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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 51

Sāsanārakkha Sīmā Beauty of nature

Bamboo shaded pathway Buddha Shrine at SBS

that we post every minor achievement on social media, With the widespread use of social media with its
often resulting in anxiety and competitiveness. manifold fake “Buddha quotes”, it becomes increasingly
important to not only know what the Buddha taught,
The down-to-earth Early Buddhist teachings of but also to know what he didn’t teach.
contentment, gratitude, loving-kindness, equanimity,
and not-self are the perfect remedy for our modern To obtain an understanding of what the Buddha didn’t
world problems. teach requires having read the suttas widely, so that
when one encounters a teaching one has never heard
Any final advice for Malaysian Buddhists how to of before, one will be in a better position to say: “Sorry
study and practice Early Buddhism? my friend, this is not the word of the Blessed One, the
Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One”, and one may
Read the suttas. Read them a lot. Read them frequently. gently put it aside.
Having done so for a couple of months you will have
a good overview and mental map of the Buddha’s On the positive side, those teachings that are found
teachings which can function as the basis for your within the suttas and the Vinaya (cf. Mahāpadesasutta,
meditation and Dhamma practice. For intermediate AN 4.180) should be put into practice and made much
to advanced students of Buddhism who have a keen of, resulting in great fruit and benefit for oneself and
interest in meditation I would recommend some of the others. This is the very purpose of Early Buddhist
publications from ‘Anālayo Bhikkhu’, particularly his studies & practice. EH
books titled “Early Buddhist Meditation Studies” and
“Mindfulness in Early Buddhism”.