[Buddha-l] Back to the core values?

[Jackhat1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/28/2007 12:11:31 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
rbzeuschner at adelphia.net writes:

> As  an entity, early Buddhism was clearly in large part an order of 
>  monks. The monastic rules are nearly identical in every version of the  
> Buddhist canon we have. Unless you gloss over this fact, it's pretty  
> hard to imagine any kind of Buddhism that is anything like a return  to 
> "what early Buddhism was like" which doesn't have an ordained  monastic 
> sangha, trying to follow these rules at it's  heart.



==
One of my favorite suttas is the Potaliya Sutta,MN 54,  Here, the  Buddha 
defines the essence of homelessness but nowhere in this sutta  says it is not 
available to laypeople/householders. Stopping being a  householder is definitely 
not the essence of homelessness.At the sutta's  beginning, the householder 
says he wants to become a true Buddhist by cutting  off his affairs and giving up 
his wealth. The Buddha responds that this is not  the cutting off of affairs. 
Cutting off of affairs means refraining from (1)  killing, (2) lying, (3) 
rapacious greed, (4) spiteful scolding, (5) angry  despair, (6) arrogance, (7) 
taking what is not given and (8) malicious speech.  The sutta ends by the 
householder saying, "From today, let Master Gotama  remember me a a lay follower who 
has gone to him for refuge for life."
 
Jack




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