Understanding the Causes of Samsara Realms Overview and Summaries Content DAY 5 Understanding the Causes of Samsara Realms (overview and detail) Sources Main Source: Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, Pabonka Rinpoche, Wisdom Publications, page 506-543. Supporting Sources: Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism, Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden, Tushita Publications, page 389-437, 459-476. Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, page 84-05. For personal use only
Overview ASCERTAINING THE NATURE OF THE PATH LEADING TO LIBERATION (75):508 (76):508 THINKING ABOUT THE SOURCE OF SUFFERING THE STAGES FORCING ONE INTO SAMSARA subheadings sections [ACTUALLY] ASCERTAINING THE NATURE OF THE PATH LEADING TO LIBERATION (77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED HOW KARMA IS ACCUMULATED HOW ONE LEAVES ONE REBIRTH AT DEATH AND IS CONCEIVED IN ANOTHER sections (78):509 (9):55 (9):56 (99):59 THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAUSES OF THE DRAWBACKS OF parts (79):509 ROOT SECONDARY THEIR FOUNDATION THEIR OBJECT (93):56 (94):56 3 SOCIETY (95):57 ATTACHMENT (80):50 4 DISCUSSIONS (96):58 ANGER (8):50 5 FAMILIARITY (97):59 3 PRIDE (8):5 6 UNREALISTIC THINKING (98):59 4 IGNORANCE (83):5 5 DOUBT (84):5 6 [DELUDED] VIEWS (85):53 (86):53 (87):53 3 (88):53 4 (89):54 5 (90):54 THE VIEW THAT EQUATES THE SELF WITH THE PERISHABLE EXTREME VIEWS THE VIEW OF HOLDING THE AGGREGATES TO BE SUPREME HOLDING AN ETHIC OR MODE OF BEHAVIOUR TO BE SUPREME WRONG VIEWS 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism
Overview ASCERTAINING THE NATURE OF THE PATH LEADING TO LIBERATION (75):508 (77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED (76):508 THINKING ABOUT THE SOURCE OF SUFFERING THE STAGES FORCING ONE INTO SAMSARA HOW KARMA IS ACCUMULATED subheadings (300):5 (303):53 HOW ONE LEAVES ONE REBIRTH AT DEATH AND IS CONCEIVED IN ANOTHER (30):534 [ACTUALLY] ASCERTAINING THE NATURE OF THE PATH LEADING TO LIBERATION sections THE SORT OF PHYSICAL REBIRTH THAT WILL STOP SAMSARA (39):534 (3):535 THE SORT OF PATH THAT WILL STOP SAMSARA types sections MENTAL KARMA (30):5 (30):5 INTENDED KARMA Looking at the Source of Suffering by means of the Twelve Interdependent Links (304):53 (305):55 (306):56 WHAT HAPPENS AT DEATH THE WAY ONE ACHIEVES THE BARDO THE WAY ONE IS CONCEIVED AND REBORN IGNORANCE COMPOSITIONAL FACTORS (307):57 (308):57 3 CONSCIOUSNESS (309):57 4 NAME AND FORM (30):59 5 THE SIX SENSES (3):59 6 CONTACT (3):59 7 FEELING (33):530 8 CRAVING (34):530 9 GRASPING (35):530 0 BECOMING (36):530 REBIRTH (37):53 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism AGING AND DEATH (38):53
Overview THE TWELVE INTERDEPENDENT LINKS IGNORANCE (307):57 forms IGNORANCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT motivates IGNORANCE OF SUCHNESS (308):57 COMPOSITIONAL FACTORS 3 CONSCIOUSNESS (309):57 types CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE TIME OF THE CAUSE CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE TIME OF THE RESULT 4 NAME AND FORM (30):59 NAME FEELING RECOGNITION COMPOSITIONAL FACTORS The Aggregates CONSCIOUSNESS FORM BLOOD AND SPERM IN THEIR FIRST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT 5 THE SIX SENSES (3):59 EYE, EAR, NOSE, TONGUE, BODY, MIND 6 CONTACT (3):59 DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN: PLEASANT, UNPLEASANT, NEUTRAL OBJECTS 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 3
Overview THE TWELVE INTERDEPENDENT LINKS (CONT D) (33):530 3 types 7 FEELING HAPPINESS SUFFERING EQUANIMITY (34):530 8 CRAVING NOT TO BE SEPARATED FROM HAPPY FEELINGS + WANTING TO BE SEPARATED FROM SUFFERING OUR EQUANIMITY DOES NOT DECLINE 9 (35):530 GRASPING 4 types GRASPING AT THE SENSUAL GRASPING AT VIEWS = GRASPING AT EHTICS AND MODES OF BEHAVIOUR GRASPING AT ASSERTIONS THAT THERE IS A SELF (36):530 0 BECOMING (37):53 REBIRTH (38):53 AGING AND DEATH AGING: MATURING OF AGGREGATES, THE GRADUAL CHANINGING OF THEIR CONDITION DEATH: DESTRUCTION OF THE AGGREGATES, THEIR CEASING TO FUNCTION 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 4
(77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED responsible for Afflicted aggregates sections (78):509 Karma + Another rebirth THE IDENTIFICATION OF parts form Delusions developed because of Delusions of Craving & Grasping with Samsaric aggregates (79):509 root of being reborn in ROOT Samsara (80):50 ATTACHMENT Means clinging to or being fixated with something. Antidote: meditate on the ugly aspects of the body or the object you are attached to. The lassoo of craving and attachment confines you to samsara prison (8):50 ANGER arises when we see something Unpleasant Sentient beings destroys has the greatest strength to destroy Root virtues Inanimate objects Root merits throws us into Lower realms Antidote: being patient 3 PRIDE (8):5 Your inflated opinion of yourself. manifest in relation to Good or bad object Your power, wealth, good qualities, family wisdom, your pure ethics even your pleasant voice or physical prowess. Difficult to develop good qualities. Antidote: to think over some list you don t understand, especially the full classification of the sense elements. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism
(77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED (78):509 sections THE IDENTIFICATION OF (79):509 parts ROOT 4 (83):5 IGNORANCE Tibetan: ma rig pa Rig pa: to know Ma: negative particle root of all Not knowing, not seeing, not understanding, being unclear. Delusions Like blindness not seeing the nature or mode of existence of something. Four truths, cause and effect, Three Jewels, etc. 5 DOUBT (84):5 directed towards Four truths, cause and effect, Three Jewels, etc. in Four truths preventing from Developing realizations in Law of cause & effect prevents Attaining high rebirth 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism
(79):509 ROOT 6 [DELUDED] VIEWS (85):53 A deluded view directed towards The Aggregates Being perishable have property (86):53 regarding them THE VIEW THAT EQUATES THE SELF WITH THE PERISHABLE To be the self To belong to the self I mine take to be Permanent stable, independent, established as being true Why did they do this to me? (87):53 by EXTREME VIEWS directed towards Anything grasped at 3 (88):53 THE VIEW OF HOLDING THE AGGREGATES TO BE SUPREME derived from THE VIEW THAT EQUATES THE SELF WITH THE PERISHABLE EXTREME VIEWS (86):53 (87):53 4 (89):54 HOLDING AN ETHIC OR MODE OF BEHAVIOUR TO BE SUPREME People see specific ethics or behaviours as the main cause of liberation. 5 (90):54 The view that the four truths, the Three Jewels, cause and effect, etc. do not exist. WRONG VIEWS Exaggeration Where something non-existent is supposed to exist. Denial Where something existent is supposed not to exist. Or things do not exist at all. Count these views as one, add them to the five non-views, and the resulting six make up the subtle and extensive root delusions. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 3
(77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED (9):55 THE STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF All delusions derive fundamentally from Grasping at the self (Day ) View of equating self with the perishable has derive from is Ignorance All suffering, All karma, All delusion The root is of is a Instinctive View is a The six subtle and extensive root delusions types Grasping at I Grasping at mine Engaged in the Middle Way: May my mind perceive that Every faulty delusion derives From views that equate The set [of aggregates with the self]... At first I clung to the self, the I ; And developed attachment to things, to them... When someone compliments you, or whatever, you think, How nice of him to say that of me. This I and me are very vivid and very deepseated within the mind; because you have these [thoughts], you take them to be the self, and [the notion that this self] is a user arises. Because of this [notion], you cling to the I, grow attached to those who help you, angry at people who harm you, and have benighted ignorance towards strangers. A Commentary on Things Valid: You know people as others Because you are supposed to have a self; You grasp at the pair self and others And become hostile. These are [all] related; All misdeeds derive from them. turn on The [samsaric] wheel in dependence of this You accumulate Karma in dependence on Root delusions Attachment, etc. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 4
(77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED (9):55 THE STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF Page 56 Ignorance Instinctive grasping at an I View that the self is a perishable set [of aggregates] are roots of Samsara Antidote to Ignorance Grasping at self is The wisdom that understands selflessness The Sutra on the Ten Stages: In this world, all misdeeds ever committed came from manifest clinging to a self. Without manifest clinging to a self, these would not happen. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 5
(77):508 HOW ARE DEVELOPED THE CAUSES OF (9):56 (93):56 THEIR FOUNDATION consists of Seeds/Latencies develop when A certain condition arises THEIR OBJECT (94):56 We must distance from Objects of delusion must abandon Pleasant, unpleasant, etc. 3 SOCIETY (95):57 You abandon Preoccupations of bad company 4 DISCUSSIONS (96):58 increase Attachment develop Delusions Involves reading books which generate delusions. 5 FAMILIARITY (97):59 We are familiar with Delusions Attachment so, develop Great or small depending on familiarity in past lives. 6 (98):59 UNREALISTIC THINKING involves Constant exaggerations concerning Object of one s attachment, hostility, etc. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 6
(99):59 THE DRAWBACKS OF use Antidotes against You develop Delusions causes decline of Your virtuous actions and ethics then Enemy are powerful Your mind-stream = non-virtuous entity act perversely towards Objects of the delusions This makes the latent seeds of the delusion take hold An Ornament to the Sutras: Delusions destroy you, Destroy sentient beings, And destroy your ethics. You hold your equals as inferiors, Guardians and teachers criticize you, And you don t heed opponents. You will be born in unconducive states. Your acquisitions and non-acquisitions Will decline, and you ll have great suffering. You will continually develop the same sort of delusion (attachment, hostility, etc.) (300):5 HOW KARMA IS ACCUMULATED types is a Karmic action (30):5 of makes visible MENTAL KARMA Compositional factors aggregate Thought function to engage in The Virtuous, The Non-virtuous, The Neutral Mind 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 7
Mental Karmic Action Primary Mind provokes us to feel Speak insulting words. provokes/encourages us while Karmic Action of Secondary Mind (300):5 (30):5 HOW KARMA IS ACCUMULATED types INTENDED KARMA consists of Actions of body and speech motivated by Mental Karma accumulated from Delusions give rise to Karma 3 types Unmeritorious Yearnings for things of this life, and then acting upon this. Rebirth in lower realms. Meritorious accumulated from Yearning for sensual happiness in a future life. Immutable Rebirth as a Desire Realm god. One repudiates Sensual pleasure in future lives. indulges that come from Happy feelings Thus reborn as god in first three Dhyani concentration states. Single-pointed concentration developed from One repudiates Yearning for feelings of equanimity. and so, accumulate Karma acts as Cause to be reborn in 4th Dhyani concentration state or higher. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 8
Page 5 Unmeritorious Karma Meritorious Karma throws into One Results are mutable Rebirth in the Desire Realm Example: One may already achieved the bardo state of a being on its way to the hells, but through the power of one s guru, of rituals, of the secret tantras, and so on, one s bardo state can be changed so that one is able to receive rebirth in the upper realms. Throwing karma Is either virtue that causes one to be born in the upper realms, or non-virtue that causes one to be born in the lower realms. (page 459) Treasury of Metaphysics: Virtuous karma is merit to be born into the Desire Realm. Karma to be born higher is immutable; This karma is immutable because It will ripen only in these higher levels. Karma not accumulated in conjunction with One of the three fundamentals of the path. created when you are moved to renounce Cause for samsara The three realms of samsara Cause for your liberation 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 9
(303):53 HOW ONE LEAVES ONE REBIRTH AT DEATH AND IS CONCEIVED IN ANOTHER sections (304):53 WHAT HAPPENS AT DEATH activators are Craving Your dying thoughts activate that will throw Karma Clinging e.g. to present body You into the next rebirth after death Object of this Triggering Process is Your most powerful karma IF Black Karma = White Karma THEN Triggering Object is which is most familiar? IF Black Karma still is White Karma THEN Triggering Object is Which ever type of karma was carried out first Faith, etc. Your virtue will be activated. IF dying thoughts = Anger, etc. Non-virtue will be activated. Your thoughts when dying should be virtuous! Lower realms IF going to Upper realms Heat dissipates, and collects in heart Lower realms Heat dissipates 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism 0
(303):53 HOW ONE LEAVES ONE REBIRTH AT DEATH AND IS CONCEIVED IN ANOTHER sections (305):55 THE WAY ONE ACHIEVES THE BARDO Death Bardo Rebirth 7-49 days in Bardo beings colour have are can perform All their faculties Clairvoyant Paranormal acts Burnt logs Watery Grey Fine gold White reborn in reborn as reborn as reborn as reborn as Hell Hungry ghost Animal Humans or gods in the Desire Realm Form Realm gods Do not exist when rebirth in Formless Realm. (306):56 THE WAY ONE IS CONCEIVED AND REBORN Take the case of being reborn from the womb. Conception occurs within the sperm and blood of the parents. The bardo being sees the father and mother sleeping together; its anger and attachment nauseate it, and it sees only the sex organs of the parents. Its anger kills it and it is conceived into its next incarnation. Also see module 5 Death and Rebirth for more information on this subject. 006 Kris Oosting Discovering Buddhism