DN 32 - Atanatiya Sutta
 

DN 32 :Atanatiya Sutta: Discourse on Atanatiya

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit...32.0.piya.html


Does anyone know anything about this sutta, please? The reason why I'm curious is because it mentions Mount Meru from Buddhist cosmology.
In Tibetan Buddhism Mount Meru is at the centre of the Mandala of the Universe in the 'Mandala Offering' and accompanying chanting, which is part of Ngondro practice.

Buddhist cosmology mentions Mount Meru from DN 32.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/grin.gif

I think Mount Meru was considered to be the centre of the universe surrounded by a flat earth, so I wondered if the Buddha was talking about a mythical place, or a place that was actually thought to exist somewhere on the earth at that time.

I think Mount Meru was considered to be the centre of the universe surrounded by a flat earth, so I wondered if the Buddha was talking about a mythical place, or a place that was actually thought to exist somewhere on the earth at that time.






More likely he was speaking in terms that the local populace was familiar with


However even if he did accept it, i dont see how it matters since the Buddha was concerned with dukkha and not geography

An interesting question to raise is how does mount meru effect knowing dukkha and its cessation? I dont see how it does

It doesn't. I was just interested in the background info. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/green.gif

From what I can tell it was considered both myth and real at the time

The early Buddhists seem to have built of the theory of it being a real mountain


http://buddhism.about.com/od/buddhis.../mountmeru.htm

I also wondered if symbolism might have been used too. Anyway, while looking to see if I could find anything written by Richard Gombrich about early Buddhist cosmology, I came across this paper by someone called Ryan Higgins...

"A Psychological Cosmology and The Philosophy of Consciousness"

http://www.astron-argon.com/psychological_cosmology.htm

Some of his conclusions seem similar to some of the opinions of Sue Hamilton in "Early Buddhism: A New Approach ."

Thanks for the link, shall give me something to read tomorrow http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/popcorn.gif

It always seemed to me that Mt Meru was in some way similar to Mt Kailash.
Both seem to be considered the navel of the universe. I wonder if the mythology of Meru has its origins in Kailash?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kailash
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/tibet/mount-kailash