Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self’
I had just contemplated over this statement during lunch break. I imagined myself having abhinna power to look back at my past lives, just like sitting in front of my smart TV searching for an interesting tv program to watch. I randomly clicked on one and started watching. In this video, there is a family man married to a beautiful lady and having beautiful looking children. The story is talking about the life of this family man and the people around him. After a while I got bored of this video and I switched to another tv program – Documentary on animals. Such and such animal was hot on pursuit and such and such animal is falling prey to another animal and so on. Suddenly, I recalled that I am not just watching videos. I am watching my past lives! We all know that when watching movies, we do not really associate ourselves with the actors and actresses inside the movies (there are some people who do though). So, be it a tragic ending or a happy ending, we know it as just a movie. I think the statement ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self’ is conveying this idea. Why are we not getting emotional and personal when watching movies and documentary? Because we know we are not involved in them. But don’t forget, the videos I just ‘watched’ some moments ago involved ‘me’ deep in my past life. And yet I view them as though I’m watching tv program. This very life, after it has ended, will also become one of these videos. A future ‘me’ with developed abhinna power would also be able to stream this video to watch. The future ‘me’ would have long forgotten about the good times and bad times I had in this life, and would not even be concerned about them at all.
Whatever sankhara we had done in the past and are still doing today, we should depersonalize them. But we ought to do it with the right understanding of kamma.
Hi Akvan,
I recalled there was an arrogant Nigantha who challenged the Buddha to a debate. The Buddha taught that the 5 khandhas are annica whereas the Nigantha said otherwise. The Buddha further elaborated His point by asking the Nigantha whether the great kings have sovereign control over the lives of their country folks. The Nigantha said yes. Then, the Buddha returned back to questioning the Nigantha whether he has any sovereign control over his 5 khandhas. The Nigantha went silent and defeated. In the end, he had no choice but to admit that he was wrong. Otherwise, by remaining silent he would risk splitting his head into 7 pieces.
I agree with you that it is worthless and meaningless to cling on to the view that we are in control of everything, especially something like the 5 khandhas which are so close and personal to us, which often trick us into believing that they defined our self with it’s illusory and enigmatic nature. But on the other hand, we also cannot say the 5 khandhas are not ours. Thoughts, views, feelings…etc are clearly residing within our own domain and not in another person.
Hi all,
I would like to share a nice write-up on kamma from a bhante.
https://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/87.htm
“Other Factors Which Support Kamma
Although Buddhism says that man can eventually control his karmic force, it does not state that everything is due to kamma. Buddhism does not ignore the role played by other forces of nature. According to Buddhism there are five orders or processes of natural laws(niyama) which operate in the physical and mental worlds:
– seasonal laws (utu niyama): physical inorganic order e.g., seasonal phenomena of winds and rains, etc.
– the biological laws (bija niyama): relating to seasonal changes etc.,
– the kammic law (kamma niyama): relating to moral causation or the order of act and result,
– natural phenomena (dhamma niyama): relating to electrical forces, movement of tides etc., and
– psychological laws (citta niyama): which govern the processes of consciousness.Thus kamma is considered only as one of the five natural laws that account for the diversity in this world.”
Hi Siebe,
I think you are right on the identity crisis that every sentient being is going through. We tend to cling on to the notion of a self via the workings of our 5 khandhas. I liken life as a continuous stream of consciousness, something like lighting up a long series of candles. The person lighting up the candle is actually a prison himself! He borrowed the fire from the preceding candle and light up the current candle (current life). Can we say that this fire is different from the preceding one? No, I don’t think so. Neither can we say they are the same. Accompanying the borrowed fire is a transference of a set of kammic energies that needs to be spent when the right conditions are met. But why does this person keeps on lighting up the candles? Because he thinks that it is worthwhile doing just that. Learning Dhmma helps us see through the peril of staying in the sansara.
Both our mental and physical bodies are sankata of our past kamma. First, let’s talk about this physical body. There are uncountable number of cells that made up this physical body. The white blood cells in our body are helping us to fight viruses and bacteria without us telling them to. The enzymes in our body will automatically disintegrate our body when we become a corpse. Isn’t that amazing? It does not matter whether we acknowledge their presence or not. The more I think of it, the more I felt that it is not just about ‘my self’ or me anymore. This physical body is just like a conglomerate. We are the boss sitting high on top of the organisation and there are many employees whom we do not even know personally. But does that imply that the organisation will collapse? There is a system in place to ensure that the modus operandi of the body will continue to function for as long as our kammic energy allows.
Next, let’s talk about thoughts and emotions. There are times we cannot control our thoughts and emotions. They are like advertisements which we did not subscribe but are shoved right into our face. I like the term uncontrolled mental outflows to reiterate this point. Having this mental and physical bodies in this life, we just have to face the fact that they have to go through their natural stages of arising and perishing. It is a way which nature imparts vipaka onto us. Energies have to be unleashed. They just cannot be stopped. I believe the Buddha’s teaching to disregard the workings of the 5 khandhas as our self is not just a strategy to help us cut our defiled habitual tendencies, but also a way to keep us from generating more sankhara to perpetuate suffering. I see it as a doctrine to help us avert the identity crisis (illusion) which if left unmanaged, would entrap us further in this never-ending sansaric journey.
Well Siebe, extinction is better than going to woeful planes, right? All good things must come to an end.
Hi Siebe,
We are born into this world due to causes and conditions. When the conditions are available for us to perpetuate suffering, we will continue to suffer. When the conditions for us to enter Parinibbana are met, we will cease to exist anywhere in the 31 realms. Thinking there is a being to be had is just understanding existence in conventional truth. You can pose rhetorical questions to yourself like “Who am I?”, “Who is studying Dhamma?”, “Who is feeling the pain and joy?”…The only perfect answer to these questions is given by the Buddha, where He said we are born of our own kamma, bearer of our own kamma, creator of our own kamma, heir of our own kamma. Buddha’s message already told us we exist as a result of our own kamma. I believe the Buddha did not want to affirm existence or non-existence because it will only make our minds more confused and vexed.
Hi Siebe,
When a person enters Parinibbana, it is not the end of the being. But an end to a process. A process whereby this being is reborn over and over again has ceased forever. Thought, feeling, perception, and consciousness will cease without remainder. Kind of like extinction. The reason why it is so horrifying to most people is because we cling on to our life so dearly so much so that we are afraid of losing the ability to cognise things.
Due to the notion of a self, we developed passion. And because of passion, we think there is a self. I would think this is the Paticca Samuppada steps ‘sankhara paccaya vinnana’ and ‘vinnana paccaya sankhara’, respectively. A self is an artefact of our consciousness, just like the concept of time. An enlightened being who had passed into Parinibbana would be timeless. He would have attained infinite steady state of bliss where there is no concept of time. In Parinibbana, there is no arising of consciousness. And since there is no consciousness in Parinibbana, there is no concept of time.
A true buddhist should not view rebirth as a continuation of life. Instead, he or she should view rebirth as a perpetuation of death. We are born only to die. Whatever worldly things we wish to accomplish in this life, we had done that countless number of times deep in our past lives. One really needs to grasp the concept of infinity. I think it helps tremendously and I managed to debunk many myths and superstitions just by contemplating on infinity.
Which brings me to a question – Does the Universe serve any purpose? :)
Hi Siebe,
Question is, how reliable is Nagasena’s work? He was a Sarvastivadan monk. Not saying Sarvastivada is bad. I’m just curious how could he be so sure that the wounding of Buddha’s foot was not a kamma vipaka.
I read a dhamma book (written by a Chinese bhante) which is referenced to Apadàna of the Khuddaka Nikāya. Inside this book, the bhante mentioned about the 12 major kamma vipaka suffered by the Buddha. It is written in Chinese though. Mentioned in the book were accounts of the wounding of the foot from the rock splinter, back pain, dysentery, ascetic practice etc. were all attributed to the Buddha’s previous kamma.
Akvan,
I would think if vegetarianism is indoctrinated as a tenet in Buddhism, it would inevitably create unnecessary burden on some followers. By insisting on vegetarian food, not only is one attached to a certain kind of view, the act itself is also unwholesome. Not forgetting that it is also impractical to sustain on a long term basis. We can only trust the Buddha had arrived at the best compromise by accepting whatever food that was offered to the Sangha by His followers.
Hi Siebe,
I think it is mentioned in the sutta that some Yakkhas can make people crazy and even kill them.
Hi Siebe,
Indeed, the sutta did mention that not everything is attributable to kamma. I read that some where but forgot the reference. Well, we won’t be able to figure it all out. The more important thing is the follow up action upon the arousal of vipaka vinnana.
Hi Shez,
I guess it has something to do with your pāramī. But don’t waste this life. You have to stay resolute to make a difference. Please don’t waste this lifetime. There are only 2 outcomes. One, continue to stay in sansara. Two, attain Nibbana. The puthujjana will continue to perpetuate suffering in sansara whereas the wise men will strive to attain liberation in this very life. There is no such thing as enjoying life and stay liberated at the same time. Lots of wise contemplation helps!
Hi Lal,
“In addition, we receive sense inputs exclusively through the mind-door. They come through the mana indriya in the brain (not known to modern science).”
The dhamma that we perceived in our mind are actually kamma beeja stored in the Mano Loka that has ripen, having its energy unleashed in the form of random thoughts (vipaka) that impinged on our mana indriya, right?
Hi Siebe,
I’m not sure whether the Sakyans massacre had been explicitly explained in any sutta. But I do believe everything happens for a reason (or reasons). Some people are born into good countries and families while some who are not so fortunate do not even have a chance to encounter Buddha Dhamma. Everything in this world is conditioned things or conditioners or both conditioned things AND conditioners. Take for example this kammaja kaya of ours. We have this body because of past kamma. Thus, it is a conditioned thing, a sankata. Everyday, we are making use of this body to do volitional acts, sankhara, to condition other things. This kammaja kaya is a breeding ground for many impending kamma beeja to ripen and let nature impart kamma vipaka onto us. A seemingly simple decision of buying an air ticket and boarding an aircraft to go on a holiday is already acting as a pre-requisite for past wholesome or unwholesome deed to ripen. Coming to Kama Loka and to be born as a human being alone is already a condition for nature to impart merciless unwholesome vipaka onto some beings. This is most evident in birth defects.
This burdensome body is like a time bomb waiting for the right trigger for something to happen. We cannot fully discern what sankhara to drop so as to avoid unwholesome vipaka. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time are conditioners for mishaps to happen. But they do not happen by randomness. Things do not just happen. Things are made to happen. All that we are experiencing now are just vipaka of kamma performed deep in our past or in this very lifetime.
