Cutūpapāta ñāna: seeing beings pass away according to kamma

Cutūpapāta ñāna : The Supreme Buddha had the ability to see the passing away and rebirth of beings according to their actions.

Are there suttas that explain that in detail?
Did the buddha see the destination when someone recently passed away and then the deeds that influenced the destination? did he see randomly people passing away and arising somewhere? Could he see in the past the connections between kamma and rebirth like remembering someones past lives? Could he see the destination of someone when he would pass away at that moment?

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Greetings,

There aren’t any suttas that i am aware of that go into the specifics, but the Visuddhimagga discusses it in some details here:

[(5) THE DIVINE EYE—KNOWLEDGE OF PASSING AWAY AND
REAPPEARANCE OF BEINGS]
72. As to the explanation of the knowledge of passing away and reappearance
of beings, [here is the text: “He directs, he inclines, his mind to the knowledge of
the passing away and reappearance of beings. With the divine eye, which is
purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and
reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, happy or unhappy in their
destiny; he understands beings as faring according to their deeds: ‘These worthy
beings who were ill-conducted in body, speech and mind, revilers of Noble
Ones, wrong in their views, acquirers of kamma due to wrong view, have, on the
breakup of the body, after death, appeared in a state of loss, in an unhappy
destiny, in perdition in hell; but these worthy beings, who are well conducted in
body, speech and mind, not revilers of Noble Ones, right in their views, acquirers
of kamma due to right view, have, on the breakup of the body, after death, appeared
in a happy destiny, in the heavenly world.’ Thus with the divine eye, which is
purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and
reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, happy or unhappy in their
destiny; he understands beings as faring according to their deeds” (D I 82).
Herein,] to the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance: cutúpapátañáóáya=
cutiyá ca upapáte ca ñáóáya (resolution of compound); [the meaning is,] for the kind of knowledge by means of which beings’ passing away and reappearance
is known; for knowledge of the divine eye, is what is meant. He directs, he inclines
his mind: he both directs and inclines preliminary-work consciousness. He is
the bhikkhu who does the directing of his mind.
73. But as regards with the divine eye, etc., it is divine because of its similarity to
the divine; for deities have as divine eye the sensitivity that is produced by
kamma consisting in good conduct and is unimpeded by bile, phlegm, blood,
etc., and capable of receiving an object even though far off because it is liberated
from imperfections. And this eye, consisting in knowledge, which is produced
by the power of this bhikkhu’s energy in development, is similar to that, so it is
“divine” because it is similar to the divine. Also it is “divine” because it is
obtained by means of divine abiding, and because it has divine abiding as its
support. And it is “divine” because it greatly illuminates by discerning light.
And it is “divine” because it has a great range through seeing visible objects
that are behind walls, and so on. All that should be understood according to the
science of grammar. It is an eye in the sense of seeing. Also it is an eye since it is
like an eye in its performance of an eye’s function. It is purified since it is a cause
of purification of view, owing to seeing passing away and reappearance.
74. One who sees only passing away and not reappearance assumes the
annihilation view; and one who sees only reappearance and not passing away
assumes the view that a new being appears. But since one who sees both outstrips
that twofold [false] view, that vision of his is therefore a cause for purification of
view. And the Buddhas’ sons see both of these. Hence it was said above: [424] “It
is ‘purified’ since it is a cause of purification of view, owing to seeing passing
away and reappearance.”
75. It surpasses the human in the seeing of visible objects by surpassing the
human environment. Or it can be understood that it surpasses the human in
surpassing the human fleshly eye. With that divine eye, which is purified and
superhuman, he sees beings, he watches beings as men do with the fleshly eye.
76. Passing away and reappearing: he cannot see them with the divine eye actually
at the death moment of reappearance.17 But it is those who, being on the verge of
death, will die now that are intended as “passing away” and those who have
taken rebirth-linking and have just reappeared that are intended by “reappearing.” What is pointed out is that he sees them as such passing away
and reappearing.
77. Inferior: despised, disdained, looked down upon, scorned, on account of
birth, clan, wealth, etc., because of reaping the outcome of delusion. Superior: the
opposite of that because of reaping the outcome of non-delusion. Fair: having a
desirable, agreeable, pleasing appearance because of reaping the outcome of
non-hate. Ugly: having undesirable, disagreeable, unpleasing appearance
because of reaping the outcome of hate; unsightly, ill-favoured, is the meaning.
Happy in their destiny: gone to a happy destiny; or rich, very wealthy, because of
reaping the outcome of non-greed. Unhappy in their destiny: gone to an unhappy
destiny; or poor with little food and drink because of reaping the outcome of
greed…

In the interest in not posting a wall of text I have left some text out. The rest can be read here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf

Hope that helps.

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I am currently studying MN50, in which Moggallāna scolds Mara:

MN50:8.1: Once upon a time, Wicked One, I was a Māra named Dūsī, and I had a sister named Kāḷī.

It is quite detailed and a wonderful discourse filled with insight about the passing away and rebirth of beings according to their actions. I have learnt much from listening to MN50.

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To put the OP question in perspective, the ability for the Buddha to see his own former rebirths and the rebirths of others plus the extinction of all cankers are known as the threefold higher powers, and appear in standardized form (not detail) in suttas describing the enlightenment such as MN 36 and MN 60. The reason the two examples of the action of kamma are given is that a belief in it is fundamental to the practice, and constitutes mundane right view. The action of kamma is cause and effect on an unseen psychological level and the results of some actions (both physical and mental) can be observed to bear fruit in this lifetime. A practitioner bases their life on this action of kamma, and so averts the tendency to be reactive, and to be seduced by events in the present. They are more likely to stay silent, not feeling compelled to justify everything in words.

Whatever quality is present
you clearly see right there,
right there.
Not taken in, —MN 131

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Something not directly pertaining to current topic, but nonetheless connected to the cosmology,

Considering that Mara belongs to the highest realm of Sense Sphere (Kāma Dhātū) , where the inhabitant gods are born spontaneously , how can there be a brother-sister relationship without any biological parent ?!

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Whilst staying at the brick house in Nādika, the Buddha apparently explained to his listeners the rebirths taken by many of his followers from different groups (as told in DN 18).

The Ven. Ānanda seems to have been particularly interested in knowing where various people were reborn, but in SN 55.10 the Buddha reproved him, saying:

It’s hardly surprising that a human being should pass away. But if you should come and ask me about it each and every time someone passes away, that would be a bother for me.

:rofl: Maybe it’s just my reading of the suttas, but the Buddha does seem to have had a wonderfully dry sense of humour.

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The wonder of MN50 for me is its wild challenge to conventional logic. Moggallāna may be addressing his audience using what Daniel Kahneman refers to as “System 1”, which is associative thought, not inferential thought. What’s interesting is that the insight of the sutta resounds regardless of interpretation of the proferred biological relationship. The same message comes through whether we think this a literal truth or merely a metaphorical truth. One still gains a much deeper understanding of the passing and rebirth of sentient beings. One understands the intransigence of wickedness without rebuke. One understands the kindness in the rebuke.

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Despite their being of apparitional arising, lots of devas are referred to using familial terms.

According to later texts the conventions among devas are as follows:

If someone has enough merit then he’ll be reborn as a superior class of deva, with his own land and celestial mansion.
If a lesser deva is born inside the folds of a superior deva’s garments, s/he is called his son/daughter.
If two or more devas arise in that place, then they are called siblings.
If a female deva is born in a male deva’s bed she is called his wife.
If she is born at the foot of his bed she is called his serving-maid.
If a male deva is born by his door he becomes his full-time servant.
If he is born outside the wall of his celestial mansion but still on his territory, then he becomes his part-time servant.
If he is born in no man’s land between the territories of two devas, then they have to appeal to Indra to pass judgment. Indra will then send a deva to measure the distance between the new deva’s birthplace and the two devas’ mansions. Whoever’s mansion is closer gets to keep the new deva. But if the distances were identical, then ownership will be awarded on the basis of which direction the deva was facing when he was born. But if he was born looking upwards, then to avert a quarrel Indra himself will keep him.

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Another perspective on the passage of sentient beings is offered in DN33, which lays out planes of consciousness up to and ending with:

DN33:2.3.41: There are sentient beings that have gone totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness. Aware that ‘there is nothing at all’, they have been reborn in the dimension of nothingness.

What is notable about this is that there are no higher dimensions of sentient being beyond the dimension of nothingness. In fact, that is quite notable since the transcendence of sentient consciousness is in fact the sixth liberation.

DN33:3.1.180: This is the sixth liberation. Going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, they enter and remain in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.

Therefore, in a manner of speaking, experiencing the sixth liberation is exactly the experience of seeing sentient beings pass away according to kamma, since the sixth liberation is a fruit of the conditioning that is the Noble Eightfold Path.

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The deva world seems as controlling and full of laws and restrictions as the human world :face_with_raised_eyebrow: Reminds me I really need to work on my meditation to escape all of this :grin:

What is the source text of that particular passage? And is there an English translation by any chance?

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Thank you Bhante for the clarification :slight_smile: !

I got it from the chapter on the six kāmāvacara heavens in Phra Lithai’s Traibhūmikathā, which collates material found mainly in Dhammapāla’s commentary to the Vimānavatthu. Both texts have been translated:

Peter Masefield, Elucidation of the Intrinsic Meaning, so named, the Commentary on the Vimāna Stories

Frank E. Reynolds & Mani B. Reynolds, Three Worlds According to King Ruang: A Thai Buddhist Cosmology

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Thank you very much.