Siebe wrote: “I have always understood Nibbana is asankhata. Does this not also mean that it has no beginning? It does not arise at any moment?”
I have also explained Nibbana as asankata. I stated above that it has a beginning, that it arises at the death of an Arahant. Why are you going in circles?
– Sankata means something prepared or something that arises due to causes. Any sankata arises due to lobha, dosa, moha and that is what we will be discussing in the new series on “Origin of Life”. That translates to something prepared with the four great elements.
– Anything that is prepared with the four great elements of patavi, apo, tejo, vayo (or atoms/molecules in modern science) come to existence, change during its existence, and eventually destroyed.
– That is what is stated in AN 3.47, “..arising of a sankata is evident, vanishing of a sankata is evident, and during its existence that sankata keeps changing”.
– Think about any sankata in this world: a tree, animal, human, Sun, Earth, etc. They all have those three characteristics. A tree comes to life as a little bud. It grows (i.e., changes). Then it dies. Let me know if you can name one thing in this world that does not have those three features.
On the other hand, Nibbana is asankata. It does not arise due to causes. It is not prepared with atoms/molecules (or the four great elements) or anything else. It arises when all root causes are removed.
– When all sankata are stopped from arising, Nibbana results. Very simply, that means a life-stream will end. No more rebirths in this world.
– Nibbana has no ending. Therefore, it does not have those last two characteristics of a sankata. – But it has a beginning: the death of an Arahant. That life-stream ends and “full Nibbaba” or Parinibbana starts.
Siebe asked: “does the concept of lifestream in essence not refer to PS?”
Why do you say that?
– A lifestream is a sankata, and any sankata can be explained in terms of (akusala-mula) Paticca Samuppada (PS).
– It is just that a beginning to the first step of a life-stream, “avijja paccaya sankhara” cannot be discerned, i.e., the beginning of any given life-stream (you or me or anyone else) cannot be discerned.
– As I have also explained, that is consistent with the Principle of Causality.
Akusala-mula Paticca Samuppada (PS) leads to and sustains the continuation of a life-stream. When one existence ends, another starts. A given existence is called a sankata. For a life-stream, as soon as one existence (sankata) ends, another (sankata) starts. There is no end until Arahanthood is attained.
– Kusala-mula Paticca Samuppada (PS) leads to Nibbana.