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This is a common misconception that we have discussed before. But since it is important, let me explain it again.
The actual “intention” (cetana) is what kind of mental factors (cetasika) arise in one’s mind. That critically depends on one’s views (ditthi). This is a CRITICAL thing that many people do not understand.
Let us take this animal sacrifice. Those who engage in that believe that it will be beneficial to them. What they believe DOES NOT MATTER.
What matters is whether a given action involves one or more dasa akusala, and if so it will bring bad kamma vipaka.
In the case of this animal sacrifice, there are TWO akusala involved: One is killing animals. The second is the wrong view (micca ditthi) that animal sacrifice (killing of animals) leads to benefits (good kamma vipaka) for them. The second one is an even stronger akusala.
This is why one’s intention may not be what one thinks it is. In this case, those people are happy to carry out this bad kamma and they expect good vipaka (benefits), based on their wrong views. They THINK and BELIEVE that have good intentions. But they do not.
This is why it is important to study and understand what the 10 types of micca ditthi are, and make sure one does not engage in them.
More information can be found at:
“adding kamma vs. receiving vipaka”I strongly suggest reading both. This is a critical issue to understand.
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@ Uyap: Please pay attention to Grammar when you ask a question. I was too late to catch and correct this one. I had corrected one of your posts previously. As a courtesy to others, we need to pay attention and formulate question topics and the text to be clear.
The short answer to your question is: Not knowing the law is not an excuse in a court-of-Law. In the same way, not knowing Nature’s laws (Buddha Dhamma) is not an excuse. This is the main reason that most living beings are trapped in the suffering-filled rebirth process.
There are some aeons where not a single Buddha is born. Each aeon is many billions of years. Even when a Buddha is born, his teachings do not last more than several thousand years, before they get distorted and then totally disappear. This is why we need to take advantage of our opportunity now.
Y not said: “Going down the list of Buddhas antecedent to those 5, the names of the towns and parents and personal attendants etc. of those Buddhas are also Indian-sounding. How is this? How does it come about that previous generations of the solar system produced the same culture(s), not to say the same locations present now?”
This is why the Buddha said not to get into these discussions. It can get very deep, and one could easily spend an entire lifetime thinking about these issues (this belong to “loka visaya” which is one of the “unthinkable” or “acinteyya” subjects); see, “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77)“. English translation there: “Unconjecturable“.
But I assure you that these do have explanations. I don’t want to spend anymore time going deeper. I do understand the curiosity and desire, but these take precious time from more fruitful discussions. However, some of these things will become clear as one proceeds, even without thinking directly about them.
As to the rest of your question: Yes. All those Buddhas were born in this recycled Solar system (Cakkavata in Buddha Dhamma). As a Cakkavata goes through these cycles, the “average gati” of innumerable living beings and hence the Cakkavata that arises have many common features. A Buddha is ALWAYS born in what is called the “Madhya pradesa” close to the equator, in a country that speaks Maghadi (predecessor to Pali), which is the “natural language” of the brahmas in the abhassara brahma realm. A Buddha ALWAYS attains Buddhahood under a special tree (different trees for different Buddhas) that is born at the same time as that Buddha, etc, etc.
And I have already pointed out that science is evolving. Many scientific theories about the universe have changed drastically even during the past 100 years.
@C.Saket. You said:
In the post : Rupa – Generation mechanism, it is said that:
“…Those 8 rupas (patavi, apo, tejo, vayo, vanna, gandha, rasa, oja) and the akasa dhatu are produced by all four causes (kamma, citta, utu, ahara).”You are correct. That was a mistake on my part since akasa dhatu is an anipphanna rupa (see below) and I have removed that sentence.
Thanks for pointing it out.The important point is that the 18 types of rupa (nipphanna rupa) on the left hand side of the Table in “Rupa (Material Form) – Table” are those produced by mechanisms directly related to the mind.
– Those 10 on the right-side of the Table, including akasa dhatu, are called anipphanna rupa (abstract rupa). I suspect these rupa are more like “mechanisms/principles”.
– I do not feel confident to say anymore, since I do not have a comfortable understanding on anipphanna rupa.@C.Saket:
You quoted me as saying:“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.”.In the context of what I said, it should have been clear that it was a slip on my part. I should have said: For example, telling a lie is an akusala kamma, but not necessarily an apayagami act).
Anyway, I have made an addendum to my earlier post to clarify it.
Let us stay away from discussing Bhagavath Gita, Vedas, etc.
This will only lead to confusion. I will show in a series of posts in the future that all that originated from the teachings of the Kassapa Buddha, who was there before the Gotama Buddha (in fact there have been 3 Buddhas before the Gotama Buddha in this life cycle of the Earth).
Those teachings of Kassapa Buddha were transmitted as Vedas, and got distorted with time, as we can imagine from what is happening even now, with many concepts already distorted in Mahāyāna Buddhism and even in Theravada Buddhism.
This was pointed out by the Gotama Buddha in several suttas: that what was being taught by Vedic brahmins were distorted teachings of the Kassapa Buddha. I need to find those suttas.
It is not an accident that most terms in the Vedas as the same as Buddhist. But of course the details are very different. In fact, my suggestion to anyone interested in the Vedas is to do a systematic study; it will become clear that they are not inter-consistent.
I just came across the following article on the internet: “BUDDHISM AND ITS VEDIC CONNECTIONS“.
– There is stated:”To begin with, it was several hundred years before the time of Lord Buddha that his birth was predicted in the Srimad-Bhagavatam: “In the beginning of the age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will appear in the province of Gaya as Lord Buddha, the son of Anjana, to bewilder those who are always envious of the devotees of the Lord.” (Bhag.1.3.24)”
– That is because the Kassapa Buddha taught at his time about the upcoming Gotama Buddha, just as the Gotama Buddha has taught about the upcoming Maithreya Buddha (who would be the last Buddha to appear on this Earth before it is destroyed).Anyone interested in discussing this issue can open a new topic “Vedas and Buddhism” and we can discuss it there. But let us not bring Vedic teachings to discussions on concepts in Buddha Dhamma. That will only lead to confusion.
– In fact, as I mentioned before, please do not bring ANY other philosophical issues to these discussions on Dhamma concepts. This website is based ONLY on the Tipitaka. If we go outside of that, we will not have any inter-consistency.First of all, please pay attention to Grammar when posting. This question is a good one, but the topic title was not formulated right. I just changed it to: “Mind Creates Matter, What creates the Mind?”.
y not said: “So this means that the individuality (of every singular ‘mind’ ) persists after the attainment of Nibbana”
After attaining Nibbana, there is no “individuality” left in this world of 31 realms, i.e., there is no rebirth. Please read the subsection on “Nibbana“.
The “lifestream” of an individual ceases to exist in this world of 31 realms: “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream“.
Also read: “Nibbāna “Exists”, but Not in This World“.
This question keeps coming up in different forms. Please make sure to understand what is meant by Nibbana. If not clear, let us get it resolved here.
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.
