Malunkyaputta Sutta Staying Focused Talk 2 May 9 2018

This is my Wednesday Dhamma talk on the direct teachings of the Buddha as preserved in the sutta Pitaka, the second book of the Pali Canon. These talks are streamed live every Wednesday at noon Eastern US time.

My Dhamma talk on May 9 will be on The Malunkyaputta Sutta. The Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta is another sutta where the Buddha is questioned regarding the “Great Existential Questions” that humanity has been seeking answers for since the beginning of time. The Buddha consistently refused to answer anything that would prove to be a distraction from the goal of the Eightfold Path, or would only reinforce ignorance of Four Noble Truths.

As Buddhism developed many of the accommodations and embellishments made to the Buddha’s teachings were done to provide answers to these questions. When looked at closely, and in the context of The Four Noble Truths, many of these questions have an underlying motive of establishing a permanent “self” in the physical realm or a non-physical realm.

“Malunkyaputta, did I ever tell you, or even imply, that my teaching would answer these questions, or that these questions deserve an answer?”

A related article is here: https://becoming-buddha.com/malunkyaputta-sutta-staying-focused/

An audio only version of this video is available at my podcast archive: https://becoming-buddha.com/becoming-buddha-podcast/

A video of our classes including a beginning Shamatha-Vipassana meditation is available here: https://becoming-buddha.com/dhamma-stream-videos/

Here is the archive for all of my Dhamma articles and talks: https://becoming-buddha.com/dhamma-articles-and-talks-archive/

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Thank You. Peace.