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Hello bornplaydie!
This is explained in a different post than the one you quoted:
Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta – Wrong InterpretationsAt the top of that post:
“These three words with eight letters are: anicca, dukkha, anatta. (when written in Sinhala/Pāli: අනිච්ච දුක්ඛ අනත්ත but with last two letters in each term in the “old script” combined to become one, so the number of letters become 8 instead of 11. I was able to find only අනත්ථ for අනත්ත, but you can see how 4 letters become 3 there).”If anyone can find the Sinhala word with three letters for අනිච්ච, please post it. There, the last two letters should be “combined” as in අනත්ත to අනත්ථ.
Answers to Mahendran’s questions are embedded in the following statement itself:
“Since humans have the control of certain animal populations can I also assume that there will be countless number of gandhabbas are waiting to get in to the wombs of those animals?”Yes. There are essentially an innumerable animal gandhabbas in the para loka waiting for suitable conditions to be born.
There are also many, many more human gandhabbas waiting for suitable wombs than those with human bodies like us. We can get a rough idea of how many gandhabbas must be waiting for a womb, because in between births in rebirth stories is several years, and in some cases many years. This is why one needs to be grateful to one’s parents for proving that rare opportunity.
The world is much more complex than we can even imagine. The following video gives an idea of the complexity:
There are as many creatures on your body as there are people on Earth!I did not know Tien has a physics background. I am not sure whether you have seen the section: “Quantum Mechanics and Dhamma“.
Not many people are interested in that section, because not many have a physics background.
Everything in this world can be presented in several different ways:
- patavi, apo , tejo, vayo, akasa (space), and vinnana. The first four are called earth, water, fire, and air, but that is not really correct; see #7 of: “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāshtaka“.
- Five aggregates.
- 12 ayatana.
- In Abhidhamma: rupa, citta, cetasika.
Yes. Those rupa arise as suddhashtaka, as explained in the above post.
Lot of important questions.
“How does one that is liberated through wisdom come to understand the rebirth process if they don’t develop the divine eye or other abhinna power to observe it?”
One gains wisdom not by seeing previous births, but by seeing the anicca nature. One can see the anicca nature of this life itself.
– However, not believing in the rebirth process is a micca ditthi, and thus makes it impossible to see the anicca anture; see, “Micca Ditthi, Gandhabba, and Sotapanna Stage“.“Is there some sort of indirect evidence that becomes apparent as one practices Satipatthana?”
Satipattahana is the way to be mindful and to discard bad vaci sankhara; see, “Correct Meaning of Vacī Sankhāra“.
– Please also read the Satipatthana sutta in the “Sutta Interpretations” section.“..but never believed in rebirth simply due to the increasing animal and human population in the world.”
This is also very important to clarify. Living beings include not only humans and animals, but beings in all 31 realms; see, “31 Realms Associated with the Earth“.
– There are basically an infinite number beings in all 31 realms. Fluctuations in human and animal populations are compensated by births/deaths in other realms.Please ask questions on anything that is not clear. These are VERY important issues to resolve.
Also see: “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception“.
upekkha said: “So an Arahant wouldn’t have niramisa sukha either?”
Yes. An Arahant experiences niramisa sukha. An Arahant can enjoy jhanic sukha too, and it is recommended by the Buddha. Of course, that involves Ariya jhana.
Glad that you figured out how to do the linking.
Regarding conception (how a gandhabba takes hold of a zygote to become a live embryo), it is discussed in detail in the post:
What does Buddha Dhamma (Buddhism) say about Birth Control?That seems to have come from your heart, Tien.
The Buddha said that one should see dukha as acute suffering like being pierced by a spear, mundane sukha as suffering, and neutral feeling as anicca. (for one pursuing the Anagami stage).
I highly recommend the sutta reference provided by Christian. There is much to learn from that sutta, and it is a good translation.
Regarding what upekkha said: “Lal had said there are two types of asuras”: There are two types of asuras:
– one is called vinipatha Asuras. They belong to the apayas or the four lowest realms.
– The other is Asura Devas. They are in a Deva realm.Those normally cannot affect humans, but more powerful devas, such as the Mara Devaputta, can affect humans.
None of them can really affect those who have strong faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
upekkha100: I fixed your link.
Here is a step-by-step way to add a link (this is also in the General Information and Updates, where I provide links to new posts):- Open the web page on a new browser window. Copy the title of the post and paste it in the posting where you want to put the link.
Now go back and copy the URL of the web page. -
Come back to the posting, highlight the title and click the “link” button on the format panel.
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A new window will open up and paste that copied link to the “URL” slot. Also, select “Open link in a new tab”, and click “Add Link” button at the bottom.
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This way, one reading the post will be able to open the post in question in a new window, so that he/she can go back and forth between the post and the web page in question.
Hopefully, that should work. Please let me know if does not.
Regarding the questions:
“1) Is this initial uncontaminated vedana the amisa upekkha vedana?”No. No one basically “experiences” the first “citta” stage in the “citta, mano, manasan…” steps. As I said in another reply, these descriptions are from Abhidhamma, where the Buddha provided detailed explanations. That is actually what happens, but anyone other than Buddha cannot actually see these steps. The mind goes through this contamination process within a billionth of a second.
“2) Niramisa upekkha vedana is supposed to be the vedana experienced by Ariyas. Other than the anariya/Ariya aspect, what is the difference between amisa upekkha vedana and niramisa upekkha vedana?”
Amisa upakkha vedana is the “neutral feeling” felt by a normal human. It can be, and it is at most times, contaminated with avijja. One just does not know the “reality of that particular situation”.
“3) What would the initial uncontaminated vedana that arises in a Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami be called? Would it be amisa upekkha or niramisa upekkha or something else?”
That is a very hard to question to answer. All we can say is that the mental state would be more and more purified as one gets to higher magga phala.
– An Arahant would be the closest to the “manasan” state, where one just recognizes who it is or what it is, but does not have ANY attachments.“4) Am I wrong to think that out of those 9 vedana, Arahants would have only 5 out of 9 of those vedana: sukha, dukha, upekkha, niramisa sukha, and niramisa upekkha vedana? I’d think they would have even eliminated the niramisa dukha vedana?”
An Arahant would have the sukha, dukha, upekkha that arise from kamma vipaka. – An Arahant can experience the jhanic experiences.
– Ohter than that, it is niramisa upekkha vedana, a neutral mindset.Ito satta tato satta (seven there and seven here),
saṃsārāni (in rebirth process) catuddasa (fourteen)OR, Seven there and seven here, in all fourteen rebirths.
Also, I think “rebirth” is a better word than “transmigration”. The latter is used more with reincarnation, a Hindu concept:
What Reincarnates? – Concept of a LifestreamEither Satagiri or Hemavata MUST have been a Sotapanna for Lady Kali to attain the Sotapanna stage by listening to their discussion.
I do not have time to read the document. But something appears to be wrong with the above extractions from that document.
My statements are based on what happens in the mind per Abhidhamma.
However, since these processes happen very fast, one may not (and actually does not) actually experience the “neutral vedana” due to the initial response by the mind.
This is an important point. The question is legitimate. I added a statement to that post to make it clear.
Hi Akvan:
As I said earlier: “But that COULD take more than seven jati or births within those seven bhava. There is no stated limit to number of jati within a given bhava.”
There are only two bhava involved here, 7 births in each bhava. That is what is meant by: “..Seven from here, seven from there”.
He was born a human 7 times before being born in the deva realm. It appears that he died very early in each of those. Even if one lives for a day that a birth.
Then he was had a cuti-patisandhi transition to the deva bhava. Those latter 7 births were within the same deva realm. Of course, there is no gandhabba state or going into a womb in the deva realm, so when a deva dies — and born in the same realm — that deva seems to just to be born in a different “location”.
– So, there had been only one bhava change (i.e., cuit-patisandhi).There is some information relevant to lay people in the subsection “Greetings”, in the following article:
The Buddhist Monk’s Discipline: Some Points Explained for Laypeople
