Hello Mike, all,
Ultimately, I consider suttas to be the authority. And AN6.63 does say that "Contact is the cause by which kamma comes into play".
Sometimes I strongly disagree with what modern authors claim that the Buddha has said.
With metta,
Alex
Search found 3903 matches
- Fri Nov 19, 2010 2:08 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
- Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:19 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hello Mike, all, Thank you for posting, Mike. Human choice and endeavor has a causally effective power within a causally operated reality. In other words, the fact that reality is deterministic does not contradict the ability of agents to speculate and reflect about what to do next and decide accord...
- Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:12 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
That was just my style of writing in that post.retrofuturist wrote:Greetings Alex,
Because you seemingly regard them as separate notions here..
To answer re: Tittha sutta, I believe the shortest and possibly truest answer is that:
Buddha denies that present Kamma is caused just by past Kamma.
- Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:59 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Retro, Greetings Alex, Where does the Buddha draw a distinction between "causes" and "conditions"? If you can point me to the Pali words it would be greatly appreciated. I remain unconvinced that it's not some kind of sectarian side-step. Metta, Retro. :) Can you please explai...
- Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:46 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Retro, Tittha sutta rejects chalking everything just to past causes indiscriminately. But there are not just any kind of past causes. There are specific conditions that are happening now, and recently that can condition wholesome or unwholesome action. Good actions are due to wholesome causes, ba...
- Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:25 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Retro, Greetings, What happens now is not 100% due to past life, but also is due to what was happening in this life, what kind of teaching one has heard, the kind of friends one has, whether there is faith in Dhamma or faith in wrong teachings, etc. As predicted, you attempt to disassociate yours...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:51 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
And within that process, there is choice, and there is thinking, no chooser, no thinker, but each are part of the process, which means we are not dealing with a strict determinism, which means we are responsible for our actions, as the Buddha clearly said. What we are is what we made ourselves . So...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:38 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Retro, Tilt, all, Greetings Alex, AN 3.61 - Tittha Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.061.than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; " Having approached the priests & contemplatives who hold that... whatever a person experiences... is all c...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 3:48 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hello Tinhtan, (Tilt please read the bottom of this post where another question of yours is addressed) Thank you for joining in. Welcome to the Board. Hello Alex, IMO, choice, in practice is called manasikara (direct attention to, turn towards ,..) good (or skilfull) choice = yoniso manasikara bad (...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 3:40 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
”Conditions” does not mean there is not choice. As there is suffering but no sufferer, there is choice but no chooser. Choice is part of the process, not some thing a part from the process. If choice is part of the process, rather than something apart from the process, then the process decides the ...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:39 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Induvidial, Alex, would you agree that omniscience and omnipotence are logically incompatible? Because: if you knew everything, you would not have the power of free-will, because you would already see all origins and results, and would have no foundation upon which to act freely. There may unacco...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:22 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Bodom, There are these roots of trees, these rooms that are void: meditate, bhikkhus, do not delay lest you regret it later. This is our instruction to you." - MN 152 Why did the Buddha say this and what did he mean? :anjali: The line in MN152 Over there are the roots of trees; over there, e...
- Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:04 am
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Tilt, all, . The text is telling us, as Ven Nyanaponika makes clear, that actions, good and bad, not driven by the Dhamma will lead to suffering, but what you are totally missing is the opening of the sutta in question, which sets the basis for what follows. And this sutta does not stand alone in...
- Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:50 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
And you were trying to do something the Buddha said you cannot do, or at least cannot do without altering significantly your conditioning and understanding the limitations. When a person does meditation as it is conventionally taught, typically what one does is trying to direct attention toward som...
- Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:35 pm
- Forum: General Theravāda Meditation
- Topic: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
- Replies: 298
- Views: 50479
Re: Meditation, conditionality, and anatta
Hi Tilt, all, We can try Ven Nyanaponika, who was a bit more knowledgeable than you by factors of thousands: I didn't know that you can read other people's minds. 3. Volitional Thought Volitional thought here means chiefly kamma — i.e., rebirth-producing and life-affirming action — and the Buddha ha...