Reply To: Can an arahant or sotapanna become a Buddha?

#29346
Lal
Keymaster

The following post is from oetb.
Welcome to the Forum!
I am sorry that you could not post it yourself. That is an intermittent problem. Others run into it sometimes too.

I read about kusala-mula paticca samuppada, and I have some doubts. Paticca samuppada starts with “avijja paccaya sankhara, …”. That paticca samuppada is the akusala-mula paticca samuppada, then:

  1. Why kusala-mula paticca samuppada starts with “kusala-mula paccaya sankhara, …” and not with “pañña paccaya sankhara, …”?

If the characteristic of that kusala-mula is the desire to attain Nibbana:

  1. Why is only the desire to attain Nibbana for oneself that characteristic, and not too the desire for others to attain Nibbana? (or the desire to help others to attain Nibbana)

Bodhisattvas has the desire to reach Buddhahood to help others reach Nibbana. We are said that in all this stuff of kamma, sansara, etc. there is no entity deciding what is good or bad kamma, or which is the next bhava/jati of a sentient being; all that works based on natural laws. Then:

  1. What prevents a bodhisattva to learn Dhamma? The article SengKiat posted says that for an aspirant to become a Bodhisattva he, among other qualities, should be able to become an Arahant in that very life (hetu) and should be able to see a live Buddha (satthara dassana). How could anyone with those qualities not be able to grasp Dhamma?
  2. Could be the case that there is no real prevention, just that if a Bodhisattva that has not received yet the niyata vivarana learns Dhamma and becomes a Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami or Arahant, he loses his Bodhisattva condition?

As I understand now, the Buddha taught about suffering and its end. For that purpose, he taught tilakkhana and paticca samuppada among other teachings.

One who fully realizes tilakkhana becomes an Arahant. An Arahant has no avijja, then paticca samuppada does not cycle for him. Then he will not grasp new existences in this world of 31 realms.

  1. Have I made any bad assumptions at this point?
  2. Could be that not cycling for him paticca samuppada really means that he will not grasp new bhavas via akusala-mula paticca samuppada, but to say nothing about cycling for him kusala-mula paticca samuppada, that not begins with avijja? I mean, he will not grasp new bhavas motivated by any kind of hope in mundane happiness in any of the 31 realms, as he knows the tilakkhana nature of this world. In other words, with no avijja, there will be neither akusala abhisankhara nor kusala abhisankhara rooted in avijja (then also rooted neither in lobha/raga nor dosa/patigha). But:
  3. What prevents him to do abhisankhara rooted in pañña? Or, similarly, what prevents him to grasp a new bhava, not motivated in any future happiness (as he knows tilakkhana) but motivated to help others to reach Nibbana (motivated by compassion)?
  4. Is doing abhisankhara rooted in pañña an oxymoron?
  5. If the answer to 8 is yes, then what is puññabhisankhara?
  6. Why puñña kriya are not puññabhisankhara?