meditate on it

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
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befriend
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Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:39 am

meditate on it

Post by befriend »

today i found myself, doing some papanca (ruminating) about some person who was detrimental to me. i thought if i seet this person again, im going to tell them how i feel, and call them a fool. then it was time to meditate so, about 1 second into my meditation, all this wholesome energy came into my mind, and my thoughts involuntarily became very rational. they involuntarily said, why would you call this person a fool, why dont you just tell them this and that and by telling them this you can be constructive and this will be helpful. then i realized omg. calling someone a fool would be pointless and detrimental because i could have been constructive with them. i realized how easy it is to fall into unwholesome states, because they are disguised as being something NECESSARY. no wonder so many beings are in evil states, we have to be very very mindful of our thoughts. i think meditating right after we are confused about something might give us more wisdom. metta, befriend.
Take care of mindfulness and mindfulness will take care of you.
Jhana4
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Re: meditate on it

Post by Jhana4 »

I call it "crunching".....I just start thinking about a person and something they did/said to me....sometimes significantly in the past. I will get very pissy and it will eat up my attention. Any kind of meditation will usually help. I've also found naps, hard workouts and strong tea to be helpful. My non-expert intuition is that part of "crunching" is rooted in fatigue.
In reading the scriptures, there are two kinds of mistakes:
One mistake is to cling to the literal text and miss the inner principles.
The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.
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ground
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Re: meditate on it

Post by ground »

befriend wrote:... i realized how easy it is to fall into unwholesome states...
Basically it can only happen through thinking.Thoughts spring up habitually, no need to supress them. But to ignore them, i.e. not grasp them, is to avoid unwholesome states. However to apply this approach to thoughts generally may also entail to renounce volition to produce wholesome states because these also require thought. So as an approach to thoughts in general it seems to somehow conflict with "right effort".


kind regards
Jhana4
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Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 5:20 pm
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Re: meditate on it

Post by Jhana4 »

Why not take the vipassana way and not ignore thoughts, but watch them come and go, without grasping, learning the conditions that bring them about and the conditions that make them cease?
In reading the scriptures, there are two kinds of mistakes:
One mistake is to cling to the literal text and miss the inner principles.
The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.
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ground
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Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:01 am

Re: meditate on it

Post by ground »

Jhana4 wrote:Why not take the vipassana way and not ignore thoughts, but watch them come and go, without grasping, learning the conditions that bring them about and the conditions that make them cease?
It turns out to be the same. Why? Because what is called "condition" and "learning" is mere thought in itself.
But of course one may first grasp at thought before letting go.
TMingyur wrote:But to ignore them, i.e. not grasp them,...

Also from a didactical perspective: The intent to not grasp in the first place "naturally" entails learning the conditions without being intent on learning the conditions. This may prevent muddling the "learning" with fabricating thought which would undermine authentic "learning" which actually is just "seeing".


kind regards
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