Section outline
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Lesson 3.2.9 Girimānandasuttaṃ, Part One – What Is Perception of Impermanence?
Some suttas in the scriptures describe, at times, occasions where certain discourses were used as protection for meditators or followers of the Buddha. Such kinds of texts later became prominent as Paritta recitation and are still used in some Buddhist countries for illness, protection and warding off evil. Likewise, this Girimānandasutta is categorised as a Paritta. In it the Venerable Ānanda visits the bhikkhu, Venerable Girimānanda, on behalf of the Buddha to remind him of the ten perceptions (dasa saññā) as reciting these would help him to overcome his sickness. Even though this Paritta procedure seems like an astounding mystical ritual on first glance, it should be understood that the Venerable Girimānanda because of his illness had dull perception, and so the reminder provided by Ānanda was to reinforce his actual practice.