Old News Archive
April-June 2004

Old News Archive: April-June 2004

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  • [29 June 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya (Nines):
    • Kotthita Sutta (AN 9.13) — With Kotthita {A iv 381} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. The holy life is lived, not with the purpose of altering the results of past actions, but with the purpose of gaining direct knowledge of the four noble truths.
    • Ananda Sutta (AN 9.37) — With Ananda {A iv 426} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. On subtle states of concentration in which the sense spheres are present to one's awareness, but one is not taking mental note of them.
    • Naga Sutta (AN 9.40) — The Tusker {A iv 433} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. With gentle humor, the Buddha tells how to allay the itch in your mind.
    • Karaniya Metta Sutta (Snp I.8; Khp 9) — The Buddha's Words on Loving Kindess [The Amaravati Sangha, trans.]. Over the years, this popular translation of the Buddha's famous discourse on loving-kindness (metta) has appeared widely in print and on the Internet, although usually without due credit being given to its translator: the community of monks and nuns at the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery (UK). Now, properly attributed, it joins the company of four other translations of this sutta (Buddharakkhita, Ñanamoli, Piyadassi, Thanissaro). Taken altogether, these translations shed a revealing light on the original Pali text.
  • [16 June 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya (Sevens):
  • [13 June 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya (Sixes):
  • [9 June 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya (Sixes):
    • Darukakhandha Sutta (AN 6.41) — The Wood Pile {A iii 340} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. If you ever wanted to know how psychic transformation works, here's a brief primer.
    • Nagita Sutta (AN 6.42) — To Nagita {A iii 341} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. The Buddha, while staying in a forest grove, speaks in praise of modesty, contentment, unentanglement, and seclusion in the wilderness.
    • Sanditthika Sutta (AN 6.47) — Visible Here-&-Now {A iii 355} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. A few of the more obvious ways in which the Dhamma is visible here-&-now.
    • Seeking software technical assistance:

      I am considering putting together another free CD-ROM edition of this website. To make it even more useful than earlier editions, I would like to include a search engine right on the disk. Do you have any experience designing search engine software that could work on a CD-ROM? Requirements for the software include:

      • Platform-independent: it can run on Macintosh, Windows, and Unix/Linux operating systems.
      • Efficient: it is easy to use and reasonably fast.
      • Inexpensive: it has a very low (preferably zero) per-unit licensing cost.

      If you have any ideas as to where I might find such software, or if you might be interested in writing it (for free), let's talk!

  • [6 June 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya (Sevens and Eights):
  • [22 May 2004] From the Khuddaka Nikaya:
    • Excerpts from the Milindapañha. The Milindapañha ("The Questions of King Milinda") is a collection of Dhamma debates between the arahant Nagasena and the Bactrian Greek king Milinda (Menander). Although this work post-dates the Buddha himself by several centuries, students of Buddhism around the world have long held it in high esteem as an authoritative text that sheds a helpful light on some of the more difficult points of Dhamma. This sampling of passages from the Milindapañha, translated from the Pali by John Kelly, gives a taste of what the text offers.
    • I have revamped the Khuddaka Nikaya page and added my recommendations for print editions of English translations of each of the books in this Nikaya.
  • [9 May 2004] From the Majjhima Nikaya
    • Alagaddupama Sutta (MN 22) — The Water-Snake Simile {M i 130} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]. Using two famous similes, the Buddha shows how the development of right view calls for the skillful application both of grasping and of letting-go. The sutta concludes with one of the Canon's most important expositions on the topic of not-self.
  • [3 May 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya, Tens
  • [6 April 2004] From the Anguttara Nikaya, Nines