Sir I submit two questions, and request for kind comments from Seniors here, when having time:
1: Sir, in Sn 1.1: Ogha-tarana Sutta: Crossing over the Flood, link to sutta the Lord is questioned and answers as follows:
But how, dear sir, did you cross over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place?” <Lords Reply>:- “When I pushed forward, I was whirled about. When I stayed in place, I sank. And so I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place.”
If paticca samuppada is taken as a flood of becoming(bhava), how is the reply given by the Lord in the above Sutta to be properly understood?
2: Is there room and place for inner transformation in Dhamma? Not in the sense of becoming something more, but a qualitative transformation. For instance, the example given by Lal sir of Mundane Sila becoming Ariyakanta Sila, when one understands Four Noble Truths/Tilakkhana/Paticca Samuppada is an example of such qualitative transformation/change/shift.
In paticca samputpada cycle, or in the framework built with allied concepts such as Punna kamma, Kusala Kamma, Rupa and Arupa Bhavas etc where does such qualitative transformation in an individual and his life come in, and to what extent? Is it limited to the scope of doing punna and getting good births till kamma bhava’s potency zeroes to produce any further upapatthi? Like an vending machine which gives you a chips packet or a biscuit packet or a drink commensurate with the money you deposit inside? for instance I do jhana now, the machine will throw out brahma bhava next? Like that. Or does it run deeper , where in , such concepts are not the end in themselves and are perhaps offshoots of panna and should always be combined and studied as such with the bigger picture and not as silos? Discussed as silos it becomes very difficult for beginners like me to get a wholistic understanding. what constitutes such wholistic framework(broadly at one place)?
Regards sir.