THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA
The Path to Enlightenment
Revealing The Hidden
Volume 1
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Learn The Teachings of Gotama Buddha that lead to a stable, calm, and peaceful mind. A more peaceful and loving world where all beings have care and compassion for each other. By supporting this learning opportunity, you will learn how to progress along The Path to Enlightenment and help offer these Teachings to others through online and in-person learning. Through these Teachings, the world will become a kinder, more peaceful, and loving society. Consider contributing $5, $10, $15 or any amount you wish to help us continue to offer these Teachings to you and others around the world. You can make a donation for the development and creation of these Teachings to help you and others using this link. |
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THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA
The Path to Enlightenment
Revealing The Hidden
Volume 1
Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment
Volume 2
Walking The Path with The Buddha
Volume 3
Foundation in The Teachings
Volume 4
Exploring The Path to Enlightenment
Volume 5
The First Stage of Enlightenment (Stream-Enterer)
Volume 6
The Natural Law of Kamma
Volume 7
Breathing Mindfulness Meditation
Volume 8
The Foremost Householders
Volume 9
The Six Sense Bases
Volume 10
The Buddha’s Way
Volume 11
The Realms of Existence
Volume 12
Lowly Arts
Volume 13
Generosity
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Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment (Volume 1)
Journey through The Words of The Buddha from the beginning of his first Teaching until his “last words” prior to death.
The book, “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” is an essential guide on The Path to Enlightenment to help you learn and progress in your understanding and practice of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings. Developed to provide you a framework to understand and practice The Buddha’s Teachings to progress towards the attainment of Enlightenment - a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that is permanent.
Comprised of select Teachings from The Buddha with thorough explanations from a dedicated Practitioner and Teacher walking you through step-by-step how to develop a life practice with reading, videos, podcasts, and quizzes to confirm your learning.
This book series is select Teachings from The Buddha organized from the largest and most complete collection of The Buddha’s Teachings on The Path to Enlightenment - The Pāli Canon.
The Pāli Canon, or The Pāli Text, comprises forty-five (45) large volumes of books where Students from the lifetime of The Buddha captured his Teachings. The discourses of The Buddha in The Pāli Canon represent the largest and most complete collection we have of The Buddha’s Teachings in his own words. The Buddha’s Teachings are scattered over multiple volumes of books in The Pāli Canon making it challenging for the average Practitioner to glean the benefit of his Teachings.
The Words of The Buddha book series, has consolidated and organized his Teachings into a series of books, based on specific topics, with explanations of The Teachings from a dedicated Practitioner and Teacher.
You will find books such as Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Volume 7) that are the consolidated Teachings in The Words of The Buddha related to meditation. The Natural Law of Kamma (Volume 6) provides Teachings directly from The Buddha related to the important topic of Kamma. The Foremost Householders (Volume 8) shares Teachings specifically for Household Practitioners who are pursuing The Path to Enlightenment where the mind is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy - permanently.
The Words of The Buddha book series will provide a beginning, middle, and end with detailed Teachings to develop your life practice and the ability to seek guidance with the author of the book series. Learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings of The Buddha, in his own words, with guidance from a Teacher - offered openly and freely to “all beings”.
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Preface
Gotama Buddha’s Teachings Are a Life Practice
This book is dedicated to “you” and the complete elimination, destruction, and cessation of suffering or “discontentedness” of the mind. Thus, this book is dedicated to the elimination of discontentedness and the suffering that it causes in the entire world.
The Teachings in this book series, with some effort on your part, will lead you to everlasting peace - a peaceful mind and a peaceful life. It’s your personal choices, with these Teachings serving as a guide, that will bring you these results.
We are all walking towards the darkness or towards the light. Which direction you walk is completely your choice.
This book and Teachings are meant to be a primer to help you establish a framework of understanding to ultimately learn, reflect, practice and attain the results of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings - Enlightenment.
Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are not based on “belief”. His Teachings are meant to be practiced so that you can independently observe the truth to acquire wisdom. A Buddha has already done the hard work of figuring out how to attain Enlightenment. You just need to learn and practice his Teachings to improve the condition of the mind and your life.
Understanding how to be an independent active learner, while knowing when and how to seek guidance, is an important quality of mind to be successful on The Path to Enlightenment. You will need guidance from a Teacher.
When you learn these Teachings, and then practice them, you will obtain “wisdom”. You will see the “truth” for yourself without needing to have “belief”. In this way, you will liberate the mind with Teachings that allow you to acquire “wisdom”. The same wisdom that Gotama Buddha understood during his lifetime that leads to Enlightenment.
The newly acquired wisdom will gradually improve how you view the world through the mind and how you interact in the world.
It is important that you do not believe anything in this book series and that instead you practice these Teachings to determine the truth for yourself, with
the guidance of Teachers. The mind will not be liberated through belief but instead, the mind will be liberated through observing the truth in these Teachings to acquire wisdom. The wisdom you acquire will allow you to function in life through the truths that you discover in a dedicated and well developed practice of these Teachings.
Today, many people consider Gotama Buddha’s Teachings a religion. When, in fact, his Teachings are not a religion. Gotama Buddha was not attempting to create a religion with rites, rituals, ceremonies, or worship. His original Teachings do not include any rites, rituals, ceremonies, or worship. Gotama Buddha offered a better way to peacefully coexist with ourselves and others through training the mind. His Teachings, when learned and practiced, will teach you how to peacefully exist with yourself and others through understanding The Natural Laws of Existence. The Path to Enlightenment is to eliminate 100% of the discontentedness of the mind and a path to becoming a better human being.
“The mind” is not the brain. The brain is not “the mind”. The brain is the organ that controls the functions of “the body”. The mind is not tangible as it is not physical in nature. The mind is our consciousness where all intentions for speech and actions originate along with our thoughts, ideas, perceptions, feelings, and emotions arise, are experienced, and then cease to exist.
The problem that Gotama Buddha discovered, and then taught was to help people eliminate the constant craving and desire of “the mind”. One of the most significant problems with the human mind is our constant cravings, desires, and attachments. Craving, desire, or attachment is “a mental longing for something with a strong eagerness”. Gotama Buddha’s Teachings help us to train the mind to eliminate our cravings, desires, and attachments reaching complete inner peace.
Because of the mind’s longing for something with a strong eagerness (i.e. craving/desire/attachment), the mind becomes discontent with feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fear, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, and many other feelings that cause complications and difficulties in our life. The unEnlightened mind constantly struggles in daily life experiencing discontentedness.
Discontentedness plagues the human mind and most people do not realize these feelings can be 100% eliminated from the human mind.
Humans do not need to live with sadness, anger, guilt, shame, fear, etc. the mind can be trained to completely and entirely eliminate these discontent feelings.
Because the vast majority of humans do not realize there is a problem, they also do not realize there is a solution. Learning, reflecting, and practicing Gotama Buddha’s Teachings leads to a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that is permanent, where one never experiences even the slightest feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fear, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, and many other discontent feelings.
You may not have known prior to discovering this book that these feelings are a problem and you do not need to live with a discontent mind. But now you do know they are a problem, they can be eliminated, and there is a solution to completely and entirely eliminate discontentedness of mind. Now that you do know there is a problem and that there is a solution, what will you do?
The goal of these Teachings is to attain a Higher Consciousness, Nibbāna, Nirvana, known as “Enlightenment” where the mind resides permanently peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy.
Through these Teachings and the help of Teachers and guides, you can eliminate 100% of the discontentedness in the mind and the suffering it causes. To do this, you will need to establish a solid “life practice”.
Meditation is the foundation of these practices which trains the mind and enables the practice of these Teachings in everyday life. It is important for you to find Teachers and guides as, without them, one cannot attain Enlightenment. You will not be able to attain Enlightenment without having Teachers and guides to assist you.
You will need to establish a consistent daily meditation practice to make progress on this path. Without a regular meditation practice, you will find it very difficult to make progress on this path and in daily life. Please see the Chapter “Meditation: Developing Your Practice” to establish a daily practice. You may wisely choose to see that Chapter first so that you can develop a meditation practice that supports you through learning and implementing The Teachings in this book along this path.
Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are not a religion but rather, a “life practice” that guides one on a path to eliminate sadness, anger, loneliness, fears, depression, stress, and anxiety along with all other unwelcomed feelings.
Enlightenment is the ultimate goal which is a mind that is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy - permanently. Practicing these Teachings is a path that leads to a better way of life.
This book and book series is an offering with loving-kindness and compassion to help all beings.
The goal of this book and book series is to clarify Gotama Buddha’s Teachings in a way that, with the help of Teachers and guides, you can attain Enlightenment thus realizing your own Higher Consciousness. You can attain Enlightenment.
In some sections, Gotama Buddha’s words have been included in this book for your learning and reflection. The subsequent books available through this book series focus on sharing “The Words of The Buddha” as shared during his lifetime to help you enrich the learning experience with Gotama Buddha’s clear, concise, and direct Teachings. But, you will need to first learn with this book to develop your life practice creating a framework of understanding.
Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are timeless, and just as applicable today as they were over 2,500 years ago when he first started to teach how to liberate the mind. The human mind has not changed in 2,500 years and is why his Teachings are just as applicable today as they were back then.
Many Practitioners will welcome a book series, like this, in which they can gain a deep understanding of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings. It will help you create a well developed understanding and practice in The Teachings of Master Teacher Gotama Buddha - “The Buddha”.
This book series starts with this book, “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” to support you in establishing your life practice. Then, in the additional books, you will be learning directly through “The Words of The Buddha” with explanations of The Teachings.
During the lifetime of Gotama Buddha, his Teachings were all shared orally. Nothing was written down until after his death. Through forty-five (45) years of teaching, Students of Gotama Buddha remembered his Teachings word for word. The Enlightened mind has a high degree of focus, concentration, clarity of mind, and memorization. Upon Gotama Buddha’s death, The Community of Enlightened beings gathered and captured his Teachings into written form which today we refer to as “The Pāli Canon” or “The Pāli Text”.
These are forty-five (45) large volumes of books that took over twenty-seven (27) years to translate into the English language. The average person today, does not understand the Pāli language and we do not have to understand the Pāli language. It is best if we all learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings in English so that we have an international Community of Practitioners who are able to discuss The Teachings seeking support and guidance in a common language that is well understood today.
Gotama Buddha did the same thing during his lifetime. Rather than speak the language of the royal family, which he was once a member of, instead he chose to use a common language that was known to the widest audience possible. This helped Gotama Buddha to share his Teachings with as many people as possible during his lifetime so that Students could experience the results of an Enlightened mind. If Gotama Buddha was alive today, there is no doubt that he would teach in the English language in order to reach the widest audience possible so that they could experience the life changing results of an improved condition of mind and an improved condition of one’s life.
It was not possible for Gotama Buddha to share his Teachings worldwide during his lifetime. There was no common language across the world and travel throughout the world was limited. But, today we do not have these obstacles and through sharing these Teachings in English, we are able to create more peace and harmony in our own lives and, thus, experience more peace and harmony throughout the entire world.
Today, there are many resources for Teachings described as Buddhist or originating with The Buddha. But it is only when a Practitioner chooses to investigate “The Words of The Buddha” being sourced directly from the original source, The Pāli Canon, that a Practitioner will come to understand the truth of what The Buddha actually taught and be able to implement these Teachings into your daily life to experience the results of Enlightenment.
Through learning and practicing Gotama Buddha’s Teachings, in his own words, The Perfectly Enlightened One’s wisdom can penetrate the mind and you can experience the breakthrough to realizing the Enlightened mind.
I have significant gratitude, appreciation, admiration, and respect for Master
Teacher Gotama Buddha as his Teachings lead exactly where he said they would. To a steady, calm, stable, and unshakable mind known as Enlightenment.
There are countless unknown and unnamed individuals who are responsible for these Teachings reaching you in this book series. These Teachings have been preserved throughout history over the last 2,500 years through the tireless efforts of Ordained and Household Practitioners. These Teachings have been preserved and shared from one generation to the next because they work.
It is now up to us to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings to experience the Enlightened mind so that we may benefit from an improved existence while also preserving these Teachings for future generations in our hearts and minds.
While books are an outstanding tool to capture The Teachings and share them worldwide, there is nothing more significant than having massive numbers of Enlightened beings in the world who can directly share these Teachings with those who choose to seek guidance in developing their life practice on The Path to Enlightenment. Each of us individually and collectively are just one link in a long chain of Practitioners and Teachers spanning over 2,500 years.
What we choose to do in this time and place will determine how vibrant and sustaining these Teachings are for future generations. It is our work and effort to seek our own Enlightenment that we will experience results for our own mind and lay the ground work for countless more beings after us to experience the same freedom of mind that you are now choosing to pursue.
Many people are interested in improving the world but do not know how. It is only when we are dedicated to improving our own wisdom, moral conduct, and mental discipline that we will improve the world. Through improving our own life practice through learning “The Words of The Buddha” then, we will have collectively improved the world. But, this requires us to focus on developing our own life practice rather than attempting to change others.
The problem that the unEnlightened mind is experiencing is not the outside world, but the inner world. Training the mind, the inner world, is what produces a peaceful existence. You can’t control other people and what they do. You can only decide to train your own mind to be unaffected by what others do. The goal is not to change others or change the world but instead, by understanding how the world functions through The Natural Laws of Existence, an individual can make wiser choices leading to wholesome outcomes while choosing to live in peace and harmony with all beings.
It is a real struggle to exist in a world that the mind does not understand. It is “The Words of The Buddha” that explain The Natural Laws of Existence guiding the mind to acquire deep wisdom to make better free will decisions through a purified mind leading to wholesome outcomes.
It is important to study and practice The Teachings in this book prior to the study of other texts. This book will provide you a solid foundation for further studies in the remaining books of this book series. Many Students choose to read this book multiple times to deepen their understanding and practice of these Teachings while using the “Learning Resources for Further Exploration” at the end of each Chapter.
Oftentimes we look for ways to learn and study but feel there is no time in our day to fit in something new. Gotama Buddha taught us that it’s best to train the mind with gradual training and gradual practice to experience gradual progress. I have observed for myself, this indeed works best.
You could read these books for 10-15 minutes in the morning, mid-day, or evening, and then do some meditation and finally, enjoy a nice day or go to sleep. I have found this helps the mind to rest and relax, leading to a wonderful night’s sleep after which I awaken feeling refreshed, calm, and peaceful. This gives you time to understand The Teachings, reflect on them, and put them into practice so that you can see the results of these life- changing Teachings. The mind needs gradual training.
Many Students read just one chapter a week of this book to provide time to reflect and independently observe The Teachings as truth. This also provides time to continue to develop a daily meditation practice. The goal is not to just read to complete the book and book series but instead, to gradually soak The Teachings into the mind so that you understand The Teachings, can reflect on The Teachings, and then practice The Teachings to experience the results of The Teachings. It is through practicing The Teachings that the condition of the mind gradually improves.
You will need to study and practice The Teachings in order to observe the truth and obtain the wisdom of The Teachings. Through your practice of these Teachings, you will gain the results of a more peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy. Through the practice of these Teachings, you will create a more peaceful, calm, serene, and content life with joy and coexist with all other beings peacefully.
I suggest that you read and re-read this book several times as you learn, reflect, practice The Teachings and observe the results. As you progress through the book, learning and implementing The Teachings, you will need continuous learning, growth, and support. This is not a book to read once and put down, like a novel or storybook. This book will provide you with Teachings that guide your life through the pursuit of Enlightenment. As you read and re-read these Teachings throughout the entire book series, you will start implementing the various aspects of The Teachings that lead to acquiring wisdom. You will observe results as you learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings to include meditation. The wisdom you acquire through practice of The Teachings will lead to the liberation of the mind by wisdom.
One aspect of these Teachings that is very important is the following, we cannot change how everyone and everything in the world functions. We can change our own mind so that we do not “react” to situations and events but rather we “respond” to the world around us. We can choose to be peaceful,
kind, loving, and warm. We can choose to have wholesome interactions with all people. We can develop healthy qualities of the mind with loving- kindness, compassion, generosity along with other qualities that will produce a peaceful and content mind. It is possible and you can start right here, right now.
The physical body can take a massive amount of pain, suffering, and trauma. With the proper food and water, it can actually repair itself in a relatively short amount of time.
The human mind is exactly the same.
The human mind can take an enormous amount of pain, suffering, and trauma. With the proper Teachings, Teachers, dedication and commitment the mind can repair itself but you need to pursue the learning and growth. The Path to Enlightenment is to heal the mind in order to attain complete peace and serenity of mind. These Teachings and practices are the solution to the struggles that we have experienced our entire life.
The Path to Enlightenment is the solution to the challenges we experience in the world and the solutions of how to heal from what hurt us so that we never need to hurt again.
The mountain always looks tall when you are standing at the bottom. It is not until you are on your way up or standing at the top that you realize the mountain was not so tall after all. You do not need to climb the mountain all in one day. It takes time. There is support for you along the way. Anything good takes time. If The Path to Enlightenment was easy, everyone would already be Enlightened. But it is also not difficult either. At times there will be struggles that are well worth the results, and there will be times where it is quite enjoyable. This is the final struggle of all struggles. Once the mind faces the challenges through being trained to attain Enlightenment, all other struggles are eliminated. Gotama Buddha shared "not to shrink back from the struggle”. You are welcome to seek guidance to help you through the challenges. There is no other way, as going it alone is not possible. I am here to support you and everyone who chooses to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings.
The Teachings and Teachers are available for you, right here. You only need to provide the dedication and commitment to learning and practicing The Teachings while seeking guidance. May you be peaceful, may you be safe, may you be well, may you be free of all discontentedness and the suffering it causes. May you come to understand the freedom and tranquility of the Enlightened mind. Enjoy the journey to a peaceful and content mind…and a peaceful and content life.
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Master Teacher Gotama Buddha
(The Tathāgata)
As you have questions or need clarification on these Teachings, you are welcome to post those into the Facebook Group “Daily Wisdom - Walking The Path with The Buddha” or contact the author privately for in-depth learning.
Daily Wisdom - Walking The Path with The Buddha
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Audiobook: These are recordings of this book. You are welcome to use the Youtube (Read & Listen) version which has the pure audio and displays each page of the book as its being read to you or the Podcast version with pure audio. Both versions are resources to help you learn, reflect on, and practice these Teachings.
Youtube Videos: The Youtube Videos are online classes with visual aids to help you learn The Path to Enlightenment based on this book.
Podcast: The Podcast has the same content as the Youtube Videos without visual aids but with the most clear audio to help you learn The Path to Enlightenment based on this book.
All these resources are available to help you learn and can be utilized based on what you decide is the most helpful in any given situation. Some Students prefer the Youtube Videos with visual aids while others may choose the Podcasts. You can decide as you move forward with each chapter what is working best for your preferred method of learning and what you have access to at that present moment when you are ready to learn.
Most Students will probably find a combination of all these resources to be the most beneficial as you progress in your learning and practice of these Teachings.
You are also invited and welcome to join the live online classes accessible using this link where you will be able to ask questions to seek guidance with the author of this book.
You are also invited and welcome to join in-person classes accessible using this link where you will be able to seek guidance with the author of this book through in-depth training in Thailand or at other locations around the world.
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Take a moment to join this Facebook Group so that you will have support as you learn and practice these Teachings. You can post questions for clarification and receive guidance from the author of this book or you can privately message the author of this book for personal guidance. Posting your questions for open discussion is great because then others can join the discussion and learn from your questions.
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You can connect to a group of people in a supportive environment for discussion, sharing, and learning through the Facebook group. Daily Wisdom - Walking The Path with The Buddha https://www.facebook.com/groups/DailyWisdom999/ All members are accepted without judgment. It is a healthy place to talk, discuss, learn, and grow. There are resources to help you further on this Path to Enlightenment accessible online through a Group Learning Program. Group Learning Program: LIVE Interactive Online Classes, Books, Audiobooks, Videos, Podcast and Personal Guidance are available for you. |
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Learning Resources for Further Exploration Audiobook (Audiobook) - (Volume 1 - Introduction & Preface) - Gotama Buddha's Teachings Are a Life Practice (Read & Listen) Ep. 500 - (Audiobook) - (Volume 1 - Introduction & Preface) - Gotama Buddha's Teachings Are a Life Practice Youtube Video(s) (Mini-Lesson #1) - Introduction to The Path to Enlightenment (Group Learning Program) - "New Start" of The Group Learning Program https://youtube.com/live/PDVGIi7KTxA (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 1 of 4) https://youtube.com/live/et5VVFDDxdw (Group Learning Program) - The Eight Fold Path - Wisdom (Part 1 of 3) https://youtube.com/live/tLt9pradDog (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 2 of 4) https://youtube.com/live/Us1gNt58yQ4 (Group Learning Program) - The Eight Fold Path - Moral Conduct (Part 2 of 3) https://youtube.com/live/y_mQJRvdXFU (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 3 of 4) https://youtube.com/live/CtYRuNMCx7U (Group Learning Program) - The Eight Fold Path - Mental Discipline (Part 3 of 3) https://youtube.com/live/ksqBG0LzHcI (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 4 of 4) https://youtube.com/live/e0_750QyKfI (Group Learning Program) - The Four Stages of Enlightenment & The Ten Fetters |
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Learning Resources for Further Exploration Podcast(s) Ep. 408 - (Group Learning Program) - ”New Start" of The Group Learning Program Ep. 409 - (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 1 of 4) Ep. 411 - (Group Learning Program) - The Eight Fold Path - Wisdom (Part 1 of 3) Ep. 412 - (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 2 of 4) Ep. 414 - (Group Learning Program) - The Eight Fold Path - Moral Conduct (Part 2 of 3) Ep. 415 - (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 3 of 4) Ep. 417 - (Group Learning Program) - The Eight Fold Path - Mental Discipline (Part 3 of 3) Ep. 418 - (Group Learning Program) - LEARN Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Part 4 of 4) Ep. 420 - (Group Learning Program) - The Four Stages of Enlightenment & The Ten Fetters |