10 Bases of Meritorious Actions

1. Dana (charity)
Dana means giving away something as a gift or donation. If one performs the charitable act with keen volition before, during and after the time of giving, without any attachment to the things which are being offered, and with a firm belief in karma and its results, that kind of Dana is indeed greatly beneficial Dana. Owing to one’s Dana, one will be endowed with riches throughout the round of rebirths.

2. Sila (morality)
Sila means restraining one’s bodily and verbal actions, maintaining good moral conduct. One who observes morality avoids doing evil actions either physically or verbally. All human beings should observe the five moral precepts well just as they wear nether garments well. It is essential that everyone be endowed with good morality. So everyone should observe the five moral precepts. For other higher moral precepts (Uposatha Sila), the more one can observe them, the greater the benefits will be. The merit of morality surpasses that of charity. One who is endowed with morality will be reborn in fortunate existences throughout the round of rebirths, Samsara.

3. Bhavana (mental cultivation)
The practice of meditation is more beneficial than the performance of charitable acts or the observance of moral precepts. It is necessary to have a calm and tranquil mind to practice meditation, because it is cultivated through mental action. The practice of meditation even for a short time can bear more benefits than practicing Dana and Sila for a long time.

4. Apacayana (giving due respect to others)
Apacayana means paying due respect to those who are worthy of respect. The Buddha, the Dhamma, the Samgha, parents, teachers, those who are older, more dignified and more virtuous than oneself, those who practice meditation and those who make strenuous effort for the development of their nation, the Buddha’s Teaching and their country, are worthy of respect. Everyone should pay them due respect by giving a warm welcome when they come, paying respect to them with joined palms raised to the forehead, paying homage to them, walking respectfully before them, bending slightly forward, etc. All these actions denote Apacayana. One who is endowed with Apacayana is loved by everyone and will be prosperous and successful in this very life. He will also be reborn in a good destination after death.

5. Veyyavacca (rendering services and assistance)
Veyyavacca means helping others in performing good deeds. Attending on those who are worthy of respect in a small way or in a big way, helping one’s friends in their affairs, offering one’s seat and helping persons worthy of respect while one is travelling, helping the sick and the aged, cleaning monasteries, houses, localities, pagodas and Bodhi Trees, repairing roads for the welfare of passers-by, building bridges, placing water-pots on stands for everyone to drink, and building rest-houses, etc., are called Veyyavacca.

6. Pattidana (sharing merits)
Pattidana means sharing one’s merits with others after doing some good deeds. One who has performed some meritorious deeds should share one’s merit with others so that they may also gain the same benefit. One must share one’s merit with the King of Hell (Yama) for he always questions those who reach Niraya whether they had performed some meritorious deeds in their past existences in order to enable him to send them to good destination. Besides, one has to share one’s merit with one’s parents, grandparents, and all sentient beings living in the thirty-one planes of existences.

7. Pattanumodana (rejoicing at merits shared)
Pattanumodana means rejoicing in others’ meritorious deeds and saying “well-done” when one sees, hears or knows them. When one rejoices in others’ meritorious deeds happily and earnestly, one will acquire a great deal of good karma which will bear good results in many future existences. Even when one cannot perform meritorious deeds by oneself, one can say “well-done” “(Sadhu)”joyfully and sincerely to other’s good deeds. The acts of sharing one’s merit and rejoicing in others’ good deeds resemble the act of lighting a candle from another lighted candle. The flame of the lighted candle does not lose any of its brightness, and it enables other candles to get similar flames and burn brightly. In the same way, one who shares his merit with others will not lose any of his merit. Besides, he gains additional merit, while he helps others who rejoices in his merit to gain the same benefits as he does.
When miserable beings(Petas) rejoice and say “well-done” “(Sadhu)” to the merits shared out to them, these acts of merit can bear fruits immediately. Various celestial beings and miserable beings such as Paradattupajivi Petas and Vemanika Petas, who sustain their lives on others’ giving, can enjoy the bliss and happiness of good merit as soon as they say “well-done””(Sadhu)” to others’ meritorious deeds. The case of King Bimbissara and the Petas who were his relatives in former existences clearly illustrates that sharing of merit is beneficial to those who have passed away. Therefore, one who performs meritorious deeds should share one’s merit with all, especially, with one’s relatives who have passed away.

8. Dhammassavana (listening to the Dhamma)
Dhammassavana means listening well to the Doctrine, i.e, listening with proper attention to the discourses, which can give both mundane and supra-mundane benefits. Dhammassavana really means listening to the discourses that can lead one to liberation from the round of rebirths, Samsara. It is a very rare opportunity to listen to the discourses delivered by the Buddha. It is described as one of the five Rare Occasions (Sadhammassavanam Dullabham). Therefore, listeners should pay proper attention and listen respectfully to the teachings of the Buddha for the Buddha appears in this world only once in aeons of time.

9. Dhammadesana (teaching the Dhamma to others)
Dhammadesana means teaching the Doctrine to others. Expounding, writing, distributing and teaching the discourses preached by the Buddha to others, with proper attention, regardless of gain and fame, denote Dhammadesana. According to the Buddha’s words, “Sabbadanam Dhammadanam Jinati”, meaning that “The benefits accruing from expounding the Doctrine to others surpass the benefits obtained from any other form of donation”. All devotees should therefore strive to teach the Doctrine to others.

10. Ditthijukamma (right belief)
Ditthijukamma means straighting one’s view or having faith in Karma and its results. It is of vital importance for all beings to have the right view. Perceiving, accepting and believing in the ten subjects of right view (Dassavatthuka) mean Ditthijukamma. So, to have the right view, one should understand the ten subjects of right view. They are:
1. There is a good result in an act of alms-giving, charity giving.
2. There is benefit in veneration.
3. There is benefit in offering gifts.
4. There is the Law of Karma and Its Results which teaches that moral and immoral deeds have respective consequences, in this life and the next.
5. There is benefit in tending and supporting one’s own mother, while neglecting her means an evil deed.
6. There is benefit in tending and supporting one’s own father, while neglecting him means an evil deed.
7. There are unseen worlds of hell, hungry ghosts, demons, devas, Sakkas and brahmas. Existence of such beings should be accepted as a fact.
8. There is this present world.
9. There is the next world or lives to come.
10. There are holy persons who have subdued their thought, word and deed. There are persons with jhanic insight or concentration who see this world and the next clearly. They teach such sights, views and visions in a correct way. We should have confidence in such samanas and brahmanas.
The above beliefs are true, beneficial and necessary for a Buddhist who wants to conduct his/her life on the Right Path, based on right understanding (Samma Ditthi). They are termed “Right View or Right Belief”. So that a Buddhist should take refuge in Three Jewels, the Law of Karma and Its Results, and Ten Right Views just mentioned. He or she will have a strength of character and do great service to the world by having these right views of life. Those who believe in the ten subjects of right view are called good sons and good daughters of the Buddha with the right view.
All beings, having faith in Karma and its result, and abandoning the ten subjects of wrong view, as well as the creator concept, and worldly concepts such as relying on astrological or magical potencies, should perform meritorious actions for the welfare of this world as well as for attaining good existences in the future. It is of vital importance and great benefit to all beings to have the knowledge of the right view on Karma and its results. By performing good actions with this knowledge, one will be reborn in good existences, will possess great wealth and will realize Nibbana, which is the extinction of existences. Of all evil deeds, holding the wrong views is the most grievous one. Those who hold wrong views very firmly cannot be liberated from the round of rebirths, Samsara even if they have the opportunity to listen to a discourse preached by the Buddha. These holders of wrong views will remain as the tree stumps of Samsara (Samsara Khanuka) forever, means wouldn’t escape from Samsara. So, all beings must strive to become holders of right view.

Mount Meru

Mt. Sineru is simply the North Pole at the top of the world, the highest point viewed from the side.

Sumeru (Sanskrit) or Sineru (Pāli) is the name of the central world-mountain in Buddhist cosmology. Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru (Pāli Neru), to which is added the approbatory prefix su- resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru". 

The legends, puranas, and Hindu epics frequently state that Surya, the sun-God, circumnambulates Mount Meru every day. In late 19th c. when it was believed that Aryans may have had their original home, Urheimat, in Northern Europe, it was thought that Mount Meru might refer to the north pole. Some beliefs, local to that area of the Himalayas, associate mythical Mount Meru with Mt. Kailasa near Lake Manasarovar in Tibet. It is the equivalent central mountain in Buddhist cosmology. 

Sineru is the axis mundi. It refers to the North Pole. It will be seen that all that is said about it only makes sense in terms of this. The belief that it is Mt. Kailash which appears to be the greatest peak in the Himalayas or the actual highest peak is an attempt to make sense of what is visible with human eyes, but the mystical revelation is in fact from the perspective of a satellite. When the North Pole is understood, not as a "mountain," but as a bulge on the planet steeped in a great expanse of ocean. The sun indeed travels around it (or seems to) causing night and day. Other mountain ranges and land masses (roughly 2,000 in all) are more or less distributed around that.
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Sineru is a great mountain forming the center of the human world, plaent earth. Every earth (i.e., every planet) has a similar pole. Sineru is said to be submerged in a sea to a depth of eighty-four thousand yojanas. Similarly, it rises above the marine surface to the same height. (A mathematically inclined person might convert yojanas to feet and compare that factor with the height of Mt. Kailash, K2, Mt. Everest, and the average distance from the shore to the North Pole. The exercise might at least fix the length of the ancient "yojana" which is in dispute).

Sineru is said to be surrounded by seven mountain ranges: 

Yugandhara

Isadhara

Karavīka

Sudassana

Nemindhara

Vinataka

Assakanna

(SNA.ii.443; Sp.i.119; Vsm.206; cp. Mtu.ii.300; Dvy.217). Its breadth is eighty-thousand leagues, A.iv.100).

At the peak of Sineru is Tavatimsa, the "Heaven of the Thirty-three" (SNA.ii.485f). At its foot is the Asurabhavana, the Place Where Asuras Live, which is 10,000 leagues. (The Asurabhavana was not originally there, but sprang up by the power of the Asuras when they were cast out of Tāvatimsa by the "King of Kings," Sakka (DhA.i.272; see, e.g., SNA.i.201).

In the middle are the four "continents" (Mahādīpā, literally "great islands") with their two thousand smaller land masses (dīpā).

Sineru is often used in similes, its chief characteristic being its unshakeability (sutthuthapita) (e.g., SN. vs.683). It is also called Meru or Sumeru (e.g., Cv.xlii.2), Hemameru (e.g., Cv.xxxii.79), Mahāneru (M.i.338), and Neru (J.iii.247).

Each "World System" (Cakkavāla) has its own Sineru (A.i.227; v.59), and a time comes when even Sineru is destroyed (S.iii.149).

When the Buddha visited Tāvatimsa, he is said to have covered the distance between the earth and his destination in three supernormal strides. He set his right foot on top of the Yugandhara mountain range, his left on Sineru, and the next step brought him to Tāvatimsa (suggesting that Tavatimsa extends high beyond Sineru). The whole distance covered is said to have been sixty-eight hundred thousand leagues (DhA.iii.216).


NAME Sumeru (Sanskrit) or Sineru (Pāli) is the name of the central world-mountain in Buddhist cosmology. Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru (Pāli, Neru), to which is added the approbatory prefix su- resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru." The concept of Sumeru is closely related to the Hindu mythological concept of a central world mountain, called Meru, but differs from the Hindu concept in several particulars.

SIZE According to Vasubandhu's Abhidharma-kośabhāṣyam, Sumeru is 80,000 yojanas tall. The exact measure of the yojana is uncertain, but some accounts put it at about 24,000 feet, or approximately 4 1/2 miles. It also descends beneath the surface of the surrounding waters to a depth of 80,000 yojanas, being founded upon the basal layer of Earth. Sumeru is often used as a simile for both size and stability in Buddhist texts.

Sumeru is said to be shaped like an hourglass, with a top and base of 80,000 yojanas square, but narrowing in the middle (i.e., at a height of 40,000 yojanas) to 20,000 yojanas square. (Interestingly, this would make it the symbol of Jainism, which conceives of the universe as having a definite shape -- an hourglass like tower).

Sumeru is the polar center of a mandala-like complex of seas and mountains. (In fact, the great Angkor Wat was laid out, as many temple bases are, in a pattern reflecting this conception of the universe and the known worlds and levels, with central pagodas emulating Sumeru and the lower heavenly worlds corresponding to it). The square base of Sumeru is surrounded by a square moat-like ocean, which is in turn surrounded by a ring (or rather square) wall of mountains, which is in turn surrounded by a sea, each diminishing in width and height from the one closer to Sumeru.

There are seven seas and seven surrounding mountain-ranges, until one comes to the vast outer sea which forms most of the surface of the world, in which by comparison the known continents are merely small island-like land masses. The known world, which is located on the continent of Jambudvīpa (the Indian subcontinent flanked by the great mountain wall that is the Himalayan range), is directly south of Sumeru. The dimensions stated in the Abhidharma-kośabhāṣyam are:

NAME........................................WIDTH..................Height/Depth
Mt. Sumeru................................80,000 yojanas.....80,000 yojanas
Sea............................................80,000 yojanas.....80,000 yojanas
Yugandhara mountains.............. 40,000 yojanas.....40,000 yojanas
Sea............................................40,000 yojanas.....40,000 yojanas
Iṣadhara mountains................... 20,000 yojanas....  20,000 yojanas
Sea............................................20,000 yojanas.... 20,000 yojanas
Khadiraka (Karavīka) range.......10,000 yojanas.....10,000 yojanas
Sea............................................10,000 yojanas.....10,000 yojanas
Sudarśana (Sudassana) range....  5,000 yojanas.......5,000 yojanas
Sea.............................................5,000 yojanas.......5,000 yojanas
Aśvakarṇa (Assakaṇṇa) range.....2,500 yojanas.......2,500 yojanas
Sea..............................................2,500 yojanas.......2,500 yojanas
Vinadhara (Vinataka) range........  1,250 yojanas.......1,250 yojanas
Sea........................................... ..1,250 yojanas.......1,250 yojanas
Nimindhara range......................  ....625 yojanas..........625 yojanas
Outer Sea..................................32,000 yojanas.................shallow
Cakravāḍa (Cakkavāḷa)*............312.5 yojanas.......312.5 yojanas
*(Circular edge of the world)

The 80,000 yojana square top of Sumeru constitutes the "heaven" (deva-loka) of the Thirty-three godlings, which is the highest plane in direct physical contact with the earth. The next 40,000 yojanas below this heaven consist of a sheer precipice, narrowing in like an inverted mountain until it is 20,000 yojanas square at a heigh of 40,000 yojanas above the sea.

From this point Sumeru expands again, going down in four terraced ledges, each broader than the one above. The first terrace constitutes the "heaven" of the Four Great Kings, and is divided into four parts, facing north, south, east, and west. Each section is governed by one of these Four Great Kings, who faces outward toward the quarter of the world he oversees.

Forty-thousand yojanas is also the height at which the Sun and Moon circle Sumeru in a clockwise direction. This rotation explains the alteration of day and night: When the Sun is north of Sumeru, the shadow of the mountain is cast over the Indian subcontinent of Jambudvīpa, and it is night there. At the same time it is noon in the opposing northern continent of Uttarakuru, dawn in the eastern continent of Pūrvavideha, and dusk in the western land mass of Aparagodānīya. Half a day later, when the Sun has moved to the south, it is noon in Jambudvīpa, dusk in Pūrvavideha, dawn in Aparagodānīya, and midnight in Uttarakuru.

The next three terraces down the slopes of Sumeru are each longer and broader by a factor of two. They contain the subjects of the Four Great Kings, namely nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, and kumbhāṇḍas. The names and dimensions of the terraces on the lower slopes of Sumeru are:

NAME......................Height above sea.. ..Breadth......... .....Length (on side)
Cāturmahārājika.... ...40,000 yojanas....... 2,000 yojanas... .24,000 yojanas
Sadāmada............ .. .30,000 yojanas.... ...4,000 yojanas.. ..32,000 yojanas
Mālādhara........... ... .20,000 yojanas..... ..8,000 yojanas.....48,000 yojanas
Karoṭapāni......... ......10,000 yojanas......16,000 yojanas.. ..80,000 yojanas
Yojana: 1 yojana = approximately 11 km. The queue was thus approx. 3,300 km long and had together rolled a diameter of approx. 3.5 km. 

Below Sumeru, in the seas around it, is the abode of the Asuras who are at war with the Thirty-three gods. [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sineru, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Meru_%28Mythology%29]

Mount Meru or Mount Sumeru is a sacred mountain in Hindu and Buddhist mythology considered to be the center of this "world system" [earth, its many heavens, and subterranean worlds]. It is believed to be the abode of Brahma and other deities of both religions. The mountain is said to be 80,000 leagues (450,000 km) high and located in Jambudvipa, one of the continents on earth in Hindu mythology. Many Hindu temples, including Angkor Wat, the principal temple of Angkor in Cambodia, have been built as symbolic representations of the mountain.

Mount Meru is mentioned innumerable times in Hindu mythology. Some of the better known legends are recounted here:
1. This mythical mountain of gods was mentioned in Tantu Pagelaran, an Old Javanese manuscript written in Kawi language from 15th century Majapahit period. The manuscript is describing the mythical origin of Java island, and the legend of moving some parts of mount Meru to Java. The manuscript explained that Batara Guru (Shiva) has ordered the god Brahma and Vishnu to fill the Java island with human beings. However at that time Java island was floating freely on the ocean, ever tumbling and always shaking. To make the island still, the gods decided to nail the island upon the earth by moving the part of Mahameru in Jambudvipa (India) and attaching it upon Java. The resulting mountain is Mount Semeru, the tallest mountain of Java.
2. Legends say that Mount Meru and the wind deity Vayu were good friends. However, the sage Narada approached Vayu and incited him to humble the mountain. Vayu blew with full force for one full year, but Meru was shielded by Garuda with his wings. After one year, however, Garuda took a respite for some time. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Vayu increased its force. Thus the apex of the mountain was broken and it fell into the sea and created the island of Sri Lanka.
3. Another Indian legend well known to this day is regarding the daily circumnambulation of the Sun around Mount Meru, and involves the sage Agastya. The legend goes that the Vindhya mountains that separate north and south India once showed a tendency to grow so high as to obstruct the usual trajectory of the sun. This was accompanied by increasing vanity on the part of that mountain range, which demanded that Surya, the sun-God, also circumnambulate the Vindhya mountains daily, just as was done for Mount Meru (identified by some as being the north pole). The need arose to subdue, by guile, the Vindhyas, and Agastya was chosen to do that. Agastya journeyed from north to south, and on the way encountered the now impassable Vindhya mountains. He asked the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south. In reverence for so eminent a sage as Agastya, the Vindhya mountains bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and enter south India. The Vindhya range also promised not to increase in height until Agastya and his family returned to the north. Agastya settled permanently in the south, and the Vindhya range, true to its word, never grew further. Thus, Agastya accomplished by guile something that would have been impossible to accomplish by force.

The earth was not generally considered round but flat. And a flat world seen from the side (from the spheres) would appear to have a massive "mountain," a "peak" above which the spheres are visible. Attempts to describe it in ancient times led to drawings and depictions by those who had not seen it but still assumed the world flat. Therefore, mandalas, surrounding a wide central white mass (stupa) appear flat in drawings. In modern times, with a modern understanding that the world is a globe (more or less), the assumption is that Sineru must be an ordinary mountain. But the dimensions and descriptions of it are far too large for it to be a protrusion into the ionosphere. Sineru simply refers to the standing high point of the planet as it revolves on its axis. It is indeed, the axis mundi.

Dasa Parami

10 Perfections To Be An Anagami

10 Perfections Before Practicing Anagami Magga (a sakadagami cannot become Anagami if he doesn't have these, even if he did satipatthana)::

1. Dana.
- The gift of material things.
- The gift of preaching
- The gift of safety or security.

2. Sila.
Doing rules and precepts.

3. Nekkhama.
Forms cognizable by the eye are not belong to him, it is domain of demon.
Sounds cognizable by the ear are not belong to him, it is domain of demon.
Aromas cognizable by the nose are not belong to him, it is domain of demon.
Flavors cognizable by the tongue are not belong to him, it is domain of demon.
Tactile sensations cognizable by the body are not belong to him, it is domain of demon.
Thoughts cognizable by the mind are not belong to him, it is domain of demon.

4. Panna.
Suttamaya panna: Wisdom through learning.
Cintamaya panna: Wisdom through reflections.
Bhavanamaya panna: Wisdom through cultivation.

5. Viriya.
- the gift of no new defilements.
- the gift of destruction of old defilements.
- the gift of finding new wholesome states.
- the gift of strong wholesome states.
Viriya being obtained from investigation of a sakadagami.

6. Khanti.
Forbereance (capacity of endurance to handle inconvenience).

7. Sacca.
10 ponts that you should not use as standard of truth:
1. Stories.
2. Traditions.
3. News.
4. Holy books.
5. Logically correct.
6. Philosophically correct.
7. Your own Intellect.
8. Opinions.
9. Someone who has good social status.
10. Your teacher.
4 points that you should use as standard of truth:
1. It is proved correct.
2. It is proved beneficial.
3. It is confirmed by Anagami-Arahants monks.
4. It keep cultivating merit and happiness.

8. Adhitthana.
- Resolution to earn sotapatti magga.
- Resolution to earn sotapatti phala. 
- Resolution to earn sakadagami magga. 
- Resolution to earn sadagami phala. 
- Resolution to earn anagami magga. 
- Resolution to earn anagami magga. 
- Resolution to earn arahant magga.
- Resolution to earn arahant phala.
By purifying oneself one saves the world.

9. Metta.
Love without bound.

10. Upekkha.
It means not lax and not exacting.

Bad kamma that relate with that list also hold someone from achieving anagami phala. Check if in your life you ever done bad things that the opposite of that list. If so, that means you have to wait till you meet events that cleanse your kamma, then you can continue again your practice of anagami magga (kayanupassana, vedananupassana, cittanupassana)_if you are an anagami magga now_ to reach Anagami Phala level.

To be an Anagami Phala, a monk still use good kamma, but good kamma cannot be used anymore when he want to be Arahant later. There are four types of kamma:
1. Black kamma, black result.
2. White kamma, white result.
3. Kamma both black and white, result both black and white.
4. Kamma neither black nor white, result neither black nor white, this being the kamma that ends kamma.
Arahant magga monk uses number 4 kamma to become Arahant.

Sexual Misconduct

Buddhism doesn't say anything about gay that being practiced by a few laities. Gay is also forbidden to be accepted as a monk. One day a monk said to Buddha, "we got a gay in our sangha", Buddha replied, "tell him to go."

Buddhism also doesn;t say anything about polygami Sidhatta Gautama himself practicing polygamy before becaming Buddha.

But it is clear to be known that sexual misconduct is not about one has marriage ceremony or not. If two persons love each other and they not married for their sexual needs, thats not a sexual misconduct.
Buddhism however says about 20 women that forbidden to be touched as part of practicing no sexual misconduct, one of them is "a girl that protected by local law", that means, if locality insist a marriage ceremony, then the couple must not live at that area, if they have an ideal that sex doesn;t depend on ceremony.

20 types of women a Buddhist is exhorted not to consort with:
1. A woman under the protection of her mother.
2. A woman under the protection of her father.
3. A woman under the protection of both father and mother.
4. A woman under the protection of her brother
5. A woman under the protection of her sister.
6. A woman under the protection of her relations.
7. A woman under the protection of her family.
8. A woman protectecd by customary law, e.g. nuns of religious orders, or a girl pledged or betrothed to any cause.
9. A woman who has a special guardian - this may be her own husband, or some other special guardian.
10. A woman, by whose use, one renders himself liable to punishment. For example, a king orders that a certain woman is not to be used, or that the women of certain village or clan, are not to be used.
11. A woman bought by a man for certain sum of money.
12. A woman who lives with her husband, of her own choice, e.g. as a mistress, having fallen in love with him.
13. A woman who lives with a man in order that she might get her food from him, and is protected by him.
14. A woman who lives with a man so that she may obtain clothing from him.
15. A woman who prepares the food of a man e.g. cook-woman who lives with him as a wife.
16. A woman who works hard collecting firewood, or other heavy weights, is relieved of this hardship by a man who takes her on as his wife. Such a woman is also thus protected.
17. A slave-wife who works in the house, and is also the man's wife.
18. A woman who does the household work, goes shopping etc - a type of house-keeper wife or, servant-wife.
19. A woman brought after capture in battle - only the man who captured her, can have her for wife.
20. Lastly, comes a temporary wife,: this is, a woman who is kept by a man for a time. As long as this man maintains her as his wife, another cannot use her.

The Parabhava Sutta:
"Pray, O Blessed One, tell us the ninth cause of one's downfall".
Verse 18: "Not contented with one's own wives, if one is seen amongst courtesans and the wives of others - this is the cause of one's downfall'.
Note the plural form of the word "wives" - once again an indication that polygamy was acceptable by the Buddha to be practiced by laities.

Introduction to Kalachakra

What is Kalachakra Tantra? Kalachakra Tantra is like buddhism fengshui and more. But it starts from knowing oneself first, and then knowing the Brahmas, devas, and cosmos itself. Kalachakra willbe included too in third division books of Nuclear Dhamma Tipitaka, that replacing "Abhidhamma" books. One of several monks who attained knowledge of kalachakra but not Shamballa inhabitant was Nagarjuna, who taught it to his disciple Isha Nath.

The Kalachakra Tantra was also once called called the Kalachakra Laghutantra, and is said to be an abridged form of an original text, the Kalachakra Mulatantra which is no longer extant.

Having learnt the 12,000 verses Kalachakra Multantra, King Suchandra returned to Shambala and wrote a 60,000 verse on the Multantra. Seven generations later, Manjushrikirti established Kalachakra as the main religion of Shambala and wrote a 1,000 verse summary of the Multantra called the Kalachakra Laghutantra. His successor Pundarika wrote a 12,000 verse commentary on the Laghutantra titled Vimalaprabha. During the time of the twelfth propagator, the Kalachakra teachings were brought into India by two Indian pundits, and in the eleventh century, these teachings were taken into Tibet by Tsong-Kha-pa.

The Kalacakra Tantra is more properly called the Kalacakra Laghutantra, as it is an abridged form of the original text - the Kalacakra Mulatantra. It is said by the Tibetan historian Taranatha, that the Mulatantra was taught by the Buddha on the full moon of the month Caitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of Dhanyakataka in India. This teaching had been requested by the king Sucandra from Sambhala (often written "Shambhala").

Sucandra returned to Sambhala and wrote the Tantras in textual form there. He composed the explanatory Tantra in 60,000 lines as a commentary on the original Mulatantra of 12,000. A later king of Sambhala, Yashas, wrote the abridged form of the Tantra, the Kalacakra Laghutantra. This is about one quarter of the length of the original Mulatantra. This text survives today, and is generally known simply as the Kalachakra Tantra.

Anapanasati

Formally, there are sixteen stages – or contemplations – of ānāpānasati. These are divided into four tetrads (i.e., sets or groups of four). The first four steps involve focusing the mind on breathing, which is the 'body-conditioner' (Pali: kāya-sankhāra). The second tetrad involves focusing on the feelings (vedanā), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (Pali: citta-sankhāra). The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself (Pali: citta), and the fourth on 'mental qualities' (Pali: dhamma). (Compare right mindfulness and satipatthana.) 
Any ānāpānasati meditation session should progress through the stages in order, beginning at the first, whether the practitioner has performed all stages in a previous session or not.

 

Satipaṭṭhāna	Ānāpānasati	Tetrads
1. Contemplation of the body	1. Breathing long	First Tetrad
	2. Breathing short
	3. Experiencing the whole body
	4. Tranquillising the bodily activities
2. Contemplation of feelings	5. Experiencing rapture	Second Tetrad
	6. Experiencing bliss
	7. Experiencing mental activities
	8. Tranquillising mental activities
3. Contemplation of the mind	9. Experiencing the mind	Third Tetrad
	10. Gladdening the mind
	11. Centering the mind in samadhi
	12. Releasing the mind
4. Contemplation of Dhammas	13. Contemplating impermanence	Fourth Tetrad
	14. Contemplating fading of lust
	15. Contemplating cessation
	16. Contemplating relinquishment

The First Tetrad - Calming the Body

1. Breathing in and out, be aware that the breath is long.
Breathe, and watch the sensations at the tip of the nose. There is no need to be obsessed with how long a long breath is. If you watch the breath in a relaxed way, it will lengthen naturally.

2. Breathing in and out, be aware that the breath is short. 
This may not occur naturally and does not affect progress to the next step. It is recommended that you experiment with forcing the breath to be short to understand how it feels in comparison to the long breath.

3. Breathing in and out, be aware of all bodies. 
Entry to this stage is often accompanied by an easing of the effort required to meditate - it becomes very enjoyable and easier to sit. While breathing naturally, the breath will lengthen and an experience will arise of how the breath is affecting, or conditioning, the physical body. It is sometimes suggested that concentration be extended to include feelings within the body in tandem with the sensations of breathing at the tip of the nose.

4. Breathing in and out, calm the breath.
While breathing, the breath will become finer and more refined naturally. An image may appear in the mind, positioned at the tip of the nose where you are concentrating. The focus of concentration can then be shifted from the breath to the image. This can lead to a stage known as the first jhana where strong pleasant feelings arise.

The Second Tetrad - Calming the Feelings

5. Breathing in and out, be aware of the flavour of piti.
Piti is a Pali term for the strong pleasant feelings that have now arisen. This is a similar principle to stage 1, though with a different meditation object. In time, the rather coarse feeling of piti subsides into a more subtle feeling.

6. Breathing in and out, be aware of the flavour of sukha.
Sukha being the term for the more subtle feeling. Take this as the new object of meditation.

7. Breathing in and out, be aware of the mind conditioner.
Just as the breath conditions the body, so piti and sukha condition the mind. Alow the experience how they do this to arise.

8. Breathing in and out, calm the mind conditioners.
Using the newly experienced understanding of the feelings, calm them.

The Third Tetrad - Contemplating the Mind

9. Breathing in and out, contemplate the character of the mind.
Is the mind free from anger, aversion or greed? Is the mind distracted or not? Is the mind in a superior state or not?

10. Breathing in and out, delight the mind.
Using the understandings of the feelings, generate delight in the mind. This frees the mind from anger, aversion and greed.

11. Breathing in and out, concentrate the mind.
A mind free from anger, aversion and greed will achieve higher levels of concentration.

12. Breathing in and out, liberate the mind.
By contemplating the penalties of attachment and the value of non-attachment, allow the mind to cease grasping.

The Fourth Tetrad - The Supreme

13. Breathing in and out, contemplate impermanence.
Returning to step 1, progress through all steps remaining aware of the impermanence of every stage.

14. Breathing in and out, contemplate fading away.
Being aware of any remaining attachments, allow them to dissolve.

15. Breathing in and out, contemplate the cessation of attachment.
 Be aware of the process of the quenching of attachments.

16. Breathing in and out, contemplate 'throwing back'.
In the cessation of attachment, be aware that there nothing that was attached to was 'ours' in any way, and allow it all to be returned to nature.