Post # 7 - Rebirth - Part 1 

Are you visiting  this Blog for the 1^st time?  If so I suggest that you read the 1^st Post on the Blog from the Archives to know about the blog before reading on.

Rebirth and Kamma – how should we understand them?

The attempt here is to highlight some salient points on this very crucial topic. I have collected some significant and relevant  facts on this subject from talks and writings of eminent Dhamma scholars to place before you for your review and analysis.

The objective is for creating sufficient interest in the topic so that the keen learner will be motivated to access more such texts and seek more opportunities to get a better understanding. In other words this collection is by no means exhaustive or complete, as coverage for the topic. However it is hoped that the reader would have sufficient facts to dispel any doubts or uncertainties he/she may have on this important subject, which can be considered as one of the pillars underpinning Buddhist practice. 

Let me begin by asking the question, what is your view about Kamma and Rebirth? Let us discuss this with focus on how such views have a relevance to the practice of Dhamma by a lay follower.  

There is a perception that this is the essence of Buddha’s teaching, and if you do not believe in a perceived Rebirth and Kamma you are not a Buddhist. This of course could not be quite true looking at the historical context, as the belief in kamma (to be discussed in detail in a later post) and rebirth in the way it was taught in ancient religions, did exist even before the Buddha.

Upon reaching enlightenment, the first challenge that Buddha faced was to teach the Dhamma that he discovered. He found that it was indeed the reality, and one which was profound and difficult to explain. He realized that what people believed in and their convictions, had to be accommodated in the teaching to encourage them to join in, when he attempted to teach the Dhamma he discovered.   So he treated the prevailing teachings in the religions, which included kamma and rebirth as concepts or conventional (sammuthi) truths, while what he discovered he treated as the reality (paramatta).

He found that thinkers at that time were asking some serious  questions about their own existence. Bhanthe Dr.Punnaji in his book “Horizons of Time”, has articulated these questions quoting the Sabbasawa Sutta as follows:

“did I exist in the past?; did I not exist in the past?; what was I in the past?; how was I in the past?; having being what, to what did I change into in the past?”;

There were also similar questions about the future such as – “will I exist in the future?; will I not exist in the future?; what will I be in the future? How will I be in the future?; having being what, to what will I change into in the future?”

 Similarly there were questions about the present as well, which included among others; “from where did this existence come?; where will this existence go?” etc.

Most religions answered these questions on the basis of a supreme creator and his doings. People accepted these explanations. It was sometimes through fear of the unknown or due to uncertainty.  

There are references to resurrection- bringing life into a dead body; reincarnation- a permanent soul entering another body; transmigration- a soul leaving one body and taking over another body; and rebirth – a soul taking on a new life.  What Buddha discovered however was contrary to all these teachings.

The Buddha rejected an "eternalist" view, which in the Buddhist sense means a belief in an individual eternal soul that survives death. But he also rejected the nihilist view that there is no existence for any of us beyond this one.

He said in his first uttering upon reaching enlightenment that- “Oh builder (creator), I have seen you! You will not create me anymore!  I have destroyed all your supports! I have broken the whole structure! My mind has stopped creating! This will be my last becoming! It’s the emotions(Thanna) that are creating existence etc.

However the Buddha had to factor in the common beliefs of the people at that time, into his teachings. He therefore conducted his teaching under the premise of two Dhammas. One a worldly Dhamma or mundane Dhamma (Sammuthi Satta), with  relevance to the worldly life and  more in harmony with the existing beliefs, which are included in  the ‘Sutta’ texts in the ‘Thripitaka’ and the other as a supra mundane or world transcending- Dhamma, related to the actuality documented in the ‘Abidhamma’ texts.

C.P. Ranasinghe in his book ‘The Buddha’s Explanation of the Universe’ says that:-

 “if we are people who would accept whatever a Buddha or an Arahant said, there exists much material in Buddhist scriptures depicting different instances of rebirth. This method of accepting the doctrine of rebirth is very unsatisfactory and Buddha himself rejected such attitudes. Accepting the doctrine of rebirth in this manner often brings in its train various superstitions which obstructs our understanding of the deeper truth”.

Bhikkhu Bhodhi the scholar monk from US says in his article on – ‘Does Rebirth Make Sense?’:-

“Even modernist interpreters of Buddhism seem to have trouble taking the rebirth teaching seriously. Some dismiss it as just a piece of cultural baggage, ‘ancient Indian metaphysics’ that the Buddha retained in deference to the world view of his age. Others interpret it as a metaphor for the change of mental states, with the realms of rebirth seen as symbols for psychological archetypes. A few critics even question the authenticity of the texts on rebirth, arguing that they must be interpolations”.

In this essay Bhikkhu Bhodhi goes on to say that:-

“I won't be arguing the case for the scientific validity of rebirth. Instead, I wish to show that the idea of rebirth makes sense. I will be contending that it ‘makes sense’ in two ways: first, in that it is intelligible, having meaning both intrinsically and in relation to the Dhamma as a whole; and second, in that it helps us to make sense, to understand our own place in the world. The teaching of rebirth makes sense in relation to ethics.

When we encounter suitable external conditions, the kammic seeds deposited in our mental continuum rise up from their dormant condition and produce their fruits. The most important function performed by kamma is to generate rebirth into an appropriate realm, a realm that provides a field for it to unfold its stored potentials.

There is a tremendous variety among the living beings existing in the world. People and animals are of different sorts. What is it that causes us to take birth in a particular form? Does it happen through coincidence, through accident, by chance without any reason or is there some principle behind it? What is it that determines the form of rebirth we take?

Buddha answers these questions, with the Pali term "kamma".

 More elaborations and justifications by Bhikkhu Bhodhi on why rebirth makes sense is given in the next post- Rebirth Part 2-

There are also many other treatise on rebirth in the web. Experimental sciences have been looking at evidences of previous lives of people through such methods as hypnotic analysis etc.

Ven Ajahn Brahm has given many talks with rational analysis on rebirth. In one talk he gives an illustration for the doctrine of rebirth as taught in Buddha Dhamma, to show the difference in the concept of a permanent soul migrating from birth to birth, by a worldly simile.  He says that when we eat a mango and deposit the seed appropriately it germinates and produces a plant, a tree and eventually a mango. This mango is not the same mango that we ate but another mango. It demonstrates the features of the mango we ate, whether sweet or sour or other, by some process of genetic inheritance.  Although the original mango is no more and did not reappear in a new form now, it did transfer its characteristics to the new mango.

How Buddhist Rebirth "Works"

Understanding the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth rests upon understanding how Buddhists view the self.  The Buddha taught that the perception that we are all distinct, stand-alone people-units is an illusion and the chief cause of our problems.

From the foregoing you will see that I have been extracting quotes or explanations from these great scholars and bringing them up for reference by you, which is my privilege through this Blog. These arguments give us enough material to ponder upon to orient our thinking towards the subject in question.

I will be attempting to gather more such material to explore other aspects on this subject. Please await the next post- Rebirth Part 2  

Post # 6 - Concepts and Reality Part 3 –  to be read after reading the  Post # 5

Concepts and Reality Part 3 - Reality

Now let’s discuss – the word ‘Reality’ – as presented in the discussion.

What therefore is Reality? This is a big question but the answer could be quite simple if you see it the following way.  We saw that our frame of reference is conceptual as it is based on the experiences in the mundane domain. For example we saw that the world we live in is created by us based on what we perceive as happening in this world. This perception is based on our own frame of reference. Therefore I have a world created by me. So have the others. Thus there are many individual worlds within this one world which means the frame-of-reference that created one's world is based on concepts.  Therefore the simple answer that I can give  for reality is  Buddha Dhamma, which explains the true nature of things.

To accept these two statements we have to first see the deficiencies and vulnerabilities in our frame-of-reference to understand its conceptual nature. On the one hand it was argued that the contents in our frame-of-reference was conceptual. On the other hand it is suggested that the universal truths that are taught in Buddha Dhamma, are the reality. We have to therefore examine  each of them more closely.      

The vulnerability of the frame-of-reference is clear when we look at how the contents are created. The Suthamaya part is made up of borrowed knowledge. This cannot always be right for all time, as this knowledge changes with intellectual development. The ‘Monomaya’ part often using the contents of the Suthamaya part is also subject to the quality and accuracy of the ‘Suthamaya’ part as we saw before, and therefore has its limitations.

Our physical experiences that consist of another part of the frame-of-reference are also limited to the extent that our sensory perceptions have limits. For example, there is a lot more that our eye cannot see, but is there to be seen with proper supportive means. Eg. through a microscope or telescope etc. Similarly there is a lot more that our ear cannot hear than there are those that can be heard. This is so for our other sensory perceptions as well.  Therefore it is clear that much of this real world exists outside our sensory perceptions. Therefore relying totally on sensory perceptions is also inadequate.

Our frame-of reference in its day-to-day application has been good and adequate, in so far as our activities were confined to this world around us.  But when we have to use this frame-of-reference to understand things outside this world, such as life after death, what preparations are necessary therefore etc., this frame-of-reference becomes inadequate.

Buddha Dhamma on the other hand is reality and limitless in its application. In order to understand this let us understand what Buddha Dhamma really is?

It is not a religion as religions go. It is not a philosophy as there are no concepts established through rational or logical explanations as in philosophies that are not physically experienced or are verifiable.  More accurately Buddha-Dhamma is a teaching associated with a right view and a  right way of life leading  to liberation or emancipation,  where they can be experienced. 

Thus examining the meaning of Buddha-Dhamma in its etymological composition we see the following make up. The word Dhamma as included here means the phenomena existing in the Cosmos or the abiding laws and principles that govern the dynamics of the Cosmos. This means that Dhamma exists today, it existed yesterday and did exist well into the past, also during the time of Siddharta Gauthama (later the Buddha) and even before that time. It also means Dhamma will exist tomorrow, also well into the future and for eons of time beyond. Therefore it is the unchanging universal truth.

The other word Buddha - means a title given to a person with an extremely   developed mind. This is achieved through a process of concerted commitment to purifying and developing the mind. This is done by the relentless application of a way of life for the refinements of Seela (morality), Samamdhi (concentration) and Panna (wisdom).

Therefore the one who is a Buddha, using this enlightened state of mind, sees the Dhamma. It is a discovery of what is already there.  It is not a new invention or a creation. Buddha Dhamma, as a teaching therefore includes the universal truths, how they apply and influence human beings, the impacts or consequences of such influences and the way of life to cope or mitigate these adverse influences.

Then one has to ask, what is then the reality that Buddha discovered? Buddha told his disciples when questioned whether the Thathagatha (the perfect one) can see everything and has taught everything, he replied that, what an enlightened one has to experience, see and experiment for reaching enlightenment by himself, can be compared to all the leaves in a forest, and what he has taught (84000 dhamma points as later recorded), is like a palm-full of such leaves held in his hand. However he said that this is the most relevant and necessary part, for the followers to practice to attain awakening and free themselves from the eternal cycle of rebirth. 

He explained the fundamental nature of all conditioned formations characterized by impermanence (annicca), un-satisfactory-ness  (dukka), no-self (anantha)  and about the entrapment of all living beings in an eternal cycle of Samsara (the eternal cycle of rebirth) due to ignorance (not knowing) of the fundamental four noble truths. They are respectively Dukka (un-satisfactory-ness or suffering), its cause (thanna), its cessation and the path to its cessation.  He described the pattica smuppada or the process of cause and effect and the unique discovery about the true nature of the two domains of- mundane and supra mundane. The mundane domain is where all worldly beings are entrapped in an unending cycle of Samsara and the Supra-mundane domain is, as Buddha has taught, the escape from Samsara. These teachings came from what he himself experienced.

That is why Buddha-Dhamma which is unchanging with time is called the reality, when we talk about Concepts and Reality.

A wise person will not want to be entrapped in concepts.  There is the real danger that living by concepts one can make serious mistakes not knowing why and can lead one in an endless cycle of suffering in the Samsara.  So what does a wise person do in this situation?

If one were to create another frame-of-reference based on Buddha-Dhamma -Buddha’s teachings- it will give a basis for comparison, a benchmark. This frame-of-reference can be created in the same way as before by listening to Dhamma, review and contemplating on the teaching and experiencing through meditation, in the same Suthamaya, Manomaya and Bahavanamaya ways.  

When one overlays the Buddha Dhamma frame-of-reference with one’s own, one will be able to see the inconsistencies, that are there.  A person using his or her frame-of-reference to lead a good and virtuous life will find that the overlap is quite good. He/she only has to pick the mismatches and change the concepts contained in his/her frame-of-reference into reality as given in Buddha Dhamma. This is particularly so where the activities being reviewed are those in the Mundane Domain.

In this situation understandably, there will be many mismatches in respect of the Supra-mundane Domain. Here the wise person will follow what is given in the Buddha-Dhamma frame-of-reference by trusting the source (Sadda) until one’s own realization dawns. 

This way one can escape from Samsara and realize the ultimate permanent happiness there is, in a state of mind that is Nibbana.

May you be well and happy.   

Post # 5 - Concepts and Reality Part 2 – to be read after the 4th Post

Post # 5 - Concepts and Reality Part 2 –  
to be read after reading  the 4^th Post

Concepts and Reality Part 2 - Frame of Reference

Here I will discuss how the Frame of Reference discussed in Post # 4, is used by us to relate to the world we live in.

It would now be clear that we have each our own frames-of reference and we use them to relate to the world we live in. It is the same way that another person uses his/her own, to relate to the world he/she lives in. This brings us to the point where we have to ask………what is this ‘world’ that we live in?

But before that it might be useful to highlight some noteworthy matters in respect of our frame-of-reference just described. In this large collection of life experiences there are accumulations which are referred to as defilements in Buddha-Dhamma. Defilements are accumulations in our mind which in effect become impediments to our reaching the awakening or liberation from Samsara. They are shackles or fetters that tie us down to this eternal cycle of birth-death-rebirth. From among these defilements that we have acquired in our life, there is a grouping that particularly inhibits our clarity of vision. These get in the way and cloud our clear thinking. They make us see things as they want us to see them, rather than see them as they really are.

Some of these defilements are : ego; self esteem; pride; prejudice; various complexes; conceit; certain convictions, cultural and other beliefs and similar traits that we habour in our minds. It is easy to see these in people by the way they behave. We therefore have to understand them and make allowances for why they are behaving so. They cannot help such behavior as they are prompted by these defilements stored in their frames- of- reference, to act in the way they do. When we can see these in others we are sharp and knowledgeable about this subtle aspect. However when we begin to see these traits in our own selves we become smart and wisdom starts to arise.  When we see things this way we can come to terms with life more easily. We can be more accommodating at our homes and outside, when dealing with others so that life becomes more tolerable.

Now coming back to ‘this world we live in’ referred to before, it is clear that this is where what we experience in life happens. Our emotions, needs, our plans, happiness, sorrow etc, are all contained in the world we live in. There is normally a tendency to see the world we live in, as only the physical world around us. However Buddha-Dhamma teaches us to have a more holistic view about the world we live in. According to Buddha-Dhamma we should see the world we live in- through us!  That means we have to see the world we live in, as the physical world around us as one part, the things that happen in this world as the next part and how we relate to the physical world and what happens thereon, as the third part.

Buddha with his enlightened mind saw that this cosmos has both infinite phenomena and finite phenomena. Infinite phenomena are symbolized primarily by Nibbana (the state of ceasing of the eternal process of re-becoming) which is a supra-mundane realization. However in the mundane or conventional domain of experience, aspects such as space, time, Samsara (the eternal cycle of re-becoming), and other fundamental units of matter and mind as described in the teachings of the Buddha also are included in the grouping of infinite phenomena. These latter phenomena are referred in the Pali language as, Patavi (fundamental actions manifesting in characteristics of hardness/softness, heaviness/lightness etc. in formations), Arpo~(….those that manifest as flow or paste), Thejo~ (…heat or cold), Vayo~(….expand or contract) and Vinnanna ( a phenomenon that manifests as a feature of mind). They are referred to as infinite because such assessments as- the limits of space or beginning of time etc., are infinite in nature and incomprehensible to the human mind. So are all the others. They are grouped as phenomena, as by themselves they are different in nature to each other and as a group is infinite. The term used in Buddha-Dhamma is Achinthana - not within the grasp of human sense faculties and incomprehensible to the human mind

The other group is the finite phenomena. These are the conditioned formations manifesting from infinite phenomena. Under given conditions they arise and when conditions change they change and when the conditions cease they cease.  The physical world is finite phenomena and thus a conditioned formation having a beginning, subject to change and an end. It is comprehensible to the human sense faculties and mind.                                                                   

As taught in Buddha-Dhamma, what is relevant in this description of the physical world for our purpose is that as a conditioned formation, the physical world is subject to change as conditions change. The multitude of aggregations forming the physical world does change according to the abiding laws of nature. They are subject to the process of arise-stay-cease or birth- grow-death as the case may be. This physical world consists of animate and inanimate formations.  Therefore when we look at the physical world we have to come to terms with this changing nature and not feel stressed and anxious about these inherent characteristics.

Buddha also taught us that everything that happens in this world is governed by five fundamental laws. They are the Dhamma Niyama (laws of nature), Etthu Niyama (laws of the seasons), Beeja Niyama (laws of genetics), Kamma Niyama (law of cause and effect) and Chittha Niyama (caused by a mind at work). We have seen these in action for so long and the consequences are quite familiar to us.

The physical world and what’s happening in the world are common to all living beings. However when we use our frame- of- reference to relate to the physical world and things that are happening in this world, we go and create a separate world of our own.  This means that we have created this world that we live in. So has everybody else a created world of their own.

The in-congruence is that within this world which we live, there has to be a separate world for each one of us. This suggests that the worlds we have created are conceptual and separate from the real world. Therefore our frame-of-reference which was the basis for this in-congruence, has to be conceptual and not real. Therefore the contents in the frame-of-reference have to be also concepts and therefore not real. 

All the conflicts and confrontations in the outside world and in our homes happen when these worlds collide.  It is therefore not the people or the subject in question that collides but it is the concepts (frames-of reference) that collide. This is why there has to be more accommodation and understanding in our homes and in the outside world where there are conflicts and confrontations, and learn to deal with them better.

I will be discussing more elaborate aspects related to the world we live in based on a 'mind created world' as described in Abidhamma text in a future Post. 

Concepts therefore for our purpose are thus explained.

-…end of  part 2…. 

See part 3 for ‘Reality’ in the next Post.

Post # 4 - Concepts and  Reality Part 1; to be read preferably after reading Post 3

Concepts and Reality- as seen by a Lay Buddhist-

Part 1 – Life experiences and how they act as a Frame of Reference.

We have collected many experiences in life as we came along. This process was discussed in Post #3. Let’s call these- ‘life experiences’. These are in a repository in our mind. Buddha-Dhamma teaches us that these deposits are not limited to those from this life alone but include as well the carryover from our previous lives in Samsara. 

This is a very vast collection. This is a knowledge base that we use when responding to matters that arise before us.  Matters that arise in the present moment or those that will arise in the future will be subject to this process.  Let me call this knowledge base a frame-of-reference. 

Whenever an issue arises in our life we refer it to this frame-of-reference and based on its prompting we deal with it appropriately.  In other words we rely on this frame-of-reference to relate to the world we live in. We construct this frame-of-reference from the life experiences we have gone through. It is therefore easy to see why two people would deal with the same matter in two different ways as their life experiences are essentially different. This frame-of-reference can be quite extensive and necessarily personal to the individual.

Buddha-Dhamma (Buddhism) also teaches us how we accumulate Dhamma wisdom. It is in three ways. They are respectively the Suthamaya way, Manomaya or Chinthamaya way, and Bahavanamaya way.  In the Suthamaya way we listen to learned monks and learn the Dhamma from them.  In the Manaomaya way we subject some of the Suthamaya knowledge to a mental analysis or a contemplative evaluation on “how, why, what else? etc. and consolidate this as inferential knowledge.  In the Bahavanamaya way, one would use the abilities of the mind developed to a very high level of pointed focus and concentration through meditative skills, to clearly comprehend the subject matter and accumulate them as experiential dhamma wisdom. In other words to ‘see’ things as they really are and not the way they ‘appear’ to be. Human mind is often defiled with many accumulations which tend to inhibit clarity of vision. Meditation helps to overcome this weakness.     

Our own frame-of- reference mentioned earlier has been constructed in a similar way. We have the part accumulated the Suthamaya way as above. We listen to others and learn from them.  They are our parents, elders, teachers at school or university and speakers at seminars etc.  In the modern day there are also other means such as reading books, watching TV, reading newspapers, journals and magazines, and accessing internet etc. as means to learn from others.  In other words we trust the source and borrow the knowledge from them. This is the largest part of our frame-of-reference. Most of our cultural and family traditions are also included here which come into play when we deal with matters in daily life.  

The next part will be where the knowledge from the Suthamaya base is subject to a contemplative analysis and consolidated as inferential knowledge similar to the Manomaya base in dhamma wisdom.

In the third way we accumulate all experiences from our sensory perceptions as practical experiences. These practical experiences come from what we see from our eyes, what we hear from our ears, smell from our noses, taste from our tongues and feel from the sense of touch. What we see, what we hear and what we experience, we believe are  true. 

Let me illustrate this process by a simple example. One may look at a simple life experience such as when you were small and your mother said pointing to fire .., that “fire burns - so don't go near”, you normally accept what your mother says at that age and do as you are told. As you grow up and are able to rationalize things, you notice that when you come near a fire, warmth begins to increase and you infer that - 'so fire must burn, as I have come to hear. That is with inferential analysis you consolidate what your mother taught you before. Then one day you accidentally come into contact with fire and you experience burning. Then you conclude that fire indeed burns as an experiential knowledge. Once you go through an experience in these three stages, that knowledge is un-waveringly established, as in this case that fire burns. 

This frame-of-reference thus constructed is what gives us our personality and what has determined our present accomplishments and what has helped us with our successes in life. So we should feel quite comfortable with it, given the circumstances. -----end Part 1. 

See how this process creates the concepts that determine our personality in the next posting in Part 2

Post # 3 - Steps in the Mind’s Response Process; to be read preferably after reading Post1 and Post2 from Archives

Steps in the Mind’s Response Process - How to be successful in life.

Step 1-

The environment around us is full of what we may refer to as sense objects. They are experienced through our sense faculties of eye, ear, nose etc., by the sensory stimuli emanated by them, such as shapes, colours, sounds, smells etc. These signals are of different strengths, grouped as subtle, gross and strong.

The subtle signals are very faint and they arouse no awareness in our mind and therefore create no impression in the mind.

The gross signals are of sufficient intensity to arouse awareness in our mind. Awareness shifts from one such signal totally to next as signals change. The gross signals leave no impression and fade away without further consequences.

The 3^rd group is the strong signals. These signals are of sufficient strength or of sufficient interest to us, that they attract our attention.

Step 2

When such attention is drawn to an object, more details in the signal/object are discerned.

Step 3

The Mind next associates these details with past experiences, in a process that Nanaponika Thero describes as similar to associative thinking given in psychology.

Step 4

Then recognition dawns, about the object that was discerned, based on past experiences.

Step 5

With dawning of recognition an emotion or feeling arises again based on past experiences. This happens as an effect due to past causes (vipaka) and we have no control over this happening. These feelings or emotions are experienced as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

Step 6

The natural tendency is to give vent to or to fulfill this emotion with an action. These actions manifest as thoughts, or words or physical deeds.

With this action the total process gets impressed in the mind as one more ‘life’s experience’. This is entirely habitual and seems to happen without one's will or determining.

The new life experience that accumulates can be either a wholesome ‘life-experience’ or an unwholesome ‘life-experience’

This new experience along with existing experiences goes to fashion one's character and  personality. Also the new experience, along with the other existing experiences, takes part and contributes to future associative thinking when responding to new signals.

Each person thus has a unique personality, attitude to life, likes/dislikes, character etc. made, inherited and carried forward through this process. What is there in store is one's past. The ‘nett’ influence from the past, associates with the new signal in the present, to generate the emotion that prompts one to future action?

The action thus manifested can be conditioned by kindness, compassion or helpfulness etc. in one person, or hate, anger, abusive or harmful thoughts in another person, based on the past accumulations of ‘life-experiences’. A person cannot help himself/herself for this past record, but to act as prompted

This is why there are apparently good people and bad people in a society. They need to be understood

What can one do?

Can one resist or change this natural tendency in action?

With developed mindfulness and due diligence one can track this process as it progresses in the mind.

With ability and skill developed through right meditative practice Buddha has said that one can arrest the process between step 5 and step 6. This is articulated in Buddha's teaching on 'Four Foundations of Mindfulness' by developing the skills of mindfulness and clear comprehension.

When emotions arise as described in Step 5, one could remain equanimous and let-go of those emotions recognized as leading to detrimental consequences with due diligence, and deal skillfully and efficiently with only those that are recognized as good. The pali reference to this is living with 'yoniso manasikara'.

Meditation practices can help develop mindfulness and clear comprehension, to live with yoniso manasikara for this purpose. More details on this will be included in a future Post.

Meditation helps us to be:  - Effective; ie doing the right things and  - Efficient; ie doing things right

This is how we may respond to and cope with the happenings in the world around us so that we can get ahead in life and be successful………… 

See also the next post on "concepts and reality' for more discussion on this.

Post # 2 - Worldly Well Being- 

Are you visiting this Blog for the first time?

It would be good if you could check out  and read the 1^st Post before attempting to read this Post.

If you pause to watch people go by, they all seem to be in a hurry. As if they are trying to get somewhere quick?  Where are they going?

The answer from most of them is that they want to get ahead in life. They are looking for worldly well-being.  They are hard at it- in the way they know. 

Have you ever looked at yourself lately? You are doing the same thing aren’t you- the way you know best?

What are we looking for in worldly well-being?

You might say- happiness or at least some happiness, good health, some contentment and stress free living, having love and affection from family and friends, to be regarded well at work, have some money in the bank, some basic needs like the house you want, the car you like, the assets that give you the comforts in life etc. etc. One can stretch this list quite a bit.

In other words one is seeking to be generally successful and get ahead in life?

How are you getting about this?  Have you ever thought of getting about it in a focused and systematic way? Is a systematic and focused way at all possible?

Shall we get to the bottom of this and see how?

Let’s list this out again, what worldly well being for me is, and this time put them in a table in order to categorize them for better understanding.

1 What I want     happening within me	2 What I want happening from without and towards me or  from outside for me
	2a - Soft  stuff	2b - Hard stuff
Happiness Contentment          Stress free life Anxiety free life Fear free life Good health Etc. Etc.	Love and affection from family Regard and love from relatives Love and helpfulness from friends Well regarded at work by superiors Regard and friendship of peers Respect and helpfulness from subordinates Friendship of neighbours To be greeted by a stranger on the street (would make my day?) Etc.	Get the house I want Get some money in the bank Get my dream car Have the household stuff I need Have my investments in the right places Etc. Etc.

Can you list anymore? This list is difficult to complete. Human nature is that.  However much there is, it never really is enough?

What is your wish-list for Worldly Well Being?

If you cannot quite complete this list what can you do? The trick is to just get on track by getting about it in a focused and systematic way to achieve what you want and see how it develops. Then you take stock later on at a given date and see how it is going, while being in the process.

You compare results with those at a baseline date when you started.

The comfort level will be to find that you are on course; there are results, although you are not yet fully endowed to make you satisfied.

How to look at the world we live in

Before we attempt to explore a method - that is focused and systematic - for achieving worldly well being, let’s get our perceptions about the world we live in, fine-tuned for the process.

For this purpose it is good to look at what Buddha has taught his followers on this. Without going into too much text and the origins of his teachings, it may suffice for the present to look at only the essence of his teaching on this.

To view the world we live in, Buddha has explained that our understanding has to be under three separate areas of attention. These areas are respectively:
 - the observable physical world, including the cosmos around us,
- what seems to be happening in this world and why, and
 - how each one of us relate to the above two aspects.

Let’s us now review these three aspects individually and separately?

The physical world:

Buddha has explained that the cosmos (universe) and thereby the world we live in, has to be viewed under broadly two categories of phenomena. The two categories are described as infinite phenomena and finite phenomena. They are referred to as phenomena as each one differs from other in nature and do not fall into any observable category or group or fit into any pattern. One would see phenomena such as objects, substances, happenings, sounds, smells, light, colours, space, time etc. etc. in this world.

Out of these two broad categories , infinite phenomena referred to above include such things as space, time, mind, etc.  which are perpetual, have no limits and no beginning or end. 

The other category is finite phenomena or the conditioned formations. They have a beginning (birth), end (death) and subject to constant change in between.  This change or non-permanence is explained as the state of changes from those that prevailed at formation to those that are as at present.  These finite phenomena consist of the observable physical Universe. 

We must understand infinite phenomena and finite phenomena more fully and come to terms with them, in order that they will not create uncertainties and anxieties in our mind. Otherwise when confronted with infinite phenomena and finite phenomena in this world, they can result in uncertainty and stress, 

The finite phenomena or conditioned formations are of two further groups; viz. inanimate and animate.

The inanimate group consists of conditioned formations that comes into existence by the aggregation of four fundamental units of matter (basic elements). They are referred to in the Pali language as -patavi, apo, thejo, and vayo, and very loosely referred to as 'earth', 'water', 'fire' and 'air'. We must not however take the meanings literally but make an attempt to have a right understanding of the meaning as Buddha taught them. In an analytical review, one author refers to them as 'abstract earth', 'abstract water', 'abstract fire' and 'abstract air', qualifying the literary meaning of these fundamental units of matter, as actions or  forms of energy. That is how they are described in Abhidhamma, the teaching focused on the realities of phenomena.   These fundamental units of matter (elements) exist in the conditioned world in combination with each other due to causes and conditions, forming the finite substances. However if one considers a hypothetical situation where these elements were to exists by themselves before combining to form finite substances, these elements in their free form, although momentarily, will fall into the earlier mentioned category of infinite phenomena.

The animate group consists of a similar aggregation of the fundamental units of matter, as in the case of the inanimate group, but has in addition the infinite phenomena called vinnana or for our present purpose, a unit of mind.

By an understanding of the physical world around us in this way, and then about its nature and its behaviour which are based on causes and conditions, we would be able to cope better and be less stressed or anxious about what we experience around us.

See how one could intervene in coping with above in the next posting on –Mind Process as Explained in Buddha-Dhamma

Buddhist Practices in Daily Life 

Post # 1- Introduction

Buddhist Practices in Daily Life 

Dear Visitor,

You are another friend among the many, in the pursuit of Dhamma knowledge.

This is the Blog on - Buddhist Practices in Daily Life at thelaybuddhist.blogspot.com

You are here because, like me, you have the desire to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the Buddha Dhamma.

You also must be inspired by the profound nature of this teaching. As for me the inspiration is that the Buddha, the Teacher, had the insight into what modern day sciences refer to as atomic physics, psychology, anatomy, physiology, biology, cosmology, the lot, and his teaching provides me with answers to  phenomena observable in this universe.

What this Blog is all about:

There are many sites in the web, as well as a multitude of books and documents giving us the means of accessing the essence of the teaching. Many are the Dhamma talks given by learned monks and lay scholars providing detailed discourses and discussions to the interested learner.  We are therefore well endowed with opportunity to learn the pure Dhamma from these sources.

It is my experience that every time I avail myself of such an opportunity, I am more motivated and my trust in the Noble Triple Gem raises by several pegs. This is a very rewarding experience.  However what I find is that in most times this experience is limited to, consolidating the knowledge I already have or giving clarity to hitherto unclear aspects, and of course adding some new knowledge. Also most times the addition to the knowledge stays as knowledge itself and recedes to memory, but does not yield into a practice that I must observe, which is the essential part of the learning.  

I have therefore committed some effort to search for and accumulate from these teachings, the ways of translating this knowledge to a practice. There are so many of us who lead a very busy household life, and though we want to engage in some Dhamma practice, we have no clear understanding of what must be done and how, to gain optimum benefit from the limited time that we can set apart for it.

There are also a lot of people who are still not initiated in following Buddha Dhamma, but are curious as to know what this seemingly logical teaching has to say, without having to go through an extensive study and research on the subject.

This Blog is dedicated to these two groups. I hope my effort will prove useful to them.

  

Who am I?

I am not a scholar of the Dhamma. I do not have acquired qualifications nor am I a student of any accomplished scholar. I do not have a track record of following meditation retreats to claim to have any experiential knowledge of the Dhamma.

I therefore feel you should be comfortable staying with me in this Blog as we can be talking on the same wavelength and have the opportunity to share our own experiences with others who visit this Blog.

What I want to say more about myself is that, my civil engineering background and postgraduate training and professional practice of organizing seminars and workshops, have given me some ability to grasp and present essential aspects in a subject that is under consideration. This background also makes me ask - how, and why, or why not - about anything, before I am prepared to accept it. This background has also inspired me to ask how realistic this teaching is, which has remained unchanged for over 2600 years.

Our tendency to accept anything that can be established scientifically seemed flawed for me as I find that most scientific postulations change with advancement of knowledge and research. Science is still developing and is a long way from catching up with Buddha Dhamma, which describes and deals with the abiding laws and principles that govern the dynamics of the Cosmos. This is the reality which modern science is committing billions of dollars in research to find out.  

So stay with me for mutual benefit.  

How should you use the Blog?

The contents are organized into and presented through a series of Postings to make it convenient to follow. By this means it is also possible for the busy reader to visit and capture specific aspects of the practice that is of interest by accessing the relevant link, when they can spare some time for this from their busy schedule.

The material is however presented in some practical sequence. It is therefore best to go by the given order. There are also some repetitions of basic facts in the contents of different posts. The reader is requested to bear with this, as this is done purposely in order to make the contents of each Post more complete and the Post self contained. 

The material available is by no means complete and does not represent the entire practice. We know that eventual attainment is realized through some ardent application and dedicated practice of the teaching. This requires motivation and stamina for a dedicated practice and unwavering trust in the teaching. An ardent effort is needed to break the inherent habits and tendencies we have accumulated over our past lives that inhibit our clear thinking and seeing beyond concepts that have become part of our mundane life.

Therefore the focus in this Blog is to introduce the fundamentals of the practice and the way to get about it, so that it will be not too difficult to observe. You would then be able to do so with confidence that we are on the right track. The keen follower will then be in a position to continue on to more advanced levels by further learning and practice.

The first few Posts deal with some aspects, which are more in the knowledge regime, than in the practice regime. This was found to be necessary, to set up the background and the right foundation to assist you to try out the practice. In the Posts related to the practice part, there are references to Punya Karma (Meritorious Acts); Kusala Karma (Acts for enhancing right ethical skills); and the Path to Liberation. The last part is devoted to the Noble Eightfold Path and Four Foundations of Mindfulness, together with developing the Right View and the basic meditative practices required for them.

There is also a facility in the Blog for you to give your comments and observations and share your own experiences. You can be anonymous if you choose, but please be sensitive to the feelings of others who visit the site, by being responsible in what you say.

Many Thanks

Your ‘Friend’ in Pursuit of Dhamma Knowledge.

Await the Next Post on- Worldly Well Being