"GasHole" - the real history of oil (video)

Directors Scott Roberts and Jeremy Wagener; Wisdom Quarterly

a documentary film about the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuel

The film "Gas Hole" is a wide and detailed examination of US dependence on foreign supplies of oil. What led America to go from a leading exporter of oil to the world's largest importer? What are the forces that contribute to that change and prevent its solution? 

The film examines many potential solutions to oil dependence. Starting with technology that dramatically improves gas mileage, to navigating bureaucratic roadblocks, to evaluating alternative fuels available now, to questioning consumer reluctance to embrace available alternatives. Using gasoline? See this movie!

(RT) What the oil companies don't want you to know

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Turning the True Wheel (sutra)

Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, FIRST SERMON, based on Ven. Nanamoli translation, "Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma Discourse" (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, SN 56.11)

The Supremely Enlightened Buddha (KanikaBadwal/flickr.com)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was living in Benares at the Deer Park in the Resort of Seers (Isipatana). There he addressed the group of five.

 

Gold Buddha, Thai cave (Cdammen/flickr)

"These two extremes ought not be cultivated by one who has gone forth from the household-life [as a spiritual seeker in search of truth]. What two? Devotion to indulgence taking pleasure in the objects of sensual desire, [a habit] which is inferior, low, vulgar, ignoble, and leads to no higher good. In contrast, there is devotion to self-torment [severe asceticism], which is painful, ignoble, and leads to no higher good.

 

"The middle way discovered by perfectly enlightened one[s] avoids both extremes. It yields vision, yields knowledge, and leads to peace, to wisdom (direct knowing), to discovery, to nirvana (the end of all suffering). What is that middle way? 

 

"It is the Noble Eightfold Path, namely, right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the Middle Way discovered by supremely enlightened one[s]... 

• [Samma is a multivalent term being translated as perfect, supreme, and "right"; it also means whole, full, complete.]

[FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS]

The Buddha under umbrella (Saminla88/flickr)

"DISAPPOINTMENT (dukkha, suffering, unsatisfactoriness, misery, woe, ill), as an ennobling truth, is this: Birth is disappointing, aging is disappointing, sickness is disappointing, death is disappointing, sorrow and crying, pain, grief and despair are disappointing; connection with things disliked is disappointing, separation from things liked is disappointing, not getting what one wants is disappointing -- in short, the Five Aggregates of Clinging are disappointing [that is, identifying with the psycho-physical components of existence is disappointing].

  

"The ORIGIN of disappointment (suffering), as an ennobling truth, is this: It is craving [as one of the 12 links in the causal chain of dependently originated suffering rooted in ignorance] that produces rebirth (again-becoming, renewal of being, renewed existence) accompanied by enjoyment and lust, thirsting after this and that, craving for strands of sensual pleasure, craving for continued existence, and/or craving for nonexistence.

 

"CESSATION of suffering, as an ennobling truth, is this: It is the remainderless fading and ceasing, giving up, abandoning, letting go, and rejecting of that very [kind of] craving.

 

"The WAY leading to the cessation of disappointment, as an ennobling truth, is this: It is this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. [The eight path factors are distinguished into three categories: wisdom or insight, virtue or morality, and meditation or concentration.]

 

[TWELVE ASPECTS, THREE PHASES]

Wheel halo (Buddhism.about.com)

"'Disappointment, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, as [four] ennobling truths, are this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the discovery, the light of wisdom that arose regarding things never before heard by me. 

 

"'They can be diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge... 'They have been diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge... 'They can be abandoned.' Such was the vision, the knowledge... 

 

"'They have been abandoned.' Such was the vision, the knowledge... 

 

"''They can be verified.' Such was the vision, the knowledge... 

"'They have been verified.' Such was the vision, the knowledge... the light of wisdom that arose regarding things never before heard by me...

   

"As long as my knowing-and-seeing of how things are was not yet purified in these 12 aspects, in these three phases, for each of the Four Noble Truths, I did not claim in the world -- with its shining ones (devas), its killers (maras), its divinities (brahmas), in this generation with its ascetics (shamans) and priests (Brahmins), with its princes and people -- to have discovered supreme enlightenment.

[KNOWING-AND-SEEING]

Siddhartha and the group of five fellow practitioners including Kondañña

"But as soon as my knowing-and-seeing of how things are was purified in these 12 aspects, in these three phases, for each of these four ennobling truths, then did I claim in the world -- with its shining ones, its killers, its divinities, in this generation with its ascetics and priests, its princes and people -- to have discovered supreme enlightenment. 

"Knowledge and vision arose in me thus: 'My mind/heart's deliverance is unassailable. This is my last birth. There is no more [suffering or] renewal of being.'"

 

That is what the Buddha said. The group of five were glad and approved of his words.

 
[THE ONE WHO KNOWS]

During this utterance, there arose in Kondañña the spotless, immaculate vision of (insight into) the Dharma: "Whatever is subject to arising is also subject to [immediate] cessation."

 

When the True Wheel (the Wheel of the Dharma) had thus been set a'rolling by the Buddha the earthbound devas raised a call: "In Benares, at the Deer Park in the Resort of Seers, the matchless Wheel of the Dharma has been set a'rolling by the Blessed One, not to be stopped by ascetic or priest or shining one or killer or divinity or anyone in the world!"

  

On hearing the earthbound-devas' call, all of the devas in the six Sense Sphere deva worlds took up the call until it reached beyond Brahma's Retinue in the Fine-Material Sphere.

 

And so indeed at that hour, at that moment, the call soared up to the Brahma World, and this ten-thousandfold world-system shook and rocked and quaked. Moreover, a great measureless radiance surpassing the splendor of the shining ones shone throughout the world.

 

Then the Buddha exclaimed: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!" That is how he got his name, Añña-Kondañña, which mean Kondañña-who-knows.

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The Three Poisons of the Heart

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; H. Kopp Delaney (photo)

This questionable quote is based on real aphorisms in the Dhammapada, which run:

"There is no fire like passion (greed); there is no losing throw like hatred; there is no snare like delusion; there is no happiness higher than nirvana" (sacred-texts.com).

  

Variations are due to free translations and the coupling of related passages to synthesize more inclusive quotes. Hatred is a crime, hunger is a sickness; there is no sorrow like separation; there is no joy like the joy of complete freedom -- which is nirvana (Dhp).

Minds/hearts are bound by lust (H-K-D/flickr)

One is burned by lust, by craving, by clinging, by passion. If nothing else, it blinds one from seeing the liberating-truth. Most are not looking, so we delight in the senses and dream of a heavenly rebirth with intensified senses and sensual experiences. For men in general, the Buddha declared, there is nothing more alluring than the form of a woman, and for women in general, the form of a man.

  

Of course, Buddhism admits of individual variation, but this generally holds. From time to time one may crave anything. It is craving itself that is the fire. And though one changes what one craves, if one still craves, the burning will continue. This is an internal problem not the Buddha's comment on some social (external) situation. Meditation -- both for the sake of serenity and insight -- is ruined by craving.

Aversion has many manifestations like racism

Hatred expressing itself as revenge, wrath, thoughts of harming and ill will do little to harm others compared to the harm done to oneself. One is not only harming oneself. One is harming both and everyone else as well. Indeed, hate is a losing throw, like the original meaning of "sin," which simply meant "to miss the mark." A society esteeming archery understood. Do we hate? "I don't hate!" We fail to recognize how pervasive aversion (dosa) is in our lives and how much harm it does. For most of us most of the time, aversion manifests as fear. It leads to bias just as greed does, just as delusion does.

At the root of all harm, all faults, all suffering is delusion, wrong views, ignorance, folly. (Craving is singled out as the cause of suffering because it is a weak link in the causal chain of Dependent Origination, a point at which to undo suffering, but in fact ignorance is a more fundamental root of misery).

 

The Buddha gained/ taught freedom (Evs in nz)

This being the case, the solution, the cure, the antidote to dukkha (unsatisfactoriness, woe, pain) of all kinds is enlightenment, liberating-insight, wisdom. This cure can be administered immediately with mindfulness -- bare awareness of just what is without embellishment or propagating worries about it. Right here, right now everything is fine. When we move out of presence (presence of mind, the present moment), we encounter troubles.

A more permanent solution is developing calm and collectedness (concentration of the heart/mind's innate power) then turning that purified consciousness on the development of systematic insight. The liberated heart is the highest happiness.

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The Honey Full Moon Offering (sutra)

Ven. Dr. Karunananda, Abbot (Bodhi Mission) Originally posted 5:00 am

Bangladeshi Buddhist devotees light candles at Nandakanon temple, Chittagong, on the occasion of Madhu Purnima, the biggest festival behind Vesak, which commemorates the Buddha spreading the message of peace (The Star Daily).

  

The full moon observance day of the Indian month of Bhaadra (August September) commemorates a time when Buddhist monastics in ancient India were disputing. Even the Buddha could not calm their quarrels -- until he took the drastic action of withdrawing into the forest alone.

People and supporters heard of this and neglected to make offerings to the quarrelsome recluses, who eventually settled their differences.

While the Buddha was alone into Parileyya forest, an elephant and monkey tended to his needs, making an offering of fruit and honey.

This event -- Madhu Purnima -- is commemorated in Buddhist Bangladesh (particularly in Chittagong and the Hill Tract regions of a now predominantly Muslim country, which the British separated from India in a divide and conquer move as they departed after decades of colonial occupation).

It also led to a penetrating speech on profound aspects of the Dharma that leads to enlightenment:

• Honey Full Moon Observance and meditation, Bodhi Mission, Long Beach, Sept. 29th, 2012

In the Forest

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly translation (Parileyya Sutra,  SN 22.81)

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was staying near Kosambi, at Ghosita's monastery. Early in the morning, having dressed and taken his bowl and outer robe, he went into Kosambi on alms round. Returning after his meal he set his lodging in order and -- without calling on his attendant or informing the community of monks -- he set out wandering alone.

Not long after he left, a monk went to Ananda and said, "Just now, friend Ananda, the Blessed One set his lodging in order and without informing anyone set out wandering alone."

"Whenever he does this he wants to live alone," Ananda explained. "He is not to be followed by anyone at such times."

After wandering by stages the Buddha came to Parileyya forest and chose the root of an auspicious sal tree as his lodging.

Then a large number of monastics went to Ananda, exchanged courteous greetings, sat to one side, and said: "It has been a long time since we heard a Dharma talk in the Blessed One's presence. We want to hear a Dharma talk in the Blessed One's presence."

"All things are dependently originated."

Together with them Ananda went to the Blessed One, bowed, sat to one side, and the Buddha instructed, urged, roused, and encouraged them with a talk on Dharma.

On that occasion this train of thought occurred to one of the monks: "I wonder, knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to the corruptions?"

The Buddha, perceiving with his mind this train of thought as it occurred to that monk, said: "I have analyzed and taught you the Dharma. I have analyzed and taught you the [37 Requisites of Enlightenment, which run as follows:]

1. Four Noble Truths
2. Four Right Efforts
3. Four Bases of Power
4. Five Controlling Faculties
5. Five Powers
6. Seven Factors of Enlightenment
7. Noble Eightfold Path. 

"Yet, in spite of having analyzed and taught you the Dharma, still there occurs this thought: 'I wonder, knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to the corruptions?'

"[Here is how.] An ordinary, uninstructed worldling -- with no regard for noble ones [those who have attained various stages of enlightenment], who is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dharma, who has no regard for people of integrity, who is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dharma -- assumes form to be self. This assumption is a [compounded] formation.

  

"What is the cause, what is the origin, what is the rearising (birth), what is the coming-into-being of this formation? To an ordinary uninstructed worldling, touched by that which is felt born of contact with ignorance, craving arises. Such is that formation born. And it is unstable (radically impermanent, in constant flux), compounded (not independent but utterly dependent on conditions, not a self but an aggregate, a heap), dependently co-arisen [with and based on the factors that constitute it].

  

"That craving... That feeling... That contact... That ignorance is unstable, compounded, dependently originated/co-arisen. It is by knowing-and-seeing in this way that one without delay puts an end to the corruptions.

1. "Perhaps one does not assume form to be self but assumes that a self possesses form... form as in self... self as in form...
2. or feeling (sensation) to be self... self as possessing feeling... feeling as in self... self as in feeling...
3. or perception to be self... self as possessing perception... perception as in self... self as in perception...
4. or formations to be self... self as possessing formations... formations as in self... self as in formations... 
5. or consciousness to be self... self as possessing consciousness... consciousness as in self... self as in consciousness. [These are the Five Aggregates of Clinging clung to as a self, soul, or ego, but it is wrong view to consider them such.]

Wild animals were calmed around the Buddha.

"This assumption is a formation. What is the cause, what is the origin, what is the rearising, what is the coming-into-being of this formation? 

  

"To an ordinary, uninstructed worldling touched by feeling born of contact with ignorance, craving arises. Such is that formation born. And that formation is unstable, compounded, dependently co-arisen. That craving... That feeling... That contact... That ignorance is unstable, compounded, dependently co-arisen. It is by knowing-and-seeing in this way that one without delay puts an end to the corruptions.

"Or one does not assume form to be self... but may have a view such as this: 'This self is the same as the cosmos. This I will be after death, stable, lasting, eternal, not subject to change.' This eternalist view is a formation... 

"Or... one may have a view such as this: 'I would not be, neither would there be what is mine. I will not be, neither will there be what is mine.' This annihilationist view is a formation...

"Or... one may be doubtful and uncertain, having come to no conclusion with regard to the true Dhamma. That doubt, uncertainty, and coming-to-no-conclusion is a formation.

"What is the cause, what is the origin, what is the rearising, what is the coming-into-being of that formation? To an ordinary, uninstructed worldling touched by what is felt born of contact with ignorance, craving arises. Such is that formation born.

  

And that formation is unstable, compounded, dependently co-arisen. That craving... That feeling... That contact... That ignorance is unstable, compounded, dependently co-arisen. It is by knowing-and-seeing in this way that one without delay puts an end to the corruptions."

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Under a Bodhi Tree One Time

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL); Ítalo Silva Cano ("Ohm" photo/flickr.com)

An ant crawls along my leg

I do not open my eyes

I took the tiny fruit and fed

A famine-diet in my despair

A fig a fruit a marvelous thing

Its composition some expansion

But what shortcut could undo my rut

I breathe out, I breathe in

Happiness overwhelms me

Blameless and buoyant now

The breath a wiggle, faint osmosis

A trace of refined attentiveness

Without effort, without will

All unfolds, all seems to blossom

I would not move in my rapture

And so comes absorption

Emerging, I turn attention

To this life and its condition

And see that it is no haphazard thing

But born of Dependent Origination

And that realization

Leads to insight, to liberation

This much is sure and there's more --

My time under a tree and the fruit it bore.

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Enlightenment Fast (Part 2)

The Story of Bahiya of the Bark Cloth

Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quaterly; C. de Saram (translator)*

Long preparation enabled this new disciple to grasp the Truth in the twinkling of an eye.
   
He was like Upatissa (who became the chief male disciple better known as Sariputra), who entered the first stage of sainthood by hearing only one line of a couplet. Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, on hearing a single stanza uttered by the Buddha, became enlightened.

  

But Bahiya had a great store of merit. After all, he was born during the dispensation and had the privilege of meeting the Buddha.
   
Long before that, however, it is said that he had been born during the latter part of the dispensation at the final nirvana of the Buddha Kassapa aeons earlier. At that time he failed to get a foothold on sainthood (as recounted in the "Life of Mallaputta Dabba," when five ascetics abandon society and meditate to the end with all but Bahiya succeeding).

Ancient Indian ascetic practices included wearing bark cloth, animal hides, and exposing oneself to the elements. Some still practice these forms of self-mortification in India (adolphus.nl).

  

Bahiya of the Bark Cloth was born during Shakyamuni's dispensation after aeons of celestial bliss. Bahiya was his clan's name. A trader, he was on a harmless trip to Suvanna-Bhumi (today's Burma). He was shipwrecked and left the sole survivor.

  

By clinging to a log, he was able to swim to a peninsula called Supparaka, which he mistook for an island. Since he had no clothes, he resolved to cover himself with bark and moss. Then arming himself with an earthen bowl, he eked out an existence begging.

  

In due course, he was idolized by the people there who mistook him for an enlightened forest ascetic. (People are frequently misled by appearances). Eventually when clothes were offered, he refused them, thinking he would lose his newfound caste status. But this only served to enhance his reputation. His garb consisted of pieces of bark fastened together -- hence the appellation Daruciriya ("of the Bark Cloth").

  

After passing for a saintly hermit, a previous companion (from the past life of the five ascetics referred to above) abiding in the Suddhavasa Brahma World who, in fact, was a saint, thought it was time to disillusion him.
  

A brahma can manifest any form it wishes even the form of a wise old man from space.

   
His friend instantaneously descended from that "pure abode," that peaceful celestial world, and stood before him in all the glory and majesty of a God (brahma).
  
Bahiya was startled and dazzled, unable to believe his eyes as he asked this brahma who he was.

  

The brahma unfolded the story of their past life and succeeded in convincing Bahiya that he should straight away head to Jetavana Grove monastery to meet the Buddha, learn the Dharma, and have a chance of finally attaining real enlightenment.
  
The very title "Buddha" was news to Bahiya of the Bark Cloth. So great was his enthusiasm that, legend has it, he traveled day and night without pausing (perhaps utilizing some psychic ability), covering a distance of 129 leagues (approximately 400 miles).

  

Having traveled so far so quickly, on arrival he was exhausted and disheartened to find that the Buddha had already set out on his daily alms round. He was invited to rest and await the Buddha's return from the village. But Bahiya was in no mood to wait.

Bahiya insisted he be instructed right away, and the Buddha gave him just what ne needed.

 
Instead, he followed the Buddha's route into the village in search of instruction. He accosted the Buddha on the road and fell to his feet pleading for advice.
   
The Buddha informed him that he had arrived most unseasonably since he and the monks had already commenced their alms round.

  

But Bahiya insisted. He reportedly asked:
  

How many meals has one missed
in the countless round of rebirths and deaths?

Who can know the day and hour that one might pass away
before they would meet again?

The second question turned out to be a prophetic utterance. The Buddha surprised the monks on alms round with him because he had never deviated from his schedule. Today he was making an exception for this odd ascetic dressed in bark cloth.
   
He looked into Bahiya's past then his present and saw that this was to be his last wish. He therefore uttered to very concise teaching -- the gist of which was to look at things as they truly are:

Ditthe ditthamattam bhavissati
sute sutamattam bhavissati
mute mutamattam bhavissati
vinnate vinnatamatam bhavissati
   

"In the seen there is only the seen,

in the heard, only the heard,

in the otherwise sensed, only the otherwise sensed

(In other words, concentrate on the present moment.)

 
Bahiya understood and asked for ordination. Normally, the Buddha would simply utter the phrase "Come, venerable!" (Eham, bhante!). That would bestow ordination. Instead, seeing that Bahiya had not developed enough generosity-perfection (dana parami) in the past to have accrued sufficient merit to be fortunate in receiving robes, the Buddha asked him if he had any robes (which are necessary for ordination).
  
Bahiya, of course, did not. So he immediately went in search of cloth in a dust heap to construct a proper patchwork robe.

 

While engaged in his search, an enemy of his -- now reborn as an "ogre" or "goblin" (yakkha) -- took possession of a cow and gored him to death.

 

On returning from alms round, the monks saw Bahiya of the Bark Cloth's lifeless body by the side of the road. The Buddha surprised them yet again by requesting that they formally cremate the remains in a manner befitting royalty and saints (arhats), neither of which they thought applied to Bahiya.

The Buddha explained that, in fact, Bahiya was a saint. "When," they asked, "had he become enlightened?" The Buddha replied that Bahiya of the Bark Cloth was "foremost in gaining sainthood by quickly comprehending a single sentence of the Dharma." What did the Buddha tell him?

  

In the seen, for you let there be only the seen.

In the heard, for you let there be only the heard.

In the otherwise sensed,
let there be for you only the otherwise sensed.
When you do, there will be no here,
no there, and no going between.
(In other words, Be here now.)

   

"Be Here Now"!

Wisdom Quarterly

What, then, did that single sentence mean? Ditthe ditthe matam bhavissati! It is traditionally explained as an exhortation to be perfectly mindful (once the mind/heart is prepped and purified by sufficient concentration, which generally means some level of absorption). Another way to explain it might be:

Do not look long, do not look short.

In the seen (heard, sensed), let there be only that.
Then there will be neither here, nor there,
Nor transiting between the two.

C. de Saram explains in a footnote that the sixth and seventh links in the formula of Dependent Origination are impression and feeling (contact and sensation). The Buddha was therefore telling Bahiya to stop at impression (at sense contact).

  

In other words, do not linger over what is seen. "Do not look long, do not look short." Instead, simply be aware of it without judgment, without disturbance. In this way, the eighth (craving) and ninth (clinging) links will not come into play.
   
The entire mass of suffering, the Wheel of Dependent Origination, which applies to all phenomena, could thereby be circumvented. One might momentarily glimpse nirvana and see the conditional nature of all composite things. The "Eye of the Dharma" or "Wisdom Eye," which purifies mind and heart, radically alters the individual. And knowing and seeing directly one is liberated from all defilements and bonds.

  

*The story of Bahiya Daruciriya appears in Pen Portraits: 93 Eminent Disciples of the Buddha by C. de Saram (Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre, 1971, reprinted for free distribution by the Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation (Taiwan, R.O.C.): Budaedu.org

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Part III: It's Been a Long Time (sutra)

Maurice O'C. Walshe, "Great Discourse on the Lineage" (DN 14); Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Spiritual evolution occurs in cycles (bisquich.com)

• Part I: It's Been a Long Time (sutra)
• Part II: It's Been a Long Time (sutra)

The Buddha: "Then the Bodhisattva Vipassi thought, 'I have found the insight-way to enlightenment, namely:

1. "By the cessation of mind-and-body, consciousness ceases;
2. by the cessation of consciousness, mind-and-body ceases;
3. by the cessation of mind-and-body, the six sense bases cease;
4. by the cessation of the six sense bases, contact ceases;
5. by the cessation of contact, feeling ceases;
6. by the cessation of feeling, craving ceases;
7. by the cessation of craving, clinging ceases;
8. by the cessation of clinging, becoming ceases;
9. by the cessation of becoming, birth ceases;
10. by the cessation of birth aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and distress cease. Thus this whole mass of suffering ceases." 

"And at the thought, ‘Cessation, cessation,’ there arose in the Bodhisattva Vipassi insight into things never before realized accompanied by knowledge, vision, awareness, and light.

  

Buddha Peace Pagoda inset (Valdnad)

"Then, disciples, at another time the Bodhisattva Vipassi dwelled contemplating the rise and fall of the Five Aggregates of Clinging: 'Such is the (1) body, such its arising, such its passing away; such is (2) sensation... such is (3) perception... such are the (4) formations [usually represented by volition]... such is (5) consciousness, such its arising, such its passing away.'

  

"And as he remained contemplating the rise and fall of the Five Aggregates of Clinging, before long his mind was freed from the corruptions, freed without remainder. [That is, he became completely enlightened and liberated from all future rebirth.]
  
"Then, disciples, the Blessed One, the Arhat, the fully-enlightened Buddha Vipassi thought, 'Suppose I were now to teach Dharma?' Then he thought, 'I have attained to this Dharma, which is profound, hard to see, hard to grasp, peaceful, excellent, beyond reasoning, subtle, to be apprehended by the wise.

   

"'But this generation delights in clinging, rejoices and revels in it. But for those who so delight, rejoice, and revel in clinging this is hard to see, namely, the conditioned [dependently originated] nature of things. 

   

"Equally hard to see would be the calming of all the mental formations, the abandonment of all substrates of rebirth, the waning away of craving, dispassion, cessation, [so as to see] nirvana. And if I were to teach Dharma to others and they did not understand, that would be wearisome and troublesome."
  
"And to the Buddha Vipassi there occurred spontaneously this verse never heard before:
  

"This that I’ve attained why should I proclaim?"

Those full of lust and hate can never grasp it.

Upstream this Dharma subtle, deep does aim.

So hard to discern, the passion-blinded cannot see it."

   

Maha Brahma (Thai Erawan Shrine)

"As the Buddha Vipassi pondered in this way, his mind was inclined to inaction rather than to teaching the Dharma. And, disciples, the Buddha Vipassi’s reasoning became known to a certain Great Brahma [telepathically], who thought:
  
"'Alas the world is perishing. It will be destroyed because the mind of Vipassi, the Blessed One, the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened Buddha, is inclined to inaction rather than to teaching the Dharma!'
   
"So this Great Brahma, as swiftly as a strong man might stretch his flexed arm or flex it again, disappeared from the Brahma plane and reappeared before the Buddha Vipassi. Arranging his upper robber over one shoulder and kneeling on his right knee, he saluted the Buddha Vipassi with joined hands and said:
   
"'Venerable sir, may the Blessed One teach Dharma, may the Well-Farer teach Dharma! There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are perishing from not hearing Dharma: they will become knowers of Dharma!" More

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To the Naked Ascetic (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Zen Mirror version (Acela Sutra, SN 12.17)

A different naked ascetic once asked the Buddha, "Who are you?"

  

Thus I have heard. On one occasion the Buddha was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, in the Squirrels’ Feeding Ground. Early in the morning, having taken robes and bowl, he went into Rajagaha for alms.

  

Naked ascetic (bridgemanart.com)

The naked ascetic Kassapa saw him coming in the distance. He went to him and exchanged courteous greetings. After such courtesies, he respectfully stood to one side. As he was standing there, he said: “I would like to question Master Gautama about a certain point, if he would take the time to answer my question.”

   

“This is not an appropriate time for questioning Kassapa as we have entered among the houses [in search of alms].”

A second time, and a third time Kassapa the naked ascetic appealed to him. “I would like to question Master Gautama about a certain point, if you would take the time to answer my question.”

• How to become a wandering naked ascetic
• Kumbh Mela: The Great Flow (WildYogi.info)
• PHOTOS: Naked ascetics in modern India
• PHOTOS: Just wandering (female sadhus) 

“This is not an appropriate time for questioning Kassapa as we have entered among the houses.”

Wandering Buddhist ascetics (Hermitianta)

Following this exchange Kassapa the naked ascetic said, “What I wish to ask will not take much of your time.”

“Then ask as you like.”

“Master Gautama, is suffering self-made?”

“This is not correct, Kassapa.”

“Then is it other-made?”

“This is also not correct, Kassapa.”

“Then is it both self-made and other-made?”

“This too is not correct, Kassapa.”

“Then is it the case that stress, being neither self-made nor other-made, arises spontaneously?”

“This statement as the others is not correct, Kassapa.”

“Then does suffering not exist?”

“This is not the case, Kassapa, that suffering does not exist. Suffering does exist.”

“Well, in that case, does Master Gautama not know or see suffering?”

“Kassapa, it is not the case that I do not know or see suffering. I do know and see suffering.”

Sadhu in the holy city of Haridwar, India

Kassapa reiterated: “Now, when asked, ‘Is suffering self-made?’ Master Gautama says, ‘This is not correct, Kassapa.’ When asked, ‘Then is it other-made?’ he says, ‘This is also not correct, Kassapa.’ When asked, ‘Then is it both self-made and other-made?’ he says, ‘This too is not correct, Kassapa.’ When asked, ‘Then is it the case that suffering, being neither self-made nor other-made, arises spontaneously?’ he says, ‘This statement as the others is not correct, Kassapa.’ When asked, ‘Then does suffering not exist?’ he says, ‘It is not the case, Kassapa, that it does not exist. Suffering does exist.’ When asked, ‘Well, in that case, does Master Gautama not know or see suffering?’ he says, ‘Kassapa, it is not the case that I do not know or see it. I know and see suffering.’ Then explain suffering to me, Blessed One. [This marks a change in the way Kassapa is addressing the Buddha indicating he is ready for instruction, according to Walshe.] Teach me about suffering, Blessed One!”

   

The Buddha clarified: “‘The one who acts is the one who experiences [the result of the act]’ amounts to an Eternalist position. ‘Existing from the very beginning, suffering is self-made.’ ‘The one who acts is someone other than the one who experiences [the results]’ amounts to the Annihilationist position. ‘For one existing harassed by feeling, suffering is other-made.’ Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathāgata [the Buddha] teaches the Dharma via the Middle Way [through this doctrine of Dependent Origination]:

• From ignorance as a condition come formations.
• From formations as a condition comes consciousness.
• From consciousness as a condition comes mind and body.
• From mind and body as a condition come the six sense bases.
• From the six sense bases as a condition comes contact.
• From contact as a condition comes feeling.
• From feeling as a condition comes craving.
• From craving as a condition comes clinging.
• From clinging as a condition comes becoming.
• From becoming as a condition comes birth.
• From birth as a condition comes [dukkha, which is defined as] aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. Such is the origination of this entire mass of suffering.

“Now from the beginningless fading and cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of formations. From the cessation of formations comes the cessation of consciousness.... From the cessation of birth comes the cessation of aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. In this way there comes about the cessation of this entire mass of suffering.”

• ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATION: “'He who performs the act also experiences [the result]' -- what you, Kassapa, first called 'suffering caused by oneself' -- this amounts to the Eternalist theory. 'One person performs the act yet another experiences [the result]' -- which to the person affected seems like 'suffering caused by another' -- this amounts to the Annihilationist theory. Avoiding both extremes, Kassapa, the Tathagata teaches a doctrine of the middle: Conditioned by ignorance are the (karma-) formations... [as SN 12.15]... so there comes about the cessation of this entire mass of suffering.” (Walshe)

Real sadhus doing tapas (adolphus.nl)

When this was said Kassapa the naked ascetic exclaimed:
   
“Magnificent, venerable sir! Magnificent! It is just as if one were to set upright what had been overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark.
   
“In the same way the Blessed One -- through many lines of reasoning -- has made the Dharma clear. 
   
“I go to the Blessed One for guidance and to the Dharma and to the Sangha. Let me obtain the going forth [become a monastic disciple] in the Blessed One’s presence. Let me obtain admission.”
   
“Anyone, Kassapa, who has previously belonged to another sect and who desires the going forth and admission in this Dharma (doctrine) and discipline, must first undergo a probationary period of four months. If at the end of four months the Sangha feels so moved, they may give one the going forth and admission. But I know distinctions among individuals in this matter.”
   
“Venerable sir, if that is so, I am willing to undergo a probationary period of four years. If at the end of four years the Sangha feels so moved, let them give me the going forth and admission.” 
   
Then Kassapa the naked ascetic went forth in the Blessed One’s presence and obtained admission. Then in no long time -- dwelling withdrawn, secluded, heedful, ardent, and resolute -- he reached and remained in the ultimate goal of the supreme life -- for which [spiritual] warriors rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing and realizing the Truth for themselves here and now. Kassapa knew: 
   
“Birth is ended, the supreme life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world.” Thus Ven. Kassapa became another one of the enlightened beings (arhats).”

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