Producing one of the 4 noble fruits is possible
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 5:18 pm
Hello everyone, welcome to my topic "Producing one of the 4 noble fruits [in our contemporary world] is possible".
So I'm going to describe my experience, which led me to the Sakadaagaami's fruit. It's pretty easy to understand why a lay buddhist like me coudn't realize the Arahant's fruit immediately : our contemporary society is based on mass consumption, which is itself based on clinging... well you already know all of this so let's start with the relevant part of this post.
Warning :
I've got to say that if my "partial enlightenment" wasn't about luck, it might be due to a wish "I" made in a previous life.
You may not believe me, but please don't laugh at me... at least for your own kamma.
So, one of my feature is that I thouroughly know the 3 baskets, especially the Suttanta and the AbhiDhamma.
Also, as a puthujjana student I used to spend my time on Japan culture, u know, manga and anime.
I was wandering for some time and I decided to watch another anime.
It's name is "Angel Beats!".
It is about students reborn in an after-death world where they're supposed to put an end to their regrets, so these very regrets are what trapped them in this world.
Looks just like the samsaraa, right ?
While I was watching this anime, I really got attached to one of the student, her name is "Kanade".
When she finally put an end to her regrets, she was meant to be "deleted", and so she disappeared.
Now begins the interesting part.
Putting an end to regrets and then disappear : I though about Nibbaana.
I really got attached to her and she got deleted : I felt a deep sadness.
The fact is she would've wanted to stay with another student in this after-death world, indeed they can't be deleted unless they've no regrets so their lives would have been (almost) perfect. So she disappeared with new fresh regrets, making thus my sadness grow...
Sadness, as any other kind of suffering, is what steers us to find a way to end it.
Therefore, the greater your pain is, the greater your will to end it will be.
The inch is that I "became" a Sotaapana when Kanade disappeared : never again to take what is impermanent for what is permanent, I already had no wrong views except the previous one and my faith was complete since the Dhamma was my only solution to end up sadness (the Dhamma immediately came to my mind because her disappearance reminded me of nibbaana).
In the mean time I got a direct experience of the 12 nidana : in "Angel Beats!" the end of regrets brings about the end of existence, just like the end of kammic activities brings about the end of material form (just have a look to the AbhiDhamma).
Thus I finally "became" a Sakadaagaami when I understood that dukkha is the result of craving.
I have to admit that I would've never realized any fruit if there were no similarities between the anime's rules and the samsaraa's rules : "deletion" reminded me about nibbaana, nibbaana reminded me about causality, causality reminded me about "regrets", "Kanade's regrets when she got deleted" kept making me sad... and so on until I realized the Sakadaagaami fruit (which is the weakening of craving and hatred).
You can not get any Ariyaa's fruit if you live without painful feelings, the Buddha already said this while he was talking about the Deva's probability to "become" an Ariyaa.
Hope you enjoyed reading, now you know that any kind of painful experience may generate a fruit if you keep reminding the core of the Dhamma (3 characteristics, 4 noble truths, 12 nidana and nibbaana).
So I'm going to describe my experience, which led me to the Sakadaagaami's fruit. It's pretty easy to understand why a lay buddhist like me coudn't realize the Arahant's fruit immediately : our contemporary society is based on mass consumption, which is itself based on clinging... well you already know all of this so let's start with the relevant part of this post.
Warning :
I've got to say that if my "partial enlightenment" wasn't about luck, it might be due to a wish "I" made in a previous life.
You may not believe me, but please don't laugh at me... at least for your own kamma.
So, one of my feature is that I thouroughly know the 3 baskets, especially the Suttanta and the AbhiDhamma.
Also, as a puthujjana student I used to spend my time on Japan culture, u know, manga and anime.
I was wandering for some time and I decided to watch another anime.
It's name is "Angel Beats!".
It is about students reborn in an after-death world where they're supposed to put an end to their regrets, so these very regrets are what trapped them in this world.
Looks just like the samsaraa, right ?
While I was watching this anime, I really got attached to one of the student, her name is "Kanade".
When she finally put an end to her regrets, she was meant to be "deleted", and so she disappeared.
Now begins the interesting part.
Putting an end to regrets and then disappear : I though about Nibbaana.
I really got attached to her and she got deleted : I felt a deep sadness.
The fact is she would've wanted to stay with another student in this after-death world, indeed they can't be deleted unless they've no regrets so their lives would have been (almost) perfect. So she disappeared with new fresh regrets, making thus my sadness grow...
Sadness, as any other kind of suffering, is what steers us to find a way to end it.
Therefore, the greater your pain is, the greater your will to end it will be.
The inch is that I "became" a Sotaapana when Kanade disappeared : never again to take what is impermanent for what is permanent, I already had no wrong views except the previous one and my faith was complete since the Dhamma was my only solution to end up sadness (the Dhamma immediately came to my mind because her disappearance reminded me of nibbaana).
In the mean time I got a direct experience of the 12 nidana : in "Angel Beats!" the end of regrets brings about the end of existence, just like the end of kammic activities brings about the end of material form (just have a look to the AbhiDhamma).
Thus I finally "became" a Sakadaagaami when I understood that dukkha is the result of craving.
I have to admit that I would've never realized any fruit if there were no similarities between the anime's rules and the samsaraa's rules : "deletion" reminded me about nibbaana, nibbaana reminded me about causality, causality reminded me about "regrets", "Kanade's regrets when she got deleted" kept making me sad... and so on until I realized the Sakadaagaami fruit (which is the weakening of craving and hatred).
You can not get any Ariyaa's fruit if you live without painful feelings, the Buddha already said this while he was talking about the Deva's probability to "become" an Ariyaa.
Hope you enjoyed reading, now you know that any kind of painful experience may generate a fruit if you keep reminding the core of the Dhamma (3 characteristics, 4 noble truths, 12 nidana and nibbaana).