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“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!
No. Offhand, I don’t have a Tipitaka reference for that.
A reference may be there for this particular case. But we should not expect to find a reference to each and every incident. There are some things that can be deduced logically.
That section of the video requires a detailed explanation of why the underlying thought process of that bhikkhu was good, but cuti-patisandhi does not really happen (or can be stopped) just according to one’s wishes.
– I will try to explain this again in a new series of posts starting with the next post. Everything happens via Paticca Samuppada. There is no “self” directing one’s own wishes at EVERY MOMENT. However, one can make decisions when one is generating vaci sankhara CONSCIOUSLY. This is a finer point that needs to be grasped.
– Cuti-patisandhi happens in a citta vithi that takes place in a billionth of a second. There is no time to consciously decide. It happens according to one’s gati. For example, a Sotapanna would not have “apayagami gati” and thus his mind will AUTOMATICALLY reject a transition to a bhava in the lowest four realms.That bhikkhu was just recalling memories. If he was close to the cuti-patisandhi moment, his kammic energy for the human bhava would have been exhausted, and he would have made a transition to the next bhava. It is not a conscious decision to reject a transition to the next bhava.
That is why the following statement does not make sense:
” However, Lal says that this cuti-patisandhi transition does not occur at every death, only at the end of a bhava (so it could also happen days after the death of a body, in the Gandhabba, I assume) Is it to be assumed that we all, when we die in this life, will experience these flashes but we might not necessarily grasp for anything, such that our bhava will just continue (in the same way as someone who just has an NDE but “decides” to return back to his life)?”
– One needs to understand the difference between the death of the physical body and the cuti-patisandhi moment that happens at the end of the human bhava.
“Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein““You said, their body shields the hadaya vatthu. How dense must their body be then? If it would be a few rupa only, would that be enough to shield?”
We cannot think about “shielding” in terms of our perceptions.
– The human body “shields” the gandhabba (hadaya vatthu plus pasada rupa) inside.
– The human body is not concrete or steel.
– We have no idea how kamma works. Only a Buddha would know.See, “Brain – Interface between Mind and Body” and “Clarification of “Mental Body” and “Physical Body” – Different Types of ‘Kāya’“
Any living being is born with an “ekaja kaya” and it has hadaya vatthu.
An asanna being also has an ekaja kaya, but it is fully shielded by its physical boy. That “body” does not have the ability to interact with the external world at all.
– It is very similar to an arupavacara Brahma, except that an arupavacara Brahma’s hadaya vatthu is not shielded and it can directly interact with “dhammā” and generate thoughts.There is a difference between bhavanga and bhavanga citta. See, “Bhava and Bhavanga – Simply Explained!”
Since you can understand Sinhala, you may want to listen to the following discourse by Wahraka Thero:
“ධර්ම දේශනා 1”In particular, listen to the segment starting at 1:16:00 hours. But it is best to listen to the whole discourse.
I see your reference in Bhikkhu Bodhi’s book. As I said before, there are several contradictions in that book, even though mostly correct.
P.S.
The difference between plants and living beings is that plants only have jivitindriya and no hadaya vatthu. Thus its life is sustained by kammic energy, but it cannot generate citta.
– But even in an asanna-being bhavanga is active the whole time. The “bhavanga state” has nothing to do with citta (thoughts). Therefore, an asanna-being is not aware of anything.I listened to part of it some days back. Here is what I remember.
He is a practicing medical doctor (physician). He seems to have a fairly good understanding of many Dhamma concepts.
The interviewer was knowledgeable too. He did raise the question of whether a householder can remain alive 7 days after attaining Arahanthood. That question was not directly answered. He kind of implied that the interviewer is not as knowledgeable as him!
– That seemed to be the pattern during the interview. Some questions did not get satisfactory answers.
