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Okay, thank you for these details. But sir what I wanted to know is can we compare the nimitta experienced during death to a dream?
During a dream we do not control anything and during the moment of death we are powerless (anatta). We don’t know what thought will come to us when we pass away. Especially when a person is puthujunas.
OK sir. I didn’t understand this key concept. If I understand correctly the nimitta only appears when he has a new bhava?
I found an interesting site (laws of the nature). This site contains a lot of reading material on the Dhamma. Of course, like many Dhamma sites, it uses poor translations and misinterpretations of key concepts. This is an inevitable situation. However, some information may be useful.
This site is a decade old. The author is Mr. Martin Barua. It seems like he hasn’t updated it in a very long time. I tried to contact the author by email but his address is having problems.
Long after Lord Gautama’s teaching has disappeared from the human world, many beings will attain Nibbāna. As long as the relics of Lord Buddha remain. However, it will only be divine beings such as devas and brahmas. The relics will come to life temporarily and teach the Dhamma to a multitude of devas and brahmas. The vast majority will have varying levels of magga phala. The relics will be destroyed and that will be the end of Lord Gautama’s sasana. Those who remain will be reborn in the time of Lord Metteya.
Here the link for this information The duration of Gotama sasana (Dispensation)
Here information on the apayas
In relation to food yes we must understand the true meanings. I’ll use myself as an example. I have a bad relationship with food. I often act with extreme greed. I have a penchant for fruits, especially mangoes and citrus fruits. I happily share when others want it. However when no one wants it I enjoy it. The social context also plays a crucial role. Sometimes the craving for food is amplified under the influence of others. During a dinner with family or friends, for example. I must now contemplate your post in more depth.
For your video don’t worry sir. I’m used to seeing worse! We could even apply it to food, too. Some depressed people tend to overeat. It is said that excessive food cravings can be a sign of depression!
I knew someone like that when I was 15 16 year old. It was sad to see she was constantly eating. Whether in class or during breaks. She was depressed. It’s a memory that comes back to me sometimes, because I was part of his problem. It sometimes causes me agitation. I had bad kamma after that.
Okay sir if I understand the main idea correctly: We need to check if there is a second meaning to the word in the text with a true disciple of the Buddha. The Buddha used common terms to talk about things of the mind.
I just read your post. Thank you very much sir, it gave me a good basic idea. You also talked about the *danger of contemplating the unpleasant aspect of food* I know this type of meditation. I even tried to practice it a few times!! To be honest, you’re right, for an ordinary person it’s not a good idea.
However, I think it could be a tool for a person who is close to the anagami stage, right?? One of the results of this stage is the permanent loss of the desire for tastes and delicious food, in this human life. If this same person is reborn as a brahma, then it will be in the literal sense. That person will never eat again, even to support her body.
I don’t know if what I’m saying is wrong! Please correct me if you see any mistakes on my part!
SIGNIFICANCE OF CONTACT (PHASSA) IN THERAVADA BUDDHISM
” Four nutriments (āhāra)
1)Physical food (kabalinkāhāra)
2)Contact (phassāhāra)
3)Volitional thoughts (mano sancetanāhāra)
4)Consciousness (viññānāhāra)
Feelings that arise dependent on contact would inevitably lead to suffering. Feelings that are considered as pleasant will lead to suffering when they cease to exist due to their very transient nature while the unpleasant feelings cause suffering by their very nature. Neutral feelings will lead to suffering due to their bland nature and boredom. Because contact conditions feeling that lead to suffering and because feeling also conditions craving (tanhā), clinging (upādāna), becoming (bhava) and re-birth (jāti), contact has a most significant role as a mental nutriment. (11)
In the Puttamansa sutta, the Buddha has advised the monks to reflect on the simile of a skinned cow when considering the nutriment of contact. When a skinned cow is standing near a wall it is bitten by the insects living on the wall, standing near a tree it is bitten by the insects living on the tree, standing in the water it is bitten by the insects living in the water, and standing in the open space it is bitten by insects living in the air. So, wherever the skinned cow stands it will be bitten by the insects causing suffering. Similarly, one is constantly in danger of being bombarded with sensory contact through the six sense doors which will inevitably lead to suffering. According to the Buddha, when the nutriment of contact is comprehended, it will lead to comprehension of the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feelings resulting in the eradication of the fetters that keep beings bound to the cycle of birth and death (samsāra) with no re-birth.
Contact or sense impression (phassa) within the Buddhist teaching is the coming together of three factors: an internal sense door, an external sense object and the respective sense based consciousness. There are six types of contact based on the six sense doors. Contact plays a crucial role in producing mental defilements and suffering in unenlightened beings, as it is from contact that the mental processes such as feeling, perception and volitions arise. Hence, the Buddha has named it as a nutriment (āhāra) that sustains the life of living beings and support those who are to be born within the cycle of birth and death (samsāra). Through the development of wisdom by comprehending into the real nature of contact, the enlightened ones continue to experience contact through the six sense doors, but there is no arising of any mental defilements as they have given up any subjectivity with regard to their sense doors and sensory experiences. “
I found a text that contradicts the idea that “paccekabuddhas do not teach magga phala” The Lord Buddha was the father of a young Brahmin, in a past life. His son was ordained by paccekabuddhas and became one of them. The son even attained parinibbāna, shortly after his awakening.
In my personal opinion, such an outcome is only possible when the person has enough paramis, to become one of them. They just didn’t teach too many people. They do not establish a sasana like the sammasambuddhas. They ordain only if the persons are close to them, I think.
I leave it to Sir Lal to examine this information, to see if it is credible!!
The sources
Saṅkha’s StoryPaccekabuddhas Teach Awakening(from the Commentary to Dhammapada 290)
Dhammapada Verse 290 Attanopubbakamma Vatthu
“Matta sukhapariccaga
passe ce vipulam sukham
caje mattasukhirh dhiro
sampassam vipulam sukham “
Sorry sir i didn’t correctly explain my point.
Here’s what I mean: A human who seems normal may be on the verge of becoming a paccekabuddha. Like you said sir, about the paramis each of us pratice them at various level. To becomes a paccekabuddha one need to pratice for two incalculables (asankeyyas) and one hundred thousand kalpas the 10 paramis. This kind of person leaves from the puthujunas stage to the arahant stage, directly, without having to go through the other levels of the magga phala. I remember a sutta where Lord Gautama Buddha told several stories. Among these stories was that of people who became paccekabuddhas upon realizing their misdeeds. One of these people was lusting after someone’s wife. Realizing that he was generating unhealthy thoughts, he practiced anapanasati (the real not the mundane) unconsciously. This person saw his householder attributes disappear and became a paccekabuddha.
I will try to find this sutta !
(Here is my personal opinion I could be wrong of course: It seems that many of these paccekabuddhas and regulars arahants did not even know that they were going to attain Nibbāna. As you said sir Lal arahant Santati is an example. Nothing foreshadowed that he was going to become arahants!! A few days before meeting Lord Buddha, he was fully invested in kama ragā!!
A completely ordinary person can become a paccekabuddha. Most of the time, it happens following shocking or mundane events. A person can become paccekabuddha, realizing the futility of performing unwholesome acts to satisfy one’s desires. The Jātaka I just sent talks about the story of the paccekabuddha Darimukha. Venerable Darimukha was Lord Gautama Buddha’s best friend when he was a bodhisatta. Venerable Darimukha became paccekabuddha, upon seeing a flower wither. It is said that all paccekabuddhas attain the 8 jhanas, all abhinnas and Nirodha Samapatti. They can do it, while being secular. However, after achieving enlightenment, the signs of house master disappear, instantly. A bowl and a renouncer’s robe appear to them. Paccekabuddhas appear in the same kappa as sammasambuddhas. They never meet. It is wrong to say that paccekabuddhas do not teach. They teach the mundane eightfold path. The laws of kammas and how to develop kamma kusulas and jhanas. Venerable Darimukha taught our bodhisatta the futility of chasing sensual pleasures. After his teaching, our Bodhisatta became an ascetic with jhanas and took rebirth in the brahma worlds. Arahant Maha Kassapa is another example of the teaching of the paccekabuddhas. Arahant maha Kassapa, before being reborn for the last time, was a brahma. Before his life as a brahma, he was a king who took care of 500 paccekabuddhas. He had observed their way of life and their nobility. All 500 paccekabuddhas reached parinibbãna at the same time. The future Arahant Maha Kassapa, renounced her throne and became an ascetic. He took rebirth in the brahma world. In his last life, as a human, Arahant Maha Kassapa had an aversion to sensual pleasures, long before he meet Lord Buddha and became monk. Among the arahants, he was the one who practiced the 13 dhutaṅgas, perfectly. He was very austere. The paccekabuddhas meet in the holy mountain isigili. Lord Buddha recited the names of these paccekabuddhas. They get together and discuss how they became awakened. The teachings of the paccekabuddhas do not give direct results in this life. However, those who benefit from their sermons and take good care of themselves develop kusalas kammas. These kusala kammas will help them to easily attain magga phala when a sammasambuddha appears. There is the story of a dog who followed a paccekabuddha.The dog took rebirth as a deva and then human during the time of Lord Gautama Buddha. He became sotāpanna by listening to a discourse from Lord Buddha
PRIVATE OR SOLITARY BUDDHA (PACCEKA BUDDHA) IN THERAVADA BUDDHISM
“According to Buddhist literature, an aspirant to become a Pacceka Buddha is supposed to perfect these ten qualities over an extensive period described as two incalculables (asankeyyas) and one hundred thousand eons or kalpas (consisting of innumerable numbers of years). An aspirant to become a Samma Sambuddha has to perfect these qualities to a higher degree and for a longer period of time while an aspirant to become an Arahant has to perfect them to a lesser degree and for a lesser period of time.”
Arahant Maha Kassapa’s past lifes
Maha Kassapa Father of the Sangha
“Two lives before her present existence, Bhadda was queen of Benares and used to support several Paccekabuddhas. Deeply moved by their sudden death, she renounced her worldly life as a queen and lived a meditative life in the Himalayas. By the power of her renunciation and her meditative attainments, she was reborn in a Brahma-world, and so was Kassapa. After the end of the long life-span in the Brahma-world, both were reborn in the human world, in a brahman family, and were named Pipphali Kassapa and Bhadda Kapilani.
From these accounts we gather that in their former existences both had lived a life of purity in the Brahma-worlds and that both had repeatedly been ascetic renunciates. Hence, in their final existence, it was not difficult for them to keep to a life of celibacy, to give up all possessions, and to follow the Buddha’s teaching up to its culmination in Arahatship.”
