I only talk about thoughts because thoughts are what cause all apparent problems. Emotions are just emotions. Pain is just pain. Emotions and pain do not cause more emotion and more pain; thoughts do that because they feed on themselves and create psychic agitation.
It is my understanding that only non beneficial thoughts create psychic agitation, not all thoughts.
"Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation" - Buddha
"He is able who thinks he is able." - Buddha
"Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded." - Buddha
"More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm." - Buddha
"There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind." - Buddha
"Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts." - Buddha
"Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on what you think." - Buddha
"Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe" - Buddha
"Words(expressed thoughts) have the power to both destroy and heal. When words(expressed thoughts) are both true and kind, they can change our world." - Buddha
"As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who practices it not." - Buddha
"All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed, can wrong-doing remain?" - Buddha
"It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one's own mind. Therefore, it is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled." - Buddha
The Buddha was a very insightful cookie!
Was tired last night, thought some more after i posted, but bed was too soothing to get out of...
Japhy: I only talk about thoughts because
thoughts are what cause all apparent problems.
Same as before, this time clarified a bit; it is my understanding of Buddha's teaching that only non beneficial thoughts create or perpetuate problems.
- I am having the experience of driving on the road.
- I see a crate fall off the back of the truck in front of me, smashing open and spraying large nails onto the road.
- I think about this new info i perceive and create the thought that it's not a problem and i maintain course and keep driving.
- I quckly become aware one of my tyres now has a puncture and is going flat.
- I think about this new info i perceive and create the thought that i now have a problem, also realising this problem was created by what i now judge as previous unwise\non beneficial thinking.
- I think and decide to keep driving with a flat type, because i am late for an important international business meeting.
- Utilising this thought perpetuates the problem.
- I think about my experience of the ongoing problem, and create the thought to stop and change the flat.
- Utilising this thought resolves the problem.
- i judge my last thought as wise\beneficial
- i also think it wise\beneficial that next time i see debris on the road, i will make all effort to avoid it and will stop and remove it from the road for other users, and that utilising these thoughts will not create or perpetuate a problem.
I think an element of Buddha's insightfulness, is plain and simple, yet powerful, common sense. That he saw, after much contemplation, that a positive thought creates a positive outcome\creation\manifestation, and negative, a negative outcome\creation\manifestation.
Hence his statement ...
"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world." - Buddha
If your life is full of joy and peace, it's due to the type of thoughts you manufacture and use.
If your life is full of suffering, it's due to the type thoughts you manufacture and use.
Emotions are just emotions.
Pain is just pain. Emotions and pain do not cause more emotion and more pain; thoughts do that because they feed on themselves and create psychic agitation. One thought leads to another thought,
Why has 'thought' been singled out as being the only one of the three elements of a human being that appears to have it's own consciousness, it's own ability to feed on itself?
For if a thought leads, who or what is it leading, another thought, or the person creating each thought.
Surely if the human being is the creator of their own thoughts, feelings and pain, then a thought is not leading to another thought, nor is a person being lead by their thoughts, but what is happening is the person is choosing to go down the path that they have reasoned each thought points to...or that thoughts do not feed on thoughts, but that a person is choosing to feed on them, that they have one thought, and as they think about it, they create another thought from the previous one.
Perhaps the belief that thinking is not a natural\normal or true aspect of oneself, that mind and thinking are not of the real\"True" self, is based on a simple misunderstanding; that the person who is unable to easily quieten their mind at command, and do so for any amount of time they choose, is not due to mind and thinking not being part of their being, but simply due to a low level of self control...of which i think the main reason for this is a low level of self awareness.
If one is not aware of how they create thoughts, the intricate internal mechanisms that activate within experiences, and are not aware or don't believe they are the authors of all the thoughts they have, then it seems logical to me that this person will have a low level of self control and can make the mistake of thinking their thoughts have a mind and will of their own, and the person has no say in the life of their thoughts.
Summarised, thoughts do not lead to other thoughts, but a person chooses, consciously or unconsciously, to travel to where the first thought pointed to\alluded to, and the person creates the next thought as a result from thinking about the first thought.
One of the elements of 'Awakening'\going from unconsciousness to more consciousness, is so self can see more of themself and thus understand themself more and thus potentially resolve their inner problems, their suffering...which will then produce inner peace and joy. And part of that is developing self control.
"If you want to follow me to freedom, be prepared to swim upstream, against the river of conditioning. Be prepared to grapple continuously with the fierce flow of negative mental currents. In time our strokes will become effortless and our sense of purpose irresistible." - Buddha
"Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change." -Stephen R. Covey
"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us." - Stephen R. Covey
and pretty soon we make statements like, "There is nothing to do. I don't like it when there is nothing to do.
and that looks to me like it's a person who is creating the stream of thoughts, "we make", and not thoughts feeding on itself.
There is something that doesn't want to be quiet. Something wants to avoid fear and pain. Something felt significant. Something wants to know where a pain came from," etc.
That 'something', to me, would be the self. And i notice a conflict within that person. They want to know where their pain comes from , but also wants to avoid this pain. Can't find out the source of one's pain, and potentially resolve the problem, if one avoids accepting, connecting to and exploring the pain.
Are any of these statements true, or are these just ideas spinning around in a circle?
Seems to me they are all expressions of what that person concluded of their situation, and in that sense, they are all true...including they are going around in circles due to the conflict stated above.
At this age I'm beginning to appreciate the rigor of silent Zen retreats because they don't allow any escape. One is forced to sit and deal with whatever comes up.
I have never been to the retreats you have experienced, but that sounds strange that whomever is running those retreats is forcing participants to stay, and forcing them to remain seated, against their will.
Makes far more rational sense that the individual is choosing to remain and endure the pain and venture beyond the pain till they begin to form a deeper understanding of themselves, as they venture beyond the surface of the pain signals to see the source(s) of their pain, be it physical or psychic.
I can remember many retreats in the past when there was physical pain caused by long hours of sitting, but sometimes toughing it out led to insights and new levels of understanding. What's going on? Our tendency is to turn away from the tough questions, but persistence and a warrior-like attitude is often well rewarded.
That has been my experience. Instead of being fearful and recoiling from pain, i began to choose to face the pain, fully accept it, and explore deeper within to see the cause(s) of each pain. Then after gaining understanding of the driving mechanisms, changing myself so i was no longer doing things to create that pain.
Avoidance and denial quickly reduces pain, but never resolves the source problem, thus one has to spend a great deal of their time and effort in avoiding themselves to keep the pain at bay, or at least, at a minimal tolerable level so as to only marginally affect one's quality of life.
And avoidance-denial is a quick and easy thing to do, whereas courageously accepting and dealing directly with one's problems is way harder to do and takes a lot longer to reduce the pain, usually one suffers more pain, initially, as one delves into them, but is profoundly far more beneficial due to actually resolving the source problem(s) and thus one will never suffer from that issue ever again, and can then allocate one's being toward other things.
Imagine what one could dedicate one's life to after resolving all of one's soul problems. That instead of living just to survive, one can live a life of growth and abundance, from a foundation of inner peace and joy.
that depends. Would it be fair to say that your interest in this dialog is in how to go about choosing the next landmark or direction and figuring out an outcome around which to plan? Would it be fair to say that this dialog is part of how you're making that choice and defining that outcome?
