[Sammasambodhi Gami]

Dear Dhamma friends,

For those who want to know more about parami (paramita), here are two excellent resources:

(1) The Great Chronicle of Buddhas

(2) Cariyapitaka

MAY ALL BEINGS ATTAIN THE SUPREME BLISS OF NIBBANA !!!

[Sammasambodhi Gami]

In the post Rebirth – Connection to Suffering in the First Noble Truth, the rarity of human bhava is discussed. It is also mentioned in several suttas in Sanyutta Nikaya.

But as far as my understanding, this rare occurrence of human bhava applies to the asathpurisa or putthajana – those who don’t have any faith in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and those who are regularly engaged in dasa akusala (basically average humans).

But for those who have faith in the Triple Gem and those who are fulfilling the paramitas, human bhava is NOT rare for them. Of course they are not free from the apayas, but even if they are reborn in woeful planes, they come back to the sugati realms more often due to the power of their merits/paramitas.

Suppose there is a bag full of 100 balls – 99 black balls and 1 white ball.
If a person is to take out a ball from this bag, what do you think which ball would have higher probability? Black or White ? Of course the black balls have 99% probability and the white ball has just 1% probability.
Here black balls represent the papa kammas and white balls represent the punna kammas of a person. And the bag represents the set of kamma bija for a given sentient being. This is the case of a putthajana.

Of course in reality there are uncountable kamma bija in the nama loka for a given sentient being, and other complex factors also come into play at the cuti-patisandhi. Hence this is just a crude analogy.

And for those who are fulfilling the paramitas, the situation is just the reverse! More white balls and less black balls.

So if one is willingly and honestly striving/fulfilling the paramitas, nature would give him more and more chances/opportunities to do the same! (i.e., one would be reborn more often in the human and deva realms)
The law of Paticca Samuppada !!!

My point is that a person fulfilling the paramitas or aspiring (honestly) to fulfill the paramitas SHOULD NOT BE DISCOURAGED.

Most Ven. Waharaka Thero also mentioned in one of his sermons that a Buddhist even if he/she born in apayas would come back quickly to the human realm without spending much time in apayas!

Here is the link to the sermon (the relevant part starts at 16:29 minutes)

Theruvan Saranai !!!

[Sammasambodhi Gami]

I thought of adding some more insight to this.

It should be clearly noted that a person who is fulfilling paramitas IS NOT FREE FROM THE APAYAS. He/she has to endure hardship and sufferings as long as one is repeatedly reborn in this world of 31 realms. Even our Bodhisattva was reborn as animal many times (even in Hell also).

But as compared to an average human (putthajana), those who are fulfilling paramitas would be reborn quite often in Human and Deva realms due to the power of their merits/paramitas. This is due to their “gati” building over long times.

The paramitas are not just for the Bodhisattva, but also for Pacceka Buddhas, the Chief Disciples, the Chief Lay Disciples, the 80 great Arahats and so on…
The difference lies in the level of perfection and the time span needed.

For those who are eagerly motivated and dedicated towards fulfilling the paramitas even at the cost of suffering, I am sharing some more excellent resources here:

(1) Apadana

(2) The Great Arahants (playlist)

MAY ALL BEINGS IN ALL REALMS ATTAIN THE SUPREME BLISS OF NIBBANA !!!

[Lal]

I am glad that Sacket clarified the key point.

The bottom line is that the material in the post “Rebirth – Connection to Suffering in the First Noble Truth” is correct and fully compatible with the Tipitaka.

One will be free of the apayas ONLY when one starts comprehending 4NT/PS/Tilakkhana, i.e. when one gets at least to the Sotapanna Anugami stage.

P.S. Sacket wrote: “Even our Bodhisattva was reborn as animal many times (even in Hell also).”
– That is not correct. Once a Bodhisatta, births in the niraya (hell) would not occur. A Bodhisatta can be reborn only in the animal realm; even then, he will not be reborn as an animal of less than a certain size (as I remember the size of a rabbit).

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