Dear Piya,
Op 13-feb-2010, om 2:59 heeft Piya Tan het volgende geschreven:
> I'm often guided by the dictum "the word is not the thing." Terms and
> translations are at best little key-holes or windows for us to open
> (with
> the right key) or see through to envision true reality. As such, no
> translation is perfect, and we need the direct knowledge of
> mindfulness of
> that inner eye cultivating stillness and clarity.
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N: I most heartily agree with you here. If we only think of words we
shall have theoretical understanding of the Dhamma. But the teachings
refer to realities in daily life. The characteristics of realities
can be understood when they appear at the present moment.
Thus, the aasavas are flowing right now so long as there are
conditions for their arising. Each section of the Dhamma illustrates
the truth that what we take for self are only conditioned phenomena.
We keep on forgetting the truth and thus we have to be reminded again
and again.
I quote from my "Cetasikas":
<There are four aasavas (Dhammasanga.ni 1096-1100):
the canker of sensuous desire, kaamaasava
the canker of becoming, bhavaasava
the canker of wrong view, dit.t.thaasava
the canker of ignorance, avijjaasava
The Atthasalinii (I, Part I, Chapter II, 48) explains that aasavas
flow from the senses and the mind. In all planes where there is nama
arising aasavas occur, even in the highest plane of existence which
is the fourth aruupa-brahma plane. The aasavas are like liquor which
has fermented for a long time, the Atthasalinii explains. The aasavas
are like poisonous drugs or intoxicants. The Visuddhimagga (XXIl, 56)
states that the aasavas are exuding "from unguarded sense-doors like
water from cracks in a pot, in the sense of constant trickling". The
aasavas keep on flowing from birth to death, they are also flowing at
this moment, Are we not attached to what we see? Then there is the
canker of sensuous desire, kaamaasava. Seeing experiences visible
object, and shortly after seeing has fallen away there are most of
the time akusala cittas rooted in attachment, aversion or ignorance.
When the object is pleasant there is likely to be attachment to the
object because we have accumulated such a great deal of attachment.
We are attached to visible object, sound, odour, flavour and tangible
object. We are infatuated with the objects we experience through the
senses and we want to go on experiencing them. Because of our foolish
attachment to what is actually impermanent we have to continue to be
in the cycle of birth and death. We have to be reborn again and again
until the cankers have been extinguished. The arahat has eradicated
the cankers, he does not have to be reborn again. >
------
P: I have chosen "influx" which is close to the etymology, of sense-data
> glowing IN and flooding our sense-faculties, and so defiling our
> system
> because we fail to see them as they are. "Effluent" I think comes
> from EX
> (out) + fluent, meaning OUT flow. It is used sometimes in reference to
> industrial waste and pollutant that flow OUT into the drainage
> system, etc.
-------
N: Yes, it is dirty. I like the idea of constant trickling like water
from cracks in a pot. This happens when the sense-doors are not
guarded by mindfulness.
----------
>
> P.: We have just submitted the Sutta Discovery Volume 1 (SD 1) for
> printing. So
> far 32 vols (MSS) have been completed, and we hope to publish 2-3
> vols a
> year. By 2030, we would have over 100 SD volumes covering the four
> NIkayas
> published. We are going slow with this as the works are heavily
> annotated
> and try to give a digest of available scholarship and Buddhist
> traditions.
> --------
N: Congratulations. Please would you give a link to your web again?
----
Nina.
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