They arouse faith in things that are dubious, and they don’t arouse faith in things that are inspiring. When a foolish, incompetent untrue person has these four qualities they keep themselves broken and damaged.

After reflection, you should criticize those worthy or criticism, and praise those worthy of praise.

Bhikkhu, if one teaches the Dhamma for the purpose of revulsion towards the eye, for its fading away and cessation, one can be called a bhikkhu who is a speaker on the Dhamma.

We find that verbal conflict initiated by governments not only failed to deter ISIS but in fact increased the frequency of ISIS’s attacks on civilians.

In an effort to solidify their reputations, extremists engage in further violence toward civilians, thus leading to worse humanitarian consequences.

I don’t think that lying is necessary. I think if we have honest, tactful interaction, we’re always going to be the better for it.

A brief analysis of white lies, bully lies, and mischievous lies and why people tell them.

one acquires merit even if one throws away dishwashing water in a refuse dump or cesspit with the thought: ‘May the living beings here sustain themselves with this!’

The Buddha is falsely accused of preventing gifts to other communities, but agrees that gifts to the Noble Ones are the most fruitful karmically.

By virtue of both the so-called “mystical” experiences that frequently arise during PAP, and the long-term shifts to outlooks, values, and priorities that can follow treatment, the processes of decision-making that are normatively expected of patients run aground. If this framing is correct, then prospective patients cannot meet the requirement of understanding that is one of the principal analytic components of informed consent.

Our findings could be laid out along a developmental continuum: portrayals were seen to range from unreflective voicing of a reified self, to more developed self-narratives in which mindful awareness (a meta-position) was portrayed in dialogue: bringing an inquisitive, present-focused, and compassionate awareness to habitual reactions. The telos of development, as seen from both [Dialogical Self Theory and Buddhist] perspectives, entails de-positioning: describing simple awareness of being. Our analyses display how the voice de-reifies self, and how that voice may be taken up by practitioners, to varying extents.

However, when the boy has grown up and has enough sense, the nurse would be unconcerned about him.

The Buddha looks after mendicants like a nurse looks after a child until they’ve grown up.

Venerable Vaṅgīsa thought, ‘This Venerable Sāriputta is educating the mendicants…’

Someone who had not established mindfulness of the body might well attack one of their spiritual companions and leave without saying sorry.

When another monk falsely accuses Sāriputta of hitting him, the Buddha calls Sāriputta to respond to the allegation.

There are ten warm-hearted qualities that make for fondness and respect, conducing to inclusion, harmony, and unity, without quarreling. What ten?

Most people find you unlikable and unlovable. You have lots of enmity and many faults. You feel lost when you die.

The five drawbacks of intolerance.

None of us should be defined by the mental health conditions or psychosocial difficulties that we experience, or by any single aspect of who we are. We should be respected as individuals first and foremost.

While the simple “say this instead of that” format erases a huge amount of nuance and complexity, the guide is still a valuable and practical primer on how to talk to and about people who are going through difficult times.

There is the case where a certain individual doesn’t practice for the subduing of passion within him/herself but encourages others in the subduing of passion

Four kinds of people. See the previous sutta for their relative ranking.

The person who practices to benefit both themselves and others is the foremost…

See the next sutta for how…

Mendicants, a resident mendicant with five qualities shows compassion to the lay people. What five?

“This is how societies end,” said the tweet, as if people’s annoyance that some random lady [thought her] TikTok was more important than their safe commute was akin to the sacking of Rome. “No no,” I thought, “this, in fact, is how societies end.”

An impassioned plea for us to avoid stupid “discourse bait” online.

… those who have not long gone forth, who are newcomers in this Dhamma & Vinaya should be encouraged, exhorted, and established in these five things.

From the inside out, I can know exactly where I am at any time and so, even when I’m falling short, I still have confidence because I know where I am. I’m not lost because the Dharma can find me.

How to learn the Dhamma.

… seeking an argument, searching for an argument, thinking: ‘I will refute his thesis,’ it is impossible that he could make that bhikkhu shake…

No-one can refute you if you are well grounded in the four noble truths.

Let me make the songs for the people,
Songs for the old and young;
Songs to stir like a battle-cry
Wherever they are sung.

Take a mendicant who declares enlightenment: ‘I understand: “Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is no return to any state of existence.”’ You should neither approve nor dismiss that mendicant’s statement. Rather, you should question them…

How to reply to someone claiming to be an arahant.

Someone yelled, ‘That dog gonna end up in a pot of rice!’

Today’s poem faces, head on, the way jokes can harm people and proliferate racism.

When there are no bhikkhus who are exhorters: this is a case of decline.

The Buddha invites Kassapa to teach the mendicants, but he is reluctant, saying that the monks have become stubborn and their good qualities are in decline.

That’s how it is for one who is not without passion for fabrications.

The Venerable Tissa is roused by an interview with the Buddha.

Nothing better than patience is found.

The demon lord Vepacitti proposes to Sakka that they engage in a battle of wits rather than war.

There are, mendicants, these ten topics of discussion…

They ask their communities to “wait and see” whether these allegations are true, with the unspoken assumption that they are not. I assert these responses use Buddhist teachings to uphold cis-masculine innocence by using hegemonic logics and commitments to downplay and delegitimize the phenomenon of sexual violence.

… a bad person and a worse person, a good person and a better person

Is it better to preach the Dhamma or to practice it?

A nun with five qualities is cast down to hell…

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Whenever there are arguments and quarrels, tears and anguish, arrogance and pride, and grudges and insults to go with them, can you explain how these things come about?

The Buddha is questioned on the source of quarrels and disputes, and on the highest level of spiritual attainment.

… why did you get up from your seat and leave while there was still more left to do?

A corrupt tax-collector is (partially) redeemed by an encounter with Venerable Sāriputta.

If he strikes an elephant, he does it carefully…

When the Buddha teaches, he respects his audience.

… at the time of his final extinguishment. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants…

As he lay dying, the Buddha encouraged his disciples to ask any last questions.

We have this tendency to jump to conclusions…

A conversation about the Chankī Sutta and how to cultivate the path in a polarized world.

Bhikkhus, do not engage in disputatious talk

Don’t argue. Instead, converse on the four noble truths.

It’s inappropriate to talk to an unfaithful person about faith…

… when a mendicant explains what is not the teaching as the teaching…

Ten roots for disputes in the Saṅgha.

if you’re patient, mindful and calm,
then you act for the good of both
for yourself and the other person

A brahmin visits the Buddha and abuses him, but the Buddha responds with patience.

And how is an individual like an inscription in rock?

All these problems with information have always been a problem for human beings. Then you get the internet, which is the informational equivalent of giant cities and now it’s an existential crisis. So we’ll have to develop the generational equivalent of both sanitation at the platform level and best practices as individuals—the “washing your hands” of misinformation. Both things will have to happen

On what it takes to change someone’s mind, and a reflection on whether you should even try in the first place.

If they listen to your advice, you should establish them in the four factors of stream-entry.

You should encourage your friends in the Dhamma.

… a mendicant who wants to accuse another should first check five things in themselves and establish five things in themselves

… a person of integrity, when asked, does not reveal another person’s bad points, to say nothing of when unasked

On speaking well and ill of others.

Possessions, honor, and popularity are brutal, bitter, and harsh.

Even someone who would not lie for the sake of their mother could do so when corrupted by material possessions.

… why bother a renunciate?

When a mendicant falls asleep in the middle of the day, a deity tries to rouse them. But not all is at it seems.

One should know what it is to extol and what it is to disparage, and knowing both, one should neither extol nor disparage but should teach only the Dhamma. One should know how to define pleasure, and knowing that; one should pursue pleasure within oneself.

Achieving peace is no simple matter. The Buddha explains how to avoid conflict through contentment, right speech, understanding pleasure, and not insisting on provincial conventions.

… don’t arouse faith in things that are dubious

On the importance (!) of judgement.

… what, bhikkhus, is the person whose speech is like dung?

Mendicants, don’t engage in all kinds of low talk, such as…

… a mendicant who abuses and insults their spiritual companions can expect…

Why a monk shouldn’t speak ill of his peers.

… your mouth is being eaten by worms

… a monk who wishes to criticize another should first establish five resolutions

Kokālika has been reborn in the Pink Lotus hell because of his resentment for Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

A follower of Devadatta slanders Ven. Sāriputta and Ven. Moggallāna and, after suffering a painful disease, dies. The sutta then gives a graphic description of the sufferings awaiting him in hell.

Man is born
with an axe in his mouth.

Brahmā Tudu tries to persuade Kokālika to have faith in Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

… studies suggest that diversity statements [should] be aspirational, emphasize autonomy, and express a value for difference

… five drawbacks for a person who talks a lot

And the benefits to being reserved.

Although I did not have anything with which to practice generosity, I encouraged others.

A deva explains how worshiping the relics of a Buddha can bring much happiness.

Mendicants, it is not appropriate for you who have gone forth to talk about such things.

When monks have gathered, they shouldn’t spend their time gossiping.

… there is no bad deed they would not do

For the full context behind this short saying, see MN 61.

… speech that has four factors is well spoken

For Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of this sutta, see Snp 3.3.

Are diversity and harmony necessarily at odds?

I cannot make that person emerge from the unwholesome and establish him in the wholesome.’ one should not underrate equanimity towards such a person.

The Buddha outlines when and how monks should reprove one another.

having heard that rough speech broadcast around,
A monk should bear it with an uncorrupt mind.

After wanderers of other sects attempt to frame the Buddhist monks for the murder of Sundarī, the Buddha teaches the monks how to respond to false accusations.

my first try I made a hit…

… the Buddha confined himself to asserting statements which were true and useful, though pleasant or unpleasant, so that the Dhamma is pragmatic, although it does not subscribe to a pragmatic theory of truth.

A short introduction to early Buddhist epistemology from its preeminent, modern scholar.

I do not like the ‘single issue’ approach to Dhamma. However, a few years ago I had an encounter which made me realize that inquiries about homosexuality should be given my whole attention.

We talk about “Right View” and “Wrong View,” but what we actually have, if we really look at our minds, is confusion!

You can use logic and reason and so on in a destructive manner and if you do that too much, of course, you can get what we’re all familiar with: the kind of modern nihilism and cynicism and all of these kinds of things. That comes from too much of that. So, obviously there needs to be a balance. There needs to be some ability to deconstruct, but that needs to go hand-in-hand with a constructive and a positive approach, so that the deconstruction has a context

Intuition is just a natural function of the mind, that’s all. Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong. […] It’s not the infallible voice of God. It’s just a part of us.

To formulate a viable, systematic Buddhist environmental ethic, they must clarify on Buddhist grounds what an optimal world might be

… the most truthful way of regarding illness — and the healthiest way of being ill — is one most purified of, most resistant to, metaphoric thinking

A classic and much-cited essay on the (mis)use of metaphors to describe disease.

Available online from the original publisher: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Years later, Sontag also wrote in the NYRB, this time on the metaphors of AIDS in a compelling post-script later published alongside the original essay.

After reading, consider these discussion questions about the essay.

If a person has faith, they preserve truth by saying, ‘Such is my faith.’ But they don’t yet come to the definite conclusion: ‘This is the only truth, other ideas are silly.’

The Buddha instructs a Brahmin on the right way to talk about religion and how to make our way through the thicket of views to arrive at the truth.

… poets do not [normally] get this kind of attention

The story of an unusual fence in New York City and its bold rejection of cynicism.

the Buddha himself rarely smiles in the Canon, and when he does, the reasons for his smile are never hilarious. Still, the Canon’s reputation for being devoid of humor is undeserved. It’s there in the Canon, but it often goes unrecognized.

An anthology of humorous stories from the Pali Canon, which makes the collection less intimidating and more approachable. Recommended for people just starting to read the canon, and wondering where to start.

The book may have been inspired by this 1981 paper in JPTS by Walpola Rahula.

Even as I work on eliminating the amplification of suffering, I can also turn to looking to ways I might start to amplify more life-serving experiences. Do I sense, anywhere in my body, a bit of well-being? Or even a bit of pleasure, or joy, appreciation, or love? Am I willing to let my attention rest there?

A short introduction to mindfulness as cognitive therapy.

Mansplaining is not a universal flaw of the gender, just the intersection between overconfidence and cluelessness where some portion of that gender gets stuck.

A classic essay (updated slightly in 2012) on casual misogyny which prompted the addition of “mansplaining” to the lexicon.

Recollecting that nun’s faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom, [one] applies her mind to that end. This is how a nun lives at ease.

The Buddha interrogates a group of shy monks, and explains why he reveals the attainments of his disciples.

Thus, Rahula, you should train yourself, ‘I will not tell a deliberate lie even in jest.’

Using the “object lesson” of a cup of water, the Buddha explains to his son, Rāhula, the importance of telling the truth and reflecting on one’s motives.

… this is the nature of a person accomplished in view. Though they might manage a diverse spectrum of duties for their spiritual companions, they still feel a keen regard for the training in higher ethics, higher mind, and higher wisdom.

The Buddha taught the reluctant, quarrelling monks of Kosambi to develop themselves in love and harmony, reminding them of the higher aspirations for which they ordained.

A dispute about livelihood or about the Pātimokkha would be trifling, Ānanda. But should a dispute arise in the Sangha about the path or the way, such a dispute would be for the harm and unhappiness of many

Hearing of the death of the Jain leader, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, and their subsequent disputes, the Buddha encourages the Saṅgha to swiftly resolve their own disputes. He lays down a series of seven methods for doing so, which form the foundation for the monastic code.

‘What the hell, Kāḷī!’

Mendicants, there are these five ways in which others might criticize you. Their speech may be timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, beneficial or harmful, from a heart of love or from secret hate. When others criticize you, they may do so in any of these ways. If that happens, you should train like this: ‘Our minds will remain unaffected.’

Even if low-down bandits were to sever you limb from limb, anyone who had a malevolent thought on that account would not be following my instructions.

If you frequently reflect on this advice–the simile of the saw–do you see any criticism, large or small, that you could not endure?”

A discourse full of vibrant and memorable images on the importance of patience and love even when faced with abuse and criticism.

“Why, exactly, do you teach some people thoroughly and others less thoroughly?”

The chief Asibandhakaputta asks the Buddha why, if he has equal compassion for all, he teaches some more than others. The Buddha answers with a simile of a field: a farmer knows to put most of their effort into the fertile land.