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Yes. This is a common wrong view. I have a relative, who is a physician, and tells me that if she is to be born a dog, then it is that dog who will suffer, and not her.
– I have heard basically the same argument from several others, most of them are scientists!In this regard, there are some pretas (hungry ghosts) who naturally remember their past lives as a part of their kamma vipaka. They know exactly what they had done to be born a preta.
– I don’t remember the name of the sutta, but one time Ven. Sariputta was approached by a female preta. She told him that she was his mother in a previous life, and asked for his help in getting out of her suffering. Ven. Sariputta confirmed her account and did help her.Alay asked: “If a human develops skills (such as languages, music, sport etc…) in this life and is reborn in the animal realm, does the gandhabba carry any of these “skills” to the next life?”
Yes. Such skills are maintained as one’s gati. Of course they manifest only when one is reborn again in the human realm. An animal cannot display musical talents, if we are talking about musical talents. However, it is possible that the animal may have liking to listen to music, for example.
“Let’s say after many, many life times as an animal, this being is reborn as a human. At this point, would this human still have the ability to be more proficient with the skills that he/she excelled in a past life?”
Yes. That is exactly right. That is why we have heard so much about “child prodigies”: A little kid who can play piano like a pro, a child who can pickup advanced mathematics easily, etc.
Sutta AN 1.277 states that “no two Buddhas (Samma Sambuddha) can appear in the world at the same time (without time separation) in a given “world cycle” (for example, during the lifetime of our Solar system).
There have already been four Buddhas (including Buddha Kassapa and Buddha Gotama) during this Maha Kappa (age of our Solar system), and Buddha Maitreya will also appear before this Maha Kappa comes to end. But this is extremely rare; normally there can be many successive Maha Kappa without even a single Buddha.
The relevant verse is :” “Aṭṭhānametaṃ, bhikkhave, anavakāso yaṃ ekissā lokadhātuyā dve arahanto sammāsambuddhā apubbaṃ acarimaṃ uppajjeyyuṃ. Netaṃ ṭhānaṃ vijjati.”
Translated: “Bhikkhus, no two Buddhas can appear in the lokadhatu (world system) at the same time, i.e., without a gap (anavakaso).
The goal of a Buddha is to stop the rebirth process (to stop future suffering). So, of course it was a made-up story by the early Mahayanists that all past Buddhas can re-appear. That is against the very foundation of Buddha Dhamma.
There are two two aspects to this issue:
- I have seen Samma Samadhi described this way in a few other suttas too.
- On the other hand, there are many accounts in the Tipitaka where people attained various stages of magga phala just by listening to a single desana by the Buddha.
So, here is my explanation.
After “completing” Samma Samadhi, one goes through two more stages to attain the Arahanthood: Samma Nana and Samma Vimutti.
It is said that “atthangehi samannagato Sekha, dasa angehi samannagato Arahant” or “one completing the eightfold Path is a Trainee (Sekha), one who has completed the 10 steps is an Arahant“.
The description in terms of jhanas holds when Samma Samadhi is “complete” or almost complete and when one has attained the fourth Ariya jhana. As discussed in the subsection referenced below, one is at least an Anagami when attaining the fourth Ariya jhana.
There are two ways one can become an Arahant: Pannavimutta or cetovimutta.
– A pannavimutta Arahant may attain the Arahanthood without going through jhana (like those who attained Arahant phala while listening to their very first desana). However, once the Arahantohood is attained, all four rupavacara jhana are automatically attained. In some cases (like minister Santati and Culapanthaka Thero), even iddhi (supernormal) powers are attained with the Arahanthood. In the case of Santati (who was wearing royal robes and was riding an elephant), he attained Arahanthood just listening to a single verse by the Buddha. He was about to die and the Buddha asked him to show evidence to others that he had attained Arahanthood. Santati obliged by leaping up and burning himself with tejo kasina at the moment of death.
– A cetovimutti Arahant goes through the jhanic states and attains Arahanthood after completing both rupavacara and arupavacara jhana.Therefore, either way, one completes Samma Samadhi (attaining the four rupavacara jhanas), before attaining the Arahanthood.
These are discussed in the section: “Samādhi, Jhāna (Dhyāna), Magga Phala“.
An agitated mind is receptive to more disruptive events (to bring more bad kamma vipaka). Try to calm the mind by thinking about good things (things you like, friends/family you can talk to, etc), and try to engage in small acts of kindness to others. It will help more than you think.
Another thing could be listen to some chantings:
“Sutta Chanting”
Many people do that before going to bed in order to calm the mind and have a restful sleep.Rajitha asked: “Does the Kamma Patha completion have any relevance here – or not needed?”
Kamma patha is completed during a kamma. For example, in killing a living being four conditions must be met to make it a kamma patha: living being exists, plan made to kill it, plan carried out, living being is killed due to that action.
As you can see, many types of abhisankhara (thoughts in the mind) are generated in those steps. All those contribute to the energy in the kamma beeja. As each step is completed, more energy is added. Then when the living being ends dead, the “kamma or the deed is complete” and it becomes a potent kamma beeja.
Even if only the plan is made and it does not proceed beyond that, there will be some kammic consequences for that part.
Rajitha said: “Gathi I believe is a synonym for Kamma.”
That is not correct. Kamma will contribute to making a new gati or to strengthen an existing gati.
For example, a teenager who may not have a “drinking gati” or a “gati for liking to drinking”, may be persuaded by bad friends to start drinking. Those kamma (drinking, thinking about drinking and associated activities), will help build a new gati for the teenager. Of course, it is possible that he may have that gati from previous lives.
– The more the teenager drinks and thinks about associated activities, that gati will grow.Of course, a strong kamma patha like killing a human may start a new gati of a “killer”.
To complement what is said by inflib:
Kamma beeja are are generated in javana citta. That means it is generated while generating abhisankhara.
It is an energy that powers a future bhava. That bhava can be in the immediate future (pavutti paticca samuppada) or in a future life (uppatti paticca samuppada).
For example, when one (say X) is thinking about a bad action done by an enemy, X starts generating bad vaci sankhara, which gets many pavutti paticca samuppada cycles to run through his mind. The more he does this, the more agitated he gets, because he may start remembering past bad actions done by that person too. If someone is watching X, one will be able to see how gets to an “angry bhava” even in a few minutes. X may not be even saying a single word, but his facial expressions will clearly show him getting mad by the minute. The he could be “born in that angry jati” and may say or do something harsh to that enemy.
– So, that is an example of pavutti paticca samuppada.Now, if somehow the situation gets out-of-control and he kills the other person, then that particular action is done with a very potent apunnabhisankhara. The kamma beeja created by those apunnabhisankhara could lead to a rebirth in the future in a “corresponding bhava“, like in a niraya (hell).
– That is an example of a uppatti paticca samuppada.That is a condensed summary. We can discuss in more detail, if there are any questions. For example, “sankhara paccaya vinnana” step gets him to an “angry state of mind”. The that leads to changing of X’s facial expressions with “vinnana paccaya namarupa” and “namarupa paccaya salayatana” steps, where all his six senses are now focusing on generating this “angry bhava“.
It is always to good to analyze various real life situations. That makes these concepts clear.
I see many inputs to the discussion. I will try to get to the very essence of Buddha Dhamma to analyze this issue. Anicca is much deeper to comprehended by monitoring “body sensations”. It is all about changing one’s perceptions about how this world works (based on how the mind works), and how future suffering arises due to one’s own wrong perceptions.
The Buddha said that all living beings are trapped in a rebirth process, and most of these births are in realms that are filled with suffering. By cultivating panna (wisdom) about the real nature of this world, one can stop this rebirth process, and that he called attaining Nibbana. This was the key message of the Buddha. But most people today believe that Buddha taught about stopping the dukha vedana that one feels due to body aches, deceases, injuries etc.
This is why techniques like breath meditation and Goenka’s technique appeal to many people. They can see that some physical and mental relief can be achieved by using such techniques. In fact, some even can get to jhana, and then it becomes impossible for them to even seriously consider the true message of the Buddha. They get trapped in a “temporary oasis”.
Ultimately, Nibbana is realized ONLY when one sees the unfruitfulness and danger in the rebirth process. There is no refuge anywhere in the 31 realms, where it is a human, deva, or a brahma realm. One version of anicca is to see that anything that we do seek happiness in this world will not yield a permanent happiness. Rather, those actions can lead to future suffering that a normal human cannot even comprehend.
The first priority is to make sure one would not be born in the apayas (the four lowest realms), which includes the animal realm. That is where the suffering is worst. So, one first needs to understand how one COULD BE born in the apayas. What kind of deeds, actions, and thoughts will setup causes and conditions for one to be born in the apayas?
Therefore, one important aspect of realizing the anicca nature is to understand Paticca Samuppada (pati icca leading to sama uppada); see, “Paticca Samuppāda – “Pati+ichcha”+”Sama+uppāda” and other posts in that section.
When people seek temporary sense pleasures, they may do immoral deeds (papa kamma or apunnabhisankhara) to get them. For example, one may commit rape to get sexual satisfaction which lasts only a short time, but the consequences are unimaginably harsh. Such IMMORAL actions are done by animals and thus are associated with “animal gati”. Since one is attached to such “animal gati” and has a liking for them (pati icca), that can lead to births of similar nature (sama uppada). That is the basic idea, and you can read the section on Paticca Samuppada for details. (posts on “gati” can be found by using the Search box; I sometimes spell it as “gathi“).
The key point here is that the craving for such an extreme sense pleasure WILL lead to a future rebirth with very harsh suffering. The consequences are not determined by one’s desire, but by the root causes underlying one’s ACTIONS (KAMMA). There are ten such “bad actions” that will lead to suffering, and they are called dasa akusala; see, “Dasa Akusala/Dasa Kusala – Basis of Buddha Dhamma“.
In order to make this point clear, let us take one more example. One may kill another man in order to get his possessions (money, property, spouse, etc). So, the intent of that act is to make one’s life better, that is the “icca” or “desire”. One gets “bound” (“pati”) to this craving (“icca”) of hoping to make one’s life better by this killing and may even plan for many months to achieve that goal. However, the long-term consequences will be a birth in the niraya (lowest realm), where the suffering can last millions of years (“sama uppada” is due to the fact that killing a human is one of the worst dasa akusala and that is a future birth in a niraya or hell). This is a hard point to understand for many (how the consequences can be that harsh), but it will become clear as cleanses one’s mind by learning the true and pure Dhamma that the Buddha taught.
The key point is that any actions that involve dasa akusala, will have unimaginably harsh consequences. In other words, “one cannot maintain things to one’s expectations”. The above two are extreme examples of anicca nature, and that is where one should start. It is easy to see the main idea. Then one will start realizing the bad consequences of lesser actions like stealing,gossiping, etc.
When one comprehends this basic anicca nature of attaching to such “lowly cravings”, one’s mind will AUTOMATICALLY reject such thoughts. That is when one attains the Sotapanna stage and will be free from births in the apayas forever. That is when one starts on the Noble Path with a basic idea of anicca nature.
The next stage is to realize the anicca nature of ANY sense pleasure, and that leads to the Sakadagami and Anagami stages. But that is unimaginable for a normal human, and one should not contemplate on that far at the beginning.
The deepest level of anicca nature is realized only at the Arahant stage, where one sees the unfruitfulness and danger even in the higher brahma realms.
There are many posts at the site in various sections, providing different types of analyses on anicca. The main section is: “Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta“.
Those who are interested can scan through the site map and go through sections of interest, like “Sotapanna Stage“.
So, I hope I have clarified the key point that one must first understand the key message of the Buddha in order to make a true assessment of meditation techniques that do provide temporary relief. The key question to ask is how those techniques can lead to a true understanding of the anicca nature, which in turn will lead to “cessation of suffering” and attaining Nibbana.
If you think Goenka’s techniques do that, that is fine. Each person needs to make his/her decisions on such critical issues.
You said: “Goenka’s body scan technique is about experiencing anicca with the body sensations (coming from all angles mentioned before), with the consequence realization of dukha and anatta; Complete Tilakkhana.”
This is the key.
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What is meant by anicca per Goenka technique? Impermanence?
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How does a “body scan” leads to the realization of anicca nature?
Yes. As I mentioned many times in my comments, it is possible to experience a “sukha vedana” in the body by doing even just breath meditation.
Ancient yogis were able to cultivate even supernormal (abhinna) powers by doing breath mediation TOGETHER WITH staying away from sense pleasures AND immoral deeds (akusala kammma). One can get to anariya jhanas that way (“vivicca kamehi, vivicca akusala dhammehi” is a phrase that comes up in the explanations of even anariya jhana).
The Noble Eightfold Path is cultivated by first getting rid of the 10 types of micca ditthi and then comprehending Tilakkhana. That is the way to realize the real nature of this world and thus to automatically lose cravings for things in this world. This is explained in detail with many posts at the site. This is not easy to grasp for many, and it takes an effort just to see that.
Don’t worry about it, Frank.
In a way, your question brings up an interesting aspect of this complex world.
Especially lower animals are more like robots, they just live “paying their kamma vipaka”, without the ability to do any strong good kamma or strong bad kamma.This can be explained only in terms of the type of citta experienced by animals. So, I cannot provide a satisfactory answer without using Abhidhamma.
But here is a key point to remember. It is mainly humans who can generate strong kamma vipaka BOTH good and bad.
– Briefly, “ditthi sampayutta citta” generated by those humans who do immoral actions with wrong views generate the worst kamma vipaka.
– On the other hand, those who have comprehended Tilakkhana (and thus automatically generate “nana sampayutta citta” at least in some cases) generate the strong good kamma vipaka.
– When one progresses on the mundane eightfold path, the tendency to bad kamma (deeds, speech, and thoughts) will decrease. Then when one starts comprehending Tilakkhana, the tendency to do good kamma (with better understanding) will start increasing.Papanca are basically papa kamma, also called kanha kamma: “Kanha (Dark) and Sukka (Bright) Kamma and Kammakkhaya“.
More specifically, papanca refers to immoral thoughts (vaci sankhara) that one consciously generates in one’s mind.
@Tobias: The bottom line is that one attains the Arahanthood by clearly seeing the futility of being born ANYWHERE in the 31 realms.
That is reached in steps. First one sees the dangers in cultivating sankhara with the three unwholesome roots. That leads to the Sotapanna stage, and stopping rebirth in the apayas.
Then one sees the futility in born in the kama loka, at a higher level of panna (wisdom). That leads to stopping rebirth in human and deva realms.
All those were done by cultivating sankhara with the three wholesome or good roots. That process continues to the Arahant stage, where one can see the futility in being reborn even in the rupavacara and arupavacara brahma realms.
To look at it from another way: The panna cetasika is optimized only at the Arahant stage. At that point one has attained “Samma Nana”, which is the optimum nana (vision of the true nature of this world is complete), and that leads to “Samma Vimutti” or “total and complete release”.
This is why it is said that: “Attangehi samannagato Sekha, dasa angehi samannagato Arahant” or “one who is completing the Noble Eightfold Path is a Trainee, and one who has completed the next two (Samma Nana and Samma Vimutti) is an Arahant“.
So, when one attains the Arahant stage, there is no NEED to cultivate even the three good roots. “What needs to be done is done; there is nothing nmore to do”.
All six roots lead to rebirth somewhere in the 31 realms. It is just that cultivating the three good roots leads to the “knowledge of the real nature of this world”. But that REQUIRES hearing about Tilakkhana from a Buddha or a true disciple of a Buddha. Otherwise, just cultivating the three good roots will not get one to Nibbana.
You asked: “Can someone post a link to a sutta with explanation of tihetuka, dvihetuka, ahetuka patisandhi? Or can this topic only be found in the Abhidhamma?”
– I think the explanation is available only in Abhidhamma. I could be wrong.Yes. There is a difference between kama and kama raga. There may be a trace of kama left in an Anagami, but that is not enough to lead to a birth in kama loka.
That trace of kama is likely to be associated with rupa raga (and avijja) which are two samyojanas removed at the Arahant stage.
You asked: ” In the days of the Buddha, did people listening to His discourses go from anariya to Anagami or Arahant right away, bypassing the Sotapanna stage?”
Yes. There are many accounts in the Tipitaka, of people attaining any of the four stages of magga phala while listening to a desana or even a single verse.
– But that always happens in the sequence: Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami, Arahant. It is just that even all four can take place within a short time, ending in the Arahant stage. So, it is not really bypassing any intermediate stage.@Akvan: Yes. You are right when you said: “From this I think hiri and otappa are for trainees (sekkha) and may be even for anariyas”.
Without hiri (shame of immoral deeds) and otappa (fear of the consequences of immoral deeds), it is not possible to cultivate sati and samadhi.
