The monk who ignored his visiting wife and infant son
score:2
Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one's fellow human beings. True equanimity is the pinnacle of the four social attitudes that the Buddhist texts call the "divine abodes": boundless loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The last does not override and negate the preceding three, but perfects and consummates them.
BB's explanation here sounds exaggerated & too lofty. Metta is arguably the pinnacle of the social attitudes and equanimity governs the other social attitudes. A lingusistic root of 'upekha' is 'to look'. It means 'to observe others, looking to help others, but always knowing others are the heirs to their actions'. That is, equanimity understands you can only help others when they are willing to help themselves.
Did he lack compassion?
He did not lack compassion. Compassion is non-cruelty & wishing to help others overcome suffering. The ex-wife was not seeking to end suffering but craving to get her former husband back. If the wife walked away from the child & never returned to the child, the monk abandoning the child would have been cruelty. But this did not occur. The monk obviously had compassion but governed his compassion with equanimity, testing the kamma or motivation of his former wife. The former wife returned to look after her child, therefore the wife followed her personal path, which was motherhood.
Should he not have addressed his former wife compassionately, and given her an explanation of the Dhamma, and the path to the end of suffering?
Absolutely not because the Dhamma says Dhamma is only taught to those who ask for it (AN 9.5).
This story is an excellent example of the practice of equanimity, namely, observantly looking on to help another person according to the kamma or personal disposition of the other person. The wife demonstrated motherhood was her want & destiny. If (hypothetically) the wife completely abandoned the child & there was no one else to look after the child, the monk would have looked after the child himself, similar to how Rahula was ordained as a novice at 7 years of age.
More post
- π Looking for a quote by the Buddha
- π What is the correct definition for Mindfulness?
- π Did the Buddha die in absorption?
- π intellectualism or anti-intellectualism and Buddhism
- π What are the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism?
- π Is there a major translation error in MN 10?
- π Does buddhism allow for families?
- π Killer Neighbors
- π Sutras says that there is nothing to attain: but is there a beginning to attaining nirvana?
- π Managing sloth and torpor in meditation?
- π Did the Buddha have long ears?
- π How can I assess the quality of a local Buddhist group?
- π If someone insults you what should you do?
- π If the self is scientifically measured, what is the Buddhist view on this?
- π Being a monstery monk while training in career online?
- π Relaxation of Mind
- π Why did Buddha use the 'Raft Simile'?
- π Is lying at a job interview breaking a precept?
- π 3 deliverance 8 liberations and stages of enlightenment
- π Hereditary illness and kamma
- π Buddhist practice in Singapore
- π How can the sixth channel of dhatus be understood?
- π Feeling guilty of something I did
- π Where is the sutta passage for the following citation of the description of a kalpa?
- π Is Mahayana Buddhism a form of idealism?
- π "Buddha does not claim to be a creator of lives or the Universe.", true?
- π What happens to one in a locked in syndrome?
- π Samatha Meditation
- π Incarnation of Arhat Ji Gong ζΏε ¬
- π Which meditation is less likely to have negative effects or be practiced wrong?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π The monk who ignored his visiting wife and infant son
- π Where is the story that Buddha was worried about a monk who meditated with a straight back?
- π How does a monk cope with all the bad things happening in the world if the only thing monks do is sitting and meditating?
- π What is the sutra where the Buddha emits fire and water from his body?
- π Was Gautama Buddha a believer of the religious beliefs prevalent in his time and in his cultural context?
- π Who are the Buddhas Yet to Come and what Information do we have about them as per Theravada standpoint?
- π Searching for this Jataka where a monk is brought to the heaven and hell by The Buddha
- π Friend who is the same in happiness and sorrow
- π Why a Buddhist prays at Hindu temple which is situated in another country and prays for the betterment of his own country?
- π If a monk sees a pin in his path, will he step on it and accept pain?
- π Who was the buddhist figure who forbade writing what he said, and whose disciples instead wore paper robes?
- π What is meant by "claims the bullβs place, roars his lionβs roar in the assemblies" and was an actual loud lion-like sound ever uttered by the Buddha?
- π Where did the Buddha say: "What a person considers and reflects upon for a long time, to that his mind will bend and incline."?
- π Looking for the source of a story about the Buddha and a lady who looked the other way
- π Does Noble right view say that specific people (in this life and the next) don't exist just like the son of a barren woman?
- π King Siddharta, his wife Jasodhara, and other buddhas
- π What are the differences between vipassana and mindfulness meditation?
- π How do you tell a 4-year-old who the Buddha was?
- π Are Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism the same thing?
- π How are 'conceit' and 'identity-view' not the same?
- π How do I slow down and start living according to my values? How do I change the direction of my life?
- π How compatible are the beliefs of atheists and Buddhism?
- π What is the difference between craving and clinging?
- π What are the differences/similarities in the concept of faith as used in Buddhism and Christianity?
- π What is the life of a monk really like?
- π What is the difference between rebirth and reincarnation?
- π Found items and the Second Precept
- π Did the Buddha speak Pali? Are the suttas his word verbatim?
- π Attachment is a poison. Why is attachment to the Buddha and to Buddhist philosophy not a problem?
- π What is the difference between relative and absolute truth in Buddhist philosophy?