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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hukp1" data-source="post: 7381692" data-attributes="member: 189407">12. UNWHOLESOME KAMMASOpposed to punnabhisankhara is apunnabhisankhara or unwholesome kamma formations. These immoral deeds lead to lower worlds and evils in human life such as ugliness, infirmities and so forth. They number twelve in terms of consciousness, viz , eight rooted in greed (lobha), two rooted in ill-will (dosa) and two rooted in ignorance (moha).The lobha-based dhammas comprise four with wrong belief and four without it. Of the four dhammas with wrong belief, two are joyful, spontaneous (sasankharika) dhamma and joyful but unspontaneous (sasankharika) dhamma. The neutral (upekkha) unwholesome dhammas may be classified in the same way. Likewise there are two joyful, lobha-based dhammas without wrong belief and two lobha-based dhammas without joy and wrong belief. Every kamma is characterized by one of these eight lobha-based dhammas. The dosa-based dhamma is of two kinds, viz., spontaneous kamma and unspontaneous kamma. This dosa-based consciousness is the mainspring of anger, dejection, fear and revulsion.The two kinds of moha-based consciousness are doubt (vicikiccha) and restlessness (uddhacca). The former concerns doubts about the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, sila, samadhi, the idea of a future life and so forth. The latter refers to the person who is distracted and absent-minded. The mind is seldom calm and it usually goes wandering when it is not restrained through the practice of bhavana. It is said, however, that uddhaccadoes not lead to the lower worlds. The other eleven unwholesome dhammas do so under certain circumstances and even in case of a good rebirth they usually have bad kammic effects such as sickliness. These twelve kinds of unwholesome volition (Cetana)are called apunnaabhisankhara.All over the world people wish to be happy and so they strive for their material welfare in the present life and hereafter. But it is greed and ill-will that largely characterize their activities. Wholesome consciousness is confined to those who have good friends, who have heard their dhamma and who think rationally.Some go morally astray, being misled by their selfish teacher. In the lifetime of the Buddha a lay Buddhist abused good monks and so on his death he became a peta in the latrine of the monastery he had donated to the Sangha. He told the elder Thera Moggallana about his misdeed when the latter saw him with his divine eye. What a terrible fate for a man who had materially supported the Sangha for his welfare in afterlife but was misguided to the lower world by his teacher. This shows that the person whose company we seek should possess not only deep knowledge but also good character.The mark of a good man is abstinence from any act, speech or thought that is harmful to other people. Those who keep company with good men or good bhikkhus have the opportunity to hear the good dhamma and if he thinks wisely his thoughts will lead to wholesome kammas. On the other hand evil teachers or friends, false teachings and improper thoughts may lead to moral disaster. Some who bore unblemished character in the beginning were ruined by corrupt thoughts. They were convicted of theft, robbery or misappropriation and their long-standing reputation was damaged once and for ever. All their suffering had its origin in the illusion of happiness. Contrary to their expectations, they found themselves in trouble when it was too late. Some misdeeds not produce immediate kammic results but they come to light in due course and lead to suffering. If retribution does not follow the evil-doer here and now, it overtakes him in afterlife as in the case of the donor of the monastery who became a peta for his evil words.His teacher which had misguided him fared worse after his death. For he occupied a place below his former pupil and had to live on his excreta. The kammic result of his misdeed was indeed frightful. He had committed it for his own end but it backfired and he had to suffer terribly for it.Some jungle tribes make animal sacrifices to gods for good harvest, security, etc. These primitive beliefs still prevail among some urban people. Some worship the chief 'net' as if he were the Buddha. Some kill animals to feed guests on the occasion of religious alms-giving. Even some ignorant Buddhists have misgivings about this practice. Whatever the object of the donor, killing has bad kammic result and it is not a good deed despite the belief of the killer to the contrary.A good deed bears the mark of moral purity. Killing or hurting a living being cannot be morally pure in any sense if you identify yourself with the victim. He faces death or endures ill-treatment only because he cannot avoid it. He will surely retaliate if he is in a position to do so. Some people pray for vengeance and so the killer is killed in his next existence or he has to suffer in hell for his misdeed. The Pitaka abounds in many instances of the kammic consequences of killing.Some long for human or deva life and devote themselves to dana, sila and bhavana. Their good deeds serve to fulfil their wishes and lead to welfare in afterlife but every life is subject to old age and death and human life is inextricably bound up with ill-health and mental suffering. Some crave for the Brahma-world and practise jhana. They may live happily for many kappa: (world-systems) as Brahma. But when life has run its course, they will be reborn as human beings or devas and any evil deed that they do may bring them to the lower worlds. After all the glorification of the Brahma-life is an illusion.The illusion of happiness is not confined to common people. The illusion (vipallasa and avijja) that makes us regard dukkha as sukha lingers at the first two stages of the holy path and even at the anagami stage the yogi still mistakes material life (rupa-bhava) and immaterial life (arupa-bhava) for a life of bliss. So the object of the Ariyas at the first three stages is to do good. As for the common people they are mired in all the four illusions that make them regard the impermanent as permanent, the dukkha of namarupa as sukha, the impersonal as Personality (atta) and the unpleasant as pleasant. Associated with these illusions are the four avijjas. Because of these misconceptions and ignorance every bodily, verbal or mental action gives rise to good or bad kamma. A good kammaarises only from volitional effort coupled with faith, mindfulness and so forth. If the mind is left to itself, it is likely to produce bad kamma .13. REJECTION OF GOOD KAMMA MEANS BAD KAMMASo me people misinterpret the lack of good or bad kamma on the part of the Arahat and say that we should avoid doing good deed. For an ordinary person the rejection of good kamma will moan the upsurge of bad kamma just as the exodus of good people from a city leaves only fools and rogues or the removal of useful trees is followed by the growth of useless grass and weeds. The man who rejects good deeds is bound to do bad deeds that will land him in the lower worlds. It will be hard for him to return to the human world.In point of fact the Arahat's dissociation from good kamma means only that because of the extinction of avijja his action is karmically unproductive. Indeed the Arahats do good deeds such as revering the elder theras, preaching, giving alms, helping living beings who are in trouble and so forth. But what with their total realization of the four noble truths and the elimination of avijja, their good actions do not have any kammic effect. So it is said that the Arahat does not have good kamma, not that he avoids doing good deeds.An ordinary person who does not care for good deeds because of his avijjaand mistaken view will build up only bad kamma that are bound to lead to the lower worlds. In fact the lack of the desire to do good is a sign of abysmal ignorance that makes the holy path and Nibbana remote. The mind becomes inclined to good deeds in so far as avijja loses its hold on it. A sotapanna yogi is more interested in doing good than when he was a ordinary man. The same may be said of those - at the higher stages of he Ariyan path. The only difference is the increasing desire to give up doing things irrelevant to the path and devote more time to contemplation. So good deeds should not be lumped together with bad deeds and purposely avoided. Every action that is bound up with avijja means either good kamma or bad kamma. In the absence of good kamma all will be bad kamma .14. IGNORANCE AND ILLUSIONTruth and falsehood are mutually exclusive. If you do not know the truth you accept false hood and vice versa. Those who do not know the four noble truths have misconceptions about dukkha which posing as sukha, deceive and Oppress them.Apart from tanha which were gratified affords pleasure, everything in the sensual world is real dukkha. All sense-objects are subject to ceaseless flux and unreliable. Yet to the ignorant person they appear to be good and pleasant. They make him nostalgic about what they regard as their happy days in the past and optimistic about their future. Because of their misconception, they long for what they consider to be the good things in life. This is the cause of their dukkha but they do not realize it. On the contrary they think that their happiness depends on the fulfillment of their desires. So they see nothing wrong with their desire for sensual pleasure. In fact the truths about the end of dukkha and the way to it are foreign to most people. Some who learn these truths from others or accept them intellectually do not appreciate them. They do not care for Nibbana or the way to it. They think that the way is beset with hardships and privations.The hope for happiness is the mainspring of human action. Actions in deed, speech or thought are called kamma or sankhara. We have referred to three kinds of sankhara, the two kinds of good kamma comprising the first sankhara, viz., the eight good kamma in the sensual world and the good kamma in the material world; we have also mentioned two kinds of good kamma or consciousness, viz., one associated with intelligence and the other divorced from intelligence. In the practice of vipassana the yogi's mind is intelligent if it becomes aware of the real nature of nama-rupa (anicca, dukkha, anatta), through contemplation. It is not intelligent if it means little more than the recitation of Pali words and superficial observation. In ordinary morality a sense of moral values is intelligent if it is associated with the belief in the law of kamma .Some people say that an intelligent act of dana must involve the contemplation of the anicca, dukkha and anatta of the donor, the recipient and the offering. This view is based on Atthasalini (a commentary on Abhidhmmapitaka) which mentions the contemplation on the impermanence of everything after giving alms. But the reference is to contemplation after the act of dana, not before or while doing it. Moreover, the object is not to make the act intelligent but to create wholesome kamma in vipassana practice. If by intelligent dana is meant only the dana that presupposes such contemplation, all the other dana of non-Buddhists would have to be dubbed unintelligent acts and it is of course absurd to do so.The accounts of alms-giving by bodhisattas make no mention of contemplation nor did the Buddha insist on it as a prerequisite to an act of dana. The scriptures say only that the kammic potential of dana depends on the spiritual level of the recipient and this is the only teaching that we should consider in alms-giving. If the donor and the recipient were to be regarded as were namarupa subject to anicca, etc, they would be on equal footing. The act of dana would then lack inspiration and much kammic potential.In fact the object of alms-giving is not vipassana contemplation but the benefits accruing to the donor. So the Buddha points out the would-be recipients who can make dana immensely beneficial and the importance of right reflection (belief in kamma).One one occasion Visakha, the lay woman asked the Buddha for lifelong permission to make eight kinds of offering to the Sangha; these were (1 ) bathing garments for the bhikkhus, (2) food for guest-monks, (3) food for travelling monks, (4) food for sick monks, (5) food for the monk who attended on a sick monk (6) medicine for the sick monk, (7 ) rice-gruel for the Sangha and (8) bathing garments for the bhikkhunis. The Buddha asked Visakha what benefits she hoped to have in offering such things and the substance of Visakha's reply is as follows."At the end of the lent the bhikkhus from all parts of the country will come to see the Buddha. They will tell the Lord about the death of certain monks and ask him about their rebirth and stages on the holy path that they (the deceased monks) had attained. The Lord will reveal their spiritual attainments. I will then approach the visiting monks and ask them whether their late fellow-monks had ever visited Savatthi city. If they say yes, I will conclude that the Noble one who is now at the sotapanna or any other stage on the holy path must have certainly used one of my offerings. This remembrance of my good kamma will fill me with joy. It will be conducive to peace, tranquillity and self-development"Here it is worthy of note that the reference is not to the contemplation on the impermanence of the nama-rupa of the deceased monks but to the spiritual attainments that distinguished them in afterlife. Importance is attached to the contemplation that leads to ecstasy and training in self-development. Hence the most appropriate object of contemplation in doing dana is the noble attributes of the recipient such as the noble character of the Buddha when laying flowers at the shrine, the holy life of the bhikkhu when offering food and so forth.Preaching or hearing the dhamma is a wholesome kamma and it is an intelligent act if the dhamma is understood. Every good deed based on the belief in kamma is an intelligent kamma . Without the belief a good act is wholesome but unintelligent as are the good acts of some children who imitate the elders and worship the Buddha image and the good acts of some people who reject the belief in kamma but are helpful, polite and charitable.The five material wholesome dhammas (rupa kusala-dhamma) are those associated with five jhanas. They are accessible only through the practice of samatha that leads to jhana. The eight wholesome dhammas and the five material whole some dhammas form the punnabhisankhara. Apunnabhisankhara or unwholesome kammas number twelve in terms of consciousness. Here sankhra means volition (cetana). Of the twelve unwholesome sankharas eight are based on greed, two on anger and two on ignorance.The greed-based (lobha-mula) consciousness is of eight kind viz., four with joy and attachment and four without joy but with attachment (upekkha sahagutta). Of the first four kinds two are bound up with belief and of the two with the belief or without the belief one is non-spontaneous (sasankharika) and the other is spontaneous (asankharika). Belief is of three kinds, viz., belief in ego-entity, belief in immortality of ego and belief in annihilation of the ego without there being any kanmmic effect of good or bad deeds.Few people are free from the belief in ego entity. The belief dominates those who do not know that life is a nama-rupa process without a soul or a being. The belief is weak among those who have some knowledge of Buddhist scriptures but their bookish knowledge does not help them to overcome it completely. The yogis who have had a clear insight into the nature of nama-rupa through contemplation are usually free from the belief. Yet they may hark back to the belief if they stop contemplating before they attain the path. As for the common people the ego-belief is deep-rooted, making them think that it is the self or the ego which is the agent of whatever they do or feel or think.Again those who believe in total extinction after death and reject the idea of future life and kamma have unwholesome consciousness that is bound up with nihilistic belief.Hatred-based (dosa-mula) consciousness comprises doubt and restlessness. Doubts about the Buddha, Nibbana, anatta and so forth are labelled Vicikiccha.Hatred-based consciousness is of two kinds, viz., voluntary consciousness and involuntary consciousness. But there are many kinds of hatred such as anger, envy, anxiety, grief, fear and so forth. Ignorance-based ( moha-mula) consciousness comprises doubt and restlessness. Doubts about the Buddha, Nibbana, anatta and so forth are labelled vicikiccha. The mind is subject to doubt (uddhacca) when it wanders here and there restlessly.Thus apunnabhisankhara means the eight greed-based mental factors, two hatred-based mental factors and two ignorance-based mental factors. It is opposed to punnabhisankhara . It serves to purify nama-rapa, leads to good rebirths with good kammic results whereas the other defiles the nama-rupa process and leads to bad rebirth with bad kammic results.People do evil deeds for their welfare. They kill, steal, rob or give false evidence at court for their well-being. Even those who kill their parents do so to achieve their own ends. For example, prince Ajatasattu killed his father to become king. Misguided by his teacher Devadatta, he had concluded that he would be able to enjoy life as a king for a longer period if he could make away with his father and take his place. For his great evil of patricide and the murder of a sotapanna at that, he was seized with remorse and anxiety that caused him physical suffering as well. Later on he was killed by his son and reborn in hell where he is now suffering terribly for his misdeed.In the time of Kakusanna Buddha the Mara called Susi did his utmost to harm the Buddha and the Sangha. Failing to achieve his object, he possessed a man and stoned to death the chief disciple Arahat behind the Buddha. For this horrible crime he instantly landed in Avici hell, the lowest of the thirty-one worlds of living beings. As a Mara he had lorded it over others but in Avici he lay prostrate under the heels of the guardians of hell. He had hoped to rejoice over the fulfillment of his evil desire but now he had to suffer for his evil kamma . This is true of evil-doers all over the world.It is the hope for happiness also that forms the mainspring of other two types of action, viz., punnabhisankhara and . Anenjabhisankhara means the four arupajhana kusaladhammas. Anenja means equanimity or self-possession. A loud noise nearby may upset the equanimity (samapatti) of a yogi who is absorbed in rupa-jhana. But is invulnerable to such distractions. Arupa-jhana is of four kinds according as it relates to (1) sphere of unbounded space (akasanancayatana jhana) sphere of nothingness (akincannayatana jhana ) and (4) sphere of neither-perception nor non-perception (nevasannanasannayatana-jhana) These four jhanas are the sankharas that lead to the four arupa worlds. Apunnabhisankhara leads to the four lower worlds and punnahhisahkhara leads to human, deva and rupa-Brahma worlds.People do these three kinds of kammas or sankharas for their welfare and as a result there arises vinnana or consciousness. With vinnana there also come into being namarupa, salayatana phassa, etc. of the new existence.</blockquote>

Verification: Hath warak paha keeyada? (hatha wadikireema paha)

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