Dhamma doodles 😁

:rofl: :rofl:
It’s great when people share their perceptions of the doodles on the thread. Everyone sees different things in them. :smiley:
I didn’t think of an afro when I made it. It was supposed to be a black cloud of delusion. Kind of the counterpart to the yellow aura of the arahants. :blush:

10 Likes

Um… :blush:… yes, sorry, Ven. Yodha, I was being naughty. The real idea was, in fact, quite clear… what can I say, my afro took over when seeing the opportunity to be silly. :grin:

10 Likes

Hihi :blush:
That’s what this thread is for.


Need to be loved

18 Likes

A few months ago, someone asked me to make a doodle of the noble eightfold path that they can tattoo on their neck. :grin::grin: In the end, that never happened, so I thought I’d share the doodle here:

Noble Eightfold Path

15 Likes

I just love that! :heart_eyes: One of my most favourite doodles to date. I won’t be tattooing it on my neck either though! :grin:

6 Likes

Something to lean on

13 Likes

Melting away the defilements

16 Likes

Love it. I wonder if just a smile in the mirror on the non-I side might reflect the positives of the being free of the views of separate self?

1 Like

Let me go!!


Ven @Vimala commented that this doodle reminded them of an Ajahn Brahm story about being in prison and trying to dig a tunnel to get out, but other people keep you busy with decorating their cells.
I’ve never heard this story (:open_mouth: surprising, considering how many times they are usually repeated … :blush:). Does anyone know where to find it?

15 Likes

Three companions is a rabble

A monk alone is like Brahmā;
A pair of monks are like devas;
Three are like a village;
And more than that is a rabble.”
Thag 3.9

18 Likes

The fascination of suffering

All the suffering that arises is rooted and sourced in desire. For desire is the root of suffering.
SN 42.11

15 Likes

…hmmm…I don’t remember hearing that version…but then I’ve noticed Ajahn tends to be quite responsive to his audience, perhaps he changes it up!

The story I’ve heard is the one where a prison is used as a similie for samsara and we go around trying to make it happy; visiting each other’s cells and decorating our own cells and having counselling sessions (okay, I added that, I don’t think Ajahn said that…actually, maybe he did…I can’t remember anymore!!!) for each other to make prison a more meaningful and beautiful experience… etc. etc…

Only, somebody (the Buddha) found a key, opened a gate and left. And he left the gate open. We can get out whenever we want to, but most of us don’t even know that we’re in jail, let alone that there’s a way out.

That’s, in a nutshell, the tale I remember. But you may be referring to another one. Perhaps what you’re referring to is here:

14 Likes

Thanks for sharing, I’ll listen to the talk this afternoon! :heart:

3 Likes

Stream of consciousness

18 Likes

That’s funny that you chose this particular simile because it’s the same one I used just the other day to explain consciousness to my significant other!

6 Likes

This is such a cool way of representing the stream: individual dominoes that are discrete, yet still relate to each other. When my mind gets fractious it wants to engage in some pattern matching and rearrange the dominoes; but what’s the point? They are receding into the infinite past and the only one I can see clearly is the present one. Thank you :pray:.

9 Likes

Stitching the “self” together


After I made this doodle, I remembered the sutta about the seamstress, Snp 5.3. It kind of fits the doodle, so I share it here:

“He who is chaste in regard to sense pleasures, Metteyya,” said the Gracious One,
“free from craving, always mindful,
having discernment the monk is emancipated, for him there is no turmoil.

“He is the wise man, who has known both ends, and is undefiled in the middle.
He, I say, is a Great Man, he has gone beyond the seamstress here.”

The meaning is quite cryptic, so there is a discussion among the monastics about this verse, and an explanation by the Buddha at AN 6.61. Enjoy! :grin:

13 Likes

Addict

14 Likes

:pray: Please show us a ‘non-addict’. :pray:

4 Likes

I thought I already have. :wink:

How about the Arahant

or Emptiness.

7 Likes