[Buddha-l] Non-arising

[M.B. Schiekel]

Am 23.02.2010 01:56, schrieb Dan Lusthaus:
> 
> You ask, re: Lamotte's footnote 119 in the Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra tramslation 
> (tr. from French to English by the late Sara Boin-Webb), about his comment 
> that kṣānti is used in (at least) two senses: 'patience' and 'certainty,' 
> and, since the typical Skt. Eng. dictionaries don't mention the latter 
> meaning, whether I agree with Lamotte's comment. Yes?
> 
> Short answer: Yes.
> Longer answer: ...


Dear Dan,

thank you for your long answer. I value your comments and explanations
and I'm glad, that you take the time sharing your extensive knowledge
with us.

1. kṣānti:
"kṣānti is associated with the Earth". Yes, I remember many suttas and
sutras, where the earth is named as an example for patience and
equanamity. But I can see nothing that assists Lamotte's 'certainty'
(except perhaps 'The state of saintly abstraction').

2. 'anupattika-dharma':

> That would assume that Mahayana is coherent. There is nothing coherent in a 
> doctrinal system grounded on causal analysis that suddenly argues, without 
> coherent argument, that nothing arises or ceases.

This is a wonderful declaration :-)  But:
3. I think, we do agree, that the Mahayana system is an open system and
so is changing all the time. So the hole system cannot be very coherent
in itself (it has no self) - but some parts of this system may change
faster and some parts may change slower and so may show some coherence
over longer time periods. And 'anupattika-dharma' might be such an slow
changing notion. We can find it i.e. in the Nibbana Sutta, Ud 8.1 (PTS:
Ud 80), (transl. by Thanissaro Bhikkhu):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.8.01.than.html :
"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 staying; neither passing
away nor arising: unestablished, unevolving, without support (mental
object).This, just this, is the end of stress."

4.
> There is nothing coherent in a doctrinal system grounded on causal
> analysis that suddenly argues, without coherent argument, that
> nothing arises or ceases.
As far as my own meditation experience is concerned, I can confirm the
existence of states of consciousness, where there is no more perception
of time, or in other words, where the feeling is, that time is frozen or
'absolute' - and I do interpret all these different words of
'non-arising' as an attempt to describe such meditative experiences.
These different descriptions of say 'nondual experience' seem for me
very coherent throughout the ages.
(Another and more recent issue is, if this experience is 'only' a
neurological matter).

Thank you - with best wishes,
bernhard


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