About lists (Path)

[Viach]

Buddhism is flooded with various lists. Of the three baskets (Vinaya Sutra Abhidharma), the Abhidharma is literally a collection of lists that contain the whole doctrine of Buddhism. Therefore, the principle of compiling these lists is interesting. And here my thoughts on this are.
If there is a list, then the elements included in this list should have a sign that is the same for all elements of the list. The elements precisely for this reason are in the same list that they are united by this feature. But they should also have a sign (or several) that would distinguish them from each other inside the list, otherwise it would be a list of identical elements. Thus, any list has two signs at least: unifying elements one and distinguishing elements one.
For example, consider the list of Path (from the list of the Basis Path Fruit). As known, the Path (in Dzogchen) is View Meditation Behavior. The unifying sign here is an experience of instant presence (quality). The distinguishing sign is the stability of this experience (quantity).
Indeed, the view, the meditation, and the behavior are an experience of instant presence. This is a unifying feature. Now, what is the difference between view and meditation? The stability in time of an instant presence experience: after all, meditation is an experience that lasts from instant to instant (time interval), and a view is a one-time experience of instant presence (this is an attempt at meditation). Next, what is the difference between meditation and behavior?
Stability in circumstances: after all, meditation (and therefore the view (an attempt at meditation)) is an experience of instant presence for a certain time (hence the instruction to practice in short intervals at first) in the retreat hothouse conditions (silence, comfortable sitting, etc.) and behavior is meditation in the 'fighting conditions' of everyday life (noise, different postures, strong emotions, speech, etc.).

P.S. There are a few more lists that would be interesting to see from this angle: Basis Path Fruit, Buddha Dharma Sangha, essence nature compassion(Basis) and others.

[Wayfarer]

That is very interesting! (There’s an excellent compendium of Buddhist lists on the Zen Site, by the way.) But I have to ask - and please don’t feel obliged to answer - you’re not a computer programmer, by any chance? (I only ask because it strikes me as the style of analysis that a programmer would consider.)

[PeterC]

It’s a stylistic thing. Some cultures place a high value on ordered lists in communication. It results in a lot of highly contrived categorizations

[Viach]

It’s a stylistic thing. Some cultures place a high value on ordered lists in communication. It results in a lot of highly contrived categorizations

Yoga and culture are different things: they should be distinguished.

[DNS]

Here is my compendium of lists, mostly from Pali Canon, but also lots of overlaps with Mahayana too:
https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/Catego ... %27s_Lists

[PeterC]

It’s a stylistic thing. Some cultures place a high value on ordered lists in communication. It results in a lot of highly contrived categorizations

Yoga and culture are different things: they should be distinguished.

I'm not sure I see your point. The composers of Dharma texts created a lot of lists. I'm not sure I can derive an 'ought' from that 'is'?

[Schrödinger’s Yidam]

Here is my compendium of lists, mostly from Pali Canon, but also lots of overlaps with Mahayana too:
https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/Catego ... %27s_Lists

Okay. So I tried to buy a copy and the cheapest I found was $95.00 used.

Ya wouldn’t happen to have a spare copy you’d like to donate to a Kagyu monastery now would ya? We could give you a tax write-off for it!

[DNS]

Here is my compendium of lists, mostly from Pali Canon, but also lots of overlaps with Mahayana too:
https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/Catego ... %27s_Lists

Okay. So I tried to buy a copy and the cheapest I found was $95.00 used.

Yeah, those re-sellers are not supposed to do that, but unfortunately I have no control over that.

Ya wouldn’t happen to have a spare copy you’d like to donate to a Kagyu monastery now would ya? We could give you a tax write-off for it!

There is a link at thedhamma.com website where you can download the full pdf version, but sorry, not a hard-copy.
https://thedhamma.com/