Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello Brett,
The key point is with this part of your comment: “Nibbana is pure mind beyond matter.”
Upon attaining Arahanthood, that Arahant’s mind becomes pure. That is called the “saupadisesa Nibbana” or “Nibbana with residue.” That is because the Arahant still lives with that physical body and hadaya vatthu.
– However, at the moment of the death of the physical body, the “mental body” (gandhabba) with the hadaya vatthu comes out of that dead body and dies too. Normally, when a hadaya vatthu associated with a given bhava (existence) dies, a new hadaya vatthu is created by kammic energy, if there is any anusaya left.
– Since the Arahant has no “defiled gati” or anusaya left, a new hadaya vatthu will not be created in this case. Therefore, that lifestream ends, and that is Nibbana! It is called “anupadisesa Nibbaba” or “Nibbaba without any residue.”The key point here is that hadaya vatthu is not eternal. When a lifestream switches from one existence (say human existence) to another existence (say, Deva or animal), a new hadaya vatthu matching that new existence will arise due to corresponding kammic energy.
Brett wrote: “According to some traditions, the highest one can aspire to is to become a Boddhisattva which implies renouncing Nirvana until all sentient beings have been saved.”
Yes. That is a problem with the Mahayana version. The link provided by Tobias above addresses that question. Thank you, Tobias.
Brett asked: “The other questions relate to “matter” creation by the mind. I can see how we create our world within the existing one but how about the universe itself, planets, stars, etc. these must be created by higher minds then? So what is your view on how the universe(s) come and go?
That is a good question. It has been asked in different forms at this forum.
– You may want to read the post, “Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27)” first.
– Then there is a long discussion at, “Post on “Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27)”Brett asked: “And if the mind creates matter (suddhatakka) but the mind itself is matter (Hadaya Vathu), even if Gatis, which are also of the mind, bring about dhamma, then logically it is consciousness itself that creates matter…?”
– Yes. It is a cyclical process. That is why it never ends until attaining Arahanthood (Nibbana.)
Of course, the process ends only for that lifestream. Since there are infinite beings, the process itself will continue.Brett has asked a question in response to a comment by me above on January 28, 2020, at 2:08 pm.
The question is as follows:
****
Following is taken from your posts:The mind does not exist just by itself. There must be at least a trace of matter for the mind to exist.
7. Thus to attain Nibbāna is to attain the perfectly purified mind, which refuses to be burden with a physical body that leads to decay and rebirth repeatedly (and thus to dukkha).
8. In the 31 realms, one is born with a dense body (kāma loka), fine-material body (rūpa loka), or only a trace of “matter” in the form of “gati” (arūpa loka). When the mind becomes free of a “body” anywhere in the 31 realms, that is Nibbāna. This is another way to understand Nibbāna
if the mind requires matter to be then what exactly is pure mind?? just Hadaya Vathu?
****Hadaya vatthu is NOT the mind. It is the “seat of the mind.”
A mind is not “ON” at all times. Only when a sensory input comes in via one of the six sensory inputs does the mind “turns on.”
So, it is a bit deeper issue of what is meant by a “pure mind.”
– A given lifestream has ever-changing “gati” (related to “anusaya” or hidden defilements) associated with it.
– When the Noble Eightfold Path is followed, those anusaya gradually fade away. At Arahanthood, there will be none left.
– That is when the mind becomes “totally pure.”
– In other words, when a sensory input comes into such a pure mind, it will not respond by defiled actions.You can read posts on “gati” and ‘anusaya” by searching with the “Search” box on the top right.
– Please feel free to ask questions. It is a good question.“Can a person access the nāmagotta of someone else? For example, see the past lives of another person or even see past events of another’s current life?”
– Yes. Those with paracittavijānana ñāṇa have access to other people’s nāmagotta. For example, Buddha Gotama (our Buddha) was able to describe the life stories of many previous Buddhas.“What happens to the nāmagotta of an arahant after parinibbāna?”
– They remain in the “vinnana plane” forever. Those are just records.
– That is why Buddha Gotama was able to read the nāmagotta of previous Buddhas.Yes. But as I mentioned, the donor’s heart would have been influenced by his gati (character/habits).
– So, even after the donor is dead, some of his “old habits” could stay with his heart (through DNA).Now, when that heart is transplanted into the recipient’s body, that heart COULD influence the recipient’s gati.
That is essentially what happens when a baby acquires SOME of the mother’s gati and SOME of the father’s gati since the baby’s DNA is influenced by both.
– However, the influence in the case of heart donors would be WEAKER.I am not sure what you mean by, “Since Gandhabba does, according to your post, incarnate in clones, then it will incarnate in a technologically enhanced human clone.”
– Do you mean a gandhabba can merge with a BIOLOGICAL clone, prepared with DNA from two people”? Then the answer is YES. That is being done today, as I mentioned in my posts.
– However, if you are talking about a MECHANICAL robot, that can NEVER happen. For example, some people like Ray Kurzweil are predicting that “human consciousness can be downloaded to a machine”. That is NOT possible according to Buddha Dhamma.
– We just have to wait and see whether Kurzweil is right or Buddha Dhamma right.Brett asked: “isn’t it at least possible that a Gandhabba would want to “incarnate” in an advanced robot?”
No. That is not possible at all.
Gandhabba cannot “merge” with an inert machine.
A gandhabba can merge ONLY with a matching biological entity called a zygote.
– But it is possible to make a zygote outside a womb by using artificial insemination.See, “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception” and “Cloning and Gandhabba“
Hello Brett,
Yes. I have read those accounts too.
However, “hadaya vatthu” is not the same as the hadaya or heart.
The heart is part of the physical body. Hadaya vatthu is part of the mental body (gandhabba).
– While the mental body is staying with the physical body, hadaya vatthu OVERLAPS the heart.However, sometimes the mental body separates from the physical body even while the person is living, as in the cases of Near-Death Experiences (NDE).
– In such cases, hadaya vatthu comes out of the physical body, as part of the gandhabba.Still, the mental body and the physical body can affect each other to some extent. The anecdotal evidence of some such effects is what you mentioned.
Yes. A somewhat better way to say that is as follows:
It is possible for attachment to worldly things to happen (taṇhā) as long as the dangers of attaching to worldly things are not comprehended.
– That understanding grows as paññā grows.
– Thus, the tendency to attach to worldly things starts to fade away at the Sotapanna Anugami stage.No. An Arahant does not generate tanha but generates mano sankhara.
A discussed in the recent post, “Saṅkhāra – Should Not be Translated as a Single Word” (see #3), any citta had mano sankhara (vedana and sanna).
– An Arahant generates mano sankhara but does not have tanha.Khanti is to get to some kind of “relaxation” or “calming down.”
– When one sees how the samsaric suffering arises via Anuloma (forward) Paticca Samuppada process, one gets to Anuloma Khanti.
– That is a “cooling down” reached when one gets close to Nibbana by realizing the perils of cultivating sankhara “in hopes of enjoying worldly pleasures.”When one also realizes that such suffering can be overcome by the Patiloma (backward) Paticca Samuppada process, one can see how that “cooling down” can be attained. That basically completes the two requirements to start pursuing the Noble Path.
– “Sammattaniyāma” may come from “sammā” + “atta” + “niyama” where sammā is to “remove san“, “atta” is “refuge”/”ultimate truth”, and “niyama” is a “law” or “principle.”Yes. That is the full niddesa version.
– Thank you for pointing that out, Lang!It is also important to note that the Akusala-mula PS process starts when the mind attaches to an arammana. That is discussed in detail in the post:
“Difference Between Tanhā and Upādāna“Hello CeruleanArc! Good observations.
First, let me point out the main difference between the foundational aspects of Buddha Dhamma and modern science.
– Modern science is based on physics, and physics is based on material phenomena. Mental aspects are EXPECTED TO arise out of physical phenomena. Therefore, anything outside of that framework, the scientists label “metaphysics.”
– Buddha Dhamma is based on the mind. Physical things also arise out of mental phenomena. This aspect ALSO comes out of Paticca Samuppada. I have not presented this analysis yet. Understanding that requires a good understanding of Paticca Samuppada (and Abhidhamma.)With that in mind, we can look at your first observation: “Why don’t we remember our past lives?” Since some people do, and we’ve provided that as evidence for past lives being real, we now need to explain why only a few people have these memories. It’s simple. Because the spiritual component of a human being is the only thing that passes from one life to the next, then it must store memory. But because of the material limitations of the human brain, without some spiritual mechanism to allow the brain to access this information, the brain can only access memory stored in the brain..”
– In the above framework of modern science, there is nothing outside of the brain that can retain memories. So, when the brain dies, ALL memories are lost. It is not possible to even think about past lives, because there is no basis for future life to arise DUE TO the current life!
– This is why such phenomena as memories of past lives are not even seriously considered by scientists. They put all such phenomena into the category of “metaphysics” and don’t even try to address them. For them, that would be an impossibility based on the assumptions built into modern science as I outlined above.Now, to the second part of your comment: “Anyway, I wrote all this because I find it particularly egregious when laypeople say, “It’s only a theory,” as if that was a gotcha for science. It really isn’t. Science has two names for “things that we are currently 99.99% sure that we know about the world.” The two names are laws and theories…”
– The difference between scientific LAWS and THEORIES is not clear-cut.
– Even those “laws” tend to be watered down to “theories” with new discoveries of deeper aspects. For example, we had “Newton’s laws of gravitation” for a long while, where gravity was treated as a force. But with Einstein’s theory of general relativity, gravity is a feature of “spacetime.”
– On the other hand, the laws of Buddha Dhamma are UNIVERSAL. Those laws (based on Paticca Samuppada) are effective whether a Buddha discovers them or not. A Buddha only discovers those nature’s laws. Those are not the laws of the Buddha!Finally, you write: “EDIT: To clarify, both scientific laws and scientific theories are subject to change if disproven by an exception that “breaks the rules.” That’s the wonderful thing about science. .”
– Yes. Within the framework of modern science that is true. But science can make only so much progress because the framework is LIMITED TO material phenomena. There is no way to accommodate mental phenomena.
– For example, there are several scientific THEORIES on how consciousness may arise from inert matter. But none has been successful. It is an impossible task!
