Hearing the Sutta

My views on Buddhism - weblog.

Some questions that I have replied to in a Buddhist forum are posted here:

Indeed, even the very first ~naana alone is sufficient to turn any person into a Sotapanna. Do you think this first ~naana is the same as intellectual understanding through listening to or book learning about the dhammas?

Suttamaya~naana = knowledge that results from hearing/learning the dhammas first hand.

My opinion: 

Venerable Sâriputta, who had good accumulations and quick intuition became a sotâpanna immediately after hearing the first 2 lines of a stanza spoken by Ven. Assaji. Ven. Sariputta became enlightened by hearing/learning the Sutta. But I’m not sure if this ability still exists today, among the people of this age and time because the Sasana is in decline. Maybe there are still people like that, who knows?

Personally, I think I will understand better through direct-experience. I love hearing and reading the sutta but mere hearing and reading is not enough. After hearing the sutta, we must verify it for ourselves. Furthermore, the Buddha had always told his monks to go do “Jhana” (which meant meditation).

For example, “anicca”, when we hear about anicca, it is a just an ordinary knowledge that everything is impermanent. When poeple actually “know and see” anicca for themselves, it becomes a totally different thing. I have no idea what anicca really is, I can quote a gross example like a burning candle or a person growing old. I think, a person who really knows what anicca is, is an ariya-puggala.

Buddha said, “everything is impermanent/inconstant, therefore it is not-self” - if a person knows the nature of impermanence, then s/he will understand the nature of non-self. This type of knowing is supra-normal knowledge, i.e. gotrabuu~naana, udayabbaya~naana and vipassana~naana.

The question that I’ve always ask, “Is impermanence equaled to uncontrollability?” Even if it is, I don’t want to believe it with blind-faith. I don’t want to believe it from someone who has read a lot of dhamma books because the Kalama sutta says, do not believe because….etc. etc…Even if, impermanence is uncontrollability, merely accepting it with belief will not make me a better person with less greed, hatred or delusion.

I hope to know what gotrabuu~naana, udayabbaya~naana and vipassana~naana really is, and this kind of knowledge, I think, cannot be obtained by hearing/learning the dhamma.

((oh, I wish it could be attained from hearing/learning the dhamma though. I want to be a professional dhamma learner, it is much easier than meditation, meditation is hard work, argh)).