January 1, 2020
1. Puredhamma.net completed a full six years online. There are over 600 posts at the site. It may look challenging to navigate through.
- It may be difficult to get an idea about the layout of the website, especially for those who are using a mobile phone or a tablet. I recommend reviewing the “Pure Dhamma – Sitemap.”
- I just went through the whole site and collected all the posts under specific sections and subsections.
2. I very much want to highlight the fact that Buddha Dhamma is not about hiding in a remote place and shying away from society or subjecting oneself to harsh living.
- It is not those enticing or seducing things that make us do immoral things and make our minds stressed in turn. rather it is our own defiled gati (habits/character) making us do immoral things.
- One with a purified mind can live in the most seductive place and yet not be perturbed.
- But to get there, one needs some self-control to stay away from such extremes initially. Learning pure Dhamma is the only way to break through that first barrier. Once the Sotāpanna stage is attained, one will never go back.
3. In his very first discourse to the five ascetics, the Buddha explained that there is nothing in this world that is worth to be taken as “mine.” The First Noble Truth is not about the suffering that we experience in this life. In fact, some people may not even experience that much suffering in this life until the end.
- Rather, what the Buddha said is that we create CAUSES to bring about FUTURE SUFFERING if we ATTACH to worldly pleasures. We are not any different than a fish biting into a tasty bait, say, a worm. That fish does not see the hook hidden in the “delicious worm.” It will be subjected to much suffering once it bites the worm, and the hook attaches to its mouth.
- The difficulty in our case is that the deeds we do to get those sensory pleasures may not show their CONSEQUENCES in this life. That is why it is useless to follow Buddha Dhamma if one does not believe in rebirth or kamma/vipāka.
- As long as we CRAVE for sensual pleasures (that is different from just experiencing them,) we WILL be born with bodies that are subjected to diseases, decay, and eventual death. See, “Is It Necessary for a Buddhist to Eliminate Sensual Desires?“
4. I had an experience that really “opened my eyes” early in 2019. A brain tumor about 2-3 cm in diameter was found in the frontal lobe of my brain. Within 5 weeks they were able to operate and remove the tumor. Luckily, it was non-cancerous.
- That experience was a reminder of how fickle this life is. I was lucky to be able to survive with just losing my sense of smell. If it was not found, the tumor could have grown more and damaged my vision too.
- We all should work towards Nibbāna as if we have only a short time to live. In fact, that was the last advice of the Buddha before his Parinibbāna: ‘vayadhammā saṅkhārā, appamādena sampādethā’”ti.
5. I discussed this key point in a recent post, “Icchā (Cravings) Lead to Upādāna and to Eventual Suffering.” I highly recommend reading the new series of posts on “Origin of Life” and, in particular, the subsection there “Paṭicca Samuppāda – Not ‘Self’ or ‘No-Self’”
- However, those of you who are not familiar with the fundamentals of Buddha dhamma (Buddhism), I recommend first reviewing the “Pure Dhamma – Sitemap” and reading on the earlier sections there, or any sections of interest.
- First, one needs to get an idea of what Buddha Dhamma is.
6. I am appreciative of many kind comments on the usefulness of the site, and about personal achievements. That gives me confidence that there are people who can see the value of Pure Dhamma and can make genuine progress.
- Special thanks to Seng Kiat Ng from Singapore for putting together all the posts in an eBook format and for updating it every week as I write new posts and update old posts. He has done that for a few years now. He is also helping manage the discussion forum. The link to the eBook at, “Pure Dhamma Essays in Book Format.”
- Tobias Große in Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Germany, has now translated many pages of pure dhamma to German. Here is the link: https://puredhamma/de
- Puredhamma.net is now available in Korean, thanks to Mr. Ja-nyun Kim and his son who is the manager (DHK) of the Puredhamma Study Group Cafe (https://cafe.naver.com/puredhamma). The link to the website is https://puredhamma.kr
- There are few others who are working on translations to their own languages.
- There are also several other disciples of the Waharaka Thero who are working diligently to deliver the true teachings of the Buddha in the Sinhala (and English) languages; see, “Parinibbāna of Waharaka Thēro.” We have also discussed others at the discussion forum.
- Christian Schoenrock has organized a group in Eastern Europe. He also has a forum discussing Pure Dhamma in English that is open to everyone: https://discord.com/invite/g6UWq4b
- Many others have contributed by pointing out errors in some posts leading to improvements. My goal is to have 100% inter-consistency as well as consistency with the Tipiṭaka. My thanks all of them.
7. I am happy about the status of the discussion forum at puredhamma.net. It completed the second full year on December 17th: “Forum“.
- Even though only a limited number of people are posting there, the quality of discussions is good. I encourage questions and take each question seriously. Most people have not been exposed to key concepts, and are not aware of them due to no fault on their own.
- There have been few issues with the submission of comments within the last month or so. I am using a software package dedicated to Word Press websites, and they are working on the issue. If anyone has a problem in submitting a question/comment, please send me an email: [email protected].
Happy New Year!
May the Blessings of the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha) be with you always!
