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Is it correct to think of pañcupādānakkhandhā in the following way:
pañcupādānakkhandhā is pañcakkhandha such that:
vedanākkhandha comprises samphassa ja vedanā,
saññākkhandha comprises avijja, or saññā of nicca, sukha, atta,
saṅkhārakkhandha comprises abhisaṅkhāra,
and viññāṇakkhandha comprises kamma viññāṇa.Thank you,
LangAjahn Punnadhammo and Ajahn Sona have a series of discussion on Buddhist cosmology, starting with:
Buddhist Cosmology (1): Space, Time and Being
I don’t know if their discussions are based on the Agganna Sutta, but it’s fascinating nonetheless.
Lal said:
“Of course, I have unshakeable faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Otherwise, I would not be spending essentially all of my time dedicated to this effort of sharing what I have gained.”
Thank you very much for this comment since it clarifies for me something in my mind not too long ago, after I had a discussion on Dhamma with someone.
I was telling someone about the Buddha Dhamma I learned here, and he brought up something I had not thought of before. The argument was something like this (and I am using “he” in the sense of a gender-neutral pronoun below):
If what you are saying were true then people who had seen Dhamma would be distant and aloof toward life.
(1) Take the case of a sotapanna
He had seen the fruitlessness, and even dangers, of mundane life, and thus he would not spend extra effort to make the mundane world a better place.If he had a job then he would do the minimum to get by, and then contemplate Dhamma. He would not strive to be excellent at his job. Such a person would never be someone like a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs whose technology made the world a better place.
Socially, he would likely not be an activist, fighting for social justice — civil rights, gay rights, etc. Again, he would likely spend his time meditating toward the next magga phala.
(2) Take the case of a sakadagami
If he were seriously ill he may not even seek treatment since the sooner he dies as a human the sooner he is reborn a deva where he experiences no more illness. Furthermore, if a sakadagami family member dies he may even be happy about it.I now firmly believe that when someone becomes an ariya he has a strong wish to share what he’s gained with others. It’s what Lal is doing here. The purpose of this site is to help get people to the sotapanna stage; I remember reading this somewhere. And for that we are forever grateful.
Best,
LangSpeaking of “hell”, you may want to check out this book, an interesting read:
Bercholz, Samuel
A Guided Tour of HellLal mentioned it briefly in:
In my native country, there are accounts of people who “dozed off” and “drifted” to “hell”. Their description of the experience is very vivid.
They also said that they now firmly believed in the law of kamma. Thus, such an experience can help people get on the mundane path.
Best,
LangThat is why in parentheses it says “Sotapanna through Anāgāmi”.
ariyas below the arahant stage still take births.
Thank you, LayDhammaFollower.
Also, you said:
“This above single video is about AnulōmaSanthiya and SammathaNiyama. I do not know what that is, as of writing now.”
I assume that they are the Sinhala words for the Pali words Anuloma Khanti and Sammattaniyāma, which are the prerequisites for the sotapanna stage.
See:
Anuloma Khanti and Sammattaniyāma – Pre-requisites for a Sotapanna
Best,
Lang“What would vimutti look like. I don’t understand.”
vimutti (nibbana) is experienced in stages. One way for us at this stage to see what it looks like is to observe raga in your mind, especially kamaraga since we are in the kama loka.
Nibbana is “cooling down”, something that can be observed in oneself. Elsewhere on this site (you can do a search for it), it is said that the anagami stage is actually the easiest to verify.
I know that Lal has given an analogy of someone watching an adult movie. If no sexual thoughts at all arise then he/she is an anagami.
Besides kama raga, I also remember that patigha does not arise either, so an anagami does not get angry at anything.
So that’s what vimutti looks like at the anagami stage.
Personally, I am able to observe the cooling down in myself; I do not plan to watch any adult movie any time soon as a test — not enough confidence for that yet — but the point is that the cooling down is definitely noticeable.
Best,
Lang“Also, is there ever an event where a gandhabba is completely annihilated, such as in a parinibbana of a Buddha?”
Yes, at parinibbana of a buddha or arahant, the gandhabba is no more.
Lal often gives the analogy that the gandhabba is like a heater coil. Inside the body of an arahant it is fine (like the coil immersed in water); outside the arahant’s body it cannot “bear” it (like the coil burns outside of water).
In this old forum, you can see Lal’s answer that is related to your question:
“So, when the physical body of the Arahant dies, the gandhabba comes out and perished.”
Also, you may find the following insightful: we cannot talk about a gandhabba of an arahant who is in nirodha samapatti either.
Nirodha samapatti is like parinibbana, except that the physical body is still alive.
See #13744, (5) of this forum:
Difference between “Arahant phala samapatti” and “Nirodha samapatti” ?
Thank you, Lal.
The second comment was just a brief addition to LayDhammaFollower’s passing comment about nibbana and samsara.
One more note, as LayDhammaFollower wrote:
Nibbanā ≠ Samsarā
as claimed by some teachers.I see this more often than not in Mahayana teaching; my native country is mostly Mahayana.
A couple of years ago, Lal pointed out a discussion on this topic on Sutta Central, so it may have crept into Theravada as well.
Looking from the perspective of the 4 ultimate realities, as LayDhammaFollower pointed out:
cittā-cetasika-rūpa-nibbanā
… I wonder if we can think of the technical similarities / differences like this:
asanna realm = rupā only, no nibbanā
and rupā = hadaya vatthu + cakkhu pasada rupa + sota pasada rupa, from what we learned about brahmā in the rupavacara realms.… and although there are hadaya vatthu and 2 pasada rupā, no cittā and cetasikā arise from them.
sannavedayita nirodha samapatti = rupa (jīvitindriya) + nibbanā
So, in either case there are no vedana and sanna, and the similarity stops here. Asanna realm is fully in this world of 31 realms; nirodha samapatti is in “between” this world and parinibbana.
Another speculation about the difference between the 2:
Elsewhere on the site we have likened asanna realm as being under anesthesia. When we wake from anesthesia we don’t remember anything, as if that time didn’t exist. I unfortunately knew this quite well, since I had been “under” the knife a number of times in my life; no recollection whatsoever of what happened in between.
On the other hand, if an aharant got into nirodha samapatti, for any duration, I doubt that he/she would EVER forget it. There must be some quality of “wakefulness” in this “experience”.
Best,
LangI happened to be aware of this “teacher” before. When you listen to him, I am afraid you’ll hear more nonsense than sense. Just my opinion.
Hello Yash,
Many posts on this site address the danger of kama raga, but I’d like to suggest one post in particular at the moment:
What is “Kāma”? It is not Just Sex
#4 of the post (last bullet) says:
“In fact, most times sexual enjoyment comes from just thinking about a past experience or an anticipated one. The actual contact pleasure is relatively short-lived.”
If you contemplate the above point you’ll see how true it is and gain many insights. Besides thinking about a past experience and an anticipated encounter, we also fantasize things on our own. Too much work (abhisankhara) for just a few seconds of sukha vedana.
This is an example of kāmachanda, and many of us have it; after all most of us are not anagamis. Contemplate the above point, plus whatever else in the site that deals with kāmachanda / kama raga, at a time when the mind is free from it.
Also, at the moment the mind is free from kāmachanda, notice how “cool” (niveema) it is; that is niramisa sukha, which is longer lasting, and can serve as a “convincer” that sex is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Best of luck to you!
LangI can’t wait to read the post. But first, Jorg mentioned Ajahn Bram, and I’d like to ask one follow-up question, since I used to spend much time studying Ajahn’s teaching — with great joy.
I’ll ask my question right up front, which is about Dhammapada verse 372, and give the context of my question afterwards. Ajahn rendered this verse as:
“There is no jhana without wisdom
There is no wisdom without jhana
But for one with both jhana and wisdom
They are in the presence of Nibbana”I looked up the Pali verse and found this:
“Natthi jhanam apannassa
panna natthi ajhayato
yamhi jhananca panna ca
sa ve nibbanasantike.”Question: is this rendering close? My Pali is not that good yet.
Anyone who has studied Ajahn Brahm would undoubtedly get that he encourages people to get into jhana. One can see this in his talks and writing. Just as an example, he wrote a little booklet called “The Basic Method of Meditation”, which one can actually download from here:
He described how to get to the 1st jhana, and he ended with the wish: “MAY ALL BEINGS GET JHANA”.
He also wrote a book that described his method of meditation in details: “Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond”. Part 2 of that book, starting with Chapter 11, is about the jhanas. In fact, he even wrote that what the Buddha discovered was the jhanas (page 127).
He concluded that chapter with Dhammapada verse 372. Hence my question.
This book is not available online, but there is a booklet that pretty condenses the book:
The jhanas
https://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/thejhanas.pdfFinally, just an interesting aside: some students of Ajahn suggested that his name, Brahmavamso, was no coincidence. The name means “he of Brahma’s lineage”, which really fits Ajahn.
Thank you!
Lang
