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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.There are many “self-claimed Arahants” in Sri Lanka.
That is all I can say. Others are welcome to comment, but it is not our position to deny claims by others.
– However, one problem with the above account is that it is not possible to attain Arahanthood and remain a “householder” for more than 7 days, as we have discussed in this forum.“Mr. Goenka teaches the students to practice samphassa-ja-vedana in ones daily activities.”
I don’t think that statement is true based on accounts that I have personally heard from friends who attended those sessions.
– I don’t think those instructors even know the phrase “samphassa-ja-vedana.”I am not saying that going to those sessions is bad. It may serve the purpose of temporary relief from daily stresses. I have a friend who, several months after a session, says it is time to go back to “get that same experience.”
– Of course, I don’t even discuss this subject with my friend. I just listen to what he has to say.Different people teach Dhamma differently and at various levels. Also, different people understand Dhamma at different levels. That is how it has been always.
– This is all I am going to say for now on this topic.
