Why practice Recollection of Death?

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BREAKING: Hollywood legend Robert Redford dead at age 89

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I am become Death (on TV)

"Recollection of death" (maranānussati) is one of the ten recollections treated in detail in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII):

The Buddha taught: ''Recollection of death, developed and frequently practiced, yields great reward, great blessing, has deathlessness (amata) as its goal and objective. But how may such recollection be developed?

"As soon as the day declines, as the night vanishes and the day is breaking, the meditator reflects:

I'm indestructible and strong.

One reflects, "Truly, there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent or be stung by a scorpion or a centipede, and thereby I may lose this life. This would be an obstacle for me. Or I may stumble and fall to the ground, or the food I eat may not agree with my health. Or [the humors] bile, phlegm, and piercing gases [bodily winds] may become disturbed. Humans or ghosts may attack me, and I may lose my life. This would be an obstacle for me."

Then a meditator considers thus: "Are there still to be found in me unsubdued unskillful, unwholesome things which, if I should die today or tonight, might lead me to greater suffering?"

Now, if one understands that this is the case, one should use one's utmost resolution, determination, energy (viriya), effort, endeavor, steadfastness, attentiveness, and clear-mindedness (sati-sampajanna) in order to overcome these harmful, unwholesome things" (A VIII, 74).

What does the Path of Purification advise?

Redford's children die tragically

In the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII) it is said: "One who wishes to develop this meditation should retreat to solitude [a private, quiet place], and while living secluded one should wisely reflect: 'Death will come to me! The vital energy will be cut off!' Or [recall,] 'Death! Death!'

"To one who does not wisely reflect, sorrow may arise by thinking about [recalling] the death of a loved one, just as it does to a mother while thinking of the death of a beloved child.

"Again, by reflecting on the death of a disliked person, joy [schadenfreude] may arise -- just as enemies while thinking about the death of their enemies.

"Through thinking about the death of a neutral (indifferent) person, however, no emotion will arise, just as none arises in a worker whose work consists of cremating dead bodies at the sight of a dead body.

"By reflecting on one's own death fright may arise...just as at the sight of a murderer with drawn sword one becomes filled with terror.

Death, be not proud.

"Therefore, whenever seeing here or there slain or other dead [formerly living] beings, one should reflect on the death of such deceased persons who once lived in happiness.

One should rouse one's attentiveness, emotion, and knowledge and consider thus: 'Death will come, and so on.

Only in one who considers in this way, will the Five Hindrances (nīvarana) be repressed. Through the idea of death, attention becomes steadfast, and the exercise reaches [meditative] neighborhood-concentration (upacāra-samādhi).

According to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), one may also reflect on death in the following various ways:

• One may think of Death [personified] as a murderer with a drawn sword standing in front of oneself;
• or one may bear in mind that all happiness ends in death;
• or that even the mightiest beings on this earth are subject to death;
• or that we must share this body with all innumerable worms and other tiny beings [microbes] residing throughout the intestines and tissues;
• or that life is something dependent on in-and-out breathing, and bound up with it; or that life continues only as long as the elements, food, breath, etc. are properly performing their functions; or that nobody knows when, where, and under what circumstances, death will take place, and what kind of fate we have to expect after death; or, that life is very short and limited. As it is said: 'Short, indeed, is this life of men, limited, fleeting, full or woe and torment; it is just like a dewdrop that vanishes as soon as the sun rises; like a water-bubble; like a furrow drawn in the water; like a torrent dragging everything along and never standing still; like cattle for slaughter that every moment look death in the face" (A. VII, 74).

Path of Purification (Nyanamoli)

The meditator devoted to this recollection of death is at all times indefatigable and gains the realization of disgust with regard to all forms [31 planes] of existence, gives up delight in [samsara, endless rebirth], detests evil [that traps one in experiencing the results of miserable karma], does not hoard up things, is free from stinginess with regard to the necessities of life.

1. And the realization of [radical] impermanence (anicca) becomes familiar.
2. And through pursuing it, the idea of disappointment (dukkha).
3. And the impersonal (anattā) nature of all things becomes present to one....

Free from fear and bewilderment will one pass away at death. And should that person not yet realize the Deathless State [full enlightenment, nirvana, arahantship] in this lifetime, one will at the dissolution of the body attain to a happy course of existence (Vis.M. VIII).

• See Buddhist Reflections on Death by V. F. Gunaratna (Wheel 102/103)
• Buddhism and Death by M.Q.C. Walshe (Wheel 260)
• Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, maranānussati based on Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist meditations: 40 mental exercises

Bhāvanā: "mental development" (lit. "bringing into being, calling into existence, producing") is what in English is generally and vaguely called "meditation."

There are actually two other terms that might be better translated as meditation, jhana ("absorption") and kammatthāna ("field of endeavor, domain of effort, ground of cultivation, or field of karma"). One distinguishes two kinds of development or mental cultivation.

1. development of tranquility (samatha-bhāvanā), that is, stillness, coherence, concentration (samma-samādhi = first four jhanas)
2. development of insight (vipassanā-bhāvanā), that is, the cultivation of wisdom (paññā).

Can anyone "meditate" or only Buddhists?

These two important terms, tranquility and insight (see samatha-vipassanā), are very often met with and explained in the sutra collection as well as in the Abhidhamma (collection of texts known as the Higher Doctrine or Dharma in Ultimate Terms).

Tranquility (samatha) is the concentrated, unshaken, peaceful, and therefore undefiled state of mind.

Insight (vipassanā) is the direct perception and penetration (insight) into the three inherent characteristics of all things: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonal nature (anicca, dukkha, anattā, known collectively as ti-lakkhana or Three Marks of All Conditioned Existence) of all bodily and mental phenomena of existence.

This includes the Five Aggregates (or groups of existence) clung to as self, namely, form (body, corporeality, rupa, kaya), feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. (See khandha).

Tranquility -- or stillness (purification, concentration, quietude) of mind, according to Sankhepavannana (the Commentary to the Abhidhammattha-sangaha) -- bestows a threefold blessing:

1. favorable rebirth,
2. present happy life, and
3. purity of mind, which is the foundation and necessary condition for insight to arise.

Stillness (samādhi) is the indispensable foundation and precondition of insight by purifying and temporarily clearing the mind/heart of the Five Mental Defilements or Hindrances (nīvarana).

Insight (vipassanā) produces the four supramundane stages of enlightenment and liberation of mind/heart.

The Buddha therefore says, "May you develop mental stillness, O meditators, for who is mentally still sees things as they actually are (in accordance with reality)" (S.XXII.5).

And in Mil. it is said: "Just as when a lamp is brought into a dark room, light destroys the darkness and produces and spreads light, just so insight, once arisen, destroys the darkness of ignorance and produces the light of wisdom."

The Path of Purification (Vis.M. III-XI) gives full directions on how to attain full stillness and the meditative absorptions (jhāna) by means of practicing 40 meditation subjects (kammatthāna):

• 10 kasina-exercises. These produce the first four absorptions
• 10 repulsive subjects (asubha). These produce the first absorption.
• 10 recollections (anussati):
• of the Buddha (buddhānussati),
• the Dhamma (dhammānussati),
• the Sangha of Noble Ones (sanghānussati),
• virtue (sila),
• liberality (cāga),
• heavenly beings (devas),
• death (maranasati),
• the body (kāyagatāsati),
• in-and-out breathing (ānā-pāna-sati)
• peace (upasamānussati).

Among these, the recollection (mindfulness) of in-and-out breathing is able to produce the first four absorptions, the body the first absorption, the rest only neighborhood-stillness (upacāra-samādhi, see samādhi).

The Four Divine Abidings (Sublime Abodes) (brahma-vihāra):

1. loving-kindness (mettā)
2. compassion (karunā)
3. altruistic joy (muditā)
4. equanimity (upekkhā).

Of these, the first three exercises are able to produce the first three absorptions, the last one only the fourth absorption.

The Four Immaterial Spheres (arūpāyatana, the fifth through eighth jhānas):

1. sphere of unbounded space,
2. sphere of unbounded consciousness,
3. sphere of nothingness,
4. sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

These are based on the fourth absorption.

One perception of the repulsiveness of food (āhāre patikkūla-saññā), which is able to produce neighborhood-stillness.

Four Elements Meditation

One analysis of the Four Elements (catudhātu-vavatthāna, see dhātu-vavatthāna), which is able to produce neighborhood-stillness.

Mental development forms one of the three kinds of meritorious action (puñña-kiriya-vatthu).

"Delight in meditation" (bhāvanā-rāmatā) is one of the noble usages (ariya-vamsa).

• Ven. Nyanatiloka (German Theravada monk, formerly Anton Walther Florus Gueth), Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, bhavana; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

FaXiang: A Buddhist Practitioner's Encyclopedia

FaXiang: A Buddhist Practitioner's Encyclopedia: The Buddha's Teachings have a unique and sometimes challenging language all their own. It was constructed from the many cultures and generations of practitioners they have touched. To help readers navigate this vast lexicon, Venerable Tzu Chuang, a senior Fo Guang Shan monastic and the first abbot of Hsi Lai Temple, compiled FaXiang, an encyclopedia of Buddhist terms. It is both extensive and accessible. Now available in English, "FaXiang" is replete with detailed entries.

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Path of Serenity and Insight

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Strength is needed but also ease

"Serenity and insight," identical with stillness (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā), form the two branches of mental cultivation (bhāvanā) or self-development generally referred to as Buddhist meditation.

(1) "Serenity" (tranquility, settled, calm) is a peaceful, undistracted, undisturbed, unperturbed, and lucid state of mind/heart attained by strong mental attention to a single object.

Although as a distinct way of practice (samatha-yānika), it aims at the attainment of the eight meditative absorptions (jhānas), a high degree of tranquil focus (not necessarily to the level of absorptions) is indispensable for insight (vipassana), too.

Serenity temporarily frees the heart/mind from impurities and inner obstacles and gives it greater penetrative strength. Insight practices without a foundation of purified stillness will tend to be superficial or impossible.

''What now is the power of serenity (samatha-bala)? It is the one-pointedness and undistracted ability of the mind due to [temporary]

• freedom from [sensual] desire (renunciation)...
• freedom from ill-will...
• to the perception of light (aloka-saññā)...
• to non-distraction...
• to the defiling of phenomena...
• to knowledge,
• gladness,
• the Eight Attainments (jhanas),
• the Ten Kasinas,
• the Ten Recollections,
• the Nine Cemetery Contemplations,
• the 32 Kinds of Breathing-Mindfulness...
• the one-pointedness, and
• non-distraction of the mind of one contemplating abandonment (relinquishment) while breathing in and breathing out (ānāpānasati).

"The power of serenity consists of freedom from perturbation.

"In the first meditative absorption (jhana), it consists of freedom from the Five Hindrances (nīvarana). 

"In the second meditative absorption, it consists of freedom from thought-conception and discursive thinking (vitakka-vicara).

"In the eighth meditative absorption (called the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception), it consists of the freedom from perturbation by the perception of the [preceding absorption called the] sphere of nothingness (see anupubba-nirodha), which is no longer agitated and irritated by defilements associated with restlessness nor by the Five Aggregates clung to as self" (Pts.M. 1. p. 97).

(2) "Insight" (vipassanā) is the penetrative understanding by direct meditative experience of the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonality of all material and mental phenomena of existence. It is insight that leads to entrance into the supermundance states of holiness and to final liberation.

''What now is the power of insight?

"It is the contemplation of impermanence (aniccā-anupassanā), of misery (dukkha-anupassanā), impersonality (anattā-anupassanā), of aversion (nibbida-anupassanā), detachment (virāga-anupassanā), extinction (nirodha), abandonment (patinissagga), with regard to

1. form (corporeality),
2. feeling (sensation),
3. perception,
4. mental formations, and
5. consciousness [the Five Aggregates clung to as self]....

"That in contemplating the impermanency one is no more agitated by the idea of grasping ... no more by ignorance and the defilements associated therewith and no more by the groups of existence: this is called the power of insight" (Pts.M. p. 97).

"Two things are conducive to knowledge: serenity and insight. If serenity is developed, what profit does it bring? The mind is developed. If the mind is developed, what profit does it bring? All lust is abandoned.

"If insight is developed, what profit does it bring? Wisdom is developed. If wisdom is developed, what profit does it bring? All ignorance is abandoned" (A. II, 2.7).

There is a method of meditative practice where, in alternating sequence, serenity-meditation and insight-meditation are developed.

"It is called 'serenity and insight joined in pairs' (samatha-vipassanā-yuganaddha), the coupling or yoking of serenity and insight.

"One who undertakes it first enters into the first absorption. After rising from it, one contemplates the mental phenomena that were present in it (feeling, perception, etc.) as impermanent, incapable of fulfilling, and impersonal [ti-lakkhana, the Three Universal Marks of Existence], and thus one develops insight.

Killer yoga instructor, literally: Armstrong

Thereupon, one enters into the second absorption. And after rising from it, one again considers its constituent phenomena as impermanent and so on. In this way, one passes from one absorption to the next until, at last, during a moment of insight, the intuitive knowledge of the path (of stream-entry or further stages of enlightenment) flashes forth. See A. IV, 170; A.IX, 36; Pts: Yuganaddha Kathā.

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Results of KARMA: vipaka and phala

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; YK; Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Resultant (vipaka)

Krishnan on vipaka (Numen)

"Karmic result," is any karmically (morally) neutral mental phenomenon (e.g., bodily agreeable or painful feeling, sense-consciousness, etc.), that is the result of wholesome or unwholesome "karma" (volitional action through body, speech, or mind) done either in this or some previous life.

Totally wrong is the belief that, according to Buddhism, everything is the result of previous karma (action). Never, for example, is any karmically wholesome or unwholesome volitional action the result of former action, being in reality itself karma.

On this subject see titthāyatana, karma, Table at the end of the book I; Fundamentals of Buddhism II, Ven. Nyanatiloka (BPS.lk). Cf. A. III, 101; Kathāvatthu 162 (Guide through the Abhidhamma Pitaka, Ven. Nyanatiloka, 3rd ed. 1971, BPS.lk, p. 80).

Karma-produced (karma-ja or karma-samutthāna) corporeal (bodily) things are never called karma-vipāka, as this term may be applied only to mental phenomena (like intimation).

Fruit (phala)

Phala (lit. "fruit") 1. result, effect (often together with hetu, cause); 2. benefit (e.g., in Sāmañña-phala Sutra, "The Discourse on the Fruits [Benefits] of Recluseship," DN 2).

As "path-result," or "fruition," it denotes those moments of supermundane consciousness that flash forth immediately after the moment of various stages path-consciousness (see the noble ones, or ariya-puggala, on the stages of enlightenment and which, until the attainment of the next higher path-consciousness, may recur innumerable times during the practice of insight (vipassanā).

If thus repeated they are called the "attainment of fruition" (phala-samāpatti), which is explained in detail in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXIII).

Where will I go when I die?

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, palikanon.com) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Death stands behind the wheel or cyclical-round of samsara.

The "abodes of beings" are called sattāvāsa or nava. In the sutras (e.g., DN 33, AN IX.24) nine abodes are mentioned:

"There are, O meditators, nine abodes of beings, namely:

1. "There are beings who are different in body and different in perception -- such as the human beings, some devas (heavenly space beings), and some beings living in the world of suffering (vinipātika).

2. "There are beings who are different in body but the same in perception, such as the first-born brahmas of the Brahma World (i.e., at the beginning of each new cyclical world-formation that then devolves through the ages until it reforms; see deva II).

3. "There are beings who are the same in body but different in perception, such as the radiant brahmas (ābhassara, see deva II).

4. "There are beings who are the same in body and the same in perception, such as the all-illuminating brahmas (subha-kinha; see deva II).

5. "There are beings without perception or feeling, such as the unconscious/insensate beings (asañña-satta).

6. "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of perceptions of materiality (rūpa-sañña), the disappearance of perceptions of sense-reaction (patigha-sañña), and non-attention to perceptions of variety by thinking, 'Boundless is space' are reborn in the sphere of boundless space. (See deva III; jhāna 5).

7. "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of the sphere of boundless space by thinking, 'Boundless is consciousness' are reborn in the sphere of boundless consciousness. (See jhāna 6).

There are uncountable worlds in 31 categories.

8. "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of the sphere of boundless consciousness by thinking, 'Nothing is there' are reborn in the sphere of nothingness. (See jhāna 7).

• [NOTE: This seems to be a place not yet formed, akin to a construction zone or a desolate place or primordial location yet to be formed; it is not, however, nothing-nothing; it is not nothing at all. It is not nirvana, yet many cling to this wrong view given that sometimes nirvana is described in negative terms as not this and not that. We confirmed with a person able to enter this meditative absorption or jhana as to this place's nature, thinking that it must be just the awareness of anatta, but we were told that it is a real place, a scary and awesome place or void, which sounded to us like a black hole set apart from other things to be perceived. Things were not necessarily emerging from it. It was just there. Anyone is able to develop this and the other levels of absorption to see it for oneself in this very life. There's no need to take account of others' direct experience of it. In fact, all 31 Planes of Existence are verifiable and the countless worlds on each plane, like the many human worlds besides this one.]

9. "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of the sphere of nothingness, are reborn in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (A.IX.24). (See jhāna 8).

According to the Commentary to the Anguttara Nikaya or the "Numerical Discourses of the Buddha," the beings of the "Pure Abodes" (suddhāvāsa) are not mentioned here because they exist only in those world-periods in which buddhas appear. Cf. viññāna-tthiti.

• The "Pure Abodes" are worlds where those who have gained the initial stages of enlightenment/awakening may be reborn to study and practice in order to gain the final stage of full enlightenment. This is where "non-returners" are reborn before gaining arhatship. These worlds are only accessible to the noble ones (ariya).

What is enlightenment or awakening?

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary (palikanon.com); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

I sat. I endured. I enjoyed. I awakened to the true nature of this thing called "I."

.

Wake up! Shaolin monks play kung fu style.

Enlightenment or bodhi (from the verbal root budhi, "to awaken, to understand") means full liberation through awakening, supreme insight, realization of liberating wisdom.

"[Through bodhi] one awakens from the slumber or stupor [inflicted upon the mind] by the defilements (kilesas) and comprehends the Four Noble Truths (sacca)" (Commentary to MN 10).

"Enlightenment" may be defined as the full penetration of the Four Noble Truths, which will necessarily include directly knowing-and-seeing Dependent Origination (how all things arise based on causes and conditions).

Kinds of awakening

What must it be like to live only in the NOW?

The enlightenment of a supremely awakened teaching-buddha is called sammā-sambodhi, "supreme" or "perfect" enlightenment.

The confidence/faith (saddhā) of a lay follower of the Buddha is described as "one has confidence in the enlightenment of the Wayfarer or Perfect One [the One Who Has Arrived at Suchness]" (saddahati tathāgatassa bodhim, MN 53, A.III.2).

Components of enlightenment and contributory factors to its achievement are mentioned in the texts:

• the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga = bodhi-anga, "limbs of enlightenment"),
• the 37 "Requisites of" or "Things Pertaining to Enlightenment" (bodhipakkhiya-dhammā).

In one of the later books of the sutra collection called the Buddhavamsa, ten bodhipācana-dhammā are mentioned, that is, "qualities that lead to the ripening of perfect enlightenment." These are known as the Ten Perfections (pāramīs).

There is a threefold classification of enlightenment: 

1. of a noble disciple (sāvaka-bodhi), that is, of an arhat,
2. of an independently-enlightened non-teaching buddha (pacceka-bodhi),
3. of a supremely enlightened teaching buddha (sammā-sambodhi).

The Buddha (Gandharan)

This threefold division, however, is of later origin. In this form it neither occurs in the canonical texts nor in the older sutra commentaries. The closest approximation to it is found in a verse sutra that is probably of a comparatively later period, the "Treasure Store Sutra" (Nidhikkanda Sutta) of the Khuddakapātha, where the following three terms are mentioned in Stanza 15:

1. sāvaka-pāramī,
2. pacceka-bodhi, and
3. buddha-bhūmi (see Khp. Tr., pp. 247f.)

The commentaries (e.g., to the Middle Length Discourses, Buddhavamsa, Cariyapitaka) generally give a fourfold explanation of the word bodhi: 

1. the Enlightenment (Bodhi) Tree,
2. the noble path (ariya-magga),
3. nirvana (nibbana), and
4. omniscience (of the Buddha, sabbaññutā-ñāna).

As regards the noble path, the commentaries quote the Cula-Nidesa, where bodhi is defined as "the knowledge relating to the four paths [of stream-entry, once returning, non-returning, arhatship/full enlightenment, or catūsu maggesu ñāna]."

Neither in the canonical texts nor in the old commentaries is it stated that a follower of the Buddha may choose between the three kinds of enlightenment and aspire either to become a supreme buddha, a non-teaching (pacceka) buddha, or an arhat-disciple.

This conception of a choice between three aspirations is, however, frequently found in modern-day Theravāda countries, like Sri Lanka. [And it seems to be the basis of Brahmanism-inspired Mahayana Buddhism.]

Realizing radical impermanence

Ven. Nyanatiloka (BPS.lk) born Mr. Anton W. F. Gueth (Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines via palikanon.com) edited by Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Escape to Reality. The Ultimate Truth is always the best place to be.

.

The Buddha reclining into final nirvana.

Aniccatā (impermanence) is the first of the "Three Characteristics of Existence" (tilakkhana). By realizing its truth, in most texts, the other two characteristics (the disappointing and impersonal nature of things) are derived (S.22. 15; Ud.IV. I). Realization of all three leads to enlightenment.

The impermanence of all things is their arising, turning, and passing away. That is the fundamental (root = radical) nature of phenomena. The disappearance of conditionally-arisen things is part of that impermanence. Things never persist unchanged. They are dissolving and vanishing from moment to moment (Path of Purification, VII, 3); that is the sense in which they are radically impermanent.

Impermanence is a basic feature of all conditioned phenomena, material or mental, coarse or subtle, internal or external: All formations are impermanent. (Sabbe sankhārā aniccā, MN 35, Dhp. 277).

That the totality of existence is impermanent is also often stated in terms of the Five Aggregates clung to as self (khandha), the 12 internal (personal) and external sense bases (āyatana), and so on.

Nirvana

Only nirvana, which is not conditioned [not dependent on supporting conditions for its existence] and therefore not a "thing," is permanent. A synonym for nirvana is "the unconditioned element," for it is not a formation (asankhata) and deathless (amata). It alone is permanent (nicca, dhuva). Therefore, there is a way to freedom from all that is conditioned.

• NOTE: The assumption, speculation, or deduction that nirvana is "nothingness" or "annihilation" is a pernicious wrong view. But it is a common misunderstanding. Other things are illusory and unreal, whereas nirvana is real. It is the ultimate truth. Other elements fall away, but nirvana persists. Yet, it is not a thing. And because it persists, freedom from all that is conditioned [dependent on supporting causes and conditions] is possible. And, therefore, freedom from what is painful, impermanent, and impersonal is possible.

Buddhist Dictionary (Ven. Nyanatiloka)

The insight that leads to the first stage of enlightenment, stream-entry (sotāpatti), is often expressed in terms of impermanence: "Whatever is subject to origination is subject to cessation." (See the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutra, S.46. 11).

In the Buddha's final exhortation, before his final passing into nirvana, he reminded his many followers, disciples, and well-wishers, most of them "shining ones" (devas), that all states of existence are impermanent by their intrinsic nature. And to spur them on to persistent, he said:

"Behold, meditators, all formations are hurtling toward destruction! Strive in earnest." (Vayadhammā sankhārā, appamādena sampādetha, DN 16).

Without penetrating insight into the impermanent, impersonal, and miserable (disappointing, painful) nature of all phenomena of existence there is no attainment of enlightenment, awakening, liberation. So comprehension of impermanence gained by direct meditative experience heads two lists of insight knowledge.

• (a) the contemplation of impermanence (aniccā-anupassanā) is the first of the 18 chief kinds of insight-wisdom;
• (b) the contemplation or knowledge of arising and vanishing (udayabbayānupassanā-ñāna) is the first of nine kinds of knowledge that lead to the "purification by knowing-and-seeing of path-progress." (See visuddhi, VI).

Systematic contemplation of impermanence leads to "unconditioned liberation" (animitta-vimokkha).

In this teaching the faculty of confidence (faith, conviction, saddha-indriya) is outstanding. One who attains in that way the path of stream-entry is called a faith-devotee (saddhānusārī; see the list of "noble ones" in ariya-puggala).

And at the seven higher stages one is called "faith-liberated" (saddhā-vimutta). See also anicca-saññā. See The Three Basic Facts of Existence I: Impermanence (Wheel Number 186/187).

Worldlings: Who are the many folk?

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary (palikanon.com) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Hey, drink anyone? Let's drink our lives away!

The uninstructed worldling (puthujjana) is, literally, "one of the many folk," an "ordinary person."

"Worldling" refers to any layperson or monastic who is still bound by all Ten Fetters which bind beings to the Round of Rebirths and has therefore not yet reached any of the Four Stages of Enlightenment (to become a noble one or aryan-puggala).

"Whosoever is neither freed from the three fetters (personality-belief, skeptical doubt, clinging to mere rules and rituals to try to gain enlightenment) nor on the way to dropping these three things, such a person is called a 'worlding'" (Pug. 9).

I'm interested in learning and practicing.

According to the Commentary to MN 9, a "worlding" may be one of four types:

• (1) an outsider (non-Buddhist) who, if one at least believes in moral causation (karma), may be said to have right view to that extent, but one does not yet have "knowledge conforming to the truths" (saccā-nulomika-ñāna), as does
• (2) a "worldling within the Buddha's Dispensation" (sāsanika).
• In addition, a worlding drawn to Buddhism may be either:
• (3) a "blind worldling" (andha-putthujjana) who has neither knowledge of nor interest in the fundamental Teachings (Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path, Five Aggregates, the links of Dependent Origination, etc.) or
• (4) a "noble worldling" (kalyāna-putthujjana) who has some knowledge and earnestly strives to understand and put into practice these Teachings.

See Atthasālini Tr. II, 451 (translated by "average person"); Commentary to MN 1, DN 1. Source

Rebirth: What are the "Abodes of Beings"?

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

In the sutra texts (e.g., D.33, A.IX.24) nine abodes of beings or satta vasa are mentioned. According to the Buddha: "There are, O meditators, nine abodes of beings, namely:

1. "There are beings who are different in body and different in perception (mind), such as human beings, some celestial beings [akasha devas], and some beings living in the world of suffering (vinipātika).

• [The "human world" is a plane of existence (loka) not limited to earth. It extends in 10,000 directions to many other places in the universe, wherever there are humanoids.]

2. "There are beings who are different in body but equal in perception, such as the first-born brahmas (a kind of deva) of the Brahma-world (i.e., at the beginning of each new world-formation or great aeon, maha kalpa; see Deva II).

3. "There are beings who are equal in body but different in perception, such as the radiant devas (ābhassara, see Deva II).

4. "There are beings who are equal in body and equal in perception, such as the all-illuminating devas (subha-kinha; see Deva II).

5. "There are beings without perception and feeling, such as the unconscious beings (asañña-satta).

6. "There are beings who -- through the complete overcoming of perceptions of matter (rūpa-sañña), the disappearance of perceptions of sense-reaction (patigha-sañña), and non-attention to perceptions of variety -- by thinking 'Boundless is space' are reborn in the Sphere of Boundless Space (see Deva III; Jhāna 5).

7. "There are beings who -- through the complete overcoming of the Sphere of Boundless Space -- by thinking 'Boundless is consciousness' are reborn in the Sphere of Boundless Consciousness (see  Jhāna 6).

8. "There are beings who -- through the complete overcoming of the Sphere of Boundless Consciousness -- by thinking 'Nothing is there' are reborn in the Sphere of Nothingness (see Jhāna 7).

9. "There are beings who -- through the complete overcoming of the Sphere of Nothingness -- are reborn in the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception (see Jhāna 8) (A.IX.24).

 

Commentary

According to the Commentary to this division of the sutra texts, the partially enlightened beings of the "Pure Abodes" (suddhāvāsa) are not mentioned here because they exist only in those world-periods (aeons, kalpas) in which fully enlightened teaching buddhas appear. Compare with viññāna-tthiti. Source

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