Sangha, criticism, the two truths, service to others, emptiness, generosity, conduct, non-clinging, non-harming, energy, the three unwholesome roots, and clarity round out the main topics for February 2022, month six of “The Pāramitā Challenge”. See also Months 1-3, Month 4 and 5.
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.
Again, 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 continue to shoot from the hip in this recording and will use a Theravada lens now and again plus plenty 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.
Only a couple notes this month. For the first portion of “don’t discuss the faults of the Sangha” I failed to mention in Theravada, as far as my current innerstanding, the monastic training rules of the Vinaya were mostly established by the historical Buddha during his time and often prompted by certain incidents. Also, I did not receive February’s Challenge until after I checked back on February 17th after initially asking a friend toward the beginning of the month who help spur it along I guess. So with travel in late January, another trip in early February, and more or less being forced to move by the end of February (not worth mentioning here) this month is recorded all in one go.
On the upside, I was told the entire material for the challenge, up to this point is public and (now) at https://maba-usa.org/paramita-challenge. And if I were to guess, there’s plans for it to continue to be retrievable online, but it seems like much of this challenge has been just getting/having access to it. I trust social distancing only goes as far as some occasions in real life and doesn’t continue online, if a “bad” joke here is allowed.
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）
Audio: Pāramitā (Perfections) Challenge: February 2022
Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)
The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
welcome to month six of the parameter challenge for february 2022 a brief
programming note here i received this challenge fairly late in february if you want to
know more of the details of that we see the show notes in the blog post suffice
it to say though that it looks like perhaps from now going forward the challenge will now be
publicly available on the internet for anyone interested and as of this recording the last time i
checked this month in the prior month parameetha challenges are up on the
internet at a site that’s included in the show notes on the blog post so with
receiving this challenge late in the month just gonna do this all in one go for february starting off
with number six of the 58 voting sappha vows
with the ten major bodhisattva precepts this is don’t discuss the faults of the
sangha this is a big one for me there’s commentary on the six precept um that
did shed a bunch of light on this because taken at face value you know the obvious things come up well
how is the sangha then supposed to keep itself in check is it held
accountable then to anything if faults can’t be discussed whatsoever how can
there even be accountability or faults whatsoever if they can’t be
talked about how would we even know their faults if no kind of communication process can
happen around you know obviously like there’s the deputy sheriff of karma right that will
eventually level the playing field on any faults without really anything need
to be needing to be done in one way but what about reconciliation processes what
about conduct promoting good conduct if there’s no open feedback
no account or maybe there is but how can it be made known and then also just
framing this in the light of well what is the positive version of this
what about lauding the successes celebrating the admirable qualities of
the sangha it seems precepts are often framed in the negative as we’ve mentioned before or
i’ve mentioned before in this challenge for the we the royal we meaning
those who’ve have taken on this challenge and discussed it commented on
it expressed journaling about its contents one way or another so going down here to the
commentary i’m not going to read this all the major points being obviously yes no
one should be slandered i mean that’s just seems common knowledge to me that
especially publicly blaming shaming or guilting someone doesn’t do any good
whatsoever that should be very apparent to everyone how that doesn’t do any good
could perhaps even cause more harm but this commentary seems to
take an eye for an eye so to speak putting down others who put them down it almost seems
in a constant way in some sense he should always feel compassion for such
detractors and struck them and lead them to a wholesome belief in the great vehicle finishing out that sentence
completely though whenever a bodhisattva hears an evil-hearted externalist of
evil exponent of the small vehicle speak of practice which are not in accord with
the dharma and not in accord with the precepts within buddhism he should always feel compassion for such
attraction and struck them and lead a wholesome belief in vehicle well obviously an evil-hearted externalist of
evil exponent of the small vehicles well an evil-hearted externalist it doesn’t matter you know what that is and
obviously yeah any kind of evil don’t do evil do good purify the mind ryan’s the
teachings of all the buddhas these small vehicles though this is kind of a jab at theravada which you know
whatever um but isn’t that kind of i don’t know comparing big and small you know a
vehicle can get you to point a to point b no matter if it’s a mercedes or a i don’t know datsun or something um yeah
one might get you there a little more style and grace and speed but anyway we
all know these arguments right are not arguments but points and then
speak of practices which are not in court with the dhamma and not in accord with precepts of buddhism so if we can’t
speak to begin with in general how can we even start to explore and discuss
what is in accordance with the dhamma what is in accordance with precepts and buddhism if one can’t be critical now
how we be critical and how we talk about things is of uh most important but if
there’s no way to speak or express or anything then this is one of the common
criticisms of why some people get into spirituality because they feel they will be beyond reproach
um that they’re above and beyond anything and not really subject to any kind of criticism
or um you know don’t have to follow any normal rules or anything and then he
should always feel compassion for such detractors framed in that way that seems
almost like pity more than compassion and kind of in a condescending way than
instruct them like they’re on their child that don’t know they don’t know what they’re doing
and then lead them to a wholesome belief in the great vehicle so you know belief is only really needed if
one doesn’t already see and know for themselves once one sees and knows for themselves and there’s no need for
belief and then what is a wholesome versus unwholesome belief and again why
is one um lobbying for one vehicle over another it
just seems like standard politics to me and then if they do commit an offense
because of this then again how are they held accountable um now going back to the other side of
this you know one of the grave offenses in buddhism that one if one
makes they won’t they can’t realize awakening in this lifetime the
really serious ones killing your mother and father are the big ones um
killing an arhant shedding the blood of a buddha and the other one is
dividing the sangha so i think this is what this helps protect though um this
one and i would revise that to deliberately dividing the sangha because
i asked a venerable about this one time and yes it there has to be intent there it can’t be really accidental just like
any kind of comma made like if you step on an ant but you don’t even realize it’s there the intent to kill it isn’t
there but if you see it you go ahead knowingly and kill it anyway well then that’s
going to create comma but this i can see where this is
to protect cohesion harmony within sangha it’s just
well then how do we still protect cohesiveness harmony of sangha of course
sangha meaning in this case group are followers of the buddha community practicing the buddha dharma
how are individual members in the song as a whole held accountable
to the precepts they say they’re undertaking and at the same time
not cause schism and disharmony well i think one of the obvious answers
to this is self-responsibility taking oneself seriously enough to empower oneself with
self-responsibility if everyone is accountable for their own actions
and openly invites criticism constructive criticism and helps
encourage and empower and uplift each other instead of tearing each other down
gossiping and slandering then there can be great benefit of that of course given that one is emotionally and
mentally spiritually mature enough to handle truth from outside about one’s
conduct and speech so how else can
both lay and monastic sangha members promote good conduct amongst each other
and be a guiding light or example a role model for society at large promoting
concord unity and harmony uprightness impeccable conduct and at the same time
not beating each other up too much or beating oneself up too much for falling
short of set ideals and goals balance comes into play here
maybe another way is to i don’t know if this would be wise or not it’s just an idea
if there is an individual case of or let’s just say a common pattern amongst
multiple members of the sangha then could perhaps metaphor or story or no
details in particular of what might have occurred be spoken of
amongst the right audience at the right time to kind of allude at
not necessarily the faults but the correction that might be a suggestion to wiser
skillful more wholesome action kind of a course correcting suggestion or
suggestion very challenging the time we’re in to be in community and living community
even more so now with different lockdowns and more seclusions however this is an
opportunity to perfect one’s own individual practice okay so now on to
the sixth parameter of wisdom the six perfections and their subdivisions this is number
six wisdom discernment and then contained within the precepts of high
wisdom in the three subdivisions of this wisdom discernment high wisdom his discernment
that has conventional truth as its object discernment that has
ultimate truth as its object a discernment that has as its object the
benefiting of sentient beings so i think this first one is pretty straightforward
probably to anyone at any stage pretty much on their path here
discernment that has conventional truth of this object so most anybody
that has gone to school or has any kind of education is familiar with truth true
and false and of course this is of the conventional sense so discerning what is true what is not
true this is highly needed for wisdom it’s a ground
to pretty much know anything else about anything at all if one’s followed following a thread or
basis that is not true it’s a waste of time because it’s just a phantom
illusion or at best of veil perhaps that’s obscuring truth and so things can’t be
seen clearly known well and then this is part of the two truths one of them is conventional truth the
second one is ultimate truth now this is where it gets tricky because
as far as i know um well actually i don’t because i haven’t obtained or realized ultimate
truth i wouldn’t say yet or even those that just have glimpses of it right that aren’t living in that as far as what
i’ve heard and understand as of now obviously could be wrong is that ultimate truth really
can’t be explained by mere logic reasoning rhetoric
has to be seen realized and known for oneself and it’s fairly ineffable from what i gather you
just can’t you know write it down and then just hand to somebody oh they’ve got the ultimate truth now right it
doesn’t seem to work like that if it did it seemed like there’d be a lot more people realizing ultimate truth right
now so yes obviously we want to be able to discern what ultimate truth is but
it’s almost like a i don’t know is it a realization and once that’s realized how much does
discernment play into it at that point i mean once we if someone’s gone that far
into realizing ultimate truth is discernment really gonna be an issue with it anymore i mean
can one be deceived into ultimate truth or away from ultimate truth from not
knowing the difference of ultimate truth once it’s realized of course now up till then yes it’ll
probably be lots of need for discernment to get there but it seems like that would deal
more with layers of conventional truth but maybe i’m being too nitpicky here
and is ultimate truth really an object if it was an object
in more of the traditional sense or meditative sense it seems like it could be
i don’t know captured taken hold of transferred broken lost anything that it
pertains to objects but i’m guessing here this is just a turn of phrase
away to language something that really can’t be languaged and then the third part of this discernment that has as its
object the benefiting of sentient beings i feel this is important in the fact
that can all people could probably get on their high horse here without much
wisdom or discernment and just immediately claim that oh they’re
benefiting sentient beings you know we’ve seen this in um other more violent
religions where you know just in the name of some being they’re gonna kill other
beings and that’s gonna benefit you know better beings and whatnot maybe that’s
kind of a oversimplification but you get the point right so there’s this notion of the
greater good right it sounds lovely on its surface right but for the greater good of who and what other goods
are being considered and then trumped or superseded by a greater good
who’s saying these other goods um need to be overshadowed or superseded
by a greater good and who’s all making those decisions and how are they being made to
what criteria right so we need to be society as a whole very cautious about how we think we’re
helping others but on the other hand can’t be too cautious and say oh i’m
just gonna deliberate if that’s really worth it or if that’s really being good and then end up stagnating and not
taking action either not helping anybody kind of sitting in an ivory tower or you
know armchair philosopher not putting into practice in the daily world things that that need to be done
to benefit others help others of course the golden rule is a good starting point
rule of thumb doing unto others as you would have them do unto you so this is actually a great opportunity to practice
discernment how might this action speech or thought benefit or not benefit
sentient beings what is the motivation for doing this what is the intent for
doing we’re doing this for benefiting sentient beings do i benefit as well how
do i feel before during and after benefiting or being a benefit or even
just contemplating and discerning so next is from the 10 parameters definition
varieties from the doctrine of mere consciousness the ten excellent moral exercises are
the ten parameters and number six does sex is discernment
uh prajna is this sanskrit prajna is of three kinds and i’m gonna spare you the
saint my sanskrit attempt here non-discriminating prajna intuitive
discernment of the voidness of the cell for atma number two non-discriminating
prajna intuitive discernment of the voidness of all phenomena or dharmas
number 3 non-discriminating prajna intuitive discernment of the voidness of
self-atman and all phenomena dharmas so
to me this is mostly redundant the three here if you
were to simplify it down or if i were to simplify it down it would just be this number two here intuitive discernment of
the voidness of all phenomena dharmas because this selfing of an atman is in
itself phenomena of sorts i feel so this
creating of a self this atman this permanent unchanging um self is a
type of distorted phenomena i guess you could call it um
maybe one that’s dare i say formulated out of ignorance it’s not that it’s it’s just that it’s not um a
permanent thing from what i understand there’s going to be parts that change it’s not like this adamantine
this indestructible substance if it was then one would be able to control it
tell it to do whatever it wants and it would obey right can an essence be derived from it if it if there is an
essence what is it how can it be contained bottled up and then if it could you know
what would happen to it if it then it could be objectified and i don’t know corrupted corrupted or
broken manipulated right if it could be pinned down into an essence and the terminology
here is a little confusing for me non-discriminating prajna so if it’s non-discriminating prajna that
means that you’re not discriminating means to tell one thing from another so if you can’t tell one thing from another
that’s interesting to consider for wisdom i feel like wisdom should be able to
discern one thing from another discriminate one thing from another otherwise
there’s only what you know what kind of reality is that maybe it’s more towards
ultimate reality but right or not but how could you even discern that if
there’s no discrimination present and then go into the intuitive discernment
of the voidness of the self an intuitive discernment so first is saying non-discriminating then you’re saying
there’s a discernment so i don’t though that’s cognitive dissonance to me
so i don’t get that exactly or non-discriminating prajna is being
described as intuitive discernment so for me it would just be
intuitively knowing the voidness of the self for admin again
voidness i don’t know about that where like um emptiness perhaps better or
the essen essencelessness i don’t think that’s a word and then
here it’s post um as a thing that really exists voidness of the self or othman
well i guess in one sense in a conventional sense you know the buddha never point blank said oh there’s not a
self he did give teachings on anata or not self though so the second one
non-discriminating prajna intuitive discernment of the voidness of all phenomena
this intuitive part is really important because one can just parrot things
intellectually and kind of seem like they have an intellectual idea but you can really see deep into
the nature of something and see that there there is no essence or permanent
substrate or substance and phenomena that will allow for
an eternal existence just the way it is as witnessed in that moment that there
is no changeability in it and that it’s all perfect and will never change
so knowing and seeing that intuitively i mean some of us might perhaps get glimpses of that i
might say that you can see through that but then how much of that is really lived from
moment by moment dwelling and abiding in such an awareness that informs
thought word and action or is it just saying here oh when that discernment needs to be
made it’s made and then kind of the conventional view of reality
is okay to go forward when those times are not called for one intuitive
discernment of the voidness of all phenomena is not really called for so that in itself would take even more
discernment which wisdom discernment investigation
knowing intuition can’t be stressed enough for me that’s kind of
almost half of the path the other half is kind of the heart based qualities and those all and those both spring from
ethics to sit the groundwork so the third one here non-discriminating prajna
intuitive discernment of the voidness of self atman and all phenomena dharmas so
again this is kind of a combination of the first two which i’ve already mentioned seems a
little redundant i don’t know why they need to be stressed individually and then together perhaps i’m missing
something here so now into the 52 bodhisattva vows the tin
practices stages 21 through 30. and again i don’t get these numberings but
they’re numbered one through five i’ll just read these and come back to them again i haven’t taken bodhisattva vows
number one the practice of giving joy we practice selfless giving to all
sentient beings without any desire for reward number two the beneficial practice we practice
maintaining pure self-control without any attachment to form sound smell taste
or touch three the practice of non-opposition we practice continuous forbearance and
tolerance of being humble and respectful of harming neither self nor others
number four the practice of indomitability we practice cultivation of great unsurpassed energy becoming
naturally free from the three poisons of greed hatred and delusion number five the practice of
non-confusion we practice perfect right mindfulness with the mind firm and
impermitable imperturbable excuse me consummately pure and measurably vast
without any delusion or confusion so that the mind is free from distractions
and disturbances sounds nice isn’t it the first one the practice of giving joy
we practice selfless giving to all sentient beings without any desire for reward
so practice selfless giving to other sentient beings without any desire for reward that’s a little more relatable to
me than the practice of giving joy so but what are we giving then if we don’t give joy we’ll come back to the joy part
but we practice selfless giving to all sentient beings without desire for reward what are we giving first off are
we giving attitudes are we giving um crumbs
are we going to the other extreme and giving too much away clearing out our bank accounts when we might need that to
support our own well-being so we can continue helping others for many of them without any desire for reward is the
most challenging because in at least modern western society we’ve been conditioned to
get something in return for everything or only do something in exchange for equal value or greater value right and
so i know when i kind of reach the point of or i’m in the flow of just selfless
giving because it’s just the only thing that really makes sense and plus
um when we see and know karma comma more clearly that what we put out will
come back to us right not just physical objects but certain energies
certain attitudes actions efforts speech energies vibrations like attracts like i
guess is one way some people look at it but actions have consequences so if we’re
we’re giving what needs to be given or what can be given what’s given wisely
skillfully wholesomely there really is no need for concern of what one might
get back because we’re going to get exactly what we need exactly when we need it is one way
it’s put by a teacher i follow and so we can tune into the joy of giving too
we could give joy itself or we can just tune into yes the joy that results in
having the intent to give how we get how we are before we give during and after
giving and remind ourselves to revel in that joy soak in the goodness of that giving
generosity can overcome greediness and is a remedy an antidote for greediness
it does make the heart sing so giving joy itself to me would be holding that
deliberate intent bringing forth the quality of joy that would like to be given and then
expressing and intently wishing to pass that on to someone else and then
checking the feedback of how that’s being done how it’s being received or not received
how it’s being welcomed and communicated and reciprocated and then is it being continued increased
and a desire to not stop this is mudita
rejoicing altruistic or vicarious joy or the brahma viharas so number two the
bina the beneficial practice uh it seems like something’s missing there
but we practice maintaining pure self control without any attachment to form
sound smell taste or touch this can be a challenging one for me
the sense spheres the resultant
phenomenon consciousness of these as a helicopter now flies over
my place so it is i mean which of these do we get
triggered out by more in general form
[Music] smell taste touch [Music]
ah very low flying helicopter yes and for me it would be certain unpleasant
sounds ones that are possibly perceived as
non-beneficial perhaps even harmful on certain subtler layers
so how much is there emotional charge around these emotional charge around form sound smell
taste or touch either positive or negative and then how can pure self-control
be put into play here i don’t know what unpure self-control would be i don’t
know maybe that’s something like putting someone in restraints or bondage or
slavery self-imposed or something i’m not sure
and then of course attachment or clinging to any of these forms sounds smell taste or touch clinging as
we know attachment is rarely a recipe
for any kind of happiness or benefit right i’m not talking about i’m not talking about the attachment at healthy
attachment in psychology i’m talking about in the buddhist sense here so how do we cultivate and then
maintain self-control and then couple it with non-attachment two sense
objects sense consciousness well starting point for that is investigation investigate
the senses the sense fear sense objects sense consciousness find out how one
attaches to these things where there’s emotional charge where there’s not what
is the relationship to all this one’s having with this what techniques and perceptions
and responses seem to help with this and what of those don’t when it comes to
maintaining or prolonging this what helps with that what doesn’t of course mindfulness can never have enough
mindfulness and awareness to even know all this what about being resolute and
ardent in the intent persistence desire
and discernment surrounding maintaining pure self-control without
attachment to sense objects just a few ideas there number three the practice of
non-opposition we practice continuous forbearance and tolerance of being humble and respectful
of harming either self nor others yes and how much
into what degree and in what ways do we do this that don’t lead to being an emotional
doormat to be taken advantage of by others to be walked on
to develop inferior egos to not act on
harm that’s being committed right in front of her eyes when something can easily be said or
done to prevent it to speak up to take action to
form certain views course correct things so that’s the other side of this that’s
not really addressed here just kind of go along and
tolerate and forbearance yeah this these are very helpful when there’s nothing
that can be done to change or when someone’s kind of constantly micromanaging
neurotically acting or thinking expending all kinds of energy on things
that really don’t matter and influence really can’t be implemented in certain cases
then with discernment one could know that and better spend their time and energy on
other things including developing forbearance tolerance of course being humble and
respectful very important things respect can’t be stressed enough this is a
challenge for me especially the masculine too respecting others respecting oneself especially honor as
well the humility thing is very important for those with superior ego i took on a humility
practice it’s two months of this was suggested through a different teacher i followed
but a public thing of going in to wherever one was using a public
toilet and if there are paper towels available in soap and water they would
be wiping down the entire toilet with soap and water and paper towels
each time you were using it no matter what so there’s a few exceptions where there was no paper towels um and so but
for the most part there was and i did this even when there were people waiting in line that only happened a few
times and it’s kind of awkward and i can’t even remember what kind what i said to them about
that but there was really no incidences of people saying oh what are you doing you know um
come on get out of the way none of that and most of the times is just in there alone
and did that and it’s fairly humbling i’m grateful that there was no huge
incidences but to put your hand very intimately
and in places where people usually neglect or at the very
best kind of track down employee to gripe with them for that or just have
bad thoughts um projections and yeah so we all know how that goes it was
a very humbling experience and then of course this commitment to
non-harming self for others talked about this in previous challenges
and go into subtle and subtler layers of what can be considered harm and non-harm
get on get into energetic levels even down to volitions
thoughts and how they can snowball and effect so it can get very subtle this is one of
the most important commitments that i know of at least for me especially
um i guess given the times we’re in and how much this underlies
so many other actions and views um opinions
responses that we have lack of responses okay the practice of in dominant ability
we practice cultivation of great unsurpassed energy becoming naturally
free from the three poisons of greed hatred and delusion this is a word we
don’t use every day or at least i don’t come across every day indomitability looking it up here it says impossible to
subdue or defeat that’s pretty cool okay not i guess it’s kind of like
invincible but when applied to competition i guess
cultivation of great unsurpassed energy becoming naturally free of the three poisons of greed hatred
so notice it doesn’t say will here that there’s somebody doing it but it’s
interesting if there’s how is it getting done though how is the unsurpassed energy
great unsurpassed energy how’s it cultivated and then what is naturally free versus
unnaturally free it’s interesting choice of words here and becoming usually in
buddhism we don’t want to do being or becoming but in this case it is a
wholesome becoming because when applied to the three poisons of greed hatred
delusion of course i’d like to substitute hatred out for ill will
because as i’ve mentioned before hatred while it’s
not the most wholesome thing obviously it’s there as like a fail-safe protector or at
least anger is where if there’s injustices or harm being done
then this kind of unwholesome anger or hatred can at least
tear some one away from their delusion or ignorance or
ignoring what’s going on thinking it’s okay when it’s not and get them to act or think differently about
something well obviously it’s like i said the last ditch kind of last resort type thing
to address harm in the world because potentially addressing harm with more harm
but i guess at the starting point again if there’s no other option to
at least be aware of harm being done so when i
substitute ill will in there for hatred ill will i can’t see where that would ever be okay having the
intent to wanting to harm someone um especially initiating that not in
self-defense but just a jit a deep-seated harm wanting to harm someone
i can’t see where that would ever do any good whatsoever again unless one is
defending um loved ones or oneself even that can be argued against too but
that would be the only case but in that case um ill-will would never really come
into it it would be a self-preservation or not even self-preservation but
a life preserving a life supporting action where ill will
or hatred doesn’t really even need to come into it so yes these footholds these uh these unwholesome
roots or poisons of greedal will delusion there have their own kind of energy too
so addressing them with the right amount of energy to help overcome them you know
the historical buddha was all about effort and zest to a great extent to
uproot these poisons these unwholesome roots so how do we cultivate that energy
i think well once we see a real need for it and the danger
and harm of these three poisons these three unwholesome roots and the great benefit and
delight in joy happiness well-being and benefits of the opposite wholesome
roots then the amount of energy can flow properly be cultivated properly is one way
the practice of non-confusion number five we practice perfect right mindfulness with the mind firm and
imperturbable consummately pure and measurably vast without any delusion or
confusion so the mind is free from distractions and disturbances
it’s kind of interesting how this is framed with um well the problem here it seems like
distractions and disturbances but to me that’s those are perceptions
so would it also be possible to work with the perceptions of
distractions and disturbances what if we could perceive what we’re now perceiving as distractions and
disturbances as something else something that’s actually not really
distraction or disturbance what if a distraction is a perception that doesn’t need to
happen or what if a distraction is a perception that’s a test or a challenge for strengthening
mindfulness and then what happens when we do experience these things perfect right
mindfulness well that’s a beautifully high bar but what happens if we fall short of that
then what is the relationship to perfect right mindfulness do we say we
fail at that is there a relationship that’s saying i’m not good enough then or what if there’s
kind of a giving up like a oh that could never be achieved anyway so i either try
or bother you know i’m just sometimes mindfulness will be there sometimes not and so
it’s okay if it shows up and if it’s not there well you know that’s just how things are well that kind of view
which i’ve following it fallen into plenty of times can go against cultivating energy and
effort right or the over striving the opposite where oh i’ve got to just do it
all all the time and if i don’t well then catastrophe is going to happen so there’s just have to work work work work
work all the time mine firm and in perturbable well you know
that’s cool too and i want to be there as well but the reality right now is it
seem to have some agency over the mind some of the times and sometimes the mind
seems to have a mind of its own and certain things happen to the mind sometimes
where one if one had a choice wouldn’t have a certain thought come up
consummately pure you know what can be purified what can’t be purified how are
things purified why should things be purified how do we know when things are purified
immeasurably fast how do we get there how do we break out the confines of a
small limiting constricted self without any delusion or confusion
well what if there is delusion or confusion one of the ways i’ve heard to look at that is only clarity can come
from confusion it’s like a crucible for clarity confusion is so these are all
great beautiful qualities that we can obviously intend and practice
towards and be open to wisdom about how to cultivate
and realize these facets of mindfulness in the mind in general imperturbability
pureness vastness clarity and hindrance free and with that wrapping up the
parameter challenge the sixth month of it in february
2022.
Integrating Presence 
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