There is a delightful story about Sariputta in the Samyutta Commentary. One
day his robe was slightly misarranged, and an observant novice pointed it
out.

The venerable Sariputta looked at his robe and noticing it to be so, thanked
and praised the novice, and called him "teacher."

We often remember Sariputta, but he has great humility and compassion, too
(as found in a number of Dhammapada Commentaries stories).

Please do not take this as hinting at anything other than the "Rahula
blessing". It is said that Rahula as a young novice would often take hold of
a handful of sand and aspire, may my teachers give me as much instructions
today.

I have myself been blessed with not only meeting with a number of wonderful
teachers, but more importantly receiving teachings from them.

We are all "learners" until we become non-learners (asekha). [Of course,
technically, the true "learners" (asekha) are the saints on the path short
of the arhats.]

Piya Tan

On 1/5/07, Piya Tan <dharmafarer@...> wrote:
>
> Bhante Jothiko,
>
> Sadhu & thank you for you compassionate and balanced review, which helps
> fine-tune the little that I have known.
>
> My only comment is some of the Pali spellings, and I say this because I
> feel that remarks by practitioners would be more highly valued with proper
> Pali. So with due respect I am making a list of Pali words that I suggest be
> spelt correctly (and also to remind myself of same), as follows.
>
>
> > 1- The most basic sitting meditation attitude `Parimukkham Satim
> > Utthapetva'
> should be "Parimukha.m sati.m upa.t.thapetvaa".
>
>
> > Than meant by `Parimukkham' ='all around'.
> should be "Parimukha.m"
>
>
> > 2 - Idddhii is of `UttaraManussa Dhamma' `extra ordinary human
> > achievements',
> should be "iddhi" and "uttari,manussa dhamma"
>
>
> > The lesser one of which is the first state of
> > meditation `PatthamaJhana'
> should be "pa.thamajjhaana" or "pa.thama jhaana"
>
>
> > Tells us about his practices in `UpaKilesaSutta � M.N.
> should be "Upakkilesa Sutta"
>
> .
> > Either as the `four divine abidings' `BrahmaVinaraa' � regard toward
> > all directions
> should be "brahmavihaara"
>
>
> > Or the development is of a Kasina, `A Totality'.
> should be "kasi.na"
>
> > 4 - Sanna nimitakarana � the producer of signs- the meditation
> > object is fully attended to.
> should be "sa~n~naa nimittakara.na"
>
>
> > 5 � Above all, it indicates Uppekkha �
> should be "upekkhaa"
>
> > `IddhiPadaa' � are a way to Nibbana.
> should be "iddhipaada".
>
> Please continue to help us with your clarifications as you see fit,
> despite my pedantry. If each of us do our best, we can help a lot of others,
> too.
>
> Khamatu me bhante,
>
> Piya Tan
>


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