Nikaya Buddhism

[laughs] Yeah.

So, so, um, my research into like where do these four vows come from, [lips smack] um, took, took me back to the, um, uh, a really early formulation that's in the, um, in the Nikayas, in the Buddhist ...

in the Pali Canon.

And so there's a, um, the Lesser Discourse to Sakaka, um, the Cula Sakaka Sutta.

So it just, it starts to put in, drop little seeds around, say, well, the Mahayana wasn't this big outside development coming in, taking over.

It looks like it was a fairly organic development happening inside what we might call, you know, the sort of Theravadin, Nikayic, Nikaya Buddhism schools.

And then that gathers peace over time and develops.

But it's just, it's interesting to me because I think I also have an interest in religion full stop, and I was raised a Catholic.

And this has to do with what are called the five reflections.

And someone might be able to track that sutta.

Sorry, I didn't have quite the time to do that.

I think it's from the Anguttara something or other sutta, Nikaya.

Anyway, point is, these are the five reflections.

I'll do them kind of quickly because you may have heard them, but then I'm gonna make a point.

Is it given to me to avoid illness? Is it given to me to avoid death? Is it given to me to avoid being separated one way or another, one day or another from all that I love? And is it given to me to avoid inheriting the results of my deliberate actions? Now, I'm slightly updating and, you know, paraphrasing some of the traditional languaging, but I think those questions stand in their own right as I've expressed them here.

And so these are great reflections to look for ourselves.