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This is a subtle point.
Not all sensory experiences are bad and bring bad outcomes (kamma vipaka).
– Just because one eats a tasty meal does not mean that it is bad. The Buddha accepted such meals from wealthy people.
– What matters is whether one generates greed when eating such a meal.
– In the case of watching a movie, there is a big difference between watching an adult movie with lust and watching an educational/informative movie.The easiest way to decide is to see what kinds of feelings are associated with a given event. If it involves greed, anger, hate, jealousy, etc. then those will bring bad vipaka.
The following post could be helpful: “Is It Necessary for a Buddhist to Eliminate Sensual Desires?“
Thanks. I revised #10 there:
“Five Aggregates – Experiences of Each Sentient Being“Thanks. I will see which posts will benefit from that.
– If you have a specific post in mind, please let me know.Yes. That sentence needs to be revised. Thanks for pointing that out.
That is an old post. I need to spend some time bringing it up to date. I will post here when done.
1. Jarā means “getting old.”
“Marana” means “death.”As we know, all births (jāti) lead to old age and eventual death.
– See, “Bhava paccayā Jāti….Jarā , Marana,…”
– The above is the general description of jāti, jarā, and marana. That applies to uppatti Paticca Samuppada, where the focus is on old age and death (after being born a baby).2. I see that you are asking specifically about Idappaccayātā Paticca Samuppada.
– That specific version describes the moment-to-moment evolution of events during a lifetime.
– For example, one may be “born” in an “angry jāti” or a “greedy jāti” for a relatively short time. But that “state” also wears out (jarā) and ends (marana).
– For example, one may get angry about something. But that anger wears out and dies within minutes or hours.
– See, “Paṭicca Samuppāda During a Lifetime”Please feel free to ask questions if not clear.
I just posted a new post that makes further clarifications:
Four Types of Births in BuddhismPlease feel free to ask questions or make comments.
You are correct, dosakkhayo. Thanks for pointing that out.
– P.S. So it turns out you had the correct understanding too. Sadhu! Sadhu!! Sadhu!!!1. I just listened to that part, which was an error. I have added a note under that discourse to correct it as:
“Immoral deeds or dasa akusala are done with apuññābhisaṅkhāra or bad thoughts in our minds. Good deeds (or puññābhisaṅkhāra) done with the comprehension of the Four Noble Truths/Paṭicca Samuppāda/Tilakkhana become kusala kamma due to that understanding.”2. It turned out that I also did not have the correct link to the series of discourses in my first post above. I also corrected the link:
“Tilakkhana – English Discourses”
– You can see the above correction there under Discourse 4.Dosakkhayo wrote:
“And 36:53
So, it is important to make this connection. Our sankhara and specifically abhisankhara lead to future lives based on whether they involve dasa akusala or dasa kusala.”– What I said is technically correct. But I can see why that could lead to confusion.
The following comment by LayDhammaFollower provides a good explanation: “There is no such thing as kusāla abhisaṅkhāra. Abhisaṅkhāra either puñña or Apuñña, are done out of ignorance.”
Let me clarify that a bit more.
– Puñña kamma (good, moral deeds done WITHOUT understanding the Four Noble Truths/Paticca Samuppada/Tilakkhana) are NOT kusala kamma. Since avijja (ignorance) about the real nature of this world is still present, such good deeds have underlying expectations for “good returns in this world,” such as getting a “good rebirth where one can enjoy life.”
– The same good, moral deeds by a person WITH an understanding of the Four Noble Truths/Paticca Samuppada/Tilakkhana AUTOMATICALLY BECOME kusala kamma.
– P.S. That change in understanding comes at the Sotapanna Anugami stage, where one starts grasping the danger of getting a rebirth in any realm of this world. That is when one first gets to Samma Ditthi and starts on the lokuttara path to Nibbana. Until then, anyone just doing puñña kamma is on the mundane Eightfold path. Also see “Vipallāsa (Diṭṭhi, Saññā, Citta) Affect Saṅkhāra”That is a critical point to understand.
– In the absence of the correct Buddha Dhamma, people may do puñña kamma, but they are UNABLE to do kusala kamma.
– It is ONLY when one understands the not only unfruitful but also DANGEROUS nature of continuing the rebirth process that one will be able to convert the same puñña kamma to kusala kamma. That involves only a change of mindset!Please read the post, “Kusala and Akusala Kamma, Puñña and Pāpa Kamma” and ask more questions if not clear.
– It is a subtle but CRITICAL point to understand.By the way, I am quite impressed by the progress of LayDhammaFollower. I learned that he is only 23 years old. Sadhu! Sadhu!! Sadhu!!!
Tobias wrote: “Thus this “chemical base” + gandhabba (patisandhi vinnana) is the “origin of life” with a dense body. It is only that modern science does not know the gandhabba is required, right?”
Yes. That is correct.
– We see a lot of confusion these days about “when a baby can be called human”?
– In the US, there are many “theories” about when a baby becomes “fully conscious.” Then that evolves into arguments about “a baby not being human” up to a few days, a few months, or even at birth. Some even speculate that since a child cannot “think rationally” until at least a couple of years of age, they may not be “human.” How ridiculous is that?A zygote in a womb becomes human as soon as a gandhabba merges with it!
– See “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception”Tobias asked: “What is spontaneous reproduction of “certain humans” and “certain beings in the lower realms”?”
– There are a couple of accounts in the Tipitaka where a human baby was born on a flower. Here, it is a saṁsedaja birth. I think bhikkhuni Uppalavaṇṇā, who became an Arahant, was born on a flower. That means a zygote assembled on a flower by natural means (chemical composition), and the gandhabba of Uppalavaṇṇā merged with that zygote. That is an extremely rare event.
– There are some petas (or pretas) and niraya beings who are born spontaneously (in the final form), just like the Devas and Brahmas.In MN12 that you referenced, the four types of yoni (ways of birth) are stated:
“Sāriputta, there are these four kinds of reproduction” (Catasso kho imā, sāriputta, yoniyo.)”A better translation would be: “Sāriputta, there are these four kinds of births”
The sutta states those four kinds as, “Aṇḍajā yoni, jalābujā yoni, saṁsedajā yoni, opapātikā yoni” which can be translated as “Born from an egg, from a womb, from moisture, or spontaneously.”
In a way, ALL births (that take place at the cuti-patisandhi moment) are opapātika or spontaneous births.
– The “four modes of birth” apply to mainly humans and animals.
– The manomaya kaya/gandhabba created spontaneously by kammic energy can lead to “births with physical bodies” in the other three ways.Thus, the “seed” for the other three modes comes from the manomaya kaya/gandhabba.
– For humans, a gandhabba gets into a womb and is born with a physical body. That is the “jalābujā yoni” or “birth from a womb” with “breaking out of the amniotic sac.”
– For animals, all three modes apply. Some (monkeys, deer, etc) are born like humans (jalābujā yoni“); Chicken, birds, etc. are born from an egg (aṇḍajā yoni). The last mode of saṁsedajā yoni is rare for big animals and applies mostly to smaller ones. Here the required “chemical base” for the gandhabba happens naturally in rotten meat or leaves.
– Note that in all three of those modes, a “seed” (manomaya kaya/gandhabba) must have been first produced by kammic energy.Also, note that in all realms above the human realm, all births involve one step, i.e., spontaneous birth (opapātika) via kammic energy.
Well done! Thank you for sharing with us.
– Others may want to express their insights/comments, especially looking from different angles.Note-taking helps clarify concepts. From my school days, I have tried to write down what I learned in my own words. In a way, that is what I am doing on this website too. As the understanding grows, one can express a given concept better.
– Trying to put ideas into words helps clarify. Just reading through a post is not enough. At least one should contemplate new concepts and try to express them in one’s own words. That is Vipassanā! Then one can compile notes.Sampappalāpā does not mean “small talk.”
– You can see from some suttas that the Buddha himself first engaged one in “small talk” before that person would ask a question. That is being polite.Palāpā mean “untrtuh” or “adhamma.”
– When used in conjunction with “san” that also has implications of “lobha, dosa, moha.”
– Sampappalāpā probably derived from “san” and “palāpa.”Sampappalāpā most often involves rattling off on funny, vulgar topics or where one is disputing the truth, i.e., dhamma.
– Even in some serious discussions, when one takes a position against rebirth or non-existence of gandhabba, for example, that could count as sampappalāpā because that is making dhamma to be adhamma.
– Not realizing the truth is not an excuse. This is why miccha ditthi is the worst type of akusala that can make one reborn in an apaya. That is because one’s actions, speech, and thoughts are based on wrong views.1 user thanked author for this post.
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.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.Yes. The succinct verse: “Tattha katamo aniccaṭṭho? Pīḷanaṭṭho aniccaṭṭho pabhaṅgaṭṭho sampāpanaṭṭho vivekaṭṭho aniccaṭṭho, ayaṃ aniccaṭṭho”
can be analyzed in great detail.The word sampāpanaṭṭho means “with the meaning of sampāpana.”
– “sampāpana” is “san” + “pāpana” where “pāpana” implies “inducing pāpa” or “inducing immoral.” Of course, “san” is to “add.”
– Thus, sampāpanaṭṭho conveys the idea that not comprehending anicca nature induces people to engage in immoral activities (pāpa kamma.)It helps to pronounce the Pali word sampāpana instead of “sampapana”
– These are minor details.1 user thanked author for this post.
