lay people should still try
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:34 am
lay people should still try. just because they have fewer rules doesn't mean just follow the five precepts and call it a day*
lay non-returners like citta and ghaṭīkāra kept many more rules which can be found in dn2 https://suttacentral.net/en/dn2
so i think some of us have given in to a dichotomy between effortlessness and beating oneself up for natural mistakes.
i do think however that sitting meditation might be totally unnecessary for laity and possibly counterproductive. because there are so many mundane excesses that concentration is hard to come by. uposatha is recommended by the buddha to be kept all of the time, not some of the time, which entails eight precepts roughly once a week. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
and the reason you should try as a lay person your hardest despite your surroundings is because nibbāna and approaching nibbāna, however incrementally, are happiness. feeding the craving mind is the opposite; i would refer you to several suttas https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
https://suttacentral.net/en/mn54
"And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity. This is called right action."
— SN 45.8 https://suttacentral.net/en/sn45.8
i figure others might rebut to say right action is different for monastics and laity but i did read one sutta somewhere (if it wasn't badly translated or slander) that recommended chastity first and then abstinence from sexual misconduct if chastity couldn't be fulfilled. eating one meal is better in terms of health and energy and if you work a hard job you should just eat more. sleeping in makes you sleepier generally. what we feel we need is often vastly different from our actual needs.
in the process of making this post, i realized suttacentral and accesstoinsight translate SN 45.8 differently in the key area of the third precept. which should we accept?
i posted an asterisk but forgot what it was going to refer to. anyway, effort should be being made continuously because it does pay off, you learn what real happiness is.
‘Again, Vāseṭṭha, if this river Aciravatī were full of water even to the brim, and overflowing. And a man with business on the other side, making for the other side, bound for the other side, should come up, and want to cross over. And if he covering himself up, even to his head, were to lie down, on this bank, to sleep.
‘Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha? Would that man
be able to get over from this bank of the river Aciravatī to the further bank?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama!’
‘And in the same way, Vāseṭṭha, there are these Five Hindrances, in the Discipline of the Arahats, which are called “veils,” and are called “hindrances,” and are called “obstacles,” and are called “entanglements.”’
‘Which are the five?’
‘The hindrance of worldly lusts, ‘The hindrance of ill-will, ‘The hindrance of torpor and sloth of heart a mind, ‘The hindrance of flurry and worry, ‘The hindrance of suspense.
‘These are the Five Hindrances, Vāseṭṭha, which, in the Discipline of the Arahats, are called veils, and are called hindrances, and are called obstacles, and are called entanglements.
https://suttacentral.net/en/dn13
lay non-returners like citta and ghaṭīkāra kept many more rules which can be found in dn2 https://suttacentral.net/en/dn2
so i think some of us have given in to a dichotomy between effortlessness and beating oneself up for natural mistakes.
i do think however that sitting meditation might be totally unnecessary for laity and possibly counterproductive. because there are so many mundane excesses that concentration is hard to come by. uposatha is recommended by the buddha to be kept all of the time, not some of the time, which entails eight precepts roughly once a week. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
and the reason you should try as a lay person your hardest despite your surroundings is because nibbāna and approaching nibbāna, however incrementally, are happiness. feeding the craving mind is the opposite; i would refer you to several suttas https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
https://suttacentral.net/en/mn54
"And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity. This is called right action."
— SN 45.8 https://suttacentral.net/en/sn45.8
i figure others might rebut to say right action is different for monastics and laity but i did read one sutta somewhere (if it wasn't badly translated or slander) that recommended chastity first and then abstinence from sexual misconduct if chastity couldn't be fulfilled. eating one meal is better in terms of health and energy and if you work a hard job you should just eat more. sleeping in makes you sleepier generally. what we feel we need is often vastly different from our actual needs.
in the process of making this post, i realized suttacentral and accesstoinsight translate SN 45.8 differently in the key area of the third precept. which should we accept?
i posted an asterisk but forgot what it was going to refer to. anyway, effort should be being made continuously because it does pay off, you learn what real happiness is.
‘Again, Vāseṭṭha, if this river Aciravatī were full of water even to the brim, and overflowing. And a man with business on the other side, making for the other side, bound for the other side, should come up, and want to cross over. And if he covering himself up, even to his head, were to lie down, on this bank, to sleep.
‘Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha? Would that man
be able to get over from this bank of the river Aciravatī to the further bank?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama!’
‘And in the same way, Vāseṭṭha, there are these Five Hindrances, in the Discipline of the Arahats, which are called “veils,” and are called “hindrances,” and are called “obstacles,” and are called “entanglements.”’
‘Which are the five?’
‘The hindrance of worldly lusts, ‘The hindrance of ill-will, ‘The hindrance of torpor and sloth of heart a mind, ‘The hindrance of flurry and worry, ‘The hindrance of suspense.
‘These are the Five Hindrances, Vāseṭṭha, which, in the Discipline of the Arahats, are called veils, and are called hindrances, and are called obstacles, and are called entanglements.
https://suttacentral.net/en/dn13