Thus Have I Heard: Readings From the Sutras of the Buddha

Here are excerpts from the more lengthy Sammaditthi Sutta, the sutta on Right View. This sutta, a dialogue between the venerable Sariputta and a group of bikkhus, explores what constitutes "right view," considering ideas such as what is wholesome and unwholesome, the Four Noble Truths, and how the roots of our suffering abide in our feelings, clinging, and craving.

In this reading from the suttas, the monk Rahula receives advice from the Buddha. This sutta is the origin of meditation on the elements - earth, water, fire, air, and space. Each is defined, and the Buddha notes the dispassion of each... "Just as people throw clean things and dirty things on the earth, and the earth is not repelled, humiliated, and disgusted because of that, so too, Rahula, develop meditation that is like the earth; for when you develop meditation that is like the earth, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade your mind and remain.

The sutta goes on to encourage all of us to develop mindfulness of loving kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity, before ending with a summary of the steps of meditation on full awareness of breathing.

This reading of the Kalama Sutta is from the Anguttara Nikaya. Here, the Buddha travels to a village of the Kalamas called Kesaputta. The people there, having heard the teachings of many wandering ascetics, express their doubt to the Buddha as to whom to believe. In the ensuing dialogue, the Buddha encourages them to not simply address teachings on their face value, but to examine any teaching from the point of view of their own personal experience.

In this sutra, The Removal of Distracting Thoughts, the Buddha examines thought patterns based in greed, hate and delusion. Seeing that these thoughts lead to suffering, the Buddha details strategies for abandoning them, leaving the mind "quieted, brought to singleness, and concentrated."