----- Original Message -----
From: "Kumaara Bhikkhu" <venkumara@...>
To: <Pali@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Pali] choiceless awareness
Jou: Hi Venerable Sir
>kb> Also, I happen to find the term in a new book by Sayadaw U Silananda's
>"The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: an exposition of the summary". He
>says:
>
>kb> ... The object at the present moment can be anyone of this four.
Sometimes
>the body, sometimes feelings, sometimes consciousness, and sometimes dhamma
>objects. You have to take these objects as the come; you have no choice.
>That is why sometimes Vipassanaa meditation is called "choice-less
>awareness"
Jou wrote:
>This question about choiceless awarness and a lot of the questions these
>days seem to be based on the prolific/popular commentarial interpretation
of
>the Buddha's teaching. How many people on this list are more interested in
>the Buddha's teaching rather than other's interpretations of it? The Buddha
>gave a study method for his teaching that enables one to rely on oneself
(or
>to rely on the Dhamma, as he taught) in working out what he taught. (Later
>Paali texts or early Paali texts which have been modified do not meet the
>criteria of the method and would have us believe we are to take refuge in
>the Triple Gem, but in the early Paali texts -that meet the criteria- the
>Buddha only spoke of taking refuge in ourselves-in the dhamma and having
>Unshakable Faith in the Triple Gem.)
This brings about some questions which I hope you could answer:
1. Which of the Pali texts are you referring as earlier and later?
Jou: Not all of a text may be later, there may be sections of texts that
would probably be later additions. The ones (or sections) that I refer to
are the ones that do not fit
with the comparative analysis of teachings that the Buddha advised as in:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~josmith.1/buddhism/jo/d_o_compare.html. I do not
claim to know that they are later, but the evidence seems to suggest so.
Jou: Giving the references would be very time consuming, rather I give the
teachings below. Any occurance of the teaching would be a sample. Once a
modified teaching was accepted as authoritative by the elders of a group of
monks who memorised the texts, it would immediately be replaced in all
occurrences. This is very easy to do when the text is stored in memory
(either in a person or on a computer). So the number of times a specific
teaching occurs is not really a good indication that it is original.
What are the "early Paali texts which have been modified"?
Jou: I can only say which ones *seem* to have been modified by following the
method mentioned above.
Jou:
- Those on the 5 Hindrances that place Doubt as the fifth. (The first
footnote in the above linked table indicates the misplacement of the fifth
hindrance.)
- Those on the 37 Wings of Awakening.
- Those on the Noble Eightfold Path.
- Those on the 5 "Siila" rather than the 4 Vices of Conduct.
- Those on taking the Three Refuges rather the One Refuge (The
Dhamma -Process of liberation- in oneself)
- Those on taking refuge in the Triple Gem rather than having unshakable
faith in the Triple Gem.
- Those on the Dhammacakka (an external thing) rather than the Dhammacakkhu
(an internal thing)
Jou: This does *not* mean that all aspects of these teachings or these
teaching as a whole are total fabrications, but simply that they do not
match other teachings of the Buddha (to some degree, either in letter or
spirit), but now they have been accepted as
authoritative. Questioning such things is very difficult if we cling to them
as the total truth.
Jou: The way I applied the method and the conclusions I came up with above
are totally covered in my book "The Gift of The Buddha" under review for
publication with The Buddhist Publication Society and Widsom Publications.
3. How is such a reckoning deduced?
Jou: By the study method mentioned before.
>Does anyone here even know about the
>method? Has anyone here applied it for themselves?
I believe there are more than a few in this group who has tried it out,
since it is widely applied in many Vipassanaa traditions, such as the
Mahasi.
Jou: We seem to be talking about different methods. I am talking about the
method of study (which I see is an initial form of meditation). You seem to
be talking about a method of meditation (in the more traditional sense).
I'm not just a monk. I'm a human being.
~ Sayadaw U Jotika
Jou: The Buddha taught not to think "I am..." regarding any of the five
clinging aggregates. To avoid this one might say "I have feelings too." I
take this as the meaning the Venerable Monk was alluding to. The Buddha
taught perfectly in letter and spirit.
----------------------------------------------------
Peace from Norman Joseph (Jou) Smith
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