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I was on a 10 day course. “Vipassana” there means to slowly scan your body (surface) and to observe the sensations, as they come, as they go. There is no other meditation object than the breath and the body sensations.
Before one starts the “vipassana” one is trained over 3 days in “anapana” (observing of the breath, in/out). This is to calm down the mind.
One learns also the mundane version of metta bhavana… “may all beings be happy …”
At the end of each day is a dhamma discourse with more or less mundane explanations e.g. about a “store of sankharas”, which have to be removed. I do not know the details anymore. It is a course for beginners and the content should be easy to grasp I guess.
As I was new to the matter, I did not ask the teacher about any details.
After the course I had so many questions that I searched through the web and found Lal’s website, which enabled me to gain real insight.Hello Lal,
I have checked your references mentioned in the forum: Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Bhikkhu Bodhi), page 52 and page 116. (Unfortunately the PDF is locked, so I cannot extract text. As I cannot manually type all these texts I thought to send it by email to you. Maybe you just comment them or you copy the text from your book (if unlocked).)
The difference between bodily vedana and the rest is clear. But the cause for such vedana is not clear (kamma vipaka or more causes).
I have scanned through the reference and found some places with hints:
Page 191 describes the independent mind door process with more causes than just kamma (according to L.Sayadaw).
Page 199 mentions only kamma, which “governs” the type of object experienced.
Page 266 mentions kamma as “proximate cause” of eye-consciousness etc., made at the moment of conception of the body or jathi (also at patisandhi or rebirth-linking). In the summary at the end it is said, that material phenomena are caused by the four great essentials or maha bhuta (proximate cause again).I think it can be said that the rebirth-linking between bhavas is controlled by kamma.
The bodily experience (also vedana) during a life time is something different. The texts on page 191 and 199 are opposed. The four great elements succumb to utu niyama. So it could be that some accidents, e.g. getting hit by a fallen stone, are due to other causes than kamma. Matter has four causes: kamma, citta, utu, ahara. Matter (rupa) is subject to other laws of nature, which generate circumstances that are not direct causes of kamma (wind, temperature, climate change …).
Can someone please send the link to Abhidhamma with the statement about “bodily pain is always due to kamma vipaka”? Or is there no English translation?
Lal wrote in the post cetasika – Connection to Gati, #10:
…However, amoha does not mean wisdom (panna)! Amoha is not a cetasika, but is a root cause. It is in all kusala citta in the sense that the immoral cetasika of moha is not present at that moment, i.e., the mind is not “covered”.As I understand it: adosa is kindness and alobha is generosity.
But there should not be a contradiction within the Tipitaka. The question is, wether here the sutta talks about paccaya or real causes or causes which finally origin from kamma. I think Lal should have a closer look at the pali version.
… bile, phlegm, wind, imbalance, climate, carelessness, assault …
These are strange causes. Or the translation is wrong.Maybe the 3 sans are meant: greed, hate, ignorance …with these one generates (based on vipaka) san-vedana of anger (bile and assault), heaviness (phlegm and carelessness), restlessness (wind and imbalance) … ?
Or is it about the 5 niyama dhamma (dhammata)?
Depending on the person the 5 hindrances are strong in the beginning. I guess in your case vicikicca and uddacca-kukkucca were relevant. That’s why one hovers around without knowing what is right and wrong. Learning Dhamma reduces the hindrances so that one can build faith in the Dhamma with the validation of its effectiveness.
My problem was in the beginning when I came to puredhamma.net. Learning Dhamma was something very strange to me, because I came form the field of breath meditation, where learning/grasping/comprehending was not really needed. Therefore I remember that I have send some stupid questions to Lal. I had to drop the thinking in wrong concepts first.
Great merits for Lal for all his efforts!
Dear Dr. Chakma, thank you for your kind words! May you progress on the path. Success is guaranteed in this way.
Hello Dr. Chakma,
I have read Dhamma and listened to recorded desana from Lal. The changes I experienced are in line with the explanations of what should happen at the Sotapanna stage. So the probability is very high that I have attained Sotapanna magga phala and that recorded desana are sufficient.Hello Lal,
thanks for your open words! I see that we share some experience on the path.As I have to maintain wordly things my mind gets distracted every day again. I have the feeling that the contemplation goes not so deep when I have to sort out daily issues first. Of course my mind is already calmer compared to e.g. 6 months before.
Also I realized that I want results on the path too fast. That is a gathi and may go away as I proceed…
Dear Lal, can you please explain why “vinnana cannot exist without rupa”?
What about dhamma coming to the mind? Where is rupa involved here?Hello Akvan,
I fully agree with your assessment that the wordly concepts are hardly useful in regard to Nibbana. When I explain the Dhamma to someone without any background that person wants to fall back to theses wordly concepts. It really requires the learning of Buddha Dhamma for a certain time to grasp some ideas before any understanding follows. That is a big obstacle to “get on board”.Tobias
Thanks Siebe! I got it now.
What I wanted to convey, is the link between micca ditthi and pancupādānakkhandha. Tanha leads to certain views about objects, feelings etc., that something is good/bad, important/unimportant, like/dislike … All these are wrong views. With stream entry one knows that and loses interest in such mindsets.The pancakkhandha explain the arising and passing away of all we mentally experience. All is having the sankata nature. As nothing here is stable, all is having also the anicca nature.
