santa100 wrote:My learning, knowledge, intelligence and memory are unrivalled amongst human beings...
I am one of the most learned persons one would ever have the privilege to meet...
I am considered one of the wisest and most compassionate Buddhist Masters of today's crop...
I have consequently been able to achieve all levels of concentration and insight, including the four rūpa jhānas, the four arūpa jhānas, the cessation of perception and feeling, and all 16 stages of insight...
Hmm...I got a feeling that Mara Namuci wouldn't be able to mess with those guys. For how could he mess with dudes who seem to even beat him at his own game, the game of ego and conceit!
Right. Hold your breath. This is just a story. The wise "Masters" are fictional impersonations of our imperfect minds. So, since you may have already started questioning what this is all about, and I still haven't gotten to bed, I will say this:
These "people" are all various aspects of our self:
The Professor stands for: the knowing mind, or one's intelligence, learning, pariyatti, memory.This is simply the learning of the Buddhist: reading the suttas, books, articles and websites, listening to Dhamma talks, and knowledge gained from conversing with Buddhist monastics, Buddhist teachers and other wise Buddhists. In terms of the five aggregates, I think perception and consciousness might best fit here. If you had to compare it to the government, it is the Legislative Branch.
The Buddhist Master stands for: the pure heart (emotional intelligence), or one's wisdom and compassion, Buddha-nature and Bodhicitta (for our Mahāyānist friends), Right View and Right Intention. In terms of the five aggregates, I would say feeling (because the pure heart is emotional intelligence that understands right and wrong, happiness and suffering in quite a direct and precise way), but also part of mental formations (and maybe consciousness, but not sure how much). It's like the Judiciary branch of government.
The above two constitute the deep level mind of the person (subconscious in psychology), other religions mistake if for a soul, Mahāyāna Buddhists say it is Buddha-nature, etc. It is just two aspects of the mind: the one that perceives and so learns the Dhamma and can then teach it to the emotional intelligence (pure heart), which is then able to make better decisions.
The meditation monk stands for: the person's mind. Although the previous are also part of the person's mind, this one is actually the mental formations - i.e. his decision as to whether to listen and obey what the former two teach him or whether to listen to the bad guy instead - Māra, i.e. the defilements which tell him to either be lazy and lie in bed all day long, or even worse do bad things and go punch someone. This where heedfulness comes into play: if the person is heedful, he will listen to his own wisdom and compassion (which is itself backed up by learning), and if he is heedless, he will listen to his defilements and hindrances. This is the most important part of the person of all. And it also constitutes the Right Effort (the mental energy part), Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. He is the Prime Minister of the Executive Branch. Prime Minister and his cabinet (will/volition/intention and his concomitant saṇkhāras (the other 50 or so)). That's why heedfulness, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and intention are so important: they are the link between the wisdom and compassion (which is so enormous in all people) and the actual conduct and practice of the person. Speaking of which,
The construction worker stands for the body, physical effort, energy, moral discipline, virtue by body and speech (Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood), and practice in general. If we take a country, it's the actual people - the ordinary folk who actually keep the country going. Of course, in terms of the aggregates, this is the rūpa (body, form), but also lots of the saṅkhāras - the actual deeds (whereas the intentions are the mind of the person (the meditation monk, prime minister).
Māra stands for the defilements, character flaws, etc. ignorance, delusion, (and as you pointed out) conceit and pride, greed, lust, wanting, desire, craving, aversion, hatred, and anger - mostly those. Others worth mentioning are fear, doubt, and laziness. Basically all defilements, poisons, hindrances, latent tendencies, fetters, taints, etc. Māra infests every part of the previous ones. Defilements obscure the knowing mind, the pure heart, the person's ability to make sound decisions and choices and his purity of concsiousness, which then leads to unskilful actions and inappropriate practice. This is why Māra can take hold of all of them and ruin the person, thereby his religion, and even the world. In fact, Māra is so strong that he is already quite successful at all that.
How this all works:
Defilements have been troubling our minds since benningless time. When the mind of the person is defiled, and he chooses to act according to those defilements, he thereby is following Māra's orders. His actions now constitute akusala kamma that bring dukkha (bad vipaka). When the dukkha becomes particularly intense for him, his pure heart awakens.
We said that the pure heart is closely related to the feelings. When the pain becomes too big, he realizes he must do something. It is his wisdom and compassion awakening. As you once told me, if I only followed my pure heart, I would not be sure what I will get hold of, and you suggested I learned the Dhamma better. That is correct, and that is the knowing mind which has read the suttas and the books, listened to the Dhamma talks and conversed with the wise kalyāṇamittās. The pure heart can now instruct the person's mind. The person's mind now chooses to listen to the Buddho within him, instead of Māra. Then the person's mind tells the body: "Dear body, you've got the feet, the hands and the eyes, please read some suttas, we need to learn more about what the truth about life is. The knowing mind will learn the meaning, it will tell it to the pure heart and the pure heart will understand it. Out of compassion, the pure heart will tell me what to do, and I will, in turn, tell you exactly how to practice correctly. Then all you have to do is do it, and so I will teach you how to be generous, virtuous, how to converse properly with people, etc."
The body obeys. The knowledge - both theoretical (through reading, listening, conversing) and experiential (through practice (trial and error) - goes through the mind into the knowing mind (which is now even more intelligent) and then into the pure heart (which is now even wiser and more compassionate). The pure heart can now teach the mind better and it, in turn, can instruct the body to act even better. And so on. That is how the practictioner develops himself, advances on the Noble Eightfold Path, becomes better at every level - cognitive, understanding, empathetic, intentional, and practical, thereby also hedonic (because his sukha is constantly increasing).
The real message here is this: for success in a pracititioner's practice, there must be harmony between the various elements of his being. Inner harmony is born of the lovin-kindness and mutual cooperation of those elements. This is why we have mettā bhavanā for ourself. The idea is that we must gradually get rid of the defilements (Māra, the fifth "person"). Māra only goes away from the person upon Arahantship. Until then, the mind has to trust that his Buddho (pure heart, wisdom-compassion) is telling him the right things. Of course, this pure heart is not perfect, but it is good enough and most of the time it says the right things, to the extent that the knowing mind is knowledgeable in the suttas and the Dhamma enough. Ultimately, it is all in the hands of the mind and its ability to make the right decision. This is why heedfulness is the most important thing. But the mind also has wisdom, otherwise it wouldn't be able to listen to his bigger brother, the pure heart. Māra dwells mostly in the mind, although it has spread everywhere (except the body - maybe).
But bit by bit, the person, through
faith and confidence in the Triple Gem
learning the Dhamma of the Buddha taught by the Saṅgha (suttas, books, articles, Dhamma talks,
discussion with monks and teachers, Buddhist forums) in order to improve his knowing mind
contemplation of everything he has learned (in order to improve the wisdom and compassion of his pure heart)
and
practice of all the various practices (the pure heart instructing the person's mind that instructs the body what to do and the body does it)
leads to
realisation - Right Knowledge, the "paths"
attainment - Right Liberation, the "fruits", Arahantship
and finally
he is able to share his realisations, help others, and teach so that they, too, can attain Nibbāna for themselves and escape saṃsāra.
And it all began with the defilements (praticularly ignorance which then led to suffering which then spurred him to do something about it and he found Buddhism, gained faith, learned, discussed, contemplated, understood, practiced, realised and then attained the highest happiness, deepest inner peace and perfect freedom.
Know right from wrong - and their consequences - and act accordingly.
Buddhism = knowing mind + pure heart + courageous, immaculate effort = Faith + Good friendship + Knowledge + Understanding + Heedfulness + Contentment + Love + Caring + Courage + Immaculate goodness + Effort + Mindfulness + Stillness + Insight + Wisdom -> Letting go of all evil things -> Happiness + Peace + Freedom + Bliss -> Sharing + Helping + Teaching -> Gone beyond the world of suffering
Once we realise the various parts of ourself in action, once we get to know them, their duties and responsibilities (characteristic, function, manifestation, proximate cause), once we are able to get them to work together harmoniously and with love for each other, Māra becomes known. The Buddha often faught with Māra. How did he make Māra disappear right there? "I know you, Māra." Not, I am going to destroy you, Māra. But "I know you." Wisdom.
This cooperation between the able layers of the mind and the physical actions leads only to well-being for the person. His inner harmony then conduces to outer harmony - his work, school, or monastic environment, and then the world as a whole. Why is the world so chaotic? Because within all people there is Māra that is preventing the mind and body of the person from cooperating thus creating havoc whithn him. He then acts in unskilful ways to various degrees, the most extreme one being joining ISIS. It's just a lot of Māra in those people and very little Buddha.
In every person there is a Buddha and a Māra, but to varying degrees. This is why we say someone is "good" and someone else "bad". It just depends whether his Buddha is gaining the upper hand or whether it is Māra. Buddha here means that his heart is pure (has a lot of wisdom and compassion) because he is intelligent (has learned the Dhamma) and so he is able to instruct his mind appropriately which then instructs the body to act in line with the Dhamma.
Also, the more we see these various aspects of personality and practice, we are more able to understand anattā.
Ultimately, the most important thing for a person is: self-love and self-protection. Self-love means that the various components within his being are cooperating with each other in a mutually loving and respectful way. Self-protection means that he has enough courage to withstand the onslaught of Māra - his internal Māra and the Māra within the people around him.
To do this, he uses his "Buddha-nature" to "connect" with the "Buddha's" in other people, rather than allow their Māras (abuse in particular) to affect him. This means he is now able to have better relationships with people, and is able to deal with abuse as well. External protection is very important and conduces to freedom from harm. It is called assertiveness. It is born from "I know you, Māra." To achieve that external protection from other people's wrong actions, he first needs inner harmony.
Ultimately, inner harmony - the cooperation of his knowledge, wisdom, compassion, heedfulness, right intention, and correct practice of the Dhamma conduces not only to his own happiness and well-being (because he has self-love and self-protection), not only to the happiness and well-being of others (because he has better relationships, is kind and compassionate towards them, and is even helpful in various ways), but also leads to his Enlightenment, and when he becomes a teacher to the Enlightenment, or progress towards Enlightenment for many other people.
!!!!!
..