Wonderful desana, thank you!
The speaker talked a lot about assāda, a topic of contemplation that has been of much benefit to me; for example:
Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissarana – Introduction
(There are several other posts on the same subject)
The topic of control was brought up in the discussion, e.g.
@sybe07 — “If there would be no control at all, purification of mind would be impossible.”
@Lal — “One gets “full control” only at the Arahant stage.”
It’s helpful to think of control from the perspective of having control over kamma; otherwise, purification is not possible, as sybe07 pointed out.
In several recent posts, Lal explained the difference between purana kamma and nava kamma. We do have control over nava kamma, according to our level of purification:
A puthujjana has control over nava kamma to some degree to work toward the sōtapanna anugāmi stage.
A sōtapanna anugāmi has total control over apāyagāmi kamma: he/she does not commit them under ANY circumstances.
Similarly, an anāgāmi has total control over kāmalokagāmi kamma (I just made up that word).
An arahant has full control over ALL kamma (nava kamma).
The post above also touches on this subject of control; under #3: “We HAVE CONTROL over vacī and kāya saṅkhāra, and that is the key to changing our defiled gati.”
Best,
Lang