What motivates Arahant?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Buckwheat
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Re: What motivates Arahant?

Post by Buckwheat »

SarathW wrote:Motivation is a mental fabrication and do not applicable to Arahants.
The aggregates do not cease for the arahant. Clinging to the aggregates ceases for the arahant. Does the body of the arahant cease? Or does his clinging to the body cease? It is because of clinging to the aggregates that greed anger and delusion keep a tight grip on our intentions.

At least this is my understanding.
Sotthī hontu nirantaraṃ - May you forever be well.
SarathW
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Re: What motivates Arahant?

Post by SarathW »

daverupa wrote:
SarathW wrote:Motivation is a mental fabrication and do not applicable to Arahants.
Verbal fabrication as well, right? Yet they spoke.

:shrug:
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In norma life (not meditating) they speak and think and walk etc. But Karmically inoperative.

When they are in Nirdhasamapatti state, their bodily,mental and verbal fabrication cesase to exist.
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• kiriya (or kriya)-citta
'functional consciousness' or 'karmically inoperative consciousness', is a name for such states of consciousness as are neither karmically wholesome (kusala), nor unwholesome (akusala), nor karma-results (vipāka); that is, they function independently of karma.
Thus are also called all those worldly mental states in the Arahat which are accompanied by 2 or 3 noble roots (greedlessness, hatelessness, undeludedness), being in the Arahat karmically neutral and corresponding to the karmically wholesome states of a non-Arahat, as well as the rootless mirth-producing (hasituppāda) mind-consciousness-element of the Arahat; further, that mind-element (mano-dhātu) which performs the function of advertence (āvajjana) to the sense object (Tab. 70), and that mind-consciousness-element (manoviññāna-dhātu) which performs the functions of deciding (votthapana) and advertence to the mental object
The last-named 2 elements, of course, occur in all beings.
Together with karma-resultant consciousness (vipāka) it belongs to the group of 'karmically neutral consciousness' (avyākata).
http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/g_m/kiriya.htm
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Kamran
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Re: What motivates Arahant?

Post by Kamran »

If interested, Analayao has published audio of a fascinating university course on the Arahant in Early Buddhist Discourse. It reviews the suttas in detail.

http://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg. ... es2012.htm
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acinteyyo
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Re: What motivates Arahant?

Post by acinteyyo »

I think it's inappropriate to think about an arahant in the way like: "The arahant is hungry", "The arahant eats" or "An arahant experiences satisfaction". This only leads to a difficult thicket of odd views imho...

If one cannot put such considerations aside I think it's better to think about it like so:

There arises a feeling of a lack of nutriments due to certain conditions, which is commonly called "hunger" discovered by consciousness, which itself arose due to certain circumstances. These events are followed by results which emerge from causes triggered by the arising of the events before. A lot of things change while the conditions for the arising of the feeling of lack of nutriments ceases. The cessation of that feeling and the changes are notices by consciousness again... then there may be silence or not or other similar things may happen or not...

This way at least prevents the pitfall of dragging a hidden self-construct unto the image of an arahant which reveals itself later and leads to problems which were brought into the considerations from the very beginning just to make all this into a waste of time...

best wishes, acinteyyo
Thag 1.20. Ajita - I do not fear death; nor do I long for life. I’ll lay down this body, aware and mindful.
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