June 15, 2024 at 2:47 pm
#50257
Keymaster
Good comments!
1. I think it was Nagarjuna or Buddhaghosa who tried to explain the basic theme of Buddha’s teachings with “there is no doer, it’s all just causes and effects.”
- That is not the way to correctly interpret the teachings.
2. If you apply Paticca Samuppada without grasping how the mind works differently in different realms, you can come to that WRONG conclusion.
- That saying applies to animals and beings in the other three apayas. They don’t have free will.
3. The reason for humans to have free will is mainly two-fold:
- As explained in Abhidhamma, the most potent javana arises when a good deed is done with an understanding of the anicca nature, i.e., when one does it with “sōmanassa sahagata ñāna sampayutta citta” (or “thoughts with joyful mind based on wisdom”) Suich cittas (thoughts) do not arise in those beings in apayas but arise in humans. See “Feelings: Sukha, Dukha, Somanassa, and Domanassa.” (especially #10)
- Humans also have fully developed brains. The brain “slows down” our response to external sensory inputs because it takes time for the brain to process sensory information. See “Triune Brain: How the Mind Rewires the Brain via Meditation/Habits.”
As I mentioned above, this topic is critically important. The above two points need to be discussed in detail, but those two posts should be helpful. Keep asking questions based on those two posts.