notes on the Dhamma

We're going to build on this important previous lesson: important pali vocabulary word: karoti (do, did, d... *Pari-k-kharoti [ pariṣ+ kṛ ; ] lit. to do all round, i. e. to make up, equip, adorn (cp. parikaroti ); pp. parikkhata 2 (q. v.); see also parikkhāra .   First of all, kamma (action), karoti (do), san-khara (co-activities, fabrications, volitional formations) are all very closely related words, which all basically mean 'do', or 'make'.  So this new word,  pari-k-khāra,  looks scary at first actually is composed of parts you already know.  'pari' = all around khāra = do, make.  So 'equipment' is something you use to 'make' 'all around'. Makes sense right? This passage is going to use  pari-k-khāra  in noun and adjective form. The 'su' prefix as you recall means something along the lines of 'good'.  so su-parikkhatam = 'well equipped'.  nagara = fortress,  nagara- parikkhārehi = fortress requisites/equi

I've surely spent more than 10 hours alone on just rearranging the sutta text, expanding it into a complete form (filling in all peyyaala elisions) and massaging the pali to make it readable and easy to see the root and key words in the many compound words obscured by sandhi. Yesterday I recorded it as a pali chant, 25 min. Slower than normal conversational speed, but faster than how most people chant. Here are the links to the sutta text and audio. Be sure to check out the partitioned version, to directly jump to interesting sections directly (corresponding to the sutta text table of contents) AN 7.67 - 🔗🔊 🏰 study and memorize the key ideas. This is one of the best suttas in the EBT to help you understand exactly how each of the path factors in 8aam, 7sb, 37bp, interact with each other, what duties they share and overlap. Main point of fun pali lessons for the next few days Building on the simple concepts we've learned so far, you'll be able to recognize many words in

audio pali chanting here: 🔗🔊 Chap-pāṇak-opama: 6 animals simile   SN 35.247  sutta text Pali word for 'simile' is 'upama' Let's start with the sutta title: upama : (in cpds.) like; similar; having the qualities of. () Upama (adj.) [ compar. -- superl. formation fr. upa , cp. Lat. summus fr. *(s)ub -- mo ] "coming quite or nearly up to" i. e. like, similar, equal D i. 239 ( andha -- veṇ˚); M i. 432 (taruṇ˚ a young looking fellow); A iv. 11 udak˚ puggala a man like water); Pv i. 1 1 (khett˚ like a well cultivated field; = sadisa PvA 7); PvA 2, 8 etc. -- Note. ūpama metri causa see ū˚ and cp. opamma & upamā .;  But because of sandhi rules,  recall recent lesson pali what-cha-ma-callit (sandhi rules): You might see 'upama' in compound words as opama or opamma. Cha-p-pāṇak-opama =  6 animal similes You probably also recognize "pāṇa" from breath meditation 'ana-pana-sati&

One of the ways to get to know the sutta really well,   is regularly recite it in different ways. Slowly, conversational speed, fast,  with chanting (musicality elements to aid in memorization), in flat conversational monotone, forwards, backwards, by random access (for example in AN 10.48 has a list of 10 dharmas, pick a random number between one and ten, and recite just that item of the sutta). AN 10.48 Ten ☸Dharmas, pali chanting : I have a version "an10-48x" excerpt which is heavily elided, and combined with AN 5.57, into an efficient 1 minute chant that contains the essentials of both of those suttas. Also while chanting be able to fill in elisions, or add elisions on the fly. The big advantage of doing solo chanting, is you're not forced to keep pace with a group that's going too fast or too slow. You can add pauses wherever you want to chew on a point that needs more time to digest, or just because you enjoy savoring certain phrases: example: "Khina jati..

The subject of this sutta, AN 6.20 is marana (death) sati (remembering) AN 6.20 AN 6.20 dutiya-maraṇas-sati-suttaṃ second-death-remembering-discourse (death by animals) (death by illness) (right remembering checks if right effort needs to use force) (simile of head on fire) (the default way to generate pīti, pamojja, in 7sb) (repeat: death by animals for night to day shift) (repeat: death by illness) (repeat: right remembering checks if right effort needs to use force) (repeat: simile of head on fire) (repeat: the default way to generate pīti, pamojja, in 7sb) (conclusion) Misc. In the sutta opening, the Buddha makes a pun, or a humorous play on the relationship between proper remembrance of death (death can come by many ways unexpectedly, so treat every moment of practice like your head is on fire, with urgency), and that doing the practice of marana-sati well results in a-mata (the deathless state, a synonym for nirvana). maraṇas-sati kathaṃ bahulī-katā {how is} death-remembering ***

I'm going to be posting daily short little pali mini lessons just about every day, for another month or so before taking a break.  Rather than announce daily posts on internet discussion forums, like I've been doing, those of you are are interested can check the blog daily, or subscribe by email or RSS. Info on how to do that here: contact info, response to blog comments, subscribe Also,  r/EarlyBuddhismTexts  is the more appropriate place to discuss questions and comments on the pali passages for the mini lessons, rather than  r/EarlyBuddhismMeditati  that I've been using (because the request for the pali advice came from there originally).

In the pali suttas, you frequently see this abbreviation, "pe...". Example from AN 5.28: “Katamā ca, bhikkhave, ariyassa pañc-aṅgikassa sammā-samādhissa bhāvanā? what **, ********, (is the) noble five-factored right-concentration development? idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi ... pe ... paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati. (… STED 1st Jhāna formula he enters in … ) pe = peyyāla In practical terms, it means text has been elided, and should be replaced with well known formula, or a repetitive phrase (or large block of text) used in the previous section. peyyāla   c peyyāla : an indication to show that a passage has been omitted. (nt.) Peyyāla (nt.?) [ a Māgadhism for pariyāya , so Kern, Toev. s. v. after Trenckner, cp. BSk. piyāla and peyāla MVastu iii. 202, 219 ] repetition, succession, formula way of saying, phrase (= pariyāya 5) Vism 46 (˚ mukha beginning of discourse), 351 (id

Example: manasi karoti (literally a mind doing, usually translated as "paying attention") ( SN 46.2   example "un-wise mind doing":  1. 💑 Kāma-c-chanda ← subha-nimittaṃ) Ko ca, bhikkhave, “{And} what, monks, [is the] āhāro an-uppannassa vā nutriment (for) un-arisen kāma-c-chandassa uppādāya, sensual-desire's arising, uppannassa vā kāma-c-chandassa (and) arisen sensual-desire's bhiyyo-bhāvāya vepullāya? growth,-development (and) abundance? Atthi, bhikkhave, There-is, monks, subha-nimittaṃ. (the) beautful-sign. Tattha a-yoniso-manasi-kāra -bahulī- kāro — (To) that-there, un-wise-mental-production -frequently- done , ayam-āhāro an-uppannassa vā is-the-nutriment (for) un-arisen kāma-c-chandassa uppādāya, sensual-desire's arising, uppannassa vā kāma-c-chandassa (and) arisen sensual-desire's bhiyyo-bhāvāya vepullāya. growth,-development (and) abundance. Declaration of arahantship (katam karaniyam are 2 conjugated forms of 'karoti'/does) karoti = p

An excerpt from AN 8.1 will be shown, and the bolded and highlighted items will be things you should know from previous lessons. AN 8.1 The Benefits of friendly-kindness   AN 8.1  -  🔗🔊   1. Mettā-sutta 1. friendly-kindness-discourse Evaṃ me sutaṃ— Thus I heard. ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṃ viharati One time the-blessed-one {was staying near} Sāvatthī, Jeta-vane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. (in) Jeta’s-Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: There the-blessed-one addressed the monks: “bhikkhavo”ti. “Monks!” “Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṃ. “Venerable sir,” they replied. Bhagavā etada voca : The-blessed-one said  this: avoca : he said. (1st. sing. (aor. of vac.)) “Mettāya, bhikkhave, ceto-vimuttiyā “Friendly-kindness ********* (from the) mind's-liberation, āsevitāya bhāvitāya bahulī-katāya cultivated, developed, abundantly-done, yānī-katāya {made-a}-vehicle vatthu-katāya {made-a}-basis, anu-ṭ-ṭhitāya kept-up, paricitāya consolidated, su -

My question is based on the differences between "or" and "nor". As I understand it, "nor" means all of those clauses have to be met to satisfy the conditions, whereas "or" only needs to satisfy one of the conditions. The verse in question, with pali + english (my translation, derived from B. Sujato's, not grammatically exact so I can have corresponding word for word close to fluent translation). Yo na hanti na ghāteti, (If) you don’t kill nor encourage-others-to-kill, na jināti na jāpaye; don’t conquer nor encourage-others-to-conquer, Mettaṃso sabba-bhūtānaṃ, (with) friendly-kindness (for) all-sentient-beings, veraṃ tassa na kenacī”ti. enmity ***** (you have for) no one.” B. Bodhi and B. Sujato use "or" instead of "nor" From the verse section near the end: (b.bodhi) One who does not kill or enjoin killing, who does not conquer or enjoin conquest, one who has loving-kindness toward all beings 1620 harbors no enmity toward a

Sandhi is a necessary evil that unfortunately makes it harder for pali novices break down compound words into their originals.  Example of a sandhi in English: "what you might call that"  = "whatchamacallit." (slang).  "forget about it." = "fuggitaboutit."  1. Example of a sandhi in Pali:  bodhi (awakening) + anga (factor) = bojjhanga. You might recognize 'anga' (factor) already from other words in your vocabulary. Such as aryio atth-ang-iko magga = noble eight-factored path. Bodhi is just a conjugated form of Buddha, which everyone knows is an awakenend/enlightened being. So what looks like some alien new word, "bojjhanga", because of the sandhi rules, is actually made of words you probably already know.  Bodhi 1 (f.) [ fr. budh , cp. Vedic bodhin -- manas having an attentive mind; RV v. 75, 5; viii. 82, 18 ] (supreme knowledge, enlightenment, the knowledge possessed by a Buddha (see also sambodhi & sammā -- sambodhi ) M