----- Original Message -----
From: "robertkirkpatrick.rm" <robertkirkpatrick@...>
To: <Pali@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 1:05 PM
Subject: [Pali] Re: Pali - Original Language.....


> ---Dear Lennart and Robert,
> I asked my good friend in Dhamma (Sujin Boriharnwanaket) a similar
> speculative question last week, in bangkok, and she said she has no
> interest in such things as it isn't relevant to insight.

It is easy to judge things (from a position of I know - conceit) and write
them off. This was not what the Buddha did except for a very few topics, the
10 unanswerable questions and the question as to whether an "attaa" existed
OR NOT. If one came asking one or more of the 10 unanswerables, he continued
to converse redirecting the attention, but if they came asking if "attaa"
existed or not, he remained silent.

> Nevertheless, I think
> some people can lose confidence in the teachings if some of these
> matters are not explained.

Yes, I agree, in line with the Buddha's practice.

> Robert Didham: Two quick questions for Robert, though: what are the
> textual sources for
> this cyclic big-bang cosmology (apart from modern physics of course)?
> ______________
>
> In the Aganna sutta of the Digha Nikaya:
> "There comes a time, Vasettha, when, sooner or later, after the lapse of
> a long, long period, this world passed away. And when this happens,
> beings have mostly been reborn in the World of Radiance; and there
> they dwell, made of mind, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, traversing
> the air, continuing in glory; and thus they remain for a long, long period
> of time. There comes also a time, Vasettha, when sooner or later this
> world begins to re-evolve. When this happens, beings who had
> deceased from the World of Radiance, usually come to life as humans.

In this regard I suggest reading this passage with the more subtler meaning
of world (loka) that the Buddha had:

"In this fathom long body with its conceptions and mind (mano) lies the
world (loka), the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the
path leading to the cessation of the world." He also said in this regard
that unless one comes to the end of the world, one would not end stress. A
4.(5).45 : A ii 47-8 ; S 2.26 : S i 62

> __________________
> Robert: and
> your reference to Lord Buddha raises the question of where the other
> Buddhas
> fit into this picture.
> ________________
>
> In the Mahapadana-sutta (Digha Nikaya), for example ,the Buddha tells
> about six previous Buddhas and recounts the major life events of the
> Buddha Vipassin..
> The fact that all these past Buddhas have pali names seems to
> support the commentaries claim that Pali is the original language of all
> successive world systems.

Again this is using the gross (worldly) definition of world, not the
Buddha's.

A lot of the Diigha Nikaaya texts have been found to be later works
completely or to have had major changes.

> ____________
> Lennart: In case of this "universe" i could
> > follow, as many powerful devas achieved their state because of the
> punna
> > gathered at Lord Buddha's time. But how could Pali continue to be the
> > muulabhaasaa in other aeons thereafter ?
> _____
> I think for us who are born in a time when the Darwinian worldview is
> dominant it seems strange that one language should always be the
> one that is original. But it is perhaps no stranger that in each aeon
> humans should arise (according to evolutionary theory humans are
> simply an amazing accident ). Apparently pali is THE natural
> language.
> But of course this is just my speculation - whether there is truth in it
is
> another matter.

Despite assertions to the contrary the Buddha did not teach Ultimate Truths,
but the FOUR NOBLE Truths. Ultimate truths developed in the decline period
after the Buddha's five aggregates broke up.

----------------------------------------------------
Peace from Norman Joseph (Jou) Smith
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