ILLUMINATING THE TRUE DHAMMA: Exposing Wrong Views and the Distorted Forms of Wrong Livelihood in Later Buddhist Traditions

 ILLUMINATING THE TRUE DHAMMA:

Exposing Wrong Views and the Distorted Forms of Wrong Livelihood in Later Buddhist Traditions

Compiled by: True Dhamma

Respected readers,

There is a profound truth that has been buried for thousands of years: the Buddha's Dhamma is, by its very nature, not a religion, nor is it a collection of divided sects. Religion depends upon blind faith, divine beings who bestow blessings, and rituals of supplication. The original Buddha-Dhamma, however, is simply the Natural Truth and a practical path of direct realization that enables people to free themselves from suffering through their own wisdom.

The unfortunate reality today is that, through ignorance and the influence of herd mentality, the majority of people devote themselves to later-created practices. These are products that have become mixed with non-Buddhist influences and distorted over time, transforming the pure True Dhamma into a commercialized religion centered on supernatural authority. Many are even willing to invoke the name of Buddhism in order to slander and attack anyone who dares to point out the truth. Yet truth does not depend upon the majority. Even if billions of people believe something that is false, that falsehood can never become the True Dhamma.

With the determination of one who serves the True Dhamma, I have compiled this work directly from the original Pāḷi Tipiṭaka. Together, we shall expose the true face of wrong livelihood (micchā-ājīva) and wrong view (micchā-diṭṭhi) that hide behind the name of "later Buddhist traditions," tear away every veil of superstition, and restore the Buddha's Dhamma to its original place: not a religion, not divided into sects, but solely the training in Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom (Sīla – Samādhi – Paññā) leading to Liberating Wisdom.

🔴 THE BRAHMAJĀLA SUTTA (DN 1)

THE SUPREME NET THAT ENCOMPASSES AND EXPOSES WRONG LIVELIHOOD AND WRONG VIEWS

The first discourse of the Dīgha Nikāya, the Brahmajāla Sutta, literally means "The Net of Brahmā." Just as a vast net spread across the sky and over the waters allows no creature that flies or swims to escape, so too does the Perfect Wisdom of the Buddha in this discourse encompass all mistaken philosophical views and all improper conduct among renunciants, leaving no wrong view or wrong livelihood concealed.

1. The Uncompromising Truth About Wrong Livelihood and the Practices Forbidden by the Buddha

Within the three sections on moral discipline—the Minor Morality (Cūḷasīla), the Middle Morality (Majjhimasīla), and the Greater Morality (Mahāsīla)—the Buddha established an absolute distinction between a genuine samaṇa and those who misuse the monastic robe to support themselves through ignoble and wrongful means.

A Complete Prohibition Against Divination, Astrology, and Superstitious Practices

The Buddha lists numerous activities that He identifies as wrong livelihood (micchā-ājīva), including physiognomy, fortune-telling, palm reading, dream interpretation, interpreting auspicious and inauspicious signs, predicting the weather, forecasting solar and lunar eclipses, selecting auspicious or inauspicious dates for weddings, house construction, funerals, sacrificial ceremonies, rituals for removing misfortune associated with the stars, ceremonies for blessings, and rites intended to benefit the dead through supernatural means.

When we compare these teachings with what is commonly seen today in many institutions belonging to later Buddhist traditions, the contrast becomes unmistakable. Instead of concentrating on the cultivation of the mind, many monks have transformed monasteries into centers for spiritual services. They conduct petition rituals, ceremonies to dispel astrological misfortune, New Year fortune readings, and predictions of future destiny, collecting enormous sums of money by exploiting the fears of the public. According to the Greater Morality (Mahāsīla), these are precisely the forms of wrong livelihood most strongly condemned by the Buddha.

A Complete Prohibition Against Incantations, Magical Charms, and Mystical Healing

In the Greater Morality, the Buddha declares that a samaṇa completely abandons occupations such as creating magical charms (manta), preparing occult substances, using incantations to cure illness or expel spirits, conducting rituals to invoke rain or attract wealth, or selling consecrated talismans and feng shui objects to disciples.

Yet many later traditions have created countless mantras and proclaim that merely reciting these sacred formulas can erase the unwholesome kamma accumulated over many lifetimes, bring wealth automatically, or frighten away spirits and demons. Such practices completely transform the Teaching of Liberation into a form of ordinary magic, dulling and lulling the wisdom of human beings.

A Complete Prohibition Against Accumulating Wealth, Gold, Silver, and Engaging in Business

The Buddha clearly prescribed that a samaṇa must never accept or possess gold, silver, money, or valuable property; must not store food, firewood, robes, or luxurious possessions; and must not engage in trade, brokerage, or money-lending for profit.

Yet the reality in many monasteries of later Buddhist traditions presents a very different picture: the accumulation of enormous wealth, vast landholdings, corporations operating religious tourism, entrance fees charged to visitors, and expensive sales of funeral stupas or niches for cremated remains, among many other activities.

Those who live in luxury, administer large financial assets, yet continue to call themselves disciples of the Buddha have, in reality, departed from the Saṅgha long ago.

2. Cutting Off the 62 Wrong Views Concerning Existence and Salvation

The Brahmajāla Sutta classifies sixty-two wrong views into two principal groups: eighteen views concerning the past (Pubbantakappikā) and forty-four views concerning the future (Aparantakappikā). Together, they constitute philosophical traps into which practitioners who lack wisdom born of direct realization can easily fall.

The Wrong View of Eternalism (Sassatavāda):

Eternalism is the view that there exists an eternal essence, an unchanging soul (attā), or a universal Self that endures forever. Later doctrinal developments have unknowingly fallen into Eternalism by establishing the concept of "Buddha-nature" as an inherent metaphysical essence present within every person, or by regarding "Suchness" as a primordial reality that creates the universe. They transform the historical Buddha Gotama—who, as a human being, strove diligently to realize the Truth—into an almighty creator-like being with immeasurable lifespan and countless manifestations throughout all realms of existence. This is, in essence, a repetition of the very Eternalist wrong view that the Buddha exposed.

The Wrong View of External Saving Power and the Rejection of Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda):

The Buddha declared that our suffering and our happiness arise from our own intentional actions (kamma) through the law of Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda). No Buddha or Bodhisatta can grant blessings or inflict misfortune, nor can anyone bear the results of another person's actions in their place.

The appearance of teachings that promise one need only sincerely recite the name of a Buddha dwelling in a Western Pure Land in order to be received into a blissful realm—regardless of having lived a life of greed, immorality, and neglect of mental cultivation—constitutes a serious contradiction of the teaching on kamma and conditionality. Such a wrong view turns people into passive individuals who depend upon external salvation, waiting for deliverance from outside rather than lighting the lamp of wisdom for themselves and walking the path.

The Unchanging Teaching of the Brahmajāla Sutta:

All ascetics (samaṇas) and brahmins who cling to any of these sixty-two wrong views remain caught in the net of ignorance (avijjā), struggling within suffering and unable to escape the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra).

🔴 THE SĀMAÑÑAPHALA SUTTA (DN 2)

THE SUPREME STANDARD FOR THE MONASTIC LIFE AND THE PATH OF DIRECT REALIZATION

It must first be stated with complete clarity from the very title itself: Sāmaññaphala means "The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"—that is, the fruits attained by a samaṇa, one who has completely left behind the household life, shaved the head, donned the monastic robes, and undertaken the Noble Discipline. This discourse establishes the supreme standard exclusively for those who have gone forth into the monastic life. It is not a discourse intended for lay followers, nor is it a refuge for those who wear the robe while sustaining themselves through wrong livelihood, deceiving both themselves and others.

If the Brahmajāla Sutta is the great net that encompasses the sixty-two wrong views, then the Sāmaññaphala Sutta is the mirror that reveals the true identity of those who falsely claim to be samaṇas. In this discourse, the Buddha answers King Ajātasattu by presenting a rigorous and systematic training, leaving no room for ambiguity, shortcuts, or distorted doctrines.

1. The Seven Essential Stages of a Genuine Samaṇa

The Buddha clearly teaches that a true samaṇa must complete the entire path of seven sequential stages. There are no shortcuts, no sudden leaps, no transmission through external power, and no secret instant attainment.

Step 1: Going Forth (Pabbajjā) and Perfectly Upholding the Three Levels of Moral Discipline (Sīla)

The Buddha teaches:

"The household life is crowded and dusty; the life gone forth is open like the wide sky."

The true meaning of Going Forth:

It is the complete abandonment of household life, the relinquishment of all possessions, wealth, property, land, and worldly authority, becoming one who owns nothing and devotes oneself entirely to the Holy Life (Brahmacariya).

Perfectly observing the three levels of moral discipline:

A samaṇa must faithfully uphold the Minor Morality (Cūḷasīla), the Middle Morality (Majjhimasīla), and the Greater Morality (Mahāsīla). He must never possess money, gold, or silver; never accumulate wealth; never engage in commerce; never practice fortune-telling or divination; never perform astrological rituals to remove misfortune; never use magical charms or incantations; and never conduct ceremonies intended to obtain wealth or worldly blessings.

THE SWORD THAT EXPOSES FALSE MONASTICS

In the Greater Morality (Mahāsīla), the Buddha declares that anyone who wears the robe of a samaṇa while continuing to accumulate money, own property, buy and sell land, engage in business, accept payment for rituals, or practice fortune-telling and predictions is not a genuine samaṇa but one who lives by wrong livelihood through ignoble means.

Measure this standard against the reality of many "great masters" and abbots found within later Buddhist traditions today. Living in luxury, administering enormous financial assets, and collecting vast sums through ritual ceremonies, they are, in reality, merely those who falsely wear the robe while turning faith into a business.

Step 2: Guarding the Six Sense Faculties (Indriyasaṃvara)

When seeing forms with the eye, hearing sounds with the ear, smelling odors with the nose, tasting flavors with the tongue, experiencing bodily contact, or knowing mental objects, a samaṇa does not grasp at the general appearance or the particular details. He does not allow craving or distress to invade and dominate the mind.

Step 3: Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension (Satisampajañña)

Throughout every activity of daily life—walking, standing, sitting, lying down, speaking, remaining silent, eating, drinking, extending or withdrawing the limbs, wearing the robes, or carrying the alms bowl—a samaṇa continuously maintains clear awareness of every movement of body and mind in each present moment.

Step 4: Living in Complete Contentment (Santuṭṭhi)

A samaṇa possesses only three robes to cover the body and one alms bowl for receiving food. Like a bird that flies carrying nothing except its two wings, one who has gone forth stores no wealth, accumulates no provisions, and lives in complete freedom and simplicity.

Step 5: Seclusion and the Abandonment of the Five Hindrances (Pañca Nīvaraṇā)

Retiring to a secluded place, the samaṇa sits down cross-legged, keeps the body upright, establishes mindfulness, and abandons the five mental hindrances:

Sensual desire (Kāmacchanda)

Ill will (Byāpāda)

Sloth and torpor (Thīnamiddha)

Restlessness and remorse (Uddhaccakukkucca)

Doubt (Vicikicchā)

Step 6: Attaining the Four Jhānas (Cattāro Jhānā)

When the five hindrances have been abandoned, the mind becomes tranquil, filled with the happiness and joy born of seclusion. The samaṇa successively enters the First Jhāna, Second Jhāna, Third Jhāna, and Fourth Jhāna, bringing the mind to complete purity, profound equanimity, and freedom from mental defilement.

Step 7: Developing Wisdom and Destroying the Taints (Āsavakkhaya-ñāṇa)

Directing the purified mind toward reality, the samaṇa fully realizes the Four Noble Truths (Cattāri Ariyasaccāni) and completely eradicates:

The taint of sensual desire (Kāmāsava)

The taint of becoming (Bhavāsava)

The taint of ignorance (Avijjāsava)

Then it is known:

"Birth is ended. The Holy Life has been lived. What had to be done has been done."

Thus the highest fruit of the contemplative life is realized: Arahantship (Arahatta).

2. The Truth About Psychic Powers and the Warning Against Displaying Supernatural Abilities

In the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, the Buddha does describe various higher spiritual abilities (the six higher knowledges) that may arise after the attainment of the Four Jhānas, including psychic transformations, the divine ear, knowledge of the minds of others, recollection of past lives, and other extraordinary abilities.

However, the True Dhamma establishes two unmistakable principles:

Psychic powers are not Liberation.

Psychic abilities are simply natural capacities that may arise from a highly cultivated mind. A person may possess such powers, yet if greed, hatred, and delusion have not been completely eradicated, that person remains an ordinary worldling and is still subject to suffering and rebirth.

Psychic powers cannot destroy the taints.

Only the wisdom of the Knowledge of the Destruction of the Taints (Āsavakkhaya-ñāṇa)—the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths—can liberate beings from the cycle of saṃsāra.

THE DECEPTION OF LATER-DEVELOPED PRACTICES

The portrayal within various later movements of religious leaders or esoteric masters as possessing the power to heal through mysterious energy, transmit blessings across great distances, manifest miracles, bestow supernatural favors, or perceive previous lives in order to predict another person's destiny is, in reality, presented as a means of exploiting and manipulating those who remain ignorant.

In the Vinaya Piṭaka, the Buddha strictly prohibited His disciples from displaying superhuman abilities before the public. He understood clearly that the exhibition of extraordinary powers only creates crowds of superstitious, passive, and spiritually dependent followers, while bringing them no wisdom leading to liberation whatsoever.

🔴 A DEEP COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE NIKĀYA TRUE DHAMMA AND LATER DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENTS

To examine these differences as clearly and thoroughly as possible, I present the following comparison between the original Nikāya True Dhamma and later doctrinal developments through four fundamental aspects:

1. The Nature of the Teacher

Nikāya True Dhamma:

The Buddha Gotama was a historical human being, a Perfect Teacher who realized the Supreme Truth through His own efforts and taught the path leading beyond suffering to the world. He is the One Who Shows the Way, not a creator deity or a metaphysical savior. His timeless teaching is:

"Whoever sees the Dhamma sees Me; whoever sees Me sees the Dhamma."

Later Doctrinal Developments:

The Buddha is elevated into an eternal, immeasurable, supernatural being who can manifest throughout countless realms, bestow blessings, and dispense misfortune. In this way, Buddhism is transformed into a religion centered on supernatural dependence, petition, and external reliance.

2. The Means of Liberation

Nikāya True Dhamma:

The teaching places complete emphasis upon self-reliance. Practitioners must personally uphold virtue (sīla), cultivate meditation, and develop wisdom in order to eradicate defilements according to the law of kamma and cause-and-effect. The Buddha instructed His disciples:

"Dwell with yourselves as your own refuge, with no other refuge; dwell with the Dhamma as your refuge, with no other refuge."

Later Doctrinal Developments:

Followers are encouraged to depend upon external saving power. A passive mentality is fostered by directing practitioners to seek salvation through reciting the name of a Buddha, praying to Bodhisattas, chanting mantras, or relying upon ritual specialists to perform ceremonies believed to remove the consequences of unwholesome kamma, rather than cultivating and purifying their own minds.

3. The Way of Life of One Gone Forth

Nikāya True Dhamma:

The samaṇa lives a life of few desires and contentment, possessing only three robes and one alms bowl, living on alms, owning neither money nor precious metals, and remaining completely removed from fortune-telling, ritual services, and commercial activity. The Saṅgha stands as the embodiment of purity and non-possession.

Later Doctrinal Developments:

Large amounts of wealth are accumulated, religious enterprises are established, ceremonies for removing astrological misfortune are organized, fortune-telling is practiced, consecrated objects are sold, funeral stupas or niches are marketed, and places of practice become profitable businesses built upon people's fears and hopes.

4. The Goal of Practice

Nikāya True Dhamma:

The path leads practitioners toward the realization of Nibbāna in this very life through the complete eradication of greed, hatred, delusion, and the three taints (āsavā). The realization is immediate, experiential, and capable of being directly verified here and now.

Later Doctrinal Developments:

Promises are made concerning uncertain attainments in distant future lives or rebirth in heavenly realms or a transcendent Pure Land after death without requiring the mind to be purified and transformed in the present. Such teachings encourage complacency and weaken the determination to cultivate the path through one's own efforts.

The spread of these later forms of Buddhism is not accidental. They continue to flourish because they appeal directly to the two strongest unwholesome tendencies of the human mind: craving and fear.

People desire wealth, success, security, and protection from misfortune, yet many are unwilling to abandon craving and ignorance. Consequently, they become willing to exchange material offerings for promises of blessings made by corrupt religious figures. At the same time, those who wear the monastic robe while living through wrong livelihood recognize this as an easy means of acquiring wealth, status, and public reverence without undertaking the demanding training in Sīla, Samādhi, and Paññā.

Yet the historical record and the original True Dhamma preserved in the Dīgha Nikāya remain unchanged. The net of the Brahmajāla Sutta continues to encompass wrong views, and the path laid out in the Sāmaññaphala Sutta continues to illuminate the way. No wrong livelihood and no wrong view can deceive those who sincerely return to the Nikāya scriptures with wisdom and careful investigation.

I respectfully call upon all who sincerely seek the genuine path to liberation:

Have the courage to abandon superstitious customs and costly, unbeneficial ritual ceremonies.

Cease supporting financially those who turn places of practice into businesses founded upon religious belief.

Return to the Nikāya scriptures through personal study; take the Discipline (Vinaya) as your guide, the Noble Eightfold Path as your way, and the eradication of greed, hatred, and delusion as the only true measure of spiritual progress.

🔴 THE MAHĀPARINIBBĀNA SUTTA (DN 16)

THE SUPREME FINAL INSTRUCTION ON SELF-RELIANCE

Following the two foundational discourses already examined, I now invite you to reflect upon the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16), the discourse that records the final days of the Buddha Gotama before His Parinibbāna. It is His final historical instruction, decisively rejecting every attempt to deify an individual or establish systems of mystical spiritual authority.

1. Be an Island Unto Yourselves (Attadīpā Viharatha)

When the Venerable Ānanda expressed sorrow and concern about the future of the Saṅgha after the Teacher's passing, the Buddha gave an immortal instruction. He appointed no successor, nor did He establish any supreme spiritual council to govern His disciples.

The timeless instruction preserved in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta:

"Ānanda, dwell with yourselves as your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Dwell with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, with no other refuge."

This instruction stands in direct opposition to later systems that encourage dependence upon spiritual authority. Many later movements established esoteric lineages, requiring disciples to submit absolutely to particular teachers and to regard the teacher's words as higher than the scriptures themselves. They foster dependence by directing followers to seek refuge in Bodhisattas or transcendent Buddhas dwelling in other realms. Such practices stand in complete opposition to the Blessed One's final instruction, transforming practitioners from individuals who cultivate self-mastery into spiritually dependent followers.

2. The Four Great Standards (Cattāro Mahāpadesā): The Supreme Measure for Recognizing False Scriptures and False Teachers

The Buddha foresaw that after His Parinibbāna, many individuals would falsely claim to represent the Saṅgha or proclaim that they possessed secret teachings received through special transmission. Therefore, He established the method known as the Four Great Standards (Cattāro Mahāpadesā).

He taught that whenever a bhikkhu declares:

"This I heard directly from the Blessed One," or "I heard it from the Saṅgha," or "I heard it from learned Elders who are thoroughly versed in the scriptures,"

one should neither praise nor reject such a statement immediately. Instead, every word should be carefully compared directly with the Suttas and the Vinaya.

Case One:

If the teaching does not accord with the Suttas and does not accord with the Vinaya, one should reach the definite conclusion:

"This is not the word of the Blessed One. That bhikkhu has misunderstood the teaching."

Such a teaching should be completely rejected.

Case Two:

If the teaching accords with both the Suttas and the Vinaya, only then should it be accepted as an authentic teaching of the Teacher.

When these Four Great Standards are applied to the numerous scriptures that appeared centuries after the Buddha, the entire structure of those later texts is presented as collapsing under examination. Scriptures that promise rebirth in another realm without the cultivation of Sīla, Samādhi, and Paññā, texts that advocate the burning of paper offerings, rituals for removing misfortune, or the bestowal of limitless Bodhisatta attainments are presented as being inconsistent with the Nikāya scriptures and the Vinaya of the bhikkhus. On that basis, they should be rejected.

3. There Is No Secret Teaching Hidden in the Teacher's Hand (Ācariya-Muṭṭhi)

One of the common characteristics attributed to later esoteric movements is the claim that the Buddha possessed supreme teachings reserved only for a select few disciples through secret transmission or mystical empowerment.

The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta rejects this claim through the Buddha's own unequivocal declaration. He taught the True Dhamma openly, without making an inner circle and an outer circle, and without concealing any teaching "within the closed fist of a teacher," as certain non-Buddhist teachers were said to do.

Anyone who claims secret transmissions, hidden empowerments, or exclusive esoteric teachings in the Buddha's name is presented as acting contrary to the complete openness and honesty of the Fully Enlightened One.

🔴 THE KĀLĀMA SUTTA (AN 3.65)

In the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 3.65), the Kālāma Sutta represents one of the highest expressions of free inquiry and wisdom based on direct verification. The Buddha came to the town of Kesaputta, home of the Kālāmas, and freed them from the fear and superstition that non-Buddhist ascetics and teachers had instilled in them.

The Ten Unique Standards of Wise Investigation

The Buddha instructed the Kālāmas not to hastily accept a teaching on any of the following grounds:

Mā anussavena: Do not accept something merely because it has been repeatedly passed down by oral tradition.

Mā paramparāya: Do not accept something merely because it is an ancient tradition.

Mā itikirāya: Do not accept something merely because it is widely reported or repeated by many people.

Mā piṭakasampadānena: Do not accept something merely because it is recorded in scriptures.

Mā takkahetu: Do not accept something merely because it appears logically reasoned.

Mā nayahetu: Do not accept something merely because it is derived through speculative reasoning or preconceived interpretation.

Mā ākāraparivitakkena: Do not accept something merely because the speaker is persuasive or presents convincing arguments.

Mā diṭṭhinijjhānakkhantiyā: Do not accept something merely because it agrees with your own views.

Mā bhabbarūpatāya: Do not accept something merely because the speaker appears respectable or authoritative.

Mā samaṇo no garū ti: Do not accept something merely out of respect for the teacher whom you honor.

The Spirit of Direct Verification in the Kālāma Sutta

"Only when you yourselves know and directly verify: 'These qualities are unwholesome; these qualities lead to affliction and suffering,' then you should abandon them. And when you yourselves know and directly verify: 'These qualities are wholesome; these qualities lead to welfare, peace, and liberation,' then you should cultivate and practice them."

Now consider the complete contrast presented by many later-developed practices. Followers are urged to accept extraordinary realms and supernatural claims through unquestioning belief, while disciples are expected to receive miraculous accounts without being permitted to investigate or question them. Those who dare to examine such claims with wisdom are often warned that they are offending sacred beings or risking rebirth in hell.

Such an approach is presented as governing people through fear—a characteristic attributed to non-Buddhist systems—and stands in complete contrast to the spirit of open inquiry, careful investigation, and direct verification taught in the Nikāya True Dhamma.

🔴 THE ULTIMATE AWAKENING REGARDING THE BODHISATTA PATH AND THE PARADOX OF EXTERNAL SALVATION THROUGH REBIRTH

Let us now examine more deeply the two major pillars of later Buddhist traditions that are presented as weakening the strength of practice for millions of people: the doctrine of postponing liberation through the Bodhisatta Path and the belief in external saving power through rebirth in another realm.

1. The Distorted Bodhisatta Path: Postponing Liberation in Order to Remain in Saṃsāra

One of the central teachings found in later traditions is the devaluation of the attainment of an Arahant (Arahant) while praising the aspiration of a Bodhisatta: the vow not to attain Nibbāna, but instead to remain within the cycle of birth and death throughout countless lifetimes in order to save other beings.

Throughout the Nikāya scriptures, the Buddha Gotama repeatedly compares saṃsāra to a house engulfed in flames. A wise person who sees a burning house immediately seeks a way to escape. No one would deliberately choose to remain forever within the fire.

The complete eradication of greed, hatred, and delusion leading to Nibbāna is the one supreme goal taught by the Buddha. Encouraging practitioners to postpone liberation and willingly remain in the realm of ignorance and craving is presented as a dangerous course. A person who is drowning and cannot swim cannot rescue others who are drowning. Delaying liberation is portrayed as an excuse born of attachment to worldly pleasures and fear of the complete ending of self-identification.

2. The Truth About External Salvation Through the Simile of a Stone Thrown into a River

The Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 42.6) preserves a well-known simile in which the Buddha illustrates the inability of prayers or external power to alter the results of kamma.

The Buddha asked the village headman Asibandhakaputta:

"Suppose a man were to throw a large stone into a deep lake. Then the entire village gathered on the shore, joined their hands in reverence, chanted prayers, and wished that the stone might rise to the surface. What do you think? Would that stone rise because of the prayers of the crowd?"

The village headman replied:

"Certainly not, Blessed One. The stone is heavy, so it naturally sinks to the bottom. The prayers of the crowd cannot change that."

The Buddha then declared:

Likewise, a person who lives by creating unwholesome kamma through killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and wrong livelihood, when the body breaks up at death, is subject to the corresponding results of those actions. No external power, no prayer, and no recitation can overturn the natural law governing the results of kamma.

Conversely, one who lives by observing virtue, cultivating meditation, and developing wisdom is like a jar of oil broken beneath the water: the fragments sink, but the oil naturally rises to the surface. In the same way, wholesome kamma naturally bears its corresponding results without requiring intervention or blessings from any external power.

This teaching is presented as exposing the worthlessness of costly rituals performed for the deceased or ceremonies that promise to lead the dead to a blissful realm through chanting, ritual instruments, or the recitation of a Buddha's name. Such practices are presented as exploiting grieving families who lack an understanding of the True Dhamma.

🔴 A WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE WHO FALSELY CLAIM THE MONASTIC LIFE

Respected readers,

The time has come to restore the purity of the Blessed One Gotama's Teaching. The original Theravāda True Dhamma, preserved in the Nikāya scriptures, is an invaluable heritage—a path of direct realization that leads to the complete ending of suffering.

To those who wear the monastic robe while living by wrong livelihood, engaging in spiritual commerce, conducting rituals to remove astrological misfortune, promoting magical practices, or accumulating great wealth, you should understand that:

Your conduct stands in serious violation of the Greater Morality (Mahāsīla) taught by the Buddha in the Brahmajāla Sutta (DN 1).

You are acting contrary to the Buddha's final instruction on self-reliance and the True Dhamma preserved in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16).

By turning the pure path of liberation into a means of personal gain, you are creating extremely weighty unwholesome kamma.

To all disciples of the Buddha who sincerely seek the truth, let the Nikāya collections of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka be your guiding light. Do not continue offering money to institutions that teach wrong doctrine. Do not continue spending your time on obscure incantations or on ritual ceremonies that bring no true benefit.

Instead, return to the practice. Sit down and observe the breath through Mindfulness of Breathing (Ānāpānasati). Uphold Virtue (Sīla), cultivate Mindfulness (Sati), and develop Wisdom (Paññā). Only the original path of Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom (Sīla–Samādhi–Paññā), together with the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga), can tear apart the veil of ignorance and lead to genuine freedom in this very life.

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammāsambuddhassa.

Sādhu! Sādhu! Sādhu!

— True Dhamma —