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Sorry, apologize for the rushed comment. Heard the talk again about 4 times and that particular section about 10 times and realized that he is saying, we can experience a consciousness which
is blissful, boundless and unlimited (after we have managed to slow down the influence of the other khandas) by going into deep meditation.Heard a talk by a Buddhist monk who described that we can experience a consciousness (which is the deathless) which is blissful, boundless and unlimited and this consciousness is not part of the five khandas and nothing to do with the 5 aggregates.
Is that a correct understanding?
I think he meant this for the advanced stages in meditation and cannot be expected in the preliminary stages. One has to be well established in the 8 fold noble path before one can expect to experience it.Thank you Lang for the encouragement and the link to some more information to help one progress on the path.
I wish you all the best on your spiritual journey.I was glad to see 33205 highlighted in red. I was trying to go back and read it, but did not remember where I read it. I was delighted to be able to access it again. Also 33199 and 33201 are significant posts which culminates in 33205.
I am so grateful for your having created this wonderful tool to understand Buddha’s teachings.Sir, I am unable to edit or delete what I have posted. I feel it is better to be silent in some situations. Please delete what I have posted, if you think that it is the best thing to do.
Thanks.They would have certainly been able to break the first three fetters and probably all ten fetters was an incorrect statement. I can understand that it is not possible in one lifetime and it would take many lifetimes. But for someone who dedicates more than half a century in austerity and studies the Buddha’s teachings, and is truly sincere, it is hard to believe that they would not have attained stream entry. There are probably many who may not achieve it in one lifetime, but there are also some exceptional monks and scholars. I have read somewhere,(probably on the puredhamma website) that only a Buddha is able to know and gauge a person’s spiritual progress. It is best to give these exceptional monks the benefit of the doubt.
Even in my life as a lay person I have experienced a guiding force that has helped me every step of the way. I have certainly stumbled and fallen flat from time to time, but have got up and got stronger in my attempts to redeem myself, and have seen a lot of good changes in my character.
I owe a debt of gratitude to all the monks and scholarly lay people’s talks I have listened to, and to the puredhamma website.I was going through different sections. I happened to read the Culavedalla Sutta (MN44)(comment #33205). The 20 types of wrong views have been explained. Just this one sutta can help one free from Sakayadithi. I am sure there must be innumerable such suttas benevolently explained by the Buddha.
There were several great scholarly monks who lived a life of renunciation, meditation and indulging in scholarly studies in different parts of the world. I am consciously avoiding to name them, so that we can avoid offending them. They would have certainly been able to break the first three fetters and probably all ten.
My point is, it is better to give the benefit of doubt to these great monks. It is not good to belittle anyone’s spiritual efforts. I refuse to accept that there were no Arayas among them.
If they were unable to even enter the stream, there is no hope for a lay person like me.I seem to have found most of the answers in the PS section. I don’t think I have any questions now, but may have some in the future, after studying the entire section. The Kusalamula PS section was very interesting (and some of my questions were pertaining to that).
Sincere thanks for all the helpful tips and links. I have some questions on Paticca Samuppada and was wondering if it would be okay to bring it up on the general section
because I don’t see a forum on Paticca Samuppada.For the past few weeks I have been learning to see and understand things from the correct perspective of annica, dukkha and anatta instead of anitiya (nonpermanent), dukkha and nonself.
But I was wondering where (in which suttas) and how and in what context the Buddha deal on the subject of anitiya or the constant changing aspect of ourselves and our surroundings.
Because anitiya or the constant changing aspects of ourselves and our surrounding is also an irrefutable factor of everything.Is there such a state as being possessed or is it just a disturbed state of mind of an individual who is reaping the results of past actions?
If it is true then when someone is possessed, does that mean that a gandhabba has has forcibly entered the body and is coexisting with the original gandhabba of the possessed person?Since there is a possibility that a gandhabba may have to wait a long time to get a suitable body,
I am wondering if it will be forced get degraded due to being involved in vaci sankhara or does it
have to ability to hear dhamma discourses and progress while in waiting or hang around near monasteries and be influenced by the spiritual nature of the place?It is mentioned in the first talk that once one reaches sakadagami stage one will not experience
any physical discomfort because of the nature of their subtle bodies in the deva realms.
I am wondering if these entities out of compassion, able to help and guide those in the lower stages to come out of their predicament?
Can a arhant guide humanity if he/she wishes to do so, or do they cease to exist?
I have also heard that the Buddha had made statements that it is wrong to say that an arhant exists or ceases to exist after arhanthood (it is neither).
It is a general understanding in most major religions that the ones who have reached higher stages
help others to progress.Thanks to Lalji for the encouragement. I am listening to the remaining talks, but the first two
were comparatively easier to understand. I will be listening to it multiple times, and studying the links till I can grasp the meaning. Are there more talks on other subjects or it is just these five talks recorded so far?
Thanks to Aniduan for the anartha tip, it makes it easier, the more tips the better to counter all
the wrong interpretations.Yesterday I was looking at various topics out of curiosity, and fortunately happened to read about the three marks of existence and listen to two of the five talks given on the topic.
In the past I never had problem of understanding anitiya (though now I understand it is not the same as anicca), and never had a problem of understanding dukkha (though now I understand that it is divided in two categories, for the first time in my life I have heard of dukkha with the extra kha which means to remove), but I always had problem understanding the concept of nonself and I am relieved that the Buddha never meant it that way.
Being from India, in hindi the word ichha means desires, and it was easy to understand
the concept of anicca.
I can’t believe that a concept which can be understood easily was made so difficult with wrong interpretations.
I just want to clarify and hope that I have correctly understood it now.
Anicca means we act in a certain way to achieve a certain result based on our desires/iccha, but the law of nature is such that our desires are not satisfied and don’t produce our expected results (especially if we act out of ignorance) which results in the experience of Dukkha or dissatisfaction (ranging from minor irritation to severe suffering, in this life or in future lives) and Anatta means we have no control over this phenomenon. Anatta is our helplessness in our inability to stop our wanderings in the 31 realms, and anatta also means the whole process is
useless or not worth our effort and in the Buddha’s teachings, the term Anatta has nothing to do with nonself.
