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− | TRENDS IN [[BUDDHIST]] STUDIES AMONGST WESTERN SCHOLARS
| + | [[Buddhism]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}} |
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| + | Couple of weeks ago I found a page in Facebook called or group of [[people]] called [[Buddhism]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}} . I wrote couple of words myself an english on their page and immediately reacted on my words site Admin Peter Olin and told that everybody here on this page have to use only {{Wiki|Swedish}} because it's a {{Wiki|swedish}} [[buddhist]] site. He [[sound]] quite convincible. |
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− | 1980-1999
| + | I explained to Olin that I have been doing the [[Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia]] for 18 hours every day for 8 years After which he started to explain to me that many links in [[Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia]] what are linked to Wikipedia are suspicious and may change over time, and what,ll happened with these articles in my {{Wiki|encyclopedia}} when there,ll be changes in Wikipedia , He seemed quite excited and determined in their [[own]] deliberations and positions. |
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− | Vol. 2
| + | Then I posted couple of [[thangkas]] made by me and lot of critics or by other words a large avalanche of [[criticism]] arrived at my address. compared to my [[attitude]] towards the {{Wiki|Encyclopedia}} and other [[activities]] in {{Wiki|Asia}}, {{Wiki|Sweden}} had an extremely negative and rusty cold [[attitude]]. |
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| + | With this, I felt like the admin's ironic [[logic]] killed me wanting to participate in this site on Facebook and of course since the admin of the page was quite specific in his [[attitude]], I asked him what have you done for [[Buddhism]] yourself? He didn't answer. At the end I just left the {{Wiki|swedish}} [[group of buddhists]].. |
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− | Compiled by Michael Drummond
| + | I spend there on site just 2 days. And then left because [[people]] started to scream about my work with [[Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia]]. My secretary who has been a member of this group started to defend me and almost all [[people]] on the page started to talk that I serve the interests of the [[Chinese government]] and they pay me for that. |
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− | URUWALA DHAMMARATANA
| + | I started the {{Wiki|encyclopedia}} in [[Australia]] and interestingly there were no negative [[attitude]] towards my work . [[Australia]] gave me a Distinguished Talented Visa for my [[activities]] and work in [[Buddhism ]]. |
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− | REVIVAL OF [[VIPASSANA]] [[MEDITATION]] IN RECENT TIMES URUWALA DHAMMARATANA
| + | I am struck by how two countries may have so different [[views]] on [[Buddhism]]. I arrived back to {{Wiki|Sweden}} a year ago and turned to {{Wiki|Swedish}} government and asked if they would like to help me with the {{Wiki|encyclopedia}}. I also wrote to the {{Wiki|Swedish}} {{Wiki|Academy}} of [[Sciences]] and asked them for a positive [[attitude]] towards my work. I wrote to 60 politicians in the government but did not receive any response to my letters at all. |
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| + | The {{Wiki|Academy}} of [[Sciences]] was [[silent]] in {{Wiki|Swedish}} way. I [[thought]] when I arrived first time to {{Wiki|Sweden}} most of the world's press was {{Wiki|present}} and even {{Wiki|Swedish}} journalists but now it seemed embarrassing for {{Wiki|Sweden}} that they gave me {{Wiki|swedish}} citizenship, Which shows that my {{Wiki|political}} [[activities]] suited them but not [[Buddhist]] . |
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− | In recent times [[people]] have begun to take an [[interest]] in [[meditation]] in
| + | I have organized a major international [[Buddhist]] conferences and ([[Buddhism]] and Nordland) and ([[Buddhism]] and [[Australia]]) what lasted 9 years. I myself have attended other conferences at the {{Wiki|University}} of [[Berkeley]], but I have never seen such a derogatory and monotonous [[attitude]] as in {{Wiki|Europe}}, and especially in Scandinavia haven't seen such negative [[attitude]] anywhere in [[world]]. We can say openly {{Wiki|Sweden}} denies [[Buddhism]]. |
− | general and [[Buddhist meditation]] in particular. There arc several schools
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− | of [[Buddhist meditation]], and they can all be brought under three [[principal]] | |
− | groups: [[Vipassana]] or [[Insight Meditation]] as practised in [[Burma]], [[Thailand]],
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− | [[Sri Lanka]], etc.; Cb’an or [[Zen Meditation]] prevalent in [[China]], [[Japan]], [[Korea]], | + | This summer, I approached the {{Wiki|University}} of Kalmar with a proposal to hold an international conference on [[Buddhism]]. In a month's time, my secretary, Marju Broder, sent them letters with a proposal to meet to discuss cooperation and [[activities]] in [[connection]] with the conference. |
− | etc.; and the [[Tantric]] [[form]] of [[Meditation]] followed [[in Tibet]], [[Mongolia]], [[Bhutan]],
| + | the {{Wiki|university}} replied to me w month later with such this [[letter]]; |
− | [[Sikkim]], etc. Though they follow various [[methods]] and differ in details, they | |
− | agree on the [[essential]] points and that is what matters. Their goal is one
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− | and the same—attainment of [[peace]], [[harmony]] and [[happiness]] culminating
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− | in the [[realization of Nibbana]].
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− | This paper is related to [[Vipassana meditation]] as [[taught]] in the Theravdda
| + | Dear Marju Broder, |
− | [[tradition]]. In this [[connection]] it has to be noted that [[Vipassana]] is the last
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− | and the most important part of the [[Eight-fold Path]] represented by the
| + | I’m [[professor]] in the study of [[religions]] and like all my [[colleagues]] in the study of [[religions]] we are regularly contacted by, besides of course [[scholars]] of [[religions]], RELIGIONISTS OF DIFFERENT SORTS, NOT RARELY WITH DEEP THEOLOGICAL ERUDITION. |
− | three stages of [[sila]] or [[virtue]], [[samadhi]] or [[concentration]] and pafiHn or [[wisdom]].
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− | [[Vipassana]] is represented by paiinil which leads to the [[comprehension]] of the
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− | [[true nature of things]] and the [[realization]] of the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[peace]] of [[Nibbana]].
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− | Though the [[path]] has been [[taught]] in terms of these three stages, also known
| + | Stefan Arvidsson |
− | as the [[threefold training]] ( tisikkha ), the last has been characterised as the
| + | [[Professor]] in the History of [[Religions]], Linnæus {{Wiki|University}} |
− | very life-blood of [[Buddhism]]. The [[tradition]] refers to this fact in the following
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− | words:
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− | [[Na]] hi silavatarh [[hetu]] uppajjanti [[Tathagata]] 1 | + | At least someone dared to answer and say what is [[thought]] about of [[Buddhist]] [[activities]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}} . It is [[interesting]] that {{Wiki|Sweden}} is talking about [[religious]] freedom. How to understand it ? |
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− | aUhakkhara tipi [[pada]] Sambuddhena sudesita.
| + | This freedom seems to [[exist]] only for [[Christians]] but not for [[Buddhists]] . In addition, we wrote to many other {{Wiki|Swedish}} organizations, but the answer was [[silence]] |
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− | [[Tathagatas]] are not bom for promoting [[virtuous practices]] (a*onc). (The | + | My secretary Marju Broder also wrote to others in Scandinavia, but the answer from them was either [[silence]] or a negative [[attitude]]. The same [[attitude]] was observed by those Swedes on Facebook who call themselves a [[Buddhists]]. |
− | [[essence]] of) the [[doctrine]] [[taught]] by the fully [[Enlightened One]] is enshrined
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− | in eight letters and three words.
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− | Here the reference is to the three cliaracteristics ( tilakkliaijani) of the
| + | That's what they wrote in {{Wiki|Swedish}} newspaper; |
− | [[conditioned]] states ( sankhata-dhamma) namely [[anicca]] ([[impermanent nature]]),
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− | [[dukkha]] (unsatisfactory [[nature]]) and ancita (unsubstantial [[nature]]). They
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− | are the very-subject-matter of [[Vipassana meditation]]. The [[gatha]] in question
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− | docs not mean that [[the teaching of the Buddha]] attaches all importance
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− | to [[Vipassana]] and ignores the importance of [[sila]] and [[samadhi]]. The [[path]]
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− | being an integrated one, parbia is not possible without [[samadhi]] and [[samadhi]]
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− | is not possible without [[sila]].
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− | The [[traditional]] [[interpretation]] by implication only means that while
| + | [[Buddhism]] is a relatively small [[religion]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}}, but has seen an increase in recent years. The number of [[Buddhists]] in April 2011 is estimated at around 45,000 [[people]] or close to 0.5% of Sweden's population, making it Sweden's third largest [[religion]] after [[Christianity]] and {{Wiki|Islam}}. Most practitioners have an {{Wiki|Asian}} background and come mostly from [[Thailand]], [[China]] or [[Vietnam]]. |
− | [[Vipassana]] paniia represents the {{Wiki|distinct}} and [[essential]] [[doctrine]] of the [[Buddha]],
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− | [[sila]] and [[samadhi]] are common to other [[religious]] systems as well, of course | |
− | with different {{Wiki|emphasis}} on this point or that point, on this aspect or that
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− | aspect. This is borne out by the life-story of the [[Buddha]] himself. It is said
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| + | In addition, the {{Wiki|Swedish}} government requested that {{Wiki|donations}} to [[Buddhists]] be taxed on the basis of income. |
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| + | http://religionsvetenskapligakommentarer.blogspot.com/2012/09/strukturell-diskriminering-nar.html |
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− | that as a result of his [[religious]] practices under Alarakaldma and Uddakarama-
| + | http://religionsvetenskapligakommentarer.blogspot.com/2019/08/buddhistiska-tempel-beskattas-for.html |
− | [[putta]], [[Siddhattha]] [[attained]] higher levels of [[concentration]] and [[tranquillity]]
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− | represented by rUpa-jhSnas and [[arupa-jhanas]]. But then he found that they
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− | too were [[conditioned]] states and as such could not guarantee lasting [[peace]]
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− | and [[happiness]]. He therefore took to the [[middle path]] and [[attained]] the un¬
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− | [[conditioned]] [[state]] cf [[Nibbana]]. The speciality of this [[path]] is [[pam]] or [[wisdom]]
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− | representing [[Insight-knowledge]] (vipassand-pa>m) which penetrates into
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− | the [[true nature of things]] (yathabhma-hanadassana). Hence this importance
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− | [[attached]] to [[Vipassana]] by the [[tradition]].
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− | Since the days of [[Lord Buddha]] there was a living [[tradition]] of [[Vipassana]]
| + | It,s a [[shame]] to take a [[money]] from [[buddhist monks]]. [[Interesting]] how much {{Wiki|Swedish}} government pays for [[Christian]] {{Wiki|church}} to keep it alive. |
− | meditaticn handed down from [[teacher]] to pupil. It continued for several
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− | centuries in [[India]] and other [[Buddhist]] countries. But then, at a certain stage
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− | in the [[history of Buddhism]], the continuity of the living [[tradition]] was inter¬
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− | rupted by new developments [[including]] {{Wiki|political}} upheavals. From the accounts
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− | handed down in the [[tradition]], we learn that in the beginning [[Vipassana]]
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− | was practised even by the lay {{Wiki|devotees}}, and as regards the members of the
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− | [[Sangha]] it was a regular practice of day-to-day [[life]]. However, as a result of
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− | the interruption of tha continuity of the living tradition.it came to [[be con]]¬
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− | fined only to a few groups and {{Wiki|individuals}}, here and there. And it is evident
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− | from the relevant accounts that in spite of their [[devotion]] and [[dedication]] to | |
− | the practice of [[Vipassana]], that inspiration, warmth, [[illumination]], [[joy]] and
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− | the [[sense]]- of [[liberation]] associated with it in the beginning began to {{Wiki|diminish}}.
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− | So in course of time the [[belief]] began to gain ground that the age of [[Arahantas]]
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− | was over and that {{Wiki|devotees}} had to keep on practising [[Dhamma]] as far as
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− | they could waiting.for the [[appearance]] of [[Buddha Metteyya]] for their final
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− | {{Wiki|emancipation}}. . j
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− | According to an old [[tradition]], Anurddhapura, the capital of [[Sri Lanka]],
| + | it shows specifically how the {{Wiki|Swedish}} government and [[people]] view [[Buddhism]]. You could say frankly that they [[hate]] [[Buddhism]] |
− | was once teeming with so many saintly [[monks]] accomplished with [[psychic powers]] that when they moved to and fro through the [[space]] it became rather
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− | difficult for the [[people]] to dry their paddy due to their shadows.* After making
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− | allowance for the hyperbolic [[language]], we can understand the [[nature]] of the
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− | [[spiritual]] climate that might have existed during the period under reference.
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− | But then, with the passage of time and the changing [[conditions]], there resulted
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− | {{Wiki|laxity}} in the [[spiritual]] [[effort]] also. The [[people]] in the [[island]] came to believe | |
− | that Maliyadeva was the last [[Arahanta]].* Similar [[beliefs]] came into [[existence]]
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− | in {{Wiki|ether}} countries also. This [[belief]] became so common and strong that
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− | it worked as a formidable [[obstacle]] even on the [[path]] of those who dedicated
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− | themselves to the [[practice of Dhamma]] with all seriousness. However, there
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− | was an undercurrent of protest against this {{Wiki|pessimistic}} [[belief]] and outlook
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− | based on the pronouncement made by the [[Buddha]] just before his [[parinibbana]]
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− | that, as long as [[bhikkhus]] follow the [[path]] of [[Dhamma]], the [[world]] would not | |
− | be devoid of [[Arahantas]] . 4 This kept up the sagging [[spirit]] of the [[spiritual life]] and saved it from [[extinction]]. This encou-aging [[attitude]] might have
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− | given rise to the [[traditional]] be'ief that came to prevail in some of the [[South]]
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− | and South-East {{Wiki|Asian}} countries for a fairly long time that twenty-five
| + | It shows how wrong country I chose when I was expelled from the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}} by [[Gorbachev]] when I made, first time in [[Soviet]] history, an [[opposition]] party against [[Communist Party]], My [[idea]] that erupted the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}} and perestroika. |
− | centuries after the [[parinibbana]] of the [[Buddha]], there would take place a
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− | revival of [[Buddhism]].
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− | It may be mentioned here that it was this [[traditional]] [[belief]] that paved
| + | Having lived in {{Wiki|Sweden}} for years, I did not come to the [[idea]] or [[understanding]] that {{Wiki|Sweden}} does not like a [[Buddhism]] because I was not involved in promoting [[Buddhism]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}}. |
− | the way for the celebration of the 2500th Mahaparinibbapa day in 1956 on a
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− | grand scale all over the [[Buddhist]] [[world]] [[including]] the land of the [[Buddha]].
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− | Certain events have taken place during this period which bear out this
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− | [[traditional]] [[belief]]. Among them what is of the greatest significance is that
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− | there has taken place a kind of re-awakening towards certain {{Wiki|practical}} as¬
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− | pects of [[Buddhism]] which had been almost lost [[sight]] of for. quite a long
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− | time. Here special mention has to be made of VipassanS-bhavana or [[Insight meditation]]. For a fairly long time it remained confined only to a few groups
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− | and {{Wiki|individuals}} at certain places. During the period in question, in certain
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− | circles special [[interest]] was shown in [[Vipassana]] and befeye long it also began
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− | to receive popular [[attention]]. It was a kind of revival. And this revival of
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− | VipassanS practice may be regarded as the revival of [[Buddhism]] itself.
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− | This revival first started in [[Burma]] and then in other countries. [[Meditation]]
| + | I have been actively involved in [[Buddhism]] for 45 years, I established the [[Nyingma]] [[Buddhist tradition]] in {{Wiki|Estonia}}, built 5 [[stupas]] there, My friends also actively contributed to the translation of a large amount of [[Buddhist literature]]. [[Soviet]] times nobody paid [[attention]] to my work in field of [[Buddhism]]. |
− | centres in [[Burma]] attracted [[people]] from all part* of the [[world]]. The memorable
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− | occasion of the [[sixth Buddhist Council]] (ChaHha [[Sangayana]]) highlighted
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− | the great event. At {{Wiki|present}} there are [[meditation]] centres not only ih [[traditional]]
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− | [[Buddhist]] countries but in other countries as well in both [[East]] and [[West]]. | |
− | And [[people]] in many countries now take [[interest]] in [[meditation]]. The [[reason]]
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− | is there is [[restlessness]] in the [[world]] which [[Lord Buddha]] has characterised
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− | as a symptom of [[dukkha]] or [[suffering]], the. greatest ailment, and [[people]] find
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− | [[Vipassana meditation]] an effective remedy for the same.
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− | There are several [[teachers]] in [[East]] and [[West]] engaged in giving instructions
| + | Now when I went back to {{Wiki|Estonia}} and started [[to build]] a new [[stupa]] the new [[Estonian]] government arrested me and my friends and accused me that I am hiding [[weapons]] in my country house what I haven't visited already 15 years . |
− | on [[Vipassana meditation]]. Their instructions are mainly based on the [[Sati]]-
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− | pajtlulna [[Sutta]], the well known [[discourse]] of the [[Buddha]] on [[mindfulness]],
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− | which has been characterised as ‘The [[Heart of Buddhist Meditation]]* by
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− | Ven. [[Nyanaponika Mahathera]]. These [[meditation]] [[teachers]] may differ in
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− | their method of approach and matters of detail but they all agree on the
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− | [[essential]] points and closely follow the instructions given in the [[Sutta]]. | |
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− | The [[meditation]] camps conducted by these [[teachers]] .are open to allmen
| + | They hold me in jail two days until {{Wiki|swedish}} ambassador Dag Hartelius called to the police. Why it's happened? Because in {{Wiki|Estonia}} old [[Wikipedia:Communism|communists]] are still in power. And they [[hate]] me because I destroyed the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}}. |
− | and women, [[monks and nuns]], [[Buddhists]] and non-Buddhists. The only
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− | binding [[condition]] is that they all have to observe the [[discipline]] of the camps
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− | during the period of the [[retreat]]. So far thousands of [[sadhakas]] and [[sadhikas]]
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− | from all the five continents and from different walks of life—farmers,
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− | {{Wiki|labourers}}, [[teachers]], [[doctors]], engineers, businessmen, administrators and | |
− | others—followers of the major [[religions]] of the world—Buddhists, [[Hindus]],
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− | [[Jains]], [[Christians]], {{Wiki|Muslims}} and [[Jews]] etc.—have participated in these camps.
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− | At the end of a [[meditation]] camp it becomes a {{Wiki|matter}} of [[joy]] to listen to
| + | I built a [[stupa]] and large [[prayer wheel]] then left {{Wiki|Estonia}}., 1982 I build 4 [[stupas]] with my friends in {{Wiki|Estonia}}, first [[Buddhist]] [[thangkas]] were made by Arno Arrak it was the start for [[Buddhism in Estonia]]. |
− | the elevating [[experiences]] undergone ancf the ennobling benefits received
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− | by the participators. I, as one who has participated in some of these camps, | |
− | should like to refer to some of these benefits, based on two reports which
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| + | At the same time, the {{Wiki|University of Tartu}} in {{Wiki|Estonia}} was extremely contemptuous of my [[activities]], led by Linnart Mäll,who was a chronic alcoholic plus his students Märt Läänemets and Maret Kark supported him. |
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− | UKUWALA dhammaratana 85
| + | It is striking that instead of cooperation, there is an immediate denigration against [[Buddhist]] [[activities]] from [[scientific]] side . Now that everyone is talking about a multicultural {{Wiki|era}}, both freedom of {{Wiki|speech}} and freedom of [[religion]], the {{Wiki|Swedish}} government is asking to tax {{Wiki|donations}} to [[Buddhists]] . |
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− | l have published in two issues of The Media [[Bodhi]] . 5 The [[experiences]] referred
| + | An example my secretary asked {{Wiki|Oxford University}} to participate on coming conference [[Buddhism]] and Nordland and she got such answer : |
− | to here are from a cross-section of the participants. It is edifying to know
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− | about the immense good done to th<rm by Vipassana. For instance, a business¬
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− | man narrated how he used to spend a restless lift Aiil of worries and anxieties
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− | causing physical and mental ailments, and by practising Vipassana he was
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− | able to lead a healthy and peaceful life.
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− | A second meditator told, how he indulged in all kinds of distractions
| + | I am sorry to say that I cannot give you any encouragement. The OCBS is a small institute with very limited resources. We are not even able to pay any {{Wiki|academic}} salaries. We also have nobody here who [[knows]] anything about [[Buddhism]] and Nordland, so we cannot offer any expertise |
− | to get away from his unpleasant ‘self*. Instead of giving relief, this way | |
− | of life created more and more complications for him. At last the path of
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− | Vipassana taught him how to live a simple life with healthy thoughts and
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− | habits leading to peace and happiness.
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− | A third meditator narrated how he used to blame others for the miseries
| + | Yours sincerely, |
− | lie suffered. At last Vipassana disclosed to him where the rub was. As a result
| + | [[Richard Gombrich]] |
− | he discovered that it was his own wayward life led without self-discipline
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− | that was responsible for the unhappy situation. And after practising Vipas-
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− | saha he was able to settle down in life as a peaceful and useful member of
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− | the family and society.
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− | A fourth meditator told how she had beep going after preachers and
| + | And it is a solid old {{Wiki|university}} with English [[traditions]]. |
− | teachers of Yoga to have peace and happiness, and everywhere she met
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− | with disappointment leading to despair. However, at last she was fortunate | |
− | enough to meet Acharya Sri S. N. Goenkaji who taught her VipassanS
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− | which gave her what she had been seeking for all her life.
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− | Thus, every meditator related how he or she had to undergo suffering
| + | The same time we have big site in [[Internet]] dedicated to this conference. |
− | in one form or the other and the practice of VipassanS gave relief from the | |
− | same. Dukkha was the common element that urged them to take to the
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− | path of Vipassana and the cessation of the same was the common experience
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− | they all underwent. On one occasion addressing his disciples Lord # Buddha
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− | said: earlier as well as now two things do I teaoh—suffering and the cessation
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− | of suffering. 6 This is what Vipassana does—it teaches how to comprehend
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− | dukkha and bring about its cessation. These meditation camps had a wonder¬
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− | ful effect on many of them.
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− | Vipassana has not been confined to law-abiding citizens leading the normal
| + | The question arises as how [[Buddhists]] do not notice what other [[Buddhists]] are talking about [[Buddhism]] in their work on conference [[Buddhism]] and Nordland. |
− | way of life. It has now gone to the jails. Some of the officers of the Rajas¬
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− | than government who were greatly impresed by the changes that Vipassana
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− | could bring about in the mentality of man, decided to introduce it in jails
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− | for the benefit of the prisoners. Accordingly Acharya Goenkaji was invited
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− | and he conducted several camps for prisoners—not ordinary convicts but
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− | hard-boiled criminals including dacoits and murderers, some serving life
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− | sentences. These meditation camps had a salutary effect on many of them.
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− | Letters written by some of them regarding their experiences to the medita¬
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− | tion teacher remind one of the udanas of old.
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− | Along with the survey reports of the prison camps and the Police Academy,
| + | It shows the [[stupidity]] and short-sightedness of the {{Wiki|Europeans}} and its [[universities]], And we talk about [[religious]] freedom here . Compared to the {{Wiki|University}} of [[Berkeley]], who immediately agreed to collaborate with leading [[professor]] [[Lewis Lancaster]] .The only company that is actively involved in translating texts and spreading [[knowledge]] about Buddhism,in our days which is [[Lotsawa house]] and its a very big contribution to {{Wiki|European}} [[Buddhism]], |
− | Rajasthan, we have also published the report of a survey made of the medita¬
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− | tion camps held at Varanasi, by several scientists of the Banaras Hindu
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| + | https://www.lotsawahouse.org/ |
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− | University. The close relation between mind and body i: now an established
| + | It,s [[interesting]] most of those [[people]] doesn't belong to {{Wiki|Europe}} who translate in [[Lotsawa House]]. I know {{Wiki|Erik Pema Kunsang}} because when I started with {{Wiki|Chinese}} {{Wiki|Encyclopedia}} he connected me and his relationship to my project was very positive and favorable. He is from {{Wiki|Denmark}} . And well known [[translator]] from [[Tibetan]]. |
− | fact. Mental changes that take place during Vipassana meditation also
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− | produce their corresponding changes in the body. They can be studies with
| + | https://lotsawahouse.blog/interviews/erik-pema-kunsang/ |
− | reference to breathing, blood-pressure, chemical changes and other pheno¬
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− | mena. Though the technique is not a perfect one which could ascertain
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− | subtle changes taking place at deeper levels, it can give satisfactory results
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− | as far as it goes. The studies made in the light of this technique also bear
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− | testimony to the healthy results of Vipassana meditation.
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− | For some* meditation means a method for achieving miraculous power.
| + | Another [[person]] who has helped me a lot is from [[Holland]]. I asked [[money]] to buy a new {{Wiki|computer}} and new glasses for myself because the old {{Wiki|computer}} is too old and slow he reacted immediately . The rest of the {{Wiki|europe}} was quiet. |
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− | It is true that at the higher levels of samadhi what arc known as abhinilds
| + | I understand because it,s a [[war]] in our days accely between [[christianity]] and [[Buddhism]] what has found new territories here in {{Wiki|Europe}},. |
− | or super normal powers can be achieved. They develop as a kind of by-pro¬
| |
− | duct in course of these meditational practices. While samadhi is an essential
| |
− | condition of Vipassana, these supernormal powers are not. Their value is
| |
− | psychic only and not spiritual. Being mundane in nature they are likely to
| |
− | create allurement for the Yogavacara who has not developed full awareness
| |
− | and hinder his path of progress. Therefore the serious student of Vipassana
| |
− | is warned not to take undue interest in them. Even when one is already in
| |
− | possession,o r them one is instructed to be mindful of their conditioned nature
| |
− | in the light of the three characteristics of anicca , dukkha and anatta .
| |
| | | |
− | We learn from the texts that Lord Buddha and many of his disciples
| + | When I was 11 years old I read the [[book]] about [[Buddhism]] and it was written that [[Buddha]] was talking about huge amount of other [[worlds]] and [[universes]] the same time I head in school that {{Wiki|Galileo}}, on the other hand, was tried by the Inquisition after his [[book]] was published. |
− | were in possession of all the five abhinilds related to supernormal poweis.
| |
− | At times they also made use of them to direct the minds of the devotees to¬
| |
− | wards the higher life. But later on some unscrupulous elements began to
| |
− | abuse these powers, specially iddlti- power. Devadatta’s is a glaring case in
| |
− | point. So by an act of Vinaya performance of miracles was made an offence.
| |
− | This rule of discipline was respected for a fairly long time. But in course
| |
− | of time in certain circles undue importance came to be attached to the
| |
− | performance of miracles. Because of its popular appeal certain obscure
| |
− | cults also came to be built up around miracle-mongering. According to
| |
− | some historians this was one of the factors responsible for the downfall
| |
− | of Buddhism in India.
| |
| | | |
− | The meditation teacher takes care.to tell his students not to take to medita¬
| + | He said that the [[Earth]] revolved around the {{Wiki|sun}}, a {{Wiki|theory}} now known to be true, I understood immediately value of the [[christianity]] who was telling such rubbish about [[cosmology]] . [[Buddhism]] for me as always been a [[science]] and I don't understand why others haven't found such values in [[Buddhist teachings]]. |
− | tion with this misconception. Vipassana, he tells them, is the art of living a
| |
− | life free from tensions and conflicts. It is a technique for living happy,
| |
− | fruitful and peaceful life while facing problems and situations with
| |
− | equanimity. He also tells them not to have the wrong notion that the ten-
| |
− | day meditation camp would do the job for the whole life. It is just thq initia¬
| |
− | tion into the technique which one has to keep on practising life-long with
| |
− | diligence and penetrate all levels of physical and mental phenomena.
| |
| | | |
− | It is,true that the ultimate goal of Vipassana is Nibbana. Dhamma is a
| + | And {{Wiki|Europe}} still holds the same {{Wiki|principles}} as you can see here in {{Wiki|Sweden}}. For them {{Wiki|Sweden}} is a center of the [[universe]] with his 10.23 million (2019) population. So narrow minded [[people]] here.When you use your {{Wiki|brain}} at least little bit you can understand who,ll be the winner in this [[war]]. |
− | gradual path ( anupubba-palipada ) which is progressive in nature (< opanayiko ).
| |
− | As one walks along the path one enjoys the fruits of liberation. This ex¬
| |
− | perience one undergoes from the first to the last step on the path. It is not
| |
− | something to be taken for granted but experienced. It is this dynamic aspect
| |
| | | |
− | oi the Dhamma that invites one to come and see {ehipasstko) its immediate
| + | [[Buddhist psychology]] has existed two thousand years , {{Wiki|Europe}} discovered it just couple of hundred years back. It seems now that {{Wiki|European}} way of [[thinking]] is really slow and and related to [[Christian]] [[thought]]. |
− | results ( akaliko).
| |
| | | |
− | Lord Buddha says: Just as the ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt,
| + | One thing is a [[religion]] another is [[scientific]] approach. [[Buddhism]] is [[science]] because it helps you to understand yourself [[Christianity]] reveals that {{Wiki|Jesus}} is your liberator. In [[Buddhism]] you have to {{Wiki|liberate}} yourself. It means different way of [[thinking]] and [[understanding]] about the [[world]] and about your [[own mind]]. |
− | so also this Dhamma has but one taste, the taste of liberation. 7 This is
| |
− | true of the path from beginning to end. This is what is meant when the
| |
− | Dhamma is said to be excellent in the beginning (ddikalydno) excellent in
| |
− | the middle (majjhe-kalydno) and excellent in the end {pariyosana-kalydno). | |
| | | |
− | One who participates in Vipassana camps begins to enjoy this taste of the
| + | Now you can see in web often [[word]] [[tantra]] what [[Christianity]] uses for [[own]] purposes it means borrowing from [[Buddhism]], but I havent noticed that [[Buddhism]] is using [[christian]] {{Wiki|terminology}}. It means {{Wiki|Europe}} and {{Wiki|European}} [[knowledge]] has nothing to offer anymore new [[ideas]] in field of [[spirituality]] and for a person’s personal [[spiritual]] development,Christianity has only one most important [[book]] the Bible [[Buddhism]] has them thousands. |
− | Dhamma (Dhamma-rasa) as he begins to experience relief from the dukkha
| |
− | that is already there. In the light of this experience he or she can move | |
− | forward on the path until full liberation from all dukkha is attained.
| |
| | | |
| + | [[People]] always like to have a rich friends then what about [[religion]]? [[Books]] consist [[ideas]] , teachings view of the [[world]] and I understand why [[people]] in our days who choose a [[buddhism]]. Because it has more real [[intellectual]] values then [[christianity]]. I understand how most of the [[people]] in {{Wiki|Europe}} and specially in {{Wiki|Sweden}} react on my words but someone have to be the first who says that [[king]] is naked. |
| | | |
| + | I was first who told the [[truth]] in {{Wiki|Soviet Union}} publicly and I was expelled does it mean that {{Wiki|Europe}} or {{Wiki|Sweden}} will expel me too ? You can see everywhere the new {{Wiki|political}} approach to be friendly, [[peaceful]], not to protest or fight with the government. |
| | | |
| + | Why? Because the masses are being asked to be pushed into certain frames so that someone can [[calmly]] [[empty]] the people's pockets of [[money]]. Banks {{Wiki|rule}} everywhere, but if you ask them for [[money]] for their [[own]] [[activities]], you can [[die]] before they help you. |
| | | |
− | NOTES
| + | If you look at governments, they are filled with politicians, [[people]] who do not even have a specific [[education]] to work in a given place or area, and they all always vote diligently in an area that is distant and incomprehensible to them. Recalling Alfred Nobel's message about {{Wiki|democracy}}, he can be said that he was a [[wise]] and the only Swede who understood the basic {{Wiki|principles}} of {{Wiki|democracy}} and expressed them exactly. |
| | | |
− | VimuktisaAgraha, p. 154. Ed. TalahSnft Amaram6li, Colombo, 1889
| + | {{Wiki|Sweden}} uses his [[money]] to share prizes in [[science]], but does not notice when someone is trying to spread [[knowledge]] about [[Buddhism]]. I was told in Öland by local politicians who need this {{Wiki|encyclopedia}} of no use or need for the [[people]]. Then I immediately understood what the term politician means today, [[Sven Hedin]], who was an eastern investigator, has been overlooked by the {{Wiki|Swedish}} government because he had correspondence with {{Wiki|Hitler}}. |
− | Cullagallavatthu, RasavahinT. Ed. B. Devarakkhita. Colombo 1917.
| |
| | | |
− | The there (Mahyadcvs) in quostion is believed to have Hved in the first half of the
| + | Although he is highly valued and talked about by other countries. Not that he was in correspondence with {{Wiki|Hitler}}, but his [[scientific]] work is appreciated. I have [[realized]] over the years that I have lived in {{Wiki|Sweden}} and understood , Swedes are no longer Vikings but a {{Wiki|mass}} with whom the elective class does what they want. |
− | •3th century He , s al«o believed to have lived in Waparema, which l had the occa.
| |
− | sion to visit the year before last and even saw the stone slab on which he is said to
| |
− | have slept.
| |
| | | |
− | MahaparinibbSna Sutta, D II 119.
| + | if you do not belong to the official nomenclature does not support your work and [[activities]] it doesn't have any value for them, the same [[principle]] was chosen in the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}}, no authority in {{Wiki|Sweden}} responds positively to what I do. The {{Wiki|University}} of [[Berkeley]] immediately supported my [[activities]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}} they does not understand what it means. |
| | | |
− | April 1972 and August-October 1977. The meditation camps under rcfcrcnco were
| + | They have their [[own]] {{Wiki|Swedish}} opinion. expressed himself in very {{Wiki|Swedish}} wayas said Stefan Arvidsson |
− | conducted by Acharya Sri S. N. Goenka.
| + | [[Professor]] in the History of [[Religions]], Linnæus {{Wiki|University}} ;RELIGIONISTS OF DIFFERENT SORTS, NOT RARELY WITH DEEP THEOLOGICAL ERUDITION. He even didn't want to meet us a or ask what kind of [[education]] I have. No authority in {{Wiki|Sweden}} responds positively to what I do. The same way reacted {{Wiki|Swedish}} [[buddhists]] on facebook. |
| | | |
− | Alagaddupama Sutta, M l 185.
| + | The {{Wiki|University}} of [[Berkeley]] immediately supported my [[activities]] in {{Wiki|Sweden}} does not understand what it means. Why and what i do it for. which raises the question may be should the government choose [[people]] based on {{Wiki|IQ}} . |
| | | |
− | Cullavagga, p. 357.
| + | I have huge pile of different support letters from different [[universities]] and [[scientist]] who support my work and project. But {{Wiki|Sweden}} does not think so , Why? Because they have their [[own]] {{Wiki|Swedish}} opinion. It can be understood he has having more [[knowledge]] about [[Buddhism]] and about Eastern {{Wiki|culture}} as well than [[Berkeley]] and other [[universities]] in [[world]] , which I deeply [[doubt]]. |
| | | |
| + | I call such [[phenomenon]] connected to [[stupidity]] Another words it's a {{Wiki|swedish}} [[knowledge]] about Eastern {{Wiki|culture}} and [[knowledge]] about [[Buddhism ]]. Most stupid last {{Wiki|political}} maneuver what {{Wiki|Sweden}} made with [[China]] - {{Wiki|Stockholm}} was grappling with [[China]] over a [[book]] publisher's imprisonment , unthinking what is useful or harmful for {{Wiki|swedish}} business . |
| | | |
− | Duuatmt Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991; - Pasadika
| + | Like many countries, {{Wiki|Sweden}} shares significant trade and business dealings with [[China]] -- [[including]] {{Wiki|Chinese}} ownership of one of its most {{Wiki|iconic}} brands, Volvo Cars. Gui Congyou, [[China's]] ambassador in {{Wiki|Stockholm}}, warned of "bad {{Wiki|consequences}}" if it went ahead, {{Wiki|Swedish}} [[Prime Minister]] Stefan Lofven could be barred from visiting [[China]]. "We treat our friends with fine wine," Gui said on a {{Wiki|Swedish}} radio show. "But for our enemies we've got shotguns. |
| | | |
| + | Now I understand why {{Wiki|Sweden}} does not like my work with [[Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia]]. |
| | | |
− | 1 Buddhist Studies), Tokyo 1990, p.5
| + | [[China]] and [[Russia]] are friends now again what means its quite powerful [[friendship]]. [[China]] has plans to double his population on next 20 years. It means there,ll be 4 billion {{Wiki|chinese}}. [[China]] is building a aircraft mother ships. It seems they are planning to move to other continents soon. |
| | | |
− | f.; cf. No.39) in J1ABS 12, 1,
| + | If they build ships for tourism then its a [[peaceful]] [[action]] it means they have an [[interest]] or need to explore other countries and continents but aircraft mother ships serve another {{Wiki|purpose}}, |
− | ppJ58-63.
| |
| | | |
− | 56 1990: Bechert, H. (cd.) Abkurzungsverzeichnis zur
| + | It's like {{Wiki|Sweden}} doesn't notice it. Maybe {{Wiki|swedish}} politicians doesn't understand what's going on in [[world]] because lack of [[education]] and {{Wiki|IQ}}. And {{Wiki|chinese}} have a lot of [[money]], And soon lot of [[people]] too. [[China]] has already [[worlds]] biggest {{Wiki|army}} . It means something especially in {{Wiki|politics}} soon. |
| | | |
− | •1: buddhistischen Literatur in Indien
| + | Now about my [[own]] work . I understand that my {{Wiki|Chinese}} [[Buddhist]] Encylopedia has not the same [[quality]] to compare with Wikipedia where thousand [[people]] are working because I am alone and have to do everything myself. But I have totally different approach to compare with wikipedia. I want o educate [[people]] [[about buddhism]]. |
| | | |
− | ) und Sudostasieh, Sanskrit-Worter*
| + | Like one {{Wiki|swedish}} politician said to me, that I am using material what others are have produced it,s not your work.He is totally right . Seems that He didn't know that Encyclopedias mostly are based on other peoples work. |
| | | |
− | | buch der buddhistischen Texte aus | + | Only difference is that an {{Wiki|encyclopedia}} is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of [[knowledge]] either from all branches or from a particular field or [[discipline]]. {{Wiki|Encyclopedia}} entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. |
| | | |
− | ! den Turfan-Funden, Beiheft 3
| + | Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content experts. {{Wiki|Encyclopedia}} article is typically not limited to simple definitions, and is not limited to defining an {{Wiki|individual}} [[word]], but provides a more extensive meaning for a [[subject]] or [[discipline]]. |
| | | |
− | I (pp.75, 182; 83, 195; 29, 135; 68, 180), | + | It seems that this politician doesn't use wikipedia what quite exactly explains lot of things and meanings in our days in our [[world]]. And he is a politician.I was away from sweden years and so much has changed here during this time. {{Wiki|Swedish}} {{Wiki|politics}} has changed, everything cost more , prizes has been doubled , [[life]] costs more but [[people]] earn the same amount [[money]] as before . |
| | | |
− | Gdttingen.
| + | Totally different country is {{Wiki|Sweden}} now to compare when I arrived here. The general opinion today is that one should not be critical about anything or negative then you are enemy of the [[state]]. |
| | | |
− | 57 1991: Galloway, B. ‘Thus Have I Heard: At One Time.
| + | There is a {{Wiki|mass}} of [[people]] in our days who has the same opinion about everything as the [[state]] dictates and at the same time we speculate on freedom of {{Wiki|speech}}. I [[wonder]] what it is about. We saw what happened when [[people]] in {{Wiki|Germany}} started to protest against Coronavirus. Police used [[water]] cannons against demonstrators. |
| | | |
− | (cf. above Nos 39, 55) in IJJ 34,
| + | It's called freedom and free {{Wiki|speech}} but for whom? Only government has right to express free {{Wiki|speech}} and those who are against it are enemies. of the [[state]] , In {{Wiki|Soviet Union}} was very popular to use psychiatric hospitals for those. It's time to use the same tactics in our days. Nothing new in here. Totalitarian way of [[thinking]] is flourishing everywhere . |
| | | |
− | 2, pp.87-104.
| + | Bunch of [[people]] without [[special knowledge]] deciding what is useful and what is not. It's called sick [[society]] and [[sickness]] comes not from [[people]] but from the government side .Why because bunch of elected politicians vote and decide what to do and how. |
| | | |
− | ; Abbreviations
| + | How they know what's best for me when they even don't know how I think and digest intellectually. When we go to the restaurant we choose what to order. Soon it,ll change we all have to eat the same [[food]] and drink the same drink not drinks. The difference enriches the {{Wiki|culture}}, [[society]] and people's [[minds]] . Everything is dictated by government. We call it {{Wiki|democracy}}. But is it? |
| | | |
− | ASAW Abhandlungen der Sachsischen Akademie d.er
| + | Small businesses have disappeared thanks for coronavirus. It means [[society]] or [[people]] get poorer and some of them get richer. It's called {{Wiki|democracy}}. I wrote to 60 politicians and got no {{Wiki|reaction}} it's called {{Wiki|democracy}}. I don't blame [[society]] . I talk about government who likes to feed [[people]] with slogans what are fake. |
− | .• Wissenscnaften zu Leipzig , Philologisch-historische | |
| | | |
− | Klasse, Akademie Verlag, Berlin.
| + | I talk [[about buddhism]] what is not welcome to {{Wiki|Sweden}}. It's strange we talk about free {{Wiki|speech}} but it seems that we have forgotten about what is free [[thinking]]. And [[education]] looks different. Stefan Arvidsson is a product of [[education]] system who has [[taught]] him that [[religion]] is {{Wiki|opium}} for [[people]]. |
| | | |
− | BST Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, Darbhanga.
| + | In [[Marxism]] it's very popular view. So I got answer from [[communist]] who declares that he [[knows]] [[Buddhism]] better than me. It's the same view had so called {{Wiki|university}} workers in {{Wiki|Estonia}} in Taru {{Wiki|university}}. But then it was {{Wiki|Estonia}} part of the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}}. Coming back to {{Wiki|Sweden}} after 10 years I [[feel]] as I returned back to {{Wiki|Soviet Union}}. |
| | | |
− | EZ Epigraphia Zeylanica, London
| + | I understand what {{Wiki|reaction}}, ll be on my article from so called politicians side. So what I give a F,, as I did in {{Wiki|Soviet Union}}. {{Wiki|Brain}} of the [[human]] is magnificent and able to do things which seem impossible at first glance. As one [[professor]] at the {{Wiki|University}} of [[Berkeley]] said to me; how you were the only one who came up with such [[idea]] to dismantle the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}} and no one else wanted to do it. |
| | | |
− | I1J Indo-lranian Journal , Dordrecht.
| + | My answer to him was; My [[idea]] was that [[religion]] was banned in the {{Wiki|Soviet Union}} and the only way for [[Buddhism]] to re-emerge as a [[source of knowledge]] for many [[Buddhists]] was to change this {{Wiki|social}} order. [[Interesting]] when such an [[idea]] will come in [[connection]] to {{Wiki|Sweden}} ? As a [[monk]] I have no right to think about this because we live in [[sansara]] and big changes in [[society]] will bring a lot of problems in my next [[life]]. So I am already doomed. |
| | | |
− | J1ABS Journal of the International Association of Buddhist j
| + | I {{Wiki|hope}} [[Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia]] will be as the lifebuoy for me but {{Wiki|Swedish}} [[society]] and government doesn't want to help me with mu problems because they are doomed too I think. Sooner or later there must be certain reforms otherwise there ,ll appear someone who wants to change something in {{Wiki|social}} order. I understand that my talk and [[thoughts]] seem absurd and out of [[mind]] for {{Wiki|Sweden}} but it,s a [[life]] what dictates our [[actions]] and survival. |
− | | |
− | Studies, Madison/Northfield (USA). !
| |
− | | |
− | KS Friedrich Weller Kleine Schriften, ed. W. Rau, j
| |
− | | |
− | Stuttgart 1987. „ j
| |
− | | |
− | M10 Mitteilungen des Instituts fur Orientforschung, !
| |
− | | |
− | Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. !
| |
− | | |
− | PRS Lewis Lancaster (ed.) Prajhaparamita and Related \
| |
− | | |
− | Systems, Berkeley 1977. j
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− | | |
− | WZKMUL Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der j
| |
− | | |
− | Karl-Marx-Universitat Leipzig. '•
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− | | |
− | | |
− | CERTAINTY AND THE DEATHLESS
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | There is a generally held opinion among scholars that at the
| |
− | time of the Buddha there were many lay persons who had
| |
− | become 'arahants, although during the early centuries of
| |
− | Buddhist history this had been a matter of dispute - some
| |
− | insisting that to achieve this goal a person would have to be a
| |
− | bhikkhu or monk, others that a lay person was able to become
| |
− | an. arahant, but could not then retain his lay status. The
| |
− | Theravada tradition is tljat if a layman did become an arahant
| |
− | he either ‘went forth’, that is, entered the Sangha, or passed
| |
− | away ( parinibbayati) that same day (Milindapanha, p.264). In
| |
− | the Tevijja-Vacchagotta Sutta (M 71) the Buddha states that no
| |
− | lay person can become an arahant without getting rid of the
| |
− | ‘householder’s fetter’ (gihisamyojana). The household life was
| |
− | thus not considered propitious for arahantship. Is there,
| |
− | however, any firm evidence in the Sutta Pitaka that lay arahants
| |
− | did exist? As it has been a matter of dispute this seems unlikely,
| |
− | but the purpose of this essay is to examine some of the
| |
− | evidence regarding the problem of the lay arahant and the
| |
− | nature of the ariya-savaka (‘noble disciple’) in Pali canonical
| |
− | literature.
| |
− | | |
− | In Dialogues of the Buddha (Vol.HI, p.5), the Rhys Davids’
| |
− | translation of the DIgha Nikaya; there is a footnote giving
| |
− | several references said to demonstrate the existence of lay
| |
− | arahants at the time of the Buddha. The first reference is to
| |
− | Vin I (p.17) where Yasa becomes an arahant while the Buddha
| |
− | instructs his (i.e. Yasa’s) father. In fact Yasa was not at that
| |
− | | |
− | Buddhist Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Ireland
| |
− | | |
− | moment a bhikkhu, but the circumstances being such he could
| |
− | hardly be said to be living an ordinary lay life. He immediately
| |
− | afterwards asks for the ‘going forth’, thus conforming to the
| |
− | tradition mentioned above. On consulting the second reference,
| |
− | S V 94, this mentions nothing about arahants lay or otherwise
| |
− | and . must be an error. The next reference is to A III 451 which
| |
− | consists of the names of twenty or sc laymen and of each it is
| |
− | said that he '. . . has arrived at certainty regarding the
| |
− | Tathagata, has seen the Deathless and lives (motivated by)
| |
− | having experienced the Deathless’ (. . . tathagate nitthangato
| |
− | amataddaso amaiam sacchikatva iriyati).
| |
− | | |
− | That this passage does not refer to lay arahants is confirmed
| |
− | by the Commentary. It merely alludes to the fact that these
| |
− | laymen are ariya-sdvaka, assured of salvation. However, it is
| |
− | this reference (apparently) that has been adduced as being the
| |
− | main evidence for the existence of lay arahants by modern
| |
− | scholars. That the laymen named did indeed become either
| |
− | sotapannas, sakaddgdmins or anagamins (stream-enterers,
| |
− | once-returners,- non-returners) can be confirmed by consulting
| |
− | the further references to them to be found in various places 1 .
| |
− | Most are well-known individuals, such as Anathapindika,
| |
− | Mahanama, Purana, Isidatta, Hatthaka of A|avl, etc, whose fates
| |
− | are known from elsewhere in the Sutta Pitaka, but there are
| |
− | no arahants on the list
| |
− | | |
− | That this Ahguttara passage has been thought to refer to
| |
− | laymen becoming arahants was evidently due to C.A.F. Rhys
| |
− | Davids’ misunderstanding of it and EM. Hare’s translating it
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | i V Buddhist Studies Review 8. 1-2 (1991) - Ireland
| |
− | | |
− | incorrectly in Gradual Sayings. Hare’s rendering of
| |
− | nitthahgata as ‘gone to the end’ (GS III, pp.313-14) is wrong if
| |
− | the various other contexts where the word occurs are consulted.
| |
− | Nittha does indeed mean ‘end, conclusion’, but in combination
| |
− | with the verb gacchati (‘to go’), it evidently means ‘to come to a
| |
− | conclusion (about something), to be sure, to be certain, to come
| |
− | to or arrive at a certainty’. Note that the Pali idiom ‘gone’ is
| |
− | used where in English we would say ‘come’. In the
| |
− | Cuja-Hatthipadoma Sutia (M 27), for example, occurs the
| |
− | sentence: ‘When I saw four footprints in the Samana Gotama I
| |
− | was ' 1 certain [or, I came/went to the conclusion, nittham
| |
− | agamaml 'The Blessed One is fully enlightened..
| |
− | | |
− | - In the Ahguttara passage, too, it is the Buddha or Tathagata
| |
− | who is referred to. Again, in the Udana Commentary (p.76)
| |
− | occurs this sentence: Therefore it must be concluded ( nittham..
| |
− | | |
− | . gantabbam), not by water is one cleansed.’
| |
− | | |
− | The negative anitthahgata is also found (e.g. A II 174, S HI
| |
− | 99), meaning ‘being unsure, uncertain’, and is a synonym of
| |
− | hesitation or doubt ( kahkhita , vicikicchita ). It ought to be
| |
− | obvious that an adaptation of ‘gone to the end’ would not fit the
| |
− | examples quoted, nor is it likely anywhere else where the
| |
− | expression occurs. However, following Hare’s rendering, it is
| |
− | probably Lamotte’s paraphrase of this Ahguttara passage in his
| |
− | Histoire du bouddhisme indien that has been crucial in
| |
− | misleading many scholars and authors. He says ‘The Ahguttara
| |
− | knows of some twenty lay people. . . who attained the end
| |
− | • (nistha ), the Imm 9 rtal ( amrta ), without ever having taken up the
| |
− | | |
− | religious life’ 2 . This is a distorted and misleading account of
| |
− | what the text actually says. Nevertheless, it has apparently been
| |
− | accepted without question by many ever since it appeared in
| |
− | 1958 and it is thus this reference that is most often cited as
| |
− | evidence for the existence of lay arahants 3 ^
| |
− | | |
− | Far from implying some final attainment, tathdgate
| |
− | nitthahgato simply means the person concerned has reached a
| |
− | conclusion about the Tathagata; he has the certainty that the
| |
− | Buddha is indeed fully enlightened. It is because he has
| |
− | acquired the faith or confidence ( saddha) that arises through
| |
− | knowledge and insight into the Dhamma taught by the Buddha.
| |
− | His certainty arises because he has actually ‘seen the Deathless’
| |
− | for himself. He is amataddaso• ‘one who sees ( daso ) the
| |
− | Deathless ( amata )’. The Buddha has revealed to him the four
| |
− | Noble Truths ( ariya-sacca ), specifically the ending of suffering,
| |
− | which is the Deathless, and the path leading to it And he has
| |
− | understood it, that is, he has acquired Right View and thus
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | 2 Etienne Lamollc, History of Indian Buddhism , English tr. by Sara
| |
− | Webb-Bom [correctly Boin-Webb], Louvain 1988, p.SO.
| |
− | | |
− | 3 Richard Robinson, in what is obviously a quote of this Lamotte passage,
| |
− | states, ‘The Sutras lirt twenty upasakas who attained the highest goal without
| |
− | ever becoming monks* ( The Buddhist Religion , Belmont 1970, p37>, also H.W.
| |
− | Schumann, ‘The [[Pali Canon]] lists the names of twenty-one householders who
| |
− | became [[Arahants]] without ever becoming [[monks]]’ (The [[Historical Buddha]] , tr. by
| |
− | M.O’C. [[Walshe]], [[London]] 1989, p.191). And [[Nathan Katz]] too, when he says,
| |
− | 'Certainly if one reads the primary texts on this issue, one learns of numerous
| |
− | lay [[arahants]]* ([[Buddhist]] Images of [[Human]] [[Perfection]] , [[Delhi]] 1982, p.179), one
| |
− | may haiard a guess he is referring to [[Wikipedia:Étienne Lamotte|Lamotte]]. These are just three examples.
| |
− | | |
− | stepped onto the [[Path]], the [[ariya-magga]]*. [[Right View]] is
| |
− | acquired by hearing the [[Teaching]] with the Dhamma-ear
| |
− | (<dhammasota) and seeing the goal by having the Dhamma-eya
| |
− | (dhammacakkhu) opened for him by the Buddha. It is by means
| |
− | of the Dhamma-eye that the Deathless is seen. The whole
| |
− | process is described in the story of Suppabuddha the leper
| |
− | (Udana 5,3), where the Buddha by a gradual talk prepares
| |
− | Suppabuddha’s mind, uplifts and purifies it from the hindrances
| |
− | to understanding, and when the moment is right, reveals the
| |
− | four Truths: suffering, origination, cessation and the Path.
| |
− | Whereupon the ‘stainless Dhamma-eye arises’ that sees ‘whatever
| |
− | . is of the nature to originate (through conditions), all that is of a
| |
− | nature to. cease (through their removal)’. Suppabuddha declares
| |
− | he has understood, affirqjs his faith in the Buddha by.going for
| |
− | refuge, and is later said to have become a sotapanna. The point
| |
− | is, Nibbiina.or the Deathless or the four Truths are seen at the
| |
− | moment of entry onto the ariyan-plane. Thus, to have ‘seen the
| |
− | - Deathless’ is again not a final attainment, but the initiation into
| |
− | what, for us who have not seen it, must remain a profound
| |
− | mystery; the opening of the ‘door to the Deathless’, whereby the
| |
− | ordinary person, the outsider or puthujjana , is transformed into
| |
− | an ariya-savaka.
| |
− | | |
− | However, there is still work to be done, the Path has still to
| |
− | be trodden, and this is indicated by the ending of this brief
| |
− | Ahguttara passage. The verb iriyati means: ‘to go on, to
| |
− | proceed, to progress, to live or behave in a particular way’. It
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | 4 The Path always begins with Right View and progresses stepwise in a
| |
− | causal sequence as indicated in the Mahacattarisaka Sutta (M 117). This is
| |
− | despite Nyanatiloka’a denial, - see his Buddhist Dictionary under ‘Magga*.
| |
− | | |
− | indicates activity, movement, and the reason for it is because of
| |
− | 'having experienced, or realised, the Deathless’ (amatapi
| |
− | sacchikatva). In other words, the experience of having seen the
| |
− | Deathless is now the motivating force in his life, that impels
| |
− | him onward towards its final attainment
| |
− | | |
− | Are there any other references in the Sutta Pitaka that can
| |
− | establish there were arahants at the time of the Buddha who
| |
− | continued living as laymen? We believe there are none that
| |
− | stand up to serious consideration. There is S V 410, for instance,
| |
− | which deals with how a wise lay-follower ( sapahho upasako)
| |
− | should admonish another wise lay-follower who is sick so that
| |
− | the latter gets rid of all attachments. It ends with the Buddha
| |
− | declaring there is no difference between such a layman who so
| |
− | avers and a bhikkhu who is rid of the asavas (i.e an arahant).
| |
− | However, the point is that this is a deathbed exhortation and so
| |
− | conforms to the idea, mentioned above, that the attainment of
| |
− | the highest goal by a lay person necessitates either dying or
| |
− | ’going forth’ as a bhikkhu. Another example of such an
| |
− | exhortation is that of Sariputta instructing Anathapirujika as he
| |
− | lay on his deathbed (M 143), but this did not lead to
| |
− | Anathapindika becoming an arahant. Here it is said that he was
| |
− | a sotapanna and after death was reborn as a deva in the Tusita
| |
− | heaven.. Another possibility is the Sekha Sutta (M 53), which
| |
− | was addressed to a company of lay people headed by Mahanama
| |
− | the Sakyan. This deals with the course of training leading up to
| |
− | the highest goal. But practising this course necessitates
| |
− | becoming a bhikkhu, for the Sutta states that the disciple
| |
− | undertakes to observe the Patimokkha and thus implies the
| |
− | removal of the ‘householder’s fetter’: the ownership of property,
| |
− | the accumulation and storing of possessions, the procreation of
| |
− | children and so forth.
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | It may seem unfair that the laity are excluded from the
| |
− | highest goal. However, this view is based upon a number of
| |
− | misconceptions and the assumption of a rivalry between the
| |
− | laity and the Sangha, an assumption for which there is no
| |
− | justification at the time of the Buddha. Although arahantship
| |
− | evidently necessitated living the bhikkhu-life, lay people could
| |
− | be sotapannas, sakadagamins and anagamins, and many were,
| |
− | and in large numbers,'if the suttas are to be believed. All these
| |
− | constituted the Blessed One’s community of disciples assured of
| |
− | salvation, the ariya-sahgha. And not only human beings, for
| |
− | divine beings, too,«devas and brahmas from the various
| |
− | heavenly worlds, were included in this spiritual community. It
| |
− | is this ariya-sahgha in its entirety that is said to be \.. worthy
| |
− | of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of
| |
− | salutation, an incomparable field of merit for the world’, it
| |
− | should be noted, and not merely the Bhikkhu Sangha per se as
| |
− | is sometimes suggested and assumed. All these various kinds of
| |
− | noble persons are equally assured of salvation, in contrast to the
| |
− | puthujjana, the outsider, who has had no such assurance. So the
| |
− | sotapanna, etc. should not be regarded as being inferior to the
| |
− | arahant in this respect There is also another consideration. The
| |
− | Thetavada commentarial tradition assumes that the goal of all *
| |
− | Buddhist endeavour is arahantship and the three ‘lower* paths of
| |
− | the sotapanna, etc. are stages on the way to that goal.
| |
− | However, in the suttas themselves there is very little to support
| |
− | this theory and it may be that originally the four ‘paths’ were
| |
− | possibly regarded not as ‘stages’ but as alternative goals that
| |
− | . were realised by. the individuals concerned. Depending upon the
| |
− | capacity of the person - perhaps due to past kamma which
| |
− | varied for each individual - upon being instructed in the
| |
− | Dhamma, he or she attained one or other of the paths (of the
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | Buddhist Studies Review 8,1-2 (1991) - Ireland *
| |
− | | |
− | sotapanna, etc.). This instruction in the Dhamma is sometimes
| |
− | said to be initiated by the Buddha when he perceives, by
| |
− | reading the minds of his audience, someone there is capable
| |
− | (J bhabbo) of understanding it and realising one or other of these
| |
− | paths, as was the case with the leper Suppabuddha. In the suttqs,
| |
− | furthermore, once named individuals are declared to be
| |
− | sotapannas, etc., it is never said they finally ended as another
| |
− | kind of noble person (ariya-pug gala). Nor is it ever suggested
| |
− | that those who became arahants had first to become
| |
− | sotapannas, then sakadagamins and anagdmins as is assumed in
| |
− | the Commentaries. In fact it is the definitions of these various
| |
− | persons that preclude one kind from becoming any other, as
| |
− | Horner once pointed out 5 . All are equal in that, upon being
| |
− | taught the Dhamma by the Buddha, they have been granted a
| |
− | vision of the Deathless and established upon the path leading to
| |
− | its actualisation, to ahhd or final knowledge. However, the
| |
− | several kinds of ariya-savaka are distinguished by the length of
| |
− | time they must continue in existence before realising this aim,
| |
− | this probably being due to the nature of their past kamma still
| |
− | awaiting fruition. The arahant attains ahhd ‘here in this present
| |
− | life’ ( ditth’eva dhamme, ‘in this invisible state’). In a number of
| |
− | places (e.g. S V 237, etc.) it is said, if a person *.. .does not attain
| |
− | ahhd beforehand [patihacca , a gloss on ditth’eva dhamme) here
| |
− | in this present life, then he attains it at the time of dying. If he
| |
− | does not attain ahhd beforehand here in this present life nor...
| |
− | at the time of dying, then by the destruction of the five lower
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | 5 LB. Horner, Early Buddhist Theory of Man Perfected , London 1936, p.223f.
| |
− | See also Peter Masefield, Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism , London 1986,
| |
− | P .127f,
| |
− | | |
− | fetters he attains extinction in the interval’ (antara-parinibbayi < ‘,
| |
− | i.e. without returning ‘here’, that is, he is the first of the five
| |
− | kinds of anagdmin or non-returner). Elsewhere, final knowledge
| |
− | in this present life and the state of non-returning are called the
| |
− | twin fruits-of the holy life ( brahmacariya ) 7 For the
| |
− | sakadagamin and the sotapanna a yet longer period must elapse
| |
− | before final knowledge is attained. They have to undergo
| |
− | several more births up to a maximum of seven. The
| |
− | significance of all this is that, once an individual has left his
| |
− | present life before attaining ahhd, he has passed beyond the
| |
− | point where he could become an arahant. Moreover, the
| |
− | once-returner or sakadagamin, because he is a ‘returner’ cannot,
| |
− | naturally, then become a non-returner and so forth.
| |
− | | |
− | Not only could lay people become sotapannas, sakadaga¬
| |
− | mins and anagdmins, but references in the Sutta Pitaka to the
| |
− | -first and second especially allude more often to the lay
| |
− | ariya-savaka than to the bhikkhu. This is in contradiction to
| |
− | the view sometimes stated by modern writers 8 . In fact when.
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | 6 This is a term of uncertain meaning. There are a number of reasons for
| |
− | thinking it ma> indicate the [[existence]] of an '[[intermediate]] slate* between [[death]]
| |
− | and [[rebirth]], an [[antarabhava]] , and accepted as such by some [[Buddhist schools]],
| |
− | the Sarvaslivada, etc. But this is not countenan^d in the [[Theravada]] .*xegetical
| |
− | [[tradition]] which denies the [[existence]] of such a slate. For an {{Wiki|examination}} of
| |
− | this problem see Masefield, op. cit ., p.l09f.
| |
− | | |
− | 7 E.g. M 10; It, [[suttas]] 45-7, etc. *. . . one of these two {{Wiki|fruits}} is to be
| |
− | expected, final [[knowledge]] in this [[present life]] or, there being some residual
| |
− | [[defilement]] ( upadisesa\ the [[state]] of [[non-returning]].
| |
− | | |
− | 8 E.g. Steven Collins, [[Selfless]] Persons , [[Cambridge]] 1982, p.92, says, *. . . the
| |
− | [[idea]] of being a [[person]] on the [[Path]], and therefore at least a [[stream-winner]]
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | upon being instructed in the [[Dhamma]] by the [[Buddha]], a [[person]] •
| |
− | declares he goes for [[refuge]] ‘to the Lord, to the [[Dhamma]] and to
| |
− | the Order of [[bhikkhus]]’ and then says, ‘May the Lord accept me
| |
− | as a lay-follower as one gone for [[refuge]] from this day forth for ;
| |
− | as long as [[life]] lasts’, one may conclude that [[person]] to be an
| |
− | ariya-savaka and at least on the [[sotapanna]] [[path]]. Whereas if, ,
| |
− | instead of becoming a lay-follower, he says, ‘May I, Lord,
| |
− | receive the going forth in the Lord’s presence...’, this is almost ;
| |
− | invariably followed by, ‘Then the [[venerable]] so-and-so. . . soon
| |
− | realised even here in this [[present life]] through his [[own]] [[direct knowledge]] that unequalled goal of the [[holy life]]. . . And the
| |
− | [[venerable]] so-and-so became one of the [[arahants]]’. It seems as if
| |
− | it is expected that one who goes forth will become an [[arahant]],
| |
− | or that he goes forth because he [[knows]] he has the capability to
| |
− | become one.
| |
− | | |
− | In the Maha-VacchagOtta [[Sutta]] (M 73) there is found a
| |
− | threefold [[division]] of the [[Buddha’s]] followers. First there are the
| |
− | [[monks and nuns]] who are [[arahants]], then there are the
| |
− | lay-followers who are of two kinds (1) householders, both men
| |
− | and women, who are living’the [[holy life]] ( [[brahmacariya]] , which
| |
− | must mean the practice of [[celibacy]] here) and are [[anagamins]],
| |
− | and (2) householders of both sexes who are enjoyers of
| |
− | serise-pleasures (i.e. non-celibates) who ‘have accepted the
| |
− | [[Teaching]], overcome [[doubt]] and [[perplexity]] (i.e. ‘have arrived at
| |
− | {{Wiki|certainty}}’) and live confident and {{Wiki|independent}} of others in the
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | ( [[sotapanna]]), must originally have meant no more than being a [[monk]]*. This is
| |
− | not the picture one derives from the early [[Pali literature]]. It is more likely
| |
− | [[sotapanna]] was a term brought in to accommodat3 the pious lay-follower who
| |
− | was unable to take the step of 'going forth* into homelessness.
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | Teacher’s instruction’. Of each of these six categories (three
| |
− | pairs of {{Wiki|male}} and {{Wiki|female}}) the [[Buddha]] says there are not merely
| |
− | a hundred. . . five hundred, but many more such followers and
| |
− | [[Vacchagotta]] remarks that if any one of these categories was
| |
− | missing the [[holy life]] propagated by the good [[Gotama]] would be
| |
− | incomplete in this regard.
| |
− | | |
− | That there actually existed [[lay people]] who were celibates
| |
− | during the Buddha’s'lifetime may seem surprising, even a {{Wiki|novel}}
| |
− | [[idea]], hardly mentioned in {{Wiki|modern}} [[Buddhist]] writings. However,
| |
− | although the large numbers could be attributed to pious
| |
− | [[exaggeration]], that they existed is confirmed in one or two other
| |
− | places. There is, for example, the instance of [[Ugga]] of
| |
− | Hatthigama who gave up his four young wives, giving the
| |
− | eldest in [[marriage]] to a man of her choice, when he became an
| |
− | [[anagamin]] (A IV 214). It is because the [[anagamin]], like the
| |
− | [[arahant]], is rid of the five [[lower fetters]] ( samyojand ) that bind
| |
− | [[beings]] to the {{Wiki|sensual}} [[world]] that he leads a [[life]] of continence
| |
− | ([[brahmacari]]). The [[sotapanna]] and [[sakadagamin]], the ‘enjoyers
| |
− | of [[sense-pleasures]]’ and hence still sexually active, while having
| |
− | overcome the [[three fetters]] of [[personality-belief]] C [[sakkaya-ditthi]] ),
| |
− | [[doubt]] and [[attachment]] to outward observances, still have the
| |
− | [[fetters]] of [[sensual desires]] and [[malevolence]] and will return again
| |
− | after [[death]] to this [[world]], the [[Kamaloka]] (the [[world]] of
| |
− | sense-desires). The [[anagamin]] is free of these [[fetters]] although
| |
− | not yet free of the five [[higher fetters]], and so will arise in the
| |
− | [[Pure Abodes]] of the [[form world]] ([[Rupaloka]]), but cannot return
| |
− | again here to the [[Kamaloka]]. The [[arahant]], being rid of all
| |
− | [[fetters]], is not. liable to be [[reborn]] anywhere. The [[higher fetters]]
| |
− | are: [[desire]] for [[form]] and [[formless realm]] [[existence]], [[conceit]].
| |
− | | |
− | [[restlessness]] and [[ignorance]] 9 . It is the {{Wiki|subtle}} residual [[clinging]] i
| |
− | | |
− | supplied by these [[fetters]] that enables the [[anagamin]] to continue \
| |
− | | |
− | living a limited lay-life. It is the absence of these [[fetters]] in the
| |
− | [[arahant]] that precludes him from so living and for whom thei
| |
− | [[Bhikkhu Sangha]] was established by the [[Buddha]].
| |
− | | |
− | A number of lay [[anagamins]], such as [[Hatthaka]] of Alav! and
| |
− | [[Ugga]] of [[Vesali]], are said to have had large numbers of followers.
| |
− | Although the Commentaries sometimes suggest their following
| |
− | was of a purely {{Wiki|secular}} [[nature]], that they were communal
| |
− | leaders, headmen or [[rajas]], it does seem more likely they were
| |
− | actually preachers of the [[Dhamma]] with other [[lay people]], as their
| |
− | pupil-disciples. After he passed away, [[Hatthaka]] visited the •
| |
− | [[Buddha]] as a brahma-god of the [[Aviha]] [[heaven]] and remarked
| |
− | that now [[devas]] come from afar to hear the [[Dhamma]] from him
| |
− | (A 1 279). [[Citta]] of Macchikasanda even instructed [[bhikkhus]] (cf.
| |
− | [[Citta Samyutta]], S IV 281ff).
| |
− | | |
− | A {{Wiki|distinction}} perhaps should be drawn between the actual
| |
− | [[state]] of affairs and the ‘{{Wiki|ideal}}’ picture that is presented (e.g. in M
| |
− | 73, Ud 6,1, etc.). There must have been many who heard the
| |
− | [[Buddha]] {{Wiki|preach}} but remained unaffected and we learn of
| |
− | quarrelsome, badly behaved [[monks]], schismatics and so forth.
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | 9 Perhaps ‘[[ignorance]]’ as a translation of [[avijja]], especially in the context of
| |
− | the sarnyojana, may be misleading. It cannot here refer to [[ignorance]] as
| |
− | [[stupidity]] or [[delusion]] ([[moha]]) % but rather the absence of the specific
| |
− | knowledge(s) possessed by the [[arahant]], that is. the [[threefold knowledge]] or
| |
− | tcvijja : the [[knowledge of former births]], [[seeing]] the [[arising]] and passing away of
| |
− | other [[beings]] according to [[kamma]], and especially ’.he [[knowledge]] of the ending
| |
− | of the flow of [[defilements]] (dsawj).
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | These were the [[puthujjana]] , those who were apart ( putliu ) from
| |
− | the ‘[[ariya]]’. They were outsiders, [[foolish people]] who could not
| |
− | comprehend the [[Dhamma]] when it was [[taught]] to them and
| |
− | retained their various erroneous [[views]]. The {{Wiki|ideal}} was that all
| |
− | [[bhikkhus]] should be [[arahants]] and that the [[attainment]] of the
| |
− | [[arahant]]* [[path]] was the sole [[reason]] for going forth. The laity then
| |
− | consisted of both [[celibate]] [[anagamins]] and [[sotapannas]] still
| |
− | enjoying [[sense-pleasures]], all entirely devoted to the [[Buddha]] and
| |
− | supplying the Order of [[bhikkhus]] with its needs. The [[arahant]]
| |
− | [[bhikkhus]] were full-time professionals, the [[elders]] of the
| |
− | edittmunity, the guardians of the [[Teaching]], instructors and
| |
− | advisors. Whether or not this {{Wiki|ideal}} was ever realised during the
| |
− | [[lifetime]] of the [[Buddha]], after his passing away the
| |
− | criya-sahgha underwent a rapid {{Wiki|decline}}. And-indeed this was
| |
− | inevitable. The literal meaning of [[savaka]] is ‘hearer’ and upon
| |
− | the departure of the [[Buddha]] there would soon be no more of
| |
− | that *. . . {{Wiki|community}} of "those who had heard" (the [[Dhamma]]
| |
− | directly from) the [[Blessed One]]’ (the [[bhagavato]] savaka-sahgho).
| |
− | Thus [[Subhadda]] was not only the last [[savaka]] converted by the
| |
− | •[[Buddha]] (D II153), but the last [[savaka]] of all!
| |
− | | |
− | Although there would still be those who by their [[own]]
| |
− | efforts successfully practised the [[Path to enlightenment]], as is
| |
− | testified throughout the long [[history of Buddhism]], this was on a
| |
− | more limited scale than formerly. Evidently few savakas were
| |
− | able to' make others ‘see the {{Wiki|Deathless}}’ in the same way that the
| |
− | [[Buddha]] could. And it would be more difficult to ‘arrive at the | |
− | {{Wiki|certainty}}’ of [[faith]] in the [[Blessed One]] when one could no longer
| |
− | meet him face to face. As the [[venerable]] [[Ananda]] said, shortly
| |
− | after the [[Buddha]] passed away, ‘There is not even one [[bhikkhu]],
| |
− | [[brahmin]], who is possessed in every way and in every part of all
| |
− | those things of which the Lord was possessed... this Lord was
| |
− | | |
− | one to make arise a [[path]] that had not arisen before, to- bring
| |
− | about a [[path]] not brought about before, to show a [[path]] not
| |
− | , shown before... But the savakas are now path-followers who
| |
− | | |
− | do so by following after him’ (M [[108]]).
| |
− | | |
− | ;
| |
− | | |
− | Interestingly, as [[Peter Masefield]] has pointed out 10 , when it is
| |
− | said the [[Buddha]] ’makes arise a [[path]]... shows a [[path]]’, this must
| |
− | :| have been meant in the [[sense]] of making it arise in a particular
| |
− | | |
− | ; ' [[person]] on a particular occasion and not in a general [[sense]] of
| |
− | | |
− | {{Wiki|propagating}} a [[universal]] [[teaching]] for all. Despite the [[Buddha’s]]
| |
− | stricture on accepting teachings based on hearsay, the [[latter]]
| |
− | view arose after the passing of the [[Buddha]] and the
| |
− | [[disappearance]] of the original savaka-sahgha when direct [[contact]]
| |
− | j was no longer possible. The [[Buddhist community]] had to come
| |
− | | |
− | to terms with this new situation and to interpret what had been
| |
− | collected and preserved of what the [[Buddha]] had said and [[taught]].
| |
− | In this [[interpretation]] one of the [[ideas]] that appeared‘was that jhe
| |
− | [j [[four paths]] were stages on the way to the [[ultimate attainment]] of
| |
− | | |
− | } [[Nibbana]], and this in turn has led inevitably to further changes
| |
− | | |
− | j in outlook in {{Wiki|present}} day [[Theravada Buddhism]]. If the view is
| |
− | | |
− | i entertained that [[arahantship]] is to be regarded as the sole goal of
| |
− | | |
− | ] [[Buddhist]] endeavour and the [[sotapanna]], etc. is relegated to a
| |
− | | |
− | ; stage on the way to that goal, then the tendency is to regard the
| |
− | | |
− | j j; [[arahant]] as the only true ‘[[ariyan]] [[disciple]]’. Again, if the [[arahant]]
| |
− | | |
− | j; has to be a [[bhikkhu]], the [[ariya-sangha]] is then [[conceived]] as
| |
− | | |
− | | l some kind of {{Wiki|elite}} within the [[Bhikkhu Sangha]] itself. The laity
| |
− | | |
− | being excluded from any meaningful [[spiritual]] [[attainment]] is then
| |
− | demoted to a secondary role. In recent times undue {{Wiki|emphasis}}
| |
− | has been placed upon the {{Wiki|social}} division‘of the [[Buddhist]] [[world]].
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | 10 Masefield, op. cil^ pp.141-2.
| |
− | | |
− | widening the gulf between the [[Sangha]] and the laity, and even
| |
− | going so far as to identify the [[latter]] with the [[puthujjana]].
| |
− | However, this is to ignore and confuse the {{Wiki|evidence}} of the texts
| |
− | themselves, which [[conceived]] of a [[spiritual]] [[dimension]] cutting
| |
− | across the purely {{Wiki|social}} divide of the [[bhikkhu]] and the [[layman]].
| |
− | | |
− | EPITHETS OF THE [[BUDDHA]]
| |
− | | |
− | L [[Buddho]] dasdbalo satthd sabbahhu dipaduttamo
| |
− | [[Munindo]] [[bhagava]] natho [[cakkhuma]] (a)hgiraso muni.
| |
− | | |
− | 1. [[The Awakened One]], Him of the [[Ten Powers]], the [[Teacher]],
| |
− | | |
− | the [[All-knowing One]], the Supreme Biped. The Lord of
| |
− | [[Sages]], the [[Blessed One]], the [[Protector]], the [[Seeing]] One, the
| |
− | Resplendent One, the [[Sage]].
| |
− | | |
− | 2. Lokandtho (a)nadhivaro mahesi ca vinayako
| |
− | Samantacakkhu [[sugato]] bhuripanho ca [[maraji]].
| |
− | | |
− | 2. The [[World Protector]], the Unexcelled One, the Great [[Seer]]
| |
− | and the Guide. The {{Wiki|All-seeing}} One, the [[Happy One]], Him
| |
− | of Extensive [[Wisdom]] and the [[Conqueror of Mara]].
| |
− | | |
− | 3. Narasiho naravaro [[dhammaraja]] [[mahamuni]]
| |
− | Devadevo [[lokagaru]] [[dhammasami]] tathdgato
| |
− | [[Sayambhu]] [[sammasambuddho]] varapahno ca nayako
| |
− | | |
− | 3. The [[Lion of Men]], the {{Wiki|Excellent}} Man, the Dhamma-king, the
| |
− | | |
− | Great [[Sage]]. The [[God of Gods]], the [[World Teacher]], the
| |
− | Dhamma-Lord, the [[Thus-Gone]]. The Self-made, the [[Fully Enlightened One]], Him of {{Wiki|Excellent}} [[Wisdom]] and the Leader.
| |
− | | |
− | 4. Jino [[sakko]] tu siddhattho ca gotamo
| |
− | Sakyasiho [[tatha]] [[sakyamuni]] va (a)diccabandhu ca.
| |
− | | |
− | 4. The Conqueror the [[Sakyan]], then .the [[Accomplished One]],
| |
− | (Son of) [[Suddhodana]] and [[Gotama]]. The [[Lion of the Sakyas]],
| |
− | also the [[Sakyan]] [[Sage]] and the Kinsman of the {{Wiki|Sun}}.
| |
− | | |
− | ([[Moggallana’s]] Abhidhanappadipika, edited by Velligalla
| |
− | [[Siddhattha]], [[Ceylon]] 1900, p2. Translated by John D. [[Ireland]])
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE LANGUAGE OF THE EARLIEST [[BUDDHIST]] TRADITION
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | The almost simultaneous publication of works by Franklin
| |
− | Edgerton on [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit]]
| |
− | (Grammar!Dictionary!Reader, New Haven 1953; [[Delhi]] 1970) and
| |
− | by Heinrich Liiders on the [[language]] of the original [[Buddhist Canon]] (Beobachtungen uber [[die]] Sprache des buddhistischen
| |
− | Urkanons, ed. W. Waldschmidt, [[Berlin]] 1954) touched off a
| |
− | [[scholarly]] [[discussion]] on the [[language]] of . the earliest [[Buddhist tradition]] and on the [[nature]] of the Middle [[Indian]] {{Wiki|dialects}}
| |
− | underlying ‘[[Buddhist Sanskrit]]’, which was reflected not only in
| |
− | the numerous reviews of both these works, but also in a series
| |
− | of articles in {{Wiki|academic}} journals. At that time, a symposium on
| |
− | this [[subject]] was held during the [[German]] {{Wiki|Oriental}} Conference
| |
− | (‘Deutscher Orientalistentag’) in 1954. It should be emphasised,
| |
− | however, that this [[interest]] failed to produce a general communis
| |
− | opinio regarding the questions that were raised, or that was
| |
− | even accepted by the greater part of the [[scholarly]] [[world]]; indeed,
| |
− | the [[discussion]] merely seemed to [[die]] away. It was revived,
| |
− | however, more than twenty years later, and most of the relevant
| |
− | arguments as well as various theories were formulated in the
| |
− | volume [[Die]] Sprache der altestcn buddhistischen
| |
− | Uberlieferung/The [[Language]] of the Earliest [[Buddhist]]
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8. 1-2 (1991) - Bechert
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Tradition]] (ed. H. Bechert, Gottingen 1980) 1 . Relevant problems
| |
− | were further discussed by Oskar von Hinuber ( Das altere
| |
− | Mittelindisch im (Jberblick, {{Wiki|Vienna}} 1986). and by K.R. Norman
| |
− | in various {{Wiki|essays}}.
| |
− | | |
− | The question, of course, has a long history. Both N.L.
| |
− | Westergaard ( Om de oeldeste Tidsrum i den indiske Historic
| |
− | med Hensyn til Literatures [[Copenhagen]] 1860, p.84) and EA.W.
| |
− | [[Kuhn]] ( Beitrage zur Paligrammatik, [[Berlin]] 1875, especially pp.6
| |
− | and 9) had asserted long ago that the [[language]] of the [[Pali Canon]] could not be [[identical]] with the [[language]] spoken by the
| |
− | [[Buddha]] himself, as the [[Sinhalese]] [[tradition]] maintains. Both
| |
− | identified [[Pali]] as the [[language]] of UjjayanI, and their most
| |
− | prominent follower has been R.O. Franke ( [[Pali]] und [[Sanskrit]],
| |
− | [[Strassburg]] 1902, p.131 ff.). Franke even proposed that the
| |
− | [[tradition]] according to which [[Kaccayana]], the author of the oldest
| |
− | surviving [[Pali]] {{Wiki|grammar}}, had lived in [[Ujjeni]]', should v be
| |
− | considered ‘a dim [[recollection]]* of this original [[Pali]] (op. pit ., p.139,
| |
− | n.2; cf. also O. von Hinuber, ‘Zur Geschichte de§ Sprachnamens
| |
− | [[Pali]]’, Beitrage zur Indienforschung. Ernst Waldschmidt zum 80.
| |
− | Geburtstag gewidmet, [[Berlin]] 1977, pp.237-46).
| |
− | | |
− | In 1912 [[Sylvain Levi]] proposed the {{Wiki|thesis}} that a [[language]] of
| |
− | the ’precanonical’ [[Buddhist tradition]] could be detected in the
| |
− | | |
− | 1 This essay is based on my paper ‘AUjemeine Bemerkungen zum Thema
| |
− | "[[Die]] Sprache der aliesten buddhistischen Oberlieferung" therein, representing
| |
− | {{Wiki|methodological}} considerations which, it seems to me, remain valid for the
| |
− | further study of the problems involved. even, today. I wish to thank James Di
| |
− | Crocco for preparing the English translation and Philip Pierce for rereading
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert
| |
− | | |
− | earliest {{Wiki|terminology}} of the [[Buddhists]], especially in the terms
| |
− | used in the Vi nay a; he maintained that in this ‘precanonical*
| |
− | [[language]] - and by this he meant [[essentially]] what H. [[Oldenberg]]
| |
− | (e.g. in ‘Studien zur Geschichte des buddhistischen Kanons*,
| |
− | NAWG 1912, p.206 = Kleine Schrifte/i 2, [[Wiesbaden]] 1967,
| |
− | p.1024) somewhat misleadingly called simply ‘MSgadhf -.the
| |
− | intervocalic tenues are weakened ([[S. Levi]], ‘Observations sur une
| |
− | langue precanonique du bouddhisme’, JA 1912, pp.495 ff; cf. also
| |
− | E.J. Thomas, ‘Pre-Pali Terms in the [[Patimokkha]]’, Festschrift M.
| |
− | Winternitz, Leipzig 1933, pp.161 ff.). H. Luders, who had already
| |
− | taken up this problem in [[connection]] with his epigraphical
| |
− | studies (see ‘Epigraphische Beitrage’ III, 1913 = Philologica
| |
− | [[Indica]], Gottingen 1940, p.288), stated at first that ’the earliest
| |
− | [[Buddhist scriptures]] were written in Old ArdhamSgadhf, and that
| |
− | ‘the works constituting the available [[Pali canon]], like those of
| |
− | the [[Sanskrit canon]] are, at least in part, translations of works in
| |
− | Old Ardhamagadhl*. Later he called the [[language]] in question
| |
− | simply an ‘eastern {{Wiki|dialect}}’ or also ‘the eastern [[language]]’ (cf.
| |
− | Beobachtungen uber [[die]] Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons,
| |
− | p.8) and used the term ‘Urkanon’ - ‘original [[canon]]’ - for the
| |
− | material underlying the available texts. W. Geiger advanced a
| |
− | different opinion; he stated that ‘[[Pali]] was not a [[pure]] MagadhI,
| |
− | but was rather a kind of {{Wiki|lingua franca}} based on MSgadhi which
| |
− | the [[Buddha]] himself had used’, and that ‘the [[Pali canon]]
| |
− | represented an attempt to reproduce the buddhavacanaiji in its
| |
− | original [[form]] 4 ([[Pali]] Literatur und Sprache, [[Strassburg]] 1916, p.4).
| |
− | As we know, there was no general agreement with [[Geiger’s]]
| |
− | {{Wiki|thesis}}. Finally Helmer Smith (*Le futur moyen indien’, JA.1952,
| |
− | , p.178) stated that we must postulate the [[existence]] of a ‘koine
| |
− | gangetique, dont l’ardhamagadhl et le pall represented les
| |
− | normalisations les plus anciennes’ for the period in question. If
| |
− | this is accepted, then the approach to the problem of
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8,1-2 (1991) - Beehert
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Beehert
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Wikipedia:scientific method|methodology]] must be quite different from that of the [[scholars]]
| |
− | quoted above.
| |
− | | |
− | We can proceed from the above on the assumption that
| |
− | none of the [[Wikipedia:canonical|canonical]] texts exactly reflects* the [[language]] of the
| |
− | [[Buddha]] or even of the earliest [[Buddhist tradition]], and that
| |
− | accordingly the various textual versions are based in one way or
| |
− | another on earlier stages of the [[tradition]] couched in a different
| |
− | {{Wiki|linguistic}} [[form]]. Thus we must further assume that there has
| |
− | been a [[transference]] of the texts from one {{Wiki|linguistic}} [[form]] to
| |
− | another, with or without [[intermediate]] stages, either in the [[form]]
| |
− | of a deliberate translation or a [[gradual]] [[transformation]] in the
| |
− | [[oral tradition]]. In the course of this [[transformation]] certain
| |
− | peculiarities have been preserved which represent the {{Wiki|linguistic}}
| |
− | [[form]] of earlier stages of the [[tradition]] that has since been lost.
| |
− | We have agreed to call these ’Magadhisms’, and some of them
| |
− | might well have belonged to the [[language]] of the [[Buddha]]. The
| |
− | primary task now before us is to make sure that we are fully
| |
− | {{Wiki|aware}} of the implications of the {{Wiki|terminology}} which we employ
| |
− | in this field. A second [[essential]] task is to move our [[thinking]] | |
− | ahead from the isolated [[discussion]] of certain {{Wiki|individual}}
| |
− | observations of a {{Wiki|linguistic}} [[nature]], on which we have
| |
− | [[concentrated]] the greater part of our deliberations to date, to a
| |
− | [[consideration]] of the broader interrelationship of the questions
| |
− | associated with our problem. Thirdly, we must review our
| |
− | research [[methods]] and strive to develop them even further, and
| |
− | we should make use of the results of research into related
| |
− | developments outside [[India]].
| |
− | | |
− | Now 1 should like to try to formulate some questions in
| |
− | this vein and thereby venture some suggestions as to how we
| |
− | should go about the problem, without in any [[sense]] intending to
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | propose definite-solutions. In this [[connection]] it would be best
| |
− | to start with the [[subject]] itself, which has long been formulated
| |
− | as the question* of what was ‘the [[language]] of the [[Buddha]]*.
| |
− | Taking into [[consideration]] the circumstances of the [[life of the Buddha]] as we know them, we can certainly come up with
| |
− | conjectures about which local {{Wiki|dialect}} the [[Buddha]] must have
| |
− | spoken, but it would be much more appropriate to formulate
| |
− | the question in such a way that what we are really setting out
| |
− | to find is the {{Wiki|linguistic}} [[form]] of what we term the ‘earliest
| |
− | [[Buddhist tradition]]’ - that is, the [[body]] of [[traditional]] material that
| |
− | underlies all the variants of the [[tradition]] that have come down
| |
− | to'us, and thus represents, as it were, the {{Wiki|archetype}} of the
| |
− | [[Buddhist tradition]]. At this point it is only natural to recall the
| |
− | passage in the [[Vinaya]] where the [[Buddha]] himself may have
| |
− | given US’ a due as to the {{Wiki|linguistic}} [[form]] in which his [[teaching]]
| |
− | was transmitted (see E [[Wikipedia:Étienne Lamotte|Lamotte]], History of [[Indian Buddhism]],
| |
− | Louvain-la-Neuve 1988, pp.552-5), and along with it the
| |
− | [[controversy]] over the [[interpretation]] of this passage. (Sec John
| |
− | Brough, ‘[[Sakaya niruttiya]]: Caul kale het\ [[Die]] Sprache der
| |
− | altesien buddhistischen Oberlieferung, pp.3542.)
| |
− | | |
− | The question as to the {{Wiki|linguistic}} [[form]] of the earliest
| |
− | [[Buddhist tradition]] cannot be separated from the question of the
| |
− | content and structuring of this [[tradition]]. Was there really such
| |
− | a thing as an ‘Urkanon’, or is it not more likely that separate
| |
− | [[bodies]] of [[traditional]] material came to be integrated into one
| |
− | [[Canon]], gradually at first, in the course of the dissemination and
| |
− | diversification of [[Buddhism]], eventually to [[form]] the ’earliest
| |
− | [[tradition]]*? The corpus of [[traditional]] material would then have
| |
− | been organised into [[Pitakas]], [[Nikayas]], [[Agamas]], [[Angas]], etc., in
| |
− | accordance with various {{Wiki|principles}} of {{Wiki|classification}}. It now
| |
− | appears as if, along with the fusion of {{Wiki|distinct}} regional [[traditions]]
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert
| |
− | | |
− | into supra-regional streams, there also ensued a fusion of
| |
− | different {{Wiki|principles}} of organisation, in accordance with which
| |
− | the [[division]] into Pi;akas was largely accomplished; the other
| |
− | organisational systems which originally had {{Wiki|equal}} [[standing]] were
| |
− | then used for the subdivision of the Sutrapipika. It would thus
| |
− | seem that these same organisational {{Wiki|principles}} were applied | |
− | simultaneously at several places, {{Wiki|independently}} of each other, to
| |
− | [[traditional]] material which itself had already become locally
| |
− | diversified, so that many correspondences arose which would
| |
− | not necessarily have had to derive from an {{Wiki|archetype}}.
| |
− | Consequently we have to be extremely {{Wiki|sceptical}} about any
| |
− | assumption that an ‘Urkanon’ ever actually existed.
| |
− | | |
− | We can now formulate our question more precisely. In
| |
− | every case we much check to see at what stage of [[development]]
| |
− | certain complexes of [[tradition]] were so organised that they could
| |
− | already be regarded as constituting a structured -{{Wiki|literary}} work.
| |
− | There can be no [[doubt]] that this occurred very early for the
| |
− | formulary for {{Wiki|confession}} (P. pdtimokkha, Skt. pr&fitnoksd), it is
| |
− | much more difficult, however, to determine.in which phase of
| |
− | the [[tradition]] the formu'aries for governing the [[life]] of the
| |
− | {{Wiki|community}} (P. [[kammavaca]], Skt karmavdeandft) were put in
| |
− | order and came to underlie the broader context of a [[skandhaka]]
| |
− | text. For the history of the formation of the VinayapUaka we
| |
− | can refer to the [[book]] by E Frauwailner O'he Earliest [[Vinaya]]
| |
− | and the Beginnings of [[Buddhist]] {{Wiki|Literature}} , {{Wiki|Rome}} 1956) and to
| |
− | an entire series of other studies which have appeared since,
| |
− | while for the text of the four [[Nikayas]] or [[Agamas]] no really
| |
− | serious attempt to reconstruct the four ‘[[Ur-Agamas]] has yet been
| |
− | undertaken. So far as we can see at this time, such an attempt
| |
− | would probably be doomed to failure, because in this case the
| |
− | application of the {{Wiki|principles}} of organisation was introduced at a
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | Buddhisi Siudies Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | | |
− | time when the local diversification of the [[tradition]] was already
| |
− | further advanced than with the [[Vinaya]]. The compilations
| |
− | available to us hardly go back to any ‘[[Ur-Agamas]]’, but
| |
− | originated as the result of local applications of the same
| |
− | {{Wiki|principles}} of organisation to [[bodies]] of [[traditional]] material that
| |
− | were still largely in agreement. As a natural consequence of
| |
− | this, various compilations of texts came into being that
| |
− | resembled each other in many respects, and their similarities can
| |
− | lead to the erroneous Gumption that there might have been an
| |
− | original [[form]] of the corpus as a whole.
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | Besides, in the e*ly period we must also take into account
| |
− | numerous borrowings from other branch [[traditions]]; thus we arc
| |
− | dealing with a [[tradition]] that is largely ‘contaminated’, and
| |
− | consequently if we try to reconstruct the oldest [[form]] of the
| |
− | [[tradition]] on the [[principle]] of a genealogical [[tree]] we can easily go
| |
− | astray.
| |
− | | |
− | The question now arises as to when the [[tradition]] was
| |
− | actually established in definite [[form]]. [[Buddhist tradition]] of
| |
− | course maintains that the texts were already established at the
| |
− | time of the [[First Council]], but were still being transmitted orally
| |
− | for a long time thereafter - in [[Ceylon]] from the advent of the •
| |
− | Thcravada until the time of [[King]] [[Vattagamani Abhaya]] (89-77
| |
− | B.C.EJ. As for the [[traditional]] date when the [[Pali Canon]] was
| |
− | first written down, we can declare with {{Wiki|certainty}} tM . in view
| |
− | of the most recent research into the source history of the
| |
− | [[Ceylonese]] chronicles, the [[traditional]] account constitutes reliable
| |
− | • historical [[information]]. Also, if my conjecture is correct that the
| |
− | 1 process of committing these texts to [[writing]] had actually been
| |
− | [[initiated]] in the motherland some time previously, we can reject
| |
− | outright the possibility that a written translation into [[Pali]] of the
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert
| |
− | | |
− | | |
− | [[Buddhist Studies]] Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert
| |
Buddhism in Sweden
Couple of weeks ago I found a page in Facebook called or group of people called Buddhism in Sweden . I wrote couple of words myself an english on their page and immediately reacted on my words site Admin Peter Olin and told that everybody here on this page have to use only Swedish because it's a swedish buddhist site. He sound quite convincible.
I explained to Olin that I have been doing the Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia for 18 hours every day for 8 years After which he started to explain to me that many links in Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia what are linked to Wikipedia are suspicious and may change over time, and what,ll happened with these articles in my encyclopedia when there,ll be changes in Wikipedia , He seemed quite excited and determined in their own deliberations and positions.
Then I posted couple of thangkas made by me and lot of critics or by other words a large avalanche of criticism arrived at my address. compared to my attitude towards the Encyclopedia and other activities in Asia, Sweden had an extremely negative and rusty cold attitude.
With this, I felt like the admin's ironic logic killed me wanting to participate in this site on Facebook and of course since the admin of the page was quite specific in his attitude, I asked him what have you done for Buddhism yourself? He didn't answer. At the end I just left the swedish group of buddhists..
I spend there on site just 2 days. And then left because people started to scream about my work with Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia. My secretary who has been a member of this group started to defend me and almost all people on the page started to talk that I serve the interests of the Chinese government and they pay me for that.
I started the encyclopedia in Australia and interestingly there were no negative attitude towards my work . Australia gave me a Distinguished Talented Visa for my activities and work in Buddhism .
I am struck by how two countries may have so different views on Buddhism. I arrived back to Sweden a year ago and turned to Swedish government and asked if they would like to help me with the encyclopedia. I also wrote to the Swedish Academy of Sciences and asked them for a positive attitude towards my work. I wrote to 60 politicians in the government but did not receive any response to my letters at all.
The Academy of Sciences was silent in Swedish way. I thought when I arrived first time to Sweden most of the world's press was present and even Swedish journalists but now it seemed embarrassing for Sweden that they gave me swedish citizenship, Which shows that my political activities suited them but not Buddhist .
I have organized a major international Buddhist conferences and (Buddhism and Nordland) and (Buddhism and Australia) what lasted 9 years. I myself have attended other conferences at the University of Berkeley, but I have never seen such a derogatory and monotonous attitude as in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia haven't seen such negative attitude anywhere in world. We can say openly Sweden denies Buddhism.
This summer, I approached the University of Kalmar with a proposal to hold an international conference on Buddhism. In a month's time, my secretary, Marju Broder, sent them letters with a proposal to meet to discuss cooperation and activities in connection with the conference.
the university replied to me w month later with such this letter;
Dear Marju Broder,
I’m professor in the study of religions and like all my colleagues in the study of religions we are regularly contacted by, besides of course scholars of religions, RELIGIONISTS OF DIFFERENT SORTS, NOT RARELY WITH DEEP THEOLOGICAL ERUDITION.
Stefan Arvidsson
Professor in the History of Religions, Linnæus University
At least someone dared to answer and say what is thought about of Buddhist activities in Sweden . It is interesting that Sweden is talking about religious freedom. How to understand it ?
This freedom seems to exist only for Christians but not for Buddhists . In addition, we wrote to many other Swedish organizations, but the answer was silence
My secretary Marju Broder also wrote to others in Scandinavia, but the answer from them was either silence or a negative attitude. The same attitude was observed by those Swedes on Facebook who call themselves a Buddhists.
That's what they wrote in Swedish newspaper;
Buddhism is a relatively small religion in Sweden, but has seen an increase in recent years. The number of Buddhists in April 2011 is estimated at around 45,000 people or close to 0.5% of Sweden's population, making it Sweden's third largest religion after Christianity and Islam. Most practitioners have an Asian background and come mostly from Thailand, China or Vietnam.
In addition, the Swedish government requested that donations to Buddhists be taxed on the basis of income.
http://religionsvetenskapligakommentarer.blogspot.com/2012/09/strukturell-diskriminering-nar.html
http://religionsvetenskapligakommentarer.blogspot.com/2019/08/buddhistiska-tempel-beskattas-for.html
It,s a shame to take a money from buddhist monks. Interesting how much Swedish government pays for Christian church to keep it alive.
it shows specifically how the Swedish government and people view Buddhism. You could say frankly that they hate Buddhism
It shows how wrong country I chose when I was expelled from the Soviet Union by Gorbachev when I made, first time in Soviet history, an opposition party against Communist Party, My idea that erupted the Soviet Union and perestroika.
Having lived in Sweden for years, I did not come to the idea or understanding that Sweden does not like a Buddhism because I was not involved in promoting Buddhism in Sweden.
I have been actively involved in Buddhism for 45 years, I established the Nyingma Buddhist tradition in Estonia, built 5 stupas there, My friends also actively contributed to the translation of a large amount of Buddhist literature. Soviet times nobody paid attention to my work in field of Buddhism.
Now when I went back to Estonia and started to build a new stupa the new Estonian government arrested me and my friends and accused me that I am hiding weapons in my country house what I haven't visited already 15 years .
They hold me in jail two days until swedish ambassador Dag Hartelius called to the police. Why it's happened? Because in Estonia old communists are still in power. And they hate me because I destroyed the Soviet Union.
I built a stupa and large prayer wheel then left Estonia., 1982 I build 4 stupas with my friends in Estonia, first Buddhist thangkas were made by Arno Arrak it was the start for Buddhism in Estonia.
At the same time, the University of Tartu in Estonia was extremely contemptuous of my activities, led by Linnart Mäll,who was a chronic alcoholic plus his students Märt Läänemets and Maret Kark supported him.
It is striking that instead of cooperation, there is an immediate denigration against Buddhist activities from scientific side . Now that everyone is talking about a multicultural era, both freedom of speech and freedom of religion, the Swedish government is asking to tax donations to Buddhists .
An example my secretary asked Oxford University to participate on coming conference Buddhism and Nordland and she got such answer :
I am sorry to say that I cannot give you any encouragement. The OCBS is a small institute with very limited resources. We are not even able to pay any academic salaries. We also have nobody here who knows anything about Buddhism and Nordland, so we cannot offer any expertise
Yours sincerely,
Richard Gombrich
And it is a solid old university with English traditions.
The same time we have big site in Internet dedicated to this conference.
The question arises as how Buddhists do not notice what other Buddhists are talking about Buddhism in their work on conference Buddhism and Nordland.
It shows the stupidity and short-sightedness of the Europeans and its universities, And we talk about religious freedom here . Compared to the University of Berkeley, who immediately agreed to collaborate with leading professor Lewis Lancaster .The only company that is actively involved in translating texts and spreading knowledge about Buddhism,in our days which is Lotsawa house and its a very big contribution to European Buddhism,
https://www.lotsawahouse.org/
It,s interesting most of those people doesn't belong to Europe who translate in Lotsawa House. I know Erik Pema Kunsang because when I started with Chinese Encyclopedia he connected me and his relationship to my project was very positive and favorable. He is from Denmark . And well known translator from Tibetan.
https://lotsawahouse.blog/interviews/erik-pema-kunsang/
Another person who has helped me a lot is from Holland. I asked money to buy a new computer and new glasses for myself because the old computer is too old and slow he reacted immediately . The rest of the europe was quiet.
I understand because it,s a war in our days accely between christianity and Buddhism what has found new territories here in Europe,.
When I was 11 years old I read the book about Buddhism and it was written that Buddha was talking about huge amount of other worlds and universes the same time I head in school that Galileo, on the other hand, was tried by the Inquisition after his book was published.
He said that the Earth revolved around the sun, a theory now known to be true, I understood immediately value of the christianity who was telling such rubbish about cosmology . Buddhism for me as always been a science and I don't understand why others haven't found such values in Buddhist teachings.
And Europe still holds the same principles as you can see here in Sweden. For them Sweden is a center of the universe with his 10.23 million (2019) population. So narrow minded people here.When you use your brain at least little bit you can understand who,ll be the winner in this war.
Buddhist psychology has existed two thousand years , Europe discovered it just couple of hundred years back. It seems now that European way of thinking is really slow and and related to Christian thought.
One thing is a religion another is scientific approach. Buddhism is science because it helps you to understand yourself Christianity reveals that Jesus is your liberator. In Buddhism you have to liberate yourself. It means different way of thinking and understanding about the world and about your own mind.
Now you can see in web often word tantra what Christianity uses for own purposes it means borrowing from Buddhism, but I havent noticed that Buddhism is using christian terminology. It means Europe and European knowledge has nothing to offer anymore new ideas in field of spirituality and for a person’s personal spiritual development,Christianity has only one most important book the Bible Buddhism has them thousands.
People always like to have a rich friends then what about religion? Books consist ideas , teachings view of the world and I understand why people in our days who choose a buddhism. Because it has more real intellectual values then christianity. I understand how most of the people in Europe and specially in Sweden react on my words but someone have to be the first who says that king is naked.
I was first who told the truth in Soviet Union publicly and I was expelled does it mean that Europe or Sweden will expel me too ? You can see everywhere the new political approach to be friendly, peaceful, not to protest or fight with the government.
Why? Because the masses are being asked to be pushed into certain frames so that someone can calmly empty the people's pockets of money. Banks rule everywhere, but if you ask them for money for their own activities, you can die before they help you.
If you look at governments, they are filled with politicians, people who do not even have a specific education to work in a given place or area, and they all always vote diligently in an area that is distant and incomprehensible to them. Recalling Alfred Nobel's message about democracy, he can be said that he was a wise and the only Swede who understood the basic principles of democracy and expressed them exactly.
Sweden uses his money to share prizes in science, but does not notice when someone is trying to spread knowledge about Buddhism. I was told in Öland by local politicians who need this encyclopedia of no use or need for the people. Then I immediately understood what the term politician means today, Sven Hedin, who was an eastern investigator, has been overlooked by the Swedish government because he had correspondence with Hitler.
Although he is highly valued and talked about by other countries. Not that he was in correspondence with Hitler, but his scientific work is appreciated. I have realized over the years that I have lived in Sweden and understood , Swedes are no longer Vikings but a mass with whom the elective class does what they want.
if you do not belong to the official nomenclature does not support your work and activities it doesn't have any value for them, the same principle was chosen in the Soviet Union, no authority in Sweden responds positively to what I do. The University of Berkeley immediately supported my activities in Sweden they does not understand what it means.
They have their own Swedish opinion. expressed himself in very Swedish wayas said Stefan Arvidsson
Professor in the History of Religions, Linnæus University ;RELIGIONISTS OF DIFFERENT SORTS, NOT RARELY WITH DEEP THEOLOGICAL ERUDITION. He even didn't want to meet us a or ask what kind of education I have. No authority in Sweden responds positively to what I do. The same way reacted Swedish buddhists on facebook.
The University of Berkeley immediately supported my activities in Sweden does not understand what it means. Why and what i do it for. which raises the question may be should the government choose people based on IQ .
I have huge pile of different support letters from different universities and scientist who support my work and project. But Sweden does not think so , Why? Because they have their own Swedish opinion. It can be understood he has having more knowledge about Buddhism and about Eastern culture as well than Berkeley and other universities in world , which I deeply doubt.
I call such phenomenon connected to stupidity Another words it's a swedish knowledge about Eastern culture and knowledge about Buddhism . Most stupid last political maneuver what Sweden made with China - Stockholm was grappling with China over a book publisher's imprisonment , unthinking what is useful or harmful for swedish business .
Like many countries, Sweden shares significant trade and business dealings with China -- including Chinese ownership of one of its most iconic brands, Volvo Cars. Gui Congyou, China's ambassador in Stockholm, warned of "bad consequences" if it went ahead, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven could be barred from visiting China. "We treat our friends with fine wine," Gui said on a Swedish radio show. "But for our enemies we've got shotguns.
Now I understand why Sweden does not like my work with Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia.
China and Russia are friends now again what means its quite powerful friendship. China has plans to double his population on next 20 years. It means there,ll be 4 billion chinese. China is building a aircraft mother ships. It seems they are planning to move to other continents soon.
If they build ships for tourism then its a peaceful action it means they have an interest or need to explore other countries and continents but aircraft mother ships serve another purpose,
It's like Sweden doesn't notice it. Maybe swedish politicians doesn't understand what's going on in world because lack of education and IQ. And chinese have a lot of money, And soon lot of people too. China has already worlds biggest army . It means something especially in politics soon.
Now about my own work . I understand that my Chinese Buddhist Encylopedia has not the same quality to compare with Wikipedia where thousand people are working because I am alone and have to do everything myself. But I have totally different approach to compare with wikipedia. I want o educate people about buddhism.
Like one swedish politician said to me, that I am using material what others are have produced it,s not your work.He is totally right . Seems that He didn't know that Encyclopedias mostly are based on other peoples work.
Only difference is that an encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either from all branches or from a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries.
Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content experts. Encyclopedia article is typically not limited to simple definitions, and is not limited to defining an individual word, but provides a more extensive meaning for a subject or discipline.
It seems that this politician doesn't use wikipedia what quite exactly explains lot of things and meanings in our days in our world. And he is a politician.I was away from sweden years and so much has changed here during this time. Swedish politics has changed, everything cost more , prizes has been doubled , life costs more but people earn the same amount money as before .
Totally different country is Sweden now to compare when I arrived here. The general opinion today is that one should not be critical about anything or negative then you are enemy of the state.
There is a mass of people in our days who has the same opinion about everything as the state dictates and at the same time we speculate on freedom of speech. I wonder what it is about. We saw what happened when people in Germany started to protest against Coronavirus. Police used water cannons against demonstrators.
It's called freedom and free speech but for whom? Only government has right to express free speech and those who are against it are enemies. of the state , In Soviet Union was very popular to use psychiatric hospitals for those. It's time to use the same tactics in our days. Nothing new in here. Totalitarian way of thinking is flourishing everywhere .
Bunch of people without special knowledge deciding what is useful and what is not. It's called sick society and sickness comes not from people but from the government side .Why because bunch of elected politicians vote and decide what to do and how.
How they know what's best for me when they even don't know how I think and digest intellectually. When we go to the restaurant we choose what to order. Soon it,ll change we all have to eat the same food and drink the same drink not drinks. The difference enriches the culture, society and people's minds . Everything is dictated by government. We call it democracy. But is it?
Small businesses have disappeared thanks for coronavirus. It means society or people get poorer and some of them get richer. It's called democracy. I wrote to 60 politicians and got no reaction it's called democracy. I don't blame society . I talk about government who likes to feed people with slogans what are fake.
I talk about buddhism what is not welcome to Sweden. It's strange we talk about free speech but it seems that we have forgotten about what is free thinking. And education looks different. Stefan Arvidsson is a product of education system who has taught him that religion is opium for people.
In Marxism it's very popular view. So I got answer from communist who declares that he knows Buddhism better than me. It's the same view had so called university workers in Estonia in Taru university. But then it was Estonia part of the Soviet Union. Coming back to Sweden after 10 years I feel as I returned back to Soviet Union.
I understand what reaction, ll be on my article from so called politicians side. So what I give a F,, as I did in Soviet Union. Brain of the human is magnificent and able to do things which seem impossible at first glance. As one professor at the University of Berkeley said to me; how you were the only one who came up with such idea to dismantle the Soviet Union and no one else wanted to do it.
My answer to him was; My idea was that religion was banned in the Soviet Union and the only way for Buddhism to re-emerge as a source of knowledge for many Buddhists was to change this social order. Interesting when such an idea will come in connection to Sweden ? As a monk I have no right to think about this because we live in sansara and big changes in society will bring a lot of problems in my next life. So I am already doomed.
I hope Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia will be as the lifebuoy for me but Swedish society and government doesn't want to help me with mu problems because they are doomed too I think. Sooner or later there must be certain reforms otherwise there ,ll appear someone who wants to change something in social order. I understand that my talk and thoughts seem absurd and out of mind for Sweden but it,s a life what dictates our actions and survival.