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Lal said:
“People do not understand how serious the suffering in the rebirth process is.”My personal experience, especially since coming to this site, is that a more serious attitude is more beneficial in learning Dhamma.
Lal keeps emphasizing the danger of the rebirth process, and hence the urgency to get out of the 31 realms, starting with the apayā. When we learn Dhamma in this context, the concepts stick to the mind better.
A friend of mine told me just last week something like: “I listened to a talk of Thero X; I now forget what he was talking about, but I still remember his jokes.”
A number of theros do utilize jokes and humor in their talks. I suppose the intention is to keep the audience entertained (and thus attentive). The drawback of this approach is that it is very easy to lose sight of the future suffering, which is the crux of the matter.
“Mara is a deva in the highest deva realm. He wants people to engage in moral activities and to be reborn as devas.”
Just curious: Is “Mara” as designation of this deva the same word “mara” as in relating to death?
Hello Raja_mw,
There’s a whole section on Bhavana on the site that is just invaluable. Bhavana here is more on contemplation of a topic to let it sink into the mind, and from that a real change in habits (gathi) is possible.
In my personal case, contemplating on the 10 types of wrong views (miccha ditthi) has paid the most dividends, because of where I am on the path. And any oppotunities to contemplate anicca, dukkha, anatta is beneficial. Of course, the prerequisites is to abastain from the BIG EIGHT (explained in the bhavana section) as much as possible.
You mentioned “anicca;impermanence”-equanimity, and bodily sensations, so it sounded like you attended the vipassana retreats in the SN Goenka’s style. I know many in this tradition, and the experiences they report are very diverse: from heavy to very light, and occasionally they do feel strange. I myself had no unusual experiences when I used to practice that style.
Thank you, Lal, and one more question.
Would it be practical to use Sakkāya Diṭṭhi as a kammatthāna for meditation? For example, to notice when it is strong.
For us puthujjana, we know that Sakkāya Diṭṭhi is there, but it doesn’t seem to be active 24/7. There were times when we look at things as just events, and there was no view of “me” and “mine” in them (maybe it was anusaya at that moment).
Would it be fruitful to develop the habit of “catching” ourselves with Sakkāya Diṭṭhi and relinquish it?
Hi all,
Another wonderful post on Sakkāya Diṭṭhi, very timely for those of us working toward sotapanna anugami.
Just curious: for those with more experience on weakening Sakkāya Diṭṭhi, does it happen more “outside in” or “inside out”?
By “outside in”, I’m thinking of a sequence like:
Material possessions (cars, houses) –> non material possessions (social status, fame) –> relationships (friends, family members) –> body and mind (culmination)
Or does it happen more “inside out”, losing Sakkāya Diṭṭhi with body and mind, and external things are then taken care of.
Thank you,
LangOops, sorry, I must have given Lal the wrong URL:
නිවන් දකින හරිමග කුමක්ද ? | With English Subtitles
Here’s my 2-cent on this, which is based just on personal encounters with several people in my life.
— Mahi wrote:
“Yet I am not unhappy unless ofcourse strong mental or physical vedanta arise.”I assume you meant “vedana”, and they WILL arise.
I have met several people who took on a gung-ho attitude toward life, asserting: “I can take on the ups and downs of life.” The problem was that they made this statement when they were young and things were going “their way”. This attitude goes away when they are faced with strong mental or physical afflictions; in some cases, they come suddenly (viparinama), in others, they come due to aging and declining.
What we’ve learned in Buddha Dhamma is that this can be stopped from FUTURE arising, and that is real happiness, which is not as illusory as you think if you have experienced some niramisa sukha. There are several posts on niramisa sukha here.
Best,
LangI recall this from the Vakkali Sutta, where the Buddha said:
“One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one who sees me sees the Dhamma. For in seeing the Dhamma, Vakkali, one sees me; and in seeing me, one sees the Dhamma.”
This is definitely beautiful and profound, but applies more to the mindsets of ariyā, in my opinion. The ordinary person does have more need for “rituals” and “background” to build saddhā to continue learning Dhamma.
The above verse also brings to mind this:
“One who sees Paṭiccasamuppāda sees the Dhamma.
One who sees the Dhamma sees Paṭiccasamuppāda.”There’s a whole section on Paṭiccasamuppāda here on puredhamma for anyone who is ready.
Best,
LangLal said:
“– But since it does not get to the “hadayaṃ” stage, the Arahant would have no special attention for mother or ANY attraction to a beautiful woman versus an ugly woman.”It sounds like the arahant has gone beyond attachment to mother (and I suppose father too), and that micca ditthi #7,8 of the ten types of micca ditthi no longer “apply” to an arahant.
I once heard a desana from a thero about going beyond attachment to parents and children. To paraphrase: “In samsara we have had countless parents, and have been parents to countless children, so why are the current pair of parents and the current children more special.”
I’m wonderding now if the thero was speaking from the vantage point of an arahant, that an arahant looks at all beings as their parents and children at some point.
Lal said:
“– Therefore, it is critical to see the difference between “seeing the true nature” and actually abandoning the fruitless process of “pursuing sensual pleasures.”In my own bhavana, I am beginning to turn more attention to kama raga (the not immoral but more intense ones), since I feel I have been making steady progress on micca ditthi. In fact, removing micca ditthi does curb kama raga to some extent.
In that effort, I started listening to the Dharmayai Obai sermons in addition to learning Dhamma here, and there was one that compared sensual pleasure to a mirage. If you search for “Pleasure Mirage dharmayai obai” on Youtube you will find it.
The mirage analogy is quite apt, since the vision of water is real (there is light hitting the eyes and there is a real vision”). Likewise, sensual pleasure appears real and substantial, so keeping the mirage analogy in mind helps somewhat.
Lal said:
“It is in the asankata dhatu (full Nibbaba) AFTER the death of the physical body.”So another way we can say anything about Nibbana is asankata dhatu. Short of parinibbana, is this what is “experienced” by someone in Nirodha samapatti?
And this asankata dhatu must be “one of a kind”. All other dhatu, the kind made out of the maha bhuta, are “sankata”, correct?
Best,
LangHi,
I am curious about one of the Acinteyyā, the one about jhana.
First off, I assume this admonition applies to anariya jhana; if so, does it mean either one of these two, or both, or something else:
(1) Not to speculate what is is like to be in a jhana
(2) Not to cultivate one (e.g. via breath or kasina meditation)Best,
LangLal wrote:
A saṃvaṭṭa kappa (in saṃvaṭṭakappe) is the time taken to re-form the Earth. That means to re-form the whole 10,000 world systems.
– “Samvatta” (“san” + “vatta”) indicates the formation. As we know the word “san” means “adding up” or “aggregation.”A vivaṭṭa kappa (in vivaṭṭakappe) is the time taken to re-form the Earth. That means to re-form the whole 10,000 world systems.
– “Vivatta” (“vi” + “vatta”) indicates “breaking up.”In the second paragraph, don’t you mean: “A vivaṭṭa kappa (in vivaṭṭakappe) is the time taken to break up the earth?
