Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:19 am According to text Buddha says it is very difficult to take birth in human realm such as the turtle story . The chances are very slim for most people to regain it after losses their lives as human .
However , nowadays it appears human population is estimated over 7 billions or much more . So , how does Buddhism reconcile in explaining the contradiction ?!

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:19 amNowadays , cloning life is a way to breed life .

Keith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:28 am Is 7 billion a lot? How many ants are there?

In their Pulitzer-prize winning book The Ants, researchers Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson estimate that there are upwards of 10,000,000,000,000,000 individual ants alive on Earth at any given time.

10 Frightening Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Ants

Keith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:15 am Thank you Bhante. I was employing a rhetorical device.

Keith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:28 am Is 7 billion a lot? How many ants are there? How many shrimp? How many grasshoppers? How many rats?

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:51 amtopic is human not animals .

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:51 amWell , the question is since rebirth as human being very difficult , it should be getting lesser as time passes

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:51 amIf 7 billions is not a lot how then over population became the present state concern for many !

Keith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:04 am It depends on how many beings have exhausted their time in higher realms, as well as how many from lower realms. Samsara is in flux, and I do not agree with your conclusion that the number of beings should be decreasing simply because a human birth is rare. Rarity is relative.

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:28 am

Keith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:04 am It depends on how many beings have exhausted their time in higher realms, as well as how many from lower realms. Samsara is in flux, and I do not agree with your conclusion that the number of beings should be decreasing simply because a human birth is rare. Rarity is relative.

Since human state is Extremely rare to obtain , whether lifespan of beings of the higher & lower realms when exhausted , has no direct evidence that they will rebirth in human realm because the chances are way thin .

"Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west, a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south, a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"

"It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole."

"It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world. Now, this human state has been obtained. A Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world.

"Therefore your duty is the contemplation, 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress.' Your duty is the contemplation, 'This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.'"

SN 56.48

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:19 am However , nowadays it appears human population is estimated over 7 billions or much more . So , how does Buddhism reconcile in explaining the contradiction ?!

Staying at Savatthi. Then the Blessed One, picking up a little bit of dust with the tip of his fingernail, said to the monks, "What do you think, monks? Which is greater: the little bit of dust I have picked up with the tip of my fingernail, or the great earth?"

"The great earth is far greater, lord. The little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail is next to nothing. It doesn't even count. It's no comparison. It's not even a fraction, this little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail, when compared with the great earth.

"In the same way, monks, few are the beings reborn among human beings. Far more are those reborn elsewhere. Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will live heedfully.' That's how you should train yourselves."

SN 20.2

Geonny wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:12 pm Buddha knew all and knew that this time would come with cloning and synthetic life.

seeker242 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:13 pm Even if the number is now 1,000 times that, it's still next to nothing, still not even a fraction, when compared with the great earth.

sentinel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:26 pm

seeker242 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:13 pm Even if the number is now 1,000 times that, it's still next to nothing, still not even a fraction, when compared with the great earth.

Probably you missed the question .