sukha: sukha: Whatever kamma I inherited at birth, it is not me, it is not mine, and I am not it. In the sense of “not self” evidently. However I am the “owner” of my kamma in the very sense that what I do everyday in body, speech and mind has an effect on that kamma. Still, I have no idea (and I’m not necessarily going to search for a truth there) on how kamma goes from birth to birth.

In my opinion, it is difficult to make sense of this without strong contemplation of SN chapter 2,3,4. So one should not even try too much.

As for a short attempt at an explanation: Think of the being as a machine, just like a car or a computer. This machine is made out of parts that condition one another. Kamma is like a part of the engine, consciousness is like another part of the engine, etc. The machine is completely selfless, like a car or a computer. There are just parts of the engine that condition one another.

Think of the fuel of a car or the windows of a car. They are part of the car (being) yet the car does not own them. There is no “self” of a car that owns these things, there is just the car. (being)

The opinion, the idea that “this is my consciousness” or “this is my volition” - this opinion or this feeling is just another thing that has arisen just like the smoke released by the car exhausting pipe.

There is nobody suffering, there is just suffering that arises. Same as it is for animals or babies. Most animals do not have a sense of self, an opinion of a self. They do not recognize themselves in the mirror. They are like machines responding to stimuli for witch suffering arises and ceases dependent on conditions. There is no opinion that “this is me suffering” that arises for an animal because self-view is not developed in them. And the human is the same, like a selfless machine only with an opinion of a self existing - witch is also dependently arisen. The animal or the baby does not have a sense of self but he has the seed for a sense of self in him to develop in the future. Also, it should not be understood by this that there is no free will. There is free will just like it would be with a self existing, it exists just like radomness exists in online poker.

Still, I have no idea (and I’m not necessarily going to search for a truth there) on how kamma goes from birth to birth.

First thing one needs to do is to remove self view. What you are tying to do over there is to remove conceit. But this can not be done without first removing self view.

Firs, the person should remove self view through contemplating higher teachings: How is stream entry achieved?

After this opinion is removed, don’t expect anything too miraculous to happen. There will still be the underlying tendency to conceit. Just like there will still be the underlying tendency to aversion, to sloth and topor, etc. The machine, despite intellectually understanding that there is no self, it will still function in the same way for a while out of inertia, he will still have underlying tendencies that were developed in the past. But now the machine knows how things work, a new information has been put into the machine. Because of this information, the machine will go towards another direction, the direction of nibbana. It will know the goal and the way of achieving that goal. The goal of the machine will be now to cut it’s own fuel and self-destruct. In order to cut it’s own fuel, it will develop for example the 7 factors of enlightenment (and other aids to enlightenment), in the same way a computer might develop 7 programs or self-updates in order to deal with a new task that has arisen. This is why the 7 factors of enlightenment are just “a raft” developed for the destruction of underlying tendencies and clinging. They are not to be developed out of some idealisitic reasons, they are just like 7 programs or updates of a computer.

Bhikkhus, there are these five faculties. What five? The faculty of faith, the faculty of energy, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of wisdom. These are the five faculties.

When, bhikkhus, a noble disciple understands as they really are the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of these five faculties, then he is called a noble disciple who is a stream-enterer, no longer bound to the nether world, fixed in destiny, with enlightenment as his destination. ”

In order for this post to look more inteligible it is necessary to read and strongly contemplate SN chapter 2,3,4. (1400pag) Right view is the forerunner of them all, it is the first thing that should be developed. The first step of the 8thfold path. This is why I keep stressing this around here. For many years (7-8) I have been a buddhist and did not realize the importance of contemplating these higher teachings and the importance of right view. I had a Zen, anti-contemplation approach of “practice and knowledge will arise by itself somehow”. Only in recent months did I start doing that and it was by far the best thing I ever did as a buddhist. I can not stress enough the importance of reading and contemplating SN.

If one will try to develop good qualities but without taking his time to contemplate the nikayas, especially SN, he might end up just like these teachers that believe in a “true self” and eternal consciousness in nibbana. He will be just like wanderers of other sects from Buddha time. Advanced in practice but without right view. The only way to achieve right view through practice is to become a silent buddha and achieve direct arahanthip by himself. And this is very difficult to do. But luckily for us, we have a Buddha sansa in existence and we do not need to re-discover these higher teachings by ourselves. We have them available already.