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You missed the next point on that list.
- “All vedanā initially coming through the other five sense faculties are neutral, i.e., adukkhamasukha vedanā.” But they give rise to “distorted sanna.”
- For example, the taste of ice cream as sweet is not a vedana, but a “distorted sanna.” Since a puthujjana does not realize that they crave the sweet taste of ice cream, they generate samphassa-ja-vedana based on that craving.
- See, for example, #9 of “Saññā – All Our Thoughts Arise With “Distorted Saññā” Of course, read the whole post to get the idea.
P.S. I revised the post “Vedana (Feelings) Arise in Two Ways” to include a link to the above post.
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“OK then Buddha knew about aliens too.”
- Of course. He taught that the universe has uncountable populated planetary systems like our Solar system (cakkavāla).
- There can be numerous “dasa sahassi loka dhatu” (a large cluster of cakkavāla) in the universe. But they are totally separated from each other. Each “dasa sahassi loka dhatu” can have only one Buddha Sasana at a time. There can be living Buddhas in other “dasa sahassi loka dhatu” right now.
“Did he say that the stars of the night sky represent chakkavalas?”
- That should be obvious. Some suttas compare the light from the Sun to that of the Moon (weak.)
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You have some valid points. I will take a look at it later today. Thank you!
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Thank you, y not.
- I have linked to the discussion in y not’s post above.
- We can discuss it further here if needed.
The main point is that a “punna kamma” done by an Ariya (Noble Person) could automatically become a “kusala kamma” depending on the level of understanding.
- Since Arahants do not need to do kusala kamma, all punna kamma by Arahants are “punna kriya” or “good deeds without kammic implications.”
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OK. Taryal’s question about cakkavāla.
“If this (cakkavāla) refers to a planetary system, it would be insane for someone to know this 2500 years ago without a telescope.”
- It is not that complicated. The Tipitaka contains many accounts of Buddha’s travels to the Deva and Brahma realms, which are located well above the Earth. See, for example, “Brahmanimantanika Sutta (MN 49).”
“The suttas that I’ve read which discuss the cosmos say that our sun, earth and the moon make up a cakkavāla. Then there are categorizations of a 1000 such systems, 10,000, million and even billions of cakkavāla. This can be interpreted as a collection of planetary systems but the suttas do not mention other planets.”
- From the above, it is evident that the Buddha could see the other planets associated with our Solar system. Also, he could travel to any of the other “star systems” or cakkavāla within our “dasa sahassi loka dhatu,” which contains thousands of “star systems.”
- It is true that the Buddha mentioned only the Sun, the Moon, and famous mountains in the discourses. There was no reason to describe other planets. Regarding other “star systems,” he mentioned that they also had their own Sun and Moon.
P.S. Also see “Buddhahood Associated Controversies.”
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Taryal wrote: “The physical body’s map is provided by mother and father in the form of zygote, isn’t it? That’s why we observe many similarities between the parents and the offsprings. In some cases, even the traits from grandparents can appear when the part of genetic code supressed in parents get expressed in the offspring. So how can we say that the physical body is created by kammic energy?”
Many factors come into play to form the physical body of a human.
1. First level: Births in various existences are according to gati; see “Gati Sutta (AN 9.68).” The translation of “gati” as “birth” there is wrong. Rather, births are according to gati: “Gati to Bhava to Jāti – Ours to Control.”
2. However, within those major categories there are many variations. For example, the six Deva and the 20 Brahma realms are all lumped together due to “Deva gati.” That just indicates they do not have “immoral gati” while in that existence.
- The realms in the apayas are sorted into three categories according to the major “immoral gati” that led to such existences. Births in the human realm are due to a mix of “moral and immoral gati” and a human may have such gati at various times too.
3. The type of “distorted sanna” depends on those major gati and branches out into various sub-categories depending on the realm.
- For example, rupavacara Brahmas automatically receive a “distorted sanna” of “jhanic pleasure” and arupavacara Brahmas automatically receive a “distorted sanna” of “samapatti pleasure.”
- Humans have specific “distorted sanna” that could be different from those of animals, and each animal species may have different types of “distorted sanna” as we have discussed.
4. The point is that all humans have “built-in distorted sanna” common to all. That is the “first-level” I mentioned above.
- However, there can be many different types of gati in humans. Some are easy to anger, some are more sensual than others, some are more moral, etc.
5. When a gandhabba is pulled into a womb, nature automatically matches the gati of the gandhabba to those of the parents as much as possible.
- That is why the DNA of a child matches those of the parents in most cases.
- P.S. The zygote (or the “base”) that a gandhabba merges with (in the womb) is created by the merging of the mother’s egg and the father’s sperm. It is the physical basis of DNA: “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception.”
6. However, a human existence is primarily determined by the “janaka kamma” responsible for grasping the human existence, as can be also seen in the “Abhiṇhapaccavekkhitabbaṭhāna Sutta (AN 5.57)“ in Waisaka’s comment.
- It is a complex issue, but the above summary should give a general idea.
I have to leave now and will answer Taryal’s other question about cakkavāla later.
“Can I clarify that the Arahant will not taste it to be pleasant but netural, because Samphassa-jā-Vedanā do not arise in an Arahant..?”
- The sweet taste of ice cream comes BEFORE the mind gets to the “Samphassa-jā-Vedanā” step. Please re-read the relevant post from which you got the wrong idea.
- If that post is unclear, please quote the unclear passage from the post. I may need to revise it.
An “Idappaccayātā Paṭicca Samuppāda ” describes the same process (evolution of a mind) as described in “Citta Evolving To Viññāna And Viññākkhanda In Nine Steps.”
- ” Citta Vithi – Processing of Sense Inputs” describes the same process in a different way. They are all related.
- Another way of analysis: “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation.”
All recent posts (over the past year, starting around 8/5/23) discuss various aspects of this process: “New / Revised Posts.”
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It is possible but not a common occurrence.
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I will watch Dosakkhayo’s video later today.
However, the main points are the following:
1. Taryal’s statement, “Then what is the role of DNA? Genetic Engineering has shown that mutations in DNA can affect the structure of the physical bodies. This would suggest that the blueprint of an organism’s physical structures is stored in the DNA” is not inconsistent with Buddha’s explanation.
- I did not deny that DNA plays a role in the physical human body. After a human gandhabba is born with a physical body, DNA plays a role (dictated by kammic energy embedded in the gandhabba.)
2. We need to realize that the world (or nature) is described by Paticca Samuppada and the laws of kamma embedded in it.
- The gandhabba and the physical body are BOTH created by kammic energy to “embed” the “distorted sanna” that the lifestream craved. A human existence is grasped because of a “janaka kamma” (a strong kamma that can give rise to human existence.)
3. This is why I have emphasized many times that the “trick” (or the mirage) of the “distorted sanna” cannot be uncovered within the mundane laws of science.
- That “distorted sanna” is “built into” both gandhabba and the physical body, i.e., into DNA, as well.
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At the beginning of the post, it is stated: “A citta evolves into viññānakkhanda via nine stages.” See “Citta Evolving To Viññāna And Viññākkhanda In Nine Steps.
- The mind starts at the “citta” stage and evolves into the viññānakkhanda stage in a citta vithi. But that repeats over many citta vithi, and the javana power increases to the level of doing kamma after numerous citta vithi that occur within seconds.
- The citta, mano, mansan stages are within the “bahiddha vinnana” stage (which also takes place for an Arahant.)
- It gets to the ajjhatta vinnana stage when the mind attaches to the sensory input (i.e., the “distorted sanna.”) I think I mentioned that in the post. Again, that ajjhatta vinnana strengthens with time if the mind stays on that sensory input.
- So, the mind goes through the “purana kamma” and “nava kamma” stages also during that process.
Thank you!
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It could be a jhanic experience.
- It is not that uncommon for people to have jhanic experiences. In most cases, it happens to those who have practiced jhana in recent past lives. Some such people may not have even heard about jhanas.
The post you refer to is by a forum participant. The following post discusses jhanic experience: “Jhānic Experience in Detail – Sāmaññaphala Sutta (DN 2).”
- Your statement, “It seems like you have to deliberately permeate your body” is incorrect. When in a jhana, it happens automatically. You don’t need to focus on jhana factors.
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Information on how to send funds is there in English @ 0.59 minutes.
- Typically, I would remove videos with such specific details. However, this is a unique situation for a worthy cause.
- My only reservation is that if the project starts in 2021, what is the current status? Is it close to being finished?
We need to learn to think on our own rationally and also not to wander off to irrelevant subjects.
- Per the description in that post, citta, mano, and mānasan stages do not have any defilements. Arahant‘s mind would go through those stages per the reasons I gave, for example, to identify people.
- I also stated that there is no description in the Tipitaka about how the mind of an Arahant gets to the viññāṇakkhandha stage. There is no need for that either.
- Of course, the viññāṇakkhandha stage of an Arahant is not the same as that of a puthujjana. In particular, it would not have any defilements. But it should encompass past, future, and paccuppanna states of the mind (because an Arahant also can recall the past and may have some expectations for the future, like taking a bath later in the day.)
