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Johnny_Lim posted the following.
Came across an article – Nine Meals from Anarchy
Inside the article, 2 things are worth mentioning:
1.After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbour with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbour and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”
2.Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic.
It became clear to me that we as buddhists, might sometimes think we have attained this stage of ariyanhood, that stage of ariyanhood. But unless we are faced with extreme difficulties under very trying conditions, we cannot for sure know that we have attained any magga phala.
The recent Wuhan coronavirus has rocked HongKong very badly. Many supermarkets are empty because the hongkongers panic-buy everything off the shelves. If the crisis continues to worsen into an anarchy, would a Sotāpanna bend on his/her morality?
It also serves as a big reminder to me that a person cannot have a never-changing self. Circumstances can change a person’s behaviour. Only Dhamma is our refuge.
One cannot ever KNOW everything, unless of course, one is a Sammasambuddha.
However, one can make logical conclusions based on what one understands. When one starts understanding the depth of Buddha’s teachings, and the self-consistency, one will start building confidence that a Buddha is a unique human who is born only after long times. That is called building saddha!
One cannot force oneself to have saddha. It comes through UNDERSTANDING. It comes through SELF-CONSISTENCY in the teachings. It comes through one’s own EXPERIENCE in seeing that one’s level of greed, anger, and ignorance diminish with time.
– In fact, it is the last one that is the most important (one’s own EXPERIENCE).Let me just give a simple example. None of us has been to all the countries on Earth. But do any one of us doubt that any of those countries does not exist?
– How do we know that any given country exists, even if we have no first-hand experience? We know that because there is ample indirect evidence (all self-consistent) for its existence.Anyway, enough on this topic.
– Just keep in mind that it is dangerous to make derogatory statements regarding a Buddha. There is no need to. It will only serve to block one’s progress. It is OK to have doubts. It is fine to keep an open mind. But making such unnecessary statements can only be harmful to oneself.–
I know that I can only get an impression of what they are saying in a dream. It is not an opinion.
How would it be possible to hear words? There is no sound coming through the ears!
Anyway, there is no point in arguing about it. If you THINK that you are hearing actual words, that is fine with me. I am just saying it cannot possibly happen. It is the mind that “sees” and “hears” in a dream (your eyes are definitely closed).
Johnny: Yes. Nama gotta (or memory records) can be accessed by either punna iddhi or by cultivating jhana.
Recalling previous lives by punna iddhi means, due to a past kamma they are able to recall. Children recalling past lives can be thought to fall under that too. Some others can recall memories in this life in great detail: “Recent Evidence for Unbroken Memory Records (HSAM)”
Those who cultivate the fourth jhana may be able to recall many past lives. Even before the Buddha, there were yogis who could recall many past lives. But those are mainly past human lives.
– A few are able to recall many, many past lives including those in different bhava. A Buddha can recall as many of those at a great speed.Tobias asked: “Are stupas closed chambers so that no human can go inside?”
Yes. A stupa is a huge structure. Dhatu are stored in a small chamber inside. But it is fully closed. No human can go inside. The following are pictures of Stupas:
“Pictures of Stupa.”I watched the video. It is a three-year-old girl from Sri Lanka.
This account is interesting because the girl talks about past birth in a different realm, i.e., different bhava. That is very unusual.
– Most rebirth accounts are from past births in the human realm.
– Normally, memories from different bhava (or realms) cannot be recalled. But some with punna iddhi can do that. Some petas can do that too. That is part of their suffering. They will know exactly why they are born as a peta (hungry ghost.)Some highlights:
– Both male and female Devas wear colorful clothes and jewelry.
– They apparently have different types of food, drinks, and flowers. We need to remember that those cannot be compared to ours. Don’t think in terms of our food, drinks, flowers, jewelry, etc.
– There are devas with lower and higher levels. I had read that in the suttas too. Some have more powers than others (as a result of better kamma vipaka.)More interestingly, she gave some accounts of things that happened in the human realm. She says there are no bhikkhus or temples in the Deva realm. She and others “came down” to worship the Buddha and religious sites.
– There were no stupas before the Parinibbana of the Buddha. After Buddha’s Parinibbana, stupas were built. As a Deva, she was able to “go inside” stupas and see those dhatu (remains of the Buddha) enclosed in golden containers.
– She also says the Buddha statues we have today do not match the features of the Buddha. That makes sense. Statues of the Buddha were built hundreds of years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. There were Buddhist Greek Kings in India after Alexander. That is when the tradition to build Buddha statues started (Greeks are famous for making statues.) P.S. At 8.30 minutes she says that there were no Buddha statues while she was a Deva. Apparently she must have died there within a couple of hundred years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha.
– There was another interesting account regarding the death of Ven. Moggallana. He was killed by a group of people. The King caught them, buried them to their waist and had elephants kill them. That account is in the Tipitaka. She apparently remembers that incident. She did not describe what happened in detail like that. Just said the King killed those who were responsible.A “descending gandhabba” just means a gandhabba entering a womb. I am not sure why it is stated as “descending.”
You wrote: ” So maybe the Buddha copied this idea of the Brahmins.”
That means you have no idea who a Buddha is. A Buddha does not need to “copy” anything from anyone.
You can believe or not believe anything. That is totally up to you. But refrain from making derogatory comments. Just ask a (sensible) question if you like.
I have not seen a time period in the Tipitaka, Siebe.
However, according to science, it happens within a day or two.
“idea must be translated to language for him to understand.”
No. That is not correct.
As I pointed out, Brahmas do not have languages. How can they learn languages if they cannot speak? They just grasp the idea with the mind.
– We also grasp the idea when we hear in our dreams. There is no language involved.Only a Sammasambuddha (like Buddha Gotama) has those capabilities to the fullest extent.
All others may have some of them to some extent.
The way beings in different realms communicate does not involve a language.
When we speak, in addition to the sound coming out, our thoughts “emit” the idea to the external world too. That idea can be grasped by those beings.
That is how we “hear” in dreams. While we dream we can hear those in the dream say. But we don’t hear anything through our ears.
I think you can get the basic idea by thinking about the following.
Consider someone who knows two (or more) languages well. When that person dreams, he does not hear with one of those languages. He just understands what someone in the dream says.
Another point is that Brahmas in Brahma realms do not have dense bodies like ours. They cannot “speak” as we do. They hear in the above way, just with their thoughts. They don’t have languages.
This was discussed in the post published today, with references to previous posts: “Mental Body Versus the Physical Body.”
All good comments. It is good to think deeply about these issues.
But it is also clear that we can make decisions only based on our current status of understanding. Thus it is essential to keep learning and gradually remove all our wrong views. All wrong views are removed only at the Arahant stage.
– The grandmother made bad decisions because her level of ignorance was high.
– In case 2, person A may inform person B without thinking clearly about the possible bad consequences. Sometimes it is better NOT to do anything.That last statement applies to speech often. It is better NOT to say things EVEN IF true if that is not the right place to say it. See, “Right Speech – How to Avoid Accumulating Kamma.”
Furthermore, we must always be mindful of our actions and speech. But it is also CRITICAL to be mindful of our THOUGHTS. As we have been discussing in the recent posts on “Origin of Life,” it is in our thoughts (specifically in javana citta) that we create kammic energies.
Yes. Both Alvino’s and Sybe’s comments are quite relevant.
In fact, Alvino’s comment is related to the role of the brain, and Sybe’s is related to the mental body or gandhabba.If the brain is damaged, the gandhabba is not getting the correct information and that affects the decision making by the gandhabba.
– The following video is a really good example of how the gandhabba is affected by the brain, and in general, the physical body. The lady could not see only because there was something wrong with her PHYSICAL eyes, the optic nerve, or the visual cortex in the brain. Once the gandhabba came out, it was able to see for the first time in her life:On the other hand, if one has wrong views, then that is an intrinsic problem (per Sybe’s comment.)
This is why those two cases (cases 2 and 3) are difficult to nail down.
In Case 2, person A needs to be careful in giving that information to person B, since he knows that particular aspect of person B. Unless person B is in danger of catching the virus, it is better not to convey that message to person B.
– This is comparable to what is discussed in the following post on right speech:
“Right Speech – How to Avoid Accumulating Kamma.”Case 3 is definitely due to ignorance. The grandmother would be responsible for her actions done out of ignorance.
It seems that Sybe07 was not able to post a comment and he emailed me the following comment.
Maybe this sutta can be useful? AN 10. 104
Case 3
The grandmother had a bad view about what is wholesome for the baby, so the results (kidney failure) are very bad, suffering. Her intention is questionable. I think it is guided by carelessness, she is not cautious. Why is she not cautious? Does that really show concern with the welbeing of the baby? I think one can question that. She thinks and acts uncritical and that is dangerous and i think also blameful. At least when she is not sick.
In my opinion the grandmothers intentions are guided by carelessless and therefor cannot really be designated as good. In some sense it is quit immoral to act as such a daredevil with a baby.Hello alvino!
You are correct that case 1 is the easiest.
It is very clear that Venerable Chakkupala did not see that he was stepping on insects since he was blind. In fact, even one with good eyesight is likely to unintentionally step on insects and other small living forms every day. There is no bad kamma created in these cases.
The other two cases are a bit more complex. In those two cases, the person was thinking about the issue and acted based on those conscious thoughts.
On one hand, being ignorant and doing foolish things that can hurt others is not an excuse.
– However, in the extreme case of an insane person (medically declared to be insane) cannot be held responsible for his/her actions. That is the mundane law, and the Buddha also declared that such a person would not accumulate any bad kamma (I don’t remember the specific sutta.)I have some things to attend to this morning. I will think about the specific cases a bit more.
– In the meantime, I encourage others to think about it and make comments.
