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I think it is easier to have mutual joy for someone who has had a hard time for a long time. I am thinking of people 'liking' photos of my and my new girlfriend. I haven't had such a wonderful person for ages and (I think) everyone is surprised and delighted in my fortune. Of course a little later on they will all resent and have envy.
[color=#BF0040]The Blessed Buddha often emphasized:
Friends, without having mastered the basics of good morality (sila),
it is impossible to master the domain of concentration (samadhi)!
Without having mastered the domain of concentration, it is not
possible to master the sphere of understanding (pañña) !!! AN 5:22
Develop your concentration, friends, by regular & daily meditation!
Since the one who has concentration understands things according
to reality as they really are & become. And what are these things?
The momentary arising and passing away of all forms, of all feelings,
any perception, all mental constructions, & of all consciousness. SN 22:5
Significant Consequences:
No pure morality entails no absorption when meditating...
No absorbed concentration entails no supra-mundane understanding...
No genuine understanding means no progress along the Noble path...
No progress along the Noble path entails stagnation or back-sliding....
Back-sliding often entails down-fall into the terrible destinies at death!
The Blessed Buddha once explained Contemplation of Feeling thus:
How, Bhikkhus & Friends, does one reflect on feelings as reactions?
When feeling a pleasant feeling, one notes and clearly understands:
I feel a pleasant feeling! When feeling a painful feeling, one notes &
understands: I feel a painful feeling. When feeling a quite neutral &
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, one notes and understands: I
feel a neutral neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. When feeling a
worldly pleasant feeling, one notes and understands: I feel a worldly
pleasant feeling. When feeling a pleasant feeling not of this world,
one notes & understands: I feel a pleasant feeling not of this world.
When feeling a worldly painful feeling, one notes and understands:
I feel a worldly painful feeling. When feeling a painful feeling not
of this world, one notes and understands: I feel a painful feeling
not of this world . When feeling a worldly neutral feeling, which is
neither-painful-nor-pleasant, one notes and understands: I feel a
worldly neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. When feeling a neutral
feeling not of this world, one understands: I feel a neutral feeling
not of this world. This is how a Bhikkhu abides reflecting on feelings
just as responses or reactions to various forms of sense contact...
Feeling is pleasant, painful or neutral!
Comments:
Worldly feeling arises from sense contact with this world...
Unworldly Feeling arises from meditative withdrawal from the world...
The cause of the emergence of momentary feeling is sense contact!
The cause of the ceasing of this feeling is the ceasing of that contact!
Contact is the meeting of 3: Object, sense-organ and consciousness!
Feeling/vedana is a major driving force in the cycle of dependent origination. It gives rise directly to craving, clinging, becoming, birth etc.
"A pleasant feeling is inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing.
"Seeing this, an instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with pleasant feeling, disenchanted with painful feeling, disenchanted with neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling. Disenchanted, he grows dispassionate. From dispassion, he is released. With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.' He discerns, 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.' A monk whose mind is thus released does not take sides with anyone, does not dispute with anyone. He words things by means of what is said in the world but without grasping at it."
I have heard that on one occasion Ven. Sariputta was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Feeding Sanctuary. There he said to the monks, "This Unbinding is pleasant, friends. This Unbinding is pleasant."
When this was said, Ven. Udayin said to Ven. Sariputta, "But what is the pleasure here, my friend, where there is nothing felt?"
"Just that is the pleasure here, my friend: where there is nothing felt."
Why do some beings attain Nibbãna, while others do not?
Sakka, the king of the 33 Gods once asked the Blessed Buddha:
Venerable Sir, what is the cause & reason, why some beings here do not
attain Nibbana in this very life? And what is the cause and reason, why
some beings here do indeed attain Nibbana in this very life?
Knowing this being's addiction to divine delight the Buddha answered:
There are, King of the thirty-three Devas, forms experiencable by the eye,
sounds experiencable by the ear, smells experiencable by the nose, touches
experiencable by the body, and mental phenomena experiencable by the
mind, that all are attractive, charming, agreeable, pleasing, tempting, and
tantalizing. If a bhikkhu hunts for delight in them, welcomes them, and
remains holding on to them, his mind becomes addicted to them and clings
to them. Any being mentally dominated by clinging cannot attain Nibbana!
This is the cause & reason, King of the Devas, why many & most beings here
do not attain Nibbana in this very life... There are, King of the Devas,
forms experiencable by the eye, sounds experiencable by the ear, smells
experiencable by the nose, touches experiencable by the body, and mental
phenomena experiencable by the mind, that all are attractive, charming,
agreeable, pleasing, enticing, tempting and tantalizing. If a wise Bhikkhu
avoids seeking any delight in them, does not welcome them, and does not
remain holding on to them, then his mind doesn't become addicted to them,
Any being mentally wholly freed of clinging can indeed attain Nibbana!
This is the cause and reason, King of the Devas, why some beings here can
attain Nibbana in this very life, while most neither can, nor will....
Deva king Sakka and a few of his hundreds of dear nymphs...
1: Awareness is a link to Awakening (sati-sambojjhanga).
2: Investigation of the states is a link to Awakening (vicaya-sambojjhanga).
3: Energy is a link to Awakening (viriya-sambojjhanga).
4: Joy is a link to Awakening (piti-sambojjhanga).
5: Tranquillity is a link to Awakening (passaddhi-sambojjhanga).
6: Concentration is a link to Awakening (samadhi-sambojjhanga).
7: Equanimity is a link to Awakening (upekkha-sambojjhanga). These are the seven links leading to final Enlightenment...
Those whose minds are well-developed in these 7 factors of self-awakening, who delight in non-clinging, who relinquish all grasping, whose minds are all
around luminous, whose mental fermentations are all stilled: They, even while still in this world, are all unbound right here!
In a higher sense tranquility is independent of sense pleasure as you say. It is more akin to serenity. Tranquillising wether through medication or some forms of meditation are nothing more than patches or overlays.
This is very different to tranquility as our natural state. Tranquility in the higher sense is a freeing or opening of natural or inherent nature, part of Buddha Nature.
Many of us arrive at the dharma, patched, stabilised, reasonably normal or need to move to such a condition. Then and only then can we begin to move into the spiritual arena. If we are overwhelmed by life, dukkha or sensory pleasure we are in effect drugged or dulled by life, dukkha and ignorance . . .
:wave: .
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited June 2014
I truly don't mean to be disrespectful, but before I really saw what this thread was actually about, I honestly thought 'a full bladder' would figure in there somewhere....
Thank you @samahita. I just learned the exact meaning of Piti following your links (I mean in relation to my own experience. I never new it was piti before now)... I will pass it on.
Equanimity (Upekkha) entails a composed equipoise of solid mental balance!
It is Tatra-majjhattata = keeping to the moderate middle of all phenomena.
Equanimity balances consciousness so it prevents both all excessiveness and
any deficiency. In equanimity mind is neither attracted by attractive things,
nor repelled by repulsive things. The cause of equanimity is seeing the law of
kamma: All beings are born and created by their kamma, they are owners of
their kamma, inherit their kamma, whatever they do, whether good or bad,
the effects of that will be theirs only, following them like a shadow of past!
The effect of Equanimity is threefold:
Exquisite, relaxed & subtle peace felt as calm happiness is instantly gained.
Equanimity purifies and completes all the 7 crucial Links to Awakening...
Equanimity is the proximate cause of knowledge and vision (ñanadassana)!
(Latin: æquanimitas having an even mind; aequus even animus mind/soul) is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. (Wikipedia)
mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium. (Dictionary.com)
That reads like peace to me. Maybe we are using different definitions of peace.
@Victorious, The state of end of fabrications/fashioning is nippapanca. True equanimity is the result.
With mindfulness and wisdom, the tendency to ‘go-out’ into perceptions, thoughts, and emotions is restrained, and one just allows seeing to be seeing, hearing to be hearing, etc., the whole papañca-drama does not get launched in the first place. The heart then rests at ease, open and clear; all perceptions conventionally labelled as ‘myself’ or ‘the world’ are seen as transparent, if convenient fictions.
From The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro
When we are freed from such slavery [of the mind], when we feel no compulsion to rely upon and attach to things, when we don’t judge them, don’t even think of them, as “positive” and “negative”, we have atammayata. We can translate this as “invulnerability, imperturbability, unconcoctability, unmanipulability,” all of which are rather clumsy. The more down-to-earth “I ain’t gonna mess with no more” is more practical. It is just what most of us need. Further, it contains the most profound message in Buddha-Dhamma, in all religion for that matter.
From "Say No! With Atammayata" from the Buddha-Dhamma Buddhadhasa Archives
Dependent on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is sense-contact. With sense-contact as condition there is feeling. What one feels, that one perceives. What one perceives, that one thinks about. What one thinks about, that one mentally proliferates. With such conceptual proliferations (papañca) as the source, the heart is beset by mental perceptions and notions characterized by the prolific tendency with respect to past, future, and present forms cognizable through the eye. [So too with ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.]
…
[If] nothing is found there to delight in, welcome, and hold to, this is the end of the underlying tendencies to lust, aversion, views, doubt, conceit, desire for being and ignorance [the seven anusaya]. This is the end of resorting to weapons, quarrels, brawls, disputes, recrimination, malice, and false speech; here these harmful, unwholesome states cease without remainer.
@pegembara Again I think Daozen is right. It depends on what you mean with the words.
"Now, O monks, what is worldly equanimity? There are these five cords of sensual desire: forms cognizable by the eye... tangibles cognizable by the body that are wished for and desired, agreeable and endearing, associated with sense desire and alluring. It is the equanimity that arises with regard to these five cords of sense desire which is called 'worldly equanimity.'
"Now, what is unworldy equanimity? With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of gladness and sadness, a monk enters upon and abides in the fourth meditative absorption, which has neither pain-nor-pleasure and has purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. This is called 'unworldly equanimity.'
"And what is the still greater unworldly equanimity? When a taint-free monk looks upon his mind that is freed of greed, freed of hatred and freed of delusion, then there arises equanimity. This is called a 'still greater unworldly equanimity.'
Any moment of intentional mental activity creates, shapes, determines and conditions the future!
Any moment of intentional verbal activity creates, shapes, determines and conditions the future!
Any moment of intentional bodily activity creates, shapes, determines and conditions the future!
If the intention behind this thinking, speaking or doing is mixed with either greed, hate, or ignorance
or diluted derivatives thereof, this future will inevitably be mixed with resultant mental & physical pain…
If the intention behind this thinking, speaking & doing is mixed with either non-greed, non-hate, or
non-ignorance or dilutions thereof, this future will inevitably be mixed with resultant states of
mental and physical pleasure, ease and happiness…
If the intention behind this thinking, speaking & doing is mixed neither with greed nor with non-greed,
neither with hate, nor with non-hate, & neither with ignorance, nor with non-ignorance, this future will
inevitably be mixed with resultant states of neither pain nor pleasure = neutral indifference…
Not intending any stills formation of becoming and is not creating any future! Therefore: Be Aware!
Watch the intention! Is it mixed with exactly what? Intention is literally seeding and producing moments
of your future! No other Creator is found! Silencing all intention creates sweetly stilled serene Peace!
"Luminous, monks, is the mind.[1] And it is defiled by incoming defilements." {I,v,9}
"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements." {I,v,10}
"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements. The uninstructed run-of-the-mill person doesn't discern that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person — there is no development of the mind." {I,vi,1}
"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — there is development of the mind." {I,vi,2}
I find Bhikku Bodhi sums up Right Intention as leading to happiness perfectly well:
"Right intention claims the second place in the path, between right view and the triad of moral factors that begins with right speech, because the mind's intentional function forms the crucial link connecting our cognitive perspective with our modes of active engagement in the world. On the one side actions always point back to the thoughts from which they spring. Thought is the forerunner of action, directing body and speech, stirring them into activity, using them as its instruments for expressing its aims and ideals. These aims and ideals, our intentions, in turn point back a further step to the prevailing views. When wrong views prevail, the outcome is wrong intention giving rise to unwholesome actions. [...]
For a person who holds right view, his deeds, words, plans, and purposes grounded in that view will lead to happiness."
1: Mental Purification by Morality. 2: Mental Purification by Meditation.
3: Mental Purification via Right View. 4: Mental Purification by overcoming Doubt.
5: Purification by Knowledge & Vision of what is Path & non-Path. 6: Purification by Knowledge & Vision of the Noble 8-fold Way.
7: Purification by Directly Experienced Knowledge and Vision.
What is Mara: A Transient, Painful, and Selfless State?
At Savatthi. While seated, the Venerable Radha asked the Blessed One:
Venerable Sir, one says: Mara, Mara!! What is this Mara; the Evil One?
Radha, form, feeling, perception, mental construction, and consciousness
is Mara, is a state of Mara, is impermanent, is of an impermanent nature,
is suffering, is of a painful nature, is no-self, is of an impersonal nature,
is in a state of destruction, is in a state of vanishing, is an unstable state,
is always in a state of momentary ceasing, vanishing right there and then...
Radha, you should therefore leave behind desire, should leave behind lust,
you should leave behind all desire and lust for whatever is a state of Mara,
for whatever is impermanent, for whatever is only impermanent appearance,
for whatever is suffering, for whatever is of a painful nature, for whatever
is no-self, for whatever is of a ownerless nature, for whatever is a state of
destruction, for whatever is a state of vanishing, for whatever is in a state
of arising, for whatever that is a state of cessation... And what, Radha, is a
state of cessation? Form is a state of cessation. Feeling, Perception, Mental
Constructions, and this Consciousness is also a state of continuous ceasing...
Understanding this, Radha, the well instructed Noble Disciple experiences
disgust towards form, disgust towards feeling, disgust towards perception,
disgust towards mental construction, & disgust towards consciousness itself!
Experiencing disgust, he becomes disillusioned! Through disillusion his mind
is released. When it is released, he instantly knows: This mind is liberated,
and he understands: Extinguished is birth, this Noble Life is all completed,
done is what should be done, there is no state of being beyond this one...
He is also called Namuci: Never letting any Escape his hypnotic hedonist powers!
Any Deva can choose own body form. His favourite manifestations are as above..
Good is Gentle Well-Wishing for all Sentient beings!
The Buddha on the Universality of Friendliness: Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta.
May all beings become thus Happy!
I am a friend of all bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed,
I am a friend of those with no feet! Anguttara Nikaya 4.67
One thinks: 'May these beings be free from animosity,
free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they
look after themselves with ease! Anguttara Nikaya 5
The absence of hate, hating, hatred, the absence of anger, and any malignity,
and the presence of love, friendly kindness, gentle disposition, tender care,
forbearance, genuine considerateness; seeking the general good for all,
compassion this is the very root of good behaviour. Dhammasangani
As I am, so are others... As others are, so am I...
Having thus identified self and others,
Never Harm anyone, nor have any being abused. Sutta Nipata 3.710
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived in the jungle.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness, I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in such sweetly silenced solitude… Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart & mind:
Beaming above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without trace of hostility. Sutta Nipata I, 8
Hurricane/Tzunami preparedness
Train yourself in doing good
that lasts and brings happiness.
Cultivate generosity, the life of peace,
and a mind of infinite universal love. Itivuttaka 22
The 4 Brahmaviharas deliver mind to a Higher State!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
The Noble Disciple, Bhikkhus and friends, who is freed from greed and grudge,
unconfused, alert, attentive and clearly comprehending, with mind filled up by
kind friendliness ..., by compassionate pity ..., by altruistic joy ... and finally by
imperturbable equanimity, pervades first one direction, then the 2nd, the 3rd,
and then the 4th one, and just as above, so also below, across and all around!
Thus sympathetic with all beings, embracing all living, he pervades the whole world,
and the entire universe with a vast mind, refined, infinite, freed from all hate and
any ill-will. And he understands: Formerly my mind was limited and undeveloped...
Now, however, is my mind unlimited and developed, and no limited behaviour based
on a narrow, restricted intention, favouring this, while rejecting that, will remain!
What do you think, Bhikkhus and friends: If a boy from his early childhood develops
kind friendliness, compassionate pity, altruistic joy, and imperturbable equanimity,
will he then still be able to do bad, evil or wrong deeds? No, Venerable One...
But, if he no longer does bad, or wrong deeds, will suffering then still attack him?
Certainly not. Venerable One..
How should anyone, who is doing no evil actions, ever still be attacked by suffering!
Therefore should kind friendliness .. compassionate pity .. altruistic joy and subtle
imperturbable equanimity be developed, by all men, women and conscious beings!
No man, or woman, on leaving this life, can keep this body. Any mortal has only his
mind as base, foundation, essence, mediator, creator, controller and protector!
The Bhikkhu, however, knows: Whatever formerly I have done of bad deeds with
this material body, all that I still have to atone for here, and after that, then nothing
of it will follow me. So developed, the release of the mind by kind friendliness,
by compassionate pity, by altruistic joy ... and by imperturbable equanimity,
leads to Never-Return, unless the wise monk already during this life penetrates
to a higher deliverance than that!
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
While I will advocate anything that assists depression, to state categorically that 'metta meditation cures depression' is a bit of a dangerous claim....
I would say meditation more fundamentally attacks the problem of dukkha. But medicines attack the neurochemistry in the brain. It is like you have diabetes. Meditation wholeheartedly helps you deal with wherever you are in terms of dukkha. But meditation cannot be insulin. The problems of the body have their solution in the body of medicines and diet and so forth. Dukkha is a disorder of the mind (I think) rather than the body.
So you treat the mind with the four foundations of mindfulness and the four brahmaviras. And you treat the symptoms of depression with drugs. For example I would worry and agonize about whether my vacuum pump would become damaged in my chemistry lab in the 3 weeks following my diagnosis of a mental illness. Taking an anti-depressant lessoned my fears and dysphoria. I was able to ignore the fear of the vacuum pump breaking. But it was chemical in the sense that it didn't effect my life wisdom of knowing that my research was out of my control. The medicine did not make me wise. It just changed the neurochemistry so that I didn't experience these worrying states of body. So for me I didn't have time for meditation and I needed some short term relief. So I took meds. Now I am off anti-depressants because I don't have the root problems in terms of stress and worrying. (that being said I am on a buttload of anti-psychotics and in the area of psychosis the pattern repeats itself of the difference between meditations benefits and pharmaceuticals benefit.)
How should anyone, who is doing no evil actions, ever still be attacked by suffering!
If someone said this to my face I would feel tempted to punch him on the nose.
1
Toraldris -`-,-{@ Zen Nud... Buddhist @}-,-`- East Coast, USAVeteran
@zenff said:
If someone said this to my face I would feel tempted to punch him on the nose.
I feel ya. It's like saying you must be doing something wrong if bad things are happening to you... blaming the victim, making it your fault, as if suffering isn't just an inherent fact of existence. Buddhism is all about transcending suffering, and establishing sila/morality is only the bedrock upon which further practice is built. It takes more than simply refraining from doing evil to get over dukkha!
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
I watched the video.
I'd rather not comment.... not until someone else has watched it., anyhow... and it's long.
He mumbles a lot, and has a strong Germanic accent. I was also somewhat distracted by what looked very much like a gravy stain on his robe, right below his chin...
Daft, I know.
But when you're slightly OCD about some details as I am, such a distraction can be mildly bothersome....
@federica said:
While I will advocate anything that assists depression, to state categorically that 'metta meditation cures depression' is a bit of a dangerous claim....
Yes, particularly if we're talking about clinical depression, when it may not even be possible to do a practice like this.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
I watched the video.
I'm going to be brutally honest and say that his teaching, in this particular instance is both misguided, and seems, on the face of it, very ignorant.
Scarcely any mention is made at all of a mental illness being clinical. He mentions once, the term 'biological' (which I presume, is a reference to that) but then states that Depression is usually down to a feeling of Guilt or Remorse.
All due respect and reverence to the ordained. But frankly, this is a foolish and dangerous stance to take.
Comments
I think it is easier to have mutual joy for someone who has had a hard time for a long time. I am thinking of people 'liking' photos of my and my new girlfriend. I haven't had such a wonderful person for ages and (I think) everyone is surprised and delighted in my fortune. Of course a little later on they will all resent and have envy.
Friends:
How are all the Buddhist Mental Training 3-fold?
[color=#BF0040]The Blessed Buddha often emphasized:
Friends, without having mastered the basics of good morality (sila),
it is impossible to master the domain of concentration (samadhi)!
Without having mastered the domain of concentration, it is not
possible to master the sphere of understanding (pañña) !!! AN 5:22
Develop your concentration, friends, by regular & daily meditation!
Since the one who has concentration understands things according
to reality as they really are & become. And what are these things?
The momentary arising and passing away of all forms, of all feelings,
any perception, all mental constructions, & of all consciousness. SN 22:5
1:Morality (Sila) => 2:Concentration (Samadhi) => 3:Understanding (Pañña)!
Significant Consequences:
No pure morality entails no absorption when meditating...
No absorbed concentration entails no supra-mundane understanding...
No genuine understanding means no progress along the Noble path...
No progress along the Noble path entails stagnation or back-sliding....
Back-sliding often entails down-fall into the terrible destinies at death!
About Morality (Sila): The Basics of all Good is this mighty Morality see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Mighty_is_Morality.htm
About Concentration (Samadhi): The best Tool is Concentration see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Concentration_Samadhi.htm
About Understanding (Pañña): The highest Ability is Understanding see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Understanding_Ability.htm
Buddhist Mental Training is 3-fold!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Training_is_Three.htm
Thanks !
Friends:
Feeling is a Reaction to Contact!
The Blessed Buddha once explained Contemplation of Feeling thus:
How, Bhikkhus & Friends, does one reflect on feelings as reactions?
When feeling a pleasant feeling, one notes and clearly understands:
I feel a pleasant feeling! When feeling a painful feeling, one notes &
understands: I feel a painful feeling. When feeling a quite neutral &
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, one notes and understands: I
feel a neutral neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. When feeling a
worldly pleasant feeling, one notes and understands: I feel a worldly
pleasant feeling. When feeling a pleasant feeling not of this world,
one notes & understands: I feel a pleasant feeling not of this world.
When feeling a worldly painful feeling, one notes and understands:
I feel a worldly painful feeling. When feeling a painful feeling not
of this world, one notes and understands: I feel a painful feeling
not of this world . When feeling a worldly neutral feeling, which is
neither-painful-nor-pleasant, one notes and understands: I feel a
worldly neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. When feeling a neutral
feeling not of this world, one understands: I feel a neutral feeling
not of this world. This is how a Bhikkhu abides reflecting on feelings
just as responses or reactions to various forms of sense contact...
Feeling is pleasant, painful or neutral!
Comments:
Worldly feeling arises from sense contact with this world...
Unworldly Feeling arises from meditative withdrawal from the world...
The cause of the emergence of momentary feeling is sense contact!
The cause of the ceasing of this feeling is the ceasing of that contact!
Contact is the meeting of 3: Object, sense-organ and consciousness!
Contact causes Feeling!
All mental states converges on Feeling (Vedana):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Indifference_Creates_Ignorance.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Three_Basic_Kinds_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Feeling_Causes_and_Effects.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_8_Aspects_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Bodily_and_Mental_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Detached_from_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Dependent_on_Contact.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Focusing_on_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Analysis_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_108_Feelings.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Emotional_Storm.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Latent_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Five_Feelings.htm
Source Text: Majjhima Nikaya 10: Satipatthana Sutta:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html
Focused on Feeling!
Any Feeling is Caused by Contact...
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Focusing_on_Feeling.htm
Feeling/vedana is a major driving force in the cycle of dependent origination. It gives rise directly to craving, clinging, becoming, birth etc.
"A pleasant feeling is inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing.
"Seeing this, an instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with pleasant feeling, disenchanted with painful feeling, disenchanted with neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling. Disenchanted, he grows dispassionate. From dispassion, he is released. With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.' He discerns, 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.' A monk whose mind is thus released does not take sides with anyone, does not dispute with anyone. He words things by means of what is said in the world but without grasping at it."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.074.than.html
I have heard that on one occasion Ven. Sariputta was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Feeding Sanctuary. There he said to the monks, "This Unbinding is pleasant, friends. This Unbinding is pleasant."
When this was said, Ven. Udayin said to Ven. Sariputta, "But what is the pleasure here, my friend, where there is nothing felt?"
"Just that is the pleasure here, my friend: where there is nothing felt."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an09/an09.034.than.html
"Unworldly Feeling arises from meditative withdrawal from the world..."
So what's "unwordly feeling"? Presumably not a type of vedana?
Friends:
Why do some beings attain Nibbãna, while others do not?
Sakka, the king of the 33 Gods once asked the Blessed Buddha:
Venerable Sir, what is the cause & reason, why some beings here do not
attain Nibbana in this very life? And what is the cause and reason, why
some beings here do indeed attain Nibbana in this very life?
Knowing this being's addiction to divine delight the Buddha answered:
There are, King of the thirty-three Devas, forms experiencable by the eye,
sounds experiencable by the ear, smells experiencable by the nose, touches
experiencable by the body, and mental phenomena experiencable by the
mind, that all are attractive, charming, agreeable, pleasing, tempting, and
tantalizing. If a bhikkhu hunts for delight in them, welcomes them, and
remains holding on to them, his mind becomes addicted to them and clings
to them. Any being mentally dominated by clinging cannot attain Nibbana!
This is the cause & reason, King of the Devas, why many & most beings here
do not attain Nibbana in this very life... There are, King of the Devas,
forms experiencable by the eye, sounds experiencable by the ear, smells
experiencable by the nose, touches experiencable by the body, and mental
phenomena experiencable by the mind, that all are attractive, charming,
agreeable, pleasing, enticing, tempting and tantalizing. If a wise Bhikkhu
avoids seeking any delight in them, does not welcome them, and does not
remain holding on to them, then his mind doesn't become addicted to them,
Any being mentally wholly freed of clinging can indeed attain Nibbana!
This is the cause and reason, King of the Devas, why some beings here can
attain Nibbana in this very life, while most neither can, nor will....
Deva king Sakka and a few of his hundreds of dear nymphs...
More on the Deva King Sakka (Indra) of the 33 Gods (Tavatimsa):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/sa/sakka.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/t/taavatimsa.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra
Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV 102
The 6 senses section 35. Thread on Sakka's Question: 118.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html
Why and Why not?
Divine Delight can also block Nibbana!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Sakkas_Question.htm
Why do some beings attain Nibbana, while others do not?
Because those who don't are looking in the wrong place: without, not within.
You always find everything in the last place you look for it....
Friends:
What are the 7 Links to Awakening?
1: Awareness is a link to Awakening (sati-sambojjhanga).
2: Investigation of the states is a link to Awakening (vicaya-sambojjhanga).
3: Energy is a link to Awakening (viriya-sambojjhanga).
4: Joy is a link to Awakening (piti-sambojjhanga).
5: Tranquillity is a link to Awakening (passaddhi-sambojjhanga).
6: Concentration is a link to Awakening (samadhi-sambojjhanga).
7: Equanimity is a link to Awakening (upekkha-sambojjhanga).
These are the seven links leading to final Enlightenment...
Those whose minds are well-developed in these 7 factors of self-awakening,
who delight in non-clinging, who relinquish all grasping, whose minds are all
around luminous, whose mental fermentations are all stilled: They, even while
still in this world, are all unbound right here!
Further Study on the 7 Links to Awakening:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Investigation_Vicaya.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Energy_Viriya.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Joy_Piti.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Tranquillity_Passaddhi.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Concentration_Samadhi.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Equanimity_Upekkha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/7_Links_to_7_Wings.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Meaning_of_the-7_Links_to_Awakening.htm
The 7 Links to Enlightenment...
What are 7 Links to Awakening?
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_7_Links_to_Awakening.htm
When I hear tranquilizing I always think of drugs. Is it a state where you don't need to have a sense pleasure?
In a higher sense tranquility is independent of sense pleasure as you say. It is more akin to serenity. Tranquillising wether through medication or some forms of meditation are nothing more than patches or overlays.
This is very different to tranquility as our natural state. Tranquility in the higher sense is a freeing or opening of natural or inherent nature, part of Buddha Nature.
Many of us arrive at the dharma, patched, stabilised, reasonably normal or need to move to such a condition. Then and only then can we begin to move into the spiritual arena. If we are overwhelmed by life, dukkha or sensory pleasure we are in effect drugged or dulled by life, dukkha and ignorance . . .
:wave: .
I truly don't mean to be disrespectful, but before I really saw what this thread was actually about, I honestly thought 'a full bladder' would figure in there somewhere....
Thank you @samahita. I just learned the exact meaning of Piti following your links (I mean in relation to my own experience. I never new it was piti before now)... I will pass it on.
It's a state where you don't need the drugs.
I think I once experienced piti and specifically the 'waves of joy'. At the time I thought it was jhana, but most likely not
Friends:
Equanimity gives delicate Peace & Happiness!
Equanimity (Upekkha) entails a composed equipoise of solid mental balance!
It is Tatra-majjhattata = keeping to the moderate middle of all phenomena.
Equanimity balances consciousness so it prevents both all excessiveness and
any deficiency. In equanimity mind is neither attracted by attractive things,
nor repelled by repulsive things. The cause of equanimity is seeing the law of
kamma: All beings are born and created by their kamma, they are owners of
their kamma, inherit their kamma, whatever they do, whether good or bad,
the effects of that will be theirs only, following them like a shadow of past!
The effect of Equanimity is threefold:
Exquisite, relaxed & subtle peace felt as calm happiness is instantly gained.
Equanimity purifies and completes all the 7 crucial Links to Awakening...
Equanimity is the proximate cause of knowledge and vision (ñanadassana)!
On the solidified & imperturbable mental balance of Equanimity (Upekkha):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/tatra_majjhattataa.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Serene_Equanimity_and_Beyond.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Imperturbable_Equanimity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Unshakable_Equanimity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/u_v/upekkhaa.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Equanimity_Upekkha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Feeding_Equanimity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Empty_Equanimity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Serene_Equanimity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/High_and_Alert.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Wrong.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Even_is_Equanimity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Safe_Medicine.htm
Equanimity induces serene Peace!
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Exquisite_Equanimity.htm
nor repelled by repulsive things
So maybe it's better to say:
Equanimity is nothing to get excited about.
when there is excitement equanimity is gone. Thus you are right zenff. Even excitement for equanimity is not equanimity.
This is a redundant idea. If you can attain equanimity, you've already got peace.
The trick is how to attain either in the first place.
Peace comes with the end of fabrications. Equanimity is not that.
/Victor
@Victorious
Definitions of equanimity ...
(Latin: æquanimitas having an even mind; aequus even animus mind/soul) is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. (Wikipedia)
mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium. (Dictionary.com)
That reads like peace to me. Maybe we are using different definitions of peace.
Yepp. I think so to. I am using the word peace as equal to nibbana to which equanimity is a prerequisite.
@Victorious, The state of end of fabrications/fashioning is nippapanca. True equanimity is the result.
When we are freed from such slavery [of the mind], when we feel no compulsion to rely upon and attach to things, when we don’t judge them, don’t even think of them, as “positive” and “negative”, we have atammayata. We can translate this as “invulnerability, imperturbability, unconcoctability, unmanipulability,” all of which are rather clumsy. The more down-to-earth “I ain’t gonna mess with no more” is more practical. It is just what most of us need. Further, it contains the most profound message in Buddha-Dhamma, in all religion for that matter.
From "Say No! With Atammayata" from the Buddha-Dhamma Buddhadhasa Archives
@pegembara Again I think Daozen is right. It depends on what you mean with the words.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.031.nypo.html
I tend to experience piti like a very mild electric shock which persists. No, I'm not a masochist, just an ex-electrician...
Equanimity is an essential prerequisite in the non arising of fabrications.
As always, it may help to see what is being translated.
The Sanskrit origin is Upekkha..from upa .. 'disregard ' and ika to 'look'..
So to register, to become aware of, without an automatic response.
So, we are talking about a mindset which is aware, but which sees clearly when to act and when not, rather than running on automatic..
Fabrications arise from prapanca..the tendency the mind has to pile concepts onto concepts, speculative thought onto speculative thought.
Equanimity arises from Bare Awareness which is prior to cognitions.
@Citta In your opinion is it possible to really have bare awareness unless you are a Arahant?
Disregarding short periods of clarity for sotapannas and the like (of which I am not so sure).
I follow a path which does not deny Arahants, Sotapannas etc., @Victorious, neither does it seek to emulate them.
According to Dzogchen Bare Awareness is our natural state, it is a function of our original mind.
Makes sense. Awarensss helps cut the chain, or better yet, not create them.
Yepp gotcha. Interesting.
What is bare awareness? Is it 'seeing while seeing' etc. ?
Pretty much @Jeffrey.
Friends:
Any Intention is creating moments of Future!
Any moment of intentional mental activity creates, shapes, determines and conditions the future!
Any moment of intentional verbal activity creates, shapes, determines and conditions the future!
Any moment of intentional bodily activity creates, shapes, determines and conditions the future!
If the intention behind this thinking, speaking or doing is mixed with either greed, hate, or ignorance
or diluted derivatives thereof, this future will inevitably be mixed with resultant mental & physical pain…
If the intention behind this thinking, speaking & doing is mixed with either non-greed, non-hate, or
non-ignorance or dilutions thereof, this future will inevitably be mixed with resultant states of
mental and physical pleasure, ease and happiness…
If the intention behind this thinking, speaking & doing is mixed neither with greed nor with non-greed,
neither with hate, nor with non-hate, & neither with ignorance, nor with non-ignorance, this future will
inevitably be mixed with resultant states of neither pain nor pleasure = neutral indifference…
Not intending any stills formation of becoming and is not creating any future! Therefore: Be Aware!
Watch the intention! Is it mixed with exactly what? Intention is literally seeding and producing moments
of your future! No other Creator is found! Silencing all intention creates sweetly stilled serene Peace!
About the cause and effect of intentional states:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_is_intention.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/What_is_Neutral.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Resultants.htm
Intentions Create the Future!
Any intention changes the probabilities for future events...
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Creating_Future.htm
Here is a similar message in the Pali Canon. The question remain whether the mind is originally pure or originally defiled. (Garden of Eden Tree of Knowledge analogy/the original sin? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_the_knowledge_of_good_and_evil)
We haz plan!
Sounds like a good one. :clap: .
I think I am going to start a new branch of buddhism.
Fanatical Buddhism.
I would ask you to join lobster but I think you might already be ahead on this one...
/Victor.
I find Bhikku Bodhi sums up Right Intention as leading to happiness perfectly well:
"Right intention claims the second place in the path, between right view and the triad of moral factors that begins with right speech, because the mind's intentional function forms the crucial link connecting our cognitive perspective with our modes of active engagement in the world. On the one side actions always point back to the thoughts from which they spring. Thought is the forerunner of action, directing body and speech, stirring them into activity, using them as its instruments for expressing its aims and ideals. These aims and ideals, our intentions, in turn point back a further step to the prevailing views. When wrong views prevail, the outcome is wrong intention giving rise to unwholesome actions. [...]
For a person who holds right view, his deeds, words, plans, and purposes grounded in that view will lead to happiness."
Friends:
Mental Purification comes in Seven Stages!
1: Mental Purification by Morality.
2: Mental Purification by Meditation.
3: Mental Purification via Right View.
4: Mental Purification by overcoming Doubt.
5: Purification by Knowledge & Vision of what is Path & non-Path.
6: Purification by Knowledge & Vision of the Noble 8-fold Way.
7: Purification by Directly Experienced Knowledge and Vision.
More on Mental Purification (Visuddhi):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Mental_Purity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ability_Purification.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Immaculate_Integrity.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/The_8_Understandings.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Levels_of_Leaving_Behind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_purpose_of_purification.htm
Sources: The moderate speech on the relay wagons MN24:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn024.html
The Seven Stages of Purification and the Insight Knowledges:
http://what-buddha-said.net/library/pdfs/The_Seven_Stages_of_Purification.pdf
Mental Purification!
Purification Entails the Elevated Joy of Innocence!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_7_Purifications.htm
Friends:
What is Mara: A Transient, Painful, and Selfless State?
At Savatthi. While seated, the Venerable Radha asked the Blessed One:
Venerable Sir, one says: Mara, Mara!! What is this Mara; the Evil One?
Radha, form, feeling, perception, mental construction, and consciousness
is Mara, is a state of Mara, is impermanent, is of an impermanent nature,
is suffering, is of a painful nature, is no-self, is of an impersonal nature,
is in a state of destruction, is in a state of vanishing, is an unstable state,
is always in a state of momentary ceasing, vanishing right there and then...
Radha, you should therefore leave behind desire, should leave behind lust,
you should leave behind all desire and lust for whatever is a state of Mara,
for whatever is impermanent, for whatever is only impermanent appearance,
for whatever is suffering, for whatever is of a painful nature, for whatever
is no-self, for whatever is of a ownerless nature, for whatever is a state of
destruction, for whatever is a state of vanishing, for whatever is in a state
of arising, for whatever that is a state of cessation... And what, Radha, is a
state of cessation? Form is a state of cessation. Feeling, Perception, Mental
Constructions, and this Consciousness is also a state of continuous ceasing...
Understanding this, Radha, the well instructed Noble Disciple experiences
disgust towards form, disgust towards feeling, disgust towards perception,
disgust towards mental construction, & disgust towards consciousness itself!
Experiencing disgust, he becomes disillusioned! Through disillusion his mind
is released. When it is released, he instantly knows: This mind is liberated,
and he understands: Extinguished is birth, this Noble Life is all completed,
done is what should be done, there is no state of being beyond this one...
More on the individual deva personality Mara: The Evil One...
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/maara.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/ma/maara.htm
Mara attacks the Buddha in a failed attempt to frighten him.
More on the Universal Fact of Impermanence:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Transient_formations.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Perceiving_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Impermanence_Anicca.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Internal_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_External_Transience.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Impermanence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Contemplating_Impermanence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Contemplating_Impermanence_2.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Universal_Transience.htm
Mara's daughters temptation of the Buddha also fails flatly!
More on the Mental Release induced by Disgust:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Any_Kind.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Released_by_Disgust.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Experiencing_Disgust.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Constructive_Destruction.htm
He is also called Namuci: Never letting any Escape his hypnotic hedonist powers!
Any Deva can choose own body form. His favourite manifestations are as above..
Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya 23:24-34 III 199
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html
What is Mara?
Any Transient, Painful, & Selfless State is Suffering!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/What_is_Mara.htm
Friends:
Good is Gentle Well-Wishing for all Sentient beings!
The Buddha on the Universality of Friendliness:
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta.
May all beings become thus Happy!
I am a friend of all bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed,
I am a friend of those with no feet!
Anguttara Nikaya 4.67
One thinks: 'May these beings be free from animosity,
free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they
look after themselves with ease! Anguttara Nikaya 5
The absence of hate, hating, hatred, the absence of anger, and any malignity,
and the presence of love, friendly kindness, gentle disposition, tender care,
forbearance, genuine considerateness; seeking the general good for all,
compassion this is the very root of good behaviour. Dhammasangani
As I am, so are others... As others are, so am I...
Having thus identified self and others,
Never Harm anyone, nor have any being abused.
Sutta Nipata 3.710
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived in the jungle.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness, I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in such sweetly silenced solitude…
Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart & mind:
Beaming above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without trace of hostility.
Sutta Nipata I, 8
Hurricane/Tzunami preparedness
Train yourself in doing good
that lasts and brings happiness.
Cultivate generosity, the life of peace,
and a mind of infinite universal love.
Itivuttaka 22
More on Friendliness (Metta):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/All-Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Unsurpassable_Radiance.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Advantageous_is_Friendship.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Infinite_and_Divine_Classic.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Buddha_on_Noble_Frienship.htm
May all beings be Happy!
Good is Gentle Well-Wishing for all Sentient Beings!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/May_all_Beings_Be_Happy.htm
...."Ah, human, I have trained you well!!"
Friends:
The 4 Brahmaviharas deliver mind to a Higher State!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
The Noble Disciple, Bhikkhus and friends, who is freed from greed and grudge,
unconfused, alert, attentive and clearly comprehending, with mind filled up by
kind friendliness ..., by compassionate pity ..., by altruistic joy ... and finally by
imperturbable equanimity, pervades first one direction, then the 2nd, the 3rd,
and then the 4th one, and just as above, so also below, across and all around!
Thus sympathetic with all beings, embracing all living, he pervades the whole world,
and the entire universe with a vast mind, refined, infinite, freed from all hate and
any ill-will. And he understands: Formerly my mind was limited and undeveloped...
Now, however, is my mind unlimited and developed, and no limited behaviour based
on a narrow, restricted intention, favouring this, while rejecting that, will remain!
What do you think, Bhikkhus and friends: If a boy from his early childhood develops
kind friendliness, compassionate pity, altruistic joy, and imperturbable equanimity,
will he then still be able to do bad, evil or wrong deeds? No, Venerable One...
But, if he no longer does bad, or wrong deeds, will suffering then still attack him?
Certainly not. Venerable One..
How should anyone, who is doing no evil actions, ever still be attacked by suffering!
Therefore should kind friendliness .. compassionate pity .. altruistic joy and subtle
imperturbable equanimity be developed, by all men, women and conscious beings!
No man, or woman, on leaving this life, can keep this body. Any mortal has only his
mind as base, foundation, essence, mediator, creator, controller and protector!
The Bhikkhu, however, knows: Whatever formerly I have done of bad deeds with
this material body, all that I still have to atone for here, and after that, then nothing
of it will follow me. So developed, the release of the mind by kind friendliness,
by compassionate pity, by altruistic joy ... and by imperturbable equanimity,
leads to Never-Return, unless the wise monk already during this life penetrates
to a higher deliverance than that!
Source: The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Anguttara Nikaya 10:208
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/Index.Numerical.htm
More on the 3rd Noble State: Non-Return (Anagami)
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/anagami.htm
[color=#BF0040]Video on Metta Meditation on Friendliness:
How to cure Depression?
More these 4 Infinitely Divine States (Appamañña Brahma-Vihara):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/b_f/brahma_vihaara.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/How_to_Cure_Anger_and_Irritation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Buddha_on_Noble_Friendship.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Selfless_Friendship_is_Sweetest.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/All-Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/All_Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Rejoicing_Bliss_is_Mudita.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_Friendliness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Anger_and_Irritation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Subduing_Irritation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The-Effective_Saw.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/United_in_Harmony.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_Good_Friend.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Good-Will_Again.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Hot_Hostile_Hate.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Goodwill_Encore.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_and_Bright.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Friendliness_Frees.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kalyanamitta.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Metta.htm
[color=#BF0040]The Higher Release!
The 4 infinite states relinquish mind to a higher state!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Higher_Release.htm
While I will advocate anything that assists depression, to state categorically that 'metta meditation cures depression' is a bit of a dangerous claim....
I would say meditation more fundamentally attacks the problem of dukkha. But medicines attack the neurochemistry in the brain. It is like you have diabetes. Meditation wholeheartedly helps you deal with wherever you are in terms of dukkha. But meditation cannot be insulin. The problems of the body have their solution in the body of medicines and diet and so forth. Dukkha is a disorder of the mind (I think) rather than the body.
So you treat the mind with the four foundations of mindfulness and the four brahmaviras. And you treat the symptoms of depression with drugs. For example I would worry and agonize about whether my vacuum pump would become damaged in my chemistry lab in the 3 weeks following my diagnosis of a mental illness. Taking an anti-depressant lessoned my fears and dysphoria. I was able to ignore the fear of the vacuum pump breaking. But it was chemical in the sense that it didn't effect my life wisdom of knowing that my research was out of my control. The medicine did not make me wise. It just changed the neurochemistry so that I didn't experience these worrying states of body. So for me I didn't have time for meditation and I needed some short term relief. So I took meds. Now I am off anti-depressants because I don't have the root problems in terms of stress and worrying. (that being said I am on a buttload of anti-psychotics and in the area of psychosis the pattern repeats itself of the difference between meditations benefits and pharmaceuticals benefit.)
If someone said this to my face I would feel tempted to punch him on the nose.
I feel ya. It's like saying you must be doing something wrong if bad things are happening to you... blaming the victim, making it your fault, as if suffering isn't just an inherent fact of existence. Buddhism is all about transcending suffering, and establishing sila/morality is only the bedrock upon which further practice is built. It takes more than simply refraining from doing evil to get over dukkha!
I watched the video.
I'd rather not comment.... not until someone else has watched it., anyhow... and it's long.
He mumbles a lot, and has a strong Germanic accent. I was also somewhat distracted by what looked very much like a gravy stain on his robe, right below his chin...
Daft, I know.
But when you're slightly OCD about some details as I am, such a distraction can be mildly bothersome....
Yes, particularly if we're talking about clinical depression, when it may not even be possible to do a practice like this.
I watched the video.
I'm going to be brutally honest and say that his teaching, in this particular instance is both misguided, and seems, on the face of it, very ignorant.
Scarcely any mention is made at all of a mental illness being clinical. He mentions once, the term 'biological' (which I presume, is a reference to that) but then states that Depression is usually down to a feeling of Guilt or Remorse.
All due respect and reverence to the ordained. But frankly, this is a foolish and dangerous stance to take.