Does an enlightened person has no memory?
When Buddha became enlightened at the age of 35, he still has his mental consciousness occupied for the next 45 years. This means that the mind, memory, and body of the Buddha remain untouched until parinibbāna. Only at that time could the mind be released unconditionally and definitively. In other words, when one has acquired enlightenment while maintaining a living body, the mind would still exist, but it simply perceives everything from the ultimate perspective, without any illusions or hesitation. The mind has yet to achieve total liberation and this circumstance is also known as cessation with the remainder. It means that the final liberation or cessation without the remainder can only be realised without sustaining a living body.
So, do you think that someone who is born physically disabled or with Down syndrome has anything to do with their past kamma?
The essence of emptiness is that a cause is never sufficient to induce an effect. What’s more, not all things are the same or completely different. The duality or multiplicity of circumstances is simply the final outcome of the various aggregating activities observed by the mind under the influence of multiple causes and conditions. In other words, we could say that our current state is affected by our previous kamma. However, it must not be considered a single or direct source in and of itself. It will come to light that everything in the cosmos is attributed to the existence of our kamma-vipaka; otherwise, our kamma-vipaka would be impossible.
Personally, I have no idea about enlightenment? Any advice?
Enlightenment signifies a complete realisation of emptiness, a stage of perfect intermediation, a stage of absence, and a cessation of suffering in the dependent nature. To suffer means to endure something and to let loose is the antonym of it. In the course of deep meditation, the process of becoming would slow down in the absence of capturing activities. This means that the energy moves out of the centre of the source more slowly. And every time the process of becoming ceases, the energy ceases to vibrate, which means that the energy just freezes. The following principle applies: -
No vibration would mean no thing,
No thing would mean no changing,
No changing would mean no suffering,
No suffering would mean no mind,
No mind would mean a completely neutralised state of affairs.
Ultimately, there is a complete lack of circumstances. This is like a balanced situation, in other words, nibbāna.
Correction - In the physical world, nothing stops completely. In physics, we have something called zero-point energy, or the lowest level that energy could exist. Scientists have discovered that the Hydrogen (the smallest molecule in the Universe with a single atom) cannot freeze completely (which means it will not stop moving or vibrating). It will cool down to a specific temperature and then, continue to vibrate and doesn’t freeze anymore. This is why the Universe doesn’t just freeze in the coldest region - there is always energy that vibrates in space. Therefore, metaphysically speaking - as long as there is consciousness, you and I exist.
That’s a really good point. Yes, I agree with you that energy can’t be stationary, can’t be created, and can’t be scientifically destroyed. But how best to portray a frozen energy scenario here? Take the case of a black hole in the material universe. The black holes were originally called frozen stars because they seem to freeze slightly larger than the radius of Schwarzschild, namely the distance at which all matters within that distance will collapse into the singularity. Around the black hole, there is a surface known as the event horizon that marks the point of no return. All objects falling and crossing the event horizon appear to freeze from the viewpoint of an observer stationary a long distance from the event horizon.
According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, if you were to get into a black hole, you would find your watch at the same speed it has always had, but someone else far away from the black hole would see a different ticking rate on your watch than normal, and you’d see their watch spinning at a different pace than usual. For example, if you were to park just out of a black hole, while you will find your own watch at normal speed, but you would see a friend’s watch at a great distance from the hole to be ticking at a much faster pace than yours. Your friend would see his own watch turning at a normal rate, but see your watch rotate slower.
So, if you stayed right out of the black hole for a while, then returned to join your friend, you would realise that the friend had grown older than when you separated. Ultimately, should you cross into the horizon of the event, you seem frozen in the eyes of your friend, and it’s just an optical illusion that reminds your friend that you never cross the horizon when in reality you have. Meanwhile, the fact is that energy can never be stationary at all times, but it may seem to freeze under particular circumstances. That is to say, when there are opposing forces, vibration is inevitable. However, without vibration, the energy still exists, but it appears to be freezing because of the presence of similar forces.
When Buddha became enlightened at the age of 35, he still has his mental consciousness occupied for the next 45 years. This means that the mind, memory, and body of the Buddha remain untouched until parinibbāna. Only at that time could the mind be released unconditionally and definitively. In other words, when one has acquired enlightenment while maintaining a living body, the mind would still exist, but it simply perceives everything from the ultimate perspective, without any illusions or hesitation. The mind has yet to achieve total liberation and this circumstance is also known as cessation with the remainder. It means that the final liberation or cessation without the remainder can only be realised without sustaining a living body.
So, do you think that someone who is born physically disabled or with Down syndrome has anything to do with their past kamma?
The essence of emptiness is that a cause is never sufficient to induce an effect. What’s more, not all things are the same or completely different. The duality or multiplicity of circumstances is simply the final outcome of the various aggregating activities observed by the mind under the influence of multiple causes and conditions. In other words, we could say that our current state is affected by our previous kamma. However, it must not be considered a single or direct source in and of itself. It will come to light that everything in the cosmos is attributed to the existence of our kamma-vipaka; otherwise, our kamma-vipaka would be impossible.
Personally, I have no idea about enlightenment? Any advice?
Enlightenment signifies a complete realisation of emptiness, a stage of perfect intermediation, a stage of absence, and a cessation of suffering in the dependent nature. To suffer means to endure something and to let loose is the antonym of it. In the course of deep meditation, the process of becoming would slow down in the absence of capturing activities. This means that the energy moves out of the centre of the source more slowly. And every time the process of becoming ceases, the energy ceases to vibrate, which means that the energy just freezes. The following principle applies: -
No vibration would mean no thing,
No thing would mean no changing,
No changing would mean no suffering,
No suffering would mean no mind,
No mind would mean a completely neutralised state of affairs.
Ultimately, there is a complete lack of circumstances. This is like a balanced situation, in other words, nibbāna.
Correction - In the physical world, nothing stops completely. In physics, we have something called zero-point energy, or the lowest level that energy could exist. Scientists have discovered that the Hydrogen (the smallest molecule in the Universe with a single atom) cannot freeze completely (which means it will not stop moving or vibrating). It will cool down to a specific temperature and then, continue to vibrate and doesn’t freeze anymore. This is why the Universe doesn’t just freeze in the coldest region - there is always energy that vibrates in space. Therefore, metaphysically speaking - as long as there is consciousness, you and I exist.
That’s a really good point. Yes, I agree with you that energy can’t be stationary, can’t be created, and can’t be scientifically destroyed. But how best to portray a frozen energy scenario here? Take the case of a black hole in the material universe. The black holes were originally called frozen stars because they seem to freeze slightly larger than the radius of Schwarzschild, namely the distance at which all matters within that distance will collapse into the singularity. Around the black hole, there is a surface known as the event horizon that marks the point of no return. All objects falling and crossing the event horizon appear to freeze from the viewpoint of an observer stationary a long distance from the event horizon.
According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, if you were to get into a black hole, you would find your watch at the same speed it has always had, but someone else far away from the black hole would see a different ticking rate on your watch than normal, and you’d see their watch spinning at a different pace than usual. For example, if you were to park just out of a black hole, while you will find your own watch at normal speed, but you would see a friend’s watch at a great distance from the hole to be ticking at a much faster pace than yours. Your friend would see his own watch turning at a normal rate, but see your watch rotate slower.
So, if you stayed right out of the black hole for a while, then returned to join your friend, you would realise that the friend had grown older than when you separated. Ultimately, should you cross into the horizon of the event, you seem frozen in the eyes of your friend, and it’s just an optical illusion that reminds your friend that you never cross the horizon when in reality you have. Meanwhile, the fact is that energy can never be stationary at all times, but it may seem to freeze under particular circumstances. That is to say, when there are opposing forces, vibration is inevitable. However, without vibration, the energy still exists, but it appears to be freezing because of the presence of similar forces.