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Thanks!
Just fixed it. The link above works now.
– I may have moved the post to a different section.Thanks. It turns out that I had temporarily removed the page to re-write.
Just finished it and it should be available now:
Thanks!
Please let me now the original post where you tried to access the link:
“What are Rupa? Dhamma are Rupa too.”– If you don’t remember that is fine.
Yes. This could be a jhanic experience (or getting close to it).
See, “Jhānic Experience in Detail – Sāmaññaphala Sutta (DN 2)“
“I used to feel very cold right after meditation and its winters”
– Is it because it is Winter?
It is also possible that one’s body responds to meditation with one becoming cold, thirsty, sweaty, frozen, etc.
– Those can be good signs indicating that the body can feel the effects of meditation.In any case, one needs to take appropriate actions to remove any discomfort.
For example, wear something warm, drink water, turn on cooling correspondingly. If one’s body becomes “frozen”, one can just get up and do a walking meditation.
– There is no need to sit like a statue in any of those cases. Getting up to drink water will not disturb an “effective samadhi.”
– One can do mediation in all four postures (sitting, standing, walking, and lying down).The ultimate goal of meditation is to cultivate Panna (wisdom) and realize the unfruitfulness AND dangers in the rebirth process.
OK. You are right. I was in a hurry and made a mistake.
Vinipatika means apayas or the four lowest realms.
– I got confused between “vinipatika” and “asura”.
– There are two types of asura, one being “asura deva” (who go into wars with other devas) and the other “vinipatika asura” who belong to the apayas.In that verse, it basically says when one gets attached to sensory pleasures one can be born in the kama loka (4 realms of vinipata or apaya, human, and 6 Deva realms).
I just revised #11.
I think this refers to the vinipatika devas, not vinipatika asuras in apaya.
– I will make it clear in the post. Thanks!What we need to focus on is not a particular type of vedana.
– We need to see the root cause of dukkha (suffering). How those vedana can lead to suffering.1. There are things in the world that bring us sukha vedana. For example, eating certain foods lead to sukha vedana. There is nothing wrong or unnatural about it.
– But if we get attached to that sukha vedana, we start generating “mind-made” or “samphassa-ja-vedana.” Those are “greedy thoughts” and can lead to dasa akusala by the mind, speech, and deeds.2. There are things in the world, that when experienced, give dukha vedana. For example, if one sees an enemy, one generates a dukha vedana instantaneously. We need to let it go right there.
– But if we get attached to that dukha vedana, we start generating “mind-made” or “samphassa-ja-vedana.” Those are “angry thoughts” and can lead to dasa akusala by the mind, speech, and deeds.3. There are things in the world, that when experienced, give neutral vedana. But one may not quite understand what is experienced and may respond foolishly. Here, uddacca, kukkucca, or vicikicca (basically not sure about what to do.) For example, one may be asked to learn Dhamma by a parent or a friend. But one may not see any benefit in that and not follow-up. One has doubts (vicikicca) about the benefits of learning Dhamma.
– So, one may even generate bad thoughts about it and may even argue that “it is useless to spend time on learning Dhamma.”
– Another example is not believing in rebirth. One may try to argue saying that there is no evidence for rebirth, etc.
– One may treat another person badly (without any reason), just because that person is poor/ugly, etc. That involves uddacca/kukkucca.
– Again, one would start generating “mind-made” or “samphassa-ja-vedana.” Depending on each of the above situations they are various types of “foolish thoughts” and can lead to dasa akusala by the mind, speech, and deeds.4. All those situations involve generating sankhara via “avijja paccaya sankhara.” They INEVITABLY lead to other steps in Paticca Samuppada (PS) and end up with the last step, “jati paccaya jara, marana, etc., i.e., “the whole mass of suffering.”
– Thus it is not about feelings, but how those “mind-made feelings” (“samphassa-ja-vedana”) lead to suffering.
5. No matter how much I try, people do not tend to realize what is meant by sankhara. They are our thoughts!
– We speak based on our thoughts. Those thoughts are vaci sankhara.
– We act based on our thoughts. They are kaya sankhara.
– We can control both those by being mindful, and avoiding “bad sankhara” and cultivating “good sankhara”. “Bad sankhara” are involved in the “akusala-mula PS” AND “good sankhara” are involved in the “kusala-mula PS”6. Those thoughts that automatically come to the mind are mano sankhara. To change those we need to change our gati (character/habits). Those will gradually change when we focus on vaci and kaya sankhara.
7. So, I suggest learning more about “san”, sankhara, and Paticca Samuppada.
May be a good start is:
“What is “San”? Meaning of Sansāra (or Saṃsāra)”Hello Lang,
Another way to think about ārammaṇa is “whatever the mind is focusing on”.
– If you are looking at a picture, that picture is the ārammaṇa.
– If you are thinking about a mathematical problem, that is the ārammaṇa at that time, etc.
– So, an ārammaṇa can be anything that comes through any one of the six senses.A saṅkhata means “some entity that came to existence”.
– Normally a saṅkhata comes into existence due to saṅkhara. That is a very deep meaning.
– Think about it this way. “sankhara paccaya vinnana” eventually leads to jati. The “arising of ANYTHING” is due to sankhara. That may not be obvious right away.
– But, you see, vinnana is also a sankhata, “an entity prepared via sankhara”.As we know sankhara (mano, vaci, and kaya sankhara) are our thoughts. Read the most recent posts again and you will see that.
We are getting into deep fundamentals. But it is not hard if you can make the connections to real life.
You wrote: “In #6 you explain how saññā works with the aid of the manasikāra cetasika, and that saññā is loosely translated to “perception”. It looks to me like the English word “perception” is equivalent to saññā + manasikāra.’
– That is true. In fact, all 7 universal cetasika that arise with ANY citta work in collaboration. Vedana arises because one has recognized the arammana. As you pointed out that recognition (sanna) cannot happen without the manasikara cetasika. A citta cannot arise if the life is not there, i.e., jivitindriya. A coherent citta would not form unless the ekaggata cetasika is there, etc.You asked: “In #8, you explain the making of a “cittaja rupa” or the “mental picture”. Is “cittaja rupa” another way of saying “ārammaṇa“? Or does a cittaja rupa arise because of an ārammaṇa?”
– A cittaja rupa arises DUE TO an ārammaṇa.
– Cittaja rupa is the mind’s own version (replica) of the external rupa. For example, person X’s enemy will form a “bad replica of X” in his mind. On the other hand, person X’s wife or a child will form a “good replica of X” in their minds.
– Another important fact is that what we “see” is really that cittaja rupa formed in the mind. At the beginning of the post, “How Do We See? – Role of the Gandhabba” the question was asked: “How does the brain “see” the tree using that chemical/electrical signal?” What we “see” is that cittaja rupa, the replica created by the mind! If you read that post now, it will become clear.Yes. There are several issues where CURRENT science does not agree with Buddha Dhamma.
But the number of such disagreements have shrunk over the past few hundreds of years.
– In each case, science came to agree with Buddha Dhamma.
– The track record is on the side of Buddha Dhamma.I have discussed this in several posts. See the recent post, “Interpretation of the Tipitaka – Gandhabba Example”
– Especially see #7, #8 and the references in #8.I had watched the above video a couple of years ago and had forgotten the details. I watched it again yesterday.
Key points from the video:
1. The author, Eben Alexander, is a neurosurgeon whose brain was attacked by a bacterium and the neocortex was “virtually destroyed.”
2. Thus, his brain COULD NOT have made up any illusions, according to the attended doctors.
3. He had been adopted at an early age, but he found the biological parents later in his life.
4. He describes the NDE experience as a “visit to heaven” because of his faith in Christianity.
5. He met a “beautiful girl” during the NDE experience. She was a total stranger to him.
6. AFETR the NDE experience, he was shown a picture of a biological sister of his who had died many years ago, BEFORE he met his biological parents. Then he recognized that girl as the “beautiful girl” that he saw during the NDE experience.
That last revelation comes at the very end of the video. I think it is worthwhile to watch the whole video carefully.
Thanks, Lang.
I just listened to it a little bit. Seems to be consistent with Waharaka Thero’s Teachings.
“Dead people meet their dead relatives “on the other side”. This directly contradicts the teachings on your website.”
You don’t seem to understand the concepts described. I am not blaming you, but it takes an effort to grasp these complex issues.
– I am not obliged to explain anything to anyone, even though I try to do my best.
– If you don’t like the explanations you don’t have to read the posts here.
– If there are issues that you don’t understand, and you like to find the answers, ask questions respectfully. These issues are complex, and it is not possible to explain everything in a few posts. Furthermore, once one understands the basics, one should be able to figure out some of the related issues (depending on the level of understanding).For the benefit of others:
– Gandhabba that comes out of a “dead person” IS THAT SAME PERSON (without the physical body). Sometimes they live in the paraloka (where gandhabbas live) with a “fine body” that is quite similar to the body that died.
– The paraloka is very complex. Some of the dead relatives may be in paraloka with such “fine bodies” still recognizable. Living beings with similar gati tend to get together, so a person having NDE experience may be drawn to those in the paraloka with similar gati. That is why sometimes people who had NDE experiences say they met dead relatives.
– However, some change their gati rapidly while in the paraloka. Also, many may not be human gandhabbas anymore (they may be born in other bhava, such as Deva, animal, peta, etc.)
– In some NDE cases, a person may be drawn to a part of paraloka that is almost like a deva loka (with gandhabbas with “deva gati.” They say they visited “heaven”. See, for example, the book “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife” by Eben Alexander. Also, see:– This is why there are many types of NDE experiences reported by different people.
Hello yann,
You may not have seen MANY posts on this site about OBE/NDE.
See, for example, “Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) and Manōmaya Kāya”
There are two sections:
We have had many discussions on the subject at the following discussion forum:
“Gandhabba Forum“
