| | RE: Goals Answer 9/17/09 12:19 PM as a reply to G Wayne Fillmer. I couldn't find a better way to add these old posts from the Wetpaint site, so I just cut and pasted below.
It's basically a conversation between myself (Ryguy913) and han2sen about understanding and working with situations through the lens of karma.
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han2sen 10. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 5:10 AM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 5:10 AM EDT I think there is a classic quote - your karma is your karma, you own it, etc. If you can face that, well, that is as close to fearless as you can get. A lot depends on your world view, if everything happens without any semblance of purpose, how can you find a center. On the other hand if everything is karmic law working itself out, then we can face the reality even though we don't understand it..
Ryguy913 11. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 10:19 AM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 10:19 AM EDT "I think there is a classic quote - your karma is your karma, you own it, etc. "han2sen, I believe you may be referring to one of the 'ten reflections' of monastics, also traditionally chanted by both lay and monastic practicioners in the impersonal form of "All living beings are..." One translation below:
"I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir."
This is an excellent point you're making about karma and purpose, intelligebility, etc., I think the crux of my aim in this goal is to perfect present karma, such that the consequences of past karma (intruder with a gun, fright) do not move me from a clear, peaceful, and, as you say, centered mental attitude, especially in the face of bodily harm and loss of life. Why especially the latter? Because sooner or later I'm going to have to give up this body and this life entirely, and so to be afraid of approximations thereof is a foolish burden. So, I might have phrased my goal in different terms: I meditate in large part because I'm aware that I am a fool. I meditate to become less of a fool, to become less and less afraid of losing this body and leaving this life. And, as Tarin pointed out, the sensation, the feeling, the thought, the suffering of fear is itself an illusion, significantly not real -- in the sense of not an important factor in forming present karma, to be abandoned and let go of, perhaps in favor of one of the divine abidings, as mindful1983 mentioned.
(Cont.)
Ryguy913 12. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 10:31 AM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 10:31 AM EDT However, I wouldn't take any one of these - equanimity or another - and equate that with the word unshakable. Compassion and loving-kindess and gratitude could just as well be unshakable and perhaps more appropriate in a situation like the one I mentioned of a homicidal intruder (which we might understand psychologically as a symbolic representation of the universal situation of death and loss of life).
And so, tying in Chuck's point about the fundamental matter of right view, the awareness strengthened in meditation that these realities all 'exist' according to the three characteristics, supports the very clear, peaceful, centered mental attitude, a place from which one may be unshakable -- even exulting -- in the face of perceived dangers such as bodily harm and loss of life.
Which, again, is not to say that I'm there....which, again, is why I meditate. You could say I'm practicing for death. And in the meantime I'm finding that the same aspects of the path that follow from that practice also have value as a way to live well.
Just now I looked outside my window and heard rain. I thought of my bike up on the roof of my apartment, and -- knowing I'd covered it with a tarp -- did not feel perturbed, but rested instead with the awareness that it was raining.
To draw out the metaphor, happiness is my bike, the practice is the tarp, and the rain is karma.
Ryguy913 13. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 11:00 AM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 11:04 AM EDT "For me the goal would be an ability to live comfortably with whatever my reaction was -- anywhere from being unshakable to peeing in my pants. "Certainly, a reaction such as peeing in my pants would be the result of past karma, and no problem at all.
An action, though, would be where I would emphasize being unshakable -- not fleeing out of a longing to stay alive, not attacking out of hatred for the intruder, not persuading the intruder to spare me out of fear of death.
Unshakable, as I said previously, is about present karma. And right view, as Chuck mentioned, is the key factor in creating skillful present karma, and/or, as mindful1983 said, being equanimous might be the best move, accepting past karma and peeing in one's pants or laughing or weeping or whatever. Not putting any intention into the situation at all. And perhaps, as I said before, such a stance would bring about something far from fright, exultation -- being grateful, joyful, blissful -- in the face of anything, even a homicidal intruder.
[edit: "or, as mindful 1983 said" changed to "and/or, as mindful1983 said"]
han2sen 14. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 4:31 PM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 4:31 PM EDT Got that right. Yes that is the quote - do you know where it is found? I cut and pasted it long ago and don't have the citation
"I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir."
There are a number of tests one could construct to check our clinging and attachment. Then there are those who burn out and seek annihiliation, also and unskilled desire. It is aversion then not attachment. They all come from a long list (I'm looking for that citiation too) where attachment leads the list and hence gets more emphasis. So if you seek annihilation you may welcome the intruder, a state of mind which then is not the goal - the goal is to wake up while you are still alive.
I woke up slightly sick today, an I really get into the blues and self-pity. I added a second sitting session to the first one. Did NOT want to deal with DhO, but after reading your post am very glad I did it anyway.
c i a o
h a n s e n
Ryguy913 15. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 7:01 PM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 7:01 PM EDT "....Then there are those who burn out and seek annihiliation, also and unskilled desire. It is aversion then not attachment....So if you seek annihilation you may welcome the intruder, a state of mind which then is not the goal - the goal is to wake up while you are still alive.....
....Did NOT want to deal with DhO, but after reading your post am very glad I did it anyway.
c i a o
h a n s e n
"Hi, hansen. Here's the link to the webpage where I found that quote: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dhammayut/chanting.html#tenref
As for annihilation, I smiled sadly just now, as I reflected upon times when I thought that annihilation was worthwhile, even possible. Aversion to life, desire for non-becoming, could be called a destructive impulse. And yet it also posits another painful sense of self. When I think about fear of death, I realize there is also fear of life (rebirth) buried within that fear of death. And, simultaneously, when I look at attachment to life (rebirth) , there is also attachment to death buried within that attachment to life, as well.
I would recommend this article to anyone who is unsure of a motivation for meditating: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/walshe/wheel261.html
(Cont.)
Ryguy913 16. RE: Goals Sep 10 2009, 7:20 PM EDT | Post edited: Sep 10 2009, 7:20 PM EDT To get back to the intruder:
As one who does still hanker after all as personality, individuality, life, death...and consequently deals with fear, aversion, hatred, desire, and confusion, I would be extraordinarily mindful in the presence of the intruder, because if I did not do so I would fear him, be averse to him, hate him, desire him, and or confuse him with another. "To wake up while you are still alive." That is the goal, but death can come anytime and so it is important not to be attached to life, even as a vehicle for awakening.
In other words, I've come to think that, rather than looking at this in terms of life or death, one might look at it in terms of clinging or non-clinging, craving or non-craving, attachment or non-attachment, self-view or non-self-view, bondage or freedom. In that light, the matter of whether or not one is dead or alive is rather unimportant. In those circumstances, meditation might make a lot more sense, and its motivation, as Alan said, might be more simple.
Any errors in this view are entirely due to my own lack of understanding, and I apologize for them, should they emerge. Thanks to the compassionate efforts of so many others. May I show my gratitude by investigating further and establishing well-being on a better foundation than was there before. There is much left to do, and may I do it well.
May all beings safeguard their happiness as best they can.
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