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1. Fear and sadness have different levels.
– For example, fear experienced in the apayas (4 realms below the human realm), is at a higher intensity than experienced in the human realm.
– It is probably correct to say that fear is very minimal in the realms above the human realm, except when getting close to the end of a lifetime there.2. Fear and sadness can be there in the human realm, even at higher levels if one is regularly engaged in highly-immoral activities that would lead to births in the apayas. We sometimes say, “this person is like an animal” when we see that one has committed crimes like killing or rape of children.
– Obviously, when one attains the Sotapanna stage, one would not be able to do such actions, and thus one’s mind would not get to that level of fear and sadness.3. Fear and sadness will completely go away only when one attains the Arahanthood. That is when one attains total equanimity. One’s mind will not be perturbed by anything (akuppā in Pali, as in akuppā cetovimutti).
Lang asked: “Are dreams mano viññāna?”
They are mano viññāna, but they arise from kamma vipaka. Just like all cakkhu, sota, ghana, jivha, kaya mano viññāna arise due to kamma vipaka.
Dreams cannot make kamma. Only mano viññāna done via sankhara are responsible for kamma generation; see, “Viññāna – What It Really Means“.
– I emphasized this under another topic today.In the language of Abhidhamma, we do not generate javana citta while we dream. Kammā are done with javana citta.
– Another way to see this is: when we see dreams we cannot make decisions.
– Yet another way to see it is, “avijja paccaya sankhara” followed by “sankhara paccaya viññāna” does not take place in dreams.“For surely devas do not greet and have a conversation with a manomayakaya.”
I cannot be certain, but it is probably with the manomaya kaya that visited the deva (or brahma) realms. It is not possible for a physical body to survive there.
– As I keep saying, we are stretching our imagination to “make sense” of such phenomena that we are not used to.
– Communications can be done with just the manomaya kaya, and identification too. Each brahma and deva are individual living beings.I had explained this briefly in #10 of the post.
But your reference from the Tipitaka is a good one. I have revised #10 to include it as follows:
– One with even more developed abilities may be able to reduce one’s physical body to the suddhāshtaka level, go through the “solid object” and then “reassemble” at the other end. That sounds like science fiction (“teleportation”), but that is precisely how it may be done in the future with further progress in science. Of course, one with such abhiññā powers would be able to do that right now.
– P.S. An account from the Tipitaka regarding “teleportation”: Ven. Ananda attained the Arahanthood only the day before the first Buddhist Council held 3 months after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. Only Arahants were allowed to participate. Everyone was waiting for the arrival of Ven. Ananda. In order to remove any doubts of those who were present that he had indeed attained the Arahanthood — complete with all iddhi powers — Ven. Ananda is said to have entered the room through the keyhole in the door. So, this is an example of teleportation.– I also added the following to #8:
P.S. If it is possible to take out all that empty space in our bodies (which of course is not possible), all the matter in the bodies of 9 billion humans in the world today can be fit inside a sugar cube!(Regarding posting under “General Information and Updates”: In the future, just send me an email and I can open a new topic with the link).
“Here, this viññāna is kamma viññāna, and also viññāna as in “viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa”, correct?”
That is correct, Lang.
Also, cakkhu, sota, ghana, jivha, kaya viññāna do not generate kamma. They are vipaka viññāna.
– Mano viññāna can be both vipaka viññāna AND kamma viññāna.
– It is only mano viññāna that generate kamma.
– So, it is only mano viññāna that contribute to “viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa”.
– I mention this here because many people may have missed this important point.See, “Viññāna – What It Really Means“.
Lang: Your above question is related to the answer that I just posted on the other topic in respnse to your question there: “Regrets“.
Kammic energy created at some time in the past with a “viññāna” has now led to a gandhabba (with pasada rupa and hadaya vatthu) for a new existence.
– That kammic energy (E), corresponding to that viññāna, led to the creation of gandhabba with a VERY, VERY small mass (m). Those two are related via, E = mc^2.
– (For those who are not familiar with this notation, c^2 = c x c, c^3 = c x c x c, etc). Speed of light c is a large number (3 x 10^8 meters per second, so, the energy created is VERY small (at the suddhashtaka level).These are subtle but important points. Don’t hesitate to ask questions if not clear. One needs to spend some time and think about these issues. One always needs to make connections to other posts. That is how understanding gets established.
P.S. Citta vithi generated with the new existence can generate new kammic energies (via more viññāna). Those can lead to more future existences. This is how the rebirth process continues.
No. Mindest is not viññāna.
Viññāna is an expectation generated based on thinking about something. If the expectation is bad, then it is a “bad viññāna” and it generates kammic energy (a kamma seed) that can bring vipaka in the future.
– For example, if someone comes and hits you, you may form a viññāna to “get back at him”. You may even hit back right there. Either way, you generated a “bad viññāna” and that can bring “bad vipaka” in the future.Mindset is really what is called bhavanga, which means “part of existence” or “state of mind”: “bhava” + “anga”, where “anga” means a “part”.
– Bhavanga usually means a “state of mind” for the whole “human bhava” for a human.
– But that can be temporarily changed for a time period if a significant event can change the “state of mind”. For example, in the above example, when someone comes and hits you, you get into an “angry state of mind”. Even after that person leaves, you may be in that “angry state” for a while. So, if another person comes and says something to aggravate you, you may generate another “bad viññāna” and hit him too.So, viññāna and bhavanga (state of mind) are not the same, but related.
– See, “Viññāna – Consciousness Together With Future Expectations” and “State of Mind in the Absence of Citta Vithi – Bhavanga“, and posts referred therein.Welcome to the forum, Chris!
It is not bad to cultivate jhana, but one must be careful not to get addicted to “jhanic pleasures”. As I mentioned above, “Jhanic states correspond to the mental states in the brahma realms. The first four jhanas correspond to the rupavacara brahma realms and the higher jhanas correspond to the arupavacara brahma realms.”
The end result of cultivating jhana is having a rebirth in a brahma realm. Just like the human realm, those brahma realms are also temporary.
– However, if one cultivates jhana, AND THEN contemplate on the unsatisfactory nature of them, THEN one can make progress towards Nibbana (nirvana is the Sanskrit word).Also, you may want to read the post, “Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta – Wrong Interpretations“.
– Anicca is not “impermanence” and anatta is not “no-self”.
– What one should focus on is the unsatisfactory nature of even the higher realms (human, deva, brahma). All those are not permanent and have finite lifetimes. Then, one maybe even reborn in lower realms, including the animal realm), and that is where real suffering is.
– Some people automatically attain jhana while contemplating the anicca, dukkha, anatta nature. For some others, it is virtually impossible to attain jhana even with practice. It is mainly a samsaric habit. Those who had cultivated jhana in recent past lives can easily get to jhana; see, “Samādhi, Jhāna (Dhyāna), Magga Phala“.Yes. I agree with Akvan and firewns. One should try to get the mind off “having regrets”.
As I explained in another topic:
“Fear, confidence, sadness, elation are all associated with the “mindest” at the given moment. The mindset here is not a kilesa or upakilesa, but arise DUE TO kilesa and upakilesa. Elation is not joy (piti), but a “state of mind” like sadness.Those can become one’s gati (bhavanga) for the next life if the mindset at the cuti-patisandhi moment is one of those.
– Fear and sadness are associated with births in the lower realms.
– Confidence and joy associated with births in higher realms.
– A neutral state of mind (upekkha) can be associated with brahma realms and optimized for an Arahant.”Having regrets can lead to fear/sadness as a state of mind. That is an obstacle for learning and making progress on the Path.
What one can do is to engage in activities that will bring joy and confidence to one’s mind. These include giving and helping those in need and keeping the five precepts. Breaking the five precepts often leads to an “unsettled state of mind”.
Furthermore, there is no point in having regrets about past actions. One needs to focus on what one can do from now on. Angulimala killed almost a thousand people, but he was able to put that behind and attain the Arahanthood; “Account of Angulimāla – Many Insights to Buddha Dhamma“.
Lang wrote:
@Lal
“…When such thoughts creep into the mind, one should immediately get rid of them. That is the basis of Anapana and Satipatthana.”It is IMPORTANT to note that I was referring to SPECIFIC thoughts with greed, hate, or ignorance. Such thoughts should be stopped as soon as they arise.
– One SHOULD NOT get rid of all thoughts. In fact, one should CULTIVATE good (moral) thoughts with the opposites (benevolence, compassion, and wisdom).
– Those two encompass the real Anapana or Satipatthana Bhavana.Lang asked, “For the view of “not caring whether or not there is rebirth”, sort of “taking the 5th on rebirth”, is it a micha ditthi?”
If one does not believe in rebirth one is not a real Buddhist, because what the Buddha taught was how to stop the suffering-filled rebirth process.
– Some people get upset when I point this out. But I MUST point out such key facts about Buddha Dhamma; see, “Buddhism without Rebirth and Nibbana?“.As I mentioned in the post, we are fortunate to live at a time when science has made enough progress to explain some of these issues. I will be addressing some of these issues in detail in upcoming posts.
To answer your question, Einstein pointed out that energy and matter are the same things. His famous equation, E = mc^2, quantifies the relationship between energy (E), and the mass (m), and c is the speed of light. Here “mass” (m) can be called the amount of matter (or the “weight” as we normally call it).
Our mental body (manomaya kaya or gandhabba) is created by the energy emitted by our thoughts while doing a very strong kamma. As I explained there, this energy is VERY VERY small, and the “mass” of the gandhabba is VERY VERY small (it is billion times smaller than an atom in modern science).
In other words, the energy in our thoughts can create matter, of course VERY VERY small amounts of matter.
– This gives an indication of how fine the “body” of a gandhabba is!So, this kammic energy is real.
Please feel free to ask questions. I am a physicist, so I may be taking too much for granted. I will do my best to simplify things. I just don’t know how much to simplify.
Just because there are “pending kamma vipaka” does not mean all of them will actually bring vipaka. This is a very important point to remember.
We all may have done very bad kamma in previous lives and such vipaka MAY bear fruit in this life or in future lives.
However, we can REMOVE THE CONDITIONS that are necessary to bring those vipaka to materialize.
– One obvious way is to attain magga phala. If one attains the Sotapanna stage, for example, all previous kamma that are eligible to bring rebirths in the apayas will be INEFFECTIVE.Even though Angulimala killed almost a thousand people, he was able to attain the Arahant stage. There are many lessons to be learned from that; see, “Account of Angulimāla – Many Insights to Buddha Dhamma“.
On the other hand, some kamma vipaka can bring vipaka, even for a Buddha (while still living).
But we can act with mindfulness and do our best NOT TO create suitable CONDITIONS for kamma vipaka to materialize; see, “What is Kamma? – Is Everything Determined by Kamma?“.
– One example that I always give is: If one goes to a bad neighborhood at night time, that is likely to bring some bad vipaka that is waiting for the right conditions to bear fruit.
– This is why being mindful of one’s actions is important, even in mundane matters.
– Another example is starting a long trip without making the necessary preparations. Planning is a necessary step in most cases.You wrote, “I know establishing them in right view would be one of the best things. It’s been ineffective so far, but if I find sufficient evidence I may be able to do so.
I also transfer merits to them every day and practice metta towards them…”.
– So, you are doing what can be done to minimize the effects of such vipaka. Sincerely asking for forgiveness (during meditation sessions) is another thing that can be done. I do that every day. It is possible that we offend other people even without realizing it or even when we act with (what we think to be) good intentions.Fear, confidence, sadness, elation are all associated with the “mindest” at the given moment. The mindset here is not a kilesa or upakilesa, but arise DUE TO kilesa and upakilesa. Elation is not joy (piti), but a “state of mind” like sadness.
Those can become one’s gati (bhavanga) for the next life, if the mindset at the cuti-patisandhi moment is one of those.
– Fear and sadness are associated with births in lower realms.
– Confidence and joy associated with births in higher realms.
– A neutral state of mind (upekkha) can be associated with brahma realms and optimized for an Arahant.This is why all beings in lower realms have subconscious fear and/or sadness. Those in higher realms have a pleasant state of mind in bhavanga.
Bhavanga is an important concept: “Bhava and Bhavanga – Simply Explained!” and “State of Mind in the Absence of Citta Vithi – Bhavanga“.
AxelSnaxel wrote above, ““Also when the first desana was to be given in Sri Lanka, the novice accompanying Mahinda used his psychic power to announce it to the whole country with his voice.”
I wrote that it may not be true.
However, I have been thinking about these “mystical phenomena” over the weekend. They may not be mystical at all.
– As I have pointed out in recent posts, some of these phenomena are “beyond our sense perceptions”, but are regular features of some other realms.In the “Cūḷanikā Sutta (AN 3.80)”, the Buddha explains to Ven. Ananda that he has the ability to “make his voice heard over a billion star systems (each one of them like the Solar system)”.
Here is an English translation: “Lesser (AN 3.80)“.
– In that translation, a cluster of billion world systems is called “a galactic supercluster”. That particular translation is probably not right, because our own galaxy has over 100 billion stars. But you can get the main idea.I will try to write a post in the future explaining that some of these “mysterious phenomena” described in the Tipitaka may be explained with modern science. For example, this way of “having the voice heard across star systems” is NOT done in the normal way, where sound waves travel through the air.
– So, it is entirely possible that “..the novice accompanying Mahinda used his psychic power to announce it to the whole country with his voice”. It is NOT that he had to announce with a high power source like speakers that we use today; such a strong voice would have damaged ears of those who were closeby. The technique is entirely different.
– And “seeing over long distances” is NOT done with light photons as we are familiar with (which requires eyes to see). Seeing over long distances (dibba cakkhu) is NOT done with physical eyes.
–Thanks for the reference, and also for pointing out the times. That saves me time!
It is hard to verify some of these claims. Some accounts are only in the commentaries and I normally do not trust them.
However, we can trust such detailed accounts are in the Vinaya Piṭaka.
– But those accounts in the Vinaya Piṭaka are only relevant to events during the time of the Buddha.
– What happened at the time of Ven. Mahinda is obviously not going to be in the Tipitaka, but in the commentaries. The original commentaries (except for 3 included in the Tipitaka) have disappeared and the existing commentaries are not reliable.
