Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Bhikkhu Bodhi and "the external universe"
Greetings,
From Bhikkhu Bodhi's "A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma"... p. 188:
What is all this about?
SN 12.15 says...
Compare with Bhikkhu Bodhi's "The outer world is quite real and possesses objective existence."
Is the Buddha saying Bhikkhu Bodhi does not possess Right View?
Metta,
Retro.
From Bhikkhu Bodhi's "A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma"... p. 188:
The compendium of process-freed consciousness opens with a rurvey of the topography of the phenomenal world, charting the planes of existence and the various realms within each plane. (See Table 5.1). The author undertakes this survey before examining the types of process-freed consciousness because the external universe, according to the Abhidhamma, is an outer reflection of the internal cosmos of mind, registering in concrete manifest form the subtle gradations in states of consciousness. This does not mean that the Abhidhamma reduces the outer world to a dimension of mind in the manner of philosophical idealism. The outer world is quite real and possesses objective existence. The outer world is always a world apprehended by consciousness, and the type of consciousness determines the nature of the world that appears. Consciousness and the world are mutually dependent and inextriably connected to such an extent that the hierarchical structure of the realms of existence exactly reproduces and corresponds to the hierarchical structure of consciousness.
Because of this correspondence, each of the two, the objective hierarchy of existence and the inner gradation of consciousness, provides the key to understanding the other. The reason why a living being is reborn into a particular realm is because he has generated, in a previous life, the kamma or volitional force of consciousness that leads to the rebirth into that realm, and thus the final analysis all the realms of activity of existence are formed, fashioned, and sustained by the mental activity of living beings. At the same time these realms provide the stage for consciousness to continue its evolution in a new personality and under a fresh set of circumstances
What is all this about?
SN 12.15 says...
Dwelling at Savatthi... Then Ven. Kaccayana Gotta approached the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: "Lord, 'Right view, right view,' it is said. To what extent is there right view?"
"By & large, Kaccayana, this world is supported by (takes as its object) a polarity, that of existence & non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the world as it actually is with right discernment, 'non-existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one. When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right discernment, 'existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.
Compare with Bhikkhu Bodhi's "The outer world is quite real and possesses objective existence."
Is the Buddha saying Bhikkhu Bodhi does not possess Right View?
Metta,
Retro.
0
Comments
Metta,
Retro.
I don't know what this sutta extract actually means - do you?:o
P
A Translation and Exposition of the Upanisa Sutta
by
Bhikkhu Bodhi
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel277.html
( this is a chittamatrin or Yogacara view)
registering in concrete manifest form the subtle gradations in states of consciousness.
( mind only - possible statement regarding valid cognition)
The outer world is quite real and possesses objective existence.
(conventional truth)
The outer world is quite real and possesses objective existence. The outer world is always a world apprehended by consciousness
(mind only)
Consciousness and the world are mutually dependent and inextriably connected to such an extent that the hierarchical structure of the realms of existence exactly reproduces and corresponds to the hierarchical structure of consciousness.
(mind only)
The reason why a living being is reborn into a particular realm is because he has generated, in a previous life, the kamma or volitional force of consciousness that leads to the rebirth into that realm, and thus the final analysis all the realms of activity of existence are formed, fashioned, and sustained by the mental activity of living beings
( karma and why right view eliminates it)
At the same time these realms provide the stage for consciousness to continue its evolution in a new personality and under a fresh set of circumstances
(what a fortunate life )
I don't really understand the question.
P
Obviously B.B. is generating views as a teaching tool. Buddha's non-conceptual approach of (noble) silence avoids views of "it is" or "it is not". B.B.'s teachings are more pragmatic and useful as a tool for understanding but Buddha's silence outweighs all conceptual expressions and is a dynamic expression of that non-conceptual Dharma.
As the Hindu master Ramana Maharshi once said...
"Silence is the highest teaching. The teachings are for those who do not understand that silence."
Regards