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Dear Cat, Sila is something related to Intention. Cooking for oneself doesn’t involve any immoral intention, then why is it breaking a sila?
We live in a realm where we have to use effort in order to leave peacefully and survive, our lives are not self sustaining, our bodies require food and exercise.
If you want to truly achieve complete morality, spend the time learning Buddha Dhamma and Attaining Parinibbana, untill then no matter what we would be subjecting suffering onto other beings even though our intentions are pure, for example boiling water to kill bacteria, taking medicines, etc.
You don’t have to overcomplicate such things, live a decent life, it’s all about moral and immoral intentions.
Note that if you generate aversion or disgust towards anything, you are moving away from Nibbana!
Many Bhikkus preach to feel disgust towards this body in order to be free from Kama Raga. That is a complete nonsense! They are unknowingly generating aversion (Dosa) which would not lead you anywhere.
One must Realise that All These Pleasures are just a mirage and even after experiencing tons of different sensual pleasures, we are still unsatisfied!
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This Sansara is like Hell. Such situations arise due to previous kamma and trap the individual.
If a minor girl is raped and gets pregnant, that was also a part of that process. Now if she kills the baby then again a new kamma is generated. It’s very unfortunate but technically she is trapped now. If she doesn’t abort then she will die but if does then it may generate a kamma of killing a human. In such situations it should be the choice of that person because there is no absolute answer to this. So if abortion takes place then that girl is now safe from death but not from Sansara, so she must practice the dhamma and do meritorious activities so to be free from these tortures and confusions once and for all. If that’s not happening then it doesn’t really matter in the long term if you live or not. But the ignorant mind’s tendency is to stay alive no matter what( except in extraordinary situations). So to be Societally Correct, that girl has the right to abort the baby , but in the Absolute Truth, that doesn’t change anything but would make the things worse depending on her mind’s condition, intention etc.
I do also feel that we need to define what exactly Sancetana or bad intention would be. I heard of a story about Ven. Sariputta where he meets a man crying and feeling sad, he asked him why are you sad?
That man says that he will be going to be born in hell because he is the Executioner of The king on whose command he has to kill the thieves and the criminals but he is forced to do this job as he was once a thief and the king caught him and gave him 2 options, to either be killed or work under him for this job. Fearing death he took this option. Then Ven. Sariputta asked him that do you Enjoy killing those people?
He said no , he doesn’t like what he does. Then Sariputta told him that you won’t be born in hell as your mind didn’t Like imparting that torture on them. That man doesn’t believe Ven. Sariputta and leaves by saying that he would definitely be born in hell. He becomes a Deva after his death.
I don’t know the Sutta please check or else I will try to search it.
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Wisdom along with the Dhamma creates path towards Nibbana. Note that intelligence and wisdom are very different things.
For that one must be open minded and have the ability to analyse any given information ,example , the pleasure cycle, anicca,etc. I have also faced similar issues, people instantly try to claim that their religion already has this knowledge or that it has been known in their religion even before the Buddha ( when I used to teach them about kamma and 31 realms). Yet they suffer and are still neither satisfied nor have the knowlegde to permanently eradicate suffering. For them if their religion is “attacked” they feel their egos to be hurt. I Had a very similar incident with my hindu Uncle. Even after explaining everything to him in an easy manner and in great depth, he still said that he would follow hinduism. Its best to explain to those who are truly willing to listen and who dont try to make their religion appear great in comparison to buddha dhamma. I also shared these teachings to my mothers friend who was very amazed of it but never again asked to learn more( I think the wisdom faculty in this case was very low).I sent these teachings to my friend and she never bothered to even listen to a single sermon. She frequently posts about herself and her friends partying and going to picnics and all. If she had understood the dhamma, she would’nt have had to experience this much Pilana for something that is not true happiness.
So the best way that I feel is to try to introduce the teachings by explaining the Pleasure cycle and then Distorted Sanna. I tried with this with my cousin sister and it worked . It would then create more curiosity in them and then we can proceed further.
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I have also practiced Goenka’s Vipassana and to be honest it was a torture to the mind.
Even if you feel a strong itch or muscle cramp, they advise you to stay in that position as these sensations or pains are “mental defilements that are being released through the body”!
I never used to really”enjoy” that meditation, as it was both physically and mentally fatiguing. I don’t know how can one see the equanimity of everything without understanding the Buddha Dhamma first.
I never experienced any progress in terms of mental defilements, but more irritation in the mind because of the above mentioned things. That was in 2013, then after 9 years I came across the true dhamma.
Thinking about the existence of a merciful and loving God, Devas,etc. provides Hope to the person. But what does hope bring? It brings nothing. You can stop your fears and worries temporarily but that is not the solution to the problem.
This is the reason that Man has tried to find a loving God so that his fears and worries are suppressed.
Buddha Dhamma makes one independent and free completely.
Asking questions like “is there a self?”, or “is there no self?” or “is there both self and no self?” or “is there neither self nor no self?” Are wrong questions to ask. Rather the Buddha said that the right question is to ask that “why do I feel a self?”. If you see a car, you can feel that there is a car, but if I ask you to touch the car , you won’t be able to. If you touch the frame then it’s steel not car, if you touch the Windows then it’s glass not car. You can touch those individual parts that make up a car, but never a car. So is there a car or not? Again wrong question. Ask why do I feel that there is a car? Answer is because all those causes have been arranged in a manner that match your perception of a car. If you take those individual parts and arrange them differently, you will feel that the “Car” has been disfigured, but only the arrangement has changed. It’s the mind’s nature to feel entities and not manifestations. Feeling a “Car” causes all of this mess, there is just manifestation of a Car(effect)as long as the individual parts(causes) are arranged in the “right order”(condition). Mind is just a process which only interacts with its environment, but due to its inbuilt “fault” it experiences a Self . If you have read what Rupa,Vedana,Sañña, Sankhara and Viññaña in a mental process is ,then it would be easier to grasp this. These are just steps of recognition and perception, that’s all.
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I was also born in a Buddhist family but my parents were only aware of Panca Sila. They realised that every other religion discriminates humans and divides them except Buddhism. They knew that the Buddha taught something very unique but they didn’t come across it for many years.
When I was 3 years old I had a very strong attraction towards science and nature. I was in primary school and used to ask my parents to buy me science books, I have some even today.
Then my father in 2013 came across Goenka’s Vipassana. I was very excited to learn that but I became bored after doing it for a few days. It was like a torture to the body and the mind as you have to be in a specific pose and bare the bodily pain if it arises!
Then in 2022 I came across this website and realised the truth. That childhood curiosity was a KEY factor for coming across this truth. Since then I have been progressing significantly. Jethvanarama Buddhist Monastery youtube channel was also a game changer for me. I was missing some key points that were addressed by their videos. Thanks to Gad(Jittananto) for sharing me such videos!
And thanks to everyone for supporting me in every way possible 🙏🏻
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This lastest news discusses that there is a new study that says big bang may not be the birth of the universe but a transition phase.
Dear Christian, could you please share the methods of how you attained jhanas and what one can do to attain them in the easiest way possible relative to other methods?
I want to practice them in order to try to attain higher stages.
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There has been an incident of a gang rape case of a female doctor in India in kolkata. It has become a national issue. That doctor was brutally raped and then murdered, even her legs had been broken at 180 degrees apart! This all took place inside the hospital! I dont know how some humans can be full of such a mindset to cause such a harm to another human, especially the one whose job is to save others lives.
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“How the Buddha Described the Chance of Rebirth in the Human Realm“
It’s in this post but the sutta and the name is not mentioned.
I think it was Ven. Moggallana who was trying to remove microorganisms from the water before drinking, but the Buddha said that it’s impossible to live in this Sansara without harming others. So wasn’t that act an apunna abhisankhara as the microorganisms would be killed?. But the Arahant doesn’t have any Upadana for harming others, so the kamma won’t generate. So with this logic it only depends on the Upadana for such acts. If someone gets a random thought of killing someone from past Memory,but that person doesn’t “attach” to that thought and cultivate anger, it won’t generate any kamma as there is no “liking” for that act . So why is it that if someone does something but doesn’t have the Upadana or liking for that act still generate kamma? An Arahant doesn’t generate any kamma at all because their minds are devoid of any Upadana. So even if an Arahant preaches dhamma which is the best way to accumulate punna kamma, he still won’t accumulate any kamma.
So this is what I am trying to ask. It only depends on the Upadana or “liking” for that act that generates kamma.
Dear Pathfinder,
The Arahant won’t mentally feel pleasure or “happiness”. His happiness has become unshakable, it doesn’t depend on the outside flavours
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Sensuality starts from the mind Vexing. And if you are able to provide relief to that mental vexation, you will feel pleasure.
That is not true happiness but merely relief from mental burning. So enjoying something means that you were craving for it(mental vexation) and now you have got it. That relief is felt as”enjoying”. You have to suffer initially to “enjoy” such things by generating wanting( vexation). True happiness is the state when one doesn’t burn from the mind. So he won’t get affected by such sense objects because the mind is neither wanting nor having aversion .
To enter jhana one needs a “stable” mind, that doesn’t wander around. If you enjoy sensuality then the mind is not at rest and can’t be concentrated.
