Buddhism Before the Theravada

Does anyone have an e-mail address for John Peacock? There's a question I'd like to ask him, but I can't find an e-mail address for him anywhere.

"Until I heard these talks I was never interested in learning Pali, but now I'm in the market for a Pali/English dictionary. Does such a thing exist? If so does anyone have any recommendations? Learning that the literal translation of metta is to grow fat with friendliness made me smile. Wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing this!"

>Until I heard these talks I was never interested in learning Pali, but now I'm in the market for a Pali/English dictionary. Does such a thing exist? If so does anyone have any recommendations? Learning that the literal translation of metta is to grow fat with friendliness made me smile. Wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing this!<

Here is the Pali Societies Pali-English Dictionary: dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/index.html .

Here is another very useful dictionary: www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/bud-dict/dic_idx.htm

j

I'm the guy that found these talks and passed them on to some friends -- including rocketbuddha here... They were hidden in the podcast from Audio Dharma, which is from the Redwood City, IMS Center. They have been revolutionary in my practice. Connecting many, many dots that I'd uncovered, but weren't yet woven together.

For instance: The reason the Buddha called the first level of being awake Stream Entry is that at that moment the mind moves from searching, looking for and creating fixed experiences to a cellular knowing of being in the stream of living. One is ALIVE and IN the process of life for the first time. The experience of Anicca is one's experience of life. No longer an idea.

At the moment this occurs, the old mind begins dying. It still has enough momentum to form itself into fixed ideas, emotions, etc. But they no longer hold the enticement they once had. These manifestations too are anicca. Part of the Stream...

The magic is that the unraveling happens on it's own. It doesn't need my help. It needs my witnessing. And it needs my intention. There still is a me that forms, and than me needs to be seen and have an intention to participate in the dismantling of itself. A clear intention to die to it's beliefs. To move it's allegiance to the Stream and fully dissolve into the process.

The thread here about Jhanas fits here for me. To focus on creating Jhana states as a means to GET something, is no different than any other wanting. It's an attempt to create something fixed in consciousness. To climb some ladder.

My experience of this is more holographic. As this rats nest of a mind that I inherited unravels itself, it moves through various states. Confused, raptured, defensive, calm, fearful, experiencing the universe AS the body/mind, worried, caught in past justifications, and on and on and on. Left alone, I see it slow down, emptying--on it's own.

Funny you should mention that. I recently asked a professor of Pali what sotapanna means, and this is what he said:

"Actually, the English term "stream-winner" is not right; it is based upon the Pali verb sotaa 'to hear', and then the verb patti 'to enter into/begin' (perfect participle is panna) and signifies one who has, started to hear/understand'"

I asked how it came to be translated as "stream-winner" and he said:

"Anyhow, the expression "stream-winner"
seems to come from the Mahaayana (actually Tibetan sources. "stream"
refers to the stream-of-heading towards full enlightenment,
arahant-ship. To "win" is, in older English usage, to attain. And, of
course, getting into that 'stream-of-progress' comes from truly
"hearing", i.e., understanding and internalising the doctrinal noble
Truths."

Food for thought.

""4 Four Noble Truths were actually a joke, not meant to be a literal teaching""

That statement might be misleading. He doesn't question the actual message of the fNT. If I remember correctly, he thinks the word "Noble" was a joke on the brahmans of the period. I like it that he quotes a friend that called them the Four Enobling Truths.

Great series. Thanks for bringing them to my attention.

jack

Opps, my notes were too cryptic. I do want to avoid misleading so very much appreciate your comment. I'm going through his series on Metta as a Path to Awakening from a retreat in 2008 (found in the mumu link above). Much more in depth than his two part metta lecture found in the original link.

There are many talks of his on dharmaseed.org/teacher/91/ taken from various of his retreats. They have a comment in their write-up similar to " "Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series." Has anyone figured out how to figure out which order the MP3 files are in? That is, which talk came first in his retreat. Which came second and so on. Of course, I am talking about those talks not numbered in their title.

jack

"There are many talks of his on dharmaseed.org/teacher/91/ taken from various of his retreats. They have a comment in their write-up similar to " "Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series." Has anyone figured out how to figure out which order the MP3 files are in? That is, which talk came first in his retreat. Which came second and so on. Of course, I am talking about those talks not numbered in their title.

jack
"

When I download them they have a date in the file name. When i import them into iTunes, they loose the date in the name, but stay in that order.