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I have read the whole pdf and it has answered the Asmi Mana part very clearly. That John example was very good.
Thanks again Amin for this valuable piece of Dhamma
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I have read the transcription till page 13. It exactly addresses what we need to focus on.
Also the Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta meaning is the same as interpreted by Jethvanarama Buddhist monastery. It says things are based on causes and conditions, that’s why we cannot keep them the way we want. This is how expectation arises as we “fix” that effect as an entity and perceive essence in it.
The thero has perfectly explained all that and how all the three are interconnected.
Thanks Amin for this valuable piece of Dhamma.
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I had the meeting with the bhikku and now I am well. I was doing a mistake but now I know what to do. Everything is fine now.
This means one more thing that trying to progress on Nibbana requires a teacher. We need to be careful as what we practice could be diverted by ignorance.
I was confusing Nibbana as No Self and Annihilation without even realising it!
I was mistaken by what the bhikkus were trying to communicate maybe.
This is the reason I was and am experiencing fear. It’s like focusing on Asanna state maybe.
I now feel my mistake. What should I do now? This fear arises again as I have been practicing it for long, so this feeling of no self comes again and again.
It was like “I am nothing?” Or “I don’t exist” etc.
What is the cure for this sir?
Can I use Light as a meditation object for cultivating jhanas? I feel a strong sense of relief whenever I see white light. In this sermon,Ven.Waharaka Thero says that how the qualities of Aloka(light) can be used as a karmasthana. Aloka would mean transcending the loka, or Nibbana. Because of this nature of mind, light exists that has the quality to help us see the hidden or eradicate darkness. I am thinking of doing this with also using the dhamma meaning of aloka while focusing on light.
The monks of the monastery twist the meaning of the verses of other religions in order to explain the dhamma. Like Ven. Amadassana Thero said he believes in GOD but for him his definition of god is Give or Deny. This is kamma and kamma vipaka he’s explaining using GOD. Also he uses the Bible Phrase “The truth shall set you free” and then uses the dhamma and proves how it’s the truth and how it will lead to freedom from suffering.
They do this out of compassion for every other person of different religion as it may cause irritation if the beliefs of someone are attacked. An ignorant mind tries it’s best to defend its belief as it feels it can’t be wrong( self ego).
And I would also advise not to judge anyone only because they appear straight forward. I understand using harsh words are not good, but apart from that if someone doesn’t sugarcoat his/her statements there’s nothing wrong with that. I expect straight forward answers without any sugarcoating. The Truth.
If someone gets offended if his /her beliefs are being targeted, it’s because that being lacks Wisdom Faculty.
Yes Taryal! This is my exact situation!
Such religions do such extreme and nonsense things and on top of that claim it to be true. One more such thing that Islam tells is that the women must wear burkha as a woman’s body ignites Lust in men.
Even their prophet suffered from lust! He had sex with 9 of his wives in the same night!
This clearly shows that these religions don’t know the truth. A woman’s body even if naked, has no potential of generating lust unless the receivers mind has the same gati. Can a hungry lion generate lust towards the same woman as it has in a man? Not at all! The lion would see that body as a meal.
They don’t know these basic things. Same for christianity, people yell on streets and say “Follow Jesus or suffer in Hell”.
These things were and are issues that kind of depressed me. But the only solution is to dive more and more into the truth analysing all the statements of the Dhamma and convince the mind of the truth by providing immense evidences.
Yes sir I am fine now. There is also a high possibility that it was not because of the dhamma but my anxiety and overthinking. There are some family problems also currently so that could be the reason because I had been meditating the same way before but felt relief and happiness but now anxiety and strong fear. I think it was only because of my personal problems and also not having proper guidance for the meditation.
Thanks
Thanks. I understand that sir. But it happens automatically. That’s why I also tried to cultivate jhanas along with the dhamma to overcome such nonsense thoughts.
I also have a meeting with a bhikku of the monastery and I will discuss this overthinking and my meditation technique issue with him in detail.
One more question sir, is it possible that we may get confused between nibbana and asanna state? Could you please tell what exactly is an asanna state and how it gets cultivated? I know that the person loses perception but how exactly? I also want to be careful to not get trapped in such meditation stuff mistakenly thinking it to be Nibbana 🙏🏻
The monks of the monastery talk about how Jati is the Dukkha that the Buddha taught about. The mind which is just a process, experiences a self and then that leads to fear, anger,desire,etc. If this feeling is realised then no more suffering.
Another thing I realised that I overthink alot. Whenever I see people of different religions on YouTube talk about how their religion is true and everything else is false and if you don’t follow them, you will be burnt in hell forever. This is about abrahmic religions. These things kind of depress me and make me anxious and I feel like why do they say this? Whats the evidence for their such claims? Then on further research I found how every such religion has found a way to claim that their holy books contain all the scientific verses.
It’s like I have a “fear” of miccha ditthi. But I again go on with understanding the dhamma more and realising that it’s true. But this “fear” along with overthinking causes more problem again.
This overthinking used to happen me many years ago also but on a completely different issue of pornography.
I have been experiencing immense fear that also causes my hands and legs to shiver when I am focusing on the “me” part. Yesterday it was so strong that I felt that there’s something problematic with my heart and I felt low bp that I had to rush to the hospital at 3am. They did all the diagnostics but everything was perfect physically. They said that it’s because of anxiety. What should I do? This fear is so strong and it’s acting like a hindrance. I am afraid to even listen to the dhamma. I was not able to sleep at all.
For the energy one,
There is just energy out there in the “free form” like light energy, heat energy, etc. and in Condensed or compressed form which is Matter.
I don’t know the exact details as I don’t have intrinsic knowledge about this stuff, I would advise you to talk to some AI like meta or chatgpt for this query, it’s very helpful.
What we should know is that there is just energy and the mind has created its own world.
The Self part
It’s not something that’s absolute. It’s not an energy. But the mind could be seen as an energy or a process that can think.
It’s a mental feeling. The same way we feel things to be “fixed”. That fire example of how we feel a Manifestation to be an Entity.
Same for our mind. It’s just a process that interacts/cognizes.
Check this video, it explains everything in detail. This is not something difficult. It’s only Subtle.
Is threading a needle difficult? No. It’s very subtle and requires strong focus. Same with realising the truth!
It’s like a Magic trick, if once understood would lose all its value and the mind would attain freedom.
Upekkha: “For the above, do you mean everything is energy vibrating at different frequencies that the eyes are not able to see visibly with the naked eye? We can only see such energies or the fire for what it truly is with our third eye when we open it, as the Buddha did after his enlightenment.”
Yes!
The world doesn’t look like anything!
There is nothing but energy out there taking different forms.
For light energy, our eye converts it in an electrical signal. What does an electrical signal look like? Nothing.
But somehow the brain processes it and then the mind now experiences sight and colour etc.
Wear a coloured goggle. Let’s take a yellow coloured goggle ( I have that one so that’s why). Everything would appear yellowish now, the world would appear yellowish. But did the world change? No. Even sight and colour is causal , that’s why this effect has changed as the condition has changed.
Similarly for all senses, it’s just pure energy out there, but our mind experiences taste,touch,smell,sight, sound, etc.
It’s all Fabricated! It’s a completely Mental World!
We don’t really need to know the exact meaning of the words in the most accurate form in order to attain Nibbana( obviously it’s very helpful to understand the truth, but after that it can be explained by an ariya without using complex terms and in any language)
It’s all about Understanding and Realising, the true Nature of the Mind and Sansara.
Read this and I won’t use any pali terms. I would try my best.
Everything is subject to Cause and Effect. Everything is a Manifestation.
Let’s take the example of Fire.
We need oxygen, wood, and temperature as causes and the combination of all three in the right amount as the condition. It would manifest a fire. As long as the causes and conditions are there, the fire would continue to Manifest.
In order to Cease the fire from arising, Change the cause or condition . Now the fire won’t manifest.
The fire was being Manifested every moment and then it was ceasing, but the causes and conditions were still there, so again manifestation and then cessation.
There was no One Continuous Fire!
Try to slow down the time and imagine it. Every moment the causes and conditions manifesting a fire. But the process is so fast , it appears as if there is one single fire.
This is Anicca. This applies to everything, even to the mind. Our ignorant mind feels as Self the same way it felt that the Fire is One and Is the Same fire burning. The mind likes to make Entities.
For Anatta, I understand it as nothing is worth holding onto, nothing has value in this Sansara.
Let’s the example of a Hungry dog eating a bone.
The dog would smell meat in that bone because of some residue and would start to lick it. Now the dog is convinced that this flavour is in the bone. It licks and eats it and also crushes it. After sometime the broken pieces of the Bone damage the gums of the dog and its gums start to bleed.
The foolish dog now believes that this tasty blood is in this bone. So it would continue to eat it, not being able to satisfy his hunger, his craving and also causing damage to itself.
Enjoying it’s own destruction!
In the same way us beings also find value in the Sansaric Phenomena. Sensuality, materialistic possession, etc. Here the Pleasure cycle works that gives us nothing of Value but degrades our mentality more and more causing nothing but misery.
Dukkha would simply not realising the above and therefore experiencing every horror possible. Fear, anger, desire, mental fatigue, depression, anxiety, confusion.
I hope I could explain it some extent.
These understandings can take time, it depends on the individuals mind and practice.
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