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Theravada Buddhism was brought to Burma and Thailand from Sri Lanka in the first century CE. See, #17 of “Preservation of the Buddha Dhamma”
So. Yes. The Europeans found copies of the Tipitaka in several countries.
– But they also found Mahayana documents AND Vedic documents too, especially in India.They had no idea how to sort out all those things.
Furthermore, Buddhism had declined in all those countries. In fact, there was a revival of Buddhism AFTER the Europeans got interested.
– You should read the book “The Search of the Buddha” by Charles Allen (2003).
– That book is mentioned in #7 of the post, “Misinterpretation of Anicca and Anatta by Early European Scholars.”
– Those days, most Asian “scholars” went to universities in European countries to study Buddhism! It was European scholars in those universities (including Prof. and Mrs. Rhys Davids) who made the critical decisions on how to interpret verses in the Tipitaka!; see #11 of that post.By the way, I am working on your other question on Tirokuddha.
It turns out that I have a copy of the book that DanielSt referred to. I must have read it some years back. I just glanced through it.
In Part Three of the section “The Sammaditthi Dipanai,” there is a discussion on the concept of “attā.”
– I read through the first few pages of that section and it is quite clear that his teachings were very much influenced by the Europeans.
– At the beginning of the book there is a Biography of Ledi Sayadaw. Towards the end, it says, “In 1912 he was awarded a title by the British government.”The “conversion” of Buddhist concepts started much earlier than 1912.
– For example, I refer to a book by James D’Alwis, that detailed the “Tipitaka English” convention, published in 1870:
“Tipiṭaka English” Convention Adopted by Early European Scholars – Part 1“For me, this would require a lot of effort to understand how Ven, Sayadaw explained anicca and anatta. I simply do not have time to go through his teachings.
The new series of posts that I started recently is on this subject. It will take a while to go through this series, but you will be able to make a better comparison:
“Buddha Dhamma – Noble Truths, Paṭicca Samuppāda, Tilakkhana”More on Pali resources:
“It looks like for ariya jhana, the higher the jhana, the more things cease.”
– Actually, that holds true for anariya jhana as well.
– However, it is not possible to enter Nirodha Samapatti, i.e., the last step is not possible with anariya jhana. That is because defilements are only SUPPRESSED in anariya jhana, whereas an Arahant has eliminated all defilements.“We’ve also learned that Nirodha Samapatti can last a maximum of 7 days. From this I speculate that the physical body on its own can stay alive for 7 days without the Jīvitindriya cetasika?”
– That is correct. The physical body is kept alive by the jivindriya rupa, not the jivitindriya cetasika.“Is Abidhamma different from commentaries? ”
Yes. Abhidhamma is different from the Commentaries.
– Tipitaka means “three baskets”: Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka.Yes. Patisambhidamagga, Petakopadesa, and Nettippakarana are the 3 original commentaries.
“What about Milindapanha , since it is in the Khuddaka Nikaya too?”
– Milindapanha is not a Commentary. It has recorded conversations between an Arahant (Nagesena) and a Greek King (Milinda) who controlled a part of India at that time (a descendant of Alexander the Great). He was a Buddhist and asked a good set of questions.More historical information at:
“Historical Background“To get into “Saññāvedayitanirodha” or “Nirodha Samapatti” one needs to go sequentially through all the jhana. By the way, these MUST be Ariya jhana, since only someone at the Arahant stage can get into it. It is basically experiencing “full Nibbana” during a lifetime.
In the English translation above, it would be better to say: “vaci sankhara cease first, then kaya sankhara, and finally mano sankhara cease.”
– Therefore, no citta can arise in Nirodha Samapatti.
– I think vaci sankhara cease in the second or third jhana. Kaya sankhara cease in the fourth jhana. All sankhara cease to exist with the ceasing of mano sankhara (with vedana and sanna) when entering Nirodha Samapatti at the highest jhana (nevasanna na sannayatana)When getting into that Samapatti, the Arahant would determine the duration of the Samapatti.
At the end of that time interval, the 3 types of sankhara arise in the reverse order.
– So, the translation would be, “mano sankhara arise first, then kaya sankhara, and finally vaci sankhara arise.”Yes. Mano sankhara arise automatically and are defiled to some extent for anyone below the Arahant stage.
– This is why mano sankhara cannot give rise to rebirth, i.e., mano sankhara cannot create “kammapatha” or “strong kamma.”Hello Daniel,
This is a finer technical point.
In principle, all indriya of anyone below the Arahant stage work as “ayatana” from the very beginning.
– In the “seeing event” that you described, the cakkhudvara citta vithi starts with “cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjāti cakkhuviññāṇaṃ.” That citta is one of 17 cittas in that citta vithi.
– However, each citta has vedana and sanna as 2 of the 7 universal cetasika.
– Anyone below the Arahant stage is not likely to have the “correct perception (sanna)”, i.e., any citta WILL NOT be a Pure citta or a pabhassara citta. But an arahant’s citta will not be contaminated.Therefore, even if one may not take an unwise action based on that arammana, it is still a defiled perception in a technical sense.
– But your point is taken. We don’t act unwisely all the time.Lang wrote: “Lal would know what karmasthanas means, but I am guessing that it is Kammathana in Pali, meaning object of meditation, if I’m not mistaken.”
Yes. “karmasthana” is the Sinhala word for Kammathana.
Hello Daniel,
“The last one is a Mind-Door-Process only?”
Yes. The third type is a Mind-Door-Process. It is recalling a memory or namagotta.
“Could an arupa brahma memorise and visualize things or remember sounds of music once heard?”
Yes. All past memories are in the vinnana plane (or vinnana dhatu). Recalling memories requires only the hadaya vatthu. No pasada rupa needed.
– It is not really a “seeing event”, “hearing event”, etc.When we discuss the six internal sensory faculties (cakkhu, through mano), they are INDRIYA when no “san” (lobha, dosa, moha) involved. That involves only “phassa.”
– When sensory faculties are used with a defiled mind, they become AYATANA. That involves “samphassa” or “san” + “phassa.” That rhymes as “samphassa.”See, “How Do Sense Faculties Become Internal Āyatana?”
That is the easiest way to remember. But INDRIYA can be many types in other contexts.
Regarding the Vipaka PS:
chaṭṭhāyatana is the sixth ayatana or manayatana.“This blood-dependency is in contradiction to the Gandhabba idea, I think.
I think it is due to commentary?”Gandhabba (at the moment of patisandhi) is just a few suddhatthaka. How can it have blood?
It is hard to even imagine how “small” a suddhatthaka is.
– The smallest micro-organism can be seen with a microscope.
– Such a micro-organism would have uncountable billions of suddhatthaka.
– A suddhatthaka can be seen only by a Buddha.So, definitely, there is no blood in a gandhabba!
