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External rupa is material, of course. For example, a gold ring is made of atoms and molecules.
- When person X sees that ring, a mental image of it is grasped by the mind. That is the ‘internal rupa.’
There are five mental enoties associated with that ‘internal rupa‘:
- Rupa or Rupakkhandha: It registers the size, colors, shape, etc. associated with the gold ring. Furthermore, the mind compares seeing such objects in the past and matches those past experiences to recognize the object as a gold ring. That is why it is called ‘rupakkhandha‘ or an ‘aggregate or collection of rupa.’ That is a very simple explanation of a deeper subject, but a starting point.
- Vedana or Vedanakkhadha: The mind may ‘feel’ a sensation of pleasure seeing the gold ring. Suppose you saw it at the dentist’s office while waiting for your appointment. Someone may have accidentally dropped it.
- Saññā or Saññākkhandha: Recognition of the object as a gold ring. It also incorporates any value that is placed on it. The gold ring could be expensive.
- Saṅkhāra or Saṅkhārakkhndha: Thoughts that arise related to the gold ring. You may consider keeping it for yourself, instead of handing it over to the receptionist, in case the owner comes looking for it. If so, then greed would have arisen in you.
- Viññāṇa or Viññāṇakkhandha: Overall mental impression of the ring and any future plans regarding it. If you decide to keep it, you may think about giving it to your wife or girlfriend as a gift. Or you may decide to sell it.
That is a very basic explanation. The mind is extremely fast. All those things happen within a split second.
- Detailed explanations in “The Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha).”
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Yes. Most English translations on the internet are incorrect because they translate word-for-word without understanding the meanings.
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1. Are you aware that two ancient yogis, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, attained the fourth jhana?
- Did they have Samma Samadhi, which is the culmination of the Noble Eightfold Path?
- If so, they would have been at least Anagamis, very close to the Arahant stage.
- They had attained the fourth jhana by suppressing kama raga. They are still puthujjana, not released from the apayas.
2. One needs to be in the Ariya fourth jhana (with kama raga samyojana eliminated) to be in the peak of Samma Samadhi.
- The suttas you quoted refer to the Ariya fourth jhana.
- The suttas do not explain that; it is to be understood.
3. There are levels of Samma Samadhi attained by Sotapannas, Sakadagamis, Anagamis, and Arahants.
- Those never go away. Because of the anantarika (unbreakable) Samma Samadhi attained by a Sotapanna, for example, exempts them from rebirths in the apayas.
- The culmination or the peak of the Samma Samadhi can be equated to the Samadhi of an Anagami in the fourth Ariya jhana, who is very close to Arahanthood. The suttas you quoted refer to such Anagamis who are very close to the peak of Samma Samadhi. However, there can even be Arahants who have not cultivated the fourth jhana; those are Pannavimutti Arahants.
- The general definition of the peak of Samma Samadhi refers to fulfilling all other seven path factors, Samma Ditthi through Samma Sati.
4. Those are points I discussed in “Sammā Samādhi – How to Define It?“
- Please read the post carefully. If there are questions about the validity of any parts in the post, please quote from the post and explain why they are wrong.
- That is the only way to resolve any questions or issues.
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The above explains why it is only the Ariya fourth jhana that can be defined as the peak of Samma Samadhi.
- If an Anagami can get there, they are almost at Arahanthood.
- See the current post “Sammā Samādhi – How to Define It?“
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P.S. We all had cultivated rupa jhana and arupa samapatti countless times in our deep past. Most of us are still trapped in this rebirth process among the 31 realms.
- That is just moving from realm to realm among the 31 realms in the world. Any anariya rupa jhana and arupa samapatti belong to the world, not a part of Nibbana.
- If one can attain the Sotapanna stage, that surpasses any jhana or samapatti, because it is when one breaks free from the trap. Of course, one can use an anariya jhana to attain the Sotapanna stage by seeing the anicca nature of that jhana and moving into the Satipatthana Bhumi.
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Kusalaniddesa (section on Kusala Citta) starts here: “2. Kusalaniddesa“
1. Section 2.10.1.1. Mahākusalacitta through 2.10.1.4. Mahākusalacitta are on kamavacara (kama loka) kusala citta.
2. Section 2.10.2. Rūpāvacarakusalacitta on mundane rupavacara (rupa loka) kusala citta. These are mundane (anariya) jhana.
3. Section 2.10.3. Arūpāvacarakusalacitta on mundane arupavacara (arupa loka) kusala citta. These are mundane (anariya) rupa samapatti.
4. Section 2.10.4. Lokuttarakusalacitta on rupavacara (rupa loka) Lokuttara kusala citta. These are Lokuttara (Ariya) jhana: “2.10.4. Lokuttarakusalacitta“
- It starts with “Yasmiṁ samaye lokuttaraṁ jhānaṁ bhāveti ..”
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So, I hope you have the answer above.
- Those cultivated mundane (anariya) jhana have kama raga suppressed, not eliminated.
- In contrast, even the first Ariya jhana is reached by eliminating kama raga. Thus, only an Anagami or an Arahant would have Ariya jhana.
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The defiled mind (mano) of a puthijjana attaches to one’s own thoughts and creates the seeds for future lives.
- Those thoughts have rupa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa. These are abreviated words representing rupa upādānakkhandha through viññāṇa upādānakkhandha, i.e., pañca upādānakkhandha or pañcupādānakkhandha.
- Those thoughts that initially arise are automatically defiled due to the “built-in distorted saññā” (the same as “kāma saññā” in kāma loka).
- Thus, one creates one’s own world, in the sense that one generates kammic energies to be reborn in various realms of the world.
- That is why the Buddha says one’s “loka” (world) is pañcupādānakkhandha, which is the same as “defiled mind.”
- I discussed that in #2 of the recent post, “Four Noble Truths: Connection to Anusotagāmi/Paṭisotagāmi.”
Perhaps Zapper was looking for such a detailed analysis.
Our thoughts arise in the mind. It receives external sensory inputs and generates thoughts in response to them.
- That is an unusual question. What else can it be?
The easiest way to understand is as follows:
- An Arahant has six indriya or ‘sensory faculties’: cakkhu indriya, sota indriya, jivhā indriya, ghāna indriya, kāya indriya, and mano indriya. Arahants can experience the world (like anyone else) without the arising of any defilements (rāga, dosa, moha) by using those six indriya.
- A puthujjana (average human) has six āyatana or ‘defiled sensory faculties’: cakkhu āyatana, sota āyatana, jivhā āyatana, ghāna āyatana, kāya āyatana, and mano āyatana. They ALWAYS experience the world WITH defilements (rāga, dosa, or moha) using those six āyatana.
- In the suttās, these six āyatana are, in many cases, abbreviated as just cakkhu, sota, jivhā, ghāna, kāya, and mano (without specifically saying they are āyatana). Sometimes they are stated specifically, e.g., cakkāyatana or cakkhu āyatana.
- Therefore, it is incorrect to translate “mano” as mind (as done in Sutta Central and many other websites). Mano, in most cases, refers to the defiled mind of a puthujjana, i.e., it is manāyatana or mana āyatana.
- When a puthujjnana attains Arahanthood, the six āyatana automatically convert to six indriya.
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Question: “Is it the logical portion of the mind and or does it also include thoughts of visual forms (Rupa) and forms related to the other senses?”
- All six sensory faculties experience the world with the mana indriya/āyatana.
- The other five (cakkhu, sota, jivhā, ghāna, kāya) are only “doors” to the outside world.
- For example, the cakkhu indriya/āyatana helps to see, i.e., the “rupa” or sight comes in through the cakkhu, but is experienced by the mind. The mind cannot directly receive rupa, sadda, gandha, rasa, or pottabbha.
Yes. That is correct.
- There are several suttās that categorize living beings (sattā) into various categories.
- For example, ten categories in “Migasālā Sutta (AN 10.75),” eight in “Icchā Sutta (AN 8.61)” and four in “Saṁyojana Sutta (AN 4.131).” It depends on the basis of categorization.
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You wrote: “The world (nāma-rūpa, saḷāyatana, phassa, vedanā) comes out of past avijjā and taṇhā.”
- That is not correct. The correct way to say is: “The world (nāma-rūpa, saḷāyatana, phassa, vedanā) has origins in avijjā and taṇhā. The trigger for the arising of avijjā and taṇhā is saññā.”
- In the case of kama loka (where we live), the trigger is kāma saññā. In general, for kama, rupa, and arupa lokas, I call it “distorted saññā.” P.S. In the suttās, this is also referred to as “saññā vipallāsa.” Here, “vipallāsa” means “confusion/distortion.”
- You can read about it in the following section: “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā).”
- The current, in-depth series: “Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta – New Series”
- Understanding this requires a real effort. Don’t expect to read a post or two and understand it.
- Perhaps you could start with the post “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā)” to get the general idea.
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Thanks. I will think about it and email you later today.
- Independent of whether a review of mine will proceed, please feel free to share any updates of the paper, especially the final accepted version, as I hope will be the case.
If I agree to do a full review, how would it work?
- Do you first need to get permission from the Editor, or are you thinking about just forwarding my review to the Editor?
- The journals I dealt with, the Editor would ask me for suggestions for reviewers in rare occasions. I never submitted the name of a suggested reviewer without the Editor asking for one.
Thank you! I was not aware of that account.
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I have the following observations.
1. Modern science is based on physics, which is the study of the physical world. Starting with physics (trying to probe elementary constituents of matter and its related properties like heat and electromagnetism), scientists have expanded into more complex entities with chemistry, biology, and zoology.
- In the early days, scientists studied the physics of matter (gravity, motion of particles, etc.) and energy (heat, electromagnetism, etc.) separately. However, Einstein’s mass-energy equation (E = mc^2) made the connection between matter and energy.
2. In the meantime, mental phenomena and inquiries into fundamental reality (unchanging principles that underpin reality itself) were studied separately and fell under the category of philosophy.
- These were termed “metaphysics” (implying “beyond physics” or “not amenable to physics”). For example, questions like “Why does anything exist at all?” or “What is the ultimate structure of existence?” are metaphysical because they can’t be settled by experiments
- They were mostly philosophical in nature. Different philosophers presented vastly different ideas, which could not be proven or disproven with the tools of physics (or science and mathematics in general).
3. As we saw in #1 above, Einstein’s mass-energy equation (E = mc^2) made the connection between matter and energy.
- Furthermore, quantum mechanics has some features (quantum entanglement, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, etc.) that make it appear “mysterious” compared to classical physics, where the predictions are intuitive and transparently deterministic.
- The “hard problem in consciousness” (discussed in philosophy) is also mysterious, just like quantum phenomena: the question of how consciousness can arise in a brain made of inert matter.
- When quantum mechanics emerged in the early 1900s, many people began to connect the two, speculating that the newly discovered quantum theory would explain how consciousness arises in the brain.
4. However, the root problem of the approach in #3 is the following.
- Most of those proposals to connect quantum phenomena to mental processes presume that consciousness arises in the brain. In other words, they attempt to identify quantum processes in the brain, and more specifically, in neurons. Yet, neurons are macroscopic particles and not in the quantum regime!
5. The proposed theory of “Quantum Immortality” based on the “Many-Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics” does not specifically refer to consciousness arising in the brain.
- It is a very general theory (more like a philosophical argument) without specificity.
- It is solely based on the time development of a wave function. Wave functions are used to calculate the trajectories of microscopic particles or energy packets.
6. Buddha’s worldview is exactly the opposite. Mental phenomena are the root cause of material phenomena.
- However, there is a connection to quantum mechanics in the following way. Kammic energy (generated in javana cittas defiled with raga, dosa, moha) is the precursor to both living and non-living matter, i.e., both the living beings and their environments.
- These subtle energies overlap the energies involved in quantum mechanics (QM). The “unusual properties of microscopic particles/energies addressed in QM” are also displayed by kammic energies. A good example is “quantum entanglement”, which is the ability of two spatially separated “entangled particles” to respond to each other instantaneously. See “Quantum Entanglement – We Are All Connected.”
7. However, I believe the paper on “Quantum Immortality: The Missing Element” should be published because it can initiate a productive discussion on the intriguing subject of consciousness between the two camps.
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I am not sure a review like the above can be helpful for getting the paper accepted. If so, I would be happy to do so, and I can address any other points you can bring to my attention.
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