Re: The Buddha as omniscient

Dear Stephen and Nina,

I remember reading a Tika which said something to the effect that
only certain beings have a fixed destiny. These are ones like
leading disciples who have gained a prediction from a past Buddha
that in the future they will become such and such a disciple under
this or that future Buddha.
It might be that the comment in the Patisambhidhimagga is given some
qualification in the tikas. In any event the range of a Buddha's
knowledge is one of the unknoawables, impossible to imgaine how vast
it is.
Robert
In Pali@yahoogroups.com, nina van gorkom <vangorko@...> wrote:

>
> Dear Stephen,
> op 31-05-2006 15:53 schreef Stephen Hodge op s.hodge@...:
> In the discussion to which Robert kindly pointed me, Nina quoted

the

> > Patisambhidamagga Ch 72 (p. 131)...
>
> > To come back to the issue which prompted this discussion, the

question then

> > is whether the traditional understanding of "omnscience" is

mistaken or else

> > do the teachings of the Buddha ever state or imply that choice

in one's

> > course of actions is illusory. I tend take the former view,

though I might

> > be wrong.
> ----
> N: If we approach the problem with western logica we may keep on

being

> puzzled. Perhaps this quote can help:
> we read VII, 32:
> <Herein, the Blessed One's possession of clear vision consists in

the

> fulfilment of Omniscience (Ps. I, 131) , while his possession of

conduct

> consists in the fulfilment of the Great Compassion (Ps. 1, 126).

He knows

> through omniscience what is good and harmful for all beings, and

through

> compassion he warns them of harm and exhorts them to do good. >
>
> He helps people to see the disadvantage of akusala and the benefit

of

> kusala. He had this in mind. We read that he surveyed the world

with his

> Buddha Eye to see whether someone's understanding was ripe so that

he could

> attain enlightenment. This does not mean that people are slaves of
> predestination.
> We have a superficial knowledge of people's inclinations and can

predict

> more or less how their reactions will be, even on a list like

this. The

> Buddha had an unobstructed knowledge of all such things.
> We can also reduce the problem to: people act according to the

conditions

> that make them act, and where is the free will if whatever one

does is

> conditioned, as Jacques mentioned. With this approach the dilemma

will not

> be solved. One can reason on endlessly.
> The more we study the teachings the more we become impressed by

the Buddha's

> wisdom. He found out all the different types of conditions that

operate in

> our life. All about cittas and cetasikas, and their intricate

conditions,

> the many ways they condiiton one another. All about ruupas. That

is the

> meaning of his omniscience. All that is formed, in other words,

conditioned,

> and unformed, in other words nibbaana. If we approach the question

in this

> way we shall have a little more understanding of what the Buddha's

wisdom

> is. We hear the word omniscience, but this may only be a word to

us if we do

> not develop understanding of what he taught.
> Nina.
>