Jhana4 wrote:kirk5a wrote:No death, now that I find inspiring.
I would too, if I thought the Pali Canon said that. It seems to me that teachers, writers and the Sangha at large flesh things out in a much more sunny way. However, I don't see how the sunnier views of the Sangha connect to the suttas. Looking at the suttas, my understanding is that nibbana can't be described, but it seems like an end to what the person is to the extent that they are gone.
Is there something directly from the suttas that would say I am flat out wrong about that?
Ok lets see... you have the understanding "it seems like an end to what the person is to the extent that they are gone"
One thing to notice is that is an idea, an interpretation that you have, and maybe it's not really the best representation of
how things are.
That said - in the suttas, how about this?
"Just as if there were a roofed house or a roofed hall having windows on the north, the south, or the east. When the sun rises, and a ray has entered by way of the window, where does it land?"
"On the western wall, lord."
"And if there is no western wall, where does it land?"
"On the ground, lord."
"And if there is no ground, where does it land?"
"On the water, lord."
"And if there is no water, where does it land?"
"It does not land, lord."
"In the same way, where there is no passion for the nutriment of physical food... contact... intellectual intention... consciousness, where there is no delight, no craving, then consciousness does not land there or increase. Where consciousness does not land or increase, there is no alighting of name-&-form. Where there is no alighting of name-&-form, there is no growth of fabrications. Where there is no growth of fabrications, there is no production of renewed becoming in the future. Where there is no production of renewed becoming in the future, there is no future birth, aging, & death. That, I tell you, has no sorrow, affliction, or despair."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"When one thing is practiced & pursued, ignorance is abandoned, clear knowing arises, the conceit 'I am' is abandoned, latent tendencies are uprooted, fetters are abandoned. Which one thing? Mindfulness immersed in the body." -AN 1.230