First part of....
"How do some things happen in this universe?"
✍️ Snehashis PriyaBarua sir
Is anyone control those? Are there any reasons for them? Sometimes these questions come to our minds.
The Buddha's teachings on karma is not same as other religions. There is a misconception that everything about their present life was caused by actions in the past. In this view, everything that happens to us happened because of something we did in the past.
Buddha actually disagreed with such kind of concept and so he explained five types of factors at work in the cosmos that cause things to happen, called the Five Niyamas. Karma is only one of these factors. Present circumstances are the result of countless factors that are always in flux. There is no single cause that makes everything to be the way it is.
There are no reasons for them and no one is controlling them. It is the nature of this universe.
Utu-niyāma "Physical inorganic law": Utu Niyama is the natural law of non-living matter.
This natural law orders the change of seasons and phenomena related to climate and the weather. It explains the nature of heat and fire, soil and gasses, water and wind. Most natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes would be governed by Utu Niyama.
Put into modern terms, Utu Niyama would correlate with what we think of as physics, chemistry, geology, and several sciences of inorganic phenomena. The most important point to understand about Utu Niyama is that the matter it governs is not part of the law of karma and is not overridden by karma. So, from a Buddhist perspective, natural disasters such as earthquakes are not caused by karma.
Bīja-niyāma "Physical organic law": This law operates in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms to account for heredity, genetics, and the tendency of like to beget like. The Pali word bija means "seed," and so Bija Niyama governs the nature of germs and seeds and the attributes of sprouts, leaves, flowers, fruits, and plant life generally. So this describes that children get their parents genetics and it is a rule of this universe too. Every human, animal and trees inherit their parent’s genetics. Also they can inherit their actions, way of speaking and lot of things.
Citta-niyāma "the constraint of mind": This natural law pertaining to the workings of the mind, the process of cognition of sense objects and the mental reactions to them and also makes possible such feats as telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and recollection of past lives.
The order of the process of mind-activities as the preceding thought-moment causing and conditioning the succeeding one in a cause and effect relation.
We tend to think of our minds as "us," or as the pilot directing us through our lives but in Buddhism, mental activities are phenomena that arise from causes and conditions like other phenomena.
In the teachings of the Five Skandhas, mind is a kind of sense organ, and thoughts are sense objects, in the same way the nose is a sense organ and smells are its objects.
Kammaniyāma "the constraint of kamma: Kamma is volitional action, bodily, verbal, or mental.
Such action produces a result appropriate to itself. The result is not a reward or punishment meted out by some overseer but an inherent consequence of the action itself.
Good actions bring happiness, bad actions bring suffering. Karma provide us fuel to go in this endless Sansara.
The important point here is that Kamma Niyama is a kind of natural law like gravity that operates without having to be directed by a divine intelligence. In Buddhism, karma is not a cosmic criminal justice system, and no supernatural force or God is directing it to reward the good and punish the wicked.
Dhamma-niyāma "the constraint of dhammas": the natural law governing the relationship and interdependence of all things: the way all things arise, exist and then cease. All conditions are subject to change, are in a state of affliction and are not self: this is the Norm.
It often is used to refer to the teachings of the Buddha, but it also is used to mean something like "manifestation of reality" or the nature of existence.
The first four niyama are contained within, or based on, the fifth one, Dhammaniyama, the Law of Dhamma, or the Law of Nature. It may be questioned why Dhammaniyama, being as it were the totality, is also included within the subdivisions. This is because this fourfold categorization does not cover the entire extent of Dhammaniyama.
Above Niyama Dharma can be combined. As an example, let’s say a new born child gets his parents genetics according to the Beeja Niyama. But sometimes he can be blind due to his bad Karma in this Sansara. So Kamma Niyama also combined with the Beeja Niyama in there.
Let’s say a flood or a drought brings us the death or the sufferings and it is not the Karma. It is the Uthu NIyama. But sometimes, if we have most powerful Karma then we can overcome those. So there are variations.
* First Part End *
Bhavatu Sabba Manglam ☸️💝🙏
Second part of “How do some things happen in this universe?” see through “Dependent Origination”
The doctrine of dependent origination shows that the sentient being is nothing but a flow of mental and physical phenomena which arises and continues in dependence on conditions.
The layout of these conditions brings to light the cause of suffering and shows how suffering can be ended.
The doctrine is based on the following principle:
When THIS is present, there is THAT,
With the arising of THIS, THAT arises.
When THIS is not present, there isn't THAT,
With the cessation of THIS, THAT ceases.
Dependent origination is set forth in a series of relations:
1. Dependent on ignorance there are activities;
2. Dependent on activities there is consciousness;
3. Dependent on consciousness there is mentality-materiality;
4. Dependent on mentality-materiality there are the six bases;
5. Dependent on the six bases there is contact;
6. Dependent on contact there is feeling;
7. Dependent on feeling there is craving;
8. Dependent on craving there is clinging;
9. Dependent on clinging there is becoming;
10. Dependent on becoming there is birth;
11. Dependent on birth there is old age and death.
The sequence of events covered by the doctrine falls into three existences — the immediately past, the present, and the future one. The first two factors in the sequence refer to the past life, the last two to the future life, and the rest to this present existence.
However, these events intersect, so the factors assigned to the past and future existences also can be found in the present. The doctrine indicates how and why we came into this present existence and where we came from, confuting two erroneous interpretations of our nature and destiny:
1. that there is a soul, either uncreated or of divine origin, lasting eternally into the future; and
2. that we came into existence from nowhere and face nothing but annihilation at death.
Dependent on ignorance there are activities. From an inconceivable beginning we have performed activities of body, speech, and mind dominated by ignorance. Ignorance is lack of insight into the Four Noble Truths. Any volitional action performed through ignorance becomes kamma with a potential to react, to bring about rebirth, and other consequences in accordance with the kammic law. Only the arahant, who has ended ignorance, can perform volitional acts without forming kamma.
Dependent on activities there is consciousness.
After death the five aggregates disintegrate but kamma remains with its potential intact. This residual kamma helps form the embryo in the new existence. It is responsible for the rebirth consciousness, the first citta of the new life.
The ovum and the sperm constitute the body of the embryo, kamma contributes the mind and mental functions. A kamma formation of the previous existence manifests itself as the passive consciousness which, from the very first moment of conception, receives all the potentialities resulting from past volitional actions. No consciousness passes over from one existence to the next but the stream of consciousness goes on, a flux, constantly becoming.
Dependent on consciousness there is mentality-materiality. The union of the ovum, sperm and rebirth consciousness brings the mental-material compound into being.
Mentality signifies the mental factors conascent with passive consciousness — feeling, perception, volition, contact, and attention.
Materiality comprises the four primary elements of matter and their derivatives, described earlier. It must be noted that kamma plays a role in the arising of materiality too. At the moment of conception kamma generates three units of matter: the decads of sex, body, and the mind basis. In the course of life kamma causes and sustains the functioning of the senses and vitality. Rebirth consciousness is a conascent condition for the arising of materiality.
Thereafter, consciousness conditions materiality via a number of relationships, to be given in the section on conditioning relationships below. Thus mentality and materiality are mutually dependent.
Dependent on mentality-materiality there are the six bases. Once generated and nourished by the mother, the embryo starts to grow. As it grows it acquires four other physical sense bases — the eye, ear, nose, and tongue. The body base appeared at conception as did the sixth sense organ, the mind-base (a collective term for all forms of consciousness).
Dependent on the six sense bases there is contact. Each physical sense base can be stimulated only by its appropriate sense object, i.e., eye-base by forms, ear-base by sounds, nose-base by smells, tongue base by tastes, and the tactile-base by touch.
The mind-base can be stimulated by any thought or idea whether past, present, future, or timeless, whether real or imaginary, sensuous or abstract. When the sense base is stimulated, conditions are present for the appropriate consciousness to arise. The combination of the three — base, object, and consciousness — is called "contact."
Dependent on contact there is feeling. When contact is made with an object through the senses, feeling must also arise. Contact is a conascent condition feeling. The feeling may be agreeable, disagreeable, or neither. It is through feeling that we reap the results of previous kamma. Since kamma resultants differ from one person to another we each experience different feelings.
Dependent on feeling there is craving. Craving is of three kinds — craving for sense pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence. We crave pleasant sensations experienced through the senses. When one pleasant object passes, as it must, we seek another, thirsting for a new pleasant sensation to replace the old. So the search goes on as craving knows no satiation.
Besides pleasures, we also crave existence. In our ignorance we believe there is an abiding self within. Thence we strive and struggle to preserve this self and to provide it with the best conditions. But, at times, we also crave non-existence, as when in a mood of dejection we wish for annihilation, thinking death to be the end. Even if this craving does not become so drastic, it still springs up as the desire to destroy the causes of our distress.
Dependent on craving there is clinging. Clinging is an intensified form of craving. It has the nature of grasping and takes on four forms:
1. clinging to sense pleasures;
2. clinging to wrong views, principally eternalism and nihilism;
3. clinging to rites and rituals; and
4. clinging to a doctrine of self.
This is the most tenacious form of clinging, abandoned only when the stage of stream-entry is attained.
Dependent on clinging there is becoming.
Clinging conditions volitional activities, unwholesome and wholesome, which set the stage for a new existence where they can ripen.
Dependent on becoming there is birth. The unexhausted kammic activities of this life bring about birth into a new existence, finding appropriate conditions to manifest themselves.
Dependent on birth there is old age and death. Once a person is born, decay and death inevitably follow, bringing in their trail sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.
In order to cure any disease its cause must be known and removed. All other treatments are symptomatic. The Buddha taught dependent origination to point out the cause of suffering and to show how it can be uprooted.
To end suffering the cycle of causal origination must be broken at the right link. We cannot end suffering by destroying the psycho-physical organism we inherited as a result of past kamma; this is not the answer to the problem.
We cannot prevent the contact of the senses with their objects, nor the arising of feeling from contact. But our reactions to the feelings we experience, that is different, that is something we can control. We can control them through wisdom. If we understand the feelings that arise to be momentary and without a self, we will not react to them with craving. Thus the right link in the sequence that can be broken is the link between feeling and craving.
Suffering ends with the destruction of craving.
The complete destruction of craving is a formidable task. But, though difficult, it can be approached by degrees. Craving can be gradually weakened and this will start us on the path towards the ideal. The less we crave, the fewer the disappointments; the less the suffering, the greater the peace. In the Four Noble Truths the Buddha teaches us all we need to know: the cause of suffering is craving; the way to achieve this is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.
In this regard it is very helpful to understand “Modes of Conditioning” which will be posted in next post so please keep an eye.
Lending Eyes of others: I see the same with your eye of wisdom, same goes to your opposition.
How far you see depends on condition of each eye & analogy, depend on mind’s eye in coordination with other aggregates. How about if we can see with karuna, metta, mudita & Upekkha?
Generosity, Precept & Meditation: Liberation path start with generosity.
So I am asking myself herewith what more I can do for you & let me know if you can do something for me too.
1. Among all kinds of generosity dhamma talk or gift of dhamma excels all other kinds of gift. “Sabbadanam dhammadanam jinati” – what I am doing herewith you can do too – doing the same or share it or a like with other.
2. If you have any question regarding Buddhism & meditation please don’t hesitate to ask me- by phone + 1 909 665 7331 email barua910@yahoo.com or FB inbox Chat message.
3. You can practice meditation online with me from anywhere of the world with the effort of your home through Zoom. In regard inform your time I will try to catch you. A meditator (meditative) carry all precepts auto when one in meditation.
4. I have lots of digital books, articles collection regarding Different school of Buddhism what I can share with you so if anyone want please let me know.
5. In social development if you have any plan you can share with & so I can participate with you
6. Other than above if there is any other way I can Help you please let me know I will try my level best.
Source not mentioned because: Want to go beyond, “If it is said by x school then that should not be read by Z school“. Neither need to give any credits for this. You may share without hesitation.
Lots of Love - Love U more than I can say - opportunity to practice Dhamma.
Sabbe sattā averā hontu, abyāpajjā hontu, anighā hontu, sukhī hontu!
May all beings be free from enmity, free from affliction, free from distress, May they be happy.
💝☸️🙏
