Don't follow you here. First I think it's misleading to interpret "samma" exclusively as "right" in the sense of "correct" versus "incorrect." So all this talk about "wrong" view, "wrong" intention, etc., is pointing the "wrong" way.clw_uk wrote:If one has wrong view/understanding at the begining, then they wont reach nibbana since then they have wrong intention etc through the other parts of the path
Second, the Buddha frequently talked about his time when he was "still an unenlightened bodhisatta." At that time when he was still an unenlightened bodhisatta, it seems pretty clear that he had not yet attained to perfect right understanding.
In that sense, we all start with what you might describe as "wrong view/understanding." There is no other place to start, unless you already are enlightened.
When the Buddha left home, he was still an unenlightened bodhisatta. And in fact he did go the "wrong way," practing severe austerities until he nearly died before realizing that that was the wrong way. I think it might be a Mahayana notion that Gotama was actually an enlightened being throughout his existence even before his renunciation, and that he just put on a big show about becoming enlightened because that was a good way to teach people. But I think the Theravada perspective is that the Buddha actually meant what he said, namely, that before his enlightenment he was not enlightened.clw_uk wrote:If the Buddha had wrong understanding at the begining he would have either never left home or, if he did leave, he would have gone the "wrong way" further on down the line and stayed there.
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Howdy Tilt,
I stand to be corrected, but doesn't the tradition maintain that the Buddha did not have recall of past lives until the very night of his enlightenment, just before he attained to full perfect enlightenment?tiltbillings wrote:This certainly indicates that the Buddha had direct knowledge of the fact that he could be reborn - liable to birth. Having attained to high jhana levels before his awakening, there is no reason not to think that he did not have direct knowledge of rebirth.