Can a branch/affiliated monastery be expelled without a schism?

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I ordained in Thailand in 2018 and shortly after that I came across my master Sayadaw Ashin Ottamathara founder of Thabarwa from Myanmar.

I actively teach online and I run the largest Buddhist discord server community space where I teach meditation answer questions host Dhamma Talks etc.

I'm currently on a teaching and meditation tour here in Sri Lanka.

I have extensive experience in the monastic community over the past 6 years.

I've been meditator and a Buddhist for 10 years.

I take a very non-sectarian approach to the Dhamma.

I got my start in the Zen tradition in America and later moved into more Theravada focused practice and then kind of the combination of the two because really they're both originating from the Buddhist teachings.

I'm here to answer any questions that people may have.

Honored to be here and I hope that this can be a beneficial and meaningful interaction in the community.

I hope that we can maintain the values of generosity loving friendliness and community in our dialogues here.

Looking forward to your questions.

You can leave them down below I'll do my best to answer them thoroughly.

-Bhante Varrapanyo

https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/the-vipassana-dipani/d/doc2946.html

Dukkha-parinna means either a perfect or a qualified knowledge of the intrinsic characteristic Ill or infelicity. Here Ill is of two kinds:

1. Vedayita-dukkha (Pain-feeling ill).
2. Bhayattha-dukkha (Fear producing ill).

Here Vedayita-dukkha is synonymous with Dukkha-vedana, which is present in the Vedana Triad of Sukhaya-vedanaya-sampayutta- Dhamma, Dukkhaya - vedanaya-sampayutta-dhamma, and Adukkhamasukhaya-vedanaya-sampayutta-dhamma.

Bhayattha-dukkha is synonymous with Dukkha-saccam and with Dukkham, which is present in the three salient features, Anicca, Dukkha, and Anattá.

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Greetings,

I study the pali texts and feel it appropriate to explain how Dhamma fits into the current political & cultural discourse. https://suttanotez.blogspot.com/2024/04/dhamma-in-current-political-cultural.html?m=1

Good fortune

Hello, could you please suggest some suttas about the Kammic impact for the individual?

Perhaps to understand what I write below, acknowledge I am speaking of the Jātaka, from the Khuddanikāya, and its subsection of the itthivagga. The particular texts of which I refer can be read « https://suttacentral.net/ja61 » Thank-you.

I have been here before, merely with one post, and I am very sorry to return once more to sing the same song, with different wording. But tonight, I am more distraught than is healthy to be, and I still do-not-yet know where else to turn. It was last time I sought the words of those here, that i did receive words and perspectives that granted me some serenity, solace, and clarity that helped me dearly. I suppose I am hoping I will find this peaceful guidance once-more.

I am easily brought to my fearful, doubtful, discouraged,and beat-down mindset by reading but a single passage, a paragraph, a sentence, a line, that reinforces the ideals which have always consumed me and haunted me. It is not a good trait to foster, to nurture, but it is not a quick-process to get-over. Please be patient with me.

I am distraught over a particular passage, or rather, grouping of passages, I happened-upon tonight. I have been working diligently in my free-time to take-in and read, and reflect on, any passage which I feel calls to me. It was my first time treading the territory of what is written in the Jātaka, when I could not pry my desire away from reading what I knew would only bring distress. These group of texts are of the Jātaka, in its ekanipāta, itthivagga. There is texts from Ja 61 through Ja 70 in this category, but I could only bring-myself to read “Asātamantajātaka”, Ja 61.

In a matter of minutes of reading, I have allowed what I have found and read to completely and entirely demolish my sense of solace I found within the path, to tear-down that trust I had finally re-established in the Buddha’s teachings. I do not say this to attack or portray the Buddha and his teachings in an ill light, for I know my distrust and fear is not placed in him, but in the facts that I potentially refuse to accept, or in the reality that things have been influenced by ancient culture’s to be different from their original message. Yet even knowing this, I feel deeply betrayed, scared, discouraged, and alone. I did not want to be reminded of these feelings while exploring the path that was for some-while showing me peace.

For some time, I was ignoring the words I knew were the product of societal influence seeping its way into the transcriptions and translations. But I cannot fool myself into believing an entire segment of stories was a misrepresentation or byproduct of cultural influence, I cannot bring myself to try and reflect deeply and see a different perspective on my own accord. I am afraid. I am afraid because I cannot grow within the Buddha’s teachings, in the path, when I am trapped within a cycle of self-torment and despair from passages like these.

I know, with the logical part of my brain, that I am once-more allowing myself to fall to the self-originating, destructive and predatory thoughts that eat-away at me incessantly. I know I am taking out-of-proportion words which were written in a text not found within the prime canon of the literature for Buddhists, allowing them to re-write and dictate-over the entire doctrine and teaching.

I suppose I am asking two things, for whomever will be patient-enough or feel it in their capability to soothe my frantic thoughts and show me the path taught by the Buddha was more than what I am currently interpreting.

How…important, valid, is what is written in the Jātaka, compared to other Buddhist canonical texts…?

What…exactly was this passage trying to communicate, that was so crucial to the teaching it was included amongst the texts…?

If I have offended anyone whilst communicating this, I am deeply, truly, sorry. It is not my intention to speak words of negativity or slandering, to twist and distort the path we follow. I only intend to seek perspective and wisdom, that tonight, I desperately need. Please do forgive me if I have spoken something wrong. Thank-you for your time.

What are your thoughts and opinions on this?

The most fundamental clinging is the clinging to the Self. This is what's known as attavadupana. This term tends to get misinterpreted and mistranslated as clinging to the idea (or theory, or doctrine, or concept) of the self. That would make attavadupadana a mental attachment, but it isn't. It is a much deeper clinging to the actual sense of self, not the clinging to the idea of it. (If it was the latter, all those who set no store by theories and doctrines would automatically be free of, and immune to, attavadupana. But they aren't.)

My question now is: how is attavadupadana undone or overcome?

(Lest anyone would like to venture the answer that it is overcome by "seeing that there is no self", I hereby preemptively point out that that is a false answer...)

Can anyone point me to the suttta(s) where Lord Brahmā admits that he didn’t create “this place” and confesses that he doesn’t know where the elements go? I had it saved but can’t seem to find it.

Thank you 🙏

Excerpted from:

AN 4:70: Adhammikasutta: Unprincipled

At a time when kings are unprincipled, royal officials become unprincipled. When royal officials are unprincipled, brahmins and householders become unprincipled. When brahmins and householders are unprincipled, the people of town and country become unprincipled. When the people of town and country are unprincipled, the courses of the moon and sun become erratic. … the courses of the stars and constellations … the days and nights … the months and fortnights … the seasons and years become erratic. … the blowing of the winds becomes erratic and chaotic. … the deities are angered. … the heavens don’t provide enough rain. … the crops ripen erratically. When people eat crops that have ripened erratically, they become short-lived, ugly, weak, and sickly.

Heya everyone;

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So, I feel that that is my major hurdle / issue / these days. That everything else I have going on is hinging /hanging off of it. I feel like it's keeping me from just being able to sit and meditate. (Or really, just being able to sit and be. Which really is what meditation is really about.) I feel like it is holding me back from being able to let go of anger at the world. Keeping me engaging in utterly pointless sense pleasures that I just want to let go of but can't because they keep me distracted from the worry of my future.

And I'm not even really talking about worry for the broader future of the world. I know that the world is what it is and will never be anything but what it is.

I'm worried over how I'm going to take this body as it ages. I have a manual labor job, I'm in my 40's. I have almost no savings/investment. I probably have at most 10 years left in this job before I have to retire from it due to body issues. Social security won't be enough to sustain this body. I have no interest in getting another job really. More so since I don't really qualify for anything.

Really for the most part, the world has nothing that interests me any more. I have experienced joy, bliss and happiness from letting go of my worldly desires that out shines any pleasure I've EVER gotten from anything worldly. I feel like almost all the worldly desires I have left are just because I'm a lay person and feel stuck being one for rest of my life. Well that, and again the worry for the future.
-------I've also just been able to seriously turn on joy etc like it's a water faucet anyway for a few years.

I've thought of trying to become a monk. But, I'm so poor I can't even really go visit a monastery because I have no car. Buying a plane ticket or renting a car to get to would take 1/2 of what I do have saved up. Ergo, my emergency fund would be 1/2 gone. (I happily would not lose income from not going to work because I work part time and can shift my schedule to be able to go on retreats for up to a week without issues.) (And no, I can't work more, my body is already messed up enough from my job.)

I also just don't know if becoming a monk is for me in this life time. (lots of reasons for that one.)

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I'm really at a loss right now of what to do.

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My only semi future ideas are moving into my mom's house when shes elderly and needs daily help. Selling the house when she passes, splitting the money 50/50 with my bother and hoping the amount I get is enough to sustain me. But of course, I have no idea if ANY of that is gonna happen.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

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Anyone have advice?

I have a hard time feeling my metta is effective/helpful. I expect to connect to a stronger feeling of compassion but I struggle to kindle that feeling within. Am I expecting too much?

Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to do 1 hour morning and 1 hour evening. The morning meditation is fine but the evening session is awful. Almost impossible to concentrate and sleepy. Couldn't even make it through the hour most of the time.

My morning session is always empty stomach right after I woke up, so basically way less distraction.

Evening session usually after work, dinner and shower. I use counting breathe, watch my stomach or Metta.

Any suggestion on how to improve?

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

the loka with its devas, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, with the samaṇas and brahmins, in this generation with its devas and humans

[The Buddha did not recognise the existence of the creator god. ]

(92) Culakammavibhanga Sutta

Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw

According to the Buddha's Dhamma, for so long as tanha, human passionate desire, is still clinging and not yet freed, the process of rupa and nama will be going on continuously from one existence to another due to kamma. In common parlance currently in use, it may be stated that a human becomes a Deva, or a Deva becomes a human, or, a human is reborn as an animal, etc., or an animal, etc., is reborn as a human being and so on. In reality, it is merely the nature of phenomenal occurrence of the continuing process of rupa and nama

Here's what i learned casually meditating for a few years. Is it right? It sounds kind of dreary reading it over. But I do not mean it that way.

• there's nothing really magic, special, spiritual, or enlightened, going on. nothing special is going to happen.

• Instead there's just kind of a hard floor, air, sounds, smells, thoughts that come and go.

• part of me has thoughts, pains, feelings, that come and go out of my control. these thoughts are mostly based on the time in the world i was born. part of me just watches that happen. the watching part is separate and does not feel those things

• if you don't want anything you're not disappointed. meditation is very boring and little happens but you can be calm if you don't expect anything.

• you notice small things more often, like a breeze, how your hand feels picking something up, what colour things are, what things taste like etc, for the time you;re not meditating.

What have you learned meditating?

Is kamma only eliminated when we suffer?

Hello there.
I have been interested in buddhism for almost a decade. It took me some of these years to understand many differencies, read a lot, discard some approaches, value others etc and finally come to know theravada.
For context, I live in Brazil, the largest catholic country in the world. Regarding the dhamma, the closest practical experience I've had are the Goenka's retreats (and I'm well aware of the criticisms upon them, even though I think they have a important role, specifically in non buddhist countries.).
I have read and watched a lot of dhamma talks. To name a few of the Ajahn and Sayadaws, just for context, whose teachings I've been following: Venerables Thanissaro Bhikkhu, AJahn Brahm, Ajahn Chah, Ayya Khemma, Webu Sayadaw, Goenka and Analayo Bhikkhu.
Even though they teach the very same dhamma, one can notice remarkable differencies in their meditation approaches. This makes me a little bit confused, I feel stuck and I realize I have been 'consumming' dhamma teachings in a way that seems to postpone my own practice, sort of a distraction, and I can notice I'm overwhelmed with so much discussion regarding meditation. Once again, just so you know, I can safely say I'm not a real beginner in meditation. I have been to 3 Goenka's 10 days retreats and I managed to keep my practice for some months after each of these retreats.

So, let's say I choose to believe that we can all take great benefits form meditation in this very life, even getting to a sotapanna stage. What would you suggest me? Should I just choose one of these teachers and practice? Should I write them directly (if that's even possible?)? Should I just practice? Dry vipassana or jhana approaches?

Sorry if I sounded confused, for I am, in fact, confused. Thank you in advance.

What is the name of the book in the Pali Canon? And why are they not as popular as Dhammapada, Majjhima Nikaya, etc.?

This article was posted but it did not look like a link .. here is the article in full.

https://americanmonk.org/can-homosexuals-ordain-as-buddhist-monks/

Can Homosexuals Ordain As Monks?

Summary:

Yes, it is possible, but it is difficult to recommended because it can be very dangerous for saṅgha. Some monasteries will prohibit ordinations of openly gay men.

Why? The short answer is that the monastic environment is specifically designed to be segregated for celibacy. Segregation of genders breaks when homosexuals are ordained and mix with other monks. This is true especially at large monasteries where there is less supervision.

Nevertheless, while I have not counted or confirmed who is who in the monasteries, I would imagine that there are some good monks who are homosexual and doing very well. Generally speaking, there is a “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy. It is best to focus on the spiritual life instead.

Perception Of Uncontrollable Lust

The senior monks will assume that the monks who are homosexual have uncontrollable lust because their exposure is related to cases in their own monastery or neighboring ones where a monk has engaged in this behavior and perhaps with multiple monks. It destroys the life of that monk as well as the monks involved. It is for this reason that this perception exists because lust went beyond the mind and control was lost. Is this a representation of all homosexuals? No, but I’m explaining why the perception exists.

Environment for celibacy

In a monastic environment, most potential dangers are removed through segregation of men and women. Most monasteries prohibit women from visiting after hours, let alone sleeping in a monastery. In short, if there are no women then there is no possibility for sex with women. For this reason, that danger does not exist. However, when it comes to homosexuals, that segregation cannot happen.

Ven Ananda once asked in the Mahāparinibbānasutta (DN 16)

Living with Nuns

If a monk were to live with nuns, it would be very difficult for him to be happy with his monk life because lust would naturally arise. In fact, not so long ago, there was a highly skilled meditation teacher who ended up having sex with a nun because he had too much contact with women. He was immediately disrobed the moment the act happened whether he told anyone or not. Even though he was a great meditation practitioner and teacher, we could still say he had uncontrollable lust. Why? He didn’t control it and it was lost due to constant exposure to the attracted gender.

Homosexuals living with monks

In the same way, a homosexual monk who lives with other monks, could be a problem. It would be natural for lust to arise. When visitors are not around, we often walk around topless or with skimpy shoulder cloths. Some monasteries have saunas and monks are allowed to go naked in them (although many don’t). Would you like to try celibacy and live with near topless nuns? Even if you are an extreme liberal, you should be able to see this as a problem.

Are there any homosexuals who have ordained?

Yes. Ajahn Brahm has been known to be open to ordaining homosexuals in his monastery. His place has been recommended once to a person who wanted to ordain but could not do so at Pa-Auk. Pa-Auk monastery prohibits openly gay and sexually experienced homosexuals from ordaining. Sometimes people don’t figure out who they really are until later in age. They might ordain thinking they don’t have much desire for women, and therefore monk life might be easy. Even though they are “biologically” gay, their ordination is still valid. There are only special cases where the male genitals are deformed or missing invalidates an ordination. So one who is gay but didn’t figure it out before he ordained would definitely know his status with the practice of extreme celibacy. Celibacy is one of the main defining characters of being a monk. If you are not celibate, you are not a monk. When extreme celibacy is practiced, the lust will naturally arise when the objects of lust are present. One can maintain control through mindfulness, but a segregated monastic environment has limited objects for the lust objects to even be present.

Paṇḍakas And Ordination Restrictions

Ancient Speculation of Homosexual Dangers

While only the last three types of the five types of paṇḍakas is absolutely prohibited from ordaining (and invalid if done), the origin of why paṇḍakas are not allowed to ordain seems to implicate that homosexuals can be a very big problem if they ordain. The story is found here:

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

There is a don’t ask don’t tell policy and there are definitely monks already ordained who have the voice and mannerisms of being gay. However that does not always mean they are gay, and we don’t usually ask about internal sexual desires. If it is controllable, and not an issue, there is no need to tell and there is no need to ask. However, some may not feel “right” if they living in hiding all the time.

Of course we have compassion towards all beings and wish to give the monastic opportunity to everyone. If the homosexual is the only one in very small monastery, then it might not be such an issue. Nevertheless, I have heard that Ajahn Brahm has some extra “check-ins” with such monks to see if everything is working out okay. Even still, lust will arise and even in a small monastery. The monks might be topless when the lay people are not around, give massages to senior monks, etc. This is just not appropriate for homosexuals to be doing while practicing extreme celibacy. While a small monastery might work, travel is common and should we restrict such monks from going to larger unsupervised monasteries? It would be awkward and difficult to restrict.

Rules on Speaking Lewd Words And Touching The Opposite Sex

Besides automatic expulsion for any type of sexual activity, we have two rules about direct and indirect lewd speech spoken to the opposite gender. We also have a rule about lustful physical contact with the opposite gender. If a monk breaks these saṅghādisesa rules, he must seek penance and probation for a minimum of six nights in front of his peers. Even the slightest lewd words or lustful touches entail full punishment. It is a serious matter and helps prevent the more severe rule on expulsion from being invoked. There is one exception: there are no strong consequences for interactions between monks or between nuns.

Incidents

There have been incidents at various monasteries. This is often seen with novice monks, but can also happen with fully ordained bhikkhus. It is for this reason that strong “blanket” policies have been made. While this might be unfair, it can allow for 93% of the population to have potential ordinations assuming a generous 7% homosexuality rate is correct. Some academic online sources say it is far less.

More On Segregation

Segregation of the genders helps create an environment that minimizes distractions and temptations, thereby allowing monks to devote themselves fully to their spiritual practices. This arrangement is designed to support a life of deep meditation and study, essential for progress on the path to enlightenment

Segregation breaks down with homosexuals and it can be similar to a monk living in a nunnery filled with many young nuns. There have been problems in the past, and because of this, perceptions have been formed by the senior monks who had to deal with such individuals who have violated the most important rules of being a celibate monk.

Summary

The topic of Homosexuals in monasteries is a touchy subject and it would be best if there were a proper solution to meet everyone’s needs. In theravāda, we still recommend celibacy as a best practice for both heterosexuals and homosexuals. Obviously, being a monk gives one an environment to practice that way but that environment is only designed for heterosexuals living in segregated residential quarters.

Being born with a homosexual orientation presents unique challenges within the traditional monastic framework, which is primarily designed for celibate life segregated by gender. This reality calls us to reflect deeply on the nature of saṃsāra and the complexities of human experience. It is a reminder of our shared journey towards enlightenment, which requires us to cultivate understanding and create conditions where every individual can strive for spiritual liberation, to reach Nibbāna.

We have a practice here in Indonesia called SPD / SEPEKAN PENDALAMAN DHAMMA / "A month of practicing dhamma" . Every night, there are sessions of chanting, meditation, and dharma talks (similar to regular Sunday meetings) at the vihara (Buddhist temple).

Viharas that don't host regular bhikkhus (monks) or samaneras (novices) see many passing through, giving laypeople opportunities to make merit by donating the morning meal (dana) or chances to listen and speak with monastics

I was wondering, is it common in other places to treat the month before Vesak as a special holy month? I feel here it's partially a response to Ramadan (which >80% of the nation observes, a holy month of fasting and limiting sense pleasures, giving dana to the needy) or Lent (basically Christian Ramadan)

If you're looking to deepen your practice, I invite you to observe the atthasila (8 precepts) on the moon-day of Vesak, those moon days leading up to Vesak, and any days in between.

As a friendly reminder, Vesak takes place this year on 23 May -- a special Theravadin holiday that honors the birth, enlightenment, and parinibbana of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama .

Is anyone aware of a monastery that does live streams for Uposatha days, occurring at a reasonable hour for someone living in Eastern Standard Time (USA)?

Thank you,

It’s horrible. Thinking about all the suffering that people have to endure and that there’s nothing you can do to help them. Especially loved ones.

How do you deal with that?

The term “Paṭṭhāna” is composed of “pa” (prefix) and “thana” (noun), which literally mean “various conditions.”

For example, in order for the rose in front of our house to look beautiful and smell fragrant, it requires countless contributing conditions in addition to its basic genetic structure, such as good soil, suitable amount of water, sun, air, our love for roses and so on.

Unless we love roses, we would not choose to grow them in front of our house. A rose cannot grow well if it receives too much or too little fertilizer, water, sun, and so on.

Moreover, depending on their genetic predisposition, one rose can differ from another in color, size, etc., even though they have been grown under the same conditions. This strong force of nature is called Natural Strong Dependence Condition (pakatūpanissaya).

In the same way, everything in the world is determined by countless causes and conditions. Paṭṭhāna is all about these powerful conditions and in particular about the conditions necessary for cognitive phenomena and their relationship to our delusory sense of “I,” “me” and “mine.”

As an example, therefore, let’s take our love of roses:

1.We usually fall in love with a rose because of its beauty and fragrance. So, the fascination of its look and smell, called sense-objects (arammaṇa), is near conditions causing its attraction for us. This fascinating power of a sense-object is called “Fascination Condition” (arammaṇa-paccayo).

2. There are also remote conditions for our love of roses. According to Abhidhamma, we must have fallen in love with roses some time earlier in this life (ārammaṇānusaya). We are also believed to have been attached to such fascinating objects as this in our past lives (santānānusaya). Both kinds of love-related mental states were impermanent and disappeared there and then.

But they left a dormant form of their energy behind in our mind like an impression on our memory. When the right conditions are met, the dormant form of our love becomes activated and motivates our intention to grow roses in front of our house. Such instinctive power of psycho-physical phenomena is called “Natural Strong Dependence Condition” (Pakatūpanissaya-paccayo).

3. In the present moment when our mental state of love comes into existence, it repeats six or seven times continuously during its mental process in accordance with the law of mind (citta-niyāma). And this kind of process can also be repeated countless times in an ongoing series of love-associated thoughts.

Such massive repetition makes our love become so strong that it can activate our limbs and body to grow the roses in front of our house. Similar in many ways to a series of electric charges that power a machine.

In this case, preceding mind-moments contribute to succeeding ones continuously. The power of this constant flow of mind is called Repetition Condition (āsevana-paccayo), Continuity Condition (anantara-paccayo) and Contiguity Condition or Absolute Continuity Condition (samanantara-paccayo). This power actually belongs to the mental states that have disappeared ahead of conditioned phenomena. Therefore, it is also called Absence Condition (natthi-paccayo) and Disappearance Condition (vigata-paccayo).

4. Even a single mental state such as love requires certain conditions in order to become strong. Like any other mental states, the mental state of our love never arises alone, but it is always accompanied by many other mental states, which are supporting one another by the force of co-existence and mutuality. Separate individual threads, to take an analogy, are very fragile and weak, but they become very strong when twisted together into a rope. In the same way, our love becomes very powerful by the force of co-existence and mutuality with its concomitant consciousness and other mental states.

This mutually supportive power of mental states is referred to under several names: Co-nascence Condition (sahajāta-paccayo), Mutuality Condition (aññamañña-paccayo), Dependence Condition (nissaya-paccayo), Association Condition (sampayutta-paccayo), Presence Condition (atthi-paccayo), Non-disappearance Condition (avigata-paccayo).

5. There are some further conditions necessary for love to become even stronger. Among the love-associated mental factors, delusion serves as the root factor of love (hetu-paccayo) because this kind of love is rooted in the delusory sense of beauty and fragrance; desire, mental energy, and consciousness serve as its predominant factors (adhipati-paccayo); volition as its working factor (kamma-paccayo); mental contact, intention, and consciousness as its nutrition factors (āhāra-paccayo); psychic life, consciousness, feeling, energy and concentration as its faculty factors (indriya-paccayo); attention, joy, happiness and concentration as its absorption factors (jhāna-paccayo); and wrong view, wrong thought, etc., as its path factors (magga-paccayo). With these conditions working together, our love of roses becomes strong enough to activate our action of growing a rose in front of our house.

6. Last but not least is the role of sense-bases on which our love-associated mental states depend. All our mental states carry out their functions depending on their corresponding physical bases such as, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and heart . Like the electronic energy functions in an electronic device, our love of a rose takes place and carries out its function in our heart. Such dependability in the power of the physical phenomena is called Base Dependence Condition (vatthu-purejāta nissaya-paccayo).

Thus, our love for roses is not created by anybody, not by a person, nor gods or goddesses. Nor is it anything or anyone that can be taken as “I” or “mine,” for it is, like anything else on earth, the product of conditions. It exists nowhere in particular, but just comes into existence when the right conditions are met similar to a flame that appears when a match is rubbed against the right surface.

Another example given in Pāḷi is music that sounds only when musical instruments are played. The conditionality of mental and physical phenomena is what Paṭṭhāna teaches us. This is the meaning of Paṭṭhāna.

There are 24 Conditions (paccaya):

1. Hetu-paccayo - Root condition
2. Ārammaṇa-paccayo - Fascination condition (Sense-object condition)
3. Adhipati-paccayo - Predominance condition (sahajāta, ārammaṇa)
4. Anantara-paccayo - Continuity condition
5. Samanantara-paccayo - Contiguity condition
6. Sahajāta-paccayo - Co-nascence condition
7. Aññamañña-paccayo - Mutuality condition
8. Nissaya-paccayo - Dependence condition (sahajāta, purejāta)
9. Upanissaya-paccayo - Strong-dependence condition (ārammaṇa, anantara, pakatupa)
10. Purejāta-paccayo - Pre-nascence condition (vatthu, ārammaṇa)
11. Pacchājāta-paccayo - Post-nascence condition
12. Āsevana-paccayo - Repetition condition
13. Kamma-paccayo - Kamma condition (sahajāta, nānakkhaṇika)
14. Vipāka-paccayo - Resultant condition
15. Āhāra-paccayo - Nutriment condition (sahajāta, kabaḷīkāra)
16. Indriya-paccayo - Faculty condition (sahajāta, rūpajīvita, vatthu-purejāta)
17. Jhāna-paccayo - Jhāna condition
18. Magga-paccayo - Path condition
19. Sampayutta-paccayo - Association condition
20. Vippayutta-paccayo - Dissociation condition (sahajāta, pacchājāta, vatthupurejāta)
21. Atthi-paccayo - Presence condition (sahajāta, ārammaṇa, vatthu-purejāta)
22. Natthi-paccayo - Absence condition
23. Vigata-paccayo - Disappearance condition
24. Avigata-paccayo - Non-disappearance condition

Source: An Introduction in the law of conditionality by U Hla Myint

http://www.yellowrobe.com/history/sects-and-schism/183-sects-of-buddhism.html

New schools such as the Dhammakaya uses Pali Canon as its main scripture, but the method it teaches is nowhere to be found in the Canon. The Dhammakaya offers an explanation that its founder discovers it by himself:

"the scriptures did not describe what the Dhammakaya actually looked like. After his discovery, however, Luang Pu Wat Paknam described the Dhammakaya form as Buddha-like, clear as crystal, and perfect like an image of the great perfect man. "

However, one should wisely examine statements like the above and use one's own wisdom to tell between right and wrong.

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