Hi SarathW, From the Buddhist Dictionary by Nyanatiloka. ti-lakkhaṇa: the '3 characteristics of existence', or signata, are impermanency (anicca, q.v.), suffering or misery (dukkha, q.v.; s. sacca, dukkhatā), not-self (anattā, q.v.)..... --------------------------------------------------------------...

Hi Spiny, Spiny: - "I'm still not clear about the practical distinction between "active" ( volitionally constructed? ) sankharas, and "passive" sankharas like seeing." I will try to explain, but this is a difficult topic and anything I say could be wrong. 1. The term 'sankhara' is both a verb and a ...

Hi Spiny, Spiny: - "I'm struggling to understand how there would be any experience at all without sankhata dhammas, since these include the working of the sense bases. How would we see, hear, feel, etc if sankhata dhammas were to cease?" Vincent: - In the context of the discourses sankhata dhammas j...

Hi everyone, aflatun wrote: "Perhaps another way to say this, is that the three marks are the three marks of the products of hatred, greed and delusion, which would seem to commit us to some form of "anti-realism," or simply a dropping of the realism that seems to color the way we discuss aggregates...

Hi everyone, Sutta Nipata verse 1076: 1076. 'There is no measuring of one who has gone out, Upasiva', said the Blessed One. 'That no longer exists for him by which they might speak of him. When all phenomena have been removed, then all ways of speaking are also removed.' [Sutta Nipata, PTS, K.R. Nor...

Hi everyone, I think that the teachings have been composed in a way which allows multiple interpretations. Lets assume two main interpretations. Considering the aggregates, they can be understood in a literal or a non-literal way. If the aggregates are said to be suffering, and one understands them ...

Hi everyone, If the development of noble view [wisdom, insight] results in serenity and stillness, it is because its development diminishes ignorance and the unwholesome states which arise from it. This means that the serenity and stillness that is a result is permanent and not temporary. This seren...

Hi everyone, Here is the full text of SN 47.42, together with BB's notes: “Bhikkhus, I will teach you the origination and the passing away of the four establishments of mindfulness.[180] Listen to that. “And what, bhikkhus, is the origination of the body? With the origination of nutriment there is t...

Hi everyone, From MN 48 translated by bhikkhu Bodhi. With my commentary in square brackets [like this]. MN 48 seems to be a very early discourse. It explains the entire path to Arahantship as the result of developing the correct understanding of the teachings, and of ones own mind. No meditation pra...

Hi everyone, My understanding has changed since I started this thread. At first, I thought that the arisen path was the real path, and that unarisen just meant not arisen yet. But now, I see that the unarisen path, the cultivation and development of these eight things, is the only thing that can be ...

Hi everyone, The following discourses speak of the arising of the noble eightfold path. The last fourteen speak of the 'unarisen' and of the 'arisen' noble eightfold path. SN 45.14 / SN 45.15 / SN 45.16 / SN 45.17 [unarisen / arisen.] SN 45.49 to SN 45.55 / SN 45.56 to SN 45.62 [arising.] SN 45.63 t...

Hi everyone, On the meaning of 'tathagata'. “Bhikkhus, when the gods with Indra, with Brahmā and with Pajāpati seek a bhikkhu who is thus liberated in mind, they do not find anything of which they could say: ‘The consciousness of one thus gone is supported by this.’ Why is that? One thus gone, I say...

Hi everyone, “Bhikkhus, I do not see even one other thing by means of which the unarisen Noble Eightfold Path arises and the arisen Noble Eightfold Path goes to fulfilment by development so effectively as by this: good friendship. When a bhikkhu has a good friend, it is to be expected that he will d...

Hi Faelig, Yes, you are correct, much more explanation is needed. Q: - "Where is this distinction made? I'd be interested to know more about what is the difference. Could you direct me towards some quotes?" Here is one citation: "Bhikkhus, these eight things, developed and cultivated, if unarisen do...

Hi everyone, Right Concentration on the Arisen Path. Almost all of the discussion about right concentration fails to make the required distinction between the unarisen path and the arisen path. The unarisen path is the cultivation and development of 'these eight things', which are never all present ...