Sure this is not the word of that Exalted One, Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One
“In this case. “Monks, a monk might say : “Face to face with the Exalted One, your reverence, your reverence, did I hear it; face to face with him did I receive it. This is Dhamma, this is Vinaya, this is the Master’s teaching.” Now, monks, the words of that monk are neither to be welcomed nor scorned, but without welcoming, without scorning, the words & syallables are to be closely scrutinized, laid beside Sutta (Abidhamma is obviously a much later collection) & compared with Vinaya. If, when thus laid beside Sutta & compared with Vinaya, they lie not along with Sutta & agree not with Vinaya, to this conclusion must ye come: Sure this is not the word of that Exalted One, Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One, & it was wrongly taken by that monk. So reject it, monks. Anguttara Nikaya Sutta 4.180
Anguttara Nikaya Sutta 5.88 (The Buddha Gave Us This Warning For The Future
It is possible that a world-renowned monk of very senior status, with a huge following of lay & monastic disciples & who is highly learned in scriptures, can have wrong views.
In Samyutta Nikáya Sutta 16.13, Anggutarra Nikaya 8.51,(Refer also to The First Sangha Council-The Thera Mahakassapa has made the blessed Buddha’s message to endure 500 years - from the Mahavamsa book) the Buddha warned that the true Dhamma would remain unadulterated for 500 years after his passing into Nibbána. Thereafter, it will become very difficult to distinguish the true teachings from the false. Why? Because although many of these later books contain a lot of Dhamma, some adhamma (i.e. what is contrary to the Dhamma) are added here and there. These alterations scattered throughout these texts are only noticeable if one is sharp and very well versed in the earliest suttas. Otherwise, one would find it very difficult to distinguish the later books from the earlier ones.
http://Dhammapada.Buddhistnetwork.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dhammapada2all/ http://geocities.com/dhammapada2all/
A Critique of the Bible http://www.budsas.org/ebud/beyond/beyond01.htm
Skillful Means
As Tarthang Rinpoche says in the Introduction to this book "Life exacts a price for less than full participation. We lose touch with the human values and qualities that spring naturally from a full engagement with work and life: integrity, honesty, loyalty, responsibility, and cooperation." With a strong focus in this book on awareness and working at the gut level, Rinpoche shows how change can flower on its own. A set of 19 exercises makes all of this practical and real.
Excerpt From The Pages Of Skillful Means From the Introduction, by Tarthang Tulku: "Working is the natural human response to being alive, our way of participating in the universe. Work allows us to make full use of our potential, to open to the infinite range of experience which lies within even the most mundane activity. Life extracts a price for less than full participation. We lose touch with the human values and qualities that spring naturally from a full engagement with work and life: integrity, honesty, loyalty, responsibility, and cooperation. Without the guidance these qualities give to our lives, we begin to drift, prey to an uneasy sense of dissatisfaction. Once we have lost the knowledge of how to ground ourselves in meaningful work, we do not know where to turn to find value in life. Skillful means is a three-step process that can be applied to any situation in our lives. The first step is to become aware of the realities of the difficulties, not simply by intellectual acknowledgment, but by honest observation of ourselves. Only in this way will we find the motivation to take the second step: making a firm resolve to change. When we have clearly seen the nature of our problems and have begun to change them, we can share what we have learned with others. This sharing can be the most satisfying experience of all. . ."
