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awareness
ThailandTom
Veteran
What is actually constant awareness and what does it require. I refer to being fully aware all of the time
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Too much sustained concentration can make a person have mental symptoms of illness according to the same teacher. Particularly in people who are already mentally ill.
Notice right then that awareness is waking up automatically. Instead of being judgmental about this occurrence. You should be thankful that awareness is constantly waking up without our help.
Condition yourself positively by sincerely appreciating the brief moment of waking up to what is. Thus it will happen more and more. It's only the thinking mind that wants to get rid of the thinking mind. Thinking can be used as a tool. Allow yourself to get caught in thinking and magically you'll escape it for a moment or so.
Lol please read this and take it to heart.
As far as being 'aware' in relation to being clear minded or 'enlightened'. It doesn't exist, simply because you're trying to change basic biological functions. No one can pay attention and be fully alert at all times without making any mistakes. Just try your best not to be an idiot. We aren't perfect people. Throw these supposed Buddhist teachers who are 'enlightened' and 'aware' into a desperate life threatening situation and see how they react, they'll react like the dirty animals that they are; ever read Lord of the Flies? You'll see how quickly all this Buddhism bull (awareness, enlightenment, on and on) will go out the window when faced with actual problems.
What a joke.
But anyways, just my opinion. Take it as you wish.
Take it easy man.
So while it hasn't worked for you it's definitely wrong to say it's "BS" or a "dupe" of any kind. It's paramount to saying laundry detergent doesn't work because it failed to remove a tomato soup stain.
Not all religions work for people, for some people no religion will work for them as it boils down to mental disposition. I do not know how old you are, what your views are, but we as buddhists tend to not preach too much. We accept other religions, or should do, and feel the need to relieve the suffering of ourselves and others. Being aware and seeing the world for how it really is without attachments and all of these afflictive emotions is IMO a very good thing indeed. Again, as you said, it is an opinion.
It is up to you if you want to drop everything and be atheist, to work out the world by yourself, good luck to you. Just realize that as in your post before last, you let your emotions and ego take over resulting in a somewhat negative action.
Om
Spiny
Don't get caught up in this, there is so much more to Buddhism than Jhana meditation, and all the other stuff can be done very easily, it just takes effort. I used to get really quite irritated that I was missing out on a huge part of Buddhism because I could not acheive magical insights through meditation. But then I just decided that I would let it go, I wasn't going to bother with that anymore, and I feel far more liberated as a result. In my very humble opinion, liberation is not something which requires control, it is the opposite. Try reading Adyashanti's True Meditation, this book was very helpful for me.
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
ALL of the above are required for Buddhism to work. If you only do 3 or 4 of them, then it should not be a surprise if it doesn't work. It CAN'T work without ALL 8. Mindfulness and concentration are only 2 of those things, the rest are just as important. But, before you can put fourth "right effort", you first have to know what right effort is. If not, then you can trick yourself into thinking you are making right effort, when you are actually NOT making right effort. The same with the rest of them.
Right effort comes through generosity to yourself. To give yourself the gift of the dharma. From that you begin to clear obstacles. Via right action and patience. From that comes joyful effort which arises naturally when the conditions are right. The first part of the path is sometimes called the accumulation portion where you are bringing together the right conditions. Sort of a gathering. Getting off drugs is an example of a condition.
But if you keep with the practice you'll find it will develop. You don't need to go into jhana states to be peaceful. In fact a lot of people mistake peaceful states that aren't jhana to be them, because they are that peaceful.