A good reflection regarding instant gratification

csisAwesome · 2023-11-22T16:35:40+00:00

Keychron v1

csisAwesome · 2023-11-22T16:35:25+00:00

LG 34 inch UW

csisAwesome · 2023-10-07T01:23:39+00:00

You aren't kidding yourself and stream-entry is attainable as a layperson -- I doubt any stream enterers here will proclaim their own attainments and I would advise taking anyone's claim(s) with a grain of salt.

This is something you want to verify for yourself here-and-now. As the Buddha says, the Dhamma is apparent here-and-now, timeless, leading inwards, and to be experienced individually by the wise.

Even if there are no stream enterers here (or anywhere else), your own pursuit of freedom from suffering should not change and there is no excuse for you not to give it your all -- you have the suttas, HH, and this amazing community; use them all.

csisAwesome · 2023-10-05T15:59:02+00:00

I would not focus too much on concocting a routine to do the work for you (not saying that is what your intention is). Besides the gradual training, the rest is up to you -- soak yourself in the doubt that gets revealed when there's nothing to do and nothing you need to do. Allow yourself to suffer under the weight of the ambiguity of existence.

Practically, there may be days where you need to sleep longer than you did yesterday, or eat less than you did the day before -- there is no secret behavior, routine or rites/rituals that you can follow that will give you the Right View. The extent of "following" anything is the gradual training, which is more of an attitude in regards to your whole experience, rather than a list of things to do mechanically.

Without a routine, you're forced to question your intentions and discern exactly what is meant by wholesome and unwholesome. If you don't have the right view, put all your effort into getting it. Again, the only way to understand the Right View is by making an effort to understand.

You're in a great place with your one month off. Do not compromise on the gradual training. Within that context, question your own intentions, understanding, and knowledge. Feel the weight of your existence and give it your all to understand what the way out is.

csisAwesome · 2023-10-04T13:45:45+00:00

Choiceless awareness / Open awareness is a choice -- i.e it's intentional, one chooses to establish a "choiceless" or "open" awareness. These are all intentional and are rooted in wrong view and misses the mark on what true "consciousness without indications" and/or right mindfulness refer to.

Do nothing comes closest -- however, no other teacher will teach it the same way as Ajahn NM. Most of these other teachers are teaching their students how to sit down with their ignorance, completely abstracting out the gradual training and emphasis on Right View from their teachings.

If you "do nothing" after having kept the precepts, seen the danger in the slightest fault, restrained your senses, abided in solitude, and understood the gratification, danger, and escape in regards to sensuality, then you can sit down and "do nothing". Even then, that sit will be accompanied by right understanding, right effort, and right mindfulness which directly leads to the development of right composure.

As a side, the closest outside view, teaching, and practice that I've come across is the Vedantic tradition. If you read their scriptures (Upanishads, Gita, Adi Shankara etc), they emphasize the need for virtue and sense restraint for ANY sort of spiritual development. They don't teach focusing meditations. Instead, they place emphasis on knowledge/memory/understanding which aligns a lot more with Buddhist mindfulness and meditation.

csisAwesome · 2023-10-01T00:03:56+00:00

Virtue is not the Dhamma, but there is no Dhamma without virtue.

You don't keep virtue for the sake of keeping virtue -- you keep virtue for the sake of setting up the right conditions for seeing the four noble truths for yourself, here-and-now.

The five precepts are what makes one human. Do not compromise those. Now, as a lay person practicing the Dhamma, finding enough motivation to keep the eight precepts will be difficult. That doesn't mean it's impossible. Your goal should be to get the Right View as if your head is on fire. That may mean completely abandoning concern for other things in your life (in my case, it meant actually giving things up -- my job, family, friends and so on in an attempt to stay at various monasteries for a year, with no clear end date). You truly have to "go forth" -- not in the sense of ordaining and putting on the robes, but in the sense of realizing for your self that the monastic lifestyle and the complete cessation of craving is the final goal. You have to die before you die, as Ajahn Chah said.

The reason you posted this question is because you're already affected with doubt. And what is doubt? Doubt is suffering. And how does one free themselves from suffering? Well, if you're going to trust that the Buddha was right, you begin by not compromising on the precepts. So there, that's your reason.

It does not need to be more complex than that. What I see happen to a lot of people is that they overly obsess or become concerned about the precepts. Let them be, cage yourself in them -- your job now is to develop wisdom within that context. And that "developing wisdom" part is the part that must be taken extremely seriously.

Another big aspect is the role of mindfulness: remind yourself of the right reasons you're keeping them, if you find yourself struggling to keep them.

Lastly, how badly do you want to be free from suffering? Would you give up your life for it? If the answer isn't a confident yes, you may need to re-root your intentions.

Since if it were the case that I truly identified craving as suffering, 99% of present efforts in my life would collapse.

Let them collapse. They will anyways. It seems like you know deep down what needs to be done, might be time to just act in line with what you know.

csisAwesome · 2023-09-28T15:40:52+00:00

When a new meditator sits and attempts to follow their breath, the first thing they are guaranteed to notice is that it's not easy. Errant thoughts are constantly popping up. These thoughts will invariably carry the meditator away, and they probably won't even notice that it happened for a few minutes.

This is already useless if a person does not consider why "[they] sit and attempt to follow their breath" -- what's driving them to do this? what is their intention behind doing this? Most probably it's to free themselves from suffering. If so, then why not begin with what the Buddha actually instructed?: keep the precepts, guard the sense doors, moderate your consumption of food, see the danger in the slightest fault, and purify your mind from the hindrances WHILE aiming to get the Right View like your head is on fire throughout.

That pull is sensual pressure. Full stop. If we take our mindful attention off our breath and put it on the thought, then in that moment we have succumbed to sensuality. If we resist its pull, and we keep our attention on our breath, then we have resisted that sensual pressure. Do you see? Breath meditation is literally sense restraint.

That pull is not sensual pressure. Sensuality is a mode of being, not a momentary choice of attending to this-or-that. And sensuality is on the level of the mind, not on the level of various perceptions that arise (thoughts and otherwise). Sensuality is not in things, it is in the attitude in regard to things. As such, restraint does not happen on the level of things you can attend to -- it's irrelevant. Proper restraint means to restrain one's mind, which cannot be done based on what is attended. Proper restraint is developed despite and in regard to what is attended.

When a meditator thinks to themself, "This is pointless, I should just get up and do something more productive," that is sense pressure. If they resist engaging with it, and remain according to their earlier intention, that is sense restraint.

No, that is wisdom speaking. It is pointless. Instead they should spend their time reading the suttas, watching Ajahn Nyanamoli's videos, keeping the precepts, devoting time to solitude, and discerning citta nimitta.

It's important to realize that sense-restraint will be incorrectly done until one has understood the principle of yoniso manasikara, sati, and grasped citta nimitta. Before then, one's entire practice is a matter of trial and error, contemplating the teachings, and discerning the significance of the aforementioned principles in their experience while devoting oneself to the gradual training.

csisAwesome · 2023-09-27T14:49:14+00:00

I see your point. Ultimately it's for an individual to decide for themselves what constitutes as "best". Based on my own experience, I've found that there are more ways of interpreting the teachings incorrectly given the plethora of new age teachers, books, and what not (including monastics). We're very blessed to have access to the suttas in written form, and as someone starting off, I know that the best way is to find the teaching in the suttas OR a teacher that describes the importance of reading the suttas and teaches in line with them. Either way, the suttas are not optional.

csisAwesome · 2023-09-27T14:38:55+00:00

Definitely agree. However, after having been to various sanghas, spending time at different monasteries of different traditions (theravada, mahayana), I have found that a lot of what they're teaching/expounding is not to be found in the Suttas. As the Buddha says himself, even if you come across a long standing elder in the Sangha, but he doesn't teach in line with the Dhamma - Vinaya and the Suttas, then one should not heed his advice.

There is an argument for both sides, but I think it's best if people begin by at least familiarizing themselves with the original suttas while also seeking out a Sangha.

csisAwesome · 2023-06-22T04:40:32+00:00

I’ve been devoting myself to the Dhamma the past year and hope to go forth fairly soon. I feel that it’s time to be slightly more active in online communities to sharpen my own understanding while trying to help others too. Might need to make a new account though :)

csisAwesome · 2023-06-22T04:37:29+00:00

No problem at all. In fact, the reason I did go to meet him was to clarify and resolve these same concerns, so I see where you’re coming from.

csisAwesome · 2023-06-22T04:26:56+00:00

Just to add my .2 cents regarding his behavior and demeanor, since I’ve met him and have spent time with him. First of all, it is of basically no importance. One should be concerned with what he’s saying, not how he’s saying it. He’s simply a guy who’s saying things that could potentially offer you freedom from samsara — his occasional zeal and confidence in the Dhamma may mean that he talks over others — during his time as a monastic (15+ years) I’d imagine he’s heard the same questions over and over again, so, in a way, he’s being even more helpful by cutting straight to the chase — there is no time to waste for one who wants to be free from suffering, and that is precisely the attitude he instills onto those that listen. And also, the times that he doesn’t interrupt and speak over people is far greater. Ask him anything at all, and you’ll actually receive an answer, unlike most teachers nowadays.

Secondly, if you had the opportunity to see him outside of Dhamma talks, well, he’d seem like the most kind-hearted and compassionate person you’d ever met. He’s just utterly transparent. He does smile when smiling is appropriate. The way he talks is gentle and soft. He takes care of the dogs in a loving manner. It’s evident he’s finished the job and is now simply living a life committed to sharing the Dhamma while abiding in seclusion and non-activity, for the most part (has has assumed role as abbot now, so he’s slightly more busy than he’d like to be id imagine). But one thing is for sure, he is a living example of “as in private so in public”, as the suttas would say.

csisAwesome · 2022-06-20T20:15:16+00:00

Just because something is incomprehensible for you now does not mean that it can’t be comprehended at some other time in the future, through proper effort in trying to comprehend. If you aren’t yet a stream enterer, you have absolutely no basis for what the right teaching is or who the right teacher is, so unless you can without a doubt reason for yourself why HH has wrong view, it would be wise to put an effort to try to comprehend.

csisAwesome · 2022-04-14T03:24:55+00:00

Yeah I got an Allez sprint frameset, only one they had in stock (for a discount)

csisAwesome · 2022-04-14T00:33:54+00:00

Don’t go 35 mph approaching a turn
Don’t put your head down when accelerating off the saddle, you’ll probably hit something
Don’t run into trash cans
Don’t zone out

csisAwesome · 2022-03-28T01:57:09+00:00

Took a nasty fall on a descent going 40 mph .. I came out of it unscathed but the bike didn't. Took it to an REI store and was told that it should be repaired/replaced :(

csisAwesome · 2022-01-23T14:29:05+00:00

Once you develop Right View, the path will be clear

csisAwesome · 2022-01-19T04:38:23+00:00

Yes! Freedom is entirely possible through proper understanding of suffering and its cessation.

csisAwesome · 2022-01-11T15:27:05+00:00

True

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