user11674: The suttas were as far as I heard transmitted orally, and it was only several hundred years later that the teachings were put on to paper. Now my questions:
i) Do you believe in every sutta? For example: That a person suddenly attained sottapanna or arahantship? Notice: It doesn't matter whether it happened or not because it has not real implications on me, but it's as always this easy and unrealistic kind of thinking that people often employ
ii) Couldn't it be the case that there are also many 'later alterations' to fit the dhamma to one's own/to culture's liking?
iii) Connected to question i): How do you interpret devas? And how do you verify 'post-morten' rebirth? Isn't it in contradiction of anatta? Didn't the Buddha teach that the Dhamma can be experienced in the here and now? Why do the 4NT (and N8P) not mention rebirth?
iv) Most people do not translate suttas by their own. They take the words from scholars and monks, which often copy from each other. Is this the critical thinking that Buddhists often speak of?

user-1: When people attained arahantship or stream entry just after listening to a discourse then that mean they must have comtemplated what the Buddha said and they was able to attained stream entry or arahantship because of their paramis. I don’t think there are any latter additions but they could have been written down at a later period but that doesn’t mean that people just made up the sutta on their own. It is possible that the sutta was so long so they didn’t finish writing it. Devas are real beings just like humans and animals. Being able to see devas is one of the fruit of contemplative live. Rebirth was never a contradictions to anatta. I am not an arahant so I will just say why rebirth is not a contradictions to anatta in my opinion. Believing that the same person is reborn is an eternalist view. Believing that the person who is reborn is different from the person who dies is an annihilationist view. Dependent origin is the Buddhist’s view. Going to other realms like heaven or hell can be experienced here and now if you develop powers from the fourth jhana. It’s one of the fruit of contemplative live. Monks can’t show their powers so it’s not surprising that laymen have no ideas that they exist. Rebirth is in the noble eight fold path. It is right view. Rebirth is also in the four noble truth. The four noble truth is basically there is suffering, dependent origin, cessation of dependent origin and the noble eight fold path. Rebirth is the dependent origin. It shows that as long as Nibbana is not attained you will also be reborn. Physical death is not the end.

11674: <p>The suttas were as far as I heard transmitted orally, and it was only several hundred years later that the teachings were put on to paper. Now my questions:</p>

<p>i) Do you believe in every sutta? For example: That a person suddenly attained sottapanna or arahantship? Notice: It doesn't matter whether it happened or not because it has not real implications on me, but it's as always this easy and unrealistic kind of thinking that people often employ</p>

<p>ii) Couldn't it be the case that there are also many 'later alterations' to fit the dhamma to one's own/to culture's liking?</p>

<p>iii) Connected to question i): How do you interpret devas? And how do you verify 'post-morten' rebirth? Isn't it in contradiction of anatta? Didn't the Buddha teach that the Dhamma can be experienced in the here and now? Why do the 4NT (and N8P) not mention rebirth?</p>

<p>iv) Most people do not translate suttas by their own. They take the words from scholars and monks, which often copy from each other. Is this the critical thinking that Buddhists often speak of?</p>
 -1: <p>When people attained arahantship or stream entry just after listening to a discourse then that mean they must have comtemplated what the Buddha said and they was able to attained stream entry or arahantship because of their paramis. I don’t think there are any latter additions but they could have been written down at a later period but that doesn’t mean that people just made up the sutta on their own. It is possible that the sutta was so long so they didn’t finish writing it. Devas are real beings just like humans and animals. Being able to see devas is one of the fruit of contemplative live. Rebirth was never a contradictions to anatta. I am not an arahant so I will just say why rebirth is not a contradictions to anatta in my opinion. Believing that the same person is reborn is an eternalist view. Believing that the person who is reborn is different from the person who dies is an annihilationist view. Dependent origin is the Buddhist’s view. Going to other realms like heaven or hell can be experienced here and now if you develop powers from the fourth jhana. It’s one of the fruit of contemplative live. Monks can’t show their powers so it’s not surprising that laymen have no ideas that they exist. Rebirth is in the noble eight fold path. It is right view. Rebirth is also in the four noble truth. The four noble truth is basically there is suffering, dependent origin, cessation of dependent origin and the noble eight fold path. Rebirth is the dependent origin. It shows that as long as Nibbana is not attained you will also be reborn. Physical death is not the end.</p>
