Part 2
Commentary:
The Hinyana Vehicle of Buddhism did not “monopolize” the Pali language. When the teachings were first being written down, they were recording the vernacular, which was Pali. Pali is a pankrit of Sanskrit, a dialect, if you will and they are related to each other in the Indo/Aryan language tree.
*Tri Pitaka: The most important of all Buddhist scriptures is the TRI-PITAKA which is in Pali text. It is supposed to be the earliest recorded Buddhist literature which was written in the 1st Century B.C.
Commentary:
The Pali canon is called the Tipitaka, which means the Three Baskets and is divided into the Sutta Pitaka, which consists of over 10,000 teachings and discourse given by the Buddha; the Vinya Pitaka, which consists of the rules and regulations for the monastics and the Abidharma Pitaka wherein the philosophical basis for the Buddhas teachings are discussed.
* Sanskrit Literature:*
Sanskrit literature was preferred by the Mahayana. Sanskrit literature has not been reduced to a collection or in Cannon like the Pali literature. Thus much of the original Sanskrit literature has been lost. Some were translated into other languages like Chinese and are now being re-translated into Sanskrit.*
Commentary:
The Sanskrit version of the Tipitaka are found in Tibet and China. The main, though not only, difference between the Pali and Sanskrit canons are the modification of some of the Vinya rules, the inclusion of the laiety and the addition of commentaries. The Tibetan Canon is unique in Buddhism in that it contains the complete Pali canon and all of the Mahayana commentaries that are included in the Mahayana canon as found in China.
* TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA:*
A. Noble Truths: *
The principal teachings of Gautama Buddha can be summarised in what the Buddhists call the "Four Noble Truths":
First - There is suffering and misery in life .
Second - The cause of this suffering and misery is desire.
Third - Suffering and misery can be removed by removing desire.
Fourth - Desire can be removed by following the Eight Fold Path.
Commentary:
The author has mistranslated the word “dukkha” for the First Noble Truth and thus has come to an erroneous conclusion regarding the First Noble Truth.
The First Noble Truth is described thusly:
Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth of dukkha: Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, & despair are dukkha; association with the unbeloved is dukkha; separation from the loved is dukkha; not getting what is wanted is dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dukkha."
To use the word “suffering” to describe dukkha is rather like describing the earth as a ball. Whilst true enough, in a very limited, sense, it really isn’t a complete description of the earth.
Meditation brings Wisdom, lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back.
~Buddha Shakyamuni
*******************************
I have gained this from philosophy:
That i do, without being commanded, what others do only through fear of Law.
~Aristotle
Bookmarks