Simsapa Sutta Talks
These are the most recent talks on this subject. As of December, 2019, There are more than 600 Dhamma talks on this and other teachings of the Buddha in my audio and video archives:
Simsapa Sutta A Handful Of Leaves
Below is a link to a complimentary sutta and talk ↓
An Auspicious Handful of Leaves – Two Suttas
Introduction
The Simsapa Sutta is more commonly known as the “Handful Of Leaves” sutta. Here the Buddha is describing the pure and direct focus of his Dhamma. He knew the foolishness and cruelty of continuing ignorance of Four Noble Truths by teaching any “dharma” that would develop further confusion and deluded thinking. With great clarity and profound insight grounded in unsurpassed wisdom, and from awakened compassion, he taught a Dhamma free of anything extraneous, protective, or self-serving. It is due to this awakened man’s unconditioned commitment to only Four Noble Truths that the Buddha’s Dhamma continues in relevance and effectiveness 2,600 years after he first taught.
Simsapa Sutta: The Simsapa Leaves
Samyutta Nikaya 56.31
On one occasion the Buddha was staying with a group of disciples in a Simsapa (Indian Rosewood) forest in Kosambi. He reached down picking up a handful of leaves. He then asked those gathered: What is greater in number, the leaves in my hand or those in the trees?
The disciples replied “The leaves in your hand are few, the trees have many more.
“Just as the leaves in the trees are more numerous, the things that I know from direct knowledge are far more numerous than what I teach as my Dhamma. The reason I do not teach these other things is that they are not a part of my Dhamma, they are not related to my Dhamma, and they do not support the principles of a life integrated with the Eightfold Path. These other things do not lead to disenchantment, to dispassion, to calm, to direct knowledge, to cessation, or to self-awakening. These other things do not lead to unbinding (from views ignorant of Four Noble Truths.)
“I teach Four Noble Truths: [1]
- This is stress.
- This is the origination of stress.
- This the cessation of stress.
- The Eightfold Path [2] is the path developing the cessation of stress.
“This is what I teach. I teach these things because they are related to my Dhamma and they support the principles of a life integrated with the Eightfold Path. These things that I teach lead directly to disenchantment, to dispassion, to calm, to direct knowledge, to cessation, and to self-awakening. These things that I teach lead directly to unbinding (from views ignorant of Four Noble Truths.)
“This is why I teach these things.
“So this is your practice:
- Understanding stress
- Understanding the origination of stress
- Experiencing the cessation of stress.
- Developing the Eightfold Path leading to the cessation of stress.
End of Sutta
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