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sutta help!

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:54 pm
by rowyourboat
hi All

I'm looking for a sutta which says the 'citta-bhavana' concentration/tranquility meditation causes kamma to happen all in this lifetime (ie- their time of ripening is brought forward). I saw it ages ago in the AN but cant seem to locate it now.

with metta

RYB

Re: sutta help!

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:03 pm
by tiltbillings
rowyourboat wrote:hi All

I'm looking for a sutta which says the 'citta-bhavana' concentration/tranquility meditation causes kamma to happen all in this lifetime (ie- their time of ripening is brought forward). I saw it ages ago in the AN but cant seem to locate it now.

with metta

RYB
Sounds really interesting I hope you find it.

Re: sutta help!

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:43 pm
by Macavity
You might be thinking of the Grain of Salt Discourse (Gradual Sayings III 227-30), although it doesn't say that bhavana causes ALL of one's kamma to bear fruit in this life, just that through bhavana it is possible for certain evil kammas to ripen in this life that would have caused rebirth in hell for someone who had not practised bhavana.

An online translation of it: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

Re: sutta help!

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:46 pm
by Macavity
Macavity wrote:You might be thinking of the Grain of Salt Discourse (Gradual Sayings III 227-30)
Sorry, that should be Gradual Sayings I 227-30.

Re: sutta help!

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:59 am
by rowyourboat
Macavity thanks- that comes very close- it does mention the developed mind-citta bhavana (as well as others). I have been doing some research into this and If anyone is interested the 'immeasurable mind' in this sutta refers to the practice of the four divine abidings:

"That noble disciple, headman -- thus devoid of covetousness, devoid of ill will, unbewildered, alert, mindful -- keeps pervading the first direction [the east] with an awareness imbued with good will, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth.
Thus above, below, & all around, everywhere, in its entirety, he keeps pervading the all-encompassing cosmos with an
awareness imbued with good will -- abundant, expansive, immeasurable, without hostility, without ill will. Just as a strong
conch-trumpet blower can notify the four directions without any difficulty, in the same way, when the release of awareness
through good will is thus developed, thus pursued, any deed done to a limited extent no longer remains there, no longer stays there.

... sitting standing wakling - all times of the day really- as mentioned in the karaniyamatta sutta-sutta on loving-kindness. The type of non-judgemental, positive, accepting, kind awareness that Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) seeks to develop seems to be a first step on this.

Staying at Savatthi. "Monks, if someone were to give a gift of one hundred serving dishes [of food] in the morning, one hundred at mid-day, and one hundred in the evening; and another person were to develop a mind of good-will — even for the time it takes to pull on a cow's udder — in the morning, again at mid-day, and again in the evening, this [the second action] would be more fruitful than that [the first].

"Thus you should train yourselves: 'Our awareness-release through good-will will be cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken. That's how you should train yourselves."

with metta