Two dangers whenever talking about awakening: impossibility and complacency

"Whenever talking about awakening, there are always two dangers. The first danger is thinking that awakening is so far away that you give up any hope of attaining it. The other danger comes from the fact that there are many stages of concentration that sound very similar to awakening, and if you attain one of those you may think that you’ve attained awakening when in fact you haven’t. You’re still stuck in a fabricated state. In both cases, the danger lies in giving up your pursuit of being more skillful in your actions. The path to the end of suffering exists, but you stop or turn around. One way to avoid these dangers begins with having a right understanding of both kamma and mindfulness."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Kamma & Mindfulness Together"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ending our addiction to wandering-on through craving benefits both ourselves and others

"We actually create our worlds of becoming through the activity of wandering-on, through craving. We’re creating our individual worlds to feed on. So it’s like an addiction. And the best thing to do with an addiction is to learn how to end it. You’ll benefit, the people around you will benefit, too. Because as we feed on our worlds, we’re often feeding on the same food sources that other people are because our worlds overlap, which means there’s competition. So simply pulling yourself out of the cycle really helps to at least take one mouth out of the feeding cycle. And you’re setting a good example. Because the things we do in order to get out are not just a matter of running away. We have to be generous. We have to be virtuous. We try to develop good qualities. One of the motivations for doing this is compassion. As the Buddha said, the people who help us with our practice: If we really do get out, then they benefit greatly." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Remorse" (Medita
Read more

Fortunately we don’t all have to join in some enlightened society in order to be enlightened. It’s an individual quest. You focus on doing good where you can — both inside and out — and that becomes your strength.

"Learn how to develop as much goodness within yourself as you can, so that even though you have to be guarded in this world, you can treat people with goodwill [mettā] . The basic attitude of goodwill is that you wish them well — realizing that, in some cases, the best thing for you and that other person may be to stay away from each other. This realization comes, not from ill will, but from noticing that this relationship is not working out — it’s not going in the right direction. And fortunately, we don’t all have to join in some enlightened society in order to be enlightened. It’s an individual quest. And you have to face the fact that, with some people, you’re never going to find reconciliation. But you don’t get worked up over impossibilities. You focus on doing good where you can — both inside and out — and that becomes your strength." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Guarded"
Read more

We discover the brightness of life: that through our actions we can put an end to suffering. Because it turns out the suffering that weighs down the mind is the suffering that we’re creating for ourselves.

"The Buddha compares the mind to the sun, with clouds coming and going. There’s a big maelstrom of clouds that swirls around ignorance, and then the fabrications we make based on the ignorance. And the way we look at things, the way we deal with things, our intentions: For most of us, that’s all in the dark. As we meditate, we’re trying to bring some light to that, by the way we reflect on our actions. So even though the world may seem dark at times, we don’t have to allow that darkness to affect the light of the mind, the potential for light in the mind. The potential is there, it’s simply a matter of learning how to develop it. Once we start shining a light in the mind, then the darkness doesn’t have the right to stay. Ajaan Suwat made this comment one time: “When the light of awareness, the light of discernment comes in, even though there are areas of the mind that have been dark for eons, they can’t say, ‘Well, we’ve been here first. You have no right to come in.’” You bring
Read more