Modern Buddhist Masters: (Living Buddhist Masters)This reprint of Living Buddhist Masters is one of the most valuable books in print on Theravada Buddhist practice, bringing to the reader the precise instructions of twelve great meditation masters, including Mahasi Sayadaw, Achaan Chah and U Ba Khin. With lucid introductory chapters and photos. |
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Common terms and phrases
Abhidhamma absorption Ajahn Buddhadasa Ajahn Chah anicca ANSWER arising and passing arising and perishing arising and vanishing attachment attain attention awareness Ba Khin basic Bhikkhu bodily body and mind breathing Buddha Buddhist calm clearly clinging concentration consciousness contemplation continue craving defilements delusion dependent origination desire development of insight Dhamma disciples effort elements enlightenment existence experience feeling five aggregates Four Noble Truths happiness heart impermanence insight meditation insight practice intensive kamma knowledge lead let go liberation loving kindness mental note method mind and matter mind becomes Mogok moment-to-moment monasteries monks movement ness nibbána noble eightfold path noticing object occur one’s oneself pain path peace perceive physical position posture QUESTION realize rebirth rising and falling samatha samsāra Sayadaw sense simply sitting stage suffering Sunlun Sayádaw teacher teaching Thailand Theravada things thought three characteristics tion touch true nature understanding unpleasant sensation walking watch wisdom yogi
Popular passages
Page 323 - Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Page 42 - Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.
Page 250 - As a fish taken from his watery home and thrown on the dry ground, our thought trembles all over in order to escape the dominion of Mara, the tempter.
Page 194 - The only way that leads to the attainment of purity, to the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, to the end of pain and grief, to the entering upon the right path and the realisation of Nibbana, is the Four Fundamentals of Attentiveness.
Page 56 - This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely the four Foundations of Mindfulness.
Page 39 - The Dhamma of the Buddha is not found in books. If you want to really see for yourself what the Buddha was talking about you don't need to bother with books. Watch your own mind. Examine to see how feelings come and go, how thoughts come and go. Don't be attached to anything, just be mindful of whatever there is to see. This is the way to the truths of the Buddha. Be natural. Everything you do in your life here is a chance to practice. It is all Dhamma. When you do your chores try to be mindful....
Page 194 - In this very one-fathom-long body, along with its perceptions and thoughts, do I proclaim the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.
Page 324 - ... whole experience and where we must pay attention to develop insight. They are: (1) the body and material elements, (2) feelings — pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, (3) consciousness, and (4) all mental factors, all objects of mind, such as thoughts, emotions, greed, and love. Four Noble Truths. The most basic teaching of the Buddha: (1) the truth of suffering, (2) the truth of the cause of suffering — clinging and desire, (3) the truth of the end of suffering, and (4) the path to the end...
Page 96 - ... the sphere of conventional truth, as they are conceived by us, but not reality itself. Only the fourth method where the sense of touch alone is taken in its bareness, involves Vipassand. Yet even this practice can go astray if one handles touch or sensation with the gloves of concepts and ideas. If instead of being aware of the touch in its bare actuality, if instead of guarding this awareness with mindfulness the yogi makes a mental note of it, that...
Page 109 - ... inhalation and exhalation are balanced at a high level, the fatigue will disappear". "Sunlun Sayadaw requires direct, immediate contact with reality. The time and effort required first to build a conceptual bridge to approach reality cannot be afforded. Confronted with the elephant of one's search, one does not follow the footprints backwards, and then retrace them again to the elephant. When there arises an ache, one has immediately to catch hold of the fact of the ache; one must not formulate...