Lal

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  • in reply to: I Have Been working on Pure Buddha Dhamma MindMap. #37789
    Lal
    Keymaster

    I have received an email from LayDhammaFollower saying that his mind map can be VIEWED without installing the software.
    – You need the software ONLY to make changes to his chart, or to create your own MindMap.
    – His chart (with the latest update) is at: https://pure-buddha-dhamma-mindmap.on.drv.tw/Pure%20Dhamma.html
    – Accordingly, I have revised my previous comments above.

    in reply to: I Have Been working on Pure Buddha Dhamma MindMap. #37782
    Lal
    Keymaster

    OK. There have been too many posts, and I have deleted many. Thanks to Seng Kiat’s efforts (I deleted his post, some of mine, and some of LayDhammaFollower’s.)

    I revised my comment in LayDhammaFollowr’s post of May 30, 2022, at 12:51 am.

    Thanks, LayDhammaFollower, for sharing your work. I am impressed by the efforts. Such efforts will not go to waste. I am happy to see such motivation.
    Making notes (and keep revising them as one learns) is the best way to learn. Just reading through posts may not provide that much benefit. That is something I realized during my school days.
    – I hope people will make suggestions to improve his MindMap.

    in reply to: Taking Back my old claim based on newfound awareness #37755
    Lal
    Keymaster

    My main points are:

    1. Each person (especially Ajahn himself) needs to see whether the experience described in that book you quote matches the description in the “Sāmañ­ña­phala Sutta (DN 2)“.
    – As the Sutta clearly describes, “One enters a jhana knowingly, and one stays in a jhana knowingly.” Each jhana is described with its unique experience.

    2. Even if it is a jhana, it is an anariya jhana reached via breath meditation, which is NOT the Anapana meditation that the Buddha described in the Anapanasati Sutta and many other suttas. That breath meditation was there even before the Buddha attained the Buddhahood. He learned it from two yogis in the early days before the Buddhahood and realized the futility of such anariya jhana.
    – Of course, most Theravadins have been INCORRECTLY teaching this breath meditation for many hundreds of years. It is not Ajahn’s fault. Until Waharaka Thero provided the correct interpretation within the past 20 years, that was the ONLY interpretation available.
    – I will write a few posts on the correct interpretation of the Anapanasati Sutta. We can discuss those posts.
    – I have written a few posts (in “Bhāvanā (Meditation)“), but it seems to me that a better approach is to just describe the Anapanasati Sutta (MN 118). We all can discuss it at that time.

    P.S. The tendency to translate suttas word-by-word is a key problem that we are facing today. Many deep suttas need to be explained in detail. See, “Sutta Interpretation – Uddēsa, Niddēsa, Paṭiniddēsa
    – Thus “assasa” and “passasa” are mistranslated as “breathing in and breathing out.” That is a mundane translation of those words.

    in reply to: Anagami stage of Nibbana #37748
    Lal
    Keymaster

    If I were not a tihetuka I would not be able to attain any magga phala. Now, no more questions about my magga phala or jhana! I have explained enough.

    It is difficult to determine whether one is a dvihetuka or a tihetuka, especially at the beginning.
    – Of course, no one can determine that for another person at any point.

    in reply to: Anagami stage of Nibbana #37746
    Lal
    Keymaster

    Yes. That is correct. I am not an Anagami yet. I don’t remember the thread where I discussed that in response to someone’s question.

    I see that most of your questions are about other people’s experiences. Time is better spent learning Dhamma concepts.

    in reply to: kusala mula PS leads not to rebirth #37740
    Lal
    Keymaster

    I forgot to point out another thing related to Tobias’ last comment above.

    He quoted from the Vibhanga:
    Tattha katamo adhimokkha paccayā bhavo?
    Ṭhapetvā adhimokkhaṁ, vedanākkhandho saññākkhandho saṅkhārakkhandho viññāṇakkhandho

    Bhava is ALWAYS defined that way, as the four “nama aggregates.” That is the same as “viññāṇa dhātu” where namagotta and kamma bija exist.
    – For example, also from the Vibhanga;
    Tattha katamo upādāna paccayā bhavo? Ṭhapetvā upādānaṁ, vedanākkhandho saññākkhandho saṅkhārakkhandho viññāṇakkhandho”.

    in reply to: Taking Back my old claim based on newfound awareness #37738
    Lal
    Keymaster

    Hello, Jorg.

    1. I think Ajahn is describing a kind of samadhi that he has cultivated.
    – There are only four jhana that the Buddha described. In Abhidhamma the second jhana is split into two, so the number becomes five. That is just a matter of details.
    – But there can be billions of samadhi. Therein lies the danger. Depending on what one is cultivating, one can get into different states of the mind. It seems to me that Ajahn has cultivated an “asañ­ña samadhi” where he does not perceive anything. But, of course, I would not know exactly what it is.
    – It is interesting to note that the experience of the lay disciple at the end of your comment seems to be also the same.
    – They could be cultivating some kind of “asañ­ña samadhi” which can be dangerous.
    P.S. It is only in nirodha samapatti (of an Arahant) that one becomes totally unaware of “this world”. That is NOT an “asañ­ña samadhi” because one gets into that samapatti by systematically going up the ladder of jhana, getting to the highest arupavacara state (Neva­saññā­nā­sañ­ñāyata­na) and then entering nirodha samapatti.

    2. One enters a jhana knowingly, and one stays in a jhana knowingly.
    – One can think very clearly in a jhana (even better in a samapatti). That is the advantage of a jhana.
    – If one knows what one is doing (and realizes the unfruitfulness of jhana in the end), a jhana provides the best environment for “insight meditation” (vipassana).

    3. The jhanic experience is described in great detail in the “Sāmañ­ña­phala Sutta (DN 2)
    – I am not sure how good that translation is. I have not read it, at least recently.
    – My explanation of the sutta is in the post, “Jhānic Experience in Detail – Sāmañ­ña­phala Sutta (DN 2)

    4. That sutta also provides a good background as well. In it, the Buddha describes to a King the benefits of the life of a bhikkhu (“The Fruits of the Ascetic Life” as the title of the English translation there correctly states).
    – In the first part of the sutta, is the important background of a person giving up the lay life and becoming a bhikkhu. As I have explained in the newest post, “Rāga and Jhāna – Two Commonly Misunderstood Words” it is impossible for a layperson to cultivate Ariya jhana, unless becoming an “Anagārika.”
    – The detailed description of the jhanic experience is toward the end of the sutta starting in section 4.3.2.5. Paṭhamajhāna (First Absorption)

    in reply to: kusala mula PS leads not to rebirth #37731
    Lal
    Keymaster

    I may not have discussed the difference between kamma bhava and uppatti bhava. It could have been mentioned in some posts, but I wanted to make sure.

    So, I have added #13 to the post, “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein

    13. All kammic energies accumulate in the kamma bhava. Just like any other energy, it will fade away with time, even though that will take billions of years. But, of course, new kammic energies are being accrued as old energies fade.

    – It is at the cuti-paṭisandhi moment (grasping a new bhava) that part of the kammic energy in kamma bhava becomes “uppatti bhava” leading to the new existence.
    – As a Noble Person moves up in magga phala, less kamma bhava (i.e., accumulated kammic energy) will be able to contribute to uppatti bhava. At the Arahant stage, there will be no uppatti bhava, since an Arahant will not have any more uppatti. Even though the kamma bhava for that Arahant will be still there, it will not become a uppatti bhava.

    in reply to: kusala mula PS leads not to rebirth #37727
    Lal
    Keymaster

    Tobias’ first comment:
    There is a big difference between kammma bhava and uppatti bhava.
    – Kamma bhava means kammic energies that have been accumulated over past lives. They DO NOT disappear even when one attains Arahanthod. However, energies in the kamma bhava fade away with time for everyone, just like any type of energy fades away.
    – When a “specific portion” of kamma bhava is grasped at the cuti-patisandhi moment, it becomes uppatti bhava.
    – An Arahant has kamma bhava, but no uppatti bhava since there is no upadana to grasp a kamma bhava.

    Tobias’ second comment:
    We need to be careful with “adhimokkha paccayā bhavo
    – As we discussed, it comes in Kusala-mula Paticca Samuppada.
    – But the same word is sometimes used in Akusala-mula PS based on patigha. In that PS, it can be stated as “tanha paccaya upadana, upadana paccaya bhava” OR “patigha paccaya adhimokkho, adhimokkha paccaya bhava.”
    – When someone becomes angry, it peaks quickly, and that is what is meant by “adhimokkha” there.
    – It is better to stick to the above explanation in response to the first comment. It is simpler and less complicated.

    in reply to: Experience of jhana #37724
    Lal
    Keymaster

    The new post of today provides more information on the subject:

    Rāga and Jhāna – Two Commonly Misunderstood Words

    in reply to: kusala mula PS leads not to rebirth #37717
    Lal
    Keymaster

    OK. I have revised #13 in “Kusala-Mula Paṭicca Samuppāda” as follows. Don’t hesitate to point out further possible revisions. I don’t read the whole post when I revise one.

    13. With adhimokkha as a condition, (Ariya) bhava arises. Note that an Ariya bhava arises via ELIMINATING a uppatti bhava. For example, one is “born” an Anāgāmi by eliminating the possibility of rebirths in the 11 realms of kāma loka.

    – The resulting existence (or “bhava”) matches that state of mind: “paṭi+ichcha sama uppāda”; one “lives” that experience. In the above example, an Anāgāmi does not have the mindset to be reborn in kāma loka.
    – If it is a rebirth at paṭisandhi, an appropriate “bhava” is selected according to the kamma nimitta. Here any “apāyagāmi” kamma seeds acquired in the distant past do not get a chance to come to the forefront, and thus a rebirth in the lower four realms is prevented.
    – Of course, at an Arahant’s death, the kusala-mula PS process stops (forever) without grasping a new bhava. 

    in reply to: Taking Back my old claim based on newfound awareness #37715
    Lal
    Keymaster

    1. Yes. Not many teachers truly understand details about jhanas. Of course, these details have been hidden for many centuries until Waharaka Thero made self-consistent explanations.
    – There are Ariya jhana (kama raga ELIMINATED) and anariya jhana (kama raga SUPPRESSED)
    – Then there are jhana and jhana samapatti.

    2. When in a jhana, jhana citta DO NOT run continuously. So, in effect one goes in and out of jhana. That is why one in a jhana can see, hear, etc.
    – But when in jhana samapatti, jhana citta run CONTINUOUSLY. Thus, one in jhana samapatti CAN NOT see, hear, etc.

    3. Jorg wrote: “also a story from the sutta when a monk got “cremated” in the forest, and was seen later in the village by the people who cremated him because they thought he was dead..”
    – That is an account of an Arahant who was in Nirodha Samapatti. That is a special case of a samapatti. One needs to get to the highest “arupavacara jhana” AND be an Arahant to get to nirodha samapatti.
    – The body of someone in nirodha samapatti can not be destroyed.

    4. Jorg wrote: “However, he teaches to get into jhanas via breath.”
    – That is unfortunate. Breath meditation can ONLY lead to anariya jhana.

    5. I suggest reading the new post that I just posted: “Rāga and Jhāna – Two Commonly Misunderstood Words
    – It has more details and links for further details.

    in reply to: kusala mula PS leads not to rebirth #37713
    Lal
    Keymaster

    I have revised the post “Kusala-Mula Paṭicca Samuppāda” to explain the difference between adhimokkha and upadana.
    – It is important to understand that difference, and it was not quite clear.
    – Thanks to Tobias for bringing it into focus.

    I have added #16 to that post: (It is a good idea to read the post referred to in #16)

    16. In the Akusala-mula PS that feeds the rebirth process, the critical step of “upādāna paccayā bhavō” leads to the creation of the kamma bhava (energy to feed future rebirths.) 

    – That upādāna forces the mind to act with avijjā repeatedly and to strengthen that kamma bhava.  That is explained in detail in “Difference Between Tanhā and Upādāna.”
    – In contrast, in the Kusala-mula PS, that step is replaced by “adhimokkha paccayā bhavō.” That bhava is an Ariya bhava (existence as a Noble Person) that makes any existing kamma bhava (created via Akusala-mula PS processes) ineffective.

    in reply to: kusala mula PS leads not to rebirth #37687
    Lal
    Keymaster

    Tobias asked: “What we don’t know: how is bhava defined in the last cycle with namarupa involved? It should not be kammabhava/upapattibhava, because the kamma is akaṇhaṃ asukkaṃ (neither dark nor bright).”

    It is correct that kamma in the kusala-mula PS is “is akaṇhaṃ asukkaṃ (neither dark nor bright)”
    – It does not create “kamma bhava” that can bring future vipaka. Such “kamma bhava” are created by “upadana paccaya bhava”.
    – In the Kusala-mula PS, it is “adhimokkha paccayā bhavo” That does not create kamma bhava or uppatti bhava.
    – That is what I was trying to explain (in different words) in my earlier comments. Please read those again. With Kusala-mula PS, one makes progress in the “Ariya bhava.”

    Tobias asked: “Is there a complete kusala mula PS in the literature, in a commentary in the Tipitaka?”
    – Not in detail like for the Akusala-mula PS. But we can deduce it. That is why it is not explained.
    P.S. I don’t think anyone in recent years has explained it until Waharaka Thero. That is why there is no English translation of it at Sutta Central They don’t even understand the 16-cycle analysis. In fact, I don’t think I have seen the Kusala-mula PS in any English text (even in the short form).

    in reply to: I Have Been working on Pure Buddha Dhamma MindMap. #37683
    Lal
    Keymaster

    Hi,

    My browser refused to display your link saying too many advertisements.

    Can you email me ([email protected]) the file so that I can insert it into your post?

    I am removing the link until then.

Viewing 15 posts - 1,951 through 1,965 (of 4,122 total)