My questions on Buddhism

Bio-Hawk SG

Sirs,

Having read many Buddhist literature recently after having read many Hindu philosophies I don't understand many things.Christianity is vague and doesn't go deep,so it's not included.Hopefully some one can clarify it.

An Eternal Now SG

1) "Kamma being a form of energy is not found anywhere in this fleeting consciousness or body. Just as mangoes are not stored anywhere in the mango tree but, dependent on certain conditions, they spring into being, so does kamma. Kamma is like wind or fire. It is not stored up anywhere in the Universe but comes into being under certain conditions."

~ K Sri Dhammananda

I also wrote recently: So you see dependent origination Directly, not just as an inference, but you see ignorance in action - what does ignorance means? What does karmic propensities mean? Many of us think of karmic propensities and ignorance as being some kind of ghostly, hidden, almost mystical force hiding somewhere and affecting our lives from a hidden 'subconscious' component of consciousness stored away from sight. That is having an inherent view, a self-view of ignorance and karmic propensities. We need to directly See that cause of suffering and that suffering as the total exertion of our experience in seamless dependencies. - http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.sg/2014/05/early-buddhisms-model-of-enlightenment.html

Also see what I wrote: http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.sg/2013/11/total-exertion-of-karmic-tendencies.html

2) No one 'forced' you into anything - things arise due to dependent origination, there is no creator. There is nothing pre-written by someone or something.

Ignorance manifest due to taints, and taints arise due to ignorance, so it is a cyclic momentum.

Excerpt from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.009.ntbb.html:

64. Saying, "Good friend," the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma?" — "There might be, friends.

65. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands ignorance, the origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading to the cessation of ignorance, in that way he is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

66. "And what is ignorance, what is the origin of ignorance, what is the cessation of ignorance, what is the way leading to the cessation of ignorance? Not knowing about suffering, not knowing about the origin of suffering, not knowing about the cessation of suffering, not knowing about the way leading to the cessation of suffering — this is called ignorance. With the arising of the taints there is the arising of ignorance. With the cessation of the taints there is the cessation of ignorance. The way leading to the cessation of ignorance is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view... right concentration.

67. "When a noble disciple has thus understood ignorance, the origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading to the cessation of ignorance... he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma."

68. Saying, "Good, friend," the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has perfect confidence in the Dhamma and has arrived at this true Dhamma?" — "There might be, friends.

69. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands the taints, the origin of the taints, the cessation of the taints, and the way leading to the cessation of the taints, in that way he is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has perfect confidence in the Dhamma and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

70. "And what are the taints, what is the origin of the taints, what is the cessation of the taints, what is the way leading to the cessation of the taints? There are three taints: the taint of sensual desire, the taint of being and the taint of ignorance. With the arising of ignorance there is the arising of the taints. With the cessation of ignorance there is the cessation of the taints. The way leading to the cessation of the taints is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

71. "When a noble disciple has thus understood the taints, the origin of the taints, the cessation of the taints, and the way leading to the cessation of the taints, he entirely abandons the underlying tendency to lust, he abolishes the underlying tendency to aversion, he extirpates the underlying tendency to the view and conceit 'I am,' and by abandoning ignorance and arousing true knowledge he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too a noble disciple is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has perfect confidence in the Dhamma and has arrived at this true Dhamma."

That is what the Venerable Sariputta said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Venerable Sariputta's words.

3) First of all realizing the emptiness of self and phenomena does not mean they cease immediately, but rather their nature is 'empty' even when they are manifesting. In hearing a sound, there is no hearer just sound, sound is vivid luminosity and even sound is dependently arisen, empty and non-arising.

Also, what you asked is an inappropriate question. This is because, as Sariputta explains,

[Sariputta:] "The statement, 'With the remainderless stopping & fading of the six contact-media [vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, & intellection] is it the case that there is anything else?' objectifies non-objectification.[1] The statement, '... is it the case that there is not anything else ... is it the case that there both is & is not anything else ... is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?' objectifies non-objectification. However far the six contact-media go, that is how far objectification goes. However far objectification goes, that is how far the six contact media go. With the remainderless fading & stopping of the six contact-media, there comes to be the stopping, the allaying of objectification.

- http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an04/an04.174.than.html

The mind is very quick to grasp on something. It wants something to exist eternally, be it 'Brahman', 'Awareness', etc. This craving and objectifying/subjectifying of metaphysical entities is mental proliferation itself and will prevent freedom. This will prevent letting everything go.

4) Karma is intentional action, therefore, if there is intention to kill arising from the defilement of aggression, that in itself is very unwholesome karma. Unwholesome karma results in unwholesome consequences or rebirth, that is how rebirth works - the ripening of karmic actions.

If a baby presses the trigger and hurts someone because he thinks it is a toy and the parents didn't put the gun in its proper place, then it is not an action with the intention to harm others. Karma IS intentional action. Therefore if you step on ants unknowingly while walking down the road, it is a neutral action.

Ohbingo001 SG

Christianity is vague and doesn't go deep,so it's not included

Are you kidding me!!?

Bio-Hawk SG

Christianity is vague and doesn't go deep,so it's not included

Are you kidding me!!?

I have read the 'present version' of Bible and it goes like.

Creation:God created world in 6 days and 2 humans named adam(from mud) and eve(from a rib of adam).

Why do bad things happen to good people?Because God willed so.

What is cause of suffering?: Eve ate an apple of knowledge and sinned

What happens after death? Good people go to heaven,bad to hell and in between to purgatory.

Do animals have souls? Do as you please with animals since God made world as a play ground for man.

How is the universe structured?: Earth is center of universe and kill everyone who says otherwise.

In between there are some subtle references to Karma 'you reap what you sow' and such. Other wise it is so vague and too simplistic to match the understanding of people at that times.Original preachings or fully released 'dead sea' scrolls could be interesting.

@Eternal now:Thanks will take some time to read and really understand.

An Eternal Now SG

Actually what happens after death is even more simple than what you described. (as understood in mainstream Christianity)

Christians go heaven, non-believers go to hell.

Bio-Hawk SG

Sirs

The mind is very quick to grasp on something. It wants something to exist eternally, be it 'Brahman', 'Awareness', etc. This craving and objectifying/subjectifying of metaphysical entities is mental proliferation itself and will prevent freedom. This will prevent letting everything go.

In Buddhism the Brahman or awareness is replaced by the concept of emptiness,no?

What is the mention of rainbow liberation that is mentioned in some Buddhism?The body becomes small and small and the nails are left behind.Is this also the real liberation as Buddha said?And same as well?

Reading about Tibetean Buddhism, there is a mention of Bardos which happens after death. As I understood if at that time one thinks of it as un real, he can be liberated. Is it also the same liberation Buddha speaks of?Isn't that an easier path?

I still have the difficulty to understand the very basics.I understood it was an imponderable according to Buddha to try to understand the beginning of Samsara. Leaving that aside for the moment, if one is engaged in normal life, he has seeds of Karma affecting his life and subsequent rebirths and this wheel goes on and on.Unless he takes refuge in Dharma. If he does so then he can be liberated if he follows the path. I get the feeling that this is like a well programed computer game where one can continue to play like a characyter in the game(normal life) and exploiting a bug/hack(spiritual path), he can get out of it. What Neo in Matrix says to people of Zion, you might be liberated from sensual world of Matrix,but you are still within the program. As the creator designed it. Hopefully some one understands this.

Thanks!

Bio-Hawk SG

Sirs

In Buddhism the Brahman or awareness is replaced by the concept of emptiness,no?

If Karma is an energy as it was mentioned,how does it leave a mind stream at death and comes to the another one during next re-birth?

Thanks!

An Eternal Now SG

1) In Buddhism, we do not deny 'awareness', but since we realize that 'in seeing just the seen, no seer, in hearing just sound, no hearer', then awareness is always only manifestation and never a background Self/agent/perceiver underlying experience or hiding behind experience. Just the experience alone is clarity, is self-luminous, is self-aware. Our nature of mind is the union of luminous clarity and emptiness.

The insight of anatta allows one to see the true face of Awareness as the self-illuminating appearance, rather than experiencing Pure Awareness/Pure Consciousness etc as a hidden ghost/standalone thing/subject and mistaking it as actual.. it does not deny luminous clarity but is the only way which allows for the total, uncontrieved, direct non-referential experience of clarity in all moments without holding to images or dissociation. Then after this, we can further penetrate the dependent origination and non-arising/emptiness of all foreground manifestation, that completes the twofold emptiness (of subjective self and objective phenomena).

Hindus and mystics of other religions only realize the aspect of luminous clarity, which does not liberate. One must realize our nature of mind to be the union of luminosity and emptiness, only then it can liberate.

In fact a few days ago I was listening to the 'Daniel Ingram - Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview' and towards the end I think he related anatta, awareness, transience and manifestation pretty well. (Daniel Ingram is a hardcore meditation teacher in the Theravadin Buddhist tradition authorized to teach by the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage).

Daniel: "So you have these two extremes - both of which I find pretty annoying (laughs) - and uhm, not that they are not making interesting points that counterbalance each other. And then, from an experiential point of view, the whole field seems to be happening on its own in a luminous way, the intelligence or awareness seems to be intrinsic in the phenomena, the phenomena do appear to be totally transient, totally ephemeral. So I would reject from an experiential point of view, something in the harshness of the dogma of the rigid no-selfists that can't recognise the intrinsic nature of awareness that is the field. If that makes sense. Cos they tend to feel there's something about that's sort of (cut off?)..."

Interviewer: "And not only awareness..."

Daniel: "Intelligence. Right, and I also reject from an experiential point of view the people who would make this permanent, something separate from, something different from just the manifestation itself. I don't like the permanence aspect because from a Buddhist technical point of view I do not find anything that stands up as permanent in experience. I find that quality always there *while there is experience.* Because it's something in the nature of experience. But it's not quite the same thing as permanence, if that makes sense. So while there is experience, there is experience. So that means there is awareness, from a certain point of view, manifestation - awareness being intrinsically the same thing, intrinsic to each other. So while there is experience, I would claim that element (awareness) is there - it has to be for there to be experience. And I would claim that the system seems to function very lawfully and it's very easy to feel that there's a sort of intelligence, ok, cool... ...the feeling of profundity, the feeling of miraculousness, the wondrous component. So as the Tibetans would say, amazing! It all happens by itself! So, there is intrinsically amazing about this. It's very refreshingly amazing that the thing happens, and that things cognize themselves or are aware where they are, manifestation is truly amazing and tuning into that amazingness has something valuable about it from a pragmatic point of view."

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNg-gps9O0w

2) Liberation of bardo is not just a matter of "thinking it as unreal". It is about waking up to the true nature of mind/experience/appearance as luminous and empty. It is about direct apprehension of our true nature. Liberation is dependent upon awakening/enlightenment/realizing true nature/whatever you want to call it. Thinking about it is definitely insufficient, just like your thinking of 'emptiness' right now is not sufficient to liberate your afflictions. Otherwise anyone who intellectually understood emptiness would have attained Nirvana, but that is never the case as they are only dealing with concepts. Only true awakening makes a difference. Is waking up on dying an easier path? I don't think so, I think if one cannot wake up now, how sure can one be that one will wake up when dying? Especially when death presents a more fearful and uncertain condition for an inexperienced run-off-the-mill person. We must seize our opportunity in life to practice. Death is too late.

3) Actually there is no beginning of samsara. That's the point. Ignorance depends on taints, taints depends on ignorance, and the whole cycle of 12 links went on and on without a beginning. In the sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn15/sn15.013.than.html , the Buddha said, "

...."This is the greater: the blood you have shed from having your heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, not the water in the four great oceans.

"The blood you have shed when, being cows, you had your cow-heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"The blood you have shed when, being water buffaloes, you had your water buffalo-heads cut off... when, being rams, you had your ram-heads cut off... when, being goats, you had your goat-heads cut off... when, being deer, you had your deer-heads cut off... when, being chickens, you had your chicken-heads cut off... when, being pigs, you had your pig-heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"The blood you have shed when, arrested as thieves plundering villages, you had your heads cut off... when, arrested as highway thieves, you had your heads cut off... when, arrested as adulterers, you had your heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"Why is that? From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabrications, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released."

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed One's words. And while this explanation was being given, the minds of the thirty monks from Pava — through lack of clinging — were released from fermentations.

4) It has nothing to do with a 'programmed computer game'. Nothing is programmed. There is no creator. There is just plain simple dependent origination. From ignorance manifest the 11 other afflictive links of dependent origination. However, there is also the transcendental links of dependent origination which culminates in release, liberation, nirvana: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel277.html

5) The attainment of rainbow body is the goal of Dzogchen teachings. See http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.sg/2013/03/rainbow-body-and-thusnesss-advise.html -

Thusness said to me:

"As I suspected (thumbs up) I mean the rainbow body. That can only be done after realization of twofold emptiness and intensity of luminosity into the three states (waking, dreaming, deep sleep)... you are doing pretty well. The integration has been progressing well of the non-dual bliss into your deep sleep state, in view of the short period after your realization of anatta. The inner core must completely disappear and the intensity of luminosity must heighten... Sensations will become transparent and crystal sharp clear.

At present the core center is gone... You write too much and have too little rest. Your mind must have enough time to rest in non-conceptuality of the 6 entries and exits. Otherwise it will not be easy for you to penetrate further. After realizing the twofold emptying there is no more boundaries between mind, appearances and apparent objects and experience becomes seamless... All is mind or this integrated activity. Then we should actualize and integrate this realization.

In touching, both subject and object are both emptied and deconstructed into a single activity of touch and the intensity of luminous clarity must be strong... is it strong now? Or just like passing thoughts with no intensity.

Now penetration of the 3 states is only supported by the strength of your view and realization, not by the intensity of your non-conceptual experience.

"In essence rainbow body is a realization..." Maybe actualization of realization (would be better), in essence it is an actualized state."

my comment: Dzogchen practitioners use the term 'Realization' differently than I and Thusness, 'Realization' could mean something like full actualization or Buddhahood for them and not just an initial insight/recognition/experience.

Update:

Someone wrote:

"I believe Malcolm Smith, Many texts state the "physical body reverts to the essence of the elements as rainbow light and disapears." Also there is a great deal of writing by many such as Longchenpa that describe the difference between the "vanishment of the physical body" between trekchod, rainbow body as "jalus" and "phowa chenpo" the Great Transfer. This is the goofiest of Malcolm's posts that I have ever read... Am I missing something?"

Malcolm replied:

"Rainbow body where the body shrinks and disappears is a sign of incompletely finishing the fourth vision in this life."

Bio-Hawk SG

Thanks for the clarifications.

Now that intent is required for karma to be created, what else is required? And during fruition or ripeneing what happens to this intent?What is karma acting on.

After ones death where does this Karma energy go to and how does it know to which mind stream to attach to?As I understand in Buddhism every life,mindstream is different. All of this sounds very complicated and difficult to imagine it just happens like that. It all seems to be that we are a program trying to de-pragram ourselves.

Bertramagans SG

spam

Bio-Hawk SG

Someone who can answer these?

An Eternal Now SG

A mental, verbal or bodily action preceded by intention is by definition karma. Karma is primarily the result of ignorance. That is all it takes.

Ripening of karma would depend on many conditions. For example death can be a condition for some karma to ripen, as a manifestation of afterlife. On the other hand some karma ripens in this life.

you can read more about karma here: http://www.buddhanet.net/t_karma.htm

Your question about karma attaching to mind stream is erroneous, as karma IS the mind stream. Or are you asking how does ones mind stream get reborn in the mothers womb?

Aik TC SG

After ones death where does this Karma energy go to and how does it know to which mind stream to attach to?

//The minds of people are complex and they make many different kinds of kamma even in one lifetime, some of which may influence the last moment when kamma is made before death, which in turn is the basis for the next life.//

Introduction- Maha Kammavibhanga Sutta: MN 136 by Nanamoli Thera

It all seems to be that we are a program trying to de-pragram ourselves.

Not totally, it is not all about fate, there are also many other factors such as the influences, laws and norms in our society, how one is brought up etc, and not least, one’s freewill and freedom of chose.

The Buddha said:

"This is how he attends inappropriately: 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?' Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the immediate present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?'

"As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view I have a self arises in him as true & established, or the view I have no self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self... or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises in him as true & established, or else he has a view like this: This very self of mine — the knower that is sensitive here & there to the ripening of good & bad actions — is the self of mine that is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will stay just as it is for eternity. This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from suffering & stress.

MN 2 Sabbasava Sutta: All the Fermentations

Bio-Hawk SG

Who is the 'Bhagvan' mentioned here?

Thanks for the link on Karma. Is it Karma that is born,dies and continues this cycle?Why do the rule of Karma exist?How did it come into being?

I read a book yesterday named 'Journey of Souls'.It seems to make sense to me with my present level of understanding atleast.Can some one tell me where this stands in relation with Buddishm?

An Eternal Now SG

Bhagavan is referring to Buddha. It is a Mahayana sutra that talked about bardos.

Karma is not a 'rule', it is just mental, verbal and bodily actions, and these actions have causal effects. Not only does karma have causal effects - many other things have causal effects, for example body has its own sets of causality, our biosphere has its own set of causality, and now humans are upsetting the intricate web of environment interconnectedness due to the emissions of carbon dioxide which releases methane trapped under the ice in Greenland which further exacerbates the warming cycle. Basically, it is just plain simple causality, and yet our world is so vastly and intricately interconnected that one thing, one change can set a whole chain of effect throughout the globe.

There is no creator of the environment, or the body, scientists tell us our body is the result of evolution and natural selection, and our environment has evolved over billions of years to make it suitable for life or intelligent lifeforms like us (and we are probably a very lucky few planets in the universe to be able to support life). Likewise our karma is constantly 'evolving' or rather, manifesting and giving forth new realities from moment to moment through dependent origination, but there is no creator of karma.

As for 'Is it Karma that is born,dies and continues this cycle?' -- well you just need to keep in mind that Karma is the 2nd link of the 12 links of dependent origination which ends with 'ageing... death'. The 12 links describes the process or cycle of samsara. In other words it is a causal process, a total exertion of various afflictive dependencies that sets forth the process of birth, ageing, sickness and death and the whole cycle of samsara.

I have not read Journey of Souls so I cannot comment on it. What is it that you would like to compare with Buddhism?

AtlasWept SG

The notion of karma is rather different from what's usually understood as 'destiny'. It doesn't arise from divine will, as in Hinduism, nor does it arise by chance. It's the result of our actions. We harvest what we sow. Nothing forces beings to reincarnate in a particular way except the accumulated patterns of their actions, 'actions' here covering all our thoughts, words and deeds, positive or negative. It's the equivalent of good and evil, but it's important to remember that good and evil are not absolute notions. Our thoughts and actions are considered good and evil according to whether their motivation is to help or to harm, and according to their result, our own and others' happiness and suffering.

For one it may be morals and yet for another ethics, but it is actually a matter of the very mechanisms of happiness and suffering. In every instant, we are experiencing the result of our past actions, while our present thoughts, words and deeds are shaping our future. At the moment of death, the patern of all our actions hitherto is what determines the kind of existence we will find ourselves in next. The seeds we've planted germinate, into flowers or hemlock. Another metaphor sometimes used is that of a bird landing on the ground. The bird's shadow - our karma - which was hitherto invisible, suddenly appears. A more modern metaphor might be that at the moment of death we develop the film we've been shooting all our life, a film that also incorporates everything filmed during all our previous lives.

During this present life, which is coming to an end, we have been able to add or remove positive or negative actions to that accumulated karma and modify it, either purifying it or making it worse. After death comes a transitory state that we call bardo, during which the following life takes form and becomes clearer. In the bardo, the consciousness is swept along like a feather in the wind, as a function of the results of our positive and negative actions, and the outcome will be an existence that's happy, unhappy, or a mixture of the two. In fact, that gives us a very sane attitude towards whatever happens to us - we alone are to blame for what we are, as we're the result of our past, and the future is in our own hands.