Lang asked: “For paṭighānusaya, if we flip the above around and say something like this, will it be true:
“When one experiences a dukha vēdāna, if one is irritated with it, pushes it away, and thinks and speaks harshly of it, tries to get away from it, then the underlying tendency for paṭighā (paṭighānusaya) gets stronger…”
That is right and that parallels the statement in the post about rāgānusaya.
However, actually DOING THAT is the hard part. In some meditation retreats, they say, “feeling is just feeling. Just ignore it.” Even if one may be able to do that during the retreat, it will be HARD to do in real situations.
The key is to truly understand that there is no “experiencer.” That will really help to suppress the “mind-made” vedana or samphassa-jā-vēdanā.
– In #8 of the post I said, “To remove that strong diṭṭhi, we need to see the “true nature,” i.e., need to cultivate “yathābhuta ñāna.” I just added the following to that: “A big part of that is realizing that there is no “experiencer,” as we have discussed in detail using the movie analogy. See, “Vision Is a Series of “Snapshots” – Movie Analogy.”
The key here is to UNDERSTAND why getting absorbed in either sukha or dukkha vedana is harmful. The mind needs to “SEE” that there is no actual “experiencer.”
– Either sukha or dukkha vedana (the real ones) come only through the physical body.
– All others are mind-made as we discussed.
Even the “real” dukkha vedana are kamma vipaka. They WILL keep coming AS LONG AS we have physical bodies (i.e., we are in kama loka). And they are much worse in the four lower realms in kama loka (i.e., apayas).
– Therefore, the goal is to stop rebirth first in the apayas.
The bottom line is that it is essential to stop generating “mind-made vedana” based on even real vedana generated with the physical body.
– But unless one really understands that there is no “experiencer” involved, it is not possible to stop births even in the apayas.
– That requires BOTH learning the true nature AND practice. But the understanding must be there first.
– We will discuss more in upcoming posts. But it is necessary to understand the “movie analogy” mentioned above.