Dear All,

I was not writing about omniscience but about the
apparent paradox of believing at the same time of us
as being conditioned and free which is typical of
Buddhism, and a few other philosophies.

But about omniscience, there are even occurences, I
think in the Sutta Nipata, where Sakyamuni definitely
denies being omniscient. When I retrieve them I send
the references to this group.

In the Dhamma,

Jacques Huynen



--- rjkjp1 <rjkjp1@...> wrote:

> 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.
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>

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