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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.
A Sotapanna would act exactly the same a law-abiding, normal person would act.
The key is think about what kind of mental factors are likely to arise in such a person acting as a “good samaritan” or a “good neighbor”.
How can dosa arise in such a person who is trying to prevent a wrong doing? Law-breaking is almost always immoral. Preventing that is a good thing. Of course, there are limits to one can do. At least notifying the appropriate authorities can be done.
Thanks, Johnny. It has good points on why the consciousness cannot arise in the brain.
Embodied said: “I might be wrong but to me consciousness “was there” before humankind and will “be there” afterwards.”
Consciousness means life. As we have discussed in many topics, life has no traceable beginning. Humankind on Earth will be wiped out in a few billion years, but will return to the re-formed Earth.
Read the recent discussions in the “Dhamma and Science” forum.
Your worst kamma vipaka (actual abuse) is over. Now you can start fresh and focus on the future. The mind CAN heal.
However, don’t expect quick results. Keep taking the medication and hopefully you can reduce the dose over time, and eventually become free of medication.
y not said: “so far as I have read, only stars with several times the mass of the Sun can go supernova”
It is not necessarily the Sun that has to blow up. Any star in the 10,000 world systems can blow up. The point is that Sun will be destroyed in a supernova.
“If Universe never destroy what is universe catagory, since there is nothing in between sankata and asankata?’
The universe is never the same. Parts of it are destroyed all the time as I explained. “Universe” is just a label. It is a sankata. An entity that undergoes change with time is a sankata.
Again, Take time to think through. Please remember that this is a complex issue.
Of course, suddhashtaka have a lifetime. But they are CONSTANTLY generated by living beings. That is why it never ends. There will ALWAYS be an infinite number of beings generating Suddhashtaka.
Hi Eric,
I am very sorry to hear about your experience.Don’t be mad at me for saying this, but these are kamma vipaka. We all suffer at various levels as results of past kamma; of course yours is harsh.
The important thing is to understand this fact: Nothing happens in this world without one or more causes and when the result comes, it will run its course. But we CAN do two things:
- We all have done good kamma in past lives too. So, we can MAKE CONDITIONS for such good kamma vipaka to bring results, and those can lessen the suffering due to that bad kamma vipaka.
- Even more important, we should engage in good kamma, and follow the Path with determination, in order GET RID OF such bad kamma vipaka from arising in the future.
– Contemplating Dhamma will help you keep your mind away from those past experiences. At least you are not subjected to such abuse now. Try to keep the mind away from those memories. It serves no good to spend time thinking about it. Those are bad vaci sankhara, as I mentioned many times.
– Also try to think of your father as an agent used by Nature to bring those bad kamma vipaka to you. Try to forgive him. Most of all, stop communicating with him; that automatically will take the mind away from those memories.– We all are likely to have kamma viaka MUCH WORSE than what you are experiencing. For example, one could be born a farm animal, and we can see the kind of suffering they go through in the video “Earthlings”: “Nationearht.com“.
Warning: There are scenes that are highly disturbing to the mind.That post was one of the earliest written. I need to revise it, if I can find it.
15 billion years what the scientists estimate for the life of the universe which they assume arose due to the Big Bang. But according to Buddha Dhamma, the whole universe is not destroyed at once (and there was no Big Bang either). It is individual star systems that are born and destroyed in a billion year time scales, but not all at the same time.
According to Buddha Dhamma, the following is what happens:
1. The universe has no traceable beginning, just like life has no traceable beginning.
2. When our Sun blows up in a few billion years, 10,000 other star systems in the vicinity are destroyed due to that blast. In modern science it is called a superrnova.
3. Such 10,000 clusters of world systems blow up from time to time in the universe. Again, such supernova are observed by scientists every year.
4. What science does not know yet is that those star systems, like our Solar system, are re-formed over billions of years. Of course science is not aware of that part yet.
5. When our Solar system is destroyed, not all 31 realms are destroyed. Higher lying brahma worlds (where there is very little of “destructible matter”) are NOT destroyed. That is where all living beings on this Earth ends up before the destruction of the Earth.
6. Then when the Earth is re-formed, those brahmas — at the end of their lifetimes in those worlds — are re-born as humans.
7. Then the life on Earth evolves to other lifeforms too, and eventually is destroyed again after billions of years.
8. So, that is the life cycle. It happens all over the universe at any given time. That is why scientists observe several supernovas even in our own galaxy each year.This is the story detailed in the Agganna Sutta. It is very complex and requires more background material to discuss in detail. But that is an outline.
Uyap: It is not the universe that undergoes cyclic rebirth. It is our Solar system that undergoes cyclic rebirth. We discussed this in just a few days ago: “Are Every Buddha’s Teachings the Same?”
As I said, please think through carefully before rushing to post.
Uyap quoted from an article: ““As physicists analysed the idea it emerged that it carried with it the implication that the Big Bang would create not just one universe – but an endless supply.
Some, according to the Hartle-Hawking theory, would be very like our own, perhaps have Earth-like planets, societies, even individuals similar to the ones in our Universe.
Other universes would be subtly different – perhaps with Earth-like planets where dinosaurs were not wiped out. And there would be universes completely unlike our own, with no Earths, perhaps no stars and galaxies and different laws of physics.”These are all speculations, which are called theories. A theory is not accepted until it is confirmed by observations/experiments. That is very hard to do in Cosmology. Of course, there are indirect ways to confirm theories, but none is there right now to confirm any of this.
Human mind is naturally curious. We want to know everything, especially regarding this wondrous place called universe. It is mind-boggling, but exciting at the same time. I used to spend a lot of time reading science fictions as well as speculations about the origins of the universe, etc.
Let me start with a couple of stories from the Tipitaka that really settled the issue for me. One time, Ven. Moggallana, who was only second to the Buddha in psychic (abhinna) powers, wanted to explore the universe and see for himself how far he could go. He got lost! Buddha had to come to his rescue. I don’t remember the name of Tipitaka reference. It would be great if someone can post it.
– So, if Ven. Moggalana was curious about these things, even after becoming a chief disciple, it is not a surprise that most humans are curious.Then there is the account about a yogi, Rohitassa, who developed abhinna powers. He wanted to see the end of the world and took off looking for it, got lost and died. He was reborn a deva, came to see the Buddha and told the Buddha about his quest; see, “Rohitassa Sutta: To Rohitassa“.
Looking at the issue from another angle, let us think about Einstein. Of course, he made great discoveries. But he died a very discouraged person. Last several decades of his life, he did not make any new discoveries. He was obsessed with formulating a Grand Unified Theory that could explain all phenomena. He was unable to do that and died still trying.
– Even though I am grateful to him for all his discoveries, he did not accomplish very much in stopping future suffering. Even though he made some remarks about Buddhism based on incomplete and inaccurate information available at that time, he was not ever exposed to the main message of the Buddha.From the viewpoint of the Buddha, Einstein could have spent his life pursuing the Sotapanna stage (if he was exposed to true and pure Dhamma), and could have attained the Sotapanna stage.
– From this viewpoint, he would have been free of an unimaginable level of suffering. He may have been reborn a human (if he had kammic energy for the human bhava left), and now he would start all over with nothing to show for his accomplishments as “Einstein” in the previous life.Another key point is that these theories on a multiverse (innumerable universes, not Solar systems but whole universe with billions of galaxies in EACH one), is based on the assumption of a “Big Bang”: that a given universe basically came into existence from NOTHING, in an unimaginable explosive event.
– But the validity of that assumption is not proven either, even though most scientists believe in it; see, “What If the Big Bang Wasn’t the Beginning? New Study Proposes Alternative“.Cosmology is one of the things that the Buddha declared “unthinkable (acinteyya)” for a normal human. One can spend a lifetime looking into, and getting no where.
Here is a video from Carl Sagan to get an idea how vast our “detectable universe” is: https://youtu.be/5Ex__M-OwSA
More details at :”The Grand Unified Theory of Dhamma – Introduction“.P.S. I have deleted 3 postings that appeared above. Please do not use the discussion forum as a instant messaging board. Make only useful and thought-out comments. It does not serve anyone to make statements based merely on one’s intuition. One should provide reasonable explanations.
Sorry about the delay in replying. I am going to be somewhat busy for next several days. But I like to set the background with the following post:
“Buddha Dhamma: Non-Perceivability and Self-Consistency“.I am not sure how many if you have read it. What that post tries to say is that modern science is still at the very early stage compared to Buddha Dhamma. I will expand on that.
I also want to point out the following which is not really related to this topic, but important, regarding a statement made above.
Y not said: “Lal says somewhere that clinging is of two types: the normal one for sense pleasures etc. and Nibbana (of course these are my own words).”
This is not really correct. One’s desire to attain Nibbana is not called clinging. The Pali word is “chanda” and specifically chanda iddhipada; even the word “desire” may have a sensual connotation.
– But it is tanha which probably should translated as clinging. You may have the correct understanding, but if you use the word “clinging” that seems to imply attachment to something in this world.
– This is why it is better to understand key Pali words and use those even in English sentences whenever possible. We just want to make sure to convey the idea.
