For Everyone Who Seeks | About the Cover | Dhamma Siddhi Thero

මුල් සිංහල වීඩියෝව සඳහා Play කරන්න

For Everyone Who Seeks | About the Cover | Dhamma Siddhi Thero

Monk: The word Peta has several meanings. The main one is, what we talk about as Peta is not what people generally talk….

Disciple: Not about as a ghost (preta)?

Monk: That is, what people talk about, the Peta mentioned in the Tirokudda Sutta, it says they are at the doorframes, in the drains, right? That they are in all those places in the houses. People believe a ghost story that the dead come and are born and live in those places. But what the commentaries (Atuva) explain as Peta is that when someone among us dies, they are all peto. Ito peto. Ito means from this place, pecca means to another place, and gato means the one who has gone. That means the collective term for those who were alive with us and then died is Peta. That's why the Petavatthu and Vimanavatthu are two parts included in the Tipitaka. It's like this, after everything has been properly organized, let's say on this computer, we have a lot of files. Then we categorize them as video, audio, right? JPG, PNG, and after organizing everything, there's a certain section, sometimes screenshots we've taken, that don't belong anywhere. But they seem important. When all such things are collected, there are about 15 of them in this. The books of the Khuddaka Nikaya have been created by assigning the relevant topics to them. Stories that have been gathered during conversations. Even today, there are such things. Things like, "so-and-so got possessed by a yakkha (demon) and this and that happened." We get to hear those stories as well. Where do we put them? There's no place to put them. So then, a separate file is created for yakkhas. See? Similarly, to describe the group that receives the results of unwholesome actions (akusala vipaka), the Petavatthu is taken to put the stories of their consequences that are found. To put stories of those who received good results, like divine beings, they take the Vimanavatthu. That's how this collection of stories has come together.

Disciple: So, is it literature, or is there actually a fact here?

Monk: Truly, when a person does good things, the person's mind functions in a positive way. As a result, something positive happens. So, when conveying this to people, a little bit of artistry needs to be added. Just like when we take a picture, we edit it a bit to make it look good before presenting it. Likewise, to make a person feel an inclination, a desire to engage with it, that quality is infused, and then the result of it also needs to be brightened that much. Like, "this is how it is, this is how it is." That's when the interest is generated. If you just say, "here is a camera, buy this camera," it won't happen. When you show its photos, the photo has to be made to look superb first, right? If the photo is bad, they won't buy the camera. I'm not saying these are flaws; it's what we do to perfect anything.

Disciple: When it comes to our ignorance and lack of understanding…

Monk: No, in that context, it doesn't directly affect our existing ignorance (avijja) and lack of understanding of not-self (anatta) as much. What it affects is...for that, we have plenty of sermons in the Majjhima Nikaya that help. In this one [the Khuddaka Nikaya], what is mostly there is the aspect of karma (kamma), about the strengths and weaknesses of karma.

Disciple: The Buddha doesn't normally talk about karma, right?

Monk: No, the Buddha doesn't reject karma.

Disciple: He doesn't reject it…

Monk: But there are people who question it. When engaging with them... The Buddha's main focus is not karma. Right, but as we live, we meet different kinds of people. Even today, people ask us, "What kind of flowers should be offered to the Ruwanwelisaya? White flowers? Yellow flowers?" There are things like that, aren't there? So, the Buddha met people of various qualities. The way he spoke to those people is what has been preserved and organized.

Disciple: To truly understand what the Buddha said and to eliminate the lack of understanding, it is the Majjhima Nikaya…

Monk: Yes. The suttas in the Majjhima Nikaya are very helpful. The main stream I have found is, if you ask, "Venerable Sir, what should I do to find this? Where in the Tipitaka should I look?" I cannot tell them to look at the Abhidhamma. No. Right? I also cannot tell them to look at the Khuddaka Nikaya. The Digha Nikaya is also too complex. If you take the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, there's a portion of what the Buddha said. It's genuinely there. But beyond that, the Parinibbana Sutta is a very long sutta. In the end, it talks about cremating a body, distributing the relics, all of that is there. But it starts with "Evam me sutam" ("Thus have I heard"). Did the Buddha say those things, like, "This is how I will now attain parinibbana, this is what will happen..." He didn't say anything like that. The things he said are there at the beginning. After that, what happened subsequently has also been included. The story then flows on continuously. So, that's why I say those are very large suttas. There are long suttas like the Brahmajala Sutta, suttas about the analysis of the world. So, for people to conduct an exploration of their own minds, there are very few pages. It's not that there aren't any; there are points here and there, pieces we can take and construct something.

Disciple: But one needs considerable wisdom for that to select them.

Monk: Yes. However, in the Majjhima Nikaya, there are many suttas that directly address this.

Disciple: How many Nikayas are there?

Monk: Five. The Digha Nikaya has long suttas. The Majjhima Nikaya has medium-length suttas. The Samyutta Nikaya is like, combined, compiled (samyutta). There's the Anguttara Nikaya, which increases aṅga by aṅga (factor by factor). That is, it has sections (nipata). There's the Eka-ka Nipata (Book of the Ones). It contains suttas where the Buddha spoke about only one thing. "Monks, there is one such thing I know. There is only one such thing in the world." Like, "Ekapuggalo, bhikkhave, loke uppajjamāno uppajjati bahujanahitāya..." ("Monks, there is one person whose arising in the world is for the welfare of many..."), and then he explains who that is. After that, the Duka Nipata (Book of the Twos) has sermons on two things.

Disciple: Duka means two?

Monk: Yes. The Tika Nipata (Book of the Threes) has sermons on three things. "Tīṇimāni, bhikkhave..." ("Monks, these three things..."). So, in that way, it increases factor by factor. That collection is what is compiled there. Those suttas are in the Anguttara.

Disciple: Anguttara...I thought it’s someone’s name.

Monk: That’s because we…like Pinguttara. We tend to look at it the same way. No, it's not like that. Khuddaka Nikaya means, khudda is like kshudra, meaning small. The Khuddaka Nikaya is where the scattered teachings are, like the Dhammapada, which belongs to the Khuddaka Nikaya. : But if we take the Dhammapada, it has 26 chapters (vagga). And in each of these chapters, it's not like the Buddha preached the Citta Vagga (Chapter on the Mind) as a single sermon. Rather, places where the Buddha spoke about the mind, where there are good facts, those verses (gatha) are there. Only the verses. Those verses have been collected from various places and compiled into the Dhammapada, under the relevant chapter, like the Citta Vagga. Similarly, when talking about Arahants, a chapter called the Arahanta Vagga is created, describing the characteristics of Arahants. Then there's the Bala Vagga, which describes how foolish people behave, and the Pandita Vagga. So, the Dhammapada... the reason I spoke more about the Dhammapada is because it's called the handbook of Buddhists. That means, when you examine it, you can find information on any subject within Buddhism, how things are focused. In that context, the Citta Vagga is very valuable. Because although it's called the Buddhist's handbook, it seems to me that people who are striving to attain Nibbana have never even bothered to read the Citta Vagga of the Dhammapada. Everyone today is struggling to find a method to stop the mind and thoughts. But if you examine the verses in the Citta Vagga, there aren't that many, maybe less than 20 at most. In none of them does the Buddha talk about eradicating thoughts. What is found everywhere is about taming the mind. "Ye cittaṃ saṃyamessanti, mokkhanti mārabandhanā" ("Those who will restrain their mind, they will be freed from the bonds of Mara"). Whoever brings that mind under restraint will be freed from Mara's snare, Mara's bond or trap. Similarly, "Cittassa damatho sādhu, cittaṃ dantaṃ sukhāvahaṃ" ("It is good to tame the mind; a tamed mind brings happiness"). Taming the mind is good; if one does so, one attains happiness. So the Dhammapada, which was created by collecting such verses, is also included in this Khuddaka Nikaya. Also, the Thera Gatha, Theri Gatha...

Disciple: It's not about memorizing instead of taking what’s necessary for oneself…you are unable to found out what it. [Inaudible]

Monk: So, that's why the Vimanavatthu and Petavatthu are in it. So, when you hear Khuddaka Nikaya, an idea should come to your mind that this is a collection of many scattered points put together. Meaning, you can't just discard these things. It's like when mining for gems, the small, small pieces that are left over, nobody throws them away, right? They keep them, thinking they might be useful for something. It's just like that. Those are gems too.

Disciple: They must have included it to the Dhammapada [Inaudible]

Monk: The Dhammapada was compiled and then included. When it was being compiled, they looked throughout the Tipitaka to see where and what was said about Arahants. All of it was collected to create the Arahanta Vagga. 'Vagga' here means category. So, some of those chapters have 10, 12, 15, 20 verses. Anyway, I last studied it 15 or 20 years ago.

Disciple: Now, the Dhammapada is available in print, isn't it? In Sri Lanka?

Monk: Yes. It contains the entire Dhammapada. And all the chapters, all twenty-something of them. There are also books with the translation on the opposite page. Or you can check for a PDF on the internet.

Disciple: Is it the verse "Sabba pāpassa akaranam..."? "kusalassa upasampadā... They gave that to us to memorize in school. I could never memorize it in my life. I couldn't.

Monk: Memorization is not necessary. If one had just read it once to get an idea of the meanings, what is in it, then when a question comes up, it surfaces from there. "No, that's not how it is, this is what it says." We don't need to struggle with Pali because we are Sinhalese. It's good for those who are dedicating their lives to do deep research on it. Therefore, more than the languages, what's here is what we feel in our practical lives. Once we develop those qualities, we don't need interpretations from anywhere else. We automatically get the meaning. It is just so. We ordinary worldlings (puthujjana) live in a completely different world. A person needs to sense. Let's say we want to understand the environmental conditions of a past era. What a person does is they practice the qualities needed to travel back, to search. They search for old words, pictures of people from that time, their habits, and so on. When you are immersed in the subject, without even realizing it, that essence of the environment of that era gets absorbed along with the data. That is, you feel it. Then, no matter how much someone says, "No, that's not it, it's not like that," you know. That is the thing. That feeling and the cultural, verbal meaning that is given to us through our ears are two different things. That is why even a language like Pali needs to be learned only for a certain period. After that, when we stay with the Sutta discourses, that quality just comes into us. No special analysis is needed. For that, you don't need to go and check the commentaries (atuva). Today, those who say not to seek Nibbana outside the Tipitaka, what they all do is look at the commentaries, not the points from the Tipitaka. That is, the later analyses, the interpretations given to what's in the Tipitaka. They respect those. The majority of those who provided these interpretations were of Brahmin origin. Brahmins are people who are well-versed in the Vedas and Vedanta. So, when they translate these things with that knowledge in their heads, that sense unconsciously gets into this. What they learned in their religious ideologies are gods who fly above, strange magic, things like that. So, to extol a virtuous person, they use the methods they understand. His personal habits, his simple lifestyle, don't come through. What they bring out are the superhuman qualities. How the beings they knew as gods behaved, they take that and exaggerate it even more superbly in this context to show this person as being on a much higher level. So, that is just one side that is talked about in today's society. When you take any side, the meanings that emerge are not the meanings that come when we practice this inwardly and practically. There are distorted meanings.

Original Source (Video):

Title: සොයන සැමට | පිට කවරය ගැන | ‪@dhammasiddhi‬

https://youtu.be/1J9_E1uO50M?si=Xfznp-lZm2G6gqF_

Disclaimer

The translations shared on this blog are based on Dhamma sermons originally delivered in Sinhalese. They have been translated into English with the help of AI (ChatGPT & Gemini AI), with the intention of making these teachings more accessible to a broader audience.

Please note that while care has been taken to preserve the meaning and spirit of the original sermons, there may be errors or inaccuracies in translation. These translations are offered in good faith, but they may not fully capture the depth or nuance of the original teachings.

This blog does not seek to promote or endorse any specific personal views that may be expressed by the original speaker. The content is shared solely for the purpose of encouraging reflection and deeper understanding of the Dhamma.