Sid (the Buddha), Kris (Krishna), Mo, Josh (Jesus), Aquaman, Lao Tzu, Joe (Joseph Smith)
JESUS vs. the BUDDHA: Love vs. Non-Attachment
The Buddha and the Christ: friends
(Buddha's Wisdom) 🔍JESUS vs. BUDDHA: LOVE vs. DETACHMENT: TWO PATHS, ONE TRUTH. What happens when Jesus’s fearless [yogic] love [called agape in Greek] meets the Buddha’s wisdom of [boundless love called metta and] letting go*?
*“Attachment says, ‘Be mine,’ whereas love says, ‘Be well.’”
This video explores how two of history’s greatest spiritual teachers [the Buddha preceding Christ by at least 500 years], born five centuries and continents apart, answered the same human question: *How do we love without suffering*?
*Suffering: dukkha, disappointment, pain, unsatisfactoriness, misery, ill, woe, not getting what we want and getting what we don't want.
From Galilee to the Ganges, discover how their paths converge in a timeless lesson for the modern heart.
📿 DISCOVER:
The radical love of Jesus that defied tribal and political boundaries
The Buddha’s teaching on non-attachment and the end of desperate grasping and clinging
The hidden parallels between early Christian and Buddhist thought
The mystery of whether the Christ and the Buddha’s teachings ever crossed paths [in ancient India, Tibet, and Central Asia]
How to practice “love with open hands” in relationships today
🙏 Subscribe for more East-meets-West wisdom: Every week, we explore the meeting point of philosophy, history, and spirituality, from Buddhist cosmology to hidden wisdom in Western thought.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0
00:00 The grip in our chest
01:14 The love paradox
02:44 The dangerous love of Jesus
07:24 The freedom love of Siddhartha the Buddha
11:19 When two truths collide
15:35 Love without the leash
21:21 The third path
24:50 Love fearlessly, LET GO freely
📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:
The Metta Sutta (Sutta Nipata 1.8) – Teachings on Loving-Kindness
Sallatha Sutta (SN 36.6) – The Parable of the Second Arrow
The Gospel of Luke 10.25-37 – The Parable of the Good Samaritan
The Gospel of Matthew 5.44 – “Love thy enemies”
Comparative studies on Greco-Buddhist exchanges along the Silk Road
Historical scholarship on early Christian monasticism and Buddhist influence
📱 Join community: Instagram: buddhaswizdom. Facebook: buddhaswizdom. ☕ Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom
* Love fearlessly. Love freely. Stay curious. Stay wise.
Stay far away from fools, and instead associate with the wise
Avoiding fools and
Associating with the wise,
Giving respect to the deserving,
This is [among] life's highest blessings.
Sattigumba and Pupphaka
Asevanā ca bālānaṃ, paṇḍitānañca sevanā;
Pūjā ca pūjaneyyānaṃ
etaṃ maṅgalamuttamaṃ.
Maṅgala Sutra
That's a good bird! - Thank you, sir.
These lines verses from the "Blessings Sutra" uttered by the Buddha who was asked, “What is life's highest blessing?” He spoke of 38 blessings. However, this first verse is perhaps the most important. We are smart to distinguish the fools from the wise.
The Commentary to this verse explains: Fools commit unskillful karma (demeritorious deeds of body, speech, and mind).
The wise create skillful karma (meritorious deeds of body, speech, and mind). The wise develop virtue (sila, morality, ethical conduct).
Lay Buddhists keep Five Precepts, Eight Precepts on fasting (lunar observance) days, and Ten Precepts on retreat or during intensive practice). Monastics vow to adhere to 227 Precepts, including eight more for females who follow the garudhammas.
When a wise person hears about or recollects the Five Precepts, or a wise monastic hears about or calls to mind the 227 Precepts, that person becomes happy.
When one hears of the unskillful karma created by breaking precepts, one becomes happy because of not having broken those precepts and knowing that bad karmic results (resultants and fruits or vipaka and phala) will be avoided.
When one hears of skillful karma due to virtue, one becomes happy, knowing that welcome results will come. This is true for "wise" people, according to the Bālapaṇḍita Sutra (MN 129).
I'm not a fool. I'm drunk -- and loving it. 🤢🤮
Fools (bāla) are described in the same discourse:
Suppose a fool is sitting in a council hall, street, or crossroads, where people are discussing what is proper and suitable. And suppose that fool is someone who kills living creatures, steals, engages in sexual misconduct, lies (deceives), and uses intoxicants that occasion negligence. That fool thinks:
"‘These people are discussing what is proper and fitting; those things are found in me, and I am seen in them!’
"This is the first kind of suffering and sadness a fool experiences in the present life.
"Those who fail to uphold the Five Precepts [which are useful for all humans of whatever religion or philosophy] for lay practitioners or 227 for monastics become fearful when they hear these precepts and the negative results from breaking them. They are called fools."
Actually, the ones who become afraid have some hints of wisdom, for they know they should change [so as to avoid future suffering].
I'm starting to think you might be a bad influence on me. - Shut the front door, Birdbrain.
.
It is the ones without fear who do not become afraid at all when hearing these things who are absolute fools. They are the most dangerous because they hold wrong views and act on them. They are dangerous because they believe the unskillful actions they do are actually skillful, and they spread these wrong views with others.
The Commentary to the Maṅgala Sutra, "The Discourse on Blessings," says that this is like a house on fire, burning: It easily spreads to neighboring houses.
Spiritual development starts with being morally wise. After morality is developed, one is capable of developing stillness of mind (samatha, samadhi).
Those who have developed stillness (samadhi, unification, concentration, coherence) have completed the second part of “being wise.”
The third part is to develop insight knowledge or vipassana. One must have the ability to focus, be calm, and remain still to develop insight knowledge. And one must have virtue (morality) to develop focus (non-distractedness).
That is why it is said that virtue, stillness, and wisdom (sīla, samādhi, and paññā), in this order and not in any other order, is the path to enlightenment.
The highest level of insight is the glimpsing or realization of nirvana (Pali nibbāna). And the highest level of attaining nirvana (while still alive) is full enlightenment or arahant knowledge.
While a person yet lives, this is called enlightenment with remainder because one is still experiencing the results of previous karma, while no longer accruing any new karma. All intentional actions at this point are called kriyas or "simple (functional) actions." They do not bear fruit. When one enters final nirvana or parinibbana, this is enlightenment without remainder.
An arhat (arahant) is someone in whom passion (greed and clinging), aversion (hatred and fear), and delusion (ignorance and wrong views) are completely destroyed without remainder. These are the noble ones who have laid down the burden, who have made an end of suffering and rebirth here and now.
Where do I ordain?
Wanting to practice a direct path to enlightenment free of all worldly distractions, many people ask where to ordain. To find a proper abbey, look for spiritually wise monastics. While this is difficult to discern by merely looking, morally wise monastics are easier to detect.
One cannot be spiritually wise without being morally wise. Therefore, start at a place where both the monastic rules (vinaya) and meditation are regarded as important.
Rotten apple
[In the West, one bad apple rots the entire barrel.] In addition to a burning house spreading fire to another, the Maṅgala Sutra Commentary speaks of rotten fish spreading rot to nearby objects.
One who ties up putrid fish
with blades of kusa grass
makes the kusa grass smell foul:
so it is in the following fools
(It 68, 9-12, Ja IV 435, 28-29, JaVI 236 4-5).
Maṅgala Sutra Commentary: In contrast, the commentary explains that if one were to wrap tagara jasmine flowers with leaves, those leaves would become wonderfully fragrant.
One who ties up tagara
with leaves [fallen from a tree]
makes the leaves sweetly fragrant:
So it is in following the wise
(It 68, 13-16, Ja IV 436, 1-2, Ja VI 236, 6-7).
Maṅgala Sutra Commentary: This is literally used to explain that whatever is near to us can easily “rub off” on us. Perhaps the best example of this is our language or accent.
Not long ago, if someone were from New York City or Long Island, one could easily tell by the way that person talked.
My father is from the Bronx, and everyone who hears him speak knows it. This is becoming a thing of the past because of TV and internet videos that are homogenizing us.
Think about it. Television and internet media affect us in deeply rooted and subconscious ways. They affect the way we speak without us realizing it. If they can affect the way we sound to others, why would they not impact our attitudes, beliefs, and morals without us realizing it?
As internet algorithms choose more and more polarizing and extreme material to present to us, those things will become a part of us. They become the new normal. They already have.
We are encouraged to associate or live with the wise, with those who are higher than us in terms of morality and wisdom. This is very important because it will be easy for this to rub off on us, such as the fragrance of flowers.
The twin parrots Buddhist birth story
The Sattigumba Jātaka is listed in the Commentaries quoted above to explain this point.
It is the tale of two parrots born as twins. A storm comes, and they are separated shortly after birth.
One bird is raised by a gang of thieves, the other by hermit wandering ascetics. The king comes across both parrots at different times. The first encounter is the bad parrot who speaks of stealing and killing, while the other speaks of sharing and kindness. The king is moved by the difference between the two.
This story may seem hard to believe, but we can find examples of parrots on YouTube that point this out. Believe it or not, many parrots are in need of shelter. Enter “parrot + a location” into a search engine and see the many organizations looking for new nests for their avian orphans.
The video above is about a rescued bird who lived with bad people and witnessed a terrible crime.
This parrot witnessed the murder of its owner. It became a key witness at the trial in the human world. Likewise, there are numerous channels with loving parrots who obviously had loving owners, such as this one:
Hey, give me a kiss. - Sure, 'bout time you asked. Hey, WTH? Why you you little love-blocker!
Hello? What the H do you want? - Les, is that U?
This post by Bhante, now edited by Wisdom Quarterly, is dedicated to Bhante’s cousin, Les Brodie, who died. He had a well-trained talking bird and told me about what a joy it was to have it. It had its own bike, and the bird would often pick up the house phone with its claw on the first ring and imitate his voice, “Hello? Uh huh...ummm...yes...uh huh…”
Apparently, sometimes his friends would have whole conversations with the bird without Les knowing it. He was a very special bird, and his person was not so bad either.
If we are parents, our children are our parrots. They are watching and listening whether we like it or not, and they will mimic and model themselves after us.
Moreover, WE are all talking birds, parroting whomever we follow and associate with. Those with whom we associate rub off on us like wrapping around stinky fish or fragrant flowers. So it is wise to be wise in choosing our associates.
Avoiding fools and
Associating with the wise,
Giving respect to those worthy of it,
This is life’s highest blessing.
Pa Auk Sayadaw student Bhante Subhuti (americanmonk.org), 4/22/22; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly orig. published June 3, 2024
(Zen Panda) Why do people really fall in love? Is it fate, beauty, or something deeper? This fanciful Zen wisdom story reveals the hidden truth behind human attraction. A wise wanderer teaches that love is not given — but reflected. When someone loves us, do they see themselves in us, or are they seeking what they lack? Understanding this distinction can transform how we experience love. Stop chasing it — because if we become whole, love will find us. 🌊🔥✨ Watch to discover the two powerful truths that change the way we see love forever. #ZenWisdom #love #spirituality #BuddhistTeachings #mindfulness #ZenStories #InnerPeace
The Buddha's warning: The four people who will RUIN your life
(Buddha's Wisdom) ANCIENT WISDOM REVEALS THE FOUR TOXIC PERSONALITIES DESTROYING LIVES TODAY 🔍
In the royal courts of ancient proto-India, the Buddha observed a pattern so dangerous, he felt compelled to warn future generations. (The four types are explained in the Sigalovada Sutta, DN 31).
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The Warning That Changed Lives
03:00 The Sweet Talker: Charm as a Weapon
08:45 The Empty Promiser: Words Without Action
13:04 The Secret Enemy: Hidden Darkness
17:44 The Enabler: Toxic Comfort
22:08 Buddha's Secret Solution
His 2,600-year-old Dharma or Teaching exposes four types of people who can destroy our life while pretending to be our friends. Today, these same toxic personalities walk among us, wearing modern masks.
DISCOVER:
The "Sweet Talker" who charms to deceive
Hidden court documents revealing the Buddha's psychological profiling methods
The shocking connection between ancient deception and modern manipulation
Why enablers might be more dangerous than enemies
How these toxic types have evolved in the Digital Age
If the company we keep doesn't lead us to wisdom, compassion, and truth, where does it lead us? Have you encountered any of these four types in your own life? How did you handle it? Let us know in a comment. Next week explores the five true friends, wisdom also taken from the Sigalovada Sutta. "The wise grow in the company of the wise."
(Jat 190) The Buddha told this story at Jetavana, the Jeta's Grove Hermitage, about a virtuous lay follower. One evening, when this faithful disciple came to the bank of the Aciravati River on his way to Jetavana to hear the Buddha, there was no boat at the landing stage.
[What is "noble" friendship (kalyāṇa-mittatā) in Buddhism? The greatest thing about a "noble" (enlightened) friend, whether a layperson as in this case or a monastic, is the opportunity to HEAR the Dhamma, the Buddha's Teachings that lead to enlightenment and nirvana. They speak of it when they speak, though often pleased just with quietude and noble silence, are just by their being fine examples of good conduct, virtuous, uplifting (although capable of misconduct and even immorality until they reach the stage of arahant even if the popular misconception is that a stream-enterer immediately becomes morally flawless and of perfect conduct, never mind what the Ratana Sutta has to say about it). The Noble Sangha(lit., "community of enlightened beings"), which includes every being attained at least to the stage of stream-entry or possibly even the two preliminary stages (saddhanusari and dhammanusari), is one of the "Three Treasures" (ti-ratana) or Jewels, the ultimate guides for beings subject to suffering (disappointment in this unending Cycle of Rebirth, which can be brought to an end (nirodha) but never ends by itself). There are by this reckoning seven such "noble ones." However, Ven. Upatissa's Path of Freedom has more details on the three types of stream-enterers (the sattakkhattu-parama facing as many as seven more rebirths, the kolaṅkolaor "passing from one noble family to another" is the stream-enterer who may be reborn fewer times and travel from teacher or school until settling down with the right one and reaching nibbana, and the eka-biji or "one-seeder" or "germinating only once more" stream-enterer, each weakening the further fetters binding one to ignorance and the Wheel of Becoming or Cycle of Rebirth, see AN9.12), which is more helpful than the standard condensed Path of Purification enumeration of just four stages of enlightenment/awakening.]
The ferrymen had pulled their boats onto the far shore and themselves gone to hear the Buddha. However, the disciple's mind was so full of delightful thoughts of the Buddha that even though he walked into the river, his feet did not sink below the surface: He walked on water, going across as if on dry land.
But when he noticed the waves as he reached the middle of the river, his ecstasy subsided and his feet began to sink. Then as soon as he again focused his mind on the qualities of the Buddha, his feet rose and he was able to continue walking joyously over the water.
When he arrived at Jetavana, he paid his respects to the Teacher and took a seat respectfully to one side.
"Good layman," the Buddha said, addressing the disciple, "I hope you had no mishap on your way."
"Venerable sir," the disciple replied, "while coming here, I was so absorbed in thoughts of the Buddha that, when I came to the river, I was able to walk on water and cross it as though it were solid."
"Friend," the Blessed One said, "you are not the only one who has been protected in this way. In olden days, virtuous laymen were shipwrecked in mid-ocean and saved themselves by remembering the virtues of the Buddha." At the man's request, the Buddha then told this story of the past.
Story of the past: Jataka
It's not a sutra, Homer, it's a jataka. - Shut up, Flanders! *Whisper* I'll be back for those eggs.
.
This ship is going to sink, friend.
Long, long ago, at the time of the Buddha Kassapa [3], a lay [stream-enterer] disciple who had already entered the path [reached the first stage of enlightenment] booked passage on a ship with his friend, a rich barber.
The rich barber's wife asked the disciple to look after her husband. But a week after it left port, the ship sank in the middle of the ocean.
The two friends saved themselves by holding on to a plank of wood and were eventually cast up on the shore of a deserted island rookery.
Famished, the foolish barber raided egg nests, killed birds, slaughtered and cooked them, offering a share of his bloody meal to the Buddha's disciple.
"No thank you," the disciple answered, "I'm fine" [not wishing to encourage the foolish barber in his defilementsor unskillfulkarma]. He thought to himself, "In this desolate place, there is no help [guidance] for us here except the Three Jewels [the Buddha, Dhamma, and noble Sangha]."
As he sat meditating on the Three Jewels, a naga (reptilian, dragon, CDs) king who had been reborn on that island magically transformed himself into a beautiful ship filled with the seven precious things [4]. Its three masts were made of sapphire, the planks and anchor of gold, and the ropes of silver.
The naga king transforms into a ship to save the good man
The helmsman, who was a sea spirit, stood on the deck and yelled, "Passengers for Jambudipa [earth, subcontinent, or India] now boarding for immediate passage!"
"Yes," the virtuous lay disciple called back, "that's where we're bound!"
"Then come aboard," the sea spirit invited.
The virtuous layman climbed aboard the beautiful ship and turned to call his friend the foolish barber.
(The Simpsons) Stealing to kill and devour mother and their offspring
"You may come," the sea spirit declared "but he may not."
"Why not?" the disciple asked.
"He is no follower of the pure life," answered the sea spirit. "I brought this ship for you, but not for him."
"If that's the case," the virtuous layman announced, "then all the gifts I have given, all the virtues [restraints and exertions] I have practiced, all the powers I have developed — I give the fruit of all of them to him!"
"Thank you, Master!" cried his friend the barber.
"Very well," relented the sea spirit, "now I can take both of you aboard."
The ship carried the two men across the sea and up the Ganges River that pours into it. After depositing them safely at their home in Baranasi [the holy ancient city of Varanasi/Benares], the sea spirit used his magic power to create enormous wealth for both of them. Then, poising himself mid-air, he instructed them and their friends:
"Keep company with the wise and good. If this barber had not been in the company of this virtuous layperson, he would have perished in the middle of the ocean."
McDharma's: Can the US get Beyond Meat?
[Taking eggs from nests, killing birds to survive, the foolish barber was engaged in things that make sense to worldlings even though they are very unskillful karma capable of bringing one to ruin, storing up unwholesome deeds avoided by the wise who neither encourage nor engage in them. That is the high cost of eating eggs, bloody handed, eating babies (bird fetuses), depriving them of life. Who would eat the womb of a woman with the excuse, "No, this womb was not a baby yet because sperm hadn't impregnated it"? The same people eat eggs with blood, indicating the eggs were fertilized and ready to produce a baby chick. Similarly, people eat murdered chicken-mothers, hens who lay eggs, and their rooster partners, calling them "poultry," ignoring that they are sentient beings, conscious entities killed to keep human-ghouls fed on corpses. Going vegan/vegetarian might be a better and more compassionate, environmentally-conscious option.]
Finally, the sea spirit returned to his own abode, taking the naga king with him.
Having finished this recounting of the past, the Buddha identified the rebirth (jataka) and taught the Dhamma, after which the virtuous layperson listening to him entered the fruit of the second path [reached the second stage of enlightenment].
"On that occasion [in that past life]," the Buddha said, "that disciple attained full enlightenment (arahantship). Sariputta was the naga king, and I myself was the sea spirit." Source
6. People who quarrel do not realize that one day through these quarrels they will die, but those who do realize this fact [quickly] settle their quarrels.
7. Whoever lives focused on the pleasant nature of things, with sense faculties unguarded, immoderate in eating, lazy and sluggish, will be overpowered by Māra (Death), just as a storm throws down a weak [and stiff] tree.
8. Whoever lives focused on the unpleasant nature of things, with their sense faculties guarded, moderate in eating, faithful and diligent, will not be overpowered by Māra, just as a storm cannot shake a mountain of rock.
9. Whoever is defiled, devoid of self-control, devoid of truthfulness yet wears the monastic robe is surely unworthy of such a robe.
10. Whoever has removed defilements, is well established in virtue, is filled with self-control, is filled with truthfulness is indeed worthy of such a robe.
Knowing-and-seeing is best.
11. In the world there are unbeneficial things. Some mistake these unbeneficial things for beneficial ones. They also mistake beneficial things -- such as developing virtue, stillness (concentration), and wisdom -- for unbeneficial ones. They are enveloped in wrong thoughts. They never reach what is beneficial.
12. Based on right view some people think right thoughts. These wise ones know beneficial things -- such as developing virtue, stillness, and wisdom -- to be beneficial. They also know unbeneficial things to be unbeneficial. That is why they reach the most beneficial, nirvana.
13. Just as rain breaks through a poorly thatched house, lust penetrates the mind that has not been developed by calm-and-insight meditation.
14. Just as rain does not break through a well thatched house, lust fails to penetrate a mind that has been well developed by calm-and-insight meditation.
15. The wrongdoer grieves in this life and in the next, grieves in both worlds, cries and is afflicted, seeing one's own defiled deeds.
16. The maker of merit rejoices in this life and the next, rejoices in both worlds, rejoices and is delighted, seeing one's own pure actions.
17. The wrongdoer feels regret in this life and in the next, feels regret in both worlds, is remorseful knowing, “I have done harm.” One is even more remorseful once reborn on a plane of misery.
18. The maker of merit is delighted in this life and in the next, is delighted in both worlds, is delighted in knowing, “I have made merit.” One is delighted even more once one is reborn on a [fortunate plane].
19. Even though a negligent person preaches much Dharma (Truth) to others, one does not practice accordingly. That person is like a cowherd who counts only the cows of others. That person does not attain the stages of enlightenment as a monastic.
20. Even if a person practicing the Dharma preaches little to others, one lives according to the Dharma. With developed knowledge and a well-freed mind, one abandons passion, aversion, and wrong view (greed, hatred, and delusion). Not clinging to anything in this world or the next, one attains the stages of enlightenment as a monastic.
Dhr. Seven, Kalyana Mitta based on BethUpton.com, Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Buddhist retreats are the way of attainment for modern Americans with no time to ordain and play the role of monastic -- stressing and fussing, trying to follow endless rules and learning a foreign etiquette. One might sign up to many in search of a great and accomplished teacher.
That's no easy feat, to find a suitable teacher, to carve out the time in our busy lives, and to calm down to make the most of it instead of overdoing it and exhausting oneself, ending up only with frustration and confusion as to what was missing from one's practice.
Wisdom Quarterly made it possible to follow in my successful friend's footsteps to apply for a spot with a better teacher, a successful Western student of the Great Asian Teacher, who's not always easy to understand and has a limited number of ways of explaining things.
This Western teacher was able to find endless ways of explaining things, from the Buddha's examples to modern Western examples one could easily relate to.
So the wilderness was the desert in Southern California, springtime with everything in bloom, windy and cool most of the time, dry and flowering.
After I left Asia, I was still a nun in Europe.
The teacher was Londoner Beth Upton (formerly Sayalay Anutara, a ten precept nun in the forests of Burma).
The lesson was "simple but not easy," to balance my sense of urgency with contentment. Why would I want to reduce my urgency? My sense of urgency brings me to my mat. Ah, I learned, but it's my contentment that keeps me there.
Lesson 1: Let your sense of urgency bring you to the mat. Let your contentment keep you there.
The training was gradual. But, Beth, I'm in a hurry! I've only got a short time to make an end of all time, aka, samsara. "Nirvana is already here," I heard my Mahayana friends whispering in my head. It isn't, but it sure is good to see it that way, because then one is able to relax and exhale (let go).
Then the practice became joyful. I didn't know it was supposed to be joyful. "Love my object"? Who ever heard of such a thing. Did the Buddha say that? Show me the sutra. The "naturals" who take to meditation with the ease a fish takes to water or a bird to the sky know this without knowing. They just do it without all that mediation of thought, debate, doubt, skeptical inquiry, or arguing. Of course it's this way.
Lesson 3: Radically accept it. Love it.
I was meditating on my in-and-out breath. I had been for years. It's a drudge. It's work in exchange for liberation; I've been trying to buy my way out with the "penance" of suffering on the mat, the harder the better. This was all wrong. When I learned to love my object, I didn't need to whip and berate the mind (attention) to stay on it. Focus was easy, as if to say effortless. My mind wanted to go there as it got subtler and subtler.
Lesson 4: The meditation object must be an increasingly subtle one, leaving behind the coarser.
There's a sutra (MN 20, "The Removal of Distracting Thoughts") in which the Buddha gives the meditators pursuing the "higher mind" five pieces of advice on letting go of distractions.
Give attention to something what is wholesome to remove unwholesome thoughts.
Examine the danger of unwholesome thoughts (and then the mind naturally pulls away and averts them without extra effort).
Forget those thoughts and don't give any attention to them.
Give attention to stilling the thought-formation of those thoughts.
Constrain those thoughts by force. (DON'T do this except in extreme cases, as when one is about to commit a defeat offense or engage in really bad karma).
It's the fourth piece of advice that is the key here. Who knows what a thought-formation (sankhara) is? It's not important. What's important is the simile the Buddha gives on HOW to do this:
Coarse or subtle?
Perception gets subtler and subtler
"Just as a person walking quickly might consider, 'Why am I walking quickly? What if I walk slowly? ' and one might walk slowly. Then one might consider, 'Why am I walking slowly?' What if I stand?' and one would stand. Then one might consider, 'Why am I standing? What if I sit?' and one would sit. Then one might consider, 'Why am I sitting? What if I lie down?' and one would lie down. By doing so one would SUBSTITUTE for each coarser/grosser posture a subtler one.
"So, too, when a meditator gives attention to stilling the thought-formation of those thoughts...one's mind becomes steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness [unity, one-pointedness], and stilled [concentrated, unified, made coherent]."
Lesson 5: Go more and more subtle by leaving the coarse behind.
If we listen sooner, we'll get there sooner.
Therefore, if one is trying to forget, ignore, overcome, or not allow to arise thoughts connected with craving, aversion, or delusion, one should give attention to still the thought-formation of those thoughts" in this way. It's great advice.
Let's replace the coarse with the subtle, the efforting with the ease, breathing in with breathing out, all the while paying attention to the subtle thing before us. This is the way of progress because increasingly subtle things will come up on the Path. And that's the desirable thing to have happen, seemingly effortlessly, not by laziness but by BALANCED effort or "right ease."
Lesson 6: Stay with the pointer or, to be exact, what it's pointing at.
Harry Nilson sings, "Me and My Arrow." What's his point? His point is his pointer, his arrow. In this case, I have my experienced teacher who points the way to what she herself has not only learned but personally experienced. She's the initial pointer.
Lesson 7: Stick with it to the final goal (nirvana in this very life) which, if Mahayana is correct, will be right here.
After that, my own nose is the pointer pointing at my meditation object -- my increasingly subtle breath brought on by my increasingly subtle mind able to remain with my object as it calms and slows and becomes almost imperceptible. Then it becomes light (the threefold nimitta). I ignore it, as instructed. It will strengthen and eventually replace my object (the in-and-out breath) with something even more subtle, all while I keep my attention on exactly the same place, that area right under my nose.
Me and My Arrow
Harry Nilson's original song from the animated 1977 film The Point
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
.png)
_%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B9%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%81_%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B5_-_IMG_13.jpg)
