Aggācāra International Theravāda Education and Meditation Centre (Aggācāra International College)

Levels of Understanding Student: I t is said that you cannot understand the Four noble truths by reading or by listening or by discussion but you can only understand them by experiencing them by yourself in meditation. Why is this? Venerable: There are three types of knowledge. The first one is suta-maya-ñāṇa – the knowledge you get from hearsay or the knowledge you get from learning, like when you read a book. Or when you hear from somebody, like now. This is the easiest, just by reading about them you get some understanding of the four noble truths.. The second is cinta-maya-ñāṇa, the knowledge you get from thinking by yourself.  And then the third knowledge is bhavana, which means meditation, the knowledge you get from realization. So you were talking about this third knowledge, so it is not the only way to understand the four noble truths. But to get the third knowledge you still have to go through number one and number two. Before you practice meditation you must know...

Historical Buddhism Student : Where are the pilgrimage places for Buddhists? Venerable: Lumbini is the birthplace of the Buddha. It’s one of the most important pilgrimage places for Buddhists. In the texts,     it is said, for a faithful person to visit the pilgrimage places and to die there, we can go to good places like heaven . There are a few important pilgrimage places: 1) Lumbini, the birth place of the Buddha;  2) Bodhgaya, the place of Enlightenment;  3) Sarnath, where the Buddha preached His very first Teachings, that is turning of the Wheel of the Dhamma, or Dhammacakka;  4) Kushinagar, the place where the Buddha passed away. It is important for Buddhists to go to such places to know that the Buddha did exist. He was a real person. Archeology, actual sites and findings on these sites are more reliable sources than getting information from word of mouth, or by hearsay. There are many Asokan pillars with inscriptions, erected b...