Also, it's not correct to say that all the religious morality systems are alike. There are some important distinctions. For example, my Christian friends have no problem with the butchering of animals because they believe it is sanctioned by the Bible. Most religious beliefs are for morality; that'...

Therefore anatta has no bearing on the question "should we believe in post-mortem rebirth?" Should we believe in post-mortem rebirth??? Super mundane practice has very little or no place for beliefs. Beliefs are for morality and the mundane cultivations. Thus, Buddhists "beliefs" and Hindu/christia...

After all, Buddhism does teach that beings (or mindstreams or individuated dependent origination processes or whatever term we prefer) re-arise in the various realms. ..... Just thinking back on the stuff that confused me when I first encountered it, perhaps it would be helpful to clarify as follow...

That souls are reborn from lesser forms of life into higher forms of life until they become human beings and have a chance at escaping the cycle of rebirth and reach Nirvana Not sure what you are talking about. Buddhism is about anatta and the concept of a soul does not fit in there. IMO it is best...

There is no need to quote suttas and the "History of Buddhist Philosophy" to state a simple fact that physical pain is pain. When the Buddha stuck his leg on a stone he would have felt pain. He had a nerves system. Point is, there is a difference between phyiscal pain and the associated mental suffe...

But pain is pain. Pain is dukkha and it is out of total control. Pain is only physical if you remove the mental suffering associated with it. That will not make life suffering in itself. Did the Buddha lead a miserable life after enlightenment or did he dwell in peace born from relinquishment? Pain...

What was new was the realization that the mind could shut down completely, so that there was no experience (feeling or perception) of anything at all. Upon reflection, this told me that it was possible to bring the mind to utter cessation... How is deep sleep different to this experience? ... thoug...

Even in the Visuddhimagga the cessation attainment (nirodhasamāpatti), a.k.a. the cessation of apperception and feeling (saññāvedayitanirodha), while nominally mentioned as similar to nibbāna in a couple of passages, nevertheless is not the same as nibbāna. Visuddhimagga 23.52: As to the question: ...

Hi Sunrise, could you give us a page reference or a short quote, since I can't find what you are referring to in Ajahn Brahm's book... Mike Hey Mike. I don't have the book with me right now as I gave it to a friend. But it is there when he is describing Nibbana after describing in detail all the fo...

PeterB wrote:Semantics.
He died.
We have a description of that event.

Frankly, it's as simple as that

One who has attained the fruition of stream entry has abandoned identity view (sakkāyadiṭṭhi), i.e. self-view (attānudiṭṭhi), but still hasn't abandoned craving for existence (bhavataṇhā), which includes craving for a high birth, i.e. desire for form existence (rūparāga). Thanks Geoff. Can you plea...

There is a meditative accomplishment beyond neither-perception-nor-non-perception, which is sañña-vedayita-nirodha/the cessation of perception and feeling. In which apparently, consciousness stops occurring and everything stops for a little while. I believe that this does, supposedly, bring a perso...

Maybe this will help: "There are these four unconjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about them. Which four? The Buddha-range of the Buddhas "The jhana-range of a person in jhana... "The [precise working out of the] results ...

Kenshou wrote:Really? Anagami or arahant due to simply the sphere of nothingness? Are you sure he didn't mean the cessation of perception and feeling?

If you aren't mistaken, then Ajahn Brahm most likely is.

What do you mean by "cessation of feeling?"

The "right view required for liberation" is the "right view without effluents" as it directs the mind towards the super-mundane practice of letting go while "right view with effluents" directs the mind towards Dhana and moral conduct while still encouraging effluents. My opinion is that the right vi...