Todays Dhamma: On Mindfulness. I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the Sumbhas. Now there is a Sumbhan town named Sedaka. There the Blessed One addressed the monks, Monks! Yes, lord, the monks responded. The Blessed One said, Suppose, monks, that a large crowd of people comes thronging together, saying, The most beautiful girl in the land! The most beautiful girl in the land! And suppose that the most beautiful girl in the land is highly accomplished at singing & dancing, so that an even greater crowd comes thronging, saying, The most beautiful girl in the land is singing! The most beautiful girl in the land is dancing! Then a man comes along, desiring life & shrinking from death, desiring pleasure & abhorring pain. They say to him, Now look here, mister. You must take this bowl filled to the brim with oil and carry it on your head in between the great crowd & the most beautiful girl in the land. A man with a raised sword will follow right behind you, and wherever you spill even a drop of oil, right there will he cut off your head. Now what do you think, monks: Will that man, not paying attention to the bowl of oil, let himself get distracted outside? No, lord. I have given you this simile to convey a meaning. The meaning is this: The bowl filled to the brim with oil stands for mindfulness immersed in the body. Thus you should train yourselves: We will develop mindfulness immersed in the body. We will pursue it, hand it the reins and take it as a basis, give it a grounding, steady it, consolidate it, and undertake it well. That is how you should train yourselves. (~ Buddha: Sedaka Sutta, from the Connected Discourses. SN 47.20)
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 13:34:58 +0000
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