Tag: sensual pleasure

  • Upgrading Your Uposatha Observance: five then eight and beyond

    The Dhamma is internally consistent and truthful. It is amazingly complete and flawless.  It is possible to take almost any aspect of the Dhamma and see relations with most other aspects of the Dhamma. Some people misunderstand precepts and think that more is better. Thus someone practicing ten precepts might be considered more virtuous than…

  • First Jhaana – the Path to Englightenment

    The first sutta extract below is a story told by Lord Buddha about a time when he was a 7 year old prince (a bodhisatta) attending a brahmin style royal ploughing ceremony performed by his father, King Suddhodana. He was left alone briefly while most people were engrossed in the spectacle. Majjhima Nikaya MN36.31 Mahaasaccaka…

  • Middle Way

    The following discourse is addressed to ascetics who have dedicated their lives to the practice leading to liberation. Lord Buddha uses forthright language to encourage monks and nuns to put aside thoughts and behaviours associated with lay lives. Even so, non-ascetics, lay people, even married couples have successfully practiced restraint of the senses for short…

  • Beyond Temptation

    Majjhima Nikaya MN.106. Aane~njasappaya Sutta: The Way to the Imperturbable (อาเนญชสัปปายสูตร) 2. “Bhikkhus, sensual pleasures are impermanent, hollow, false, deceptive; they are illusory, the prattle of fools. Sensual pleasures here and now and sensual pleasures in lives to come, sensual perceptions here and now and sensual perceptions in lives to come–both alike are Maara‘s realm,…

  • Sensual Pleasure

    It is not easy for most people in the world to see the danger in sensual pleasures. Even fewer would believe that there could possibly be pleasures that are non-sensual. So much is the notion of pleasure tied with sensuality in our daily lives. Lord Buddha taught followers that the sensual pleasures are gross compared…

  • Resilience

    Yogis on retreats sometimes note pleasant feelings or painful feelings. Early in the retreat, the yogi may have relatively weak controlling faculties indriya [1. confidence saddha 2. wisdom/discernment panna 3. mindfulness sati 4. concentration samaadhi and 5. energy viriya] and not be very well developed or resilient. The yogi may be distracted by the various…

  • Restraint of the Six Sense Bases

    The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya ; Translated from the Pāli by Bhikkhu BodhiSelected discourses from the Salaayatanasamyutta – Connected Discourses on the Six Sense Bases SN.35.96 (3) Decline Sutta, p.1178 … “And how, bhikkhus, is one subject to decline? Here, bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu has seen a form…

  • Restraint of the Six Sense Bases

    The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya ; Translated from the Pāli by Bhikkhu BodhiSelected discourses from the Salaayatanasamyutta – Connected Discourses on the Six Sense Bases SN.35.96 (3) Decline Sutta, p.1178 … “And how, bhikkhus, is one subject to decline? Here, bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu has seen a form…