Thank you! We met our fundraising goal for New Arrivals. January 2012

Transcription

1 January 2012 Thank you! We met our fundraising goal for Your generosity allows us to provide our current services and develop new resources to help people on the path of Dhamma. We look forward to serving you in the coming year. New Arrivals La Vipassana - The Art of Living (Spanish) This is the classic introduction to Vipassana meditation. It includes stories by S.N. Goenka as well as answers to students questions that convey a vivid sense of his teaching. Pariyatti 25th anniversary poster This poster is a reproduction of a painting made by a Pariyatti supporter. The Life of the Buddha - In Chinese This classic book, one of Pariyatti's bestsellers in English, is now available in Chinese. It is a biography of the Buddha, drawn from the original P!li texts and arranged in a way that tells the story of the Buddha s life while explaining his teaching.,,, :?,,

2 :,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Pure and Simple - In Chinese In the twentieth century, Upasika Kee grew to become one of the most famous teachers in Thailand male or female all the more remarkable because, rarer still, she was not a monastic but a layperson. Her relentless honesty, along with her encouraging voice, is one reason so many contemporary Buddhist teachers recall Upasika Kee so fondly, and so often. Mah!satipaṭṭh!na Sutta MP4 This audio recording of S.N. Goenka chanting the Mah!satipaṭṭh!na Sutta is for Old Students, those who have taken a Vipassana course as taught by S.N. Goenka. Accompanying the P!li and the English translations stanza by stanza, on the screen, is the audio of the chanting. A great way to hear and understand the meaning of the sutta. Wheel of Buddhist Terms poster The Wheel of Buddhist Terms poster is a colorful presentation of the main teaching lists used by the Buddha, showing relationships and connections among the terms that are used. Each box is colored to match its topic and contains the corresponding teaching list with definitions, P!li terms, and a brief statement about the meaning and significance of each teaching list as a part of a single vision aiming at liberation. When Treading the Path of Dhamma is Remembered Suttantesu asantesu, pamuṭṭhe vinayamhi ca, Tamo bhavassati loke, s"riye atthaṅgate yath!. When the scriptures become extinct, and treading the path of Dhamma is forgotten, The whole world is enveloped in ignorance, Like the darkness caused by the setting sun. Suttante rakkhite sante, paṭipatti hoti rakhit!, Paṭipattiyaṃ ṭhito dh#ro, yogakkhem! na dhaṃsati. When the scriptures are protected, and the practice of Dhamma is preserved,

3 For the wise man established in the practice, Welfare is never assailed. ANA 1.69 (paragraph 130) Dutiyam!d!divaggavaṇṇ!.when there arise great and difficult manly enterprises...four dominants become predominant among the means of their accomplishment. Owing to the existence of the four dominants, there exist distinguished or dignified persons (personages) such as the Omniscient Buddhas, the Pacceka Buddhas, the most eminent disciples, the great disciples and the ordinary disciples. Owing to the appearance of such great personages, there also appear, for the general prosperity and welfare of mankind, numerous arts and sciences...to suit and serve human needs and wants under the canopy of civilization. Ven. Ledi Sayadaw (from The Manuals of Dhamma published by Vipassana Research Institute, pp 35-36: Paṭṭh!nuddesa d"pan": Adhipatipaccayo or The Relation of Dominance ) At this hinge of history that we occupy the arising of the Second S!sana the teaching of the Buddha is available to untold numbers of people. We may take for granted the proliferation of Dhamma practice centers and resources for Dhamma study, and the unprecedented means to find them. Only 70 years ago, practice of the Noble Eightfold Path was confined to a tiny number of renunciates and aspirants in a few countries. Computers, the internet, cell phones, online libraries, websites, social networks, ebooks harbingers of the Digital Age were unimagined. The flowering of numerous arts and sciences to serve human needs under the canopy of civilization that we live in, is a fleeting wonderment. The timeline below features noteworthy events of pariyatti (theoretical knowledge of the Buddha's teaching) as well as examples of advances in communications. Not intending to be comprehensive, we offer this timeline as food for thought and to underscore the great good fortune of our era. For a blink in cosmological time, the possibility of freedom from sams!ra is robustly alive and able to be conveyed and dispersed to vast numbers through a myriad of carriers; in this dispensation Pariyatti (the non-profit organization) has its role to play. May all beings be able to muster immense zeal! A selective timeline of pariyatti c 563 to 483 BCE Life of Gotama Buddha: in 45 years of teaching the Dhamma the Enlightened One is said to have given over 84,000 discourses 483 BCE First Council convened outside R!jagaha 3 months after Mah!parinibb!ṇa of the Buddha; first compilation of authenticated P!li Canon (known as Tipiṭaka literally, "three baskets," also translated as "three treasuries") 483 BCE to 1954 Second Council through Fifth Councils were held to recite, redact and authenticate the Tipiṭaka for prosperity. Second in Ves!li, India; Third in Paṭaliputta, India, under the auspices of Emperor Asoka; Fourth in Tambapaṇṇi, Sri Lanka; Fifth in Mandalay, under the auspices of King Mindon. More info.

4 c 1871 Completion of the world's largest book in Mandalay: contemporaneous with Fifth Council, entire P!li Tipiṭaka inscribed on 729 marble slabs at Kuthodaw Pagoda. Historic temple intact and a place of reverence to this day Pali Text Society (PTS) founded in Oxford, England to foster and promote the study of P!li texts 1900 Printed copy of P!li Tipiṭaka published (in 38 volumes of 400 pages each) by Hanthawaddy Press, Burma (established 1879); described as true copies of the Piṭaka inscribed on stones by King Mindon 1944 One of the first computers (Harvard Mark I) is designed 1952 to 1963 The Union of Burma Buddha S!sana Council in Rangoon publishes The Light of the Dhamma magazine; a sister publication The Light of Buddha is published from 1956 to 1965 in Mandalay 1954 to 1956 Sixth Council (Chaṭṭha Saṅg!yana) convened in Rangoon 2,500 years after Mah!parinibb!ṇa; publishes authenticated Tipiṭaka and Commentaries in printed books 1955 Date recognized by many Therav!dins as the beginning of the Second S!sana (arising of the teaching of the Buddha) 1955 S.N. Goenka takes first Vipassana course under Sayagyi U Ba Khin at International Meditation Center (IMC) in Rangoon 1958 Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) founded in Kandy, Sri Lanka to make known the teachings of the Buddha ; becomes a leading publisher of Therav!da works in English, publishing over 800 titles 1969 S.N. Goenka travels from Burma to India to teach Vipassana; he carries printed Chaṭṭha Saṅg!yana Tipiṭaka books, thereby bringing both paṭipatti (practice) and pariyatti (scriptures) 1969 ARPANET (the precursor to the internet) is created 1973 First cell phone is invented 1985 Vipassana Research Institute (VRI) is established in Igatpuri, India to conduct research into sources and applications of Vipassana 1986 Pariyatti Book Service is started in California to import books from India and Sri Lanka on Buddha's teaching for North American meditators 1986 First book on nanotechnology is published

5 1990 VRI starts project to publish Tipiṭaka and Commentaries in Devanagiri script 1992 Electronic Buddhist Text Initiative started in Berkeley CA, to assist digital preservation and organization of Buddhist canonical texts 1993 Access to Insight starts, growing into free online Therav!da library offering over 1,000 suttas and hundreds of articles c 1994 VRI makes Chaṭṭha Saṅg!yana Tipiṭaka CD-ROM available free of charge; sets of Tipiṭaka books in Devanagari script (over 100 volumes each) are printed for free distribution to monasteries, universities, meditation centers, temples, libraries 1995 Vipassana Research Publications of America (VRPA) is started in Seattle, sanctioned by S.N. Goenka; mission to make Vipassana literature more available in West through importing of P!li Tipiṭaka books (for free distribution to scholars) and English-language titles from VRI 1996 VRPA purchases Pariyatti Book Service; new book publication and import entity is incorporated as Pariyatti 1997 to 1999 Pariyatti becomes North American distributor of Buddhist Publication Society (BPS); Pariyatti and BPS co-publishes first of series of classic titles: Visuddhimagga, the Path of Purification c 2000 Entire Tipiṭaka and Commentaries in 14 scripts available to anyone in the world with access to the internet ( Wikipedia is created 2002 Pariyatti becomes North American distributor for P!li Text Society; Pariyatti has largest North American inventory of PTS titles and one of world's largest English-language Therav!da collections 2004 Facebook is created 2005 to present Pariyatti's expanding online resources Treasures of Pariyatti offers permanent repository of and free access to Dhamma literature in danger of being lost; painstaking optical character recognition technology allows rare copies of The Light of the Dhamma and The Light of Buddha to be preserved 2010 Vipassana centers in tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as taught by S.N. Goenka offer over 2, day Vipassana courses annually, and serve about 120,000 people annually.

6 Present Buddhist Publication Society continues digitization of extensive parts of its collection for free online access (at BPS Online Library and accesstoinsight.org) Present In continuous service since 1881, P!li Text Society: publishes P!li texts in Roman script, English translations, and ancillary works including dictionaries and concordance; keeps nearly all its publications in print; provides research scholarships in P!li studies in various countries; supports the Fragile Palm Leaves Project (identification and preservation of Southeast Asian manuscripts) Present Vipassana Research Institute continues research into P!li texts and personal effects of Vipassana meditation; many titles are available via free download; monthly newsletter in Hindi and English has 25,000 subscribers worldwide 2012 January 19 41st anniversary of demise of Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899 to 1971) who proclaimed: The time-clock of Vipassana has now struck! and May all beings be able to muster immense zeal! ~ Best wishes from the staff at Pariyatti ~