spatial:
Jim Smith:
I tried to look up "letting go" and I do not see this as a prominent concept in Buddhism.
In some of Thich Nhat Han's books he translates upekkha, the seventh of the seven factors of awakening, as "letting go", but upekkha is usually translated as equanimity.
I had this idea - I'm not sure where I got it - that "letting go of attachments and aversions" is an imporant part of awakening. But now I'm not sure that's even right.
Can anyone say if the concepts of "lettting go" or "letting go of attachments and aversions" are found in the pali canon or Therevada Buddhism? Or elsewhere in any form of Buddhism?
Thanks
I'm a little bit confused about what you're asking. I'm not familiar with Singer, but the description you gave sounds to me like a passable description of vipassana meditation. It would depend on how you do it exactly, I guess.
Is there a conflict you see somewhere? What is the difference in your mind between "equanimity", "letting go", and "letting go of attachments and aversions"?
This bit you quoted is just a kind of side issue about terminology. My main question is the op.
Does relaxing and letting yourself experience emotional pain until it naturally ceases result in letting go of emotions and does that break down your mental model of reality by causing you to recognize flaws in it so you eventually see things as they really are and does that produce awakening?
I want to know if this is true. I am not saying I believe it is false, I am just looking for corroboration and conformation. I never heard it explained exactly like this before. I don't believe everything I read just becaue it is printied in a book.
If you are saying that is vipassana meditation, then that answers my question.
What I was uncertain of is the following:
Letting go of emotions might make you a psychologically healthy person but never produce enlightenment by itself. Is that all that is necessary? You could do that without ever doing sitting meditation. In fact I think it would be easier to do lying down.
When you focus your attention on an emotion you might just reinforce it. Like teaching yourself how to be unhappy by practicing it. Or even like the jhanas do with pleasure - amplifiy it to intense levels, I think it is possible to do that with unpleasant emotions.
Do all unpleasant emotions naturally cease if you focus your attention on them? I think there could be exceptions like innate biochemically caused disorders like some kinds of anxiety or depression. (I know some people report cures of anxiety and depression from meditation - but a few reports don't mean it is possible for all causes and all people.). But besides explanable exceptions like that, I do no know if it is a fact that observing emotions causes them to eventually cease. Can someone say, yes that is well recognized process?
Is it true that letting go of emotional pain really changes our mental model of reality? Maybe people keep bumping against the same issues all their lives and never change even if they learn to let go of emotional pain.
And can eliminating flaws in your mental model of reality really cause awakening? Can it rid you of self-view? Is having no flaws in your mental model of reality what is meant by seeing things as they are?
Thanks