Kindle Notes & Highlights
A simple explanation of Dhamma is “the secret of nature that must be understood in order to develop life for the highest possible benefit.”
Nature, in this context, means something that exists within itself, by itself, of itself, and as its own law.
The Dhamma of life has four aspects: 1. nature itself; 2. the law of nature; 3. the duties that must be performed according to that law of nature; and 4. the fruits or benefits that arise from the performance of that duty.
If one’s duties are performed correctly, the result will be well-being, tranquility, and ease.
Dhamma and “the secret of life” so we might take full advantage of them.
“developing life.”
dukkha, we can tentatively translate it as “stress, unsatisfactoriness, conflict, agitation—all the things that disturb life.” Dukkha is what we are running from all the time. Dukkha interferes with a life of calm and ease
There are four aspects of developing life. The first is to prevent from arising that which is dangerous to life. The second is to eliminate and destroy that which is dangerous that has already arisen in life. The third is to produce that which is useful and beneficial for life. The fourth is to maintain and preserve such beneficial elements so that they grow further. Again, these four aspects of developing life are: preventing new dangers, eliminating old dangers, creating beneficial elements, and maintaining and increasing the beneficial elements. These comprise what is called “developing
...more
These four Dhamma tools are sati (mindfulness or reflective awareness),
sampajañña (wisdom-in-action or ready comprehension),
paññā (wisdom or spiritual...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
samādhi (concentration, mental collectedness,...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
all known techniques, the best is ānāpānasati-bhāvanā, the cultivation of mindfulness with breathing.
The correct and complete practice of ānāpānasati-bhāvanā is to take one truth or reality of nature and then observe, investigate, and scrutinize it in the mind with every inhalation and every exhalation.
To know the truth of something, we must take that reality and contemplate, analyze, and study it wholeheartedly every time we breathe in and out.
the meaning of ānāpānasati is quite broad: “to recall anything at all with sati while breathing in and breathing out.”
we must acquire the four Dhamma tools mentioned earlier. This kind of ānāpānasati is the most useful.
There are four proper objects of contemplation: the secrets of kāya (body),
the secrets of vedanā (feeling),
the secrets of citt...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
the secrets of...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
kāya, vedanā, citta, and Dhamma.
body, feeling, mind, and Dhamma.
We will study the establishment of the flesh-body and its relationship to the breath-body.
directly, we can master it indirectly by using the breath. If we act in a certain way toward the breath-body, there will also be a specific effect upon the flesh-body. This is why we take the breath as the object of our training. Supervising the breath, to whatever degree, is equivalent to regulating the flesh-body to that same degree.
We should observe the influence of the different breaths upon the flesh-body. We need to see clearly the great effect that the breath has on the physical body. We observe both sides of this relationship until it becomes clear that the two, the flesh-body and the breath-body, are interconnected and inseparable. See that the breath-body conditions and affects the flesh-body.
through calming the breath-body and the flesh-body we can experience happiness, joy, and other benefits.
To master the vedanā is to master the origin, the source, the birthplace of all things.
First, we must learn to know the vedanā themselves, those things that cause feeling in the mind.
Second, we should understand how the vedanā condition the citta, the mind-heart. The vedanā stir up thoughts, memories, words, and actions. We need to know this conditioning of the mind.
Third, we must discover that we can master the mind by mastering the vedanā, just as we can control the flesh...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
We do this by regulating those elements that condition the feelings, which is equivalent to regulating the feelings themselves. These are the three important points to understand about the secrets of the vedanā.
In the stage regarding the body, we learn what conditions the flesh-body and we study it. We analyze that body-conditioner until we know it in great detail and how it conditions the body. Then, by regulating the body-conditioner, we master the body. In this way we make the body calmer and more peaceful.
Likewise, that which conditions the mind is feeling. We calm the mind by controlling the vedanā so that they do not condition or stir up the mind; or if they do condition the mind, it is in a desirable way.
First, we practice to know the secrets of the kāya.
Second, we practice to know the secrets of the vedanā.
Then, after fully mastering the first and second stages, we practice in order to know...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
true nature (dhamma-jāti) of the mind.
make the mind glad and content; we can make it stop and be still. Lastly, we can make the mind let go of its attachments. As the mind lets go of things to which it is attached, things that are attached to the mind let go as well.
We let go of it all. As we do this, we become expert and well versed in matters of the mind.
Aniccaā: know that all conditioned things are impermanent and in endless flux.
Dukkhaā: know that all concocted things are inherently unable to satisfy our desires.
Anattā: know that all things are not-self.
Suññatā: know that everything is void of selfhood, of “I” and “mine.”
Tathatā: know the thusness, the suchness, of all things.
that all truth—aniccaā, dukkhaā, anattā, suññatā—ends up with tathatā.
the ultimate truth of everything in the universe comes down to nothing but thusness.
The truth to be known in stage four is the secret of nature that says all things are “only thus, just so.”
To learn the secret of Dhamma is to know that we should be attached to nothing whatsoever, and then never again to become attached to anything. All is liberated. The case is closed. We are finished.
Buddhism, emancipation means to be free from every type and form of attachment, so that we may live our lives above the world.
