[lapyignipinge]

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma

Theravada Buddhist cosmology describes the 31 planes of existence in which rebirth takes place. The order of the planes are found in various discourses of the Gautama Buddha in the Sutta Pitaka. For example, in the Saleyyaka Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya the Buddha mentioned the planes above the human plane in ascending order.[1] In several sūtras in the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha described the causes of rebirth in these planes in the same order. In Buddhism, the devas are not immortal gods that play a creative role in the cosmic process. They are simply elevated beings who had been reborn in the celestial planes as a result of their words, thoughts, and actions. Usually, they are just as much in bondage to delusion and desire as human beings, and as in need of guidance from the Enlightened One. The Buddha is the "teacher of devas and humans (satthadevamanussanam). The devas come to visit the Buddha in the night. The Devatasamyutta and the Devaputtasamyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya gives a record of their conversations. The devaputtas are young devas newly arisen in heavenly planes, and devatas are mature deities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhis...gy_(Theravada)

[fluoxet]

Hi The Thinker,

These are quotes you've used from Wikipedia and you haven't given a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhis...gy_(Theravada)


Kind regards

Aloka

[welihiedginly]

You are Correct Aloka

I have now added that link too

[PerfectCreditForYou]

So evaṃ samāhite citte parisuddhe pariyodāte anaṅgaṇe vigatūpakkilese mudubhūte kammaniye ṭhite āneñjappatte sattānaṃ cutūpapātañāṇāya cittaṃ abhininnāmesiṃ. So dibbena cakkhunā visuddhena atikkantamānusakena satte passāmi cavamāne upapajjamāne

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing

hi Thinker

thank you. these sutta excerpts are certainly worthy of examination

the Pali for 'knowledge of the passing away & reappearance' is cutū-papātañā-nāya. the word 'papāta' means 'to fall'.

Papāta [cp. Epic. Sk. prapāta, of pra+pat] 1. falling down, a fall Vin ii.284 (chinna -- papātaŋ papatanti); S v.47. 2. a cliff, precipice, steep rock M i.11; S iii.109 (sobbho p. kodh' upāyāsass' etaŋ adhivacanaŋ; cp. papaṭā); A iii.389 (sobbho p.); J iii.5; 530; v.70; vi.306, 309; Vism 116; PvA 174; Sdhp 208, 282, 353. -- adj. falling off steeply, having an abrupt end Vin ii.237=A iv.198, 200 (samuddo na āyatakena p.).
-- taṭa a rocky or steep declivity DhA i.73.

Cavati [Vedic cyavate from cyu=Gr. seu/w; cp. Lat. cieo, cio, sollicitus, Gr. ki/w, kine/w, Goth. haitan=Ohg, heizan] to move, get into motion, shift, to fall away, decease, esp. to pass from one state of existence into another D i.14 (sañsaranti c˚ upapajjanti, cp. DA i.105); Kh viii.4 (=KhA 220: apeti vigacchati acetano pi samāno puññakkhaya -- vasena aññaŋ thānaŋ gacchati); It 99= Nd2 2352 (satte cavamāne upapajjamāne); It 77 (devo deva -- kāyā c. "the god falls from the assembly of gods"), Sn 1073 for bhavetha (=Nd2 238) PvA 10. Caus. cāveti: inf. cāvetuŋ S i.128 sq., 134 (˚kāma.) -- pp. cuta (q. v.), see also cuti. upapajjamāne means 'to appear', as follows:

Tayome puggalā loke uppajjamānā uppajjanti bahujanahitāya bahujanasukhāya lokānukampāya atthāya hitāya sukhāya devamanussānaṃ.

These three persons, appearing in the world, appear for the benefit of many, the happiness of many, in sympathy for the world — for the welfare, the benefit, the happiness of beings human & divine.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit...n.html#iti-076 it follows what is reported in sutta can also be taken to be in reference to the here & now, such as in the common phrase:





kind regards