Bhikkhu Bodhi

Here ends this episode of the Buddha's Wisdom Podcast.

Season 3 of the Buddha's Wisdom Podcast is based on the anthology by Bhikkhu Bodhi, In the Buddha's Words, an anthology of discourses from the Pali Canon.

Thank you for listening.

May you all find happiness and peace.

This week we will be reading and discussing the Mulapadhyaya Sutta, known in English as the Root Sequence Sutta, translated by Tanisaro Bikku.

The Mulapadhyaya Sutta is the first text in the Majjhima Nikaya and is described by Bodhi Nanamoli as one of the deepest and most difficult suttas in the Pali Canon.

It describes how the arising of dukkha is due to an intricate process which begins with perception and can only be ended by achieving insight into the true nature of reality.

Let's begin.

And there's one sutta in Sangyutanikaya, Nidana Sangyuta, number 23, the Sangyuta on causes and conditions.

Bhikkhu Bodhi pointed that one out and has a nice article if anyone is interested.

He calls it Transcendental Dependent Origination.

This is a very beautiful sutta because it's a very unusual way the Buddha presents it.

So let me get the Buddha to elaborate a bit more.

by the way this is Bhikkhu Bodhi's version but I have sort of looked at other versions and sort of done bits of cutting and pasting and editing so the Buddha says for what good reason should a man or woman householder or monastic often contemplate the fact that they are sure to become old and cannot avoid ageing Beings, while they are young, take pride in their youth.

Infatuated by that pride, they engage in unwholesome deeds, words or thoughts.

But in one who often contemplates the certainty of old age, the pride of youth will either vanish entirely or be weakened.

So it's just something that has to be approached gently.

And I've added here some references that I've used.

This first one, Five Themes for Awakening, that's the YouTube code for that, it's based on Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation and read by Samaneri Jayasaro.

And it's beautifully read and it goes back to almost the direct translation from the Pali.

Sexual desire, is that really ever going to satisfy you? Or is a deep human connection with another being going to be helpful? For anger, hatred, and resentment towards sentient beings, contemplate love.

In the teaching by Bhikkhu Bodhi that some people are on in the year long, when he talked to the Kalamas, he just posed a question.

If you're motivated by... ignorance, greed, and hatred, will that make your life better? Or if you're motivated by wisdom, loving kindness, compassion, will that make your life better? Which is it? You know, just pondering that thought is, will you feel better? Will your life be better if you contemplate this, if you're motivated by that? So the other three are the root poisons, right? Presented a different way would be ignorance, attachment, and aversion.

As I'm motivated by that, will I improve my life? Or if I'm motivated by wisdom of our interconnection, of our interdependence, of...

So the other side of this polarity is the argument that anyone who's just practicing for their personal wellbeing or individual freedom is potentially guilty of this quietism or is even complicit with the profound suffering caused by wars and genocide and all the different forms of social injustice and the intensifying climate crisis.

So I think earlier on, maybe last year, I shared some of Bhikkhu Bodhi's keynote address.

You may know that he gave, um, a talk on human dignity at, uh, the UN International Day for Vesak last year, and he spoke very directly at some-- about some of the humanitarian catastrophes that are going on now.

And he was pretty explicitly critical of how often Buddhist leaders speak about compassion and peace, but they go quiet when it comes to actually talking about the harm and finding ways to address it.

And he called for dharma leaders to not just stand silently on the sidelines, and he said, "We need to find our voices." And I was stirred by what Bhikkhu Bodhi said, and it, it also, you know, made me acknowledge that I don't speak out very often, very directly in these meetings about the horrendous violence that, that is being inflicted on people all around the world.

And so I could be seen as one of those people that Bhikkhu Bodhi is critiquing.

And so it really compelled me to think, "Well, why? Why don't I do this more?" And for me, one reason is the very first teaching in the opening lines of the Dhammapada.

"Hatred never ends through hatred, but by non-hate alone does it end.