Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:43 pm
Title: Re: Nine blasts in Bodhgaya this morning: terror attack?
Content:
Thanks pegembara, this is both timely and appropriate.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:50 pm
Title: Re: SECOND JHANA - i have some questions about it
Content:
I think consistency in practice is one of the most important factors for developing samādhi. If you find your teacher's approach to be helpful for abandoning the hindrances and developing mental composure then that's a probably a good approach for you at this time. It might be more useful to ask your teacher these questions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:25 pm
Title: Re: This is becoming a real problem now...
Content:
Sounds to me like thoughts and memories. Thoughts and memories can be thieves that rob us of sammāsamādhi.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:06 pm
Title: Re: This is becoming a real problem now...
Content:
I'd suggest simplifying things to their basic components as mental qualities, i.e. the mental qualities of calm (samatha) and insight (vipassanā). All aspects of Buddhist samādhi are included within the development of samatha and the development of vipassanā. This is clearly stated in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra:
Know that śamatha and vipaśyanā include all of the many aspects of the states of meditative concentration which I have taught for śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, and tathāgatas.

The purpose of developing samatha is to abandon the hindrances and thereby compose the mind. The purpose of developing vipassanā is to eliminate the fetters and thereby attain liberation from saṃsāra.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 08, 2013 2:38 am
Title: Re: Nine blasts in Bodhgaya this morning: terror attack?
Content:
I think it's highly unlikely that all other religions will fizzle out or be destroyed in the next 37 years.

But at any rate, secular ideologies (e.g. nationalism, fascism, communism, neoliberalism) have lead to far more violence and death in the last 100 years than religious ideologies have.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:46 am
Title: Re: Why do Buddhists always revert back to siddhartha gautam
Content:
Yes, it makes sense. I think that "religion" and "philosophy" can be rather slippery terms in a global, pluralistic world. And both are sometimes treated with scorn in some secular circles. This can include creating inaccurate caricatures and then attacking these caricatures as representative of all religion and/or all philosophy. I'm not suggesting that you're doing this, but it's worthwhile mentioning it in order to discuss what these terms encompass.

Personally, I don't think religion, philosophy, and science are necessarily opposed to one another, although (and in part because) the aims and disciplinary approaches of each may differ depending on context. Specifically with respect to Buddhism, Buddhist sources claim that the Buddha directly realized the kinds of knowledge needed to (i) attain liberation from saṃsāra, and (ii) skillfully teach others how to attain this liberation. Modern science doesn't assert these same goals, and doesn't possess the epistemic tools that could either verify or refute these Buddhist knowledge claims.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 07, 2013 9:58 pm
Title: Re: Why do Buddhists always revert back to siddhartha gautam
Content:
I don't think that acknowledging Buddhism as a religion closes off the opportunities for enriching and developing knowledge, either with regard to the main knowledge claims that are ubiquitous across authoritative Buddhist sources, or with regard to the types of knowledge acquired through secular disciplines.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:34 pm
Title: Re: Logical Fallacies in Cardinal's Speech
Content:
Indeed. Cynicism, doubt, and unremitting skepticism are quite common -- probably more pervasive than actual logical fallacies.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jul 06, 2013 4:53 am
Title: Re: Dhammapada Story : early schools
Content:
I'm not sure that there are any existing commentaries other than the Pāli. An overview of the extant versions of Dhammapada texts is given by Ven. Ānandajoti here: A Study of the Dhammapada Collection.

Here's a multilingual presentation of the Udānavarga (the English translation by William Woodville Rockhill is from the 1880s and is therefore quite dated).

Here's Gareth Sparham's translation of The Tibetan Dhammapada.

Here's Ven. Dhammajoti's translation of The Chinese Version of the Dhammapada.

Here's John Brough's study of The Gāndhārī Dharmapada.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:00 pm
Title: Re: Are first three fetters fully eliminated by a Sotapanna?
Content:
According to the Puggalapaññatti a faith-follower and a dhamma-follower are both developing the noble path to realize the sotāpanna fruition. This reference to the noble path is generally understood to imply that they are therefore both path attainers (although this label isn't explicitly used). When a faith-follower attains the fruit they are referred to as "liberated-by-faith" (saddhāvimutta). When a dhamma-follower attains the fruit they are referred to as "attained-to-view" (diṭṭhipatta).


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 03, 2013 6:59 pm
Title: Re: Are first three fetters fully eliminated by a Sotapanna?
Content:
Well, it seems to me that differentiating between the sotāpanna path-attainer and the sotāpanna fruit-attainer resolves this issue: the former has not yet eliminated the three fetters whereas the latter has eliminated them.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 03, 2013 6:15 pm
Title: Re: Are first three fetters fully eliminated by a Sotapanna?
Content:
So then the differentiation you are making is between the sotāpanna path-attainer and the sotāpanna fruit-attainer?


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 03, 2013 5:51 pm
Title: Re: Are first three fetters fully eliminated by a Sotapanna?
Content:
Are you implying that there are contradictory and incompatible schemes provided in the suttas?

And are you suggesting that there are some sotāpannas who are equivalent to fruit-attainers but who haven't terminated the three fetters?


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 03, 2013 12:53 am
Title: Re: Sotāpanna: the path and fruit taught by the Buddha
Content:
I suppose the usefulness of dhamma discussions on internet forums is an open question, but it seems to me that mistaken assertions are never useful.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:50 pm
Title: Re: Sotāpanna: the path and fruit taught by the Buddha
Content:
If the six senses are shut down there is no path consciousness nor fruition consciousness.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:11 pm
Title: Re: Sotāpanna: the path and fruit taught by the Buddha
Content:
Yes, from the Dhammasaṅgaṇī and the Kathāvatthu, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 02, 2013 4:13 pm
Title: Re: Sotāpanna: the path and fruit taught by the Buddha
Content:
The difference is that the path and fruition consciousnesses occur together with both perception and feeling and nibbāna as the object of the path and fruition consciousnesses is distinctly different from the attainment of cessation of perception and feeling.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:28 pm
Title: Re: Sotappana: the path and fruit taught by the Buddha
Content:
Nibbāna means extinguishment. With the fruition of stream-entry a stream entrant has realized the extinguishment of the first three fetters. They know that they have realized this extinguishment. This knowledge of extinguishment differentiates them from ordinary people.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:53 am
Title: Re: On Thanissaro Bhikkhu's anatta teachings
Content:
There are some similarities in ancient Western variations of askēsis to aspects of Buddhist practice. And Buddhist practice has also been informed by ethics, epistemology, logic, etc. Although the ancient Buddhists didn't develop ethical theories the way that the Greeks did, they did have an interest in epistemology and logic, culminating in the writings of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, and the commentaries on their works. Similar ideas were also taken up by Pāli commentators.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:53 am
Title: Re: On Thanissaro Bhikkhu's anatta teachings
Content:
This seems like a pretty limited perspective with regard to all that has gone on in the name of philosophy in the Western tradition. Ancient philosophy was often considered to be integral to all aspects of one's life. In Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises From Socrates to Foucault, Pierre Hadot summarizes some of the main features of the ancient Western philosophical traditions as follows:
In the view of all philosophical schools, mankind's principal cause of suffering, disorder, and unconsciousness were the passions: that is, unregulated desires and exaggerated fears. People are prevented from truly living, it was taught, because they are dominated by worries. Philosophy thus appears, in the first place, as a therapeutic of the passions.... Each school had its own therapeutic method, but all of them linked their therapeutics to a profound transformation of the individual's mode of seeing and being. The object of spiritual exercises is precisely to bring about this transformation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:17 pm
Title: Re: Ekayana
Content:
I don't think so. But one version or another was eventually absorbed into most or all Indo-Tibetan and East Asian Mahāyāna exegetical traditions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:50 am
Title: Re: Samadhi (best English translation?)
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:07 am
Title: Re: Samadhi (best English translation?)
Content:
The suttas aren't systematic expositions Sylvester. They aren't meditation manuals or epistemology treatises either. If one wants to investigate authoritative Buddhist expositions on these issues one has to look to source texts beyond the sutta collections.

With regard to vipassanā, the Theravāda and the Sarvāstivāda traditions both maintain that samatha and vipassanā are united within jhāna on the noble path. If you don't agree, then it seems to me that that's your problem.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:30 pm
Title: Re: Samadhi (best English translation?)
Content:
Why do you continue to suggest that this is an error created by English language readers? Ven. Bodhi, Ven. Ṭhānissaro, Ven. Guṇaratana, and the entirety of the ancient Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, and Yogācāra commentarial traditions all either read Pāli or other ancient Indic languages.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:02 pm
Title: Re: Buddha's Rebirths - Possible Paradox
Content:
Personally, I don't spend much time thinking about those particular things. I also don't feel compelled to go on Buddhist discussion forums and attempt to rewrite Buddhist historical narratives according to secular academic trends. 

I think the Pāli suttas are prescriptive and descriptive. They primarily designate a path to develop in order to realize the cessation of dukkha. The teachings are tools to be used -- provisional expedients from beginning to end.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 18, 2013 6:56 pm
Title: Re: Buddha's Rebirths - Possible Paradox
Content:
So how do you appreciate them?


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:34 pm
Title: Re: Buddha's Rebirths - Possible Paradox
Content:
It's a big subject. Is a secular framework the only way to enter the noble path in this day and age? Is a secular framework ever an efficacious way to approach the dhammavinaya? There are numerous modern examples of traditional ascetic Theravāda practitioners who have gone very far towards the goal or possibly even reached the goal in this life. But I've yet to come across one such example among secular revisionists, even though there is at least one person who claims to be an arahant, and who, quite conveniently, also claims that there's no need for an arahant to abstain from lust or sex.

As I implied earlier, I think there's plenty of room for appreciating dhamma narratives that doesn't require subscribing to a rigid dogmatic literalism, and at the same time, doesn't strip them of meaning and value either.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 18, 2013 2:09 pm
Title: Re: Buddha's Rebirths - Possible Paradox
Content:
It seems you're suggesting that dhamma narratives were developed by reciters motivated by what the puthujjana would find enticing. But why should these dhamma narratives be relegated to such lowly status -- being segregated from Buddhavacana and not relevant to noble disciples? Why should anyone accept a post-modern relativistic revision of Buddhist history? Might there be more intelligent and compelling ways to relate to this narrative material than by dismissing it as "woo-woo"?


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 18, 2013 1:15 pm
Title: Re: Buddha's Rebirths - Possible Paradox
Content:
Was this derogatory comment an example of acting with appropriate attention?

There's a whole lot of open space between dogmatic literalism and cynical derision. You should check it out sometime.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 17, 2013 7:10 pm
Title: Re: Can the Bhikkhuni Sangha be revived as per the Vinaya?
Content:
According to Ven. Bodhi here, there isn't any clear prohibition preventing it:
Further, if we pay close attention to the wording of the Vinaya passage concerned with bhikkhunī ordination, we would notice that the text does not lock this rite into a fixed and immutable form sealed with inviolable imperatives: "You must do it in this way and never in any other way." In fact, grammatically, the Pāli passage uses, not the imperious imperative, but the gentler gerundive or optative participle, "it should be done thus." But grammar aside, the text is simply describing the normal and most natural way to conduct the ordination when all the normal requisite conditions are at hand. There is nothing in the text itself, or elsewhere in the Pāli Vinaya, that lays down a rule stating categorically that, should the Bhikkhunī Sangha become extinct, the bhikkhus are prohibited from falling back on the original allowance the Buddha gave them to ordain bhikkhunīs and confer upasampadā on their own to resuscitate the Bhikkhunī Sangha.

To me this seems to be the crucial point: Only if there were such a clear prohibition would we be entitled to say that the bhikkhus are overstepping the bounds of legitimacy by conducting such an ordination. In the absence of such a decree in the text of the Vinaya Piṭaka and its commentaries, the judgment that an ordination by bhikkhus is in violation of the Vinaya is only an interpretation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:33 pm
Title: Re: The Problem With Pali
Content:
To clarify: Buddhaghosa translated the Mahāvihāra commentaries back into Pāli.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:27 pm
Title: Re: The Problem With Pali
Content:
Well, the Protestant Reformation and European Enlightenment have already happened, so that ship has sailed. 

But in principle, the translation of the Pāli corpus into English and other European languages is no different than the translation of the Pāli corpus and other Indic language Buddhist texts into other Asian languages -- a process that goes back 2000+ years, and which occurred independent of European history. And it's also worth keeping in mind that even within ancient India various interpretations of the sutta literature evolved.

That said, I completely agree that it's a misguided and probably quite modern phenomenon where a person reads a few suttas (in whatever language) and thereby thinks they are in a position to disregard all traditions of exegesis, and are somehow on par with the likes of Buddhaghosa and Vasubandhu.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:26 pm
Title: Re: The Problem With Pali
Content:
If one has studied to the point where they need to go to non-translated commentaries in order to further differentiate this or that point of commentarial interpretation, then I would suggest that they've probably gone far enough down that particular rabbit hole and more study likely won't do much to further their actual realization of the paths and fruits.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 17, 2013 2:37 pm
Title: Re: Can the Bhikkhuni Sangha be revived as per the Vinaya?
Content:
Just to clarify: The Mahāyāna isn't an ordination lineage. There are three extant ordination lineages: the Theravāda, the Dharmaguptaka, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda, all of which have descended from the ancient Sthaviras of the second council, and are therefore Sthaviravāda. Of these three, the Dharmaguptaka still has an intact bhikkhunī ordination lineage, and the Theravāda bhikkhunī ordination lineage has been reinstated.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:09 pm
Title: Re: What the Zennies say...?
Content:
It's also taught in the Arthaviniścaya Sūtra and the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (one of the main sūtras outlining the bodhisattva path), as well as in a number of śāstras included in the Chinese canon.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 27, 2013 4:40 am
Title: Re: Pali Term: Nirodha
Content:
Pratisaṃkhyānirodha and apratisaṃkhyānirodha are given in both the Dharmaskandha-śāstra and the Prakaraṇapāda-śāstra of the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharmapiṭaka, and therefore predate any Sanskrit Mahāyāna development by a number of centuries. 

The textual history of the Nettipakaraṇa is a matter of speculation, but it and the Peṭakopadesa may have been composed or influenced by exegetical traditions other than those who composed and redacted the texts in the Pāli Abhidhammapiṭaka as we now have them.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 20, 2013 12:55 am
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
I think the sautrāntikas probably got it about right.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun May 19, 2013 10:59 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
For Sarvāstivāda &amp; Sautrāntika commentators nirvāṇa is considered to be an analytical cessation (pratisaṃkhyānirodha), which is a disjunction from impure dharmas that occurs through correct analysis, which is a specific type of prajñā. Thus, there are as many analytical cessations as there are defilements to be terminated in an individual mental continuum. In addition, sautrāntikas consider an analytical cessation to be just a conceptual designation (prajñapti) which doesn't refer to an entity that is substantially existent. It is a non-implicative negation (prasajyapratiṣedha), i.e. a negation that doesn't imply the presence of some other entity.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun May 19, 2013 6:55 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
Yes, that is one commentarial interpretation. Elsewhere in the Visuddhimagga Buddhaghosa is primarily arguing against the Sautrāntika interpretation, given, for example, in the Abhidharmakośabhāsya:
The Sautrāntikas say that whatever is not-conditioned (asaṃskṛta) is not a substance, for it is not a distinct entity like form and feeling.

Thus, the reading of these relevant suttas that has been offered here by Tilt and others is not novel. It is supported by ancient commentators who were Sthaviras.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu May 16, 2013 8:07 am
Title: Re: Sujin Boriharnwanaket discussion...
Content:
Yes, that's what was being implied.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed May 15, 2013 5:55 pm
Title: Re: Sujin Boriharnwanaket discussion...
Content:
Sure.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue May 14, 2013 4:30 pm
Title: Re: Sujin Boriharnwanaket discussion...
Content:
I think Madhyamaka can be useful, and doesn't contradict anything in the Pāli Nikāyas. And as Tilt suggests, there's no need to posit dhammas as "ultimate realities" in the first place.

As for whether or not mādhyamikas have made their case: they have if you accept mādhyamika reasoning. Of course, not everyone does accept mādhyamika reasoning, and that's fine too.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue May 14, 2013 8:20 am
Title: Re: Sujin Boriharnwanaket discussion...
Content:
For the Theravāda commentaries, mind (citta), mental factors (cetasika), form (rūpa) and nibbāna are all ultimately existent and real. It's a realist school. 

For mādhyamikas (there's no need to distinguish between prasaṅgika &amp; svātantrika here), mind and form, etc., are conventional and not ultimates.

The ultimates according to the Theravāda commentaries are considered to be conventional according to mādhyamikas.

Is that clear enough?


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue May 14, 2013 2:35 am
Title: Re: Need references on Theravada view of self liberation
Content:
If one has previously made such an aspiration it should be possible.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 13, 2013 11:40 pm
Title: Re: Need references on Theravada view of self liberation
Content:
The Theravāda also has teachings pertaining to the bodhisattva vehicle, which includes the development of the perfections as is explained in A Treatise on the Pāramīs by the Theravāda commentator Ācariya Dhammapāla:
We now undertake a detailed explanation of the pāramīs for clansmen following the suttas who are zealously engaged in the practice of the vehicle to great enlightenment (mahābodhiyāna), in order to improve their skilfulness in accumulating the requisites for enlightenment....

In detail, to those whose minds are disposed towards the enlightenment of disciples, he gives a discourse establishing and purifying them (in progress towards their goal) by elaborating upon the noble qualities of whichever among the following topics is appropriate.... So too, for beings whose minds are disposed towards the enlightenment of paccekabuddhas and of perfectly enlightened Buddhas, he gives a discourse establishing and purifying them in the two vehicles (leading to these two types of enlightenment) by elaborating upon the greatness of the spiritual power of those Buddhas, and by explaining the specific nature, characteristic, function, etc., of the ten pāramīs in their three stages.

And Dhammapāla adds:
Since it [i.e. the great aspiration to realize mahābodhi] has as its object the inconceivable plane of the Buddhas and the welfare of the whole immeasurable world of beings, it should be seen as the loftiest, most sublime and exalted distinction of merit, endowed with immeasurable potency, the root-cause of all the qualities issuing in Buddhahood. Simultaneous with its arising, the Great Man enters upon the practice of the vehicle to great enlightenment (mahābodhiyānapaṭipatti). He becomes fixed in his destiny, irreversible, and therefore properly gains the designation “bodhisattva.” His mind becomes fully devoted to the supreme enlightenment in its completeness, and his capacity to fulfill the training in the requisites of enlightenment becomes established. For when their aspiration succeeds, the Great Men correctly investigate all the pāramīs with their self-evolved knowledge which prefigures their future attainment of omniscience. Then they undertake their practice, and fulfill them in due order, as was done by the wise Sumedha when he made his great aspiration.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat May 11, 2013 9:33 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
I consider the entirety of the Buddha's dhamma to be provisional expedients from soup to nuts. This allows one to freely accept all of the foundational teachings of the suttas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat May 11, 2013 8:11 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
I don't think the Buddha would have given numerous teachings on the subject if it was unimportant.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat May 11, 2013 7:21 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
That's good. Do you understand that kamma and rebirth are implicit in the second noble truth?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat May 11, 2013 6:06 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Just because you may not personally know something doesn't mean that it is unknowable. But until it is known, seen, understood, realized, and contacted with discernment, faith is considered to be indispensable according to the Buddha's dhamma. SN 48.44 Pubbakoṭṭhaka Sutta:
Good, good Sāriputta! Those who have not known, seen, understood, realized, and contacted with discernment, they would have to go by faith in others that the faculty of faith ... the faculty of energy ... the faculty of mindfulness ... the faculty of meditative composure ... the faculty of discernment, when developed and cultivated, has the death-free as its ground, the death-free as its destination, the death-free as its final goal.

Faith is both a faculty and a strength included in the requisites of awakening (bodhipakkhiyā dhammā). Ven. Ñāṇatiloka:
Faith is called the seed (Sn. v. 77) of all wholesome states because, according to commentarial explanations, it inspires the mind with confidence (okappana, pasāda) and determination (adhimokkha), for 'launching out' (pakkhandhana; s. M. 122) to cross the flood of saṃsāra.

Unshakable faith is attained on reaching the first stage of holiness, 'stream-entry' (sotāpatti, s. ariyapuggala), when the fetter of sceptical doubt (vicikicchā; s. samyojana) is eliminated. Unshakable confidence (avecca-pasāda) in the Three Jewels is one of the characteristic qualities of the Stream-winner (sotāpannassa angāni, q.v.).


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat May 11, 2013 3:36 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Faith and critical thinking can also be applied together. Faith and discernment are two of the five faculties.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri May 10, 2013 12:01 am
Title: Re: No Piti, No Sukkha, No Vipassana?
Content:
And how do you suppose the nirodhadhātu does that?


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu May 09, 2013 6:12 am
Title: Re: Sujin Boriharnwanaket discussion...
Content:
Yes, I read through it. The differences are significant and I don't see any meaningful parallels.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu May 09, 2013 3:01 am
Title: Re: No Piti, No Sukkha, No Vipassana?
Content:
The sub-commentary on the Sāmaññaphala Sutta passage in question further explains that mind-produced form suffuses the entire area of the physical body:
Mind-produced form (cittajarūpa) suffuses every area where there is kamma-produced form (kammajarūpa).


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed May 08, 2013 10:38 pm
Title: Re: No Piti, No Sukkha, No Vipassana?
Content:
Rapture and pleasure can only arise concurrently with conscious awareness.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed May 08, 2013 9:49 pm
Title: Re: Sujin Boriharnwanaket discussion...
Content:
I'm not altogether familiar with Sujin Boriharnwanaket's teachings other than what has been discussed here on DW, but from what has been discussed here I don't see any significant connections between her teachings and the Prajñāparamitā sūtras &amp; Indian Madhyamaka treatises either in terms of view or practice.

In terms of view, the two truths of classical Theravāda commentaries which Sujin Boriharnwanaket accepts are not the same as the two truths of Nāgārjuna, et al. The ultimates according to the Theravāda commentaries are considered to be conventional according to mādhyamikas. As such, they are merely conceptual designations.

In terms of practice, both the Prajñāparamitā sūtras and Madhyamaka treatises emphasize the development of meditation as an integral and necessary part of the bodhisattva path. This is explicit in Madhyamaka sources such as the Śikṣāsamuccaya compendium of training compiled by Śāntideva and the three Bhāvanākramas by Kamalaśīla, which are instructions specifically on how to engage in the stages of meditation practice (i.e. bhāvanākrama).

It seems to me that Kosuta hasn't understood the view or practice as presented in the Prajñāparamitā sūtras and Madhyamaka treatises in their own traditional exegetical context.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue May 07, 2013 7:48 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Yes. More specifically, the assertion that discernment is only developed through meditation (bhāvanā) fails to account for the developmental process by which discernment is initially obtained through hearing (sutamayā paññā) and through reflection (cintāmayā paññā). To fully account for the development of discernment through gradual training these other modes of development need to be included and accounted for. 

And integral to this developmental process are the three kinds of valid knowledge. These are listed by Steven Collins in Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities:
Indian philosophy acknowledges three common "means of knowledge" (pramāṇa):

(i) pratyakṣa (Pali paccakkha), perception or experience,
(ii) anumāna, inference or logical proof, and
(iii) śabda (Pali sadda) or śruti (Pali suti), verbal testimony (=scriptural authority; in Buddhism often Buddha-vaccana, the Word of the Buddha, or some equivalent).

In terms of scriptural authority there are many suttas where physical birth, death, and rebirth are explicitly stated. In the SN there are entire saṃyuttas largely devoted to rebirth (e.g. Saṃyutta 15, 29, 30, 31, 32).

In terms of inferential knowledge, there are passages such as the following from SN 42.11 where one is instructed to develop inference regarding both the past and the future following from direct perception:
Headman, by means of this principle that is seen, understood, immediately attained, fathomed, apply the method to the past and to the future thus: 'Whatever suffering arose in the past, all that arose rooted in desire, with desire as its source; for desire is the root of suffering. Whatever suffering will arise in the future, all that will arise rooted in desire, with desire as its source; for desire is the root of suffering.'

And related to this, SN 12.34 gives a comprehensive analysis of paṭiccasamuppāda including analysis of past and future conditions:
Bhikkhus, what are the seventy-seven cases of knowledge?

The knowledge: 'Aging-and-death has birth as its condition.' The knowledge: 'When there is no birth, there is no aging-and-death.' The knowledge: 'In the past too aging-and-death had birth as its condition.' The knowledge: 'In the past too, had there been no birth, there would have been no aging-and-death.' The knowledge: 'In the future too aging-and-death will have birth as its condition.' The knowledge: 'In the future too, should there be no birth, there will be no aging-and-death.' The knowledge: 'That knowledge of the stability of the Dhamma is also subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and cessation.'

The knowledge: 'Birth has existence as its condition.' ... The knowledge: 'Volitional formations have ignorance as their condition.' The knowledge: 'When there is no ignorance, there are no volitional formations.' The knowledge: 'In the past too volitional formations had ignorance as their condition.' The knowledge: 'In the past too, had there been no ignorance, there would have been no volitional formations.' The knowledge: 'In the future too volitional formations will have ignorance as their condition.' The knowledge: 'In the future too, should there be no ignorance, there will be no volitional formations:.'The knowledge: 'That knowledge of the stability of the Dhamma is also subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and cessation.'

Other discourses that include consideration of future results are MN 41, MN 46, MN 135, MN 149, SN 12.33, SN 22.5, SN 22.9, SN 22.10, SN 22.11, AN 4.232, AN 8.33, AN 8.35, AN 8.36, etc.

The use of scriptural authority, inference, and reasoning (yutti) are also recommended for developing discernment pertaining to paṭiccasamuppāda and rebirth in the Visuddhimagga (Ch. 17), the commentary on the Vibhaṅga (Ch. 6) and the sub-commentary on DN 15. And in non-Pāli Buddhist sources there are a number of treatises explaining direct perception and inference.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue May 07, 2013 4:44 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Discussing the Buddha's dhamma isn't speculation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 06, 2013 7:27 pm
Title: Re: Vipassana: formal practice or technique or daily life?
Content:
I think consideration of the implications and consequences of these issues is relevant to the topic.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 06, 2013 6:59 pm
Title: Re: Vipassana: formal practice or technique or daily life?
Content:
So what do you have confidence in?


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 06, 2013 3:04 pm
Title: Re: Vipassana: formal practice or technique or daily life?
Content:
All of these notions, except perhaps the one pertaining to etymology, have precedents in the Nikāyas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon May 06, 2013 2:56 pm
Title: Re: The causes for wisdom
Content:
I don't think Ñāṇavīra was necessarily being malicious, but I don't think that he was being "incisively accurate" either. It seems to me that Ñāṇavīra's view as quoted in the above passage is an extremist position.

Extreme #1: All Pāli commentaries are useless and have no positive value.

Extreme #2: All Pāli commentaries are perfect and essential.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri May 03, 2013 5:45 am
Title: Re: Whose Buddhism is the truest?
Content:
It was discussed in this thread: Mahayana split.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri May 03, 2013 1:54 am
Title: Re: Is there a gnostic element to the goals of Buddhism?
Content:
There is no realization of nibbāna without knowledge/gnosis of nibbāna (nibbāna ñāṇa), which in the suttas is sometimes also called the knowledge/gnosis of elimination/destruction (khayeñāṇa), that is, the knowledge that the outflows, fetters, etc. have been terminated.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed May 01, 2013 1:53 am
Title: Re: Happy Birthday WWW
Content:
Remember the old library card catalog?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 28, 2013 3:30 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
By saying that "the arahant experiences after this life" he is asserting existence.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:32 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
And that is precisely where he is off into conceptual proliferation (papañca) about non-proliferation (nippapañca = nibbāna). By describing something.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 28, 2013 2:53 am
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
To say that Sāriputta realized nibbāna at a certain time and place isn't meaningless at all.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:42 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Not at all. Conventionally speaking, nibbāna is considered an object of mental perception. AN 10.6:
"Bhante, could a bhikkhu obtain such a state of concentration that (1) he would not be percipient of earth in relation to earth; (2) of water in relation to water; (3) of fire in relation to fire; (4) of air in relation to air; (5) of the base of infinity of space in relation to the base of the infinity of space; (6) of the base of infinity of consciousness in relation to the base of the infinity of consciousness; (7) of the base of nothingness in relation to the base of nothingness; (8) of the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception in relation to the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; (9) of this world in relation to this world; (10) of the other world in relation to the other world, but he would still be percipient?" 

"He could, Ānanda."

"But how, Bhante, could he obtain such a state of concentration?"

"Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu is percipient thus: 'This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is, the stilling of all activities, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna.' It is in this way, Ānanda, that a bhikkhu could obtain such a state of concentration...."

This same meditative state is called the perception of cessation (nirodhasaññā) in AN 10.60. There's no need to posit some sort of dimension existing outside time and space to account for viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ or Buddhist liberation. The very assertion of such things is contrary to the answer given in SN 48.42 (and elsewhere):
"But master Gotama, what is it that nibbāna takes recourse in?"

"You have gone beyond the range of questioning, brāhmaṇa. You were unable to grasp the limit of questioning. For, brāhmaṇa, the holy life is lived with nibbāna as its ground, nibbāna as its destination, nibbāna as its final goal."

Any view regarding the postmortem existence or non-existence of an awakened arahant is not conducive to actually attaining the goal. It does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, calmness, direct gnosis, full awakening, nibbāna. It's considered a fetter of view (diṭṭhisaṃyojana).


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:40 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Yes, it's also attainable by non-returners who have developed the formless attainments.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:22 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
The fire metaphor most commonly refers to the three fires of passion, aggression, and delusion. If the Indian Buddhist understanding of fire was really that an extinguished fire goes into a "latent state," then these three fires could re-combust within an arahant's mind as long as there is fuel remaining (i.e. saupādisesa nibbānadhātu: nibbāna element with fuel remaining). Of course, this would render nibbāna quite meaningless.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 27, 2013 2:57 am
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
According to Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Sūtra of the Prophecy Bestowed upon Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, even though these buddhas have extremely long lives, they do eventually enter parinirvāṇa:
Good man, although Amitābha Buddha’s lifespan will last innumerable hundreds, thousands, and koṭis of kalpas, it will finally come to an end. Good man, after incalculable distant kalpas to come, Amitābha Buddha will enter parinirvāṇa.

According to commentators such as Bhāviveka, buddhas display parinirvāṇa so that beings will become disgusted with saṃsāra and decide to take up the noble eightfold path. Related to this is the story, common to all schools, that Śākyamuni Buddha could have extended his life, but Ānanda failed to make the request in time.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:57 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
I would suggest that the notion of consciousness existing outside the realm of time is itself meaningless. Consciousness is designated according to the particular condition dependent upon which it arises. If there are no such conditions, there is no basis for designating the existence of any consciousness whatsoever. MN 38 Mahātaṇhāsankhaya Sutta:
Bhikkhus, consciousness is reckoned by the particular condition dependent upon which it arises. When consciousness arises dependent on the eye and forms, it is reckoned as eye-consciousness; when consciousness arises dependent on the ear and sounds, it is reckoned as ear-consciousness; when consciousness arises dependent on the nose and odors, it is reckoned as nose-consciousness; when consciousness arises dependent on tongue and flavors, it is reckoned as tongue-consciousness; when consciousness arises dependent on body and tangibles, it is reckoned as body consciousness; when consciousness arises dependent on the mind and mind-objects, it is reckoned as mind-consciousness.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:42 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
I haven't equated the two. According to Theravāda commentary, they are different attainments. A non-percipient attainment can be entered from a jhāna, the cessation of perception &amp; feeling can be entered from the fourth formless attainment.

At any rate, there are a number of suttas which give a complete explanation of the path and awakening without ever mentioning the formless attainments or the attainment of the cessation of perception &amp; feeling. Moreover, even when the nine meditative attainments are given, such as the the sequence from AN 9.47 to AN 9.51, the cessation of perception &amp; feeling isn't equated with nibbāna. The relevant phrase in this case being "and having seen with wisdom, his taints are utterly destroyed." This seeing with wisdom and elimination of āsavas occurs after one has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception &amp; feeling.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:27 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
I mention it because non-percipient attainments don't terminate fetters. Therefore, there's no reason to equate a non-percipient attainment or the attainment of cessation of perception and feeling with nibbāna.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:16 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
According to the Theravāda commentators, it's possible for even commoners to enter into a non-percipient attainment (asaññasamāpatti) from the fourth jhāna, but such an attainment is not sammāsamādhi.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:04 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
The sequential progression of meditative attainments is implicit in the suttas, and explicit in Theravāda exegesis.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:46 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Not all arahants are liberated both ways. Arahants liberated through discernment do not attain the formless attainments, and therefore do not attain the cessation of perception and feeling. Nevertheless, they have realized nibbāna and are fully liberated.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:44 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Emptiness doesn't mean anything goes. Functional things still function according to causes and conditions. Therefore, there is no negation of causal efficacy in terms of correct conventions. This is why it's possible to differentiate between correct conventions (tathyasaṃvṛti) based on appearances apprehended by clear sense faculties, on the one hand, and false conventions (mithyāsaṃvṛti) which occur due to impaired sense faculties or false philosophical speculation, on the other. Examples of the latter would include an experience of double vision due to impaired faculties, or positing an omnipotent creator god due to upholding a wrong view.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:15 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Nibbāna is not the same as the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling. The four paths and fruitions are always conscious and percipient attainments.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:34 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Bhāviveka's Tarkajvālā:
To say that there is "pervasion by [the essence of] the Tathāgata" means that [the Tathāgata's] knowledge encompasses all objects of cognition, not that he is omnipresent like Viṣṇu.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:53 am
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
No, it isn't. Which is what I've said throughout.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:44 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
Often the source of eternalist views entering into discussions of the Buddhadhamma in contemporary discourse is some sort of contact with notions of a perennial philosophy. As for Buddhist traditions, the Indian commentarial sources generally maintain that all consciousnesses are impermanent and there is no such thing as an eternal, universal consciousness. As for the different Buddhist commentarial traditions take on nibbāna, see here.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:25 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
This thread was split off from another discussion and titled by a moderator.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:36 am
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
I've read a bit about Stapp's ideas, but I haven't read his books.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:18 am
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
So you're a skeptic. Skepticism and demands for empirically demonstrable proof will leave a lot of questions unresolved. Skepticism doesn't establish anything.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:27 pm
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
Is there an "empirically demonstrable explanation" for the existence of consciousness that can withstand rigorous questioning? If there were, the "hard problem" would have already been solved.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:29 pm
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
The Mahāyāna sūtras were composed over multiple centuries by different groups of people, sometimes with different preoccupations. Thus, they include all sorts of things. One point about the Lotus Sūtra: Although it attained widespread popularity and status in China, Korea, and Japan, there's no evidence that it enjoyed such popularity in India. Jan Nattier has described it as "a very atypical text" even among Mahāyāna sūtras. In this article she tells the story of a Tibetan geshe enrolled in one of her classes who was so shocked by some of the passages in the sūtra he had to go look up the Tibetan text to make sure the translation wasn't way off.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:23 pm
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
Your faith in materialism may be steadfast, nevertheless there are numerous modern philosophical arguments against materialism. There are also well educated physicists, cognitive scientists, psychologists, etc., who don't subscribe to materialism or physicalism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:21 pm
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
He also accepts causal closure of the physical.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:12 pm
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
I think "Theravāda practice" covers a broader range of practices than what's covered in that book. Examples from ancient times would include chanting DN 20. From Ven. Ṭhānissaro's Introduction to this sutta:
This discourse is an interesting example of the folklore of the Pali canon. It shows that the tendency of Asian popular Buddhism to regard the Buddha as a protective figure, and not just as a teacher, has its roots in the earliest part of the tradition....

The Commentary reports the belief that the devas enjoy hearing this discourse chanted in Pali. Until recently it was part of many monks' standard memorized repertoire, to be chanted at weddings and the dedication of new buildings. Even today, as many of the traditions of memorization in Asia seem to be falling by the wayside, there are a few monks and laypeople who chant this discourse regularly.

Somewhat more modern examples would include The Victor's Cage and The Divine Mantra. There are numerous other examples. As as Lance Cousins states in his paper Aspects of Esoteric Southern Buddhism:
There is a surprisingly widespread notion that Theravāda Buddhism is, at least doctrinally, a rather uniform, if not monolithic, type of Buddhism. This is certainly a mistaken impression.

And not only doctrinally, but in terms of practice as well. In The Treasures of the Theravāda: Recovering the Riches of Our Tradition, Gil Fronsdal adds:
When it comes to meditation practices, Theravada Buddhism has a much more rich and varied repertoire than is obvious from what is offered at Western or even Southeast Asian vipassana centers. While not as elaborate as some Tibetan visualization practices, there are a wide variety of Theravada meditations involving mental imaging of buddhas; bodhisattvas, arhats, celestial realms, corpses, and the primary colors and elements....

Recently, many diverse Theravada practices were brought to Spirit Rock through the visit of Achaan Jumnien, a sixty-year-old monk from the jungles of Southern Thailand. In the course of nine days he taught thirty different practices. These included chakra practices (opening of the wisdom-eye and the heart center), skeleton practices (on the nature of the body), and meditations with the elements of earth, air, fire, water and space. He trained people to understand emptiness by resting in what he called the “Original Mind” or the “Natural State” and he offered practices unifying participants’ consciousnesses with his own. He also performed many kinds of blessings, described exorcisms, taught chants, and offered protection rituals, visualizations and vows (including bodhisattva vows, practice vows and refuge vows).


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:25 pm
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
Define what you mean by "Theravadin practice."


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:51 am
Title: Re: Discovering Buddhavamsa
Content:
A couple of questions: (1) How do you know that all of the contents of the first four Nikāya's are earlier than all of the contents of the Khuddakanikāya? (2) If you consider the first four Nikāya's to be the word of the Buddha, do you accept everything stated in these suttas?


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:56 am
Title: Re: Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist
Content:
This seems to me to be a pretty inaccurate dichotomy that you're attempting to establish here. The traditional Theravāda worldview and cosmology has much in common with the traditional Mahāyāna worldview(s), and in TIbetan traditions at least, the Sarvāstivāda cosmology is widely taught in Tibetan monastic colleges, which is every bit as "orthodox" as Theravāda cosmology. I'd also question your characterization that one tradition is more rational and the others less rational. Mahāyāna traditions have well developed systems of logic and epistemology, etc. As for compatibility with science, HH the Dalai Lama and senior Tibetan and Western students have initiated and engaged in Mind &amp; Life Conferences with cognitive scientists, psychologists, physicists, and philosophers for the past three decades.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2013 6:35 pm
Title: Re: Discovering Buddhavamsa
Content:
No, he won't come again. The next buddha will be Metteyya.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:47 pm
Title: Re: Maine hermit discovered after 27 years
Content:
Christopher Knight, Maine Hermit, Attracts Wedding Proposal:
Knight has drawn international interest since his arrest, with an offer of marriage, an offer of bail and a ballad written in his honor. Attorneys in and outside Maine have expressed an interest in representing him, and one person wanted to provide him housing, officials said.

There's even a book deal in the works.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:34 pm
Title: Re: In simple Terms
Content:
What's a quasi-mādhyamika?... Whatever it is, for a mādhyamika it would ultimately be niḥsvabhāvatā.

Mādhyamikas don't limit their criticism just to the Sarvāstivāda theory of tri-temporal existence. They're also critical of Sautrāntika and Yogācāra tenets (and those of the non-Buddhist Indian philosophical traditions as well).


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:05 pm
Title: Re: Buddhism, Hinduism and the caste system
Content:
This should begin to address your questions: Buddhism and the Race Question by G. P. Malalasekera &amp; H. N. Jayatilleke.

In recent times there is also the life of B. R. Ambedkar who became a Buddhist and was responsible for thousands of his fellow Mahar Dalits going for refuge as well.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:43 pm
Title: Re: Vipassanā: What Is Dissolution, Really?
Content:
It's for each of us to discern if what we are directly perceiving or inferring on the basis of direct perception is valid or invalid, useful or not. If one thinks the idea of momentariness is a valid representation of their own experiential cognitive processes, and this aids in the development of disenchantment and dispassion, then it's useful.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:52 am
Title: Re: Mahayanists and the historical record
Content:
Historically, there have been numerous times and places where these questions have arisen. Each Buddhist author and group was situated in, and influenced by the various conditions of their time and place, just as we are. And investigating how they related to questions of authenticity, authority, and "the Word of the Buddha" adds to and informs contemporary dialogue -- even as we acknowledge that we are embedded in our own unique social and cultural situation, just as the Indian Mahāyāna apologists were embedded in their own unique social, cultural, and historical situations.

There have also been papers published that attempt to address assumptions about these issues pertaining to the Theravāda and other Śrāvaka traditions. For example:

How Theravāda is Theravāda? Exploring Buddhist Identities edited by Peter Skilling, Jason A. Carbine, Claudio Cicuzza, and Santi Pakdeekham.

On the Very Idea of the Pali Canon by Steven Collins.

Scriptural Authenticity and the Śrāvaka Schools: An Essay towards an Indian Perspective by Peter Skilling.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:29 am
Title: Re: Baroness Margaret Hilda Thatcher
Content:
It seems to me that the current crop of American conservative teabaggers are far to the right of Thatcher on a whole number of issues (e.g. taxes, health care, social security, etc.).


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:55 pm
Title: Re: Mahayanists and the historical record
Content:
Also:

An Introduction to the Standards of Scriptural Authenticity in Indian Buddhism by Ronald M. Davidson.

Authority and Orality in the Mahāyāna by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. 

Historical Consciousness as an Offering to the Trans-historical Buddha by John J. Makransky.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:25 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
I don't think he's dumb either. I think he has quite intentionally realigned the criteria for arahantship to conform with his own claim of being an arahant. IMO this is ill-conceived, but that doesn't mean he's dumb.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:46 pm
Title: Re: Mahayanists and the historical record
Content:
According to the Mahāyāna Adhyāśayasaṃcodana Sūtra as quoted by Śāntideva in his Compendium of Training (Śikṣāsamuccaya), four principles indicate that an utterance (or statement, teaching, etc.) is compatible with the speech of the Buddha:

(i) it is connected with truth, not with what is untrue;
(ii) it is connected with dharma, not with what is not dharma;
(iii) it leads to giving up defilement, not to increasing defilement;
(iv) it points out the praiseworthy qualities of nirvāṇa, not those of saṃsāra.

It's important to understand that the Mahāyāna is not a single school or tradition, and that Mahāyāna ideas likely developed over a considerable period of time. Historically, going back to the texts of Indian authors we can surmise that the Mahāyāna movements were not universally accepted by all Buddhists, even as late as the 6th - 8th centuries CE. Mahāyāna authors during this time period still felt compelled to engage in Mahāyāna apologetics in order to defend the Mahāyāna teachings. One of the most thorough defenses of the Mahāyāna is found in the fourth chapter of Bhāviveka's Tarkajvālā (6th century CE). He states Śrāvaka objections to the Mahāyāna and offers various replies giving reasons in defence of the Mahāyāna. It's an informative read for anyone interested in this aspect of Buddhist history.

Of course, long before Bhāviveka there are defences of the Mahāyāna in numerous Mahāyāna texts -- some of which include impassioned, defensive posturing and rather indignant name-calling. It's been suggested that this defensive rhetoric is a characteristic of small, embattled groups existing on the margins of more established, mainstream groups. For more see Rhetoric of a Marginalized Yāna.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:07 pm
Title: Re: Mahayanists and the historical record
Content:
The Theravāda commentators acknowledge that there are different vehicles for different levels of awakening. The path of a bodhisatta includes the development of the perfections over a very long period of time. This is explained in A Treatise on the Pāramīs by the Theravāda commentator Ācariya Dhammapāla:
We now undertake a detailed explanation of the pāramīs for clansmen following the suttas who are zealously engaged in the practice of the vehicle to great enlightenment (mahābodhiyāna), in order to improve their skilfulness in accumulating the requisites for enlightenment....

In detail, to those whose minds are disposed towards the enlightenment of disciples, he gives a discourse establishing and purifying them (in progress towards their goal) by elaborating upon the noble qualities of whichever among the following topics is appropriate.... So too, for beings whose minds are disposed towards the enlightenment of paccekabuddhas and of perfectly enlightened Buddhas, he gives a discourse establishing and purifying them in the two vehicles (leading to these two types of enlightenment) by elaborating upon the greatness of the spiritual power of those Buddhas, and by explaining the specific nature, characteristic, function, etc., of the ten pāramīs in their three stages.

And Dhammapāla adds:
Since it [i.e. the great aspiration to realize mahābodhi] has as its object the inconceivable plane of the Buddhas and the welfare of the whole immeasurable world of beings, it should be seen as the loftiest, most sublime and exalted distinction of merit, endowed with immeasurable potency, the root-cause of all the qualities issuing in Buddhahood. Simultaneous with its arising, the Great Man enters upon the practice of the vehicle to great enlightenment (mahābodhiyānapaṭipatti). He becomes fixed in his destiny, irreversible, and therefore properly gains the designation “bodhisattva.” His mind becomes fully devoted to the supreme enlightenment in its completeness, and his capacity to fulfill the training in the requisites of enlightenment becomes established. For when their aspiration succeeds, the Great Men correctly investigate all the pāramīs with their self-evolved knowledge which prefigures their future attainment of omniscience. Then they undertake their practice, and fulfill them in due order, as was done by the wise Sumedha when he made his great aspiration.

The development of the perfections and the bodhisatta's aspiration are explained in A Manual of the Excellent Man by Ven. Ledi Sayādaw:
I shall now outline the ten ordinary perfections, the ten higher perfections, and the ten supreme perfections....

One who can fulfil only the first ten attains the enlightenment of a Noble Disciple. One who can fulfil only the first ten and the second ten attains the enlightenment of a Solitary Buddha. One who can fulfil all thirty attains Supreme Self-Enlightenment...

What is meant by “the Noblest Aspiration”? It is the verbal and mental undertaking that the bodhisatta had made at some point of time aeons before taking up the perfections. It was made in these terms: 

“As a man who knows his own strength, what use is there to get to ‘the yonder shore’ (nibbāna) alone? I will attain to Supreme Knowledge and then convey men and devas to the yonder shore.”

That was the pledge that sent the ten thousand universes reeling and echoing in applause. That was the bodhisatta’s earnest wish. For he intensely aspired to Supreme Self-Enlightenment thus:

“Knowing the Truth, I will let others know it. Freeing myself from the world, I will free others. Having crossed over, I will enable others to cross.”

This fervent and most daring aspiration is called “the Noblest Aspiration.”


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:26 am
Title: Re: Anatta = not Atman or No-Self
Content:
Those who believe this hold an annihilationist view.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:25 am
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
Ven. Bodhi's endnote in MLDB is relevant here:
Since the arahant has eradicated all the defilements along with their underlying tendencies, in this passage the three terms -- the agreeable, etc. -- must be understood simply as the feelings that arise through contact with sense objects, and not as the subtle traces of liking, aversion, and indifference relevant to the preceding passage.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:38 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
I think Ingram's notion of an "arahant" is not an arahant at all. There's no actual liberation there -- just more wandering on through saṃsāra. Of course, there are plenty of misguided gurus in this world who claim to be enlightened, and no shortage of people who will follow them.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 06, 2013 6:16 am
Title: Re: The Problem With Pali
Content:
There's the statement from Cv 5.33 (Vin ii, 139):
I allow you, monks, to learn the speech of the Awakened One according to his own dialect.

This subject has been somewhat controversial. For elaboration see Ven. Ñāṇananda's Concept &amp; Reality in Early Buddhist Thought, pp. 45-47. But more generally, the discourses are composed of conventional expressions and designations, and there's no reason why they can't adequately be translated into any modern language, dependent, of course, on the skill of the translator (and the capacity of the reader). A good translation of a given passage is generally no more vague than the Pāli passage, and the translation is sometimes made more specific than the Pāli due, in part, to the translator's interpretation.

SN 1.25:
Though the wise one has transcended the conceived,
He still might say, 'I speak,'
He might say too, 'They speak to me.'
Skilful, knowing the world's parlance,
He uses such terms as mere expressions.

DN 9:
Thus, Citta, there are these worldly expressions, worldly terms, worldly conventions, worldly concepts, which the Tathāgata uses without grasping them.

Compare with your man Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, § 120:
When I talk about language (words, sentences, etc.) I must speak the language of every day. Is this language somehow too coarse and material for what we want to say? Then how is another one to be constructed?—And how strange that we should be able to do anything at all with the one we have!


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 06, 2013 4:09 am
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
Just considering Ingram's eighth point:
Here are a number of bogus myths and falsehoods about arahats, each of which violates one of more of the First Principles in addition to simply being untrue:

8. Arahats cannot feel the following emotions: lust, hatred, irritation, restlessness, worry, fear, pride, conceit, desire for the formless realms, desire for the formed realms, or any other "bad" emotion.

This is a dismissal of the very criteria that establish the arahant path and fruition. SN 38.2:
"Friend Sāriputta, it is said, 'arahantship, arahantship.' What now is arahantship?"

"The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion: this, friend, is called arahantship."

Or again, in terms of the ten fetters the arahant path and fruition terminates the fetters of passion for form existence, passion for formless existence, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance (the first five fetters having already been eliminated on the lower paths). If such emotions could still arise after the arahant fruition, the underlying tendencies would still have to be intact. And if the underlying tendencies are still intact, one is still fettered and not fully liberated.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Apr 06, 2013 3:23 am
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
In addition, as far as I know, Dipa Ma never claimed to be an arahant nor did she claim that an arahant can experience lust, hatred, irritation, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 05, 2013 8:42 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
I think it is. Dislike, disenchantment, and revulsion don't require anger or any other unskillful mental qualities. The path does involve renouncing mental qualities and actions that are harmful and unskillful, but I'd suggest that your phrase "push away or reject something" might be phrased in a more nuanced way as "relax one's grip on something" in order to learn how to let it go.

I also think it's reasonable to differentiate between (i) the learner who is still developing the noble path and (ii) the non-learner who has completed the path and attained fruition. The non-learner likely no longer needs to develop disenchantment and revulsion in order to induce dispassion, whereas the learner does.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Apr 05, 2013 6:11 am
Title: Re: The Problem With Pali
Content:
Without learning the foundational principles of the teachings and the path structure of how to apply the teachings, examining direct experience can lead in any number of directions which may be quite fruitless.

Fortunately, the Buddha's teachings aren't all that hard to learn and understand conceptually. They aren't esoteric and are not embedded in a highly specialized technical or philosophical language. The main potential difficulties are: (i) the teachings are somewhat unsystematically spread across four large Nikāyas (and the oldest parts of the fifth Nikāya); and (ii) some people are unwilling to accept certain parts of the teachings and seek to impose their own novel interpretations.

But now that we have full translations of almost the entire Tipiṭaka and a number of large post-canonical treatises, there's no pressing need to understand Pāli in order to learn the foundational principles and the path structure of how to apply the teachings. And in addition to this, we also have access to a fairly large number of modern studies, commentaries, dhamma talks, etc., primarily in English or English translation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:59 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any recommendations for developing anger or aggression as a practice or as part of the path in the Nikāyas. Anger is regarded as unskillful, and unskillful mental qualities don't lead to liberation. For example, the well known verse from Dhammapada 1.5:
Hatred never ends through hatred.
By non-hate alone does it end.
This is an ancient truth.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:53 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
If you're referring to SN 51.15, it's hardly a paradox. Rather, it's a matter of differentiating between what is skillful and what is unskillful. Chanda (desire) in the context of developing the noble path is skillful.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:53 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
There are a number of Buddhist practices which include developing revulsion toward things that induce craving and clinging. E.g. the list of perceptions described in AN 7.46 (AN 7.49 in NDB). If developing dislike and revulsion in this way required developing anger, then these practices would be unskillful and never result in liberation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:06 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
I don't share your belief.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:08 pm
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
Does disliking or denouncing wrong behavior require the presence of anger?


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:47 am
Title: Re: global warming
Content:
Skepticism doesn't establish anything.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:48 am
Title: Re: A Critique of the Hardcore Dharma Movement.
Content:
Do you not think it's possible to rebuke, reprove, reprimand, censure, criticize, or admonish someone without being angry?


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:15 am
Title: Re: Emptiness and tge Abbhidhamma
Content:
What I said above requires differentiating between (1) the contents of the Pāli Abhidhammapiṭaka, and (2) the Pāli commentarial (Aṭṭhakathā) and sub-commentarial (Tīkā), etc., interpretations of the Abhidhammapiṭaka and the Suttapiṭaka. The vast majority of available resources and studies on the Abhidhamma don't make this differentiation. Therefore, to do so you would need to read the Abhidhammapiṭaka texts themselves and form your own conclusions.

The Abhidhammapiṭaka texts don't explicitly make statements that entail metaphysical realism. The Abhidhammapiṭaka doesn't even refer to conditioned phenomena as paramattha dhammā or paramattha sabhāva. The former does occur once in the Kathāvatthu but it's hardly a ringing endorsement for how this notion of paramattha dhamma later came to be applied and interpreted.

However, the Pāli commentaries and other post-canonical treatises are closer to Vaibhāṣika tenets in many respects than even to Sautrāntika tenets (e.g. in the Visuddhimagga Buddhaghosa explicitly argues against nibbāna being just a designation). Therefore, one would be rather hard-pressed if attempting to reconcile this strata of post-canonical commentary with Madhyamaka.

As for English language translations, most of the seven Abhidhammapiṭaka texts have been translated and published by the Pali Text Society. I would recommend reading U Thiṭṭila's translation of the Vibhaṅga first, followed by U Kyaw Khine's translation of the Dhammasaṅganī (not published by PTS). These books are expensive, but if you have access to a library with an inter-library loan service you should be able to acquire copies that way.

The Book of Analysis, translated by Ven. U Thiṭṭila.

The Dhammasaṅganī: Enumeration of the Ultimate Realities, translated by U Kyaw Khine (Volume 2).

To begin to get some idea of what the Pāli Abhidhammapiṭaka is like, here is the Satipaṭṭhānavibhaṅga from the Vibhaṅga, translated by Ven. Ānandajoti.

If you can read Pāli, the entire Tipiṭaka in Roman script is available online here: http://www.tipitaka.org/romn/. Other scripts here: http://tipitaka.org/.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:34 pm
Title: Re: Emptiness and tge Abbhidhamma
Content:
The Pāli Abhidhammapiṭaka is compatible with the Madhyamaka view of the ultimate. Of course, one needs to have a basic comprehension of Madhyamaka in order to understand this.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Mar 23, 2013 2:16 pm
Title: Re: Here's an interesting one for you...
Content:
Crowley considered Buddhism to be part of what he called the "Black tradition." And in contrasting it to his preferred "White tradition," it seems that he considered Buddhism to be an insufficient or deficient path of liberation.

With his preferred "White tradition" requiring the initiate to transform the Buddha's first noble truth into "everything is joy," it seems clear that Crowley never accepted the four noble truths of the Buddhadhamma. 

Even if Crowley did attain some sort of temporary cessation state, because he never actually engaged the noble eightfold path, any such attainment would at best be merely a non-percipient attainment (asaññasamāpatti) which could lead to rebirth as a mindless god.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:56 am
Title: Re: V-bulletin
Content:
My goodness -- there's a forum for skyscraper enthusiasts!... And it has 3096 current active users online!...


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:15 pm
Title: Search function?
Content:
It seems that the search function isn't what it used to be before the last few rounds of site maintenance. One used to be able to search within an individual thread or search within an individual member's posts. Now, it seems that every search includes all results from all threads. Can this be fixed?


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:40 am
Title: Re: Teachers teaching Jhana as whole-body awareness?
Content:
Also, Ven. Ñāṇananda, Nibbāna Sermon 01:
Even though he is able to recognize objects by their conventional names, for the purpose of comprehending name-and-form, a meditator makes use of those factors that are included under 'name': feeling, perception, intention, contact and attention. All these have a specific value to each individual and that is why the Dhamma has to be understood each one by himself -- paccattaṃ veditabbo. This Dhamma has to be realized by oneself. One has to understand one's own world of name-and-form by oneself. No one else can do it for him. Nor can it be defined or denoted by technical terms. [Emphasis added.]


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:08 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
No, it doesn't.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:07 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
Indeed. These issues of rebirth, kamma, and merit (puñña) are also connected to the relevance and sustainability of the Buddhadhamma in general, and the monastic saṅgha in particular. For example, if one were to reject the teachings on these issues, then what is the point of retaining and transmitting the Pāli Tipiṭaka? What is the purpose for entering the monastic path of renunciation and transmitting the pāṭimokkha? And what are the ethical motivations of the laity to provide for the material needs of monastic renunciates?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:48 am
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
As we have no direct access to what the Buddha actually taught during his lifetime, there is no way of substantiating appeals to "original Buddhism." Aside from that, it seems that there are a couple of related questions here. 

First, what is the function of meditation in the Buddhist path of liberation according to the extant sources that claim to be the teachings of the Buddha (and that are generally agreed upon by the ancient Buddhist traditions and modern scholars to be the earliest records)?

And second, what is the place and function of the teachings on rebirth in relation to the Buddhist path of liberation?

In order to develop an intellectual understanding of the role of meditation in the Buddhist path of awakening, I would recommend the following:

1. On the Practice of Buddhist Meditation According to the Pāli Nikāyas and Exegetical Sources by Rupert Gethin.
2. The Four Satipaṭṭhānas in Early Buddhism by Tse-fu Kuan.*
3. Wings to Awakening: An Anthology from the Pāli Canon by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
4. The Buddhist Path to Awakening by Rupert Gethin.

For sources on the role of the teachings on rebirth, there is the following:

1. Dhamma Without Rebirth? by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
2. Does Rebirth Make Sense? by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
3. The Truth of Rebirth: And Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
4. Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist by B. Alan Wallace.




* Toward the end of this paper there are a couple of dubious statements about saññā &amp; saṅkhāra which were abandoned by the author himself in later publications. Otherwise, it is a decent survey of the suttas on the subject of the satipaṭṭhānas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 08, 2013 7:01 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
Rebirth is never questioned in the commentarial glosses of dhammasamādhi.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:11 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
In SN 42.13 rebirth is still to be included as a part of the disciple's contemplation:
He reflects thus, '... since I am restrained in body, speech, and mind, and since, with the breakup of the body, after death, I shall be reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world.' [As he reflects thus] gladness is born. When one is gladdened, rapture is born. When the mind is elated by rapture the body becomes tranquil. One tranquil in body experiences happiness. The mind of one who is happy becomes concentrated.

If one were to take SN 42.13 as a guide for practice, then this would include frequently reflecting on rebirth as a part of one's dhammasamādhi.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:40 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
It's explicitly asserted.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:38 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
The most common terms are upapatti (rebirth) and punabbhava (renewed existence).


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:28 pm
Title: Re: REAL Meditation: The Originalist Thesis
Content:
No, it's explicitly stated in the suttas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:12 am
Title: Re: MN 39 similes
Content:
According to the commentary AN 9.37 is referring to the arahant fruition samādhi (arahattaphalasamādhi) and AN 10.6 is referring to the post-awakening fruition attainment samādhi (phalasamāpattisamādhi). But even if one were to relegate the AN 9.37 samādhi to the arahant path instead of the fruition, the arahant path attainment and fruition attainment are both supramundane jhānas which take cessation as object.

Related to this, the Nettippakaraṇa classifies the "not reigned in and checked by forcefully suppressing" samādhi as vipassanā:
Herein, any samādhi that is presently pleasant and any samādhi that has a future pleasant result are samatha. And any samādhi that is noble and non-carnal, and any samādhi that is not practiced by lowly persons, and any samādhi that is peaceful and sublime, gained by full tranquilization, attained to unification, and not reigned in and checked by forcefully suppressing [the defilements], and any [samādhi of which one is aware] 'I enter this samādhi mindfully and I emerge from it mindfully', are vipassanā.

Be that as it may, this group of suttas does help to illustrate the different perceptual operations that occur with different modes of practice. A jhāna which examines an object-support (ārammaṇūpanijjhāna), a jhāna which examines characteristics (lakkhaṇūpanijjhāna), and a supramundane jhāna (lokuttarajjhāna) each engage in a different perceptual operation.

In sutta terms, a jhāna which examines an object-support includes, for example, the actual refined perception of joy and pleasure born of seclusion (vivekajapītisukhasukhumasaccasaññā). A jhāna which examines characteristics (lakkhaṇūpanijjhāna) includes, for example, the perception of impermanence (aniccasaññā). And a supramundane jhāna includes the perception of cessation (nirodhasaññā).

If I were to analyze the pericope you brought up, I would differentiate the segment, "it is not reigned in and checked by forcefully suppressing [the defilements]" (AN 3.101) as indicating either a jhāna which examines an object-support or a jhāna which examines characteristics; that segment with the addition of the segment, "by being liberated, it is steady; by being steady, it is content; by being content, one is not agitated" (AN 9.37) as indicating the arahant supramundane path attainment; and the segment, "being unagitated, he personally attains nibbāna. He understands: 'Destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being'" (SN 22.53) as indicating the arahant supramundane fruition attainment. This last segment could even be further subdivided and differentiated.

However, this type of textual analysis is speculative and too closely allied with conceptual realism and other cognitive ills to be of much value.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:22 pm
Title: Re: MN 39 similes
Content:
These five AN suttas and the relevant part of AN 9.37 and all of the sutta passages related to the, "Being unagitated, he personally attains nibbāna. He understands: 'Destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being,'" pericope, are formalized attempts to articulate what it's like to completely and fully let go and be utterly done with everything in the world. However, formalized statements are merely formalized statements. The actual experience of being utterly done with everything is for each person to realize for him or herself.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:39 pm
Title: Re: MN 39 similes
Content:
The commentary accounts for the other interpretation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:56 am
Title: Re: MN 39 similes
Content:
Are you suggesting that MN 140 and these other suttas that use the pericope: "Unagitated, he is totally unbound right within. He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world,'" require the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling for realization to occur?


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:24 am
Title: Re: MN 39 similes
Content:
Compare the underlined portion of AN 9.37:
Sister, the concentration that does not lean forward and does not bend back, and that is not reigned in and checked by forcefully suppressing [the defilements] -- by being liberated, it is steady; by being steady, it is content; by being content, one is not agitated. The Blessed One said this concentration has final knowledge as its fruit.

With the underlined portion from SN 22.53, 54, &amp; 55:
When that consciousness is unestablished, not coming to growth, nongenerative, it is liberated. By being liberated, it is steady; by being steady, it is content; by being content, he is not agitated. Being unagitated, he personally attains nibbāna. He understands: 'Destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.'

It seems that we are dealing with a very specific, liberational samādhi in both cases. Specifically with regard to the content of AN 9.37, the likely samādhi is explained in AN 10.6:
"Bhante, could a bhikkhu obtain such a state of concentration that (1) he would not be percipient of earth in relation to earth; (2) of water in relation to water; (3) of fire in relation to fire; (4) of air in relation to air; (5) of the base of infinity of space in relation to the base of the infinity of space; (6) of the base of infinity of consciousness in relation to the base of the infinity of consciousness; (7) of the base of nothingness in relation to the base of nothingness; (8) of the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception in relation to the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; (9) of this world in relation to this world; (10) of the other world in relation to the other world, but he would still be percipient?" 

"He could, Ānanda."

"But how, Bhante, could he obtain such a state of concentration?"

"Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu is percipient thus: 'This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is, the stilling of all activities, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna.' It is in this way, Ānanda, that a bhikkhu could obtain such a state of concentration...."

This samādhi is probably equivalent to the perception of "bhavanirodho nibbāna" described in the next sutta, AN 10.7, and the perception of cessation (nirodhasaññā) described in AN 10.60, and in this way is related to the aññāphala samādhi of AN 9.37.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:58 am
Title: Re: MN 39 similes
Content:
As you suggest, the same passages occur in DN 2. A relevant section:
He drenches, steeps, fills, and permeates this very body with the joy and pleasure born of seclusion so that there is no part of his whole body that is not permeated by joy and pleasure born of seclusion.

The commentary explains these phrases as follows:
“This very body:” this body born of action [i.e. born of kamma]. “He drenches:” he moistens, he extends joy and pleasure everywhere. “Steeps:” to flow all over. “Fills:” like filling a bellows with air. “Permeates:” to touch all over.

“His whole body:” in this monk’s body, with all its parts, in the place where acquired [material] continuity occurs there is not even the smallest part consisting of skin, flesh, and blood that is not permeated with the pleasure of the first jhāna.

This accords well with the Vimuttimagga:
Just as the bath-powder when inside and outside saturated with moisture, adheres and does not scatter, so the body of the meditator in the first jhāna is permeated with joy and pleasure from top to bottom, from the skullcap to the feet and from the feet to the skullcap, skin and hair, inside and outside. And he dwells without falling back. Thus he dwells like a Brahma god.

[Q.] Joy (pīti) and pleasure (sukha) are said to be formless phenomena (arūpa-dhamma). How then can they stay permeating the body?

[A.] Name (nāma) depends on form (rūpa). Form depends on name. Therefore, if name has joy, form also has joy. If name has pleasure, form also has pleasure.

Again, form born from joy causes tranquility of body, and when the entire body is tranquilized there is pleasure due to the tranquility of form. Therefore there is no contradiction.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:34 am
Title: Re: buddha nature...
Content:
The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra:
O Mahāmati, with a view to casting aside the heterodox theory, you must treat the tathāgatagarbha as not self.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:22 am
Title: Re: Is Critical Thinking Active Vipassana?
Content:
Ven. Ñāṇananda's Concept &amp; Reality in Early Buddhist Thought offers one of the most thorough studies of papañca so far undertaken. One would be hard pressed to find a positive use of papañca in the suttas. AN 8.30:
This Dhamma is for one who delights in non-proliferation (nippapañca), who takes delight in non-proliferation, not for one who delights in proliferation (papañca), who takes delight in proliferation.

SN 43.12 gives the absence of papañca (nippapañca) as the goal of the noble path, an epithet defined as equivalent to nibbāna:
And what, monks, is the unproliferated (nippapañca)? The elimination of passion, the elimination of aggression, the elimination of delusion: this is called the unproliferated.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:12 pm
Title: Re: differences in defining nibbana between schools
Content:
Given the definition given in SN 38.1, SN 43.1-44, and Abhidhamma Vibhaṅga 184, I would say that it's a designation (paññatti, prajñapti) referring to the elimination of passion, aggression, and delusion. Or with regard to the four paths (stream-entry, etc.), a designation referring to the elimination of fetters terminated by each path. This is similar to the Sautrāntika interpretation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:12 am
Title: Re: early school who rejected abhidhamma entirely?
Content:
The Sarvāstivādins acknowledged that their canoncial Abhidharma texts were composed by disciples but still generally considered them to be the word of the Buddha (buddhavacana). Saṃghabhadra's Abhidharmanyāyānusāra:
As the abhidharma [texts] were compiled by the great disciples on the basis of the Buddha's teaching, they are approved by the Buddha; they are also buddha-vacana. As they are in accord with the knowledge which knows fully the causes and effects of defilement and purification, they are like the sūtra-s. If what has been approved by the Buddha is not called buddha-vacana, then innumerable sūtra-s would have to be abandoned!

That is, all of the suttas spoken by Sāriputta, etc., would also have to be dismissed if one is going to dismiss everything that wasn't spoken directly by the Buddha.

It was the Dārṣṭāntika and Sautrāntika authors who didn't accept the Abhidharma as the word of the Buddha, although they often still used similar abhidharma concepts and categories. It seems that the earliest extant text that refers to Sautrāntika ideas and interpretations by name is Vasubandhu's auto-commentary on his Abhidharmakośa called the Abhidharmakośabhāsya. However, these Sautrāntika ideas likely predate Vasubandhu's auto-commentary.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:03 am
Title: Re: differences in defining nibbana between schools
Content:
For the Theravāda, nibbāna is an ultimately real dhamma (paramatthadhamma) and the only dhamma that is not conditioned (asaṅkhata). It is an object of supramundane cognition (lokuttaracitta) and is included in the mental phenomena sensory sphere (dhammāyatana) and the mental phenomena component (dhammadhātu). The four paths, four fruits, and nibbāna are classified as the unincluded level (apariyāpanna bhūmi), that is, not included in the sensual realm, the form realm, or the formless realm. According to the Visuddhimagga, nibbāna "has peace as its characteristic. Its function is not to die; or its function is to comfort. It is manifested as the signless; or it is manifested as non-diversification (nippapañca)."

According to the Sarvāstivāda, nirvāṇa is an analytical cessation (pratisaṃkhyānirodha) that is a disjunction from impure dharmas that occurs through analysis (pratisaṃkhyāna), which is a specific type of discernment (prajñā). This analytical cessation is substantially existent (dravyasat) and ultimately exists (paramārthasat).

For Sautrāntika commentators nirvāṇa as an analytical cessation (pratisaṃkhyānirodha) is a merely a conceptual designation (prajñapti) and doesn't refer to an entity or state that is substantially existent (dravyasat). It is a non-implicative negation (prasajyapratiṣedha), that is, a negation that doesn't imply the presence of some other entity. Therefore nirvāṇa simply refers to a cessation that is the termination of defilements that are abandoned by the correct practice of the noble path.

According to the Yogācāra, for those on the bodhisattva path, nirvāṇa is non-abiding (apratiṣṭha nirvāṇa). The dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva) is the basis (āśraya) of both defilement and purification. The all-basis consciousness (ālayavijñāna) is the defiled portion (saṃkleśabhāga) of the dependent nature. Purified suchness (viśuddhā tathatā) is the purified portion (vyavadānabhāga) of the dependent nature. Synonyms for purified suchness are the perfected nature (pariniṣpanna) and non-abiding nirvāṇa. Non-abiding nirvāṇa is the revolved basis (āśrayaparāvṛtti) that has eliminated defilements without abandoning saṃsāra.

Madhyamaka authors accept the notion of non-abiding nirvāṇa, but they don't use the three natures model used by the Yogācāra. Rather, they simply consider all things to be conceptual designations (prajñapti) that are empty of nature (svabhāva). For them, conceptual designations are relative truth (saṃvṛtisatya) and only emptiness is ultimate truth (paramārthasatya).

Zen, Pure Land, Vajrayāna, etc., are practice traditions more so than doctrinal schools, and authors writing from any of these perspectives would generally rely on Yogācāra or Madhyamaka śāstras or a specific Mahāyāna sūtra.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:36 am
Title: Re: Is Critical Thinking Active Vipassana?
Content:
How many of these are directly relevant to realizing the four noble truths? And at any rate, there are other faculties found in the suttas and collected together in the Abhidhamma &amp; commentaries.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:59 am
Title: Re: My Brush With Death, Hospitalization
Content:
As a Canadian, I find U.S. health care difficult to fathom....


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:30 pm
Title: Re: Is Critical Thinking Active Vipassana?
Content:
Thinking is generally conditioned by wrong views and perversions (Cf. AN 4.49). Sense restraint is important with regard to mental objects just as it is with regard to other sensory objects.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:55 am
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Greggorious!!!
Content:
Happy birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:35 pm
Title: Re: Happy Birthday bodom!!!!!!
Content:
Happy birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:12 pm
Title: Re: My Brush With Death, Hospitalization
Content:
Serious illness. Take care of yourself. Glad to hear that you're on the mend.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:52 pm
Title: Re: Another voice in the jhana debates
Content:
The notion of the presence of vipassanā in the jhānas isn't the result of grammatical confusion. It has ancient roots in mainstream Indian Buddhism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:54 am
Title: Re: Another voice in the jhana debates
Content:
The Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra, the Abhidharmakośabhāsya, the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, etc., all explicitly state that samatha &amp; vipassanā are optimally balanced in the four jhānas and that penetration of the four noble truths optimally occurs within the four jhānas. The first three formless attainments and access concentration are not considered optimal because of limited vipassanā in the former and limited samatha in the latter. The authors of these texts were relying on source materials that parallel the Pāli suttas. They understood the Indic languages that they were using, and they most certainly weren't relying on English translations.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:12 pm
Title: Re: ajahn chah explanation of jhana?
Content:
Ajahn Chah gives instructions on mindfulness of breathing and discusses the jhāna factors in a talk titled Monastery of Confusion:
It's like this: if we get attached to the ideals and take the guidelines that we are given in the instructions too literally, it can be difficult to understand. When doing a standard meditation such as mindfulness of breathing, first we should make the determination that right now we are going to do this practice, and we are going to make mindfulness of breathing our foundation. We only focus on the breath at three points, as it passes through the nostrils, the chest and the abdomen. When the air enters it first passes the nose, then through the chest, then to the end point of the abdomen. As it leaves the body, the beginning is the abdomen, the middle is the chest, and the end is the nose. We merely note it. This is a way to start controlling the mind, tying awareness to these points at the beginning, middle and end of the inhalations and exhalations.

Before we begin we should first sit and let the mind relax. It's similar to sewing robes on a treadle sewing machine. When we are learning to use the sewing machine, first we just sit in front of the machine to get familiar with it and feel comfortable. Here, we just sit and breathe. Not fixing awareness on anything, we merely take note that we are breathing. We take note of whether the breath is relaxed or not and how long or short it is. Having noticed this, then we begin focusing on the inhalation and exhalation at the three points.

We practice like this until we become skilled in it and it goes smoothly. The next stage is to focus awareness only on the sensation of the breath at the tip of the nose or the upper lip. At this point we aren't concerned with whether the breath is long or short, but only focus on the sensation of entering and exiting.

Different phenomena may contact the senses, or thoughts may arise. This is called initial thought (vitakka). The mind brings up some idea, be it about the nature of compounded phenomena (sankhārā), about the world, or whatever. Once the mind has brought it up, the mind will want to get involved and merge with it. If it's an object that is wholesome then let the mind take it up. If it is something unwholesome, stop it immediately. If it is something wholesome then let the mind contemplate it, and gladness, satisfaction and happiness will come about. The mind will be bright and clear; as the breath goes in and out and as the mind takes up these initial thoughts. Then it becomes discursive thought (vicāra). The mind develops familiarity with the object, exerting itself and merging with it. At this point, there is no sleepiness.

After an appropriate period of this, take your attention back to the breath. Then as you continue on there will be the initial thought and discursive thought, initial thought and discursive thought. If you are contemplating skillfully on an object such as the nature of sankhāra, then the mind will experience deeper tranquility and rapture is born. There is the vitakka and vicāra, and that leads to happiness of mind. At this time there won't be any dullness or drowsiness. The mind won't be dark if we practice like this. It will be gladdened and enraptured.

This rapture will start to diminish and disappear after a while, so you can take up the initial thought again. The mind will become firm and certain with it - undistracted. Then you go on to discursive thought again, the mind becoming one with it. When you are practicing a meditation that suits your temperament and doing it well, then whenever you take up the object, rapture will come about: the hairs of the body stand on end and the mind is enraptured and satiated.

When it's like this there can't be any dullness or drowsiness. You won't have any doubts. Back and forth between initial and discursive thought, initial and discursive thought, over and over again and rapture comes. Then there is sukha (bliss).

This takes place in sitting practice. After sitting for a while, you can get up and do walking meditation. The mind can be the same in the walking. Not sleepy, it has the vitakka and vicāra, vitakka and vicāra, then rapture. There won't be any of the nīvarana, and the mind will be unstained. Whatever takes place, never mind; you don't need to doubt about any experiences you may have, be they of light, of bliss, or whatever. Don't entertain doubts about these conditions of mind. If the mind is dark, if the mind is illumined, don't fixate on these conditions, don't be attached to them. Let go, discard them. Keep walking, keep noting what is taking place without getting bound or infatuated. Don't suffer over these conditions of mind. Don't have doubts about them. They are just what they are, following the way of mental phenomena. Sometimes the mind will be joyful. Sometimes it will be sorrowful. There can be happiness or suffering; there can be obstruction. Rather than doubting, understand that conditions of mind are like this; whatever manifests is coming about due to causes ripening. At this moment this condition is manifesting; that's what you should recognize. Even if the mind is dark you don't need to be upset over that. If it becomes bright, don't be excessively gladdened by that. Don't have doubts about these conditions of mind, or about your reactions to them.

Do your walking meditation until you are really tired, then sit. When you sit determine your mind to sit; don't just play around. If you get sleepy, open your eyes and focus on some object. Walk until the mind separates itself from thoughts and is still, then sit. If you are clear and awake, you can close your eyes. If you get sleepy again, open your eyes and look at an object.

Don't try to do this all day and all night. When you're in need of sleep let yourself sleep. Just as with our food: once a day we eat. The time comes and we give food to the body. The need for sleep is the same. When the time comes, give yourself some rest. When you've had an appropriate rest, get up. Don't let the mind languish in dullness, but get up and get to work - start practicing. Do a lot of walking meditation. If you walk slowly and the mind becomes dull, then walk fast. Learn to find the right pace for yourself.

Question: Are vitakka and vicāra the same?

Ajahn Chah: You're sitting and suddenly the thought of someone pops into your head - that's vitakka, the initial thought. Then you take that idea of the person and start thinking about them in detail. Vitakka is picking it up, vicāra is investigating it. For example, we pick up the idea of death and then we start considering it: ''I will die, others will die, every living being will die; when they die where will they go?'' Then stop! Stop and bring it back again. When it gets running like that, stop it again; and then go back to mindfulness of the breath. Sometimes the discursive thought will wander off and not come back, so you have to stop it. Keep at it until the mind is bright and clear.

If you practice vicāra with an object that you are suited to, you may experience the hairs of your body standing on end, tears pouring from your eyes, a state of extreme delight, many different things as rapture comes.

Question: Can this happen with any kind of thinking, or is it only in a state of tranquility that it happens?

Ajahn Chah: It's when the mind is tranquil. It's not ordinary mental proliferation. You sit with a calm mind and then the initial thought comes. For example, I think of my brother who just passed away. Or I might think of some other relatives. This is when the mind is tranquil - the tranquility isn't something certain, but for the moment the mind is tranquil. After this initial thought comes then I go into discursive thought. If it's a line of thinking that's skillful and wholesome, it leads to ease of mind and happiness, and there is rapture with its attendant experiences. This rapture came from the initial and discursive thinking that took place in a state of calmness. We don't have to give it names such as first jhāna, second jhāna and so forth. We just call it tranquility.

The next factor is bliss (sukha). Eventually we drop the initial and discursive thinking as tranquility deepens. Why? The state of mind is becoming more refined and subtle. Vitakka and vicāra are relatively coarse, and they will vanish. There will remain just the rapture accompanied by bliss and one-pointedness of mind. When it reaches full measure there won't be anything, the mind is empty. That's absorption concentration.

We don't need to fixate or dwell on any of these experiences. They will naturally progress from one to the next. At first there is initial and discursive thought, rapture, bliss and onepointedness. Then initial and discursive thinking are thrown off, leaving rapture, bliss, and one-pointedness. Rapture is thrown off, then bliss, and finally only one-pointedness and equanimity remain. It means the mind becomes more and more tranquil, and its objects are steadily decreasing until there is nothing but one-pointedness and equanimity.

When the mind is tranquil and focused this can happen. It is the power of mind, the state of the mind that has attained tranquility. When it's like this there won't be any sleepiness. It can't enter the mind; it will disappear. As for the other hindrances of sensual desire, aversion, doubt and restlessness and agitation, they just won't be present. Though they may still exist latent in the mind of the meditator, they won't occur at this time.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:10 am
Title: Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?
Content:
I don't understand why you started this thread. But when someone asks me what books I would recommend to people who "know almost nothing about the dhamma," I often recommend the Dhammapada.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Feb 15, 2013 2:56 pm
Title: Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?
Content:
It's a useful collection of teachings that cover various aspects of conduct and practice.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Feb 14, 2013 7:32 pm
Title: Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?
Content:
The Dhammapada: Teachings of the Buddha

 The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha

 Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah

The total for these three comes in under $60. Money well spent.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:59 am
Title: Re: Strategies for Cultivation
Content:
There are many practices given in the Pāli suttas, such as recollection of the Buddha (Buddhānussati), the development of loving-kindness (mettābhāvanā), the recognition of unattractiveness (asubhasaññā), the recognition of impermanence (aniccasaññā), and many more. Ten of these practices are included in AN 10.60. These and more have been collected together and commented upon in the Vimuttimagga and the Visuddhimagga.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:53 am
Title: Re: the first jhana and thinking.
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:48 pm
Title: Re: the first jhana and thinking.
Content:
That's fine.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:02 pm
Title: Re: ajahn brahm meditation methods
Content:
There's no need for herrings of any color. There are a number of suttas which give a complete explanation of the path and awakening without ever mentioning the formless attainments or the attainment of the cessation of perception &amp; feeling. Moreover, even when the nine meditative attainments are given, such as the the sequence from AN 9.47 to AN 9.51, the cessation of perception &amp; feeling isn't equated with nibbāna. The relevant phrase in this case being "and having seen with wisdom, his taints are utterly destroyed." This seeing with wisdom and elimination of āsavas occurs after one has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception &amp; feeling.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Feb 06, 2013 4:33 am
Title: Re: the first jhana and thinking.
Content:
I quoted almost the entire passage here more than two years ago. In the previous reply in this thread I simply quoted that particular excerpt from the Peṭakopadesa as a comparison to how vitakka &amp; vicāra are defined as two types of "mental discourse" (manojalpa) in non-Pāli sources.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:58 am
Title: Re: the first jhana and thinking.
Content:
This isn't the Pāli sub-forum. The relevant passage in English is as follows:
Here, for fulfilling non-passion he thinks the thought of renunciation. Here, for fulfilling non-aggression he thinks the thought of non-aversion. Here, for fulfilling non-delusion he thinks the thought of harmlessness.

Here, for fulfilling non-passion he is secluded from sensual pleasures. Here, for fulfilling non-aggression and fulfilling non-delusion he is secluded from unskillful phenomena. And so he enters and remains in the first jhāna, which includes directed thought and evaluation, as well as joy and pleasure born of seclusion. 

Directed thought: There are three kinds of directed thought, namely the thought of renunciation, the thought of non-aversion, and the thought of harmlessness.

Here, directed thought is the first instance while evaluation is the evaluation of what is thereby received.

Just as when a man sees someone approaching in the distance he does not yet know whether it is a woman or a man, but when he has received [the recognition] that “it is a woman” or “it is a man” or that “it is of such color” or that “it is one of such shape,” then when he has thought this he further scrutinizes, “How then, is he ethical or unethical, rich or poor?” This is examination. With directed thought he fixes. With examination he moves about and turns over [what has been thought].

And just as a winged bird first accumulates [speed] and then accumulates no more [speed when gliding], so too, directed thought is like the accumulation, and evaluation is like the outstretched wings which keeps preserving the directed thought and evaluation....

Directed thought is like a text-reciter who does his recitation silently. Evaluation is like him simply contemplating it. Directed thought is like a lack of full comprehension. Evaluation is like full comprehension. Directed thought is the analytical understanding of language and the analytical understanding of knowledge. Evaluation is the analytical understanding of dhamma and the analytical understanding of meaning. Directed thought is the mind’s skill in pleasantness. Evaluation is the mind’s skill in endeavor. Directed thought is about this being skillful, this unskillful, about this to be developed, this to be abandoned, this to be verified. Evaluation is like the abandoning, the development, the verification.

This entire section is a word-commentary on the first two jhāna factors of the first jhāna formula. And that's exactly how it's used in the Vimuttimagga where these same descriptions and similes are given explicitly in the context of describing the jhāna factors of the first jhāna.

Buddhist meditation is far more diverse, dynamic, and multidimensional than you seems willing to admit. Not only is this diversity evident in the textual records of the Suttapiṭaka, the Abhidhammapiṭaka, and the commentaries, it's also evident in the methods taught by the teachers of the Thai forest tradition, the Burmese Vipassanā tradition, and every other Buddhist meditative tradition. Meditation is a tool to calm the mind so that dhammas can be seen clearly, leading to discernment and dispassion. It isn't an end in itself. 

And the entire path is provisional from beginning to end. It's up to each individual to walk the path and figure out how to make the necessary adjustments to their personal situation as they go along. The path isn't going to develop in precisely the same way for any two people. Trying to pin down meditation in the most restrictive terms possible by interpreting the texts in the most extreme terms possible in order to attempt to somehow disprove or discredit other well tested modes of practice displays a fixation that's rooted in a fiction. The path is more inclusive than that.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:43 am
Title: Re: ajahn brahm meditation methods
Content:
The cessation of perception and feeling is not the same as nibbāna. Liberation through discernment (paññāvimuttā) doesn't require the development of the formless attainments or the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling. The suttas tell us that in the Buddha's day there were more arahants liberated through discernment than those who were liberated both ways etc., and there's no reason to think that this situation changed later. For example, SN 8.7 Pavāraṇā Sutta, informs us that of 500 arahants present on that occasion, 60 had triple knowledge, 60 had the six higher gnoses, 60 were liberated both ways (ubhatobhāgavimuttā, meaning jhānas &amp; formless attainments), and all of the rest were liberated through discernment. 

The arahant path and fruition can occur after emerging from the attainment of cessation of perception and feeling, but even among arahants it's a path less traveled.

And in the Abhidhammapiṭaka the cessation of perception and feeling doesn't play any significant part in the path of awakening. There is no occurrence of consciousness during the cessation attainment, therefore no perception or knowledge. This is why the cessation attainment plays no direct role in the attainment of the supramundane paths and fruitions. 

Moreover, the Theravāda has never accepted that the cessation of perception and feeling is not-conditioned (asaṅkhata) because that would mean that there are two not-conditioned dhammas, and that a produced meditative state is not-conditioned, and that the cessation of perception and feeling would have the same liberating role as the supramundane paths and fruitions, and so on. This is a specific point of controversy in the Kathāvatthu, where all of these alternatives are rejected.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:37 am
Title: Re: nimitta for jhana
Content:
It seems that it likely connects with the second of the four types of samādhibhāvanā described in AN 4.41.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:17 am
Title: Re: nimitta for jhana
Content:
BTW, AN 8.64 explicitly connects the perception of light and the seeing of forms to seeing devas, i.e. the development of the divine eye.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:28 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
"Religion" is a slippery term. In the paper Atheism and Religion, Martin addresses this as follows:
Beardsley and Beardsley reject the objection that their definition is too broad in that there are sets of interrelated beliefs, attitudes, and practices that meet their specifications and are not recognized as world religions. On the one hand, they say that a restriction on the meaning of religion in terms of the content of beliefs, attitudes, or actions cannot be given. On the other hand, they point out that increased cultural and historical knowledge has tended to broaden what is counted as a religion and that their usage is in harmony with this trend. They also maintain that a term is needed to refer to all serious attempts to answer the basic religious questions and that “religion” is the appropriate one to use. And finally, they say that their definition is in harmony with common usage, in that it includes all those sets of beliefs, emotions, and actions that have been commonly called a “religion.”

Beardsley and Beardsley admit that there are controversial cases of religion, and they put both humanism and Marxism in this category. Although their definition includes the disputed case of humanism, they leave open the question of whether Marxist communism is a religion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:40 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
That still seems unnecessarily restrictive. In his paper Atheism and Religion, Michael Martin summarizes the defining factors of the concept of religion as philosophical, ethical, and soteriological responses to certain questions, as offered by Monroe and Elizabeth Beardsley in Philosophical Thinking: An Introduction:
Arguing that one cannot define “religion” in terms of a belief in god or in a soul because such beliefs are not found among all religions, they propose that “religion” be defined in terms of the attempt to answer basic religious questions. These are the following:
(1) What are the fundamental characteristics of human beings and the chief problems they face?
(2) What are the characteristics of nonhuman reality that are of greatest significance for human life?
(3) Given the nature of man and the universe, how should men try to live?
(4) Given the answers to the first three questions, what practices will best develop and sustain in men an understanding of the nature of human and nonhuman reality and a dedication to the ideal of human life?
(5) In seeking true answers to the first four questions, what method or methods should be used?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:28 am
Title: Re: the first jhana and thinking.
Content:
It's difficult to try to ascertain the definitions of terms entirely through reading the suttas alone. Firstly, there are many diverse meditation subjects offered in the suttas. And secondly, without recourse to the early strata of commentary, modern interpretations can be based on certain assumptions not present in the suttas themselves.

We see in the canonical and para-canonical commentaries that the analysis and defining of terms often give a spectrum of meanings, which illustrates a developmental path, not a rigid "one-size-fits-all" type of approach. For example, the canonical Dhammasaṅgaṇī gives the following two registers for vitakka and vicāra (the English equivalents here are those offered by Lance Cousins, who's done an exhaustive survey of all relevant Pāli sources):
vitakka: 

1. takka 2. vitakka 3. saṅkappa 4. appanā 5. byappanā 6. cetaso abhiniropanā 7. sammāsaṅkappa

1. speculation 2. thought 3. thought formation 4. fixing 5. firm fixing 6. applying the mind 7. right thought formation.

vicāra: 

1. cāra 2. vicāra 3. anuvicāra 4. upavicāra 5. cittassa anusandhānatā 6. anupekkhanatā

1. wandering 2. wandering about 3. repeated wandering about 4. frequenting 5. explorativeness of mind 6. constant examination.

Additionally, Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, and Yogācāra ābhidharmikas consistently define vitakka &amp; vicāra as two types of "mental discourse" (manojalpa, lit: "mind-talk"). For example, Vasubandhu defines vitakka as "mental discourse which investigates" (paryeṣako manojalpa) and vicāra as "mental discourse which reflects" (pratyavekṣako manojalpa). Vitakka is considered to be coarse (cittsyaudārikatā) and vicāra comparatively more subtle (cittsyasūkṣmatā). Compare with the Theravāda Peṭakopadesa, which gives a detailed word analysis of these terms in the context of the jhāna formula:
Vitakka is like a text-reciter who does his recitation silently. Vicāra is like him simply contemplating it (anupassati). Vitakka is like non-comprehension (apariññā). Vicāra is like full comprehension (pariññā). Vitakka is the analytical understanding of language and the analytical understanding of knowledge. Vicāra is the analytical understanding of dhamma and the analytical understanding of meaning. Vitakka is the mind's skill in pleasantness. Vicāra is the mind's skill in endeavor. Vitakka is about this being skillful, this unskillful, about this to be developed, this to be abandoned, this to be verified. Vicāra is like the abandoning, the development, the verification.

Some kinds of meditation, such as mindfulness of breathing, are primarily non-discursive from the outset. This is why mindfulness of breathing is suggested as an antidote for excessive discursive thinking. However, other meditation subjects (e.g. Buddhānussati, brahmavihārā, asubhasaññā, etc.) can incorporate the repetition of set textual formulas as a method for focusing the mind, at least in the initial stages. Once the mind begins to settle the repetition can be simplified and then suspended.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:56 pm
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
Depends on how you want to define "religion." It's a rather slippery term.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:26 am
Title: Re: nimitta for jhana
Content:
Using a prepared kasiṇa maṇḍala is an effective method for developing samatha. And it seems that light nimittas, etc., are important for developing the divine eye. However, although light nimittas, etc., can and often do occur when developing samatha, such phenomena aren't necessary for attaining jhāna, and I'm not aware of any Buddhist tradition that says otherwise.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Feb 01, 2013 1:14 pm
Title: Re: "The Buddha did not teach it..."
Content:
In addition to the input of well vetted contemporary teachers, I'd say that some awareness of the commentaries and treatises is also very useful in order to avoid unnecessary sidetracks and bogus interpretations.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:03 pm
Title: Re: nimitta for jhana
Content:
Given that MN 128 is the only sutta that mentions an obhāsanimitta and rūpanimitta in that context, and given that the commentaries and the Vimuttimagga consider that MN 128 is primarily about the development of the divine eye, and not jhāna per se, there's no reason to tie MN 128 to other uses of the term "nimitta" in the suttas or to the development of jhāna, unless one thinks that a mental image as a counterpart representation (paṭibhāganimitta) is a necessary prerequisite for developing jhāna. And not even the Visuddhimagga makes that claim.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:50 am
Title: Re: The causes for wisdom
Content:
This neatly gets to the heart of the matter.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:57 am
Title: Re: The causes for wisdom
Content:
It's probably more precise to say that sati arises together with volitional intention (cetanā) and other mental factors. Thus, mindfulness, volitional intention and attention (manasikāra) work in concert to focus the mind. These concomitant mental factors can occur in any of the four postures, including sitting on a cushion with one's legs crossed, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:15 am
Title: Re: Intellectual Integrity
Content:
The recognition of the cessation of mental outflows is only available to noble ones and doesn't exist independent of a particular mental continuum. As worldlings, we can experience the temporary suppression of the hindrances through the development of samādhi &amp; paññā, and can infer from this that the complete termination of the mental outflows would be peaceful, but this is still an inferential cognition on our part. This can be very useful as a way of pointing us in the right direction. But it is a pointer, and not an observable objective fact.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:14 am
Title: Re: Intellectual Integrity
Content:
Well, just as one can't step into the same river twice, one can't duplicate the same experience twice. It seems to me that path structures and formulated descriptions are generalized approximations at best. Thus, path structures are merely provisional expedients. The canonical discourses employ nominal designations to point the way towards utterly non-referential dispassion. But there is a significant amount of diversity in the actual practices offered in the discourses to attain this end. And in terms of individuals there is an even greater diversity of aptitudes and past conditioning.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:47 am
Title: Re: Intellectual Integrity
Content:
I think there's little point in talking to you. To me, your posts read like a poorly translated Zen text.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:17 am
Title: Re: Intellectual Integrity
Content:
The application of the noble eightfold path leading to dispassion makes a difference.

BTW, while no version of Buddhist epistemology maintains that concepts &amp; thoughts are a substitute for non-conceptual awareness, they do accept the role of inference (anumāna) in orienting one towards right view concerning conditionality. Even Nāgārjuna acknowledges that without using conventions the ultimate can't be taught, and without the ultimate, liberation can't be achieved. Your penchant for anti-intellectualism leaves little room for the stages of discernment obtained through hearing (sutamayā paññā) and discernment obtained through reflection (cintāmayā paññā) -- both of which are important for learning how to integrate a developmental path.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:48 am
Title: Re: Intellectual Integrity
Content:
What "facts" are those, and how does one go about establishing them objectively? 

Let's remember that the Indians -- including Buddhists -- debated epistemology for hundreds of years without ever reaching any consensus.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:31 pm
Title: Re: Man with no brain
Content:
I've been around....


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jan 26, 2013 2:30 am
Title: Re: Man with no brain
Content:
Language is a tool, or a weapon....


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:14 pm
Title: Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.
Content:
Yes, well, antisemitism wasn't the cause of WW II. And of the approx. 60 million war casualties, approx. 20 million were soldiers and 40 million were civilians (and of the approx. 11 - 17 million civilians who were killed as a result of Nazi ideological policies, 6 million were Jewish).


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:30 pm
Title: Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.
Content:
Issues and ideologies related to nationalism and communism -- both quite godless -- were responsible for far more slaughter in the 20th century than religion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:17 am
Title: Re: what gets reborn
Content:
Maybe, but collapsing experience into neurological processes and declaring causal closure hasn't resolved the issue, and there are scientists and philosophers who think that this reductivism (which includes a number of so-called "non-reductive" approaches) is part of the problem. Thus, there's good reason to think outside of these reductivist boxes. John Searle, quoted in the Journal of Consciousness Studies:
At our present state of the investigation of consciousness, we don't know how it works and we need to try all kinds of different ideas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:15 pm
Title: Re: what gets reborn
Content:
A point that should probably be acknowledged is that believing in the philosophy of physicalism based on the current scientific knowledge of consciousness is quite unsatisfactory. Physicalism and emergentism are problematic theories that fail to adequately account for how non-experience can give rise to experience. Jerry A. Fodor, The Big Idea: Can There Be a Science of the Mind:
Nobody has the slightest idea how anything material could be conscious. Nobody even knows what it would be like to have the slightest idea about how anything material could be conscious.

Ned Block, "Consciousness," in A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind:
We have no conception of our physical or functional nature that allows us to understand how it could explain our subjective experience.... in the case of consciousness we have nothing -- zilch -- worthy of being called a research program, nor are there any substantive proposals about how to go about starting one.

Alan Wallace, Hidden Dimensions:
A true revolution in the mind sciences has been delayed by an enforced conformity to the unnatural ideological and methodological constraints imposed by the assumptions of scientific materialism, particularly neo-Darwinism. One such assumption is that mental phenomena are equivalent to neurophysiological processes in the brain, an empirically uncorroborated belief. If the first revolution in the mind sciences is to take place, such unsubstantiated ideas must be suspended and new methodologies must be employed that are uniquely suited to the scientific study of mental phenomena, including consciousness. In other words, science can either continue to let its study of the mind be dominated by the metaphysical assumptions of a well-established ideology or pursue the open-minded, empirical investigation of mental phenomena, even if it calls into question some of the most deeply held scientific beliefs based on classical physics and contemporary biology.

Some of the issues involved are investigated in Mind and Its Place in the World: Non-Reductionist Approaches to the Ontology.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:22 pm
Title: Re: bardo...
Content:
Although anecdotal reports of NDEs neither prove nor disprove the existence of a postmortem intermediate state (antarabhāva), they do indicate the possibility of such an event as well as the role of kamma and conditioning in the content and interpretation of such experiences. For example, see Eleven Thai Near Death Experiences.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:35 am
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
I think there's no need to place too much emphasis on a phrase that only occurs twice in the entire Suttapiṭaka. According to the commentaries this phrase refers to a consciousness of nibbāna.

Ven. Ñāṇananda has probably explored this phrase in more detail than most, and I generally agree with his analysis. However, he misinterprets at least one of the two commentarial explanations and sets up a bit of a straw man argument against the commentary. Recourse to the sub-commentary would have prevented this misinterpretation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 22, 2012 10:11 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
This reply of yours is utter nonsense.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:31 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
(Forgot to include this in the previous reply.) SN 42.11:
Headman, by means of this principle that is seen, understood, immediately attained, fathomed, apply the method to the past and to the future thus: 'Whatever suffering arose in the past, all that arose rooted in desire, with desire as its source; for desire is the root of suffering. Whatever suffering will arise in the future, all that will arise rooted in desire, with desire as its source; for desire is the root of suffering.'


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:29 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
These objections are rather irrelevant and not very coherent. Each of the main Nikāyas was memorized by a group of monastics. Even those of lesser intelligence would know that things like marriage advise don't apply to monastics. But if you're implying that teachings on rebirth, the unimaginable beginnings of saṃsāra, etc., weren't given to monastics, it's plainly stated that they were indeed given to monastics.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:23 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Not at all. Disenchantment and dispassion aren't the result of mental non-engagement. This is a point that differentiates Buddhism from other yogic traditions that propose stopping the mind and/or stopping all action as the primary method for attaining liberation.

Also, I don't see any good reason to compartmentalize the teachings. The sutta collections are a complete package, and restricting oneself to only a limited subset of sutta teachings erects an artificial, self-imposed barrier. Setting aside the teachings on rebirth is a case of deliberately ignoring them. Deliberately ignoring these teachings entails ignoring certain implications of the teachings on kamma &amp; paṭiccasamuppāda, not in awakening to the Buddha's dhamma.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:55 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Yes, of course.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:51 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
In The Truth of Rebirth Ven. Ṭhānissaro supports it from a number of perspectives. For example:
[T]he terms of appropriate attention — the four noble truths — are not concerned simply with events arising and passing away in the present moment. They also focus on the causal connections among those events, connections that occur both in the immediate present and over time. If you limit your focus solely to connections in the present while ignoring those over time, you can't fully comprehend the ways in which craving causes suffering: not only by latching on to the four kinds of nutriment, but also giving rise to the four kinds of nutriment as well.

This narrow focus places an obstacle in your ability to develop right view — and in particular, your ability to see dependent co-arising as a self-sustaining process. (Emphasis added.)

This is a significant limitation of failing to contemplate the truth of suffering and the truth of origin as continuing unabated without full application of the noble eightfold path. Accordingly, suffering continues until craving and ignorance are eliminated, and is not terminated by physical conditions (e.g. brain death).


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:24 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
The quotations already provided don't just pertain to rejection or doubt. "Setting aside" has similar limitations that preclude full penetration of the four noble truths.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 6:12 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
To maintain that there is an actual debate within the Buddhadhamma about rebirth is a false assumption. There is no such debate. Every strata of Buddhist dhamma (Sutta, Abhidhamma, Commentary) asserts rebirth.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 6:08 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
This concern has already been addressed in the quotations previously offered from Dhammanando &amp;&nbsp;Ṭhānissaro. E.g.: "To reject or doubt rebirth is to suppose that there are some causes that don't yield effects – specifically, that there can be ignorance and craving that will not issue in further becoming."


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:36 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Sorry, I should have been clearer. By "the former" was meant "thinking in terms of inappropriate attention and the six views arising therefrom" which is incompatible with paṭiccasamuppāda.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:24 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Not thinking in terms of inappropriate attention and the six views arising therefrom doesn't preclude appropriately considering rebirth through inferential cognition. The former is incompatible with paṭiccasamuppāda, while the latter is entirely consistent with paṭiccasamuppāda where a mental continuum continues until craving and ignorance are eliminated, and is not terminated by physical conditions (e.g. brain death).


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:47 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
SN 42.13 doesn't exist in isolation, it exists embedded in the rest of the sutta corpus. And in this larger context rebirth is repeatedly affirmed. Moreover, in this larger context the view affirming the next world isn't qualified as a distraction, but as a practical concern.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 15, 2012 7:02 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Setting it aside and engaging in other practices is mentioned in #1 above.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:45 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
It's what the suttas and every Buddhist tradition says.

There are a couple of ways of working with skepticism about rebirth: 

(1) acknowledge that rebirth is an integral part of the teachings while recognizing that the teachings on rebirth don't resonate with oneself at this time and setting them aside so as to practice other aspects of the Buddha's teaching to the best of one's abilities, or

(2) dismiss the teachings on rebirth and attempt to reinterpret the entire Buddhist tradition without reference to it, asserting that the teachings on rebirth are not important.

The first approach is actually recommended to skeptics in the suttas. The second approach is never recommended in the suttas and amounts to trying to remake the Budhadhamma in one's own image.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:55 am
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
It's not my interpretation. It's explicit in the suttas previously quoted and maintained by the commentarial tradition. 

Now, you're entirely free to do and think whatever you want, but merely following the whims of your own head-trip isn't the Buddha's teaching.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
There are two aspects of nibbāna. The nibbāna component with fuel remaining (saupādisesa nibbānadhātu) is attained while an arahant is still alive. Itivuttaka 2.44:
And what is the nibbāna component with fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is an arahant whose outflows have ended, who has reached fulfillment, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, ended the fetter of existence, and is liberated through right gnosis. His five sense faculties still remain and, owing to their being intact, he is cognizant of the agreeable and the disagreeable, and experiences pleasure and pain. His elimination of passion, aggression, and delusion is termed the nibbāna component with fuel remaining.

And the nibbāna component with no fuel remaining (anupādisesa nibbānadhātu) occurs upon the death of the arahant. Itivuttaka 2.44:
And what is the nibbāna component with no fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is an arahant whose outflows have ended, who has reached fulfillment, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, ended the fetter of existence, and is liberated through right gnosis. For him, all that is sensed, not being relished, will grow cold right here. This monks, is termed the nibbāna component with no fuel remaining.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 13, 2012 3:37 pm
Title: Re: What is the taint of being?
Content:
It's referring to the āsava of existence (bhavāsava). It's related to craving existence (bhavataṇhā). IIRC the commentaries correlate it with passion for existence in the form realms (i.e. rūparāga), but I'd have to look that up to be sure.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:54 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
It's reasonable to separate (a) first hand contemplative experiences of other realms and/or beings, from (b) how the descriptions of these experiences were eventually formulated and systematized in ancient oral and written traditions. The former doesn't require the narrative and various literary devices found in the latter.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:42 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Because, among other things, I've yet to see any textual example of an agnostic arahant.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:41 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
The very sutta you cited (MN 79) goes on to state that disciples can realize the higher knowledges of recollection of past lives and the passing away &amp; reappearance of beings.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:45 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
There's nothing any more "supernatural" about any of those realms than there is about the human &amp; animal realms.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:47 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
This again shows your lack of understanding of the Buddhadhamma.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:44 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
The quotations from Dhammanando &amp; Ṭhānissaro provide epistemological and soteriological context. E.g.: "To reject or doubt rebirth is to suppose that there are some causes that don't yield effects – specifically, that there can be ignorance and craving that will not issue in further becoming."

This is one of the reasons why Buddhist epistemology places emphasis on both inferential and direct perception.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:37 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
I don't think it is. Rather, suggesting that a small child can comprehend the first two noble truths is an example of a superficial understanding of the dhamma.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:35 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Not according to Ven. Ṭhānissaro:
[T]he terms of appropriate attention — the four noble truths — are not concerned simply with events arising and passing away in the present moment. They also focus on the causal connections among those events, connections that occur both in the immediate present and over time. If you limit your focus solely to connections in the present while ignoring those over time, you can't fully comprehend the ways in which craving causes suffering: not only by latching on to the four kinds of nutriment, but also giving rise to the four kinds of nutriment as well.

This narrow focus places an obstacle in your ability to develop right view — and in particular, your ability to see dependent co-arising as a self-sustaining process. If, in line with the standard materialist view, you regard consciousness as a mere by-product of material processes, then there's no way you can appreciate the full power of consciousness and craving to generate the food that can sustain the processes of suffering indefinitely. And if you don't fully appreciate this power, there's no way that you can effectively bring it to an end.

Or Ven. Dhammanando:
[T]here is no possibility of leaping from a state in which wrong view ("there is nothing given, nothing offered...etc.") is ever liable to arise to ariyan right view. Rather, wrong view must be dislodged and the only cause that can effect this is the arising of mundane right view ("there is what is given, there is what is offered...etc."). In effect this means that high attainment in Dhamma is out of the question for those who remain skeptical, agnostic or non-committal regarding the affirmations that constitute mundane right view.

Kammic efficacy and rebirth are part of mundane right view. To reject or doubt rebirth is to suppose that there are some causes that don't yield effects – specifically, that there can be ignorance and craving that will not issue in further becoming. Those of such a view have not understood the conditionality of dhammas even at the intellectual/pariyatti level. To not understand this is to not understand the four noble truths, the three characteristics, or anything else that is of decisive importance in the development of paññā.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 12, 2012 2:05 am
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Trying to erase rebirth from the suttas would be a rather nonsensical thing to try to do. Ven. Bodhi:
The teaching of rebirth crops up almost everywhere in the Canon, and is so closely bound to a host of other doctrines that to remove it would virtually reduce the Dhamma to tatters. Moreover, when the suttas speak about rebirth into the five realms — the hells, the animal world, the spirit realm, the human world, and the heavens — they never hint that these terms are meant symbolically. To the contrary, they even say that rebirth occurs "with the breakup of the body, after death," which clearly implies they intend the idea of rebirth to be taken quite literally.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:10 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Your example trivializes the four noble truths. SN 15.3:
This is the greater: the tears you have shed while transmigrating &amp; wandering this long, long time — crying &amp; weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans.

Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a mother. The tears you have shed over the death of a mother while transmigrating &amp; wandering this long, long time — crying &amp; weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — are greater than the water in the four great oceans.

Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a father... the death of a brother... the death of a sister... the death of a son... the death of a daughter... loss with regard to relatives... loss with regard to wealth... loss with regard to disease. The tears you have shed over loss with regard to disease while transmigrating &amp; wandering this long, long time — crying &amp; weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — are greater than the water in the four great oceans.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:03 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
I've yet to come across a proponent of physicalism who accepts the Buddhist view of rebirth. Again, the consequences of this failure have already been stated above.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:30 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
I highly doubt that your children or any other children understand the full existential implications of dukkha &amp; taṇhā as these terms are used in the context of the four noble truths. Moreover, it's the trivialization of dukkha &amp; taṇhā that precludes the arising of right view as already indicated by the Buddhist teachers quoted here.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:23 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Yes, and this isn't exclusive to Alex Berzin. For example, Ven. Dhammanando:
[T]here is no possibility of leaping from a state in which wrong view ("there is nothing given, nothing offered...etc.") is ever liable to arise to ariyan right view. Rather, wrong view must be dislodged and the only cause that can effect this is the arising of mundane right view ("there is what is given, there is what is offered...etc."). In effect this means that high attainment in Dhamma is out of the question for those who remain skeptical, agnostic or non-committal regarding the affirmations that constitute mundane right view.

Kammic efficacy and rebirth are part of mundane right view. To reject or doubt rebirth is to suppose that there are some causes that don't yield effects – specifically, that there can be ignorance and craving that will not issue in further becoming. Those of such a view have not understood the conditionality of dhammas even at the intellectual/pariyatti level. To not understand this is to not understand the four noble truths, the three characteristics, or anything else that is of decisive importance in the development of paññā.

Ven. Ṭhānissaro:
[T]he terms of appropriate attention — the four noble truths — are not concerned simply with events arising and passing away in the present moment. They also focus on the causal connections among those events, connections that occur both in the immediate present and over time. If you limit your focus solely to connections in the present while ignoring those over time, you can't fully comprehend the ways in which craving causes suffering: not only by latching on to the four kinds of nutriment, but also giving rise to the four kinds of nutriment as well.

This narrow focus places an obstacle in your ability to develop right view — and in particular, your ability to see dependent co-arising as a self-sustaining process. If, in line with the standard materialist view, you regard consciousness as a mere by-product of material processes, then there's no way you can appreciate the full power of consciousness and craving to generate the food that can sustain the processes of suffering indefinitely. And if you don't fully appreciate this power, there's no way that you can effectively bring it to an end.

Ven. Bodhi:
Admittedly, for most of us the primary motivation for entering upon the path of Dhamma has been a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction with the routine course of our unenlightened lives rather than a keen perception of the dangers in the round of rebirths. However, if we are going to follow the Dhamma through to its end and tap its full potential for conferring peace and higher wisdom, it is necessary for the motivation of our practice to mature beyond that which originally induced us to enter the path. Our underlying motivation must grow towards those essential truths disclosed to us by the Buddha and, encompassing those truths, must use them to nourish its own capacity to lead us towards the realization of the goal.

Our motivation acquires the requisite maturity by the cultivation of right view, the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, which as explained by the Buddha includes an understanding of the principles of kamma and rebirth as fundamental to the structure of our existence.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:12 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
No, they don't.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:46 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Let's not claim that the dhamma-lite you're advocating is the Buddhadhamma.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 4:39 pm
Title: Re: Svasamvedana
Content:
See The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition by Zhihua Yao for a comprehensive study on the historical development of svasaṃvedana/svasaṃvitti among Indian Buddhist schools and authors.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 11, 2012 4:17 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Indeed. And this also pertains to major statements such as the four noble truths. Materialists can't accept the four noble truths because for them matter is the the origin of suffering, not craving. Thus, materialists with a penchant for some Buddhist practices have to reinterpret all of the statements pertaining to the four noble truths and dependent arising, as well as either reinterpret or dismiss all of the statements pertaining to rebirth and the other realms of existence. That seems like a lot of conceptual effort to exert in order to justify maintaining belief in a questionable worldview.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Dec 07, 2012 8:16 am
Title: Re: Is there a school in Buddhism that fits this view?
Content:
The views of those people don't represent the tenets of any Buddhist school. Generally, what modern authors and followers of so-called "Secular Buddhism" etc., are advocating is an appropriation of some aspects of the Buddhadhamma mixed with modern versions of Cārvāka materialist views and epistemology that are flatly rejected by all Buddhist schools.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Dec 07, 2012 2:42 am
Title: Re: Is there a school in Buddhism that fits this view?
Content:
No. Karma and rebirth are ubiquitous among all Buddhist schools.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Dec 07, 2012 2:40 am
Title: Re: Is there a school in Buddhism that fits this view?
Content:
This isn't a Buddhist school.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:52 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Looks to me like you're the one concerned....


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:03 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
To state the obvious, this is a discussion pertaining to saṃsāra and related topics such as the right view of the continuity of consciousness, etc. The importance of this subject is explained by Ven. Dhammanando:
The orthodox understanding is that they have to be taught mundane right view in order to make them ready for ariyan right view. That is to say, there is no possibility of leaping from a state in which wrong view ("there is nothing given, nothing offered...etc.") is ever liable to arise to ariyan right view. Rather, wrong view must be dislodged and the only cause that can effect this is the arising of mundane right view ("there is what is given, there is what is offered...etc."). In effect this means that high attainment in Dhamma is out of the question for those who remain skeptical, agnostic or non-committal regarding the affirmations that constitute mundane right view.

Kammic efficacy and rebirth are part of mundane right view. To reject or doubt rebirth is to suppose that there are some causes that don't yield effects – specifically, that there can be ignorance and craving that will not issue in further becoming. Those of such a view have not understood the conditionality of dhammas even at the intellectual/pariyatti level. To not understand this is to not understand the four noble truths, the three characteristics, or anything else that is of decisive importance in the development of paññā.

If you're interested in this subject then feel free to contribute. If you're not interested then feel free to move on.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 06, 2012 8:12 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
I don't see anyone here asserting a permanent unchanging self. Selflessness accounts for both change and continuity.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:44 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Hedonism can be moderate, i.e. the pursuit of primarily moderate pleasures. Moreover, people who are ascetic renunciates also experience dukkha unless they're arahants.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:17 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
This has already been acknowledged. The only thing I'd add is that even then it's still prudent to consider actions in the context of post-mortem continuity so as to not engage in what is potentially unskillful in that context. MN 60:
With regard to this, an observant person considers thus: 'If there is the next world, then this venerable person — on the breakup of the body, after death — will reappear in a good destination, a heavenly world. Even if we didn't speak of the next world, and there weren't the true statement of those venerable contemplatives &amp; brahmans, this venerable person is still praised in the here-&amp;-now by the observant as a person of good habits &amp; right view: one who holds to a doctrine of existence.' If there really is a next world, then this venerable person has made a good throw twice, in that he is praised by the observant here-&amp;-now; and in that — with the breakup of the body, after death — he will reappear in a good destination, a heavenly world. Thus this safe-bet teaching, when well grasped &amp; adopted by him, covers both sides, and leaves behind the possibility of the unskillful.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:43 am
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
At any rate, in a single lifetime scenario there's no reason to disengage from any hedonistic pleasures as long as one is not causing harm and can rationalize the pleasure to pain ratio in a cost-benefit analysis.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:11 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Thus the view that a continuum of consciousness continues post-mortem to another birth in one of the realms of saṃsāra is simply not denied. This is reasonable and accords with MN 60. However, I think Ven. Ṭhānissaro goes a bit further than this in the previously linked text of his.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:21 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
This text addresses your qualms regarding kamma and rebirth: The Truth of Rebirth And Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice by Ven. Ṭhānissaro.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:13 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
It's not my view. It's the view of every extant Buddhist tradition and lineage.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:01 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
It's necessary for liberation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:33 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Yes. This is also clearly stated in DN 15 as well:
"'From birth as a requisite condition come aging and death.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from birth as a requisite condition come aging and death. If there were no birth at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., of devas in the state of devas, of celestials in the state of celestials, of spirits in the state of spirits, of demons in the state of demons, of human beings in the human state, of quadrupeds in the state of quadrupeds, of birds in the state of birds, of snakes in the state of snakes, or of any being in its own state — in the utter absence of birth, from the cessation of birth, would aging and death be discerned?"

"No, lord."

"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for aging and death, i.e., birth."


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:01 am
Title: Re: Buddhism before Theravada
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:17 am
Title: Re: Zazen and the Jhanas
Content:
You may want to check out this thread on Dharma Wheel: Are the jhanas taught in zen/chan?


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:58 am
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Not taking the texts seriously on their own terms sells the dhammavinaya short. Even in the context of textual analysis alone, sans lineage, Buddhist scholar Lambert Schmithausen sums it up well:
I presuppose that the texts I make use of are to be taken seriously, in the sense that one has to accept that they mean what they say, and that what they mean is reasonable within its own terms.

And at this purely analytical level, without lineage there is no need to believe in the assertions made in the texts nor live by the vinaya precepts. 

But if one is going to actually live by the vinaya precepts and various related prescriptions given in the suttas it is far more reasonable and purposeful to accept the possibility that the assertions made in the texts are true.

Said another way, if a person is intent on maintaining some version of scientific materialism then there are other systems of theory and practice that are more compatible with that sort of agenda than the dhammavinaya.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:56 am
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
That's good. But what I'm referring to is the purpose of the path of renunciation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 6:27 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
If the consequences of craving doesn't include continued birth and death in saṃsāra then it would be far more reasonable to engage in a life of moderate pleasures than to live a life of ascetic renunciation according to the dhammavinaya.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:11 pm
Title: Re: We know about the Dhamma because of the suttas.
Content:
I don't know how you assess it, but I consider the teachings on anatta to be definitive and everything else to be provisional. 

However, just because I consider something to be provisional doesn't mean I think it should be dismissed or rejected. Without the provisional, fabricated path there is no way to realize the unfabricated goal.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:06 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Feel free to start a new thread if you like. 

I'm not sure how much I care to add but it's usually interesting to hear what you and others think.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:46 pm
Title: Re: Is hell and hungry ghost realm to be taken literally?
Content:
Not only is this interpretation not supported by the suttas, without the view that consciousness continues post-mortem to another birth in one of the realms of saṃsāra the dhammavinaya becomes untenable as a meaningful way to live one's life and something akin to Epicureanism would be far more reasonable.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:32 pm
Title: Re: We know about the Dhamma because of the suttas.
Content:
Yes. And?...


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:48 am
Title: Re: We know about the Dhamma because of the suttas.
Content:
Yes, in terms of traditional Buddhist hermeneutics this distinction is between sutta statements that are already fully drawn out, explicit, and definitive (nītattha) and those that are provisional (neyyattha). But alongside this analysis there needs to be consideration of the body of texts that are to serve as authentic scriptural authorities and the criteria that are to be used to establish what qualifies as definitive or provisional.

Personally I consider the four main Nikāyas and the sutta sections of the fifth Nikāya to be authentic scriptural authorities (as well as the surviving non-Pāli collections and fragments of collections that parallel these discourses) and I consider the teachings on anatta to be definitive and all other teachings to be provisional.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Dec 04, 2012 7:49 am
Title: Re: We know about the Dhamma because of the suttas.
Content:
The four main Nikāyas and the sutta sections of the fifth Nikāya display a remarkable degree of internal consistency. I've yet to see an argument regarding inauthenticity that amounts to anything significant. Most such claims are rooted in the biases of the author's own worldview or doctrinal assumptions.

The general advice offered in the suttas is to (i) maintain appropriate ethical conduct, (ii) go to a secluded place to reflect of the teachings and calm the mind, (iii) develop discernment into impermanence, etc., in order to further induce dispassion and letting go of attachments.

The teachings and meditation methods are all means to an end -- liberation from passion, aggression, and delusion. The apparent diversity of methods and inclusiveness of practices illustrated in the Pāli Nikāyas is oriented towards this goal, either directly or indirectly. Methods and practices are provisional, and as long as the application of the practice supports the lessening and eventual elimination of passion, aggression, and delusion, it accords with the Buddha's dhamma.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:23 pm
Title: Re: Metteyya Buddha/Golden Buddha/Medicine Buddha/Crown Buddha
Content:
Very nice.  

Thank you Yawares.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Dec 03, 2012 4:50 am
Title: Re: Seventeen thought moments
Content:
Yes, the theory of momentariness is absent from the Abhidhammapiṭaka. David Kalupahana, Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis:
It is significant that the Abhidhamma pitaka of the Theravadins makes no mention of either the theory of atoms or the theory of moments. They are certainly not found in either the Pali Nikayas or the Chinese Agamas.

Buddhaghosa seems to have acknowledged this as well. Kalupahana continues:
In his commentary on the Dhammasangani, Buddhaghosa makes a very important remark regarding the theory of moments. He says: "Herein, the continued present (santatipaccuppanna) finds mention in the commentaries (atthakatha); the enduring or long present (addhapaccuppanna) in the discourses (sutta). Some say that the thought existing in the momentary present (khanapaccuppanna) becomes the object of telepathic insight" (DhsA, p. 421). According to this statement, it was 'some people' (keci) who spoke about the momentary present; it was found neither in the discourses nor in the commentaries preserved at the Mahavihara which Buddhaghosa was using for his own commentaries in Pali.

Of course, this hasn't stopped people from reading a theory of momentariness into the Abhidhammapiṭaka.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:07 pm
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Well, there are a number of different Mahāyāna traditions so it's important to not generalize too much. But I don't think that this is the case with the traditions that I'm most familiar with.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:45 am
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Because liberation in this sense has little concern with "the unconditioned uncaused undisturbed is-ness that is all-pervading and immanent in all ever-changing phenomena." That is quite irrelevant. Oceanic samādhi type experiences can be interesting, even transformative to varying degrees, but from the perspective of the pre-Mahāyāna teachings that isn't the main point.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:46 am
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
The Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha is a 14th century compendium of Indian philosophical schools (Buddhism is #2) written by a Vedānta author. The translation is dated but it's of some interest if you like reading dusty old books. There are probably other sources online that are easier to read and understand but I don't know of any.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:33 am
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Most of the Indian philosophical schools are considered Ātmavāda, except the Buddhists and the materialists. That is, all of the others schools posit a existent self (i.e. soul).


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:14 am
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Yes, there's a lot that could be said on this subject (but this forum isn't the proper place for it). At any rate, the main Indian Mahāyāna versions of Buddhist hermeneutics treat negations as definitive and affirmations as conventional and provisional.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:07 pm
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
In the Nikāyas &amp; Āgamas no transcendent or innate self-nature is ever affirmed. And I'm not saying this as some sort of dogmatic fundamentalist. It's simply not a part of the view expressed in these texts which are almost exclusively apophatic when describing what awakened awareness is like. The Buddha and other speakers in these texts are far more concerned with teaching the path than in describing the fruition of that path. In this sense the Nikāyas are almost the reverse of the Mahāyāna sūtras, which like to go on about awakening at great length.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:04 pm
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
I mean a self that would be:

1. not prone to dis-ease
2. fully self-determining (be in complete autonomous control of itself)
3. permanent
4. satisfactory

These four criteria can easily be inferred from the dialogue in SN 22.59.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:34 am
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Well, I'm not so sure of that. Worldlings can be "psychologically healthy" by societal standards, yet still hold any number of different identity views that are rejected in the Nikāyas, including views of a permanent unchanging self or soul. A stream entrant, on the other hand, has abandoned identity views, yet still has the underlying tendency of "I am."

Another point you mentioned previously about your concerns regarding "no self": The psychological self-structure doesn't fill the criteria of a "self" in the Nikāyas, therefore I think it's fine to say that the Buddha taught that there is no self. The only caveat I would add is that this isn't something to be dogmatically clung to either.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:55 pm
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Anatta has been misrepresented both in the direction of over-negation and in the opposite direction of under-negation. Again, anatta negates a permanent, unchanging Self, not the impermanent, changeable, developmental self-structure that is a necessary part of healthy psychological development. No aspect of this latter developmental structure is a permanent unchanging Self. Therefore, no part of it should be grasped at or clung to as a means of salvation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:23 pm
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
Right. The ego isn't what is being negated by the recognition of anatta. Hence, Jack Engler's phrase: "You have to be somebody before you can be nobody."


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Nov 30, 2012 11:54 am
Title: Re: Worried about Demons/Asuras
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Nov 30, 2012 11:41 am
Title: Re: Dhammakaya replaces "anatta" with "atta" in their Tipitaka!
Content:
This is nothing new. Non-Buddhist yogis have been making this same mistaken identification for centuries. It's rooted in a type of wrong view described in DN 2:
That which is called "the eye," "the ear," "the nose," "the tongue," and "the body" — that self is impermanent, unstable, non-eternal, subject to change. But that which is called "mind" (citta) or "mentality" (mano) or "consciousness" (viññāṇa) — that self is permanent, stable, eternal, not subject to change, and it will remain the same just like eternity itself.

DN 15 gives instructions on how to analyze and begin to see through this kind of self-view.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Nov 30, 2012 11:30 am
Title: Re: NO self
Content:
What the recognition of anatta negates is a permanent, unchanging Self. This recognition doesn't preclude the use of pronouns as expedient conventional expressions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:45 pm
Title: Re: Chakras
Content:
There are complete Buddhist systems of practice in the Indo-Tibetan traditions that integrate breathing practices, body work, chakras, subtle energies, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:52 pm
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
I consider your understanding of causes and conditions to be inadequate and completely unsupported by the Pāli suttas, the Theravāda commentaries, and the Buddhist epistemological tradition of Dignāga &amp; Dharmakīrti, et al.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:01 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
I never said it was. And the phrase "literal rebirth" merely serves to set up a straw man argument in the context of this discussion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:13 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
You simply don't know.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:22 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
So you reject the sutta interpretation and inferences used by Buddhaghosa, Dharmakīrti, et al, yet you cannot disprove their interpretations.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:01 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
So are you asserting that the "death of a mental continuum" is not a "complete termination" of a mental continuum?


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 5:42 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Specifically, without recourse to analogy, what causes the complete termination of a mental continuum?


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 5:30 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Specifically, without recourse to analogy, how does your view differ from the following from DN 2 Sāmaññaphala Sutta:
The person is composed of the four great elements; when he dies, earth returns and goes back to the element of earth, water returns and goes back to the element of water, fire returns and goes back to the element of fire, wind returns and goes back to the element of wind, while the senses disappear into space.... Fools and wise alike are destroyed and perish at the breaking up of the body, they do not exist after death.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:58 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Fallacious argument.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:13 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
No, it isn't. Just as you can't step into the same river twice, you can't experience the same mental continuum twice.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:15 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:
Firstly, momentariness doesn't preclude the continuation of a mental continuum, either during this life or post-mortem. Secondly, while it is ultimately true that there is no Self, it is conventionally expedient to refer to a particular mental continuum at any given moment during one lifetime as referring to a particular person. This latter mode of speaking doesn't contradict the Buddhist teachings on selflessness because it is merely a conventional expression.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:14 am
Title: Re: the great rebirth debate
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:36 pm
Title: Re: Chakras
Content:
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. However, there are Buddhist yogis in this world who are remarkable monks and exceptional meditators and are living examples of the effectiveness of trulkhor, tsalung, and tummo practices.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:17 am
Title: Re: Why Can't We Agree on ANYTHING?
Content:
In general.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:01 pm
Title: Re: Chakras
Content:
There are no sacred cows in Buddhism, and that includes your sacred cow of a pristine, early Buddhism fully explicated in the suttas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:57 pm
Title: Re: Chakras
Content:
Yep, I've read his books. I'm not dismissing his work or being arbitrary. I said that it isn't authoritative or comprehensive, specifically, in the context of Buddhist systems of yoga.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Nov 20, 2012 7:50 pm
Title: Re: Chakras
Content:
Not very authoritative or comprehensive sources. Little wonder your knowledge of the subject revolves around "mummy dust and crazy ideas."


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Nov 17, 2012 6:45 pm
Title: Re: Why Can't We Agree on ANYTHING?
Content:
It doesn't really matter what other people say or do. It's your thoughts, words, and deeds that are important for your development.

I suggest reading a few verses from the Suttanipāta, the Dhammapada, the Theragāthā, or the Therīgāthā every day to inspire and orient the mind. Then engage in a regular meditation practice for 20-30 years. That's probably a pretty decent start.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Nov 15, 2012 3:49 pm
Title: Re: Concentration vs Mindfulness in the Visuddhimagga
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:45 pm
Title: Re: “Skillful Means” and the rhetoric of Mahāyāna proselytism
Content:
Also related:

Skillful Means: The Heart of Buddhist Compassion by John Schroeder.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Nov 11, 2012 12:33 pm
Title: Re: Variations in the meditation practices of early Buddhists
Content:
See this thread for links to sources on a number of ancient meditation manuals preserved in Chinese translation, mostly related to Sarvāstivāda: Chanjing Meditation Manuals.

And here's a copy of the so-called Yogāvacara's Manual. For context on this text see Tantric Theravāda and Aspects of Esoteric Southern Buddhism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Nov 10, 2012 8:53 pm
Title: Re: Why Can't We Agree on ANYTHING?
Content:
Consensus isn't necessary, and should definitely not be desired.

However, orthopraxy is terms of vinaya is to a certain degree required for the ordained sangha.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Nov 07, 2012 11:59 am
Title: Re: Why is Satipatthana emphasized over Anapanasati?
Content:
The practices offered in the Pāli canon are far more numerous and diverse than either satipaṭṭhāna vipassanā or ānāpānassati. Ven. Bodhi, The Four Protective Meditations:
For American Buddhists, the Theravada tradition has become so narrowly identified with the style of meditation called “vipassana” that those who practice in this tradition often describe themselves simply as “vipassana practitioners,” discarding the name “Theravada” and even “Buddhism” as Asian accretions to a secular discipline of mindfulness. Others, better acquainted with the Pali canon, assume that the Buddha’s core instructions on meditation are all contained in his “Discourse on the Establishment of Mindfulness” (Satipatthana Sutta) and thus seldom look beyond this text for guidance. If, however, we study the Buddha’s discourses in breadth, we would find that they offer a wide range of meditation subjects, many of which have received scant attention in this country. These constitute a potent battery of spiritual disciplines designed for people with diverse aptitudes and inclinations.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:58 am
Title: Re: Why I am not a Buddhist
Content:
Yes, and this doesn't preclude post-mortem good and bad outcomes. Nor does it preclude engaging in recollection of the gods in order to inspire the mind and develop skillful mental qualities. For example, AN 11.12 Paṭhamamahānāma Sutta:
Furthermore, you should recollect the devas: 'There are the devas of the Four Great Kings, the devas of the Thirty-three, the devas of the Hours, the Contented Devas, the devas who delight in creation, the devas who have power over the creations of others, the devas of Brahma's retinue, the devas beyond them. Whatever conviction they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of conviction is present in me as well. Whatever virtue they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of virtue is present in me as well. Whatever learning they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of learning is present in me as well. Whatever generosity they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of generosity is present in me as well. Whatever discernment they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of discernment is present in me as well.' At any time when a disciple of the noble ones is recollecting the conviction, virtue, learning, generosity, and discernment found both in himself and the devas, his mind is not overcome with passion, not overcome with aversion, not overcome with delusion. His mind heads straight, based on the [qualities of the] devas. And when the mind is headed straight, the disciple of the noble ones gains a sense of the goal, gains a sense of the Dhamma, gains joy connected with the Dhamma. In one who is joyful, rapture arises. In one who is rapturous, the body grows calm. One whose body is calmed experiences ease. In one at ease, the mind becomes concentrated.

Of one who does this, Mahanama, it is said: 'Among those who are out of tune, the disciple of the noble ones dwells in tune; among those who are malicious, he dwells without malice; having attained the stream of Dhamma, he develops the recollection of the devas.'


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:33 am
Title: Re: Why I am not a Buddhist
Content:
I'd suggest that a more pertinent question is where did he pick up his scientific materialism? The most important aspects of the noble path can't be known through the five senses.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Oct 24, 2012 3:56 am
Title: Re: MN 117: a counterfeit
Content:
"Early" and "authentic" according to whom?


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:14 am
Title: Re: Mother, how will I know when it's real jhana?
Content:
Well, I think it all fits together quite fine, providing that one remains moderate and doesn't get carried away by either commentarial or modern revisionist extremes.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:18 pm
Title: Re: Mother, how will I know when it's real jhana?
Content:
In the Abhidhammapiṭaka, which predates the commentarial use of sabhāva language, nirodhasamāpatti doesn't play any significant part in the path of awakening. Moreover, the Theravāda has never accepted that nirodhasamāpatti is asaṅkhata because that would mean that there are two asaṅkhata-s, and that a produced meditative state is asaṅkhata, and that nirodhasamāpatti would have the same liberating role as the supramundane paths and fruitions, and so on. This is a specific point of controversy in the Kathāvatthu, where all of these alternatives are rejected (see Points of Controversy, pp. 190-91).


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:08 am
Title: Re: Mother, how will I know when it's real jhana?
Content:
Sorry, but your equations are a bit off. The cessation attainment (nirodhasamāpatti) is neither fabricated (saṅkhata) nor not-fabricated (asaṅkhata), but it is produced (nipphanna) and not unproduced (anipphanna). Therefore it has no correspondence with the asaṅkhatā dhātu. Moreover, there is no occurrence of consciousness during the cessation attainment, therefore no perception or knowledge. This is why the cessation attainment plays no direct role in the attainment of the supramundane paths and fruitions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:37 pm
Title: Re: Mother, how will I know when it's real jhana?
Content:
In keeping with the Kathāvatthu, the Visuddhimagga maintains that the cessation of perception and feeling, which is also called cessation attainment (nirodhasamāpatti), is neither supramundane nor not-conditioned (asaṅkhata). Visuddhimagga 23.52:
As to the question: Is the attainment of cessation formed or unformed, etc.? It is not classifiable as formed or unformed, mundane or supramundane. Why? Because it has no individual essence. But since it comes to be attained by one who attains it, it is therefore permissible to say that it is produced, not unproduced.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Oct 20, 2012 9:07 pm
Title: Re: Mother, how will I know when it's real jhana?
Content:
The arahant path and fruition can occur after emerging from the attainment of cessation of perception and feeling, but even among arahants it's a path less traveled. The suttas tell us that in the Buddha's day there were more arahants liberated through discernment than those who were liberated both ways etc., and there's no reason to think that this situation changed later. E.g. SN 8.7 Pavāraṇā Sutta, informs us that of 500 arahants present on that occasion, 60 had triple knowledge, 60 had the six higher gnoses, 60 were liberated both ways (ubhatobhāgavimuttā, meaning jhānas &amp; formless attainments), and the rest were liberated through discernment (paññāvimuttā). Liberation through discernment doesn't require the development of the formless attainments or the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling.

Moreover, for stream-entry, etc., the supramundane path arises immediately after a desire sphere cognition (kāmāvacara citta) conjoined with appropriate developmental qualities and knowledge.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:49 pm
Title: Re: Mother, how will I know when it's real jhana?
Content:
The cessation of perception and feeling is not the same as nibbāna.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:48 am
Title: Re: How Theravada is Theravada? Exploring Buddhist Identities
Content:
The Dīpavaṃsa:
Seventeen are the schismatic sects, and there is one that is not schismatic; together with that which is not schismatic, they are eighteen in all. That of the Theravādins, which is even like a great banyan tree, is the most excellent: the complete teaching of the Conqueror, free from omissions or admissions.


The Kathāvatthu commentary:
In that second century only two schools seceded from the Theravāda: the (1) Mahiṃsāsakas and the (2) Vajjiputtakas.

Now seceding from the Vajjiputtakas four other schools arose: the (3) Dhammuttariyas, the (4) Bhadrayānikas, the (5) Channāgarikas and the (6) Saṃmitiyas. Again, in that second century, seceding from the Mahiṃsāsakas, two schools arose: the (7) Sabbatthivādins and the (8) Dhammaguttikas. Then again, falling off from the Sabbatthivādins, arose the (9) Kassapikas. And the Kassapikas splitting up, the (10) Saṅkantikas came into existence. The Saṅkantikas splitting up, there arose the (11) Suttavādins. Thus, falling off from the Theravādins, arose these eleven schools. These together with the Theravādins were twelve.


Also, the 12th century northern Indian author Daśabalaśrīmitra refers to the Sthaviras and quotes extensively from the Vimuttimagga which he states is the "Āgama of the Ārya-Sthavira-nikāya." And the 19th century Tibetan author Jamgön Kongtrül also mentions the Sthaviras by name and, relying on Vinītadeva's Nikāyabhedopadeśasaṃgraha, also states that the "Jetavanīyas, Abhayagirikas, and Mahāvihārins are the [three] Sthaviras."


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:54 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
I acknowledge the theories regarding stratification, and generally accept that their was historical development of Buddhist ideas. However, I don't accept that we can know with any degree of certainty just how and when those developments occurred, and I definitely don't accept that they were all deviations from an earlier pristine teaching. The entire enterprise of historical textual analysis is too imprecise and speculative to warrant a central position in the understanding and practice of the Buddhadhamma.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 26, 2012 1:17 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Again, I'm not limiting this to Theravāda Abhidhamma. I'm talking about a pan-Buddhist worldview regarding such things as kamma, merit, rebirth, multiple realms, the supremacy of the Buddha, conditioned arising, the aggregates, sense spheres, elements, four noble truths, etc., etc. These general principles are common to all extant Buddhist traditions, yet on this DW Forum we see discussions impeded by members who are unwilling to accept well established definitions of Buddhist terms and general Buddhist principles, often by appealing to some version of an Early Buddhism thesis.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:20 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The general Buddhist principles and training precepts that are given in the Tipiṭaka live in the shared thought-world of millions of Buddhists around the world today. Even the more advanced doctrinal aspects would be recognizable for an educated Tibetan geshe or Chinese, Korean, or Japanese Abhidharma specialist.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:28 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
For goodness sake, I'm not insisting that anyone is required to believe in anything. I'm talking about accurately representing the Theravāda teachings on this Theravāda Forum. Period. What you do with those teachings is your business.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 3:59 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
You can look at them -- there's no shortage of people who are doing just that -- but if you want to avoid all kinds of novel interpretations it is most helpful to refer to the Niddesa, Paṭisambhidāmagga, Vibhaṅga, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:47 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
You're the one who's throwing around Buddhist terms willy-nilly in support of your thesis that the suttas don't require reference to systematic commentary.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:35 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Well, this is also speculative, but it's possible that there were different teaching styles used by different community leaders and it's also possible that oral commentary (either given to a group or individually) was less systematic and more open to unique, individual interpretations than what we find in the formal versions of the highly systematic exegetical texts.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:20 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Epistemologically, bodhi refers to types of knowledge, nibbāna refers to an object of knowledge, and vimutti is the soteriological result of realizing that knowledge.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:12 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:11 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Bodhi, nibbāna, and vimutti do not have identical meanings.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:30 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
I relied on the Peṭakopadesa, Nettippakaraṇa, Paṭisambhidāmagga, and Vimuttimagga when writing that.

At any rate, the assumptions of Western secularism are also open to skeptical criticism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:24 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Your secular prejudices are obvious.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:58 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Again, this thread pertains to the practice of the perfections in order to attain unsurpassable perfect awakening (anuttarāsammāsambodhi).


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:51 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
These passages are good examples illustrating that the suttas are not comprehensive, systematic presentations.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:08 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Can you please provide a reference?


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:22 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
A buddha teaches the sāvaka path. A buddha is an example for how to develop the mahābodhiyāna if one so chooses. Different vehicles, different levels of practice, different realization of knowledges.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:39 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Then your conclusion has no historical lineage, and is your own conception of the Buddha based on your interpretation of the Pāli suttas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:20 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Okay then, which Buddhist school accepts your conclusion?


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:59 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Of course you are re-inventing the Buddha -- making a Buddha that's more compatible with your world view.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:01 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
I've already answered this question: The suttas were never intended to provide a systematic analysis of every aspect of the dhamma. That is what the Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Peṭakopadesa, and the Nettippakaraṇa are for. Trying to analyze and comment on the suttas without recourse to these texts is like groping around in the dark. This type of interpretive approach is probably the single biggest problem occurring within the context of Theravāda Buddhism today.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:27 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
A mahābodhisatta is concerned with the long term development of the pāramīs in order to realize sammāsambodhi, not the elimination of the āsavas during this dispensation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:38 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
And how do you know this? The Theravāda tradition maintains that it's referring to omniscience. The Theravāda tradition also commonly explains that omniscience is one of the definitions of the term bodhi. Moreover, all Buddhist traditions maintain that the Buddha was omniscient and that this is one of the qualities that differentiates a Buddha's awakening from that of an arahant disciple. You're attempting to reject a foundational Buddhist tenet that's well over 2000 years old, considered important enough to be included in the Pāli canon, as well as in Ven. Walpola Rahula's Basic Points Unifying the Theravāda and the Mahāyāna which was unanimously approved at the First Congress of the World Buddhist Sangha Council.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:20 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Yet you have made definitive statements as though your opinion was truly established and incontrovertible....


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:18 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Your inability to locate sutta references which explicitly state that a buddha's awakening is qualitatively different from that of an arahant disciple is insufficient to establish your conclusion that: "The "enlightenment" -- bodhi -- of the arahant is no different from that of the Buddha." In short: you haven't proven anything.

Your obstinate unwillingness to simply acknowledge that your conclusion is both speculative and novel is rather hilarious.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:42 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Sure it does. But given that you don't accept the Pāli Tipiṭaka as an authoritative source of knowledge there is no basis for meaningful discussion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 17, 2012 4:17 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
"Dance with the one that brung ya." If one is practicing within the Theravāda then the Tipiṭaka is a source of refuge.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:17 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The suttas are not a comprehensive, systematic presentation of the dhamma, and there is no evidence that they were ever meant to be. Moreover, there is no evidence that the suttas were ever meant to be understood without recourse to further commentary (oral, then later, written commentary).

The only advantage of excluding the rest of the Tipiṭaka and trying to rely exclusively on the suttas is that this allows one to pursue and develop any novel pet-theory that they wish. Theories that appeal to the notion of a more pristine pre-Tipiṭaka "Early Buddhism" are speculative, and such speculations only exist in people's imaginations.

The Theravāda tradition is the only Buddhist tradition that has managed to retain and transmit it's entire Tipiṭaka, well edited and preserved in an Indic language. Without the significant efforts of Theravāda monastics we'd now be trying to piece together the dhammavinaya from fragmentary collections of different schools, much of which is only available in Chinese translation. Moreover, the Theravāda offers the best opportunity to continue to introduce and maintain monastic Buddhism in the West. Preservation, translation, and engagement with the entire Tipiṭaka is an important part of this transmission.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:00 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
It's a simple point of fact relevant to the issue at hand: You reject the Paṭisambhidāmagga and commentarial explanations of the buddha-knowledges, therefore you have a problem with the commentaries. To be unwilling to acknowledge this would be a sign of duplicity.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:57 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
You obviously do have a problem with the commentaries, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:45 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
You're just playing the tired sutta-only game that you decry in other instances.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:14 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The Pāli Nikāyas explicitly relate the narratives of previous buddhas. Arahant disciples don't rediscover the dhamma and start a dispensation. It's quite reasonable, even necessary, for the tradition to specify the distinctions between buddhas and arahant disciples as they have, whether you're willing to acknowledge it or not.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:53 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Your opinion has a very strong odor of anti-bodhisattvayāna polemics....


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:44 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Yes. It's explained in A Treatise on the Pāramīs by the Theravāda commentator Ācariya Dhammapāla.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:36 pm
Title: Re: The Other Mindfulness Meditations
Content:
Enough of the major Pāli treatises have been translated into English, but most of them primarily deal with issues other than practical meditation instructions. With regard to you initial question, as Alex has already mentioned, the most complete presentation of practice instructions on each of those meditation subjects is found in the Visuddhimagga. Another interesting little text which deals with the contemplations from the Girimānanda Sutta is The Girimānanda Sutta: Ten Contemplations with the Commentary from the Sāratthasamuccaya.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:20 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
That message of liberation has always remained intact in the Theravāda teachings. Indeed, knowledge of each of the four noble truths results in elimination of the outflows (āsavakkhaya), but I think there's reason enough to tacitly accept the traditional understanding that the elimination of the outflows alone isn't sufficient to give rise to an entire dispensation of dhammavinaya. Thus, the Buddha's awakening required more prior development of the faculties and resulted in greater knowledge than just the knowledge of elimination (khayeñāṇa).


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 9:58 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
That isn't an answer. I'll ask again: What do you propose this knowledge described in AN 4.24 is the result of? AN 4.24:
Whatever in the cosmos — with its devas, Maras, &amp; Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives &amp; brahmans, their royalty &amp; common people — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: That I directly know.

What do you propose this ability to know others' faculties is the result of? SN 6.1:
Then the Blessed One, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 9:12 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Interesting.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 9:11 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The distinction of your second point has been highlighted by the Theravāda (and most every other Buddhist tradition) as an important part of the Buddha's awakening. These qualities are specific knowledges unique to the Buddha. The Paṭisambhidāmagga describes six such knowledges:
[1] What is the Perfect One's knowledge of penetration of others' faculties (indriyaparopariyatta ñāṇa)?

Here the Perfect One (tathāgata) sees beings as with little dust on their eyes, as with much dust on their eyes, as with keen faculties, as with dull faculties, as of good parts, as of bad parts, as easy to instruct, as hard to instruct, and also some who see fear in the other world and in what is censurable, and also some who see no fear in the other world and in what is censurable....

[2] What is the Perfect One's knowledge of beings' biasses and underlying tendencies (āsayānusaya ñāṇa)?

Here the Perfect One knows beings' biasses, he knows their underlying tendencies, he knows their behaviour, he knows their resolutions, he knows beings as capable and incapable....

[3] What is the Perfect One's knowledge of the Twin Metamorphosis (yamakapāṭihīra ñāṇa)?

Here the Perfect One performs the Twin Metamorphosis, which is not shared by disciples. He produces a mass of fire from the upper part of his body and a shower of water from the lower part of his body: he produces a mass of fire from the lower part of his body and a shower of water from the upper part of his body....

[4] What is the Perfect One's knowledge of the attainment of the Great Compassion (mahākaruṇāsamāpattiyā ñāṇa)?

Upon the Enlightened Ones, the Blessed Ones, who see in many aspects, there descends the Great Compassion for beings.

[5 &amp; 6] What is the Perfect One's omniscient knowledge (sabbaññutaññāṇa [&amp; anāvaraṇañāṇa])?

It knows without exception all that is formed and unformed, thus it is omniscient knowledge: it is without obstruction there, thus it is unobstructed knowledge.

These are just short excerpts. The Psm. describes and explains all of the above in considerable detail. The Paṭisambhidāmagga continues:
There are fourteen kinds of Enlightened One's knowledge... Of these fourteen kinds of Enlightened One's knowledge, eight are shared by disciples and six are not shared by disciples.

The first eight of these are knowledge of each if the four noble truths and knowledge of each of the four kinds of analytical understanding (paṭisambhidā). The latter six are those listed above.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:58 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Are you suggesting that oral commentary which was not included in the sutta collections didn't exist at that time? I think that scenario is rather unlikely.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:08 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
A noteworthy passage from the sutta:
Lending ear, he hears the Dhamma. Hearing the Dhamma, he remembers it. Remembering it, he penetrates the meaning of those dhammas. Penetrating the meaning, he comes to an agreement through pondering those dhammas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 6:58 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
It's a simple question: Do you yourself have direct knowledge of what the Buddha is referring to in this passage from AN 4.24, yes or no?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 6:13 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The term used in SN 6.1 is buddhacakkhu. If SN 6.1 were referring to the divine eye, why wouldn't it explicitly say so, given that the divine eye is a specific type of higher knowledge described in detail elsewhere in the suttas?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:14 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Okay, so what do you propose this knowledge described in AN 4.24 is the result of? AN 4.24:
Whatever in the cosmos — with its devas, Maras, &amp; Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives &amp; brahmans, their royalty &amp; common people — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: That I directly know.

What do you propose this ability to know others' faculties is the result of? SN 6.1:
Then the Blessed One, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:43 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Your penchant for textual literalism on this issue is both amusing and rather ironic, given that you vehemently object to criticisms of Burmese Vipassanā that employ the strategy of rejecting it because terms such as "momentary concentration" or the technique of "labeling" aren't explicitly stated in the suttas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:34 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
There is no Buddhist tradition which denies that omniscience was a part of the Buddha's awakening.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:32 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Except for the distinction between the nibbāna component with fuel remaining (saupādisesa nibbānadhātu) and the nibbāna component with no fuel remaining (anupādisesa nibbānadhātu), the Theravāda tradition has always maintained that there are not.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:55 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
I'll expand my criteria just for you Dave: The only rebuttal necessary is to point out that tiltbillings' analysis contradicts the Paṭisambhidāmagga as well as every extant Buddhist tradition.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:31 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The only rebuttal necessary is to point out that your analysis contradicts the Paṭisambhidāmagga, which is an authoritative, canonical Theravāda text.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:24 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
No, there isn't. But the caveat is that any conclusions that diverge significantly from the received tradition are speculative at best.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:23 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The suttas are not a comprehensive, systematic presentation of the dhamma, and there is no evidence that they were ever meant to be. Moreover, there is no evidence that the suttas were ever meant to be understood without recourse to further commentary (oral, then later, written commentary). The four great references don't address these issues at all.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:14 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Given that this is a Theravāda forum it's entirely reasonable to give preference to these texts, and if you choose to disagree with what they have to offer then the onus is entirely upon you to demonstrate why they are mistaken and you are not.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:23 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
I have offered several criticisms, supported by references, but they all relate to one central criticism: Your premise that dhamma principles can be sufficiently analyzed by exclusively relying on sutta strata materials is faulty.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:15 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The four great references set a standard for excluding new ideas that would not be supported by the sutta and vinaya materials. They don't establish criteria for commenting upon and developing what is already present in these collections, whereas the Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Peṭakopadesa, and the Nettippakaraṇa do.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:25 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Stop posting your novel opinions on the Discovering Theravāda forum.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:13 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
One person who has voiced that conclusion. You've presented this argument to a number of questioners. Again, it's more balanced and appropriate to set out the canonical Theravāda viewpoint on a subject, especially to new people inquiring about Theravāda Buddhism, even if one doesn't agree with some of the details.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:39 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
If you're referring to his Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas paper, it's incomplete. For example, any analysis of "pre-sectarian period" ideas needs to include the relevant non-Pāli sources. And in this case sources from the Mahāsāṃghika side might contain some interesting material. 

But more importantly, even if a thorough study were to be done, I suspect that text-critical analysis of the sutta strata materials is an insufficient tool to tell us what the Buddha actually thought about himself, his awakening, and his place in history.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:36 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
It's the conclusion that Darwid came to, after having lengthy discussions of this subject with you. It's far more balanced and appropriate to set out the canonical Theravāda viewpoint on a subject, especially to new people inquiring about Theravāda Buddhism, even if one doesn't agree with some of the details.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:13 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Yes -- plural. You've presented this opinion on threads in the Discovering Theravāda forum as well.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:52 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Then it might be prudent and certainly more balanced to explain to questioners what the Theravāda teaches instead of hitting them with your opinion that "The "enlightenment" -- bodhi -- of the arahant is no different from that of the Buddha," as if this were truly established. Then questioners might not come away mistakenly thinking that the distinctions between the three types of bodhi is a "taboo" subject.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:35 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Already addressed: AN 4.24 implicitly accounts for the stage of omniscience (sabbaññutabhūmi). SN 6.1 implicitly accounts for the knowledge of degrees of maturity in the faculties of sentient beings (indriyaparopariyattañāṇa) and the knowledge of the dispositions and underlying tendencies of sentient beings (āsayānusayañāṇa). 

Both explanations are straight out of the Theravāda commentaries on the suttas, and in addition to what was offered from the canonical Psm here, renders your opinion that, "The "enlightenment" -- bodhi -- of the arahant is no different from that of the Buddha," an example of modernist secular revisionism that has no precedent in the history of Theravāda Buddhism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:33 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
For a sāvaka disciple, yes.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:35 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
One can quite rightly infer from this passage, when taken in conjunction with the passages supplied here, that the knowledge and other aptitudes required to give rise to the path previously unarisen is necessarily more extensive than that required by a sāvaka to follow the path to the point of fruition once it has been disclosed and taught in detail. This is precisely what every Buddhist tradition has concluded from the content of the Nikāyas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:14 am
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
I don't know if Luang Phor Jahm teaches on this subject or not. You could PM Ajahn Gavesako to see if he has any more information.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:54 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
The safe bet would be to keep practicing the perfections to the best of one's abilities. There are living Theravāda monks who are considered to be bodhisattas. For example, Ajahn Gavesako mentions having met Luang Phor Jahm in north-east Thailand in 2011:
We stayed at the monastery of Luang Por Jahm nearby; he is 101 years old and a disciple of Luang Por Mun, he used to go wandering through the forests with him. He is also reputed to be a practising bodhisatta, cultivating the perfections (parami) in order to become the future Buddha no. 16, for which he apparently already received a prediction in a past life.

Here's a picture of Luang Phor Jahm blessing visitors:


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:45 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Your survey is selective, and doesn't take into account a number of sutta passages as well as various texts in the Khuddakanikāya. Regarding suttas, in the context of knowledge there is AN 4.24:
Monks, whatever in the cosmos — with its devas, Maras, &amp; Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives &amp; brahmans royalty &amp; common people — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: That do I know. Whatever in the cosmos — with its devas, Maras, &amp; Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives &amp; brahmans, their royalty &amp; common people — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: That I directly know. That has been realized by the Tathagata, but in the Tathagata it has not been established.

And SN 56.31:
[T]hose things that I have known with direct knowledge but have not taught are far more numerous [than what I have taught].

And in the context of penetrating others' faculties, dispositions, and underlying tendencies, there is SN 6.1:
Then the Blessed One, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world.

And in the context of physical qualities, MN 91:
The report that has been spread about Master Gotama is true, sir, and not otherwise; and Master Gotama is one such as this and not otherwise. He possesses the thirty-two marks of a Great Man.

Master Gotama sets his foot down squarely — this is a mark of a Great Man in Master Gotama. On the soles of his feet there are wheels with a thousand spokes and ribs and hubs all complete … He has projecting heels … He has long fingers and toes … His hands and feet are soft and tender … He has netted hands and feet … His feet are arched … He has legs like an antelope's … When he stands without stooping, the palms of both his hands touch and rub against his knees … His male organ is enclosed in a sheath … He is the colour of gold, his skin has a golden sheen … He is fine-skinned, and because of the fineness of his skin, dust and dirt do not stick on his body … His body-hairs grow singly, each body-hair growing alone in a hair socket … The tips of his body-hairs turn up; the up-turned body-hairs are blue-black, the colour of collyrium, curled and turned to the right … He has the straight limbs of a Brahma … He has seven convexities … He has the torso of a lion … The furrow between his shoulders is filled in … He has the spread of a banyan tree; the span of his arms equals the height of his body, and the height of his body equals the span of his arms … His neck and his shoulders are even … His taste is supremely acute … He is lion-jawed … He has forty teeth … His teeth are even … His teeth are without gaps … His teeth are quite white … He has a large tongue … He has a divine voice, like the call of the Karavika bird … His eyes are deep blue … He has the eyelashes of an ox … He has hair growing in the space between his eyebrows, which is white with the sheen of soft cotton … His head is shaped like a turban - this is a mark of a Great Man in Master Gotama. Master Gotama is endowed with these thirty-two marks of a Great Man.

These are just a few examples, without even taking into consideration passages from the Khuddakanikāya, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:00 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Your interpretation of the suttas may paint a bit of a different picture. If so, your interpretation differs from that of the ancient Theravāda tradition.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:01 pm
Title: Re: Path to Buddhahood
Content:
Yes, a buddha's awakening is unsurpassable and perfect (anuttarāsammāsambodhi) and surpasses the awakening of a disciple (sāvakabodhi). For example, the Paṭisambhidāmagga explains the following knowledge and abilities that a buddha has developed which are not developed by arahant disciples:
knowledge of the penetration of other beings' faculties
knowledge of other beings' biases and underlying tendancies
knowledge of the twin miracle*
knowledge of the attainment of great compassion
omniscience &amp; unobstructed knowledge

*i.e. the ability to produce fire and water from various parts of the body, as well as walk amid an aura of colors while a created image of his body sits or lies down, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Sep 03, 2012 5:44 pm
Title: Re: Visualization
Content:
If it helps to inspire and motivate your study and practice then it's skillful and meritorious. Plus, there are some beautiful visionary images in Pāli texts, such as the Buddhāpadāna: The Tradition of the Previous Excellent Deeds of the Buddha, as well as other practices that can include visualization like the Jinapañjara Gāthā. The Theravāda is a rich tradition with many different practices and meditation methods.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:29 pm
Title: Re: Gradual training vs Arupa-jhana
Content:
The formless attainments and cessation attainment play a very minor part in the Abhidhammapiṭaka, and have no direct role in the attainment of the noble paths and fruits. The Theravāda commentarial tradition has also consistently maintained this separation.

As for the closing of the canon, I think it's quite possible that suttas were still being written contemporaneously with the formation of the Abhidhamma system. I also think it's possible that the groups advocating the formless attainments may have been in opposition to those who were developing the Abhidhamma to some degree. If I remember correctly this correlates with what people like Gombrich and Bronkhorst have suggested.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:01 pm
Title: Re: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
According to Buddhaghosa, consciousness (viññāṇa) has the characteristic of knowing/cognizing (vijānana). Cf. MN 43:
"'Consciousness, consciousness': Thus is it said. To what extent, friend, is it said to be 'consciousness'?"

"'It cognizes, it cognizes': Thus, friend, it is said to be 'consciousness.' And what does it cognize? It cognizes 'pleasant.' It cognizes 'painful.' It cognizes 'neither painful nor pleasant.' 'It cognizes, it cognizes': Thus it is said to be 'consciousness.'"

And SN 22.79:
And why, bhikkhus, do you call it consciousness? 'It cognizes,' bhikkhus, therefore it is called consciousness. And what does it cognize? It cognizes sour, it cognizes bitter, it cognizes pungent, it cognizes sweet, it cognizes sharp, it cognizes mild, it cognizes salty, it cognizes bland. 'It cognizes,' bhikkhus, therefore it is called consciousness.

Ven. Bodhi's endnote to this passage from SN 22.79 states, in part:
Usually in the suttas viññāṇa is presented simply as the basic awareness of an object through one of the sense bases, i.e., as bare "consciousness of" rather than as a discriminative capacity. A parallel treatment of viññāṇa at MN I 292,26-29 defines it through its ability to cognize the three types of feelings (pleasant, painful, neutral); this just shifts the problem to that of distinguishing between viññāṇa and vedanā. Hamilton discusses the problem posed by these passages (Identity and Experience, pp. 53-55, 92-93). She offers the helpful suggestion that although viññāṇa is here defined in a way that encroaches upon the domain of saññā, we should understand that saññā does the actual discrimination (of objects at all five senses) while viññāṇa "is the awareness by which we experience every stage of the cognitive process, including the process of discriminating" (p. 92).

You might not consider this satisfactory, but it works.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:00 pm
Title: Nibbana = universal consciousness?
Content:
I reject your interpretation and understanding of the Theravāda and the Mahāyāna. It's really that simple.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:17 am
Title: Re: Reunify the Buddhism, is there any way?
Content:
Indeed.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:36 am
Title: Re: Theravāda Sectarian Attitudes
Content:
Calling into question you understanding of the Nikāyas isn't an ad hom.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:49 pm
Title: Re: Theravāda Sectarian Attitudes
Content:
It might be worth keeping in mind that your perceptions are your perceptions and no one else's. For example, I don't think that your characterization of this thread is accurate.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:20 pm
Title: Re: Theravāda Sectarian Attitudes
Content:
(i) No one knows what the Buddha said. All we have are different collections of records that are claimed to represent what the Buddha said.

(ii) In your attempts to lump nibbāna together with an eternal consciousness you haven't shown much knowledge of what the Buddha is claimed to have said in the Nikāyas.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:06 pm
Title: Re: Theravāda Sectarian Attitudes
Content:
It's like meaningfully differentiating between lung cancer and skin cancer. Both are cancers, but they manifest in different locations and different ways. Similarly, there are different types of sectarian attitudes. That which manifests as Theravāda sectarianism is generally based on a different set of assumptions than, say, what manifests as Sōtō Zen sectarianism, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2012 6:30 am
Title: Re: Similarities of Mahayana and theravada
Content:
Me either.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 19, 2012 3:15 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Sure. You won't get any argument out of me. The Mahāyāna criticisms of sāvakas and arahants are baseless, and the use of pejorative language (i.e. "hīnayāna") is a problem for contemporary Mahāyāna traditions to deal with, not a problem for Theravāda.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 19, 2012 5:16 am
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
I'm guessing that you meant to say "not" instead of "now"?

Anyway, I should have read the entire passage in context. Je Tsongkhapa is referring to aspiration, hence although a hīnayāna aspiration will benefit oneself and leads to happiness, it is still an obstacle for a boddhisattva. The larger context is that he is trying to correlate the three vehicle notion with the one vehicle notion (ekayāna) where all paths eventually lead to buddhahood.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 7:30 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
He's attempting to differentiate between sammāsambodhi and sāvakabodhi.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 7:19 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Yes, Mahāyāna traditions generally have had to resort to various novel syncretic interpretive strategies to try to make a coherent bodhisattva path out of the vast and diverse body of Indian Mahāyāna texts. Meaningful scriptural authority is problematic in this context. Even moreso in this modern era where textual criticism and historical evidences have established that the Mahāyāna texts have no direct link to the historical Buddha. 

However, as far as quality of teachings is concerned, and internal consistency, nothing else comes even close to matching the Pāli Nikāyas. Personally, this is why the Nikāyas are the only corpus of Buddhist discourses that I consider to be authoritative, or am willing to recommend to others without reservation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:45 am
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
This is an over-generalization. The Mahāyāna includes a number of different currents encompassing many historical developments occurring over a thousand year period in India. There are numerous early Mahāyāna texts that don't make this claim at all. Moreover, there are Tibetan &amp; Western authors who interpret Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti as maintaining that a noble disciple has the same discernment of emptiness as an advanced noble bodhisattva.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Aug 17, 2012 4:46 am
Title: Re: Happy Birthday James the Giant!
Content:
Happy birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:34 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Well, again, this is at best a tangential point. I don't need to explain guru yoga, but I do think it can be well accounted for without recourse to a pantheistic view. But at any rate, I'd be interested to see the replies if you were to post this assertion on the Dharma Wheel Tibetan Buddhism Forum.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:45 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Monism, pantheism, Vedānta, Mimāṃsā, etc., are all quite incompatible with right view. And without right view there can be no path to bodhi. Again, this has been explained at length by numerous Mahāyāna commentators. Your idiosyncratic opinions are not representative of the Mahāyāna teachings, period.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:29 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Irrelevant question, but at any rate, all extant commentarial traditions including the Theravāda maintain that an arahant disciple does not have omniscient knowledge.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:16 pm
Title: Re: Aggregate?
Content:
In the case of an arahant attaining the noble path &amp; fruition, it doesn't matter which mind model we use to represent the congitive series, the sixth consciousness is always present in these instances.

For the commentarial version of the path and fruition cognitive series, see The Path of Purification, Chapter 22, pp. 701-707 (PDF edition).

For an overview of the same, see The Seven Stages of Purification and the Insight Knowledges, p. 137.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:07 pm
Title: Re: Bhante Gunaratana hospitalized
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:02 pm
Title: Re: Aggregate?
Content:
Yeah, this kind of mistaken view that the realization of the third noble truth requires the temporary cessation of the mind is not uncommon in Theravāda circles these days. But in fact, the classical Theravāda ācariyas never accepted this notion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:11 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Yes, well, this isn't an appropriate forum to go into such things, but Bhāviveka, Śāntarakṣita, Kamalaśīla, et al, have already systematically refuted the views of Vedānta, Mimāṃsā, etc. Of course, you're certainly free to create any conceptual synthesis of different systems that you wish, but it's inaccurate to assert that your hybrids represent Mahāyāna teachings and practices.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 15, 2012 6:07 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
It seems to me that you've confused yourself by trying to follow too many systems. Firstly, the Vajrayāna is merely a subset of the Mahāyāna employing skillful means. Secondly, the Dzogchen tantras have been considered controversial throughout their history in Tibet and there is no evidence that they were ever propagated or accepted in Buddhist India. Thirdly, I'd suggest that if you want to understand the Mahāyāna on its own terms you find a reputable Gelugpa lama and study Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya and Bodhicaryāvatāra for a few years (and practice accordingly).


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:52 pm
Title: Re: New Book on Mindfulness by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Content:
If one wants to be precise "bare attention" is more akin to sampajañña than to sati.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:33 pm
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Lazy Eye
Content:
Happy birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:27 am
Title: Re: re: Gradual training vs Arupa-jhana
Content:
It's entirely possible that this sutta is composite, as may be the case with most of the suttas in the MN &amp; DN (i.e. the result of "stitching together" smaller units of text found in the SN &amp; AN and adding narrative). But a couple of points here:

(i) MN 122 doesn't explicitly mention the standard pericopes for the formless attainments (the "imperturbable" is inclusive of the fourth jhāna, cf. MN 66)

(ii) there are indeed indications in the suttas that one can engage in walking meditation, etc., while abiding in jhāna. Cf. AN 3.63 where the Buddha explicitly says that he can walk, etc. while abiding in jhāna, and also AN 4.12 where it's said that one can engage in each of the four postures while free of the hindrances and with the mind "samāhitaṃ cittaṃ ekaggaṃ."


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2012 1:46 pm
Title: Re: Ancient Commentaries are representative of Theravada?
Content:
Sure we can, and we can do so without dismissing or disrespecting the great contributions of the ancient Theras in terms of preserving and continuing the Buddha's dispensation.

To insist otherwise could have the consequence of reducing this vibrant, living tradition to a fixed set of ideological platitudes.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2012 1:20 pm
Title: Re: Individual truth
Content:
Indeed.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2012 12:20 pm
Title: Re: Individual truth
Content:
I think that this may be one of more difficult teachings to communicate in contemporary Theravāda circles. I've attempted to articulate it a number of times (e.g. here), and on occasion I've seen resistance and/or confusion similar to what Ven. Ñāṇananda has himself mentioned in passing:
“If there is no sub­stance in any­thing, what is left is empti­ness. But many peo­ple are afraid of words. Like śūnyatā. They want to pro­tect their four.” With that ‘irrev­er­ent’ com­ment about the four para­mattha dhamma–s of the Abhid­hamma, Bhante Ñāṇananda breaks into amused laughter.

“If one does not approach the com­men­tar­ial lit­er­a­ture with a crit­i­cal eye, one would be trapped. Unfor­tu­nately many are. In fact, I had to remove a few pages from the man­u­script of Con­cept and Real­ity on Ven. Nyanaponika’s request”.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2012 11:58 am
Title: Re: Concepts, pannati
Content:
Yes, I'm aware of the forum guidelines. I have no qualms with people wanting to present and discuss the ideas contained in the commentaries, but I would suggest that it's inaccurate -- both historically and now -- to imply that there is (i) a monolithic "Theravāda doctrine" in the commentaries themselves, or that (ii) the commentaries represent "Theravāda doctrine." Insofar as there is such a category as "Theravāda doctrine," this category is far more heterogeneous than implied in Robert's use of the phrase in the OP.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2012 11:35 am
Title: Re: New Book on Mindfulness by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Content:
There have been and continue to be monastics and scholars -- both ancient and modern -- who don't consider the Kathāvatthu to be canonical. As for the former, in the beginning of the Atthasālinī, Buddhaghosa attempts to argue at length for why the Kathāvatthu should be included in the Tipiṭaka, even though there were others who thought that it should not (whom he refers to as "Vitaṇḍavādī," which may be a pejorative name referring to the monks of the Abhayagirivihāra).

And in recent times, there have been a number of scholars who have suggested, based on internal linguistic, thematic, and structural evidence, that the Kathāvatthu is a composite text that was expanded over a considerable length of time, and therefore the text as we now have it can't be attributed to Moggaliputtatissa in the third century BCE.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 13, 2012 10:32 am
Title: Re: Concepts, pannati
Content:
It might be more accurate to state that this differentiation is according to Theravāda commentaries. Why? Because said doctrine isn't representative of all teachers and teachings included within the category "Theravāda." For example, at least one contemporary teacher, whose writings have been published by BPS and elsewhere, has devoted considerable time and effort over the past 40 years to questioning the usefulness of this very differentiation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:52 pm
Title: Re: Khandas, dhatus and ayatanas are real
Content:
It's interesting that Candrakīrti quotes this sutta passage as scriptural support for the Madhyamaka interpretation that the aggregates, etc., are simply designations which accord with worldly conventions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 8:10 am
Title: Re: Khandas, dhatus and ayatanas are real
Content:
According to the Abhidhamma, consciousness of an object also requires attention and at least a modicum of intention. This is also indicated in MN 28 Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta:
Now if internally the eye is intact but externally forms do not come into range, nor is there a corresponding engagement, then there is no appearing of the corresponding type of consciousness. If internally the eye is intact and externally forms come into range, but there is no corresponding engagement, then there is no appearing of the corresponding type of consciousness. But when internally the eye is intact and externally forms come into range, and there is a corresponding engagement, then there is the appearing of the corresponding type of consciousness.

Thus, for sensory consciousness to occur there needs to be samannāhāra: "corresponding engagement."


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 7:14 am
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
How do you know what the Buddha said? Were you there?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 4:01 am
Title: Re: Aggregate?
Content:
Well, they cover much of the same ground, but Ñāṇananda doesn't take the analysis as far. There's no real need to.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:01 am
Title: Re: Aggregate?
Content:
Ven. Ñāṇananda has done some of the leg work on this. So did Candrakīrti 1400 years ago.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:23 am
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
FTR, according to the Mahāyāna Adhyāśayasaṃcodana Sūtra as quoted by Śāntideva in his Compendium of Training (Śikṣāsamuccaya), four principles indicate that an utterance (or statement, teaching, etc.) is compatible with the speech of the Buddha:

(i) it is connected with truth, not with what is untrue;
(ii) it is connected with dharma, not with what is not dharma;
(iii) it leads to giving up defilement, not to increasing defilement;
(iv) it points out the praiseworthy qualities of nirvāṇa, not those of saṃsāra.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:01 am
Title: Re: Aggregate?
Content:
A middle way approach:

(a) The aggregates are designations that designate aggregations of dhammas. 

(b) Dhammas are designations designated on the basis of mere appearances as they appear to unimpaired minds.

(c) All teachings and path structures are provisional expedients, oriented towards lessening and eventually eliminating defilements and fetters.

This paññattimatta interpretation has the advantage of not requiring ontological commitments while still accepting the appearances of functional things and the utility of conventional path language and terms.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:16 am
Title: Re: Finally pinned it down...
Content:
Then from a pragmatic perspective, this is a good thing to know, and you can practice accordingly. 

Plus, there's nothing saying that you can't still draw some inspiration from the Heart Sūtra, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:41 pm
Title: Re: Entering Jhana Without Single Object Absorption
Content:
Ekaggatā is a mental factor that occurs with every type of consciousness. It doesn't preclude thinking or activities like walking and talking.

Also, directed thought and evaluation of the first jhāna do have a subtle disturbing effect on the mind and body. The Peṭakopadesa:
In the case of the first jhāna ... there is directed thought and evaluation [which still] disturb the mind, and the body [still] gets tired there, and when the body gets tired the mind is harassed....


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:19 am
Title: Re: Early Buddhism resources
Content:
Studies in Āgama Literature - With Special Reference to the Shorter Chinese Saṃyuktāgama by Marcus Bingenheimer.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:44 pm
Title: Re: Ancient Ajanta Cave In Aurangabad, India
Content:
360 Degree Virtual Tour of the Ajanta Caves.

Setting the Three Jewels: The Complex Culture of Buddhism at the Ajaṇṭā Caves by Richard Scott Cohen.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:47 pm
Title: Re: Co-dependent Origination?
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:18 am
Title: Re: Olympics
Content:
Sure, I have no problem with celebrating athletics (or academics, arts, philanthropy, etc.).


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:31 am
Title: Re: Olympics
Content:
Now, if humanity could be fed, clothed, and sheltered without destroying the planet, that would be worthy of celebration....


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:14 am
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
Which are nicely elaborated upon in the Paṭisambhidāmagga Suññatākathā:
Through the stream-entry path one who is fully aware terminates the occurrence of defilements associated with wrong view; through the once-returner path one who is fully aware terminates the occurrence of gross defilements; through the non-returner path one who is fully aware terminates the occurrence of secondary defilements; through the arahant path one who is fully aware terminates the occurrence of all defilements [i.e. ignorance].

Or through the nibbāna component (nibbānadhātu) without any fuel remaining for one who is fully aware this occurrence of eye ends and no further occurrence of eye arises; this occurrence of ear ends and no further occurrence of ear arises; this occurrence of nose ends and no further occurrence of nose arises; this occurrence of tongue ends and no further occurrence of tongue arises; this occurrence of body ends and no further occurrence of body arises; this occurrence of mind ends and no further occurrence of mind arises.

This is the ultimate meaning of emptiness [as it relates to] all kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of occurrence in one who is fully aware.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:08 am
Title: Re: Copyright on the Dhamma
Content:
And as you know, ATI offers Ven. Ñāṇamoli's translation of The Path of Purification for free download. And BPS offers many free publications in their Online Library. All things considered, there is a significant number of Pāli texts freely available in English translation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:46 am
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
This is the important bit: "The elimination of passion, the elimination of aggression, the elimination of delusion...." 

The Asaṅkhata Saṃyutta of the Saṃyuttanikāya offers thirty-three epithets for the goal of practice. Each of these epithets is then explicitly and unequivocally defined as the elimination of passion, aggression, and delusion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:49 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
To encourage you to disengage from this conceptual proliferation which impedes realization. SN 43.14:
And what, monks, is the death-free (amata)? The elimination of passion, the elimination of aggression, the elimination of delusion: this is called the death-free.

End of story.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:07 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
I'm familiar with that passage. And I've already addressed the terms used there in this previous reply. What's your point?


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:53 pm
Title: Re: Co-dependent Origination?
Content:
No, they don't. 

Here's a suggestion: Set aside this speculative theorizing and practice satipaṭṭhāna.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:47 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
What's the merit of your fixation on this term Kirk? If you want to know what it's like to be free from death then apply the practice injunctions and realize the arahant fruition. All of this speculation is quite pointless.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:51 pm
Title: Chanjing Meditation Manuals
Content:
Here are some links to a few translations and papers on the Chanjing meditation manuals which are preserved in Chinese translation. These texts mainly present ancient Sarvāstivāda descriptions of meditation practices, and are in some ways similar to the better known Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga. Florin Deleanu gives a general overview of this group of texts in his paper Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras:
The term dhyāna sūtra represents a reconstruction of the Chinese chan jing, which appears in the titles of a certain group of texts as well as in the writings of Chinese Buddhists of the early 5th century AD as Sengrui, Huiyuan, and Huiguan.

This group represents treatises or manuals of meditation belonging to or, at least, partly drawing their inspiration from Sarvāstivāda tradition. We must not forget, however, that many of the dhyāna sūtras are, as it were, a common product of the Buddhist traditions from North-West India, Central Asia, and China. Although the basic material of these texts doubtlessly comes from Indian Buddhism, we must not exclude the possibility that they were compiled in Central Asia or that Buddhist monks from Central Asia, who in most of the cases were those who brought the dhyāna sūtras to China, had a more or less substantial influence on the final form of the scriptures in the process of translating them into Chinese. Kumārajīva would be perhaps the most eloquent example of this case.

Doctrinally, the dhyāna sūtras range from a basically orthodox Sarvāstivāda standpoint to a substantial compromise with Mahāyāna teachings and practices. In some cases, this compromise is so advanced that it is very difficult to make a distinction between such a text and a samādhi sūtra (sammei jing), which represents a purely Mahāyāna scripture....

Although the textual formation of many of these dhyāna sūtras remains a very complicated process, the original texts or, at least, much of the meditation practices and doctrines, especially those associated with Conservative Buddhism, can be traced back to the Kashmirian Yogācāra school belonging to the Sarvāstivāda tradition. Most of these meditation manuals were compiled or, at least, reflect the practice and theory of the Sarvāstivāda Yogācārins of the first four centuries of our era.

To date, the best English language translation of one of these texts is The Sūtra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation, translated by Nobuyoshi Yamabe and Fumihiko Sueki (listed below). Please add any other relevant texts, translations, and studies.



T 15 no. 606 Xiuxing dao di jing (Yogācārabhūmi of Saṅgharakṣa)

Demiéville, Paul. ‘La Yogācārabhūmi de Sangharaksa’, Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, Tome 44 N°2, 1951.

Seton, Gregory Max. A Preliminary Study of The Meaning of "Yoga" in Saṅgharakṣa's Yogācārabhūmi and Its Context. M.A. Thesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2009.


T 15 no. 613 Chan miyaofa jing (Sūtra of The Secret Essentials of Dhyāna)

Yuanci. A Study of the Meditation Methods in the DESM and Other Early Chinese Texts. The Buddhist Academy of China. n.d.


T 15 no. 614 Zuochan sanmei jing (Dhyānasamādhisūtra)

Yamabe, Nobuyoshi. The Sūtra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2009.

Guo Cheen. The Sutra of Sitting Dhyāna Samadhi. n.d.


T 15 no. 616 Chanfa yaojie (Essential Explanation of The Method of Dhyāna)

Huynh, Trung (Thich Hang Dat). A Reappraisal of Kumārajīva’s Role in Medieval Chinese Buddhism: An Examination of Kumārajīva’s Translation Text on “The Essential Explanation of the Method of Dhyana”. M.A. Thesis, University of the West, 2011.


T 15 no. 617 Siwei yaolue fa (An Epitome of Meditation)

Mukhopadhyaya, Sujitkumar. An Outline of Principal Methods of Meditation. Santiniketan, 1972. (Originally published in the Visva-Bharati Annals, vol. III, 1950.)


T 15 no. 618 Damoduoluo chan jing (Dharmatrāta Dhyānasūtra)



Other related resources:

Deleanu, Florin. ‘Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras’, Transactions of the International Conference of Orientalists in Japan (TICOJ) 37, 1992.

Deleanu, Florin. ‘Śrāvakayāna Yoga Practices and Mahāyāna Buddhism’, Bulletin of the Graduate Division of Literature of Waseda University, Special Issue No. 20 (Philosophy-History), 1993.

Deleanu, Florin. ‘A Preliminary Study of An Shigao’s Translation of the Yogācārabhūmi’, The Journal of the Department of Liberal Arts of Kansai Medical University, Vol. 17, 1997.

Greene, Eric. Of Bones and Buddhas: Contemplation of the Corpse and its Connection to Meditations on Purity as Evidenced by 5th Century Chinese Meditation Manuals. M.A. Thesis. University of California, 2006.

Yamabe, Nobuyoshi. The Sūtra of the Ocean-Like Samadhi of the Visualization of the Buddha: The Interfusion of the Chinese and Indian Cultures in Central Asian as Reflected in a Fifth Century Apocryphal Sūtra. PhD Dissertation. Yale University, 1999.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:31 am
Title: Re: The Beautiful Metteyya Buddha/The Golden Buddha Statue
Content:
Quite beautiful.

Thanks Yawares.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:53 am
Title: Re: Are there any practices in Zen not found in Theravada
Content:
Yes. For example, Changlu Zongze's Zuochanyi:
This one teaching of meditation is our most urgent business. If you do not practice meditation and enter dhyāna, then when it comes down to it, you will be completely at a loss. Therefore, to seek the pearl, we should still the waves; if we disturb the water, it will be hard to get. When the water of meditation is clear, the pearl of the mind will appear of itself. Therefore, the Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra says, ''Unimpeded, immaculate wisdom always arises dependent on meditation." The Lotus Blossom Sūtra says, "In a quiet place, he practices the control of the mind, abiding motionless like Mt. Sumeru." Thus, transcending the profane and surpassing the holy are always contingent on the condition of dhyāna; shedding [this body] while seated and fleeing [this life] while standing are necessarily dependent on the power of samādhi. Even if one devotes himself to the practice his entire life, he may still not be in time; how then could one who procrastinates possibly overcome karma? Therefore, an ancient has said, ''Without the power of samādhi, you will meekly cower at death's door." Shutting your eyes, you will end your life in vain; and just as you are, you will drift [in saṃsāra].

I remember many years ago Ven. Heng Sure commenting about one monk from the CTTB who would regularly sit in dhyāna for 5+ hours at a time. And there's the reports of Ven. Xuyun remaining in samādhi for extended periods, once for a period of 18 days, and twice for periods of 9 days each: An Inquiry Into Master Xuyun’s Experiences of Long-dwelling in Samādhi. Granted, these are exceptional cases, but dhyāna requires a dedicated, refined level of practice.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:39 am
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
An informative talk. The first hour is relevant to some issues under discussion here. Thanks for posting it.

BTW, Ven. Huifeng also mentions that he was involved in the writing and editing of some of the Wikipedia pages on these subjects.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:27 am
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Since the Prebish paper is silent on the issue, you're probably referring to the Cousins paper. But Cousins doesn't contradict anything I've said. Regarding the historical associations he says (emphasis added):
The later literature on the schools reflects a later situation when the Mahāsāṅghikas had largely adopted the Mahāyāna. Sarvāstivādin writers may attribute Mahāyānist notions to the Mahāsāṅghikas in order to discredit one or both. Mahāyānist writers of a later date (e.g. Paramārtha) associate the two in order to show the antiquity of the Mahāyāna. Probably most later Mahāsāṅghikas believed that their particular tradition had always been Mahāyānist. It is however clear that the Mahāyāna cannot be this early.

Thus, he suggests some motives for later positions taken from various quarters. But he does not say that first schism gave rise to the Mahāyāna. Nor does he say that the Mahāsāṅghikas of this period are to be equated with the Mahāyāna.

Now, to go further into the issue, there is no doubt that certain later Mahāsāṅghika notions were prominent in the historical development of Mahāyāna ideas. But so were trends occurring in other sectarian quarters, most notably Sarvāstivāda sources. For example, Schrnithausen has shown that early Mahāyāna Yogācāra texts rely heavily upon the Sarvāstivāda Āgamas. And based on a number of Chanjing texts now only extant in Chinese translation, Deleanu, Yamabe, and Seton have each shown that there were a spectrum of proto-Mahāyāna &amp; Mahāyāna ideas being articulated and developed amongst authors in the first centuries CE who otherwise indicate Sarvāstivāda doctrinal affiliations. Therefore, the historical development of Mahāyāna ideas is quite dynamic, and occurred in various diverse Indian Buddhist communities.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:08 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
This isn't conjecture: The first schism had nothing to do with the eventual rise of the Mahāyāna.

It's erroneous to equate the Mahāsāṅghikas with the Mahāyāna.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:59 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Concerning the first schism, Lance Cousins, The ‘Five Points’ and the Origins of the Buddhist Schools:
What is important is that the picture which now emerges is one in which the earliest division of the saṅgha was primarily a matter of monastic discipline. The Mahāsāṅghikas were essentially a conservative party resisting a reformist attempt to tighten discipline. The likelihood is that they were initially the larger body, representing the mass of the community, the mahāsaṅgha.

Another informative paper on this subject is Śaikṣa-dharmas Revisited: Further Considerations of Mahāsāṃghika Origins by Charles S. Prebish.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:13 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
Bullitt or his source is mistaken. The first schism had nothing to do with the eventual rise of the Mahāyāna. Moreover, the early Mahāyāna texts and commentators drew ideas from various Nikāya sects, including those descended from the Sthaviravāda.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:42 pm
Title: Re: cherry picking the words of the Buddha
Content:
Indeed.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:36 pm
Title: Re: Is mahayana Buddism?
Content:
No, it didn't. The Mahāyāna didn't result from any schism, and has nothing to do with sectarian Buddhism. The Mahāyāna isn't an ordination lineage and has never "split" from any ordination lineage. There are three existing ordination lineages: Mūlasarvāstivāda, Dharmaguptaka, and Theravāda. All three are descended from the ancient Sthaviravāda.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:54 am
Title: Re: A Gradual Training
Content:
And this also accords with the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, especially the seven factors of awakening and the four noble truths listed under the contemplation of dhammas (dhammānupassanā).


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:03 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
An appearance of pleasure, or pain, or neither pleasure nor pain. It's merely a functional thing. There's no need to philosophize.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:11 pm
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Daverupa!!!
Content:
Happy Birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:00 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
It's a question of interpretation, not a question of language. If you now prefer a realist interpretation, which requires substantially existent unique particulars, that's your choice. But the paññattimatta interpretation has the advantage of not requiring those ontological commitments while still accepting the appearances of functional things.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 22, 2012 2:17 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
As designations (paññatti) designated on the basis of mere appearances as they appear to unimpaired minds. For details, see the passages by Ven. Ñāṇananda quoted here.

Also, from Ven. Ñāṇananda's Magic of the Mind:
Sense-perception at all levels relies largely on signs.... It is due to the processes of grasping and recognition implicit in sense-perception that the sign has come to play such an important part in it.... Lust, hatred and delusion are the ‘things’ which, according to the teaching of the Tathāgata, are signified by all sense-percepts. ‘Lust, friend, is a something; hatred is a something; delusion is a something.’ (M i 298, Mahāvedalla S.) ‘Lust, friends, is something significative, hatred is something significative, delusion is something significative’ (ibid).

And by contemplating impermanence, etc. to the point of inducing dispassion, signs are abandoned. There's then nothing of significance to grasp or cling to. Paṭisambhidāmagga Vimokkhakathā:
When he gives attention as impermanent his mind emerges from the sign; his mind enters into the signless.... Gnosis of contemplation of the signlessness of form… feeling… recognition… fabrications… consciousness… etc., is signless deliverance because it liberates from all signs.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jul 21, 2012 3:45 am
Title: Re: Jhana Question
Content:
Yes, again the Peṭakopadesa informs us that it's with the second jhāna that one if free from the weariness induced by vitakka &amp; vicāra. This explanation is also likely derived from MN 19.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:31 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
Already addressed in this reply.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:20 am
Title: Re: Jhana Question
Content:
The Dhammasaṅgaṇī gives the following two registers for vitakka and vicāra (the English equivalents here are those offered by Lance Cousins, who's done an exhaustive survey of all relevant Pāli sources):
vitakka: 

1. takka 2. vitakka 3. saṅkappa 4. appanā 5. byappanā 6. cetaso abhiniropanā 7. sammāsaṅkappa

1. speculation 2. thought 3. thought formation 4. fixing 5. firm fixing 6. applying the mind 7. right thought formation.

vicāra: 

1. cāra 2. vicāra 3. anuvicāra 4. upavicāra 5. cittassa anusandhānatā 6. anupekkhanatā

1. wandering 2. wandering about 3. repeated wandering about 4. frequenting 5. explorativeness of mind 6. constant examination.

These registers of terms present a spectrum of mental qualities and a range of meaning. What this implies is that there is no need to restrict definitions beyond this inclusive range of terms which correlate to a spectrum of skillful qualities relevant to sammāsamādhi.

Moreover, Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, and Yogācāra commentators consistently define vitakka &amp; vicāra as two types of "mental discourse" (manojalpa, lit: "mind-talk"). For example, Vasubandhu defines vitakka as "mental discourse which investigates" (paryeṣako manojalpa) and vicāra as "mental discourse which reflects" (pratyavekṣako manojalpa). Vitakka is considered to be coarse (cittsyaudārikatā) and vicāra comparatively more subtle (cittsyasūkṣmatā). These definitions accord well with early Pāli sources such as the Peṭakopadesa, etc.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 20, 2012 10:46 pm
Title: Re: Jhana Question
Content:
As always, it depends upon whom you ask or where you look for clarification. According to the Paṭisambhidāmagga Ānāpānassatikathā, yes. According to the Visuddhimagga, no.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 20, 2012 10:44 pm
Title: Re: Jhana Question
Content:
This interpretation isn't supported by the suttas, the Abhidhammapiṭaka, nor by the Peṭakopadesa:
Directed thought is like a text-reciter who does his recitation silently. Evaluation is like him simply contemplating it.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 20, 2012 10:29 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
The teachings aren't esoteric. The aggregates, etc., can be understood by worldly paṇḍitas (loka paṇḍitas) are not restricted to the knowledge of noble disciples (ariyasāvakas). SN 22.94:
And what is it, bhikkhus, that the wise in the world agree upon as existing, of which I too say that it exists? Form that is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change: this the wise in the world agree upon as existing, and I too say that it exists. Feeling ... Perception ... Volitional formations ... Consciousness that is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change: this the wise in the world agree upon as existing, and I too say that it exists.

The difference for a noble disciple, however, is that they have penetrated conditioned arising in both forward and reverse sequence. They use the teachings as one would use a raft, as MN 22 states, "for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto."

Moreover, a tathāgata arahant uses worldly designations in order to teach the way to eliminate unsatisfactoriness. But these are merely designations (paññattimatta). In this way, there is nothing to cling to as the basis for a fixed position. MN 72, "A 'position,' Vaccha, is something that a tathāgata has done away with." And again, MN 22, "A proponent of the dhamma does not dispute with anyone in the world."


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:33 pm
Title: Re: Jhana Question
Content:
This statement refers to the faculty of meditative composure (samādhindriya) of a noble disciple (ariyasāvaka). That is, a person who has already attained the noble paths. As such, this statement most likely refers to supramundane jhāna. 

But at any rate, ānāpānassatisamādhi does begin with the breath as object-support (ārammaṇa).


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 20, 2012 1:22 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
I would suggest that the first part of this conclusion is, at best, an inaccurate over-generalization. As for the second part, you haven't offered a much better alternative thus far. By your own admission your interpretations stand in contradiction to sutta passages such as the one previously quoted from MN 121.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:55 am
Title: Re: satipatthana practice?
Content:
Sounds like what you're doing is working well for you. In time you may come to appreciate other aspects of the practice, such as maintaining awareness of the breath during daily activities, and so on.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:47 am
Title: Re: satipatthana practice?
Content:
Yes, the four satipaṭṭhānas are kind of like four "layers" of experience (so to speak) which we can learn to attend to and explore through mindfulness and full awareness. For example, if one's practice is mindfulness of breathing, there is always feeling occurring along with the breath, as well as mind, and the various groupings of dhammas listed under the fourth satipaṭṭhāna. With practice, we can learn how to skillfully relate to feelings as they occur. We can learn how to appreciate the spacious quality of mind that's available when we are relaxed and present. And we can learn how to work with the hindrances when they occur, and so on. There's considerable depth to these four "layers" of experience that can be explored and developed as we expand our enthusiasm and commitment to practice. And this commitment can extend into every aspect of our life, eventually bringing the simplicity of full awareness to every situation.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:41 pm
Title: Re: satipatthana practice?
Content:
There are no hard and fast rules, but it's generally considered effective to pick one of the practices listed under body contemplation and develop it, preferably with the aid of a teacher. Detailed instructions on these various practices can be found in the Vimuttimagga and the Visuddhimagga. 

All other aspects of the satipaṭṭhānas (i.e. contemplation of feelings, mind, and dhammas) can be related directly to the development of the practices listed under contemplation of the body. Said another way, when contemplation of the body is being developed, the other three are also being developed.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:02 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
Well, then it's probably best to leave it at that then.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:02 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
I don't regard it as a contradiction. The faculties are functional processes, not static, unchanging things. The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind faculties of a worldling, stream-entrant, once returner, and non-returner have ceased for the arahant, and the arahant has no attachment to any present occurrence of the faculties. Therefore, s/he has attained the nibbānadhātu with fuel remaining. Itivuttaka 44:
And what is the Unbinding property with fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is an arahant whose fermentations have ended, who has reached fulfillment, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, ended the fetter of becoming, and is released through right gnosis. His five sense faculties still remain and, owing to their being intact, he is cognizant of the agreeable &amp; the disagreeable, and is sensitive to pleasure &amp; pain. His ending of passion, aversion, &amp; delusion is termed the Unbinding property with fuel remaining.

And when s/he has come to the end of their life, then this is called the nibbānadhātu with no fuel remaining. Itivuttaka 44:
And what is the Unbinding property with no fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is an arahant whose fermentations have ended, who has reached fulfillment, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, ended the fetter of becoming, and is released through right gnosis. For him, all that is sensed, being unrelished, will grow cold right here. This is termed the Unbinding property with no fuel remaining.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:23 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
I already replied to this concern of yours a few months ago here. 

Also, please consider Nettippakaraṇa 4.42:
Above, below, everywhere released, 
He does not see that “I am this.”
Thus liberated, he crosses the flood
Not crossed before, for no further renewal of existence.


[Non-learner’s liberation: Asekhāvimutti]

Above is the form element and the formless element. Below is the sensual desire element. Everywhere released is the non-learner’s liberation (asekhāvimutti) from the triple element [of existence]. That itself is the non-learner’s five faculties (pañcindriyāni: i.e. faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment). This is the way of entry by faculties.

These same non-learner’s five faculties are knowledge (vijjā). With the arising of knowledge [there is] the cessation of ignorance; with the cessation of ignorance, the cessation of volitional fabrications; with the cessation of volitional fabrications, the cessation of consciousness; with the cessation of consciousness, the cessation of name-and-form; with the cessation of name-and-form; the cessation of the six sense spheres; with cessation of the six sense spheres, the cessation of contact; with the cessation of contact, the cessation of feeling; with the cessation of feeling, the cessation of craving; with the cessation of craving, the cessation of grasping; with the cessation of grasping, the cessation of becoming; with the cessation of becoming, the cessation of birth; with the cessation of birth, aging and death cease, and [also] sorrow, grieving, pain, unhappiness, and despair; that is how there is the cessation to this whole aggregate of unsatisfactoriness. This is the way of entry by the aspects of dependent arising.

Those same non-learner’s five faculties are comprised within the three aggregates, namely the aggregate of ethical conduct (sīlakkhandha), the aggregate of concentration (samādhikkhandha), and the aggregate of discernment (paññākkhandha). This is the way of entry by aggregates.

Those same non-learner’s five faculties are included in fabrications. These fabrications, [which in this case are] free from mental outflows (āsavā) and are not factors of existence, are comprised within the dhamma element (dhammadhātu). This is the way of entry by elements.

That dhamma element is included in the dhamma sphere (dhammāyatana), which [in this case] is free from mental outflows and not a factor of existence. This is the way of entry by spheres.


[Learner’s liberation: Sekhāvimutti]

He does not see that “I am this.” This is the eradication of identity-view (sakkāyadiṭṭhi). That is the learner’s liberation (sekhāvimutti). That itself is the learner's five faculties. This is the way of entry by faculties.

Those same learner's five faculties are knowledge (vijjā). With the arising of knowledge [there is] the cessation of ignorance; with the cessation of ignorance, the cessation of volitional fabrications; thus the whole of dependent arising. This is the way of entry by the aspects of dependent arising.

That same knowledge is the discernment aggregate (paññākkhandha). This is the way of entry by aggregates.

That same knowledge is included in fabrications. These fabrications, [which in this case are] free from mental outflows and are not factors of existence, are comprised within the dhamma element (dhammadhātu). This is the way of entry by elements.

That dhamma element is included in the dhamma sphere (dhammāyatana), which [in this case] is free from mental outflows and not a factor of existence. This is the way of entry by spheres.

It is one liberated by means of the learner’s liberation and the non-learner’s liberation (sekkhāya ca vimuttiyā asekkhāya ca vimuttiyā) who crosses the flood not crossed before, for no further renewal of existence.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 12:18 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
Again, there's no point in conflating the nibbānadhātu with fuel remaining and the nibbānadhātu with no more fuel remaining. The Nettippakaraṇa:
[O]nly the nibbānadhātu with no fuel remaining (anupādisesa nibbānadhātu) liberates from the unsatisfactoriness of fabrications (saṅkhāradukkhatā).

And the Paṭisambhidāmagga Suññatākathā:
[T]hrough the nibbānadhātu without any fuel remaining for one who is fully aware this occurrence of eye ends and no further occurrence of eye arises; this occurrence of ear ends and no further occurrence of ear arises; this occurrence of nose ends and no further occurrence of nose arises; this occurrence of tongue ends and no further occurrence of tongue arises; this occurrence of body ends and no further occurrence of body arises; this occurrence of mind ends and no further occurrence of mind arises.

Also, Visuddhimagga, Chapter 16:
[Q] Is the absence of present [aggregates] as well nibbāna?

[A] That is not so. Because their absence is an impossibility, since if they are absent their non-presence follows. [Besides, if nibbāna were absence of present aggregates too,] that would entail the fault of excluding the arising of the nibbāna element with result of past clinging left, at the path moment, which has present aggregates as its support.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:57 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
Yes it does. Nevertheless a living arahant still has eyes and sees forms, and so on. SN 35.232:
There exists in the Blessed One the eye, the Blessed One sees a form with the eye, yet there is no desire and lust in the Blessed One; the Blessed One is well liberated in mind. There exists in the Blessed One the ear, the Blessed One hears a sound with the ear ... There exists in the Blessed One the nose, the Blessed One smells an odour with the nose ... There exists in the Blessed One the tongue, the Blessed One savours a taste with the tongue ... There exists in the Blessed One the body, the Blessed One feels a tactile object with the body ... There exists in the Blessed One the mind, the Blessed One cognizes a mental phenomenon with the mind, yet there is no desire and lust in the Blessed One; the Blessed One is well liberated in mind.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:24 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
In this instance the distinction is between the nibbānadhātu with fuel remaining (saupādisesa nibbānadhātu) and the nibbānadhātu with no more fuel remaining (anupādisesa nibbānadhātu). Cf. Itivuttaka 44. The full development of the noble eightfold path leads to the realization of the former, which then culminates in the latter.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jul 15, 2012 1:11 am
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
An arahant still experiences the six spheres. MN 121:
'And there is only this modicum of disturbance: that connected with the six sensory spheres, dependent on this very body with life as its condition.' He discerns that 'This mode of perception is empty of the effluent of sensuality... becoming... ignorance. And there is just this non-emptiness: that connected with the six sensory spheres, dependent on this very body with life as its condition.' Thus he regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as present: 'There is this.' And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with actuality, is undistorted in meaning, pure — superior &amp; unsurpassed.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jul 14, 2012 11:44 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
This is quite untenable. Eye-consciousness arises and ceases many times during the course of one day.

I would suggest that it's far more beneficial (and less problematic) in the long run to simply learn the basics of Theravāda dhamma than engage in these kinds of unnecessary speculative interpretive cartwheels. I've yet to see any alternative modern interpretation that is as comprehensive and dynamic enough to account for the complete Suttapiṭaka as that which is developed in the Abhidhammapiṭaka.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:09 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
With regard to the realization of nibbāna, what is calmed and abandoned is "any specific fabrication or volitional intention towards either existence or non-existence" (MN 140). Said another way, this is the absence of wavering or agitation (Ud 8.4), and so on.


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:37 pm
Title: Re: The Eye is Impermanent.
Content:
And we need to be careful here as to what is meant. There are a number of suttas which explicitly state that there is a perception of cessation, nirodhasaññā (AN 10.60), which is a samādhi (AN 10.6), and which is likely equivalent to the perception of "bhavanirodho nibbāna" (AN 10.7), and also related to aññāphala samādhi, which is a perception attainment as well (AN 9.37).


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:31 pm
Title: Re: Jhana experience
Content:
Indeed.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:52 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
What I'm suggesting is that it's very helpful to understand the historical development of these epistemological issues and how these developments can give rise to unnecessary pseudo-problems when negations regarding cessation are posited as the presence of substantially existent things. But if you want to believe in potlessness and the presence of non-fires Kirk, then that's fine by me.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:04 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
Extinguishment (nibbāna) is an absence. This is implied in Ud 8.1 by the long list of negations, which include stating that there is no object (anārammaṇa). However, some difficulties arose when the commentators were trying to systematically explain how there can be knowledge of nibbāna, and in so doing, posited nibbāna as a real existent with its own nature (sabhāva).

As an analogy, when there is no pot on the table one can know that there is no pot on the table via direct perception. But this doesn't mean that there is an existent "non-pot" or the presence of a "potless" thing that one perceives as the absence of a pot. Or in terms of the fire metaphor found in the suttas, when a fire goes out one can know that the fire has been extinguished via direct perception. But this doesn't entail that there is an existent "extinguishment" (i.e. a "non-fire") or the presence of an "extinguished" thing that one perceives as the absence of fire.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:35 am
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
BTW, "dimension" isn't a very good translation of āyatana, especially in this context. The English term "dimension" has spacial connotations which aren't applicable with regard to extinguishment.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:49 pm
Title: Re: Exposing Buddhism???
Content:



Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:59 am
Title: Re: Jhāna According to the Pāḷi Nikāyas
Content:
Kāmā can either be sense objects or the sensual pleasures which arise in connection with those objects. Singular or plural is irrelevant.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:07 pm
Title: Re: "The Deathless" (amata)
Content:
This part is quoted from the Paṭisambhidāmagga Ñāṇakathā. With a little help from other passages from the Psm. and the commentary we can unpack what these terms are referring to.

Arising (uppāda) means arising with previous kamma as condition. Continuance (pavatta) means continuance with kamma as condition. Sign (nimitta) means the sign of aggregates with kamma as condition. Accumulation (āyūhana) means the accumulation of kamma for future rebirth. Rebirth-linking (paṭisandhi) means rebirth-linking for future appearance. Destination (gati) means the destination of future birth. Generation (nibbatti) means the generation of the five aggregates, etc. Re-arising (upapatti) means the arising of kamma-result for the one who has been reborn. Birth (jāti) means birth with becoming (bhava) as condition. Aging (jara) means aging with birth as condition, etc. The sign of external fabrications (bahiddhā saṅkhāranimitta) means the sign of fabrications associated with specific defilements, fetters, underlying tendencies, and outflows.

Their cessations are indicated by the terms non-arising (anuppāda), non-continuance (appavatta), signless (animitta), non-accumulation (anāyūhana), non-rebirth-linking (appaṭisandhi) non-destination (agati), non-generation (anibbatti) not-rearising (anupapatti), not-born (ajāti), not-aging (ajara) without sickness (abyādhi), death-free (amata), sorrowless (asoka), without lamentation (aparideva), without despair (anupāyāsa), cessation (nirodha), and extinguishment (nibbāna). 

It's important to keep in mind here that the noble paths and fruitions are always cognitions arising with concomitant mental factors. Attaining a noble path entails the arising of these supramundane minds and metal factors and the non-arising (anuppāda), non-continuance (appavatta), ... cessation (nirodha), and extinguishment (nibbāna) of fetters, mental outflows, and underlying tendencies which are terminated by that particular path. And attaining the fruition of that path entails the full extinguishment (parinibbāna) of those same fetters, etc. 

For example, when one attains the fruition of stream-entry then any cognitions and mental factors which would arise in the future for a worldling are completely terminated and cease forever. When one attains the fruition of a once-returner then any cognitions and mental factors which would arise in the future for a stream-entrant are completely terminated and cease forever, and so on, for the other two paths and fruitions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:16 am
Title: Re: Abandon
Content:
The Buddha seems to think so. SN 35.101 Na Tumhaka Sutta:
Whatever is not yours, abandon it. Your abandoning it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit. And what is not yours? 

The eye is not yours, abandon it. Your abandoning it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit. Forms are not yours... Eye-consciousness is not yours... Eye-contact is not yours... Whatever arises in dependence on eye-contact, experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain, that too is not yours, so abandon it. Your abandoning it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit. 

The ear is not yours, abandon it...
The nose is not yours, abandon it...
The tongue is not yours, abandon it...
The body is not yours, abandon it... 

The mind is not yours, abandon it. Your abandoning it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit. Mental phenomena are not yours... Mental-consciousness is not yours... Mind-contact is not yours... Whatever arises in dependence on mind-contact, experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain, that too is not yours, so abandon it. Your abandoning it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:42 pm
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Cooran!
Content:
Happy birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:23 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
I can't seem to find any reference to this in Identity &amp; Experience? She seems to refer to viññāṇa consistently as "consciousness" or "consciousness of." For example, page 83:
(1) Viññāṇa as impermanent, (2) Viññāṇa as 'consciousness of', (3) Viññāṇa as a factor in cognition, (4) Viññāṇa as providing continuity, and (5) Viññāṇa as evolving.

And page 95:
We have the three mental khandhas of vedanā, saññā and viññāṇa working together, each contributing to the process: vedanā as affective cognition, saññā as discriminatory or identificatory cognition, and viññāṇa as consciousness of each and every part of the process as a whole.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 25, 2012 1:32 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Now that's an intriguing statement! Can you elaborate?


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:08 am
Title: Re: Integrating the 4 tetrads into daily practice
Content:
Both feeling and thinking have their place. The former is a frame of reference for stationing and developing mindfulness, which will eventually lead to insights. But more specifically, insight arises through the direct observation of phenomena (including feeling), that is, primarily through direct, non-conceptual perception.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:30 pm
Title: Re: 21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity
Content:
Awesome indeed. Inspiring examples for getting the juices of compassion and sympathetic joy flowing.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:16 pm
Title: Re: early meditation manuals
Content:
No it isn't. This bugaboo over the use of the English terms "meditation" and "contemplation" is much ado about nothing. Both terms have broader meanings in Western contemplative traditions than is often acknowledged. Moreover, the English term "meditation" has now shifted and expanded in meaning due to the influence of Buddhism and other Eastern yoga traditions. In some modern dictionary entries for "meditate," Buddhist &amp; Hindu meanings are now given alongside common meanings and Western contemplative meanings. Cf. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: meditate.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:24 pm
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Well, for what it's worth, a point that should be acknowledged is that believing in the philosophy of physicalism based on the current Western scientific knowledge of consciousness is quite unsatisfactory. John Searle, quoted in The Future of Consciousness Studies:
At our present state of the investigation of consciousness, we don't know how it works and we need to try all kinds of different ideas.

Jerry A. Fodor, The Big Idea: Can There Be a Science of the Mind:
Nobody has the slightest idea how anything material could be conscious. Nobody even knows what it would be like to have the slightest idea about how anything material could be conscious.

Ned Block, "Consciousness," in A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind:
We have no conception of our physical or functional nature that allows us to understand how it could explain our subjective experience.... in the case of consciousness we have nothing -- zilch -- worthy of being called a research program, nor are there any substantive proposals about how to go about starting one.

Alan Wallace, Hidden Dimensions:
A true revolution in the mind sciences has been delayed by an enforced conformity to the unnatural ideological and methodological constraints imposed by the assumptions of scientific materialism, particularly neo-Darwinism. One such assumption is that mental phenomena are equivalent to neurophysiological processes in the brain, an empirically uncorroborated belief. If the first revolution in the mind sciences is to take place, such unsubstantiated ideas must be suspended and new methodologies must be employed that are uniquely suited to the scientific study of mental phenomena, including consciousness. In other words, science can either continue to let its study of the mind be dominated by the metaphysical assumptions of a well-established ideology or pursue the open-minded, empirical investigation of mental phenomena, even if it calls into question some of the most deeply held scientific beliefs based on classical physics and contemporary biology.

And just one area of investigation that isn't easily compatible with physicalism is the phenomenon of NDE experienced during cardiac arrest. Sam Parina, et al, A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of the Incidence, Features and Aetiology of Near Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Survivors:
The data suggests that in this cardiac arrest model, the NDE arises during unconsciousness. This is a surprising conclusion, because when the brain is so dysfunctional that the patient is deeply comatose, the cerebral structures which underpin subjective experience and memory must be severely impaired. Complex experiences such as are reported in the NDE should not arise or be retained in memory. Such patients would be expected to have no subjective experience ... or at best a confusional state if some brain function is retained. Even if the unconscious brain is flooded by neurotransmitters, this should not produce clear, lucid, remembered experiences, as those cerebral modules which generate conscious experience and underpin memory are impaired by cerebral anoxia. The fact that in a cardiac arrest loss of cortical function precedes the rapid loss of brainstem activity lends further support to this view.

An alternative explanation would be that the observed experiences arise during the loss of, or on regaining, consciousness. However, it is unlikely that the NDE arises either when the cortical modules are failing, that is, during the process of becoming unconscious, or when the cortical modules are coming back on line, that is when consciousness is returning.

The point of mentioning the NDE is to give one example of a fairly widespread phenomenon that isn't easily reduced to neurological brain activity. There are also other phenomena that don't fit easily with physicalist reductionism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:39 am
Title: Re: early meditation manuals
Content:
I agree. I should have been more clear in the last reply. I'd suggest that there really are no "early" meditation instruction manuals.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:35 am
Title: Re: early meditation manuals
Content:
"Early Buddhism" generally refers to the pre-sectarian and early sectarian periods of Buddhism, i.e. the first few hundred years after the Buddha's parinibbāna. Long before the composition of the Vimuttimagga and the Visuddhimagga.


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:38 pm
Title: Re: The mind by Ajahn Chah
Content:
Indeed. It's all too easy for identification and naming to lead to metaphysical views or one sort or another. Whenever we identify with anything, that identity becomes fabricated and conditioned by that very act of selective recognition, identification, and naming. Thus, the meditative composure of the noble path makes use of letting go as the object (vossaggārammaṇa). Ajahn Chah, What Is Contemplation:
Question: Is this mind you are talking about called the ‘Original Mind’?

Ajahn Chah’s Answer: What do you mean?

Question: It seems as if you are saying there is something else outside of the conventional body-mind (the five khandhas). Is there something else? What do you call it?

Answer: There isn’t anything and we don’t call it anything – that’s all there is to it! Be finished with all of it. Even the knowing doesn’t belong to anybody, so be finished with that, too! Consciousness is not an individual, not a being, not a self, not an other, so finish with that – finish with everything! There is nothing worth wanting! It’s all just a load of trouble. When you see clearly like this then everything is finished.

Question: Could we not call it the ‘Original Mind’?

Answer: You can call it that if you insist. You can call it whatever you like, for the sake of conventional reality. But you must understand this point properly. This is very important. If we didn’t make use of conventional reality we wouldn’t have any words or concepts with which to consider actual reality – Dhamma. This is very important to understand.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jun 16, 2012 12:12 pm
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
I'd suggest that it's primarily about contemplative practice, respect, relationship, communication, and community.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:24 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Devotion to the Buddha, dhamma, &amp; saṅgha has nothing to do with devotion to "an imagined person, ghost, or deity, or god."


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jun 16, 2012 2:31 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
This seems to me to be an inaccurate oversimplification. This morning I was reading a chapter in Ajahn Munindo's Unexpected Freedom which accords with what I've observed around Asian teachers and monastics:
Our Asian teachers may not have explicitly taught the necessity of cultivating an attitude of devotion, but they certainly demonstrated it themselves. There are a number of instances I can remember when I saw certain gestures that really cut right through any doubts or confusion I may have had about the overall attitude I should be keeping in my day-to-day practice.

When I was a new monk and visiting Wat Pah Bahn Tard, which is the monastery of Ajahn Mahaboowa –- renowned as one of the most ferocious and mighty masters of the present Theravada Buddhist Forest tradition –- I was waiting in the eating hall in the early morning, before we all went out on alms round together, when the Venerable Ajahn came in. I expected that he would probably start snapping orders to the monks, and then rush off on pindapat -– he had a reputation for being very gruff and very fast. But what did he do? As he quietly entered the hall, the first thing he did was humbly kneel before the shrine and bow with the most gracious prostrations that one would ever wish to see. I wondered, “Why is he doing that? He’s supposed to be enlightened. I mean what is he doing bowing to graven images?”

This uninhibited expression of his devotion was a natural part of his disposition. He had grown up with that sensibility, as Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Tate and other eminent monks had. The same is true in Burma. At the monasteries of the various well-known and Venerable Sayadaws, you will see numerous well-kept shrines with monks, nuns and laity alike offering respect by way of candles, flowers and incense. Before and after sitting meditation they always mindfully bow three times in devotion to the Buddha, their teacher to whom they know they owe so much. This is so normal, so close to them that they just take it for granted. Addhithan, making determinations, generating these conscious wishes from a deep place within is thoroughly natural, and this, I feel, is one of the essential nourishments of the contemplative life.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:01 pm
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Oh c'mon now, that wasn't implied.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:28 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
I recognize that we all have our own unique personal histories, but I think that at some point it's quite helpful, and eventually necessary, to step out of the shadow of our past Judeo-Christian conditioning, etc. The Buddhadhamma has been related to and practiced very much as a religion by millions of people in Asia for well over 2000 years. This may not appeal to one's Western, post-modern sensibilities, but there's a certain tension in revisionism that should be acknowledged here. Personally, I'm skeptical of the premise that the historical Buddha and his early disciples thought and acted in ways that would be wholly acceptable to modern skeptics like Mr. Batchelor, and that this "pristine" dhamma was later corrupted by Buddhist traditions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:01 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
It seems that the English term "faith" has a broader set of meanings and connotations than you're acknowledging. These include trust, allegiance, fidelity, confidence, etc. Faith is from Anglo-French feid, from Latin fidēs "trust," "confidence." For example, see faith (Merriam Webster Dictionary) and faith (American Heritage Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary).


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:10 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
There are a number assertions made in the Pāli Nikāyas that aren't easily verifiable through direct perception, or even inferential cognition. In the absence of triple knowledge (tevijjā), some of these assertions can only be accepted on faith, supported by the most robust inferential analysis that one is able to muster at the time. Again, we are all free to either accept, reject, or suspend judgement on these assertions as we see fit. And it may happen that our views, opinions, and understanding of these assertions changes (sometimes considerably) over time.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 7:29 am
Title: Re: Starting to nod off during meditation
Content:
Drowsiness can arise because one actually needs sleep. This is true. But often times this isn't the case. What can occur, especially at a particular stage in one's practice, is that during sitting meditation the mind begins to calm down a bit from it's habitual restlessness, and then, because it's not used to remaining in this calmness with wakeful clarity, the mind begins to lapse into dullness, followed by drowsiness. This is the hindrance of lethargy and drowsiness (thīnamiddha). If one just gives in to this drowsiness then this can impede further development. Therefore, remedial practices should be used to refresh the mind in order to remain awake, calm, and clear.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 7:10 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
And what sense is that?


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:58 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Faith is more complex and dynamic than this. Again, faith relates to believing in the awakening of the Buddha. In addition, for the Buddhist path to be optimally effective, the path requires the development of both cognitive and affective qualities. Otherwise, practice is just a barren head trip with little power to transform one's life to the extent necessary for the radical process of Buddhist awakening. Ven. Bodhi has some insightful things to say on this subject. For example, in Going for Refuge &amp; Taking the Precepts he offers the following:
Like any other act of consciousness the going for refuge is a complex process made up of many factors. These factors can be classified by way of three basic faculties: intelligence, volition, and emotion....

The third aspect of going for refuge is the emotional. While going for refuge requires more than emotional fervour, it also cannot come to full fruition without the inspiring upward pull of the emotions. The emotions entering into the refuge act are principally three: confidence, reverence, and love. Confidence (pasada) is a feeling of serene trust in the protective power of the refuge-objects, based on a clear understanding of their qualities and functions. Confidence gives rise to reverence (garava), a sense of awe, esteem, and veneration born from a growing awareness of the sublime and lofty nature of the Triple Gem. Yet this reverence does not remain cool, formal, and aloof. As we experience the transforming effect of the Dhamma on our life, reverence awakens (pema). Love adds the element of warmth and vitality to the spiritual life. It kindles the flame of devotion, coming to expression in acts of dedicated service by which we seek to extend the protective and liberative capacity of the threefold refuge to others.

These skillful affective qualities don't necessarily come easily.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 14, 2012 5:55 am
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Faith (saddhā) along with discernment (paññā) are faculties (indriya) and strengths (bala) which are to be developed as requisites of awakening (bodhipakkhiyā dhammā). There is a whole spectrum of reasonable, intelligent saddhā that doesn't resort to what is pejoratively referred to as "blind faith," but is still faith in something which is beyond the sphere of certain confirmation via our current perceptions. Primarily, faith requires believing in the awakening of the Buddha. SN 55.37:
"In what way, venerable sir, is a lay follower accomplished in faith?"

"Here, Mahānāma, a lay follower is a person of faith. He places faith in the enlightenment of the Tathāgata thus: 'The Blessed One is ... teacher of devas and humans, the Enlightened One, the Blessed One.' In that way a lay follower is accomplished in faith."

And faith in the Tathāgata's awakening is connected to hearing the dhamma; i.e. it's not something that we can confirm with our worldly perceptions. MN 112:
Friends, formerly when I lived the home life I was ignorant. Then the Tathāgata or his disciple taught me the Dhamma. On hearing the Dhamma I acquired faith in the Tathāgata.

It's worthwhile being intellectually honest and vigorous enough to look at just how much of our motivation at any given moment is influenced by beliefs. In the context of practice, first of all, one has be motivated to actually engage in the ethical and contemplative training and then choose to go for refuge in the three jewels instead of one's own delusional thoughts and emotions. Then one has to at the very least tacitly accept the premise that craving sensual pleasure, craving existence, and craving non-existence is the origin of suffering, in order to be willing to begin to abandon habitual actions, and so on. This is no small thing. Thus, without developing faith and going for refuge in the three jewels there is no connection with the noble eightfold path. SN 48. 44 Pubbakoṭṭhaka Sutta:
Good, good Sāriputta! Those by whom this has not been known, seen, understood, realized, and contacted with wisdom -- they would have to go by faith in others about this: that the faculty of faith ... the faculty of energy ... the faculty of mindfulness .. the faculty of concentration ... the faculty of wisdom, when developed and cultivated, has the deathless as its ground, the deathless as its destination, the deathless as its final goal.

And it's only with the attainment of stream-entry that one's faith becomes confirmed, unshakable confidence (aveccapassāda).


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:04 pm
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
Sure. But there seems to be a fairly extreme skepticism and deep distrust regarding the soteriological efficacy of faith-based dhamma practices underlying these speaker's opinions. IMO this is unwarranted. Faith-based practices have been pervasive in every Buddhist tradition throughout history, and there's no good reason to believe that this mode of relating to the dhamma doesn't go right back to the earliest decades after the Buddha's parinibbāna. And if we are wont to scrutinize the dhammavinaya in terms of pragmatic utility as provisional expedients for development, then there are plenty of modern Western Buddhists who can attest to the effectiveness and skillfulness of devotional practices. This doesn't mean that devotional practices can't go off track and become unbalanced, then certainly can, but so can approaches which rely primarily on skepticism and rationalism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:44 pm
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
I think he was referring to the older, primarily Christian use of the term "meditation." What he fails to acknowledge though, is that the English term "meditation" has now shifted and expanded in meaning due to the influence of Buddhism and other Eastern yoga traditions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:50 pm
Title: Re: Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism
Content:
A decent talk if one is into that sort of cerebral Western revisionism. Although, quoting Monier Monier-Williams as an example of how the West misunderstands Buddhism is a bit dated. At present, thousands of Westerners have thoroughly trained under the guidance of the best Asian teachers of each tradition, and many have also learned the language(s) of their tradition and work at translation. So things have changed considerably since the days of Monier-Williams.

Batchelor and Peacock's aversion towards the word "religion" is also kinda funny. If John Cleese would have appeared from the audience it could have made for a hilarious skit.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:42 pm
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
The Buddhadhamma does encourage an engagement with life, of sorts. That is, if one considers explicit recommendations to take monastic ordination and dwell in seclusion as an engagement with life. And this recommendation also applies to both the Theravāda and Mahāyāna versions of the bodhisatta vehicle.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:25 pm
Title: Re: Craving and Sankharas/Salayatana
Content:
It makes sense. I don't think it's ever explicitly stated in the suttas as such, but the suttas weren't compiled for the purpose of systematic exposition.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:57 am
Title: Re: Pali Term: Ariya-sacca
Content:
In some of his translations Ven. Ñāṇamoli translates sacca as "actuality" (plural: "actualities").


Author: Nyana
Date: Fri Jun 08, 2012 10:53 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
FWIW, the siddhānta genre outlining descriptive doctrines of philosophical systems does have Indian precedents. For example, the Tattvaratnāvalī by Maitrīpāda, the Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya by Daśabalaśrīmitra, or the Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha by Vidyāraṇya. Similar developments occurred in China with the various pan jiao doctrinal classification schemes. It seems that these kinds of expositions are a byproduct of societies endowed with the cultural richness of religious and philosophical pluralism. These same conditions give rise to the modern genre of Introductory books on Buddhism.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:31 pm
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
SN 56.20 Tatha Sutta:
Cattārimāni, bhikkhave, tathāni avitathāni anaññathāni. Katamāni cattāri? ‘Idaṃ dukkha’nti, bhikkhave, tathametaṃ avitathametaṃ anaññathametaṃ ; ‘ayaṃ dukkhasamudayo’ti tathametaṃ avitathametaṃ anaññathametaṃ; ‘ayaṃ dukkhanirodho’ti tathametaṃ avitathametaṃ anaññathametaṃ; ‘ayaṃ dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā’ti tathametaṃ avitathametaṃ anaññathametaṃ – imāni kho, bhikkhave, cattāri tathāni avitathāni anaññathāni.

Ven. Bodhi's translation:
Bhikkhus, these four things are actual, unerring, not otherwise. What four? 'This is suffering': this, bhikkhus, is actual, unerring, not otherwise. 'This is the origin of suffering': this is actual, unerring, not otherwise. 'This is the cessation of suffering': this is actual, unerring, not otherwise. 'This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering': this is actual, unerring, not otherwise. These four things, bhikkhus, are actual, unerring, not otherwise.

Thus, the cattāri ariyasaccāni are unerring and the knowledge that directly realizes the cattāri ariyasaccāni is unmistaken. IMO the only correspondence required is that between a liberating cognition (i.e. citta + ñāṇa) and a soteriologically useful mental object (i.e. ariyasaccā). This way, the problems of strong correspondence theories of truth entailing ontological realism are avoided as well as the undesirable consequences of coherence theories.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:59 pm
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
The former, as in, "he discerns...." Cf. Paṭisambhidāmagga Abhisamayakathā which explains that direct realization (abhisameti) requires the presence of mind (citta) and knowledge (ñāṇa).

This is similar to the issue pertaining to translating dhammā. I would suggest that "phenomena" is a better translation than "realities."


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:02 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
Yes, this would likely be an inaccurate impression. What I was attempting to highlight in my previous reply was that paṭiccasamuppāda, the cattāri ariyasaccāni, etc., were already singled out and further developed as distinctive and important doctrines by Indian Buddhists 2000+ years ago -- long before the advent of modern Western Buddhology.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:03 am
Title: Re: Happy Birthday Modus Ponens!
Content:
Happy Birthday!!!


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:58 am
Title: Re: Pali Term: Ariya-sacca
Content:
FWIW, the cattāri ariyasaccāni don't exist as anything other than theoretical doctrinal statements apart from the minds that realize them. Thus, it seems accurate to emphasize that they are truths to be realized by cognitions rather than realities that exist independent of cognitions.


Author: Nyana
Date: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:47 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
The noble truths, dependent origination, three characteristics, etc. are common and pervasive in all the doctrinal schools: Theravāda, Sarvāstivāda, etc. For example, the four noble truths are the objects of knowledge that are penetrated and understood when attaining the noble paths. The Sarvāstivāda developed a detailed framework on the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths which are to be sequentially understood in a cognitive series. (The Theravāda developed an alternate version of sixteen aspects, which they maintain are penetrated and understood at one time.)


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:36 pm
Title: Re: Starting to nod off during meditation
Content:
I don't recall ever coming across any explicit instructions in the suttas or commentaries outlining a schedule or regimen for alternating between sitting and walking meditation, etc., but it's easy enough to construct such a schedule from what's given in the suttas, and I think it's quite possible that this was how the early monastics spent much of their day in seclusion.


Author: Nyana
Date: Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:15 am
Title: Re: Starting to nod off during meditation
Content:
Can you elaborate?


Author: Nyana
Date: Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:14 pm
Title: Re: Starting to nod off during meditation
Content:
It can be helpful to intentionally notice the mind's clarity at the beginning of a sitting period and then remaining attentive to sustaining that clarity. It can also be helpful in this regard to keep sitting periods short, and take a short break between sits.

The suttas offer a number of antidotes such as attending to a perception of light, or engaging in walking meditation, or reciting suttas (either silently or out loud), etc. For example, see AN 7.58.


Author: Nyana
Date: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:45 pm
Title: Re: Life as a deva
Content:
Yes, the Vimānavatthu is a good canonical source. There are also post-canonical works such as the Māleyyadevattheravatthu, which recounts the story of the elder Māleyyadeva from Sri Lanka visiting the Cūlāmaṇi-shrine in the heaven of the thirty-three gods:
At that moment Sakka, king of the gods, came with his retinue and worshiped the right tooth of the Blessed One and the Cūlāmaṇi-shrine with various kinds of garlands, perfumes, ointments and the like; seeing the elder sitting down he went up to him, paid reverence and sat down to one side. All the groups of gods paid reverence to the shrine, walking around it keeping it to the right, (and then) paid reverence to the elder and sat down all around (him); so too did all the divine maidens, who paid reverence to the elder with a fivefold prostration. Sakka, king of the gods, asked the elder: “Sir, where have you come from?” “Great king, I have come from the Rose-apple island to pay reverence to the shrine.” Then the elder asked Sakka: “Did you have the Cūlāmaṇi-shrine set up?” “Yes, venerable sir, I had it set up to be worshiped by the gods.” The elder asked: “King of the gods, these gods did good deeds in the Human World and were reborn here to enjoy divine happiness; why do they make merit now?” “Venerable sir, these gods make merit in the desire to go beyond the world of the gods....”

Then the noble Metteyya, the future Buddha, came down from the Tusita realm to worship at the shrine. He was attended by millions upon millions of junior gods and goddesses, who shone with a light brighter than that of the moon with its thousand rays; he (himself) shone like a full moon in a cloudless autumn sky, surrounded by clusters of stars. They were (all) holding lamps, incense, perfumes and garlands. His celestial radiance filled the whole city of the Thirty-three (gods) with light, gave off a celestial smell, and with his characteristic incomparable grace and charm he came to the shrine-terrace, walked around it keeping it to his right, paid reverence to and worshiped the eight directions, and sat down on the western side.

from Collins, Steven. Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the Pali imaginaire. Cambridge University Press, 1998.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:58 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
And this is entirely plausible, but always speculative. Having read a number of different modern theories proposing criteria for establishing the earliest discourses, as well as the criticisms of these theories, I'm quite happy to set this line of investigation aside as unnecessary and inconsequential. The methodology of textual criticism is not able and will never be able to demonstrate what the historical Buddha actually taught with any degree of certainty. This is why a useful distinction can be made between Original Buddhism and Early Buddhism. Original Buddhism refers to the actual oral teachings of the historical Gotama and his immediate disciples. Early Buddhism refers to the early formative pre-sectarian period of Indian Buddhism and the extant textual documents which claim to be records of the Buddha's teachings as remembered by his immediate disciples after his death.

And while we can infer some significant information about the early pre-sectarian period of Indian Buddhism with the help of text-critical analysis of the extant discourses, we will never be able to prove with any degree of certainty which of these doctrines and training rules actually originated with the Buddha himself and which are the product of the first few generations of his disciples. 

What is clearly evident, however, is that the vast majority of discourses which survive share common doctrines and practices which are original and unique in the history of ancient Indian thought, and are therefore likely rooted in the ideas and practices developed and taught by one remarkable historical person, namely the samaṇa Gotama.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:07 am
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
These differences in narrative are rather insignificant and don't affect the soteriological teachings. I've read a fair bit of discourses from other schools which are still extant. And overall, they share a high degree of doctrinal consistency. The inconsistencies generally occur in the narrative story-lines that accompany sutta &amp; vinaya, and this could be due to a number of factors, but this doesn't adversely affect the doctrinal content.


Author: Nyana
Date: Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:21 pm
Title: Re: John Peacock: Will the Real Buddha Please Stand Up?
Content:
Indeed, entirely plausible but probably unprovable. Nevertheless, there are many other good reasons to cherish the Suttanipāta.


