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The Buddhist Anapanasati meditation is not “breath meditation.” Let us start with that discussion.
- Please read “Is Ānāpānasati Breath Meditation?” and let us know your thoughts.
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Hello, Cat,
We have had many discussions about Goenka Vipassana retreats in this forum.
- One key point was that he uses breath meditation to calm the mind before engaging in Vipassana. Is that correct?
- We can discuss this further after your reply.
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Thank you for the update, Dawson!
- We are glad to hear about your progress. Keep it up. Things can move fast under the right conditions. Try to maintain this mindset. Even if you lose it, you can regain it if you keep trying. Eventually, it becomes easier to get back to it. It is indeed a samādhi.
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Yes. That is a good description.
- The automatic reaction to “distorted saññā” will reduce as the number of samyojana (or anusaya) reduces.
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Yes. Arahants feel physical suffering but not mental. For example, they will feel the pain of an injury; however, unlike a puthujjana, they will not keep worrying about it and generate domanassa vedana, which is mind-made.
- But they will also feel “distorted saññā,” like the yucky taste of rotten food or the unpleasant smell of feces. Again, they will not worry about it generating domanassa vedana. They fully understand that such “distorted saññā” will arise as long as they have the human physical body.
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“Bhante mentioned that when a person becomes an arahant, even their traumas disappear. For instance, someone who is claustrophobic , fears animals, or has experienced personal traumas such as rape and intimidation—along with paranoia and various fears—will no longer experience these issues at the arahant stage. Do you agree with this perspective?”
- It is hard to say. We can only guess. It is possible that memories of trauma may not bother them.
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” I ask because there are cases where some attitudes seem to persist even among arahants. For example, there was an arahant who spoke inappropriately to others; I can’t recall his name or story. “
- It was Ven. Pilindavaccha: “Pilindavaccha Sutta (Ud 3.6).”
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“If I am not mistaken only the Lord Buddha is completely devoid of all idiosyncrasies. “
- Yes. That is correct.
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“Bhante also said that taste is a useless sense. Is that true for science?”
- I don’t think that is entirely correct. Our bodies are made to provide that “saññā.” As we have discussed, taste is a “saññā.” However, it is not discussed that way in the suttas because Abhidhamma was not developed during the Buddha’s time. Per Abhidhamma, only “bodily vedanā” are real vedanā. But in the suttas, saññā and vedanā are clumped together as “vedanā.”
- Even Arahants experience “manāpa/amanāpa” or a sense of “like/dislike” generated by that “distorted saññā.” See “Nibbānadhātu Sutta (Iti 44)“: “Tassa tiṭṭhanteva pañcindriyāni yesaṁ avighātattā manāpāmanāpaṁ (“manāpa/amanāpa“) paccanubhoti, sukhadukkhaṁ paṭisaṁvedeti.” The English translation there is correct: “Their five sense faculties still remain. So long as their senses have not gone they continue to experience the agreeable and disagreeable, to feel pleasure and pain.” Also, note that “sukhadukkha” (sukha and dukkha) means “pleasure and pain,” and those are the genuine vedanā per Abhidhamma. Agreeable and disagreeable (“like/dislike”) arise due to saññā. In this sutta, at least those are separated, as in Abhidhamma.
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Claude seems to be able to extract insights from the post. Thanks for sharing it!
- You may get a better analysis by feeding Claude the first seven posts in this section: “Worldview of the Buddha.” The other posts in the section are old posts that require revision; feeding Claude those old posts may lead to confusion.
I watched for about 30 minutes after 37 minutes. It is good. Our bodies are “prepared” to provide color perception, etc.
- Animals, for example, don’t see many colors. They see everything in black and white only. They don’t get to “enjoy” vivid colors!
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No Problem. It is better to have its own thread. That way, it would be easier to find in a search with a keyword.
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I am not sure about what happens there. It is possible that a Human gandhabba can only see the immediate environment that they are interested in seeing. It is a mechanism that we cannot visualize/imagine. It involves only cakkhu pasada rupa and hadaya vatthu.
- When we see using our physical eyes, anything that reflects (or self-generates) light can be seen.
This is an interesting aspect that we can glean more insight into with the current scientific knowledge about star formation. Also, at the time of the Buddha, Abhidhamma was not taught to the general public, so the details about the manomaya kaya with hadaya vatthu/pasada rupa were not taught.
1. The “first humans” on the newly-formed Earth did not have dense physical bodies like ours, as discussed in “Aggañña Sutta Discussion – Introduction” and “Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27).” They only had the manomaya kaya, just like the Brahmas in the pabhassara Braham realm. They could see without eyes (they did not have eyes or a brain). Let us look at markers 10.5 and 10.6 ( “Aggañña Sutta (DN 27).”), which describe the first batch of humans born on Earth upon leaving the pabhassara Braham realm. @marker 10.6: “Tedha honti manomayā pītibhakkhā sayaṁpabhā antalikkhacarā subhaṭṭhāyino ciraṁ dīghamaddhānaṁ tiṭṭhanti.” OR “They have mind-made bodies, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, traveling in the air, and they remain like that for a very long time.” Thus, even though “sayaṁpabhā” literally means “self-illuminating,” in this context, it means they did not need sunlight to see. Human gandhabbas, as well as Brahmas, can see without light.
2. The other aspect is the formation process of a star. It happens gradually over millions of years. The star does not “ignite” until its mass reaches a critical density. You can search for “star formation” to find more information. Thus, in the early Earth, our Sun had not yet become a star; it was a giant gas cloud, and due to gravity, it started collapsing into a smaller size gradually. Eventually, it reaches a critical density needed for nuclear fusion and becomes a star.
- By the time the Sun ignited, the humans had developed denser bodies with eyes, brains, etc.
- Please ask questions if anything in the above is not clear.
Yes. I remember this account now. Thank you!
P.S. Grok, Musk’s AI, gave the following description:
- The story you’re referring to is found in Theravāda Buddhist texts, particularly in the Dhammapada commentary (DhA.ii.35) and related sources. It involves Bāhiya Dārucīriya, Pukkusāti, Suppabuddha (the leper), and a fourth individual, Tambadāṭhika, all of whom were killed by a cow. According to the commentary, the cow was a yakkhiṇī (a female spirit) who had been a courtesan in a previous life. The narrative suggests that these four men, in that past life, were sons of wealthy merchants who took the courtesan to a pleasure garden, enjoyed her company, and then killed her to steal the jewels and money they had given her. As she died, she vowed to take revenge on them across multiple existences, and in their final encounters during the Buddha’s time, she manifested as a cow to fulfill this vow.
Furthermore, the following information could be helpful:
- Ven. Bāhiya became an Arahant: “Bāhiya Sutta (Ud 1.10)” Venerable Pukkusāti became an Anagami: “Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta (MN 140)” Suppabuddha became a Sotapanna: “Suppabuddhakuṭṭhi Sutta (Ud 5.3)”
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Jittananto has provided an interesting aspect to the account of Tambadathika: “Bāhiya, Pukkusāti, Tambadathika – All Killed by the Same Cow.”
- Thank you, Jittananto!
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I didn’t realize Taryal had closed the thread because I posted my above comment.
- Pathfinder just emailed me saying he could not post. I have now re-opened the thread.
Pathfinder also emailed me saying it is Dhammapda verse 100: “Dhammapada Verse 100“
- I could not open the link Pathfinder emailed me, but the above should give the idea. Thank you, Pathfinder!
As I thought, that person, the executioner (Tambadathika) had attained anuloma nana before he died, i.e., Sotapanna Anugami. That is why he was reborn in a Deva realm.
- We also remember that Angulimala killed almost a thousand people but attained Arahanthood before death. See “Account of Angulimāla – Many Insights to Buddha Dhamma.”
- Thus, as long as it is not an anantariya kamma, it can be overcome.
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