#########################
B The Hindrances and their Cessations
Excerpt from Chapter 9, Seeds of Understanding by Ajahn Sumedho. Physical book available here.
As we listen inwardly, we begin to recognize the whispering voices of guilt, remorse and desire, jealousy and fear, lust and greed. Lust may take the form of looking for something to eat, or anything to absorb into, become something, unite with something.
Lust is always on the lookout, always seeking for something. It can be an attractive object which is allowable for the monks, like a nice robe or an alms-bowl or some delicious food. You can see the inclination to want it, to touch it, to try and somehow get it, own it, possess it, make it mine, consume. And that’s lust, that’s a force in nature which we must recognize; not to condemn it and say, “I’m a terrible person because I have lust!” - because that’s another ego reinforcement, isn’t it? As if we are not supposed to have any lust, as if there were any human beings who didn’t experience desire for something!
These are conditions in nature which we must recognize and seek not through condemnation, but through understanding of them. So we get to really know the movement in our mind of lust, greed, seeking something - and the desire to get rid of. You can witness that also - wanting to get rid of something you have, or some situation, or pain itself.
Sensual desire is the first of the hindrances. Aversion is the second one; your mind is haunted with not wanting, with petty irritations and resentments, and then you try and annihilate them. So that’s an obstacle to your mental vision, that’s a hindrance. I am not saying we should get rid of that hindrance - that’s aversion - but to know it, to know its force, to understand it as you experience it. Then you recognize the desire to get rid of things in yourself, the desire to get rid of things around you, desire not to be here, desire not to be alive, desire to no longer exist.
The third hindrance is sleepiness, lethargy, sloth, drowsiness, torpor; we tend to react to this aversion. But this also can be understood. Dullness can be known - the heaviness of the body and mind, slow, dull movement. Witness the aversion to it, the wanting to get rid of it. You observe the feeling of dullness in the body and the mind. Even if the knowledge of dullness is changing, unsatisfactory, not-self.
Restlessness is the opposite of dullness; this is the fourth hindrance. Unlike the feeling of wanting to sleep, restlessness is more of an obsessive state. You want to do something, and if you have to sit still for a while when you are feeling restlessness, you feel penned in, caged. So you can witness that also, especially when you are contaminated within a form where you can’t just follow restlessness.
Doubt is the fifth hindrance. Sometimes our doubts may seem very important, and we like to give them a lot of attention. We are very deluded by them because they seem so substantial. “Should i go here, or there? Am i doing this right? Is Buddhism the right path for me?” This is doubt. You can spend the rest of your life worrying about whether you should do this or that, but one thing you can know is that doubt is a condition of the mind. Sometimes that tends to be very subtle and deluding.
The five hindrances are your teachers. They can be pretty trivial, petty, foolish, annoying and obsessive. They keep pushing, jabbing and knocking us down all the time until we give them proper attention and understanding until they are no longer problems. That’s why one has to be very patient. We have to have all the patience in the world and humility to learn from these five teachers.
And what do we learn? That these are just conditions in the mind, they arise and pass away; they are unsatisfactory, not-self. Sometimes one has very important messages in our lives. We tend to believe those messages, but what we can know is that those are changing conditional and we patiently endure through that, then things change automatically on their own, and we have the openness and clarity of mind to act spontaneously, rather than react to conditions. With bare attention, with mindfulness, things go away on their own you don’t have to get rid of them because everything that beings, ends. There is nothing to get rid of, you just have to be patient with them, and allow things to take their natural course into cessation.
When you are patient, allowing things to cease, then you being to know cessation - silence, emptiness, clarity - the mind clears and there is stillness. The mind is still vibrant, its not oblivious, repressed or asleep, and you can hear the silence of the mind.
To allow cessation means that we have to be very kind, very gentle and patient, humble, not taking sides with anything, the good, the bad, the pleasure, or the pain. Gentle recognition allow things to change according to their nature, without interfering. So then we learn to turn away from seeking absorption into object of the senses. We find our peace in the emptiness of the mind, in it’s clarify, in its silence.
########################
"It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."
-- Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
#####################################
As long as the mind is still active and looking for satisfaction - you will be pretty bored!
This is why (and I know I keep saying this) Heartfulness is different. It utilizes yogic transmission which easily takes us deep into samadhi.
You will find this style of meditation to be natural and easy to fit into your day. Also, free help is continually available through trainers.
We just need to get past those initial persistent tendencies of the mind to want to feel, experience, and understand something.
Once this is achieved you will easily enjoy your meditation more and more.
good meditating!
########################
B STREAM OF CONSC
MIND STREAM
GETTING RID OF IMPERFECTIONS
ONLY MIND B
#########################
EDS
B
Of course, basically, it is dagdzin marigpa, the ignorance grasping the I. That which exists in mere name, but then it appeared and you believed with a wrong view as a real I, truly existing, existing from its own side, a real I. You live the whole… You do everything, every single [action] of your body, speech, and mind, every activity, you lead the whole entire life with this wrong concept and with this wrong view, this hallucination. You live the life; you do every single thing with this hallucination, believing it is real, believing everything is real. Real! You do everything, believing it is real, [believing] the hallucination is real, with the concept that it is real. You do everything. Wow, wow, wow. Amazing.
That, that is the basic, the very basic Buddhism—discovering your self! Discovering your self! Aaaah. Aaa-ah. You see? What is false in your life, what is truth in your life—oh, that is discovering your self. From beginningless rebirths up to now, how you have been believing your self, how things appear to your mind, is toooooooootally opposite. This is a hallucination. Aaaah. You have to realize this. That is the most important thing. It is basic Buddhism! Aaaah. Aaaah.
Now you really understand what Buddhism is! Aaaah. What Buddhism offers to your life, to learning about your life! Aaaah. You see? You have to recognize that. It is not just chanting blah, blah, blah. No, it is not like that. Not at all. It shows the truth! Aaaah. It is not just chanting blah, blah, blah. Many religions do chanting, making sounds. It is not just that. It is not just that. Now the more you learn now, now you can see what Buddhism is. How it is most important in your life. Aaaah. Like that.
############################
- Any day on this side of the earth is a good day. Some people didn't make the cut last night. I was hit by a speeding taxi while walking towards a bus stop. I spent a month in rehab with two broken legs, a brain injury, multiple back injuries, and other fractures. The night before I was beaten, a young married couple was also beaten. They both died. Practice gratitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment