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pali lesson: 4 meditations, 10 words that must be memorized, audio of passage reading


4 meditations = a-subha 🧟, ‍ 1.🤝🤗 metta, 16🌬️😤 breath meditation, a-nicca sañña.

You should memorize and recite at least this part of the passage (approximately 10 words) by heart.
At least once a day.
It only takes 🔊 20 seconds:
Or the full passage, about  🔊 40 seconds. The extra 20 seconds explains how anicca sanna leads to nirvana.  

These are 4 of the most important Dharma weapons in your arsenal, and if you don't familiarize yourself intimately with what they are, why and how to use them, you can easily waste a lot of time hacking in a wilderness without clear purpose.  


1) asubha 🧟 → remove lust and passion

a-subhā bhāvetabbā
Non-beautiful [foulness perceptions] (he) should-develop,
rāgassa pahānāya,
(for) [lustful] passion's removal,

2) metta ☮️ → remove ill will

mettā bhāvetabbā
Friendly-kindness (he) should-develop,
byāpādassa pahānāya,
(for) ill-will's removal,

3) 16 APS 🌬️😤 → remove vitakka/thinking

ānā-pānas-sati bhāvetabbā
Inhale-exhale-remembering (he) should-develop,
vitakk-upacchedāya,
(for) [distractive] thinking's-cutting-off,

4) a-nicca-sañña ⌛💭 → uproot pride, conceit, self

a-nicca-saññā bhāvetabbā
im-permanence-perception (he) should-develop,
asmi-māna-samug-ghātāya.
(for) pride-(and)-conceit's-uprooting.



Pali lesson notes


Notes on a few of the Vocabulary words:
subha = beautiful, most frequently in the sense of 5 cords of sensuality, attractive stimuli.
a-subha = non-beautiful - two pali words for the price of one! Usually  31 body parts practice is implied.
nicca = permanent
a-nicca = im-permanent - two pali words for the price of one!

pahānāya: abandon: You see the same word used in right effort, and right samadhi (4th jhana)
byāpādassa : ill-will: you see negated form of this word in right resolve (abyapada sankappo). abaypada is a 'slurp' word that can mean any of the four brahma viharas. 


Special focus on this important word

bhāvetabbā


bhāveti: (verb) increases; cultivates; develops. (bhū+ e)
bhāvanā: increase; development by means of thought; meditation. (f.)
bhāvetabba: should be cultivated. (pt.p. of bhāveti)

Whenever you see the suffix "tabba", it's usually an imperative version of the verb that means "you should do this". 


This is why it's important to understand the difference between Long and short vowels, syllables

Here's a very similar word. If you're sloppy in pronunciation between long and short, 
it's a different word with different meaning.

bhavati: becomes; to be; exists. (bhu + a)
bhavana: becoming; a dwelling place. (nt.)






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