Can an Ariya get Alzheimer’s Disease?

  • This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by Lal.
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    • #38918
      dosakkhayo
      Participant

      I think I saw somewhere in puredhamma that alzheimers were caused by damage to the mano indriya in the brain. (I don’t remember exactly because I saw it a long time ago. Maybe I was mistaken.) If it’s caused by damage to Mano indriya in the brain, it’s actually the same as damage to the body, so alzheimers can happen even if there’s nothing wrong with gandhabba itself. Is it right?

    • #38919
      Lal
      Keymaster

      I did a search on “alzheimer” using the search box on the top right:
      Search Results for: alzheimer

      The first result is your new question. The others are also discussions and posts with the word “Alzheimer.” I don’t think I had a post exclusively on “Alzheimer’s.”

      The “sensing elements” that EXPERIENCE vision, sound, taste, smell, touch, and memory recall are NOT the eyes, ears, tongue, nose, body, and brain.
      – The “sensing elements” are in the “energy-body”/”manomaya kaya/gandhabba. Those are the set of pasada rupa (cakkhu, sota, jivha, ghana, kaya) and the hadaya vatthu.

      In terms of the recent post, “Three Types of “Bodies” – Poṭṭhapāda Sutta (DN 9)” we can say the following (see #3 of the post):
      – The eyes, ears, tongue, nose, body, and brain are in the “A solid, heavy physical body.”
      – The real sensing elements of pasada rupa/hadaya vatthu are in the “mind-made subtle body”

      Many sicknesses/diseases/injuries happen to the eyes, ears, tongue, nose, body, and brain.
      – That is the price we pay to “enjoy close physical contact (taste, smell, and touch/sex)” with the physical body.

      In many cases, the eyes, ears, tongue, nose, body, and brain “malfunction” due to kamma vipaka or old age.
      – Alzheimer’s disease is a brain problem. If the gandhabba comes out of the physical body (as in an NDE), likely, it would not have any memory loss.

      The following video (which was in the above-referenced recent post) clearly illustrates this point w.r.t. vision:

      – That is a critical point. I have now posted this video on several posts, but I am not sure how many people grasped its importance.

      Also, see “Brain – Interface between Mind and Body

      P.S. Yes. An Ariya (a Noble Person) can get Alzheimer’s. It is a kamma vipaka. Remember that Ven. Moggalana was beaten to death, and that was also a kamma vipaka.
      – Anyone with a physical body is subjected to kamma vipaka, like Alzheimer’s, injuries, and diseases. Even the Buddha had some physical ailments like back pain.
      – Suffering stops ONLY at the death of an Arahant, i.e., with the death of the last physical body.

    • #38928
      dosakkhayo
      Participant

      Thank you for your kind explanation even though it’s quite a sensitive subject. It brought me a lot of insight. I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time now, but I’ve put it off until now because I’m afraid it’ll be an insult to Ariya.

    • #38929
      Lal
      Keymaster

      Yes. If someone needs to understand what the “essence of a human life” is, one needs to understand what I described above.
      – It is the manomaya kaya/gandhabba created by kammic energy when grasping a human bhava.
      – That gandhabba is “so small” that it’s merging with a zygote in a mother’s womb is undetectable to modern science.
      – That is also why modern science is silent on the accumulating evidence for “Near-Death Experiences” or NDE. The video in my first comment is only one of many. Accumulating evidence for rebirth accounts is yet another piece of evidence.

      I tried to explain that in the “origin of life” series.
      – I am not sure how many people understood.

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