khandhas and such

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
nibbuti
Posts: 155
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:36 pm
Location: Germany

Re: khandhas and such

Post by nibbuti »

detrop wrote:to say that experience takes place "within the brain" doesn't sound right to me. Firstly, the experience of "other" people cannot be found at all, neither in their brains or elsewhere. Secondly, "my own" experience doesn't appear as "something" that is contained "within" another "thing", be it a brain or anything else.
Didn't sound quite right to me either. Good point.
ancientbuddhism wrote:“Thus he abides observing the body (…sensations … mind … mind-states) internallyexternally (ajjhattaṃ vā … bahiddhā vā).”
Also from the Satipatthana Sutta:
"Furthermore, the monk remains focused on mental qualities in & of themselves with reference to the sixfold internal & external sense media (ajjhattikabāhiresu āyatanesu). And how does he remain focused on mental qualities in & of themselves with reference to the sixfold internal & external sense media? There is the case where he discerns the eye, he discerns forms, he discerns the fetter that arises dependent on both. He discerns how there is the arising of an unarisen fetter. And he discerns how there is the abandoning of a fetter once it has arisen. And he discerns how there is no future arising of a fetter that has been abandoned. (The same formula is repeated for the remaining sense media: ear, nose, tongue, body, & intellect.)
:anjali:
nibbuti
Posts: 155
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:36 pm
Location: Germany

Re: khandhas and such

Post by nibbuti »

Jake Davis wrote:Recall that from the perspective of the Buddha’s teachings in the Pali, the ‘All’{SN IV 15} is composed entirely of phassa, contact between sense base and sense object. We can only directly know phenomena within this ‘world of experience’, so from the Theravadin perspective, we cannot know whether there really exists a ‘brain’ or a ‘body’ apart from moments of intellectual consciousness, of seeing (the image of a brain), and so on. ...


Conscious experience as a practise, the 'all' and even Nibbana can be and are often misunderstood.

They were likely pre-existing notions in the Brahmin world:

He perceives the cognized as the cognized ... He perceives All as the All ... He perceives Unbinding as Unbinding. Perceiving Unbinding as Unbinding, he conceives things about Unbinding, he conceives things in Unbinding, he conceives things coming out of Unbinding, he conceives Unbinding as 'mine,' he delights in Unbinding. Why is that? Because he has not comprehended it, I tell you. - MN 1

Interestingly though, the Buddna never teaches the Three Characteristics and The Four Noble Truths can be misunderstood as 'I' or 'mine'.

The 'all' was probably a Brahmin term the Buddha redefined.

:meditate:
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