L/O/G/O

TIPITAKA STUDIESTeacher: Dr.Juthamas Vareesangthip

Ven. DAO TRUONG DUY

ID card: 5601201086

Faculty of BuddhismInternational B.A Degree Programme

EIGHT EXCELLENT AND WONDERFUL THINGS IN THE

GREAT OCEAN AND THE SĀSANA

(PAHĀRADA SUTTA)

A.N. ii.47

According to the Sutta once Pahārada, a chief of the Āsura said "There are, Venerable Sir, eight excellent and wonderful things which we again and again perceive in the great Ocean and therefore take delight in it."

These are the eight:

1 The great Ocean, slopes away gradually, falls gradually, inclines gradually, and not in an abrupt way like a precipice.

2 The great Ocean is stable and does not overflow its boundaries.

3 The great Ocean does not tolerate a dead body, a corpse.

4 When these mighty rivers, like the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Aciravati and the Sarabhu etc reach the great Ocean, they lose their former names and designations, and are reckoned just as the great Ocean.

5. Though all the streams of the world flow into the great Ocean and rains falls into it from the sky, yet there appears neither a decrease nor an increase in the great Ocean.

6. The great Ocean has only one taste, that of salt.

7. In the great Ocean there are many and variegated precious things.

8. The great Ocean is the abode of vast creatures, the timi, the timingala, the timirapingala, Asuras, Nagas and Gandhabba.

1. In this teaching and discipline: there is a gradual training, gradual practice, gradual progress; there is no penetration to highest knowledge in an abrupt way.

2. I have made known a rule of training to my disciples ,they will not transgress it even for life's sake.

3. Even so the Order will not tolerate a person who is immoral, the Order quickly assembles and expels such a person.

4. Even so when members of the four castes -nobles, brahmins, burghers, and menials go forth from home into homelessness life in this teaching and discipline proclaimed by the Buddha

5. Even so in the Nibbana element that is without a remainder of substrata of existence; there is no decrease nor increase even if many monks enter it.

6. Even so has this teaching and discipline only one taste, the taste of liberation.

7. Even so there is in this teaching and discipline much that is precious.

8. Even so is this teaching and discipline the domain of great beings.

This is very important in the context of practicing the Dhamma. One should be wise enough to understand the nature of the Dhamma. It is impossible to realize the Dhamma in a hasty manner.

THE END!!!