Still, they had such views as these:
‘The cosmos is eternal’ or ‘The cosmos is not eternal’;
‘The world is finite’ or ‘The world is infinite’;
‘The soul and the body are the same thing’ or ‘The soul and the body are different things’;
or that after death, a Realized One exists, or doesn’t exist, or both exists and doesn’t exist, or neither exists nor doesn’t exist.
Are these views wrong views and in order to become a Sotapanna, these views must be abandoned?
I suddenly remembered that after smoking marijuana I often have these views.
Question: Has a sotapanna eliminated these views?
‘The cosmos is eternal’ or ‘The cosmos is not eternal’;
‘The world is finite’ or ‘The world is infinite’;
‘The soul and the body are the same thing’ or ‘The soul and the body are different things’;
or that after death, a Realized One exists, or doesn’t exist, or both exists and doesn’t exist, or neither exists nor doesn’t exist.
Answer: Yes, a sotāpanna has eliminated these views.
Reason: These views wrong views and in order to become a sotāpanna, these views must be abandoned. That is correct. And to put it more clearly: these views arise because of identity view and a sotāpanna - by definition - has no more identity view.
These synchronicities are properties of the momentum of samsara and should not be mistaken for anything from transcendent right view. Likewise a stream-enterer has abandoned self- identity and separated conventional (samsara) from ultimate reality, having no doubt due to the proving of the four noble truths. This latter is hard work requiring concentration so cannot be achieved through drugs. But entering the path of the dhamma produces continuing legitimate insights.
“A tangle within,
a tangle without,
people are entangled
in a tangle.
Gotama, I ask you this:
who can untangle this tangle?”—SN 7.6
These views are ritualistic views because they don’t solve the problem of dukkha. It’s not that they can’t be answered, as science can answer the universe eternal question, it’s that they no longer need to be answered. People’s motivation for asking these questions is existential, it’s “Why am I here? Why do I exist?” and these questions about the cosmos and self are attempts at answering the question “Why am I here?”, but once you know and see dependent origination for yourself then you now know why you’re here and the underlying question and motivation is answered.
You’re here because out of ignorance and delusion an ego was born that assumes that it is the five aggregates. So delusion is the reason an “I” exists. Why does delusion exist? No one knows. Why do the aggregates exist? No one knows. But why do “I” exist? Because of delusion, misconceiving the world. And why does delusion come to an end? Because the Buddha re-discovered the dhamma element that has always existed but is often obscured to the average person.
So back to the ritualistic claim, the dukkha that the Buddha ends isn’t the dukkha of physical pain, it’s the dukkha of existentialism, which leads to attachment/clinging (upadana). Once someone knows the cause of attachment, they no longer need to rely on rituals. A ritual by definition is something that cannot solve what it proposes to solve because it doesn’t target the direct cause. i.e. burning candles or praying will not cure cancer. Churning water will not create butter, and sensual desire, philosophizing and speculation doesn’t solve existential dissatisfaction.
An Arahant therefore doesn’t stop physical pain, instead he or she stops identifying with physical pain because it is no longer required to.
What an exact and true understanding! Very few are there in these forum which can express it like you expressed! There are many who just try to understand overhead only, and reach various types of wrong understanding!
Indeed it is hard to abandon wrong view and reach right view regarding dhamma but certainly possible.
