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Yes.
- For example, one can be in the first jhana and get to Sotapanna magga (Anugami), Sotapanna, Sakadagami magga (Anugami), Sakadagami, …to Arahant magga (Anugami) to Arahant (8).
- The same can be done from all five jhanas, leading to 40 possibilities.
- Note that four jhanas in the Sutta Pitaka become five in the Abhidhamma because the first jhana of the Sutta Pitaka is split into two in the Abhidhamma.
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Yes. Arahanthood can be attained via two paths: (i) with (Ariya or anariya) jhanas cultivated on the way or (ii) without jhanas.
- One can attain any magga phala up to full Nibbāna (Arahanthood) from ANY of the anāriya jhāna. This is how the 89 cittas become 121 citta; see “The 89 (121) Types of Citta“.
Further details at “Ascendance to Nibbāna via Jhāna (Dhyāna).”
Thank you, Gad.
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Gad wrote: “it is reported that because the lay life could not properly support the life of an Arahant, one who becomes an Arahant as a lay person should ordain as a monk on the same day or pass away.”
- That comment (and the last of his links) refers to the account of Santati, who was a layperson when he attained the Arahanthood.
1. What I have heard (from Waharaka Thero) is what I wrote in my previous comment: “A lay person cannot “bear” the Arahanthood. If a lay person attains Arahanthood, he/she MUST become a bhikkhu/bhikkhuni within seven days.”
- However, I have not seen a Tipitaka reference for whether the time limit is a day or seven days.
2. The account of Santati that I heard from Waharaka Thero was a bit different than what was described in Gad’s reference.
- What I heard is that Santati was traveling on an elephant’s back. The Buddha saw that he had only a couple of hours to live and had the capability to attain Arahanthood. So he went to meet Santati and delivered a short discourse while Santati was riding the elephant. When Santati attained Arahant (while on the elephant), the Buddha told him, “You have a short time to live. You should do something to let those watching know that you are now an Arahant.”
- That is when Ven. Santati performed a “miracle.” He rose to the air and made his body burn while in the air as he was passing away.
- In this account, he did not die because of the time limit for a “lay Arahant.” He was going to die at that time anyway.
3. As far as I know, there is no Tipitaka reference other than the Dhammapada verse (without further explanation.) It seems that there are different explanations by different people. However, it is possible that there is a more detailed account in the Tipitaka, possibly in the Vinaya Pitaka, that we are not aware of.
The verse is at “Santatimahāmattavatthu“
- Note the title of the verse: “Santatimahāmattavatthu.”
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Thank you, Christian and Seng Kiat, for working to get the links right (regarding your two posts dated October 28, 2023, embedded above.)
If there are still issues with the links, please email me to avoid further confusion: [email protected].
I have revised the following post to include this newest tool:
That is correct.
- Even if she did not die, no one would want her at her old age if she lived to old age.
- It happens to all of us!
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Yes. That is correct.
- Even though we can take any nimitta (like the breath in “breath meditation”) that we like during life, the nimitta that brings a new existence is NOT under our control.
- Just like we don’t have control over the dreams we see, that particular nimitta is beyond our control.
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Nimitta, in general, is a “thought object” upon which the mind starts to experience something. It has a similar meaning to arammana. It is to focus the mind on something.
- See “Nimitta Sutta (AN 3.102).” The English translation there translates it as “foundation.”
- The other translation there, “3.102. Themes” translates nimitta as “theme.”
- Both may be OK to get the idea.
- For example, a yogi cultivating the anariya breath meditation focuses the mind on the breath. So, breath is the nimitta there.
At the cuti-patisandhi moment, kammic energy can bring a nimitta to the mind in two ways: (i) based on the mindset of that person at that time (if a potent/strong vipaka is not there) or (ii) if there is a strong vipaka waiting to bring that specific vipaka, it can bring a very different nimitta matching with that specific vipaka.
I took a quick look, and it looks good. I assume that the posts were converted to PDF directly. If so, it should be fine.
- I should mention that Seng Kiat put together a similar application: “Pure Dhamma: A Quest to Recover Buddha’s True Teachings.”
- Both these should make it easier to access the content.
Thanks, and much merit to all involved, including mdfk, Christian, and Seng Kiat.
I think there are two related issues/concepts.
1. The Buddha clearly stated that what one does in a dream cannot create kammic power, i.e., potent javana citta cannot arise while dreaming. The types of cittas that occur while asleep are called “parittārammana (weak) or atiparittārammna (very weak) citta.”
- Once, a bhikkhu dreamt that he engaged in sex with a woman. Having sex with a woman breaks a Vinaya rule, and that bhikkhu has to give up robes and become a lay person. So, he was distraught, told the Buddha about it, and was ready to leave. But the Budha said to him that nothing done in a dream could not have kammic consequences. That is because one has to be conscious while engaging in generating kamma.
- See “State of Mind in the Absence of Citta Vithi – Bhavaṅga.”
2. The second issue is about Gad’s question, “A particular good or bad action (nimitta) comes to the mind of the dying person and he acts according to his gati?”
- First of all, not all deaths result in grasping a new bhava (existence.) A human bhava may last thousands of years. If that kammic energy is not exhausted, the human gandhabba will come out of the dead body and will be pulled into another womb at a later time. One may have many births with physical human bodies while in human bhava.
- If that kammic energy is exhausted at the time of death, then a new existence (bhava) will be grasped. That is called a cuti-patisandhi moment; that does not happen at every death. See “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein.”
- Now, at such a cuti-patisandhi moment, what type of nimitta comes to mind is a complex issue. In some cases, the “state of mind” close to death could have an effect in the sense that it can induce a corresponding type of kamma vipaka to come to the mind. For example, if the dying person is in a good state of mind, that may attract a good kamma vipaka to bring in the next bhava. That is why it is a tradition to recite Dhamma discourses or suttas to a dying person.
- However, if there is a strong kamma vipaka waiting to bring its fruit, such external conditions do not matter. An extreme case here is an anantarika (anantariya) kamma; that will take over regardless of the other conditions.
- So, in general, cultivating good gati is a good idea. It can help in many cases.
1. This is the first time I heard about “Borān Kammaṭṭhāna.”
- I looked it up, and this description came in the search: “Southern Esoteric Buddhism.”
- So, it seems to be an esoteric version someone came up with.
2. Tobi wrote: “Then you can divide the word into kamma + ṭhāna , which is combined with an additional (ṭ) to form kammaṭṭhāna.”
- I am not quite sure, but the word “kammaṭṭhāna” probably came from “kamma” + “uṭṭhāna.” Here, “uṭṭhāna” means something like “rising up” or “rooting out.” Thus, it conveys something like “rooting out kamma.” As we know, the way to do that is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path, which also means the same as Satipaṭṭhāna meditation since one needs to be a Sotapanna to practice the deeper version of Satipaṭṭhāna.
- See “Uṭṭhāna Sutta (Snp 2.10).“
3. I am not quite sure about the connection of the “Borān Kammaṭṭhāna” to the rest of the comment by Tobi.
- I have no idea what “Borān Kammaṭṭhāna” is. The Wikipedia article I cited does not describe it.
4. However, the suttas in Saṁyutta Nikaya 52 that Tobi quoted do describe the deeper version of Satipaṭṭhāna.
- Saṁyutta Nikaya 52 starts with the “Paṭhamarahogata Sutta (SN 52.1).”
- I have linked to marker 3.1: “Idhāvuso, bhikkhu ajjhattaṁ kāye samudayadhammānupassī viharati, ajjhattaṁ kāye vayadhammānupassī viharati, ajjhattaṁ kāye samudayavayadhammānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā, vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ.”
- The next verse is: “Bahiddhā kāye samudayadhammānupassī viharati, bahiddhā kāye vayadhammānupassī viharati, bahiddhā kāye samudayavayadhammānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā, vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ.”
- As we know, there are many references in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta about the ajjhatta kāya and bahiddhā kāya.
- This SN 52 section gets into a deeper discussion about the ajjhatta kāya and bahiddhā kāya.
- Describing those deeper concepts requires understanding the deeper meanings of ajjhatta kāya and bahiddhā kāya.
5. However, one does not need to get into those aspects until one is a Sotapanna and is ready to seriously tackle the issue of getting rid of kama raga and attaining the Anāgāmi stage.
6. Understanding ajjhatta kāya and bahiddhā kāya is also related to the issue of seriously cultivating “anicca saññā” and removing saññā vipallāsa. As we know, one becomes a Sotapanna by removing diṭṭhi vipallāsa (specifically sakkaya diṭṭhi.)
- Attaining higher stages of magga phala (especially the Anāgāmi and Arahant stages) requires the removal of saññā vipallāsa.
- We recently had a discussion related to this issue: “Post on Vipallāsa (Diṭṭhi, Saññā, Citta) Affect Saṅkhāra.”
- There, I promised to discuss the deeper aspects of anicca saññā. That explanation is necessary to understand the deeper meanings of ajjhatta kāya and bahiddhā kāya in Satipaṭṭhāna.
- I will start that discussion after finishing the current series on getting rid of diṭṭhi vipallāsa based on “recovering the pabhassara citta (pure mind).” See “Does “Anatta” Refer to a “Self”?” I think it is quite important to do that since getting to the Sotapanna stage is of the highest and most critical importance.
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1. It is critical to understand what is meant by “kamma nirodha.”
- The tendency is to assume that it is about nullifying accumulated kammic energies. However, the accumulated kammic energies cannot be removed (some of those energies are exhausted when they bring vipaka, and others gradually “wear away” with time which can be billions of years.)
- Any remaining kammic energy CAN come back to us as “kamma vipaka” whenever suitable CONDITIONS appear.
2. What we can do is to stop the CONDITIONS that can bring such “kamma vipaka.”
- For example, Angulimala killed almost a thousand people. However, when he attained the Sotapanna stage in front of the Buddha (whom he initially intended to kill, which is another potent kamma), he instantly nullified any accumulated “kamma vipaka” that could have landed him in an apaya. Then, within a month or so, he attained the Arahant stage and nullified ALL accumulated “kamma vipaka.”
- That shows the basic idea. It also shows the unimaginable benefits of attaining magga phala.
3. Kamma is defiled as one’s cetana (loosely interpreted as one’s intention), and kammic energies are created AT THAT MOMENT with one’s javana cittas. See “Details of Kamma – Intention, Who Is Affected, Kamma Patha.”
- Another point is that “kamma” is done with abhisankhara. Javana cittas arise when we engage in abhisankhara. See “Kamma and Saṅkhāra, Cetanā and Sañcetanā.”
- Such a kammic energy stays in “vinnana dhatu” until suitable CONDITIONS appear to bring back the fruits of that kamma as “kamma vipaka.”
- Those kammic energies are also called “dhammā.” See “What are rūpa? – Dhamma are rūpa too!” and “Rupa, Dhammā (Appaṭigha Rupa) and Nāmagotta (Memories).”
4. The key point is that “kamma nirodha” happens only with magga phala. As higher magga phala attained, more and more possible kamma vipaka automatically become nullified.
- Even though an Arahant has nullified kamma vipaka that can bring rebirth, vipaka of some accumulated strong kammic energies can appear. That is because there is still one “condition” left to bring vipaka, and that is the physical body of the Arahant, which arose due to a kamma vipaka when that Arahant was born.
- At the death of the physical body of an Arahant, no accumulated kammic energies can bring a vipaka to lead to another rebirth in any realm. That is the end of rebirth and the end of even a trace of suffering.
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Thank you, Gad.
- I have discussed this topic in “Counterfeit Buddhism – Current Mainstream Buddhism.” You can find more details there.
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You refer to the following portion of that post about the patikūla manasikara bhavana. By the way, I just revised that post a bit.
- A good example of the wrong way to meditate is what many people are doing with the patikūla manasikara bhavana. Many translate “patikūla” as “pilikul” in Sinhala, which means “to be rejected because it is repulsive”. They meditate on contemplating the repulsiveness of the body (sweat, urine, and feces generated by the body) and also the fact that once one chews on even the most delicious food, it becomes “vomit.”
- But the Buddha did not advise that. Just as we should not desire extreme sense pleasures, we also should not be repulsed by the things that we mentioned in the above paragraph. They both generate taṇhā, in the first instant by attachment (craving) and in the second by aversion (paṭigha). The neutral mindset (upekkha) comes from understanding the true nature of things.
You wrote: “However, I think it could be a tool for a person who is close to the Anagami stage, right??”
- An Anagami doesn’t need to contemplate rotting bodies to see the “anicca, dukkha, anatta nature.”
- As I mentioned in my first comment, an Anagami has overcome attachments to sensual pleasures.
I don’t think it is helpful for anyone to contemplate rotting bodies.
- A key point to remember is that one must see the dangers of attaching to mundane PLEASURES. Anyone can see that death is inevitable and rotting bodies are unpleasant. Furthermore, generating “patigha” or “domanassa” is not conducive to contemplation. One must cultivate Bhavana (meditate) with a “cooled mind,” not an “agitated mind.”
- But it is not easy to overcome the mindset to “enjoy sensual pleasures while living.” The point is to see the dangers of THAT mindset, i.e., the more one attaches to such “mundane temporary pleasures,” one moves away from Nibbana with the “pure mind,” which is free of any suffering. See “Anicca Nature- Chasing Worldly Pleasures Is Pointless.”
- This is why the Buddha said his teachings have never been known to the world. Humans do not see anything other than sensory pleasures that allow them to overcome suffering/depression. That is why people get hooked on drugs. But they have to keep increasing the dose to get the needed relief, and then end up killed by those drugs. See the video below (highly disturbing! Don’t watch if you are about to start meditating.)
