Samsara question

The Watercooler
1

Can Samsara ever be stopped entirely? Thanks

2

If there’s a purpose to Samsara, i.e. the possibility for cycles of new Enlightened beings to come about, then even if infinite beings come to full Enlightenment, it’s certainly possible that there will be new cycles of living entities coming through Samsara again, mind-made from Brahma or another Celestial being like a powerful Buddha. You have a chance at life, why shouldn’t new beings?

3

A chance at Dhukka? Pass

4

Yes, for each being in whom the defilements are extinguished.
There is no self in this, so another way to put it would be when greed, anger, and ignorance have been extinguished the senses and aggregates that arose from craving and ignorance cease without rebirth at the final death.

Since saṁsāra means transmigration (from one birth to the next), this certainly ceases – along with all dukkha – which is the purpose of the teachings.

5

Let me rephrase that, then. Can dependent origination ever be brought to a halt?

6

Absolutely, same as the above.

Upon awakening/realization:

““Rādha, any desire, greed, relishing, and craving for form; and any attraction, grasping, mental fixation, insistence, and underlying tendencies—this is called the conduit to rebirth. Their cessation is the cessation of the conduit to rebirth.”
SN23.3

Also see SN12.23, which is like DO in reverse, leading to liberation rather than the “whole mass of suffering.”

7

What I mean is rather the impersonal level. Can the “realm” that beings escape from by gaining awakening ever cease?

Because if every human would gain enlightenment, that realm would supposedly still be there. So can that be stopped?

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8

Who knows? But it’s not relevant to Dhamma practice and liberation.

Recall SN35.23:

“Mendicants, I will teach you the all. Listen 


And what is the all? It’s just the eye and sights, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and touches, and the mind and ideas. This is called the all.

Mendicants, suppose someone was to say: ‘I’ll reject this all and describe another all.’ They’d have no grounds for that, they’d be stumped by questions, and, in addition, they’d get frustrated. Why is that? Because they’re out of their element.”

This is the arena of practice and life. Whatever external reality may be, humans have no direct access to it. What we have is how our mind puts together the data from the senses into the “story” of our life. Of course, this is related to our kamma.

Also see AN10.95:

“In the same way, it’s not the Realized One’s concern whether the whole world is saved by this, or half, or a third. But the Realized One knows that whoever is saved from the world—whether in the past, the future, or the present—all have given up the five hindrances, corruptions of the heart that weaken wisdom. They have firmly established their mind in the four kinds of mindfulness meditation. And they have truly developed the seven awakening factors. That’s how they’re saved from the world, in the past, future, or present.”

Hope this is helpful!

1 Like
9

Good point. Thanks