Would you like to be a bird in next life?

Discussion
1

When we were young we use to say "I wish I am a bird so I am free and fly in the sky as I wish"
Then I met a person who said I wish I am a bitch so I can have sex with lot of dogs.
We make these statements without much thoughts but may have some unwanted results.
Can you relate to this?

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  1. “Here, monk, a certain one acts in two ways by body, speech, and mind. He learns that serpents born from eggs enjoy long life, beauty, and much pleasantness.

  2. “Then it occurs to him, `May I be born with the serpents born from eggs after death.

  3. “After the breakup of the body, after death, he is born with the serpents born from eggs.

  4. “Monk, this is the reason for a certain one to be born with the serpents born from eggs after death.”

http://awake.kiev.ua/dhamma/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/3Samyutta-Nikaya/Samyutta3/28-Naga-Samyutta/01-Nagavaggo-e.html

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2

Is naga a serpent or elephant?

3

In Sri Lanka we say Naga to a snake.

4

Plain snake or something like chinese dragon?

If naga is snake then why naga vagga in the dhammapada refers to elephant?

Also I feel it weird that there could be spontaneous birth in the animal realm, and that naga has pleasurable living considered animal realm is one of the apaya.

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5

In Sutta Naga refers to a human too. Bhante @sujato may help us.

6

Nāga can mean snake (usually cobra), elephant, dragon, and by extension, a “spiritual giant”.

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7

So something that is powerful, but not threatening.

with metta

8

Yes, it is so powerful in the sense we are creating own reality.
But it is threatening as this is the Bhava Thanha perpetuate our Samsaric existence.

9

I think we create a sense of certainty which is false, here. The Buddha clearly said just because I wish to be a deva, doesn’t mean I will be one, if my actions have been unwholesome in this life, however much you wish for it. I think if he said if this were the case the deva realm would be completely full! If you kamma leads to the deva realm and you think it is wonderful to be pampered dog in the ‘developed’ world, doesn’t mean you will be born as a dog. It is also true that just because of a single thought (or several) someone will be reborn in that way. The ‘dog-duty ascetic’ and the ‘cow-duty ascetic’ had to live like those animals probably for decades, before paving the way to be reborn as those animals. Rebirth in such realms is also transient in the bigger picture.

However I think you increase your chances of ending up as dog, if your actions are like that of a dog. :wink:

with metta

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10

In the first part it is said that the serpents by developing right conduct are being reborn in heaven.

So I think the serpents here refers to various type of snakes, even the mythical ones which are spontaneously born.

Now this seems like a wrong view thinking “He learns that serpents born from eggs enjoy long life, beauty, and much pleasantness.”. Also he is being born as serpents by doing two way of conducts (right and wrong conducts).

So it seems that his predisposition of wanting to be born as a serpent does have an effect on where he is being reborn. Since he is doing right and wrong conducts, it doesn’t seem to far to be reborn in the animal world.

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11

.“He gives eatables. At the breakup of the body, after death, he is born with the serpents born from eggs.

  1. “Monk, this is the reason for a certain one to be born with the serpents born from eggs, after death.”.>

It appears he practice wholesome action wishing for it.

12

Birds have a very rough life, woeful realm of existence. They need to eat 25 to 50 percent of their body weight every day. Imagine trying to find enough food to eat if you weigh 80 kg and had to eat 40 kg per day and none of it is prepared for you; that is you need to hunt and find it every day, for several hours per day. (of course I know there are no birds this heavy, but just putting it into proportion, comparing it to human weight.)

And then their brains, well they are bird-brained, very tiny brains. Much of their behavior is blue printed in their genes, so not much opportunity to produce wholesome kamma, assuming rebirth, it would appear that they just have to wait until the bad kamma exhausts itself for a chance at higher realms.

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13

Another thing what I observed about birds is that they a very territorial. They continuously attacking each other. So it is not very pleasant to be a bird even though it appears very cool to be a bird.

14

From a human point of view, maybe. But animal does not have as much desire as human. Displeasure in life is proportional to the number of desires we have. For animal their only goals are to be alive and make offspring.

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