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yann wrote: “if i kill myself in a pleasant state of mind and cultivate good thoughts, then i will reach better rebirth….”
You have not understood what I explained. As I said, it takes time to understand Buddha Dhamma.
– I hope you will read the sections that I recommended. But it is up to you.P.S. Your other comments in the above post also reflects the fact that you have not had time to read/understand some basic concepts about Buddha Dhamma and its history.
For example, you say, “I though this website was based on revisiting bouddha’s teachings… Since they are 2500 years old, and since they were written by somebody else 500 years later, i think it is very safe to assume that they do not ressemble 100% the original teachings.”
You simply have not read the relevant sections at the website. In this case, you should read “Historical Background.”
– Budha’s teachings have been fully preserved, even during oral transmission over about 400 years.I just came across the following article:
“KASTRUP: NO, CONSCIOUSNESS CANNOT BE JUST A BYPRODUCT”Scientists and philosophers are beginning to realize that consciousness CANNOT arise from inert matter.
But they have no idea how consciousness arises.
Consciousness can arise only if a “seat of the mind” (hadaya vatthu) is created by Nature, via kammic energy.
– We create our own future lives (that are conscious) with our own actions.The series of posts on “Origin of Life” analyze that in detail and came to that conclusion in the post, “Origin of Life – One Creates One’s Own Future Lives.”
y not, Sybe07, yann: “Yes, that the last thought moment determines the next birth may be quite unsettling.
The key to understanding here is the following.
That last thought-moment does not come to the mind arbitrarily.
Usually, it is related to the strongest kamma (good or bad) that one has done in all previous lives (including the present life). The Buddha gave the following analogy, which I have discussed before.
In those days, cows were kept in barns overnight. In the morning, the gate would be opened and the cows will go out and start eating grass. The cows are anxious to come out by the morning, but only the strongest push their way to the front to be close to the gate.
– In the same way, stronger kamma would come to the mind of a dying person.There is a second factor that comes into play, and that is what y not is referring to.
– One may have attained a magga phala (or at least the Sotapanna Anugami stage) during life. Then that person’s mind would not grasp any thought object suitable for rebirth in lower realms. Then it will be replaced by a thought object corresponding to the next strongest kamma in line. If that is also not compatible with the mindset of the person that would not be grasped either. That process would happen very quickly until an arammana (thought object) compatible with the mindset is grasped.
– Of course, an Arahant’s mind would not grasp any arammana due to any previous kamma. Thus an Arahant would not be reborn anywhere in the 31 realms.A good example is Angulimala who killed almost a thousand people. But he attained the Arahanthood, and thus became free of all rebirths. If he had not attained the Arahanthhod, he would have been born in a lower realm.
See, “Account of Angulimāla – Many Insights to Buddha Dhamma.”firewns wrote: “Thus I would think that cultivating these universal sobhana cetasikas through performing meritorious deeds indeed help set the stage for further development of concentration and insight.”
Yes. That is indeed true.
Sybe07 and yann: There are many things that we do not like. However, we cannot change Nature’s laws. If you can provide any supporting material we can discuss.
Buddha’s teachings are vast and all self-consistent. The only way to disprove them would be to find any inconsistencies.
So, if you can find any inconsistencies with the material on this website, please feel free to state them.
I will try to address SOME of yann’s questions below. It takes some effort to understand the key concepts.
“Therefore, it is difficult to see how a human mind, even though it might be inhabited by greed or other mental impurities, could regress toward an animal life form post mortem.”
– The seeds for future lives are created during the lifetime. For example, if one kills another human, a kamma bija (seed) is created. That kammic energy can bring a “bad birth” in the future.
“Most of past life material i have read rarely if ever mention non human past lives.”
– Yes. Humans normally cannot recall past lives in other existence (bhava).
– Even that capability is there only for a few, and only as a child. As that child grows, such memories from past lives fade away.“So human existence has a natural tendency to drag you toward fighting, hatred, accumulation of goods for survival, etc…”
– Not so if one comprehends Buddha Dhamma. Then one would stay away from such tendencies because one is aware of the bad consequences.“Also if you are not born in a good environment, it is very difficult to develop intellect and understanding.”
– Yes.“Most dying people are extremely tormented and unhappy. It seems absurd to me that they should be directed in a negative direction for a few understandable negative emotions.”
– Who is directing them? One is fully responsible for one’s destiny. If they had learned Dhamma, they would not be tormented.“This passage is also hard for me to grasp.
Out of the 31 realms of existence (see, “The Grand Unified Theory of Dhamma“), the mind has much less capability in most other realms. Thus, it is very difficult to get rid of bad kamma seeds and cultivate good ones while in realms other than the human. Therefore, one should make the utmost effort to get rid of the bad seeds and to develop “good seeds” during this short life span of 100 years or so.”
– Think about the animal realm. Animals are like robots. They cannot learn Dhamma.
– Those in higher realms are CAPABLE of learning Dhamma. But they don’t have any incentive. They do not see much suffering around them.“So human existence has a natural tendency to drag you toward fighting, hatred, accumulation of goods for survival, etc…. Even if you tend to be a moral person. Also if you are not born in a good environment, it is very difficult to develop intellect and understanding.”
– Yes. That is why relatively few people are interested in Buddha Dhamma. They do not take time to think about the “bigger picture” of the rebirth process among 31 realms. Of course, most people have not even heard about Buddha Dhamma.“What would cause the end of this kammic potential?”
– One’s own thoughts with greed, anger, and ignorance (of the Buddha Dhamma).Some of the essential concepts are discussed at, “Living Dhamma” and “Moral Living and Fundamentals” sections.
I have a little bit of time and thought of writing a few things to consider.
1. There are three ways to attain Nibbāna:
– A Sammā Sambuddha (like Buddha Gōtama) discovers the Noble Eightfold Path and achieves Nibbāna through his efforts, AND he can teach the doctrine to others.
– A second way to attain Nibbāna is to learn Dhamma from a Sammā Sambuddha or a true disciple of his. That is how an Arahant reaches nibbāna.
– Then a paccēka Buddha discovers the Path by himself but is not capable of explaining the path (Dhamma) to other people.2. In all three cases, the same Nibbana (Enlightenment) is attained. That basically means stopping the suffering-filled rebirth process.
– However, a Sammā Sambuddha is a very special person. Without a Sammā Sambuddha, no one else (other than a paccēka Buddha) will be able to attain Nibbana.3. I have not had time to read the article of Bhikkhu Analayo quoted by Lvalio.
– However, as I understand, Bhikkhu Analayo does not firmly believe in rebirth. He seems to be one of those “secular Buddhists” that I have discussed in the following post: “Buddhism without Rebirth and Nibbāna?.”Finally regarding the following statement in Lavalio’s post: “But two followers of the Ajahn of Thailand’s forest responded that I was wrong and that this concept of taking many lives for someone to become a Buddha was outdated and basically a Buddha could get enlightenment through following the Noble Way octuple…“, I recommend the following post:
“Pāramitā and Niyata Vivarana – Myths or Realities?”
– Yes. It takes an enormous effort, through an enormous number of lives, to become a Buddha.
– A Buddha is indeed a VERY SPECIAL human. In fact, he is the ultimate scientist, since he discovers ALL ABOUT the wider world of 31 realms, AND how to escape from it.
– One cannot really appreciate the value of a Buddha until one starts comprehending that “wider world view.”The sentence that I have highlighted shows the ignorance of whoever said that. No one can KNOW about the Eightfold Noble Path without a Buddha DISCOVERING it! A Buddha discovers that on his own.
Yes to all.
There are some subtleties in Pali grammar that I have not discussed. That could be “too much” to cover at once.
– But with the next few posts, I will try to cover some key aspects.Lang asked: “In Sinhala, are citta and cittā two different words?”
Those are Pali words and WRITTEN with the Sinhala script as චිත්ත and චිත්තා.
– Note the slight difference.The Sinhala words are සිත and සිත්.
– We know that English words are thought and thoughts.Lang asked: “Secondly, is there a distinction in capitalization in Sinhala script? For example, is dhamma (what one bears) written differently from Dhamma (teaching of Buddha)?”
No. There are no capital letters in Sinhala.
– dhamma (what one bears) is written as ධම්මා (in plural)
– Dhamma (teaching of Buddha) is written as බුද්ධ ධම්ම. Note that ධම්ම here is in the singular.P.S. I missed Lang’s following comment: “I have seen the use of ā for plurality, such as citta and cittā, sutta and suttā. Adding an “s”, such as in suttas, is clearly and English imposition.”
The plural of citta and sutta SHOULD BE cittā and suttā.
– I have been writing the plurals as cittas and suttas, since that may make it easier for many to understand.
– But I am going to discuss this in the next post, and also try to adhere to the correct way in the future.Good questions!
Thank you, yann for your comments.
Yes. Rebirth is an issue that many in the West have a hard time to deal with. I suggest reading the post, “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream.”
– Please refer to bullet numbers in the post if you have questions.I am not sure what you mean by “Also just a tip, you should high-ligh the lexical pages because they are hard to find on the home page. I spend a few hours reading and browsing the internet for pali translations while the lexical was there all along.”
The Pali Glossary could be helpful and can be found here: “Tables and Summaries.”
Are you certain that your information is correct? Where are you getting this information? We have to be careful not to spread rumors. This is a serious issue.
The Buddha advised that it is better not to say anything unless it is true AND it is the right time to say even if it is true.
– I cannot imagine governments not taking appropriate actions if there is such a concern.“But since I am where I am, should I try to warn people? ”
Do you have any specific information regarding the virus that can help some people? If so, yes.
Yes. There are all these weird speculations.
They all arise because people are trying to extrapolate some “unusual characteristics” of very small particles (quantum particles) to “large particles” that we are familiar with.
For example, when one shoots quantum particles like electrons through a “double-slit”, the electrons going through those slits fall on “unexpected positions” on a screen placed beyond the double-slit. See, #7 of “The Double Slit Experiment – Correlation between Mind and Matter?”
– However, if you make a large double-slit for tennis balls and shoot tennis balls, they will NOT make such a weird pattern.The scenarios that you describe are the same. Such phenomena have been OBSERVED only in the microscopic realm, i.e., for quantum particles like electrons and photons and in a few cases to small molecules.
– But people try to extrapolate such observations to the macroscopic realm (i.e., objects like tennis balls, cats, the Moon, and humans.Sybe07: Sakkaya ditthi is a (wrong) VIEW.
When one gets rid of sakkaya ditthi, one just gets rid of that wrong view. That does not mean one will lose any of the five aggregates.
One will then realize that IT IS UNFRUITFUL to take any of those as “MINE.”
– But one may still have the PERCEPTION (sanna) that those are “mine.” That perception reduces at each stage of magga phala and will COMPLETELY go away only at the Arahant stage.P.S. The recent post, “Mental Body Versus the Physical Body” discusses why it is unfruitful to take one’s body to be “mine.”
Those are Johnny’s comments, Siebe.
Johnny wrote: “But unless we are faced with extreme difficulties under very trying conditions, we cannot for sure know that we have attained any magga phala.”
That is quite true.
– However, if one has truly attained a magga phala, no external circumstance will dictate one’s moral behavior limits set by THAT PARTICULAR magga phala.It is only an Arahant who WILL NOT, under any circumstance, commit any akusala.
A Sotapanna, for example, is NOT CAPABLE of doing only six types of extreme akusala: killing father, killing mother, killing an Arahant, injuring a Buddha, stop following the path of the Buddha. The other one, I think is Sangha Bheda (schism in Sangha), but that is applicable only to bhikkhus.
P.S. However, that DOES NOT mean that a Sotapanna WILL DO any other akusala deeds. Those are just the ones a Sotapanna WILL NOT DO, under any circumstance.2 users thanked author for this post.
