Dhamma in Brief

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Dhamma in Brief

There are some sutta’s in which people ask for Dhamma in Brief. They get a Dhamma in Brief. It most of the time ends with…'Then that mendicant, living alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute, soon realized the supreme end of the spiritual path in this very life. He lived having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness".

I have summarized those Dhamma in Brief mentioned in the Sutta Pitaka. Maybe you find it interesting to read.

Dhamma in Brief

  • abandon any underlying tendency towards rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.35)

  • attach to nothing otherwise you be a pray for Mara. Do not attach to rupa, vedana, sanna, sankara and vinnana (SN22.63)

  • do not conceive (Bodhi)/identity with (Sujato) rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.64)

  • do not delight or take pleasure in rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.65)

  • abandon longing to anything that is impermanent, i.e. abandon longing towards rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.66)

  • abandon longing to anything that is impermanent, i.e. abandon longing towards the eye, the nose, the tongue, the ear, the body and mind (SN35.76)

  • abandon longing to anything that is suffering, i.e. rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.67)

  • abandon longing to anything that is suffering, i.e. the eye, the nose, the tongue, the ear, the body and mind (SN35.77)

  • abandon longings towards anything that is not-self, i.e. rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana is not-self (SN22.68)

  • abandon longings towards anything that is not-self, i.e. the eye, the nose, the tongue, the ear, the body and mind is not-self (SN35.78)

  • abandon any longing towards what does not belong to self i.e. rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.69)

  • abandon any longing towards what is tantalizing. i.e. rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana (SN22.70)

  • do not welcome, do not keep hold on to, and do not seek enjoyment and delight in what is known by the six senses (SN35.64)

  • keep the precepts, perfect sila, be serious about the slightest faults, and based on that morality develop mindfulness (SN47.46)

  • abandon any mental, verbal and physical misbehavior and develop only good behavior. Based on that good develop mindfulness (SN47.47)

  • as a monk: abandon all four kinds of desires which are connected to a life of a monk: for alms, for garments, for abodes, and this and other lives (AN2.457)

  • nothing is worth attaching to. If you understand this, you understand everything (MN37)

Dhamma in Brief

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Cool topic. There are even a few more

SN 18.1: Salayatanas are impermanent and not mine, me, myself

SN 22.36: similar to SN 22.35

SN 22.159: anicca, dukkha, not mine, me, and myself of khandhas.

SN 23.23-34: give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for the khandhas

SN 35.86/89: anicca, dukkha, not mine, me, and myself of salayatanas

SN 35.88: don’t allow relishing in salayatanas

SN 35.95: no desire or greed or fondness for salayatanas

SN 35.162: give up desire for salayatanas

SN 47.3 and SN 47.15/16: Well purified ethics and correct view lead to satipatthana

AN 3.33: There’ll be no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for this conscious body or for all external stimuli

AN 7.83/ similarly AN 8.53: “certain things do lead solely to disillusionment, dispassion…”

AN 8.63: brahmaviharas

MN 54: basic ethics

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I always stayed clear of the minor discourses because I thought they were less important. That was a big mistake. Snp 4.x and Snp 5.x are the clearest and most direct discussion of the core of the dharma I have ever found. If all of the canon were lost except these two chapters and MN 119’s pericope on mediation instructions , I think future generations would be able to practice the whole of the dharma. They also make a great short introduction for someone new to Buddhism.

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Thanks. Sometimes i feel like this is true for just one text. I find dhammapada also a very good book. Is dhammapada an early or old text within EBT?

It was the first book i read of the Pali Canon. What resonated in me was the sphere of purity of heart. At the same time this sphere is nearby and distant. Strange. As a person in the world, thinking, speaking, acting, longing, it is distant. Almost too. At the same time it is nearby.

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Funny you should mention the dhammapada. That is the next book I will be reading. I believe it is early. Books resonate with different people. There are places in the canon where the Buddha teaches the dharma in a sitting. When I read Snp 4 and 5, I thought this is probably what he taught. Not only do they cover the elements of the Eightfold Path, but they show how it integrates and why. You feel like you understand it as a whole and the motivation behind it.

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