Jendhamuni - Buddhism and inspiring quotes

What is Theravada Buddhism?

Comment December 7, 2020

Theravada (pronounced — more or less — “terra-VAH-dah”), the “Doctrine of the Elders,” is the school of Buddhism that draws its scriptural inspiration from the Tipitaka, or Pali canon, which scholars generally agree contains the earliest surviving record of the Buddha’s teachings. For many centuries, Theravada has been the predominant religion of continental Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, and Laos) and Sri Lanka. Today Theravada Buddhists number well over 100 million worldwide. In recent decades Theravada has begun to take root in the West.

Many Buddhisms, One Dhamma-vinaya

The Buddha — the “Awakened One” — called the religion he founded Dhamma-vinaya — “the doctrine and discipline.” To provide a social structure supportive of the practice of Dhamma-vinaya (or Dhamma for short [Sanskrit: Dharma]), and to preserve these teachings for posterity, the Buddha established the order of bhikkhus (monks) and bhikkhunis (nuns) — the Sangha — which continues to this day to pass his teachings on to subsequent generations of laypeople and monastics, alike.

As the Dhamma continued its spread across India after the Buddha’s passing, differing interpretations of the original teachings arose, which led to schisms within the Sangha and the emergence of as many as eighteen distinct sects of Buddhism. One of these schools eventually gave rise to a reform movement that called itself Mahayana (the “Greater Vehicle”) and that referred to the other schools disparagingly as Hinayana (the “Lesser Vehicle”). What we call Theravada today is the sole survivor of those early non-Mahayana schools. To avoid the pejorative tone implied by the terms Hinayana and Mahayana, it is common today to use more neutral language to distinguish between these two main branches of Buddhism. Because Theravada historically dominated southern Asia, it is sometimes called “Southern” Buddhism, while Mahayana, which migrated northwards from India into China, Tibet, Japan, and Korea, is known as “Northern” Buddhism. Continue reading →
A handful of leaves

Comment December 7, 2020

The Blessed One was once living at Kosambi in a wood of simsapa trees. He picked up a few leaves in his hand, and he asked the bhikkhus, ‘How do you conceive this, bhikkhus, which is more, the few leaves that I have picked up in my hand or those on the trees in the wood?

‘The leaves that the Blessed One has picked up in his hand are few, Lord; those in the wood are far more.’

‘So too, bhikkhus, the things that I have known by direct knowledge are more; the things that I have told you are only a few. Why have I not told them? Because they bring no benefit, no advancement in the Holy Life, and because they do not lead to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not told them. And what have I told you? This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. That is what I have told you. Why have I told it? Because it brings benefit, and advancement in the Holy Life, and because it leads to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. So bhikkhus, let your task be this: This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’

[Samyutta Nikaya, LVI, 31]

Source: BuddhaNet
No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers

Comment December 6, 2020

No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers. — Wolfgang Riebe

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. — Zig Ziglar

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. — William James

You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way. — Dr. Seuss

You always pass failure on the way to success. — Mickey Rooney

Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve done before. — Bonnie Blair Continue reading →
Patience is a virtue

3 December 6, 2020

We all know the old adage: Patience is a virtue. But it’s true! Patience can help us achieve our goals, maintain a more positive outlook on life, and make us less reactive, which in turn will make us less prone to bad decisions. Stress, regret, and anger don’t help anything. So when you’re facing an uncertain future, a negative event, or something scary, take a minute. Don’t do anything. Just sit a spell. — Country Living
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot

1 December 5, 2020
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot; Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not, we’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it or not. — Unknown

Jendhamuni shoveling the snow on December 5, 2020

Learning patience can be a difficult experience, but once conquered, you will find life is easier. — Catherine Pulsifer

Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting. — Unknown

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. — John Quincy Adams

Jendhamuni shoveling the snow on December 5, 2020
In reality no weather is bad

Comment December 5, 2020

We often hear of bad weather, but in reality no weather is bad. It is all delightful, though in different ways. Some weather may be bad for farmers or crops, but for man all kinds are good. Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating. – John Lubbock
The weather behaved itself

Comment December 5, 2020

The weather behaved itself. In the spring, the little flowers came out obediently in the meads, and the dew sparkled, and the birds sang. In the summer it was beautifully hot for no less than four months, and, if it did rain just enough for agricultural purposes, they managed to arrange it so that it rained while you were in bed. In the autumn the leaves flamed and rattled before the west winds, tempering their sad adieu with glory. And in the winter, which was confined by statute to two months, the snow lay evenly, three feet thick, but never turned into slush. – T.H. White
The pure voice of an Ever-flowing mountain stream

Comment December 5, 2020

Every day we’re given a choice: We can relax and float in the direction that the water flows, or we can swim hard against it. If we go with the river, the energy of a thousand mountain streams will be with us . . . if we resist the river, we will feel rankled and tired as we tread water, stuck in the same place. — Elizabeth Lesser

Do not fail
to learn from
The pure voice of an
Ever-flowing mountain stream
Splashing over the rocks.

— Morihei Ueshiba

Jendhamuni at the summit of Mt. Wachusett on a rainy and foggy day on November 26, 2020.
How powerful your thoughts are

2 December 4, 2020
If you realized just how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.

Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.

Your thoughts shape your vision. You see what you choose to see.

What consumes your mind, controls your life.

— Anonymous
The Story of Kukkutamitta

Comment December 4, 2020

Verse 124: If there is no wound on the hand, one may handle poison; poison does not affect one who has no wound; there can be no evil for one who has no evil intention.

The Story of Kukkutamitta

While residing at the Veluvana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (124) of this book, with reference to the hunter Kukkutamitta and his family.

At Rajagaha there was once a rich man’s daughter who had attained Sotapatti Fruition as a young girl. One day, Kukkutamitta, a hunter, came into town in a cart to sell venison. Seeing Kukkutamitta the hunter, the rich young lady fell in love with him immediately; she followed him, married him and lived with him in a small village. As a result of that marriage, seven sons were born to them and in course of time, all the sons got married. One day, the Buddha surveyed the world early in the morning with his supernormal power and found that the hunter, his seven sons and their wives were due for attainment of Sotapatti Fruition. So, the Buddha went to the place where the hunter had set his trap in the forest. He put his footprint close to the trap and seated himself under the shade of a bush, not far from the trap.

When the hunter came, he saw no animal in the trap; he saw the footprint and surmised that someone must have come before him and let cut the animal. So, when he saw the Buddha under the shade of the bush, he took him for the man who had freed the animal from his trap and flew into a rage. He took out his bow and arrow to shoot at the Buddha, but as he drew his bow, he became immobilized and remained fixed in that position like a statue. His sons followed and found their father; they also saw the Buddha at some distance and thought he must be the enemy of their father. All of them took out their bows and arrows to shoot at the Buddha, but they also became immobilized and remained fixed in their respective postures. When the hunter and his sons failed to return, the hunter’s wife followed them into the forest, with her seven daughters-in-law. Seeing her husband and all her sons with their arrows aimed at the Buddha, she raised both her hands and shout: “Do not kill my father.” Continue reading →

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Shantidevas’ Bodhisattva vows

Should anyone wish to ridicule me and make me an object of jest and scorn why should I possibly care if I have dedicated myself to others?

Let them do as they wish with me so long as it does not harm them. May no one who encounters me ever have an insignificant contact.

Regardless whether those whom I meet respond towards me with anger or faith, may the mere fact of our meeting contribute to the fulfilment of their wishes.

May the slander, harm and all forms of abuse that anyone should direct towards me act as a cause of their enlightenment.