Notice the similarities not the difference!

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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SarathW
Posts: 21238
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:49 am

Notice the similarities not the difference!

Post by SarathW »

Notice the similarities not the difference!
Extract from the book I read:

The meditator's job is to cancel this unskillful habit by examining it thoroughly, and then replacing it with another. Rather than noticing the differences between self and others, the meditator trains himself to notice similarities. He centers his attention on those factors that are universal to all life, things that will move him closer to others. Thus his comparison, if any, leads to feelings of kinship rather than feelings of estrangement.
Page 28
http://www.stefan.gr/buddhism/books/hen ... nglish.pdf
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I think we should observe everything as they are.
What is your opinion?
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
beeblebrox
Posts: 939
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:41 pm

Re: Notice the similarities not the difference!

Post by beeblebrox »

Hi SarathW,

This seems like a practice for compassion. I've found that when there is antagonism, and I'm unable to drop it, it isn't conducive to meditation. Ill-will is one of five hindrances.

:anjali:
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TheNoBSBuddhist
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Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 4:06 pm
Location: Loch Lomond, via the High AND Low road....

Re: Notice the similarities not the difference!

Post by TheNoBSBuddhist »

SarathW wrote:Notice the similarities not the difference!
Extract from the book I read:

The meditator's job is to cancel this unskillful habit by examining it thoroughly, and then replacing it with another. Rather than noticing the differences between self and others, the meditator trains himself to notice similarities. He centers his attention on those factors that are universal to all life, things that will move him closer to others. Thus his comparison, if any, leads to feelings of kinship rather than feelings of estrangement.
Page 28
http://www.stefan.gr/buddhism/books/hen ... nglish.pdf
==================
I think we should observe everything as they are.
What is your opinion?
First of all, what is your perception of things as they are?
It may be different to mine.

Our perception colours our acceptance of 'things' and we are hindered by our senses from evaluating things in a consistently skilful way.

Rather than 'observe things as they are', we should observe what our perceptions are, and evaluate their accuracy.
Things are as they are because they are as they are.

It is OUR view which is distorted.
Let things be.
Observe instead, yourself'.

:namaste:
:namaste:

You will not be punished FOR your 'emotions'; you will be punished BY your 'emotions'.



Image

Pay attention, simplify, and (Meditation instruction in a nutshell) "Mind - the Gap."
‘Absit invidia verbo’ - may ill-will be absent from the word. And mindful of that, if I don't respond, this may be why....
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