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Upekkha100 asked: “So one can get to jhana via focusing on one of these four: metta/karuna/mudita/upekkha?”
One gets to jhana by overcoming the kama loka.
Anariya jhana are attained by SUPPRESSING kama raga. Ariya jhana are attained by REMOVING kama raga, i.e., one would an Anagami to get to even to the first Ariya jhana.
There are two brahma realms below the one that can be reached via doing the metta bhavana:
“31 Realms of Existence”So, it is a gradual process to get to higher brahma realms.
Yeos said: “you’ll notice, if you didn’t notice already, that i mention 6 senses in my post.”
I was not responding to your post, Yeos. I was just making a point.
Now, there is “individuality” there, when consciousness arises due to a sense input. One’s gathi affect the citta (thoughts) that arise.
– These gathi are the same as anusaya, that are triggered by a strong sense input.The idea of a “mind” in particular “my mind” comes from our ability to recall the past. We can recall what we did yesterday, last year, many years ago. The mind is really in our our thoughts, and it exists only when thoughts arise; see, “What is Mind? How do we Experience the Outside World?“.
Even if we cannot recall things in detail, we can see the continuity of “me”: I looked like this when I was ten, I got married x years ago, my first child was born xx years ago, etc.
Of course, we NEED to have those memories in order to live the present moment. If we don’t remember where the bathroom is, for example, we will have a problem; see, “The Amazing Mind – Critical Role of Nāmagotta (Memories)“.
But what I am trying to say is that UNLESS we experience a sense input with one of the six senses, we would not be aware of a “world existing”.
Some people live for long periods of time without gaining consciousness. Where is their “mind” during that time?
The only thing that does not ever cease to exist (until Parinibbana) is hadaya vatthu, where thoughts CAN arise (IF AND WHEN a sense input comes through one of the six sense faculties). Of course, the nature of that hadaya vatthu keeps changing from bhava to bhava. At the cuti-patisandhi moment, the old hadaya vatthu cease to exist and a new hadaya vatthu is created by kammic energy.
Somethings to think about!
P.S. I revised the post 2 hours later!
One point I was trying to make is that there is no “mind” that exists all the time.
Instead of talking about a mind, it is better to say that citta (loosely translated as “thoughts”) arise when at least one thought object comes to any one of the six (not just five) senses.
This was explained in a previous topic:
On the Vibhaṅgasutta – About the 4 JhanasWhen one does insight mediation, one first gets to samadhi, and eventually gets to the Arahanthood, as described in the Upanisa Sutta (SN 12.23):
“..With the comprehension of suffering (i.e., the First Noble Truth via Tilakkhana) faith results; with the growth of faith, lightness of mind (pāmojjaṃ) arises; with increasing lightness of mind, joy (piti) arises; with increasing joy, lightness of the body (passaddhi) arises; with increasing passaddhi, bodily sukha arises; with increasing bodily sukha, samādhi arises; with samādhi, yathābhūtañāṇadassana (knowledge and vision of things as they really are) arises; with the knowledge and vision of things as they really are, one loses attachment to worldly things (nibbidā), followed by losing cravings for sense pleasures (viragā), and liberation (vimutti), and to the destruction of all defilements (khayeñāṇaṃ)”.
Now, jhana may be attained anytime around the step, “with increasing passaddhi, bodily sukha arises“.
– One may proceed all the way to Arahanthood without getting to jhanas.
That is from my earlier post.This piti is different from mundane joy. It comes from the mind “being released” from kāma assāda.
“generate more compassionate thoughts and engage in compassionate activities like giving.”
This can happen in two ways:
1. One may do all this with future expectations for a “good birth” (such a person would be on the mundane path).
2. One may still do those things after getting on the Noble Path, i.e., after comprehending Tilakkhana at least to some extent).In both cases, compassion is likely to be involved to at least some extent.
The Buddha said EVERYONE should be engaging in such activities. Punna kamma are not be afraid of. They will never be a hindrance to one’s progress.
This is a bit complex issue.
The key is that each person will who is on the Path will start seeing the futility of certain activities and that really depends on the individual. One may not yet be an Anagami, but one may see the futility of reading fiction, for example, as I did long ago.
– Another person may still like to read fiction, but may lose the desire to watch TV, for example.It is not that one loses all kama raga at the moment of attaining the Anagami stage. One will lose the last bits of leftovers at the at moment.
Eventually, one sees the unfruitfulness of doing any types of sankhara, when getting “sabba sankharesu anicca sanna” at the Arahant stage.
– That is what is meant by, “Sabbe sankhara anicca“.
– As I mentioned in a previous posting, An Arahant lives only for the benefit of others. He/she can only see the futility of any worldly action. Of course, most of us cannot even begin to comprehend that. And one should not try either.It is a gradual process to get there, and each person will progress in one’s own way.
Yes, Johnny.
That is a good way to express it.
Most people do not realize how harmful these vaci sankhara or “day dreaming” are.- Ven. Channa was very sick and was in great pain.
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When he told Ven. Sariputta that he was going to commit suicide, Ven. Sariputta tried to prevent it, because he suspected that Ven. Channa was not an Arahant.
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He actually questioned Ven. Channa to figure out whether he was an Arahant. Even though Ven. Channa told him directly that he was an Arahant, Ven. Sariputta apparently did not believe it.
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When Ven. Channa committed suicide, Ven. Sariputta went and asked the Buddha what his next birth and gati were. Buddha asked Ven. Sariputta, “did not Ven. Channa tell you that he was an Arahant?”.
– Ven. Sariputta says he suspected Ven. Channa was not an Arahant because he had close ties to his family.
– The Buddha said Ven. Channa was indeed an Arahant and was not reborn anywhere in the 31 realms.There was no point in living with such pain. Arahants live only for the benefit of others.
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Whether it is a translation to English or Sinhala, if “assasa passasa” is translated in the context of Anapana bhavana, then it does NOT mean “breathing in, breathing out”.
It is not a “software translation”. It was done by a person named Zoysa who lived in Sri Lanka (the authorship is shown in the link).
The Buddha has given clear instructions on how to answer a question in the
“Pañhabyākaraṇa Sutta (AN 4.42)“.Some questions definitely need to be answered,
some need to be explained in detail,
third type needs to be answered with a counter-question,
and the fourth, should not be answered.I know that most of the questioners are sincere. However, it is really a distraction to try to answer some questions. And such questions/answers do not benefit many in the audience.
I see some forums where people just make comments that go on on and do not provide any substance.
– So, I will not answer some questions and leave it up to others to answer if they like.
– I will not answer some questions that already have good answers from others.
– I will delete some questions/answers if I decide that they are unlikely to lead to any benefit.P.S. Sometimes I am on travel or get tied up or just may not see a posted question/comment.
Tobias: I did not want to get into details, but there is a deep “interconnectedness” in Nature that is just now being discussed in quantum mechanics regarding the “connectedness” of even inert particles. I mentioned it briefly in my earlier post:
“However, the gati of the mother and father at the current time may have an effect too, especially if they are very different. Everything in this world is inter-connected in a subtle way:”Quantum Entanglement – We Are All Connected“.”
Let me try to give the gist of it: Two electrons can be created simultaneously with two opposing spins (say A with spin up and B with spin down). Then they can be sent to two opposite ends even across the universe, and they remain “entangled”. That means if the spin A is flipped, then the spin of B will flip AT THE SAME TIME. It is as if they can interact with each other across the universe instantaneously.
Together with a friend of mind, I wrote a paper proposing a new interpretation of quantum theory based on nonlocality (I perceived the basic idea from Prof. Feynman’s work in quantum electrodynamics). But it got rejected from several journals, because physicists refuse to believe that the “light speed barrier” can be broken: Einstein’s relativity theory says nothing can propagate faster than light.
But here nothing actually “travels” between the two “connected electrons”. They are intrinsically connected.
Anyway, where I want to go with this is that kammic energy has instantaneous influence across the universe.
In the case of the sperm and egg, those “gathi” remain “attached” to the parents. So, it is very likely that the gathi that influence the gandhabba are the gathi of the parents at the time of gandhabba “taking possession” of the zygote created by the sperm and egg.
Anyway, that is what the new section on quantum mechanics is about:
“Quantum Mechanics and Dhamma“““BIKKHUS, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding.”
This verse says, even if one does harm to you, don’t get angry. Even though that is advice for bhikkhus, that is what even a lay person should strive for, whenever possible.
You said: “And please read the suttas I sent to you cause you clearly didn’t get them.”
I have read those suttas and they do not recommend violence even to lay people. It is true that bhikkhus have more strict rules, but there is nowhere in the Tipitaka it says even lay people should resort to violence.
This may not be a suitable forum for you. Just read about kamma and kamma vipaka before you make anymore senseless comments. Laws of kamma DO NOT distinguish between bhikkhus and lay people. Kamma vipaka for a given kamma are the same regardless of who does it.
Dhamma123 said: “See? There is a case for self defense when it is necessary.”
You are trying hard to twist what is meant there. “.guarding and watching so that kings would not seize it, thieves would not steal it, fire would not burn it, water would not carry it away, nor ill-disposed heirs remove it. This is the accomplishment of watchfulness.”
That does not mean violence. That is how I live my life too, and I do not need to harm anyone. I take steps to PREVENT anyone from stealing. Please stop twisting Buddha Dhamma. You may not know this, but making false statements about Dhamma is worse than many others immoral actions.
Dhamma123 said: “Anyway, does anybody want to answer my question about pain management?”
One needs to go to a physician (take appropriate medicine) for physical pain management.
In order to lessen self-induced mental suffering, one needs to stay away from dasa akusala; see, “Ten Immoral Actions (Dasa Akusala)”
This physical body that you have is a result of past kamma, some good and some bad. You got a human body because of some good kamma. If you have any physical ailments, that is due to a combination of your past bad kamma AND the way you live (how well you eat, exercise, etc).
So, what we need to do is to make sure we don’t do anything immoral (including stop making false statements about Buddha Dhamma), live a simple life and do good deeds (kamma) so that we can have less suffering in the future.
Dhamma123 said: “It’s not clear to you yet? Okay, I’ll share this Sutta with you to help you understand. https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an08/an08.054.nara.html
As you can see, violence is not always wrong or undesirable for a lay person as long as there is a necessity for it and it’s performed with a right intention.”Please copy and paste the section that says violence is appropriate for a lay person.
