Sankathārammana Sutta


We are very pleased to present a very valuable Dhamma sermon conducted by Most Ven. U. Dhammajiva Maha Thero at කොග්ගල වෑදුව අරණ්‍ය සේනාසනය.  It was recorded at a one Day meditation retreat on 23 November 2014.

This is a Sutta rarely mentioned in the recent past. It is the 10th Sutta of Sanimitta Vagga, Duka Nipatha of Anguttara Nikaya. It is a short sutta without a name and the Maha Thero named it as Sankathārammana (සංඛතාරම්මණ) Sutta for referencing purposes.

This single Dhamma discourse is very valuable due to the following reasons;

  1. It addresses the life issues from a very practical and a societal aspect. Maha Thero provides a revealing explanation regarding ‘Stress’.
  2. The sermon tackles and addresses the stagnation faced by meditation practitioners from a fresh perspective. It is highly beneficial for the practitioners.

The Maha Theo first explains the meaning of සංඛත and අසංඛත at the early part of the sermon. You may listen to that explanation in this 7 minutes audio clip as a taster for the sermon.
සංඛත සහ අසංඛත

The Maha Thero then takes on Anapanasathi to explain the above සංඛත and අසංඛත and in addition use that fine tuning of Anapanasathi as the Path of Purification. It is brilliantly woven together. The following will be important points to ponder by the striving Yogi/Yogini.

  1. At the early stages, the Yogi may strive to breath in order to catch it. Unintended force breathing will result. The Yogi will learn to overcome that in time.
  2. However, there could be a very subtle ‘intentional’ breathing – which is quite difficult to catch. The Yogi/Yogini will first learn to identify it (through Sati) and gradually calm the process until unintentional natural breathing surfaces. This can be even frustrating.
  3. All pervading skills that need to be developed are alert non-reaction and patience through Appamada and Yonisomanasikaya. 

We have also provided a PDF copy of Sanimitta Vagga from Buddha Jayanthi Tripitaka for your reference. The sutta under discussion is the 10th of this Vagga. Please click here to download the Sutta PDF.

To listen directly:  Please left click on the link to listen directly. Once the link is clicked, you will be directed to a separate page containing the talk. Usually the file starts to play in that window. If it doesn’t you could highlight the browser window and click ‘reload this page’. It will start to play. 

 To download: You could download the file by right clicking on the link and then selecting “save as” from the drop down menu.

01 Sankathārammana Sutta_Koggala_23 – 11 – 2014

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