Sādhu

While appreciating the comment, India, as a big country where the Buddha was born, has a similar responsibility or role to play offering Buddha + Ashoka message to promote peace, compassion, altruism, and happiness to humanity. This world is in a totally broken state at the moment. Therefore, people who appreciate Buddha's message of compassion can be regarded as good messengers of hope.

@@senakadezoysa3759 Definitely. I agree

That's a nice idea, Bharath. Great to hear that you're a history buff too.

That's great to hear re: young monks. We're lucky to be living in an age where patipatti is strong once again.

Please be careful with this line of thinking. The archaeological and textual evidence for Indian origins of Buddhism in India is irrefutable.

@@DhammaVinayaPatipada sorry to say that they all were found and were established by non buddhist like anton furea ( a german man) and later found he was a fraudster

Sādhu. Wonderful to hear it might have been helpful. This history behind the decline of practice is quite interesting. We're living in quite a fortunate time for Buddhist practice.

Very happy it might have been helpful. Wishing all the blessings of Dhamma practice.

Very nice to hear it was helpful. I like learning about history too.

Theruwan Saranai, I'm glad this discussion was helpful, and it's good that you brought these points up. Regarding Maliyadeva, in Sri Lankan folklore he is generally believed to have been the last Arahant in Sri Lanka. There are other versions of the tale that say he's the last Arhant with psychic powers or the last great Arhant, who has both psychic powers and has memorized the Tipitaka. However, the most common belief seems to be that he was the last Arhant (according to folklore). I haven't heard of this verse from "Dhammapala." I also haven't heard of this text before. If it is not in the Sutta or Vinaya Pitakas, I would be reluctant to consider it Buddha Vacana. Please pass along the reference. I will plan to look it up. As far as I've been able to see, the Buddha's teachings on the balance between study and practice are mostly contained in the suttas referenced at the end of the talk. Learning and practicing Buddhism are integrated. However, the balance between them is something that the Buddha has discussed. If one focuses solely on learning and never gets around to practicing, then it's not that useful. Dhamma is not like saving money in the bank. One cannot spend a lot of time studying and then suddenly 'spend' the Dhamma that one has learned on gaining jhānas or the paths and fruits. The mind develops according to how it is directed. Learning is like having a manual for how to drive a car. Actually learning to drive the car and then being able to drive it to a destination is an entirely different thing. Ven. Sariputta and many others attained Arahantship while listening to the Dhamma. A large part of this was due to the Buddha's skill as a teacher, and the other part was how they had practiced in their life (and lives) beforehand. If people already had 'little dust,' they could make the breakthrough quickly. Before meeting the Buddha, in this life and previous ones, they would have removed a lot of the dust from their eyes by practicing. Many people study these days, but almost no one attains Arahantship. So, there is obviously something missing. In the canon, even the Arahants who reached Nibbāna by listening to the Dhamma do not recommend spending the majority of one's time studying. These are important points to consider. The Atthakatha is not the pure Buddhist teaching. While there are good things in the Atthakatha, it's also clear that there are things which do not match with the Canon. In the case mentioned in this talk, it seems pretty clear that what was inserted was false, and it was inserted for motives that were not pure in terms of the Dhamma. So one should always be very careful to compare what's written in the Atthakatha with what's in the Sutta and Vinaya Pitakas so that one is not misled. And finally, it's good that you reached out with this message. Above are the points in which my understanding is different. If you'd like to continue the discussion, feel welcome to send me a message. Wishing you all the blessings of Dhamma practice. Theruwan Saranai

Theruwan saranai. The last part of the talk gives the recommended balance between study and practice in the suttas. It's clear enough in these suttas. If you have any issues with the evidence presented there, please let me know and I'll respond. The story that you tell about Arahant Maliyadeva is found in the commentary of the Anguttara Nikaya. The quote that I read at the end of this talk is directly taken from the same passage, which you're describing. The passage opens by saying that Maliyadeva attained Arahantship only through study. Then later it says he spent the Vassa practicing meditation and studying. However, the beginning of that passage is very clear that he attained Arahantship through study. I can attach the Pali if you'd like to check. Buddhaghosa compiled the Atthakathas, which I believe was mentioned in this talk. However, this talk makes the clear case that this instance was false and provides historical evidence for this. If you disagree with this evidence, let me know and I will respond. The Atthakathā has many errors. It is beyond the scope of this message to mention them all. Its study should be approached with careful comparison to the Canon. The framework of study, practice, and realization appears comes from an attack on practice and to have basically served that end. People often study, but rarely get to the practice and realization portion. It's time to let that model go and adopt the one in the Canon. A bhikkhu who dwells in the Dhamma studies, but devotes the majority of their time to practice. A learned expert in the Dhamma is someone who learns a four-line stanza and practices in line with it.