10/14/2021 “The 3 Trainings” with Rich Howard

The two book titles mentioned in this presentation are:

• Do You Know Who You Are?: Reading the Buddha’s Discourses by author Krishnan Venkatesh
• The Question of King Ajatasattu (a book-length essay) by author Mu Soeng

The three trainings of the eightfold path are the training in moral integrity (sila), the training in meditation (bhavana), and the training in wisdom (pañña). They are taught in many places in the Pali Canon, nowhere more powerfully than in the Samaññaphala Sutta (Digha Nikaya 2). This sutta, the story of an encounter between the historical Buddha and King Ajatasattu, contains a survey of the other philosophical traditions of the Buddha’s time, a summary of the essence of the Buddha’s teachings illustrated with beautiful similes, and (spoiler alert!) a sad refusal by the King to accept this teaching as the basis for transforming his life. Inspired by two chapters on this sutta (characterized as “almost a Greek tragedy”) in Krishnan Venkatesh’s book “Do You Know Who You Are?” and a book-length essay by Mu Soeng “The Question of King Ajatasattu” (“rightly called one of the most important texts in the Pali Canon”), we will explore in depth how we might answer the King’s question reframed for ourselves: what is the fruit of practice, and what are we willing to do to attain it? This evening’s introduction will help prepare for the SIM daylong on October 30, although both events will stand alone as opportunities to look at the teachings, our practice, and our lives.