Coming up on this site - Laws of the Nature. Be patient, visit regularly.

Buddhism (The laws of the nature) is difficult to understand. There must be foundations to understand Buddhism on earth where Buddhism can be established. The 'spiritual laws of the nature' will not make any sense to those people who believe in God, all mighty. Everything is God's will; God reward; God punish; God forgive. Somebody can commit serious crimes and ask God to forgive him so that his sin will vanish. Or even worst, somebody can commit very serious crime and he believes that God will reward him for doing so. That will never happen. These are very dangerous ideas which will only destroy oneself.

Our existence is conditioned or binding. In other word, it is the 'cause and effect' that our existence is experiencing. We were born because there was cause from our previous lives and that 'effect of the cause' is we were born. So, first basic foundation to understand Buddhism is "cause and effect", that is laws of kama. Kama, in very simple words, is "what we do what we get", "what we sow what we reap". There is no creator. God never created men; men created God because they do not understand why things are happening to them - good or bad. So, they created God. God is doing it; everything is God's will. Human’s understanding has limitations; human cannot understand everything. That is why a Buddha never says anything that human cannot understand, although Buddhas know everything. Buddhas are also human; but not like any other human. They are enlightened One. When someone asked Buddha, Are you a human? Buddha said, "No". Then he asked, Are you a deva from heaven? Buddha said, "No". Are you a Brahma from Brahma world? Buddha said, "No". Then he said, 'Who are you then?' Buddha gave him an example. "A lotus flower is born out of water, belongs to water, but stays above the water". What Buddha ment was "a Buddha is born out of mankind, belongs to human world, but stays above all other human." What Buddha was telling him is "Buddhas are not ordinary human." A Buddha cannot be compared with any other human. In that sense, Buddha said “No” , when asked "Are you a human?" That is why nobody can take place of a Buddha after Buddha passed away.

We were born, again and again, depending on our Karma. We were born many, many times, infect countless times according to Buddha, in the past and will be born in the future as long as kama (cause) is there. How it all started (origin)? What is that born again? When we born again, is it the same as we are today? Where are the places we were born again and again? There is only one religion on earth where we find these foundations -- cycle of birth and kama. That is in Hinduism in India. That is why every Buddha is born in a Hindu Royal family in India and establishes Buddhism there. After Buddhism is established, it spread all over the world.

The culture of renunciation and searching for truth

To be continued...

Why Buddhism faded away in India today, although it was a major faith well over one thousand years after Buddha passed away?

At the time of Buddha, someone asked Buddha:"What will be the future of the great teaching you have established?" Buddha said: "It will fade away where it is originated, one day it will go to the east and it will stay there." That is what exactly happened. To learn more about what really happened on the ground that caused Buddhism to fade away where it was originate, please refer to the book - History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy By Dr. Beni Madbab Barua, late Professor and Head of the Department of Pali, Calcutta University, India.

In the Blessed One's Final Exhortation Buddha said: "If it is desired, Ananda, the Sangha (monk order) may, when I am gone, abolish the lesser and minor rules. But, Buddha did not elaborate which minor rules can be abolished. Since Ananda, at this point, did not ask what the minor rules were, the Sangha decided not to abolish any of the rules of the Vinaya (Code of disciplines). Buddha knew one day Buddhism will go to the east and in countries like China, Japan and Korea, it is very cold and monks will not be able to observer all the disciplines. That is why Buddha paved the way so that disciplines could be changed to suit the climate of those places. Buddha also knew that original disciplines will remain unchanged in the Theravada Buddhism. About five hundred years after Buddha passed away, Mahayana Buddhism was born and they gave the reason that Buddha gave the permission to change the disciplines just minutes before Buddha passed away.

Coming up on this site - Laws of the Nature. Be patient, visit regularly.

The horizontal line, maximum limit at any one time, moves very slowly and it is moving downwards,
thereby decreasing the maximum limit. It will ultimately go down to ten years, which will be the
maximum years a human could live at that time. Then, it will rise gradually and at the maximum a
human will be able to live hundreds of thousands of years. After that, the limit will start fall to
ten years. This cycle will go on. To complete one cycle, it takes billions of years.

Coming up on this site - Laws of the Nature. Be patient, visit regularly.

Coming up on this site - Laws of the Nature. Be patient, visit regularly.

Kalpa is a unit of time.

The Buddha had not spoken about the exact length of the kalpa in number of years. However, He had given several astounding analogies to understand it.

1.   Imagine a huge empty cube at the beginning of a kalpa, approximately 16 miles in each side. Once every 100 years, you insert a tiny mustard seed into the cube. According to the Buddha, the huge cube will be filled even before the kalpa ends.

2.   Imagine a gigantic rocky mountain at the beginning of kalpa, approximately 16 x 16 x 16 miles (dwarfing Mt. Everest). You take a small piece of silk and wipe the mountain once every 100 years. According to the Buddha, the mountain will be completely depleted even before the kalpa ends.

In one situation, some monks wanted to know how many kalpas had died so far. The Buddha gave the analogy:
If you count the total number of sand particles at the depths of the Ganges river, from where it begins to where it ends at the sea, even that number will be less than the number of passed kalpas. How many Buddhas appear in a kalpas?

The maximum number of Buddhas can appear in a kalpa is five. This kalpa is such a kalpa. Our Gautama Buddha is the fourth, and the last Buddha in this kalpa, Ariya Maitreya Buddha, will appear before the end of this kalpa. There are kalpas where not even one Buddha appears at that time. But there is another type of Buddha called pacceka Buddhas appear during that kalpa.

Many pacceka Buddhas may arise at a single time. They also achieve enlightenment on their own, without the use of teachers or guides. Sammasambuddha, like Gautama Buddha, appears only one at a single time. Never two parallel Sammasambuddha appear at the same time. Gautama Buddha’s dispensation is five thousand years. Previous Buddha’s dispensation was eighteen thousand years. Previous Buddha, Kasapa Buddha, also lived eighteen thousand years because at that time, human life span was eighteen thousand years. If anyone claims to be a Buddha at this time, he is a fake one.

Pacceka Buddhas never set the wheel of law in motion, establishing Buddhism, although they know exactly like Sammasambuddha, thus cannot teach the four Nobel truth and Eight Nobel Path.They only teach about kamma and moral principles to the people, and never tell anyone they are pacceka Buddhas.

Story behind the story

There are two versions of stories about the pervious life of King Asoka, who ruled the entire subcontinent about three hundred years after Buddha passed away. What was the Kama behind that king Asoka could rule the entire subcontinent? After making a donation to a Sammasambuddha or a pacceka Buddha, with full of faith, make a wish, that wish is guaranteed to come true.

One version tells like this:

The Gift of Honey to a pacceka Buddha

The tale of Asoka’s act of merit in a past life that resulted in his being reborn as a great king is told in slightly different terms in the Mahāvaṃsa and the Aśokāvadāna. The Sri Lankan chronicle’s version of the story recounts the monarch’s gift of honey: Once in time past, there were three brothers, traders in honey; one used to sell the honey, two would go to get it. Now a certain paccekabuddha was sick from a wound; and another paccekabuddha, who, for his sake, wished for honey, came even then to the city on his alms round. A maiden who was going for water to the riverbank, saw him. When she found out that he was looking for honey, she pointed with outstretched hand and said: “Yonder is a honey store, sir, go there”. The paccekabuddha went there and the trader, with believing heart, gave him a bowlful of honey, so that it ran over the edge. And as he saw the honey filling the bowl and flowing over the edge and streaming down to the ground, he, full of faith, made a wish: “May I, for this gift, come by undivided sovereignty over Jambudīpa (subcontinent), and may my command reach forth a yojana (approximately a few miles) upward into the air and a yojana downward under the earth (to include the realm of the nāgas).” He then said to his brothers: “To a man of such and such a kind I have made an offering of honey; agree thereto since the honey is also yours.”… Wishing to share in his merit-making, his brothers gave their sanction. Pacceka Buddha was on the way back to the monastery. The young maid saw and she came out of her house. She asked Pacceka Buddhas, "Did he donate honey to you, Sir?" Pacceka Buddha said, "Yes." Then she asked, "What did he wished, Sir?" Pacceka Buddha said, "He wished to be a king who rules the whole subcontinent.” The maid then said, "Is that what he wished? Then, I wish to be his queen for this merit I have done – showing the way to his store, Sir." The story then goes on to identify the main characters involved: Asoka was the merchant who gave the honey, his brothers who approved the gift became the novice Nigrodha (who inspired Asoka to become a Buddhist) and the Sri Lankan king Devānampiya Tissa, and the maiden who pointed out the honey store became Asoka’s chief queen Asaṃdhimittā.

Another version tells like this:

Asoka's Gift of Dirt to Gautama Buddha

The honey merchant passes away and is reborn as a deva in one of the heavens. Then, after some time there, he dies and is reborn as a young boy playing in the dust of the road in Rājagṛha at the time of the Buddha. He offered a gift of dirt he was palying with to Buddha. The Buddha asks Ananda to mix it with water and make a sort of plaster out of it to use to repair some cracks in the monastery walls. The story is told in the Aśokāvadāna: One morning, when the Blessed One was dwelling at Kalandakanivāpa in the Veṇuvana near Rājagṛha, he put on his robes, took his bowl and entered the city for alms…. Soon he came to the main road where two little boys were playing at building houses in the dirt. One of them was the son of a very prominent family and was named Jaya, while the other was the son of a somewhat less prominent family and was named Vijaya. Both of them saw the Buddha whose appearance is very pleasing, his body adorned with the thirty-two marks of the Great Man. And young Jaya, thinking to himself "I will give Him some ground,” threw a handful of dirt into the Buddha’s bowl. Vijaya approved of this by making an añjali…. After presenting this offering to the Blessed One, Jaya then proceeded to make the following resolute wish: “By this root of good merit, I would become king, and, after placing the earth under a single umbrella of sovereignty, I would pay homage to the Blessed Buddha." Then Buddha smiled. When Ananda saw that Buddha smiled, he asked Buddha "Do you see anything? a Buddha never smile for no reason." With Buddha’s miraculous seeing powers, a Buddha sees everything what normal human do not see. Then Buddha said to Amanda "This boy will be born about three hundred years later and become a great king. He will spread Buddhism far and wide." The text then goes on to make clear the identification between Jaya and King Aśoka and also between his friend Vijaya and Aśoka’s subsequent prime minister Rādhagupta. In the one, the offering that is made is of honey needed for a sick pratyekabuddha. In the other, the gift is of dirt, an impure substance, unneeded and perhaps unwanted by the Buddha. In the one, the giver is accompanied by a woman who is to become his queen and by his two brothers. In the other, the boy is joined by his companion who is to become his prime minister.

The gift of dirt attributes to ugliness and harshness

Aśoka is said to be physically ugly, to have rough skin, and to be disliked by his father and the women of his harem. Significantly, the text attributes this ugliness and harshness specifically to the dubious nature of Aśoka’s act of merit in a past life — to his gift of dirt. When Aśoka meets the Elder Upagupta and notices that the Elder’s skin is soft and smooth while his own is coarse, rough, and unpleasant to the touch, Upagupta does not mince words in explaining the karmic reasons for this: "That is because the gift I gave to that peerless person (the Buddha) was very pure and pleasing; I did not offer the Tathagata a gift of dirt like you!"

King Asoka and Buddhism. Edited by Anuradha Seneviratna

Someone asked Buddha, "What are the differences between human and animal?" Buddha said "what makes human different from animal is human have shame and fear, which animals do not have." What about those human who do not have shame and fear?

What is shame in this instance?
Shame here is shameful of doing evil things.
What are the roots of evil?This will be discussed in this web site later.
What is fear in this instance?
Fear in this instance means fearful of the effect (resultant kama) of evil deeds.

Are those human who do not have shame and fear same as animals?
They are not animals because they are still experiencing human existences, but their behaviour is inhuman which will lead to a state of deprivation after death.
Are men mad when they are committing those grave misdeeds?
Buddha said men are mad. Why? (will be discussed later in this web site.)

Intelligent animal - monkey
One full moon day in the month of Vadra (August-September), Buddha was going for alms as usual in the morning with hundreds of monks following behind, giving the chance to people to gain enormous good kama. People were lined up, like today in Buddhist countries, to offer donations to Buddha. Sitting on a tree, one monkey noticed and a wish had arisen in him that he wanted to donate something to Buddha, like everybody else was donating. He looked around and saw a beehive in one of the branchs of the tree. He then took a branch of a tree and carefully took the beehive hanging on the edge of the branch and offered that beehive with full of honey to Buddha. First, Buddha did not accept his donation. The monkey was thinking something might be wrong there what I am offering to Buddha because Buddha accept everybody else donation. Somehow, the monkey figured it out that there were bees in the beehive. Buddhas never accept another creature as donation. The monkey quickly took the beehive to some distance away and got rid of the bees and then offered the beehive to Buddha. This time Buddha accepted his offer. All other people were astonished to see how intelligent was that monkey. Buddha said, "this monkey will be reborn in heaven after he die because of the good kama he has acquired by donating to a Buddha." That full moon day is called Madu Purnima, which means honey-full moon day, in India and Bangladesh Buddhist communities. They still offer honey to Buddha and monks on this full moon day, honouring the monkey.

Intelligent Elephant
Devadatta, the son of Suppabuddha, the maternal uncle of the Buddha, was very jealous of Buddha since childhood. Although he also became a monk after Buddha was enlightened, his ill will never diminished. He attempted Buddha's life three times in vain. One day, Devadatta claimed his superiority over Buddha to assume the leadership of the monk order by giving the reason that Buddha was old and senile. He was not given much attention by the monks and could only managed to take away a few hundred monks as his followers, dividing the monk order.
King Bimbisara, a devoted follower of Buddha, was the chief patron of the Buddhist monk order. Devadatta planned to eliminate King Bimbisara which would mean the loss of royal patronage to the monk order. Devadatta managed to persuade Ajatashatra, son of King Bimbisara, to kill his father and become king.
First Attempt
Devadatta employed sixteen archers to kill the Buddha. But the archers in turn became the devotees of the Buddha.
Second Attempt
Devadatta himself then tried to kill the Buddha by hurling down a great rock from a peak of the mount Gijjhakuta when Buddha was walking down the slopes. The Buddha, however, escaped because two peaks appeared from the ground and arrested the advancement of the rolling rock. However, a small debris hit one of Buddha's foot and a small amount of blood was shed.
Third Attempt
Devadatta then persuaded the royal elephant-keepers to let loose a fierce elephant Nalagiri, also called Dhanapala, on the path of the Buddha by making him drunk with toddy. Thus Nalagiri was let loose. The ferocious and dangerous looking intoxicated elephant when walked on the streets the people fled at his sight. Yet, the Buddha kept on walking in his usual dignity and composure, though, Ananda tried to prevent and protect him. In the meanwhile, a frightened woman running helter-skelter dropped her baby on the feet of the Buddha. When the advancing animal was just about to trample the baby the Buddha in his usual equipoise touched the animal’s forehead and stroked it gently. Calmed by the Buddha’s patting the elephant bowed down before him on his knees. Infect, Buddha's immeasurable compassion toward totally drunk Nalagiri made him kneel down on Buddha's feet. The people, further, noticed that the Buddha delivered a sermon on dhamma to the elephant, telling Nalagiri not to drink, he will get a good life when he is reborn. Nalagiri always remembered what Buddha said to him and never took any intoxicated drink after that day. Buddha completely changed Nalagiri's way of life.

Some monks told Buddha that they will guard Buddha's monastery at night. Buddha told that it is not necessary as nobody can take a Buddha's life. Soon after the third attempt, Devadatta fell very sick and realised his misbehaviours. He was on his way to the monastery to see Buddha to apologise and stopped for a while to wash his face near a pond. While he lowered his body to fetch water, the earth split and he was falling to hell. Buddha appeared there and told Devadatta, "I unconditionally forgive you what you had done against me. But, one thing I cannot do anything - you have divided monk order." Devadatta put his hands together and apologised to Buddha and fell between the gap and his body was never found. Then Buddha said, "Devadatta is now in Avisi Naraka. He will be there many kalpas and when his evil kama weakened no more operative, he will be reborn as a human. Because he apologised Buddha and also has good kama he had done in his previous births, he will become a Paccheka Buddha." Why he cannot achieve a Sammasambuddha?

Beings Who commit these three Kama cannot achieve enlightenment as Sammasambuddha
Killing parents, dividing monk order (which Devadatta committed), and shedding blood of a Buddha (which also Devadatta committed).

Who was Devadatta?
Buddha told in Jataka stories about Devadatta, since when he started rivalry against Buddhisattva. Buddha met Devadatta many times in pervious existences.

Why King Bimbisara was killed by his son by keeping him in a prison cell without food until he died?
Buddha told what was King Bimbisara's bad kama from past existence that his life ended this way.

Nobody is above the law of kama

What was Buddha's own kama from previous birth that Buddha had to encounter the elephant charged by Devadatta?
Buddha told in Jataka - it was the effect of bad kama perpetrated in one of Buddha's previous births when he was as a reckless haughty nobleman and had charged a Paccheka Buddha by an elephant. As the force of the fruitions of the karma is powerful and ever-operative, He, too, was charged by an elephant.

Buddha told twelve of Buddha's own kama that were still operative and gave effect on Buddha. This will be discussed later.

To be continued...

Can Darwin's theory of "The Origin of Species" by means of "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest" which explains the process of evolution help convince Buddhist? Is it true as Darwin said that life exists in its present form as a result of evolution? Is Evolution considered to be a scientific fact?

Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy of ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander who postulated the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from animal. According to Darwin's observations all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers, the monkeys and the donkeys -- all related. Darwin's theory preclude any chance of a currently less intelligent species someday surpassing human levels of intelligence.

Are life of beings who are wandering through samsara life cycle and life in plants the same? What is the difference? Life of beings are all conditioned (effect of kamma), unlike life in plants. Can any society get it right when they deny the true cause of the life - kamma? Denial of kamma is wrong view (miccaditthi). Therefore, they got wrong?

Natural selection of prevailing kamma (kamma-nimitta) at the time of death is the determining fact in which "plane" or "realm" a being will be reborn. Random genetic mutations of an organism's genetic code (Darwin's Natural selection) cannot change a being that will cross the line from one "plane" or "realm" to another, for example, monkeys to human. Therefore, no evolution has taken place. Beings can be reborn only in one "plane' or "realm" at a time according to the kamma that has given effect to them at the time of death in their previous lives. If a being's good kamma has given effect, he might be reborn as a human or as a deva in heaven. If bad kamma has given effect, he might be reborn as an animal or in hell.

With regard to Darwin's theory of "all life, including plants, descended from a common ancestor and all are related", Buddha said, all beings, not plants, met at some time in the past lives and were related to each other.

Is Darwinism racist?
Why "Social Darwinism" was invoked to justify Western imperialism, colonialism, militarism and scientific racism - white supremacy, white domination, Anglo-Saxon domination?

The world has witnessed the devastation of ardent nationalism, authoritarianism combined with Darwinism racist ideology, attempting to dominate the word, not very long ago. Is it not the manifestation of kamma "what we do, what we get?"

Darwinian evolution is nothing more than a racist philosophy, convincing white people the illusion of biological superiority. The premise was white people started evolving much earlier and faster rates than black people. That makes white people superior and black more like their ape-like ancestors.

Hebert Spenser, an English philosopher, biologist and sociologist, argues in line with Darwin, that inferior individuals should be allowed to "die out" for the greater good and that helps to purify the genetic pool of humanity. Both Darwin and Spencer also believed that human evolution will contribute the replacement of inferior ones with the superior.

Asankya - innumerable, incalculable number.
Kalpas - the various kinds of cycles.
Human's life span never remains at one length of time. It is always on the increase or undergoing a gradual diminution, but it never exceeds asankya in length and never diminishes to less than ten years. The slow progress of the change is imperceptible, except after long intervals of time. The decreasing life span of man is directly correspond to deterioration in his stature, intellect, and morals.
Ayu-kalpa - the life expectancy of a typical human being in a particular era during gradually changing process is Ayu-kalpa.
Antha-kalphas - one cycle of changing human's life span starting from 10 years to asankya and then back to 10 years. This number is directly proportional to the level of virtue of people in that era. Currently this value hovers around 100 years and is continually decreasing.
Antha-kalphas ends in three ways: by war, by hunger and by plague. During the ending process majority of human gets extinct.
Asankya-kalpa - Twenty Antah-kalphas is one asankya-kalpha and is equivalent to a quarter of Maha-Kalpa.
Maha-Kalpa - Eighty antah-kalpas make a maha-kalpa. Maha-kalpa ends by fire, water and wind.

To be continued...