January 1, 2019
1. Puredhamma.net completed full five years online. There are well over 500 posts at the site. It is getting a bit complex to browse through.
- I am thinking about splitting it to three sites based on the complexity of the material. May be something like: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
- Even though there are many posts, I have not been able to adequately cover certain sections, especially Abhidhamma.
2. On the other hand, last year was an eye-opener for me, in that there is a need to explain basic concepts in Buddha Dhamma. I participated in a well-known Buddhist discussion forum, and only during the past three months or so that I realized that most people there do not have a basic understanding of the key concepts of Buddha Dhamma.
- Deep suttā are discussed there without having an understanding of key concepts like the five aggregates: rūpa, vēdana, saññā, saṅkhāra, viññāna.
- Since only a limited number of people make comments there, I am not certain how bad this problem really is.
3. I am seriously thinking about having a “sub-site” where introductory concepts in Buddha Dhamma are explained.
- That includes dasa akusala, Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path, and an introduction to Paṭicca Samuppāda.
- By the way, if you are new to puredhamma.net, please read the “Moral Living and Fundamentals” and the first subsections of the “Living Dhamma” section.
- It is absolutely necessary to learn the basics before getting into advanced concepts.
4. I am happy about the status of the discussion forum at puredhamma.net. It completed the first 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.
- I am glad to see that at least a limited number of people are making significant progress due to those discussions. It is hard to explain everything in a post. Therefore, the forum is a good way to bring up points that I missed, or not paid enough attention to.
- My sincere thanks to all who are contributing to the discussions by proving their own input.
5. 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 is also helping manage the discussion forum.
- Tobias Große in Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Germany, has now translated many pages of puredhamma to German. Here is the link: https://puredhamma/de
- I understand that there is a Korean translation too. The person who is doing the work has written to me, but seems to want to stay anonymous.
- 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.
Happy New Year!
May the Blessings of the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha) be with you always!
