Habits-Habitual Tendencies-Sankhara

Shoshin · February 2015

From what "I" gather, "habit forming" is dictated by the senses, which pick up external stimuli 'data' and relay it back to central control which converts it into" feelings perception and whatever else is involved" which in turn creates patterned behaviours that we automatically slot into to when experiencing similar events... "Ones acquired auto reaction"

So if this being the case (in VERY simple lay-person's terms) is the Dharma 'just' a means for exchanging one habit (in many cases resulting in unwholesome results) for another ( that produces a more wholesome outcome) ?

And perhaps meditation practice helps to enhance 'awareness' which in turn can alter/manipulate the direction of the flow of the five aggregates in some way...

No doubt there's much more to it than what my limited vocabulary can come up with, perhaps our evolving complex brains have what seems to be an unquenchable 'thirst' for creating more complexity to feed itself upon(Making mountains out of mole hills)...But it does make one think about the possible simplicity of it all...

What do you think ...Are we just a bundle of recurring karmic habit patterns ? (Nothing Special)

And if this is the case ...Could (in the conventional sense) the Enlightened Experience be just "Wholesome Karmic Habitual Tendencies " at work ? (With no doer of the deeds at work just auto pilot doing) "Going with the flow"...

(I'm just thinking out loud here with no scientific data to confirm or deny the current thought pattern that produced this line of thinking, so it's possible this observation could be quite porous if scrutinised)

What lead you to click on the thread and read its contents ?

Jeffrey · February 2015

some people say we have no essence so we can build whatever we want. so emptiness is our savior because we can always build something good. i think that is the gelug view as I learned it. i think the yogacara is different in that there is emptiness underneath and it is alive with like a heart.. and then the habits are just clouds in the sky.

karasti · February 2015

I click on most of the topics.

I really don't worry about longer term implications much. I practice Buddhism for practical reasons. If it has longer term results, then we'll see about that later. I'm "here" to change my habits, yes, and to exchange them for better habits, yes. So that I can carry more peace with me through this world, and hopefully help others, if only my children, know how to do the same. I don't worry about how it affects my karmic load because I can't possible know how it works. Do I think Buddhism is nothing but the exchange of unskillful habits for skillful ones? No. But I don't have to words to tell you why I think that. It's just something I know.