Doubts arising in my mind

misecmisc1

Hi All,

Some doubts have started arising in my mind now - i know doubt is a hindrance, but if we just believe everything, then also it would not be the way which Buddha taught , because as per Buddha's teachings, we should not believe in anything, until we find it true by ourself.

So the questions arising in my mind are - how is the karma getting transferred from one life to next life, or , from one moment to next moment? if there is no entity which subscribes to karma, then how all the karmic actions are kept noted, so that their consequences can be later felt?

If we do not have any belief, then how do we know there is Nirvana - or - the cessation of all conditioned phenomena?

One more query in layman terms - Even though i have read in many Dhammapada stories that many people attained arhantship or Nirvana. But was Buddha's Awakening something different that no other person attained that level of Awakening - because if i see history, then the only Awakened person i find is Buddha. Or may be the case is Buddha got famous because he first realized and taught the path - but the other people just followed him, so their Awakening was not a sort of discovery as Awakening was already discovered and so they did not become famous. I know Awakening has nothing to do with becoming famous - but still somehow i am getting this feeling that the only person, who was Awakened, was Buddha.

Please share your views about the above queries. Thanks in advance.

Sabre

You can get rid of doubt multiple ways. One is having certain experiences that remove doubt. It seems this is what you are looking for, but that's not something you can just decide upon.

So choose another method. Here's one for you that worked wonders for me: There is only doubt if you identify with it, if you make it important. Especially westeners seem to want to understand everything before they dip their toe in. But often it is just great not to know. To agree with not knowing - the beginners mind - this removes doubt.

DairyLama

To agree with not knowing - the beginners mind - this removes doubt.

I think it's about being able to live with uncertainty. Not knowing can be uncomfortable, but it can also be very liberating because with an open mind possibilities remain open.

Cloud

misecmisc1 said:

how is the karma getting transferred from one life to next life, or , from one moment to next moment? if there is no entity which subscribes to karma, then how all the karmic actions are kept noted, so that their consequences can be later felt?

If we do not have any belief, then how do we know there is Nirvana - or - the cessation of all conditioned phenomena?

One more query in layman terms - Even though i have read in many Dhammapada stories that many people attained arhantship or Nirvana. But was Buddha's Awakening something different that no other person attained that level of Awakening - because if i see history, then the only Awakened person i find is Buddha.

1) Karma. Karma isn't something you "have", rather it's related to you... to the aggregates that constitute all of what you are. It's cause and effect really, though it's specifically about your intentional actions and the kind of results that come of them. If you spit in someone's face, do you not see how this can cause harmful results both now and in the future? It has nothing to do with a soul, and needs no soul to work. Don't think too hard about it, karma's not meant to be something we can know "specifically", but generally like this. If we can see that harmful actions come back and bite us in the ass, which should be evident to anyone who's lived a while, then we understand karma. "You reap what you sow". As to rebirth that's more complicated, but as the new life is caused by the prior life, the karmic conditions or seeds are said to also carry over or be attributed to the new life. That can make your head hurt to think about it, so I wouldn't suggest getting bogged down by it.

2) Nirvana. This is something we have to have faith or confidence in. We begin by analyzing the Four Noble Truths and also the marks of existence. When we see that everything is impermanent and not-self (selfless), it becomes reasonable to us that our craving and clinging is only going to cause us frustration and suffering. Nirvana is nothing more than the gradual elimination of this craving that we have, and then suffering doesn't arise anymore. Nirvana is the mind becoming still, no longer seeking or avoiding. Of course we can't know this for sure until we experience it for ourselves, which is called stream-entry, but if we have confidence in the Noble Eightfold Path as taught by the Buddha (and followed by many for centuries), we can come to know Nirvana some day.

3) Enlightened peeps. There have been plenty of enlightened individuals, and there are many arahants or "worthy ones" (as well as anagamis, sakadagamis and sotapannas... non-returners, once-returners and stream-winners) spoken of in the Buddhist literature. Each new "master" in a Buddhist lineage is enlightened, if not fully then still mostly. They pass on this wisdom to one or more students. Each tradition persists because students become masters (not through knowledge, but through wisdom... through enlightenment). All of the Zen masters of old, such as Dogen, were enlightened and wrote their own works on what "this" (reality) is all about. In general you're not going to hear about enlightened people because they don't claim enlightenment... they simply are enlightened, and they're out there teaching so that others can come to the same freedom.

misecmisc1

@sabre and @PedanticPorpoise : good points, thanks.

Hi All,
Seeing the way others are striving for in this material world, then more doubts arise in my mind -

since i cannot recollect my past life, so how to know if there exists a past life - in other words, how to know if there is rebirth, or, this is the only life?

instead of enjoying in sensual pleasures, if i just try to refrain from it, and then if in the end, i do not achieve anything, then what is the point of practicing the spiritual path?

if suppose there is rebirth and law of karma holds, then since we do not know how much bad karma we have already done in our past lives, there exists a possibility that we have done so much bad karma in our past lives, that it may take a hundred more lives to bear their consequences, so what is the point of refraining us from sensual pleasures in this current life, as any how we have to still live a hundred lives more?

Any thoughts, please. Thanks in advance.

Cloud

@misecmisc1, The point is not about your past life, or a future life. Those are just meant to show you that it goes on and on and on... that the past did nothing but lead to this life now that is unsatisfactory, and this life will lead to another unsatisfactory life, without end. You can't know about the past or the future, and worrying about it won't solve a thing, so you need to concentrate on "right now", this very life. That's all we can do.

The point is that if you're suffering now, there's a reason for it. The reason is craving. The reason for the craving is ignorance of reality as it truly is (impermanent, not-self, unsatisfactory). The cure is the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes meditation so that you can see for yourself that nothing lasts or has any independence from what gives birth to it. It's seeing for yourself that really does the trick!

That's the reason to pursue enlightenment. If you don't think that the worldly way of doing things is just an endless cycle of happy/sad/happy/sad (or up/down/up/down) that is always going to be that way (unless you stop the cycle), then there's no reason to aim for enlightenment. The cause of people seeking enlightenment is generally that they are suffering in this worldly life, and they do see that the Noble Eightfold Path leads away from this suffering.

It's all about what you want out of life... more of the same B.S., or to put it all down and be at peace.

poptart

Don't worry about the future. There is only the present moment and you should strive to be present in the moment and let tomorrow or next week take care of itself.
Similarly, don't worry about the past or past lives. They are gone and irrelevant to you at this present moment.
You do not have to refrain from sensual pleasures so long as you do not make the pursuit of them into your whole purpose. Accept what comes to you and enjoy it. There is nothing to achieve except the realisation of who you truly are and you can only achieve that by being wholly present in the present moment.

DairyLama

instead of enjoying in sensual pleasures, if i just try to refrain from it, and then if in the end, i do not achieve anything, then what is the point of practicing the spiritual path?

I think a lot of Buddhists ask themselves questions like this. All we can really do is practice and see what happens - does practice make us wiser and more compassionate, and do we suffer less?