Buddhadasa and the continuity of suffering beyond physical death, without rebirth
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I read "Anatta and Rebirth " by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (let's call this explanation B) and I also read similar explanations by Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu from this answer , this comment and this answer (let's call this explanation Y).
First I need to make some definitions and assumptions, before asking my questions:
1. The birth and death of a moment in Y is equivalent to the birth and death of selfhood in B i.e. a moment of selfhood.
2. The definition of birth (jati) and existence (bhava) comes from SN 12.2 , while the definition of being (satta) comes from SN 5.10 .
3. Sammuti-marana or conventional death or conceptual death is equivalent to the event of physical death (according to this answer ).
4. "*At the moment of conceptual death, this process of momentary birth and death continues unimpeded unless one has experienced 'death by cutting off'*" in Y is what I will call "continuity of suffering beyond physical death" (that is, without rebirth).
5. The fact that the Buddha taught that there is no rebirth whatsoever is proven in the story of Bhikkhu Sati in MN 38 , where Sati describes his understanding of rebirth, "*it is this same consciousness that runs and wanders through the round of rebirths, not another*" and consciousness as "*it is that which speaks and feels and experiences here and there the result of good and bad actions*". This is a kind of self view associating consciousness and self.
6. The fact that the Buddha taught that suffering can continue beyond physical death is proven in many suttas: MN 4 ("*with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared*"), SN 15.3 (ocean of tears), SN 44.9 , Dhp 400 (last body), MN 57 , SN 42.3 , DN 2 , Dhp 153-154 and many more.
7. Explanation Y supports both #5 and #6 above.
8. Explanation B supports #5 above, but does not explicitly reject #6 above.
9. There are some Buddhists (sometimes describing themselves as Secular Buddhists) who reject rebirth and also reject continuity of suffering beyond physical death. They claim to reconcile Buddhism with science using explanation B, and say that any kind of continuity beyond physical death is superstition.
10. Those who support (Bhikkhu Sati's version of) rebirth are eternalists, while those who reject continuity of suffering beyond physical death are annihilationists according to DN 1 and SN 12.17 . Both are false views.
Questions:
1. Am I right to say that Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in "Anatta and Rebirth " (explanation B), while correctly rejecting rebirth, did not explicitly reject the continuity of suffering beyond physical death?
2. Are there any other sources, from speeches or writings of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, that prove that he had explicitly rejected the continuity of suffering beyond physical death?
3. Am I right to say that those who support (Bhikkhu Sati's version of) rebirth are eternalists, while those who reject continuity of suffering beyond physical death are annihilationists according to DN 1 and SN 12.17 ?
Asked by ruben2020
(40846 rep)
Dec 23, 2018, 08:56 AM
Last activity: Mar 4, 2022, 01:05 AM
Last activity: Mar 4, 2022, 01:05 AM