A philosophical critique of the Abhidhamma doctrine of momentariness. This paper proposes "Conditional Duration" as a more practical framework for understanding impermanence and continuity in meditation and daily life.
Buddhist Abhidhamma Philosophy divides all of reality into four ultimate constituents—known as the Four Paramatthas: Matter (Rūpa), Mind (Cetasika), Consciousness (Citta), and Nibbāna. In this short video, I offer a…
The wisdom of the elements And their almost sacred dance Their nature, danger, usefulness, The need for them for truthfulness This all here is seeked to get explored And to…
From Greece, to Native America, from Egypt to India, the idea of four fundamental elements which form the foundation for understanding the natural world, is so universal, that a study of them might be an not unrewarding pursuit.
'The Paṭṭhāna', traditionally regarded as the quintessence of the Buddha's wisdom and as the surest proof of his omniscience; is a system which, in mathematical order, seeks to expand the comprehension of matter, mind and consciousness to cover the entirety of existence.
Five laws that move the way of thingsFive laws from which all wisdom springsFive laws, the quintessence of allFive laws to Cosmic view us callThe law of matter is the…
Most people never have enough time, rarely have a good time and in general time seems be something that works usually against them. A person working on a spiritual path can not get around the problem of time. Because acquiring more control over ones life means also acquiring more control over time...
In the ancient world, the wise man was often called the knower of the gods. The gods signifying hidden entities which were believed to be the controlling agents of the…
Many a one would like to increase his own power of attraction, that is, his own capacity to attract whatever he may happen to like. Yet, he does not know…
For a Buddhist practitioner, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the law of kamma, is one of the essential things to aim at. So, here a small elucidation of this very…
How to know the Truth? If your only sphere of knowledge is the sensory world,...It does not make much sense to concern yourself with as to whether something is ultimately…
"When I the starry courses know, And Nature's wise instruction seek, With light of power my soul shall glow, As when with spirits spirits speak." Since ancient times, there have…
Anger Anger is life resisting life. It is when life is identified with what it is not, that it resists its own flow. But as lives vision of life becomes…
A sequence is a chain of things or events, following one after another. Thus, the crux of this condition is to describe, that there is a certain progression as to…
The Mental Body is one key concept of some of the esoteric tradition brought to the west*, which will prove very valuable an idea for anyone who wants to study…
Concepts and Ultimate truth Phenomena are ever only phenomena, words and concepts are ever only words and concepts. But if we possess a word or concept, which has for us…
Bīja Niyama is the law of organic life. Bīja literally means 'seed', in the sense of 'germ of life'. Thus, Bīja Niyama, is essentially the law that governs the growth…
The practice of meditation is very central to Buddhism. However without an understanding of the mind, there are many pitfalls. The idea of Bhavanga, an idea central to the Abhidhamma,…
Using your mind Just repeating something that was said before,... are you using your mind?...If you make a calculator that only shows the input as output..who would buy it? ...Yet,…
Intention is the minds direction. As the mind has learned to give meanings to the objects surrounding it, and based on that made evaluations along the line of 'good' and…
As a person grows in purity, slowly an understanding of the difference between body and mind begins to develop. Hence, the mind becoming purified, perceives itself as an entity apart…
The 4 Elements The four elements were known to most cultures of the past (although in some cultures there were 5). To get any handle on matter, making it an…
Good begets good, bad begets bad. Most people, at the very least have heard such saying. Yet, although there may be situations in life where it is quite obvious what…
Once a person has acquired an understanding of the Niyāma, he may order each item of importance under the functionings of those natural laws. That is, how anything that he…
For gaining a clearer understanding about the mental process, we might consider about it in the light of human development and its relation to the higher faculties. Example: A person…
If we want to learn how to transcend unwholesome states of mind, we need to make a start in understanding those little understood inner forces that we experience as undesirable emotions.
It is only through true understanding, that we may transcend the ignorance which is at the root of all unwholesome emotions.
Here only two examples of some unwholesome emotion and how the understanding of it can help to overcome (/transcend) it.
The fool and the wise often are equally simple natured beings. The main difference therein is, that the fool unconsciously yields to laws which he neither perceives, nor understands. While…
It is usually the lack of capacity of an organism and the higher faculties to respond to higher ideas and positive (or attractive) sense-impressions, that will lead a person to…
Our Body transforms food into energy,... that energy travels through the body along certain channels (the bloodvessels for the most part). Apart from that, there are certain centres in the…
A concept is a synthesis of mind-objects (bits of information) arrived at through mental processing. Through processing the objects of the 5 senses, as well as through learning, the mind…
Hetu Paccaya, often translated as root condition, is too describe the condition of an inner establishment of mental or material phenomena. There is a twofold classification of roots or inner…
Wherever mental or material phenomena exist in a relation of synchronous alignment, they will share certain qualities with each other. All such phenomena are grouped under this relation. In ordinary…
This is just a brief sketch of how our mind and attitude is conditioning the reality that we are experiencing. Showing the connection between two very fundamental laws of existence,…
Here I want to show, higher meditation experiences usually will only occur, when at least part of some higher Dhamma knowledge has become intuitive. Below I give one example of…
I don't see what the future holdsThe past gives me no guidanceToday, tomorrow, any day, seem pointless, useless, anywaySo what then can I say...If the Reaper were to comeThe last…
As choices become more consistent and as the mind becomes more capable of making intelligent kammical calculations that are in alignment with those choices, individuality reaches its peak. Ultimately the…
Bīja literally means ‘seed’, in the sense of ‘germ of life’. Thus this law of Bīja Niyāma, is essentially the law that governs the growth of organic life…from the smallest…
The Buddha declared, that an absolute beginning of things can not be found,…yet in regard to the phenomenal world, whether on a grand scale or in the very tiny things,…
Emotion Emotions are the first stirrings of a latent mind seeking manifestation For doing work with/ for collaborating with some of the good forces of this universe,…big or small…we’d better…
Does it sometimes happen to you, that you have a great idea or a good thought in general, or perhaps even an answer to a question that was for long…
Very often we find different teachings on similar subjects or identical phenomena and we do not know, which one to believe. In the psychology of traditional Buddhism for example there…
Although systems like the Abhidhamma might have had infinitely more relevance...were infinitely more valuable and important before the advent of the commonality of books...still even today many people find them…
Beware that this is a rather old post, one of the first ones perhaps, so some of it might need to be revised. For a better understanding of what the…