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Siebe mentioned…
“When one, for example, decides to stand on one leg for a day, one will surely feel very painful feelings. This pain is not some kamma-debt repayed but is quite natural, everybody will feel intense pains. We are not build to stand on one leg a whole day.
When i would tomorrow sport very fanaticly, i would surely have very painful feelings tomorrow because my body is not used anymore (once it was and i would not feel any pain) to this kind of activity. Is this kamma repayed? I think it is not sensible to decide this way.”
There are people with good genes who are less susceptible to physical abuse and trauma. Of course old age does affect our wellness. Also, the same contaminated food served to say, 200 diners…not everyone would get food poisoning. Isn’t hereditary good genes kamma vipaka?
To add on, I would think if not for the Buddha’s great virtue and blessings, His ailments could have been much worse. We would never be able to find out exactly how the law of kamma works.
I would think not everything is due to past kamma. There is a smile in the sutta that says if we put in a teaspoon of salt into a small cup of water, the water will be undrinkable. But if a similar amount of salt is mixed into a large amount of water, we won’t be able to perceive the saltiness. This implies that wholesome kamma could dilute unwholesome vipaka to a certain extend. The Buddha has the greatest virtue and yet He had to suffer certain ailments. If based on the above logic, it does not make sense for Him to suffer some seemingly normal discomfort. i.e the Buddha’s own wholesome kamma would have drastically reduce or even averted the ailments.
Hi Lal,
You mentioned…
” Nibbana is detaching from this world. So, all three entities of citta, cetasika, and rupa cease to exist. There is no mind without citta and cetasika. So, when the mind becomes free of asavas, the mind itself cease to exist.”
From Paticca Samuppada point of view, there cannot be consciousness without namarupa and vice versa, right?
Hi Akvan,
Many thanks for sharing your experience. I agree that we ought to put away the type of questions that do not seem to help in our practice and focus on what we can do. I would think those doubtful thoughts that manifest in our minds are our inner Mara at work. I have a colleague who said I think too much when I told her that I am struggling with sensual desires. To me, this internal struggle is a good thing because that is the natural process of mental purification at work! For a person who does not have hiri and ottappa, well…Mara will just smile at that person and continue to have dominion over him.
Hi Tobias,
I think you are right to say that vicikicca and uddacca-kukkucca are probably more pronounced for me. Especially the latter. Back then, I continually needed to grasp sense objects to quench my cravings. Otherwise, I would feel bored and my mind would proliferate. And each time I gave in to sensual cravings, it only became worse. At one time, I had collected 21 cameras and god knows why I needed so many cameras. And the keen interest in travelling together with photography are the worst combo I had to deal with. Had I not encountered Buddha Dhamma, I think my collection will still be growing today. The doctrine of Paticca Samuppada totally changed me. Especially the part when it explains habitual formations. I knew I needed to do something drastic to repair my lifestyle.
Hi Lal,
Thanks for the detailed clarification. I would have thought that in the fourth jhana, the meditator’s five senses will be shut out! Seems like it’s not the case.
Hi Tobias,
As much as you wanted to get rid of Kama tanha, you might have exerted too much on yourself. You might have wanted to take on an ariyan identity so badly, which is not a bad thing at all. Thus, bhava tanha. But sometimes while we take on one identity, we are also taking on an equal and opposite identity. i.e You do not want to go back to your old ways of acting like a putujjana. Hence, you might also be attached to vibhava tanha.
In Samyutta Nikāya 1 – Crossing The Flood
https://suttacentral.net/en/sn1.1A devata asked the Blessed one…
“How, dear sir, did you cross the flood?”
“By not halting, friend, and by not straining I crossed the flood.”
“But how is it, dear sir, that by not halting and by not straining you crossed the flood?”
“When I came to a standstill, friend, then I sank; but when I struggled, then I got swept away. It is in this way, friend, that by not halting and by not straining I crossed the flood.”
No doubt when we are on the path, we will face many obstacles. I would think when we are called upon to perform our obligations and duties as a householder, just put on that householder hat and do our job dutifully without any transgression in our Dhamma practice.
Just my humble 2 cents worth.
