Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Q1. Sanna vipallasa is associated with all three “lokas.”
- “Distorted kama sanna” is associated with the realms in the “kama loka“ and leads to “kama raga.” An Anagami has removed “kama raga,” meaning they will no longer be attached to “distorted kama sanna.“
- “Distorted rupa loka sanna” (jhanic pleasures) are associated with the realms in the “rupa loka.” “Distorted arupa loka sanna” (samapatti pleasures) are associated with the realms in the “arupa loka.” An Arahant (who has cultivated jhana/samapatti) will still feel the same jhanic or arupa samapatti “pleasures,” but their minds will not be attached to them.
Q2. Yes.
- P.S. It is better to say: “..removal of the tendency to attach to sanna vipallasa is achieved through the cultivation of wisdom (panna).”
1 user thanked author for this post.
This website aims to teach deeper aspects of Buddha’s teachings.
- Other websites and discussion forums discuss “easy-to-grasp” concepts that underlie Buddha’s teachings. There is nothing wrong with that. The danger is that most of those websites and textbooks have misleading ideas that, once grasped, are hard to remove.
- I want to use this website to preserve the deeper aspects of Buddha’s teachings.
- You may want to participate in forums that are suitable for you.
You asked: “So again: What’s called birth by the Buddha and his disciples, it’s definition?
What’s called death?
What’s called existence?
- I suggest reading the post “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein.”
My apologies for not responding to your earlier comment. I did not see it.
- I had made a mistake in my earlier comment that you linked to. I just corrected it as follows:
P.P.S. (September 16, 2024): There is a critical difference between the effects of ditthi vipallasa and sanna vipallasa.
- At the Sotapnna stage, ditthi vipallasa disappears, and wrong views are removed.
- In contrast, sanna vipallasa is “built into” our mental and physical bodies. We can only train the mind to “ignore it” and “not to be fooled by it.” That happens in stages. An Anagami’s mind will still get the “distorted kama sanna” that honey is sweet, but it will not be attached to that taste. In another example, An Anagami will see the “beauty of a woman” but will not generate lust for the woman.
- But an Anagami (who has cultivated jhana/samapatti) will still be attached to jhanic or arupa samapatti “pleasures.” An Arahant (who has cultivated jhana/samapatti) will still feel the same jhanic or arupa samapatti “pleasures,” but their minds will not be attached to them.
I hope this will clarify your well-justified questions. I should have expressed my ideas better.
- I will clarify this in detail in the next post, but feel free to ask any questions.
1 user thanked author for this post.
To Samana Johann:
What do you mean by writing: “Or would good Lal say that if one falls into a tendency like a Brahma, yet still human body, that he/she took another existence?”
- Do you understand the difference between “bhava” and “jati” for a human?
- When first grasping the “human existence (bhava),” a human gandhabba is born. It has a “subtle boy” like that of a Brahma and may have a lifetime of many thousands of years. Within that lifetime, that human gandhabba can be born with a physical human body (like ours) that lives only for about a hundred years. Therefore, each of us will probably be reborn many times (with a dense human body) for a long time until the gandhabba‘s life comes to an end.
- That is why in children’s rebirth accounts, they can recall their last past life with a dense physical body. The two births are separated by several or even thousands of years. Between two such consecutive “births,” it lives in the gandhabba state with a “subtle body” that we cannot see.
To Samana Johann:
Your comments may not convey the ideas you are trying to convey. I am not sure what you are trying to say in the above comment, for example.
- I suggest using a word processor to correct the grammar and clarify the ideas.
The goal is to end the suffering in the rebirth process.
- The Buddha taught the following: We will not be reborn humans repeatedly (or be reborn in a higher, heavenly realm for eternity). Depending on their actions (moral/immoral), humans can be reborn in higher or lower realms. We can see only one of the four lower realms, the animal realm; the other three lower realms have even more suffering. In addition, rebirths in the low realms are much more frequent. Therefore, there is unimaginable suffering in the rebirth process.
- That is why one would want to end the rebirth process and attain Nibbana.
You have not read my comments or the posts I recommended (or do not have enough background on Buddha’s teachings). If interested, I recommend reading “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream” to learn about the rebirth process.
Let me put it this way: There is no “soul-type” permanent entity as in Cristianity. It is an illusion.
- Paticca Samuppada explains that the idea of an “everlasting self” (a “soul-type” entity) is an illusion. Each “existence” is created by the mind in previous lives. That is how the rebirth process continues.
- Please reread my above comment and the post I recommended.
- The following post could be helpful too: “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream”
” But since Nibbana is described as nicca, atta and sukha (the opposite of the conditioned elements) and only the specific mind that cultivates this correct perception (that conditions are Tilakkhana) merges with this element, would it be appropriate to say Nibbana is their “self”?”
- No. It is only those striving to attain Nibbana consider it to be of nicca, atta, sukha VERSUS anicca, anatta, dukha associated with existence in any realm of this world.
- A living Arahant also sees what they have attained as nicca, atta, and sukha. Of course, they will experience any physical ailments associated with the body they were born with, but they know that it will also go away when the physical body dies.
- Nibbana means total dissociation from this world. Nibbana cannot be described in terms of the vocabulary “of this world.”
- The “ever-changing personality” terminates with becoming an Arahant.
- Only the physical body born as an “average human (puthujjana)” lives until its death and is subjected to physical ailments; after the death of the physical body, there is no trace of that “lifestream.” Only mental phenomena sustained that lifestream!
- That should be clear when you see that the Paticca Samuppada process starts with “avijja paccaya sankhara” and leads to “bhava ” and “jati” leading to existence as a human, Deva, animal, etc. at different times. All those existences were maintained/sustained by kammic energy!
- It takes an effort to stop evaluating Buddha Dhamma with a “mundane mindset.” A paradigm change is necessary to understand Buddha’s teachings, as I pointed out in the current post: “Sensory Experience, Paṭicca Samuppāda, and pañcupādānakkhandha.”
I know it can be a bit difficult to grasp the idea of saññā vipallāsa or distorted saññā.
- Saññā vipallāsa is equivalent to distorted saññā. I translate “vipallāsa” as “distortion” because it refers to an incorrect perception (saññā) of worldly experiences.
- What do you consider to be the difference between them?
- Clarifying these concepts is essential, so don’t hesitate to state what you understand them to be.
I think this is a good time to remind everyone of the following.
Vedanā that appears in Paṭicca Samuppāda is “mind-made,” not the physical pain or physical pleasure. Part of that “mind-made vedanā” arises via “distorted saññā” (automatically), and another arises via “samphassa-jā-vedanā” a split-second later. I have not discussed that in detail yet, but it is good to keep in mind.
- In that context, any sukha vedanā coming through all the senses other than the physical body, generate part of that “mind-made vedanā” via “distorted saññā.“
2 users thanked author for this post.
I think Waisaka only suggested one possibility out of many to give an idea.
- In general, we only need to understand that good (moral) kamma lead to good vipaka and bad (immoral) kamma lead to bad vipaka.
- In addition, to cultivate Satipatthana or Anapanasati Bhavana, we must abstain from immoral deeds and engage in moral deeds. Here, “deeds” include our actions, speech, and thoughts. Furthermore, we must contemplate Dhamma concepts (like Paticca Samuppada), and that advances our mind toward the suffering-free pabhassara mind.
- The above summarizes Buddha Dhamma.
2 users thanked author for this post.
Pathfinder asked: “Why does the Buddha talk about the mother’s womb when the sutta is about conditions at that time/ Idappaccayatā Paṭicca Samuppāda?”
- Grasping a “human bhava” happens at the cuti-patisandhi moment, NOT when a gandhabba gets into a womb. A human gandhabba (mental body) is born well before it can get into a womb. So, in what you quoted above, the Buddha did not describe a cuti-patisandhi moment, but only the situation where a gandhabba gets into a womb. That translator does not understand this process, so it is misleading.
- To be born with a physical human body, that gandhabba must enter a womb, which normally can happens months or years after that. Then, a human baby is born, grows, and dies. If that person lived for 100 years, that is a much shorter time compared to the lifetime of the human gandhabba. So, the gandhabba comes out of the dead body and is pulled into another womb at a later time. There can be many births (jati) within a human bhava. See “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein.”
- To properly translate that sutta, the trasnaltor must understand what I described above. This is why many English translations are misleading or confusing.
Pathfinder wrote: “Another interesting thing is that the Buddha skips saḷāyatana paccayā phasso in that analysis, and links nama rupa straight to phasso. He also stops at viññāṇa in his anaylsis, he does not go back further to talk about avijja and sankhara.”
- Yes. Here, “namarupa” represents “salayatana” too.
- It is a deeper point. But the point is that the “namarupa creation” that happens in the mind that gives rise to a gandhabba being born with six ayatana (salayatana).
- Paticca Samuppada analysis can be done at various levels. Properly tanslating the “Mahanidana Sutta” can take a book. It is the main sutta on Paticca Samuppada. Word-by-word translations are useless (and can be dangerously misleading) for such suttas, which require detailed expalnations.
1 user thanked author for this post.
Yes. The Idappaccayatā Paṭicca Samuppāda running at the cuti-patisandhi moment can be labeled “uppatti Paṭicca samuppāda” because that explains the arising of a new existence (for example, leaving the human existence and grasping an animal or Deva existence.)
- But that is just another version of the Idappaccayatā Paṭicca Samuppāda.
- One thing to note is that the arammana (sensory input) in that particular situation is initiated by accumulated kammic energy, i.e., by a “janaka kamma.” That is described only in Abhidhamma (not critical to understand), but it is good to remember.
It is better to focus on how one generates kamma rather than on kamma vipaka.
- The Buddha said, “I will teach you what suffering is, how it arises, why it arises, and how to stop it from arising.”
- One cannot learn anything useful by studying kamma vipaka. That subject is fully comprehensible only to a Buddha: “Kamma vipāko, bhikkhave, acinteyyo, na cintetabbo.” See “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77).”
- The necessary translation: “There are four things that are unthinkable. They should not be thought about; anyone who tries to think about them will lose their mind or be frustrated. One of them is kamma vipāka.”
- You should find other resources (if there are any) to discuss kamma vipaka.
- I have and will discuss only the necessary aspects. That is why I said I cannot waste my time analyzing each hypothetical situation. Only a Buddha can do that, but I doubt whether he would spend the time on such issues because they do not help us understand the origin of suffering.
Yes. But not anytime soon. It is more important to discuss the importance of “sanna” in panca upadanakkhandha.
1 user thanked author for this post.
