Jendhamuni - Buddhism and inspiring quotes

Knowledge and wisdom

Comment June 30, 2020

Knowledge is learning something everyday. Wisdom is letting go of something everyday. ~ Unknown
When you try to understand everything

Comment June 29, 2020

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. ~Shunryu Suzuki
Just relax

Comment June 29, 2020

Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand – relax. ~Osho
The less you try to impress

Comment June 29, 2020

The less you try to impress, the more peaceful you can be. ~ Maxime Lagacé
Reflect upon your life

Comment June 26, 2020

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” ~Saint Augustine

No true wisdom can ever be gained by rushing through life. What is required is the patience to stop every once in a while and to reflect upon your life

Jendhamuni, June 26, 2020

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When we come into the present

1 June 26, 2020

When we come into the present, we begin to feel the life around us again, but we also encounter whatever we have been avoiding. We must have the courage to face whatever is present – our pain, our desires, our grief, our loss, our secret hopes, our love – everything that moves us most deeply. ~Jack Kornfield
The Story of the Brahmin Anatthapucchaka

Comment June 26, 2020

Verses 104 & 105: It is better indeed, to conquer oneself than to conquer others. Neither a deva, nor a gandhabba, nor Mara together with Brahma can turn into defeat the victory of the man who controls himself.

The Story of the Brahmin Anatthapucchaka

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (104) and (105) of this book, with reference to Anatthapucchaka, a brahmin.

On one occasion, a Brahmin by the name of Anatthapucchaka came to the Buddha and said to him, “Venerable Sir, I think that you know only the practices that are beneficial and not the practices that are unbeneficial.” To him, the Buddha answered that he also knew the practices which were unbeneficial and harmful. Then the Buddha enumerated six practices which cause dissipation of wealth; they are: (1) sleeping until the sun has risen, (2) habitual idleness, (3) cruelty, (4) indulgence in intoxicants which causes drunkenness and negligence, (5) sauntering alone in streets at unearthly hours, and (6) sexual misconduct.

Further, the Buddha asked the brahmin how he earned his living, and the brahmin replied that he earned his living by playing dice, i.e., by gambling. Next, the Buddha asked him whether he won or lost. When the brahmin answered that he sometimes lost and sometimes won, the Buddha said to him, “To win in a game of dice is nothing compared to a victory over moral defilements.”

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verses 104 & 105: It is better indeed, to conquer oneself than to conquer others. Neither a deva, nor a gandhabba, nor Mara together with Brahma can turn into defeat the victory of the man who controls himself.

Dhammapada Verses 104 and 105
Anatthapucchakabrahmana Vatthu

Atta have jitam seyyo
ya cayam itara paja
attadantassa posassa
niccam sannatacarino.

Neva devo na gandhabbo
na Maro saha Brahmuna
jitam apajitam kayira
tatharupassa jantuno.

Source: Tipitaka
Awakening is not negotiable

Comment June 24, 2020

In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us. ~Jack Kornfield
Letting go is the path to freedom

3 June 23, 2020

One of the essential tasks for living a wise life is letting go. Letting go is the path to freedom. It is only by letting go of the hopes, the fears, the pain, the past, the stories that have a hold on us that we can quiet our mind and open our heart. ~ Jack Kornfield
The Story of Theri Kundalakesi

1 June 23, 2020

Verse 102: Better than the recitation of a hundred verses that are senseless and unconnected with the realization of Nibbana, is the recitation of a single verse of the Teaching (Dhamma), if on hearing it one is calmed.

Verse 103: A man may conquer a million men in battle, but one who conquers himself is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors.

The Story of Theri Kundalakesi

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (102) and (103) of this book, with reference to Theri Kundalakesi.

Kundalakesi was the daughter of a rich man from Rajagaha. She had led a very secluded life; but one day, she happened to see a thief being led out to be killed and she immediately fell in love with him. Her parents had to pay for the freedom of the thief, and they married her off to him. Although she loved her husband very dearly, her husband being a thief, was only attracted to her property and her jewels. One day, he coaxed her to put on all her jewellery and led her to a mountain saying that he wanted to make some offerings to the guardian spirit of the mountain because that guardian spirit had saved his life when he was about to be killed. Kundalakesi went along with her husband, but when they reached their destination, the thief revealed that he intended to kill her and take her jewels. She pleaded with him to take her jewels, but to spare her life, but it was of no avail. She then realized that if she did not get rid of her husband, there would be no way of escape for her. She felt she must be cautious and crafty. So she said to her husband that as they would be together only for a few moments more, she wanted to pay respect to him for the last time. So saying, and going round the man respectfully, she pushed him off the crag, taking him unaware.

After this, she had no desire to return home. She left all her jewellery hanging on a tree, and went on her way, without any idea where she was going. She happened to come to a place of some Paribbajikas (female wandering ascetics) and she herself became a Paribbajikas. The Paribbajikas taught her all their one thousand problems in sophistry; being intelligent she mastered all of them within a short time. Then her teachers told her to go out into the world and if she should find somebody who could answer all her questions, to become a pupil to him. Kundalakesi went throughout the length and breadth of Jambudipa, openly challenging everyone else to compete with her. Accordingly, she came to be known as “Jambukaparibbajika.”

On one occasion, she came to Savatthi. Before entering the city for alms-food she made a mound of sand and stuck a branch of eugenia on it, her usual sign of invitation to all others to take up her challenge. Thera Sariputta took up her challenge. Kundalakesi asked him a thousand questions and Thera Sariputta answered them all. When his turn came, he asked her just this, “What is the one? (ekam nama kim).” Kundalakesi could not answer, so she asked Thera Sariputta to teach her the answer to the question. Thera Sariputta replied that she should first become abhikkhuni; so she became a bhikkhuni, by the name of Theri Kundalakesi. Within a few days, she became an arahat.

Soon after this, the bhikkhus asked the Buddha, “Could it be possible for Bhikkhuni Kundalakesi to become an arahat after listening to the Dhamma only a little?” They also added that this lady had fought and won a victory over her husband, who was a thief, before she became a paribbajika.

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 102: Better than the recitation of a hundred verses that are senseless and unconnected with the realization of Nibbana, is the recitation of a single verse of the Teaching (Dhamma), if on hearing it one is calmed.

Verse 103: A man may conquer a million men in battle, but one who conquers himself is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors.

Dhammapada Verses 102 and 103
Kundalakesitheri Vatthu

Yo ca gatha satam bhase
anatthapadasamhita
ekam dhammapadam seyyo
yam sutva upasammati.

Yo sahassam sahassena
sangame manuse jine
ekanca jeyyamattanam
sa ve sangamajuttamo.

Source: Tipitaka

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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.