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The following post explains how one creates one’s future lives:
“Origin of Life – One Creates One’s Own Future Lives“
- That post is the last one in a series on the “Origin of Life.” The series discusses many “theories of life” and compares them with those of the Buddha.
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“No first starting point could be found. We program ourselves.”
- Yes. I am glad you understood that critical point!
Yes, you are correct. Contrary to what I wrote above, it was customary to build statues in East Asia well before the Buddha, as is obvious from the many old statues of deities in India. However, it became a “Buddhist custom” well after the Buddha’s Parinibbana.
Thank you for the reference. The following is the link:
- However, as I mentioned above, it is not a “Jataka story.” It happened during Buddha Gotama’s life.
- There is a sutta in Samyutta Nikaya providing the same account. If someone has that reference, please post it.
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I removed the first link for the paper since it does not work.
- Anyway, the idea that we live in a simulation is not consistent with Buddha Dhamma.
- By definition, there must by an agent “launching the simulation.” Who is that? Who created that agent?
- This is the same idea as that of a “Creator.”
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No. I don’t think that is true. There was no such custom at that time to ban it.
- But he clearly advised using the Bodhi tree and stupas with dhatus embedded in them.
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1. There were no Buddha statues for many years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. Soon after Buddha’s Parinibbana, stupas with Buddha’s remains (dhatu) were built.
- Statues of the Buddha were built hundreds of years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. There were Buddhist Greek Kings in India after Alexander, for example, King Milinda. That is when the tradition of building Buddha statues started (Greeks are famous for making statues of their deities).
2. I asked Grok (Musk’s AI) about that, and the following is the answer:
“King Menander, also known as Milinda in Indian sources, was a Greco-Bactrian and later Indo-Greek King who ruled a large territory in the Northwestern regions of the Indian Subcontinent. While there are no direct historical records stating that King Menander started the practice of making Buddha statues, there is evidence that Greco-Buddhism flourished during his reign. Greco-Buddhist art, which began to appear around the 1st century BCE, combined Hellenistic artistic styles with Buddhist themes, resulting in statues of the Buddha that incorporated Greek artistic elements, such as realistic human forms and drapery.The earliest surviving Buddha statues discovered at the site of Jamal Garhi in ancient Gandhara date to the 1st or 2nd century CE, which is after the reign of King Menander. However, it is plausible that the Greco-Buddhist artistic tradition that led to the creation of these statues might have been influenced by the patronage of Buddhism by Indo-Greek kings like Menander. King Menander is noted for having become a patron and convert to Greco-Buddhism, and his reign is remembered for its connection to the spread of Buddhism in the region.”3. In the following video, a child describes her life as a Deva during the time of the Buddha (in Sinhala.) She says the Buddha was different than depicted in the current Buddha statues (@21 minutes).- As a Deva, she was able to “go inside” stupas and see dhatu (remains of the Buddha) enclosed in golden containers.
- She also says the Buddha statues we have today do not match the Buddha’s features. That makes sense. Statues of the Buddha were built hundreds of years after the Buddha’s Parinibbana.
4. Furthermore, worshipping symbols REPRESENTING the Buddha were there at the time of the Buddha. There is the following account in the Tipitaka (I forget the name of the sutta):
- People brought many things to offer to the Buddha at Jetavanarama. If the Buddha was not there, they went back disappointed. When Ven. Ananda mentioned this to the Buddha; the Buddha asked for a Bodhi tree to be planted there and instructed people to make offerings to that Bodhi tree. It was called “Ananda Bodhi. ” It was just a symbol representing the Buddha. One’s feelings are based on one’s reverence for the Buddha, not for the symbol.
5. Looking at a Buddha statue gives me peace of mind. If it is conducive to meditation, one could use it for that purpose.
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Thanks for letting us know.
The website has the HTTPS certification, as seen from the web address.
- Has anyone else seen the same issue?
“Is there any easiest way to attain jhanas?”
- It depends. Some people can get to jhanas easily. They had cultivated jhana in recent past lives. Still, one must get the mind to a calm state where sensual thoughts (kama sankappa) or immoral thoughts (akusala citta) do not arise. Anariya yogis do that by focusing the mind on a neutral object like the breath or a kasina object. Bhikkhus do that by avoiding akusala kamma/thoughts and contemplating the unfruitfulness/dangers of craving sensual pleasures.
- The same techniques must be used over a long time to attain jhana for those who do not easily get to jhana.
- The best approach is to engage in Vipassana (insight) mediation. One may or may not “cultivate jhana” (i.e., have the ability to get into a jhana at will) but one will make progress toward attaining a magga phala. Generating “jhana cittas” on and off (which likely happens to many people) is different from being able to get into a jhana at will (which requires spending time specifically to “practice the jhana“). I will have more information in the post to be posted later today.
“Should we just focus on the peace of mind while in the meditation and jhanas will appear?”
- Yes. Once the mind gets detached from the “kama loka,” it will automatically go to the higher “rupa loka” at least temporarily. But generating jhana cittas continuously (i.e., being able to get into “jhana samapatti“) requires practice.
- Anariya yogis‘ minds only temporarily detach from kama loka even if they can stay in jhana samapatti for long times. Thus, they can “lose the ability to get into jhana” if they go back to the “old ways” of engaging in akusala kamma/excessive sensual pleasures.
P.S. New post on jhana: “Jhāna – Finer Details“
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Such a verse could be in several suttas.
The verse “And so, being myself liable to be reborn, understanding the drawbacks in being liable to be reborn, I sought that which is free of rebirth, the supreme sanctuary from the yoke, extinguishment—and I found it. Being myself liable to grow old, fall sick, die, sorrow, and become corrupted, understanding the drawbacks in these things, I sought that which is free of old age, sickness, death, sorrow, and corruption, the supreme sanctuary from the yoke, extinguishment—and I found it ” is in the “Pāsarāsi Sutta (MN 26).”
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Yes. The concepts of anicca and anatta embed the critical idea that craving things in this world only leads to suffering.
- Nibbana (Arahanthood) is the end of suffering. It is not the end of a human, a Deva, an animal, or a Brahma; suffering continues as long as one of those labels can be assigned. A Buddha or an Arahant does not belong to any of those categories.
Yes. Understanding these critical concepts can be rewarding and exhilarating! The following is another way to look at it.
1. As explained in the post “What are Rūpa? Dhammā are Rūpa too!” dhammās are the kammic energies (kamma bija) that power future lives.
- We have collected possibly innumerable kamma bija in this and past lives. They can lead to rebirths in “good” and “bad” realms, but most are in “bad realms.” Even if born in a “good realm,” it will end, and one will start over.
- That is why “sabbe dhammā anatta.” No dhammā can get rid of suffering!
2. Those dhammā are created via sankhara! (That happens at the “upadana paccaya bhava” step in Paticca Samuppada.) This is a subtle/critical point: See “Bhava – Kammic Energy That Can Power an Existence” and “Upādāna Paccayā Bhava – Two Types of Bhava.”
- That is why engaging in the sankhara generation is useless/unfruitful/dangerous. It mainly leads to suffering, and even more importantly, it can NEVER stop future suffering!
- That is why “sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā” and “sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā.“
Understanding the above two points can be rewarding. See, for example, “Buddha Dhamma – Noble Truths, Paṭicca Samuppāda, Tilakkhana.”
I understand the issue. However, we must be able to understand the usage of words based on the context.
- Please carefully read “What are Rūpa? Dhammā are Rūpa too!” It explains the meaning of “dhammā” as “kammic energies bearing things in this world.” In particular, see #15 regarding the Abhidhamma connection.
- Also see #17 on “sabbē dhammā anattā.”
- Another confusion is to take “Dhamma” in “Buddha Dhamma” as dhammā. Buddha Dhamma refers to the teachings of the Buddha.
Gopinadh wrote: “Under Abhidhamma, Nibbana or Nirvana, is classified as an Asankhata Dhamma.”
- First, “Nirvāna” is the Sanskrit word for Pāli “Nibbāna.” The Buddha admonished that Sanskrit should never be used to explain Buddha Dhamma. I have changed the topic to make that change. See #10 of the post “Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta – Distortion Timeline.”
- Secondly, please refer to the reference in Abhidhamma where Nibbāna is defined as “asankhata Dhammā.”
Yes. Those are good examples.
- Thank you for the references!
- In such cases, they had done much work in their past lives (fulfilling paramita).
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I just posted a revised version of the following post: “Samādhi, Jhāna, and Sammā Samādhi.”
- I hope to post soon a rewritten version of the post “Jhāna and Magga phala – Very Different,” which I removed a few days ago.
- These complexities in jhāna illustrate why the Buddha stated that “jhānavisayo acinteyyo” OR “the subject of jhāna is fully comprehensible only to a Buddha.” See “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77).” Four things are fully comprehensible only to a Buddha: “knowledge base of a Buddha and the subjects of jhāna, kamma vipāka, and the world (universe).”
- Hopefully, I am close to “getting things straightened out” to a reasonable level.
- Don’t hesitate to ask questions.
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