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Hello, venerable Lal sir, I read the latest post, “Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta – Misconceptions and Wrong Translations“. I don’t have any questions as of yet, but I couldn’t stop myself from writing this. I will reread it again as one read just gave me happiness/piti but not complete understanding.
The part where it says, “Think of the tiny amount of dirt on a fingertip; That is like the suffering left for a Sotāpanna. Now, imagine the dirt/soil in the whole Earth, which is unimaginably huge; that is the suffering left over for a puthujjana, until the Sotāpanna stage is attained. I don’t think many people have realized how amazing that comparison is!
Thus, saying that a Sotāpanna has eliminated 99+% of future suffering is an understatement! The remaining suffering is truly negligible.”
I really felt piti while reading this, and it just made me realize how fortunate I am in understanding the weight of this thing!
Then about this following part: “Once a rebirth in an apāya takes place, it is impossible to get a rebirth in a ‘good realm’ until the next ‘mahā kappa‘ starts after billions of years;”
I actually had hunch about it but your above sentence just proved it. My understanding says, every situation repeats after a great cycle. This came to my mind when I was reflecting on the lost opportunities in my life and it gave me real urgency to try not to waste any upcoming opportunity or even time as if I want to excel in that situation which is gone in past, I will have to wait a world cycle! Then I realized, how dangerous it must be for those who got the birth in apayas. I can’t imagine, it is so frightening. Once one gets there, no hope is there for that being until the great cycle resets. Truly this is something that almost nobody understands. Once anyone reads the descriptions of hells, one will know how fortunate is a human birth, how fortunate is to be closer to buddha-sasana, how fortunate it is to be able to even communicate with ariya and how fortunate it is to understand these things (teachings of buddha which are incomparable).
This part: “A Buddha Never Lies – Take This Seriously
16. Think of the tiny amount of dirt on a fingertip; That is like the suffering left for a Sotāpanna. Now, imagine the dirt/soil in the whole Earth, which is unimaginably huge; that is the suffering left over for a puthujjana, until the Sotāpanna stage is attained. I don’t think many people have realized how amazing that comparison is!”I understand that comparison and its amazingness 99%! It is thrilling and I feel like completely positive about everything in life whenever I read this analogy, again and again!
Really thank you for this post and other such posts! I feel they will help me make my right view stronger and stronger and change my parents’ wrong views, sooner than I would have without these posts. These posts provide me words and terms which I can use and I get to compare what I think, directly what buddha’s worldview is!
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I am glad that you captured the essence of the great reward of being a Sotapanna. The Buddha taught that it is better than being an emperor who controls all the countries in the world (rājā cakkavattī), or any (anariya) Deva or Brahma in any realm.
- A whole series of suttas, starting with the “Cakkavattirāja Sutta (SN 55.1)“, states so. One can read the whole series to confirm.
- However, it is not easy to attain, because for most people it is hard even to accept that sensory pleasures are mirages.
- Although some scientists and philosophers understand this, they hold uccheda ditthi (the belief that life ends with the death of the physical body) and thus do not understand how that ‘perception of pleasure’ arises via Paticca Samuppada; they believe distorted perception arises in the brain.
P.S. It would be better if you comment on a specific post in the “Questions About Puredhamma Posts” thread. The “General Forum” is for general comments and questions on any topic.
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