Hi Nina,
Thank you for your explanations on the Abhidhamma. Since this is my first introduction to the Abhidhamma, I find some things puzzling.
If naama is an ultimate reality (paramattha) and naama includes the khandas vedanaa (feeling), sa~n~naa (perception), sankhaara (volition) and vi~n~nana (consciousness) and ruupa is also an ultimate reality, the same as the first khandha ruupa, then why do we find statements like the following in the suttas:
Evameva kho bhikkhave, yaṃ ki~nci ruupa.m atiitaanaagatapaccuppanna.m ajjhattaṃ vaa bahiddhaa vaa o.laarika.m vaa sukhuma.m vaa hiina.m vaa pa.niita.m vā ya.m duure
santike vaa, ta.m bhikkhu passati nijjhaayati yoniso upaparikkhati, tassa ta.m passato nijjhaayato yoniso upaparikkhato rittaka~n~neva khaayati tucchaka~n~neva khaayati asaaraka~n~neva khaayati kiṃ hi
siyaa bhikkhave, raape saaro? [from the Phe.napi.n.duupama sutta.m , SN III 141]
So too, bhikkhus, whatever kind of form there is, whether past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near: a bhikkhu inspects it, ponders it, and carefully investigates it, and it would appear to him to be void, hollow, insusbstantial. For what substance could there be in form (trans. Bodhi, page 950)
The Buddha then goes on to make the same observation on the other four naamas, the khandhas, viz., feeling, perception, volitional formations and consciousnsess.
I know the Buddha talks about conventional reality in the suttas, but I can't think of any place where he calls the khandhas ultimate reality - more likely we see something like the above. There seems to be a contradiction. Can you explain?
Tks,
Bryan
________________________________
From: Nina van Gorkom <
vangorko@...>
To:
pali@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, March 26, 2010 6:41:44 AM
Subject: [Pali] Abhidhamma Series, no 5
Dear friends,
Abhidhamma Series, no 5.
Citta.
The truth is different from what we always assumed. What we take for
a person are only namas, mental phenomena, and ruupas, physical
phenomena, that arise and fall away. Naama and ruupa are real in the
ultimate sense, they are different from concepts such as person or
animal. Citta, consciousness, and cetasika, mental factors arising
with the citta, are both naama. They experience different objects.
It is not a self or a person who experiences something, it is citta
that cognizes an object. Citta experiences only one object and then
it falls away to be succeeded by the next citta. We may have thought
that there is one consciousness that lasts, that can see, hear and
think, but this is not so. Only one citta arises at a time: at one
moment a citta that sees arises, at another moment a citta that hears
arises. Each citta lasts only for an extremely short time and then it
falls away.
The five senses and the mind are the doorways through which citta can
cognize the different objects which present themselves. Each citta
experiences an object, in Paali: aaramma.na. Knowing or experiencing
an object does not necessarily mean thinking about it. The citta
which sees has what is visible as object; it is different from the
cittas which arise afterwards, such as the cittas which know what it
is that was perceived and which think about it. The citta which hears
(hearing-consciousness) has sound as its object. Even when we are
sound asleep and not dreaming, citta experiences an object. There
isn't any citta without an object.
There are many different types of citta which can be classified in
different ways. Some cittas are kusala (wholesome), some are akusala
(unwholesome). Kusala cittas and akusala cittas are cittas which are
cause; they can motivate wholesome or unwholesome deeds through body,
speech or mind which are able to bring about their appropriate
results. Some cittas are the result of wholesome or unwholesome
deeds, they are vipaakacittas. Some cittas are neither cause nor
result; they are kiriyacittas (sometimes translated as “inoperative'').
Cittas can be classified by way of jaati (jaati literally means
``birth'' or ``nature''). There are four jaatis:
kusala
akusala
vipåka
kiriya
Both kusala vipaaka (the result of a wholesome deed) and akusala
vipaaka (the result of an unwholesome deed) are one jaati, the jaati
of vipaaka.
It is important to know which jaati a citta is. We cannot develop
wholesomeness in our life if we take akusala for kusala or if we take
akusala for vipaaka. For instance, when someone speaks unpleasant
words to us, the moment of experiencing the sound (hearing-
consciousness) is akusala vipaaka, the result of an unwholesome deed
we performed ourselves. But the aversion which may arise very shortly
afterwards is not vipaaka, but it arises with akusala citta. Aversion
or anger, dosa, can motivate unwholesome action or speech. We can
learn to distinguish these moments from each other by realizing their
different characteristics.
When we have understood that cittas both of ourselves and others
arise because of conditions we shall be less inclined to dwell for a
long time on someone else’s behaviour. In the ultimate sense there is
no person to be blamed and no person who receives unpleasant results.
In reality there are only citta, cetasika and ruupa that arise
because of their own conditions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
Nina.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Paa.li-Parisaa - The Pali Collective
[Homepage]
http://www.tipitaka.net
[Pali Document Framework]
http://www.tipitaka.net/forge/pdf/
[Files]
http://www.geocities.com/paligroup/
[Send Message]
pali@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups members can set their delivery options to daily digest or web only.Yahoo! Groups Links
__________________________________________________________________
Make your browsing faster, safer, and easier with the new Internet Explorer® 8. Optimized for Yahoo! Get it Now for Free! at
http://downloads.yahoo.com/ca/internetexplorer/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]