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love to memorize sutta passages, should not be compulsory

  Excerpt from Bk. Subhuti's blog on memorizing Dhammapada https://americanmonk.org/memorizing-the-bhikkhuni-patimokkha/ Next on my list to memorize is 32,000 syllables worth of suttas (teachings of The Buddha).   While it sounds difficult, the texts were geared for memorization and there are many repetitions.   We are also memorizing the entire Dhammapada at II T during the next two years with a rate of one verse per day.    Slowly but surely, the task will be fulfilled.   While memorizing texts is not easy, nor is it my favorite thing to do as a monk, it is something that needs to be done.   Generally speaking, I’m quite happy with my monk life and I feel so blessed for this bhikkhu life to the point that if I talk about my gratitude for this life long enough, my voice starts to quiver and tears start to roll.   These tasks are a small debt to pay, and it is all part of the package.   Furthermore, these learning exercises and achievements a...

🔗📝notes on 'samatha'

From DPD samatha 1.1 masc. (+gen) stilling (of); serenity (of); calming (of); settling (of); peace (of); (comm) mental unification [√sam + a + tha] ✓ samatha 1.2 masc. (+gen) (vinaya) settlement (of); deciding (of); appeasement (of); adjudication (of) [√sam + a + tha] ✓ samatha 2.1 nt. (+gen) evenness (of); balance (of); equilibrium (of) [sama + tha] ✓ Common wrong views on samatha ⛔samatha is not equivalent to samādhi! ⛔samādhi is not "stillness"! Stillness is an essential ingredient, but Samādhi is undistractible lucidity, and one can do vipassana while in states of samādhi such as the four jhānas, and first three formless attainments. Samādhi contains both samatha and vipassana within, they operate simultaneously. ✅If you had to find the closest synonym to samatha, it wouldn't be samādhi, it would be  4👑☸  →  STED  →  7sb☀️  →  5🌊  passaddhi-sam-bojjh-aṅgassa    the passaddhi (pacification awakening factor) My preferred translation...