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Hi,
In Buddhism, it is rebirth, not reincarnation. There is a difference but it is not critical for someone starting to learn Buddhism.
Things of this type cannot have absolute “proof” but there is evidence to support rebirth:
“Evidence for Rebirth”Regarding my comment above, see, “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream”
Please feel free to ask questions on any of these posts. It would be easier if you refer to the post particular bullet number in question (unless it is a general question).
Yes. This is a question that comes up a lot these days.
The Buddha allowed one to declare attainment of magga phala in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta.
However, he also noted that there are 4 types of people who declare such attainments:
1. Those who genuinely have them.
2. Those who think they have attained magga phala and thus unknowingly declare as having them.
3. Those who declare so because they have mental problems.
4. Those who do that for their personal benefit.It is only those in category 4 that commit a bad kamma. If an upasampada bhikkhu does that he would have committed a parajika deed. Thus, even if he keeps on wearing a yellow robe, he would not be a bhikkhu. It would be a serious issue.
But the Buddha never officially expelled any bhikkhu due to such deeds. Even though Devadatta committed worse deeds (including an anantariya kamma), he did not expel Devdatta from the order of the bhikkhus officially.
Furthermore, the issue of “delivering wrong Dhamma” was even there at the time of the Buddha. One time he was told by Bhikkhuni Pajapati Gotami that there are bhikkhus who deliver the wrong Dhamma.
– The Buddha said people should listen to all types of Dhamma and decide which versions to reject.It is easy to discern who is delivering the wrong Dhamma. My main assessments are:
– Labeling Anapanasati as “breath meditation.”
– Interpreting anicca as “impermanence” and anatta as “no-self.”I have listened to the bhikkhu in question and just suffice to say that he is delivering the wrong Dhamma in some cases.
– I listen to various types of discourses just to get an idea.Aniduan wrote: “I try to think of Anatta in terms of Anartha which is a word in several Indian languages which means No-Artha(No-Meaning) i.e. futile, useless. It makes it easy for me to understand as I have sanna of that Hindi word. Also, when someone says “Anarth ho gaya” in Hindi it means a disaster has happened. The samsaric process is basically a Anartha (disaster). For me it’s just another way of understanding the Trilakshna.”
Yes. That is fine. Anatta has several related meanings. “Useless” (engaging/bonding with this world) is one of the meanings. This is what I mean by “fruitless” in several of my posts.
Raj asked: “Are there more talks on other subjects or it is just these five talks recorded so far?”
Those are the only talks specifically on Tilakkhana.
– There are several others in the section on, “Living Dhamma” highlighted in blue.Raj wrote: “I just want to clarify and hope that I have correctly understood it now.
Anicca means we act in a certain way to achieve a certain result based on our desires/iccha, but the law of nature is such that our desires are not satisfied and don’t produce our expected results (especially if we act out of ignorance) which results in the experience of Dukkha or dissatisfaction (ranging from minor irritation to severe suffering, in this life or in future lives) and Anatta means we have no control over this phenomenon. Anatta is our helplessness in our inability to stop our wanderings in the 31 realms, and anatta also means the whole process is
useless or not worth our effort and in the Buddha’s teachings, the term Anatta has nothing to do with nonself.”That is great, Raj. You have the correct ideas.
– Keep on listening to that set of audios.
– Also read the posts in the new series: “Basic Framework of Buddha Dhamma”Those two activities will help solidify your understanding.
I took a quick look at the sutta.
Here is the relevant verse:
” bimbisāro ahaṁ, bhagavā; bimbisāro ahaṁ, sugatāti. Idaṁ sattamaṁ kho ahaṁ, bhante, vessavaṇassa mahārājassa sahabyataṁ upapajjāmi, so tato cuto manussarājā bhavituṁ pahomi. Variant: manussarājā bhavituṁ pahomi so ito cuto manussesu rājā bhavituṁ pahomi”I would translate that as:
“I am Bimbisara, Bhagavā; I am Bimbisara. I will be born 7 times in the company of the Great King Vessavaṇa where I am now. After passing away from here, I will be able to become a king of humans 7 times.”So, it seems to me that he had not even gone through the 7 births in the Deva realm at the time he stated that.
– He expects to attain the Sakadagami stage during one of those 14 lives.He is referring to the lives he had AFTER he died as King Bimbisara.
– He is just stating that to the Buddha, to let him know that he is a Sotapanna in a lower Deva realm (which could have many jatis within that Deva bhava) and hopes to attain the next stage of Nibbana, Sakadagami phala, soon.I don’t know about other people’s translations. You need to ask him.
– Bhikkhu Sujato has done so many bad translations. Of course, translating anicca as impermanence and anatta as “no-self” are the worst.
– Another is the translation of bhikkhu as “mendicant” or “begger”. That is very bad too!I have explained the difference between births (jati) and existences (bhava):
“Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein”Bimbisara had 14 births (jati), NOT 14 bhava.
– A Sotapanna can have at most 7 BHAVA before attaining Arahanthood.Yes. You are correct Lang. They are both niyata micchā diṭṭhi.
It is too bad that many people don’t seem to be able to understand these critical issues.
This is why I have tried to explain this in several different ways.
– At least you and several other people seem to be able to understand the importance of these issues.This is why I also revised an old relevant post and posted it today:
“Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga – A Focused Analysis“Thank you for your input, Flower.
Yes. I don’t see how this legislation, even if passed, can affect the puredhamma.net website or any other website, let alone me personally.
It could affect bhikkhus and lay people who live in Sri Lanka. They could be subjected to various types of harassment.
– Let us see how the revised version reads. Hopefully, they will stop this nonsense altogether.
– As the Buddha admonished, mishandling Dhamma can be dangerous. I hope that there are enough sensible people within the government to stop the legislation at the proposal stage.Raj wrote: “it is inconceivable that the rupakkhanda has all the rupa that it has ever experienced (considering the countless lives one has taken in samsara) and very scary that there is every possibility of one being very pure at one stage and being completely polluted at some stage..”
Yes. Rupakkhandha includes RECORDS OF all past rupa. The same is true for vedanakkhandha, sannakkhandha, etc. But we don’t remember the five aggregates separately. A given past event has all five aggregates associated with it and we MAY remember them together (or some parts of them).
– But that does not mean we remember all that. Most people don’t even remember many things that happened even a few days ago.
– But some of those events mold our character/habits. That is how our character (gati) evolves over time. Of course, over long times our character can change back and forth many times (good to bad and vice versa).Just try to get the basic idea. The current series of posts are important:
“Basic Framework of Buddha Dhamma“1) Is Dharmayai Obai run by Ven. Waharaka Thero’s students?
– Yes.2) If this law gets passed are there going to be any problems for Dharmayai Obai?
– As I understand the Bill is under revision. We need to wait to see the revisions.3) Are there any other monasteries associated with Ven. Waharaka Thero?
– Yes.4) What are the names of monasteries that are trying to pass the bill?
– Many. Before Waharaka Thero, virtually all monasteries followed the “wrong interpretations”. They were just passing down the same distorted teachings that have come down for many centuries dating back to Buddhaghosa and even before that. One needs to spend some time to get a good idea of the degradation of Buddha’s teachings over many centuries: “Historical Background“As I understand, the idea came from a group of “traditional bhikkhus” who are losing their audience due to the increasing popularity of Waharaka interpretations. They are the established bhikkhus with name recognition and thus the politicians are afraid of them.
Sutta Central actually has objected to the proposed legislation. Even they can see the dangers of such actions by governments.
Daniel asked: “That means, he is speaking about lifetime of jati of physical body, right? The human bhava can be longer.”
– Yes. The lifetime of the physical body can be very different from time to time. It depends on the environment. It does not decline over time either. Instead, there are “waves” with lifetimes going up and down with time.
– I think one of those suttas says that the current lifetime of about 100 years will decline to 10 years and go back up to many hundreds of years before the next Buddha (Buddha Maitreya) is born.
– Yes. the lifetime at the time of Gotama Buddha was about the same as now. It may take millions of years to see any significant change.
– On the other hand, the duration of the human bhava depends only on kammic energy.After thinking about it, I think it may be a good idea to have a separate post on five hindrances within the new series of posts on “Basic Framework of Buddha Dhamma”
But the main point is that “thina middha” is a hindrance.
– On the other hand, thina and middha are TWO SEPARATE cetasika (mental factors).
– When they appear TOGETHER, that is a hindrance to comprehending Dhamma.The same is true for uddhacca kukkucca.
I have revised the post, “Key to Calming the Mind – The Five Hindrances” but will provide more details in upcoming posts.
Cubibobi and Daniel are quite right.
Gandhabba has a set of suddhatthaka, “smallest amounts of matter” in Buddha Dhamma.
– That is what cubibobi (Lang) referred to as “Rūpa as things made up of the 4 great elements can be considered “material”.Gandhabba is also a living being, specifically human.
– So, it has a rupakkhandha that includes all past rupa that it has ever experienced in the rebirth process. It also has expectations of experiencing certain rupa in the future, and those are also included in rupakkhandha. At a given moment, it may be experiencing some rupa, and those are also included. That is why rupakkhandha includes all past, future, and present rupa.
– The post that Lang (cubibobi) referred to above explains all this. But if one does not make an effort to read, and think and spend some time on this critical issue, one may miss out on other concepts that REQUIRE this clarification.Same clarification applies to vedanakkhandha, sannakkhandha, sankharakkhandha, and vinnanakkhandha. See, “The Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha)”
Of course, we cannot recall ALL that is in the five aggregates (rupakkhandha, vedanakkhandha, sannakkhandha, sankharakkhandha, and vinnanakkhandha).
– Most people cannot recall some events that happened even yesterday. But they may recall significant events that happened years ago, etc.
– Some children can recall some events in their previous life with a human body.
– Some yogis with abhinna powers may be able to recall several or even many past lives.
– A Buddha can recall anything in the past, not only in his lifestream but anyone else’s.P.S. just to emphasize: A memory has not only an imprint of that previous rupa but associated mental aggregates. When we recall a happy event in the past, for example, we recall those who were there AND also the kind of joy experienced.
– Same applies when recalling a song, a meal, etc. experienced in the past.
