Teachings for Monastics
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Instructions and advice for renunciants on how to get the most out of their precious opportunity for freedom.
Two Tibetan monks engage in a traditional debate in the crowded courtyard of Sera Monastery near Lhasa in 2007. (Thomas Fanghaenel, BY-SA 3.0)
Table of Contents
- Articles (2)
- Audio/Video (5)
- Booklets (7)
- Canonical Works (39)
- Essays (10)
- Excerpts (1)
- Subtopics (1)
Articles (2)
Audio/Video (5)
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Until one has a taste of samādhi, one doesn’t know the value of the Dhamma and the teaching. Until a bhikkhu experiences samādhi, he fails to see the value of the Buddha’s teaching. He may read about it in books, but paper and ink are not very tasty food!
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The “Five Kinds of Monks” and what it takes for the sāsana to thrive.
Booklets (7)
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A translation of a sutra preserved in Chinese, which tells the story of the Buddha’s final instructions to the Sangha.
Canonical Works (39)
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a mendicant with four qualities is worthy of offerings
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five people similar to warriors are found among the monks
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a mendicant who abuses and insults their spiritual companions can expect…
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⭐ Recommended
Let them enjoy the filthy, lazy pleasure of possessions, honor, and popularity.
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The Buddha refuses to perform miracles for a layman, explaining that this is not the right way to inspire faith. He goes on to tell the story of a monk’s misguided quest for spiritual answers, an answer the Buddha ultimately gives in one of the most profound poems of the Canon.
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let them fulfill their precepts, be committed to inner serenity of the heart, not neglect absorption, be endowed with discernment, and frequent empty huts.
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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.
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The Buddha said to them: “Mendicants, what’s with that dreadful racket? You’d think it was fishermen hauling in a catch!”
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Then, not receiving his parents’ permission to go forth, the clansman Raṭṭhapāla lay down there on the bare floor, saying: “Right here I shall either die or receive the going forth.”
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I cannot make that person emerge from the unwholesome and establish him in the wholesome.’ one should not underrate equanimity towards such a person.
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⭐ Recommended
The monastic rules for Theravada Bhikkhunis, prepared in a bilingual English-Pali edition for study and recitation.
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🥇 Featured
The canonical explication of the monastic rules.
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In the future
many dangers will arise in the world.
Idiots will defile
the Dhamma that was taught so well. -
The Buddha promises his half-brother Nanda five hundred celestial nymphs if he stays in the holy life. The gambit works, demonstrating the transformative potential of the monastic life.
Essays (10)
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Six changes in the modern world that monasticism will have to adapt to, and that present new opportunities.
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When feelings of discouragement come up and we are tired and disheartened we might want to give up our efforts, but once we have given up, there is no chance any more to reap the benefits of the practice. So at least keep trying, everyone. Whether we have already attained peaceful states or not doesn’t matter. Just keep on meditating, sitting or walking. Peaceful or not.
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Here I have set down for those who wish to follow the bodhisattva path,
Thirty-seven practices to be adopted by all the buddhas’ heirs -
🥇 Featured
Reverend Sirs, I would like the reverend bhikkhus and bhikkhunis—as well as the laymen and laywomen—to listen to these passages frequently and to ponder on them.