First life in samsara
score:4
If i may kindly correct the beginning sentence of your question, i.e. "In Buddhism, we believe in rebirth and karma."
We actually try to verify these things for ourselves by studying reality through insight meditation, thereby gaining insights into how reality functions. We practice to gain experiental knowledge instead of believing things to be in a certain way.
Through insight meditation one will come to see that phenomena arise dependent on causes and conditions. One sees that phenomena can spawn new phenomena.
Looking for a first cause is problematic. Why is that?
A first cause breaks causality. One can then ask "What caused the first cause? Or What caused the cause that caused the first cause? And so on ad infinitum".
This question of origin also belongs to The Four Imponderables, namely the 4th one "Speculation about [the origin, etc., of] the cosmos is an imponderable that is not to be speculated about".
The Buddha explained that is it not conducive to ones practice to think about these things. That is because one cannot understand it unless one is a Buddha. If one is not a Buddha thinking about them will only leave the mind agitated and distressed which will not be beneficial for ones practice.
"Therefore, o monks, do not brood over [any of these views] Such brooding, O monks, is senseless, has nothing to do with genuine pure conduct (s. ādibrahmacariyaka-sīla), does not lead to aversion, detachment, extinction, nor to peace, to full comprehension, enlightenment and Nibbāna."
-- SN 56: Saccasamyutta.
Upvote:-1
Your questions sounds like: how can one be born a first time before having sinned ? Life is not a punishment, Through life you will get ups and lows and try to match theses variation with a constant rule, that is why we have this notion of good and bad which is different according to cultures and individuals. How do you believe what living people can tell about death ? No one will ever know.
Upvote:0
A similar question occurred in Lord Mind's too. Lord Buddha in search of the beginning looked back into the past of Lord's own samsara. This should go with the saying that among all the beings who can recall previous lives, lord Buddha is the most skilled in that task. With that ability no one matches lord Buddha in speed and the amount of lives visible.
Lord Buddha addressed monks and said, It is a waste of time to look back to seek a beginning, even with the ability of a Buddha. I have looked back for eons and what I've seen is not even a fraction. Samsara is too long to look back and find a beginning.
Buddhism does not teach of a beginning of a samsara and refuse to answer it because of the search for that question is not with a foreseeable end. That itself is the reason that Buddhism teach beings to not to be late, not to postpone the path. Because it is very long and the end of all suffering is not possible without Nirvana.
Namo Buddhaya!
Upvote:3
From the Buddha's famous "Tears" sutta:
At Savatthi. There the Blessed One said: "From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. What do you think, monks: Which is greater, the tears you have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — or the water in the four great oceans?"
"As we understand the Dhamma taught to us by the Blessed One, this is the greater: the tears we have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans."
So,
If that is not the case, how were we just infinitely here?
We're still here simply because our "fuel" (greed/anger/delusion) is still here. If the fuel's still here, the machine will keep on running. No more fuel means no more wandering in samsara.
More post
- 📝 Birth of Buddha
- 📝 Difference between Buddhism and Aristotelian "middle-way"?
- 📝 Going to first session
- 📝 Does "abhinibbatti" mean "reincarnation" in the Pali suttas?
- 📝 Finding the source of a sutta
- 📝 Sexual Desire, Masturbating and Asuba Bawana
- 📝 A wall of energy slammed me back during meditation? What was this?
- 📝 Do metta practices and anatta contradict each other?
- 📝 Does this kind of meditation have grounding or an equivalent in Buddhism?
- 📝 How can there be knowledge of unconditioned phenomenon without any knower?
- 📝 Focus on the object or nimitta?
- 📝 Does the Pali Canon say anything about duty to siblings?
- 📝 What's the difference between these 3?
- 📝 How is Recollection of peace (upasamānussati) practiced?
- 📝 Am I falling asleep or am I deepening my concentration?
- 📝 Sammasam Buddha's Sila, was it the best Sila?
- 📝 Memories in frames
- 📝 How can watching be non-doing?
- 📝 Is there any canonical descriptions of the physical characteristics of the Buddha?
- 📝 What effect does mindfulness have on dependent origination?
- 📝 "Mystics" in buddhism? ("There is nothing hidden in my teaching" and the like)
- 📝 Ex-monk reliable Teacher?
- 📝 Are there any recollections of past lives in the more grievous realms?
- 📝 Possible Potential Buddhist
- 📝 What does 'Not percipient of form internally' in Salayatana Sutta mean?
- 📝 Benefits of sleeping in a sitting posture
- 📝 Why is it hard to breathe naturally when meditating?
- 📝 Asking about Parent-Child relationship karma. Is it bad if I don't wanna go visit my dad?
- 📝 When an experienced monk meditates how much does their mind wander?
- 📝 Union with Brahma, or company of Brahma?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 First life in samsara
- 📝 When were women first welcomed into Buddhist orders?
- 📝 How to deal with bad past karma that makes my current life miserable?
- 📝 Life of Buddha, to be taken seriously?
- 📝 What is the life of a monk really like?
- 📝 Is it ethical to kill plant life while gardening?
- 📝 What should I choose, Life or Nirvana?
- 📝 Does being in a commited married life make it impossible to attain Nirvana? If not, how can one progress towards Nirvana?
- 📝 How much is the minimal time for practicing Vipassana in daily life for achieving better mindfulness?
- 📝 Do lions create bad kamma for their next life when they kill?
- 📝 How is samsara nirvana?
- 📝 Is the age of monastic life over? Is it societal conditioning or keeping up with the times?
- 📝 How did Buddha's teachings about samsara differ from earlier Indian tradition?
- 📝 Historically, where do the concepts of Karma, Nirvana, Dharma and Samsara come from?
- 📝 If a Buddhist believes lay life is not ideal for the practice, why does he or she continue?
- 📝 How do you trade a career for a life geared toward becoming awakened?
- 📝 Why is the first lines of the Dhammapada twin verses sometimes translated using the word 'heart'?
- 📝 Does samsara exist or not exists?
- 📝 Buddhism 101? Any first steps one should take to begin their journey as a buddhist?
- 📝 What practices are included in (daily lay) life for a Buddhist?
- 📝 How does the first noble truth associate dukkha with each of the five skandhas?
- 📝 Should a Buddhist lay-practitioner schedule his/her daily life
- 📝 How to manage insects in the house while adhering to the First Precept?
- 📝 Fear of Samsara in Others
- 📝 Is assault against the first precept?
- 📝 Meditating and including buddhist philosophy in your life without abandoning previous religious beliefs?
- 📝 Through the Processes of Jhana does it have a Permanent effect or temporary effect on your life
- 📝 Observing eight precepts in regular life
- 📝 In a Buddhist perspective how do we recall memories of this life and beyond?
- 📝 Is it helpful to avoid first person pronouns when speaking and writing?