Greetings Tilt,
tiltbillings wrote:While the old kamma and conditioning plays itself out
retrofuturist wrote:Disagree, but already done to death. I believe our point of difference lies in different understandings of the English word "conditioning" and the Pali word "sankhara" as they pertain to experience.
tiltbillings wrote:I have no idea what your position on this is.
Well, I have tried to relate it to you using sutta terminology, which is my chosen frame of reference.
However, since that has failed, perhaps pages 44-45 of A Comprehensive Manual Of Abhidhamma might give you some idea as to how, within the Mahavihara Theravada tradition, consciousness might "function" (to use your terminology) in an unconditioned/unformed sense (i.e. without sankhara as its necessary foundation, i.e. without itself being sankhata, formed), without this notion of "old kamma and conditioning play[ing] itself out".
If you do not have a hard-copy, here is an online copy -
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hxo ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The "guide" part states...
"The remaining three types of consciousness among the ahetukas are not kammic results. They belong to the category called kiriya, rendered here as "functional" to indicate that they perform tasks which do not have any kammic potency. Such type consciousness are neither causal kamma nor the result of kamma. Within this category, three types of consciousness are rootless.
In brief they are listed as...
- five-sense-door adverting consciousness (pancadvaravajjanacitta)
- mind-door adverting consciousness (manodvaravajjanacitta)
- smile-producing consciousness (hasituppadacitta)
To be clear, I'm not advocating this tract of commentarial Abhidhamma.... merely presenting it to you as an opportunity for you to see how vinnana might "function" after the cessation of sankhara (formations), without the need for anything to be "obliterated" or "kill[ed] off".
Metta,
Retro.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."