ritual] [Culture/Thailand] [Tipiṭaka]