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This question requires a lengthy explanation. I will try to provide a summary.
1. A critical factor in rebirth is gati. One’s gati is determined by sankhara (kamma) they engage in.
2. Paticca Samuppada determines not only future rebirths but also the environments where sentient beings with the majority of gati can be reborn.
- For example, at the beginning of a “new Earth,” all sentient beings on Earth have fine bodies like those of Brahmas. Initially, there is no vegetation, animals, etc. and also no males/females. They have just descended from Abhassara Brahma realm and are mostly like Brahmas.
- With time, their “manussa gati” (with raga, dosa, and moha) slowly emerge. Their bodies become dense, and initially, there is “free food” in terms of natural rice-like vegetation that can be eaten without any preparation.
- Then sexes emerge and more incentive to engage in defiled activities.
- With time, those with worse gati are reborn as animals. By that time, there is more vegetation, rivers, etc.
- With time, the nirayas inside the Earth take shape, and some humans/animals are born there.
- That is an example of how the environment changes as the dominant gati of sentient beings change.
3. Toward the end of the Earth (and the Sun and surrounding stars), the environment changes drastically again.
- The Sun (and the Earth) start getting hot, and gradually, rivers dry over millions of years. Mind-pleasing things, as well as food start to become scarce, and people naturally become “more moral.” They start cultivating (anariya) jhana and migrating back to the Abhassara Brahma realm over millions of years. By that time, apayas would have been destroyed, and beings there also gradually moved to the Abhassara Brahma realm (via the human realm).
4. That is the “life cycle” on a grand scale. That cycle has been repeating from a “beginning-less time.” More details in “Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27)“
5. Another point is the following: On that time scale, the overall gati of sentient beings (and thus the environment or the “structure of Earth”) remains roughly the same. For example, the main continents, oceans, etc., are re-formed similarly, not the same, but roughly the same.
- People with similar gati are born in similar places/countries. All Buddhas are born in the “same” geographical area of India/Sri Lanka. They speak similar languages, have similar names, etc.
- That does not mean the same people recycle back to their original places of birth. Rather, people with similar gati AT THAT TIME are reborn in similar geographical locations. Even now, as gati changes, one’s birth location can change.
That is a brief summary, but it should be enough to get the general idea. It is not worthwhile to spend time on these issues, but it is good to have a general idea. The task at hand is to cultivate the path and be free of suffering because no one knows how long one will live.
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A satta is any living being without at least the Sotapanna Anugami stage of Nibbana.
- Sotapanna Anugami is the “lowest” of the eight Noble Persons (Ariyas). All Ariyas are guaranteed to attain Nibbana (Arahanthood) within seven bhava (existences.)
- Any other living being (including all Devas and Brahmas) belong to the “satta” category.
- That is explained in the “Satta Sutta (SN 23.2)” you quoted. I have linked to the exact place in the sutta: “Rūpe kho, rādha, yo chando yo rāgo yā nandī yā taṇhā, tatra satto, tatra visatto, tasmā sattoti vuccati” OR “Anyone who has cravings for sensory inputs (rupa) is a “satta.”
- In the strict sense, only an Arahant is not a “satta.” However, all other Ariyas are guaranteed to attain Arahanthood within seven bhava (existences). Thus, an Ariya is usually not included in the category of “satta.”
I discussed that sutta in “Five Aggregates and Tilakkhaṇa – Introduction” and “Aniccaṁ Vipariṇāmi Aññathābhāvi – A Critical Verse.”
- I am not quite sure whether that is what you tried to explain in your analogy.
There are several Radha Suttas.
- It would be helpful to provide a link or more specifications, such as SN 22.71, which is one of the Radha Suttas.
It seems to be a readjustment in the brain, allowing recalling different memory records.
- There is another well-documented account of Dorothy Eady, who started recalling her past life in Egypt thousands of years ago.
“Rebirth Account of Dorothy Eady“
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Memories are in vinnana dhatu. The brain retrieves them.
- If the brain becomes defective, memory recall will be poor. Depending on the extent of the damage to the brain, memory recall can even stop, for example, for those with Alzheimer’s.
There are several posts on this subject. Following are only a few:
“Where Are Memories Stored? – Viññāṇa Dhātu“
“Brain – Interface between Mind and Body”
“Autobiographical Memory – Preserved in Nāma Loka.”
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Yoniso mansikara has a deeper meaning than “wise attention” because “wise attention” could be taken in a mundane way. The question is: “What is wise?”
- See “Yoniso Manasikāra and Paṭicca Samuppāda“
- One needs to understand Paticca Samuppada to have “wise attention.”
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That is interesting! They seem to convey at least the mundane meanings.
“We use Viparinamam if that “which has come to be” is a development or a change for the worse. “
- Yes. That is the correct meaning.
“In the example, the sitting position which I relied upon as comfortable, is now the very reason for my pain. It has become completely “other” or “the otherwise” (Annathabhava). Right from the start it was not something to be relied upon. To be craved for. I put my expectations and hopes on it, while it (without any heed to me and my hopes on it) became the other.”
- As I mentioned above, that is a mundane interpretation of “viparinama.” No posture can provide comfort for too long. It is said that even a Brahma (with no dense physical body like ours) cannot remain in the “same position” for too long.
The deeper meaning of “viparinama” is that pursuing any “rupa” with vedana, sanna, sankhara, or vinnana cannot lead to the “perfect state with no suffering” or “pabhassara mind” or Nibbana. That is the critical idea in the post “Vipariṇāma – Two Meanings.” There, “viparinama” means to move away from the “perfect state with no suffering.”
P.S. I edited the title of the thread.
I think it is close. It could be a little better as follows:
“As from a collection of flowers many a garland can be made by an expert florist, so also, many good deeds can be done (out of faith and generosity) by a person from birth to death.”
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Thank you, Gad. That is an excellent account of Visākha’s life.
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Paying taxes means paying one’s fair share to maintain the infrastructure (such as roads, the judicial system, etc.). That is more like “fulfilling one’s obligations.” (Of course, many governments spend carelessly, but that is a separate issue.)
- “Giving” is to those who do not have other means to sustain life. That includes bhikkhus and the poor. That is done with “good intentions” and going over and above one’s necessary obligations.
- “Giving” to the poor (and also animals) is out of compassion when seeing the suffering they go through. That generates “strong javana citta” with “good kammic energies.”
- “Giving” to bhikkhus and temples helps sustain the “Buddha Sasana” for future generations, and that is even more meritorious. Buddha’s teachings will not survive without temples and bhikkhus.
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Yes. You do.
- The meaning of “kusala” is to avoid “akusala.” See “Kusala Sutta (AN 10.180).”
- Another aspect is to engage in “puñña kamma” or “moral deeds,” like giving. That is also essential to cultivating the path. See “Puñña Kamma – Dāna, Sīla, Bhāvanā.”
- Also see “Dasa Akusala/Dasa Kusala – Basis of Buddha Dhamma.”
This is an important point. Please feel free to ask questions/comment.
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Yes. The trnslation of the verse:
“Muñca pure muñca pacchato,
Majjhe muñca bhavassa pāragū;
Sabbattha vimuttamānaso,
Na punaṁ jātijaraṁ upehisi.”
could be better as follows:
“Let go of the past, future, and present and transcend this existence and “be free of all suffering” (Sabbattha vimuttamānaso). With your mind wholly liberated (from the pancupadanakkhandha), you will be released from repeated (punaṁ) birth and death.”
- The point is that pancupadanakkhandha includes attachment to past and present experiences and any attachments arising at present. Once one has seen the unfruitfulness of craving anything in this world anywhere, why make more abhisankhara (“avijja paccaya sankhara“) and move away from Nibbana?
- We have been discussing this in recent posts, including today’s post. We need to move to the left on the chart in today’s post: “Vipariṇāma – Two Meanings.” Any abhisankhara generation in the purana or nava kamma stages moves a mind away from Nibbana.
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Excellent. Thank you, Gad.
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