When presented with “The Pāramitā Challenge” I accepted and here we are. In addition to the Pāramitās or Perfections, so far, the challenge also includes precepts and the 52 Stages of the Bodhisattva Path and Bodhisattva vows.
So far, instructions are to journal contemplations resulting from observed intentions, opportunities, and actions to be generous, moral and ethical while arousing faith in the Triple Gem then seeing where/when confident and where/when in doubt.
For whatever reasons the first month I received was for October 2021, so I started recording right away and kept recording after receiving August and September. Therefore, while these first three months are condensed into one long recording, and still in chronological order for the listener, going forward recordings plan to be one month at a time until ending, thus spending a proper full month on each. While mostly very listenable, quality is sometimes less than ideal due to recording environment. I also edited out most of the silences between speaking to save on listening time.
I’ve not taken Bodhisattva vows, and so with little instruction in Mahāyāna Buddhism, apart from maybe a smidgen of the zen stuff, there’s the benefit of beginner’s mind is a nice way to put it. I shoot from the hip with a lot in this recording and will often use a Theravada lens and a lot of inquiry as I ponder out loud. It may come off at times as criticism and sometimes it may actually be, but these are mostly solo efforts at summonings what is really meant by the material.
(Past) material for the Pāramitā Challenge is now at https://maba-usa.org/paramita-challenge.
The Pāramīs in Theravāda Buddhism:
- Dāna pāramī: generosity, giving of oneself
- Sīla pāramī: virtue, morality, ethics, proper conduct
- Nekkhamma pāramī: renunciation
- Paññā pāramī: wisdom, discernment
- Viriya pāramī: energy, diligence, vigour, effort
- Khanti pāramī: patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance
- Sacca pāramī: truthfulness, honesty
- Adhiṭṭhāna pāramī : determination, resolution
- Mettā pāramī: goodwill, friendliness, loving-kindness
- Upekkhā pāramī: equanimity, serenity
The Pāramitās in Mahāyāna Buddhism:
The Prajñapāramitā sūtras (प्रज्ञापारमिता सूत्र), and a large number of other Mahāyāna texts list six perfections and the Ten Stages Sutra gives pāramitās 7 – 10:
- Dāna pāramitā (दान पारमिता): generosity, giving of oneself (in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, 布施波羅蜜; in Tibetan, སྦྱིན་པ sbyin-pa)
- Śīla pāramitā (शील पारमिता): virtue, morality, ethics, discipline, proper conduct (持戒波羅蜜; ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས tshul-khrims)
- Kṣānti pāramitā (क्षांति पारमिता): patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance (忍辱波羅蜜; བཟོད་པ bzod-pa)
- Vīrya pāramitā (वीर्य पारमिता): energy, diligence, vigor, effort (精進波羅蜜; བརྩོན་འགྲུས brtson-’grus)
- Dhyāna pāramitā (ध्यान पारमिता): one-pointed(ness) concentration, contemplation (禪定波羅蜜, བསམ་གཏན bsam-gtan)
- Prajñā pāramitā (प्रज्ञा पारमिता): wisdom, insight (般若波羅蜜; ཤེས་རབ shes-rab)
- Upāya pāramitā (उपाय पारमिता): skillful means (方便波羅蜜）
- Praṇidhāna pāramitā (प्राणिधान पारमिता): vow, resolution, aspiration, determination (願波羅蜜）
- Bala pāramitā (बल पारमिता): spiritual power (力波羅蜜）
- Jñāna pāramitā (ज्ञान पारमिता): knowledge (智波羅蜜）
Some meta insights on this challenge, especially after these first three months:
I can’t remember a time I’ve been involved in a commitment based on prompting. In this instance committing to something where the commitment involves another providing the work, and then forgetting I hadn’t received anything for two months until the third month’s challenge arrived and then backtracking. This seems to illuminate one of the natures of dukhha which is incompleteness.
While these types of things for me are about intending to arrive at truth I may seem at times to walk a fine line of using truth as an ultimate arbiter and appearing righteous. For example, why is truth not in the Mahāyāna version of the Pāramitās because without truth how is it known what is, or isn’t valid, or worthwhile?
Finally, I find that addressing the polarities and opposites of some of these topics help elucidate some often underserved angles of view and contribute clarity.
Notes include omissions from the recordings, extra sources mentioned and additional resources:
August 2021:
Week 2 — https://integratingpresence.com/2021/03/27/wisdom-snippets-33-synonyms-for-nibbana/
Week 4 — Left out questions: Is enlightenment dependent on emptiness? What’s the relationship and connection?
September 2021:
Week 1 — Original notes:
Self-containment. What would be unpure self-restraint, and where would this happen and not happen and how? What are morals, why should we have them and which morals should we adhere to? Why? Where does faith come in with moral discipline? How do morals benefit from discipline? Is it possible, now or in the future, to be moral without disciple? How and why? How to prevent not speaking up and not self-censoring to reduce suffering? What about learning morals from immorality? How?
At relative level I sometimes self-contain because — even without saying anything or interacting — I can bring up stuff in folks they don’t want to see and deal with in themselves, or don’t have the tools and means to do so. Easier to self-contain now with the CV.
Recently found myself cursing at significant volume not realizing until I could hear passersby outside awkwardly wishing each other well. Begs to question, when is it good to repress and when not?
Week 2 — (Accidentally recorded using low quality computer mic)
Week 4 — Dhutanga, the austerities the Buddha recommended
Misc —
October 2021:
Week 1 — https://www.dhammawiki.com/index.php/100_titles_or_descriptions_for_Buddha
Week 2 —
‘Be that person who reaches in for nourished support, while reaching out to those who have forgotten their hearts as the source of eternal sustenance.’
Matt Kahn
Misc — Additional sexual misconduct section from “Seeing and Knowing” by Pa Auk Sayadaw [pdf]
Audio: Pāramitā (Perfections) Challenge: August/September/October 2021
Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)
Month four, December 2021 of the Pāramitā Challenge
The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
welcome to the multi-month paramita of perfections challenge for
the first three months of august september and october 2021
when presented with the paramedia challenge i accepted and here we are in addition to the paramitas are
perfections so far the challenge also includes precepts in the 52 stages of the
bodhisattva path and bodhisattva vows so far instructions are to journal
contemplations resulting from observed intentions opportunities and actions to
be generous moral and ethical while arousing faith in the triple gem then
seeing where and when confident and where and when there’s doubt
for whatever reasons the first month i received was for october 2021 so i
started recording right away and kept recording after receiving august and
september therefore while these first three months are condensed into one long recording and still in chronological
order for the listener going forward recordings plan to be one month at a time until ending thus
spending a proper full month on each while mostly very listenable quality is
sometimes less than ideal due to the recording environment i also edited out most of the silences
between speaking to save on listening time i’ve not taken bodhisattva vows and
so with little instruction in mahayana buddhism apart from maybe a smidgen of
the zen stuff there’s the benefit of beginner’s mind i guess is a nice way to put it i shoot
from the hip with a lot in this recording and will often use a terabotta lens and a lot of inquiry as i ponder
out loud it may come off at times as criticism and sometimes it may actually be but
these are mostly solo efforts at summonsing what is really meant by the material
my current one choice word for the parameters are paramitas are as follows
and taravata buddhism generosity ethics renunciation wisdom energy
patience truth or truthfulness resolution loving kindness equanimity and then in mahayana
buddhism generosity ethics patience energy one-pointedness
wisdom skillful means resolution power or spiritual power knowledge so a few
met insights on this challenge especially after the first three months i can’t remember a time i’ve been
involved in a commitment based on prompting in this instance committing to something where the commitment involves
another providing the work and then forgetting i hadn’t received anything for two months until the third month’s
challenge arrived and then backtracking this seems to illuminate one of the
natures of dukkha which is incompleteness while these types of things for me are
about intending to arrive at truth i may seem at times to walk a fine line on one
side using truth as an ultimate arbiter and on the other side appearing righteous for example why is truth not
in the mahayana version of the paramitas because without truth how is it known
what is or isn’t valid or worthwhile finally i find that addressing the polarities and opposites of some of
these topics help elucidate some often underserved angles of view
and contribute clarity check the november 1st 2021 integratingpresence.com blog post for
notes that include emissions from this recording along with other stuff like sources and resources i’ll mention so
without further ado here’s months one through three of the parameter challenge
first week of the parent meet the challenge august 2021
this is from the 52 stages of the bodhisattva path the first stage it
[Music] the stage of faith we arouse our faith and confidence in
the buddha dharma sangha as well as having a firm belief in our original
mind [Music] so buddha dharma sangha is pretty
straightforward i’ll go into it anyway though
we arouse our faith and confidence how do we do that how do we
arouse faith and confidence well faith we can see someone who
really inspires us so we just kind of have an intuitive knowing that that’s something
we’re interested in something we’re curious and cultivating about
the qualities our personality types and confidence
and once confused confidence for being egotistical obviously not the same thing
but at that time most of the people that i
observed being confident also seemed very egotistical it wasn’t until i experienced wholesome
confidence without being egotistical in service to self i really kind of learned
what confidence was so perhaps it’s rooted in ethics and friendliness
now buddha dharma sangha look more on the internal versions of
these so the buddha would be awareness knowing the enlightenment
or the enlightened mind dharma being truth of the way things are
teachings that are beneficial especially from the historical buddha
and sangha not just community but our ability to love
connection caring warmth ability to help each other
in mourn goodness innate goodness and then this
having a firm belief in our original mind this sounds like a mahayana teaching that i haven’t been taught so
much yet um belief is only really needed if we don’t know for ourselves
so i guess in that regard it could be helpful until we know for ourselves but once we know
there’s really no need to believe or disbelieve anything
we could investigate this and maybe know for ourselves look into it research receive teachings
and then what is the original mind does that imply that there’s an unoriginal mind
is that just part of the mind are there other versions of the mind our original mind
our original mind does that imply ownership can mind be owned
what is mind is there other mind is there an us versus them mind
does our mind imply that there’s a their mind
if so what implications does this have
if i had to venture a guess of what the original mind is
would say this is what mind is before hindrances and defilements
are after those have been removed taints and fetters
which makes me curious how did those happen
who benefits and that’s the first week of the parameter
challenge august 2021 [Music]
week two of the first month of the parameter challenge august 2021 from the 52 stages of the
bodhisattva path stage 2 the stage of mindfulness we cultivate faith in the
six kinds of mindfulness of the buddha dharma sangha the precepts generosity
and mindfulness of the ultimate truth so like the previous one where we
aroused faith and confidence in the buddha dharma sangha this one is saying
cultivate faith in the six kinds of mindfulness so
why do we need faith in mindfulness how do we cultivate faith and how do we cultivate faith and mindfulness
why are there six kinds of mindfulness i guess we should start at well what is mindfulness it’s been defined many
different ways the poly word is satay sati and i’ll just throw out
one definition here i’m not really settled on a definitive definition of
satay kind of like body fullness is one of my top ones just to bare recognition
of knowing so if that definition or someone something akin to it is the case
then i don’t see where faith comes into the picture unless there’s just
such spaced outness or being oblivious to life completely
steeped in solipsism that there’s no real
reckoning of what’s real or truth that faith would be needed for something like
mindfulness and these six kinds they’re all very admirable and totally on board with them
i’m just curious of why these sex out of all the different things to be mindful and again how do we cultivate
faith i’m drawing a blank here i’m sure there are some ways it just seems like
either habit or you don’t can be a inspired faith we see someone
that inspires us and we want to find out how they do what they do or could be
verified faith where we actually experience what we hear about in our own experience
and i’m fascinated now by the mechanics of that and what would cultivate faith
and what would be the opposite of that so going now on to the buddha dharma
sangha part of mindfulness so just knowing the buddha for me the
historical figure is not nearly as pertinent as what it represents which is
complete and total and full awareness same way with the dharma the teachings are amazing but the buddha
only had so many human years to teach so the dharma to me is truth and reality the way things
actually are not the way we want them to be or even often fall
perceive them sangha as mentioned somewhere else in these reflections it’s
not just the community but our ability willingness and demonstration of love
in many different forms the precepts of course are the ethical foundation that
really makes all this possible in generosity one of the things with faith and
generosity would be that it doesn’t seem so apparent especially in western culture that being generous can actually
help us but when we pay attention to our motivation for being generous what’s
going on when we’re giving and then how we feel and what the effect is afterwards and we notice in the long run
many times that we get what we give and then this ever important last one
mindfulness of the ultimate truth it’s interesting how mindfulness is now mentioned twice
in this last statement here cultivate faith in the six kinds of mindfulness and mindfulness
of the ultimate truth anyway the ultimate truth yeah it’s ineffable it can only be pointed at
there’s not much that can be said about it in words this isn’t nibana and there’s several
synonyms the unconditioned the destruction of lust hate and delusion
the uninclined the taintless the truth the other shore the subtle the very
difficult to see the unaging the stable the undisintegrating
the unmanifest the unproliferated the peaceful the deathless the sublime the
auspicious the secure the destruction of craving the wonderful the amazing the
unailing the unailing state the uninflicted dispassion purity freedom
non-attachment the island the shelter the asylum the refuge the destination
and the path leading to the destination actually those are the 33 synonyms for
nibana and that’s the second week of the first month
of the parameter challenge august 2021 week 3
of the parameter challenge 2021 this is from the 52 stages of the
bodhisattva path subset of the 10 stages of faith stages 3 and 4. we confidently
cultivate our diligence effort and energy and this is
the stage of endeavor stage three and stage four is the stage of mental
stability we cultivate confidence in being able to focus on an object without
distraction so for the third stage this stage of endeavor
confidently cultivating our diligence effort and energy so these three can
pretty much run together it seems like maybe there’s slight variations and nuances in the maybe
dimensions of the same concept act goal
so it seems to be a big emphasis on confidence and cultivation so
is cultivation possible without confidence does confidence
increase the ability of cultivation does confidence accelerate it i don’t know i
think it would pacify an ego more but then again maybe it also could
eliminate it depending on the type of confidence and maybe what a higher goal
is so cultivating diligence effort and energy diligence that means keeping
after it right keeping on and on with it not jerking it off effort as opposed to
laziness lack of effort idleness and energy the potential for action
right and then the fuel for action so how do we cultivate this
you know effort is in this context defined by the four right efforts
eradicating and wholesome that’s already there preventing unwholesome that hasn’t arisen
maintaining wholesome states that are existent and rousing creating yet existent wholesome states
maybe it’s okay to say i don’t know how to cultivate diligence effort and energy
being honest and then what follows is how do i cultivate these confidently
so confidently cultivating could also mean to eliminate doubt to
point in the direction of doubt elimination so we may start having some progress on
this but then all of a sudden doubt creeps in discount it get discouraged so
this is where the prior stage of faith comes in okay the fourth stage the stage of
mental stability we cultivate confidence in being able to focus on an object
without distraction so how do we actually cultivate this confidence
to focus on an object without distraction when it may be the case especially starting out that that’s not true there
is no there’s very little ability compared to what we can imagine
or conceive or aim for to stay with an object without distraction almost have this innate
knowing that way more is possible than what we’re currently capable of so if so
where does that come from how do we know this without being able to do it should
be a key right there so how do we be honest with where we’re at now without
letting that discourage or disempower the natural ability to focus on an
object without distraction when there’s nothing hindering that many things in life we don’t have choices over one
thing we usually have choice over though is what we pay attention to and how we
pay attention to it so that right there is in fact very empowering and encouraging
that there’s really little that can take that choice and ability away especially
on a long-term basis so maybe one way we can help cultivate this confidence
and undistract ability on an object is to look at the perception of distraction what if there were no
distractions what if what we’re perceiving as distraction is just
an unwholesome perception taking this on as a mind experiment how might that be possible
to be in a world where nothing was perceived as a distraction and yet
with the choice to absorb our attention into a single object another way
to cultivate confidence in being able to keep attention on a single object is to
know the value of this and the danger of not doing this and what the escape involved in this is
so we can investigate why do i want to stay with a single object what’s the big deal with that what’s the payoff and
that’s week three of the first month august 2021 the parameter challenge
week four of the first month of the parameter challenge august
2021 this is from the 52 stages of the bodhisattva path subset of the ten
stages of faith stage five the stage of the wisdom of understanding
emptiness we arouse our faith in the mind’s ability to
understand emptiness and to attain enlightenment so the mind’s ability to understand
emptiness and attain enlightenment while attaining
enlightenment although i’d like to say realizing enlightenment because some say we’re all already enlightened we just
haven’t realized it yet so either way this enlightenment which again prefer awakening over
enlightenment either way this is what practice is all about you know why do
this if not having a final goal and of course the historical buddha said i wouldn’t teach this if it wasn’t
possible now understanding emptiness and the mind’s ability so once emptiness is realized
does it really need to be understood well i guess i know yes it does it just seems like a knowing i guess those are
similar understanding and knowing anyway emptiness is often confused with
not being real oh it’s all empty it’s not real just an illusion and i think this is a common misunderstanding to say
the least um perhaps my limited understanding of emptiness knowledge of emptiness is all compounded things are
subject to falling away passing away they’re not going to be around forever so why is
that well in the current reality we’re in seems we’re in a closed
entropic system where nothing can last forever even the most giant mountains
over eons given the same type of system dynamics i guess will eventually fade
away look at the saint francis mountains in missouri here and they’re said to be some of the oldest
mountains around and they’re pretty big hills now nothing humongous anymore
so who knows empty of what what is empty and what is it empty of another way to
look at this is it’s empty of a self a permanent abiding controllable
unchanging self this is not me this is not mine this is not who i am i’m not
made of this going back to the first part of this about everything not being real and it’s
on illusion and dream well in a way maybe but this can be a potentially
dangerous perception to have people get at if they’re not ready for this
obviously because it can excuse so many actions it could lead to
nihilism can even put people in depression or discouragement if not understood correctly there needs
to be a stability a general ground to a be able to
better handle when this comes around although i don’t know if it needs to be
but it seems a lot safer and more of a direct linear
approach for the least amount of bumpy challenges so maybe another way to
look at emptiness is is there any essence to be found in anything and if there was a true essence
to something seems like it could be captured duplicated controlled and be able to
really pin something down so you can do whatever you want with it making it last
indefinitely but i don’t know that’s more speculation but if something does
have an essence how would you you know obviously prove it scientifically or beyond that
metaphysically on other various levels i don’t know maybe maybe not i’ll just
leave it there for the fourth week of the parameter challenge august 2021
this is the miscellaneous section of the first month of the parameter challenge august
2021 deals with generosity and the precept of refraining from killing the
six perfections in their subdivisions from the suta sutra on understanding the
profound and esoteric doctrine observe your intentions to practice generosity
observe your opportunities to be general be aware of your generous actions and their results generosity here it means
by this description giving of material goods giving of dharma teachings when requested and the
giving of fearlessness broken down into providing a feeling of safety for others providing antidote skills to self and
others when anxious and overcoming fears of impermanence even those of sickness
aging and death so generosity obviously is so important especially for
overcoming miser miserably ness stinginess and
of course we all get what we give right so if we’re generous we’ll receive
generosity in return and that’s not something to be believed or disbelieved it’s just something we have to
either have faith and then try it out or experiment and see if it works and in my
experience obviously it does sometimes those results return quicker
than other times especially depending on past actions of course we pay attention to how we feel when we’re intending on
giving during the act of giving and then reflecting afterwards really love this
opportunities to be generous at if we become aware enough just about every moment can be an act of generosity just
our very presence without really having to say do or be anything can anchor
the light of wisdom and compassion and care to all those we come in contact
with or just the area that we’re in so there’s a giving of material goods that’s pretty straightforward giving up
dormant teachings when requested that’s pretty straightforward too and fearlessness though providing a
feeling of safety to others this is important especially when people are
doing anything pretty much they can to get a sense of safety a lot of times
people will dangle the promise of safety in front of them in exchange for all kinds of things surrendered for it like
freedoms money i mean even people will sacrifice things for safety while
those of us keeping these precepts it’s just our second nature if not now then eventually to help others feel at ease
and safe everybody’s going through so much it doesn’t really make much sense to add crap on top of that and also part of
that’s recognizing when we’re not in a space to be able to adequately
supply that to others so being mindful of that too and taking countermeasures this is
interesting uh anxious providing antidote skills to self and others when
anxious one of the biggest ones is realizing that anxiety is living in the future a
lot of times maybe also it’s clinging to ideas about certain things and not wanting to let go
of them despite evidence to the contrary and so when that clinging comes on and
it’s got to be a certain way and it doesn’t turn out to be that way or there’s no awareness of this going on
that the anxiety can keep going other times people really don’t have a reference point for the opposite of anxious or
when they do they don’t value it or think it’s not a legitimate possibly or that it’s only a
partial solution and so the other programming kicks back in and maybe not
see the benefit so three overcoming fears of impermanence even those of
sickness aging and death yes of course overcoming fears of all sorts especially
those unfounded fears that are perpetrated for means of control
division surrendering freedoms or being free
those things done to keep people compliant to keep them in control so they’re easily controlled
manipulated led by the nose there’s really no fear of impermanence that i
know of everybody pretty much knows that cognitively that things are impermanent but i guess when it goes into practice
it’s maybe a different thing sometimes there’s can be the feeling where you just kind of want things to
pause and life doesn’t work like that things will keep going changing in constant
but there’s an upside to that too right if things were all locked in would be like living in a crystalline world and
there’d be no chance for progression sickness aging and death we’ve all
experienced this pretty much at a certain age the buddha was sheltered for a long time but even
he couldn’t escape this witnessing it sickness that’s a big one now in the
middle of the cv is subject to sickness before this subject to sickness during
and more than likely will be still subject to sickness afterwards until full realization or closer to that point
same way with aging all the time and money spent on the illusion of upkeep of a young age
when the body ages and of course death if you have to go beyond death people
don’t realize this then a lot of their actions are springing forth from the fear of death
maybe trying to stream scream out for their consciousness to be aware of it i don’t know death is a part of life in
this realm in this current moment for most of us as far as i know of course these aren’t good
these aren’t made to bum people out they’re made to be contemplated in order to
further align with the truth and we’re and when we’re being honest with ourselves and others
that can bring great relief so then the first major precept this is from the
buddha speaks the brahmanat sutra part 1 translated it into chinese by kumar jiva
translated into english by dharma realm university in 1982 and the sutra says
the first major precept prabhupad’s killing a disciple of the buddha must not kill by himself encourage others to
kill kill the expedient with expedient means praise killing or react with
delight upon witnessing killing he must not employ any method
whatever not even mantra not even mantras to kill any living being further
bodhisattva must not involve himself in the causes conditions methods or karma
of killing to the extent that he cannot deliberately kill any living creature a
bodhisattva should always give rise to the eternally abiding mind of
kindness compassion and filial compliance thus he should devise
skillful means to rescue and protect all being hints if a bodhisattva kills with
indulgence or invinces delight in killing any being he thereby commits a
bodhisattva franchica offense so there’s just a comment here on what this um
project offense this term according to the perivaria derives from a verb
meaning to lose or be defeated in the vinaya the term refers to abiku who
commits any of the major offenses has surrendered to his own mental defilements to such an extent that he
defeats the purpose of having of his having become a biku in the first place abiku commits any of these offenses
severs himself irrevocably from the life of the sangha and is no longer considered to be
well it’s pretty intense right you can’t even go back to a lay person then you can’t even go back to the sangha i don’t
i don’t know i don’t totally get this but the um first precept is
pretty obvious right i mean just imagine if everybody on earth refrained from killing just other human beings for one
day i mean the whole world would change quicker than it did with the lockdowns
and i just got out of a movie a popular sci-fi movie it’s actually
a few months later than the date of this recording and
there was plenty of violence involved in the movie and yeah i haven’t seen one for years but
within that there was like this code of engagement in
battle honor codes or whatnot and it none of it really made sense or registered i could
tell they had a whole system for when to engage in battle why they were doing it who they were serving who they
were fighting why how and all this stuff but it was really complex rules that i didn’t really
follow at least the details on it maybe it’s because this can’t fathom even
wanting to harm anything it just it’s really set up for your own disaster
i don’t see it’s hard to know how people can’t see this interactions
have consequences what you do for good or ill is going to come back to you
with good or ill results and this is nothing to believe or disbelieve and just have to
know and see it for yourself so that this goes further into protecting other beings so when we see and know this and
you see so many delusions and ignorance all around us and having compassion for
those still in delusion and ignorance acting out of ill will or greed harming
living creatures because they don’t know any they might know better but on deeper levels they don’t realize
the profundity of their actions of something like this so this is where skillful means are
developed to do what we can to protect other beings too and then also how do you protect
those perpetrating it as well that’s kind of a wild card balance in
here there’s conventional ways and there’s unconventional way and this can go into
pretty subtle territory about harming anyway killing is pretty
straightforward but it comes back to ill will or delusion and or delusion so of course this is
where martial arts can come in handy like um aikido although i don’t know any of these that
one’s a defense method that doesn’t even harm in itself
really that i know of i don’t know if anybody’s ever heard of the native american tradition if i’m getting
this right of counting coup so the warriors would go into battle instead of killing they would touch the
enemy with the acoustic a coup stick if i’m getting that right
and so what this signifies is that although they could have
killed because they got so close they chose not to and so that actually
one-ups in battle because they override the intent of killing or superseded
of course there’s correctional systems that are likely
vast in many methods employed there’s prevention measures for killing preventing killing some of
these though are tricky maybe like this company called palantir who does
pre-crime so these computer systems can predict when crime may be committed and
then law enforcement can be deployed but as long as the
whole thing isn’t open source and completely transparent it’s really anybody’s guess
as far as effectiveness and rights infringement depending on the
parties involved and methods employed rescuing and protecting all beings this
is another balancing act as a call needs to be made if we’re helping them if they want help
or for stepping on their journey by helping them prematurely like breaking a butterfly out of his cocoon
too soon but then not acting when it one can and the other can’t then that’s
potentially a shortcoming too depending on the level of discernment and causes and conditions involved but
the key here eternally abiding mind of kindness compassion and
filial compliance when those are really practiced and developed well the other
things just become more self-evident and obvious and that’s the miscellaneous section for august
2021 of the parameter challenge for the september
2021 parameter challenge into the ten stages of faith
apparently this is stage six the stage of pure self-restraint
we maintain our faith in moral discipline and self-restraint to reduce suffering
so a few initial notes here
what is faith how do we maintain faith
i’m more inclined to use self-containment instead of self-restraint
so then looking at the opposites of this what would be unpure self-restraint
or self-containment and where would this happen and not happen
and how so for example if we restrain ourselves or contain
ourselves from acting or speaking or i’m possibly even thinking
how would this be pure versus unpure i’m at a loss for that as of now
and then we look at you know our morals what are morals why should we have them
and which morals should we adhere to and why are there any times when
we shouldn’t have morals or they should be let go of and then where does faith come in to
moral discipline um what is faith you know do we need faith to be moral
is it possible now or in the future to be moral without discipline
our faith how and why and then how do we speaking up and not self-censoring to
reduce sufferings so for example could this turn into a form of self-censorship
we’d like to hold back from saying something even though we feel it can help prevent suffering or
end suffering but for some reason we’re adhering to maybe
a distorted version of this stage of faith but then again
taking this too far then it could break down self-restraint when it’s needed
and then what about learning about morality from immorality
do we need to engage in this ourselves to actually learn it or is it enough to observe others
immoral acts and see clearly that’s not leading to any kind of
suffering reduction or happiness sometimes
it seems like we have to learn the hard way on some things and then on you know on a relative level
i sometimes contain because even without saying anything or interacting
i can bring up stuff and folks they don’t want to see or deal with or they don’t even have the tools or means to do
so and this is easier though to do with the co-v going on right now
so self-containment and self-restraint is a little bit more socially acceptable
[Music] as an example the other day i i found
myself cursing at significant volume and not realizing and
this until i could hear the passer buyers outside by my window open window
awkwardly wishing each other well uh so this begs the question when is
it good to repress and not repress things too
at what point do things keep getting bottled up and then they reach a boiling point and explode
you know how should there be a healthy outlet or how can these things just dissolve of
course meditation allows us to see this allows us to see this material that’s repressed and
allow it to dissolve as well and again we can never have too much mindfulness
especially right mindfulness this is week two of the parameter challenge for
september 2021 there was some mishaps on the setting so it
accidentally used an internal microphone so i’m re-recording this introduction but i’m just going to keep the original
and this is on the 10 stages of faith the seventh stage the stage returning the merit and the
description here reads we have faith in how sharing merit is far better than
accumulating merit for oneself so right off the bat i don’t know if it’s just a
translation but i will be a little bit nitpicky on this returning it does that
imply that we give it back from whence it came sharing is very different than return i
feel so sharing means to just spread around freely or at least not just
keeping everything for oneself and i totally agree with that much more than returning um you know merit what is
merit so i guess my limited understanding of this is it’s benefit from our spiritual practice
basically our ethics the way we act respond in few things meditation
practice other spiritual practices and then wisdom who’s the knowledge gained in everyday life what we do with
that or not do with that so let’s just take this a step further and
maybe draw parallels to a meritocracy where i guess that would mean instead of other
forms of compensation based on other methods it would be based on merit in which you
actually contribute and so now i go deeper into the metaphysics of sharing
and i just heard recently how what i’ll say after this really doesn’t apply
anyway because you can’t share merit it’s a nice sentiment though for
certain things i’m not exactly remembering exactly how this was but and i think bodhidharma said it too when
someone asked him how much merit he’s getting from doing all these good deeds and he said no hear it so let’s just say
though that it was possible to share merit okay who all will we share it with
let’s say we share it with all beings everywhere and it actually got to them abortions wouldn’t that constitute such
a meritorious deed as to even gain more merit for ourselves and then it would
just compound and come because we would just keep sharing that and cheering and sharing that so i don’t know the other
thing is if merit were to be shared could it get hijacked could certain beings or
factions actually have found out a way to steal merit basically to take all the hard
work from others commentary for themselves without freely sharing and then cover up and hide the
fact that they have you know possibly like with money resources regular mundane so again perception is
very important but overall yes if merit can be shared reminds me of the
saying of the worthlessness of worldly things ultimately right
because we can’t hold on to that can’t take them with us beyond this lifetime or if we could they
will eventually perishing things changing a state of flocks nothing lasts forever so why not help out others why
we can’t with the added wisdom that there may be others who don’t have the
same benevolent intentions for the all and so
how would we respond to that how we deal with that is there any way we could ensure that our merit does get
distributed equal if not then what do we do week two this is week three of the parameter
challenge the second month september 2021 the stage of maintaining the dharma
within oneself this is the eighth of the ten stages of faith we cultivate faith
and our intention and ability to protect the dharma teachings from
harm loss and corruption so again this description for me is a little bit disjointed from
the title of the stage the stage of maintaining the dharma within oneself to
me that means how do we keep truth and the teachings of the buddha within
ourselves meaning how can we increase the likelihood of being able to
draw on these teachings whenever we need them to be able to see these teachings
and know these teachings and the truth within us and in our everyday external world how
we can apply them to our lives to help ourselves and others and for me a lot of
this is at least in the beginning is really no excuse with the
so many teachers publicly available now so many dharma talks to listen to so
many opportunities through every moment of our lives to practice and
once we can really see and know that there really isn’t much i mean there’s sure there’s benefit in
other things in life but this is like an underlying and overarching superseding
and all penetrating thing that just blows everything else out of
the water so and the benefits and in lack of really other options in our
lives once this becomes apparent but that’s a good thing because it makes a lot of our choices easier
and basically truth is all there is so it turns into the only game in town at
some point so now when i go to this we cultivate faith in our intention and
ability to protect the dharma teachings from harm loss and corruption it’s really interesting
first off while yes dharma teachings obviously benefit and truth benefits from
being safeguarded from harm loss and corruption at the end of the day truth
can never be destroyed so it really can take care of itself um however that
doesn’t mean that those empower those who know it
with less than benevolent intent and intentions aren’t and won’ts and haven’t
veiled truth and teachings distorted truth and in
dharma teachings try to wipe them out harm them
sure so this all comes down to discernment
what where are those fails what are those fails where are those intentions
who are they coming from what can we do while maintaining
we speak truth to power call out where this is happening
or do we hold back because we’re not 100 sure how do we probe into this to investigate if this is really going on
because a lot of these things are pretty conniving can be really subtle
and then we can fear looking wrong or paranoid or
overly protective so how do we look into this and
start to suss out corruption without being overly protective or being
like gung-ho and perceived as militant buddhists or militant dharma
protectors um or the other end that oh it just doesn’t matter i’ll just let somebody else do it
just sit back and you know it’ll all work out i don’t have to do anything
so balancing that and i guess yes initially this does require faith in our
intention and ability but at a certain point it just becomes a clear obvious thing to do
and that faith is verified or not needed as much anymore because it
just seems inbuilt into her operating system to do something like this because it’s
not only for our benefit it’s for the benefit of all beings everywhere that’s week
three of the paramumita challenge for september 2021 the third stage i’m sorry
the eighth stage of the ten stages of faith this is week four for the parameter challenge
september 2021 the ten stages of faith stages nine and ten stage nine is the
stage of detachment we have faith that progress and training does not require austerity but instead requires the
practice of non-clinging stage 10 the stage of aspiration we cultivate our
faith in the strong aspiration to attain enlightenment so for stage 9 having faith that
progress and train does not require austerities but instead requires the practice of non-clinging so obviously
yes suffering is due to clinging so any amount of non-clinging we can
have the better which that is the utmost importance totally agree however
or that said the austerities does not require austerity so let’s not forget
that those aren’t totally excluded in practice um you know they might be challenging
for householders to do for monastics even but the buddha did recommend the
detonga practices and there’s 13 of these i’ll go through briefly that um
you know the buddha said that extreme austerities that he practiced at one
point in his journey were unnecessary but he did make
exception for these 13 which aren’t severe at all but they are basically
issuing some creature comforts let’s put it that way and the other extreme of just indulging
in everything he didn’t recommend as well and it makes sense the middle way having balance so the first one is a
refuse rag wears practice basically meaning that you don’t wear robes from discarded or
soiled cloths patchwork cloth the second one one’s a triple rope wear so they would only have
three robes and not have any additional robes the alms food eater practice so
you just go only eat food on alms rounds and not go to like rich people’s houses um
or where you’re dwelling at in the house to house secret practice says uh you know he could only go around
to every house not emitting any couldn’t just make a beeline for where all the the good food
regular food is the one sessioner’s practice eating one meal a day
the ball eaters practice so eating everything out of one bowl mixed together instead of separate plates and
dishes seven later food refusers practice once you’re full you wouldn’t offer or
you wouldn’t accept any more food the forest dweller practice not living in a town or village but away
from that tree root dweller you would live under a tree without any
shelter or roof and the open air dweller’s practice number 10 is refusing a roof and a tree root but you can do a
says a shelter out of a tint of robes and charnel ground practice this is
where you would go where a charnel ground which probably not too many people were familiar with though especially in the west where it said
that if some money couldn’t afford a burial cremation they would just put them all
in one place and let them let nature decompose them as it will
so it’d be living nearby one of these or a graveyard or cremation ground
and then the any bed users practice number 11 just being satisfied with any place you can stay
and then 13 is the sinner’s practice which involves omitting the lying down posture so
you’re only walking standing sitting and those are the 13 dootanga practices now
the next one is number 10 the stage of aspiration we cultivate our
faith in the strong aspiration to attain enlightenment a few things here i don’t know about
attaining enlightenment so it’s it’s not like this something we gotta get and then then we can get back to netflix
right um some say that we’re we’re already enlightened we’re just haven’t realized
it yet so in a way i can see it as an attainment but it resonates more with me
as a realization and it’s an ongoing thing too as far as
i’m abiding dwelling in that with some especially those who’ve been considered to be um
realized enlightenment and then the strong aspiration i feel is important because you know why are we even doing
all this anyway that is the goal right to realize awakening and be free
and everything else is just getting us towards that and that goal
that fruit the end of the holy life pretty much it com encompasses everything else along the way
leading towards that or leading away from that although some might say that even when we think we’re led away as
long as we make the resolve to use that and learn from our mistakes then there
is no non-opportunities i guess and it’s never too late to
course correct and of course you know the buddha said if it wasn’t possible i wouldn’t teach it so i don’t see where
it’s helpful either to like make jokes about oh you know when i’m enlightened and
poking fun like it’s not possible or a legend or just some fair fanciful
fairy tale which kind of degrades and lessens this whole thing because you might as
well just go back to netflix or whatever so it’s a week four of september 2020
with the paramedic challenge this is the miscellaneous section for month two of the parameter challenge
september 2021. it mainly has to do with morality or ethics
and stealing so we’ll start with the six perfections and their subdivisions from
the sutra on understanding the profound and esoteric doctrine this is number two
morality and in parentheses it says discipline number one as a description
discipline to turn away from what is not good two discipline to turn towards what
is good three discipline to turn toward benefiting sentient being so
turning away from what is not good sometimes especially in the beginning this might be like witnessing a train
wreck it’s just hard to turn away from it especially since our culture encourages
for entertainment such wild behavior that’s screaming out for attention so what is good what is not
good what’s ethical what’s not ethical for me that’s pretty simple when it boils down to harming or not
harming what leads to the benefit and well-being of ourselves and others
especially in the long term and what doesn’t so as we practice and keep these precepts it just becomes more and more
intuitive maybe instinctual ingrained learned in other ways obvious
to what’s for benefit and what’s not what’s good and what’s not and then the third one disciplined to turn towards
benefiting sentient beings and so when those first two just become second nature and then we’ve pretty much got a
lot of our own house in order well then what’s left is i guess since then i’ve heard they’ve got two jobs to meditate
and sweep the monastery and the monastery includes the whole world so
yeah once we have our place our house in order then it just makes sense to help
other people when we can the second one is from the doctrine of mere consciousness the 10 excellent moral
exercises are the 10 parameters number two is morality or observance of precepts and precepts are
of three kinds one precepts governing personal conduct precepts
for the acquisition of good dharma and three precepts for the bestowal of benefits and advantages on sentient
beings so what are these precepts i have no idea which ones cover govern personal conduct
maybe that’s like the five precepts no harming killing stealing
lying taking intoxicants that cloud the mind that would make the other ones more likely of course it’s a practice not a
command each one and then precepts for acquisition of good dharma this one i’d be interested in learning it because it
seems like that would just be on discernment if we had to go by our ourselves dharma here meaning
teachings of the buddha supposedly but i guess in this case would be more like reality the truth of the way things are
but then again if there’s truth of the way things are then there is no the bad would be
not true or false good dharma so the dharma is acquired how and
bad dharma is acquired how it seems once discernment is developed anyone trying
to or anything trying to pass off false deceptive teachings or
dharma can be seen cut through with a sort of discernment and decisiveness
it’s really kind of heart-wrenching that such a thing would even be possible to counterfeit truth it’s not really
possible it’s just a deception an illusion and once it’s seen through it seem that it’s
just that not true so it doesn’t really exist but until that veil is lifted we
can discern what’s true and what’s not and number three precept for the bestowal of benefits and advantages on
sentient being again i don’t know what this is or what this means i know bestowing bestowing benefits and
advantages on sentient beings just seems like second nature again after we have
some kind of decent establishment for ourselves so i don’t get why there needs
to be precepts around that i guess there’s ways to mess it up or maybe ways to make it better but it just seems
fairly self-evident that once in the spot can see and tell what benefits and
what doesn’t for ourselves another what’s advantage what’s it just for herself and others and then from the
brahmanat sutra the brahma jala sutra with the chinese translation tribute to
kumara jiva and the english translation by a charles miller and kenneth k tanaka
number two prohibition of stealing others properties my disciples you should not yourself steal incite others
to seal or steal through deception if you engage in the causes of stealing the conditions of stealing the planning of
steel the act of stealing or stealing through magical spells and so on up to stealing the property of spiritual
beings are the properties of thieves no matter what object is stolen whether a
single needle or blade of grass or even if you have stolen by accident
bodhisattva generates the buddha nature mind of reverence and compassion always assisting all people to bring about
well-being and happiness if instead you steal others wealth and possessions this is a peragica offense for bodhisattvas
so in my own experience i think when i was a kid i got it into my head like one
time that i was gonna try stealing but i got so nervous and so agitated and
worried and all these horrible emotions came up i couldn’t go through with it i’m glad i didn’t
the only other time um was the time in high school where i just received some stolen goods from someone
and turns out of course they got caught later and i guess years later i ended up
donating all of my cds there may have been a few ones left in there but i think someone actually might have stole
some of those to living with people but it’s just kind of silly um you know
stealing i don’t i never really understood it the few times i’ve accidentally found myself walking away
with something by accident um i you know obviously as soon as i discover it i
make all the effort to return it and make sure everything’s squared away accidents happen and it’s obviously not
intended so that’s pretty easy to take care of yeah i don’t know i’m trying to think of the psychology of thieves and
maybe they do it for the thrill of things maybe they were taught that way maybe they get intention maybe it’s a
lifestyle um they really don’t know and then obviously through the magical spells or property of spiritual beings
even thieves themselves right so the magical spells like we don’t really get into that because even if i were to
study that it’s kind of pointless uh to really look into unless that’s being perpetrated or you’re trying to help
someone who’s involved in that spiritual beings that’s interesting what would spiritual beings
own and how would it be stolen of course these are rhetorical questions i really don’t encourage anybody to look
into that unless it’s relevant for their experience in life at the time but it’s
definitely interesting of course stealing through deception how many times do we get telemarketer calls what
about advertising does that count it seems like some forms of marketing and
advertising or even just tacit consent that’s usually assumed by
all kinds of different instances in life where if you don’t speak up against it then it’s just
assume that you’re going along with it and you’ve given consent so is that stealing consent of course you can really drill
down in this and get into some really gray lines but i’m gonna leave it there for now for the miscellaneous section of
month two of the parameter challenge september 2021 this is the first week of month three of
the paramita challenge in october 2021 i’m unsure really the structure of
what should be contemplated when but i’m just going to go ahead what i know of
for sure for the first week here as an overview this month deals with
patients parameter precept of no sexual misconduct and then
what’s clear are the first four stages of the 52 stages of the bodhisattva path
so each one of those four is one a week so the first one is the abode of arousing aspiration and the
notes on it are we abide in the firm resolve to attain buddhahood so what is
buddhahood there’s classically 10 epitaphs and i’ll read those but i also want to read
100 real quick that are also mentioned the polycanon are hot which is worthy of offerings is
a common translation also it it’s fully our enlightened one uh
some yuck some buddha perfect in true wisdom and enlightenment
rana zampana and butchering nepali here perfect in knowledge and conduct sugata
well liberated are well gone well departed lokovit is the omniscient or understander of the
world knower of the world anutara the almighty fearless unexcelled leader um hirosha
a master of trainer trainer people trainer meant to be trained controller
i won’t even bother the second one teacher of heavenly gods and humans and bhagavat um
bhagavat so it’s the world honored one so the 100 titles
all seeing all transcending sage all vanquished saved arhat awakened one best
of those who can be tamed blessed one brahma buddha bull among men bull among
seers bolov the sakyan clan caravan leader conqueror of beast conqueror of
mara consummated knowledge and conduct dhamma discover in the dhamma after die down dispeller
of darkness elucidator meaning endowed with all the foremost marks endowed with knowledge and good conduct exalted one
expert with regard to the world the eye first in the world foremost jewel foremost of all people foremost of
cherry tears foremost of those who can cross foremost sage fortunate one freed
fully enlightened one giver of the deathless god of gods go to my great one
great seer guide healer helper helper of the world hymn of the ten powers a
comparable charioteer of men to be tamed king of the dhamma kinsmen of the sun
nowhere enlightened of the world knowledge lion of the dhamma lion man lion of the sack yes lord
buddha lord of the sages lord of the dhamma master gotama noble one of excellent wisdom one who sees one who
transcends all peaceful sage peerless bull perfect in knowledge and practice
physician the perfect one pure radiant one recluse related to the sun rightly
self-awakened sakyamuni sama sambuda self-dependent show of the way
siddhartha stainless sublime one supreme among those who can be released to target and thus come or thus gone one
teacher teacher of divine and human beings teacher of the world thoroughly mature torture of mankind training
leader ultimate leader unconquered conqueror unexcelled trainer of those
people fit to be tamed unsurpassed charioteer of beings to be tamed unsurpassed doctor insurgent
unvanquished vanquisher victor in battle wanderer welfare well gone one
wielder of power with great wisdom world knower worthy one
and that comes from dalmawiki.com so back again to
the abode of arousing aspiration we abide in the firm resolve to attain buddhahood what really stood out for me
with this one is although there’s been plenty of books and probably tons and tons of material and
teaching on this and that i am not familiar with and haven’t looked into yet it seems
to be a buddha you have to be self-awakened um at least a full
buddha right this title and so you know with all the help we get from
teachers and teachings and everything it’s so helpful to stand on the shoulder
of giants that said if we do encounter the dhamma from
anybody else our teachers our study actually even the words the buddha which
i am all for it’s helped me obviously so much at the same time how would it then
be possible to gain full buddhahood with that so i’m wondering if that’s a
paradox or if it’s supposed to be gained in another lifetime but then of course
what about teachings remembered teachings forgotten but i think that might just be in the
weeds um but while we’re there this english word hood buddha hood
a hood is like to cover but it can also be uncovered um kind of shrouded but why
would you want to hide um i know at least i think i know that uh some
taravana monks they’re not allowed to wear anything on top of their head so i’m not sure exactly
why that is or what that is or how it ties into this but um maybe it does
but the point here even more so is the abode of arousing aspiration you
know what what stirs up aspiration what is what are we aspiring to
um does it need to be a clear end goal what helps
arouse this and what doesn’t help and should we stop with what already works
or should we keep going try more and when do we recognize
when it’s lacking or not adequate or sufficient so these are some questions that came up but i don’t really have
very many answers for those other than yeah you know that is one
opportunity or silver lining of dukkha is
there’s a great incentive to know it and end it
and i guess any of those titles that really jump out
and stand out they can provide aspiration harley’s inspiration for aspiration
week two of month three of the paramedic challenge it’s
october 2021 of the 52 stages of the bodhisattva path
number two the abode of nurturing we abide in preparing the mine ground
to practice the view of emptiness nurturing is so important it extends
beyond this as well we’ve got the four nutriments of food
feeling thoughts or mental stuff i guess you should
could say and consciousness
and these are all vital to our health and well-being whether or
not we have any kind of higher aspirations in life
although it’s probably not on the to-do list the majority of people
in the world to wake up every morning and want to nourish their consciousness but you know
so what are we nurturing ourselves with fast food of the mind
are things that will help us progress uplift elevate
are we eating little junk food are we spending time
eating clean organic food and we can prepare for ourselves
and what kind of energy is going into it what kind of thought forming into it what are we studying are you vegging out
tvs and video games are we taking the time to again take in material
for our highest happiness and those highest happiness of all those around us
or at least could lead to that and then consciousness what’s the overall
state of knowingness the entire sphere of our lives
and the quality of that now preparing the mine ground to practice the view of emptiness i’m not
exactly sure about this first off what is the mind ground
can the mind which is really hard to pin down can it have a ground
and do we need to practice views and then of course what is emptiness
what is empty i think this is somewhat at least on a cognitive level
important to know in order to see some kind of value and significance
of preparation stages for it and is emptiness of view or is it
a state or quality or can it be both how and why
and then abiding how do we abide does that mean continuously does it mean
it’s the best we can but what this overall means to me is something like emptiness
or any really hard truth in life that can be
uncomfortable unbearable very destructive to what we’ve built up to that point
if that comes along and there’s no stability and the rug gets pulled on out
from under us can be damaging or confusing
devastating even and while we can allow devastation to reveal the
deepest truth inside of us it’s also a possibility to do it more gradually so where
it’s not as much of a shock or topsy-turvy
or disheveling so there is this possibility of preparing
healing and nurturing with the nutriments that are highly
beneficial and nutritious and that’s week two of month three of the parameter
challenge october 2021 week three of the parameter challenge
for october this is the third of the ten abodes from the 52 stages of
the bodhisattva path the abode of practice in the description here says we abide in cultivating all
good practices and the four wholesome roots of warmth tipping point patience and highest
worldly wisdom so obviously i haven’t received a formal
teaching or any kind of teaching on this whatsoever the only one i can really comment on
with more certainty is the cultivating all good practices and even that’s a little vague for me
you know what constitutes a good practice i think i know for myself possibly but
since i’m still in states of delusion not in the psychological sense so much
as in the state more of ignorance so is it really good the classic say
what’s good as a guideline for that i would just say
practices that lead to the happiness and benefit of myself and others there’s
so many different types of meditation practices and meditation related practices
there’s even exercises there’s activities
professional practices so it’s a very broad range of human activity that falls
under the word practice so this can also be a benefit though of knowing
and using discernment developing discernment for what is good what’s beneficial and what’s not
okay the next part the four wholesome roots of warmth tipping point patience and highest
highest worldly wisdom i know uh in the theravada tradition there’s the four
i’m sorry the three poisons are the three unwholesome roots of greed hatred delusion or greed hatred
ignorance i’m forgetting now what the inverse of that which would be the beneficial roots
um but that would only be three so now this says four i’m just going to
venture my best guess here warmth take that to mean of the heart right so
not having a cold or cool heart towards anything but to develop the brahma viharas
a warmth of heart towards that which we encounter especially towards ourselves
too um tipping point um back in the day i read this book called
the tipping point by malcolm gladwell i wonder if it’s about the same thing i don’t know
what would be the tipping point towards what um
maybe it’s like a turning point or a fulcrum or a significant benchmark
within certain practices not quite sure now patience
this one’s a little bit easier to comment on as they say patience is a virtue and
some people use that as a pejorative but it really is um
patience when someone tells us we need patience especially in
certain situations it can almost be infuriating classic saying
grant me patience and grant it to me right now um but this just brings to mind with
patient persistence and the right instruction there’s really not anything that’s not accomplishable
a lot of times in today’s society no one has the attention span
to stay with something so it runs hand in hand with patients patience goes along with calmness and
collectiveness composure there’s a saying i heard of someone saying to people that are
really in a hurry he’d say hey where’s the fire at man where’s the fire
you know meaning that somebody’s rushing around because they think they have emergency after emergency to attend to
and as we know busyness is really overrated these days still
so what other benefits are there of patience i definitely can show endurance
and is highly honorable and esteemed especially in the midst of so many people just running amok
short-tempered okay so the highest worldly wisdom this is a
real interesting one i guess i would have to ask well you
know what is worldly wisdom and what is low worldly wisdom maybe
medium worldly wisdom and then of course this high worldly wisdom and does this mean
you know just being of the world or does it mean being in the world
but not of the world does it mean knowing the world does it mean knowing
other worlds what world are we talking about here and what is the opposite of worldly
wisdom and is that important and why or
why would all these things be important compared to just saying wisdom
or when applied to other forms of wisdom i really don’t have any answer to these
and that is the third week of the october 2021
parameter challenge week 4 of the parameter challenge for
october 2021 this is the fourth stage the 52
stages of the bodhisattva path the fourth stage is the abode of producing
virtues and the description here is we abide peacefully
in the principle of quote unquote no self where the seed natures are purified
okay so obviously i have a bunch of questions here since i really don’t have much idea of what this means i don’t
really see how the label connects with the uh definition the abode of producing virtues let’s
start with the definition here we abide peacefully in the principle of no self
or c where the seed natures are purified so first off we
if if this includes i i wouldn’t guess everyone taking the bodhisattva vows
then how would a bodhisattva emerge from this where it’s kind of well-known like you know kuan yin or
um manjushri if it’s a we then how do those bodhisattvas stand out do do certain
ones have a better chance of buddhahood than others or you know when do when do they emerge and then a bite abides okay
that’s yeah that’s in all of them um peacefully in the principle so if we abide
peacefully in the principle first off i guess that peacefully would mean
maybe would imply that abiding in such a state could possibly be non-peaceful
um i can see that where there’s no self would freak some people out so maybe
that’s where the peacefully is uh in the principle so if you’re we’re abiding in a principle we’re not really abiding in
a reality or abiding in an idea right a principle something we hold in high
esteem and something we respect but why would we need to do that so much
if the no self is actually reality and the term
no self here is kind of a misnomer because if i were to say oh there’s no
josh get in trouble and go oh you can’t get me in trouble because there’s no josh you know
they would just look at you like what’s wrong with this guy but if you say not self i could go and
say well you know josh is not really who i am i’m way more
than that that’s only a name you know and a way to navigate regular life but i
go way beyond that that’s not myself so
it’s kind of an it’s kind of a negation of whatever you can say as a self while
no self means that there’s not even any kind of concept of a self um but i get
it maybe these two are interchangeable but it’s even if it’s splitting hairs here
it’s a valid distinction i feel and then abide peacefully in the principle of no
self where the seed natures are purified well location
where so where is this principle well it’s in the mind right so this is a mind
construct unless i’m wrong on this or if there’s misunderstanding here um the
seed nature’s okay so i’m just guessing that’s the um alaia
consciousness in mahayana but i’m not exactly sure about this so i’m probably
a little bit off on this i was just always not always but curious these extra consciousnesses the um sixth
and seventh consciousness i forget with the um i’m sorry seventh and eighth or eighth being the elia right and the
seventh i’m not sure but the mind is so vast
there’s so many different potentials of consciousness right or at least variations and flavors and fluctuations
it’s interesting how these two extra ones are chosen out of perhaps many
different possibilities of types of consciousness i’m not sure there so if this is the same nature of the elia
consciousness how does it get corrupted and how does it get purified well
if this were to be gone by then if we just engage in this principle abide in this
principle of no self then these seed natures
which how are they being corrupted to begin with why is that happening when did that
start who’s responsible for that but if we just abide in this then they’ll just
become purified well how does that happen um do we just enter some kind of void or
denial of a self um is there so much energy put into this
principle that somehow it purifies
a seed nature it just seems like if you look at a seed from a tree or
plant i don’t know what would constitute one being pure versus unpure
and the metaphor i don’t think is a good one either because okay if there’s a unpure seed like an
actual seed in nature how could one purify it it doesn’t seem possible
unless you somehow go in there with some you know genetic scalpel and do some genetic manipulation but
i think even by that very nature unless your knowledge is extremely vast
and it can be proven over eons then just by the nature of that it doesn’t
seem like genetic modification it’s going to purify
something from nature although obviously that could be wrong so a lot of concepts a lot of ideas
thrown out here very confusing things
not only trying to understand this but then adding things on top of it so i guess
where is occam’s razor in this if i had to simplify this and kind of
squeeze out the benefit from it i would kind of translate it back into tirabata
style where abiding peacefully would mean equanimity and
the realization of not-self anata and as far as purification goes
that would be sila or ethics so that brings us back to the original stage
title the abode of producing virtues so the description talks about a
purification and an abiding in a no-self so i don’t see how that can
produce anything when it’s talking about purification i guess
that would entail the definition of production meaning something new where i
guess technically if something’s purified it can be in a new state or a new version of the same thing or
somewhat same thing but is a transformation or a transmutation a
production well i don’t know i think it’s beside the point but the actual stage the abode
of producing virtues i would take that to mean ethics right and um for right
efforts of eradicating unwholesome states preventing unwholesome states from
arising generating new wholesome states and maintaining wholesome states and
that’s going to be enough for week 4 of october 2021 the paramedic challenge this is the
miscellaneous section for the parameter challenge the third month october 2021
this mainly has to do with patience and sexual misconduct
start with the six perfections and their subdivisions from the sutra on understanding the profound and esoteric
doctrine the six perfections the third one is patience patience to endure
insult and injury patience to abide peacefully and suffering patience to investigate the dharma so patience to
endure insult this could be very helpful if we’re trying to set an example to
someone or we can be the better man or woman and this is founded on
not passivity or lack of assertion or weakness
you know just laying down and being a doormat this is founded at least my understanding and not the inverted
version is founded on taking the high road due to the fact that hatred can
never overcome hatred only non-hatred and love can overcome hatred this is an eternal it’s one of
the one of the beginning lines of the dhammapawa said this spoke and so when we’re bombarded with insult and injury a
lot of times the habitual response this way we’ve been conditioned and brought up is to retaliate get even
not stand for it and then it oftentimes ends up as
adding more fuel to the fire so this needs to be coupled with solutions
on how to respond to insult and injury where is the common ground where is the
resolution where’s the remedy and resolve instead of justice and judgment
and then of course if it does or harm us then we need to draw back and heal from
this as well and look at possibly what’s happened that may have caused this or not but at
least look at well what’s the best way going forward if this happens again
or how might this be dealt with in a way that leads to the happiness of every it might be boundaries it might be
different communication techniques it might be getting help all kinds of so the patience to abide peacefully and
suffering this is another tricky one because if we can take action to alleviate suffering
that is to be done because we’re not again emotional doormats to just take
everything and just say oh just the way it is i guess i’ll just be like that forever when something very
skillful wise and awesome can be taken to eliminate the suffering now that said
when there’s nothing that can be done or we just haven’t seen the proper option
yet again will it help anything to lash out shut down avoid escaping them
out when we experience dukkha probably not and so there’s coping skills if if
they’re needed however actually turning and looking dukkha in the face
from a place of balance and peace to whatever extent that’s available learning from it this noble truth of
suffering can the nobility be seen because some would have us suffer our perpetrate suffering for
their own enjoyment benefit their own inverted
reasons and gains maybe even needs when we can look
suffering directly in the eyes and know that this is here for my
understanding and mastery of overcoming it for myself and all beings everywhere
then it becomes an opportunity for upliftment instead of denigration
debasement and regression so then the patience to investigate the dharma
sometimes dharma here meaning the buddhist teachings and the truth of the way things are sometimes the truth the way
things are in reality it’s just too much people don’t have the state of
consciousness or skills or tools to handle certain truths
and then when they do a lot of times there’s an integration process that goes along with that
or just get to a point where things get stale and just get distracted by other things and
just don’t want to sit down and commit the time to investigating so having the patience to stay and
investigate so this ought to be balanced with the energy and effort diligence
endurance intent discernment and a wholesome desire to investigate
truth and the buddhist teachings because sometimes the pace if it’s too much patience with not enough energy then
the mind kind of gets dull and dumbed out but if there’s too much then there’s no stability
or progress staying on track to really penetrate into and discern
truth so similarly the next one is doctrine from the doctrine of mere consciousness
the 10 excellent moral exercises are the 10 parameters the number three is patient endurance and the commentary
says patient endurance is of three kinds to endure patiently resentment and
injury to accept quietly sorrow and suffering and three examine
to examine patiently and adhere to the dharma so these are pretty much the same this what’s just been gone over with a slight
variation language so again bringing to mind the counterbalances to those as well now we go to the
58 bodhisattva vowels and number three is um the english is the 10 major
bodhisattva precepts three is don’t engage in sexual misconduct okay and then from the brahmanat sutra
the brahmajala sutra 3 prohibition of heartless pursuit of my disciples you should not engage in
lustful behavior incite someone to engage in lustful behavior or even indulge in unplanned lustful behaviors
should avoid the causes of autry the conditions of lustful behavior the planning of lustful being consummated
acts of lustful behavior this includes everything up to sexual gratify gratification with female animals female
celestial or female spirits as well as deviant forms of sexual conduct moreover bodhisattvas should rise to an addict of
piety they should save all sentient beings by providing them with the pure teachings if instead they regularly
repeatedly indulge in muscle behavior with anyone engaging in sexual acts with animals are one’s mother daughter sister
or another close relative then this is cruelty and constitutes a bodhisattva rajica events
and then this is the i guess another translation of the third
a slightly different language maybe brahmanet sutra the third precept on
sexual conduct a disciple of the buddha must not himself deliberately engage in sexual conduct with any member of the
opposite sex or encourage others to do so nor may involve him the causes conditions are karma sexual conduct this
this prohibition extends to sexual conduct with animals god’s goddesses ghosts spirits or other forms of lawful behavior and all perverse types of
sexual conduct boni safa she feel compliance thus he should rescue all
beings and instruct them in the dharma of purity if instead abode himself engages in pro promiscuous sexual
activity with any person who handles his mother daughter sisters or any other of that six type of close relatives his
behavior is utterly devoid it can be there by commit bodhisattva offense
okay so this is interesting the this one says you’re not supposed to have any kind of sexual conduct so i don’t know
if um there can be lay bodhisattvas or it’s only i don’t know if there’s vinaya rules around that the the rules covering
um monastics but we can just jump in here to the main thing which is
sexual misconduct and i’m also going to read from um oxidos the workings of karma about these
that goes into more detail with that before i do that let’s just look at sexual misconduct i’ve even
heard it translate as not misusing sexual energy so what is sexual energy where does it come
from how does it work what should be done with it what should not be done with it what is healthy
sexual conduct what is healthy sexual energy and how to use that
can that be done why is it important or not important so the if it’s that go by not engaging in
sexual conduct obviously if you expand that out to if all beings were to do that what would the world look like well
you know that would seem pretty nihilistic um as far as what kind of reality we have
now so as far as i know um without the use of technology
then the human population would eventually die off right because there would be no reproduction the way things
are structured now so i don’t know about that unless other things change uh that’s a whole nother ball of wax but
really jumping into where does sexual energy come from and
how does that work has it always been like that how do we change that if it needs to be
changed how do people govern their sexual energy transmute it or what do they do with don’t do with it why is it
like this what might be misusing sexual energy for one person might have
become from whatever causes the conditions a sexual need for another
and then what happens when they wake up and realize that oh
this probably isn’t the best thing for me or other people now what
and a lot of it’s taboo some of it for less than good reason some of it for
decent reasons because why drag someone into a bunch of
potential conduct that’s unbecoming if they don’t need to be
are open those gates if part of their work
has nothing to do with that or any of their work then again some things are suppressed
in order to control people for various psychological purposes
that if not explored can go unknown and so resolution can never come so
again just like most things it’s a balancing act knowing what’s needed what’s not needed what needs to be
explored and what doesn’t need to be explored for who and for how often so now going to the
workings of karma by oxido this is on page
121 of the version i have the back version and it says one who engages in sexual misconduct and there’s ten of
them with those under their mother’s guardianship those under their father’s
guardianship and those under their mother and father’s guardianship those under their brother’s guardianship those
under their sister’s guardianship with those under their relatives guardianship with those under their families
guardianship with those under religious communities guardianship with those having a husband with those
entailing a penalty even with those garland with flowers of betrothal
one is an offender in such conduct it says sexual misconduct adultery is
because of either lust and delusion or hatred and delusion go between
training precept the buddha lists ten types of married woman one
one money bought to a desire cohabitant she lives with the man of her own desire
and his agreement the beloved with the beloved lives with parental consent
three a wealth cohabitant a country woman becomes a man’s wife by receiving a certain property for a cloth
cohabitant a destitute woman becomes his wife by receiving merely an outer cloth five a water
bowler family elders dip her and his two hands
in to evolve water wishing that they be joined like the water not to part
six one with removed carrying pad she becomes his wife by having her
head pad for carrying loads removed by him seven a slave and wife
she is both his slave and his wife eight a worker and wife
nine one flag brought a captive taken in a conquered territory where the flag has been raised
10 a momentary wife a prostitute and then the discussion on the wholesome
common course it lists these same 10 types of wives as
unapproachable ones again this is from the workings of comma
polyworth oxide out so yeah that pretty much covers a lot of things a lot of those
seem kind of outdated at least in the united states those things don’t seem to
be going on at least in broad daylight or out in the public that i’m aware of so that’s the
miscellaneous section for the parameter challenge the third month october 2021.
Integrating Presence 
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