Showing posts with label noble silence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label noble silence. Show all posts

Saturday, September 5, 2026

Deadly? Diary of a Buddhist Yogi: retreat


Diary of a Buddhist Yogi: Vipassana Meditation Retreat
Diary of a Buddhist Yogi (Kindle Edition)
Author Dhammaloka ("Dharma-world" or "Dharma-light or white") Viriya ("energy") knows that liberation (vimutti, moksha, vimokkha) from the cycle of rebirth (samsara) comes from the Awakening (bodhi-ification) of the (ennobling = enlightening) Truths.

To be awakened, one needs to practice mindfulness-meditation (satipatthana) by relinquishing attachment to the six senses, which will eradicate the clinging to all [of their attendant] phenomena, before the Dhamma (Truth, Teaching, Doctrine) eventually reveals itself to the practitioner.

Once the practitioner catches a glimpse of the Dhamma, the Ultimate Truth, through direct knowing-and-seeing, the practitioner will know there is no more falling back into the mire of this mundane world.

The Buddha pointed out the way to end of all suffering through mindfulness (sati) practice, and many practitioners since the Buddha’s time have reached that bliss and release from practicing in accordance with it.

However, in the author’s observation, although practitioners in this age find the practice fulfilling, they do not experience the awakening moment and therefore do not see the fruition as they hope to.
Find out in this book, which is the first-hand experience of a yogi ("practitioner") who went through the trials and tribulations of a vipassana ("insight") meditation retreat at a forest monastery to see for himself the ultimate truths of
  1. non-self (that all phenomena are impersonal),
  2. disappointment (that all phenomena are unsatisfactory and unable to fulfill),
  3. impermanence (that all phenomena are constantly hurtling toward destruction).
Directly knowing-and-seeing these Three Universal Truths produces a life-changing experience.
  • NOTE: Not all vipassana meditation retreats are affiliated with Indian S. N. Goenka (dhamma.org). Burmese monk U Ba Khin's star student and businessman just popularized it worldwide with a free, volunteer-based, 10-day structure.
You can do "mindfulness" wrong? - Yes.
WISDOM QUARTERLY COMMENTARY
There are dangers in this Wheel?
The Buddha in the usual list we call the Noble (Ennobling = Enlightening) Eightfold Path called one of those factors samma-sati not sati. What's the difference? One might think one is being mindful, but is it what the Buddha or the noble ones call "right" mindfulness? (If there's a right, that implies there's a wrong way to go about it or fool oneself that one is doing it at all). If "mindfulness" only meant awareness, then I'm being "aware" (conscious) right now, right? Yes! Am I being mindful? Probably not. There's a difference, a big difference. Retreat leaders and personal teachers should talk about it more and stop taking it for granted that one will just figure it out or that it is so patently obvious that it needs no defining or delimiting. It does, at least for over-thinkers. Sure, there are some people who will just take to it like guppies or ducklets to water. (They've likely extensively and successfully practiced in past lives).
We don't know what we're doing, but we got a groupon
Therefore, the most important thing before embarking on a vipassana retreat (whether it's Goenka-based or not), know that it is being defined as satipatthana. That means the fourfold setting up of mindfulness, which is explained in great detail in two sutras (Pali canon discourses or suttas). However, and this is the maddening part, almost nothing is said to define mindfulness (Buddhist sati). That is the most important thing to know, but it gets taken for granted. Or very weak definitions are offered, such as defining it as "awareness." We are aware right now, and more than 99% of us are not being mindful about it. For an extensive definition, see the academic work of Western Theravada professor-monk Ven. Analayo.

The Buddhist version of "mindfulness" called sati, as we understand it, is "bare awareness" with detachment, looking on, dispassionate watching. Sounds easy, but it is very hard because it goes against our deeply ingrained habits and traits. Usually when we are aware of anything, we taint that awareness with the Three Poisons of the heart/mind: liking, disliking, indifference (from the roots of all bad karma poorly translated as "greed, hatred, and delusion."

Three Poisons mutually supported wheel hub
Look up lobha, dosa, and moha. And what becomes apparent is that Pali and Sanskrit terms have wide valence, a range of meaning for a single word. "Greed" or lobha does not mean our idea of greediness. It means liking, preferring, welcoming, grasping, attaching, and getting clingy about pleasant phenomena. "Hatred" or dosa does not mean intense fury or anger; it means disliking, having an aversion to, fearing, avoiding, repressing... It is our customary reaction to any and everything we find unpleasant.

Then there's "delusion" or moha, the worst one, the most embedded one, the hardest one to see. It refers to all the wrong views we hold, consciously and unconsciously, distortions of reality, perversions (seeing what is unpleasant as pleasant, what is repulsive as attractive, what is transient as lasting), confusion, not knowing, not understanding, not fathoming, not knowing, not seeing. This is practically our whole existence, if we think about it, but it might be summarized as failing to notice the Three Characteristics of Existence in all things -- that they are ultimately radically impermanent, eventually disappointing (unable to ever fulfill us), and (no matter how impossible it is to conceive, believe, fathom, or accept) altogether impersonal.


I think I get it, Lisa. - Beginner's luck, Bart!
So to be mindful (to see clearly, which is to practice vipassana) is to look on, watch everything without giving in to the unconscious pull of these old habits. Just watch. Just notice. Just maintain attention. Note how when something is pleasing, greed for it arises. When something is displeasing, aversion with regard to it arises. When something is neutral, dull, confusing, hard to grasp, or boring, delusion arises, which is to say we space out, fall asleep, wander to something more interesting, even if it is a very unpleasant memory. Better than boredom. We do everything but be here now when this is the only real place there is to be. There's only now. The past is done. The future will take care of itself. But all our power is here, now. Let's attend to it. Let's finally see it for what it has always been so as to be liberated by the truth. The truth will set us free. What truth? The Truth, sometimes summarized as the Four Noble (Ennobling = Enlightening) Truths, the ultimate (paramattha) Truth, the true nature of existence (personally penetrating the Three Marks of Existence already mentioned). Need a list? There are the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment (the bodhipakkhiyādhammā). That Truth sets one free here and now, immediately.

But there's something every and anyone who embarks on Buddhist meditation needs to know beyond a good grasp of the meaning of "mindfulness" (sati). And that is that one will meet Five Hindrances whenever one tries to sit still or rest the mind or walk and move about with constant attention to the here and now, which does not involve "thinking" about the here-and-now, just watching it dispassionately.


The Five Hindrances one will meet in meditation (and their antidotes)
This is stupid! It doesn't work! Buddha was wrong!
The historical Buddha taught that there are Five Hindrances (paƱca nÄ«varaį¹‡a, Pali paƱca nÄ«varaį¹‡Äni), mental factors that hinder, obstruct, derail progress in meditation and ruin daily life [1].

The Theravada Buddhist tradition identifies these factors as specific obstacles to "meditation," which is defined as jhāna (eight stages of stillness, unification, samadhi, concentration, coherence, superconsciousness) in practice.

Contemporary insight meditation teachers identify the Five Hindrances as obstacles to mindfulness meditation and obstacles to samma-samadhi ("right concentration," though "concentration" is problematic because we have many assumptions about what that means). "Stillness" is better, when the heart/mind has settled out, is silent, lucid, observant, directly knowing-and-seeing. But concentration is sometimes useful because ekaggata (singlepointedness or one-pointedness) is a factor of jhana.

The Five Hindrance are part of two types of obstructions (Sanskrit āvaraį¹‡a, i.e., obstacles to insight, realization, awakening, buddhahood), afflictive obstructions (Sanskrit kleśā-avaraį¹‡a, which include the Five Hindrances) and cognitive obstructions (jƱeyā-avaraį¹‡a, which bodhisattvas are trying to uproot) [2].

The classic list of Five Hindrances is [3, 4, 5, 6]
  1. craving, desire, lust (kāmacchanda): seeking pleasure through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and tactile sensation
  2. aversion, ill-will, annoyance, anger (vyāpāda, byāpāda): feelings of hostility, resentment, hate, bitterness
  3. sloth-and-torpor (thīna-middha): mental-and-bodily lassitude, laziness, weakness, lack of energy to strive, half-hearted action with little or no effort, attention, concentration
  4. restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to allow the mind/heart to calm down, relax, become tranquil (passaddhi), serene, unflappable, steady, restful, undistracted, attentive, and focused, diligent, vigilant, energetic
  5. Skeptical doubt (vicikiccha): lack of confidence, conviction, faith, trust that one has understood the instructions, the path, or one's abilities to successfully proceed. More
The antidotes are called the Five Factors of Absorptions, the jhana-anga (limbs or factors). By the way, right mindfulness immediately dispels delusion instantaneously.

Or psycho girlfriend might try something crazy like (pushing it off cliff to convert to ad campaign)
  • Dhammaloka Viriya (diary); Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (commentary), Ashley Wells (editor) and Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) selection of video shorts, Wisdom Quarterly
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Wednesday, September 2, 2026

If there's awareness, WHO is aware?


How is this even a serious discussion?
Come on, Buddha, "no-self" is crazy, right?
Why even talk about this "crazy" teaching that couldn't possibly be (conventionally) true? Of course, "I" exist and "you," too! Just look at us! But, of course, what we see and think we see, that is not a real "self" -- not anything we produce, control, direct, own, or command. It's happening of its own; in an ultimate sense, it is impersonal -- even though it feels utterly personal. Because what am I if not this body, these feelings, these perceptions, these mental formations like will (motives, impulses, intentions), and this consciousness (which many sophisticated persons, particularly ancient Brahmins and modern Hindus, to say nothing of Christians, Muslims, Jains, and others) cling to that "thing" which we must really be when we figure out we are not this body or the other attendant mental phenomena. At least, at the core, I must be THE ONE WHO IS AWARE, the watcher, the knower, the decider, the doer. But this wrong view falls apart under careful, mindful, systematic attention with a cleansed and purified mind/heart. Otherwise, all that will be seen are the usual distortions and perversions of view. This Doctrine invites no one to blindly believe or parrot a Teaching, but to "come and see, investigate it."
  • How can contradictory truths (such as conventional vs. ultimate) both be true? - They can't. Only the ultimate one is ultimately true. Be we don't live in ultimate truth. We live mired by conventions of language and assumptions about reality that are all wrong. For example, there is a very easy comparison to be maid thanks to the widespread teachings of physics. Question: Is this desk right here mostly dense or mostly empty space?
  • Answer: Well, mostly dense, of course. That's why it serves as a desk.
  • Okay, now go ask your physics professor the same question and listen to her tell you all about atoms and particles, sub-particles, quarks, muons, and whatnots, finer and more subtle components of matter.
  • What can she say? I'll just beat my hand down on her desk during office hours to prove to that Egghead that, of course, a desk is solid!
  • Yes, sure, see where that gets you. Once we understand that an "atom" (an indivisible, uncuttable, irreducible unit of mass) contains more empty space than anything tangible, we'll suddenly see what she's talking about and what science teachers in schools and professors in universities teach.
  • So what, then what?
  • Then it will both be true that this desk seems dense and solid -- because our hand can't go through it like it can the empty air -- and yet is not actually true at all. It seems true. It is conventionally true (insofar as it is useful to speak this way to one another to distinguish things like air and desks), but it is not ultimately true. Only what is ultimately true was ever actually true -- even as we walk about like ignorant monkeys never giving it a second though. Desk solid, air empty. Solid things are only relatively solid to less dense things, and hands don't go through because of gravity and energy, not because a bunch of density is resisting. And air is not empty, having a bunch of gases and other molecules floating through it. But it's easier to talk this way in common parlance to understand each other and get things done. As science advances, more will know what it really is like, even if they do not particularly appreciate the distinction.
COMMENTARY
Wisdom Quarterly
Buddha, why are you always smiling? Freedom?
One could say that it is not "who" is aware, but WHAT is aware? Asked this way, it can be answered. The Five Aggregates (form; feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousnesses) clung to as self (which are all dependently originated) phenomena. Form forms, feelings feel, perceptions perceive, formations form, and [the six kinds of] consciousness are conscious. Each PROCESS is arising, performing a function, and passing away very quickly, billions and trillions of nearly identical but not actually identical "thought-moments" (cittas) after another. Note the semicolon after form. Why is it there? Form means "material form" (fine-material or rupa in superior planes of existence and tangible or kama in this sensual human world), the body, which is not singular but also fourfold, composed of the mahabhuta or dhatus (Four Great Elements, which are not things like "atoms" but rather kalapas, dense fine-material particles, characteristics of materiality not materiality itself). These eight (condensed to five) aggregates are not to be taken on faith or for the sake of philosophy. Through the path of purification, the heart/mind can be temporarily purified, intensified, and trained to directly perceive these eight streams or phenomena. And in seeing them -- seeing them for what they really are -- the mind/heart lets go. One awakens to freedom from all attachment, aversion, and delusion about them. Thus, in no longer clinging to wrong views about them, one lets go and abandons them, glimpses nirvana, and is free. One enters the first stage of enlightenment or stream-entry. The Buddha does not talk about "no-self" lightly nor before one is ready to hear and begin to understand it. But he cannot let it go unmentioned and untaught because it is the basis, the crucial determinant, of awakening. In other non-Buddhist teachings, at the time of the Buddha as now, this teaching does not exist. Therefore, the Buddha said there neither arise beings of the first stage, second, third, or fourth stage of enlightenment, nor are there to be seen individuals on the path to those realizations. Only when a supremely awakened buddha arises in the world does this teaching get taught and the way of realizing it for oneself. For unless one comes to know-and-see it directly, there is no liberation.

What is the Buddha really denying?
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Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Ram's advice to quiet the Monkey Mind


The Great Seer's gained samadhi
(One Timeless Witness) Ramana Maharshi ("Great Seer" Ramana) was asked a question by a spiritual seeker trying to "meditate" (reach samadhi, stillness, unification of mind, coherence). Ramana answered him.

The mind may never stop thinking [except deep in the eight Buddhist meditative absorptions, in samadhi], but if we turn our attention to what or who [the Witness, the Watcher] is listening, suddenly the inner voice may pause or stop.

The method to follow, the practice

The voice doesn't bother me. I need stimulation!
"Bhagavan," he asked, "how do I remain as this Witness? The voice remains the moment I stop trying." The seeker expected a method, something to follow, something to practice.

Ramana's voice was gentle but firm, "You cannot remain as the Witness. You are already the Witness. The question itself comes from the mind. The seeker's face tightened, "I do not understand."

Overthinking: Why am I even alive?

More stimulation, more stimulation, more!!!
"The mind wants a method, it wants a practice, it wants a way to achieve 'witnessing.' This is the trap. The mind cannot witness itself into existence. I can only dissolve.

"The practice is simply to notice. When the voice speaks, what hears it? Do not fight the voice. This creates more noise: 'I should not be thinking this, I am failing at meditation, I must try harder!' More voices, more struggle."

A thought arose in the seeker right then, "This is too difficult." Instead of believing it or fighting it, he asked, 'What is aware of this thought?" The question itself dissolved the thought. For a moment, there was only silence, only presence.

So the method is not a method, not a practice?
"Do not try to become the witness," Ramana continued. "This creates a false 'doer.' 'I am witnessing now, I am doing it correctly, I am making progress.' This is still the mind wearing a spiritual mask. Simply rest in the question, 'Who is aware of this thought?'...

"In your relationships," Ramana said, "the voice says, 'They do not love you anymore.' Ask, 'Who is unloved?' The answer? 'I am.' Then ask, 'Who is this "I" that can be loved or unloved?' The story collapses."

He paused. "And [of] that shame, the sense that you have not progressed, that others have arrived somewhere you cannot reach, ask, 'Who is the one who has failed?' The answer? 'I am.'

"Then ask, 'Who is this "I" that can succeed or fail at [meditation] practice?' Its owner cannot be found. The shame does not to be argued away; it simply has no ground to stand on.

But "I am that I am," right?

Don't Feed the Monkey Mind
"The witness is not cultivated," Ramana said, "it is uncovered. Every time you [mindfully] notice the voice, you are already the witness. You just have not recognized it yet."


The seeker sat with this. It was so SIMPLE, it felt impossible. He had spent years trying to improve his mind, control his thoughts, become a better meditator.

And now Ramana was saying, "Just notice what is already aware [mindful]. Every example leads to the same place. The voice has an owner that cannot be found. And what remains when the owner [ego, atta, atman] disappears, that is what you are."

"Bhavagan," he said quietly, "what is the purpose of the question, 'Who am I?' if it cannot be answered?"


Ramana smiled. "The question, 'Who am I?' is not meant to be answered by the mind. It is meant to DISSOLVE the mind.

The seeker closed his eyes. The voice had nothing left to say.... He no longer needed the voice to stop.

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Monday, August 10, 2026

Mindful versus Gnostic 'Noble Silence'

(Buddhism Podcast) What is "noble silence"? The power of mindful speech in Buddhism

(Gnostic Talk) I tried the Gnostic Silence Test, and what answered was not the highest GOD (the Monad).
I'm Jewish and know better than Jesus
If "God" (GOD, Brahman beyond the God Great Maha Brahma) is the Monad, what is the pleroma? Pleroma (Koine Greek Ļ€Ī»Ī®ĻĻ‰Ī¼Ī±, literally the "fullness") generally refers to the totality of divine powers. It is used in Gnosticism, as well as in Christian theological contexts. The term also appears in the Epistle to the Colossians [1], which is traditionally attributed to Saint Paul (aka Jewish Saul of Tarsus) the Apostle [2], the real founder of modern Christianity (yes, not Christ, after which it is named).

I'm a Jew and I know better than Jesus (Paul)
The word is used 17 times in the New Testament [3]. In Valentinianism it represents as virtualities of the Son [4]. ETYMOLOGY: The word literally means "fullness," from the verb plērĆ³Å (Ļ€Ī»Ī·ĻĻŒĻ‰, "to fill"), from plįø—rēs (Ļ€Ī»Ī®ĻĪ·Ļ‚, "full") [5]. More
What is Buddhist "noble silence"?
Who are the "noble" ones? (Greco Buddhism)
Noble silence ("enlightening quietude") is a term attributed to the historical Buddha. Practitioners are advised to calm heart/mind by letting go of internal and external chatter.

The Buddha also responded to certain useless or harmful philosophical questions about the ultimate nature of reality. One such instance is when he was asked by a wayward monk named Ven. Malunkyaputta the 14 unanswerable questions.

In similar situations the Buddha often responded to antinomy-based descriptions of reality by saying that both antithetical options presented to him were inappropriate. To answer one way might be true but misleading or comforting but untrue, so that simple silence was a better option until the questioner was ready to receive a direct answer.

A specific reference to noble silence in the Buddha's Teaching (Dhamma or Dharma) involved one occasion when the Buddha told his monastic disciples to discontinue a discussion, saying that in such a congregation the discussion of the sacred Dharma is proper or practicing noble silence [1].

This does not indicate misology or disdain for philosophy on the Buddha's part. Rather, it indicates that he viewed such questions, though popular, as not leading to true and liberating wisdom [2].

The Pali canon
While silence is generally thought to be something visible on the outside of a person — an external state, such as whether or not one is talking — in the Pali canon, a "noble" (enlightened, awakened, or enlightening) state is internal — one synonymous with the stillness of absorption (jhāna).

"What is noble silence?' The thought might occur, 'In one instance a monastic, stilling applied and sustained attention (vitakka and vicara) [knowing without verbalizing or pondering], enters and abides in the second absorption, characterized by rapture and pleasure born of stillness, unification of mind, free of applied and sustained attention — internally certain. This is called noble silence.'"
  • Flapping and pushing vs. allowing and gliding
    An analogy is given to explain and distinguish vitakka from vicara as a function of what the mind does with its attention (adverting/turning attention towards, bare awareness, MINDFULNESS, vigilance, calm persistence). It's misleading to use the English word [discursive] "thinking," but it is mental activity:
  • Say a big bird on a branch wishes to fly. It will first leap or thrust itself into the air and flap its wings with great deal of effort then eventually just soar and glide almost with no effort at all. So in tranquility meditation (samatha), one first struggles or wrestles to bring attention back and back again to the object but eventually is fixed on it with no apparent effort.
  • Points of sail when tacking during sailing
    Instead of force or struggle, great interest (zeal, delight, piti) holds the mind/attention to the object, with stillness and calm. Any movement of mind or body is likely to disturb it. This might also be compared to paddling and sailing. When one can skillfully sail, one is not a victim to the direction of the wind because one can engage in tacking (steering into the wind), that is, choosing one's direction so as to not have to go in the direction the wind is blowing, countered by jibing.
Of the eight absorptions (the jhanas or profound meditative states), that in which the inner dialogue goes silent is the second absorption. More
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Monday, March 9, 2026

The sounds they took from us (432 Hz)

(Back in time) There was a forced transition of the world from the natural frequency of 432 Hz to the artificial 440 Hz | They is WHY they did it

(Back in time) Every house before 1870 had a "spirit room" for sound resonance (not spirits) | This is what they replaced it with
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Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Alan Watts: Get out of the mind once a day

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Monday, January 26, 2026

Eckhart Tolle: suffering, drugs, meditation?


Then ego stopped, time stopped, all was clear.
Meditation is NOT the "doing," not the technique that takes us to stillness. Doing assumes time. To realize "being," just being, is instantaneous. There is no need to travel there, no need for time, no need for an action or doing. If we could just "be," that would be NOW. The Power of Now is to realize what is true right now, as Eckhart Tolle tried to explain it. We need to suffer until we realize that it is no longer necessary.

But the mind keeps thinking!

Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry
Psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon LMFT and illustrator Doug Shannon have 4.6 out of 5 stars (with 1,327 reviews) helping readers deal with monkey mind. The very things we do to try to control anxiety can make anxiety worse.

This unique guide offers a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based approach to help
  • recognize the constant chatter of anxious “monkey mind,”
  • stop feeding anxious thoughts,
  • find the personal peace craved.
Ancient sages compared the human mind to a monkey: constantly chattering, hopping [discursively] from one branch to another—endlessly trying to move from fear to safety.

Psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon
For the millions of people's lives affected by anxiety, this process is familiar. Unfortunately, we can’t switch off this “monkey mind.” But we can stop feeding the monkey—stop rewarding it by avoiding the things we fear.

Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, this book shows how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness (sati) techniques, as well as fun illustrations.

By following the exercises in this book, learn to identify anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.

Once we stop feeding the monkey, there are no limits to how expansive life can feel. This book shows how anxiety can only continue as long as we try to avoid it. Paradoxically, only by seeking out and confronting the things that make us anxious can we reverse the cycle that keeps our fears alive. More
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