Posts
- eotrdSsopnf um4aaey29s100a1Mfim0 5gPf0 :Y3ft40a5triut0f7e0d5Shared with Your friendsMany secular Buddhists ignore karma and rebirth. But being a traditional Buddhist, and because not only Buddha but many practitioners, even a number in the AtR community had actually recalled and traced their past lives and karma in meditation, it is safe to say that we have to take it seriously.Shared this excerpt from Buddha recently,“We should take karma more seriously.Excerpts from https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN36.htmlBuddha:“When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two… five, ten… fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.’ Thus I recollected my manifold past lives in their modes & details.“This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.“When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human—beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: ‘These beings—who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views—with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell. But these beings—who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views—with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a good destinations, a heavenly world.’ Thus—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human—I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.“This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.“When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental effluents. I discerned, as it had come to be, that ‘This is stress… This is the origination of stress… This is the cessation of stress… This is the way leading to the cessation of stress… These are effluents… This is the origination of effluents… This is the cessation of effluents… This is the way leading to the cessation of effluents.’ My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the effluent of sensuality, released from the effluent of becoming, released from the effluent of ignorance. With release, there was the knowledge, ‘Released.’ I discerned that ‘Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.’“This was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.”<The law of karma>《業果法則》The other thing about karma which I love to say , is when you do any bad karma, you don’t just get it back one by one. If you hit a nun , you don’t get it back a hundred times or a thousand times , its more than that , millions of time or something. When you do a good act of karma, it comes back to you many times. A bad act of karma comes back many times. So if you do the maths, remember I was a mathematician , physicist , before I became a monk。 you ‘ve done so much bad karma each one of you , and me; there is no way we can pay all back, its too much. But you also have done so much good karma, there’s no way you can exhaust all. A good kind act get paid back millions of times over. So we have got such a store of good karma and such a store of bad karma.Why is one type of karma comes into fruition, other types don’t ? you can understand why. Right now , what is your mind state like ? If you get a bad mind state, you are attracting bad karma from the past. Therefore if you are in a miserable mood, more bad things happened on you. But if you can be in a good mood , a kind mind, so amazing how many good things happen on you, you are attracting the store of good karma from the pastKarma is an amazing thing, you have so much good karma each one of you其他關於業力的而我又喜歡說的是，當你造任何惡業，你不只是逐個地拿回。假如你打一個僧尼，你不會只是拿回100倍或1000倍的報應， 那是比這個還要多，會是百萬倍或是怎樣的。當你做一件善業，也會以許多倍回報給你。惡業也是。假如你計計數（請記得我在做比丘前是一個數學家、物理學家），你們每個人曾做過許多惡業，我也是。我們無法全部償還，太多了。但你也做了許多善業，你們也無法耗盡所有。一個好、良善的舉動能夠以百萬倍回報你。所以我們已有那麽多山野和惡業的庫存。爲什麽一種業會成熟、另一種則不？你可以明白的。現在，你的心是什麽狀態？假如你有一個壞的心的狀態，你就在吸引過去的惡業。假如你在一個痛苦的情緒，更多的惡事就會在你身上發生。但如果你心情好、有良善的心，那是驚人的—有多少好事會發生在你身上，你在吸引過去善業的庫存業力是個令人驚奇的東西，你有非常多的善業，你們每個人Expectations Cause Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 24 June 2022《49：21more about ajahn brahm
25 comments
- Reply
- 1d
- Edited
- Reply
- 1d
- Reply
- 7h
- Edited
- Reply
- 6h
- Reply
- 6h
- Reply
- 2h
- Reply
- 2h
- Edited
- Reply
- 2h
- Reply
- 1h
- Edited
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 1d
- Reply
- 22h
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 22h
- Edited
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 22h
- Reply
- 22h
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 22h
- Reply
- 21h
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 3h
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 3h
- Reply
- 19h
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 15h
- Reply
- 15h
- Reply
- 14h
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 49m
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 44m
- Reply
- 42m
Sim Pern Chong
Thanks
for sharing. I noticed at each phase the Buddha viewed the past lives
and karma, He mentioned 'surpassing the human'. Interesting.
Not sure whether i am understanding it or not, indeed for me when the 'cause and effects' /causal are perceived, it was
beyond the human 'package' of physical, emotional & gross mental..
That perception is beyond human ..since it encompasses the
imageries/imprints that can also be other non human rebirths. The human
package is indeed the 'algorithms' blocking the 'view' of the 'larger
data'.
At times, i feel like i don't think 100% as a human anymore
Soh Wei Yu
Sim Pern Chong
I remember you told me many of your past lives before... they were
incredibly detailed and very interesting. You should write them in your
own book some day haha
But I forgot did you tell me about non-human rebirths? Any details?
Sim Pern Chong
I
know very specifically before i took rebirth, the consciousness is in
the causal realm...a vast god-like realm.. however due to realisation at
the I AM stage (only)... rebirth or rather reprojection is required.
I
also know what is potentially ahead...might have a very challenging
time and potential exit point abt 10 years from now. Cannot regret as
replanned before rebirth to 'test' outcomes. The worst that can get is
revert back to causal realm.. not really a tragic event. Just an end to a
dream-like projection.
I
told my wife abt this potential exit point..she says i am talking
rubbish and being imaginative. Recently, a Chilean man who is psychic
and is one of my father's Taijigong disciple say the same thing during
my CNY visit to my father. My wife seems to realise i was not talking
rubbish...because she seems silence abt it.
Tan Jui Horng
Sim Pern Chong Curious, what's a non-causal realm?
Soh Wei Yu
Sim Pern Chong i would pray and practice for long life
Its hard to have insight of anatta and emptiness
Sim Pern Chong
Soh Wei Yu ah nice. Thanks so much for the info. Will check it out ..
Sim Pern Chong
Tan Jui Horng
IMO, the astral realms.. which is an entire band.. from the netherworld
to the abrahamic heavens. Those typical NDEs where they meet guides,
deceased relatives and parents, religious figures, etc. They are in an
'astral body' which is similar to that of dream
state. Astral has form, emotion and mental contents not much different
from the physical.. just slightly more 'free'...
Soh Wei Yu
Sim Pern Chong I forgot whether ChNN gave us transmission for Mandarava.. but I believe Acarya Malcolm Smith can give transmissions for it.
Sim Pern Chong
This
is a recent dream that my daughter had.. basically it is a symbolic
narrative of coming from an astral realm to physical realm and then back
to the same astral realm. I put the meaning beside the line
——————
Walk to hall (rebirth assembly area)
Kids sitting down on the floor
Some kids on the stage receiving a certificate
Step into hall
Gets an identification card from some woman (given the new rebirth identity)
Disappears before could ask question
Sat down on floor
Waits for name to be called so can get certificate
Name finally gets called
Hall shake like experiencing an earthquake ( Change in vibration to the physical)
Lose consciousness. (forget the astral realm.. once focussed on physical.. the previous memories will be blocked)
Wake up in a park scene kind of area
Sees obstacles ahead (agreed upon obstacles)
Was accompanied with two figures (the parents)
Must finish obstacles to get to a white light
Initially the obstacles were easy to overcome
>>>>> (forward)
Halfway one figure goes missing (one parent pass away.. very likely is me)
Going through obstacles again (she need to learn independence.. which is one 'lesson' she agreed to undertake)
Obstacles even harder
>>>(forward)
Finished the last obstacle
See white light
Go inside white light
Back in the library with a bunch of people there talking
Saw the same hall again. (back to the same astral realm)
______________________________
I
told my daughter.. it does not have to be that way. If she can realise
deeper insights.. she can bypass going back to a restrictive astral
realm. The rest depends on her own 造化 。
Soh Wei Yu
Used ChatGPT to help me answer dharma questions on reddit today haha
Someone asked me:
So,
do you have any tips on what to say to small children (5 yo) when they
ask what will happen to them when they die?Few-Balance4245 Snoovatar
3:55 PM
Today
as
a Buddhist, I believe in rebirth but it is not just a matter of belief,
it is something that can be discovered. in my AtR community we have a
number of practitioners that can recall their past lives, and trace
their karmas. I just shared today:
"Many
secular Buddhists ignore karma and rebirth. But being a traditional
Buddhist, and because not only Buddha but many practitioners, even a
number in the AtR community had actually recalled and traced their past
lives and karma in meditation, it is safe to say that we have to take it
seriously.
Shared this excerpt from Buddha recently,
“We should take karma more seriously.
Excerpts from https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN36.html
Buddha:
“When
the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of
defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to
imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past
lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two…
five, ten… fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons
of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of
cosmic contraction & expansion: ‘There I had such a name, belonged
to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my
experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away
from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name,
belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such
my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing
away from that state, I re-arose here.’ Thus I recollected my manifold
past lives in their modes & details.
“This
was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night.
Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light
arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute. But the
pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or
remain.
“When the mind
was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement,
pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I
directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of
beings. I saw—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the
human—beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they
are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate &
unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: ‘These beings—who were
endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the
noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence
of wrong views—with the break-up of the body, after death, have
re-appeared in a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm,
hell. But these beings—who were endowed with good conduct of body,
speech & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right
views and undertook actions under the influence of right views—with the
break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a good
destinations, a heavenly world.’ Thus—by means of the divine eye,
purified & surpassing the human—I saw beings passing away &
re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior,
beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with
their kamma.
“This was
the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night.
Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light
arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute. But the
pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or
remain.
“When the mind
was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement,
pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I
directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental effluents. I
discerned, as it had come to be, that ‘This is stress… This is the
origination of stress… This is the cessation of stress… This is the way
leading to the cessation of stress… These are effluents… This is the
origination of effluents… This is the cessation of effluents… This is
the way leading to the cessation of effluents.’ My heart, thus knowing,
thus seeing, was released from the effluent of sensuality, released from
the effluent of becoming, released from the effluent of ignorance. With
release, there was the knowledge, ‘Released.’ I discerned that ‘Birth
is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing
further for this world.’
“This
was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night.
Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light
arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute. But the
pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or
remain.”"
those who are
still not yet fully awakened and liberated will cycle in rebirths
uncontrollably depending on their wholesome/unwholesome karma/actions in
the 31 planes of existence https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/loka.html
hence by practicing and having realization we can then overcome cyclic rebirth
but
as to how to explain to 5 year old, well, i'm not good at explaining
things to kids because kids ask me about buddhism as well and i have a
hard time explaining hahaha
but here's how chatgpt eli5 this thing:
Me:
eli5 how buddhism explains what happens after death
ChatGPT:
Buddhism
teaches that after death, a person's consciousness, or "mindstream,"
continues to exist and enters into a new existence. This is known as
rebirth or reincarnation.
The
nature of this new existence depends on a person's karma, which refers
to the actions they have taken in their life and the intention behind
those actions. Good karma leads to a better rebirth, while negative
karma leads to a more difficult rebirth.
Buddhism
also teaches that the ultimate goal is to achieve liberation from the
cycle of rebirth, known as samsara, and attain Nirvana. This is achieved
by following the Eightfold Path, which includes ethical conduct,
meditation, and wisdom.
In
summary, according to Buddhism, after death, a person's consciousness
enters into a new existence based on their karma, and the ultimate goal
is to attain liberation from the cycle of rebirth and achieve Nirvana.
Soh:
simplify this to explain to a 5 year old kid
ChatGPT:
When
someone dies in Buddhism, they believe that the person's mind and
spirit continue on, and they are born into a new life. Whether this new
life is good or bad depends on how the person lived their life before
they died. If they did good things, they will have a good new life. If
they did bad things, they will have a harder new life. The goal in
Buddhism is to be a good person and to stop being born again and again
by reaching a special state called Nirvana.
DHAMMATALKS.ORG
MN 36 Mahā Saccaka Sutta | The Longer Discourse to Saccaka
Magdalena Maria
I'd
say that just because someone claims to remember a past life of theirs
is no conclusive evidence of anything really. How can you tell if past
life recall is not some sort of fantasy, a product of imagination,
based on things you read or watched, a…
See more
Soh Wei Yu
Magdalena Maria
There are a lot of interesting research by Dr Ian Stevensons, studies
that prove children's past lives memories could be traced to actual
persons and events in the past.
"a lot of skeptics even admitted his research was solid. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/.../ian.../ "
REDDIT.COM
r/Buddhism on Reddit: Ian Stevenson and Other Such Authors Are NOT Sufficient Evidence For Rebirth
Soh Wei Yu
Excerpt:
Rebirth evidences (1): The very well done documented case of James Leininger.
Ian
Stevenson had interviewed thousands of children who spontaneously
remembered past life, many of whom visited their past life families and
gotten emotional response not possible with other kinds of explanation
but rebirth. The kids remembers details without any means of obtaining
the knowledge in this life. Eg. Where the hidden treasure was kept by
their past self.
More citations: "
REDDIT.COM
r/Buddhism
on Reddit: Buddhists should repost Rebirth evidences more often and as a
standard reply to those who have doubts about/do not believe in
rebirth.
Magdalena Maria
Soh Wei Yu Yeah, it looks like I am a die-hard sceptic, even when it comes to my own "recollections", you know.
Soh Wei Yu
Magdalena Maria This might interest you too, besides rebirth: https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/summary_of_evidence
Also, a bit of a side topic, CIA takes psychic research seriously and has very interesting findings and research: https://www.vice.com/.../how-to-escape-the-confines-of...
SITES.GOOGLE.COM
Spiritual Development - Evidence for the Afterlife
Magdalena Maria
Soh Wei Yu
Yeah, the Ancient Aliens team go on about these things all the time. As
for NDEs, they are NEAR DEs exactly, which is to say those who tell
their stories are not dead for good but return from whatever state they
were in. Funny thing is everyone talks about seeing
the tunnel and the light, but if you're a Christian, you're met by
Jesus, if you're a New Ager - by your spirit guide, if you're an atheist
- by your beloved grandmother, and so on. It seems suspect, to say the
least, that your earthly beliefs should determine and influence some
sort of objectively existing and/or accessible afterlife experience to
such extent.
And
I'm not saying this as someone who denies the existence of stuff that
is beyond our limited comprehension, but as one who's had the sense of
having been everything and having done everything that there is to be
and do here since a child. Which is precisely what enables you to be
totally comfortable with not knowing the details - because they don't
really matter, unless you're looking for something to occupy a spare
hour or two, that's all.
Soh Wei Yu
Magdalena Maria
There are many non-religious and atheist people that had very
spectacular NDEs too, which completely change their worldview
afterwards. They also had the I AM realization https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../thusnesss-six... and so on. Hence, I don't think we can explain all of what happens in NDEs to 'cultural conditionings'.
AWAKENINGTOREALITY.COM
Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Enlightenment
Soh Wei Yu
Magdalena Maria I recommend this book, quite fascinating https://www.amazon.com.au/Dying-Be-Me.../dp/1401937535
AMAZON.COM.AU
Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing
William Albert
But
isn't it possible that whatever this "process" is, it is well beyond
what we can know in this existence? Our idea of what good and bad karma
is probably isn't what it actually is. Our idea of rewards and/or
regression is also probably wrong. Eve…
See more
Soh Wei Yu
William Albert those who sees do not remain agnostic about karma but taught about the effects of karma in details https://suttacentral.net/an10.216/en/bodhi?reference=none...
SUTTACENTRAL.NET
suttacentral.net | 502: Bad gateway
Soh Wei Yu
— the buddha
Also
“To
study Buddhism, it is first necessary to clarify cause and effect. If
one ignores cause and effect one will develop false views and sever the
roots of goodness. The principle of cause and effect is very clear and
there is no “I” in it: those who create evil will fall and those who
practice good will rise, without a hairsbreadth of disparity between the
two. If cause and effect had perished and ceased to be, then the
buddhas would not have appeared in the world, the founding teacher would
not have come from the West, and sentient beings would never have met
the Buddha and heard the Dharma. People like Confucius or Lao-tse do not
propound the principle of cause and effect. Only the buddhas and Zen
ancestors have made this clear.” – A quote of Zen Master Dogen in
Yamada, Kōun. Zen: The Authentic Gate (p. 149). Wisdom Publications.
Kindle Edition.”
“To
summarize, the principle of cause and effect is quite clear, and it is
totally impersonal: those who fabricate evil will fall into a lower
state, whereas those who practice good will rise to a higher state, and
without the slightest disparity. If cause and effect had become null
and void, Buddhas would never have appeared in the world and
our Ancestral Master would not have come from the West. In
short, it would be impossible for human beings to encounter a
Buddha and hear the Dharma. The fundamental principle of cause and
effect was not clear to Confucius or Lao-tzu. It has only been clarified
and Transmitted by Buddha after Buddha and by Ancestor after Ancestor.
Because the good fortune of those who are seeking to learn in these
degenerate days of the Dharma is scant, they do not encounter
a genuine Master or hear the authentic Dharma, and so they are not
clear about cause and effect. If you deny causality as a result
of this error, you will experience excessive misfortune, since
you would be as ignorant as an ox or a horse. Even if you have not
committed any evil act other than denying cause and effect,
the poison of this view will immediately be terrible.
Therefore, if you who are exploring the Matter through your
training with a Master have put your heart that seeks awakening as
the first and foremost matter, and therefore wish to repay the
vast benevolence of the Buddhas and the Ancestors, you should
swiftly clarify what causality really is.” - Zen Master Dogen, https://www.thezensite.com/.../Shobogenzo/088jinshiInga.pdf
William Albert
Soh Wei Yu
I dunno Soh. I love what you do here but I'm not Buddhist, and a
Buddhist saying something is so doesn't hold as much weight for me. I
find these types of reasonings to be simplistic, often, and really
struggle with the way this is presented in
Buddhism. Cause and effect are themselves concepts and constructions,
based on a spacialization and "flattening" of time. The idea of cause
and effect is solidified in a world that sees "things" as primary to
interactions. I think it is more accurate to see interaction as
primary, as in flow, in which movement and impermanence give rise to
both stasis and permanence (e.g. the moving water IS what creates the
river). There is so much richness here that is beyond words. I'm not
saying what the masters point to is wrong, exactly, but that the way
they talk about it isn't "full", if you will. There is richness that
lies beyond their words, and there is no monopoly on who can experience
it. An unknowing openness seems to be a deeper truth than any knowing
can ever be.
Soh Wei Yu
The
Buddha was not an agnostic because he clearly saw and realised for
himself. But for the agnostics, the Buddha taught Kalama Sutta.
DHAMMATALKS.ORG
AN 3:66 Kālāma Sutta | To the Kālāmas
Soh Wei Yu
Emptiness
does not mean one cannot tell right from left, or discern cause and
effect. It only refutes inherent causation, as if wind inherently exists
and 'causes' blowing, fire inherently exists and 'causes' burning. That
is the inherent causation or production being refuted. The right way of understanding is dependent origination.
....
[10:05 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: malcolm (Acarya Malcolm Smith):
MMK refutes any kind of production other than dependent origination. It
is through dependent origination that emptiness is correctly discerned.
Without the view of dependent origination, emptiness cannot be
correctly perceived, let alone realized. The MMK rejects production from
self, other, both, and causeless production, but not dependent
origination. The MMK also praises the teaching of dependent origination
as the pacifier of proliferation in the mangalam. The last chapter of
MMK is on dependent origination. The MMK nowhere rejects dependent
origination, it is in fact a defense of the proper way to understand it.
The only way to the ultimate truth (emptiness) is through the relative
truth (dependent origination), so if one’s understanding of relative
truth is flawed, as is the case with all traditions outside of
Buddhadharma, and even many within it, there is no possibility that
ultimate truth can be understood and realized.
...
[10:10 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: The DO part is really good.
[10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: When did malcom say that? Recently or in the past?
[10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: oic..
[10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=36315...
[10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: from above
[10:12 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: the others from here https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=36283...
[10:30
PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: Many misunderstand that oh ultimately it is
empty and DO is conventional therefore conceptual so ultimately empty
non-existence.
We must
understand what is meant by empty ultimately but conventionally valid.
Nominal constructs are of two types, those that are valid and those that
r invalid like "rabbit horns". Even mere appearances free from all
elaborations and conceptualities, they inadvertently manifest therefore
the term "appearances". They do not manifest randomly or haphazardly,
they are valid mode of arising and that is dependent arising. When it is
"valid" means it is the acceptable way of explanation and not "rabbit
horn" which is non-existence. This part I mentioned in my reply to
Andre.
[10:36 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: Do you get what I meant?
What
it means is there is still a "right" or "acceptable" or "valid" way to
express it conventionally. Take freedom from all elaborations for
example, it doesn't mean "blankness" or "anything goes". There is right
understanding of "freedom from all elaborations" that is why Mipham has
to qualify that it is not "blankness", it does not reject "mere
appearance", it must be understood from the perspective of
"coalescence"...and so on and so forth. Similarly, there is right
understanding of "arising" conventionally and that is DO.
So
when we clearly see how essence = true existence = independence of
causes and conditions are untenable for anything to arise, we see
dependent arising.
AWAKENINGTOREALITY.COM
Don't Neglect the Conventional
Soh Wei Yu
"The knowledge that appearances arise unfailingly in dependence,
And the knowledge that they are empty and beyond all assertions—
As long as these two appear to you as separate,
Yet when they arise at once, not each in turn but both together,
Then through merely seeing unfailing dependent origination
Certainty is born, and all modes of misapprehension fall apart—
That is when discernment of the view has reached perfection.
– Lama Tsongkhapa"
“EMPTINESS DEVIATING TO THE BASIC NATURE
Timeless
Deviation to the Nature of Knowables The meditation of inseparable
phenomena and emptiness is called “emptiness endowed with the supreme
aspect.” Not knowing how emptiness and interdependence abide in
nonduality, you decide that emptiness is a nothingness that has never
existed and that is not influenced at all by qualities or defects. Then
you underestimate the cause and effect of virtue and vice, or else lapse
exclusively into the nature of all things being originally pure,
primordially free, and so forth. Bearing such emptiness, the relative
level of interdependence is not mastered. In this respect, this is what
is known as mahamudra: one’s basic nature is unoriginated and, since it
is neither existent nor nonexistent, eternal nor nil, true nor false,
nor any other such aspects, it has no existence whatsoever. Nonetheless,
its unceasing radiance arises as the relative level of all kinds of
interdependence, so it is known as emptiness having the core of
interdependence and interdependence having the nature of emptiness.
Therefore, emptiness does not stray to the nature of knowables. In the
Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way it is said: Anything that doesn’t
arise dependently Is a phenomenon that has no existence. Therefore
anything that is not empty Is a phenomenon that has no existence. And as
said in the Commentary on Bodhichitta: It is taught that the relative
plane is emptiness, And emptiness alone is the relative plane.” – The
Royal Seal of Mahamudra, Volume 2, Khamtrul Rinpoche
“A lot of talk on here lately about how lame relative reality is vs how awesome ultimate reality is.
Apparently
an omniscient master is supposed to see how both the relative and the
ultimate exist at the same time in a Union of Appearance and Emptiness.
It's because everything is dependently arisen that it can be seen as empty.
Not even the smallest speck exists by its own power.
Je
Tsongkhapa said, "Since objects do not exist through their own nature,
they are established as existing through the force of convention."
He was the biggest proponent of keeping vows and virtuous actions through all stages of sutra and tantra.
He also leveraged the relative by practicing millions of prostrations and offering mandalas.
He also practiced generation and completion stages of tantra while keeping his conduct spotless.
He
held conduct in the highest regard in all of his texts on tantra such
as his masterwork, A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages.” - Jason
Parker, 2019
