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

Great to hear it might have been helpful

Wonderful to hear that the talk might have been helpful. If you ever have questions that you'd like to see in a Dhamma discussion, let me know. May you attain Nibbāna as well.

Wonderful to hear that it might have been helpful. It is very interesting the way avijjā operates. Glad to hear that you've benefitted from the practice. I hope it leads you to the highest goal.

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.

Good morning, Mahatthaya. I often come to Colombo. I can be reached via email at this address... www.dhammavinayapatipada.com/contact

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

Very glad to hear it might have been helpful. Wishing you all the blessings of Dhamma practice.

Sādhu, Anne. Definitely, the Buddha's teachings on renunciation are key. Wishing you all the blessings of Dhamma practice.

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

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.

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.

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

Very glad to hear it might have been helpful

Sādhu

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

Great to hear it might have been helpful, Bharath. Such a blessing to have the Buddha's teachings.

That's great... it's a 50/50 chance (smile)

Sounds a bit mischevious

What do you mean?

Very happy it might have been helpful, Andrew

Very happy it might have been helpful. The goal of this channel is to help people with their practice. So, it's great to hear it's been useful. Feel welcome to ask any time.

He's a warrior after all, prior to become homelessness, also his early disciples were also of warrior caste.

Anumodana for the kind words. It's great to hear the talk might have been helpful. Re: the Buddha's use of similies, it is interesting. The Buddha was able to teach the Dhamma with incredible breadth -- and in some ways that are counter-intuitive. Like you, I also find the warrior analogy helpful. It can be a good comparison for the struggle to bring the mind under control.

Anumodana for the tips. I'm hoping to visit WBD as well. The trip is organized by a group called the 'Metta Centre'. I'll be staying at different places and attending events. Am planning to put up a post on FB and here as well with info about the schedule.

It's against the monk rules (patimokkha) to directly incite or accept money. But check his linktree in the channel description I sure there'll be a way.

​@cariyaputta my thought here is that Bhante could accept unsolicited donations for the sangha, not for him directly but those around him.

Anumodana for the kind thought, Dexter. I don't have anything like that set up, but people sometimes ask. Maybe it would be good to think about something. Unfortunately, I've had some bad experiences here in SL. For this reason, I generally don't get involved with connecting people with monasteries. I'm not totally against it, but I generally try to avoid it. If you'd really like to connect with a monastery though, I can give it some thought. Just send me an email at www.dhammavinayapatipada.com/contact

Warm greetings. I am still in Sri Lanka. We can plan to meet. Feel welcome to reach out using the contact form on my website... dhammavinayapatipada.com/contact/

​@@DhammaVinayaPatipadathank you bhante, I'm aspiring to become a forest monk like bhante nanadipa and feel really lost here in Sri Lanka because a lot of the monks that I talked to until now are not practicing for Nibbānna. So I'm really grateful for the reply and hope to meet you very soon. Regard suraj May you always be happy and well bhante 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

That's a good question, John. The calmer one's mind is, the deeper one tends to sleep. So, having a good basis in Samatha is definitely important. Another important factor is what one does during one's day. If one is spending a lot of time thinking or working, it wears the body out and one tends to need more rest. The early Buddhist monks were in a situation where they could spend most of their day on meditation. That is an enormous help in needing less sleep.

@@DhammaVinayaPatipada Thank you for the response! That makes sense. Maybe I should limit my expectations regarding sleep as a layperson then. I’ll try to keep my mind calm and rested as best I can.

That sounds like a good potential idea for a discussion. Let's see...

A lot depends on what one does in one's daily life. One has to practice restraint of the senses. I'm not sure what your situation is. However, we can imagine a hypothetical situation where a person practices asuba for 30 mins a day. However, when they are out and about they are constantly looking at attractive women or men. They may even be regular consumers of pornography. An addiction to lust can occur at all levels of a person's life. To break it's hold, one has to learn to restrain one's senses in whatever situation it arises.

Anumodana for the kind words. There's a very good book called 'With Each and Every Breath' by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. It describes some good approaches to working with breath energy. Ajahn Lee also has a very good book called 'Keeping the Breath in Mind'. They're available for free. Just Google the titles, and they should come up.

Anumodana for those good wishes. Great to hear it might be helpful.