updating version soon
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I haven’t read these 4 pages nor am I going to read the pdf, I am sure it is good, but I just wanna say that I don’t think there is this need to justify and somehow force these explanations.
There are Theravada people who accept the Commentaries and there are those that don’t, simple as that, everyone is at their own level.
Many people that consider themselves Buddhists cannot begin to fathom who the Buddha actually was, what kind of being that is.
In my country (Serbia) there is one Theravada organization, I used to attend zoom meetings where we read suttas and discussed them (imagine discussing the suttas without commentaries, it is literally each man’s/woman’s personal understanding based entirely on their own capability, which we can agree probably isn’t that much).
These people don’t believe in the Commentaries. Then they started bringing in this Serbian monk living abroad to “teach”, I just asked once about Visuddhimagga which he rejected (as I knew he would) and I haven’t gone back there since.
Not only is it blasphemy, but it is literally pointless, the blind leading the blind.
Then again, it might be us who are wrong. Maybe Pa Auk and the Commentaries are wrong and this guy is right. Myself though, I am gonna stick with Pa Auk.
There is this fat, pretty much naked, white monk in Thailand, I think Dhammananda or something is his name, this guy preaches that even enlightenment is not permanent. He is supposedly an actual monk yet he allows himself to go that far. If he is wrong, he will pay the piper greatly for misrepresentation (same goes for this Serbian monk, Pa Auk, the Commentaries, and anyone that dares to teach and preach but in actuality is a charlatan).
We should simply not associate with those people unless they come around.
To each his own, but there is really no need to force and justify the Commentaries.
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i will read it.I hope it is good.
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It should just be used for providing a more detailed and refined explanation and evidence to people who ask for evidence that about the commentaries and Abhidhamma (which I am sure a lot will do).
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Hi Vojislav,
Well yes. But there are also those who have been misled - such as by the teachers you mention - who might benefit from reading some of the references in the essay. Maybe they will decide to look for themselves.
While our current teachers are important guides I think we shouldn’t cleave too much, we need to check and confirm against the texts and in life. As I wrote in the essay, “The real confirmation is in studying the details and testing them against the dhammas arising and falling away at this very moment, in seeing, in hearing, in feeling, in thinking”
from the essay:
The commentary to the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, glossing the Buddha’s last instruction that the Dhamma and the Discipline should be teacher after him, sets out the three baskets one by one.37 Of the third it says:
“And while I was still present, having analysed these dhammas in detail: the five aggregates, the twelve sense bases, the eighteen elements, the four truths, the twenty-two faculties, the nine roots, the four nutriments, the seven kinds of contact, the seven kinds of feeling, the seven kinds of perception, the seven kinds of volition, and the seven kinds of consciousness; and among these, this many dhammas belong to the sense sphere, this many to the form sphere, this many to the formless sphere; this many are included, this many are not included; this many are mundane, and this many are supramundane; I taught the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, which is adorned by the Mahāpaṭṭhāna with its complete set of twenty-four conditions and its innumerable methods. When I have attained parinibbāna, that entire Abhidhamma Piṭaka will fulfil for you the function of the Teacher.”
.
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We are a very small group who all sort of preach to the choir. That means that, those who attend the church choir are those who don’t need to be preached to.
However, in our tradition, it is good to hear things we know in our hearts and that we know that we believe when others do not. It is good to know counter arguments.
The format of posting PDF page pictures is an obstacle though.
I did read it. I like it.
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I read it, it needs more thought and it does not convince. Good job. The last bit at the end is not referenced properly. The bit about Buddha descending at Sankassa.
I also defend Buddhaghosa as a translator and editor. He did a good job. I like his style of not putting his own opinions in just reporting what he found present. Buddhaghosa’s method is a very good one to keep in mind. I like visuddhimagga a lot and there is a lot of gold in there.
But still the sutta’s are where the real treasure is to be found. They are just so much better presented than the abhidhamma which has the feel of a scholarly work.
Thanks Greg,
I will update it and replace the pdf with a clear reference.
Authenticity_Essay_July_2026_BW (5).pdf (756.4 KB)
Here is the updated version.
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