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- “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.
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.
