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That was not correct.
I have revised that as: “alobha (absence of greed); adosa (absence of hate/anger, of which mettā or “loving-kindness” is a part); tatramajjhattatā (neutrality of mind, of which upekkhā is a part);.”
I made a few more corrections to that old post.
Thank you, Tobias!
Domanassa vedana could arise when someone is depressed by a kayika vedana (due to avijja). Of course, the kayika vedana is a kamma vipaka.
– By the way, karma is a Sanskrit word. We should try to use Pali words like kamma and Nibbana (instead of nirvana). I know that we are so used to using these Sanskrit words.Another way to look at this is that ALL factors of akusala-mula Paticca Samuppada are eliminated at the Arahant stage.
– However, those are just the factors in the “niddesa” version above.
– For example, “smphassa-ja-vedana” will not arise in Arahant. But kayika vedana (sukha or dukkha) will arise until Parinibbana (death of the Arahant).Your friend should start learning Dhamma. That is the way to reduce avijja and gradually reduce smphassa-ja-vedana.
Hello Usitha,
Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear about your progress.
Yes. Any current suffering via the body is due to past kamma. We need to bear any such suffering with upekkha. Of course, one MUST engage in all possible remedies like medical help, good exercise, healthy foods, etc.
As you said, it is smphassa-ja-vedana or the vedana that we create in our minds that lead to FUTURE suffering.
– Yes. We create them because of the ignorance (or absence of full clarity) of the anicca, dukkha, anatta nature.Yes. All mental dukkha vedana (domanassa vedana) are mind-made or smphassa-ja-vedana.
By the way, the steps in the Paticca Samuppada need to be understood in this wider context.
The “uddesa” version is: ““avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra; saṅkhāra paccayā viññāna; viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa, nāmarūpa paccayā salāyatana, salāyatana paccayā phassō, phassa paccayā vēdanā, vēdanā paccayā taṇhā, taṇhā paccayā upādāna, upādāna paccayā bhavō, bhava paccayā jāti, jāti paccayā jarā, marana, soka-paridēva-dukkha-dōmanassupāyasā sambhavan’ti”
In the “niddesa” or “expanded” version: ““avijjā paccayā abhisaṅkhāra; abhisaṅkhāra paccayā kamma viññāna; kamma viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa, nāmarūpa paccayā salāyatana, salāyatana paccayā samphassō, samphassa paccayā smphassa-ja-vēdanā, smphassa-ja-vēdanā paccayā taṇhā, taṇhā paccayā upādāna, upādāna paccayā bhavō, bhava paccayā jāti, jāti paccayā jarā, marana, soka-paridēva-dukkha-dōmanassupāyasā sambhavan’ti”
“Uddesa” and “niddesa” levels of explanations are important in sutta interpretations too: “Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta – Structure“
Yes. I listened to part of the desana starting at 30 minutes as y not suggested.
It has nothing to do with a traditional (and wrong) breath meditation. It is a good discourse.
– We should not make judgments based on just the title without listening first.The following post is from Aniduan:
I listened to portions of this meditation by Amadassana Thero (from
Dharmayai Obai Sermons): “2020-04-26 DOSE (Breathing Meditation)“.He is teaching breath meditation. Based on what I read on this puredhamma website Buddha did not teach breath meditation. Waharaka Thero was Buddha’s lineage and if Amadassana Thero was Waharaka Thero’s student I wonder why he is teaching breath meditation.
Hello Lang,
Those four things mentioned in the “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77)” are “imponderables.’
They CANNOT BE grasped FULLY by anyone but a Buddha.
– That means we can understand them to some extent, but not in full detail. So, the Buddha said not to try to understand them in great detail, for one could spend one’s whole life and not be satisfied.
– Furthermore, that would take time away from pursuing the most important objective of attaining Nibbana.Regarding jhana: Just like the other three subjects, one will never be able to learn everything about jhana, including iddhi powers that can be cultivated.
– For example, Ven. Moggallana was only second to the Buddha in iddhi powers. But once he decided to “explore” the vast universe and got lost. Buddha had to come to his “rescue.”You are correct, oetb!
I just revised #6 on that old post as follows:
“6. The Buddha said, “..bhikkhus, sentient beings reborn as humans are few as this bit of sand on my fingernail. But those not reborn as humans are many as the sand on this great Earth. Therefore, you should strive diligently and without delay to end this suffering in the rebirth process”. That statement appears to most people as an exaggeration. That quote is from the post, “How the Buddha Described the Chance of Rebirth in the Human Realm”.”Regarding the second part of your above comment:
Yes. It is extremely difficult to “come back up” once born in an apaya.
As for humans, the problem is the following. Many people engage in good deeds. However, it is very easy for a human (one who has not grasped the anicca, dukkha, anatta nature) to be TEMPTED by sense desires.
– By the way, the fraction of HUMANS getting a rebirth in a good realm (after the human bhava, which may last thousands of years as Lvalio pointed out above), is higher than what the Buddha quoted in the above sutta.
– Those in the apayas are MUCH MORE numerous than the human population. There are more living beings (belonging to the animal realm) in your backyard soil than the entire human population on Earth! That is why the “sand on a fingernail” analogy applies to ALL living beings.
– If we just take the humans who are reborn, they have better odds of being born human again. Still, it is quite low.The following post is from oetb.
Thanks!
I just wrote a reply, but I do not copy it before posting, and it has not been posted (I lost the reply). I’ll make a very brief resume.
The quote I made is the quote in point 6 of Wrong Views (Miccā Diṭṭhi) – A Simpler Analysis, and it seems to me that that quote tells that the very next bhava (those who depart from) of practically all human beings is one in the apayas. That is not exactly the same as saying that to grasp a human bhava is very rare.
As I had understood, beings in the apayas are “perpetuated” there because with the conditions they have is very easy to do akusala abhisankhara and very difficult to do puñña abhisankhara, so they are helpless, and for them, it is very very exceptional to grasp a human bhava after their actual bhava in the apayas. But I thought that humans are not so helpless. Humans have better conditions and more chances to do good deeds or cultivating merits. If the above quote is literally, then humans would be helpless and all good humans that try to live morally or to cultivate merits do it in vain (I am referring in the short term, i.e. in the very next bhava, not in the long term, where only Sotapannas and above are safe).
Hello oetb. Before I comment on your question, I would like to make a couple of suggestions.
1. It is a good idea to quote the source of what you are quoting, if possible.
2. Also, when you quote someone at the forum (this is regarding your other comment that I just saw on another thread), please say who (at that thread) said that, if there are several people who had commented.
Now, regarding your analysis, Let me clarify a few things first.
I had discussed the sutta in question, Nakhasikha Sutta (SN 20.2), in the post, “How the Buddha Described the Chance of Rebirth in the Human Realm”
To quote from that post: “In the same way, bhikkhus, sentient beings reborn as humans are few as this bit of sand on my fingernail. But those not reborn as humans are many as the sand on this great Earth. Therefore, you should strive diligently and without delay to end this suffering in the rebirth process”.
I have highlighted the fact that the Buddha said that, “of all living beings” that die the fraction born as a human would be similar to the fraction of grains of sand that can be picked up on a fingernail to that on the Earth.
I just Googled and found that an estimate for the grains of sand on Earth to be about 10^19.
There are roughly 10 billion (10^10) people on Earth.However, we need to take the number of all beings on Earth.
The article, “The Largest Study of Life Forms Ever Has Estimated That Earth Is Home to 1 TRILLION Species”
says there are over a trillion (10^12) species of living species on Earth.
– One of those species is ants. I did a Google search on just how many ants in this world and saw that an estimate was 10^15.
– That is just one species out of over a trillion species.
– Of course, there are fewer animals of larger species.
– But the number of microscopic living beings could be staggering.
– Here is a video on how many in a drop water contaminated water:
“How many living things are in a drop of dirty water?”Of course, what I discussed above includes just animal species on Earth.
There are 31 realms based on the Earth too. We simply do not know how many living-beings are in the other three realms of the papaya, or in the Deva/Brahma realms.It would be impossible for us to do such a calculation to get a meaningful number. But as always, the Buddha would know for sure. I personally don’t have any reason to doubt it.
The Buddha said there are four things that we should not waste our time on.
– They are: knowledge of a Buddha, jhana, working (finer details) of kamma, and details about the world.
See, “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77)”
– a couple of English translations are available there.I am not discouraging looking into things with an open mind. But sometimes, we are not capable of finding answers to some questions. In particular, the Buddha advised against looking into those four.
Yes. You have to understand the context.
Of course, a Sotapanna CAN do an anantariya punna kamma (like cultivating jhana).
– The sutta must be referring to anantariya papa kamma.“abhabbo diṭṭhisampanno puggalo āNANTARIYAM KAMMAM KāTUM”
It means a diṭṭhisampanna person (meaning a Sotapanna) is incapable of doing an ānantariya kamma.
– That makes complete sense, because if an ānantariya kamma is done, one would be reborn in the apaya in the next birth.
– A Sotapanna will never be born in an apaya.The following post is from oetb, addressed to hoya.
Hi,
As said in the article, the intention is a key factor for kamma. Your intention was not a bad one, in fact, it was a good one. Then, I think you shouldn’t worry about it.
Hello oetb,
OK. I see that you have a fairly good idea about gandhabba.
Regarding: “Being joined with a dense body, I am not sure why (I’ll ask in another thread), the gandhabba has his capabilities inhibited, not being now able to see and hear at distance, and now depends on the physical body sense inputs and the brain.”
The following crude analogy may be helpful.
Suppose someone puts you in a small solid box (like an old phone booth) that is sound-proof and has no windows.
– You will not be able to see and hear (This analogy does not work for smell, taste, and touch).Gandhabba inside a physical solid body is like that. It cannot see and hear without such inputs coming through a window in that solid box.
BUt the gandhabba inside the physical body also needs the help of the brain to process those two visual and sound inputs. That cannot be put in that analogy.
– So, even if the physical body has perfectly good eyes and ears if the brain cannot process those signals, the gandhabba still will not be able to see or hear.We can take this to another level now. Inside the box, you will be able to think.
– But the gandhabba cannot even think without the help of another “window” to the outside. That is called ‘mana indriya.” Our memories are in the “nama plane” and need to come into the physical body through that mana indriya in the brain, just like a visual need to come in through the eyes.Furthermore, those memories coming through the mana indriya must be first processed by the brain, just the signal from the eyes must be processed.
– I discussed the latter process briefly in the new post, “Arising of Five Aggregates Based on an Ārammaṇa” I have discussed that in a couple of prior posts too, but I do not remember which ones.– Anyway, I will be discussing that more in upcoming posts on this new series of posts.
The bottom line is that if the brain does not function well, then the gandhabba becomes totally helpless inside that body, not being able to even THINK.
– That is why a “brain-dead” person is totally inert.
– P.S. But if the gandhabba can somehow come out of that body, he/she will be able to see, hear, and think perfectly.So, I hope you can see that the gandhabba is the same whether staying inside or outside the body. His capabilities may be limited by the level of brain function (and also the functioning of the eyes, ears, tongue, etc).
You know that SOME little children can remember their previous life (just one, in most cases.)
– That ability is lost when the child grows up because the brain will too many things to do as one grows up. Too many attractive things to “process.” These are also called pancanivarana.
– So, the gandhabba outside the physical body MAY BE able to recall a bit more, but I am not sure.
– Anyway, there in no need to “push” these things to their limits. We just need to get a basic idea about the sensory experience. That will help us realize that ULTIMATELY there is no “me” and all these things that we do to “enjoy life’ will keep us trapped in this suffering-filled rebirth process. But we need to get there step-by-step. It is foolish to start off saying that “there is no “self”.Also, see, “Is It Necessary for a Buddhist to Eliminate Sensual Desires?“
You wrote: “I’m referring more specifically when a gandhabba dwells in para loka. I mean, lots OBE reports talk about people that could see and hear from out of the body while maintaining its identity, i.e., knowing who they are, who are its relatives, etc..”
I don’t think you understood what I was trying to say. Let me try to say it in a different way.
– There is a gandhabba inside of you. In fact, that gandhabba is YOU.
– Our physical body is just a “shell.”
– It is the gandhabba doing the thinking etc.So, what happens to some who undergo heart operations is that the gandhabba is kind of “pushed out” of the physical body. When the gandhabba comes out, it can see and hear without having eyes and ears.
If you really want to understand, you need to spend some time and read the posts I recommended.
Please feel to ask questions if you have a problem with certain parts of a post. That is why the bullet numbers are there. Please refer to the post and the bullet numbers.
That applies to your other questions too.
P.S. The gandhabba does not die until the lifetime for the human bhava is spent.
– If the human bhava in your example is 1000 years, it is the same gandhabba that lives 1000 years. But his gati may change, of course.
– When one physical body dies, the gandhabba just separates from the dead body (just like what happens to some people during heart operations). Then the gandhabba waits until it is pulled into a another womb. Then it lives inside that physical body, and so on.The gandhabba may not remember previous lives in different physical bodies.
