More notes!
Today's topics: Fruition, The Dark Night, Laymen Arahats, The Indriya, Weird Stuff and Aeon-Stoppers.
Ok so Fruition:
I think I said here several times that the idea of a singular "fruition" moment is not canonical in Buddhism. It's true, although many Vipassana movements (probably the Burmese in particular) as well as the Abhidhamma tradition (which I consider extra-canonical) do talk about mind moments, magga phala, mind states, types of consciousness all that etc.
None of that is really found in the Canon, or perhaps it is found only to an extent.
The Dark Night:
Ok so, when I first came here, one of my problems was that there was no concept of a Dark Night or Nana stages in the Suttas. Some people would cite the concept of Transcendental Dependent Arising as the Buddha's version of the Nanas but I disagree.
But! The Buddha did in fact have his own version of the Dark Night, he called it:
dukkha-patipada
According to the Vitthara Patipada Sutta, which can be found here:
http://dharmafarer.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/18.3-Vitthara-Patipada-S-a4.162-piya.pdf
There are Four Modes of progress in the Dhamma:
Painful and Slow
Painful and Quick
Pleasant and Slow
Pleasant and Quick
The Dark Night of the DhO, (if it is not fake), is most likely this dukkha patipada phenomenon here.
According to tradition, if one's Indriya are strong the progress is fast, if one's three roots are strong (greed, hatred, delusion) then progress is painful, the opposite for both apply.
Apparently Moggallana had painful progress, which was fast, while Sariputta had pleasant progress, which was fast.
Some people like to say that Ananda has slow and painful progress, but I HIGHLY doubt that, IMHO he was delaying his Enlightenment on purpose and was not making progress at all. If anything it was probably pleasant and slow progress.
Lastly there is another sutta, which I cannot recall, that claims that painful progress accompanies reflections on the disgusting nature of the world and wishing to abandon it (dark night), while pleasant progress accompanies jhana.
Cheers guys.
Laymen Arahats:
Ok, so there's a bit of a controversy surrounding the concept of Laymen Arahats. The Tevijja Vachagotta sutta claims that a laymen cannot become an arahat without giving up the "laymen bonds", but the sutta doesn't define what the bonds are. Furthermore the Milinda-Panha seems to claim that laymen arahats die the same day unless ordained.
But don't rely on the milinda-panha.
This whole thing is further exacerbated when the Buddha lists his accomplished disciples by stating he has monks Enlightened to several degrees (all the way up to arahatship), but when doing the same for laymen only lists them up to anagamis.
Thankfully though, there seems to be a sutta which sort of resolves this issue, it lists a bunch of laymen arahats, it depends on how you interpret it though:
012.04. Bhikkhus, the householders Bhallika, ... re ... Sudatta, ... re ... Anàthapiõóika, ... re ... Citta, ... re ... Macchikàsandika, ... re ... Hatthaka Aalavaka, ... re ... Mahanama the Sakya, ... re ... Ugga the householder of Vesali, ... re ... the householder Ugga, ... re ... Sura Ambattha, ... re ... Jãvaka Komarabacca, ... re ... the householder Nakula ... re ... the householder Tavakannika, ... re ... the houeholders Purana and Isidatta. The householders Sandhana, ... re ... Vijaya, ... re ... Vajjiyamahita, ... re ... Mendaka. The disciples Vasettha ... re ... Arittha, ... re ... Saragga, endowed with six things and taking a sign from the Thus Gone One has seen deathlessness realized the highest and behaves. What six?
Unwavering faith, in The Blessed One, in the Teaching, in the Community of bhikkhus, in the noble one's virtues, in the noble one's knowledge and the noble one's release.
Bhikkhus, the disciple Saragga endowed with these six things and taking a sign from the Thus Gone One has seen deathlessness realized the highest and behaves.
http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara4/6-chakkanipata/012-samannavaggo-e.html
I personally do not believe that the sutta means that those laymen are arahats, but that's just me.
Weird Stuff:
According to one sutta, which I cannot recall, the goal of the noble eightfold path was literally to see the arising and passing way. Which in my previous interpretation meant that the goal of the noble of eightfold path was to literally correctly practice mindfulness/vipassana and see the arising and passing away of objects.
Lends to the idea of the A&P here at the DhO.
The Indriya:
It's mentioned in several places that the Indriya are what qualify one as being an aryan (member of the aryan sangha):
Check out the cakkhu sutta, thedhamma, a swift pair of messengers and the sekha sutta.
Was kind of lazy but I'll update this section on the Indriya.
Interestingly enough according to the Maha-Saccaka sutta and the Ariyapariyasana Sutta, the Buddha AND Alara Kalama AND Udaka Ramaputta had these five faculties.
Meaning the Buddha was an aryan at the time of being a Bodhisatta, furthermore so were his teachers.
Check the section on him reaching the first jhana as a kid.
Aeon-Stopper:
There seems to be a concept of being a pre-stream entry aryan.
Called cula-sotapanna, dhammanusari, saddhanusari, sula-sotapanna, bala-sotapanna, aeon stopper, junior, lesser, stream enterer, stream entrant etc.
dhamma-follower, devotee
faith-follower, conviction-follower
truth, conviction, teachings, faith
Commentaries mention it as being bound for heaven in the next life, check the Alagadupama Sutta.
Relevant ones: cakkhu sutta, cula gopalaka sutta, kitagiri sutta
Check out the story of Ugga and his giving, possibly another one: the Sarakani Sutta.
(This is off topic but you may want to check out suttas starring Mahanama the Sakyan)
Visuddhimagga, Satipanya and Ledi Sayadaw seem to disagree.
Alan Chapman seemed to place the point on M&B nana, for the Buddhist Commentaries the second Nana, for the this community, it would most likely place at the A&P, simply because said person would have fulfilled the Eightfold path, as per the Weird Stuff section.
Lastly a certain Gethin seems to believe it only occurs at the COMPLETION of the second nana.
Ok so I've been sort of incoherent. But uh, basically the idea seems to be that there is some sort of pre-stream-entry stage where one is bound for awakening.