Watsanfran's RU-vid channel provides a range of Buddhist and educational videos such as Dhamma sermons from our teachers Venerable Ācariya Thoon Khippapañño, Phra Kru Palat Anandapanyo, and Mae Chee Yo, in both English and Thai; Animated Buddhist Stories; Pali Chanting; and Thai Language and Thai Music tutorials.
This Jataka realising the value of truth and this will lead to enlightenment 🙏🙏Many thanks to share the real teaching of Buddha which is really awakening our mind to follow the path of truth 🙏 Really honoured to have teaching of Buddha🙏🙏 Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu 🙏🙏🙏
If you're talking about Bāhiya from Udāna 1.10 (and it seems that you are), then this interpretation is quite misleading in more ways than one. You are most likely aware of how unclear this story is to you, it is shown in how many times you have to explain or justify some part of the story in some contrived way... Might I offer a better interpretation: First off, Bāhiya was not a fraud and a simple fool who mistakenly got flattered into thinking he's an Arahant by the actions of others. He mistakenly thought he was an Arahant because he abided in Jhānas all the time, and he was very firm in them too since his virtue was very highly developed and sustained - he lived as a "bark robe" ascetic (literally wearing tree bark for robes) for a long time, i.e. very restrained, austere and extremely minimalistic. His mind was so developed that nothing ever bothered him at all, as it should be in the Jhāna, since they are almost Nibbāna (lacking the irreversible part most importantly), wherever he went, whatever he did. That's why he thought he was enlightened completely. Also, his mind of Jhāna can explain his mental connection to his Brahma buddy (Jhāna is a default mind state of a Brahma). And the thing is that he was almost correct, since whoever has easy access to Jhānas, without the Right View, is very very very close to the Right View, since they are almost the same thing (Jhāna and SammāDiṭṭhi) in terms of views. That's why the "In the seen, there's just the seen, etc". (few lines of instructions) was sufficient for him, not only to attain the Right View but complete Arahantship (Right View + mature Jhāna = Arahantship). Also, 7:19 bit is also completely off. Thoughts and significances are also part of what is seen - there are 6 senses that constitute perception. So the problem is NOT in the fact that a person has meanings and significances (which are also perceived), or "layers of perceptions" as you put it, in regard to objects (physical or mental) and has thoughts and feelings about them. They are not in our control, it's just what the mind does... And those (mental) things are just as real as the physical objects are, just different... The problem is in craving and ownership in regard to any 6-sense perception. And those are not extinguished through a simple act of direct will (which is always infected with the Self-VIew) of adding or removing of "layers", they are the result of bad habits by body, speech and mind (defilements), which can only be extinguished indirectly through the gradual training (Sīla, Samadhi, Paññā), slowly and progressively over time. Bāhiya did most of the cleanup work (of his mind and views) by himself beforehand (his whole lifestyle and previous lives), he just needed a slight nudge in the right direction (a slight, but by no means trivial, change in how he saw things) by the Buddha. Concretely, he just needed the Anattā part (explicitly shown) by being led to see the 5-assumed-aggregates (pañca-upādāna-khandha) as just 5-aggregates (pañca-khandha), which he did easily since he had removed almost all the dust from his eyes already. All in all, he was extremely close on his own, but that's not to say that he would have figured it ALL out on his own.
Many a times, the path of Dhamma seems to be very hard to follow, but the pain taken on this path is so worthwhile as it leaves one with abundance of wisdom that one can use to his advantage. That is why, also Dhamma is the highest refuge for the one who is truly, diligently surrendered to it. This story is the biggest motivation to continue the journey of self discovery following the principles of Dhamma. In addition to it, seeing the truth is so crucial rather than hearing to what we want to hear, is again, a very important pointer as far as not falling into the trap of illusion is concerned. All those people who manipulate others, for me, Yakkha symbolises them in this story. And only the wisdom cultivated within can be a refuge to prevent ourselves from Yakkha symbolising negative entities. One wise man = Protection of the entire community surrounding by him, like an auspicious presence of just one tree from whom not only the one who planted it but also every single passenger, traveler, stranger gets benefited. Thank you for the Jataka tale.✨🌟
This is actually a story that reflects real life. There's a lot of people who always go to certain people who always says what they wanted to hear and see them as a "Nice, trustworthy person" As a result, those people can be easily manipulated. They can be fooled to do the things those "nice people" wanted them to do. And that is how narcissists thrive and use people to their advantage As someome who has been bullied and have asked people for advice for it to stop, I'd rather have someone who call out my flaws to my face, rather than someone who tries to hide the truth to keep my feelings
Never abandon Lord Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha! Yakkha religions: Christianity teaches greed and ease- that someone died for your sins, he couldn’t save himself and died a horrible death and you can eat flesh and blood of Jesus -Yakkha religion! Islam - Mohammad died a horrible death after being poisoned. It literally teaches to KILL nonbelievers- Yakkha religion! Hinduism says to worship ALL cursed gods (they cursed their own gods) and teach it is all right to kill nonbrahmins and only killing brahmins is a sin - Yakkha religion!! Take refuge in Triple Gem alone, use your mind and discernment, meditate to clear your mind! That is Buddhism!
