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Yes, Yeos. It is part of the dukkha.
Until the brain of a baby develops, a baby cannot express itself fully.
– The full development of the brain takes seven years (also according modern science). That is why the minimum age to be an Arahant is seven years.It is really miccha ditthi because it is an asobhana cetasika.
Yes. It is there because one is unaware of the real nature (anicca, dukkha, anatta).
– That is why Samma Ditthi is the first step in the Noble Eightfold Path.Lang’s questions:
“So another way we can say anything about Nibbana is asankata dhatu. Short of parinibbana, is this what is “experienced” by someone in Nirodha samapatti?”Yes. Nirodha samapatti means “without any citta”. Nothing about this “world” is experienced.
“And this asankata dhatu must be “one of a kind”. All other dhatu, the kind made out of the maha bhuta, are “sankata”, correct?”
Yes. Everything in ‘this world” is included in the six dhatu of pathavī dhātu, āpo dhātu, tejo dhātu, vāyo dhātu, ākāsa dhātu, viññāṇa dhātu.
– asankata dhatu is devoid of any of that.“So an Arahant will create neither a set of pasada rupa (and therefore no pancakkhandha) nor a hadaya vatthu.”
This should be stated as: “An Arahant will not create a hadaya vatthu and a set of pasada rupa for a FUTURE EXISTENCE.”
– That is why an Arahant is NOT reborn ANYWHERE in the 31 realms.
– Any rebirth is associated with a hadaya vatthu (and a set of pasada rupa, other than for an arupavacara Brahma).The pancakkhandha of that lifestream WILL REMAIN in this world (in the “nama loka.”)
– But that is just a record of all activities of that lifestream UPTO the moment of Parinibbana.
– Nothing will be added to that RECORD after the Parinibbana since there is no living-being generating citta.
– All records of previous Buddhas, Arahants remain. That is how Buddha Gotama was able to provide account about previous Buddhas, by looking at their records in the “nama loka.I suggest re-reading several recent posts on the Five Aggregates, and the post on Nibbana referred to below.
I think your other questions are related to that.
– An Arahant lives life just like us UNTIL Parinibbana.
– An Arahant is IN this world UNTIL Parinibbana (full Nibbana). That lifestream DOES NOT EXIST in this world after Prinibbana. It is in the asankata dhatu (full Nibbaba) AFTER the death of the physical body.
– See, “Nibbāna “Exists”, but Not in This World.”P.S.
Y not wrote: “Surely, all those Arahants, Paccekabuddhas and Buddhas realized that Nibbana, having had a glimpse of it, is not only the ending of suffering (i.e.conductive to a ‘neutral’ state, to freedom from suffering), but a positive and unsurpassable state of Absolute and Ultimate Bliss.”“Nibbanic bliss” (after Parinibbana) is NOT a vedana (feelings). Anything that is in “this world of 31 realms” including vedana, sanna, sankhara, vinnana, and rupa (material forms) are NOT in Nibbana.
– The bliss is to stop ANY and ALL future suffering.
– It is critical to read and understand the post on Nibbana above.That was not correct.
I have revised that as: “alobha (absence of greed); adosa (absence of hate/anger, of which mettā or “loving-kindness” is a part); tatramajjhattatā (neutrality of mind, of which upekkhā is a part);.”
I made a few more corrections to that old post.
Thank you, Tobias!
Domanassa vedana could arise when someone is depressed by a kayika vedana (due to avijja). Of course, the kayika vedana is a kamma vipaka.
– By the way, karma is a Sanskrit word. We should try to use Pali words like kamma and Nibbana (instead of nirvana). I know that we are so used to using these Sanskrit words.Another way to look at this is that ALL factors of akusala-mula Paticca Samuppada are eliminated at the Arahant stage.
– However, those are just the factors in the “niddesa” version above.
– For example, “smphassa-ja-vedana” will not arise in Arahant. But kayika vedana (sukha or dukkha) will arise until Parinibbana (death of the Arahant).Your friend should start learning Dhamma. That is the way to reduce avijja and gradually reduce smphassa-ja-vedana.
Hello Usitha,
Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear about your progress.
Yes. Any current suffering via the body is due to past kamma. We need to bear any such suffering with upekkha. Of course, one MUST engage in all possible remedies like medical help, good exercise, healthy foods, etc.
As you said, it is smphassa-ja-vedana or the vedana that we create in our minds that lead to FUTURE suffering.
– Yes. We create them because of the ignorance (or absence of full clarity) of the anicca, dukkha, anatta nature.Yes. All mental dukkha vedana (domanassa vedana) are mind-made or smphassa-ja-vedana.
By the way, the steps in the Paticca Samuppada need to be understood in this wider context.
The “uddesa” version is: ““avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra; saṅkhāra paccayā viññāna; viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa, nāmarūpa paccayā salāyatana, salāyatana paccayā phassō, phassa paccayā vēdanā, vēdanā paccayā taṇhā, taṇhā paccayā upādāna, upādāna paccayā bhavō, bhava paccayā jāti, jāti paccayā jarā, marana, soka-paridēva-dukkha-dōmanassupāyasā sambhavan’ti”
In the “niddesa” or “expanded” version: ““avijjā paccayā abhisaṅkhāra; abhisaṅkhāra paccayā kamma viññāna; kamma viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa, nāmarūpa paccayā salāyatana, salāyatana paccayā samphassō, samphassa paccayā smphassa-ja-vēdanā, smphassa-ja-vēdanā paccayā taṇhā, taṇhā paccayā upādāna, upādāna paccayā bhavō, bhava paccayā jāti, jāti paccayā jarā, marana, soka-paridēva-dukkha-dōmanassupāyasā sambhavan’ti”
“Uddesa” and “niddesa” levels of explanations are important in sutta interpretations too: “Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta – Structure“
Yes. I listened to part of the desana starting at 30 minutes as y not suggested.
It has nothing to do with a traditional (and wrong) breath meditation. It is a good discourse.
– We should not make judgments based on just the title without listening first.The following post is from Aniduan:
I listened to portions of this meditation by Amadassana Thero (from
Dharmayai Obai Sermons): “2020-04-26 DOSE (Breathing Meditation)“.He is teaching breath meditation. Based on what I read on this puredhamma website Buddha did not teach breath meditation. Waharaka Thero was Buddha’s lineage and if Amadassana Thero was Waharaka Thero’s student I wonder why he is teaching breath meditation.
Hello Lang,
Those four things mentioned in the “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77)” are “imponderables.’
They CANNOT BE grasped FULLY by anyone but a Buddha.
– That means we can understand them to some extent, but not in full detail. So, the Buddha said not to try to understand them in great detail, for one could spend one’s whole life and not be satisfied.
– Furthermore, that would take time away from pursuing the most important objective of attaining Nibbana.Regarding jhana: Just like the other three subjects, one will never be able to learn everything about jhana, including iddhi powers that can be cultivated.
– For example, Ven. Moggallana was only second to the Buddha in iddhi powers. But once he decided to “explore” the vast universe and got lost. Buddha had to come to his “rescue.”You are correct, oetb!
I just revised #6 on that old post as follows:
“6. The Buddha said, “..bhikkhus, sentient beings reborn as humans are few as this bit of sand on my fingernail. But those not reborn as humans are many as the sand on this great Earth. Therefore, you should strive diligently and without delay to end this suffering in the rebirth process”. That statement appears to most people as an exaggeration. That quote is from the post, “How the Buddha Described the Chance of Rebirth in the Human Realm”.”Regarding the second part of your above comment:
Yes. It is extremely difficult to “come back up” once born in an apaya.
As for humans, the problem is the following. Many people engage in good deeds. However, it is very easy for a human (one who has not grasped the anicca, dukkha, anatta nature) to be TEMPTED by sense desires.
– By the way, the fraction of HUMANS getting a rebirth in a good realm (after the human bhava, which may last thousands of years as Lvalio pointed out above), is higher than what the Buddha quoted in the above sutta.
– Those in the apayas are MUCH MORE numerous than the human population. There are more living beings (belonging to the animal realm) in your backyard soil than the entire human population on Earth! That is why the “sand on a fingernail” analogy applies to ALL living beings.
– If we just take the humans who are reborn, they have better odds of being born human again. Still, it is quite low.The following post is from oetb.
Thanks!
I just wrote a reply, but I do not copy it before posting, and it has not been posted (I lost the reply). I’ll make a very brief resume.
The quote I made is the quote in point 6 of Wrong Views (Miccā Diṭṭhi) – A Simpler Analysis, and it seems to me that that quote tells that the very next bhava (those who depart from) of practically all human beings is one in the apayas. That is not exactly the same as saying that to grasp a human bhava is very rare.
As I had understood, beings in the apayas are “perpetuated” there because with the conditions they have is very easy to do akusala abhisankhara and very difficult to do puñña abhisankhara, so they are helpless, and for them, it is very very exceptional to grasp a human bhava after their actual bhava in the apayas. But I thought that humans are not so helpless. Humans have better conditions and more chances to do good deeds or cultivating merits. If the above quote is literally, then humans would be helpless and all good humans that try to live morally or to cultivate merits do it in vain (I am referring in the short term, i.e. in the very next bhava, not in the long term, where only Sotapannas and above are safe).
Hello oetb. Before I comment on your question, I would like to make a couple of suggestions.
1. It is a good idea to quote the source of what you are quoting, if possible.
2. Also, when you quote someone at the forum (this is regarding your other comment that I just saw on another thread), please say who (at that thread) said that, if there are several people who had commented.
Now, regarding your analysis, Let me clarify a few things first.
I had discussed the sutta in question, Nakhasikha Sutta (SN 20.2), in the post, “How the Buddha Described the Chance of Rebirth in the Human Realm”
To quote from that post: “In the same way, bhikkhus, sentient beings reborn as humans are few as this bit of sand on my fingernail. But those not reborn as humans are many as the sand on this great Earth. Therefore, you should strive diligently and without delay to end this suffering in the rebirth process”.
I have highlighted the fact that the Buddha said that, “of all living beings” that die the fraction born as a human would be similar to the fraction of grains of sand that can be picked up on a fingernail to that on the Earth.
I just Googled and found that an estimate for the grains of sand on Earth to be about 10^19.
There are roughly 10 billion (10^10) people on Earth.However, we need to take the number of all beings on Earth.
The article, “The Largest Study of Life Forms Ever Has Estimated That Earth Is Home to 1 TRILLION Species”
says there are over a trillion (10^12) species of living species on Earth.
– One of those species is ants. I did a Google search on just how many ants in this world and saw that an estimate was 10^15.
– That is just one species out of over a trillion species.
– Of course, there are fewer animals of larger species.
– But the number of microscopic living beings could be staggering.
– Here is a video on how many in a drop water contaminated water:
“How many living things are in a drop of dirty water?”Of course, what I discussed above includes just animal species on Earth.
There are 31 realms based on the Earth too. We simply do not know how many living-beings are in the other three realms of the papaya, or in the Deva/Brahma realms.It would be impossible for us to do such a calculation to get a meaningful number. But as always, the Buddha would know for sure. I personally don’t have any reason to doubt it.
The Buddha said there are four things that we should not waste our time on.
– They are: knowledge of a Buddha, jhana, working (finer details) of kamma, and details about the world.
See, “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77)”
– a couple of English translations are available there.I am not discouraging looking into things with an open mind. But sometimes, we are not capable of finding answers to some questions. In particular, the Buddha advised against looking into those four.
