These ten things…
From TheBuddhism.Net
Buddha
These ten things nourish the ten things that are desirable, liked, charming and hard to win the world.
What ten?
1.Energy and exertion nourish wealth.
2.Finery and adornment nourish beauty.
3. Doing things at the proper time nourishes health.
4. Friendship with the beautiful nourishes virtue.
5. Restraint of the senses nourishes the holy life.
6. Not quarrelling nourishes friendship.
7. Repetition nourishes great knowledge.
8. Lending an ear and asking questions nourishes wisdom.
9. Study and examination nourishes the teachings.
10. And living rightly nourishes rebirth in the heaven world.
~Anguttara Nikaya~
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
Source: http://www.thebuddhism.net/2012/07/25/anguttara-nikaya/
Reading these ten teachings from Anguttara Nikaya a Buddhist scripture, tells us more than that. Simple yet profound teachings, and advices all I can said it powerful sentences.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Simple and excellent advice.
Some of the hardest to answered questions are the most simplest. Rinpoche have answered those questions skillfully, sometimes to get the person to think before he gave the answer, or the answer become apparent after some thinking done by the person.
I tend to think I know after doing some reading but apparently if I put the question to myself I do find it hard to answer. I would also be thinking of how best to answer based on what the person has already know, which is kind of difficult when I don’t know the person well or is a stranger.
How simplistic in its writings but these 10 points in the Anguttara Nikaya really does hit home. In its simplistic delivery nurtures the provocation of deeper thought.
I do like such writings which do not seek to shove something down your throat but rather makes one think further.
What is the Anguttara Nikaya?
The Anguttara Nikaya (literally “Increased by One Collection,” also translated “Gradual Collection” or “Numerical Discourses”) is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the “three baskets” that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of several thousand discourses ascribed to the Buddha and his chief disciples arranged in eleven nipatas, or books, according to the number of dhamma items referenced in them.
The Anguttara Nikaya corresponds to the Ekottara Āgama (“Increased by One Discourses”) found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit. A complete version survives in Chinese translation by the name Zēngyī Ahánjīng (增一阿含經); it is thought to be from either the Mahāsāṃghika or Sarvāstivādin recensions. According to Keown, “there is considerable disparity between the Pāli and the Sarvāstivādin versions, with more than two-thirds of the sūtras found in one but not the other compilation, which suggests that much of this portion of the Sūtra Piṭaka was not formed until a fairly late date.
Wow! These are beautiful ethical aspects of the Dharma that one can take to heart and practice. I think all of them are pretty straight-forward. I love the words and I find number number 8 is particularly meaningful for me because I noticed that I am not that good of a listener and I don’t ask enough questions and in the process, I don’t learn as much as I could have.
Also number 7 is so applicable to me or anyone. If we don’t apply the teachings repeatedly, we would never gain memory of the greater knowledge embedded in these teachings. Of all of them, I find number 3 a little vague. I don’t really see how doing things at the right time nourishes health. Perhaps, it is talking about having enough rest and allocating the right amount of exercise? I am just guessing. The meaning eludes me and so I am taking a while guess on that one.
I like how this teaching talks about the cause and effect of things we so yearn and wish for and we grasp for yet we always fail to receive it because they go about getting it the wrong way. I see this daily, I see this in my own family/loved ones. It is disheartening because you know what is their problem yet you cannot tell them because they do not even have the merits or karma to hear something good or the truth.
I really like Buddhist teachings because it gives us the wisdom/method in achieving what we want in our daily life and all that is required is applying it and experiencing it for ourselves. Buddha always said to test his teachings out and if u like it, use it, if not no problems. I guess this is why Buddhism has been such a world wide accepted religion and well known as a “peaceful” religion. Thank you for this simple and interesting post!
What i like about this list from the Anguttara Nikaya is that it isn’t about believing in or worshipping a Buddha but advising practical methods to achieve particular goals. Even item 10 is universal to the mainstream religions – which believe that if you live according to the Bible or the Koran, you will go to Heaven after your human life expires.
i like no. 6 – not quarrelling nourishes friendship – sometimes we disagree over the smallest things… the best way to know someone well is to travel with them and you will see all the idiosyncrasies come up. Being quite easy going, i’m usually happy to go with the flow… but sometimes i am told that being too laid back is not good so… im finding my middle way! 😀
Wow… these ten points given by Anguttara Nikaya truly is amazing! If I may say so, just by applying these 10 steps will help us to live in accordance to the Dharma, as it covers all aspects of knowledge, wisdom and practice.
I like point number 8, “Lending an ear and asking questions nourishes wisdom”. I remember reading the says of the Buddha, where the Buddha advised His disciples that in order to gain wisdom we must create the causes to receive the wisdom and that is by asking questions. People that are born with less intellectual capacities are the result of not asking questions.
It then reminds me, why Rinpoche always encourages us to ask questions. Of course, for some of us is to dispel our ego problem because we don’t want to ask ‘stupid’ questions… lol… but the true reason is so that we gain wisdom. After all, we have a teacher to guide us with things we do not know and wish to learn… so if we do not ask questions, does that not mean we ‘know’ everything and no need of a teacher?
Another point that I like is number 7 “Repetition nourishes great knowledge”. Even in very mundane things like studying for an exam, we do many repetitions in order to master a certain subject. Take for example the subject maths, when we use many test questions to strengthen our knowledge of the particular topic. It is the same with Dharma, the more times we read something and put the effort to learn and practice, then we will gain results.