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Conciousness as an aggregate
NamelessRiver
Veteran
I) Clinging to the aggregates is supposed to bring suffering right? But how does one cling to the aggregate of consciousness? That is what I tried to ponder upon in the next paragraphs.
II) Since feeling is different from volition in the five aggregates, than the sense of being pushed towards a goal, the uneasiness, is not the volition itself, but it is the feeling that arises when mind comes in contact with a object that is desirable, so volition would be deeper, much deeper, like an ignorant thought pattern, VERY well hidden, that arises from a false interpretation of dependent co-arising. As human beings we have basic needs, volition seeks fulfillment of these basic needs, how we fulfill them is something that we need to think about and this is when ignorance comes to play.
The volition, originally meant to serve as a tool in search for happiness, tainted by ignorance never fulfills its goals because it is looking in the wrong places, and keeps searching, non stop, like an obsession, always searching but never finding because no one comes and tells it "hey dude, you are looking in the wrong place" ("Monks, with the abandoning & destruction of the seven obsessions, the holy life is fulfilled. Which seven? The obsession of sensual passion, the obsession of resistance, the obsession of views, the obsession of uncertainty, the obsession of conceit, the obsession of passion for becoming, the obsession of ignorance ).
This volition is what takes we to the next moment, so it conditions our "near future" (I hope you guys are understanding me, I am not very good in explaining those things). The consciousness in the moment-to-be is what the volition directs us to, it is the state of being closest to happiness we can find, and so we cling to that state of things, in the next moment we do it again, again, again and so because of this we cling to the consciousness as an aggregate.
Do you guys agree?
II) Since feeling is different from volition in the five aggregates, than the sense of being pushed towards a goal, the uneasiness, is not the volition itself, but it is the feeling that arises when mind comes in contact with a object that is desirable, so volition would be deeper, much deeper, like an ignorant thought pattern, VERY well hidden, that arises from a false interpretation of dependent co-arising. As human beings we have basic needs, volition seeks fulfillment of these basic needs, how we fulfill them is something that we need to think about and this is when ignorance comes to play.
The volition, originally meant to serve as a tool in search for happiness, tainted by ignorance never fulfills its goals because it is looking in the wrong places, and keeps searching, non stop, like an obsession, always searching but never finding because no one comes and tells it "hey dude, you are looking in the wrong place" ("Monks, with the abandoning & destruction of the seven obsessions, the holy life is fulfilled. Which seven? The obsession of sensual passion, the obsession of resistance, the obsession of views, the obsession of uncertainty, the obsession of conceit, the obsession of passion for becoming, the obsession of ignorance ).
This volition is what takes we to the next moment, so it conditions our "near future" (I hope you guys are understanding me, I am not very good in explaining those things). The consciousness in the moment-to-be is what the volition directs us to, it is the state of being closest to happiness we can find, and so we cling to that state of things, in the next moment we do it again, again, again and so because of this we cling to the consciousness as an aggregate.
Do you guys agree?
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Comments
Like I said, "I think the parable of the arrow applies, here." Why are you taking things slowly?
Hummm, well I guess I don't think I will be able to reach direct perception if I can't tell when my mind is clouded by ignorance. So the first thing I have to do is understand how the aggregates "push and pull", how I can influence them. That way it might be easier to recognize if my insight is truly an insight or if it is just the Self playing games. (I don't have a teacher that can tell me that, so I have to take things on a smaller workable scale if I want to get anywhere.)
I guess you could say that my point of view is that, in order to cut trough delusion, you need to sharpen the knife first. Some people with teachers use light sabers, but I am stuck with a butter knife
Building capacity is critical, no question there.
The five aggregates etc. are a map for a very tiny piece of territory. This map has been made very intricate. "Direct perception" is actually easy, and a fairly mundane thing. You have done it in the duration you spent reading this sentence. "Stepping into" direct perception is really a matter of becoming aware of it, and stabilizing that awareness. Becoming aware of it is a very short step, and fully apprehending everything which gets stepped over in the process would be impossible. You don't need to force yourself through an artificial series of intermediate awarenesses. (Incidentally, you seem to be treating the stages outlined in the anapanasati sutra as necessarily linearly ordered as presented in the sutra. I don't know of any basis for that.) Stabilizing the awareness is the hard part.
If you are concerned that you will lead yourself astray, establish contact with a teacher through the internet. Teachers will talk to you over skype and the like. And actually, with this programmatic approach, you are already leading yourself astray to an extent.
Hum I might have misused the term direct perception. I mean in terms of insight, you mean in terms of concentration. Maybe I was just trying to disguise the fact that I was using anapanasati as a reference for my posts, but you got me there