"Real wisdom is recognizing and accepting that every experience is impermanent. With this insight you will not be overwhelmed by ups and downs. And when you are able to maintain an inner balance, you can choose to act in ways that will create happiness for you and for others.
Living each moment happily with an equanimous mind, you will surely progress toward the ultimate goal of liberation from all suffering."
—S.N. Goenka
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Our bookstore/warehouse team has been busy recently. Not only did the annual order from the Vipassana Research Institute (VRI) we mentioned in the previous newsletter arrive, the periodical shipment from the Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) in Sri Lanka found its way to our doorstep too. We received 500 books in six boxes, which meant a fair bit of unpacking, quality checking, sorting, stacking and shelving.
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All this labor-with-love was very much worth its while, as the BPS section looks spick and span. We stocked up 20 different titles, of which some were out of stock for a little while.
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The Mahanidana Sutta, "The Great Discourse on Causation," is the longest and most detailed of the Buddha's discourses dealing with dependent arising (paṭicca samuppāda), a doctrine generally regarded as the key to his entire teaching.
This book contains a translation of the Mahanidana Sutta together with all the doctrinally important passages from its authorized commentary and sub-commentary. A long introductory essay discusses the rich philosophical implications of the sutta; an appendix explains the treatment of dependent arising according to the Abhidhamma system of conditional relations.
The All-Embracing Net of Views (The Brahmajala Sutta), one of the Buddha's most important and profound discourses, weaves a net of sixty-two cases capturing all the speculative views on the self and the world. This book contains an accurate and readable translation of this discourse, as well as of its commentary and sub-commentary, allowing for a close in-depth study of the work. It also contains translations of three commentarial treatises that throw valuable sidelights on rarely known aspects of Theravada Buddhism.
The Buddha traces the entire progress of a disciple from the first step on the path to the attainment of Nibbana in this second sutta of the Sutta Pitaka, one of the most elevating of the Buddha's discourses. On a full-moon night in Autumn, in reply to a question asked by King Ajatasattu of Magadha, the Buddha expounds the visible fruits of the Buddhist monk's life, sketching the progress of the disciple.
"...the Samaññaphala Sutta sounds a triumphant and lyrical proclamation of the fruitfulness of the course of spiritual training founded upon right view. It is the Buddha's announcement to the world that the life of renunciation he adopted for himself and opened up to humanity by founding the sangha brings immediately visible benefits in each of its stages. It is 'good in the beginning' through the bliss of blamelessness that comes with the purification of conduct; 'good in the middle' in yielding an exalted joy and bliss through the seclusion of the mind from the sensual hindrances; and 'good in the end' because it culminates in the highest wisdom and peace by transcending all mundane bonds." (From the translator's Preface).
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Pāli, the Language of the Tipitaka
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Pāli is the language in which the Buddha’s teachings were written down in the Tipiṭaka (Pāli Canon). As Pariyatti's aim is to provide greater access to the words of the Buddha, and knowledge of Pāli will enable a deeper understanding of those words, we support Pāli students in different ways. We facilitate several residential workshops each year, have an online learning center with different Pāli courses on offer, and distribute the Tipiṭaka, non-canonical texts and Pāli study books.
The Pāli Word a Day email service and mobile app are great playful tools to help you improve your understanding of Pāli.
The origins of the post-canonical texts
The Tipitaka (Pāli canon) assumed its final form at the Third Buddhist Council (ca. 250 BCE) and was first committed to writing sometime in the 1st c. BCE. Shortly thereafter Buddhist scholar-monks in Sri Lanka and southern India began to amass a body of secondary literature: commentaries on the Tipitaka itself, historical chronicles, textbooks, Pāli grammars, articles by learned scholars of the past, and so on. Most of these texts were written in Sinhala, the language of Sri Lanka, but because Pāli — not Sinhala — was the lingua franca of Theravada, few Buddhist scholars outside Sri Lanka could study them. It wasn't until the 5th c. CE, when the Indian monk Buddhaghosa began the laborious task of collating the ancient Sinhala commentaries and translating them into Pāli, that these books first became accessible to non-Sinhala speakers around the Buddhist world. These commentaries (Atthakatha) offer meticulously detailed explanations and analyses — phrase-by-phrase and word-by-word — of the corresponding passages in the Tipitaka.
After Buddhaghosa the catalog of post-canonical Pāli literature continued to grow with the addition of commentaries by both Buddhadatta (5th c.) and Dhammapala (6th c.), and sub-commentaries (Tika) by Dhammapala on several of Buddhaghosa's Atthakathas. During this time, and in the centuries that followed, other writers prepared Pāli translations of additional early Sinhala texts. These ranged from poetic hymns in celebration of the Buddha, to chronicles tracing the first millennium of Buddhist history, to detailed Abhidhamma textbooks. Most of the major post-canonical works, including the sub-commentaries, were completed by the 12th c.
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We recently added a free downloadable Pāli-English dictionary from the Pāli Text Society (PTS) in PDF format to our catalog.
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Residential Pāli Workshops
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Introductory (Calif., USA): March 14 - 27 (Klaus Nothnagel) - Waitlist
Introductory (Malaysia): March 23 - 31 (Adriana Patiño)
Introductory (Calif., USA): September 21 - October 1 (Sean Salkin)
Intermediate (Calif., USA): October 1 - 5 (Sean Salkin)
Introductory (Poland): November 19 - December 1 (Klaus Nothnagel)
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Long expected and finally uploaded on the Website – lesson 3.7.8 of the online Pāli course ‘Exploring the Path'. "Nīvaraṇapabbaṃ – Mastering the Hindrances" presents a selection from the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta, and details how to overcome the hindrances mentioned in that sutta. S.N. Goenka calls the pañca nīvaraṇāni –(kāmacchando, byāpādo, thīnamiddha, uddhaccakukkucca vicikicchā)– enemies that have to be mastered.
While the previous lesson 3.7.3, "Saṃvarasuttaṃ”, emphasizes under pahānappadhānaṃ the importance of warding off negative impacts on the mind and rejecting mental waves of greed, ill-will and violence, the present text is a step-by-step training to shun these unwelcome visitors.
Even though the vocabulary and text present a somewhat ‘easy’ task for a Pāli learner, mastering the nīvaraṇāni is the real challenge.
A lengthy and detailed investigation, with references to different sources and explanations from the aṭṭhakathā, is given here in the hope to guide not only the reader, but especially inspire the meditator to face the undertaking at hand.
The introduction of lesson 3.7.8 refers to what is to be understood as specific characteristics of each of these nīvaraṇāni, their nutriment described as careless, improper attention –ayonisomanasikārabahulīkāro– directed towards the respective objects of each of these hindrances that sustains, maintains and fosters them and which has to be disregarded.
To provide inspiration for one’s struggle against the hindrances, the introduction also points to supportive factors that help in the battle.
A big 'thank you' to the volunteer who produced this wonderful learning tool!
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Did you know that apart from Monday to Friday, the Pariyatti bookstore in Onalaska is also open on the Sundays a course ends at Dhamma Kuñja (from 7:30 - 11 am)? We have updated the dates on Google, so if you are in the area and want to drop in on a Sunday, Google Maps will show you if we are open. You can also call to check, on +1360.978.4998.
867 Larmon Rd. Onalaska, WA 98570, USA
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Along the Path
(North India & Nepal)
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February 28 - March 21 (Only a few seats left!)
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September 30 - October 21 /
2019年9月30日至10月21日 (Chinese)
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October 31 - November 21 (ENG-GER)
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Pariyatti Pilgrims meditate at the remains of the Mula Ganda Kuti, Buddha's hut in Jetavana,
the monastery donated to the Buddha by Anāthapindika. Jetavana is one of the locations visited (and meditated at) during the Along the Path pilgrimage. Read the Anātapindika story as told
from the Vipassana Newsletter, or in the pilgrimage guide Along the Path.
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Donations: Either one-time or monthly pledge
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Pariyatti is a charitable, non-profit, educational support system for the Dhamma community. Pariyatti exists because of funds donated by supporters.
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FACT: Did you know Pariyatti has the largest selection of English-language books related to Theravada Buddhism in the West?
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Pāli Word
attaññū — one who knows oneself
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