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Welcome to Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram

A Thai Buddhist temple in the Dhammayut tradition

Our temple is a center for Buddhist and those interested in Thai culture to meet and explore.

We offer you a place where your knowledge can grow and you can focus on a way of life and living that leads to greater understanding and achievement along the Lord Buddha's great path.


ทศพิธราชธรรม
ธรรมของพระราชา

•  ทาน   Dānaṃ
•  ศีล   Sīlaṃ
•  ปริจาคะ   Pariccāgaṃ
•  อาชวะ   Ājjavaṃ
•  มัททวะ   Maddavaṃ
•  ตปะ   Tapaṃ
•  อักโกธะ   Akkodhaṃ
•  อวิหิงสา   Avihiṃsañca
•  ขันติ   Khantiñca
•  อวิโรธนะ   Avirodhanaṃ

  1. ทาน อวยทาน คือ พระราชทานทรัพย์สิ่งของ บำรุง เลี้ยง ช่วยเหลือประชาราษฎร์ และบำเพ็ญสาธารณประโยชน์
  2. ศีล รักษาศีล คือ สำรวมกายและวจี ประกอบการที่ดี งามสุจริต รักษากิตติคุณให้ควรเป็นแบบอย่าง และเป็นที่เคารพ นับถือของประชาราษฎร์ มิให้มีข้อที่ใครจะดูแคลน
  3. ปริจาคะ เสียสละได้ คือ เสียสละความสุขสำราญ เป็น ต้น ตลอดจนชีวิตของตนได้ เพื่อประโยชน์สุขของประชาชน และ ความสงบเรียบร้อยของบ้านเมือง ๒๖ ธรรมของพระราชา
  4. อาชวะ มีใจซื่อตรง คือ ซื่อตรงทรงสัตย์ไร้มารยา ปฏิบัติภารกิจโดยสุจริต มีความจริงใจ ไม่หลอกลวงประชาชน
  5. มัททวะ ทรงความอ่อนโยน คือ มีอัชฌาสัย ไม่เย่อหยิ่ง หยาบคายกระด้างถือองค์ มีความงามสง่าเกิดแต่ท่วงทีกิริยา สุภาพนุ่มนวล ละมุนละไม ให้ได้ความรักภักดี แต่มิขาดยำเกรง
  6. ตปะ ทรงเดชข่มกิเลสได้ คือ แผดเผากิเลสตัณหา มิให้ เข้ามาครอบงำย่ำยีจิต ระงับยับยั้งข่มใจได้ ไม่ยอมหลงใหล หมกมุ่นในความสุขสำราญและความปรนเปรอ มีความเป็นอยู่ สม่ำเสมอ หรือง่ายๆ สามัญ มุ่งมั่นแต่จะบำเพ็ญเพียร ทำกิจให้ บริบูรณ์
  7. อักโกธะ ไม่เกรี้ยวโกรธ คือ ไม่กริ้วกราดลุอำนาจความ โกรธ จนเป็นเหตุให้วินิจฉัยความและกระทำการต่างๆ ผิดพลาด เสียธรรม มีเมตตาประจำใจไว้ระงับความเคืองขุ่น วินิจฉัยความ และกระทำการด้วยจิตอันราบเรียบ ไม่วู่วามเผลอขาดสติ
  8. อวิหิงสา ไม่กดขี่ข่มเหง คือ ไม่บีบคั้นกดขี่ เช่น เก็บ ภาษีขูดรีด หรือเกณฑ์แรงงานเกินขนาด ไม่หลงละเลิงอำนาจ ขาดความกรุณา หาเหตุเบียดเบียนลงโทษอาชญาแก่ ประชาราษฎร์ผู้ใดเพราะอาศัยความอาฆาตเกลียดชัง
  9. ขันติ อดได้ทนได้ คือ อดทนต่องาน ต่อความลำบาก ตรากตรำ ต่อถ้อยคำกระทบกระทั่ง ถึงจะเหนื่อยยากเพียงไร ก็ ไม่ท้อถอย ถึงจะถูกยั่วถูกหยันด้วยคำเสียดสีถากถางอย่างใด ก็ ไม่หมดกำลังใจ ไม่ละทิ้งกิจกรณีย์ที่บำเพ็ญโดยชอบธรรม
  10. อวิโรธนะ ไม่คลาดธรรม คือ วางองค์เป็นหลักหนัก แน่นในธรรม คงที่ ไม่เอนเอียงหวั่นไหวเพราะถ้อยคำดีร้าย ลาภ สักการะ หรืออิฏฐารมณ์ อนิฏฐารมณ์ใดๆ สถิตมั่นในธรรม ทั้ง ส่วนยุติธรรม คือ ความเที่ยงธรรม ก็ดี นิติธรรม คือ ระเบียบแบบ แผนหลักการปกครอง ตลอดจนขนบธรรมเนียมประเพณีอันดี งาม ก็ดี ไม่ประพฤติให้เคลื่อนคลาดวิบัติไป

From
Royal Virtues
- Somdet Phra Buddhaghosajahn (P. A. Payyuto)

The Thai Language Version of Royal Virtues is available here: Royal Virtues


Sigalovada Sutta: The Discourse to Sigala
The Layperson's Code of Discipline

 

Having just observed the Teacher Honor Ceremony at the temple, it might be worthwhile to reflect on the Buddha's teaching regarding the relationship between teachers and students.

As the Great Teacher, the Knower of the Dhamma, it is interesting to see how the Buddha describes both sides of the Teacher-Student relationship.

The chant, Recollection of the Buddha, recalls many aspects of the Buddha's role as a teacher.

Recollection of the Buddha

Itipi so bhagavā arahaṃ sammāsambuddho

He, the Blessed One, is indeed the Pure One,
the Perfectly Enlightened One;

Vijjācaraṇa-sampanno sugato lokavidū

He is impeccable in conduct and understanding,
the Accomplished One, the Knower of the Worlds;

Anuttaro purisadamma-sārathi

He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained;

satthā deva-manussānaṃ buddho bhagavā’ti

he is Teacher of gods and humans; he is Awake and Holy

In The Discourse to Sigala, besides explaining how to properly exist in society, expressing respect for all the different relationships (the Six Quarters) a Buddhist might be part of, the Teacher-Student aspect becomes an important element in cultivating social calm and progress through a proper education.

"And how, young householder, does a noble disciple cover the six quarters?

"The following should be looked upon as the six quarters. The parents should be looked upon as the East, teachers as the South, wife and children as the West, friends and associates as the North, servants and employees as the Nadir, ascetics and brahmans as the Zenith.

"In five ways, young householder, a pupil should minister to a teacher as the South:

  1. by rising from the seat in salutation,
  2. by attending on him,
  3. by eagerness to learn,
  4. by personal service,
  5. by respectful attention while receiving instructions.

"In five ways, young householder, do teachers thus ministered to as the South by their pupils, show their compassion:

  1. they train them in the best discipline,
  2. they see that they grasp their lessons well,
  3. they instruct them in the arts and sciences,
  4. they introduce them to their friends and associates,
  5. they provide for their safety in every quarter.

"The teachers thus ministered to as the South by their pupils, show their compassion towards them in these five ways. Thus is the South covered by them and made safe and secure.

   From the Digha Nikaya - DN 31
   https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.31.0.nara.html
 — Translated from the Pali by Narada Thera


Adult Thai Language and Culture Class - 2024

We are pleased to announce class dates for this year at Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram!

The first day of class, which includes student registration, will be Sunday, June 2, 2024. Class begins every Sunday at 9:00 AM sharp. We take a lunch break at 11:00 and conclude class by 1:00. This year's school will run through October 13, 2024.

Our class format is very intense, having about seventeen full days in session between June and October to meet for four hours each day. We recommended you enroll and attend all available class dates to get the most from your effort. It is largely your time and attention that are required for you to benefit from these classes, so please be prepared to attend each session.

Our Thai Language and Culture school is free to attend, with no tuition or costs for the materials supplied to students. Monetary donations are accepted and used to offset costs involved in providing this opportunity to study Thai language and culture.

Please note that our class is for adults, and older teenagers with some previous exposure to Thai language. We do not have any offerings for younger children.

Please feel free to share this information with friends and family who may also be interested in attending our classes. Email questions to: School at Watsacramento dot Org


On the Full Moon...
  The Words of the Exalted Buddha

Just as, Pahārāda, the great ocean slants, slopes, and inclines gradually, not dropping off abruptly, so too, in this Dhamma and discipline penetration to final knowledge occurs by gradual training, gradual activity, and gradual practice, not abruptly. This is the first astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline because of which they take delight in it.

Just as the great ocean is stable and does not overflow its boundaries, so too, when I have prescribed a training rule for my disciples, they will not transgress it even for life’s sake. This is the second astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline….

Just as the great ocean does not associate with a corpse, but quickly carries it to the coast and washes it ashore, so too, the Saṅgha does not associate with a person who is immoral, of bad character, impure, of suspect behavior, secretive in his actions, not an ascetic though claiming to be one, not a celibate though claiming to be one, inwardly rotten, corrupt, depraved; rather, it quickly assembles and expels him. Even though he is seated in the midst of the Saṅgha of bhikkhus, yet he is far from the Saṅgha and the Saṅgha is far from him. This is the third astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline….

Just as, when the great rivers … reach the great ocean, they give up their former names and designations and are simply called the great ocean, so too, when members of the four social classes—khattiyas, brahmins, vessas, and suddas—go forth from the household life into homelessness in the Dhamma and discipline proclaimed by the Tathāgata, they give up their former names and clans and are simply called ascetics following the Sakyan son. This is the fourth astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline….

Just as, whatever streams in the world flow into the great ocean and however much rain falls into it from the sky, neither a decrease nor a filling up can be seen in the great ocean, so too, even if many bhikkhus attain final nibbāna by way of the nibbāna element without residue remaining, neither a decrease nor a filling up can be seen in the nibbāna element. This is the fifth astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline….

Just as the great ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt, so too, this Dhamma and discipline has but one taste, the taste of liberation. This is the sixth astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline….

Just as the great ocean contains many precious substances, numerous precious substances such as pearls … cats-eye, so too, this Dhamma and discipline contains many precious substances, numerous precious substances: the four establishments of mindfulness, the four right strivings, the four bases for psychic potency, the five spiritual faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, the noble eightfold path. This is the seventh astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline….

Just as the great ocean is the abode of great beings such as timis … … gandhabbas; and as there are in the great ocean beings with bodies one hundred yojanas long … five hundred yojanas long, so too this Dhamma and discipline is the abode of great beings: the stream-enterer, the one practicing for realization of the fruit of stream-entry; the once-returner, the one practicing for realization of the fruit of once-returning; the non-returner, the one practicing for realization of the fruit of non-returning; the arahant, the one practicing for arahantship. This is the eighth astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline because of which they take delight in it.

— Aṅguttara Nikāya, Pahārāda (AN 8.19)

 

Now, Ānanda, if it occurs to any of you — "The teaching has lost its arbitrator; we are without a Teacher" — do not view it in that way. Whatever Dhamma and Vinaya I have pointed out and formulated for you, that will be your Teacher when I am gone.

— Digha Nikaya, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, (DN 16)


The Buddhist Monk's Discipline:
 Some Points Explained for Laypeople

Bhikkhu Khantipalo

"It is well to reflect about kamma and how each person is — 'owner of kamma, heir to kamma, born of kamma, bound by kamma, determined by kamma' — for such reflection cultivates equanimity. Each person trains himself, a bhikkhu according to his knowledge and ability and a layman likewise."

Every action, word, and even thought in some way touches our kamma. With that in mind, consider reading through Bhikkhu Khantipalo's short essay before your next encounter with Buddhist Monks.

Beneficial is control of eye,
Control of ear is beneficial too,
Beneficial is control of nose,
Control of tongue is beneficial too,
Bodily control is beneficial,
Control of speech is beneficial too
Beneficial is control of mind,
Everywhere restraint is beneficial.
The Bhikkhu here restrained in every way
Free utterly is he from every ill.
— Dhp 360-361

 "The Buddhist Monk's Discipline:
  Some Points Explained for Laypeople", by Bhikkhu Khantipalo.
  Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013,
  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khantipalo/wheel130.html.


อะภิณ๎หะปัจจะเวกขะณะปาฐะ

ชะราธัมโมม๎หิ ชะรัง อะนะตีโต (ตา),

เรามีความแก่เป็นธรรมดา จะล่วงพ้นความแก่ไปไม่ได้.

พ๎ยาธิธัมโมม๎หิ พ๎ยาธิง อะนะตีโต (ตา),

เรามีความเจ็บไข้เป็นธรรมดา จะล่วงพ้นความเจ็บไข้ไปไม่ได้.

มะระณะธัมโมม๎หิ มะระณัง อะนะตีโต (ตา),

เรามีความตายเป็นธรรมดา จะล่วงพ้นความตายไปไม่ได้.

สัพเพหิ เม ปิเยหิ มะนาเปหิ นานาภาโว วินาภาโว,

เราจะละเว้นเป็นต่าง ๆ, คือว่าจะต้องพลัดพรากจากของรักของเจริญใจทั้งสิ้นไป.

กัมมัสสะโกม๎หิ กัมมะทายาโท (ทา) กัมมะโยนิ กัมมะพันธุ กัมมะปะฏิสะระโณ (ณา),

เรามีกรรมเป็นของ ๆ ตน, มีกรรมเป็นผู้ให้ผล, มีกรรมเป็นแดนเกิด, มีกรรมเป็นผู้ติดตาม, มีกรรมเป็นที่พึ่งอาศัย.

ยัง กัมมัง กะริสสามิ กัล๎ยาณัง วา ปาปะกัง วา ตัสสะ ทายาโท (ทา) ภะวิสสามิ.

เราจักทำกรรมอันใดไว้, เป็นบุญหรือเป็นบาป, เราจักเป็นทายาท, คือว่าจะต้องได้รับผลของกรรมนั้นสืบไป.

เอวัง อัม๎เหหิ อะภิณ๎หัง ปัจจะเวกขิตัพพัง,

เราทั้งหลายควรพิจารณาอย่างนี้ ทุกวัน ๆ เทอญ.

These are the five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained.
  – Upajjhatthana Sutta – AN 5.57


An Ancient Path Rediscovered

"It is just as if a man, traveling along a wilderness track, were to see an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by people of former times. He would follow it. Following it, he would see an ancient city, an ancient capital inhabited by people of former times, complete with parks, groves, & ponds, walled, delightful. He would go to address the king or the king's minister, saying, 'Sire, you should know that while traveling along a wilderness track I saw an ancient path... I followed it... I saw an ancient city, an ancient capital... complete with parks, groves, & ponds, walled, delightful. Sire, rebuild that city!' The king or king's minister would rebuild the city, so that at a later date the city would become powerful, rich, & well-populated, fully grown & prosperous.

"In the same way I saw an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times? Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration... I followed that path. Following it, I came to direct knowledge of birth... becoming... clinging... craving... feeling... contact... the six sense media... name-&-form... consciousness, direct knowledge of the origination of consciousness, direct knowledge of the cessation of consciousness, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of consciousness. I followed that path.

"Following it, I came to direct knowledge of fabrications, direct knowledge of the origination of fabrications, direct knowledge of the cessation of fabrications, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of fabrications. Knowing that directly, I have revealed it to monks, nuns, male lay followers & female lay followers, so that this holy life has become powerful, rich, detailed, well-populated, wide-spread, proclaimed among celestial & human beings."

    — SN 12.65


Padīpa Pūjā ~ Light Offering

Lay person properly lighting altar candles
With lights brightly shining
Abolishing this gloom
I adore the Enlightened One,
The Light of the three worlds.
Ghanasārappadittena
Dīpena tama-dhaṃsinā
Tiloka-dīpaṃ sambuddhaṃ
Pūjayāmi tamo-nudaṃ
 

The Middle Way realized by the Tathāgata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

 


Nagavagga: Elephants

Appamādaratā hotha!
Sacittamanurakkhatha!
Duggā uddharathattānaṃ,
 paṅke sannova kuñjaro.

Delight in heedfulness!
Guard well your thoughts!
Draw yourself out of this bog of evil,
 even as an elephant draws itself out of the mud.

Dhammapada 327

 


Excellent ...

Yo dhammam desesi
  ādikalyāṇaṃ,
    majjhekalyāṇaṃ,
      pariyosānakalyāṇaṃ
The Buddha has pointed out the way:
  excellent in the beginning,
    excellent in the middle,
      and excellent in the end.


From the Dhammapada

Refuge ...

They go to many a refuge,
to mountains, forests,
parks, trees, and shrines:
people threatened with danger.

That’s not the secure refuge,
that’s not the supreme refuge,
that’s not the refuge,
having gone to which,
        you gain release
        from all suffering and stress.

But when, having gone for refuge
to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha,
you see with right discernment
the four noble truths—

stress,
the cause of stress,
the transcending of stress,
and the noble eightfold path,
the way to the stilling of stress:

That’s the secure refuge,
that, the supreme refuge,
that is the refuge,
having gone to which,
        you gain release
        from all suffering and stress.

Dhp, 188-192


Nibbaana sacchikiriya ca etammangalamuttamam

Endeavoring for the realization of Nibbaana is the highest blessing