Losing interest in Samsara and transformation one undergoes when following Buddhism

Being depressed and delusional are also normal. Being enlightened is what is not normal in the world. Becoming disappointed of sensual pleasures and wanting to figure out what is really going on around you is a good thing. It's a mild version of what prince Siddhartha felt before he left the lay life. It's called Nekkhamma Sankappa(a part of the right intention). But it will soon disappear and you will be defeated by sensual desires again, if you don't practice Samma Vayama(right effort) of the noble eight fold path.


I've been practicing with the Triaratna Community for over 7 years and over that time I've been through a fair number of texts with various study groups. I'll try to summarise the most relevant texts here but different order members/centres certainly have their favourites so someone else in the community might give a slightly different list.

As a bit of background, the Triratna Community is an eclectic school so our texts come from all the branches of Buddhism.  However the founder Sangharakshita studied and practiced Buddhism in the 1950s in northern India around the time that there was an exodus of Tibetan lamas from Tibet. So in practice the texts we study tend to be influenced by Tibetan or Theravadan traditions. Zen and Chinese Buddhism in general is under represented. Not that we think there is anything wrong with those texts but the history of the movement means we have less exposure to them.

So the texts we study tend to be either from the Pali Canon or Mahayana texts (transmitted by his contact with Tibetan lamas I think) or texts that Sangharakshita himself has written. We run a four year study course (which I've done part of) which covers the main principles and texts so a browse through that would give you a flavour but I will attempt to summarise the main ones

Pali Canon

Middle Length Discourses generally but more specifically from the pali canon

Satipatthana sutta Some of our studying material for this here
Anapanasati sutta. There is an excellent (and free) talk by an order member on this if you are interested how it is taught in the Triratna Community.
Karaniya Metta Sutta
Dhammapada. Some of our studying material for this here.
Udana

Mahayana

Heart Sutra. We chant this during our main ritual.
Diamond Sutra. This is the first sutra read by Sangharakshita when he was 15. It was then he knew he was a Buddhist.
White Lotus Sutra
Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
Golden Light Sutra

Also

Bodhicaryāvatāra
Life of Milarepa

Also there are a great many books by Sangharakshita which are studied and referenced. If someone was interested I would probably recommend Who is the Buddha, What is the Dharma and What is the Sangha as a good entry point into his thinking. When people are becoming ordained the read and study his book The Survey of Buddhism which is where he first put his ideas down. It's a dense read though so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you were very interested.

EDIT

I've just come across this very comprehensive book, Puja Readings and Other Texts as used in the Triratna Buddhist Community, which details all the texts used by the Triratna movement. As well as been a good reference to the Triratna curriculum, I'd recommend it as a good general anthology of Buddhist texts covering Theravadan, Mahayana and Tibetan sources. Certainly worth a look if anyone is interested and reasonably priced I think. It weighs in a mighty 700 pages plus so there is a lot of reading for your money.


Does one need to make amends for a bad-action done accidentally?

You say "unintentionally" but your friend might see it as "negligence".

I didn't mean to break it!
Yes but you should have looked where you were going! No one else broke it...

I suspect that Buddhism might classify negligence too as volitional, karmically active, and a cause of suffering.

Anyway, I think that arguing about it with the friend probably counts as intentional.

FWIW a civil court might try to apportion blame e.g. based on where the vase was placed. Who knows, maybe it would be appropriate to share the blame.


Why is it that Buddhist monks are strongly associated with beggars?

The monks are trained to be humble to lessen the stranglehold of ego and the defilments. When the Buddha addresses the monks in the suttas he calls them "Bhikkus" in Pali that means "Beggars" in English. This Isn't derogatory, it's a teaching.


Specific sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya: Where is past and future discussed?

A few suttas fit this, but try this first -
Bhaddekaratta Sutta: An Auspicious Day
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.131.than.html


What causes the arising of fear that the sense of "me" will be threatened by the fruition of my practice?

The Pali suttas teach self-identity is born from craving. For example:

The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion &
delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual
pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming: This, friend
Visakha, is the origination of self-identification described by the
Blessed One. MN 44
He assumes form to be a self. That assumption is a fabrication. Now
what is the cause, what is the origination, what is the birth, what is
the coming-into-existence of that fabrication? To an uninstructed,
run-of-the-mill person, touched by that which is felt born of contact
with ignorance, craving arises. That fabrication is born of that. SN
22.81
And what may be said to be subject to birth? Spouses & children are
subject to birth. Men & women slaves... goats & sheep... fowl &
pigs... elephants, cattle, horses & mares... gold & silver are
subject to birth. Subject to birth are these acquisitions, and one who
is tied to them, infatuated with them, who has totally fallen for
them, being subject to birth, seeks what is likewise subject to birth.
MN 26

From when you were very young, your mind attached to things due to both craving & fear. For example, as a baby, your body was hungry and you attached to your mother, who was the source of food. Or when you were lonely & frightened, you craved your mother's attention. Since your children, your life has probably continued like this. While you may not crave your mother for food & comfort, you probably have sought pleasures & attention from other things, so to escape the instinctual fear of being alone, bored & restlessness. From these objects the mind craves & attaches to, a sense of self-identity is born, such as: "My mother, my toys, my food, my friends, my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my husband, my wife, my profession, my sport, my favourite pop star, my favourite movie, etc".
Meditation is similar to being alone. Because the sense of self-identity is built upon external attachments, the sense of self-identity can reduce &/or break apart in meditation. What remains is the original fear the mind has been escaping since it was born into the world.
If your mind is naturally strong, you endure this fear until it passes. Even the Buddha did this, as described below:

So when fear & terror came to me while I was walking back & forth, I
would not stand or sit or lie down. I would keep walking back & forth
until I had subdued that fear & terror. When fear & terror came to me
while I was standing, I would not walk or sit or lie down. I would
keep standing until I had subdued that fear & terror. When fear &
terror came to me while I was sitting, I would not lie down or stand
up or walk. I would keep sitting until I had subdued that fear &
terror. When fear & terror came to me while I was lying down, I would
not sit up or stand or walk. I would keep lying down until I had
subdued that fear & terror. MN 4

However, there are meditators unable to endure this fear. For example, i listened to a Western monk of 30 years who has given up on even trying to overcome this fear. He spends most of his time as a monk talking & teaching.
This lecture has a good introduction about what the 'self' is: Anattā and Rebirth
by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu


Ghost or horror stories/videos are appropriate during Pandemic moment?

Ghost and horror stories are thrill-seeking venues, not much different from a roller-coaster or bungie-jump. The egoic mind seeks them out because it suffers from an existential fear of extinction. The story creates a fantasy in which the hero confronts a murderous supernatural force and then escapes or overcomes it (for the moment), even while that force decimates the ignorant, the disbelievers, and the morally weak.
In a way — and with full appreciation of the irony — horror stories are how the egoic mind (mis)interprets the concept of enlightenment: karma is imagined as the murderous supernatural force pursuing those without virtue; the characters battle their way towards liberation, or fall through their own foolishness. Even the cyclic nature of the world is captured in the sense that the murderous force never truly dies, but reconstitutes itself again and again in the sequels.
I'm not going to dictate whether watching a horror story is good or bad, any more that I'd dictate that eating pizza is good or bad. They are indulgences, and in moderation indulgences are not necessarily harmful. So long as one is aware of the risk of reinforcing that fundamental egoic (mis)understanding of the world...


How does one decide whether one lives a lay married life or a celibate life?

If one is married, one can first understand that desire is more often asymmetrical than not. One can also observe resentment arising out of asymmetrical desire.

Asymmetrical desire therefore provides an opportunity to explore the problem posed. For example, suppose that one has desire. Then one can consider whether that desire is asymmetrical or not. And if it is indeed asymmetrical, then we can give it up. Doing this puts one gently on the path to restraint and ultimately celibacy out of consideration for others. It is also serious practice that can gently change a married relationship to one of understanding and consideration absent lust. In other words, rather than fighting the daunting dilemma posed, one addresses it day-by-day within that day's context, moment by moment, breath by breath.

  MN8:12.10: ‘Others will be covetous, but here we will not be covetous.’

Relinquishing asymmetrical desire for shared sensual pleasure is a small step that can help one start the practice of seclusion from sensual pleasures altogether. Seclusion from sensual pleasures is required to proceed on the Noble Eightfold Path. It is required for immersion, for jhana:

  MN8:4.1: It’s possible that a certain mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, might enter and remain in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.


Hope this video, "Ask A Monk: How To Ordain As A Monk" by Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu would help you! And hope you will achieve what you want!


Why meditate? want a truthful answer without spiritual terms?

Stop spreading non-sense. Both of you. Please refer to AN 10.1

“Sir, what is the purpose and benefit of skillful ethics?” “Ānanda, having no regrets is the purpose and benefit of skillful ethics.”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of having no regrets?” “Joy is the purpose and benefit of having no regrets.”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of joy?” “Rapture …”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of rapture?” “Tranquility …”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of tranquility?” “Bliss …”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of bliss?” “Immersion …”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of immersion?” “Truly knowing and seeing …”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of truly knowing and seeing?” “Disillusionment and dispassion …”
“But what’s the purpose and benefit of disillusionment and dispassion?” “Knowledge and vision of freedom is the purpose and benefit of disillusionment and dispassion.
So, Ānanda, the purpose and benefit of skillful ethics is not having regrets. Joy is the purpose and benefit of not having regrets. Rapture is the purpose and benefit of joy. Tranquility is the purpose and benefit of rapture. Bliss is the purpose and benefit of tranquility. Immersion is the purpose and benefit of bliss. Truly knowing and seeing is the purpose and benefit of immersion. Disillusionment and dispassion is the purpose and benefit of truly knowing and seeing. Knowledge and vision of freedom is the purpose and benefit of disillusionment and dispassion. So, Ānanda, skillful ethics progressively lead up to the highest.”

@dhamma4life: Meditation is never forced concentration. Please refer to MN 118

I tell you, monks, that this — the in-&-out breath — is classed as a body among bodies, which is why the monk on that occasion remains focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.


Is life not blessing or mystery but suffering in Buddhism?

OP: Is life not a blessing or mystery but suffering in Buddhism?

All three are correct in Buddhism in my opinion. Past is mystery, present is suffering and future is blessing. Let me explain.

Life in the past is a mystery. Life in the present moment for an unenlightened being, is suffering. Life in the future is an opportunity for blessing.

Why is life in the past a mystery?

From the Tears Sutta:

  From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration (samsara). A beginning
  point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered
  by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus
  experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the
  cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabricated things,
  enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released."

In this question, we find that when effluents arise, ignorance arises, and when ignorance arises, effluents arise. So, a beginning point of samsara is not evident.

In any case, according to the Parable of the Poisoned Arrow, it is not useful to try to discover the origin of all this suffering. And according to the Unconjecturables Sutta, that might drive you crazy.

Why is life in the present moment for an unenlightened being, suffering?

In MN 75:

  "Now suppose that there was a leper covered with sores & infections,
  devoured by worms, picking the scabs off the openings of his wounds
  with his nails, cauterizing his body over a pit of glowing embers. The
  more he cauterized his body over the pit of glowing embers, the more
  disgusting, foul-smelling, & putrid the openings of his wounds would
  become, and yet he would feel a modicum of enjoyment & satisfaction
  because of the itchiness of his wounds. In the same way, beings not
  free from passion for sensual pleasures — devoured by sensual craving,
  burning with sensual fever — indulge in sensual pleasures. The more
  they indulge in sensual pleasures, the more their sensual craving
  increases and the more they burn with sensual fever, and yet they feel
  a modicum of enjoyment & satisfaction dependent on the five strings of
  sensuality.

Analyzing this more closely in the Fire Sermon Sutta:

  "Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame.
  Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the
  eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on
  contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or
  neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what?
  Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of
  delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows,
  lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

  "The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame...

  "The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame...

  "The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame...

  "The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame...

  "The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Consciousness at the
  intellect is aflame. Contact at the intellect is aflame. And whatever
  there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect —
  experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too
  is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire
  of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging &
  death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

Why is life in the future an opportunity for blessing?

Although it's not possible to change one's past, it's possible to change one's future to become free from suffering, by changing how one responds in the present moment.

As written by Thanissaro Bhikkhu in "To Suffer Is an Active Verb":

  This is one of the reasons why the Buddha doesn’t have us try to go
  back into the past and ask, “What did I do to deserve an illness, a
  mental state, a situation in life?” He said that if you tried to trace
  all those things back, you’d go crazy. In fact, he said, you can’t
  trace back and find a beginning point for the ignorance that underlies
  suffering. But you can see what you’re doing to sustain it now.

From the Themes Sutta, we find that we can avoid future suffering by being aware of the consequences of our thoughts, words and deeds of the present moment:

  “And for the sake of what benefit should a woman or a man, a
  householder or one gone forth, often reflect thus: ‘I am the owner of
  my kamma, the heir of my kamma; I have kamma as my origin, kamma as my
  relative, kamma as my resort; I will be the heir of whatever kamma,
  good or bad, that I do’? People engage in misconduct by body, speech,
  and mind. But when one often reflects upon this theme, such misconduct
  is either completely abandoned or diminished.

Continuing the Fire Sermon Sutta, we find that ultimately all suffering traces back to craving and craving needs to be eliminated, in order to become free of suffering:

  "Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows
  disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with
  consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with contact at the eye. And
  whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye,
  experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that,
  too, he grows disenchanted.

  "He grows disenchanted with the ear...

  "He grows disenchanted with the nose...

  "He grows disenchanted with the tongue...

  "He grows disenchanted with the body...

  "He grows disenchanted with the intellect, disenchanted with ideas,
  disenchanted with consciousness at the intellect, disenchanted with
  contact at the intellect. And whatever there is that arises in
  dependence on contact at the intellect, experienced as pleasure, pain
  or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: He grows disenchanted with that too.
  Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is
  fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully
  released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled,
  the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'"


You can, but it's not recommended.  Many people come to meditation with the notion that it is a relaxation exercise.  With that preconception, it's no surprise that so many wonder why we just don't meditate lying down or in an arm chair.  There may be some kind of benefit to this sort of mediation.  Whatever the benefits, however, they do detract from the kind of meditation taught by the Buddha.

There is a very strong connection between the body and the mind.  The condition of one really determines the state of the other.  To meditate properly (from a Buddhist standpoint), it is very important for the body to be in an upright and invigorated position.  When we lay down or sit in a comfortable chair, it is all too easy for our minds to go slack and lazy.  These sorts of positions effect our concentration and makes it all too easy to fall into sloth and torpor.  You don't want that.  To hold the body upright is to hold the mind upright.  What you want is a state where you are as awake (from a physiological standpoint) as you are going to get.  Discomfort, even a little pain (note - little!), is very conducive to raising your attention and applying it on the meditation object.


How is a Dalai Lama chosen? And can it be a woman?

The reincarnation of a lama isn't chosen or elected. He or she is found.

Man or woman

Historically the Dalai Lama has always been a man, but it has been my understanding that there is no rule that the next Dalai Lama can't be a woman. In fact, according to this news article the  Dalai Lama once said that

  If a woman reveals herself as more useful the lama could very well be reincarnated in this form.

This is confirmed in this interview
where the Dalai Lama:

  ... also said half-jokingly that if the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation is female, she must be very attractive. The reason is so that she will have more influence on others. If she is an ugly female, she won’t be very effective, will she?

No reincarnation

In recent years, the Dalai Lama has also mentioned that he might be the last one. According to this BBC news article:

  Whether another Dalai Lama came after him would depend on the circumstances after his death and was "up to the Tibetan people"

and

  "The Dalai Lama institution will cease one day. These man-made institutions will cease," the Dalai Lama told the BBC.

These remarks were most likely politically motivated, because China very much wants to find the next Dalai Lama so they can 'control' him/her, just like they did with the Panchen Lama.

Finding a reincarnation

Suppose the Dalai Lama decides to come back after all. When a great Bodhisattva dies he1 can control the time and place of his rebirth. This is called the Tulku system and it makes sure that knowledge from a certain lineage is passed on. After his death a committee of high-ranked lamas of the same tradition as the deceased will gather with the task to find the reincarnation. This process can take several years and the committee will generally use a variety of sources.

In the case of the Dalai Lama it's customary to start with consulting the Nechung Oracle.
If the Dalai Lama is cremated the direction in which the smoke goes is also an important sign. It's possible for a prominent lama to have a vision or dream that reveals important details that help in finding him (e.g. certain characteristics of the location). Sometimes the deceased has left clues (e.g. a letter or specific personal objects) as to where he will be reborn.

Once a reincarnation is found, he will be tested to confirm that the right person has been found. For example, the 14th Dalai Lama was found at age 2 and one of his tests was to identify which items belonged to his predecessor.

If you are interested in this, there are a few films and documentaries that show how finding a reincarnation works. For example the (somewhat) popular movie Kundun starts with this IIRC, and I can recommend the documentary Unmistaken child, but that one may be harder to find.

1 for ease of reference I will use the words 'he/him' from here on, but as I mentioned earlier it can be a she/her.


Is it possible to attain wrong mindfulness and wrong concentration?

I think a lot of wrong mindfulness persists today utilised mainly in a non-Buddhist way. Many attempts were made to separate Mindfulness from Buddhist context. Example is mindfulness for mindfulness sake as in therapy; if people don't know the reason are they mindful, then the problem arises. As in, what is there to be found in the present moment, any why? They often don't know the why and what, and this is confusion.

All of the non-Buddhist approaches as MBSR might go extremely awry. Many charlatans make money by trying to make people to be mindful of the present moment as a "cure-all" therapy for everything. It has caused some cases of depression and people suffering from mental breakdown. Mindfulness like that has long history of creating examples of blind obedience in the East, such as creating Samurai culture in feudal Japan, as means of controlling people without questioning the orders.

In Buddhism however, the reasons are very clear, we want to apply wisdom of the teachings, releasing and transforming karmic seeds, breaking bad habits. It is much safer to do it this way, rather than apply it as a therapy for a specific case. Mindfulness should not be devoid of ethics, for performing good deeds ultimately lead us to a better life. Performing selfless acts destroys clinging and disease of "mine" and therapeutic mindfulness doesn't go that far.

Thus, mindfulness without practising other parts of the path in tandem is wrong mindfulness.

As for Right concentration, there has been a lot of issues recently about mixing Samatha, or mediation in general with psychedelics as it might be profound experience. Many magazines were involved in promoting such ideas. That I would call wrong concentration, the one that goes against composing the mind, but altering it.


Mental illness: can Dhamma, meditation help?

Some people with a mental health history have actually benefited from meditation.

Such benefit is known to occur on a case-by-case basis, similar to how not every person that lives as a monk benefits from monkhood.

Many meditation centres have experience with mental health and generally require approval from a persons's psychologist or psychiatrist before permitting attendance on meditation retreats.

I have read many sincere accounts of people reducing mental health issues with meditation.

Also, the atmosphere of genuine metta (loving-kindness) at Dhamma centres is also helpful in reducing anxiety & other self-esteem issues.

The loving-kindness of a Buddha radiates upon all beings, neglecting none (including fake monks).


Impermanence causing depression and anxiety

That which impermanence appears to ,or that which speaks about impermanence. Is that changing ?

Any kind of material form whatever, whether past, future, or present,
internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or
near, all material form should be seen as it actually is with proper
wisdom thus: “This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self."
Gautama Buddha (MN 22)

Just meditate on these phenomenon and seeing them for what they are you aren't identified.


Yes Meditation can help you sleep...
There is a meditation called "Meththa" also known as the "Loving kindness Meditation". This Meditation is very helpful to the daily life as well as the path. It can help you sleep better, But Let me provide the details....
The profits of doing "Meththa" (Loving kindness Meditation) as to Lord Buddha

Not seeing bad dreams
Calmly falling into sleep
calmly waking up
Friendly attitude from other beings like Devas (gods),demons,spirits & animals
Loosing enemies and gaining friendly's
Being born in higher realms after death (Deva realm,Brahma realm)
and many more....
Here's a link to learn more to learn more.

So if you have trouble sleeping this is your answer, Let me provide a Audio link so you could learn and practice. We all do it and it is very easy to learn.
Loving Kindness Meditation - Click to open


How are bhikkhus using social networking sites?

I don't think their intention is to entertain but to to teach.Social Networking Sites can be used as a form for communication.Especially in this day and age.It's likened to them writing a letter or giving a dhamma talk.Since i don't attend any Buddhist monastery or retreats or groups,I have benefited from monks teaching the Dharma on Youtube or contacting a monastic via facebook when i had any questions etc.It is also a way for the monastic to keep in touch with the lay people.So intention plays a big role in why monastics use social networking sites.


Should a Buddhist lay-practitioner schedule his/her daily life

Routine is a good thing to have for a Buddhist, I believe. While this will vary person to person based on their circumstances, these are my suggestions to incorporate in a daily routine of a lay Buddhist.

Throughout the day continue to

maintain and develop the 10 skillful deeds.
efface and prevent the 10 unskillful deeds.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.176.than.html

These 2 items were recommended by the Buddha as daily contemplations, almost must haves in any schedule.

Recollect the 5 daily subjects of contemplation as part of the morning, afternoon or evening ritual
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.057.than.html
Perform this check in the evening.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.101.than.html

Once a week keep the Uposatha practice:

The Buddha's strong recommendation of this practice is found
here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.046.than.html
Details of the practice is found here:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.070.than.html

There are many other beneficial contemplations and practices that can be incorporated into a routine.

Do share your routine once you have compiled it.

May you be happy -/\-


Can someone explain "Noble Eightfold Path" in depth?

The whole of the Noble Path can be summarized as the action, speech, effort, intent etc. coming from the two kinds of thoughts as explained in MN 19:

Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, it occurred to me: ‘Suppose that I divide my thoughts into two classes [-- useful and harmful].
...
As I abided thus, diligent, ardent, and resolute, a thought of [the harmful kind] arose in me. I understood thus: ‘This thought [of the harmful kind] has arisen in me. This leads to my own affliction, to others’ affliction, and to the affliction of both; it obstructs wisdom, causes difficulties, and leads away from Nibbāna.’
...
As I abided thus, diligent, ardent, and resolute, a thought of [the useful kind] arose in me. I understood thus: ‘This thought of [the useful kind] has arisen in me. This does not lead to my own affliction, or to others’ affliction, or to the affliction of both; it aids wisdom, does not cause difficulties, and leads to Nibbāna.

Briefly, my personal opinions / commentary.
Arya marga. Here, "arya" ("noble") stands for "advanced person" and "marga" ("path") stands for "training method". Together it means "The advanced person's training method".
Each of the eight points starts with the word "samma" (Sankst. "samyak") - "right", which in this case means "high-quality", "adequate", "effective", "useful" - in bringing about the good results.

The right view (or useful philosophy) stands for one's perspective on life in general.
The central point of the right view is that our life can get better (away from afflictions & difficulties and towards wisdom & peace) or worse (away from wisdom & peace and towards afflictions & difficulties) -- depending on the choices we make. The subsequent points build up on this basic idea.

The right intention (or useful attitude) stands for one's attitude as one goes about life.
Right intention is trying to improve things, not to harm or make things worse. It is a deeply constructive attitude, not a destructive attitude.

The right speech (or useful speech) stands for one's skill in interacting with others.
Basically, it is speech of a wise person who knows what to say, how to say, and when to say it in order to achieve well-being for oneself and others.

The right action (or useful behavior) stands for one's self-control in acting strategically and not impulsively.
As with the rest of the points, the idea of right action is to not do anything (stupid) that will have an adverse effect, but to act skilfully in order to maximize the net benefit, esp. long term. The useful behavior is characterized by sobriety, discipline, moderation, and making wise choices about what one is getting into and with what kind of people one is connecting one's destiny. The useful behavior comes from the thought like "what kind of long term result will I get if I do this?"

The right livelihood (or useful lifestyle) stands for the circumstances and environment one chooses or agrees to live in.
Useful lifestyle is a lifestyle more or less supportive of the useful thoughts and useful actions towards a good result -- not a lifestyle that forces one to go in a completely opposite direction.

The right effort (or useful effort) stands for self-improvement.
Specifically, it means the ongoing effort to stop and get rid of the pathological habits/impulses/hangups, and to develop the "right" (useful) skills.

The right mindfulness (or useful frame-of-reference) stands for watching for the two kinds of thoughts as one goes around the day.
The idea is to not let oneself be carried away by the pathological currents, but to go around one's day while staying within the perspective of arya marga.

The right concentration (or useful mood) stands for one's ability to control one's attention and therefore one's perspective and mood.
The point of right concentration is to stop being the slave of information and to become the master of mind.

In short, in our day to day practice we must have a good sense of direction -- which way is feeding our ego and weaknesses, and which way is being an "arya" (advanced person). Your know your efforts are correct if you become less frustrated and more successful with whatever you do.
Because Sat-Dharma is "good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end", the Noble Path works on all levels:

On the mundane level it helps one achieve success and better quality of life through developing self-control and discernment for constructive strategic action.
On the personal level, it guides one towards overcoming neuroses, attaining the mastery over one's emotions, and achieving a stable & happy state of mind.
On the social level, its emphasis on overcoming the harmful impulses, developing self-control, and the focus on constructive positive action - encourages cooperation, harmony, and seeking a compromise for the greater good.
On the intellectual level, it encourages intellectual agility, open-mindedness, and anti-dogmatism as necessary conditions for skillful response.
On the level of the spiritual quest, it provides a working framework and a practical way of gauging one's progress for abandoning obstacles on the way to Enlightenment - from overcoming coarse emotions, to dismantling the ego, to uprooting the preconceptions, to realizing the nature of mind, to attaining prajna-paramita.


Is there a mudra associated with renouncement?

Perhaps there's one called the shramanamudrâ (see also Śramaṇa).


According to the Buddhism's theory, one man's fate is destined by the past's karma.

This is true that our conditions are determined by past karma, but they are determined by present as well.
A Brahman asked the Buddha in the Cula Kammavibhanga Sutta

  Master Gotama, what is the reason, what is the condition, why inferiority and superiority are met with among human beings, among mankind? For one meets with short-lived and long-lived people, sick and healthy people, ugly and beautiful people, insignificant and influential people, poor and rich people, low-born and high-born people, stupid and wise people. What is the reason, what is the condition, why superiority and inferiority are met with among human beings, among mankind?

The Buddha replies by saying that our conditions are due to our past karma. This; however, is not fatalistic. The idea of karma revolves around the idea that we create our future.

In the Devadaha Sutta the Buddha refutes two Jainism theories about karma

The past determines present pleasure and pain, and the present determines future present and pain.
The belief that you can do nothing in the present to get rid of suffering; all one could do is live with it.

The Buddha rejected both of those theories that were taught in Jainism. Those two statements sound fatalistic.

The Buddha said that the past and present determine the present; thus, making it not fatalistic.
Suffering, according to the Buddha, is due to past and present karma as well.
There is no fatalism in Buddhism.

The karma you mention in your question seems to be more of Jainist theories of karma than Buddhist theories of karma.


Both are ways to show respect for the Buddha. Offerings are a lesser way compared with the practice of Sila, Samadhi, and Panna, but you do not have to choose between the two. You can develop the path and also make offerings.

The best way to make offerings is to make your offering be endowed with the three factors you have control over. The Buddha once taught that there are six factors that affect the merit of an offering, three of which are determined by the giver's mind:

  "Monks, the lay woman Velukandaki, Nanda's mother, has established a
  donation endowed with six factors for the community of monks headed by
  Sariputta & Moggallana.

  "And how is a donation endowed with six factors? There is the case
  where there are the three factors of the donor, the three factors of
  the recipients.

  "And which are the three factors of the donor? There is the case where
  the donor, before giving, is glad; while giving, his/her mind is
  bright & clear; and after giving is gratified. These are the three
  factors of the donor.

  "And which are the three factors of the recipients? There is the case
  where the recipients are free of passion or are practicing for the
  subduing of passion; free of aversion or practicing for the subduing
  of aversion; and free of delusion or practicing for the subduing of
  delusion. These are the three factors of the recipients.

  "Such are the three factors of the donor, the three factors of the
  recipients. And this is how a donation is endowed with six factors."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.037.than.html

In brief, before giving have a joyous mind, have a mind that is bright and clear during the offering, and be pleased with the offering once you have made it. This is the best way to make offerings.


1 - Namarupa Pariccheda Gnāna

If we are to take “nama-rupa-pariccheda-ñana” to mean, “rupa” are according “nama” - one’s body is according to one’s thinking, then it means that our habits help form the kind of existence in life. An adulterer’s acts can be equal to that of animals. Such activities would generate kamma beeja in the animal bhava in the next life.

Nama-rupa paricheda-nana can be also taken as one being able to see oneself as five grasping groups (Pancaupadanakkhandha). Those five are namely:
Rupupadanakkhandha - Grasping group of corporeality
Vedanupadanakkhandha -Grasping group of feeling
Sannupadanakkhandha - Grasping group of perception
Sankharupadanakkhandha -Grasping group of mental formation
Vinnanupadanakkhanda-Grasping group of consciousness
These are the five aspects through which the Buddha has summed up all the physical and mental phenomena of existence, and which appears to the ignorant man as his Ego or personality. It is also called Ditthi-Visuddhi.

2 - Paccaya Pariggaha Gnāna

The cause of all the physical and mental phenomena of existence (Nama-rupa) is no other than Avidya (non-awareness of truth), Thrusna (desire or craving born of false views and attachment), Kamma, and Ahara (nutriments). It was true in the past, it is true in the present and it will be true in the future. Nana or insight which realizes this fact is called Paccaya-pariggaha-nana. It is also called the purification by overcoming doubt kankhāvitarana-visuddhi.

By purification by overcoming doubt (kankhā-vitarana-visuddhi) is meant the understanding which, by grasping the conditions of this mind and corporeality, has escaped from all doubt with regard to the 3 times (past, present, future). Ahara (nutriments) are of four types: The foods for the physical body are called kabalinka ahara. Sense impression (phassa ahara) is Contact, Volitional thought (Cetana) is Intellectual Intention, nutriment of Consciousness, and

3 - Sammasana Gnāna

This is Knowledge by Comprehension. Here the knowledge that one gained in the above two Namarupa Pariccheda Gnāna & Paccaya Pariggaha Gnāna  are seen in relation to Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta nature.This Nana or insight is called Sammasananana.

On proceeding with the contemplation, oneobserves that all rupa cannot be kept to one’s satisfaction. This is "Anicca-sammasana-nana" (Insight that nothing can be kept to one’s satisfaction, that leads to suffering,  and is a viparinama dhamma).

Thus one understands that no “rupa” can be kept to our satisfaction, therefore that (i.e., forming attachment to such rupa) will lead to suffering, and therefore there is no reason to consider of them having any substance. Anicca leads to dukkha and to anatta, because we have nicca sanna about such (anicca) rupa.

4 - Udayabbaya Gnāna

This is Knowledge of Contemplation of Arising and passing Away. “Udayabbaya gnana” when one develops, one can see the causes that need to be eliminated to overcome otherwise inevitable future suffering. One then learns of the factors relating to all knowledge about the arising and destruction of anything in this world. It is also called Maggamagga-nana-dassana-visuddhi.

By purification by knowledge and vision of what is path and not-path (maggāmagga-ñānadassana-visuddhi) is meant that understanding which knows the right path from the wrong path: 'This is the right path, that the wrong path.'  This knowledge is the mature form of Udayabbhayanana", flawlessly free from 'Upakkilesa' (impurities).

One practising Vipassana meditation, at this stage, generally beholds a supernormal light (obhasa), feels a thrill of zest (piti), calmness (passaddhi), determination (adhimokkha), great energy (paggaha), happiness (sukha), deep insight (nana), intensity of mindfulness (upatthana), equanimity (upekkha), and a mild desire for this state (nikanti).

These states arising in one at the stage of Udayabbaya Nana in ten phases are termed 'Vipassanupakkilesa’, defilements of kilesa. These are imperfections of Insight and are ten in number, as follows: (1) Illumination, (2) knowledge, (3) rapturous happiness, (4) tranquility, (5) bliss (pleasure), (6) resolution, (7) exertion, (8) assurance, (9) equanimity and (10) attachment.

One, arriving at this stage, is liable to these defilements and his mind may be seized by 'spiritual excitement' or 'agitation about higher states' (dhamma-uddhacca). 'For example, he may, on having an illumination, feel that this constitutes Path-experience and so inhibits his further progress through deceiving himself.

5 - Bhanga Gnāna

This is Knowledge of Contemplation of Dissolution. This is the first of a series of nanas known as the dukkha-nanas. At this stage one has already attained the purification of overcoming doubt and the purification of knowing and seeing what is and what is not the path. The essentials of the practice have already been revealed, and in the process the one has experienced confidence, rapture and bliss,  and had seen the arising and passing away of experience.

As the awareness and concentration continues to develop one now sees only the passing away of phenomena. It is as if one’s awareness is faster than the experiences he is examining, As soon as he places his attention on some aspect of his experience, it disappears. This is the knowledge of dissolution (bhanga-nana). This can take the form of one apparently losing one’s concentration, like one can no longer focus on anything; one’s attention keeps sliding off whatever one tries to look at.

This can be a shocking experience, because one is used to be able to focus on anything. Now, it seems, one can focus on nothing at all. One can even experience the disappearance of the form of the body. The sense of the body disappears; all that is left is a series of apparently disconnected individual sensations. There is no "body" as such.

6 - Bhaya Gnāna

Bhanga-nana gives way to the knowledge of fear, (bhaya-nana). In the disappearance of everything examined, the mind at some level begins to realise: there is nothing beneath. There is no foundation.There is nothing at all. This can manifest as panic. The realisation that "I am not in control of ‘my’ life".

7 - Ädeenava Gnāna

Contemplation of Ädeenava as bad consequences is another aspect of the awareness of a sense of fear:  Temporary enjoyment (asvada) is bound to bring about bad consequences (adeenava). There arises the realization of the fact that these psycho-physical phenomena so rapidly dissolving are undesirable, faulty and defective in nature. This is "Adinava-nana" (Insight into unsatisfactory condition)’.

One realises there is no rest, no security, in anything. The power of this insight-knowledge is such that one knows there is no escape. One knows that this danger, this disadvantage, remains because one knows this is the nature of experience as such.

8 - Nibbida Gnāna

This is Knowledge of Contemplation of disenchantment. If we could stay away from valuing sense pleasures and live accordingly, then we could arrive at this gnana. Thus, one would contemplate on the endeavor to break all bonds to this world, and stop making new bhava. It is a conviction that it is unfruitful to stay in this world as there is nothing in this world that worth craving for (upadana).

9 - Muncitukamayata Gnāna

This is Knowledge of Desire for Deliverance.  Knowledge consisting in the desire for deliverance means: the desire for freedom and escape from all mental formations of existence. For feeling aversion for all mental formations, becoming weary of them, finding no more delight in them, the mind does not cling to a single one of all these mental formations.

Simply put this is the "get-me-outa-here-nana". And of course, this knowledge includes the understanding that, whatever situation one could escape to, that too will be unsatisfactory, and the urge to escape will still be there in that new situation.

10 - Patisankha Gnāna

This is Knowledge of Contemplation of Reflection. In reflecting, one  instills a decision to practice further. At this stage as contemplation is carried on with reflection, carefully, with proper care or intention, a clear perception of 'anicca', 'dukkha' and 'anatta' would arise. In particular, the nature of dukkha, sufferings, may be perceived very convincingly.

This is 'Patisankha nana" (Insight arising out of further contemplation; Nana or insight that regains the awareness of Anicca or Dukkha or Anatta nature of all things. That none of those can be maintained to our satisfaction, i.e., they all are anicca. Thus we eventually suffer, and thus all struggles to keep them to our satisfaction are in vain and therefore, we are helpless in this rebirth process.

11 - Sankharupekha Gnāna

This is recollection once more of the afore knowledge, in fully comprehending that nothing can be maintained to our satisfaction, i.e., they all are anicca, thus we eventually suffer, and thus all struggles to keep them to our satisfaction are in vain and therefore, we are helpless in this rebirth process. The realization of the true nature of the objects of contemplation without exertion and without pursuing good or bad sensations in the course of the contemplation which lasts for a long time is "Sankha-rupekkha-nana" (Knowledge or insight arising from viewing things with equanimity; Nana or insight, that is indifferent to Arammana [thought objects]).

12 - Anuloma Gnāna

This is Knowledge in Conformity with Truth-conformity knowledge. When one comprehends anicca, dukkha, anatta to the extent that one gets to ‘see’ this Tilakkhana, one is said to have the “anulöma nana”.

That special knowledge appears with the realization that physical and mental phenomena which occur at the six sense-doors momentarily cannot be maintained to one’s satisfaction, will eventually lead to suffering, and everything in this world is without substance (anatta).

The knowledge that arises at the last moment is "Anuloma-nana" (Knowledge of adaptation) which consists of three 'javanas', impulse moments, called 'Parikamma' (preparation), 'Upacara' (approach) and 'Anuloma' (adaptation). Anulomanana transforms mind to become qualified to enter the threshold of Nibbana.

13 - Gotrabhu Gnāna

After 'Anulomanana' there arises "Gotrabhu-nana" (Knowledge of Change-of -lineage ("götra") when getting close to a jhana) which grasps the sensation towards Nibbana where the miseries and sufferings connected with rupa and nama entirely cease.

Gotrobhunana pushes mind across the threshold. As soon as mind crosses the threshold, it becomes aware of Nibbana. This is the knowledge which severs the lineage of 'Putthujjanas' (worldlings) and enters the lineage of the 'Ariyas' (Noble Ones)

14 - Magga Gnāna

This is Knowledge of Path. Knowledge and vision of what is path and not-path means that understanding which knows the right path from the wrong path: 'This is the right path, that the wrong path.' In order to attain this gnana, one at first should develop methodical insight.

15 - Phala Gnāna

This is Knowledge of fruit. No sooner the "sotapatti Magga Nana” arises one comes to Phala Nana" (Insight wisdom arising from the Noble Path of Stream-winning and its Fruition) which realises Nibbana. The 'Magganana' is called "Nana-dassana-visuddhi" (Purity of insight)

16 - Paccavekkhana Gnāna

Once the 'magga and Phala Nana' arises, then retrospective reflection of the peculiar experiences of the "Magga, Phala and Nibbana" takes place. This is 'Paccavakkhana-nana" (Insight of retrospection). This is Knowledge of Reviewing. 'retrospective knowledge', refers to the recollected mental image obtained in concentration, or to any inner experience just passed,
Knowledge which reviews the defilements still remaining.


Sinhala translation of commentaries and subcommentaries

There are many sites with Sinhala:

Suttacentral - https://suttacentral.net/si/dn1 (A P de Soyza)
Buddha Jayanthi can be found in many sites - http://www.sjp.ac.lk/news/download-theravada-tripitaka/ in PDF, http://www.thripitakaya.org/, http://www.aathaapi.org/Thripitaka.html
Pitaka - http://pitaka.lk/ (A P de Soyza)
Tipitaka - http://www.tipitaka.org/

http://www.aathaapi.org/Thripitaka.html and http://www.tipitaka.org/ Atthakatha in Pali but Singhala fonts. There are for sale translation of some of them at Buddhist Cultural Centre.


It seems this was already answered sufficiently here:

https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/1421/18

(Posting as an answer just to get this resolved)


'Metta' versus 'passive acceptance for the wicked'?

I think your question contains an implication that one practicing metta will be inclined to do nothing for the person they feel friendly towards. This is not the case at all. A person with metta is inclined towards the benefit of others:

  For among these, loving-kindness is the way to purity for one who has
  much ill will, compassion is that for one who has much cruelty, gladness is that
  for one who has much aversion (boredom), and equanimity is that for one who
  has much greed. Also attention given to beings is only fourfold, that is to say, as
  bringing welfare, as removing suffering, as being glad at their success, and as
  unconcern, [that is to say, impartial neutrality]. And one abiding in the
  measureless states should practice loving-kindness and the rest like a mother
  with four sons, namely, a child, an invalid, one in the flush of youth, and one
  busy with his own affairs; for she wants the child to grow up, wants the invalid
  to get well, wants the one in the flush of youth to enjoy for long the benefits of
  youth, and is not at all bothered about the one who is busy with his own affairs.
  That is why the measureless states are only four as “due to paths to purity and
  other sets of four.”

  One who wants to develop these four should practice them towards beings
  first as the promotion of the aspect of welfare—and loving-kindness has the
  promotion of the aspect of welfare as its characteristic; and next, on seeing or
  hearing or judging that beings whose welfare has been thus wished for are at
  the mercy of suffering, they should be practiced as the promotion of the aspect of
  the removal of suffering—and compassion has the promotion of the aspect of
  the removal of suffering as its characteristic; and then, on seeing the success of
  those whose welfare has been wished for and the removal of whose suffering
  has been wished for, they should be practiced as being glad—and gladness has
  the act of gladdening as its characteristic; but after that there is nothing to be
  done and so they should be practiced as the neutral aspect, in other words, the
  state of an onlooker—and equanimity has the promotion of the aspect of
  neutrality as its characteristic; therefore, since their respective aims are the aspect
  of welfare, etc., their order should be understood to correspond, with loving-
  kindness stated first, then compassion, gladness and equanimity.

  -- Vism IX.108-9 (Nyanamoli, trans)

Clearly a person with a mind of metta is more likely to work to help those most in need; not just to end the suffering of victims, but to end the evil of perpetrators that is the cause of suffering for both.

Do not the wicked "deserve" suffering for the suffering they've caused?

Certainly, this seems reasonable, but does not relate to one's own state of mind. Anger is still evil even when it is based on true assessment of the situation; two wrongs don't make a right.

When we generate metta for the "wicked", how do we thus distance ourselves from the horrible actions of our metta-recipients?

We do it by beginning with lovable beings, then slowly working our way up to neutral, then finally hostile individuals. Any time we find our state of friendliness slipping, we revert back to an easier object.

  If resentment arises in him when he applies his mind to a hostile person
  because he remembers wrongs done by that person, he should get rid of the
  resentment by entering repeatedly into loving-kindness [jhāna] towards any of
  the first-mentioned persons and then, after he has emerged each time, directing
  loving-kindness towards that person.

  -- Vism IX.14 (Nyanamoli, trans)

There is much more detailed info on dealing with anger in chapter nine of the Visuddhimagga, along with quotes from the Buddha.

Is there any concept of "condemnation with metta"?

I think you are under the impression that metta is a mind state to be dwelt in constantly. Buddhism doesn't espouse such a view; constant attention to metta will lead to rebirth in the brahma realms, not enlightenment. No, it is not possible to condemn someone while absorbed in the practice of metta meditation, but it is possible for a person free from anger, who often practices metta, to do so. Metta may in fact lead someone to condemn others, thinking that the condemnation will help them overcome their evil deeds, or help keep others from falling prey to their evil deeds (which would probably be karuna).

  ‘Then Sunakkhatta came to me, saluted me, and sat down to one side. I said to him: “You foolish man, do you claim to be a follower of the Sakyan?” “Lord, what do you mean by this question?” “Sunakkhatta, did you not go to see Kaḷāramuṭṭhaka and ask him a question he could not answer, and did he not thereupon show signs of anger, rage and petulance? And did you not think: ‘I might cause this real Arahant ascetic offence. I don’t want anything to happen that would be to my lasting harm and misfortune’?” “I did, Lord. Does the Blessed Lord begrudge others their Arahantship?” “I do not begrudge others their Arahantship, you foolish man. It is only in you that this evil view has arisen. Cast it aside lest it should be to your harm and sorrow for a long time! This naked ascetic Kaḷāramuṭṭhaka, whom you regard as a true Arahant, will before long be living clothed and married, subsisting on boiled rice and sour milk. He will go beyond all the shrines of Vesālī, and will die having entirely lost his reputation.” And indeed all this came about.

  -- DN 24 (Walshe, trans)


Is Goenka's "Freeflow of sensations" the same as pīti?

Yes.

Free flow is loosely used for Piti. Initially it is subtle vibrations which you feel. As you practice this spreads to your body. These vibrations are pleasant.


What is "Patigha", and how does it differ from "Dosa"?

Here are some sources:

Patigha (dictionary definition)
Lobha,Dosa, Moha versus Raga, Patigha, Avijja

Although on an ethical level they're synonymous, pathiga goes deeper than dosa. It's more on the level of (dormant) tendencies.


What are some entertaining/fictional movies, books, etc. about Buddhadharma or Buddha himself?

Some movies with Buddhist concepts:

Cloud Atlas.
Little Buddha.
Kundun
The Dharma Brothers (Documentary)
The Buddha (Documentary)
Spring,Summer,Fall,Winter..and Spring.
Why has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East.
Wheel of Time
Doin Time Doing Vippassanna (Documentary)
Angulimala
OK Baytong
Amongst WHite Clouds (Documentary)
Amrapali
My Reincarnation (Documentary)
The Holy Man (Comedy)
WHen the Iron Bird Flies (Documentary)
Milarepa
Nang Nak (Horror)It's a thai story about a hungry ghost whose still attached to her husband.


Help with balance between meditation practice and lay life

Is it possible to find a balance?
Yes. In fact, it is necessary to find balance.
The path is more than immersion. In fact, the practice is three-fold and comprises: wisdom, ethics, and immersion:

MN44:11.2: “The three practice categories are not included in the noble eightfold path. Rather, the noble eightfold path is included in the three practice categories.

”Right view and right thought: these things are included in the category of wisdom.

Right speech, right action, and right livelihood: these things are
included in the category of ethics.

Right effort, right mindfulness,
and right immersion: these things are included in the category of
immersion.

Although one may see the wisdom of the Noble Eightfold Path and practice immersion, one cannot omit ethics. Just like a three-legged stool missing a leg, so too would we topple over without the third practice, ethics. The middle part of the path is firmly rooted in ethics. And what are ethics? Ethics are what we practice when in the company of others.
MN8 has a good list of 44 ethical considerations that apply to all. Here are the first five:

MN8:12.2: ‘Others will be cruel, but here we will not be cruel.’

MN8:12.3: ‘Others will kill living creatures, but here we will not kill living creatures.’

MN8:12.4: ‘Others will steal, but here we will not steal.’

MN8:12.5: ‘Others will be unchaste, but here we will not be unchaste.’

MN8:12.6: ‘Others will lie, but here we will not lie.’

Being mindful of ethics when with others and will strengthen wisdom as well as immersion. Practice of ethics paves the way for the practice of immersion, which is later in the path. If any step on the path is difficult, look back at the steps that may have been skipped! All the steps on the Noble Eightfold Path matter. Right Immersion is the eight step. Seven steps precede and are quite important.


Like you, when I took refuge, I received a dharma name—and so did the other twenty, or so, people who took refuge at the same time. We all received the same dharma name. I can’t answer your questions 1 and 2, but I do have a first-person account of a teaching related to dharma names in Tibetan Buddhism.
I once attended a weekend course on meditation in New York City given by a well-known Tibetan lama, and at one point, he digressed to tell a story about what are called “Buddhist names” and a time that he tried to teach a student that his desire for such a name was an attachment that was holding him back.
He related that this student had come to him to ask the lama to bestow a Buddhist name on him, pointing out that he had been a good and earnest student for many years. The lama asked the student what his given name was, and the man replied, “John.” The lama said: “Ok, your Buddhist name is John.” The student, as the lama recounted, stood there bewildered. So the lama, after a sufficient pause, explained to the man that his idea of a Buddhist name was an attachment.
I found the story the lama related very useful myself, especially given the predilection of many people to become attached to symbols and traditions, rather than the underlying wisdom that they stand for. I don’t know what the purpose of a Buddhist name is, but I believe it may be more a way to fulfill a ‘Western’ need, than a substantive accomplishment.
It’s different, of course, if you have a more direct relation with your teacher, and he gives you a Buddhist name. In that case, it is a direct recognition of your efforts along your path.


Where can I find the earliest possible version of the Mahā Karuṇā Dhāraṇī ("Great Compassion Mantra")?

Generally speaking the study of dhāraṇī has been sorely neglected until very recently. As such there is very little published information on the subject. For example Paul William's standard text on Mahāyāna Buddhism contains no reference to dhāraṇī.
As the article by the Lokesh Chandra says, the earliest extant texts of this particular dhāraṇī date from the 7th century Chinese translations (T1057 + Siddhaṃ). I see no sign of an independent Sanskrit text anywhere, and Chandra doesn't cite one either. So the Sanskrit texts that are floating around are from one or another of the Chinese texts. And be warned that these are almost certainly unreliable - particularly the Siddham script version (ironically).
The fact that in the text, Avalokiteśvara has already taken on some of Śiva's attributes means that it was probably composed not much earlier than the 7th century. Nīlakaṇṭha is a name of Śiva, as is Īśvara (from Avalokita-īśvara). In Alexander Studholme's book Origins of Om maṇipadme hūṃ he notes that the assimilation of Śiva into Buddhism is a theme in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra which he dates to the 4th Century CE. I suspect that it must be a century or two later than this, just before the emergence of Tantric Buddhism. So the dhāraṇī in question is certainly no earlier than the 4th or 5th century CE.
The Sanskrit text looks to be mainly classical Sanskrit. Although this could just be the bias of editors who reconstructed the Sanskrit from the Chinese! Presuming that the transcription is accurate, it also argues for a date of not earlier than the 4th century CE, since before that time Buddhist texts were composed in Prakrit. Many dhāraṇī's, such as those included in the Saddharmapuṇḍarikā and Suvarṇabhāsottama Sūtras sometime around the 4th century CE, seem to have been composed in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. There never was any text like this in Pāḷi, although Gāndhārī is a possibility since many early Mahāyāna texts were composed in that language. However, very few Gāndhārī texts have been found and not all of them have been edited and published. But see for example the article by Ingo Stauch "The evolution of the Buddhist rakṣā genre in the light of new evidence from Gandhāra: The Manasvi-nāgarāja-sūtra from the Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts" in the BSOAS issue listed below
So it seems to me that you have the earliest text already and that looking for the "original" is probably not going to turn up any more information.
A couple of publications that you might want check are:

Copp, Paul. (2014) The Body Incantatory: Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism. Columbia University Press.
Studholme, Alexander (2002). The origins of oṃ manipadme hūṃ: a study of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra. Albany: State university of New York Press.

Also if you can get hold of it the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 77 - Issue 01 - February 2014. The contents page is available here, and as you will see it has many articles on dhāraṇī.
There may be info in Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia
edited by Charles Orzech, Henrik Sørensen, Richard Payne. I don't have it to hand and the Google Books version has no previews, though the word nīlakaṇṭha is mentioned several times.


In a nut shell Buddhism revolves around the 3 trainings:

Living a life of morality so we do no create misery for one self and others
Developing mastery over the mind so we do not react but be proactive so we can be at peace with our selves and other
Developing wisdom of your cognitive process to identify how misery is generated so we can come out of misery


If someone run past you and some chasing him with weapons ask you if you saw him or not, seeing the danger that he is in you might want to lie but if you do not lie he might get hurt.

While lying is deceit, if it saves a life, can that not be considered a wholesome act?

Recently while visiting one of the Sea Shepherd ships, I noticed a Buddhist statuette that was gifted from the Dalai Lama. While the sea shepherd ships stand between whales and other species that need their protection, the Dalai Lama himself is quoted as saying, in reference to Sea Shepherd tactics, 'when protecting life, it is not a [sin] to cause damage, as the life is more valuable'.

I would consider this to be in the same league as lying to someone who is going to cause serious injury or death. You are protecting life.

In Buddhist teachings it is the intention that is of utmost importance in may areas of life decisions.

If your boss call you and ask if one of your Co-workers said something bad about the boss, you will have to be truthful but in doing so you break a precept as you are using your word to make two people dislike each other.

This would be the equivalent of 'gossip' I would say. I have been put in this situation before and my answer was "the two of you need to sort your own business out and not involve others".

In these kind of situations can we imagine some other thing and answer thinking i'm answering in reference to my imagination and skip the breaking of precepts?
Like saying i did not saw the man who ran away, thinking "There is no such being called me in reality, also there is no man who ran away in reality either"?

This would be very bad for you. At the end of the day your 'intention' is deception when you think this way. This can form a bad habit as you deceive yourself even more than you deceive the other people. As my example above, you don't have to lie, there are always other options.

For example, with the man chasing the other man, you could ask him instead "what is wrong" "can I help you", maybe he is chasing a man who hurt his child, or a robber. There are many options to be considered, and delving into the situation to gain better understanding would be better than deceiving yourself.


It is good to start a sitting group. My suggestions are:

Make the group as informal & self-reliant as possible. 'Self-reliant' means making it clear that meditation is an activity of self-practise & self-endeavour; that the group provides individual members the support & opportunity to develop their own practise.
Make it clear/overt it is simply an informal sitting group rather than a    formal teaching facility.
Provide guided meditation only to newcomers or when introducing a new
practise.
Keep guided meditation short (e.g. 10 - 15 minutes) & main meditation long
(e.g. 30 minutes).
If there is no guided meditation, do a text reading at the start,
contributed & read by yourself or by a member of the group.
If possible, end with tea & formal group discussion on a topic,  chosen
by yourself or by another member of the group.
Be as 'democratic' as possible but without expanding into other
spiritual traditions that may cause confusion.


Emptiness in eastern philosophies usually have a more subtle meaning than we use in the west. Check this wikipedia article on Emptiness. And there are many answers regarding emptiness (sunyata) like this one. There is also an article in wikipedia on Śūnyatā.

The most common understanding on emptiness (on Buddhism) is that it is dependently originated. It means that it does not have inherent meaning or value, but it relies on other things. In mathematics the numbers two, three, five and so on just has meaning because of the number one. And also, the number one only has meaning relying on the other numbers.

In a more practical sense, numbers only has meaning because of the objects, like apples, rocks or sheep. Now, emotions, that have no clear bounds, can't be numerically described. You could say that you felt happy twice today, but you can't express its intensity and form numerically. Then math is true not because it has inherent meaning, but because it works for what it is used.

There is another interpretation I read on this QA (and also in some wikipedia article but I couldn't find it):

  [Emptiness is] a flashy way of reminding us that we only define things in relation to what they are not.

In math words, the number one only exist because there is the zero. And there is zero only because of the one. (Although the zero was "created" much after the integer numbers). If we couldn't distinguish between zero and one, no numbers would make sense. There is only happy because there is not-happy. There is only "self" because we define our bounds, we define what is not-me.

Likewise we can only perceive suffering if we know what is not-suffering.

So, when we say that math is empty, we don't mean that it is false or is meaningless. But we mean that is not absolutely true, that it is true in relation to something. Truth is a relation, not an absolute thing.


Can I attain Vipassana without doing the body scan?

This is an old post, and I don’t even have an account here but I found this by googling to try to find out if there are other Vipassana centers or teachers practicing Vipassana the same way as the teacher in my town! (Jefferson City, MO, US, Vipassana Buddhist Church, Rev. Montee Dhammaruchi). I’ll talk about that a little and hopefully the info is helpful to someone!
It’s been years since I attended there, I traveled away for a long time and found other Buddhists doing different things in Portland Oregon. I practice shikantaza now, as a beginner, after finding that Dogen’s framework seems to click with my logic and also challenge me in a way that feels growthful.
But anyway, years ago, I practiced this form of Vipassana for about 3 years with Rev. Montee, and then continued in it independently until I switched to Zen. The instructions are to sit in a way that isn’t too straining. He encourages full lotus if possible, half lotus if you can’t do full, Burmese posture if you can’t do either. The point is ideally you are splitting your weight between two knees and your butt. Some people sat in chairs though, and he didn’t mind making those available. And then you try to isolate awareness in your breath, with all senses, focusing on your nostrils if possible. And then when sounds or sensations or thoughts happen, try not to be disturbed by them but be aware of their impermanence. That was basically my experience and understanding of it, and I haven’t learned or practiced any other form of Vipassana than what he instructed. Other Vipassana techniques sound pretty different when I read about them. The way Montee taught it, it never involved a body scan. Mindfulness of the whole body was encouraged but there wasn’t a systematic method like that. It may be that he was trying to streamline the essence of Vipassana. When I first began practicing Zazen I had a hard time differentiating between it and Montee’s Vipassana. I know that he had trained in Zen originally so maybe that’s why he taught this way.


Purpose of touching tongue to roof of mouth during meditation

As it was explained to me, the purpose is rather mundane. During some kinds of meditation, esp. when one penetrates lower chakras, there is lots of saliva generated, swallowing which can be quite a distraction and interfere with abdominal breathing. Raising the tongue makes most of saliva flow back into the throat instead of filling the mouth.

P.S. in a commentary to ancient Chan text "Lung Chung" (The Brief Precepts) it says that pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth eliminates the objects of discursive (speech-type) thought.


Thế self Buddha mentioned in “ No self “ is a unchanged , everlasting , pẻmanent self . Thế self everybody are clinging is a temporary self . We have many lifetime , for each lifetime we have each self . So via many lifetime we have many different self depending on our past karma , our background of that life .
Self is delusion , we have been reborn because we attache to our self . Immediately after enlightenment , the Buddha uttered this pane of joy :
Through many a birth , I wandered in samsara ,
Seeking but not finding , the builder of the House
Sorrowful it is to be born again and again

The architect was craving or attachment ( tanHà ), A sẽ
Self- created force , a latent element in all . The rafters of this self-created house is defilement ( kilesa ) - the ridge pole that support the rafters is ignorance ( avijjà) , thế root cause of all defilements . The shattering of the ridge-pole of ignorance by wisdom results in complete demolition of the house . With the demolition of the house , the mind attains the uncondition which is Nibbãna

Oh house builder ! Thou art seen -
Thou shall build no house again ,
All thy rafter aérea broken .
Thy ridge - pole is shattered

My mind has attained the unconditioned .
Achieved is the end of Craving .


Decision to commit suicide is an individual decision. So it does not cause Garuka kamma for the one who does the shaming unless one had the intention to make them commit suicide.

There are also Garuka Kusala Karmas like Jhanas and Maggapala.


Keeping in mind impermanence, suffering and non-self

According to my present (non-sectarian) teacher, the way the Three Marks are to be used is not simply as dogma to be mindful of, but rather as a tool for enquiry into our psyche -- our attachments, or preconceptions.

The way to use Three Marks for enquiry into preconceptions is to try accepting one Mark at a time and see what resistance it causes.

For example, you may spend a week trying to accept the truth of impermanence with all its implications. Does it highlight the cases of you trying to solve any problem "once, completely, and forever"? Knowing that a stable state can't be realized -- does it make all your efforts seem futile? Can you get at peace with doing your best despite this futility? Keep saying "everything is temporary" and keep watching yourself in real situations. All kinds of preconceptions, imprints and deep-lying assumptions will come up.

Similarly, spend a week applying the truth of suffering to your situations at hand. Can you see micro-suffering hiding in millisecond-level activities? Frustration of having to apply effort. Unmet expectations. Do you secretly crave for perfect ease, with reality always matching your wishes? Do you secretly hope existence can ever be effortless? Same thing here, keep telling yourself "life is suffering" with regards to real life situations and see what reaction it causes in you. Is there an area that rebels against the inescapable universal suffering? If so, that's the preconception you need to go through.

The same way, spend another week contemplating the truth of corelessness or no-I amidst real situations. If there is no "I", where do my choices are coming from now? What is the source of my thoughts now? Are my convictions and my values really mine or could this thing called "I" be an accumulations of formulas picked up over time? Am I really as all-important as I have always assumed to be? Do people really care what I do, how I do it and even whether I exist? What if free will is illusion and all my actions are predetermined? What if life is completely pointless and has no purpose and no meaning? Watch yourself as you try these thoughts on. In your mind, is accepting pointlessness of life connected with fear of ambiguity, essentially fear of taking responsibility? Is there deep-lying conviction that something you deem of value is trully of absolute importance? If so, that's your preconception, a piece of your ego, look at it carefully.

So, try each of these on for a week: "everything is temporary", "life is suffering" and "in the grand scheme of things I don't really exist, what I think is my life is just a ripple on the surface of reality" and see what comes up. When Buddhism talks about "attachments" that's what these are, now perhaps for the first time you can meet them face to face.

Eventually, the Three Marks should be fully accepted, with all their implications. Interestingly, accepting each Mark has a surprising effect, almost the opposite of what you'd expect:

Accepting Impermanence awakens you to the eternal Now.
Accepting Suffering makes suffering disappear and turns all existence into bliss.
Accepting Pointlessness aka losing self-importance gets us in touch with unconstricted creativity and the endless energy of the absolute.

Altogether, accepting Three Marks of Existence liberates us from Samsara and connects with Spontaneous Perfection of Unconditioned Nirvana.


Through which medium does kammic information travel after the break-up of the body?

Questions of King Milinda say, "it is nama-rupa that is reborn". When the King asks whether it is the same nama-rupa, Nagasena says, it is not the same, but this nama-rupa arises in causal continuity with the previous nama-rupa, and thus we talk about "rebirth".

Questions of King Milinda also compare rebirth to a memorized verse passing from one person to another, and to a flame passing from one lamp to another. It is clear that rebirth is about causal continuity and the passage of (some) information.

Japanese Zen patriarch Dogen explained that the underlying nature of mind is not separate from the underlying nature of the rest of material world. In numerous explanation in Zen and Vajrayana there is a rather clear consensus that the nature of mind are dynamically interacting relationships, both inside the person, and between the parts of the world.

So when we are talking about rebirth we are talking about continuity of interacting relationships implicitly "stored" or "encoded" in the fabric of activities happening in the world at large.

So the media that carries the karma after the break-up of the body is the world itself. People, things, activities, relationships carry the imprints of the previous existence into the next.

At least, this is my understanding.


The failure of your marriage could be due to a past bad Kamma you have done. But it is also a result of you giving the chance for that past bad kamma to come into fruition. There are 4 factors affecting the results of past Kamma. Payoga Sampatti is one of them. It means skillfulness, diligence and intelligence. You can use this to avoid the results of certain past bad Kamma.
You probably could have avoided such a heartbreak had you at least got to know her as a friend for about an year and studied her character. Even in proposals, you can do that, after both families agree. You didn't have to marry her immediately.

You should stop focusing on the girl who left and use your Payoga Sampatti to do a better job in the future when selecting partners. Focusing on her will likely create hatred in your mind and make your situation worse. If she has done wrong, she will suffer for it in the future. But your situation will not improve whether she suffers or not. She could be enjoying life now because of her past good Kamma, her own Payoga Sampatti and Upadi(good looks) Sampatti.

In case of the old man, one is born into a low caste because of the following reasons:

  There is the case where a woman or man is obstinate & arrogant. He/she
  does not pay homage to those who deserve homage, rise up for those for
  whom one should rise up, give a seat to those to whom one should give
  a seat, make way for those for whom one should make way, worship those
  who should be worshipped, respect those who should be respected,
  revere those who should be revered, or honor those who should be
  honored. Through having adopted & carried out such actions, on the
  break-up of the body, after death, he/she reappears in the plane of
  deprivation... If instead he/she comes to the human state, then he/she
  is low-born wherever reborn. This is the way leading to a low birth:
  to be obstinate & arrogant, not to pay homage to those who deserve
  homage, nor rise up for... nor give a seat to... nor make way for...
  nor worship... nor respect... nor revere... nor honor those who should
  be honored. -Cula Kammavibhanga Sutta


Sanghas of those who practice like monks but aren't officially monks?

In the Mn140 Pukkusati is referred to as a Bhikkhu before receiving the going forth;

  Ven. Pukkusati also spent most of the night sitting [in meditation]. The thought occurred to the Blessed One, "How inspiring is the way this clansman behaves! What if I were to question him?" So he said to Ven. Pukkusati, "Out of dedication to whom, monk, have you gone forth? Who is your teacher? Of whose Dhamma do you approve?"

There aren't any actively recruiting communities that i know of atm.

Also Anagarikas are basically not ordained and are in training.


Talking mind is from accumulation of emotion-creating past actions & tendencies.
Silent intuitive mind is a right concentration when performing what is necessary to perform.
Possibly MN 19 can help in understanding the different layers of the mind.
As MN 117 refers to wrong thought (resolve) vs right thought (resolve).
Every human life is born with unwholesome and wholesome tendencies. This is what is going on here. Thus the Buddha distinguished mental phenomena (dhammas) as wholesome and unwholesome. Refer to MN 9 and "the elements" in MN 115.


How to extend the counter-part sign? What even is this?

From my own meditation experience... For what it's worth...

Usually, when meditation is going well, you feel very comfortable and can relax, your level of concentration grows. Concentration on what? On nothing really, just on sitting and being in the moment. At some point even the breath stops being important, it's more like you no longer get distracted from sitting and staring at your own "raw" mind...

When that happens, it feels almost like you start tripping. I'm sorry for using a highly contemporary comparison, but I can't come up with a better image for what happens at that moment. At least in my experience, I start floating into some altered state of mind... While staying firmly in the present moment, without losing my concentration... In this state of mind I "see" feelings as "shapes" and "colors". It's hard to describe, because that "seeing" is not really visual, the shapes are not really shapes and the colors are not colors. They are feelings. But they are much more "loud" and "thick" than our normal feelings, they have more structure and differentiation so to speak. I believe this is the so-called "counterpart sign".

No two people have the same experiences, but when your get in touch with your deep subconscious emotional mind, you will experience something strange. This something, whatever it is in your case, will start small and then grow and expand. Then you have a choice to either keep relaxing and going deeper into that, or hold on, or come back out. In my experience, when I go deeper I eventually fall into something like a dream state.

In this dream state I lose sense of time, and I don't really have control, but there is still a sense of something going on, and I feel that, and it is good. Sometimes there is a feeling of some mental knots getting untied. Sometimes there is a feeling of resting. Sometimes there is a feeling of opening. Sometimes there is a feeling of sweetness. It also serves as a kind of reset button, meaning, when you "wake up" you feel much refreshed, more grounded, well-rested, balanced, and calm.

It's not really that magical. It's rather similar to a moment when you're falling asleep.

So my answer to your question, "how to extend the counterpart sign" is: "by relaxing into it, by relaxing deeeeep into the present moment".


Does memory persist across different births of an individual?

This is just knowledge (jnāna or vidhyā). Anyone who acquired that knowledge can remember his past life.

Please see Buddha's awakening Buddha's awakening

and page 63 of "On Being Buddha: The Classical Doctrine of Buddhahood"

and I retrieved the text below from page 571 of "Agama Aura Tripitaka: Eka Anusilana"

Prodigy of Memory of Earlier Births (Pϋrva-nivāsa-anusmrti-jnāna): The monk endowed with this prodigy remembers many kinds of earlier births. He can remember many periods of duration of dissolution, creation and destruction-cum-origination of the universe. He remembers that at that time, he was in a particular place, state of birth, species, destinity and state of knowledge. I was in a specific state of birth. I had this name, lineage, life-span, food and experience of pleasure and pain. I was born in a specific place after death from there where I had this…etc. After death there, I am born here in this Ksatriya or Brahmin family. The heretics remember their earlier births upto 40 Kalpas (a unit of time equivalent to 20 Antar-Kalpas). The natural votary remembers earlier births upto 100 or 1000 Kalpas, the great/senior votaries remember earlier births upto 80 lacs of Kalpa years, the self-enlightened one remembers the earlier births upto two innumerable lacs of Kalpa years and the Buddha remembers the earlier births upto a period without measure.


The page you quoted from talks about mentions "the assembly of the five aggregates".

It's standard doctrine that there's no such thing as a permanent (not impermanent), independent (not "dependently originated") self: that's the so-called anatta doctrine, see for example What is the precise meaning of anatta?

The "five aggregates" are things like "form" (perhaps "body"), "feeling", "consciousness", etc. -- which, apparently, people mistake to be themselves -- e.g. "I am this body" (or "I have this body"), "I am (or I have) this consciousness", and so on. Buddhism teaches that these things (these aggregates, skandhas) aren't permanent; that taking them to be "self" is a cause of suffering, and not a good theory (or "right view") to hold or attach to.

Given that Thich Nhat Hanh is Vietnamese/Mahayana, and talking on the same page about Bodhisattvas and peace workers, I think that what he's aiming towards is a view of selflessness (i.e. not selfishness) and interdependence (i.e. not independence). I think that's obvious when you turn the page and read "We have to strip away all the barriers" and so on.

I think that both Thich Nhat Hanh, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, write "popular" books intended to benefit a Western audience.

Anyway, to answer your question, I think the only false view of of "an unchanging entity that exists on its own", that he's talking about here, is the "self" (or "a false view of self"). For example this (my invention, this isn't quoting anyone else) might be one of these false views:

  I'm me; and I'll remain 'me' until I die. And I remain me regardless of what other people do or even regardless of what I do.

I think that Thich Nhat Hanh's view is that we (people) are highly interdependent; we exist together, we affect each other; everything I have (a name, a body, an education) comes from other people. In practice there's little or no sense in which anyone is independent, and to imagine we are "sealed off like that not only isn't living, it isn't possible".

I suppose an example of how people aren't "independent" comes from this (non-Buddhist) doctrine, which was once semi-famous as a doctrine for Early Childhood Educators:

  CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE by Dorothy Law Nolte

  If a child lives with criticism,
  he learns to condemn.

  If a child lives with hostility,
  he learns to fight.

  [etc.]...

  If a child lives with encouragement,
  he learns to be confident.

  If a child lives with tolerance,
  he learns to be patient.

  [etc.]...

  If you live with serenity,
  your child will live with peace of mind.

  With what is your child living?


Has there ever been a systematic persecution of Buddhist heretics?

King Asoka liked the Dhamma so much that he lavished the monks with robes, food and medicine...

This attracted many fake monks...

Monks were beheaded in an effort to find the imposters but that didn't work.

They started the third council to purify the monastic order by questioning monks to find out who knew the Dhamma and who held heretical views so they could  expell the real imposters   from the Sangha.


What is The eighth jhana and how can i practice it?

@ DeusIIXII,  what you are referring to is the last of the four formless meditations that exist. The eight attainments (atthasmapatti) in meditation (attaining Adhicitta) broadly has two parts - namely, the first four rupa jhanas and the four arupa jhanas. These last four are higher stages of mental concentration – the formless states - enable one to gain supernormal powers.

Eventhough we see the mind as normally inter-dependent with body, there are levels of existence where only mental phenomena exist, with nothing whatever of rupa.  The four 'formless' (arupa) meditative states are attainable from the fourth jhana onwards. They are:

The sphere of infinite space (Akasanañcayatana);
This is attained by transcending any cognition of rupa, by abandoning the metal image that was previously the object of concentration, and seeing that space is infinite.

The sphere of infinite consciousness (Viññaaañcayatana);
In this second state, the focus is on the consciousness that had been aware of infinite space.

The sphere of nothingness (Akiñcaññayatana);
In the third, this object (Viññaaañcayatana) is dropped, and the focus is on the apparent nothingness remaining.

The sphere of neither-cognition-nor-non-cognition (Nevasaññanâsaññayatana).
In the fourth, this object (Akiñcaññayatana) is dropped and the mind is in an attenuated state where it is hardly functioning.

If you want to know these stages in more detail please read the following Suttas:

  SD 24.11 _ Pathama Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Savitakka) Pathama Jhana Sutta. Progressing in the 1st dhyana.
  SD24.12a _ Dutiya Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Avitakka) Dutiya Jhana Sutta. Progressing in 2nd dhyana.
  SD 24.13 _ Tatiya Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Sukhena) Tatiya Jhana Sutta. Progressing in the 3rd dhyana.
  SD 24.14 _ Catuttha Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Upekkhaka) Catuttha Jhana Sutta. How to progress in the 4th dhyana.
  SD 24.15 _ Akasanañcayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of infinite space.
  SD 24.16 _ Viññaaañcayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of infinite consciousness.
  SD 24.17 _ Akiñcaññayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of nothingness.
  SD 24.18 _ Nevasaññanâsaññayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.


Feedback - Are spaced-repetition cards useful for learning core Dhamma?

Usually you have only a few words on the side of the answer, like https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/87059434.

Currently you have lots of text as the answer and this is detrimental to reading it quickly and memorizing it. So you have to do like the commentators did with their commentaries and their basic lists like here https://suttacentral.net/patthana1.1/en/agganyani

But contrary to them, you would not imagine the lists, you would just copies the words from the suttas. So it would be :

Front   What is the seventh factor of the Eightfold Path?

Back

Right mindfulness (Samma sati)
...

then a cateogry for the links, like

Links https://suttacentral.net/sn45.8/en/sujato

Then the detailed sentences in pali & english

Details

(Body mindfulness) It’s when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of desire and aversion for the world.

Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā, vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṃ;

...


Does understanding the Visuddhimagga require a knowledge of the Pali Canon?

Like much of Buddhism, your understanding of the text is probably relative to not only your familiarity with Buddhist concepts and theory, but also your own cultivation of the practices themselves.

We went through some of the Visuddhimagga in Winnipeg last year, and I had to explain and elaborate on a lot of the technical aspects of the book using the canon and commentaries. But much of it is easily accessible to the neophyte, especially the first two sections.

Absolutely, reading the entire tipitaka would be the best way to prepare for the Visuddhimagga; go for it! If you can't handle the dauntingness of such a task, beware, because a partial read of the dhamma can give you a lopsided understanding. That's what texts like the Visuddhimagga are for, to give you an overview.

A good way to get a fairly solid overview is to read a single collection, like the Digha or the Majjhima nikaya. Read both if you can, but read them in their entirety, so you get a broad look at the types of things the Buddha taught. The MN can be read one sutta at a time - you can make a chart and check off every time you finish one sutta (there's 152 of them). Bodhi's translations are good. Check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.yuttadhammo.buddhisttexts&hl=en

Practice meditation too; samatha if you want to understand the samadhi niddesa aspect, vipassanā if you want to understand the paññā niddesa. In fact, don't read the tipitaka unless you're meditating as well; I would imagine it difficult to understand (or easy to misunderstand) without actually practicing.

But in the end, what's to worry about? It's all good stuff, tried, tested, and trusted by meditators around the world for thousands of years. Good luck :)


Which eliminate the hindrance permanently Noble eightfold path or supermundane?

To your question, “Which eliminate the hindrance permanently, Noble Eightfold Path or supramundane?” …. There are two level to this Path – the Mundane and the Supramundane. It is at the higher level of this Path that the Hinderances are eliminated permanently, but it happens in stages.

As aforementioned, ascertaining the truth has two parts, i.e; mundane truth and supramundane truth. Ascertaining the truth in matters superficially is known as mundane truth and at this level, the five hindrance remains. This mundane truth would lead to the supramundane ultimately. The ultimate meaning of samma dhitti (right view) is ascertaining the supramundane truth.

What involves in the category of supramundane truth that would help eradicate the five hinderances? It is the understanding that nothing existing in the world can provide long-lasting happiness in the long term, and that there is hidden suffering and that suffering can be eliminated] and that one is really helpless in this rebirth process if this Path is not pursued.

There is the encounter between the Buddha and Mahānāma (Majjhima Nikāya Sutta 14,) a Once-Returner and the householder cousin of Anuruddha, in which Mahānāma asks the Buddha why he can't bring himself to go forth. The Buddha tells Mahānāma that it's because he hasn't sufficiently experienced the pleasures of meditation. One can only assume from this that Mahānāma is somewhat stuck in the five hindrances (nīvaranas).

At Stream Entrant stage one comprehends the anicca nature of this world to some extent. For the mind to grasp that concept, it must be free of the “coarse defilements” or “panca-nivarana” or “five hindrances” that cover one’s mind. For that one has to live a moral life, start contemplating Buddha Dhamma, and experience the “cooling down” that results.

A Stream Entrant is incapable of actions of craving and hatred that will definitively lead to rebirth in the four states of misery (Hell, Asura, Hungry Ghost and Animal realms), but the remaining gross craving and hatred is only eradicated when one becomes a Once-Returner; subtle craving and hatred are eliminated for the Non-Returner.

The Stream Entrant is incapable of False Speech, but is capable of both Malicious and Harsh Speech, which are only eradicated when one becomes a Non-Returner. In this way, we are able to see the emergence of reasonable criteria for the Once-Returner: the emotions would be gentler, more skilful, and one would no longer be subject to any outbursts or compulsions associated with craving or hatred. The Once-Returner has basically 'broken the back' of these fetters, so that they are rendered weak and feeble.

The Once-Returner is no longer dominated by hatred or craving, that there are no longer any times in their lives when they are overwhelmed by such unskillful emotions. These emotions may arise occasionally in a weakened form, and only during awareness – they don't dominate.

In addition to having broken the first three fetters and possessing an unshakeable faith in the Three Jewels, the Non-Returner has attained complete ethical purity. It's not that they don't conceal their unskillfulness, they just don't have any, whether of body, speech or mind. They are almost flawlessly motivated by generosity, love and wisdom.

The last five fetters remain of course, but these are exceptionally subtle in comparison to what has been broken in the fourth and fifth fetters. Also, because Non-Returners are not subject to any hindrances, the Eight Jhānas are readily accessible to them.

There’s a simile where a man is suffering from pain. He gets tied up in anxiety and misery around the pain. And the Buddha says it’s like being shot with an arrow and then shooting yourself with a second arrow. The physical pain is the first arrow; the mental pain is the second one. And it’s the mental one that’s important. As the Buddha says, the enlightened person, the awakened person, may still get shot with those first arrows but doesn’t shoot him or herself with the second.  It is because an Arahant has gone beyond the last of the four kinds of clingings – the Attavada Upadana (attachment or upadana is “firmly grasping”.) Attavada is the last of the attachments which is in other words a hindrance to the realization of Nibbana. So this tells us how hinderances are eradicated in stages.