Thanks for the response. There's a lot of info (as I like posts to have ;) ) so I'll chew on it a bit. And I agree with you as you are right in that there are examples in sutras where people have insights into their past lives, the Buddha talks about his past lives as well, so the question can't be viewed as unanswerable in the absolute sense.
I suppose I meant that it may not be skillful means at an earlier stage of engagement with Buddhism to linger on such questions - though obviously I'm taking a lot of energy talking about my own views on it so I'm either not being skillful myself or I just do find it interesting to think about. The Sabbsava sutras lists similar questions as unskillful questions to ask. But, as I mentioned and as I'm doing now, I think it can be fruitful to go back to these types of questions and answer them at higher and higher stages each time.
Perhaps it can be unskillful if one approaches these questions with a false conception of self, as viewed as some self-propelling svabhava-having entity moving from one body to the next?
But I haven't reached enlightenment yet. So I'm stuck with words.
Now I have some more works that can inform my practice, thanks!
Totally agree with you as far as skillfulness, it's something you can endlessly ponder instead of doing something better with your time. Just wanted to point out that many people have pondered it, so I think I'm with you in that it's fine so long as you recognize that you are not a permanent soul being reborn, as you were talking about in your post.
Thanks for the response. There's a lot of info (as I like posts to have ;) ) so I'll chew on it a bit. And I agree with you as you are right in that there are examples in sutras where people have insights into their past lives, the Buddha talks about his past lives as well, so the question can't be viewed as unanswerable in the absolute sense.
I suppose I meant that it may not be skillful means at an earlier stage of engagement with Buddhism to linger on such questions - though obviously I'm taking a lot of energy talking about my own views on it so I'm either not being skillful myself or I just do find it interesting to think about. The Sabbsava sutras lists similar questions as unskillful questions to ask. But, as I mentioned and as I'm doing now, I think it can be fruitful to go back to these types of questions and answer them at higher and higher stages each time.
Perhaps it can be unskillful if one approaches these questions with a false conception of self, as viewed as some self-propelling svabhava-having entity moving from one body to the next?
But I haven't reached enlightenment yet. So I'm stuck with words.
Now I have some more works that can inform my practice, thanks!
Totally agree with you as far as skillfulness, it's something you can endlessly ponder instead of doing something better with your time. Just wanted to point out that many people have pondered it, so I think I'm with you in that it's fine so long as you recognize that you are not a permanent soul being reborn, as you were talking about in your post.