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Paul:
Breath meditation may provide temporary relaxation, but that is not what Buddha Dhamma is about.– That is a deeper aspect that cannot be understood if one does not believe in the rebirth process.
Thank you both!
I have added that explanation to #1 on the post, “Akusala-Mūla Upapatti Paṭicca Samuppāda“
“I wonder if we can think along the same way here: there is no “san” in indriya, but “san” is involved in ayatana.”
– Almost right! A little bit better to say: “there is no “san” involved when using sensory faculties as indriya, but “san” is involved when they are used as ayatana.”
“However, if this is the case, then I remember reading about nibbana some time ago, in a post where nibbana was referred to as tadayatana. I wonder why ayatana was used there in the context of nibbana; “tadayatana” sounds like a contradiction in terms.
– The post you refer to is: “Nibbāna “Exists”, but Not in This World”
– The word “āyatana” is used there for the lack of a term to describe Nibbana. None of our words are applicable and “sphere” or “dimension” may be the closest that we can use. It has nothing to do with the 6 six sense faculties. I have revised the #4 of that post to make it a bit more clear.“Aṭṭī” means bones. Aṭṭīyati means for a person to consider mind-leasing things as useless as a dog wasting time chewing on a bone.
In the plural, it is “aṭṭīyeyyātha”:
Devaloka Sutta“Aṭṭīyāmi” is “I consider ..”:
Vijayā SuttaI don’t remember offhand the details, but the categorization “ekavokārabhavo, catuvokārabhavo, pañcavokārabhavo” is another way to describe 31 realms.
Kammic energy (which can remain for long times) is “deposited” as “kamma bhava.” That is the common name.
– They are created via all possible types of saṅkhāra: “Tattha katamo kammabhavo? Puññābhisaṅkhāro, apuññābhisaṅkhāro, āneñjābhisaṅkhāro.”
– This is explained in “Idappaccayātā Paṭicca Samuppāda”However, “strong kammic energies” (created within the above 3 categories of saṅkhāra) that can fuel future rebirths fall under “upapatti bhava” as the name implies.
– Those are associated with the corresponding “plane of existence”: “Tattha katamo upapattibhavo? Kāmabhavo, rūpabhavo, arūpabhavo, saññābhavo, asaññābhavo, nevasaññānāsaññābhavo, ekavokārabhavo, catuvokārabhavo, pañcavokārabhavo— ayaṁ vuccati “upapattibhavo”.
– This is “Akusala-Mūla Upapatti Paṭicca Samuppāda”Of course, neither type of kamma bhava can play a role after one attains Arahanthood via, “Kusala-Mula Paṭicca Samuppāda”
– Those kammic energies would still be there. But an Arahant would not have “upadana” for them.Yes. Waharaka Thero has explained it the following way:
A householder or a layperson cannot bear “the Arahanthood.” One must become a bhikkhu and wear the yellow robe within 7 days of attaining Arahanthood.
– The following is an analogy: A heated heater coil will be fine as long as it is submerged in water. If that heater coil is taken out of the water, it will burn.
jhāna does not necessarily mean transcending the kāma loka and attaining “jhānic states” as commonly interpreted these days.
“Jhāna” means to “cleanse one’s defilements (especially kāma raga“) by making an effort, especially via Anapanasati and Satipatthana Bhavana.
– When one does that panna grows and one may also attain “jhānic states.”This verse basically says that one needs to cultivate both jhāna and panna. The latter, of course, via learning true Dhamma. In fact, they grow together.
One can get a better idea of the meaning of the verse by looking at other verses in the sequence:
“Dhammapada Verses 368 to 376“1 user thanked author for this post.
OK, Tiom. I am glad that you are able to attain jhanas.
– Of course, the jhanic experience is the same whether it is an Ariya jhana (with kama raga removed) and for anariya jhana (with kama raga suppressed).Since you get to jhanas via breath meditation, these are definitely anariya jhana.
– But it is good to be able to get to any jhana.The only thing I can say is that anariya jhanas do not get one to Nibbana (end of the rebirth process). But it is possible that you may not be interested in attaining Nibbana.
Tobias, I do not have time to spend answering non-essential questions. There are many “interesting” questions/issues that a lot of people waste time on.
– As the Buddha explained to venerable Mālunkyāputta in the “The Shorter Discourse to Mālunkyāputta (MN 63)” Buddha Dhamma is not about investigating “interesting worldly things.” It is about ending the samsaric suffering.
– Besides, I have given the relevant answer, even though it may not be the direct answer that you are looking for.I think it would be more beneficial to focus on the issue of pancakkhandha.
– Rupa is different from rupakkhandha. Rupakkhandha consists of MENTAL impressions of rupa. It is essential to understand that. I have given the references. Please go through them and ask questions from there if not clear.
– What you quoted, “Tattha katamaṁ rūpaṁ? Cattāro mahābhūtā, catunnañca mahābhūtānaṁ upādāyarūpaṁ— idaṁ vuccati “rūpaṁ” is about rupa. But rupakkhandha has mental impressions of rupa.You wrote: “When one builds vinnana for a future activity that will be stored in pancakkandha or namarupa (as mind-made image).”
– That is not quite correct. Pancakkhada are MOSTLY records of past rupa experienced together with accompanying mental aggregates (“present rupa” and “future rupa” are also included in rupakkhandha). For example, say I saw a nice car yesterday. That event has an image of a rupa associated with it (image of the car). In addition, there were vedana, sanna, sankhara, and vinnana associated with that event. They all got added to pancakkhandha.
– Namarupa are mental images that come to one’s mind WHILE one is engaged with an arammana in the idappaccayātā PS. Again, read the post “Viññāna Paccayā Nāmarūpa“. I have revised most of it to make it a bit more clear. Please let me know if it is not clear. Maybe I need to write two posts to discuss the two types of PS.
– In the upapatti PS, namarupa is the “seed” formed by the merging of the gandhabba with the zygote in the womb. I realized that those old posts need to be re-written with further explanations. These are a bit hard to grasp because different types of namarupa come into play in different cases.I am not sure what the last part of your comment is about. It seems to be connected to the previous part. May be you can re-phrase the question after resolving the rupa/rupakkhandha and namarupa issues.
Per my above post:
I am revising the post, “Viññāna Paccayā Nāmarūpa”
– Hopefully, I will be able to finalize the revision later today.” What is the PS for “getting a glass of water from the kitchen”?”
That is the wrong way to look at the issue.
– We get thirsty, hungry, injured, etc., all because we are born with this physical body that CAN BE subjected all such sufferings.
– Those are the (cumulative) results of the previous kamma per akusala-mula PS.
– This is why I always refer to “removal of FUTURE suffering.” We can learn how physical bodies like ours arise due to akusala-mula PS AND how that can be stopped via kusala-mula PS.“What is namarupa?”
See, “Viññāna Paccayā Nāmarūpa”
“Is there a difference between namarupa and dhamma and pancakkandha?”
Yes. Huge differences. But they are all related too, especially the first two. Again, you need to read the relevant posts. Those cannot be described in a single post:
– If there are specific questions from a given post, I can try to explain.
– It may be a good idea to read the first few posts in “The Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha)” to understand pancakkhandha.Yes. It is necessary to clearly understand these fundamental concepts.
You asked: “Now also “kāyasaṅkhāro, vacīsaṅkhāro, cittasaṅkhāro” are mentioned. That is explained as “kāyasañcetanā kāyasaṅkhāro, vacīsañcetanā vacīsaṅkhāro, manosañcetanā cittasaṅkhāro”. What is that in real life? It seems it is every action that is not abhisankhara. It could be e.g. “getting a glass of water from the kitchen”. I have not seen a PS for such daily activities.”
1. The post is about akusala-mula Paticca Samuppada, which starts with “avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra.”
– Getting a glass of water does not fall under that.2. The Tipitaka reference that you provided explains what is involved under “avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra“: “Tattha katame avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā? Puññābhisaṅkhāro, apuññābhisaṅkhāro, āneñjābhisaṅkhāro, kāyasaṅkhāro, vacīsaṅkhāro, cittasaṅkhāro” AND “Kāyasañcetanā kāyasaṅkhāro, vacīsañcetanā vacīsaṅkhāro, manosañcetanā cittasaṅkhāro. Ime vuccanti “avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā”.
– Note that Puññābhisaṅkhāra, apuññābhisaṅkhāra, āneñjābhisaṅkhāra are generated via kāyasaṅkhāra, vacīsaṅkhāra, cittasaṅkhāra. But the second verse above explains that ONLY sañcetanā are counted under akusala-mula Paticca Samuppada.
– Here sañcetanā means those that involve “san” (lobha, dosa, moha).
– That is why “getting a glass of water from the kitchen” does not fall under this category.You wrote: “What I do not understand: why is the word “kamma” not used in PS and where is it created?”
The answer is partly explained above. Not all kamma are bad. Kamma basically means “action.”
– Punna kamma (moral deeds) are done with punnabhi sankhara.
– Pāpa kamma (immoral deeds) are done with apunnabhi sankhara.
– Kusala kamma (in Kusala-mula Paticca Samuppada) are done with “kusala-mula paccya sankhara” instead of “avijja paccaya sankhara.” Those kamma help one attain Nibbana.
– Then there are abyakata kamma (kammically neutral) like in “getting a glass of water from the kitchen”.You wrote: “..Lal explains in the post “Key Steps of Kammic Energy Accumulation” that kamma is created in the step “upādāna paccayā bhavo”. But is it also created in sankhara paccaya (kamma)vinnana and kammavinnana paccaya namarupa?
– This is exactly what I tried to explain in that recent post, “Key Steps of Kammic Energy Accumulation.”
– We don’t automatically start accumulating kamma with “avijja paccaya sankhara.”
– Kamma accumulation needs a trigger, as explained with the above post and the next post, “Generating Kammic Energy in the “Upādāna Paccayā Bhava” Step”
– That trigger is explained in #1 of that second post in detail. The time sequence is discussed in detail in #1 through #3 of that second post referred to above. Then time sequence moves to the “avijja paccaya sankhara” and goes through all the steps in akusala-mula PS.
– So, please read those two posts again carefully.You asked: “Kamma is energy created via sankhara and stored in the mental plane, so it is namarupa? Kamma seems to be apart from citta, cetasika and rupa..”
Kammic energy is created in javana citta, not all citta.
– Such javana citta involve punnabhi sankhara, apunnabhi sankhara in akusala-mula PS. See above at the beginning of my response.
– As explained there kamma are various types. Only those kamma that involve “sancetana” (with greed, anger, ignorance OR “san“) contribute to akusala-mula PS.Please feel free to ask questions. It is important to get these basic ideas right.
Yes. It is a good idea to make certain that one has gone through the four lower jhanas as described by the Buddha.
See, “Jhānic Experience in Detail – Sāmaññaphala Sutta (DN 2)“
The following is a recent youtube video “Time to Take the ‘Big Bang’ out of the Big Bang Theory? (May 5, 2021)” by a scientist, Paul Steinhardt, who claims that the Big Bang Theory about the origin of the universe is not correct:
He has co-authored a book on this subject too, where they argue against the proposed “Big Bang Theory”:
“Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang” by Paul J. Steinhardt, Neil Turok (2007).As we know, the Buddha taught that only parts of the universe are destroyed and re-emerge periodically:
“Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27)“
