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Thank you Lang.
I’m thinking that it seems like being in Arahant-Phala Samapatti is more advantageous than being in Nirodha samapatti due to that Arahant-Phala Samapatti has no limit and nirodha samapatti does. But I need to think about the fact that if there’s something that has no limit compared to something that does, often times there’s drawbacks and benefits.
Even though Arahant – phala samapatti seems to be more advantageous due to having no limit, but the downside to this is that the Arahant probably isn’t experiencing the full bliss of Nibbana due to still being connected with citta which belongs to one of the ultimate realities of this world.
While Nirodha samapatti has limit, but an Arahant in nirodha samapatti has no connection to citta and would experience the full bliss of Nibbana which does not belong to this world.
It seems like nirodha samapatti bliss of Nibbana is a higher grade / a step above Arahant-phala samapatti?
Hi Raj,
Your question: “When we project metta bhavana to an entity, how does it reach them. I was thinking, may be, that the activity helps the performer more that the one it is performed for. It puts the person giving metta in a proper frame of mind and benefits them to progress on the path.”
Hi Raj,
You mentioned “Unfortunately I cant meditate for many hours”
One of the pieces of advice that I wanted to share with you was to expand your view and understanding of what meditation is.
Lal mentioned
“In any case, it is a good idea to read the posts in the Meditation section”
I hope you have read Lal post above carefully. One can miss out important information if you quickly just read over it without some contemplation afterwards.
“As far as English discourses by others, I think those by “Dharmayai Obayi” seem to be good”
Here’s the link to the playlist of the English sermons by Dharmayai Obai
One of my to go learning places.
Lal mentioned
“My advice is to stop trying to read/listen to all that is out there. Just focus on one path for some time. If that doesn’t seem to be right then try another.”
This is another advice that I wanted to share with you. The links that I have posted above in my opinion can “kinda” help one focus on the path with what we’re learning here. But one would have to use their discernment to see what makes sense to them or not, as I don’t agree with everything that’s being taught or mentioned in those links that I provided you. But nevertheless, they still can be beneficial. I would highly recommend that you read the material on this site first or as much as you can. If you not feeling like reading from here at the current moment or you want to listen to something instead, then you can check out the links that I have provided. As well there are desena’s (talks) on here as well. Maybe Lal can point them out to you.
Hope this helps
THANK YOU SENGKIAT AND LAL !!
Without knowing that a topic that I have been contemplating on, I recently came across a video where it mentioned that this topic has been brought up often in the past, but not necessary here on puredhamma. I have been having a question on a topic for at least over half a year now, only until recently that I felt comfortable enough to be able to understand some abhidhamma concepts without needing to be babysat through and now I’m making the determination to get this question resolve or gain as much clarity on the topic as I can.
I’m in the process of writing out this topic and the question that I have in mind. While going through this process, there was a lot of difficult questions and explanations that I had to answer to myself in what I think and believed in. I came across two different explanations for the topic and question that I had in mind, but both explanations are not completely satisfactory to me.
Last night I thought I made such a major error in my contemplation that a lot of my answers and explanations would have to be thrown out on this topic. Literally I would have to start from scratch again and that would’ve been painful and maybe would’ve made me put off seeking answers to the question again. Because I wouldn’t know where to begin again. It’s like I have been trying to put a puzzle together using an incomplete or distorted puzzle outline picture and trying to figure out how to put all the pieces together.
Thank you again Lal and Sengkiat again for the help, it has cleared up some of this puzzle outline picture for me. After seeing your answers, it confirmed to me that I didn’t have the wrong idea in what I was thinking, which I thought I did last night. But instead, just not the correct detailed mechanism of how things would work out. If I couldn’t get this detailed mechanism correctly, then pretty much all the pieces of the puzzle that I have put together wouldn’t fit or make sense. Maybe such a thing might happen again while I’m writing out what I have in mind, but if there was two major mistake’s that I could’ve made during my contemplation process. One was just corrected or helped me to at least be able to explain what I have in mind.
Question, is there a limit like nirodha samapatti on how long an Arahant can stay in Arahant-Phala samapatti?
When an Arahant is in Arahant-phala samapatti #1. are there citta vithi’s running? If there is, which citta vithi option below would you say is the closest to Arahant-Phala samapatti?
#2. B B B B B BC BU MD J J J J J J J J J J J
#3. B B B “BC BU MD U A G Pa Fr Fr Fr” B B B
#4. Something else. If it’s something else, can you please provide an example something similar to the layout of option #2 and #3
Thank you in advance.
If I was to answer this, I would say #1. “yes” there are citta vithi’s running while an Arahant is in Arahant-Phala samapatti and I would pick option #2 that I believe is closest to a citta vithi of an Arahant in Arahant-Phala samapatti.
Hi Raj,
“who want to use meditation as a tool.”
I’m not 100% certain what you mean by these words . . . But by my own definition or understanding of “meditation”. I would be very confident to say that the majority of us on puredhamma is already using meditation as a tool.
I’ll be completely honest with you, even though I didn’t listen to any of the talks you posted beside the one you just asked my opinion on. To me, most of the teachers and talks you have posted does not resonate with me “anymore”. I feel that I “spend more time and energy” filtering out information, trying to understand what’s being taught and filling in the blanks myself then doing any actual learning.
I did listen to the dhamma talk that you asked my opinion on and I do have a reply for you in mind, but I’m not sure if I will end up writing it out or it will at least take some time for me to type it out. Most likely this will be the only time that I will listen to these talks that your posting and comment on it, because I feel there are some important things that you should be aware of.
Something that I can recommend to you is that if you feel that you’re not receiving the answers or not enough discussions on the topics that’s important or of interest to you here at puredhamma. You can look into joining
I’m sure there’s a lot of experts and people on those forums that share similar interest as you. As well the majority of the people in these forums most likely have learned and practiced from similar teachers of the talks that your posting here. Just to give you a heads up at suttacentral though, I’m not sure if this has changed or hopefully it has changed, but before one of their forum guideline is that it’s “wrong speech” to them if someone mentions Anicca “does not” mean impermanence. I hope this helps.
In the mean time, if you feel like it, why don’t you share with us or me what you have learned from the talk that you asked mine and Lang opinion on. What’s your own opinion of it? What did you learn from it? What made sense or didn’t make sense to you? Was there any teachings in the talk you felt needed further clarification on? Etc . . .
Thank you Lang for the input and clarification. I hope you and everyone’s dhamma practice is going well.
Raj
“it is about putting the teachings into practice.”
I totally agree with putting the teachings or what one is learning into practice. Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m glad to see that you found the practice that works best for you, may it help you to attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana. I sincerely wish you and all the dhamma practitioners the best with their practices.
with Metta,
Thank you Lal for the answers and the links.
I have been reading up on the post’s in the Abhidhamma section. I’m currently trying to figure something out and hoping these posts can help me to make sure I have understood something correctly. I rather be wrong, than blindly believing I’m right.
I have a question in regards to pabhassara citta.
“Therefore, a “pabhassara citta” is that base state, or the pure state of a citta, BEFORE it goes through the 9 stages of contamination. It has only the 7 universal cetasika.”
#1. I’m not sure if I have understood this paragraph correctly, but from what I can understand, is it correct for me to think that the first stage of the 9 changes of a citta, “citta” is the pabhassara citta with the 7 universal cetaiska? From this first stage “citta” (pabhassara citta), it continues to change / evolve through the rest of the stages.
What I understand is that any living being below Arahant / Buddha would never experience this pabhassara citta due to our citta’s evolving through the rest of the stages of a citta, as well get’s contaminated during this process. What we end up experiencing is the vinnanakkhanda. Even Arahant’s can only experience pabhassara citta during Arahant phala samapatti.
I’m not able to edit the post, but for #2. I wanted to add
#2 In order for us human beings to experience vipaka vinnana, does that person citta “always” have to evolve through the 9 stages of a citta to the end of vinnanakkhandha in order to experience vipaka vinnana or is there another way where someone can experience vipaka vinnana without that persons’ citta evolving all the way to vinnanakkhandha?
Hi Raj,
– If you want, can you please explain how by meditating on “Buddho” can help you or anyone purify their mind?
“we were trained to watch the breath and some sensations in the body. It does help stopping the mind from wandering”
– Is a wandering mind really a problem? This is just based on my own understanding and experience. To me a wandering mind is not really a problem. It becomes a problem when it wonders into raga, dosa, moha thoughts. But what about if the mind is wandering into dhamma thoughts and concepts or wholesome thoughts? Is a wandering mind a problem in this case?
“My mind is like a monkey with supersonic wings jumping from one thought to another, and I realized it has an on/off button (which is the Buddho breath meditation). I have the power to lock this monkey in a cage”
What do you think would make a better monkey in the long term? A constantly locked up monkey or a well “trained” monkey that is free to roam, explore and investigate it’s surroundings? When you call out to this well “trained” monkey, it comes to your side and is ready to follow your command. Is a monkey that’s not in a cage a problem?
Hi Raj,
In addition to what Lal have shared with you.
“What does Buddho mean”
Sometimes we can try to investigate into the answers ourselves first. In my opinion, one of the most important qualities that one should develop while walking on the path is to be able to investigate and discern for oneself what is most beneficial or closes to the truth based on what we know / understand. One day we might not always have someone to answer our questions; as well we can’t and don’t want to always depend on others for our answers. We can listen to what other’s share or teach and seek help when we’re stuck or want to get another opinion / view. But ultimately, it’s through our own effort and investigation that leads to us to Nibbana.
I’m not sure if you have looked more into what Buddho can possibly mean besides the dhamma talks that you listened to.
Someone shared their experience with Buddho meditation.
“I’ve been doing Buddho meditation for several months now. I wasn’t sure what I was doing was correct, just mentally saying bud on the inhale, dho on the exhale. I must have read it somewhere and decided to try it. I’ve never said it out loud as I didn’t want to activate my ear “door”.
So one night during vipassana meditation class, Ajahn asked me how my meditation was going. I replied that on that particular night, I was frustrated because I couldn’t stay focused on my breathing, I could see the thoughts arise but would jump to them.Luckily I was able to return to my breathing but became frustrated that I couldn’t remain on the breath like I have before. He said several things. First, I was becoming too attached to the expectation that I would always be in the best states of mind. Sometimes you have a bad night. After 30 years he said sometimes it can be struggle but he doesn’t get frustrated because he’s doesn’t have expectations. More time spent doing Vipassana will cure that–impermanence will be understood easier. Then he told us a story of a time during a nine long year retreat in a cave when he was younger. He went to visit a friend in the next cave over and found him pounding his leg furiously saying, Buddho….Buddho…Buddho. He said, that was Samatha meditation. Concentration.
I’ve spent more time doing Vipassana but I’m really trying to practice Buddho. I think its good because its easy to remember and you can approach it in a couple of ways. You can mentally repeat Bud (BOOD) on the inhale, dho (DO) on the exhale. Don’t worry about the breath. If its slow, mentally say Bud slow. If the breathing is quick, then repeat the syllables quicker. You can also vary the speed and say buddho buddho when you sense a thought approach. The thought will be like a bubble that never surfaces. Through the will of the mind, you push it down and Buddho is the tool. Don’t jump to the thought! Best of luck.”
My only comment is does this meditation purify the mind . . . One can decide for themselves.
“Kayanusati (the disgusting contents and the nature of the body)”
If I may offer what I understand about kayanusati. To me it’s not about the disgusting the body, but rather the unfruitful / in vain nature of the body. To me, thinking / taking things as disgusting is patigha. I believe the purpose of why monk’s go to the cemetery’s and practice there is to help one to reflect on that one day we’ll end up in the same place, all our worldly efforts to seek sensual pleasure will end up in vain at the break up of the body. This is to show us the unfruitful nature in our worldly endeavors.
Another teaching on kayanusati that I learned is to see and understand the suffering that’s associate with the 5 senses. For example the eyes, in order to see beautiful visions or function normal in this world, we need eyes. But the majority of people never think about how much suffering the eyes brings, we only think how we can use / own the eyes for enjoyment / pleasure. Starting in the womb, if the fetus doesn’t get enough nutrients or the mother contracts a disease, it can cause the new born baby to be blind. Living in this world, sights are important for us living beings. One mostly needs the eye to function normal in this world, but if one doesn’t have eyes to see in this world, that’s a vexation / suffering on the person.
Even if one has the eyes to see, we need to maintain and continue to provide nourishment to maintain our eyes / vision. As well protect them from getting injuried, etc . . . If the eyes get’s diseased / injuried, then that brings suffering to our minds. The eyes can’t even enjoy, but they can bring dukkha dukkha upon us. Now let’s say even if one’s eyes works perfectly well till one’s death. After one’s death, the body breaks up, the eyes goes back into the dhatu’s. All the beautiful visions one has seen in one’s life, all for nothing at the end, ends up as a pile of rubbish. Not only that, the eyes pretty much forces us to continuously seek pleasure / enjoyment since they can’t be fulfilled, it’s always been like this and will continue to be like this until we remove avija, raga, anusaya, etc . . . In seeking sensual pleasures for the eyes or the other sense organs, we end up committing dasa akusala’s which later on can send us to the apaya’s.
With Metta,
Hi Raj,
In additional to what Lal shared.
“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.”
Whatever you or anyone take anitiya, anicca, impermanence, etc . . . as . . .
From what I can understand what your asking . . . some things that you can look into are:
#1. Sankata
#2. Paticca Samuppada.
Hi Iodonyo,
In regards to meditation, something to keep in mind is that meditation isn’t limited to just sitting down crossed legged with eyes closed. From my own observation, this is one of the major mistakes meditators make today. One can meditate in any of the four postures. In one of Lal’s post he writes that “Just contemplating on good thoughts and suppressing bad thoughts as they arise throughout the day is also meditation (this was the original definition of Bhavana).
Do you think one should just limit themselves to doing this while just sitting down? Depending on how the person defines what meditation is, from my own experience, one still can meditate while playing video games. Is this something that I would recommend to someone? Not really, but if someone is already in the process of playing a video game and has given in to their cravings. We still can find ways to bring the Buddha Dhamma into practice while playing video games or in almost of our everyday activities. If we ever get far enough into this discussion, I might share my experience of playing video games and what the Buddha dhamma has done for me in this regards.
You wrote “The thing is, I DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW IF THESE THINGS ARE CORRECT???”
I’m glad to see that you’re asking such a question. A piece of advice that I can share with you is that while walking on any spiritual path, the most important person that we need to convince whether what we’re learning is correct or not is ourselves.
Hopefully some of the following posts will help you to gain some idea’s on how to figure out what you’re learning if they are correct or not.
How do we decide which view is wrong view?
Key to weeding out bad versions of the dhamma
Non perceivability and Self-Consistency
This might not be directly related to video games, but I believe this post might be helpful in regards to what you and Lal were discussing.
“Where does this idea of censoring some versions of Buddha Dhamma come from?”
“As I understand, the idea came from a group of “traditional bhikkhus” who are losing their audience due to the increasing popularity of Waharaka interpretations.”– From what I have learned before coming across the Buddha Dhamma, there might be even a deeper and more sinister plot/motive.
– Where does one think the kamma/vipaka of the living beings on this planet is heading towards? The Dhamma or adhamma? In my opinion, it’s Anicca khayatthena or a good English word “Decadence”“They are the established bhikkhus with name recognition and thus the politicians are afraid of them.”
– I don’t know about “being afraid of them”. Based on my opinion, it’s highly likely that they are in bed together or part of the same team from the start. Most likely are placed in the positions as pawns to serve a purpose, to move forward an agenda. What this agenda is, I can only speculate. All I know is that, it’s not for a wholesome purpose.
“Sutta Central actually has objected to the proposed legislation. Even they can see the dangers of such actions by governments.”
– It’s kinda ironic because if one reads Sutta central forum guidelines, well . . . you can decide for yourself . . . This is C&P from their forum guidelines . . .
What is an extremist view?
Generally it refers to views that blithely reject well-established facts. The views themselves may or may not be hateful, but they are always delusional. Such views seem like an innocuous theory, but they often aim at creating a nationalist, sectarian fundamentalism.Examples of non-hateful extremist views include:
The Buddha was born in Sri Lanka.
Anicca doesn’t mean impermanence.
The original Pali manuscripts at Aluvihara exist.
Pali fundamentalism (Chinese texts are all Mahayana, etc.).Yeah . . . I would’ve brought this up at the Sutta Central forums especially coming across what Lal wrote about how the Buddha mentioned that we all should give the opportunity to listen to other teachers/teachings and discern the truth for ourselves. But I’m banned from the Sutta central forums . . . As one can see, If you say/believe/think that Anicca doesn’t mean impermanence, that’s an extreme view at Sutta Central . . .
What I’m about to type out was sent to me a few months ago from someone in Sri Lanka. I’m typing this out not to criticize / cause hate / or slander anyone. I hope you all will feel the same. I’m just typing out what was sent to me . . . It is what is . . . As well, it’s kinda related to some of the things that I want to mention about at the end of this post.
Start – – –
1. Peacock dances to impress to the audiences in front but is backside is exposed. With mass media support, Vibajjawada bhikkhu’s portray themselves to the Sinhala Buddhist society as guardians and custodians of Buddha Sasana. However, the hidden private life stories that have come to light are disturbing with child molestations, sexual scandals, alcohol abuse, suppression of evidence and active politicking to cover them all up.
2. Vibajjawada Bhikkhus do not give heretics to answer in public forums or mass media; thus seeks all exclusive the attention. The peacock does not want any other males when he is displaying too.
3. Hate speech, heinous insults to the Noble Sangha by Vibajjawada are harsh and unpleasant. The hysterical calls of the peacock are a far cry from good looks, in the attractive spectrum.
4. Vibajjawada clan are always hellbent to academically defeat “heretics” using their Oriental language expertise especially of Brahmanic lingua franca, Sanskirt — A forbidden language for translating his Noble teachings to by the Buddha. The Peacock’s are highly also highly combative and are deadset on defeating the rivals during courtship.
Before coming across the Buddha Dhamma, I came to realize that it was unfortunate, but at the same time very fortunate, learning/being exposed to what I came across before the Buddha Dhamma. I believe I came across about certain mundane things / truths about humanity on our current planet Earth that Lord Buddha shielded from us. There’s no doubt to me that the Buddha knew about these things, but choose to shield these things from us. I can understand why . . .
It was unfortunate because if I didn’t have a strong mind or ended up coming across the Puredhamma, I would probably be in full despair right now. But ended up being fortunate because of having come across the puredhamma and as well given me the ability to understand about Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta on a deeper “mundane microscopic” level. Also allowed me to verify the 31 realms of existence based on what the Buddha taught without needing any super powers, especially the realms below humans.
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned about “being on the same team”. What I’m about to say, whether you believe it or not, I don’t really care. I just want to let everyone that reads this post to know that, even mundane things about/on this planet is not what it seems.
Child abuse, child sexual exploitation, child sacrifices is one of the favorite hobbies / past times of the many people in power today. There’s certain groups/families that literally own this planet from charities, education, finances, entertainment, governments, government agencies, etc . . . They literally control and own it all on this planet. Let’s say during the current times they do not have the best of intentions for humanity or what they think is the best for humanity is actually very twisted. In their eyes, we’re nothing more than slaves/cattle, experimental subjects and disposable objects for their own enjoyment/pleasures.
Even though I have a lot more to say, but I think I better stop here. After all been said, the most important idea / concept that I hope everyone to consider is Anicca khayatthena or “Decadence” and how it can affect humanity as a whole on a planet.
May all of us living beings attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana as soon as possible.
