MN 023 Vammika Sutta: The Discourse on the Ant-hill

MN 023 Vammika Sutta: The Discourse on the Ant-hill
Translator:  Piya Tan,  sutta text
Read by frank_k,  15min 50s  14.5 MB Download
recorded on june 2011 licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 , sutta text ©2009 Piya Tan



Once when Kumāra Kassapa is meditating in Andha,vana, a non-returner brahma, who was his companion in the time of Kassapa Buddha, appears before him, and tells him a riddle of ten questions, which only the Buddha could answer... After reflecting
on its teachings, Kumāra Kassapa becomes an arhat.
... [some interesting background info not in the sutta text itself]
 During the time of Kassapa Buddha (the Buddha just before ours), when his teaching was declining, Kumāra Kassapa, together with six other monks, vowed to live a life of rigorous asceticism on a mountain-top to attain liberation. On reaching the summit with the help of a ladder, they threw it off, and began to meditate. The eldest attained arhathood in three days, and the second attained non-return, but the re-
maining five died of starvation on the seventh day without any attainment.
These five companions were Pukkusāti, Bāhiya Dārucīriya, Dabba Malla,putta, the wanderer Sabhiya and Kumāra Kassapa. It was the non-returner brahma who appeared before Kumāra Kassapa and gave him the riddle. This same brahma also suggested to the wanderer Bāhiya to meet the Buddha.

(excerpted from Piya Tan's comy. here )

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MN 012 Mahā-sīhanāda Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar

MN 012 Mahā-sīhanāda Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar
Translator: Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi,  sutta text
Read by frank_k,  54min 43s  50.1 MB download
recorded on june 2011 licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 , sutta text ©1993 BPS.
backup copy at archive.org mn12  flac: 138.3 MB  errors

One of the most impressive of these rare disclosures is the Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar. Spoken as a rebuttal to the charges of a renegade disciple who, in the midst of the populous city of Vesālī, had been denouncing the Buddha and attempting to dissuade others from following his teaching, the sutta recapitulates the various distinguished qualities of the Blessed One, with special emphasis upon his “ten Tathāgata powers” (tathāgatabala) and “four intrepidities” (vesārajja). The sutta also affords us a glimpse of the demanding ordeal he underwent over many past aeons seeking the path to deliverance. When it was first spoken, the sutta had such a powerful impact on one monk in the assembly that his bodily hairs stood on end, and thus, during an early period, the sutta was known by the alternative title “The Hair-raising Discourse.” Even today, centuries later, the Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar can continue to serve as a fecund source of inspiration. (excerpt from B.Bodhi's intro sutta text )

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SN 22.089 Khemaka Sutta: The Khemaka Discourse

SN 22.089 Khemaka Sutta: The Khemaka Discourse
Translator:  Piya Tan,  sutta text
Read by frank_k,  22min 11s  17.7 MB Download
recorded on june 2011 licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 , sutta text ©2003 Piya Tan
backup copy at archive.org-sn  flac:55.2 MB , errors

                         excerpt from 14m:30s (the 2 similes) 7min 38s  7 MB

 Remarkable Sutta. 60 disciples became Arahants at the end of the discourse.
Excerpt from Piya Tan's translation sutta text :  
Avuso, it is just like the scent of a blue lotus, a red-white lotus, or a white lotus. Would one be
speaking rightly if one were to say, "The scent belongs to the petals,‟ or "The scent belongs to the stalk,‟

or "The scent belongs to the pistils‟  ?”
      “No, avuso.”
      “And, how, avuso, should one answer rightly?”
      “Avuso, one should answer rightly thus: "The scent belongs to the flower.‟”
 “Yes, avuso, 
I do not say "I am‟ form,                    nor do I say "I am‟ apart from form.
I do not say "I am‟ feelings,              nor do I say "I am‟ apart from feelings.
I do not say "I am‟ perception,         nor do I say "I am‟ apart from perception.
I do not say "I am‟ formations,         nor do I say "I am‟ apart from formations.
I do not say "I am‟ consciousness,  nor do I say "I am‟ apart from consciousness.
      However, avuso, although the notion "I am‟ in regards to the five aggregates of clinging has come to
me, I do not regard any of them as "This I am.‟
      Avuso, even though a noble disciple has abandoned the five lower fetters,
 yet in regards to the
five aggregates of clinging, there still lingers in him a residual
 conceit "I am,‟ a desire "I am,‟ a latent
tendency "I am‟ that has not yet been uprooted.

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AN 10.0060 Girimānanda Sutta: Discourse to Girimānanda Thera

AN 10.0060 Girimānanda Sutta: Discourse to Girimānanda Thera
Translator:  Piyadassi, Bhikkhu,  sutta text
Read by Bhikkhu K,  15min 41s  14.4 MB Download

excerpt of sutta from Piyadassi translation sutta text:
"Should you, Ananda, visit the monk Girimananda and recite to him the ten contemplations, then that monk Girimananda having heard them, will be immediately cured of his disease.
"What are the ten?

Contemplation of impermanence.
Contemplation of anatta (absence of a permanent self or soul).
Contemplation of foulness (asubha).
Contemplation of disadvantage (danger).
Contemplation of abandonment.
Contemplation of detachment.
Contemplation of cessation.
Contemplation of distaste for the whole world.
Contemplation of impermanence of all component things.
Mindfulness of in-breathing and out-breathing. 

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