We've now reached Sutra 18 in the Majjhima Nikaya, and this is called the Honey Cake Sutta. And I'd say it certainly is a honey cake for all students of Buddhist psychology: there are some important Buddhist psychological prin
Read more…023/ MN016-017 Cetokhila & Vanapattha
In this podcast, I'd like to deal with the next two sutras in the Majjhima Nikaya, numbers 16 and 17, the Cetakila and the Vanapata. These two sutras are about making progress on the spiritual path. In differe
Read more…The Anumana Sutta is spoken by Moggallana, one of the leading disciples of the Buddha. It's sometimes also called the Bhikshu Pratimoksha Sutra. Pratimoksha is the name given to the rules for Buddhist monastics.
But prati means to
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We've now reached suttas 13 and 14 in the Majjhima Nikaya. These are the greater and lesser dukkha skandha suttas.
Dukkha, first of the noble truths.
Skandhas, well the skandhas appear in connection with the four n
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We've now reached the Maha Sihanada Sutta, which is number 12 in the Majjhima Nikaya. This is the larger Lion's Roar Sutra. This sutra includes the Buddha talking about his supernatural powers and also about his past practic
Read more…The eleventh Majjhima Nikaya Sutta is the Culasihanada Sutta, the shorter lion's roar discourse. This sutra is quite short, but it's quite complicated. The gist of it is that the Buddha declares that the special and unique f
Read more…014/ MN010 Satipatthana Part 1
Part One: The Title
So in this series we've reached sutta number 10, which is the Satipatthana. Well, we should firstly say something about this title, Satipatthana, because this is the intention of the teaching. Sati,
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Sutra number nine is the Sammaditthi, the sutra on right view. It's not given by the Buddha himself, it's a teaching by the Buddha's disciple, Shariputra. Shariputra gives a series of 16 different ways of understanding what
Read more…Sutra number eight in the Majjhima Nikaya is the Sallekha. This is the sutra on effacement. Effacement we can say is non-ego.
In this sutra the Buddha makes a distinction between effacement and pleasant abiding. Clearly he regar
Read more…The seventh sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya is the Vatthupama. This is the simile of the cloth. The basic point of this sutta, this teaching given by the Buddha himself, is an analogy with the dyeing of a cloth.
The Buddhis
Read more…008/ MN006 Akankhayya
Sutta number six in the Majjhima Nikaya is the Akankhaya, and I can imagine the Buddha giving this talk. One can only try to imagine what may have preceded it.
He talks about the importance of the bhikkhus, the monks in the ord
Read more…007/ MN005 Anangana
The fifth sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya is the Anangana sutta. Angana means, or is translated in the Ñanamoli and Bodhi translation of the Majjhima Nikaya as, blemishes. So Anangama means without blemishes.
Now this sutta is actu
Read more…004/MN004A Bhayabherava Part 1
The fourth sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya is the Bhayabherava Sutta, the Sutta on Fear and Dread. Now this is an important sutta. It contains a summary of several important aspects of the Buddha's teaching.
It has a cen
Read more…The third sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya is called Dhammadayada, which we can say is "My Heirs in Dhamma", or "My Followers in Dhamma", and in this sutta, the Buddha makes the strong statement, "My disciples should be heirs in D
Read more…The second sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya is the Sabbasava. Asavas are personal issues. So this is all the personal issues.
So this sutra is, it's essentially seven pieces of advice for improving one's character. And they are some
Read more…The Majjhima Nikaya is a collection of 152 discourses, called middle-length discourses, given by the Buddha, Shakyamuni. The first of these discourses is called the Mula Pariyaya Sutta. This has been translated as meaning “the
Read more…Aphrodite is the goddess of sex, beauty and bliss. Her Latin name is Venus. Thus she is patron of what, to modern eyes, might seem a collection of opposites: betrothal and prostitution, marriage and adultery, love and passion. Aphrodite especially he
Read more…Hera (Ἥρα) married her bother Zeus and thus became the queen of the Olympian gods and goddesses. She is a jealous wife. Zeus is always having secret affairs and Hera is trying to thwart him and drive away her rivals. She is thus the goddess of marria
Read more…Athena, whose Latin name is Minerva, is the goddess for disputes and justice, warfare and wisdom. If you are having a dispute you can go to Athena's Wood to settle the matter. It is across the lane from the domain of Eirene, beyond the second well. A
Read more…Artemis (Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of wild things. Her Latin name is Diana. At La Ville she presides over the wildest part of the forest. Her land is bounded by that of Demeter to the south, Eirene to the west and Aphrodite to the north. Entering her d
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