SuttaCentral
This comment…
over in the Why we stop reading thread made me think perhaps we could all use some encouragement to read this part of the canon. For those unfamiliar, here is a reminder of the main texts of that collection…
Lots of folks here wouldn’t include the Vv and Pv in the EBT category, but for the purposes of this thread, why not?
Tell us about your favorites from this collection and or make a case why folks should pay more attention to this often overlooked treasure of the canon.
Iti 92 Saṅghāṭikaṇṇasutta is one that always goes straight to my heart…
“Mendicants, suppose a mendicant were to hold the corner of my cloak and follow behind me step by step. Yet they covet sensual pleasures; they’re infatuated, full of ill will and malicious intent. They are unmindful, lacking situational awareness and immersion, with straying minds and undisciplined faculties. Then they are far from me, and I from them. Why is that? Because that mendicant does not see the teaching. Not seeing the teaching, they do not see me.
Suppose a mendicant were to live a hundred leagues away. Yet they do not covet sensual pleasures; they’re not infatuated, or full of ill will and malicious intent. They have established mindfulness, situational awareness and immersion, with unified mind and restrained faculties. Then they are close to me, and I to them. Why is that? Because that mendicant sees the teaching. Seeing the teaching, they see me.”
There is a bit more to the whole sutta.
I think the frank, intimate female voice of Therīgāthā is criminally underappreciated. In an entire world full of male voices, Buddhist Canon truly has a unique place for hosting such a collection.
Either the dry-humor of Thig 1.11 like:
I’m well freed, so very well freed,
freed from the three things that humped me:
the mortar, the pestle,
and my humpbacked husband.
I’m freed from birth and death;
the leash to existence is eradicated.
Or the gentle descriptions and similes like in Thig 1.1:
Sleep softly, little nun,
wrapped in the cloth you sewed yourself;
for your desire has been quelled,
like vegetables boiled dry in a pot.
I find the a lot of the Khuddaka Nikaya really inspiring to intersperse between meditation sessions. I will sit for a period of time and then read a sutta or a few dhammapada verse and then return to meditation. Both enhance each other.
This is probably a better known verse, but the fish in too little water is just such a striking image.
From Snp4.15
Peril stems from those who take up arms—
just look how people conflict!
I shall extol how I came to be
stirred with a sense of urgency.I saw this population flounder,
like a fish in a little puddle.
Seeing them at odds with each other,
fear came upon me.The world around was volatile,
all directions were in turmoil.
Wanting a home for myself,
I saw nowhere unsettled.
The Benefits of Love
Mettasutta
Iti 22
This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
“Mendicants, don’t fear good deeds. For ‘good deeds’ is a term for happiness, for what is likable, desirable, and agreeable. I recall undergoing for a long time the likable, desirable, and agreeable results of good deeds performed over a long time. Having developed a mind of love for seven years, for seven eons of the cosmos contracting and expanding I didn’t return to this world again. As the eon contracted I went to the realm of streaming radiance. As it expanded I was reborn in an empty mansion of divinity.
There I was the Divinity, the Great Divinity, the vanquisher, the unvanquished, the universal seer, the wielder of power. I was Sakka, lord of gods, thirty-six times. Many hundreds of times I was a king, a wheel-turning monarch, a just and principled king. My dominion extended to all four sides, I achieved stability in the country, and I possessed the seven treasures. Not to mention regional kingship!
Then I thought, ‘Of what deed of mine is this the fruit and result, that I am now so mighty and powerful?’ Then I thought, ‘It is the fruit and result of three kinds of deeds: giving, self-control, and restraint.’”
The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
“One should practice only good deeds,
whose happy outcome stretches ahead.
Giving and moral conduct,
developing a mind of love:having developed these
three things yielding happiness,
that astute one is reborn
in a happy, pleasing world.”This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
This is one of the Suttas that demonstrate the Power of Metta.
I think that’s an excellent method!
I’ve mentioned this chapter before, but I think Thig16.1 is one of the crown jewels of the canon. High drama and deep Dhamma.
On this very day, dad, I shall renounce: what’s to enjoy in hollow riches? I’m disillusioned with sensual pleasures, they’re like vomit, made like a palm stump.”
As she spoke thus to her father, Anīkaratta, to whom she was betrothed, approached from Vāraṇavatī at the time appointed for the marriage.
Then Sumedhā took up a knife, and cut off her hair, so black, thick, and soft. Shutting herself in the longhouse, she entered the first absorption.
That entire sutta is powerful!
Another Sutta that speaks of the power of Metta..
The Meditation on Love
Mettābhāvanāsutta
Iti 27
Goodwill far outshines all other ways of making merit.
