Dear DC,
I am glad you ask. It is good to discuss these things.
Op 20-dec-2009, om 18:04 heeft DC Wijeratna het volgende geschreven:
> An example: someone speaks harsh words to us. In the ultimate sense
> there is not he who speaks, there is not me who hears. Hearing is
> vipaakacitta conditioned by past kamma. It was the right time for
> kamma to produce result. How could another person be blamed? The real
> cause of trouble is not another person, it is by 'myself'. Right
> understanding of naama and ruupa conditions most of all kind speech,
> restraint from harsh speech."
>
> We have a funny situation there.
>
> 1. no he; no me (in bold letters above)
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N: True, in the ultimate sense there is no person, no self. What we
take for a person is only: citta, cetasika and ruupa, dhammas that
arise and then fall away immediately.
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> DC. 2. vipaka citta exists (Hearing is vipaaka citta). Where?
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N: Vipaakacitta arises just for a moment and then it falls away.
Seeing is vipaakacitta, it experiences what is visible, visible
object or colour. When it seems that a person or tree is seen, it is
not seeing, it is thinking of a concept formed up on account of what
was seen. Because of our ignorance we are confused as to realities,
we take them all together and believe that we see a person, or hear
harsh words spoken by someone else. We think long stories about what
was seen or heard and find these very important. In reality there are
only different elements that arise and fall away because of their own
conditions.
Seeing or hearing do not belong to anyone, they arise because of
conditions and then they fall away, they do not go anywhere.
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> DC. 3. Past kamma of whom? (no he, no me.)
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N: Kamma does not belong to anyone, it arises because of conditions.
Past kamma: a deed motivated by kusala citta or akusala citta. When
we are more precise, kamma is cetanaa, volition, it is mental. It is
accumulated from one moment to the next moment and thus kamma of the
past can produce result later on.
Life is a series of cittas arising and falling away, succeeding one
another. That is why kusala and akusala can be as it were 'carried
on' from moment to moment.
We can begin to see, at least intellectually, that there is no
lasting person who performs deeds or receives results of deeds.
Kamma produces vipaaka in the form of rebirth-consciousness or in the
form of pleasant and unpleasant experiences through the senses,
arising during life.
When we understand this, we shall be more patient when facing
difficult situations or people. In conventional sense we think of
persons and deal with persons, that is true. Understanding that a
person is citta, cetasika and rupa will help to be more tolerant. So
called 'people' have different accumulated inclinations, which
condition them to behave in different ways.
Understanding all this is very helpful in daily life. It is very cold
in Holland and while typing now I feel it. I have some aversion, but
I am less inclined to think of 'poor me, poor me'. The 'stories' with
aversion will be shorter.
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> D.C.The explanation seems to create more questions than answers.
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N: Please let me know what is not clear yet. This is also helpful for
me, the subject matter is not easy to explain I find.
Nina.
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