Paramita Challenge (Months 1-3 Aug To Oct 2021)

When presented with "The Pāramitā Challenge", I accepted and here we are. In addition to the Pāramitās or Perfections, so far, the challenge also includes precepts; the 52 Stages of the Bodhisattva Path; and Bodhisattva vows (I haven't taken.) Reflections include generosity, faith, mindfulness, endeavor, stability, wisdom, emptiness, harmlessness, self-restraint, sharing merit, truth, detachment, discipline, aspiration, nurturing, practice, virtue, patience, sexuality, etc.

Transcript

Welcome to the multi-month Paramita are Perfections challenge for the first three months of August,

September,

And October 2021.

When presented with the Paramita challenge,

I accepted and here we are.

In addition to the Paramitas are Perfections,

So far the challenge also includes precepts in the 52 stages of the bodhisattva path and bodhisattva vows.

So far,

Instructions are to journal contemplations resulting from observed intentions,

Opportunities,

And actions to be generous,

Moral,

And ethical while arousing faith in the triple gem,

Then seeing where and when confident and where and when there's doubt.

For whatever reasons,

The first month I received was for October 2021,

So I started recording right away and kept recording after receiving August and September.

Therefore,

While these first three months are condensed into one long recording and still in chronological order for the listener,

Going forward,

Recordings plan to be one month at a time until ending,

Thus spending a proper full month on each.

While mostly very listenable,

Quality is sometimes less than ideal due to the recording environment.

I also edited out most of the silences between speaking to save on listening time.

I've not taken bodhisattva vows and so,

With little instruction in Mahayana Buddhism apart from maybe a smidgen of the Zen stuff,

There's the benefit of beginner's mind,

I guess is a nice way to put it.

I shoot from the hip with a lot in this recording and will often use a Theravada lens and a lot of inquiry as I ponder out loud.

It may come off at times as criticism and sometimes it may actually be,

But these are mostly solo efforts at summonsing what is really meant by the material.

My current one choice word for the Paramis,

Or Paramitas,

Are as follows in Theravada Buddhism—generosity,

Ethics,

Renunciation,

Wisdom,

Energy,

Patience,

Truth or truthfulness,

Resolution,

Loving-kindness,

Equanimity.

And then,

In Mahayana Buddhism,

Generosity,

Ethics,

Patience,

Energy,

One-pointedness,

Wisdom,

Skillful means,

Resolution,

Power or spiritual power,

Knowledge.

So,

A few metta insights on this challenge,

Especially after the first three months.

I can't remember a time I've been involved in a commitment based on prompting,

In this instance committing to something where the commitment involves another providing the work,

And then forgetting I hadn't received anything for two months until the third month's challenge arrived,

And then backtracking.

This seems to illuminate one of the natures of Dukkha,

Which is incompleteness.

While these types of things,

For me,

Are about intending to arrive at truth,

I may seem at times to walk a fine line,

On one side using truth as an ultimate arbiter,

And on the other side appearing righteous.

For example,

Why is truth not in the Mahayana version of the Paramitas?

Because without truth,

How is it known what is or isn't valid or worthwhile?

Finally,

I find that addressing the polarities and opposites of some of these topics help elucidate some often underserved angles of view and contribute clarity.

So,

Without further ado,

Here's months one through three of the Paramita Challenge.

First week of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021.

This is from the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva Path.

The first stage is the stage of faith.

We arouse our faith and confidence in the Buddha,

Dharma,

Sangha,

As well as having a firm belief in our original mind.

So Buddha,

Dharma,

Sangha is pretty straightforward.

I'll go into it anyway though.

We arouse our faith and confidence.

How do we do that?

How do we arouse faith and confidence?

Well,

Faith,

We can see someone who really inspires us,

So we just kind of have an intuitive knowing that that's something we're interested in,

Something we're curious and cultivating about,

The qualities,

Our personality types,

Confidence.

I once confused confidence for being egotistical.

Obviously not the same thing.

But at that time,

Most of the people that I observe being confident also seemed very egotistical.

It wasn't until I experienced wholesome confidence without being egotistical in service to self,

I really kind of learned what confidence was.

So perhaps it's rooted in ethics and friendliness.

Now,

Buddha,

Dharma,

Sangha,

Look more on the internal versions of these.

So the Buddha would be awareness,

Knowing the enlightenment or the enlightened mind.

Dharma being truth of the way things are,

Teachings that are beneficial,

Especially from the historical Buddha.

And Sangha,

Not just community,

But our ability to love,

Connection,

Caring,

Warmth,

Ability to help each other in more goodness,

Innate goodness.

And then this having a firm belief in our original mind,

This sounds like a Mahayana teaching that I haven't been taught so much yet.

Belief is only really needed if we don't know for ourselves.

So I guess in that regard,

It could be helpful until we know for ourselves.

But once we know,

There's really no need to believe or disbelieve anything.

We could investigate this and maybe know for ourselves,

Look into it,

Research,

Receive teachings.

And then what is the original mind?

Does that imply that there's an unoriginal mind?

Is that just part of the mind?

Are there other versions of the mind?

Our original mind,

Our original mind,

Does that imply ownership?

Can mind be owned?

What is mind?

Is there other mind?

Is there an us versus them mind?

Does our mind imply that there's a their mind?

If so,

What implications does this have?

If I had to venture a guess of what the original mind is,

I would say this is what mind is before hindrances and defilements,

Or after those have been removed,

Taints and fetters.

Which makes me curious,

How did those happen?

Who benefits?

And that's the first week of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021.

Week two of the first month of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021,

From the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva path,

Stage two,

The stage of mindfulness,

We cultivate faith in the six kinds of mindfulness of the Buddha,

Dharma,

Sangha,

The precepts,

Generosity and mindfulness of the ultimate truth.

So like the previous one,

Where we aroused faith and confidence in the Buddha,

Dharma,

Sangha,

This one is saying cultivate faith in the six kinds of mindfulness.

So why do we need faith in mindfulness?

How do we cultivate faith?

And how do we cultivate faith in mindfulness?

Why are there six kinds of mindfulness?

I guess we should start at what is mindfulness?

It's been defined many different ways.

The Pali word is sati.

Sati.

And I'll just throw out one definition here.

I'm not really settled on a definitive definition of sati,

Kind of like bodyfulness.

It's one of my top ones.

Just a bare recognition of knowing.

So if that definition or something akin to it is the case,

Then I don't see where faith comes into the picture.

Unless there's just such spaced outness or being oblivious to life,

Completely steeped in solipsism,

That there's no real reckoning of what's real or truth,

That faith would be needed for something like mindfulness.

And these six kinds,

They're all very admirable and totally on board with them.

Just curious of why these six,

Out of all the different things to be mindful of.

And again,

How do we cultivate faith?

I'm drawing a blank here.

I'm sure there are some ways.

It just seems like either have it or you don't.

It can be an inspired faith.

We see someone that inspires us and we want to find out how they do what they do.

Or it could be verified faith where we actually experience what we hear about in our own experience.

And I'm fascinated now by the mechanics of that and what would cultivate faith and what would be the opposite of that.

So going now on to the Buddha-Dharma-Sangha part of mindfulness.

So just knowing the Buddha,

For me,

The historical figure is not nearly as pertinent as what it represents,

Which is complete and total and full awareness.

Same way with the Dharma,

The teachings are amazing,

But the Buddha only had so many human years to teach.

So the Dharma to me is truth and reality,

The way things actually are,

Not the way we want them to be or even often fall.

The Buddha-Dharma-Sangha,

Perceived them as mentioned somewhere else in these reflections,

Is not just the community,

But our ability,

Willingness and demonstration of love in many different forms.

The precepts,

Of course,

Are the ethical foundation that really makes all this possible.

And generosity,

One of the things with faith and generosity would be that it doesn't seem so apparent,

Especially in Western culture,

That being generous can actually help us.

When we pay attention to our motivation for being generous,

What's going on when we're giving,

And then how we feel and what the effect is afterwards,

And we notice in the long run,

Many times,

That we get what we give.

And then this ever important last one,

Mindfulness of the ultimate truth.

It's interesting how mindfulness is now mentioned twice in this last statement here.

Cultivate faith in the six kinds of mindfulness and mindfulness of the ultimate truth.

Anyway,

The ultimate truth,

Yeah,

It's ineffable,

Can only be pointed at.

There's not much that can be said about it.

In words,

This isn't Nibbāna,

And there's several synonyms.

The wonderful,

The amazing,

The unailing,

The unailing state,

The uninflicted,

Dispassion,

Purity,

Freedom,

Non-attachment,

The island,

The shelter,

The asylum,

The refuge,

The destination,

And the path leading to the destination.

Actually,

Those are the 33 synonyms for Nibbāna.

And that's the second week of the first month of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021.

Week three of the Paramita Challenge,

2021.

This is from the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva path,

Subset of the 10 stages of faith,

Stages three and four.

We confidently cultivate our diligence,

Effort,

And energy.

And this is the stage of endeavor.

Stage three and stage four is the stage of mental stability.

We cultivate confidence in being able to focus on an object without distraction.

So for the third stage,

The stage of endeavor,

Confidently cultivating our diligence,

Effort,

And energy.

So these three can pretty much run together.

It seems like maybe they're slight variations and nuances in the maybe dimensions of the same concept,

Act,

Goal.

So,

Seems to be a big emphasis on confidence and cultivation.

So,

Is cultivation possible without confidence?

Does confidence increase the ability of cultivation?

Does confidence accelerate it?

I don't know.

I think it would pacify an ego more,

But then again,

Maybe it also could eliminate it depending on the type of confidence and maybe what a higher goal is.

So cultivating diligence,

Effort,

And energy.

Diligence means keeping after it,

Right?

Keeping on and on with it.

Not shirking it off.

Effort as opposed to laziness,

Lack of effort,

Idleness,

And energy.

The potential for action,

Right?

And then the fuel for action.

So how do we cultivate this?

Effort is,

In this context,

Defined by the four right efforts.

Eradicating and wholesome.

That's already there.

Preventing unwholesome that hasn't arisen.

Maintaining wholesome states that are existent and rousing.

Creating yet existent wholesome states.

Maybe it's okay to say,

I don't know how to cultivate diligence,

Effort,

And energy.

Being honest.

And then what follows is,

Well,

How do I cultivate these confidently?

So confidently cultivating could also mean to eliminate doubt.

To point in the direction of doubt elimination.

So we may start having some progress on this,

But then all of a sudden,

Doubt creeps in.

Discount it.

Get discouraged.

So this is where the prior stage of faith comes in.

The fourth stage,

The stage of mental stability.

We cultivate confidence in being able to focus on an object without distraction.

So how do we actually cultivate this confidence to focus on an object without distraction,

When it may be the case,

Especially starting out,

That that's not true?

There is no,

There's very little ability compared to what we can imagine or conceive or aim for.

To stay with an object without distraction.

Almost have this innate knowing that way more is possible than what we're currently capable of.

So if so,

Where does that come from?

How do we know this without being able to do it?

Should be a key right there.

So how do we be honest with where we're at now,

Without letting that discourage or disempower the natural ability to focus on an object without distraction,

When there's nothing hindering that?

Many things in life we don't have choices over.

One thing we usually have choice over though,

Is what we pay attention to and how we pay attention to it.

So that right there is in fact very empowering and encouraging.

That there's really little that can take that choice and ability away,

Especially on a long-term basis.

So maybe one way we can help cultivate this confidence and undistractability on an object is to look at the perception of distraction.

What if there were no distractions?

What if what we're perceiving as distraction is just an unwholesome perception?

Taking this on as a mind experiment,

How might that be possible?

To be in a world where nothing was perceived as a distraction,

And yet with the choice to absorb our attention into a single object.

Another way to cultivate confidence and being able to keep attention on a single object is to know the value of this and the danger of not doing this,

And what the escape involved in this is,

So we can investigate,

Why do I want to stay with a single object?

What's the big deal with that?

What's the payoff?

And that's week three of the first month,

August 2021,

The Paramita Challenge.

Week four of the first month of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021.

This is from the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva path,

Subset of the 10 stages of faith.

Stage five,

The stage of the wisdom of understanding emptiness.

We arouse our faith in the mind's ability to understand emptiness and to attain enlightenment.

So the mind's ability to understand emptiness and attain enlightenment,

Well,

Attaining enlightenment,

Although I like to say realizing enlightenment because some say we're all already enlightened,

We just haven't realized it yet.

So either way,

This enlightenment,

Which again,

Prefer awakening over enlightenment,

Either way,

This is what practice is all about.

You know,

I do this if not having a final goal.

Of course,

The historical Buddha said,

I wouldn't teach this if it wasn't possible.

Now,

Understanding emptiness,

The mind's ability.

So once emptiness is realized,

Does it really need to be understood?

I guess so.

Yes,

It does.

It just seems like a knowing.

I guess those are similar,

Understanding and knowing.

Anyway,

Emptiness is often confused with not being real.

Oh,

It's all empty.

It's not real.

Just an illusion.

And I think this is a common misunderstanding,

To say the least.

Perhaps my limited understanding of emptiness,

Knowledge of emptiness is all compounded things are subject to falling away,

Passing away.

They're not going to be around forever.

So why is that?

Well,

In the current reality we're in,

Seems we're in a closed entropic system where nothing can last forever.

Even the most giant mountains over eons,

Given the same type of system dynamics,

I guess,

Will eventually fade away.

Look at the St.

Francis Mountains in Missouri here.

And they're said to be some of the oldest mountains around.

And they're pretty big hills now.

Nothing humongous anymore.

So who knows?

Empty of what?

What is empty and what is it empty of?

Another way to look at this is it's empty of a self,

A permanent,

Abiding,

Controllable,

Unchanging self.

This is not me.

This is not mine.

This is not who I am.

I'm not made of this.

Going back to the first part of this about everything not being real and it's all an illusion and a dream.

Well,

In a way maybe.

But this can be a potentially dangerous perception to have people get at if they're not ready for this.

Obviously because it can excuse so many actions.

It could lead to nihilism.

It could even put people in depression or discouragement if not understood correctly.

There needs to be a stability,

A general ground to be able to better handle when this comes around.

Although I don't know if it needs to be but it seems a lot safer and more of a direct,

Linear approach for the least amount of bumpy challenges.

So maybe another way to look at emptiness is is there any essence to be found in anything?

If there was a true essence to something,

It seems like it could be captured,

Duplicated,

Controlled and be able to really pin something down so you could do whatever you want with it.

Making it last indefinitely.

But I don't know,

That's more speculation.

But if something does have an essence,

How would you,

You know,

Obviously prove it scientifically or beyond that,

Metaphysically,

On other various levels?

I don't know.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I'll just leave it there for the fourth week of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021.

This is the miscellaneous section of the first month of the Paramita Challenge,

August 2021.

It deals with generosity and the precept of refraining from killing.

The six perfections and their subdivisions from the Sutta.

Sutra on understanding the profound and esoteric doctrine.

Observe your intentions to practice generosity.

Observe your opportunities to be generous.

Be aware of your generous actions and their results.

Generosity here means,

By this description,

Giving of material goods,

Giving of Dharma teachings when requested,

And the giving of fearlessness broken down into providing a feeling of safety for others,

Providing antidote skills to self and others when anxious,

And overcoming fears of impermanence,

Even those of sickness,

Aging and death.

So generosity,

Obviously,

Is so important,

Especially for overcoming miserly-ness,

Stinginess.

And,

Of course,

We all get what we give,

Right?

So if we're generous,

We'll receive generosity in return.

And that's not something to be believed or disbelieved.

It's just something we have to either have faith and then try it out or experiment and see if it works.

And in my experience,

Obviously it does.

Sometimes those results return quicker than other times,

Especially depending on past actions.

Of course,

We pay attention to how we feel when we're intending on giving during the act of giving and then reflecting afterwards.

I really love this opportunity to be generous.

If we become aware enough,

Just about every moment can be an act of generosity,

Just our very presence,

Without really having to say,

Do or be anything,

Can anchor the light of wisdom and compassion and care to all those we come in contact with or just the area that we're in.

So then there's giving up material goods.

That's pretty straightforward.

Giving up Dharma teachings when requested.

That's pretty straightforward,

Too.

And fearlessness,

Though,

Providing a feeling of safety to others.

This is important,

Especially when people are doing anything pretty much they can to get a sense of safety.

A lot of times people will dangle the promise of safety in front of them in exchange for all kinds of things surrendered for it,

Like freedoms,

Money.

Even people will sacrifice things for safety while those of us keeping these precepts,

It's just our second nature,

If not now,

Then eventually to help others feel at ease and safe.

Everybody's going through so much,

It doesn't really make much sense to add crap on top of that.

And also part of that's recognizing when we're not in a space to be able to adequately supply that to others.

So being mindful of that,

Too,

And taking countermeasures.

This is interesting,

Anxious,

Providing antidote skills to self and others when anxious.

One of the biggest ones is realizing that anxiety is living in the future a lot of times.

Maybe also it's clinging to ideas about certain things and not wanting to let go of them,

Despite evidence to the contrary.

And so when that clinging comes on,

And it's got to be a certain way,

And it doesn't turn out to be that way,

Or there's no awareness of this going on,

Then anxiety can keep going.

Other times,

People really don't have a reference point for the opposite of anxious,

Or when they do,

They don't value it,

Or think it's not a legitimate possibly,

Or that it's only a partial solution.

And so the other programming kicks back in,

Maybe not cede the benefit.

So three,

Overcoming fears of impermanence,

Even those of sickness,

Aging,

And death.

Yes,

Of course,

Overcoming fears of all sorts,

Especially those unfounded fears that are perpetrated for means of control,

Division,

Surrendering freedoms,

Or being free.

Those things done to keep people compliant,

To keep them in control,

So they're easily controlled,

Manipulated,

Led by the no's.

There's really no fear of impermanence that I know of.

Everybody pretty much knows that cognitively that things are impermanent,

But I guess when it goes into practice,

It's maybe a different thing.

Sometimes there can be the feeling where you just kind of want things to pause,

And life doesn't work like that.

Things will keep going,

Changing,

Inconstant.

But there's an upside to that too,

Right?

If things were all locked in,

It would be like living in a crystalline world,

And there'd be no chance for progression,

Sickness,

Aging,

And death.

We've all experienced this,

Pretty much at a certain age.

The Buddha was sheltered for a long time,

But even he couldn't escape this.

Witnessing it,

Sickness,

That's the big one now,

In the middle of the CV,

Who's subject to sickness before this,

Subject to sickness during,

And more than likely will be still subject to sickness afterwards,

Until full realization,

Or closer to that point.

Same way with aging,

All the time and money spent on the illusion of upkeep of a young age,

When the body ages.

And of course death,

Maybe you have to go beyond death.

If people don't realize this,

Then a lot of their actions are springing forth from the fear of death.

Maybe trying to scream out for their consciousness to be aware of it.

I don't know.

Death is a part of life in this realm,

In this current moment,

For most of us,

As far as I know.

And of course these aren't made to bum people out.

They're made to be contemplated in order to further align with the truth,

And when we're being honest with ourselves and others,

That can bring greater relief.

So then,

The first major precept,

This is from The Buddha Speaks The Brahmanet Sutra Part 1,

Translated into Chinese by Kumar Jiva,

Translated into English by Dharma Realm University,

1982.

And the sutra says,

To the extent that he cannot deliberately kill any living creature,

A bodhisattva should always give rise to the eternally abiding mind of kindness,

Compassion,

And filial compliance.

Thus,

He should devise skillful means to rescue and protect all beings.

Hence,

If a bodhisattva kills with indulgence or invents his delight in killing any being,

He thereby commits a bodhisattva prajika offense.

So there's just a comment here on what this prajika offense.

This term,

According to the paravara,

Derives from a verb meaning to lose or be defeated.

In the vinaya,

The term refers to a bhikkhu who commits any of the major offenses,

Has surrendered to his own mental defilements to such an extent that he defeats the purpose of his having become a bhikkhu in the first place.

A bhikkhu who commits any of these offenses severs himself irrevocably from the life of the Sangha and is no longer considered a bhikkhu.

Wow,

That's pretty intense,

Right?

You can't even go back to a lay person then?

You can't even go back to the Sangha?

I don't know,

I don't totally get this,

But the first precept is pretty obvious,

Right?

I mean,

Just imagine if everybody on Earth reframed from killing just other human beings for one day.

The whole world would change quicker than it did with the lockdowns.

And I just got out of a movie,

A popular sci-fi movie.

It's actually a few months later than the date of this recording and there was plenty of violence involved in the movie.

And yeah,

I haven't seen one for years,

But within that there was like this code of engagement in battle,

Honor codes or whatnot.

And none of it really made sense or registered.

I could tell they had a whole system for when to engage in battle,

Why they were doing it,

Who they were serving,

Who they were fighting,

Why,

How,

And all this stuff.

But it was really complex rules that I didn't really follow,

At least the details on it.

Maybe it's because I just can't fathom even wanting to harm anything.

It's really a setup for your own disaster.

I don't see.

.

.

It's hard to know how people can't see this.

Interactions have consequences.

What you do for good or ill is going to come back to you with good or ill results.

And this is nothing to believe or disbelieve.

You just have to know and see it for yourself.

So then this goes further into protecting other beings.

So when we see and know this and you see so many delusions and ignorance all around us,

And having compassion for those still in delusion and ignorance,

Acting out of ill will or greed,

Harming living creatures.

Because they might know better,

But on deeper levels they don't realize the profundity of their actions or something like this.

So this is where skillful means are developed to do what we can to protect other beings too.

And then also how do you protect those perpetrating it as well?

That's kind of a wild card balance in here.

There's conventional ways and there's unconventional ways.

And this can go into pretty subtle territory about harming anyway.

Killing is pretty straightforward,

But it comes back to ill will or delusion and or delusion.

So of course this is where martial arts can come in handy,

Like Akito.

Although I don't know any of these,

That one's a defense method that doesn't even harm in itself,

Really,

That I know of.

I don't know if anybody's ever heard of the Native American tradition.

If I'm getting this right of counting coup,

So the warriors would go into battle.

Instead of killing they would touch the enemy with a coup stick.

A coup stick,

If I'm getting that right.

And so what this signifies is that although they could have killed because they got so close,

They chose not to.

And so that actually one-ups in battle because they override the intent of killing or supersede it.

Of course there's correctional systems that are likely vast in many methods employed.

There's prevention measures for killing,

Preventing killing.

Some of these though are tricky,

Maybe like this company called Palantir who does pre-crime.

So these computer systems can predict when crime may be committed and then law enforcement can be deployed.

But as long as the whole thing isn't open source and completely transparent,

It's really anybody's guess.

As far as effectiveness and rights infringement,

Depending on the parties involved and methods employed.

Rescuing and protecting all beings.

This is another balancing act as the call needs to be made if we're helping them if they want help.

Or if we're stepping on their journey by helping them prematurely like breaking a butterfly out of his cocoon too soon.

But then not acting when one can and the other can't,

Then that's potentially a shortcoming too.

Depending on the level of discernment and causes and conditions involved.

But the key here,

Eternally abiding mind of kindness,

Compassion and filial compliance.

When those are really practiced and developed,

Well the other things just become more self-evident and obvious.

And that's the miscellaneous section for August 2021 of the Paramita Challenge.

For the September 2021 Paramita Challenge into the 10 stages of faith.

Apparently this is stage 6,

The stage of pure self-restraint.

We maintain our faith in moral discipline and self-restraint to reduce suffering.

So,

A few initial notes here.

What is faith?

How do we maintain faith?

I'm more inclined to use self-containment instead of self-restraint.

So then,

Looking at the opposites of this,

What would be unpure self-restraint or self-containment?

And where would this happen and not happen and how?

So for example,

If we restrain ourselves or contain ourselves from acting or speaking or possibly even thinking,

How would this be pure versus unpure?

I'm at a loss for that as of now.

And then we look at our morals.

What are morals?

Why should we have them?

And which morals should we adhere to and why?

Are there any times when we shouldn't have morals or they should be let go of?

And then where does faith come into moral discipline?

What is faith?

Do we need faith to be moral?

Is it possible now or in the future to be moral without discipline or faith?

How and why?

And then how do we,

Speaking up and not self-censoring to reduce suffering,

So for example,

Could this turn into a form of self-censorship?

We'd like to hold back from saying something even though we feel it can help prevent suffering or end suffering.

But for some reason we're adhering to maybe a distorted version of this stage of faith.

But then again,

Taking this too far,

Then it could break down self-restraint when it's needed.

And then what about learning about morality from immorality?

Do we need to engage in this ourselves to actually learn it?

Or is it enough to observe others' immoral acts and see clearly that's not leading to any kind of suffering reduction or happiness?

Sometimes it seems like we have to learn the hard way on some things.

And then on a relative level I sometimes contain because even without saying anything or interacting,

I can bring up stuff in folks they don't want to see or deal with,

Or they don't even have the tools or means to do so.

And this is easier though to do with the CO-V going on right now.

So self-containment and self-restraint is a little bit more socially acceptable.

As an example,

The other day I found myself cursing at significant volume and not realizing this until I could hear the passerbyers outside by my window,

Open window,

Awkwardly wishing each other well.

So this begs the question,

When is it good to repress and not repress things too?

At what point do things keep getting bottled up and then they reach a boiling point and explode?

How should there be a healthy outlet?

Or how can these things just dissolve?

Of course meditation allows us to see this,

Allows us to see this material that's repressed and allow it to dissolve as well.

And again,

You can never have too much mindfulness,

Especially right mindfulness.

This is week two of the Paramita Challenge for September 2021.

There was some mishaps on the setting,

So it accidentally used an internal microphone.

So I'm re-recording this introduction.

I'm just going to keep the original.

And this is on the 10 stages of faith,

The seventh stage.

The stage returning the merit.

And the description here reads,

We have faith in how sharing merit is far better than accumulating merit for oneself.

So right off the bat,

I don't know if it's just the translation,

But I will be a little bit nitpicky on this.

Returning merit,

Does that imply that we give it back from whence it came?

Sharing is very different than return,

I feel.

So sharing means to spread around freely,

Or at least not just keeping everything for oneself.

And I totally agree with that much more than returning.

You know,

Merit,

What is merit?

So I guess my limited understanding of this is its benefit from our spiritual practice,

Basic,

Our ethics,

The way we act,

Respond,

And view things,

Meditation practice,

Other spiritual practices,

And then wisdom,

Who's the knowledge gained in everyday life,

What we do with that,

Or not do with that.

So let's just take this a step further and maybe draw parallels to a meritocracy,

Where I guess that would mean instead of other forms of compensation based on other methods,

It would be based on merit,

On which you actually contribute.

And so now I go deeper into the metaphysics of sharing,

And I just heard recently how,

What I'll say after this,

It really doesn't apply anyway,

Because you can't share merit.

It's a nice sentiment,

Though,

For certain things,

And I'm not exactly remembering exactly how this was,

But I think Bodhidharma said it too,

When someone asked him how much merit he gained from doing all these good deeds,

And he said,

No merit.

So let's just say,

Though,

That it was possible to share merit.

Okay,

Who all will we share it with?

Let's say we share it with all beings everywhere,

And it actually got to them,

Abortions.

Wouldn't that constitute such a meritorious deed as to even gain more merit for ourselves?

And then it would just compound and combo because we would just keep sharing that and sharing that and sharing that.

So I don't know.

The other thing is,

If merit were to be shared,

Could it get hijacked?

Could certain beings or factions actually have found out a way to steal merit,

Basically?

To take all the hard work from others,

Commandeer it for themselves,

Without freely sharing,

And then cover up and hide the fact that they have,

You know,

Possibly like with money,

Resources,

Pot,

Regular mundane?

So again,

Perception is very important,

But overall,

Yes,

If merit can be shared,

It reminds me of the saying of the worthlessness of worldly things,

Ultimately,

Right?

Because we can't hold on to them,

Can't take them with us beyond this lifetime.

If we could,

They will eventually perish and things change in a state of flux,

And nothing lasts forever.

So why not help out others while we can with the added wisdom that there may be others who don't have the same benevolent intentions for the all?

And so,

How would we respond to that?

How would we deal with that?

Is there any way we could ensure that our merit does get distributed equally?

If not,

Then what do we do?

Week two.

This is week three of the Paramita Challenge,

The second month,

September 2021.

The stage of maintaining the Dharma within oneself.

This is the eighth of the ten stages of faith.

We cultivate faith in our intention and ability to protect the Dharma teachings from harm,

Loss,

And corruption.

So again,

This description for me is a little bit disjointed from the title of the stage.

The stage of maintaining the Dharma within oneself.

To me,

That means how do we keep truth and the teachings of the Buddha within ourselves?

Meaning,

How can we increase the likelihood of being able to draw on these teachings whenever we need them?

To be able to see these teachings and know these teachings and the truth within us and in our everyday external world.

How we can apply them to our lives to help ourselves and others.

And for me,

A lot of this is,

At least in the beginning,

Is really no excuse with so many teachers publicly available now.

So many Dharma talks to listen to.

So many opportunities through every moment of our lives to practice.

And once we can really see and know that there really isn't much,

I mean,

There's sure there's benefit in other things in life,

But this is like an underlying and overarching superseding and all penetrating thing that just blows everything else out of the water.

So,

When the benefits and lack of really other options in our lives once this becomes apparent,

But that's a good thing because it makes a lot of our choices easier.

And basically,

Truth is all there is.

So it turns into the only game in town at some point.

So now when I go to this,

We cultivate faith in our intention and ability to protect the Dharma teachings from harm,

Loss,

And corruption.

It's really interesting.

First off,

While,

Yes,

Dharma teachings obviously benefit and truth benefits from being safeguarded from harm,

Loss,

And corruption,

At the end of the day,

Truth can never be destroyed.

So it really can take care of itself.

However,

That doesn't mean that those in power or those who know it with less than benevolent intentions aren't and won't and haven't veiled truth in teachings,

Distorted truth in Dharma teachings,

Tried to wipe them out,

Harm them,

Sure,

So this all comes down to discernment.

Where are those veils?

What are those veils?

Where are those intentions?

Who are they coming from?

What can we do while maintaining non-harming?

Do we speak truth to power,

Call out where this is happening?

Or do we hold back because we're not 100% sure?

How do we probe into this to investigate if this is really going on?

Because a lot of these things are pretty conniving.

It can be really subtle.

And then we can fear looking wrong or paranoid or overly protective.

So how do we look into this and start to suss out corruption without being overly protective or being gung-ho and perceived as militant buddhas or militant dharma protectors?

Or the other end that,

Oh,

It just doesn't matter,

I'll just let somebody else do it.

Just sit back and it'll all work out.

I don't have to do anything.

So balancing that.

And I guess,

Yes,

Initially this does require faith in our intention and ability,

But at a certain point it just becomes a clear obvious thing to do.

And that faith is verified or not needed as much anymore because it just seems inbuilt into our operating system to do something like this because it's not only for our benefit,

It's for the benefit of all beings everywhere.

That's week three of the Paramita Challenge for September 2021.

The third stage,

I'm sorry,

The eighth stage,

The ten stages of faith.

This is week four of the Paramita Challenge,

September 2021.

The ten stages of faith,

Stages nine and ten.

Stage nine is the stage of detachment.

We have faith that progress and training does not require austerity,

But instead requires the practice of non-clinging.

Stage ten,

The stage of aspiration.

We cultivate our faith in the strong aspiration to attain enlightenment.

So for stage nine,

Having faith that progress and training does not require austerities,

But instead requires the practice of non-clinging.

So obviously,

Yes,

Suffering is due to clinging.

So any amount of non-clinging we can have,

The better,

Which that is the utmost importance.

I totally agree.

However,

Or that said,

The austerities does not require austerities.

So let's not forget that those aren't totally excluded in practice.

They might be challenging for householders to do,

For monastics even.

But the Buddha did recommend the Dattanga practices,

And there's 13 of these I'll go through briefly.

The Buddha said that extreme austerities that he practiced at one point in his journey were unnecessary.

But he did make exception for these 13,

Which aren't severe at all.

But they are basically eschewing some creature comforts.

Let's put it that way.

And the other extreme of just indulging in everything he didn't recommend as well.

And it makes sense,

The middle way,

Having balance.

So the first one is a refuse rag-wares practice,

Basically meaning that you'd only wear robes for discarded or soiled cloths,

Patchwork cloth.

The second one is a triple robe-wear.

So they would only have three robes and not have any additional robes.

The alms food eater practice.

So you just go,

Only eat food on alms rounds and not go to like rich people's houses or where you're dwelling at.

And the house-to-house seeker practice says you could only go around to every house,

Not emitting any.

You couldn't just make a beeline toward where all the good food,

Regular food is.

The one sessioners practice,

Eating one meal a day.

The bowl eaters practice,

So eating everything out of one bowl mixed together instead of separate plates and dishes.

Seven,

Later food and refusers practice.

Once you're full,

You wouldn't offer or you wouldn't accept any more food.

The forest dweller practice,

Not living in a town or village,

But away from that.

Tree root dweller,

You would live under a tree without any shelter or roof in the open.

Air dwellers practice number 10 is refusing a roof and a tree root.

But you can do a,

It's a shelter out of a tent of robes.

And charnel ground practice,

This is where you would go or a charnel ground,

Which probably not too many people are familiar with,

Especially in the West.

The forecasters said that if somebody couldn't afford a burial cremation,

They would just put them all in one place and let them,

Let nature decompose them as it will.

So it'd be living nearby one of these or a graveyard or cremation ground.

And then the any bed users practice number 11,

Just being satisfied with any place you can stay.

And then 13 is the sinner's practice,

Which involves omitting the lying down posture.

So you're only walking,

Standing,

Sitting.

And those are the 13 do tanga practices.

Now the next one is number 10,

The stage of aspiration.

We cultivate our faith in the strong aspiration to attain enlightenment.

A few things here.

I don't know about attaining enlightenment.

So it's it's not like this something we got to get and then then we can get back to Netflix,

Right?

Some say that we're we're already enlightened.

We just haven't realized it yet.

So in a way I can see it as an attainment,

But it resonates more with me as a realization.

And it's an ongoing thing to as far as I know,

Abiding,

Dwelling in that with some especially those who've been considered to be realized enlightenment.

And then the strong aspiration I feel is important because,

You know,

Why are we even doing all this anyway?

That is the goal,

Right?

To realize awakening and be free.

And everything else is just getting us towards that.

And that goal,

That fruit,

The end of the holy life,

Pretty much encompasses everything else along the way,

Leading towards that or leading away from that.

Although some might say that even when we think we're led away,

As long as we make the resolve to use that and learn from our mistakes,

Then there is no non opportunities,

I guess.

And it's never too late to course correct.

And of course,

You know,

The Buddha said if it wasn't possible,

I wouldn't teach it.

So I don't see where it's helpful either to like make jokes about,

Oh,

You know,

When I'm enlightened and poking fun like it's not possible or a legend or just some fanciful fairy tale,

Which kind of degrades and lessens this whole thing because might as well just go back to Netflix or whatever.

So it's week four of September 2020 with the Paramita Challenge.

This is the miscellaneous section for month two of the Paramita Challenge,

September 2021.

It mainly has to do with morality or ethics and stealing.

So we'll start with the six perfections and their subdivisions from the Sutra on understanding the profound and esoteric doctrine.

This is number two,

Morality and in parentheses,

It says discipline.

Number one,

As a description,

Discipline to turn away from what is not good to discipline to turn towards what is good.

Three,

Discipline to turn toward benefiting sentient being.

So turning away from what is not good sometimes,

Especially in the beginning,

This might be like witnessing a train wreck.

It's just hard to turn away from it,

Especially since our culture encourages for entertainment such wild behavior that's screaming out for attention.

So what is good?

What is not good?

What's ethical?

What's not ethical?

For me,

That's pretty simple when it boils down to harming or not harming.

What leads to the benefit and well-being of ourselves and others,

Especially in the long term and what doesn't.

So as we practice and keep these precepts,

It just becomes more and more intuitive,

Maybe instinctual,

Ingrained,

Learned.

And in other ways obvious to what's for benefit and what's not,

What's good and what's not.

And then the third one,

Discipline to turn towards benefiting sentient beings.

And so when those first two just become second nature and then we've pretty much got a lot of our own house in order.

Well then what's left is,

I guess since then I've heard they've got two jobs to meditate and sweep the monastery and the monastery includes the whole world.

So yeah,

Once we have our place,

Our house in order,

Then it just makes sense to help other people when we can.

The second one is from the doctrine of mere consciousness.

The ten excellent moral exercises are the ten paramitas.

Number two is virality or observance of precepts.

And precepts are of three kinds.

One,

Precepts governing personal conduct,

Precepts for the acquisition of good dharma,

And three,

Precepts for the bestowal of benefits and advantages on sentient beings.

So what are these precepts?

I have no idea.

Which ones govern personal conduct?

Maybe that's like the five precepts.

No harming,

Killing,

Stealing,

Lying,

Taking intoxicants that cloud the mind that would make the other ones more likely.

Of course it's a practice,

Not a command.

Each one.

And then precepts for acquisition of good dharma.

This one I'd be interested in learning because it seems like that would just be on discernment if we had to go by ourselves.

Dharma here meaning teachings of the Buddha supposedly,

But I guess in this case it would be more like a reality.

The truth of the way things are.

But then again,

If there's truth to the way things are,

Then there is no,

The bad would be not true or false,

Good dharma.

So the dharma is acquired how?

And bad dharma is acquired how?

It seems once discernment is developed,

Anyone trying to,

Or anything trying to pass off false deceptive teachings or dharma can be seen cut through with a sort of discernment and decisiveness.

It's really kind of heart wrenching that such a thing would even be possible to counterfeit truth.

It's not really possible,

It's just a deception,

An illusion,

And once it's seen through,

It seems that it's just that,

Not true,

So it doesn't really exist.

But until that veil is lifted,

We can discern what's true and what's not.

And number three,

Precept for the bestowal of benefits and advantages on sentient beings.

Again,

I don't know what this is or what this means.

But I know bestowing benefits and advantages on sentient beings just seems like second nature again after we have some kind of decent establishment for ourselves.

So I don't get why there needs to be precepts around that.

I guess there's ways to mess it up or maybe ways to make it better.

But it just seems fairly self-evident that once in a spot,

We can see and tell what benefits and what doesn't for ourselves and others,

What's advantage and what's a dissident for ourselves and others.

And then from the Brahmanic Sutra,

The Brahma Jala Sutra,

With the Chinese translation attributed to Kumarajiva and the English translation by A.

Charles Miller and Kenneth K.

Tanaka.

Number two,

Prohibition of stealing others' properties.

My disciples,

You should not yourself steal and cite others to steal or steal through deception.

If you engage in the causes of stealing,

The conditions of stealing,

The planning of stealing,

The act of stealing or stealing through magical spells and so on,

Up to stealing the property of spiritual beings or the properties of thieves.

No matter what object is stolen,

Whether a single needle or blade of grass,

Or even if you have stolen by accident.

Bodhisattva generates the Buddha nature mind of reverence and compassion,

Always assisting all people to bring about well-being and happiness.

If instead you steal others' wealth and possessions,

This is a Brahma-jika offense for Bodhisattvas.

So in my own experience,

I think when I was a kid,

I got it into my head like one time that I was going to try stealing,

But I got so nervous and so agitated and worried and all these horrible emotions came up I couldn't go through with it.

I'm glad I didn't.

The only other time was a time in high school where I just received some stolen goods from someone and turns out of course they got caught later and I guess years later I ended up donating all of my CDs.

There may have been a few ones left in there,

But I think someone actually might have stole some of those too,

Living with people,

But it's just kind of silly.

You know,

Stealing.

I never really understood it.

A few times I've accidentally found myself walking away with something by accident.

Obviously as soon as I discover it,

I make all the effort to return it and make sure everything's squared away.

Accidents happen and it's obviously not intended,

So that's pretty easy to take care of.

Yeah,

I don't know.

I'm trying to think of the psychology of thieves and maybe they do it for the thrill of things.

Maybe they were taught that way.

Maybe they get attention.

Maybe it's a lifestyle.

I really don't know.

Obviously through the magical spells or property of spiritual beings,

Even thieves themselves,

Right?

So the magical spells,

I don't want to get into that because even if I were to study that,

It's kind of pointless to really look into unless that's being perpetrated or you're trying to help someone who's involved in that.

Spiritual beings,

That's interesting.

What would spiritual beings own and how would it be stolen?

Of course,

These are rhetorical questions.

I don't encourage anybody to look into that unless it's relevant for their experience in life at the time,

But it's definitely interesting.

Of course,

Stealing through deception.

How many times do we get telemarketer calls?

What about advertising?

Does that count?

It seems like some forms of marketing and advertising are even just tacit consent that's usually assumed by all kinds of different instances in life where if you don't speak up against it,

Then it's just assumed that you're going along with it and you've given consent.

So is that stealing consent?

Of course,

You can really drill down in this and get into some really great lines,

But I'm going to leave it there for now for the miscellaneous section of month two of the Paramita Challenge,

September 2021.

This is the first week of month three of the Paramita Challenge in October 2021.

I'm unsure really the structure of what should be contemplated when,

But I'm just going to go ahead what I know of for sure for the first week here as an overview.

This month deals with the patient's parimita,

Precept of no sexual misconduct,

And then what's clear are the first four stages of the 52 stages of the bodhisattva path.

So each one of those four is one a week.

So the first one is the abode of arousing aspiration and the notes on it are we abide in the firm resolve to attain Buddhahood.

So what is Buddhahood?

There's classically 10 epithets and I'll read those,

But I also want to read 100 real quick that are also mentioned in the Pali Canon.

Arhat,

Which is worthy of offerings is a common translation.

Also,

It gets fully enlightened one.

Samyak Sambuddha,

Perfect and true wisdom and enlightenment.

Vidya Cha Rana Sampanna,

Butchering the Pali here.

Perfect in knowledge and conduct.

Sugata,

Well liberated or well gone,

Well departed.

Lokavit is the omniscient or understander of the world,

Knower of the world.

Anutra,

The almighty,

Peerless,

Unexcelled leader.

Jyotirushya,

Andamya,

Saratvi,

Master of trainer,

Trainer of people,

Trainer of men to be trained,

Controller.

What even bothered us?

I can one teacher of heavenly gods and humans and Bhagavat,

Buddha Bhagavat.

So it's the world honored one.

So the 100 titles,

All Seeing,

All Transcending Sage,

All Vanquish Saved,

Arhat,

Awakened One,

Best of Those Who Can Be Tamed,

Blessed One,

Brahma,

Buddha,

Bull Among Men,

Bull Among Seers,

Bull of the Sakyan Clan,

Caravan Leader,

Conqueror of Beasts,

Conqueror of Mara,

Consummate in Knowledge and Conduct,

Dhamma,

Discoverer in the Dhamma after it died out,

Dispeller of Darkness,

Elucidator of Meaning,

Endowed One,

Dispeller of Darkness,

Elucidator of Meaning,

Endowed with All the Foremost Marks,

Endowed with Knowledge and Good Conduct,

Exalted One,

Expert with Regard to the World,

The Eye,

First in the World,

Foremost Jewel,

Foremost of All People,

Foremost of Charioteers,

Foremost of Those Who Can Cross,

Foremost Sage,

Fortunate One,

Freed,

Fully Enlightened One,

Giver of the Deathless,

God of Gods,

Gautama,

Great One,

Great Seer,

Guide,

Healer,

Helper,

Helper of the World,

Hymn of the Ten P powers,

A Comparable Charioteer of Men to be Tamed,

King of the Dhamma,

Kinsman of the Sun,

Knower,

Enlightened of the World,

Knowledge,

Lion of the Dhamma,

Lion Man,

Lion of the Sakyas,

Lord Buddha,

Lord of the Sages,

Lord of the Dhamma,

Master Gautama,

Noble One,

Of Excellent Wisdom,

One Who Sees,

One Who Transcends All,

Peaceful Sage,

Peerless Bull,

Perfect in Knowledge and Practice,

Physician,

The Perfect One,

Pure,

Radiant One,

Recluse,

Related to the Sun,

Rightly Self-Awakened,

Sakyamuni,

Sammasambuddha,

Self-Dependent,

Shower of the Way,

Siddhartha,

Stainless,

Sublime One,

Supreme Among Those Who Can Be Released,

Tagata,

Thus Come or Thus Gone One,

Teacher,

Teacher of Divine and Human Beings,

Teacher of the World,

Thoroughly Mature,

Torchbearer of Mankind,

Training Leader,

Ultimate Leader,

Unconquered Conqueror,

Unexcelled Trainer of Those People Fit to be Tamed,

Unsurpassed Charioteer of Beings to be Tamed,

Unsurpassed Doctor and Surgeon,

Unvanquished,

Vanquisher,

Victor in Battle,

Wanderer,

Wellfarer,

Wellgone One,

Wielder of Power,

With Great Wisdom,

World-Knower,

Worthy One.

And that comes from DhammaWiki.

Com.

So back again to the abode of arousing aspiration.

We abide in the firm resolve to attain Buddhahood.

What really stood out for me with this one is,

Although there's been plenty of books and probably tons and tons of material and teaching on this that I am not familiar with and haven't looked into yet,

It seems to be a Buddha.

You have to be self awakened.

At least a full Buddha,

Right?

This title.

And so,

You know,

With all the help we get from teachers and teachings and everything,

It's so helpful to stand on the shoulder of giants.

That said,

If we do encounter the Dhamma from anybody else,

Our teachers,

Our study,

Actually even the words of the Buddha,

Which I am all for,

It's helped me obviously so much.

At the same time,

How would it then be possible to gain full Buddhahood with that?

So I am wondering if that's a paradox or if it's supposed to be gained in another lifetime,

But then of course,

What about teachings remembered,

Teachings forgotten?

But I think that might just be in the weeds.

But while we're there,

This English word hood,

Buddhahood,

Hood is like to cover,

But it can also be uncovered,

Kind of shrouded,

But why would you want to hide?

I know,

At least I think I know that some Theravada monks,

They're not allowed to wear anything on top of their head.

So I'm not sure exactly why that is or what that is or how it ties into this,

But maybe it does.

But the point here even more so is the abode of arousing aspiration.

What stirs up aspiration?

What are we aspiring to?

Does it need to be a clear end goal?

What helps arouse this and what doesn't help?

And should we stop with what already works or should we keep going,

Try more?

And when do we recognize when it's lacking or not adequate or sufficient?

So these are some questions that came up.

I don't really have very many answers for those other than,

Yeah,

You know,

That is one opportunity or silver lining of Dukkha is there's a great incentive to know it and end it.

And I guess any of those titles that really jump out and stand out,

They can provide aspiration or at least inspiration for aspiration.

Week two of month three of the Paramita Challenge,

October 2021 of the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva path,

Number two,

The abode of nurturing.

We abide in preparing the mind ground to practice the view of emptiness.

Nurturing is so important.

It extends beyond this as well.

We've got the four nutriments of food,

Feeling,

Thoughts or mental stuff,

I guess you could say,

And consciousness.

And these are all vital to our health and well-being,

Whether or not we have any kind of higher aspirations in life,

Although it's probably not on the to-do list.

The majority of people in the world to wake up every morning and want to nourish their consciousness.

But,

You know,

So what are we nurturing ourselves with?

Fast food of the mind are things that will help us progress,

Uplift,

Elevate?

Are we eating little junk food?

Are we spending time eating clean,

Organic food that we can prepare for ourselves?

And what kind of energy is going into it?

What kind of thought forming into it?

What are we studying?

Are we vegging out TVs and video games?

Are we taking the time to,

Again,

Take in material for our highest happiness and those highest happiness of all those around us?

Or at least could lead to that.

And then consciousness,

What's the overall state of knowingness in the entire sphere of our lives?

And the quality of that.

Now preparing the mind ground to practice the view of emptiness.

I'm not exactly sure about this.

First off,

What is the mind ground?

Can the mind,

Which is really hard to pin down,

Can it have a ground?

And do we need to practice views?

And then,

Of course,

What is emptiness?

What is empty?

I think this is somewhat,

At least on a cognitive level,

Important to know in order to see some kind of value and significance of preparation stages for it.

And is emptiness a view or is it a state or quality or can it be both?

How and why?

And then abiding.

How do we abide?

Does that mean continuously?

Does it mean to the best we can?

But what this overall means to me is something like emptiness or any really hard truth in life that can be uncomfortable,

Unbearable,

Very destructive to what we've built up to that point.

If that comes along and there's no stability and the rug gets pulled out from under us,

It could be damaging or confusing,

Devastating even.

And while we can allow devastation to reveal the deepest truth inside of us,

It's also a possibility to do it more gradually so where it's not as much of a shock or topsy turvy or disheveling.

So there is this possibility of preparing,

Healing and nurturing with nutriments that are highly beneficial and nutritious.

And that's week two of month three of the Paramita Challenge,

October 2021.

Week three of the Paramita Challenge for October,

This is the third of the ten abodes from the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva path.

The abode of practice in the description here says,

We abide in cultivating all good practices and the four wholesome roots of warmth,

Tipping point,

Patience and highest worldly wisdom.

So obviously I haven't received a formal teaching or any kind of teaching on this whatsoever.

The only one I can really comment on with more certainty is the cultivating all good practices.

And even that's a little vague for me.

You know,

What constitutes a good practice?

I think I know for myself,

Possibly.

But since I'm still in states of delusion,

Not in the psychological sense so much as in the state more of ignorance.

So is it really good?

The classics say,

What's good?

As a guideline for that,

I would just say practices that lead to the happiness and benefit of myself and others.

There's so many different types of meditation practices and meditation related practices.

There's even exercises,

There's activities,

Professional practices.

So it's a very broad range of human activity that falls under the word practice.

So this can also be a benefit though of knowing and using discernment,

Developing discernment for what is good,

What's beneficial and what's not.

Okay,

The next part,

The four wholesome roots of warmth,

Tipping point,

Patience and highest worldly wisdom.

I know in the Theravada tradition,

There's the four,

I'm sorry,

The three poisons are the three unwholesome roots of greed,

Hatred,

Delusion or greed,

Hatred,

Ignorance.

I'm forgetting now what the inverse of that which would be the beneficial roots.

But that would only be three.

So now this is four.

I'm just going to venture my best guess here,

Warmth.

Take that to mean of the heart,

Right?

So not having a cold or cool heart towards anything,

But to develop the Brahma Viharas,

A warmth of heart towards that which we encounter,

Especially towards ourselves too.

Tipping point,

Back in the day,

I read this book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

I wonder if it's about the same thing.

I don't know what would be the tipping point towards what.

Maybe it's like a turning point or a fulcrum or a significant benchmark within certain practices.

Not quite sure.

Now patience.

This one's a little bit easier to comment on.

As I say,

Patience is a virtue and some people use as a pejorative,

But it really is.

Patience.

When someone tells us we need patience,

Especially in certain situations,

It can almost be infuriating.

Classic saying,

Grant me patience and grant it to me right now.

But this just brings to mind with patient persistence and the right instruction,

There's really not anything that's not an accomplishable.

A lot of times in today's society,

No one has the attention span to stay with something.

So it runs hand in hand with patience.

Patience goes along with calmness and collectiveness,

Composure.

There's this saying I heard of someone saying to people that are really in a hurry.

He'd say,

Hey,

Where's the fire at,

Man?

Where's the fire?

You know,

Meaning that somebody's rushing around because they think they have an emergency after emergency to attend to.

And as we know,

Busyness is really overrated these days still.

So what other benefits are there of patience?

I definitely can show endurance and is highly honorable and esteemed,

Especially in the midst of so many people just running amok.

Short tempered.

OK,

So the highest worldly wisdom.

This is a real interesting one.

I guess I would have to ask,

Well,

You know,

What is worldly wisdom and what is low worldly wisdom?

Maybe medium worldly wisdom.

And then,

Of course,

This high worldly wisdom.

And does this mean,

You know,

Just being of the world or does it mean being in the world but not of the world?

Does it mean knowing the world?

Does it mean knowing other worlds?

What world are we talking about here?

And what is the opposite of worldly wisdom?

And is that important?

And why are why would all these things be important compared to just saying wisdom or when applied to other forms of wisdom?

I really don't have any answer to these.

And that is the third week of the October 2021 Paramita Challenge.

Week four of the Paramita Challenge for October 2021.

This is the fourth stage of the 52 stages of the Bodhisattva path.

The fourth stage is the abode of producing virtues.

And the description here is,

We abide peacefully in the principle of,

Quote unquote,

No self where the seed natures are purified.

OK,

So obviously I have a bunch of questions here since I really don't have much idea of what this means.

I don't really see how the label connects with the definition,

The abode of producing virtues.

Let's start with the definition here.

We abide peacefully in the principle of no self where the seed natures are purified.

So first off,

We.

If this includes,

I would guess,

Everyone taking the Bodhisattva vows,

Then how would a Bodhisattva emerge from this where it's kind of well known,

Like,

You know,

Kuan Yin or Manjushri?

If it's a we,

Then how do those Bodhisattvas stand out?

Do certain ones have a better chance of Buddhahood than others or when do they emerge?

And then abide abides.

OK,

That's yeah,

That's in all of them.

Peacefully in the principle.

So if we abide peacefully in the principle,

First off,

I guess the peacefully would mean maybe would imply that abiding in such a state could possibly be non peaceful.

I can see that where this no self would freak some people out.

So maybe that's where the peacefully is in the principle.

So if we're abiding in a principle,

We're not really abiding in a reality.

We're abiding in an idea,

Right?

A principle,

Something we hold in high esteem and something we respect.

But why would we need to do that so much if the no self is actually reality?

And the term no self here is kind of a misnomer,

Because if I were to say,

Oh,

There's no Josh,

Get in trouble and go,

Oh,

You can't get me in trouble because there's no Josh.

You know,

They would just look at you like,

What's wrong with this guy?

But if you say not self,

I could go and say,

Well,

You know,

Josh is not really who I am.

I'm way more than that.

That's only a name,

You know,

And a way to navigate regular life.

But I go way beyond that.

That's not myself.

So it's kind of a it's kind of a negation of whatever you can say is a self.

While no self means that there's not even any kind of concept of a self.

But I get it.

Maybe these two are interchangeable.

But it's even if it's splitting hairs here,

It's a valid distinction,

I feel.

And then abide peacefully in the principle of no self where the seed natures are purified.

Well,

Location where?

So where is this principle?

Well,

It's in the mind,

Right?

So this is a mind construct.

Unless I'm wrong on this.

Or if there's a misunderstanding here,

The seed natures.

OK,

So I'm just guessing that's the Aliyah consciousness in Mahayana,

But I'm not exactly sure about this.

So I'm probably a little bit off on this.

I was just always,

Not always,

But curious.

These extra consciousnesses,

The sixth and seventh consciousness,

I forget what the I'm sorry,

Seventh and eighth.

Or eighth being the Aliyah,

Right?

And the seventh,

I'm not sure.

But the mind is so vast.

There's so many different potentials of consciousness,

Right?

Or at least variations and flavors and fluctuations.

It's interesting how these two extra ones are chosen out of perhaps many different possibilities of types of consciousness.

I'm not sure there.

So if this is the seed nature of the Aliyah consciousness,

How does it get corrupted?

And how does it get purified?

Well,

If this were to be gone by,

Then if we just engage in this principle,

Abide in this principle of no self,

Then these seed natures,

Which,

How are they being corrupted to begin with?

Why is that happening?

When did that start?

Who's responsible for that?

But if we just abide in this,

Then they'll just become purified.

Right?

Well,

How does that happen?

Do we just enter some kind of void or denial of a self?

Is there so much energy put into this principle that somehow it purifies a seed nature?

It just seems like if you look at a seed from a tree or plant,

I don't know what would constitute one being pure versus unpure.

And the metaphor,

I don't think is a good one either,

Because,

OK,

If there's an unpure seed,

Like an actual seed in nature,

How could one purify it?

It doesn't seem possible unless you somehow go in there with some genetic scalpel and do some genetic manipulation.

But I think even by that very nature,

Unless your knowledge is extremely vast and it can be proven over eons,

Then just by the nature of that,

It doesn't seem like genetic modification is going to purify something from nature.

Although obviously that could be wrong.

So a lot of concepts,

A lot of ideas thrown out here,

Very confusing things.

Not only trying to understand this,

But then adding things on top of it.

So I guess where is Occam's razor in this?

If I had to simplify this and kind of squeeze out the benefit from it,

I would kind of translate it back into Theravada style,

Where abiding peacefully would mean equanimity and the realization of not-self,

Anatta.

And as far as purification goes,

That would be sila or ethics.

So that brings us back to the original stage title,

The abode of producing virtues.

So the description talks about a purification and an abiding in a no-self.

So I don't see how that can produce anything when it's talking about purification.

I guess that would entail the definition of production meaning something new,

Where I guess technically if something's purified,

It can be in a new state or a new version of the same thing or somewhat same thing.

But is it transformation or transmutation,

A production?

Well,

I don't know.

I think it's beside the point.

But the actual stage,

The abode of producing virtues,

I would take that to mean ethics.

Right.

And the four right efforts of eradicating unwholesome states,

Preventing unwholesome states from arising,

Generating new wholesome states and maintaining wholesome states.

And that's going to be enough for week four of October 2021,

The Paramita Challenge.

This is the miscellaneous section for the Paramita Challenge,

The third month,

October 2021.

This mainly has to do with patients and sexual misconduct.

Start with the six perfections and their subdivisions from the sutra on understanding the profound and esoteric doctrine.

The six perfections.

The third one is patience.

Patience to endure insult and injury.

Patience to abide peacefully in suffering.

Patience to investigate the Dharma.

So patience to endure insult.

This could be very helpful if we're trying to set an example to someone where we can be the better man or woman.

This is founded on not passivity or lack of assertion or weakness or just laying down and being a doormat.

This is founded,

At least my understanding and not the inverted version,

Is founded on taking the high road due to the fact that hatred can never overcome hatred.

Only non-hatred and love can overcome hatred.

This is an eternal.

It's one of the beginning lines of the Dharma of the Buddha that said this spoke.

And so when we're bombarded with insult and injury,

A lot of times the habitual response,

The way we've been conditioned and brought up,

Is to retaliate,

Get even,

Not stand for it.

And then it oftentimes ends up as adding more fuel to the fire.

So this needs to be coupled with solutions on how to respond to insult and injury.

Where is the common ground?

Where is the resolution?

Where is the remedy and resolve instead of justice and judgment?

And then of course,

If it does arm us,

Then we need to draw back and heal from this as well and look at possibly what's happened that may have caused this or not.

But at least look at,

Well,

What's the best way going forward if this happens again?

Or how might this be dealt with in a way that leads to the happiness of everyone?

It might be boundaries.

It might be different communication techniques.

It might be getting help.

All kinds of things.

So the patience to abide peacefully in suffering.

This is another tricky one because if we can take action to alleviate suffering,

That is to be done because we're not,

Again,

Emotional doormats to just take everything and just say,

Oh,

Just the way it is,

I guess I'll just be like that forever,

When something very skillful,

Wise and wholesome can be taken to eliminate the suffering.

Now that said,

When there's nothing that can be done,

Or we just haven't seen the proper option yet,

Again,

Will it help anything to lash out,

Shut down,

Avoid escaping them out when we experience Dukkha?

Probably not.

And so there's coping skills if they're needed.

However,

Actually turning and looking Dukkha in the face from a place of balance and peace,

To whatever extent that's available,

Learning from it,

This noble truth of suffering.

Can the nobility be seen in it?

Because some would have us suffer or perpetrate suffering for their own enjoyment,

Benefit,

Their own inverted reasons and gains,

Maybe even needs.

When we can look suffering directly in the eyes and know that this is here for my understanding and mastery of overcoming it,

For myself and all beings everywhere,

That it becomes an opportunity for upliftment instead of denigration,

Debasement and regression.

So then the patience to investigate the Dharma,

Sometimes Dharma here meaning the Buddhist teachings and the truth of the way things are,

Sometimes the truth of the way things are in reality is just too much.

People don't have the state of consciousness or skills or tools to handle certain truths.

And then when they do,

A lot of times there's an integration process that goes along with that.

Or just get to a point where things get stale and just get distracted by other things and just don't want to sit down and commit the time to investigating.

So having patience to stay and investigate.

So this ought to be balanced with the energy and effort,

Diligence,

Endurance,

Intent,

Discernment,

And a wholesome desire to investigate truth and the Buddhist teachings.

Because sometimes if it's too much patience with not enough energy,

Then the mind kind of gets dull and dumbed down.

But if there's too much,

Then there's no stability or progress,

Staying on track to really penetrate into and discern truth and the Buddhist.

So similarly,

The next one is doctrine from the doctrine of mere consciousness.

The 10 excellent moral exercises are the 10 paramitas.

So number three is patient endurance.

And the commentary says,

Patient endurance is of three kinds.

To endure patiently,

Resentment and injury.

To accept quietly sorrow and suffering.

And three,

To examine patiently and adhere to the Dharma.

So these are pretty much the same things,

What's just been gone over with a slight variation of language.

So again,

Bring to mind the counterbalances to those as well.

Now we go to the 58 bodhisattva vows.

And number three is the English is the 10 major bodhisattva precepts.

Three is don't engage in sexual misconduct.

Okay.

And then from the Brahmanet Sutra,

The Brahma-jala Sutra,

Three,

Prohibition of heartless pursuit of love.

My disciples,

You should not engage in lustful behavior.

Incite someone to engage in lustful behavior or even indulge in unplanned lustful behavior.

You should avoid the causes of atrophy.

The conditions of lustful behavior.

The planning of lustful behavior.

Consummated acts of lustful behavior.

This includes everything up to sexual gratification with female animals,

Female celestial or female spirits,

As well as deviant forms of sexual conduct.

Moreover,

Bodhisattvas should rise to an added level of piety.

They should save all sentient beings by providing them with the pure teachings.

If instead they regularly,

Repeatedly indulge in lustful behavior with anyone,

Engaging in sexual acts with animals,

Or one's mother,

Daughter,

Sister,

Or another close relative,

Then this is cruelty and constitutes a bodhisattva rajika offense.

And then this is the,

I guess,

Another translation of the third,

A slightly different language maybe.

Brahmane Sutra,

The third precept on sexual conduct.

A disciple of the Buddha must not himself deliberately engage in sexual conduct with any member of the opposite sex or encourage others to do so,

Nor may he involve himself in the causes,

Conditions,

Or karma of sexual conduct.

This prohibition extends to sexual conduct with animals,

Gods,

Goddesses,

Ghosts,

Spirits,

Or other forms of lustful behavior and all perverse types of sexual conduct.

A bodhisattva should be in familial compliance.

Thus,

He should rescue all beings and instruct them in the Dharma of purity.

If instead a bodhisattva engages in promiscuous sexual activity with any person,

With animals,

His mother,

Daughter,

Sisters,

Or any other of the six types of close relatives,

His behavior is utterly devoid and can be thereby committed by a bodhisattva rajika offense.

Okay,

So this is interesting.

This one says you're not supposed to have any kind of sexual conduct.

So I don't know if there can be lay bodhisattvas or I don't know if there's vinaya rules around that,

The rules covering monastics.

But we can just jump in here to the main thing,

Which is sexual misconduct.

And I'm also going to read from Pah-Aks-I-D-O-U-S,

The Working House of Karma,

About these.

That goes into more detail with that.

Before I do that,

Let's just look at sexual misconduct.

I've even heard it translated as not misusing sexual energy.

So,

What is sexual energy?

Where does it come from?

How does it work?

What should be done with it?

What should not be done with it?

What is healthy sexual conduct?

What is healthy sexual energy and how to use that?

Can that be done?

Why is it important or not important?

So,

If it's a go by not engaging in sexual conduct,

Obviously if you expand that out to if all beings were to do that,

What would the world look like?

Well,

That would seem pretty nihilistic as far as what kind of reality we have now.

So,

As far as I know,

Without the use of technology,

Then the human population would eventually die off.

Right?

Because there would be no reproduction the way things are structured now.

So,

I don't know about that unless other things change.

That's a whole other ball of wax.

But really jumping into where does sexual energy come from and how does that work?

Has it always been like that?

How do we change that?

If it needs to be changed,

How do people govern their sexual energy?

Transmute it?

Or what do they do with it,

Don't do with it?

Why is it like this?

What might be misusing sexual energy for one person might have become,

From whatever causes or conditions,

A sexual need for another.

And then what happens when they wake up and realize that,

Oh,

This probably isn't the best thing for me or other people.

Now what?

And a lot of it's taboo.

Some of it for less than good reasons,

Some of it for decent reasons.

Because why drag someone into a bunch of potential conduct that's unbecoming if they don't need to be?

Or open those gates if part of their work has nothing to do with that or any of their work.

Then again,

Some things are suppressed in order to control people for various psychological purposes that if not explored can go unknown and so resolution can never come.

So again,

Just like most things,

It's a balancing act.

Knowing what's needed,

What's not needed,

What needs to be explored and what doesn't need to be explored.

For who and for how often.

So now,

Going to The Workings of Karma by Paak Saitao.

This is on page 121 of the version I have,

The back version.

It says,

One who engages in sexual misconduct,

And there's ten of them,

With those under their mother's guardianship,

Those under their father's guardianship,

And those under their mother and father's guardianship.

Those under their brother's guardianship.

Those under their sister's guardianship.

With those under their relatives' guardianship,

With those under their families' guardianship,

With those under religious communities' guardianship,

With those having a husband,

With those entailing a penalty,

Even with those garland with flowers of betrothal,

One is an offender in such conduct.

" It says,

Sexual misconduct,

Adultery,

Is because of either lust and delusion or hatred and delusion.

Go-between training precept.

The Buddha lists 10 types of married women.

One,

One money bought.

Two,

A desire,

Cohabitant.

She lives with the man of her own desire and his agreement.

The beloved with the beloved lives with parental consent.

Three,

A wealth cohabitant.

A country woman becomes a man's wife by receiving a certain property.

Four,

A cloth cohabitant.

A destitute woman becomes his wife by receiving merely an outer cloth.

Five,

A water bowler.

Family elders dip her and his two hands into a bowl of water,

Wishing that they be joined like the water,

Not to part.

Six,

One with removed carrying pad.

She becomes his wife by having her head pad for carrying loads removed by him.

Seven,

A slave and wife.

She is both his slave and his wife.

Eight,

A worker and wife.

Nine,

One flag brought,

A captive taken in a conquered territory where the flag has been raised.

Ten,

A momentary wife,

A prostitute.

And then the discussion on the Wholesome Kama Course.

It lists these same 10 types of wives as unapproachable ones.

Again,

This is from the workings of Kama,

Probably worked by Pat Ochsajda.

So yeah,

That pretty much covers a lot of things.

A lot of those seem kind of outdated,

At least in the United States.

Those things don't seem to be going on,

At least in broad daylight or out in the public that I'm aware of.

So that's the miscellaneous section for the Parameet to challenge the third month,

October 2021.