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BSPG News and Meeting (No. 207)
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Edited by Stony Brook Buddhism Study and Practice Group

News
On Sunday, February 9, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi will be giving a talk entitled "The Royal of Insight" at the Vipassana Meditation Place of New York in Flushing from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The address is 133-32, 41st Rd., #3A, Flushing. Bhikkhu Bodhi was born in Brooklyn, New York. He obtained a B.A. degree in philosophy from Brooklyn College in 1966 and a Ph.D. degree from Claremont Graduate School in California in 1972. He developed an interest in Buddhism in his early 20s and after completing his university studies; he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received bhikkhu ordination in 1973. The ordination was given under the late Ven. Balangoda Ananda Mritreyam, with whom he studied Pali and Buddhist philosophy. He was appointed editor of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, Sri Lanka in 1984 and was elected its President in 1988. Currently he resides at the Bodhi Monastery in Lafayette, New Jersey, where he gives Dharma talks on a regular basis. He has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor. These include: The Discourse on the All-Embracing Net of Views (1978); A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (1993); The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya, 1995), Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Samyutta Nikaya, 2000). Bhikkhu Bidhi is also a member of the World Academy of Art and Science. In May 2000 he was invited to deliver the keynote address at the United Nations on its first official celebration of Vesak (the day of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and passing away).

Meeting
Thursday, 2/6/2003, 7pm to 8:30pm
Room 305, Student Activities Center
Please be on time!

Words from the Suttas/Sutras
"Suppose there were a king or king's minister who had never heard the sound of a lute before. He might hear the sound of a lute and say, 'What, my good men, is that sound -- so delightful, so tantalizing, so intoxicating, so ravishing, so enthralling?' They would say, 'That, sire, is called a lute, whose sound is so delightful, so tantalizing, so intoxicating, so ravishing, so enthralling.' Then he would say, 'Go and fetch me that lute.' They would fetch the lute and say, 'Here, sire, is the lute whose sound is so delightful, so tantalizing, so intoxicating, so ravishing, so enthralling.' He would say, 'Enough of your lute. Fetch me just the sound.' Then they would say, 'This lute, sire, is made of numerous components, a great many components. It's through the activity of numerous components that it sounds: that is, in dependence on the body, the skin, the neck, the frame, the strings, the bridge, and the appropriate human effort. Thus it is that this lute -- made of numerous components, a great many components -- sounds through the activity of numerous components.'

"Then the king would split the lute into ten pieces, a hundred pieces. Having split the lute into ten pieces, a hundred pieces, he would shave it to splinters. Having shaved it to splinters, he would burn it in a fire. Having burned it in a fire, he would reduce it to ashes. Having reduced it to ashes, he would winnow it before a high wind or let it be washed away by a swift-flowing stream. He would then say, 'A sorry thing, this lute -- whatever a lute may be -- by which people have been so thoroughly tricked & deceived.'

"In the same way, a monk investigates form, however far form may go. He investigates feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness, however far consciousness may go. As he is investigating form... feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness, however far consciousness may go, any thoughts of 'me' or 'mine' or 'I am' do not occur to him." --Samyutta Nikaya, XXXV.205 (from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/)

Quote of the Week
"However, it's also true that especially since the eighteenth century the West has relied far too much for solutions to all mankind's problems on historical progress and the ability to innovate. The West has come up with the idea that all human problems -- questions of personal happiness, personal development, wisdom, the ability to bear suffering or to be rid of it -- could be solved through historical dialectic... For the last two centuries the West has been expecting mankind's salvation from solutions that are both historical and collectivist. It's an intransigent and dogmatic attitude, that overconfidence in collective, political solutions to be brought about simply by the unfolding of history -- which is probably why the domination of that system of thought has created the dissatisfaction felt everywhere nowadays." --Jean-Francois Revel in The Monk and the Philosopher

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