Cont'd
Another way to arrive at this conclusion
is through the analysis that all phenomena are "empty" of an essential
identity, and therefore suffering is never inherent in any situation e.g
in the Mahayana tradition (大乘),nirvāna and samsāra, when viewed from the ultimate nature of the Dharmakaya (法身), are not much different because any duallity between nirvāna and samsāra
hold only on the "conventional" level. If it were otherwise, it
will make no sense to suggest that a ordinary mortal can attain nirvāna , like
the Buddha. Since a mortal can attain nirvāna by following the Buddhist
path, if they were ultimately different this would be impossible. Thus,
the duality between nirvāna and samsāra
is only accurate on the "conventional" level. If we accept the analysis
that all phenomena are empty of any essential identity, then it must be
the case that suffering can never truly be inherent in any situation.
If so, liberation from suffering and its causes are not a metaphysical
shift of any kind.
also carries further connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. The
realizing of nirvāṇa has been compared to the ending of avidyā
(ignorance) which perpetuates the will (Pali: cetana
or the purposive impetus that links ethically good and bad attitudes of
mind with corresponding acts of body, speech, and mind) into effecting
the incarnation of mind into biological form passing on forever through
life after life (samsāra). To the Buddha, the root causes of the
continuation of samsara is craving and ignorance. Contrary to popular
belief, a person can attain nirvāna without dying. When a person who has realized nirvāṇa dies, his death is referred as parinirvāna(Pali:
parinibbāna),(般涅槃 or 終極涅槃) when he passes away completely and
definitively from physical life because his physical life was his last
link to the cycle of death and rebirth. He will not be reborn again.
Buddhism holds that the ultimate goal and end of samsāric existence (of
ever "becoming" (不斷重生) and "dying" (死亡) and never truly being (真如) is
realization of nirvāna. According to Sheng Yen
(釋聖嚴), to leave the cycle of life and death does not mean departing
from, leaving or removing oneself from this world or the three domains
or realms (三界 i.e. 慾界, 色界, 無色界). It merely means that a "person" who has
attained nirvāna will no longer be restrained or influenced in this
thoughts, words and deeds by desires within the three domains or realms.
According to Buddhist cosmology, sentient beings ie. ordinary
mortals live in three types of mental. emotional or spiritual
environment viz. the realm of desires or passions (欲界) where people are
constantly afflicted by material or bodily desires which are not even
satisfied and as a result suffer most; the realm of "material form", in
which one constantly pursues or get attached to material forms or things
( 色界) where most of one's desires for such material things are
satisfied and one suffers much less than those still in the realm of
desires (欲界) and finally the realm of "formlessness" or "non-material
forms" (無色界) where one has gotten tired of of having one's material
needs satisfied and pursues instead non-material or more "spiritual"
satisfaction or pleasures like music, art, science, knowledge etc and as
a result suffer even less. The realm of material forms (欲界) can be
further divided into what has been called "4 Zen devas or upper realms"
(四禪天) viz. the primary, the secondary, the third and the fourth upper
Zen realms or abodes. (初禪天、二禪天、三禪天, 第四禪天)。("Dhyāna" or Chan or Zen(襌) is
quiet or silent contemplation or meditation i.e. the practice of
concentrating on an object of contemplation or meditation whereas "deva
(天)" means one of the states or upper abodes to which we may rise and
are characterized by being light, bright, natural, pure, clean.According
to Buddhist doctrine, if one practices Zen, then one's level of
spirituality may be raised. In the primary Zen stage, a person leaves
behind sufferings related to the pursuit of material desires and feels a
certain joy in his body and his mind. Therefore that stage or abode is
called 「離生喜樂地」or the abode of detachment from the pleasures of life。At
the stage of secondary Zen, as a result of constant practice, the
practitioner feels more and more joy for longer and longer periods of
time and that stage or abode is sometimes called 「定生喜樂地」or the land of
stabilized pleasures of life. In the third Zen stage, the practitioner
has completely left behind the pursuit of his material desires and left
behind all bodily pleasures, leaving only mental or spiritual pleasures
and hence that stage or abode is called「 離喜妙樂地」or the wonderful abode of
detachment from (all) pleasures。At the fourth Zen stage, the practitioner has
achieved constant, stable and permanent peace of mind because he has
ceased to make or care about making distinctions or form concepts about
what is good/ what is bad, what is self, what is not self etc. hence
that stage is called 「捨念清淨地」or the pure land or abode of detachment from
concepts。According to Sheng Yen(聖嚴), the arahant may attain the 9th Zen
of permanent enlightenment or complete liberation from suffering and
samsara by two paths: (1) through further and deeper contemplation or
meditation (入定) in which case liberation itself is the same as the
attainment of enlightenment. This path is called "liberation through
meditation" (「定解脫」). (2) through what is called "liberation through
enlightenment" (「慧解脫」) ie. attaining wisdom or enlightenment directly
through intuition.
However, the Mahayana and the Theravada traditions have different views on the ultimacy of nirvāna.
Although both traditions opposes samsāra to nirvāna and make the
deliverance from samsāra, the starting point of their different types of
training and practices, the Mahayana schools treat this polarity as a
preparatory lesson tailored for those with blunt faculties to be
eventually superceded by some higher realization of the concept of
non-duality but theTheravadians treat this antithesis as determinative of
the final goal: the transcendence of samsāra and the achievement of
liberation in nirvāna.nirvāna and hold that the two states remain distinct, even for the
Buddha and the arahants. However both agree that even after the Buddha
attained enlightenment and nirvāna, he remained in the world of samsāra
to preach the dharmas to other suffering sentient beings.The idea of nirvāna as purified, non-dualistic 'superior mind' can be found in some
Mahayana/Tantric texts. The Samputa (吉祥遍至口和本經,) a Tibetan sutra recently
found in Ningsha (寧夏賀蘭縣) said eg. that "Undefiled by lust and emotional
impurities, unclouded by any dualistic perceptions, this superior mind
is indeed the supreme nirvāna" ( Takpo Tashi Namgyal Mahamudra
Shambhala 1986 219),
十二因緣的道理，顯明過去、現在、未來三世起惑、造業、受苦的因果關係。
回覆刪除因有「無明」煩惱，而於過去世造作諸業「行」，故由「識」託胎，進而有「名色」，接著形成「六入」，出生時與外境接「觸」，便產生種種感「受」，由此起貪「愛」、執「取」，又復「有」未來之果報，繼續於來世受「生」，終至「老死」。眾生因無明不覺，而生死相續，永無休止，稱為十二因緣生死流轉門。
[版主回覆10/20/2011 18:23:20]The Buddha lived during a time when Hinduism was still prevalent. His ideas of the samara was probably just a "convenient" way (方便法) of helping the Brahmins understand what he found under the Bodhi tree ie. the root cause and subsidiary causes for the perpetuation of human suffering in this world. Hence he "adopted" and then "adapted" the Hindu doctrine of the constant reincarnation/rebirth of the time to help "sentient beings" learn about the Dharma. He refused to answer questions posed by his disciple Malunkyaputta of whether the universe is eternal, finite, whether the soul is identical to the body and whether the tathagata continues to exist after death or whether it both exists and not exist after death on the ground that such questions are of no assistance to helping "sentient beings" achieve "enlightenment" or "wisdom". But his analysis of the causes of suffering and how one thing may lead to another is very original. Thanks for you elaboration of the relationships between the 12 nidanas..