[Buddha-l] Loving your object of study

[Richard P Hayes]

Jackhat1 at aol.com wrote:
> 
>In a message dated 11/19/2007 12:17:53 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
>rhayes at unm.edu writes:
>
>> Is  there anything in the suttas that support the gnani  path?
>
>Yes.
>
>Cute. Where?

Sorry about that. I hit the SEND icon by mistake; it is located right 
next to the CANCEL icon on my e-mail interface. I do have a passage in 
the Anguttara-nikaya that supports something very much like the j~naani 
path, but the book is in my office on campus, and I am working at home 
today. When I can locate the exact passage, I'll send the reference. 

The context of the passage I have in mind is a dispute between three 
monks. One claims that to attain nibbana it is necessary to practice 
jhaana; another says it is sufficient to have an intellectual 
understanding; a third says it is possible to attain nibbana by serving 
the Tathagata. The three monks go to the Buddha to settle their 
dispute, and he says that one can achieve liberation by ANY of those 
three methods. Latter commentarial tradition identified the second 
method in language that sounds a lot like the language used in 
Brahmanical tradition to describe j~naana-yoga. The third method, 
liberation through service, is described in ways that make it sound 
very much like a counterpart to bhakti-yoga or karma-yoga, or perhaps a 
combination of the two.

------------------------
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico

Office: 525 Humanities
Phone:  277-8232