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Questions from Yash RS:
“So does it mean that if a person has committed many bad kamma, he or she will not end up in the apaya unless the human bhava is exhausted?”
- Yes. One’s bhava does not change until its kammic energy is exhausted.
“Do the bad kammas not exhaust the human bhava?”
- No. In the same way, good kammas do not extend the bhava either.
- However, a bhava can be “broken” before the end of its kammic energy in the case of an anantarika kamma. There are bad anantarika kamma (like killing one’s parents) that will result in being born in an apaya upon the death of the current human body. There are also good anantarika kamma (like cultivating an Ariya/anariya jhana) that result in being born in a Brahma realm at the death of the current human body.
“Also, having sex before marriage is a bad kamma? If yes then why is it so? Is it a sexual misbehaviour?”
- Yes. It is a bad kamma, but not a strong one that can lead to rebirth by itself. It is like stealing.
Christian’s comment:
“There is sutta when Buddha say even “good” people to lower realms and “bad” people go to higher realms.”
- Yes. It is “Mahākammavibhaṅga Sutta (MN 136)” A little better translation is “136. The Great Exposition of Kamma.”
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Also, some people think that niraya (loosely translated as “hell”) is not real and is made up by others and not explained by the Buddha.
- The Buddha has emphasized the unbearable suffering in the niraya in several suttas. See, for example, “Devadūta Sutta (MN 130)”
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Yes. The video is not correct in that aspect. Just because she had dosa in her mind at the moment of death of her PHYSICAL BODY does not matter.
1. The death of the physical human body is not the end of the human bhava (existence). Human bhava can last hundreds of thousands of years. In between having physical bodies, the same human gandhabba may live a long time. The length of the human bhava depends on each person.
2. Switching to another bhava (whether in niraya or any other like Brahma) happens ONLY at the end of the human bhava, i.e., at the end of the lifetime of the human gandhabba. Enter “gandhabba” into the search box on the top right and read some posts.
3. But there are exceptions when a human bhava can end before the end of the lifetime of the human gandhabba. That is in the case of one who committed an anantarika kamma, like killing a parent, injuring an Arahant, injuring a Budha, etc. Again, read on “anantarika kamma.” For example, Devadatta’s life ended when he was reborn in hell (niraya) when he injured the Buddha.
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Thank you both for the comments.
I think Christian’s point could be the following: The video shows the unfortunate girl dying due to her attempted abortion effort and immediately being born in hell.
- I agree that is unlikely. Unless it is an anantarika kamma (or one has exhausted all kammic energy for the human bhava), one will not be released from the human bhava to another bhava at the moment of death.
- Since she died at an early age due to an accident, it is unlikely that she had exhausted all kammic energy for her human bhava. Thus, her human gandhabba should come out of the dead body without changing the bhava to a lower one.
P.S. After a lengthy discussion, the conclusion was determined to be not accurate. See the following discussion and comment #46280.
Do you agree with the following statements:
1. When encountering an “unpleasurable situation/sensory input,” an average human (puthujjana) knows only two responses: (i) to try to avoid it or (ii) to compensate for it by seeking a ‘pleasurable sensory input.’
2. An average human becomes a Sotapanna when realizing that the above mindset does not get one to be free of suffering. The above mindset only prolongs suffering in the rebirth process.
3. A Sotapanna also realizes that the way to be suffering-free is to detach from “worldly pleasures” gradually.
I explained this in the recent post: “Anicca Nature- Chasing Worldly Pleasures Is Pointless.”
You stated: “In my opinion Sotapanna is the person who eradicated his/her clinging towards his/her personality.”
- What you meant in the above statement is not clear. Is that close to what I summarized above?
- If not, please further clarify your statement. What kind of changes would a Sotapanna make in the personality to remove future suffering in the rebirth process?
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Thank you very much, Jaro, for the update.
- Yes. I agree with your analysis.
- We should be able to make our lives easier with this new technology. But it may take a bit more development to make it easier to use.
- Even though AI will never become sentient, it will revolutionize the world just like the internet did. For example, “self-driving cars” will be practical soon, even though that does not mean the car’s AI system is sentient.
- Please keep us updated on new developments. It is good to have specialists helping us understand things better.
Thanks and Merit to both of you for your comments. Christian, it is good to see you at the forum after a while.
The issue in question is a valid one. There are countless abortions taking place today.
- Taking any life must be avoided. However, taking a human life is MUCH worse than killing an animal. That is because it is very difficult to get a human life. Even after being born in the human realm (as a human gandhabba), one must be born with a physical body (with a brain) to be able to understand complex issues, especially Buddha Dhamma.
- Having a physical human with a brain is important because the brain slows down our responses to external sensory inputs. That and the presence of the neocortex in the brain gives a human a unique ability to think while responding to such external stimuli. That makes it possible to change our gati (habits/character). See “Truine Brain: How the Mind Rewires the Brain via Meditation/Habits.”
- Thus, while it is extremely rare for a birth in the human realm, it is even more difficult to be born with a physical body. That is why killing a fetus is much worse than even killing thousands of animals.
- See “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception” and “Cloning and Gandhabba” for details on how a baby is conceived.
- Most people today think a baby is not “human” until it is born after nine months in a womb. In fact, many are trying to legalize abortion even to the last day and even just after the baby is born. That is immoral and is a heinous crime, just like killing an adult. A human life (gandhabba) must enter a womb before a baby can start to grow.
- P.S. Buddha Dhamma does not condone having sex before marriage. But if one must have sex, it is easy to avoid getting pregnant by using condoms. Once a gandhabba enters a womb, that baby’s life is no different than any other human life.
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The word “saññamessanti” does not appear in that verse. The correct term is “saṁyamissanti“:
Translations in the Darisworld and Sutta Central versions are good enough to get the basic idea.
- Basically, the verse says our mind (thoughts) can travel far, even though the seat of the mind (in the gandhabba kaya) is trapped inside our physical body (referred to as a “cave” in the verse).
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Sorry. I almost missed this question.
There can be no “direct translation” (i.e., word to word) of anicca, dukkha, or anatta to ANY language.
- But they can explained in any language by a person who is fluent in that language AND has also understood the meanings of those words. On this website, I have many posts trying to explain each of those words in English. See “Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta.”
- So, if someone is fluent is Japanese and has understood the meanings of those words, they can explain the meanings in Japanese.
I have discussed this to some extent in the post “Pāṭihāriya (Supernormal Abilities) of a Buddha – Part I.”
- More relevant posts in “Buddhahood Associated Controversies.”
The answer to your question is partly in your question: “So when Ven Moggallana went to find the end of the universe, how did he go? Was it like a photon type of massless state?”
- The manomaya kaya (gandhabba kaya) that Ven Moggallana traveled with is almost like a photon; it gas only a few suddhatthaka. A photon has a zero rest mass, meaning it is “all energy.” See “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāṭṭhaka.” P.S. The transition from pure energy to suddhatthaka is evident in the chart made by Dosakkhayo; see #5 of “Bhūta and Yathābhūta – What Do They Really Mean.”
- A suddhatthaka is just above that “zero energy state.” Thus, a manomaya kaya can approach the speed of light. That is how Ven Moggallana (or the Buddha and others) traveled at such high speeds.
- The “body” of a Brahma is also made with a few suddhatthaka. They also can travel close to the speed of light. When the Buddha attained Buddhahood and saw how hard it would be to teach his “newfound Dhamma” to humans, he was slightly discouraged. Brahma Sahamapati (an Anagami) read Buddha’s mind and came to visit the Buddha to remind him that there are enough humans who are capable of comprehending the profound Dhamma.
Thank you, Gad, for finding the sutta, AN 6.60.
I have re-formatted your reference to AN 6.60, so the original and the translation are side-by-side.
Your question refers to the verse at marker 8.1: “Idha, panāvuso, ekacco puggalo sabbanimittānaṁ amanasikārā animittaṁ cetosamādhiṁ upasampajja viharati” which is translated there as, “Take the case of another person who, not focusing on any signs, enters and remains in the signless immersion of the heart.”
Before that, the sutta explains how Ven. Citta attained anariya versions of the jhanas up to the fourth jhana. Those anariya jhanas are attained by focusing on a nimitta (worldly objects such as breath or kasina.) Then, one can go to higher samapatti states, and the above verse refers to such a samapatti state (corresponding to arupavacara samapatti states).
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Hello drs8,
“If we travel closer to the speed of light, time slows down.”
- Yes. That is true and has been verified by experiments.
“And if we travel faster than the speed of light, the time goes reverse.”
- That is not correct. What happens is that as an object’s speed approaches the speed of light, that object’s mass increases enormously. Then, it will not be possible even to approach the speed of light.
- Your first statement, “Our current physics states nothing can travel faster than the speed of light,” is correct due to that reason.
The last part of your comment/question: ” I’ve heard in the Brahma and other celestial realms that one minute in their world is like a few months/years (may not be the most accurate context here) in the human domain. So, does this mean those beings always travel closer to the speed of light, or perhaps faster? Could this be a reason why we can’t see them?”
- Indeed, things located high above the Earth travel faster. For example, geocentric satellites have high speeds. However, that is not enough to account for the enormous increase in lifetimes in the Brahma realms.
- The extremely high lifetimes in those realms are due to a different reason. Their minds don’t generate anger/hate and the level of raga is extremely low. So, their kammic energies “wear away” very slowly.
- The fact that we cannot see them is due to a different reason. They don’t have dense physical bodies like us. Just give a crude analogy: their “bodies” are much finer than mist, like air (even lighter than air.) We cannot “see” air. See “Body Types in 31 Realms – Importance of Manomaya Kaya.”
Most bhikkhus who teach incorrect versions of Buddha Dhamma today believe they teach the correct version. They do not even want to listen to anyone else. That is a sad situation.
Here is the original sutta Gad’s post refers to: “Sattajaṭila Sutta (SN 3.11)“
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Thank you. That description is in the “Piṅgiyānī Sutta (AN 5.195).”
- There are a few other versions, such as “Dullabha Sutta (AN 3.114).”
- The “Sārandada Sutta (AN 5.143)” describes the five “mundane rare things” as seen by anariyas (puthijjana) as well.
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