phillyy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:54 pmMy question is - gandhabba, gandhabba, what is gandhabba?
Hello friend, self-declared disciple of Venerable Buddhadasa Indapanno (mass market guru of wandering Western hippies, backpackers &
kibbutzters). Your Master Venerable Buddhadasa appeared to say the following about the 'gandhabba':
His Holiness Buddhadasa wrote:
The Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta [MN 38] talks about the birth of a child.... In this Sutta the Buddha clearly describes how a person's life begins. The Buddha said that when a man and a woman come together in sexual intercourse, and if it is the time of the woman's period, and if the sperm, unites with the egg, then a human being will be born. If the man and the woman don't come together, there is no chance for birth. If the man and the woman have intercourse but it is not the time of the woman's period, there will be no birth. Or if the man and the woman come together and the woman is fertile but the sperm does not fertilize the egg, there will be no birth. There must be three conditions present for birth to take place: sexual intercourse, the fertility of the woman and the fertilization of the egg by the sperm.
https://www.buddhismwithoutboundaries.c ... nation.pdf
The word "gandhabba" is found in many different contexts with many different meanings in the Pali suttas. Refer to this
link. In relation to the conception of an embyro, I think it is only found in MN 38 &
MN 93. Importantly, in MN 93, non-Buddhist Brahmins, who appeared to never had heard the Buddha-Dhamma before, appeared to know exactly what the "gandhabba" was. Obviously, the "gandhabba" in this context is unrelated to the Lord Buddha's revelations because it appears it was known to common village people, similar to say the common village people of Burma.
phillyy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:54 pmAnd also please do not use SN 12.2 in conversation as I feel that this is not an authentic sutta.
The whole of Buddhism is based on SN 12.2, which expressed the 2nd Noble Truth, as found in AN 3.61. In my experience, its pointless studying Buddhism if SN 12.2 is regarded as not an authentic sutta. The entire Chapter 12 of the SN, including the Buddha's Awakening, is based on the analysis in SN 12.2. SN 12.2 defines what the 12 conditions of dependent origination are (and also allows us to find sub-definitions in other suttas).
phillyy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:54 pmI feel that the Buddha clearly understood the existential plight of man...
Friend. The Lord Buddha arose to end the suffering of those with little dust in their eyes; those who felt or sensed the
unsatisfactoriness of this mortal world; yet couldn't find the way to peace & closure.
Its is important to know the Buddha was not like Jesus the Christ. The Buddha did not expect all nations & all people to follow him. The Buddha was not a Neo-Con Globalist. Its seems, unlike Judaism, Islam & Mahayana, the Buddha had no "plan" for the world. In a most lofty teaching, the Buddha taught "
disenchantment towards all of the world".
phillyy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:54 pmI would like you to do the needful and help me understand the blessed one, Ñāṇavīra Thera.
Friend. Its seems the Venerable Ñāṇavīra taught "jati" & "marana" in Dependent Origination mean the psychological mental conceptions of "my birth" and "my death". For example, if you are a Neo-Con father with children, you would
not suffer about the death of 500,000 born & dead babies in Iraq, similar to
this Neo-Con War Hawk. But if your own children die, you will probably suffer. You will suffer because of the idea "my birth of my children", "my fatherhood" and "my death of my children". I think the ideas of Venerable Ñāṇavīra are not difficult to understand, even for Neo-Con War Hawks. Jesus Christ said: "
Even though you are evil, you still want good things for your children" (Matthew 7:11).
About the "birth" & "death" in Dependent Origination, the Lord Buddha taught in MN 26, which is repeated in brief in
SN 12.66 in terms of Dependent Origination:
MN 26 wrote:"Monks, there are these two searches: ignoble search & noble search.
And what is ignoble search? There is the case where a person, being subject himself to birth, seeks [happiness in] what is likewise subject to birth. Being subject himself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, he seeks [happiness in] what is likewise subject to illness... death... sorrow... defilement.
"And what may be said to be subject to birth? Spouses & children are subject to birth. Men & women slaves... goats & sheep... fowl & pigs... elephants, cattle, horses, & mares... gold & silver are subject to birth. Subject to birth are these acquisitions, and one who is tied to them, infatuated with them, who has totally fallen for them, being subject to birth, seeks what is likewise subject to birth.
"And what may be said to be subject to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement? Spouses & children... men & women slaves... goats & sheep... fowl & pigs... elephants, cattle, horses, & mares... gold & silver are subject to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement. Subject to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement are these acquisitions, and one who is tied to them, infatuated with them, who has totally fallen for them, being subject to birth, seeks what is likewise subject to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement. This is ignoble search.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
MN 87 describes a father who lost his mind due to the death of his son. Obviously, this father would not have lost his mind over the death of another person's son. In MN 87, the Lord Buddha said of this distraught father:
Lord Buddha wrote:Householder, your faculties are not those of one who is steady in his own mind. There is an aberration in your faculties.
The distraught father replied:
Father wrote:Lord, how could there not be an aberration in my faculties? My dear & beloved little son, my only child, has died. Because of his death, I have no desire to work or to eat. I keep going to the cemetery and crying out, 'Where have you gone, my only little child? Where have you gone, my only little child?'
I think
MN 87 is a sutta that supports Venerable Ñāṇavīra's intepretation of "my birth" & 'my death". I think it is not rocket science. Simply think of 500,000 dead babies in Iraq or Iran and then think about the death of your only 1 American baby. I think you will find you might suffer 500,000 times more over the death of your own 1 single American baby. Why? Because of the birth of the idea in the mind: "
My American baby, that was born, is now dead".
I hope I help understanding Ñāṇavīra Thera.