Best Of
Re: How to die?
Deathlessness for the DIYer who has everything.
Sometimes, I think death might be nothing more than the ego finally arriving at the folly of its own storyline.
At other times, each nanosecond offers up it's own death as a precursor to the next moment of life.
Is "How to die?", a different question than "How to live?"
how
Re: Vassa Dhamma Challenge
I find lust to be a strong problem with me, especially with phones and the possibility of unlimited and free access. I started to take a "wider" view of it and realised that if I wanted to be against seeing women as sexual objects and the dark world of sexual desires I had to stay away from this content. Everything is interconnected. This is a product of our natural demands magnified by technology and capitalistic ventures.
Precepts are good...But my meditation practice is bad. I think I need to wake up earlier. But this challenge is helping me refine my day to day. That has to count no?
Kotishka
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
“I suddenly saw that the real meaning of forgiveness is that there is absolutely no one and nothing to forgive. It doesn't matter how often you seem to be wrong, or what you do or don't do. It doesn't matter how much you look for or not. There is only this being. It's unconditional love.”
— Tony Parsons
Jeroen
Re: Vassa Dhamma Challenge
The Zen stick that one asks for can sometimes be compared to the bar of soap on the prison washroom's floor that is better left alone.
Because no one knows how to pull our chain like our own ego, a successful meditation practice is less about pulling back against the force of its pull and is more about letting go of that chain's hold over you.
Each nano moment offers all of us a choice of how we relate to our ego's control over us. The entirety of any practice is only really measurable by how we relate to this pull in this present moment.
Take comfort in the endless opportunity that each single moment of practice offers and an inexhaustible grace from suffering's grasp can unfold...just one nano second of effort at a time.
how
Re: Vassa Dhamma Challenge
Took a 20 minute walk outside, did a round of push ups and sit ups. Not sure how long I sat for but it was more than usual. There's a little resistant feeling. The jig is up, we're getting healthier and building a floor to being unhealthy. The denizens of the deep cry out in protest but there's no hard line or tough guy enforcing anything, just paying more attention to the results of my actions. I show them some truth and they will come around to appreciating the feeling of better actions.
Re: What to do with perceptions?
I think you're right in that utilizing perceptions (along with the other four aggregates) is an important part of the path. But it's not about having the 'correct' perceptions so much as cultivating certain perceptions, mind-states, and insights which bring one closer to removing craving, not-self identifying with them, and ultimately realizing awakening (e.g., AN 4.49 , AN 6.63, AN 7.46, SN 22.47, SN 27.10, etc.).
Jason
Re: Vassa Dhamma Challenge
Good progress guys! Keep it up. Maybe worth re-assessing your goals? Up to you. Finding a balance between setting something achievable but also pushing ourselves is tricky.
Bunks