I shifted to my daughter’s house two years and very seldom have visitors. I do not have many friends nowadays as most of them are out of my life. When I retired way back in 1998, I lost my social life too. When I was staying in the condominium, my only friends are my neighbors then. But since I shifted to my present residence, I hardly know my neighbors. And they do not know me. What a life!
My former neighbors (Vas & Cindy) visited me last evening and I am so touched. We had a nice chat over supper. It was past midnight when they left for home. When we were neighbors, we used to have late night tea time. These are the good people that one can seldom find.
I emailed to Vas the other day as we have not met for some time.
“Hi Vas
I practically finished writing my blog and there is nothing much left to be done. I have done a lot of reading on Buddhism and follow the political news of the country. I do not think there is any good in selling over the internet but I still advertise as the advertisements are free. I will sell at places where there are no charges for rental. There is one function on July 4 with rental free arranged by my daughter.
I have live for half a century and I know what's life is. Some people tell me it is the state of mind. But since the state of mind is trapped in the bodily form, it is not easy to explain. Any form in existence is subject to conditions. Life is not static but dynamic and as such there are changes down the road. These changes also cause sufferings. The reality is how to overcome and survive the sufferings which is inevitable. I am doing my best to survive.
In actuality it is just waiting for the day to leave behind everything and go over to the next life. My mind is no longer clouded with any burden in this life time.
I am not thinking of taking my life because it is forbidden in Buddhism. I am trying by means of meditation that one can take leave at will..
I appreciate yours and Cindy’s friendship and concern over my well being. But one can only help sometime and not all the time.
Every story has an end but in life every ending is a new beginning. So how long I have to wait to begin again!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
From Buddhism: Re-creation Of Our World
According to the Vedas, we are in the Kaliyuga period of the 28th Mahayuga in the 7th Manvantaras of the present kalpa.
According to scientific reports, human beings come into existence 2 million years ago (2,000,000). Based on the period of a Mahayuga is 2,173,000 human years, our present Kaliyuga will end in another 173,000 years from now.
During the 25th Mahayuga of the present Manvantaras, the first human Buddha Krakucchanda appeared in our world. In the 26th Mahayuga the second human Buddha Kaankamuni appeared and in the 27th Mahayuga the third human Buddha Kasyapa. Now in the present 28th Mahayuga there is our historical Sakyamuni Buddha. At the end of the present Mahayuga our world will be destroyed and re-created again for the coming of the future Metteyya Buddha. Our world had been re-created three times for the past human Buddhas. The other Buddhas mentioned in Buddhism are sentient beings from other world systems.
The Buddha say the future Metteyya Buddha will live for eight thousand years indicated that he will be born in the Tretayuga of the 29th Mahayuga. The life span of human beings during the Tretayuga period is 10,000 years. That will be 1,000,000 (1 million) years from now.
According to scientific reports, human beings come into existence 2 million years ago (2,000,000). Based on the period of a Mahayuga is 2,173,000 human years, our present Kaliyuga will end in another 173,000 years from now.
During the 25th Mahayuga of the present Manvantaras, the first human Buddha Krakucchanda appeared in our world. In the 26th Mahayuga the second human Buddha Kaankamuni appeared and in the 27th Mahayuga the third human Buddha Kasyapa. Now in the present 28th Mahayuga there is our historical Sakyamuni Buddha. At the end of the present Mahayuga our world will be destroyed and re-created again for the coming of the future Metteyya Buddha. Our world had been re-created three times for the past human Buddhas. The other Buddhas mentioned in Buddhism are sentient beings from other world systems.
The Buddha say the future Metteyya Buddha will live for eight thousand years indicated that he will be born in the Tretayuga of the 29th Mahayuga. The life span of human beings during the Tretayuga period is 10,000 years. That will be 1,000,000 (1 million) years from now.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Day I Died
Four years ago Ann left us – Robin and I. Our marriage ended after being together for nineteen years. Robin was twelve and he did not understand what was happening to the family. He knew that she left us for another man. He lost his mother and I am without a wife. He had to adjust himself without her in his life.
Months later Robin asked me to marry Mandy. I was shocked. Perhaps he wanted a mother or maybe he thought I should have a wife. Robin had met Mandy on several occasions whenever I collected my purchases from her. She was my supplier and is the same age as my daughter Irene. She is a friendly single lady but nevertheless a stranger. I must confess at that moment it did crossed my mind. If I was twenty years younger and financially sound, I might have given it a shot. It may not be a matter of love but rather a necessity of companionship. People need dreams to stay alive but I dare not dream of having another wife at my age.
Occasionally Ann came to visit Robin. I knew she missed the son. One day I talked to her about selling the condominium and letting her have Robin. Robin was thirteen then. I had to give up Robin to Ann so that he can have a better life. Giving up my son was never easy and indeed a great sacrifice at my age to let go someone I care for. Today I still miss him. Nonetheless I was made the right decision to let go what I can no longer afford – a wife and a son. This is my life.
I died the day Robin left to be with his mother. That was three years ago. I had been dead for three years. My body lives without me and I am without myself. I have lost the desire to live. I am trapped in this body.
Buddhism forbids suicide. I read in Buddhism that one can go at will if one reaches a certain level through meditations. One will be reborn in a Buddha Land. I want to let go through meditation but when can I reach that level. Maybe one day I will be force to take the easy way out. Then it will be a rebirth in the ghost world or to a lower life than the present one.
The condominium was finally sold two years ago. I gave Ann half the money from the sales. Before that I enrolled Robin to a private school with some of the money I won from a lottery.
I tried to move on with my life with whatever I had. It had been two years now and times are bad. I am getting nowhere. Nothing comes my way and the high cost of staying alive is killing me. My time is running out as I started to sell off everything to move on. Soon I will have nothing to live on and then what will happen. Life is always a mystery and it takes a miracle to survive suffering.
Months later Robin asked me to marry Mandy. I was shocked. Perhaps he wanted a mother or maybe he thought I should have a wife. Robin had met Mandy on several occasions whenever I collected my purchases from her. She was my supplier and is the same age as my daughter Irene. She is a friendly single lady but nevertheless a stranger. I must confess at that moment it did crossed my mind. If I was twenty years younger and financially sound, I might have given it a shot. It may not be a matter of love but rather a necessity of companionship. People need dreams to stay alive but I dare not dream of having another wife at my age.
Occasionally Ann came to visit Robin. I knew she missed the son. One day I talked to her about selling the condominium and letting her have Robin. Robin was thirteen then. I had to give up Robin to Ann so that he can have a better life. Giving up my son was never easy and indeed a great sacrifice at my age to let go someone I care for. Today I still miss him. Nonetheless I was made the right decision to let go what I can no longer afford – a wife and a son. This is my life.
I died the day Robin left to be with his mother. That was three years ago. I had been dead for three years. My body lives without me and I am without myself. I have lost the desire to live. I am trapped in this body.
Buddhism forbids suicide. I read in Buddhism that one can go at will if one reaches a certain level through meditations. One will be reborn in a Buddha Land. I want to let go through meditation but when can I reach that level. Maybe one day I will be force to take the easy way out. Then it will be a rebirth in the ghost world or to a lower life than the present one.
The condominium was finally sold two years ago. I gave Ann half the money from the sales. Before that I enrolled Robin to a private school with some of the money I won from a lottery.
I tried to move on with my life with whatever I had. It had been two years now and times are bad. I am getting nowhere. Nothing comes my way and the high cost of staying alive is killing me. My time is running out as I started to sell off everything to move on. Soon I will have nothing to live on and then what will happen. Life is always a mystery and it takes a miracle to survive suffering.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
From Buddhism: Ananda
Ananda, the chief personal attendant of the Buddha, was a first cousin of the Buddha, and a son of the Sakyan Amitodana, one of the brothers of his father Suddhodana.
“Born in the Tusita heaven along with the bodhisatta, he passed away from there, and was reborn in the house of the Sakyan Amitodana. He was born on the day of the Buddha’s enlightenment in the city of Kapilavastu .”
The soothsayers had predicted that Ananda would be the chief attendant of the Buddha. Hence, in order to prevent him from meeting the Buddha, his father took him to Vaisali when the Buddha visited Kapilavastu and brought him back only after the Buddha’s departure from there. Nevertheless, the Buddha who knew his cousin’s future came back to his house and converted him. Later Amitodana gave him permission to renounce the world.
For twenty years after the enlightenment, the Buddha had no permanent attendant. At the age of fifty-five, he made known to his disciples his wish to have a permanent attendant. All the chief disciples, except Ananda, offered to serve him, but were rejected on one account or another. Ananda sat in silence and when requested by his colleages to come forward as the Buddha’s attendant he refused on the ground that the Buddha himself would select him if the Buddha thought him fit.
Ananda at first refused to offer his services, when requested by Sariputta and Maudgalyayana on the ground that it was difficult to serve a Buddha. Later, he accepted the post on three conditions viz…(1) he should not be asked to partake of the Buddha’s food or use his robes, (2) he should not be asked to accompany the Buddha, when he visited laymen’s houses, (3) he might at any time see and pay his respects to the Buddha. The Buddha accepted these conditions and from that day until his death at Kusinara he had the service of a faithful attendant, devoted alike to his Master and to his duty.
From the time the Buddha announced his fast approaching death, Ananda followed him, imploring him to live longer, trying to find out the Buddha’s view on many an issue or questioning him concerning the future of the Sangha. As the Buddha lay dying in the sala grove of the Mallas, it is really touching to read how this most devoted disciple, unable to bear up any more, burst into tears. To console him the Buddha had to remind him of his often repeated doctrine of the impermanency of all component things.
Ananda’s service to the Dhamma was as great as that to the Buddha. Although not an arahant during the lifetime of the Buddha he was already well known for his wisdom which even the Buddha acknowledged. His close association with the Buddha and the Buddha’s promise to repeat to him any discourse delivered in his absence made it possible for him to be an expert in the teachings of the Buddha. Often he discussed very important topics with the Buddha. Ananda had discussions on the Dhamma with other prominent disciples of the Buddha and at times they turned out to be very interesting and illuminating. His knowledge of the Dhamma was so highly respected that the Buddha is once reported to have said that one who wants to honor the Dhamma should honor Ananda.
Ananda lived up to the ripe age of a hundred and twenty years. His great age had even become proverbial.
All the achievements of Ananda, according to the Buddha, were not the work of one birth. It was the final outcome of the work of numerous past births.
It was 100,000 aeons ago, in the dispensation of Buddha Padumuttara that he made his first resolve to be the personal attendant of a Buddha. At the time, Ananda was a prince named Sumana, a step-brother of Buddha Padumuttara himself. One day he saw the Buddha’s chief attendant, the disciple most dear to the Buddha, and a desire arose in him to be one like him. With the greatest difficulty he obtained his father’s permission to entertain the Buddha for seven days. Then he went to the dwelling place and built a monastery in the park named Sobhana, bought from a householder of the same name. He also built a number of other monasteries along the road from the capital to his palace and offered all these to the Buddha. He observed the ten precepts during three rainy seasons and also offered alms to the Buddha and his disciples. At the end of all these acts he made known his resolution to be chief attendant of a Buddha. Buddha Padumuttara prophesied the fulfillment of his desire.
In the time of Buddha Kassapa he presented a bowl-rest to a monk going on his alm-round. In another birth as the king of Baranasi he made eight cells for eight paccekabuddhas in his royal park and attended upon them for ten thousand years. In these he helped the boddhisatta to fulfill his ten perfections, while he himself accumulated much good kamma. While roaming in the endless sea of births and deaths as an ordinary being still not immune from evil thoughts, he was guilty of evil deeds as well. One such instance is recorded when as a blacksmith he committed adultery and suffered for a long time in purgatory.
Arahantship is only a stage on the path to complete deliverance. It is only by becoming a supreme Buddha that one ends life in samara. Hence, Ananda, too, will have to go on till he attains supreme Buddhahood. Ananda himself requested the Buddha to predict his future destiny to supreme enlightenment. The Buddha is then said to have predicted that after having respected and honoured sixty-two kotis of supreme Buddhas, kept in memory their doctrines and received their messages, he will become a Tathagata by the name Sagara-vara-dhara-buddhi-vikridistabhijna. His Buddha-field will be prosperous and it will be of lapis lazuli. His world system will be named Anavanamita-vaijayanti and the aeon will be named Manojna-sabdabbigarjita. This Buddha will bring to enlightenment twenty times hundred thousand myriads of kotis of bodhisattvas, comparable to the sands of twenty rivers of the size of the Ganges . His life-span will be incalculable in aeons. After his parinirvana his dharma will last twice as long as his life-span and twice as long as his teaching will the counterfeit of his dharma stand.
“Born in the Tusita heaven along with the bodhisatta, he passed away from there, and was reborn in the house of the Sakyan Amitodana. He was born on the day of the Buddha’s enlightenment in the city of Kapilavastu .”
The soothsayers had predicted that Ananda would be the chief attendant of the Buddha. Hence, in order to prevent him from meeting the Buddha, his father took him to Vaisali when the Buddha visited Kapilavastu and brought him back only after the Buddha’s departure from there. Nevertheless, the Buddha who knew his cousin’s future came back to his house and converted him. Later Amitodana gave him permission to renounce the world.
For twenty years after the enlightenment, the Buddha had no permanent attendant. At the age of fifty-five, he made known to his disciples his wish to have a permanent attendant. All the chief disciples, except Ananda, offered to serve him, but were rejected on one account or another. Ananda sat in silence and when requested by his colleages to come forward as the Buddha’s attendant he refused on the ground that the Buddha himself would select him if the Buddha thought him fit.
Ananda at first refused to offer his services, when requested by Sariputta and Maudgalyayana on the ground that it was difficult to serve a Buddha. Later, he accepted the post on three conditions viz…(1) he should not be asked to partake of the Buddha’s food or use his robes, (2) he should not be asked to accompany the Buddha, when he visited laymen’s houses, (3) he might at any time see and pay his respects to the Buddha. The Buddha accepted these conditions and from that day until his death at Kusinara he had the service of a faithful attendant, devoted alike to his Master and to his duty.
From the time the Buddha announced his fast approaching death, Ananda followed him, imploring him to live longer, trying to find out the Buddha’s view on many an issue or questioning him concerning the future of the Sangha. As the Buddha lay dying in the sala grove of the Mallas, it is really touching to read how this most devoted disciple, unable to bear up any more, burst into tears. To console him the Buddha had to remind him of his often repeated doctrine of the impermanency of all component things.
Ananda’s service to the Dhamma was as great as that to the Buddha. Although not an arahant during the lifetime of the Buddha he was already well known for his wisdom which even the Buddha acknowledged. His close association with the Buddha and the Buddha’s promise to repeat to him any discourse delivered in his absence made it possible for him to be an expert in the teachings of the Buddha. Often he discussed very important topics with the Buddha. Ananda had discussions on the Dhamma with other prominent disciples of the Buddha and at times they turned out to be very interesting and illuminating. His knowledge of the Dhamma was so highly respected that the Buddha is once reported to have said that one who wants to honor the Dhamma should honor Ananda.
Ananda lived up to the ripe age of a hundred and twenty years. His great age had even become proverbial.
All the achievements of Ananda, according to the Buddha, were not the work of one birth. It was the final outcome of the work of numerous past births.
It was 100,000 aeons ago, in the dispensation of Buddha Padumuttara that he made his first resolve to be the personal attendant of a Buddha. At the time, Ananda was a prince named Sumana, a step-brother of Buddha Padumuttara himself. One day he saw the Buddha’s chief attendant, the disciple most dear to the Buddha, and a desire arose in him to be one like him. With the greatest difficulty he obtained his father’s permission to entertain the Buddha for seven days. Then he went to the dwelling place and built a monastery in the park named Sobhana, bought from a householder of the same name. He also built a number of other monasteries along the road from the capital to his palace and offered all these to the Buddha. He observed the ten precepts during three rainy seasons and also offered alms to the Buddha and his disciples. At the end of all these acts he made known his resolution to be chief attendant of a Buddha. Buddha Padumuttara prophesied the fulfillment of his desire.
In the time of Buddha Kassapa he presented a bowl-rest to a monk going on his alm-round. In another birth as the king of Baranasi he made eight cells for eight paccekabuddhas in his royal park and attended upon them for ten thousand years. In these he helped the boddhisatta to fulfill his ten perfections, while he himself accumulated much good kamma. While roaming in the endless sea of births and deaths as an ordinary being still not immune from evil thoughts, he was guilty of evil deeds as well. One such instance is recorded when as a blacksmith he committed adultery and suffered for a long time in purgatory.
Arahantship is only a stage on the path to complete deliverance. It is only by becoming a supreme Buddha that one ends life in samara. Hence, Ananda, too, will have to go on till he attains supreme Buddhahood. Ananda himself requested the Buddha to predict his future destiny to supreme enlightenment. The Buddha is then said to have predicted that after having respected and honoured sixty-two kotis of supreme Buddhas, kept in memory their doctrines and received their messages, he will become a Tathagata by the name Sagara-vara-dhara-buddhi-vikridistabhijna. His Buddha-field will be prosperous and it will be of lapis lazuli. His world system will be named Anavanamita-vaijayanti and the aeon will be named Manojna-sabdabbigarjita. This Buddha will bring to enlightenment twenty times hundred thousand myriads of kotis of bodhisattvas, comparable to the sands of twenty rivers of the size of the Ganges . His life-span will be incalculable in aeons. After his parinirvana his dharma will last twice as long as his life-span and twice as long as his teaching will the counterfeit of his dharma stand.
From Buddhism: Animitta
Animitta, meaning ‘formless’. All dhammas are formless, because they have no special nature. They are essentially void.
According to the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, dhammas become neither united nor separated and have neither color and form nor quality of obstruction. All dhammas have one nature, that is formlessness.
The Maharatnakuta Sutra mentions that the essential nature of all dhammas is voidness, the nature of all dhammas is to have no-nature. As all dhammas are void and have no peculiar nature, they have one common nature, viz., formlessness. As they are formless, they can be pure. As they are void and have no peculiar nature, they cannot be manifested in form.
Considered as phenomena, all dhammas are changing – being united with each other or being separated – and they have color and form and are obstructions for others. But from the essential point of view, all dhammas are void and are beyond differentiation. Thus, all dhammas are equal in voidness and are Nirvana itself.
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra mentions that the characteristic of Nirvana is ‘animitta’: “Nirvana is called animitta,……..because in Nirvana the ten forms are not found. What are the ten forms? They are the forms of matter, sound, smell, taste, contact, birth, stability, differentiation, male and female. They are called the ten forms. When a dharma is not in any of these forms, it is called formless”. If someone should cling to these forms, he would be in the world of birth and death. But if someone does not cling to these forms, he is above the world of birth and death; in other words, he is in Nirvana.
“By ‘formless’ is meant not to carry all kinds of forms in the practitioner’s mind, to be detached from all sensations and not to cling to any dhammas of past, present and future”.
According to the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, dhammas become neither united nor separated and have neither color and form nor quality of obstruction. All dhammas have one nature, that is formlessness.
The Maharatnakuta Sutra mentions that the essential nature of all dhammas is voidness, the nature of all dhammas is to have no-nature. As all dhammas are void and have no peculiar nature, they have one common nature, viz., formlessness. As they are formless, they can be pure. As they are void and have no peculiar nature, they cannot be manifested in form.
Considered as phenomena, all dhammas are changing – being united with each other or being separated – and they have color and form and are obstructions for others. But from the essential point of view, all dhammas are void and are beyond differentiation. Thus, all dhammas are equal in voidness and are Nirvana itself.
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra mentions that the characteristic of Nirvana is ‘animitta’: “Nirvana is called animitta,……..because in Nirvana the ten forms are not found. What are the ten forms? They are the forms of matter, sound, smell, taste, contact, birth, stability, differentiation, male and female. They are called the ten forms. When a dharma is not in any of these forms, it is called formless”. If someone should cling to these forms, he would be in the world of birth and death. But if someone does not cling to these forms, he is above the world of birth and death; in other words, he is in Nirvana.
“By ‘formless’ is meant not to carry all kinds of forms in the practitioner’s mind, to be detached from all sensations and not to cling to any dhammas of past, present and future”.
From Buddhism: Analayaviyuha
Analayaviyuha, name of a kalpa occurring in a list of kalpas in the Gandavyuha Sutra. Here is given a list of kalpas along with a list of Buddhas said to have been born in each kalpas, and Analayaviyuha is one of them, during which period 26 million Buddhas said to have been born.
A kalpa is a measurement of time in Buddhist cosmology, and is also consider as an era – a period of 4.320,000,000 (4.32 billion) human years.
Mankind is about 2,000,000 (2 million) human years old. Thus, the 26 million Buddhas were borned in other world systems from a past kalpa. According to the Buddha (our historical human Buddha - Sakyamuni Buddha) there are 10,000 world systems in the universe.
Our world is just a grain of sand on the riverbank of Ganges when comparing to the universe.
A kalpa is a measurement of time in Buddhist cosmology, and is also consider as an era – a period of 4.320,000,000 (4.32 billion) human years.
Mankind is about 2,000,000 (2 million) human years old. Thus, the 26 million Buddhas were borned in other world systems from a past kalpa. According to the Buddha (our historical human Buddha - Sakyamuni Buddha) there are 10,000 world systems in the universe.
Our world is just a grain of sand on the riverbank of Ganges when comparing to the universe.
From Buddhism: Andhakas
The theses of the Andhakas are recorded and disputed in the Kathavatthu as follows: -
01. All mental states are applications of mindfulness. As mindfulness is established in respect of anything, any mental state can be an application of mindfulness. The object of mindfulness being in the mind, they are themselves also the conscious subject of mindfulness. Patthana signifies the object of mindful application and the subject applying mindfulness.
02. The past, the future and the present, matter and the other aggregates exist. All things exist, in time, by way of material and other qualities, as past, present or future; they exist only in this manner. But material does not exist as sensation, perception, etc., and thus all things do not exist in this manner.
03. A single unit of consciousness or one single thought lasts for a day or more, for in a state of absorption there is continuance without interruption.
04. Realization of the four Paths and the four Noble Truths is a gradual process, as the ocean slopes and inclines gradually. There is no sudden discernments of insight.
05. The Buddha’s ordinary speech on common matters was supramundane.
06. There are two cessations of conflict, i.e., the third Noble Truth is twofold according to the cessation being effected through reasoned reflections or unreasoned reflections about things, and both of them are absolute.
07. The powers of the Buddha are common to his disciples. It was the generalization of this thesis which was objected to by Vibhajjavadina who did not deny that there were some disciples such as Anuruddha who also had some of the ten powers of the Buddha.
08. The power of the Buddha in discerning reality is ariyan not only as regards the extinction of mental intoxicants, but also in respect of his other powers of discernment of the deceases and rebirth of beings, etc.
09. A thought free from passion has attained deliverance just as a stained cloth when washed is clean. This thesis is obviously based on a misunderstanding of emancipation, which is not a mere absence of lust.
10. A person in the eighth stage, i.e., on entering the path of sainthood and before even reaping the fruit of such attainment, has abandoned the obsessions of heretical views and perplexity.
11. Such a person who has just entered the path is in the process of acquiring, but had not yet attained to, the five spiritual controlling powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and insight, although he may have these same virtues.
12. The divine eye is the physical eye when it becomes the medium of an idea.
13. Even the inhabitants of the unconscious spheres have perception, for it is said that consciousness arises in them at the moment of rebirth and of decease.
14. But one cannot say that there is consciousness in the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception.
15. The Buddha, in so far as in a previous life he had been a disciple of Buddha Kassapa with the name Jotipala, a Brahman youth and received from him the assurance of attainment, cannot be said to have been self-developed.
16. A person who has, attained the realization of arahantship is endowed with the three fruitions of the lower attainments; and as he had previously not renounced them, he possesses them persistently.
17. Arahantship consists of the putting away of all fetters. This thesis is rejected by their opponents on the ground that the five lower fetters have already been put away by earlier attainments.
18. He who has the knowledge of emancipation is emancipated. This statement becomes incorrect because of its lack of qualification. It is only the peace of fruition which is unconditioned emancipation.
19. When one attains mental absorption by means of the meditation device of an earthen disc he suffers from hallucination, for, while looking as material clay, he is conscious of something else, viz, the concept of extention.
20. All knowledge is analytical, because it is supramundane wisdom.
21. It is wrong to say that relative knowledge has truth as its only object, for there is a relative truth and the absolute truth.
22. Knowledge of the ways of thinking of someone else is limited in the object to have consciousness, i.e., not including the contents of such thoughts.
23. Knowledge of the future is present for in certain suttas the Buddha has predicted the future, thereby proving that at least for him there exists a degree of knowledge of the future.
24. Knowledge of the present exists. But the Andhakas seem to have implied in this thesis that the entire present without distinction is known.
25. Disciples can, like the Buddhas, state whether a certain person has won some state of noble fruition since both Buddhas and their disciples teach others the doctrine of attainment.
26. Assurance of salvation is unconditioned in the sense of permanent, for even if the path were to pass away, a person thus assured would not forfeit his salvation.
27. The attainment of cessation, i.e., the suspension of sensation and perception subsequent to the highest stage of mental absorption, is unconditioned, as the four mental aggregates cease to function and hence do not present the characteristics of conditioning.
28. Space is visible, because we have cognition of enclosed space, such as keyholes.
29. The four great elements of extension, cohesion, caloricity and vibration are visible, because the soil, water, a flame and the movement of the wind in the branches of a tree can be seen.
30. Earth is a resultant of karmic action, inasmuch as there is human action directed towards gaining dominion and sovereignty over the soil.
31. Old age and death are results of karmic action because some action is conducive to deterioration which is decay or old age, and to the curtailing of life which is death.
32. The fruits of the religious life being negative in so far as they are the abandonment of defilements and are neither thoughts nor mental factors, are not the results of karmic action.
33. The result of karmic action is in itself the cause of other results, because one result of karma stands in relation to another result by way of reciprocity.
34. The Andhakas considered the sphere of the asura (demons) as a separate destiny of rebirth, apart from the usual five destinies (gati), hell, the animal kingdom, the world of ghosts, the human world, and the heavens of the gods.
35. The element of matter consists of cognized material qualities.
36. In the spheres of form the Brahmas and others have sensation of smell, taste and touch, in addition to those of sight, sound and ideas.
37. Even in the formless spheres of existence there is material form, because “in dependence on consciousness arise mind and matter.”
38. Anyone who discerns the blessings of a virtuous life, thereby puts away the fetters.
39. The latent evil tendencies have no object, as they are distinct from the actual mind.
40. Insight belonging to the highest path of arahantship is sometimes without mental object, e.g., when visual consciousness is engaged with the visible object of the sense of sight.
41. One who has attained insight into the eight liberations and who can at will induce the four states of mental absorption is persistently in possession thereof. And thus a past or a future experience is actually his. The commentator’s objection to this thesis is the absence of a distinction to be made between the acquisition of the state, which is a potential faculty, and the actual possession thereof , functioning at that time.
42. The four aggregates of existence of a new lifespan arise before the aggregates of the expiring lifespan cease, without which there would be a break in the life-continuum, and being the new being would be totally different from, and unconnected with, the earlier existence.
43. The utterance of the words: This is conflict causes the rising of insight into the nature of conflict.
44. The conditioning factor by which resulting things are established is predetermined. The Andhakas based this thesis on a passage of the sutra: Whether a Tathagata arises or not, it still holds good that all component things are impermanent, fraught with conflict and without substance, for such is the casual law of nature which invariably fixes things as effects.
45. Impermanence itself, apart from impermanent phenomena, is predetermined.
46. One who has attained mental absorption takes pleasure therein as his goal.
47. The latent evil tendencies are different from the actual vice manifesting itself as an outburst; for, an ordinary man while having a latent tendency of hate or lust may yet without openly manifesting such tendency develop a morally good thought.
48. Outbursts of corruption take place sometimes unconsciously when the mind is distracted.
49. Just as desire of the senses is inherent in the spheres of sense-experience, so desire for things in the sphere of form is inherent in the worlds of form and desire for things in formless spheres is inherent in the formless worlds.
50. Erroneous views are indeterminate, i.e., neither good, nor bad. This thesis is based on a too general interpretation of the word “abyakata.” Speculation has been declared “abyakata” by the Buddha, as contradictory statements are “not declared” by him as true and false. In the ethical sense the term “abyakat” has the meaning of neutral when an action is neither morally skilful nor unskillful. The Andhakas applied this ethical meaning to speculative opinions.
51. Karmic action is one thing, the accumulation of karma is something else, for it goes on unintentionally, it is independent of moral action and has no mental object.
52. Material qualities are resultants of karmic action, just as consciousness and mental factors.
53. There is matter in the material as well as in the immaterial spheres. For, inasmuch as an act of lust is material belonging to the sphere of sense desire, and a material act is material belonging to the material spheres, so an immaterial act is material belonging to the immaterial spheres.
54. Lust for life in the spheres of form and the formless spheres is inherent to those spheres.
55. There is still accumulation of merit in the case of an arahant for he can perform good deeds such as the distribution of gifts.
56. As a result of excessive devotion towards the Buddha, certain Andhakas hold that the Buddha’s excreta excelled all other perfumes.
57. The fourfold fruition of the religious life is realized by one single path, as the Buddha and many arahants did not pass through the preliminary stages of stream-winner, once-returner and non-returner to attain arahantship.
58. Progress from one stage of mental absorption to the next stage does not require a reversion to the procedure of advertising, reflection, etc. involved in access concentration.
59. Certain Andhakas with the Sammitiyas explained the fivefold divisions of mental absorption, which is not found in the four nikayas, as initial application being the basis of the first stage, and by holding that sustained thought is not the second stage but only an intermediate step to the second stage of absorption based on the zest.
60. Without taking into consideration the two kinds of voidness, one concerning the unsubstantiality of the physical and mental aggregates and the other concerning Nibanna, the Andhakas held that the characteristic of emptiness was inherent only in the psychic aggregate of mental factors.
61. The element of Nibanna is morally good because it is fautless.
62. In the underworld there are no beings as guards, but those who enter are kept there and punished by their own evil karma.
63. In the heavenly spheres are found celestially born animals, such as the wondrous elephant Eravana belonging to Indra.
64. The Buddha and his disciples possess the power to perform miracles whenever they wish.
65. The Buddhas differ one from another in degrees of superiority but only in respect of bodily features, duration of life, luster, etc.
66. All things are fixed as to their fundamental nature, for however much matter is subject to change, it is fixed as matter.
67. All karmas are fixed in so far as they work out their own effects.
68. An arahants attains final deliverance without having cast off every fetter, as he is still limited in his range of omniscience.
69. An arahant at his final deliverance develops a morally good thought, as he is always lucidly conscious.
70. An act of sexual relationship may be entered upon if there is a united resolve to be thus associated in future lives in samsara.
71. A bodhisatta in order to realize his supreme desire will be born in an evil existence, performing hard tasks and acts of penance under unorthodox teachers.
72. There are acts of loving kindness, compassion and sympathetic joy which may resemble the corruptions of lust, hate and delusion.
01. All mental states are applications of mindfulness. As mindfulness is established in respect of anything, any mental state can be an application of mindfulness. The object of mindfulness being in the mind, they are themselves also the conscious subject of mindfulness. Patthana signifies the object of mindful application and the subject applying mindfulness.
02. The past, the future and the present, matter and the other aggregates exist. All things exist, in time, by way of material and other qualities, as past, present or future; they exist only in this manner. But material does not exist as sensation, perception, etc., and thus all things do not exist in this manner.
03. A single unit of consciousness or one single thought lasts for a day or more, for in a state of absorption there is continuance without interruption.
04. Realization of the four Paths and the four Noble Truths is a gradual process, as the ocean slopes and inclines gradually. There is no sudden discernments of insight.
05. The Buddha’s ordinary speech on common matters was supramundane.
06. There are two cessations of conflict, i.e., the third Noble Truth is twofold according to the cessation being effected through reasoned reflections or unreasoned reflections about things, and both of them are absolute.
07. The powers of the Buddha are common to his disciples. It was the generalization of this thesis which was objected to by Vibhajjavadina who did not deny that there were some disciples such as Anuruddha who also had some of the ten powers of the Buddha.
08. The power of the Buddha in discerning reality is ariyan not only as regards the extinction of mental intoxicants, but also in respect of his other powers of discernment of the deceases and rebirth of beings, etc.
09. A thought free from passion has attained deliverance just as a stained cloth when washed is clean. This thesis is obviously based on a misunderstanding of emancipation, which is not a mere absence of lust.
10. A person in the eighth stage, i.e., on entering the path of sainthood and before even reaping the fruit of such attainment, has abandoned the obsessions of heretical views and perplexity.
11. Such a person who has just entered the path is in the process of acquiring, but had not yet attained to, the five spiritual controlling powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and insight, although he may have these same virtues.
12. The divine eye is the physical eye when it becomes the medium of an idea.
13. Even the inhabitants of the unconscious spheres have perception, for it is said that consciousness arises in them at the moment of rebirth and of decease.
14. But one cannot say that there is consciousness in the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception.
15. The Buddha, in so far as in a previous life he had been a disciple of Buddha Kassapa with the name Jotipala, a Brahman youth and received from him the assurance of attainment, cannot be said to have been self-developed.
16. A person who has, attained the realization of arahantship is endowed with the three fruitions of the lower attainments; and as he had previously not renounced them, he possesses them persistently.
17. Arahantship consists of the putting away of all fetters. This thesis is rejected by their opponents on the ground that the five lower fetters have already been put away by earlier attainments.
18. He who has the knowledge of emancipation is emancipated. This statement becomes incorrect because of its lack of qualification. It is only the peace of fruition which is unconditioned emancipation.
19. When one attains mental absorption by means of the meditation device of an earthen disc he suffers from hallucination, for, while looking as material clay, he is conscious of something else, viz, the concept of extention.
20. All knowledge is analytical, because it is supramundane wisdom.
21. It is wrong to say that relative knowledge has truth as its only object, for there is a relative truth and the absolute truth.
22. Knowledge of the ways of thinking of someone else is limited in the object to have consciousness, i.e., not including the contents of such thoughts.
23. Knowledge of the future is present for in certain suttas the Buddha has predicted the future, thereby proving that at least for him there exists a degree of knowledge of the future.
24. Knowledge of the present exists. But the Andhakas seem to have implied in this thesis that the entire present without distinction is known.
25. Disciples can, like the Buddhas, state whether a certain person has won some state of noble fruition since both Buddhas and their disciples teach others the doctrine of attainment.
26. Assurance of salvation is unconditioned in the sense of permanent, for even if the path were to pass away, a person thus assured would not forfeit his salvation.
27. The attainment of cessation, i.e., the suspension of sensation and perception subsequent to the highest stage of mental absorption, is unconditioned, as the four mental aggregates cease to function and hence do not present the characteristics of conditioning.
28. Space is visible, because we have cognition of enclosed space, such as keyholes.
29. The four great elements of extension, cohesion, caloricity and vibration are visible, because the soil, water, a flame and the movement of the wind in the branches of a tree can be seen.
30. Earth is a resultant of karmic action, inasmuch as there is human action directed towards gaining dominion and sovereignty over the soil.
31. Old age and death are results of karmic action because some action is conducive to deterioration which is decay or old age, and to the curtailing of life which is death.
32. The fruits of the religious life being negative in so far as they are the abandonment of defilements and are neither thoughts nor mental factors, are not the results of karmic action.
33. The result of karmic action is in itself the cause of other results, because one result of karma stands in relation to another result by way of reciprocity.
34. The Andhakas considered the sphere of the asura (demons) as a separate destiny of rebirth, apart from the usual five destinies (gati), hell, the animal kingdom, the world of ghosts, the human world, and the heavens of the gods.
35. The element of matter consists of cognized material qualities.
36. In the spheres of form the Brahmas and others have sensation of smell, taste and touch, in addition to those of sight, sound and ideas.
37. Even in the formless spheres of existence there is material form, because “in dependence on consciousness arise mind and matter.”
38. Anyone who discerns the blessings of a virtuous life, thereby puts away the fetters.
39. The latent evil tendencies have no object, as they are distinct from the actual mind.
40. Insight belonging to the highest path of arahantship is sometimes without mental object, e.g., when visual consciousness is engaged with the visible object of the sense of sight.
41. One who has attained insight into the eight liberations and who can at will induce the four states of mental absorption is persistently in possession thereof. And thus a past or a future experience is actually his. The commentator’s objection to this thesis is the absence of a distinction to be made between the acquisition of the state, which is a potential faculty, and the actual possession thereof , functioning at that time.
42. The four aggregates of existence of a new lifespan arise before the aggregates of the expiring lifespan cease, without which there would be a break in the life-continuum, and being the new being would be totally different from, and unconnected with, the earlier existence.
43. The utterance of the words: This is conflict causes the rising of insight into the nature of conflict.
44. The conditioning factor by which resulting things are established is predetermined. The Andhakas based this thesis on a passage of the sutra: Whether a Tathagata arises or not, it still holds good that all component things are impermanent, fraught with conflict and without substance, for such is the casual law of nature which invariably fixes things as effects.
45. Impermanence itself, apart from impermanent phenomena, is predetermined.
46. One who has attained mental absorption takes pleasure therein as his goal.
47. The latent evil tendencies are different from the actual vice manifesting itself as an outburst; for, an ordinary man while having a latent tendency of hate or lust may yet without openly manifesting such tendency develop a morally good thought.
48. Outbursts of corruption take place sometimes unconsciously when the mind is distracted.
49. Just as desire of the senses is inherent in the spheres of sense-experience, so desire for things in the sphere of form is inherent in the worlds of form and desire for things in formless spheres is inherent in the formless worlds.
50. Erroneous views are indeterminate, i.e., neither good, nor bad. This thesis is based on a too general interpretation of the word “abyakata.” Speculation has been declared “abyakata” by the Buddha, as contradictory statements are “not declared” by him as true and false. In the ethical sense the term “abyakat” has the meaning of neutral when an action is neither morally skilful nor unskillful. The Andhakas applied this ethical meaning to speculative opinions.
51. Karmic action is one thing, the accumulation of karma is something else, for it goes on unintentionally, it is independent of moral action and has no mental object.
52. Material qualities are resultants of karmic action, just as consciousness and mental factors.
53. There is matter in the material as well as in the immaterial spheres. For, inasmuch as an act of lust is material belonging to the sphere of sense desire, and a material act is material belonging to the material spheres, so an immaterial act is material belonging to the immaterial spheres.
54. Lust for life in the spheres of form and the formless spheres is inherent to those spheres.
55. There is still accumulation of merit in the case of an arahant for he can perform good deeds such as the distribution of gifts.
56. As a result of excessive devotion towards the Buddha, certain Andhakas hold that the Buddha’s excreta excelled all other perfumes.
57. The fourfold fruition of the religious life is realized by one single path, as the Buddha and many arahants did not pass through the preliminary stages of stream-winner, once-returner and non-returner to attain arahantship.
58. Progress from one stage of mental absorption to the next stage does not require a reversion to the procedure of advertising, reflection, etc. involved in access concentration.
59. Certain Andhakas with the Sammitiyas explained the fivefold divisions of mental absorption, which is not found in the four nikayas, as initial application being the basis of the first stage, and by holding that sustained thought is not the second stage but only an intermediate step to the second stage of absorption based on the zest.
60. Without taking into consideration the two kinds of voidness, one concerning the unsubstantiality of the physical and mental aggregates and the other concerning Nibanna, the Andhakas held that the characteristic of emptiness was inherent only in the psychic aggregate of mental factors.
61. The element of Nibanna is morally good because it is fautless.
62. In the underworld there are no beings as guards, but those who enter are kept there and punished by their own evil karma.
63. In the heavenly spheres are found celestially born animals, such as the wondrous elephant Eravana belonging to Indra.
64. The Buddha and his disciples possess the power to perform miracles whenever they wish.
65. The Buddhas differ one from another in degrees of superiority but only in respect of bodily features, duration of life, luster, etc.
66. All things are fixed as to their fundamental nature, for however much matter is subject to change, it is fixed as matter.
67. All karmas are fixed in so far as they work out their own effects.
68. An arahants attains final deliverance without having cast off every fetter, as he is still limited in his range of omniscience.
69. An arahant at his final deliverance develops a morally good thought, as he is always lucidly conscious.
70. An act of sexual relationship may be entered upon if there is a united resolve to be thus associated in future lives in samsara.
71. A bodhisatta in order to realize his supreme desire will be born in an evil existence, performing hard tasks and acts of penance under unorthodox teachers.
72. There are acts of loving kindness, compassion and sympathetic joy which may resemble the corruptions of lust, hate and delusion.
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