I am doing all those ‘small’ things for a long time. But thanks for your concern firewns.
I want to share the following :
Buddha-Dhamma is very easy to understand. It is not complicated at all.
This is shown in a very nice way to Sakka in MN37:
“Here, ruler of gods, a bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth adhering to. When a bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth adhering to, he directly knows everything; having directly known everything, he fully understands everything; having fully understood everything, whatever feeling he feels, whether pleasant or painful or neither-painfui-nor-pleasant, he abides contemplating impermanence in those feelings, contemplating fading away, contemplating cessation, contemplating relinquishment. Contemplating thus, he does not cling to anything in the world. When he does not cling, he is not agitated. When he is not agitated, he personally attains Nibbana” (MN37, translation Bodhi)
Anyone can see this is the Path, anyone can know this is true. Buddha-Dhamma is not complicated and very easy to understand. Nothing is worth adhering to. What does one need to learn more?
It is not difficult to see but also experience that craving is the cause of suffering. Craving makes us helpless. Craving does not help. Craving does not end the emotional hunger. Craving is no solution to health problems, to decay, to death, to suffering. People who suffer bodily and also have strong craving, suffer very much. Craving only makes things worse.
Anyone can see that craving is not helpfull. Craving for the wellbeing of others, craving for perfection, craving for a better world, craving for results, it is not helpfull at all. It is not difficult to see.
But…there is understanding and understanding. That i know for sure.
While the core of buddha-dhamma is so easy to understand , so difficult it is to really realise.
There have been many lives in which craving was our only solution, our only refuge, our only lifebelt, our only way to deal with suffering.
So while we mentally understand the core of buddha-dhamma, in our hearts are views, tendencies, asava’s, anusaya still in conflict with buddha-dhamma. Please accept this as a fact and not as a negative view or attitude.
Our heart still beats on the rhythm of greed, hate and delusion even when we see this rhythm is not productive. That our heart beats on the rhythm of greed, hate and delusion is not a sign that we are doing something wrong. This is just honesty. Our heritage of the past. We can only accept this heritage openly and in honesty and do our best to make progression.
Siebe