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I 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!
LangIt will be FANTASTIC to have a few posts of the Anapanasati Sutta! They may be the only source in English where the sutta is explained as it truly is, and not as breathing in and breathing out.
Best,
LangI’d like to ask about the following post, and I’d ask it here since we did refer to the current series here.
Sakkāya Diṭṭhi and Pañcupādānakkhandhā
You mentioned a “person” in several places:
#2
iv. The point is that a “person” is not consciously involved in that fast process.#8
The concept of khandhas shows that at least the initial attachment DOES NOT involve a person. As I have tried to explain in the posts in this section, experiencing sensory input is an automatic process.Sakkāya Diṭṭhi = View that “There is an Unchanging Person” Experiencing the World
#9
That means “there is no unchanging person.”#10
The point here is that the idea of a “person” seeing a tree (and generating mental aspects based on it) is not what actually happens.So, the initial sensory processing is automatic, but somehow at the khandā level a “person” is conjured up.
I recall that in another post you wrote that the Buddha said that viññāṇa is like a magician. Is this an example of that? That viññāṇa produces the notion of a “person” out of an automatic process.
Is this also related to atta/anatta? The notion of a “person” implies that somebody is in control or in charge (atta) when the true nature of sensory processing is such that nobody is “in charge” (anatta)?
Thank you, as always, for all the series of posts. I am about to read the last one in the series.
Lang
Coincidentally, someone very recently sent me an article about a physicist who experienced NDE. The sender knew that I was interested in topics like these.
Physicist Who Had Near-Death Experience Explores the Afterlife, Pondering Weird Quantum Physics
This article also mentions things like dark matter, but what interested me was the analogy of the cloud as consciousness, and I’d like to borrow that analogy to apply to memories recall to see how it works out. In a post, Lal explained that memories are stored in nāma loka (viññāṇa dhātu), and we retrieve memories from there with our brain.
Where Are Memories Stored? – Viññāṇa Dhātu
Let’s say we use Google service like gmail, google calendar, Google Docs, etc.
We retrieve those information via our personal computer, which is analogous to our brain.
The Google cloud is like nāma loka (viññāṇa dhātu).
When we die (our PC dies) we arrive at the Google data center for sometime and retrieve data directly from the servers at the data center.
After sometime we get another PC (born into another body with a new brain) and retrieve data via the new PC.In the step about death above, I made the assumption that when our PC breaks we have direct access to the Google data center until we get a new PC. This part may be strange, but the part about how retrieving memories is like retrieving data from the cloud via a PC makes sense to me. Of course, another assumption is that the Google cloud will never be down.
Physicists on the forum, such as Lal, would know whether the other hypotheses in the article make sense. Lal does have a section on quantum mechanics, but, not being from a physics background, I haven’t checked that section out in depth.
A final thought: if Dr. Alan Ross Hugenot comes across Dhamma concepts like gandhabba and para loka then he can find insights to his research.
Best,
Lang–Christian said:
Saying that jhana may be hindrance is very bad Lang, …I meant to say: for those starting out on “meditation”, and this is a Sotapanna forum, having jhana as a focal point brings certain unnecessary problems. I should have used “problems” instead of “hindrances” because of the other context of “5 hindrances”.
I listed a few “problems”, but another very common one is what Lal mentioned:
“– For example, I know that some people are discouraged by their inability to attain jhanas.”
This is quite common for people practicing samatha meditation — breath, kasina.
— Christian said:
“… and you will actually have more raga and dosa by doing “anicca sanna” dry”I have seen this from a few jhana teachers as well: a dry mind cannot grasp deep insights.
I assume that by “dry” they meant a mind not in or near a jhana state, probably the same thing Christian referred to as “regular consciousness” and “everyday mind”.
In my experience, there is nothing “dry” about niramisa sukha. About insights, one does develop them over time — via living a moral life and learning true Dhamma — and those insights are stable and get absorbed into how one lives their life.
Best,
LangChristian may have attained the jhanas and may be at or close to the anagami stage. This may be because he practiced jhanas in his more recent lives.
For the vast majority of lay people, focusing on jhanas may be an unnecessary hinder. I’d like to very briefly share my experience with that vast majority here, and then speculate on the possible hindrances for us of focusing on the jhanas.
I have not attained any jhanas, and I hope that I am at or near the sotapanna anugami stage.
Finding this website was like winning the jackpot for me. Since coming here, I can summarize my “practice” as:
(1) Studying the Buddha’s big picture: the wider world of 31 realms.
(2) Studying and overcoming the 10 types of miccha ditthi.
(3) Cultivating anicca sanna.Personally, I am certain of one thing: I no longer have any of the 10 types of miccha ditthi. This does 2 wonderful things:
(1) It makes it easier to abstain from the BIG 8 consistently. The BIG 8 is discussed in the Meditation (bhavana) section.
When you learn of the apayā and the law of kamma, and are convinced of the rebirth process, you get quite motivated to abstain from the things that will land you there!
(2) It calms the mind and helps it absorb Dhamma concepts better.
There were times when I was just binge reading the posts and got absorbed in them because concepts were just clicking in the mind — naturally. It brings a natural joy — not piti sukkha since I was not in a jhana, but probably niramisa sukha.
Meanwhile, in observing the change in my personal life, I am almost certain that lobha has reduced to raga, and it is quite a relief. At the same time, I hope that dosa has reduced to patigha, and moha to avijja, but I am not sure of that.
My speculations of possible hindrances about focusing on the jhanas.
(1) It is hard!
Even to get to anariya jhanas one needs to live a secluded life. In daily life in an American metropolis, with a daily job and household responsibilities, social responsibilities, it’s next to impossible.(2) One may go astray, depending how or from whom one learns jhanas.
A few prominent jhanas teachers come to mind:- Leigh Brasington and Tina Rasmussen, who studied with Pa Auk Sayadaw
- Ayya Khema
I am quite reluctant to say what I am about to say about people who have attained jhanas, but I do not want to make vague claims. If you research these teachers, you will see in their teachings some contradictions with what we learn here:
(1)
Practice Samatha bhavana first to calm the mind (with breath or kasina) to bring about jhanas.(2)
Stopping thinking. We know that this is dangerous, as Lal pointed out in the Meditation section.(3)
They take anapanasati to be breath meditation.I hope this helps with those in a similar situation as mine.
Best,
LangTripleGemStudent,
by “transcendental” kusala-mula p.s., you may have meant puñña kriyā. Lal explained puñña kriyā in the post I referenced.
An arahant still does puñña kriyā, but not kusala kamma, since as Lal explained, there are no more defilements to be removed. puñña kriyā is possibly what you were trying to convey.
Lang
My understanding is that there is no kamma vinnana in an arahant. kamma vinnana is defiled consciousness; an arahant has only vipaka vinnana.
Like you said, an arahant still engages in kusala sankhara, which does not bring kamma vinnana.
Sankhara that bring kamma vinnana are apunnabhi sankhara, punnabhi sankhara, anenjabhi sankhara, ie all abhisankhara. An arahant engages in none of those.
In the following post, Lal explained why an arahant does not generate any kamma vinnana.
Mōha/Avijjā and Vipāka Viññāṇa/Kamma Viññāṇa
Best,
LangDipo,
“But, is arammana a condition, a state, a cause? … Is arammana a constituent element of one’s kammic profile?”
Is it necessary to dissect the concept to this level? It may not be helpful, and you may get lost in over intellectualizing things.
Numerous ārammaṇa come during waking hours. I was reading your post before writing this, so your post was an ārammaṇa for me at that time. Before that, I was reading a work email, so that work email was an ārammaṇa, etc., etc.
Do we need to get any deeper than this?
The crucial point is whether an ārammaṇa triggers defilements in the mind — such as lobha, dosa, moha. If it does then we strive to stop those defilements and cultivate the opposite qualities. That is meditation (bhavana), and is a different subject.
“Basically, let’s assume that a persons last thought is both the end and the starting point (citta vithi) and cuti patisandhi.
What comes next?”
Lal explained that, and it does sound like you got it, although it also seems like you are trying to dive a bit deeper than necessary.
Manomaya kaya (also called gandhabba for humans and animals) = hadaya vatthu + pasada rūpā.
citta vithis flow in the manomaya kaya.
The last citta vithi of one life is followed by the first citta vithi of the next life. If the next life is in a different realm then it is a new set of hadaya vatthu + pasada rūpā.
If it is still in the same human bhava, then the same set of hadaya vatthu + pasada rūpā exits the dead body, and will be pulled into a womb in the future. In the mean time, citta vithis are still flowing.
In the abhidhamma section, Lal described gandhabba and citta vithis in details, including the name of each citta in a citta vithi.
If that’s the level of details you are after then check that out.
Best,
LangI have been reading the current series of post, the latest of which being:
Pañcupādānakkhandha – Attachment to One’s Experiences
Thank you very much for these posts, especially when it so happened that I was reviewing the “old” section on pañcakkhandha:
The Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha)
In this forum, Lal said:
2. When I die, my gandhabba (with hadaya vatthu) will come out of my physical body. Then it will wait in that gandhabba state until pulled into a matching womb, and I will be reborn to have a different human body.This is from the view point of the “building blocks” level of abhidhamma. In the transition, what actually arises is still pañcakkhandha, or perhaps pañcupādānakkhandha, correct?
Also, from #4 of the latest post mentioned above:
4. To put it another way, the alcoholic will automatically generate pañcupādānakkhandha which will have “samphassa-jā-vedanā” in his vedanākkhandha.
Along with vedanākkhandha, other khandā may be “contaminated” as well?
There is abhisaṅkhāra in saṅkhārakkhandha, kamma viññāṇa in viññāṇakkhandha, and (I guess) avijja in saññākkhandha?
Dipobhasadhamma, you kept asking about a “starting point”. It’s hard to know what you meant exactly, but in the context of pañcakkhandha, especially with the latest post, that “starting point” may be taken to be an ārammaṇa. An ārammaṇa triggers pañcakkhandha, and most likely in an average being, pañcupādānakkhandha.
This triggering works both in a current life and from one life to the next. In the latter case the ārammaṇa is called a nimitta I believe.
And even from the “building blocks” abhidhamma point of view, we can still view an ārammaṇa as a “starting point” of some sort. My understanding of the “data flow” of mental processes is:
An ārammaṇa makes contact with a sense organ, say the physical eyes.
The sense organ sends signals to the brain, via the nervous system.
The brain sends signals to the manomaya kaya (gandhabba), via another system (the “ray” system I believe).
The ghandabba processes the signals from the brain and sends back instructions — vaci sankhara, kaya sankhara.Best,
Langniramisa sukha is a sense of well-being, and not a feeling (vedana) as Lal explained.
Yet it is possible to feel (not sure if this is the right word) that it is getting more stable. On the other hand, it’s also possible to see it getting weaker.
Yash said:
“And my one more question is that during any meditation session, say Ariya Metta Bhavana, do we have to contemplate on the same concept for hours? The mind becomes tired by contemplating on the same concept. Please help me solve this issue”.
The Meditation section, if you haven’t gone through them, should give you guidance on this. I revisit this section time and time again.
Near the end of that series, Lal shared his own experience of his practice of Bojjhaṅga Bhāvanā and metta Bhāvanā:
Bojjhaṅga Bhāvanā and metta Bhāvanā
I look forward to any new experiences Lal will be sharing in this forum thread.
Best,
Lang“Pubbe dhammaṭṭhitiñāṇaṁ, pacchā nibbāne ñāṇan”
Is this yet another way to formulate the conditions for the sotapanna stage?
We have learned about the four conditions to the sotapanna stage:
Sappurisasaṃsevo
saddhammassavanaṃ
yonisomanasikāro
dhammānudhammappaṭipattiIn yet another post, we also learned of two more terms: Anuloma Khanti and Sammattaniyāma.
It looks like these are 3 different ways to express the same thing, correct?
Thank you,
Lang
