Hi All
Hope you are well and happy.
If you're replying to a newsgroup or e-group post of mine please also CC
to me personally as I don't get to those places as often as I'd like,
but if I receive such notification of a reply, I would go the the
relevant place to reply to the group.
Despite the well known idea that the Buddha taught [the goal of] his
teaching was for THIS VERY LIFE, there is a popular idea that he spoke
of "past lives" [pubbe jiivitaani]. I have found no evidence of this, or
of RE-birth [punna-jaati] in the early texts [the Paali Nikaaya or
Vinaaya]. If anyone has found such evidence please let me know. I am
aware of him talking of a repeating cycle of birth and death
[sam.saara], re-becoming [punnabhava] and another world beyond death and
know that the Buddha gave a psychological meaning to the word world
[loka].
The text commonly interpreted as speaking of previous or past lives is
the description of the first of the three insight knowleges or wisdoms
[tisso vijjaa // tevijjaa] that the Buddha developed on the night of his
[full] Awakening [Buddhahood] under the Bodhi Tree, in which two words
nivaasam. [habitation or dwelling] and aayu [life span or age] are
translated, or I suggest interpreted as "life/lives"
[jiivitam./jiivitaani.] and the addition of punna [again, or re-] to
arise, to get re-arise, or re-birth. Sometimes clan [gotto] is also
translated, or I suggest interpreted as "species" to support the
physiological interpretation going on, which I suspect is an influence
from the Hindu "reincarnation".
M i 22-23 = M 4
When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid
of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to
imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past
habitations [pubbe-nivaasa-anussati-ñaa.naaya]. I recollected my
manifold past habitations [pubbe-nivaasam.], i.e., one birth, two...
five, ten... fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons
of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of
cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to
such a clan [gotto], had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my
experience of pleasure & pain, such was the end of my life span [or age]
[evam-aayu-pariyanto]. Passing away from that state, I arose
[udapaadim.] there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a
clan [gotto], had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my
experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life span [or age]
[evam-aayu-pariyanto]. Passing away from that state, I arose here
[idhuupapanno].' Thus I remembered my manifold past habitations
[pubbe-nivaasam] in their modes & details. This was the first knowledge
I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed;
knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose -- as happens in
one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
Anyone can take any interpretation they wish, imo. Two important
questions I ask regarding any interpretation I take is, is it in line
with the qualities of the Dhamma
http://www.bigfoot.com/~josmith.1/buddhism/jo/dhamma_qualities.html,
does it help me eradicate the roots of unwholesome actions [greed,
hatred and delusion] right now, IN THIS VERY LIFE? If so, then it would
be a wholesome interpretation, even if it is not a traditional one. If
any interpretation helps a person to do so and it would be up to THEM to
decide that, then I would be happy for them [anumodanaa]. Just because
they hadn't yet eradicated ALL fetters and tendencies, would not prove
to me that their interpretation did not help them eradicate those
unwholesome roots. If they claimed their interpretation was what the
Buddha said, then I would ask their evidence.
I do not see the Buddha speaking of past lives in the text above and my
interpretation of this text is such that he was looking at the periods
of life [aayu] in his past [the past of his current life] where he lived
out [of] Identity View. When he identified with the five clinging
aggregates as his self [I am my body/fat/thin/ugly =
ruupa-upadaahak-khandha, I am comfortable = vedanaa-upadaahak-khandha, I
am buddhist = sannyyaa-upadaahak-khandha, I am angry =
sankhaara-upadaahak-khandha, I know the truth =
vinnyyaa.na-upadaahak-khandha] rather than just seeing them as they are
[This is my body, this is (or I feel) comfort, this is a buddhist
belief, this is (or I feel) happiness, I discern this] fundamentally
taking one or all of them as his essence [soul], or as the whole truth
rather than just one aspect of it.
I see the next insight knowledge as him seeing the arising of Identity
View and the creation of a self image [or being] according to actions
[kamma] of thought, word and deed, in the present as it happened.
I see the third insight knowledge as him seeing and knowing the cutting
of a fetter/fetters and release from a tendency, due to the previous two
practices.
I understand that these three processes [dhammaa] need to be developed
in an individual until all fetters are cut and one is released from all
[three?] tendencies [kaamaasava, bhavaasava, avijjaasava], or the three
roots are pulled up = Nibbaana. These three tendencies seem to match
pretty well with the three insight knowledges. So maybe as one perfects
each one, one is realeased from the respective tendency.
This view of the three insight knowledges would seem to match quite well
with the Buddha's teaching in
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn061.html where the
Buddha says the only way to purity is to reflect on past, present and
future action of thought, word and deed to see if they are harmful to
oneself and, or others or not and to train in those that are not.
Paali text in Roman script of the first insight knowledge:
So evam. samaahite citte parisuddhe pariyodaate anan.ga.ne
vigatuupakkilese mudubhuute kammaniye .thite aaneñjappatte
pubbenivaasaanussatiñaa.naaya cittam. abhininnaamesim.. So anekavihitam.
pubbenivaasam. anussaraami, seyyathidam.
ekampi jaatim.
dvepi jaatiyo
tissopi jaatiyo
catassopi jaatiyo
pañcapi jaatiyo
dasapi jaatiyo
viisampi jaatiyo
tim.sampi jaatiyo
cattaaliisampi jaatiyo
paññaa sampi jaatiyo
Jaatisatampi
Jaatisahassampi
Jaatisatasahassampi
anekepi sam.va.t.takappe anekepi viva.t.takappe anekepi sam.va.t.taviva
.t.takappe amutraasim. evam.naamo evam.gotto evam.va.n.no evamaahaaro
evam.sukhadukkhappa.tisam.vedii evamaayupariyanto, so tato cuto amutra
udapaadim.; tatraapaasim. evam.naamo evam.gotto evam.va.n.no evamaahaaro
evam.sukhadukkhappa.tisam.vedii evamaayupari yanto, so tato cuto
idhuupapannoti. Iti saakaaram. sa-uddesam. anekavihitam. pubbenivaasam.
anussaraami. Ayam. kho me, braahma.na, rattiyaa pa.thame yaame pa.thamaa
vijjaa adhigataa, avijjaa vihataa vijjaa uppannaa, tamo vihato aaloko
uppanno, yathaa tam. appamattassa aataapino pahitattassa viharato.
----------------------------------------------------
Please Act Urgently:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~josmith.1/urgent_action_please.html
If you're replying to a newsgroup or e-group post of mine please also CC
to me personally.
Wishing peace and good health to you and those close to you from
Norman Joseph (Jou) Smith
Promotion of my book, The Gift of the Buddha, with a foreword by HHDL:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~josmith.1/tgotb
E-group on my book, get a free older copy:
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ttbt
E-group on 4 Chinese Aagmas compared with 4 Paali Nikaayaa:
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/monkey_magic
All e-mail addresses are in square brackets with the @ sign replaced by
a space, to make it harder for hackers to use extraction programs.
E-mail/MSN: [josmith.1 bigfoot.com]
E-mail/Yahoo: [josmith_1_2000 yahoo.com]
Student Email: [s351543 student.uq.edu.au]
ICQ:
http://wwp.icq.com/183459
Home or V-mail: +61 (0)500523778
Mobile: +61 (0)421 542 653
S-mail: PO Box 95 Toowong BC Queensland 4066 Australia
URI:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~josmith.1
Use
http://www.trillian.cc to integrate yahoo, icq, and msn (and others)
and be online with all of them at the same time.
Use
http://www.mailwasher.net/download.php to bounce spam back to the
sender.