Nina

You wrote:

> As to the suttas: Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta (the one I am studying
> now), you say: <For instance, the Buddha in this sutta demanded
> celibacy from those who wishing to follow his path>.
> Here I would like to make a distinction. The anaagaami and arahat do
> not lead the home life anymore, but the sotaapanna and sakadaagaami
> do. And then, laypeople who are just beginning to develop the Path,
> they lead their daily life naturally but learn to be aware of nama
> and rupa, defilements included. We have to learn that the lobha that
> arises now is a conditoned dhamma, not self. There are three rounds.
> Sacca ~naa.na: we have to learn what the nama and rupa are that
> should be objects of awareness and right understanding, so that there
> is a firm understanding of the way of developing the Path. Then kicca
> ~naa.na can begin: the development of satipa.t.thaana. Eventually
> there can be the realisation of the truth, kata ~naa.na.

Yes, I should have been more specific here since my writing as it is seems to imply that only celibate monks and nuns can follow the Buddha's teaching, which is not the case. I should have said, e.g., "those who wish to dedicate their lives to his path". (I happen to know a professor who cites Dhammacakkappavattana sutta to claim that meditation is only for monks and nuns only! But we shouldn't take offence with academics, I think.)

> N: For the explanation of anattaa I would like to add a few things.
> What we take for person, monk, nun, are in the ultimate sense nama
> and rupa, fleeting elements, not subject to control, without any
> owner. The affliction used in the sutta is an example in conventional
> sense to help people see that the khandhas, or, nama and rupa, are
> mere fleeting elements. They have each their own characteristic > and
> appear one at a time through the six doorways.
> Affliction is not merely sickness and death in conventional sense,
> the end of a lifespan, but kha.nika mara.na, momentary death, the
> falling away of each naama and ruupa that arises. Their impermanence.

I agree with your understanding of anattaa. However, in this context, what we need to see is how the concept of anattaa influences the formation of Vinaya rules or monastic life. I can see such an influence only when affliction is interpreted in a conventional sense, as I give in my paper. Can you see any other sort of influence by interpreting it as "momentary death"?

with metta

Ven. Pandita