[Buddha-l] Re: Problems with karma (jkirk) (Mitchell Ginsberg)

[Mitchell Ginsberg]

Hello Dhammananda and Joanna and all, 
Revisiting the passages of Dhammananda who replied with 
explicit information. Dhammananda wrote in part: 
The eight causes of feeling then given are:
1. Originating from bile (pittasamu.t.thaana)
2. Originating from phlegm (semhasamu.t.thaana)
3. Originating from wind (vaatasamu.t.thaana)
4. Originating from an imbalance [of the three] (sannipaatikaana)
5. Arising from a change of climate (utupari.naamaja)
6. Arising from careless behaviour (visamaparihaaraja)
7. Caused by assault (opakkamika)
8. Consisting in the ripening of kamma (kammavipaaka)
Also, the Kathaavatthu offers a more formal refutation of 
pubbekatahetuvaada (Kvu. 545-6; _Points of Controversy_ 314-5).
******my new questions follow********* 
I have checked in the Kvu and found a general discussion of 
kamma as the sole cause, but nothing about these specific
eight elements, and esp. nothing on the meaning of either
sannipaatikaana or visamaparihaaraja. 
Even these terms go beyond what I find in the passage of the SN. 
The "imbalance" that is given as the fourth item is taken by several
scholar-translators as meaning an imbalance among the preceding
three items. 
That is interesting in its own way (that a relationship or ratio between 
elements was listed as itself a separate element), but that aside, what
I am most wondering about is the rendering of the term visama. (Since
this is vi + sama I am somewhat surprised to see Skt. vi.sama, rather 
than visama; and wonder if this is what some call an unerwartete 
Zerebral.) But that aside, how is the term itself understood, and how
we do get unmindful as its gloss? 
I see Nyanaponika has "adverse behavior" for the sixth in the list: 
"Produced by (disorders of the) bile, there arise, Sivaka, certain kinds 
of feelings. That this happens, can be known by oneself; also in the world 
it is accepted as true. Produced by (disorders of the) phlegm... of wind... 
of (the three) combined... by change of climate... by adverse behavior... 
by injuries... by the results of Kamma — (through all that), Sivaka, there 
arise certain kinds of feelings. That this happens can be known by oneself; 
also in the world it is accepted as true. 
taken from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.021.nypo.html
while Thanissaro has "uneven care of the body" :
"There are cases where some feelings arise based on phlegm... based on internal 
winds... based on a combination of bodily humors... from the change of the seasons... 
from uneven care of the body... from harsh treatment... from the result of kamma. 
You yourself should know how some feelings arise from the result of kamma. Even 
the world is agreed on how some feelings arise from the result of kamma. So any 
priests & contemplatives who are of the doctrine & view that whatever an individual 
feels — pleasure, pain, neither pleasure-nor-pain — is entirely caused by what was 
done before — slip past what they themselves know, slip past what is agreed on by 
the world. Therefore I say that those priests & contemplatives are wrong."
taken from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.021.than.html
Is there anything showing the meaning here of visama on the basis of the term's 
use elsewhere in the Tipitaka or in atthakathaa somewhere? 
thanks for all comments. 
Mitchell

==========
In memoriam Robert Solomon:
http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa/books/TheInnerPalace/TIP_RCS.html
For information on psychotherapy with links of interest:
http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa/mentalhealth.html
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa


       
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