In the Buddhas Words

An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon

Translated and Edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi

MABAs Buddhist Study Group

Notes for Chapter 3: Approaching the Dhamma (June 5th 19th)

Lesson 1 How to understand the Teachings (June 5th)
Text 1 Not a Secret Doctrine [AN 3:129] Key Concept: The Dhamma is open for all to see; nothing is hidden for the sake of being hidden. Text 2 No Dogmas or Blind Belief (the Kalama Sutta) [AN 3:65] Key Concepts: How to discover the truth or falsity of a teaching; what may we rely upon to guide our understanding of the efficacy of a practice? Notes: 1. 10 things not to base our belief upon 2. Know for ourselves: These things are wholesome; these things are unwholesome. 3. Knowing the difference between greed, hatred, delusion; and nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion. 4. Four assurances in life, for one whose mind is free from enmity, ill will, uncorrupted, and pure. Questions for Lesson 1: 1. If nothing is hidden in the Dhamma, why dont we see everything clearly? 2. What is the Buddha trying to get us to understand when we says, Do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by heresay, etc.? 3. What do we use to judge whether an act is wholesome or unwholesome? 4. What is nongreed, nonhatred and nondelusion? 5. What are the four assurances and why do they matter in our practice?

Lesson 2 Investigate suffering. Investigate the Teacher (June 12th)

Text 3 The Visible Origin and Passing Away of Suffering [SN 42:11] Key Concept: The source and root of all suffering is desire and attachment. Notes: 1. The Buddha explains to a householder why suffering arises in him when only certain people in his life encounter extreme hardship. Questions for Text 3: 1. If all of suffering is rooted in desire, does this mean that acting on any desire inevitably leads to suffering? 2. What would our relationships with family and friends look like without this desire and attachment to them present?
MABA Study Group 2011 In the Buddhas Words Chapter III Page 1 of 2

Text 4 Investigate the Teacher Himself [MN 47] Key Concept: The value of asking skillful questions in regard to the Buddha to ascertain the validity of his teaching.. 1. The Buddha encourages anyone who is an inquirer to investigate him and his monks through questions. 2. Investigate if there are defiled/cleansed/mixed states cognizable through the eye or through the ear in the Tathagata. 3. Investigate whether the Tathagata has acquired renown and attained fame, so that the dangers [connected with renown and fame] are found in him or not. Questions for Text 4: 1. Since the Buddha had long since passed into Parinibbana, what can we learn from this text? Can we investigate the Tathagata even today? 2. What would be a defiled state? A cleansed state? Mixed states? 3. What does it mean to be restrained without fear (paragraph 9)? 4. What did the Buddha mean when he says cleansed statesare my pathway and my domain, yet I do not identify with them (paragraph 13)?

Lesson 3 Steps Toward the Realization of Truth (June 19th)

Text 3 Steps Toward the Realization of Truth [from MN 95] Key Concepts: When can we say, I know this, I see this? The sequence of helpful virtues to arrive at Final Truth Notes: 1. The Buddha answers the questions of a young Brahmin scholar about believing ancient and accepted doctrines as if they were the truth. 2. Five things that may turn out either true or false: faith, approval, oral tradition, reasoned cogitation, and acceptance of a view as a result of pondering it. 3. He makes the distinctions between the preservation, discovery, and final arrival at truth Questions for Text 3: 1. When we investigate the teachings and the teacher according to the Buddha, how can we be sure that we are not just imposing our own preferences and views? What should be our standard of investigation? 2. What is the difference between the preservation, discovery, and the final arrival at Truth? 3. Any thoughts or comments on the sequence to final arrival at Truth as described by the Buddha?

MABA Study Group 2011

In the Buddhas Words Chapter III

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