Be the Master of Yourself - Sedaka Suttha (19-08-2018)

​Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa !
Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Supremely Enlightened One !
 
From Dhammapada....,
Do not think lightly of merit,
Saying...,
“It will not come back to me!”
Drop by drop is the water pot filled.
Likewise,
The wise person
Gathering it little by little...,
Is filled with merit.
 
Sedaka Sutta - A Discourse on the Establishments of Mindfulness.Translated from the Pali by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodh Thero. –  Wisdom Publications.
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Sumbhas, where there was a town of the Sumbhas named Sedaka. There the Blessed One addressed the monks thus:
"Monks, once in the past an acrobat set up his bamboo pole and addressed his apprentice Medakathalika thus: ‘Come, dear Medakathalika, climb the bamboo pole and stand on my shoulders.’

Having replied, ‘Yes, teacher,’ the apprentice Medakathalika climbed up the bamboo pole and stood on the teacher's shoulders. The acrobat then said to the apprentice Medakathalika: ‘You protect me, dear Medakathalika, and I’ll protect you. Thus guarded by one another, protected by one another, we’ll display our skills, collect our fee, and get down safely from the bamboo pole.’
When this was said, the apprentice Medakathalika replied: ‘That's not the way to do it, teacher. You protect yourself, teacher, and I’ll protect myself. Thus, each self-guarded and self-protected, we’ll display our skills, collect our fee, and get down safely from the bamboo pole.’
"That's the method there," the Blessed One said. "It's just as the apprentice Medakathalika said to the teacher. ‘I will protect myself,’ monks: thus should the establishments of mindfulness be practised.‘I will protect others,’ monks: thus should the establishments of mindfulness be practised. Protecting oneself, monks, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.
"And how is it, monks, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.
"And how is it, monks, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, loving-kindness, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself. "‘I will protect myself,’ monks: thus should the establishments of mindfulness be practised. ‘I will protect others,’ monks: thus should the establishments of mindfulness be practised. Protecting oneself, monks, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself."
The verse of Arahant Nun Punnā
     Punnā, You must fill your life with noble qualities....,
Like the full moon on the Uposatha day.
  With fulfilled wisdom....,
Split the darkness of ignorance.
 
 
Sādhu ! Sādhu !! Sādhu !!!  ( Excellent )
​

DOWNLOAD THE PDF