Ask A Buddhist II

[Bakmoon]

Problem is, that as far as I’ve heard Buddhists still believe in reincarnation in conjunction with a law of karma that says the effects of ill deeds increases in greater proportion to the effects of good deeds, i.e., to that which improves karma. It’s a moral directive, and a very stern warning against misdemeanor, as one consequence of it is that there is no end to hell or, if you prefer, to liberation from samasara if you don’t get up and start doing something soon…Thus, [as far as I can tell] it remains undefined as to how a lazy Buddhist ever **get(s) out of the ocean of samasara **-- kind of like the flight of Icarus, once he lost his wings feathers’ from the sun’s heat, he was essentially doomed and not even his father could save him from the fall. Also, one small foul up that isn’t put in check creates tendencies and these persist in the next life, affecting action or karma there; the result being that you who are born with no knowledge of a past life’s stolen loaf of bread, end up cheating on your French exams and wondering why you are so miserable, or why you keep dropping your favorite sandwiches everytime you are hungry. Then along comes someone who can see your karma clearly, tells you to donate some time or money to a charity that feeds bread to the hungry; and soon you become happier.

If a Buddhist is lazy and they don’t work at all towards Nibbana, then they will probably be swept up back into samsara for a very long time until by chance they come back into contact with the Dhamma. Because they have the Kamma of previously having faith in the teachings, even if they were lazy, this will incline the person more towards accepting the teaching than if they never believed, and they would get another chance that way to practice.

It is also important to note that the Buddha rejected the idea that Kamma is a purely deterministic process. In order for one’s Kamma to bear fruit as a result, the situation needs to be ripe to support it, and some things are just up to chance, as well.

 

[Bakmoon]

Is there evil in Buddhism?

It depends what you mean by that. If you mean “Is it possible to objectively label certain actions as being wrong” then yes. If you mean “Does Evil exist as a literal force in the universe” then no. I believe that Catholicism also denies that evil has an ontological existence by itself, but is a lack of good, just as cold doesn’t exist except as a lack of heat.

 

[Bakmoon]

Is there a fixed number of souls or new souls are born every day? At what time of a person’s birth you can say they have a soul?

The word “soul” is a little problematic because it is based off of Aristotelian ontology in which the soul is defined as the “form” of the body. If you just mean is there a fixed number of new persons or personalities born each day, then no, because every day different numbers of people are conceived and born.

The issue of when a person becomes a person is an interesting one. I follow the interpretation of the Ven. Ajahn Brahm, who holds to the position that it occurs when the embryo differentiates its tissues and gains neurological tissue for the first time, which occurs sometime around the end of the first month of gestation, but it isn’t a cut and dry issue. It is clear from the Buddhist Scriptures however, that it occurs sometime in the womb.

 

[Vouthon]

It depends what you mean by that. If you mean “Is it possible to objectively label certain actions as being wrong” then yes. If you mean “Does Evil exist as a literal force in the universe” then no. I believe that Catholicism also denies that evil has an ontological existence by itself, but is a lack of good, just as cold doesn’t exist except as a lack of heat.

Spot on (as usual )

Evil does not exist in any objective sense but only in a relative sense ie in relation to good, of which it is the deprivation. Evil is thus the absence of good. Evil is not a thing in Itself.

Light is a real property of the universe. There are light particles - or more properly called photons - and we can measure them in units. There are no particles or units of darkness. One cannot measure darkness because it doesn’t actually exist, it is actually just the lack of light in a specific place.

In the same way: Heat and Cold.

There is no such thing as coldness. We can measure and calculate heat, according to degrees or celsius because it is real. Heat is given off from the sun. Coldness is not a thing in itself, rather it is a human being’s perception of the lack of heat, just as darkness is a human being’s perception of the lack of light.

“…And in the universe, even that which is called evil, when it is regulated and put in its own place, only enhances our admiration of the good; for we enjoy and value the good more when we compare it with the evil. For the Almighty God, who, as even the heathen acknowledge, has supreme power over all things, being Himself supremely good, would never permit the existence of anything evil among His works, if He were not so omnipotent and good that He can bring good even out of evil. For what is that which we call evil but the absence of good? In the bodies of animals, disease and wounds mean nothing but the absence of health; for when a cure is effected, that does not mean that the evils which were present—namely, the diseases and wounds—go away from the body and dwell elsewhere: they altogether cease to exist; for the wound or disease is not a substance, but a defect in the fleshly substance,—the flesh itself being a substance, and therefore something good, of which those evils—that is, privations of the good which we call health—are accidents. Just in the same way, what are called vices in the soul are nothing but privations of natural good. And when they are cured, they are not transferred elsewhere: when they cease to exist in the healthy soul, they cannot exist anywhere else…”

***—St. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), Enchiridion of Augustine, Chapter 11: What is called Evil in the Universe is But the Absence of Good ***

This teaching was subsequently confirmed by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the Summa, as you will naturally be already aware. It has its basis both in the Bible, Church tradition and Neoplatonism (Plotinus preached a very similar idea which had a defining influence on Augustine, given that he had been a Platonist for a period of time prior to his conversion to Christianity).

Evil is the absence of good, and God did not cause nor create evil; it is rather a lack or deficiency of his created natural order - however he is also just as much present in evil acts and the people committing them as he is anywhere:

“…God presents himself in the inmost depths of my soul. I understand not only that he is present, but also how he is present. I have seen the One who is, and how He is the Being of all creatures. God is present in everything that exists, in a devil and a good angel, in heaven and hell, in good deeds and in adultery and murder, in the beautiful and the ugly. Therfore, while I am in this Truth, I take as much delight in seeing and understanding his presence in a devil and the act of adultery as I do in an angel and a good deed. The world is pregnant with God…He who loves with not only a part of himself, but the whole, transforms himself into the thing beloved…”

- Blessed Angela of Foligna (c. 1248 – 1309), Catholic mystic

 

[farpinho]

The word “soul” is a little problematic because it is based off of Aristotelian ontology in which the soul is defined as the “form” of the body. If you just mean is there a fixed number of new persons or personalities born each day, then no, because every day different numbers of people are conceived and born.

The issue of when a person becomes a person is an interesting one. I follow the interpretation of the Ven. Ajahn Brahm, who holds to the position that it occurs when the embryo differentiates its tissues and gains neurological tissue for the first time, which occurs sometime around the end of the first month of gestation, but it isn’t a cut and dry issue. It is clear from the Buddhist Scriptures however, that it occurs sometime in the womb.

In that sense, what is the essence of one’s self? What makes me the “me” and not someone else? Is it the neurological tissue? But in that sense, when I die I can’t be reborn ever again, unless the molecules that today compose my neurons are rearranged exactly the same way once again. Or there’s an essence of the “me” inside myself that interacts with my neurons?

 

[Vouthon]

Brother Bakmoon

I wonder if you could tell me anything further about “nimitas”, the lights which people begin to see as they enter into deep contemplation/meditation. What are they? I am presuming that it cannot be actual light but rather our mind represents this state as a show of lights.

What exactly are these mental phenomena?

I suppose there are many people who have experienced patterns of light while in a meditative state. It happened to me once, actually, when I was around 14.

I remember the experience vividly, and I spoke about it on another thread a few months ago, actually.

A kind poster on that thread suggested that I read some of Saint Teresa of Avila’s works and “diagnosed” what had been wrong with me. She wrote:

A better source to read is St. Teresa of Avila. She described all this phenomena in various places in her collected works … and she is a Doctor of the Church.

In Chapters 28-31 of “Way of Perfection” she describes the inner stillness that comes upon us in contemplative prayer … the desire to close the eyes and draw inward “like a turtle drawing in its shell.” The faculties quiet … first the will then intellect and memory. These are “suspended” or “absorbed” in her terms … what she calls the prayer of recollection … then quiet … then union. In union we are left in a very delightful, peaceful sense of intimacy with God … without the “burden” of thoughts and feelings. We are not “doing” we are “being.” These are fleeting moments that sometimes come upon us … perhaps lasting 15 to 30 minutes. These prayer states are described in greater detail as the 4th and 5th mansions in “Interior Castle.”

Perhaps this interior prayer deepens yet further. It may flow over from our interior faculties (intellect, will and memory) to our exterior sense. Ecstasy is the prayer of union that also impacts us physically. As St. Teresa describes the body cools, we’re unable to move and left as though dead and sinking or being drawn deep within oneself to our very center … but it is extremely delightful at the same time. The flight of spirit is a variation on this … where we experience a sense of spiritual movement perhaps out of the body or to a different place/locality. And in this very deep prayer (with the eyes closed), we may experience all sort of interior lights or images played out in our mind … our spiritual eye. These are imaginative visions. All these types of experiences are described in the 6th mansion of “Interior Castle.”

Here is what I wrote on that other thread (a while before you joined the forum) - could this be linked to any known mental phenomena, images or forms which appear during meditation?

I have had experiences when I was quite a bit younger, say around 14, where I felt utterly consumed by God and terrified that I might be reduced to nothing…

During this period, I had many ecstatic spiritual experiences…

For example I would feel pure “elation” and “exhiliration”. A warmth would come through my body after about half an hour of intense prayer and meditation on the Word of God. I would get this tingling feeling, that would be very, very pleasurable. In my chest - and this was the most memorable bit - I would get this sensation like pure ectasy that would completely take my breath away, and I would grow faint and gasp out loud like in a sweaty heat wave, but I had no sweat and felt marvellously cool. It was almost like a tension but a very cool and pleasing one that would rise throughout my entire body - kind of like a full body orgasm but without the actual carnal pleasure…nothing [truly] physical like but very overwhelming. I would feel completely calm and joyful for about a day or two after, as if I was high on some kind of drug or had just had a release of endorphins.

However sometimes this feeling of ecstasy would get to a stage where I felt kind of as if I were at a breaking-point - a kind of cliff edge beyond which there is no return.

When I got those gasping experiences, it was almost as if God were ploughing me, as a farmer would cultivate a field and sometimes the sensation would get so overwhelming that I would feel close to bursting; as if I was getting too intimate with God and was becoming utterly consumed by his grace. I never seek such feelings, and I am more mature now but my young brain would interpret it that way. And so my powerful emotions of Love turned into absolute fear of God - pain, almost, as I started to lose awareness of myself and become wholly focused on Him.

One time, it got really severe. I had experienced a very intense prayer session and went to lie down, because it was late at night, with that feeling of breathless ecstasy still in my chest. And this time, I had the feeling of being sucked as if into a whirlpool. It is difficult to explain but I had the sensation of being pulled to the extent that I visually - whether in a dream-like state induced by my ecstasy or awake - saw a kind of whirling vortex that was dragging me, my mind, my soul I don’t know - away from my body, into the very heart of something. It reminded me of a tunnel.** It was dark but there were kind of concentric circles made of very thin threads of different colours - blue, purple, green, red, pink - you name it, all around me like a top, and sides and bottom; whirling, whirling and whirling in a cyclinder formation**. I kept going deeper and deeper, and then I got terribly afraid. It seemed to genuinely be taking control of me. I felt as if I had no power over this movement, deeper and deeper into the vortex. I couldn’t go as far as God, or the force or the pull or whatever you call it, wanted me to go. I was too afraid that I was going to die, that the experience was so powerful that I would literally be torn away from my body and become utterly destroyed and reduced to nothing by God or this force, this pull.

…I had just lay down and was very excited because I had just received this wonderful, warm, ecstastic feeling in my chest…And it was just when I lay down in that state, that I felt myself pulled into that tunnel… it was not sleep too me but rather a literal change of location from my bedroom to this tunnel or vortex or whirlpool [the room faded away as if actually breaking up, like a mist and reappeared later on in the same fashion after the experience]…

And so I pulled back. ‘I’ seemed to return and stop this experience and this interjection ended it]. I pleaded in my head, ‘No, I can’t go any further, please’. I pulled and forced myself to resist. I actually remember saying mentally, screaming in my mind, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t go any further’. I resisted and pulled and pleaded and was basically in a state of absolute panic and terror. And before I knew it, I felt myself moving backwards, [up the tunnel?] and eventually I was back in my bedroom again, shaking, freezing cold and terrified. I don’t know how much time had elapsed…It ended up with me that night feeling pulled into a tunnel/whirlpool with the colours as described around me in concentric circles…I was being pulled into this and lost awareness of any physicality…

I still do not know whether I had made myself lapse into some self-automated “state of mind” like a person does when they go on hallucinagenic drugs, or whether it was something different.

I remember feeling initially so light, free and at peace - but then increasingly afraid.

I was seeing circular, amoeboid, or tunnel-like patterns and had the sensation of being “pulled” into them as if it were a tunnel. I felt myself increasingly lose control of and awareness of my body, which was what made me feel terrified.

What I personally found strange about my experience is that when I had it, even though I was perfectly healthy, I feared that if I allowed this tunnel to pull me in that I would die.

I cannot for the life of me though imagine why I would have had such an experience. It seemed to come from nowhere in me and was such a shock compared to the pleasant, peaceful way I had been feeling just before I had it. I had merely been through an intense prayer session and yet, what an odd and frightening thing to have happen?

Whether it came from my imagination or what, I never wanted to - nor did ever - experience it again.

I see such experiences as a distraction from our ultimate aim - spiritual imperfections that must be purged from us. This is the work of the Dark Night that St. John of the Cross describes. Therefore we are not to desire, seek or long for such an experience.

The most profound experience of God is that of “no experience” at all, or nothingness, where we come to know Him in the darkness of pure unknowing and awareness, free of all mental images or thoughts and at rest in stillness.

Clearly with all those coloured, concentric lights I wasn’t there and am still a long way off!

 

[rossum]

In that sense, what is the essence of one’s self?

There is no essence in Buddhism. Essences are a concept from Greek/Thomist philosophy that do not have a place in Buddhism.

What makes me the “me” and not someone else?

Your past. The chain of cause and effect that led you to be here and to be you. You can remember you past, not other people’s past. They can remember their past and not your past. What make you you is your history. Careful observation shows that your history is always changing – every minute you are adding sixty more seconds of history.

Or there’s an essence of the “me” inside myself that interacts with my neurons?

Not an essence, because it is compound, temporary and it changes. There is a non-material component to all humans. Buddhism analyses humans into five elements (skandhas): form, feelings, perceptions, formations and consciousness. Only the first, form, is material. All five are changing, impermanent and lack any essence.

rossum

 

[notself]

=Vouthon;9667722]Brother Bakmoon

I wonder if you could tell me anything further about “nimitas”, the lights which people begin to see as they enter into deep contemplation/meditation. What are they? I am presuming that it cannot be actual light but rather our mind represents this state as a show of lights.

What exactly are these mental phenomena?

nimitta:Mental sign, image, or vision that may arise in meditation. Uggaha nimitta refers to any image that arises spontaneously in the course of meditation. Paṭibhāga nimitta refers to an image that has been subjected to mental manipulation.

I still do not know whether I had made myself lapse into some self-automated “state of mind” like a person does when they go on hallucinagenic drugs, or whether it was something different.

I remember feeling initially so light, free and at peace - but then increasingly afraid.

I was seeing circular, amoeboid, or tunnel-like patterns and had the sensation of being “pulled” into them as if it were a tunnel. I felt myself increasingly lose control of and awareness of my body, which was what made me feel terrified.

Vouthon,
You were in jhana. Since you weren’t prepared for it the loss of the awareness of your body was a shock and your response was fear. Here is a sutta on Jhanas
accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an09/an09.036.than.html
And here is an essay by an American Monk explaining his experience with jhana.
accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/jhananumbers.html

When I first experienced jhana, I lost all sense of time and place. I did not feel my physical body, I was light and in a state of bliss. At the time I didn’t know what to do but just be. It was a wonderful experience. I have had similar experiences since, but this medication that I am on greatly reduces my ability to concentrate. Perhaps after I’m finished with it my concentration will come back.

Vouthon,
Keep reading the essays and books of mystical Catholics. There instructions should mention how you handle and use these jhana states.

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

Not all suffering is bad. Suffering to gain a greater good is sensible for example. But suffering needlessly and pointlessly seems to me to obviously be a bad thing, and true happiness to be a good thing. It is part of the definition of the terms themselves, you could say.

And the Buddhist doesn’t place suffering at the center of our universe; we put happiness and the way to happiness at the center.

See that doesn’t answer the question. Only begs it. You assume this to be true but there is no inherent reason for it in your world view.

 

[Vouthon]

My dear sister Notself

Thank you so much for your reply!

I really appreciate your wisdom and knowledge in this respect.

I will read your links on jhana!

What does Jhana mean? Are the Jhana states somewhat similar to the “seven mansions” - stages of the spiritual journey - described by Saint Teresa?

I do know that in one of the stages the seeker experiences a variety of very strange mental phenomena.

John of the Cross, Ruysbroeck and many other Catholic mystics describe this journey and what one is to do. They have mapped it out in great detail - so I will take your advice and ponder of the words and teachings of those who walked the path before me.

What you describe of jhana is very similar to what Blessed Jacopone experienced (and I quoted at length in the previous thread):

"…What happens to the drop of wine
That you pour into the sea?
Does it remain itself, unchanged?
It is as if it never existed.
So it is with the soul: Love drinks it in,
It is united with Truth,
Its old nature fades away,
It is no longer master of itself.

The soul wills and yet does not will:
Its will belongs to Another.
It has eyes only for this beauty;
It no longer seeks to possess, as was its wont –
It lacks the strength to possess such sweetness.
The base of this highest of peaks
Is founded on non-being,
Shaped nothingness

In God the spiritual faculties
Come to their desired end,
Lose all sense of self and self-consciousness,
And are swept into infinity.
The soul, made new again,
Marveling to find itself
In that immensity, drowns.
How this comes about it does not know.

It is within and sees no exit;
It no longer knows how to think of itself
Or to speak of the wondrous change.
It ventures forth
Onto a sea without a shore
And gazes on Beauty without colour or hue

To lose and to hold tightly,
To love and take delight in,
To gaze upon and contemplate,
To possess utterly,
To float in that immensity
And to rest therein –
That is the work of unceasing exchange
Of charity and truth.

There is no other action at those heights;
What the questing soul once was it has ceased to be.
Neither heat nor fiery love
Nor suffering has place here.
This is not light as the soul has imagined it.
All it had sought it must now forget,
And pass on to a new world,
Beyond its powers of perception

Do not dwell on yourself, nor should you –
A creature subject to multiplicity and change.
Rest in tranquility, loftier than action or feeling.

The intellect no longer hears,
For no sound comes to it,
And intellect sees nothing,
For it has submerged its every power.

The senses no longer give pleasure.
Scent, though given back, no longer delights
And taste turns mute.

Silence has come on the scene -
No longer is there any need for language;
The soul speaks without words,
And closed in silent intimacy, gathers strength.

Now the faculties of the soul, both old and new,
Rest firmly on non-being, formed without form,
With no limits set to time or space, fused with Truth…

All turmoil has faded away,
Opened on the freshness of a new dawn
And the ocean is wide and deep.
Stripped of all thought,
Holding on to nothing.
The will must drown itself.
Nothing, I reapeat, is to be possessed.
This is a rule that is not subject to change

You have cast out both pleasure and displeasure;
Surrendering yourself.
You have drowned both wanting and not wanting
And extinguished desire; yours is unending peace.
You are the flame that purifies
But does not destroy,
That overcomes both heat and cold

Heart, mind, will,
Pleasure, feeling - all are gone…"

***- Blessed Jacopone da Todi (1230 - 1306), Catholic mystic & Franciscan poet ***

So the Catholic mystics describe these various states, and I hope now that if it happened quite so severely again that I would be capable of withstandin it

It was this “loss of mastery over oneself” that terrified the wits out of me I am embarressed to admit

I just wasn’t prepared at that age, as you rightly say, since I didn’t understand what was happening to me.

 

[notself]

Boy this thead is so active, I can’t seem to keep up.

 

[farpinho]

Not an essence, because it is compound, temporary and it changes. There is a non-material component to all humans. Buddhism analyses humans into five elements (skandhas): form, feelings, perceptions, formations and consciousness. Only the first, form, is material. All five are changing, impermanent and lack any essence.

rossum

Then, when I’m reborn, not only my memories will be erased, but also I’ll be a totally new being? i.e. I won’t be exactly me anymore?

 

[farpinho]

Boy this thead is so active, I can’t seem to keep up.

We are all very interested in Buddhism Other than that, this is not exactly a very specific thread, but a lot of different subjects can be talked about within Buddhism

I can see a “Ask a Buddhist III” coming very soon

 

[notself]

We are all very interested in Buddhism Other than that, this is not exactly a very specific thread, but a lot of different subjects can be talked about within Buddhism

I can see a “Ask a Buddhist III” coming very soon

We covered a lot of ground about rebirth and the meaning of enlightenment on the other thread. We talked a bit about metta but didn’t really get into morality and virtue.

We didn’t even touch on the daily lives of laypeople and monks and nuns. We barely scraped the surface of meditation and the types of meditation.

Karma and what is and is not karma and its relationship to dependent origination have not been discusses with any thoroughness.

I agree. if people maintain an interest there could be as many Ask A Buddhist threads as there were “Rocky” pictures.

 

[notself]

Vouthon,

I think you will find these suttas on Nibbana interesting in light of your quotes from the Catholic mystics.

Nibbana names the transcendent and singularly ineffable freedom that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha’s teachings.

Defined in terms of what it is…

“This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Nibbana.”
— AN 3.32

There’s no fire like passion,
no loss like anger,
no pain like the aggregates,
no ease other than peace.

Hunger: the foremost illness.
Fabrications: the foremost pain.
For one knowing this truth
as it actually is,
Unbinding
is the foremost ease.

Freedom from illness: the foremost good fortune.
Contentment: the foremost wealth.
Trust: the foremost kinship.
Unbinding: the foremost ease.
— Dhp 202-205

The enlightened, constantly absorbed in jhana,
persevering, firm in their effort:
they touch Unbinding,
the unexcelled safety from bondage.
— Dhp 23

…and in terms of what it is not

“There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress.”
— Ud 8.1

“There is, monks, an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated. If there were not that unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, there would not be the case that emancipation from the born — become — made — fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, emancipation from the born — become — made — fabricated is discerned.”
— Ud 8.3

Where water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing:
There the stars do not shine,
the sun is not visible,
the moon does not appear,
darkness is not found.
And when a sage,
a brahman through sagacity,
has known [this] for himself,
then from form & formless,
from bliss & pain,
he is freed.
— Ud 1.10

 

[Vouthon]

Absolutely wonderful quotations from the Suttas sister Notself

I find them very interesting indeed!

Especially the one about the “Unbecame, unmade…” Its simply exquisite! I have known of that one before, I read it in a book many years ago. I am reminded of a saying of Nagarjuna:

The ultimate truth transcends all definitions and descriptions, transcends all comments and disputations, transcends all words…The ultimate reality is unmade; it will never be other than what it always is…

       -Nagarjuna

Eckhart, of course, describes God in similar terms as the “unconditioned”:

“…I pray God to rid me of God because conditionless being is above God and above distinction…attaining this, the soul loses her identity. God absorbs her so that as self she becomes nothing, just as the sunlight swallows the dawn…If also say, God is a Being, it is not true; He is transcendent Being and superessential Nothingness. I say that God is neither a being nor intelligent and He doesn’t ‘know’ either this or that. God is free of everything and therefore He is everything. I pray God to make me free of God, for [His] unconditioned Being is above God and all distinctions…God dwells in the nothing-at-all that was prior to nothing, in the hidden Godhead of pure knowledge whereof no man durst speak…The One is a negation of negations…”

***- Meister Eckhart (1260-1329), Catholic mystic & Dominican priest ***

Dionysius the Areopagite perhaps explained it best:

“…By an undivided and absolute abandonment of yourself and everything, shedding all and freed from all, you will be uplifted to the ray of the divine shadow which is above everything that is…Here, renouncing all that the mind may conceive, wrapped entirely in the intangible and the invisible, he belongs completely to what is beyond everything. Here, being neither oneself nor some-one else, one is supremely united by a completely unknowing inactivity of all knowledge, and knows beyond the mind by knowing nothing…It has neither shape nor form, quality, quantity, or weight. It is not in any place and can neither be seen nor be touched. It is neither perceived nor is it perceptible. It suffers neither disorder nor disturbance and is overwhelmed by no earthly passion. It is not powerless and subject to the disturbances caused by sense perception. It endures no deprivation of light. It passes through no change, decay, division, loss, no ebb and flow, nothing of which the senses may be aware. None of all this can either be identified with it nor attributed to it.Again, as we climb higher we say this. It is not soul or mind, nor does it possess imagination, conviction, speech, or understanding. Nor is
it speech per se, understanding per se. It cannot be spoken of and it cannot be grasped by understanding. It is not number or order, greatness or smallness, equality or inequality, similarity or dissimilarity. It is not immovable, moving, or at rest. It has no power, it is not power, nor is it light. It does not live nor is it life. It is not a substance, nor is
it eternity or time. It cannot be grasped by the understanding since it is neither knowledge nor truth. It is not kingship. It is not wisdom. It is neither one nor oneness, divinity nor goodness. Nor is it a spirit, in the sense in which we understand that term. It is not sonship or fatherhood and it is nothing known to us or to any other being. It falls neither within the predicate of nonbeing nor of being. Existing beings do not know it as it actually is and it does not know them as they are. There is no speaking of it, nor name nor knowledge of it. Darkness and light, error and truth—it is none of these. It is beyond assertion and denial. We make assertions and denials of what is next to it, but never of it, for it is both beyond every assertion, being the perfect and unique cause of all things, and, by virtue of its preeminently simple and absolute nature, free of every limitation, beyond every limitation; it is also beyond every denial…”

      ** - Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th-6th century Catholic mystic) **

 

[rossum]

I can see a “Ask a Buddhist III” coming very soon

By the time you get to episode III, you need a snappy title to keep the punters rolling in. I suggest:

Ask a Buddhist III: The Karma Continues



rossum

 

[rossum]

Then, when I’m reborn, not only my memories will be erased, but also I’ll be a totally new being?

Not totally new. Your accumulated unexpired karma and your memories will carry over, they are part of the “formations” element. That is why some people can remember previous lives. The other four do not carry over, but develop anew at the start of your next life.

I won’t be exactly me anymore?

You aren’t anyway. You memories today include memories that you did not have yesterday. Some of your cells have died, others have grown. Your feelings, perceptions and consciousness are all different.

You can never step in the same river twice, because it’s not the same river, and you’re not the same you.

Buddhism emphasises change over stasis:

“Impermanent are all compound things.”
When one realises this by wisdom,
then one does not heed ill.
This is the Path of Purity.

• Dhammapada 20:5

rossum

 

[patrick457]

I’d like to interject but before someone brings this up again: the historical Buddha (Siddhatta Gotama aka Siddharta Gautama aka Shakyamuni) is not that bald, half-naked Chinese monk with the pot belly which many Westerners think about.

Gotama:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)



http://newlotus.buddhistdoor.com/resources/get/abe926189fda6248e7456426f8d7a366df56da78/x.jpg

NOT Gotama:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Buddha_Beipu.jpg/240px-Buddha_Beipu.jpg

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[Vouthon]

By the time you get to episode III, you need a snappy title to keep the punters rolling in. I suggest:

Ask a Buddhist III: The Karma Continues



rossum

Could almost be a Hollywood movie!