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**papadopul** · 03-02-2011, 10:16 AM

Re: what happens after death, these are actually some of the questions the Buddha regarded as unskillful:

"This is how he attends inappropriately: 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?' Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the immediate present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?'

"As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view I have a self arises in him as true & established, or the view I have no self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self... or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises in him as true & established, or else he has a view like this: This very self of mine — the knower that is sensitive here & there to the ripening of good & bad actions — is the self of mine that is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will stay just as it is for eternity. This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from suffering & stress. Source: Sabbasava Sutta

I'm usually not a fan of setting aside questions, but in this case, the answers you're looking for are unknowable and any conclusions you come to are liable to be misguided or misleading.

On the question of why would someone actually want to free themselves from samsara... not everyone does. Not everyone who heard the Buddha speak was compelled to take him as their teacher. Most of us are practicing a somewhat less ambitious form of the Buddha's teaching: not so much the liberation from the cycle of suffering-laden rebirths, but freedom from the mini-rebirths (of identity) that lead us to suffering in this life, here and now. You may not feel sufficient sorrow or pain in your life to be bothered, but many will.

03-02-2011, 10:16 AM	#6
papadopul Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 466 Senior Member	Re: what happens after death, these are actually some of the questions the Buddha regarded as unskillful: "This is how he attends inappropriately: 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?' Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the immediate present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?' "As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view I have a self arises in him as true & established, or the view I have no self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self... or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises in him as true & established, or else he has a view like this: This very self of mine — the knower that is sensitive here & there to the ripening of good & bad actions — is the self of mine that is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will stay just as it is for eternity. This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from suffering & stress. Source: Sabbasava Sutta I'm usually not a fan of setting aside questions, but in this case, the answers you're looking for are unknowable and any conclusions you come to are liable to be misguided or misleading. On the question of why would someone actually want to free themselves from samsara... not everyone does. Not everyone who heard the Buddha speak was compelled to take him as their teacher. Most of us are practicing a somewhat less ambitious form of the Buddha's teaching: not so much the liberation from the cycle of suffering-laden rebirths, but freedom from the mini-rebirths (of identity) that lead us to suffering in this life, here and now. You may not feel sufficient sorrow or pain in your life to be bothered, but many will.
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