Just an indication of the brief moments when understanding is present. There are so many wrong paths and only one right.
This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely, the four foundations of mindfulness
“What do you think, Ananda: Which is harder to do, harder to master — to shoot arrows through a tiny keyhole without missing, one right after the other, or to take a horsehair split into seven strands and pierce tip with a tip?”[1]
“This, lord, is harder to do, harder to master — to take a horsehair split into seven strands and pierce tip with a tip.”
"And they, Ananda, pierce what is even harder to pierce, those who pierce, as it actually is present, that ‘This is stress’; who pierce, as it actually is present, that ‘This is the origination of stress’… ‘This is the cessation of stress’… 'This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.
vis. XVI 85 As long as a man is vague about the world,
About its origin, about its ceasing,
About the means that lead to its cessation,
So long he cannot recognize the truths
Yes it is inferential based on seeing directly the rise and fall by conditions in the present. So by understanding the conditions related to the present moment there is also understanding that all past and future moments are also conditioned
Dhammapada Commentary
Loka -vagga 26 The weavers daugther
Seeing her come, the Buddha looked at her, so she put down her basket,
approached the Buddha, paid homage and stood up. He asked her, “Young girl,
where have you come �om?”
She replied, “I do not know, Lord.”
Then he asked her, “Young girl, where are you going?”
She replied, “I do not know, Lord.”
Then he asked, “Do you not know?”
“I know, Lord,” she replied.
“Do you know?” the Buddha asked again.
1 Sakunto
88 Loka Vagga — The World
“I do not know, Lord” she replied.
Many people in the audience were annoyed and murmured, “This girl just
says whatever she likes. Why doesn’t she say that she came �om the spinning
shed, and is going to the weaving shed?”
The Buddha silenced them and asked her why she had answered “I do not
know” when asked where she had come �om. She explained that since he knew
that she had come �om the spinning shed, he must be asking her if she knew
�om which existence she had come to take rebirth in this one, so she answered “I do not know.”
The Buddha praised her answer and asked her why she had said “I do not
know” when asked where she was going. She explained that he knew she was
going to the weaving shed, so he must have been asking her if she knew to
which existence she was going after death, so she replied, “I do not know.”
The Buddha praised her answer a second time, and asked her why she had
answered “I know” when asked “Do you not know?” She explained that she
knew she was going to die, so she replied “I know.”
The Buddha praised her answer a third time and asked her why she had said,
“I do not know” when asked “Do you know?” She explained that she did not
know when she would die, so she replied, “I do not know.”
Praising her answer a fourth time, the Buddha addressed the crowd saying
that not one of them had understood. Then the Buddha uttered the above verse
and the girl attained Stream-winning.
“For a long time, venerable sir, I have wanted to come to see the Blessed One, but I haven’t been fit enough to do so.”
“Enough, Vakkali! Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one who sees me sees the Dhamma. For in seeing the Dhamma, Vakkali, one sees me; and in seeing me, one sees the Dhamma.
The Dhamma has been preserved along with the ancient Commentaries by the great bhikkhus of the past. Studying and considering them wisely now is just as useful as it was millenia ago. And also saddha, confidence and lobha, attachment are real now - as always. They are different realities but as this thread highlights lobha is often mistaken for saddha.
I take robertk to be saying that one’s existence is a chain of empty processes. In some ways this is a very appealing view, and my question is how we can know whether this is the case. Just as in theistic or animistic or Marxist or Freudian views, one can explore the world as per a view, and find more and more confirmation for that view. So it would be good to know if there were something in this view which differentiates it from other - incompatible - views such that we could favour it by virtue of its self-evident truth. If the mental processes by which we arrive at such a view are conditioned and “empty”, then it would appear that they are empty of self-evident truth. Why believe a view, if the mental processes which inform it are empty?
Robert: Confirmation bias is always an issue whether science, politics, religion and probably any area we can think of.
The way of the ancients eclipses others though as it can be seen directly. The problem is that the direct seeing comes after the acceptance of the truth intellectually. Still, when we really delve into the texts, and see how they relate to what is occurring now, there can be little glimpses of direct seeing, as I am sure you know.
The other sects can never show anything directly like that of satipatthana that we discussed. Hearing is real now, seeing is real, pleasant feeling is real - these dhammas and the conditions that caused them to arise are detailed in the texts. No science, religion or philosophy can reveal more than this.
The processes are described in detail in the Patthana, the last book of the Abhidhamma. I think no one could refute what is said there - barring the inconsequential handwaving we see of those who have never looked at it in depth.
Visuddhimagga XIX 20.
Hence the Ancients said:
There is no doer of a deed
Or one who reaps the deed’s result; Phenomena alone flow on—
No other view than this is right.
And so, while kamma and result Thus causally maintain their round, As seed and tree succeed in turn,
No first beginning can be shown.
Nor in the future round of births
Can they be shown not to occur: Sectarians, not knowing this, Have failed to gain self-mastery. They assume a being, see it as Eternal or annihilated.
Adopt the sixty-two wrong views, Each contradicting one another.
The stream of craving bears them on Caught in the meshes of their views:
And as the stream thus bears them on They are not freed from suffering.
A monk, disciple of the Buddha, With direct knowledge of this fact Can penetrate this deep and subtle Void conditionality
I saw a comment on another site where someone wondered why ‘Abhidhamma people’ seem so confident about the teachings. Could this also be conceit?
It depends. Unwholesome states like conceit ( and also wrong view) arise together with lobha, attachment. Thus if there is wrong view one can feel very convinced by it and attach to it. And have conceit that one understands the right way.
Of course, Abhidhamma can surely be studied in the right way and that is by learning to understand the present moment as it really is.
question: Can the present moment be understood at any time we attend to it?
This is not possible as there is no person who is having attention- there are only momentary conditioned elements and they arise due to conditions that are not under anyone’s control.