If you have pure concentration, can it help you solve difficult mathematics problems? In what way is pure concentration when you don't pay attention to sensory inputs a wisdom? I would say it is an achievement, not a wisdom. Unless of course you can see something normal people can't.
Has anyone seen any neurological research on the Planes of consciousness? Sense Sphere, Fine material sphere, Immaterial Sphere, Supramundane ? Are they real?
Has anyone seen any neurological research on the Planes of consciousness? Sense Sphere, Fine material sphere, Immaterial Sphere, Supramundane ? Are they real?
So my explanation(based on what I read) is that basically, our consciousness has a higher level that is less susceptible to suffering. The layer of consciousness that we are at is extremely sensitive to our senses, that is we feel extremely painful things and extremely pleasurable things. In the natural world that we live in, random events like our genes, our species, our opportunities, our talents, weather it rains or not, etc, decide weather we win or not. From the victory if we feel glory, we become more attached to the lower level of consciousness through feeling pleasure and wanting to feel more of it, and from the defeat if we feel hate towards our opponent we become more attached to the lower level of consciousness through seeking desire to take revenge. On the other hand, if we feel generous after winning we become less attached to the lower level of consciousness and same way if we forgive those that defeated us we become less attached to lower level of consciousness. Being attached to the lower level of consciousness make us more susceptible to suffering as well as pleasure, but there is more suffering than there is more pleasures. If you lose once and felt hate, you are more likely to lose and feel even more hate. If you win once you are more likely to lose next and you will feel pain of a looser. So this is how I understood how Karma might work.
So the popular idea that if you do good things, good things will come to you is not really how it works. Winning and Losing happen through natural causes, you can only become less susceptible to suffering. For example, if you win a battle, and you forgive your enemy, he can come back and kill you next time if you don't take extra steps to protect your castle from him. You can control how your mind reacts to defeat or Victory. Karma does not work the way you think it does , according to what I understood from reading a Buddhist explanation.
So does anyone have anything to say about this?
I became interested in Buddhism from originally being a materialist, so I like to argue against materialists with Buddhist Philosophy and argue against Buddhists with materialist philosophy. So this is more like a challenge for Buddhists. I have been arguing against materialists questioning their point of view also, so this is not a attack on Buddhism, just an intellectual challenge. I think its kind of strange why one must be punished for their wrong doings in an evolutionary point of view. All animals have evolved by commiting horrible crimes on other animals, but the most successful animals manage to do crimes on other species and protect their own. For example, ancient mammals stole dinosaur eggs. Dinosaurs went extinct and mammals prevailed! Yes I know in Buddhism it is intention that matters, but even then, why on earth should the universe bother about what our intentions are? Also bad things happening to us are more random than they are from past sins. You need a god to punish people who do things that they shouldn't do. Without a god, what kind of mechanism is there to cause Karma in such a dramatic way? You can divide thoughts in to so many different groups, so why divide them in to one based on morals (kusal /akusal)? . For example, a person kill a rabbit with intention to kill and then die from a bone stucked in his throat just as likely a vegetarian is to die from swallowing a large fruit seed. I see no connection. Also I don't like the idea of god. I am a materialist wondering if there is anything beyond materialism, and I think there is, but Karma doesn't make sense immediately.
PS: I made a follow up: My understanding of Karma and how it works : r/Buddhism
Who is smart enough to defend this argument against Karma: How on earth does karma arise through consciousness?
I have an argument against Karma. I think its kind of strange why one must be punished for their wrong doings in an evolutionary point of view. All animals have evolved by commiting horrible crimes on other animals, but the most successful animals manage to do crimes on other species and protect their own. For example, ancient mammals stole dinosaur eggs. Dinosaurs went extinct and mammals prevailed! Yes I know in Buddhism it is intention that matters, but even then, why on earth should the universe bother about what our intentions are? Also bad things happening to us are more random than they are from past sins. You need a god to punish people who do things that they shouldn't do. Without a god, what kind of mechanism is there to cause Karma in such a dramatic way? You can divide thoughts in to so many different groups, so why divide them in to one based on morals (kusal /akusal)? . For example, a person kill a rabbit with intention to kill and then die from a bone stucked in his throat just as likely a vegetarian is to die from swallowing a large fruit seed. I see no connection.
Recently I found something interesting. I was reading about the nature of consciousness according to Buddhism. What I found interesting was, after giving up all feelings that arise from sensory inputs both pain and pleasure, in order to explain the state of Nirvana, the monks still had to talk about numbers. They have to say things like "there are 4 planes of consciousness" in their theory of ultimate truth. Isn't that interesting? After giving up everything, they still couldn't not rely on numbers!!! You can give up on pleasures of flesh, or pains of sickness, and even the standard model and string theory, because they all come from outside consciousness, but not give up on reliance to numbers and geometry. Mathematics survive Nirvana..! Just something interesting. To me Nirvana is the state of having removed meaning, everything is meaningless. The acceptance of that is the ultimate truth. It kind of aligns with Von Neumann's idea that mathematics is meaningless. When you remove meaning, mathematics is the only thing survives. :O
