Hi, I’m back online! It all went really well yesterday and I did get ordained, so now I have time for doodeling again!
Thank you, Ayya @Vimala, for posting two of my doodles while I was away!
This is the Thank You card I made for my preceptor, Ayya Gunasari, the abbess of Mahapajapati Monastery:
The Buddha teaching the eight “Important Things” to Ayya Mahapajapati. (AN 8.53)
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Vesālī in the hall with the peaked roof in the Great Wood. Then Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, stood to one side, and said to him: “Bhante, it would be good if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief, so that, having heard the Dhamma from the Blessed One, I might dwell alone, withdrawn, heedful, ardent, and resolute.”
“Gotamī, those things of which you might know: ‘These things lead (1) to dispassion, not to passion; (2) to detachment, not to bondage; (3) to dismantling, not to building up; (4) to fewness of desires, not to strong desires; (5) to contentment, not to non-contentment; (6) to solitude, not to company; (7) to the arousing of energy, not to laziness; (8) to being easy to support, not to being difficult to support,’ you should definitely recognize: ‘This is the Dhamma; this is the discipline; this is the teaching of the Teacher.’”
I think this teaching contains the original eight important things (=garu-dhammas) that the Buddha wanted the nuns to keep. They are actually inspiring and the basis of monastic life, and it makes sense that Ayya Mahapajapati would have joyfully accepted them and vowed to keep them for the rest of her life.
The world is immersed in the sea;
Few can cross over to the [other] shore.
If there is anyone
Wishing to cross, s/he must run fast. Chinese Dharmapada T210.14 verse 13 (Bhante KL Dharmajoti’s translation)
“Bhikkhus, these eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around these eight worldly conditions. What eight? Gain and loss, disrepute and fame, blame and praise, and pleasure and pain. These eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around these eight worldly conditions.”
Thag 1.38
His psychic power made the river Sarabhu stand still;
Gavampati is unbound and unperturbed.
The gods bow to that great sage,
Who has left behind all attachments,
And gone beyond rebirth in any state of existence.
The ethical life is the Way to immortality;
Heedlessness is the Path to death.
Those without craving never die;
To lose the Way is to lose one’s life. Chinese Dharmapada T210.10 verse 1 (Bhante KL Dhammajoti’s translation)
The wise one knows that when one wobbles,
It is like a tree planted in sand.
If amidst friends, one’s mind is not yet firm,
One gets tainted in accordance with their colours. Ch-Dhp T210.14 verse 13; KL Dhammajoti’s translation
Happy Easter, everyone. Here is a Ukranian easter egg I made for my sister Jill. I posted it here because it has a Buddhist symbol drawn on it. Enjoy! I apologize that there are no knives or dripping blood.
There was an heir of the Buddha,
A monk in Bhesakaḷā forest,
Who suffused the entire earth
With the perception of “bones”.
I think he will quickly abandon sensual desire.
