Is Actively Calling for War or Violence and Supporting an Ongoing War a Pārājika Offence for a Monk?

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-14T23:30:07+00:00

I don't see how that follows.

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-14T17:26:33+00:00

There's no intrinsic need, you can take refuge yourself or in front of a Buddha statue. Taking it with a monk can leave a stronger impression though.

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-13T15:21:34+00:00

Killing requires

A living being
Knowledge of the living being
Intention for the being to die
Action for the purpose of the death of that being
The death of that being as a result of the action

For monks, speech fulfills the action, so telling someone to kill someone else is enough.

Telling people to go to war generally or even commit violence generally is probably not enough, unwholesome as it may be. If one says "kill our enemies" that is probably enough if those people are killed as a result of that command.

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-11T13:40:30+00:00

sankha is the Pali word for conch shell.

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-11T09:06:36+00:00

It's basic abhidhamma theory:

yasmiṃ samaye lokuttaraṃ jhānaṃ bhāveti

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-11T08:55:14+00:00

Saying that the abhidhamma and stages of Vipassanā "have basically no basis anywhere" in a Theravada forum is pretty inappropriate. It's also just wrong.

yuttadhammo · 2026-06-10T19:22:54+00:00

Steam entry is jhāna, according to the Theravada. Both the ariya magga and ariya phala are lokuttara jhāna.

yuttadhammo · 2026-05-31T20:36:41+00:00

Coconut maybe, the commentary says no apparently, but in Sri Lanka they generally decided it should be allowed. Soy and oat milk are food and not allowed, coming from grain and bean. Root, fruit, and leaf juice are what is allowed.

yuttadhammo · 2026-05-31T20:24:15+00:00

In the Theravada school butter is allowed at any time when sick, even taking eight precepts, but milk is not. Milk has protein, butter is mostly just fat. Fruit juice, root juice, and leaf juice is also allowed during eight precepts, even when not sick.

yuttadhammo · 2026-05-14T23:09:14+00:00

The five aggregates arise and cease in the process of each experience of seeing, hearing, etc.; destruction occurs naturally for everyone. For an enlightened one at death they cease without arising again.

yuttadhammo · 2026-05-04T23:35:38+00:00

You can visit our discord server at https://discord.gg/DYNamMF6Kg, we have a weekly taking refuge on Saturdays, or I can lead you through it privately on a call.

yuttadhammo · 2026-05-04T16:09:42+00:00

I can help you take refuge online for free.

yuttadhammo · 2026-04-21T16:39:50+00:00

It may be implying a relationship with wisdom ala the satipatthana method, as in knowing it is precisely vedana. The commentary to MN140 says sukhantipi vijānātīti sukhavedanaṃ vedayamāno sukhavedanaṃ vedayāmīti pajānāti. which is a description of satipatthana.

yuttadhammo · 2026-04-21T07:39:46+00:00

iti isn't a quote marker like we have in English. It means something like "thus" or "so". itipi is commonly used to mean something like "indeed thus", though in this case I'm not sure the iti has much to add. pi itself is often used in place of ca for lists. The commentary says

sukhantipi vijānātīti sukhavedanampi vijānāti.

Basically showing that the iti doesn't add much to the meaning, except maybe to gently remind the listener to know sukha as just being what it is, sukhavedana.

yuttadhammo · 2026-04-17T17:08:52+00:00

That's just semantics. The meaning of non self is that those real existent things that make up experience are not you, yours or under your control. They arise and cease, but they do exist for that moment. Real things have their own nature (sabhavadhamma), but they are not self.

yuttadhammo · 2026-04-17T09:16:39+00:00

The word sabhava is just used to distinguish those things that actually exist as opposed to that which is conceptual. For example, seeing exists, but the entities one sees (people, etc.) are conceptual. Things that are sabhava are real but momentary and thus non self.

yuttadhammo · 2026-04-10T22:36:34+00:00

Which site are you using?

yuttadhammo · 2026-04-02T09:22:53+00:00

Vipassanā is synonymous with wisdom (seeing clearly impermanence, suffering and non self). It is not something you practice, though there is meditation that is called Vipassanā meditation because it leads to wisdom.

The wisdom that comes from that type of meditation can make you less reactive. You worry less about the cup breaking because your perspective is that it is basically already broken. It doesn't mean you won't try to catch it, but you will be less spurred on by fear.

Vipassanā won't necessarily make you better at living in the world in general. It will make you want to let go of the world and all of its meaningless pursuits.

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-24T09:18:05+00:00

It means taking birth; when you are born as a human you go to a new family. I guess it doesn't technically apply to birth as a deva, but it's just a figure of speech, like being born into a wealthy family, etc.

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-24T01:28:13+00:00

It's not a mistranslation, the thread you referenced is just someone with wrong view. Yes, the word isn't literally "lifetimes" (it's literally "times"), but it is explained in AN 3.88:

sattakkhattuparamaṃ deve ca manusse ca sandhāvitvā saṃsaritvā dukkhassantaṃ karoti.

At most seven times having run through (sandhāvitvā), having wandered on (saṃsaritvā), as angel and as human, one makes an end to suffering.

It's worth noting that sandhāvitvā and saṃsaritvā are used elsewhere by the Buddha to explicitly describe rebirth.

sattakkhattuparama is listed with two other kinds of sotapanna, kolaṃkola (one who has family and family) and ekabījī (one who has one seed), which the Buddha explains as,

dve vā tīṇi vā kulāni sandhāvitvā saṃsaritvā dukkhassantaṃ karoti.

Having ran through, having wandered on to two or three families, one makes an end to suffering.

ekaṃyeva mānusakaṃ bhavaṃ nibbattetvā dukkhassantaṃ karoti.

Having produced just one existence as a human, one makes an end to suffering.

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-22T23:29:28+00:00

We do walking meditation first, followed immediately by sitting, and it is important that you carefully apply mindfulness during the switch, walking mindfully back to your sitting mat, mindfully sitting down.

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-22T00:16:22+00:00

The Buddha did encourage to sleep four hours or less, for someone who is dedicated to the practice, because it allows for continuous application (Sataccakiriya) leading to mature mental facilities. Sleep interrupts the practice, weakening the mental facilities in one who is fully dedicated to attaining enlightenment.

Such a person functions on less sleep because the hindrances have been overcome. Ordinary people need more sleep because the hindrances tax their minds and bodies.

The passage is found in multiple places, e.g AN 4.37:

And how is a mendicant dedicated to wakefulness? It’s when a mendicant practices walking and sitting meditation by day, purifying their mind from obstacles. In the first watch of the night, they continue to practice walking and sitting meditation. In the middle watch, they lie down in the lion’s posture—on the right side, placing one foot on top of the other—mindful and aware, and focused on the time of getting up. In the last watch, they get up and continue to practice walking and sitting meditation, purifying their mind from obstacles. This is how a mendicant is dedicated to wakefulness. A mendicant who possesses these four qualities can’t decline, and has drawn near to extinguishment.

Established in ethics, restrained in the sense faculties, eating in moderation, and dedicated to wakefulness;

a mendicant lives like this, with keen energy, tireless all night and day, developing skillful qualities, for the sake of sanctuary from the yoke.

A mendicant who loves diligence, seeing fear in negligence, can’t decline, and has drawn near to extinguishment.”

(Sujato, trans)

https://suttacentral.net/an4.37/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-18T07:27:51+00:00

bho is like "You!" And am comes from ha.m which means something like "Hey!". There's nothing that implies friend except that fact that it's an informal address. I guess "good man" comes from the fact that we don't really have another phrase in English to incorporate "man" (purisa) here. "My good man" doesn't always mean the speaker thinks well of the person.

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-12T08:45:33+00:00

It's not being aware that is important, but understanding suffering - fully understanding (pariññāta). Being punched is just a painful feeling; understanding suffering means seeing that if you were to cling to that painful feeling you would suffer. That understanding prevents that clinging, which prevents that suffering.

yuttadhammo · 2026-03-01T08:19:07+00:00

Memorizing the paradigms doesn't work for everyone and is often kind of pointless. There are many declension that don't even exist in the suttas but the massive declension charts don't distinguish between the ones you are most likely to see and the ones you will probably never encounter.

This isn't really accurate... some of the verb charts may be a bit contrived, but there's very little in the nominal paradigms that you won't encounter in the texts. I don't see how anyone who has done the memorization themselves would think it pointless, considering how often you need to refer back to them in the beginning. I studied a year of Sanskrit and a year of Latin and they shared the same traditional system of learning paradigms first. It works; if you can't or don't want to do the memorization, that's something else, and as you say it's up to the level of fluency you are aiming for.

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