Things you wanted to ask but were afraid to know

 

 

Buddhism and its roots have been around for a long time, and for most people today, other than the basic practice, much of it is made up of stories in books. Some of these stories are correct while others have been influenced by the culture at the time, and by those who originally penned them. Thus, the tactic employed by enlightened contemporary teachers has been to keep a copy of these books in a bookcase, to satisfy social and official scrutiny, and then throw away the key; teaching that one must find the truth in the mind first, then you can read the books and find out what is not true.

It is not so much that the stories are untrue, but that due to several translations of uncertain origins, the meanings are often relative truths, or generalizations, and do not quite fit the original flow of the teachings as a whole.

One common example is the teaching of Dependent Origination, where intellectual scholars cling to the original texts, including the three-lifetime theory. Enlightened teachers, on the other hand, are not moved by the reasoning behind such texts but recognize that they are not in agreement with Buddhist teachings in general, which emphasize the present moment, and that anything involving lifetimes simply represents the Brahman view of eternalism. This teaching shows the importance of not being born in the present moment due to attachment, and for those with path knowledges represents the real vinaya of not being lured into birth by any form of attachment.

Other teachings, not specifically Buddhist but certainly important parts of the roots of Buddhism, may not be explained very clearly, as usually they were penned by scholars who had no real experience of such things but were simply writing what was related to them. Such examples are the abhinnya, or higher worldly knowledges.

Despite these knowledges being beyond the imagination of most people, many of them are quite common experiences for many Ajarns in Asia, particularly in their early training. The categories in which they are listed are not quite correct, as some of them can only be accomplished by studying Kasina meditation, e.g. walking on water, and one common experience, that of past lives, is rather an experience of past consciousness, which is said to be both an amazing and an unpleasant experience. Unpleasant due to the fact that one relives an earlier consciousness rather than simply remembering it, which is a great shock to one’s present consciousness and it takes a day or so to recover from it. The flying in air part of these knowledges comes from remembering the form and feeling associated with it. This feeling is shown, but remembering it and being able to reproduce it is another thing altogether, so it is not a common knowledge. The creation of forms is simply a jhana where anything one can imagine can be projected, and picking up the thoughts of others and hearing things from afar is fairly common. The celestial or divine eye (Yama realm, or Third Eye in Tibetan culture) is quite common and undoubtedly the most useful as it shows the basic nature of the mind, including the differences between male and female. The actual resolution of what one sees is said to be far superior to human vision, as one does not use the eyes. This Yama realm jhana is also known as a good thing to know in a tight situation as a timely instantaneous birth avoids all dangers in the human realm (here, one might be tempted to put ‘real world’, but they are all real).

The reason why such knowledges are not so common is fairly obvious, lifestyle. In the present age people spend their awareness on absolutely everything sensual, and are often incapable of simple things like sitting cross-legged on a hard floor due to their attachment to the body, whereas for someone to be committed to developing Kasina meditation, for example, they would have to spend 10 to 20 years devoted to developing jhanas and mental images (nimittas) of the various Kasina disks, living a simple but tough lifestyle.

As for the other knowledges, they are considered useful in gaining a basic understanding of the mind, along with developing jhanas and the associated skill of anuloma, developing samadhi. Another obvious benefit is that once you have experiences of other realms then you are unlikely to take this one too seriously. Although they cannot be said to be absolutely essential, following in The Buddha’s footsteps, they represent a traditional foundation for developing vipassana, and those who do have experiences of such knowledges generally have a deeper understanding of the mind.

Another reason for perhaps not meeting these knowledges is simply the preprogramming or indoctrination of one’s local culture, which may consider such things impossibilities to begin with as there is no heritage of mind development, other than basic morality,  and there are usually no teachers and centers available.

Everything that we come to do in life is an impossibility at one time or another, we just have to realize that by learning basic knowledges one after another then we can eventually succeed in doing the impossible. Spending time in a culture where mind development has existed for over a millennium definitely helps in studying Buddhism, as one is fortunate to be in an environment where the impossibilities of ignorant minds do not hold sway.

 

 

 

 

 

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