Chris wrote:Some may be interested in this paper by
Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato on
Perspectives of Early Buddhism - Rebirth and the In-Between State in Early Buddhism
Note that this paper (as with the others) will only be available for download until 2 February, 2009.
http://www.c2rc.org/papers.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
‘Whatever ascetics or priests there are that recollect their manifold past lives, all of them recollect the five grasping-aggregates or one of them’. This
suggests that the aggregates are empirical realities that characterize not just this life, but past lives as well. Thus the Saṁyutta tells us that the unawakened individual runs and circles around these five aggregates from one life to the next.
metta
Chris
Dear Chris, All
I must disagree with Bhikkhu Sujato again. The
sutta states:
At Savatthi. "Monks, any priests or contemplatives who recollect their manifold past dwellings all recollect the five aggregates clung to or one among them. Which five? When recollecting, 'I was one with such a form in the past,' one is recollecting just form. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such a feeling in the past,' one is recollecting just feeling. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such a perception in the past,' one is recollecting just perception. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such mental fabrications in the past,' one is recollecting just mental fabrications. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such a consciousness in the past,' one is recollecting just consciousness.
Buddha has spoken clearly, saying - when recollecting 'I was one with such a form in the past,' one is recollecting
just form. In other words, the mind thinks back to the past: "I was so fit and handsome when I was young". The Buddha is stating here in the past there was
only form, there was no "I".
Thus, when one is enlightened, say, like the Lord Buddha was, not only is the mind in the present free from the delusion of 'self' but the mind realises in the past it had no 'self' either. In the past, the mind was merely deluded. In the past, the mind foolishly regarded the five aggregates as "I" and "mine".
On the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, not only did his mind stop concocting 'self' in the present but his power of insight erradicated all of the
clinging in the substratum of the mind that was build up or accumulated from the past.
In one sutta, I cannot recall it, the Buddha said when he was still the Bodhisatva, his mind would not run to the future nor in the present chasing sensuality. However, his mind would often run back and ponder past sensuality. This occurs because of the mind's past regarding of things as 'self' and 'pleasant'.
There are things I am not interested in now that I took an interest in in the past. However, if I recollect the past, the pleasure of those past experiences may arise strongly even though I may feel sad if I see people performing those actions today.
This is recollection of past dwellings. During the first watch of the night, the Buddha's mind purified itself of the deep and subtle attachments connected to past dwellings.
In the sutta, the Buddha goes on further to say:
This, monks, is called a disciple of the noble ones who tears down and does not build up; who abandons and does not cling; who discards and does not pull in; who scatters and does not pile up.
It appears Bhikkhu Sujato is building up rather than tearing down; clinging rather than abandoning; pulling in rather than discarding; piling up rather than scattering.
With metta
Element