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@Eirc: What we need to understand is the priority of things to do, which tasks to focus on. Worries about spending time on watching TV, internet, movies, will go away when one understands what the priorities should be.
I have explained this in various posts, and mentioned in this in response to a previous question of yours. But since this is an important issue, let me put this from a different point-of-view.
A key concept that has been hidden is “gati” (or “gathi”). Based on our actions, speech, and thoughts (which are kaya, vaci, and mano sankhara), we accumulate various gati, which can be loosely translated as habits/character, but more like moral character.
Let us take person X. If X is capable of doing actions suitable for an animal, he has “animal gati”. These could lie in a broad range, for example, vicious animals kill, so if X can kill (especially a human), then he has gati suitable for an animal. On the other hand, if X has cultivated rupavacara jhana, and enjoys getting into rupavacara jhana, then he has cultivated gati suitable for a rupavacara brahma.
X may have many different gati, but one of the strong ones will determine the bhava that is grasped. So, if X has strong vicious gati suitable for an animal, X is likely to grasp a bhava in the animal realm. On the other hand, if X has dominant gati of a rupavacara brahma, he would grasp that bhava and will be born a brahma to enjoy jhanic pleasures (which are of course temporary).
I really recommend everyone to watch the movie “Earthlings”,at the following site: “Nationearth.com“
(Warning: There are many scenes that are highly disturbing to the mind).So, animals in general undergo much harsh suffering than humans. So, such suffering is possible for X, if X has some kind of “animal gati”. If X is a serial killer, he has gati suitable for much harsher realms in the niraya. If X has “excessively greedy gati” (and thus can commit immoral things to get them), X could grasp a “preta bhava” and be born a preta. It must be noted that just engaging in normal sense pleasures do not belong to this category (so watching TV or going to movies is not a problem here; they are not “apayagami actions”).
So, if one is habitually doing strong dasa akusala, one has ‘apayagami gati”. Here apaya includes the lowest four realms of niraya, preta, asura, and animal. By following the Eightfold Path, X can get rid of such “apayagami gati”. Then one becomes Sotapanna. However, one needs to remove the 10 types of micca ditthi and also comprehend Tilakkhana. That comes AFTER making sure one abstains from those “apayagami actions”.
The next higher 7 realms are the higher realms of the kama loka: human realm and the 6 deva realms. One gets a human or deva bhava by cultivating “human gati” or “deva gati”. But there is still suffering in these realms, even though less than in the apayas. As long as X is attached to sense pleasures, X will have those gati. When one comprehends the long-term dangers of sense pleasures, one would get rid of such gati, and attain the Anagami stage (via Sakadagami stage; I am making this brief).
Once one becomes an Anagami, birth is still possible in the 16 rupavacara brahma realms and the 4 arupavacara brahma realms. Even though suffering in those realms are much less, there is still suffering there. When one realizes that eventually, one loses “upadana” for such bhava also, and one attains the Arahant stage. That is Nibbana. However, one should not even think about the Sakadagami stage until one is a Sotapanna/Sotapanna Anugami.
That is a basic outline. Of course, there are so many details. Those gati and bhava are fueled by Paticca Samuppada cycles that run each time X commits an akusala kamma (which cultivate apayagami gati) or punna kamma (which cultivate gati suitable for human and higher realms).
These set of gati are also called “asava”. When all gati are removed, one becomes an Arahant. Then one will not grasp any bhava. This is why Nibbana is also called “asvakkhaya” or getting rid of asava. Again, DO NOT even contemplate about anything higher than the Sotapanna stage. People get scared about “getting extinct”. One must take one step at a time. One can always stop at the Sotapanna stage! But it is good to get that overall world view of the Buddha.
Now, it is good idea to expand on the above outline by finding and reading posts on gati (gathi), bhava, jati, etc., the key words that you need to get a good idea about.
Once that is done, and the above world view becomes clear, one can make an “action plan” and decide what tasks to be undertaken first.
It is obvious that the first priority would be to avoid births in the apayas. So, one needs to make sure that one abstains from actions, speech, and thoughts that could lead to four types of “apaya bhava”, so to speak. These are the strongest versions of dasa akusala.
Please feel free to ask questions. I can direct to appropriate posts to learn any concepts that are not clear. I think this is a good undertaking for anyone who is interested in making an action plan to follow the Path systematically.
Seibe: Your questions are all over the place. I spend time answering your questions and you don’t even respond to what I ask.
Please think through before asking questions, and ask them in a simple way so that the question is clear. Also, you need to answer my questions, if this is going to be discussion.
The above question does not make any sense, in the sense that answer should be obvious: Each person responds to a given situation in his own way, based on his own understanding. Hereafter, I will just ignore questions that do not make sense or trivial like this one.
@y not:
Yes. The disappearance of Buddha Dhamma within thousands of years happens only in the human realm.
– There are rupavacara brahmas in the realms #23-#27 (which are reserved for Anagamis), who attained Anagami stage by listening to previous Buddhas who lived many aeons (Maha Kalpas) long ago. Note that the lifetime in those realms is 500 Maha Kalpas; see, “31 Realms of Existence“.I just remembered that you also pointed out (under a different topic) that one’s thoughts cannot directly cause another SIGNIFICANTLY. Yes. One can only make CONDITIONS for another to, say receive merits, but that living being must have the right causes to receive them; see, “Transfer of Merits (Pattidāna) – How Does it Happen?“.
You seem to pay good attention while reading posts!!
@Siebe:
That is correct. The Earth (and Solar system) will be re-formed billions of years after it is destroyed in about 5 billions years.
– Yes. There have been an infinite number of Earths. But don’t get into these things too much. These can distract one’s attention from the Path, especially since there is no evidence to support this re-formation from science, YET.
– It is to be noted that science thought that the universe is in a steady-state only 100 years ago. Einstein believed that and actually tried to incorporate a “fudge factor” into his cosmological model in order to force the universe to be in steady-state.Welcome to the discussion forum, Uyap!
Yes. All Buddhas teach the same Buddha Dhamma.
That includes the Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path, and Paticca Samuppada.
Our Solar system lasts around 15 billion years; that is 15 thousand million years. During this cycle four Buddhas have already appeared with Buddha Gotama the last and Buddha Kassapa before him. There is one more Buddha appearing before the destruction of this Earth. A given Buddha Sasana of a given Buddha lasts from 5000 to 80,000 years. And Buddha Sasana of two consecutive Buddhas could be separated by millions of years. So, when one Buddha Sasana (teachings of a given Buddha) disappears from the world (among humans), there will be a large time gap before the next.
Therefore, each Buddha discovers Buddha Dhamma on his own. Therefore, it seems to be amazing that they all come up with the same Dhamma. But that is simple to explain. Buddha Dhamma is the ultimate truth about this world. That truth or Dhamma never changes.
Finally, even though there are going to be five Buddhas in this “world cycle” (Maha Kalpa), that is very rare; it is called “Maha Baddha Kalpa“. For example, there were 30 such Maha Kalpas (about 450 billion years!) before this Maha Kalpa, where not a single Buddha appeared.
This is why we should try to make as much progress as possible within our lifetimes.
P.S. To complete this account, Buddha Dhamma (Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path, and Paticca Samuppada, etc) is ALWAYS valid regardless of whether those teachings are known to the humans or not. They are laws of Nature. The Buddhas just discover those laws — by their own efforts — and teach them.
1 user thanked author for this post.
Hi Asdish: Yes. you can progress rapidly by avoiding dasa akusala and doing meditation.
However, meditation should not be restricted to formal mediation. One needs to be on the lookout for any defiled thoughts that come to the mind at all times. This is real Satipatthana (“sati” + “patthana” or being aware of where the mind is trying to get loose and go off in tangents); see, “Correct Meaning of Vacī Sankhāra“.
You may also want to go through the following series, after covering above:
“Three Marks of Existence – English Discourses“@Siebe:
You said: “..i have become more aware of the effects of my own intentions, words and deeds, and i have become more interested in others welbeing too. My orientation has shifted more to the welbeing of others.”
AND
“Being oriented this way at the same time is a kind of burden. Becoming so concerned with not creating suffering to oneself and others, that itself is a kind of suffering, a burden.’I cannot see how compassion for others can be a burden. If one has compassion for others, the MOST one can do is to stay away from dasa akusala that deals with other living beings:
intentionally killing humans or animals is bad, stealing from others is bad, engaging is sexual misconduct is bad, participating in heavy drinking/taking drugs is bad, intentionally deceiving others is bad, engaging in gossiping, empty talk, etc are bad.Furthermore, generating bad thoughts about someone/something all the time is bad. This is an aspect most people do not pay attention to: “Correct Meaning of Vacī Sankhāra“.
On the other hand, one must do good things and generate good thoughts or good vaci sankhara. One can also help others by giving to needy, fulfilling one’s responsibilities at work and at at home, teaching/discussing Dhamma, etc. None of these are burdens, if one does those with true understanding. One feels that one should do those things out of compassion and to be a responsible human being.
Can you state clearly how having compassion for others can be a burden? Please use simple words like I did in the above paragraphs.
Welcome to the discussion forum, Asdish!
I am gald that you find the website useful.There are over 500 posts at the site, and which posts/sections are suitable for a given person depends on the person. This could be a good start: “User’s Guide to Pure Dhamma Website“. Also, read the recent discussions at: “General Forum“, and any other forums that grabs your attention.
Once you see a hook (a point that makes sense), just go deeper from there. Ask questions if something is not clear. The “Search” box on top right is really good in finding relevant posts using key words/phrases.
A suggestion that I made in another discussion is: Stay away from dasa akusala as much as possible and read posts in sections that you understand, rad the links to other sections given there, and so on. Those two things help each other; just doing one is not enough. Purification of the mind comes from both.
This is just a rant by what I call a “philosopher” (someone who is speculating about the nature of this world).
They say or write things that sound good, but do not have any substance. If someone can extract a single thing of substance that is conducive to “cooling down of the mind” and really significant (and is contradictory to what I discuss at the website), I will be happy to discuss that.
My advice to Eric (and anyone else interested) is to just stop listening these rants for a FEW MONTHS and just focus on Pure Dhamma: Stay away from dasa akusala as much as possible and read posts in sections that you understand, read the links to other sections given there, and so on. Those two things help each other; just doing one is not enough.
Once you see a hook (a point that makes sense), just go deeper from there. Ask questions if something is not clear. But don’t ask questions about the Arahant or Anagami stages yet, if you don’t think you are a Sotapanna. That is because it is hard to comprehend such deeper mindsets for a normal human. Can someone comprehend calculus without understanding how to do basic math?
I know some people get upset when I say these things. But I am saying it out of compassion. In order to make progress, one first needs to do an honest self-assessment and decide where one is on the Path. Just because one may have spent years and years reading essentially irrelevant things such as philosophy or even labelled as Buddha Dhamma does not mean much. Sooner one realizes that, the better off one would be. However, ultimately it is up to each individual to decide the path for oneself. These are just my suggestions.
@Siebe: ” In the end we must see and accept that suffering does not arise only due to our actions, but there is the mind of the other person too.”
What are you trying to say?
That you can change another person’s thoughts/suffering?
OR
That another person can make you suffer (without physical force)?One can of course hurt another physically. One may be able to make another person (especially one who is ignorant of Dhamma) suffer by bad speech. But one cannot significantly affect another by one’s thoughts; that will only hurt oneself (of course bad actions and speech directed towards another will hurt oneself too, many times over!).
One needs to find happiness within oneself. Even the Buddha can only show the way.
I am not really sure what you are trying to say. If you are referring to a particular passage in the sutta, please quote from that, so that we can see what you really mean.
I have translated the full “Vitthāra Sutta (AN 4.162)” that Siebe mentioned above.
You can select the English translation at the Sutta Central site using the top left menu bar. Then you will be able to compare with my translation below:
“Bhikkhus, there are these four modes of practice. Which four? Difficult practice with slow progress, difficult practice with fast progress, easy and pleasant practice with slow progress, & easy and pleasant practice with fast progress.
“And which is difficult practice with slow progress? This is the case where a certain individual is by birth of an intensely sensual nature. He easily experiences distress born of passion. OR, he is by birth of an intensely aggressive nature (quick to get angry). He easily experiences distress born of this aggressive nature. OR he is normally of an intensely ignorant nature (slow witted). He easily experiences distress born of delusion (ignorance). The five faculties of his—the faculty of saddha (faith in Dhamma), the faculty of viriya (effort), the faculty of sati (mindfulness), the faculty of samadhi (to get to tranquility), the faculty of panna (wisdom)—are weak. Because of their weakness, he makes only slow progress on the Path, and takes a longer time to get to Nibbana. This is called difficult practice with slow progress.
“And which is difficult practice with fast progress? This is the case where a certain individual is by birth of an intensely sensual nature. He easily experiences distress born of passion. OR, he is by birth of an intensely aggressive nature (quick to get angry). He easily experiences distress born of this aggressive nature. OR he is normally of an intensely ignorant nature (slow witted). He easily experiences distress born of delusion (ignorance). The five faculties of his—the faculty of saddha (faith in Dhamma), the faculty of viriya (effort), the faculty of sati (mindfulness), the faculty of samadhi (to get to tranquility), the faculty of panna (wisdom)—are strong. Because of their strength, he makes fast progress on the Path, and takes a shorter time to get to Nibbana. This is called difficult practice with fast progress.
“And which is comfortable practice with slow progress? This is the case where a certain individual is by birth of not intensely sensual nature. He does not easily experience distress born of passion. OR, he is by birth of not intensely aggressive nature (quick to get angry). He does not easily experience distress born of this aggressive nature. OR he is normally not of an intensely ignorant nature. He does not easily experience distress born of delusion (ignorance). The five faculties of his—the faculty of saddha (faith in Dhamma), the faculty of viriya (effort), the faculty of sati (mindfulness), the faculty of samadhi (to get to tranquility), the faculty of panna (wisdom)—are weak. Because of their weakness, he makes only slow progress on the Path, and takes a longer time to get to Nibbana. This is called comfortable practice with slow progress.
“And which is comfortable practice with fast progress? This is the case where a certain individual is by birth of not intensely sensual nature. He does not easily experience distress born of passion. OR, he is by birth of not intensely aggressive nature (quick to get angry). He does not easily experience distress born of this aggressive nature. OR he is normally not of an intensely ignorant nature. He does not easily experience distress born of delusion (ignorance). The five faculties of his—the faculty of saddha (faith in Dhamma), the faculty of viriya (effort), the faculty of sati (mindfulness), the faculty of samadhi (to get to tranquility), the faculty of panna (wisdom)—are strong. Because of their strength, he makes fast progress on the Path, and takes a shorter time to get to Nibbana. This is called comfortable practice with fast progress.
“These are the four modes of practice.”
My notes:
– One is born with a fixed set of five faculties. This basically depends on one’s progress made in previous births, and also the strength of the kusala kamma that led to this human bhava.- But one’s response to sense inputs or whether one has an aggressive nature, or whether one is “slow witted” seems to be independent of one’s five faculties.
Therefore, even for someone with “good” five faculties, may have “sensual, aggressive, and slow witted nature” (case 2 above). And someone with “bad” five faculties, may not have “sensual, aggressive, and slow witted nature” (case 3 above).
OK, Eric. I was able to restore your original reply.
Sorry you had to go through so many re-postings.You are absolutely right. Many of the misinterpretations of suttas arise because people just translate suttas word-by-word, mechanically.
Eric said: “Starting out. Yeah. I’m still looking for the mundane Path,..”.
I am glad to hear that honest assessment. Not many people are willing to admit that, and I can see that they just go around in circles.
Let me add to the statement by Tobias to make it a bit better; the additions are in bold (I am sure he meant this part too):
“Niramisa sukha arises from understanding and living according to the wider worldview of the Buddha and tilakkhana. One cannot be forced to calmness. Learning and grasping the Dhamma and living a moral life according to the Dhamma will bring progress. As one learns deeper Dhamma, one’s sila or moral conduct will get better and the niramisa sukha will increase too.”Let me expand a bit more.
The root causes of ALL kinds of sufferings are associated with dasa akusala. But there are various levels of them. One needs to start dealing with the strongest ones first.
Those are the ones that one does with the bodily activities and speech, which I call “the big eight”. These are discussed in “2. The Basics in Meditation“.
It is useless to try to comprehend deeper aspects like Tilakkhana, until one’s mind can see that such actions and speech can lead to a high level of stress in the mind. Those actually have origin in abhijja (excess greed) and vyapada (excess anger), and micca ditthi (10 types of wrong views) in one’s mind.
When one controls those bad actions and speech, abhijja and vyapada will GRADUALLY REDUCE from one’s mind. When one learns Dhamma and contemplate on them, wrong views will be corrected too. It may take some time. (But most people want to see the results right away, JUST by reading posts at the website. That is unlikely to happen).
I am not speaking to anyone specific, because I do not know the mindset of each person. Each person would know whether he/she is committing immoral actions/speech, AND what types of micca ditthi one has; micca ditthi can be removed only by learning and contemplating, not by sheer will power.
The “cooling down” (or niramisa sukha) will be proportional to how much of a load has been removed from one’s mind. One may not even realize, but dasa akusala are burden to the mind. Most times, one will realize it only when one gets rid of that burden. Then one can look back and realize the “cooling down”. For example, a laborer working out in the hot sun may have done it for years without really feeling how hard that work is. But if he gets a job inside an air-conditioned office, he will now see the suffering that he went through all those years.
In any case, this “basic foundation” is exactly what the Buddha explained to the young Rahula bhikkhu (who had become a bhikkhu only recently) in the Ambalatthika Rahulovada Sutta that you referred to under the topic, “Instructions to Rahula – Ambalaṭṭhikarāhulovāda Sutta“.
Please read my post under that topic, which I just posted. I was glad to see that answer to this question could be found in that sutta, which you yourself referred to.
This is a VERY important sutta. Evreyone should read it.
In this sutta, the Buddha described in detail these “basics” that one should first undertake, pointing out the bad outcomes of lying, etc, which are nothing other than dasa akusala.
Here is the link to a translation and the Pali versions side-by-side, at the same website that you referred to:
“Advice to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhika“.Translations of some verses are not that good, but the general idea comes through, especially if you take into account the following. Two especially bad translations are for akusala as “unskillful” and kusala as “skillful”. It would be much better to translate them as “immoral” and “moral”. One does not get rebirth in the apayas with unskillful actions, but rather immoral actions.
I just discussed the importance of this sutta under the topic, “Basic mindfulness & sense-pleasures for niramisa sukha?“. You may want to read that too.
I do not know anything about the Nāgānanda International Institute for Buddhist Studies. But I guess it could not hurt.
You said: “There are a few women monasteries in Sri Lanka, but it seems all are Theravada.”
You sound like Theravada is bad. But Theravada is the only major sector that takes Tipitaka as the basis. It is just that most CURRENT Theravada bhikkhus do not actually follow the Tipitaka, but Buddhaghosa’s Visugghimagga. What the Waharaka Thero did was to point out that key interpretations in the Visugghimagga are not correct. There is nothing wrong with the Tipitaka.
@Akvan and @Siebe:
The key here is understand the difference between vedana that arise due to kamma vipaka and “samphassa ja vedana“.An Arahant has those vedana of the first kind until death of the physical body. But an Arahant has no “samphassa ja vedana” once the Arahanthood is attained.
So, both types of vedana will cease at the Parinibbana of an Arahant.
Please read carefully the post, “Vēdanā (Feelings) Arise in Two Ways“.
