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Answer to the question, “Is rūpakkhandha synonymous to nāmarūpa?” is no.
It will become clear in the upcoming posts. But the following is a quick answer.
Rupakkhandha of “old memories” can back to the mind when one just tries to remember that memory. For example, one can recall what one ate for lunch yesterday.
– That does not involve Paticca Samuppada steps, “avijja paccaya sankhara, sankhara paccaya vinnana, vinnana paccaya namarupa.”We will discuss the mechanism for recalling past memories in the upcoming posts.
– It is essentially, “mananca paticca dhammeca uppaddati mano vinnanam.”
– But that requires more explanation.The following comment was by y not.
When I tried to add the link, the post disappeared. Luckily, I kept a copy.Googled ‘Arahant at 7 years old’ and got this for starts. I do not know whether there is more.
At seven years old
I received ordination.
I bear my final body—
oh, the excellence of the teaching!And this:
I was only seven years old
and had just gone forth..
“he is Anuruddha’s novice,
assured in psychic powers.
Made a thoroughbred by a thoroughbred,
made good by the good,
educated and trained by Anuruddha,
who has completed his task”…
Having attained ultimate peace
and witnessed the unshakable,
that novice Sumana has the wish:
‘May no-one find me out!P.S. I just added the links to the references that y not provided.
Thank you, y not!Lvalio wrote: “It takes 7 (seven) years for the brain to achieve a degree of development capable of realizing and judging the world around it, with rare exceptions.
But after those seven years, the brain needs to experience the world before it starts judging it. So, we can say that a reasonable age for a person to become a Buddhist is 12 years..”Actually, there is an account in the Tipitaka where a seven-year-old attained Arahanthood. I don’t remember the name of the sutta.
Yeos asked: “how does the manomaya kaya/karmic body sees the world through the eyes of a baby?”
Yes. One can think of as the gandhabba “trapped inside the physical body.”
All external sensory inputs come through the “doors” in the physical body. Vision comes through the eyes, sounds come through the ears, etc.
– Then those signals are processed by the brain and transmitted to the gandhabba inside.
– That is a simple explanation. For details one needs to read the following posts:
“Our Mental Body – Gandhabba“; see #8 specifically.
“Clarification of “Mental Body” and “Physical Body” – Different Types of “Kāya”“Second question: it is said that “there is a nervous system in the gandhabba that overlays the physical nervous system.” Is there in the Tipitaka any other info describing what constitutes such nervous system?”
The Tipitaka may not have direct references to everything. We can figure out some things on our own. But the key references to gandhabba in the Tipitaka are at:
“Gandhabba State – Evidence from Tipiṭaka”Yes, Honk. Many people today, including many bhikkhus, believe that some suttas have been altered or later added, for the reasons that you have mentioned.
As the Buddha realized just after attaining the Buddhahood, it is not easy for humans to understand the “previously unheard” aspects of Buddha Dhamma.
– Average humans cannot “see” the truth of many aspects of the foundations of Buddha Dhamma.For example, our thoughts are generated not in the brain, but in the “mental body” or gandhabba.
– But because we cannot normally “see” the truth of that (because a gandhabba cannot be seen) most people reject the existence of a gandhabba.
– However, there are many occurrences that cannot be explained without the concept of a “mental body” that may come out of the physical body under some situations like Near-death Experience (NDE). Furthermore, now there are so many confirmed rebirth stories, which cannot be explained without a gandhabba being reborn many times with human bodies.
See, “Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) and Manōmaya Kāya” and “Evidence for Rebirth”I have discussed this to some extent in, “Mystical Phenomena in Buddhism?” and “What is Buddha Dhamma?”
Please feel free to ask questions after reading those posts.
– We are aware of only a tiny fraction of our world.
– Even though scientists have “discovered” many things about the wider world in the past few hundred years, there is still much more to discover, especially about how our minds work.
– They are unable to explain how emotions like joy, sadness, etc can arise in a brain that is made of inert atoms and molecules. The mind can NEVER be explained with that approach.
– The mental body (gandhabba) is the key to explaining many things. Once one understands that, it is easy to see that “going through a wall” is easy with the “mental body” or gandhabba. See, “Ghost 1990 Movie – Good Depiction of Gandhabba Concept”Yes, y not. We are just getting started on this topic from a new perspective.
In fact, answers to your original question will become clear as we proceed.
– The five aggregates are key to understanding how our memories are recalled.
– As you can probably see, one’s memories (in a beginningless rebirth process) is in the five aggregates. That is how the Buddha was able to “see” how he received “niyata vivarana to become a Buddha” from a Buddha who lived 100,000 eons ago!
– Some of these things may sound “exotic” but once one understands the principles, they are no longer myths. See, “Pāramitā and Niyata Vivarana – Myths or Realities?”By the way, my understanding becomes more clear with time too. Thus the need to revise these posts on the Five Aggregates (Pancakkhandha). Many of them were written several years ago.
Yes, Lang. It is a miccha ditthi.
That is explained in, “Micchā Diṭṭhi, Gandhabba, and Sōtapanna Stage.”
You are right, Johnny.
Rupakkhandha is all mental, as I have discussed before. But I will be revising that post too, next week.
– I also revised #4 of today’s post too in that regard.Furthermore, the other four khandhas are all mental too. I will write on them in upcoming posts. I do not want to refer to the old posts since many of them need some revisions.
Rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara, vinnana all last only momentarily (as experienced). We experience them and they become memories right away.
– Now, that does NOT mean a given rupa last only momentarily. Only our experience of a rupa is only momentary.
– That is the distinction between a given rupa and one’s rupakkhandha.
– For example, a tree that one saw the previous day has been registered in the rupakkhandha forever. But that tree may have been cut down right after one saw it. Thus that tree (rupa) is not there today. But the rupakkhandha still has the memory of it as it was seen yesterday.
– Rupakkhandha is personal. Mine is different from yours, for example. That is because, for one thing, what I have seen is different from what you have seen. There are many other differences that we will discuss.Ask questions if not clear. It is important to understand these key concepts.
Y not: I don’t think your question is directly related to the intent of this post.
I was trying to explain how a basic sensory event takes place.
– For example, to see a person who comes to your line of view, you must be awake and the image of that person must land on your retina and the mind needs to register that “seeing-event.”
– Then based on one’s gati (and also based on who was seen), one will respond to that “seeing event” in the above example.So, this post was an introduction to more material that is coming. Of course, I have discussed this material in different ways. But here I will be discussing things with a focus on the five aggregates.
But there is nothing wrong with the question per se. I can think about your question and others can answer it too.
Yes. It is dangerous to try to explain Dhamma without a correct understanding. Many Theravada bhikkhus refuse to accept the gandhabba concept (despite strong evidence from the Tipitaka) and thus may be doing harm to themselves and others.
Hello Lair,
The English translation there, “The Good Friend” is,
““Bhikkhus, in regard to external factors, I do not perceive another single factor so helpful as good friendship for a bhikkhu who is a learner, who has not attained perfection but lives aspiring for the supreme security from bondage. Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu who has a good friend abandons what is unwholesome and develops what is wholesome.”
When a bhikkhu has good friends,
And is reverential and respectful,
Doing what his friends advise,
Clearly comprehending and mindful,
He may progressively attain
The destruction of all fetters.”1. One REQUIRES a teacher only until the Soatapanna stage is attained.
2. The teacher MUST be a Sotapanna or higher.
3. Once one attains the Sotapanna stage, one could go the rest of the way without a teacher. But, of course, a teacher at a higher level could be helpful.I think the above translation is compatible with that.
Of course, a teacher MUST ALWAYS be at or above the Sotapanna stage. Otherwise, how can he/she instruct how to get there?
Lang wrote, “Also, this kind of discussion is quite addicting if one is not careful. It’s a form of samphappalāpā.”
That is quite right.
– Yes. It is samphappalāpā or “idle chatter”
– These discussions go on forever since there is no resolution.The point is that if one understands the meanings of the words — saṃsāra and Nibbāna — it is utterly foolish to ask the question. I just cannot imagine such utter nonsense, especially by bhikkhus who have written books on Buddhism!
The meaning of “discarding what is bad” is INCLUDED in vipassana, Lang.
Vipassana is defined as follows in the section, “2.3.3.32. Samathavipassanāduka” at, “2.3.3. Suttantikadukanikkhepa of dhammasaṅgaṇī“:
“Tattha katamā vipassanā? Yā paññā pajānanā … pe … amoho dhammavicayo sammādiṭṭhi—ayaṃ vuccati vipassanā.”Therefore, vipassana is connected to paññā (wisdom), dhammavicaya sabbojjhanga, and sammā diṭṭhi.
– It is the ability “to see” things as they really are. “Passa” also means “to see.”
– With that understanding, one would know what to “discard” and what to “take in.”
