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"The High".
Chiisai_Pholcidae68
Explorer
Please tell me about "the high".
Christians seem to get this "high" a lot.
It is a feeling of happiness after becoming spiritually knowledgeable.
I feel it when I meditate on separating myself from the world (I meditate on this randomly throughout the day, not during Zazen).
Is it bad? I don't like the feeling because it reminds me of how I felt as a Christian.
Should one strive to rid themselves of this "high"?
It makes me confused... :-/ Please help.
Christians seem to get this "high" a lot.
It is a feeling of happiness after becoming spiritually knowledgeable.
I feel it when I meditate on separating myself from the world (I meditate on this randomly throughout the day, not during Zazen).
Is it bad? I don't like the feeling because it reminds me of how I felt as a Christian.
Should one strive to rid themselves of this "high"?
It makes me confused... :-/ Please help.
0
Comments
Sometimes I too get very excitable. I'm that kind of person, but highs used to be followed by lows, and these days, I tend to be a lot more on an even keel. I think meditation helps.
The challenge comes in putting that to practice! Uwah! :eek2:
FWIW I often feel great joy and or peace when meditating but that is after many years of turmoil.
Well wishes,
Abu
gets an enthusiastic sense of the sublime good goal of Nibbāna &
gains the gladness connected, joined, and fused with this Dhamma!
In anyone gladdened, Joy is born. The body of the Joyous is calmed.
One of calm body experiences pleasure and happiness! The mind of
one who is happy becomes concentrated. The concentrated mind
sees and knows things as they really are. This brings disgust and
disillusion, which enables full, and direct experience of mental release.
It is in this way that Joy indeed is a factor leading to Awakening!
MN [i 37-8], AN [iii 21-3], DN [iii 21-3]" No, it should be culitvated, not gotten rid of.
From wikipedia:
Mudita (Joy)
It is especially sympathetic or vicarious joy, the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being rather than begrudging it.[1] The traditional paradigmatic example of this mind-state is the attitude of a parent observing a growing child's accomplishments and successes, but it is not to be confunded with proudness as the person feeling mudita must not have any interest or direct income from the accomplishments of the other.
Many Buddhist teachers interpret joy more broadly as an inner spring of infinite joy that is available to everyone at all times, regardless of circumstances. The more deeply one drinks of this spring, the more secure one becomes in one's own abundant happiness, and the easier it then becomes to relish the joy of other people as well.
The "far enemies" of joy are jealousy and envy, two mind-states in obvious opposition. Joy's "near enemy," the quality which superficially resembles joy but is in fact more subtly in opposition to it, is exhilaration, described as a grasping at pleasant experience out of a sense of insufficiency or lack.
just be high for no reason at all. such a high no one can take away or give.
it isn't much of a high really. everyday is a good day.
@Taiyaki :thumbsup:
such metta is affectionate and caring for all.
isn't it amazing?
When you're happy, be happy. No need to expect happy...or disdain it either. Buddhism isn't some quid pro quo, Arab bazaar. Pay attention. Take responsibility. See what actually happens. That's enough.
Not all highs are created equal.
Some highs are useful on the Noble Eightfold Path, while other highs should be avoided. Does the high lead to harm or benefit? If the high results in harm, then avoid it. If the high is conducive to your long term happiness, then pursue it.
Use discernment.
Metta,
Guy
http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books/Ajahn_Brahm_The_Jhanas.htm
What happened to that happiness now?
If it is happiness that comes, OK. If it is sadness, OK. If it is anger, OK. If it is metta, OK. etc. Just keep up the meditation and the practice and don't look to jump to conclusions or self-affirmations so quickly.
The perseverance and experience over time is what will help clarify things in ways beyond mere explanation.
It is also helpful to sit with a genuine and good teacher if one can find it. Internet forums can only go so far IMO. Including reading teachers' books.
Well wishes,
Abu
Well it dropped away like I thought it would, but like you say, stick with the practice, its all we can do.