Nidana Sutta - Defilements March 28 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 March 28, 2018 will be on the Nidana Sutta. In the Nidana Sutta, the Buddha focuses on recognizing and abandoning the Three Defilements of greed, aversion, and deluded thinking. All three of the defilements are rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths and the resulting ongoing self-referential “I-making.”

The Buddha teaches: “Friends, there are three causes for unskillful actions:

•    Greed is a cause for unskillful actions
•    Aversion is a cause for unskillful actions
•    Deluded thinking is a cause for unskillful actions

“Any action that is born from greed through conceit (I-making) will bring further confusion and suffering as individual life unfolds.

“Any action that is born from aversion through conceit (I-making) will bring further confusion and suffering as individual life unfolds.

“Any action that is born from deluded thinking through conceit (I-making) will bring further confusion and suffering as individual life unfolds.

A related article is here: https://becoming-buddha.com/the-nidana-sutta-ending-the-defilements/

Siddartha Gotama awakened, gained full human maturity, and became Buddha. He spent the last forty-five years of his life teaching anyone interested to do the same.

The purpose of these talks is to clearly present these teachings free of the adaptations, alterations, and embellishments that have developed since Siddartha Gotama’s passing.

Siddartha Gotama awakened to Dependent Origination which clearly and directly shows that it is ignorance of Four Noble Truths results in ongoing disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, and suffering - in a word Dukkha. He taught an Eightfold Path to become empty of ignorance.

Subtle but very effective strategies have developed due to the need for continued self-establishment to ignore this basic ignorance.

I will occasionally discuss the confused and contradictory modern “dharma’s” and the continuation of ignorance and suffering that follows.

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/

If you find benefit from this talk please consider a donation: https://becoming-buddha.com/support-john-and-becoming-buddha-com/

Thank You. Peace.