Search found 1284 matches

by culaavuso
Sat Jan 24, 2015 6:05 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Looking for passage from Visuddhimagga
Replies: 4
Views: 1164

Re: Looking for passage from Visuddhimagga

Here is a simile that illustrates how conformity and change-of-lineage occur with different objects though occurring in a single cognitive series with a single adverting. Suppose a man wanted to leap across a broad stream and establish himself on the opposite bank, he would run fast, and seizing a ...
by culaavuso
Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:44 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: the great rebirth debate
Replies: 7539
Views: 1326922

Re: the great rebirth debate

It seems to be circular; "What is pragmatic is true because it works, which works because it corresponds to reality and so its pragmatic which makes it true ..." You cant make use of something that doesnt work. Furthermore "usefulness" as a measure of truth is ambiguous, since &...
by culaavuso
Sat Jan 24, 2015 3:17 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: the great rebirth debate
Replies: 7539
Views: 1326922

Re: the great rebirth debate

The mystery of gravity has been solved, in part, through the scientific method. Why can't the same be said of rebirth? How do you distinguish between a necessary condition and a sufficient one for the outcome of an action? I guess we are getting into the philosophy of causation here. One reason is ...
by culaavuso
Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:08 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Searching for a sutta
Replies: 7
Views: 1505

Re: Searching for a sutta

I'm looking for a sutta. In the sutta someone insults the buddha and he says something along the lines of insulting a virtuous person is like spitting up at the sky, the spit just comes down and lands on you. Thanks. This sounds like a hybrid of MN 62 and SN 7.2, but neither says quite that. Rahula...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:47 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: the great rebirth debate
Replies: 7539
Views: 1326922

Re: the great rebirth debate

So how does an action in one life lead to dukkha arising in another? Similar to the way that the motion of mass is understood to provide the conditions for observing gravitational waves, yet the precise mechanism of gravity is not known. An action provides the necessary conditions for the arising o...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:07 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: the great rebirth debate
Replies: 7539
Views: 1326922

Re: the great rebirth debate

Do you even know what the theory of gravity is? If you do I don't see how you could think of gravity as something that "transmits". Which theory of gravity ? It seems reasonable to discuss a graviton as something that "transmits". Given the present discrepancies with general rel...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:38 pm
Forum: Study Group
Topic: MN 50 Māratajjanīya Sutta: Discourse On A Rebuke To Māra
Replies: 6
Views: 3254

Re: MN 50 Māratajjanīya Sutta: Discourse On A Rebuke To Māra

What is the social mechanism of praise? How does it detract from the purpose of cultivating wholesome attitudes? The Blessed One said, "Gain arises for an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person. He does not reflect, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' H...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:15 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Torn on what to believe anymore...
Replies: 19
Views: 4735

Re: Torn on what to believe anymore...

Buddhism is not a 'faith', it relies on direct experience, beginning with impermanence, so people who have the opportunity to experience death are fortunate. Monks go to morgues so they can experience the impermanence of the body- it is subject to impermanence just as inanimate objects are. It was ...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:27 am
Forum: Study Group
Topic: AN 10.96: Kokanuda Sutta — To Kokanuda
Replies: 13
Views: 4961

Re: AN 10.96: Kokanuda Sutta — To Kokanuda

By the way what is the bottom line of these questions and answers? This samyutta is organized around questions that the Buddha left unanswered. Most of the discourses here focus on questions in a standard list of ten that were apparently the hot issues for philosophers in the Buddha's day: Is the c...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:00 am
Forum: Vipassanā / Satipaṭṭhāna Bhāvana
Topic: How do we do 16 step breath meditation?
Replies: 13
Views: 4888

Re: How do we do 16 step breath meditation?

How do we do 16 step breath meditation? Do I have think 16 steps in every 16 breaths and start all over again for another 16 steps? The fact that the process of origination is understood through the manipulation of causal factors is also borne out by a fifth passage, in MN 118, in which the Buddha ...
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:32 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Can someone please post links to sutras decsribing hell and other realms?
Replies: 22
Views: 7342

Re: Can someone please post links to sutras decsribing hell and other realms?

A description of hell can be found in MN 130: Devadūta Sutta. A description of the heaven of the gods of the thirty-three can be found in MN 37: Cūḷataṇhā­saṅkhaya Sutta.
by culaavuso
Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:16 am
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Those 'factual' things¿
Replies: 5
Views: 1349

Re: Those 'factual' things¿

What is both factual (that of truth/natural) and unbeneficial? Matters of opinion or matters that are only going to generate animosity if stated could be two examples. In the former case, "I don't like the color of your hat" might be true and factual but may not do any good to state it. I...
by culaavuso
Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:37 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: Torn on what to believe anymore...
Replies: 19
Views: 4735

Re: Torn on what to believe anymore...

Perhaps it would be helpful to mindfully observe the feelings and experience of being torn regarding the belief. What causes these conflicting desires to arise? Is it pleasant or unpleasant when they arise? What activities or thoughts increase the strength and frequency of their arising? What activi...
by culaavuso
Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:49 pm
Forum: Connections to Other Paths
Topic: Relationships suttas
Replies: 3
Views: 1494

Re: Relationships suttas

DN 31 discusses conduct between a husband and wife: In five ways, young householder, should a wife as the West be ministered to by a husband: (i) by being courteous to her, (ii) by not despising her, (iii) by being faithful to her, (iv) by handing over authority to her, (v) by providing her with ado...
by culaavuso
Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:49 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: the great rebirth debate
Replies: 7539
Views: 1326922

Re: the great rebirth debate

So what is it that "transmits" into another life? "But, Master Gotama, at the moment a flame is being swept on by the wind and goes a far distance, what do you designate as its sustenance then?" "Vaccha, when a flame is being swept on by the wind and goes a far distance, I ...