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Pragna is Sanskrit for the Pali word paññā. The correct Pali word for shadda is saddhā.
Please read the following posts:
Panca Indriya and Panca Bala – Five Faculties and Five Powers
@Uyap: There is a huge difference between an inert thing (made of just suddhashtaka) and a living being.
When a living being stops existing in this world (filled with suffering), that is called Nibbana.
Any inert thing made out of just suddhashtaka is destroyed it is NOT called Nibbana. It is just destroyed (it cannot feel any suffering; there is no mind associated with inert thngs).
All inert things (made of suddhashtaka) are created by the minds of living beings.
Anicca nature arises BECAUSE rupa (any type of matter/energy) anywhere in the 31 realms DO NOT last forever, and are also subjected to unpredictable change while in existence (viparinama nature).
Therefore, anicca is a MANIFESTATION of NON-CONSERVATION.
@ y not:
Moral conduct or sila of a normal human is breakable. When one is highly influenced by an external sense event, one’s morals may not hold. For example, one could be abiding by “not to steal” precept for most of one’s life, but could be tempted to steal on the spur of the moment if the possibility to gain a million dollars comes up.Ariyakanta sila of a Sotapanna means a Sotapanna’s mind is not capable of doing an “apayagami action” (a deed of kammic consequences in getting a rebirth in the apayas), UNDER ANY CONDITION.
But we need to realize that a Sotapanna is capable of violating any precept that is not an “apayagami act”. Violation of any of the five precepts, in many cases, is not an apayagami act. For example, telling a lie is an akusala kamma, but it is not an apayagami act. (P.S. I should have said: For example, telling a lie is an akusala kamma, but not necessarily an apayagami act).
This is something hard for most people to understand: A Sotapanna’s “built-in capability” not to do any apayagami actions is rooted in his/her change of world view. Once it sinks in the mind that it is not worthwhile AND dangerous to do anything truly immoral (these are the apayagami actions), with the comprehension of the anicca nature, the mind will AUTOMATICALLY reject such actions.
One (a Sotapanna) does need to think and realize the danger involved in such action. No matter how enticing the sense input is, one WILL NOT be able to do an apayagami action. It comes mainly from getting rid of wrong views: The 10 types of micca ditthi AND the first glimpse of the anicca nature (that it is not possible maintain anything to one’s satisfaction in the samsaric time scale).
@Embodied: Yes. The Gotama Buddha Sasana is only 2600 years old.
Law of conservation of energy is a concept in modern physics. It holds for time scales of the order of at most the age of the Solar system. When the Solar system is destroyed all “tangible matter” is destroyed down to the suddhashtaka stage.
We do not know (science does not know) much about what happens at long time scales. So, it is not possible to explain phenomena in long time scales using conservation of energy.
Any sankata is “borne” (past participle of “bear”) by “dhamma”, the kammic energy that created it. “Dhamma” means “to bear”. Everything is created by the mind and each such thing has a finite lifetime. In a way, that is related to the concept of anicca; see, “What Are Rūpa? (Relation to Nibbāna)“.
Some sankata disintegrate into other types within fairly short times. For example, a human body is decomposed into other inert matter, and those may break down eventually to electron/proton levels. But electrons/protons also have finite lifetimes even though very long. A suddhashtaka is the ultimate building block (much smaller than an electron/proton) and it has ultimate lifetimes of the order to half of a Maha kappa.
The point is that any sankata is destroyed after some time. We cannot explain these things with the limited vocabulary of modern science. Conservation of energy is such a concept in modern science. It will work well for science which deals with fairly short times scales, but NOT in the time samsaric time scale.
As I mentioned in a previous post, there is no overlap between Buddha Sasana of two successive Buddhas in the HUMAN WORLD. Let us see why.
If one attained Anagami stage in the Kassapa Buddha Sasana, he/she would not come back to the kama loka at any time.
If one attained Sakadagami stage in the Kassapa Buddha Sasana, he/she would be born in the deva loka and would not come back to the HUMAN WORLD. He/she may reborn there or at HIGHER realms during the Gotama Buddha Sasana, but would not be reborn in the HUMAN WORLD at any time.
If one attained the Sotapnna stage in the Kassapa Buddha Sasana, he/she could have AT MOST 7 more human bhava in the HUMAN WORLD (at most 7 bhava in any realm too). A human bhava is normally thousands of years, not even millions of years. So, it is clear that one would be out of the human bhava, within at most a few million years. The gap between two successive Buddha Sasana is likely to be many millions of years. Within the past 4000 million years, there have been 4 Buddhas (Buddha Sasana). So, it is more like 1000 million years per Buddha Sasana.
- “Sarana” in Pali and Sinhala means “refuge”.
- The Pali dictionary that I like has both words “sarana” and “saraniya“:
Concise Pali-English Dictionary
“Buddham saranam gaccami” means “I take refuge in Buddha”
Saraniya could mean “in accordance with taking refuge in X”, where X depends on where the word is used.
It says “saraniya” is “fit to be remembered”.
Either one could be right depending on the context.
Uyap said: “When pondering on Buddha Dharma, come across my mind, there is no doubt on mind create mattter, the missing link is what create mind? What happen to matter after it’s lifetime end?”
- The Buddha said that there is no traceable beginning to life. Life is mind. Therefore, there is no traceable beginning to mind.
- All matter belong to sankata category, and thus there is a finite lifetime. Most matter created at a certain time has a lifetime of half of a Maha Kappa (Maha Kalpa in Sinhala). A Maha kappa is the lifetime of the Solar system or the Earth.
Y not said: “But how is it that the Buddha is giving instruction on how ‘attain’ the realm of Brahma? Which is also a trap in the sansaric journey?”
That is correct. The Buddha NEVER advocated striving to be born ANYWHERE in the 31 realms. That is because one could not ELIMINATE future suffering that way, even if one could get temporary jhanic bliss. Even a billion years in a brahma loka is still a brief time compared to the sansaric time scale!
This is a long story that I did not want to get into yet. But I will try to give a brief summary in a few days. I am on travel for a few days.
I am glad to see that you are making progress in learning Sinhala, Diane. How are you learning it?
You said: “For a person who gets to samādhi, there is no need to wish (cetanā): : “May I know and see the true nature of things in this world (yathābhūta ñāna or comprehension of Tilakkhana)”. It is in the nature of things that a person who gets to samādhi will see the true nature of this world.”
Is this why even when told “the true nature of things”, one doesn’t comprehend it because one hasn’t reached samādhi?”
That is right. There are two conditions to be fulfilled to get to what is called “upacara samadhi” in order to attain magga phala:
- One must get rid of the 10 types of micca ditthi.
- One MUST hear Tilakkhana, the correct interpretation, from an Ariya.
Not that it is not jhana that is necessary to attain magga phala, but to get to “upacara samadhi“, which literally means “getting close to Nibbana“.
I have revised the post to make this clear. Thanks.
Furthermore, obviously a Buddha or a pacceka Buddha does not need to fulfill #2. That is what is special about Buddhas. They discover Tilakkhana by themselves.
Please follow the instructions given here to provide a link to your source:
“How to Reply to a Forum Question“.Everyone should follow those instructions. That will make it easier for all. I don’t have time to go look for references, and I am sure others don’t either.
Another thing is to prepare your questions thoughtfully and grammatically. I am asking this from everyone. Let us keep the forum uncluttered and professional. Embodied question is fine, except for the missing link.
Just revised that post: “Sansaric Time Scale, Buddhist Cosmology, and the Big Bang Theory“.
If a murderer gets killed, then in the gandhabba state he/she will be likely to cultivate similar bad thoughts (vaci sankhara) that were regularly generated during the life as a murderer.
Then his/her fine gandhabba body can undergo a transition to a hell-being gradually. Then his/her “bhava” can change to the new bhava of a “hell-being” and at one point, will make the cuti-patisandhi transition to a hell-being. This is an important point.
When inside a solid physical body, gandhabba cannot transform significantly, because it is trapped inside. But once of out of the body, gandhabba can transform relatively fast. This works both ways, to get to a “bad bhava” or a “good bhava“.
Waharaka Thero had some abhinna powers, and he was able to see some people’s gandhabbas transform in real time to animal gandhabbas. He described that one time he saw a human gandhabba transform over time to a bird. It started at the head and the head gradually looked like that of a bird. Then transformation spread to lower parts of the body ending up with the transformation of human legs.
– Even some normal people can see gandhabba bodies (due to punna iddhi), and this could be the origin of picture of human bodies with various animal heads that have appeared in various cultures; see, “Abnormal Births Due to Gandhabba Transformations“.This is why one who has cultivated jhana (Ariya or anariya), WILL BE born in the corresponding brahma realm, even if there was kammic energy for the human bhava left at death.
In the same way, one who has attained Arahantship, the gandhabba will altogether disappear from this world of 31 realms and attain Parinibbana (even if there is more kammic energy for the human bhava left), since the it cannot transform to any bhava.
Those last two transformations happen very fast, instantaneously; there is no intermediate gandhabba state. In the case of a anantariya papa kamma (like killing an Arahant or killing parents), the transition to a hell-being will happen instantaneously. That is why they are called “anantariya” (na + an + antara or “no in between state”).
It could be anger initially, and with more understanding of Dhamma, one realizes that those people commit such actions out of ignorance. One feels bad about them too, since they are destined to suffer so much due to such actions.
So, yes. There could be some anger involved too, but overall one will have more “good thoughts”, especially after taking action. Humans have an innate understanding of what is right and what is wrong. So, many times, people do the right thing instinctively.
