Pāramitā (Perfections) Challenge (Month 6 - February 2022)

Sangha, criticism, the two truths, service to others, emptiness, generosity, conduct, non-clinging, non-harming, energy, the three unwholesome roots, and clarity round out the main topics for February 2022, month six of “The Pāramitā Challenge” | For the first portion of "don’t discuss the faults of the Sangha" I failed to mention in Theravada, as far as I know, the monastic training rules of the Vinaya were mostly established by the historical Buddha and often prompted by certain incidents.

Transcript

Welcome to Month 6 of the ParaMita Challenge for February 2022.

A brief programming note here.

I received this challenge fairly late in February.

If you want to know more of the details of that,

You can see the show notes and the blog post.

Suffice it to say,

Though,

That it looks like,

Perhaps from now going forward,

The challenge will now be publicly available on the internet for anyone interested.

And as of this recording,

The last time I checked,

This month and the prior months,

ParaMita Challenges are up on the internet at a site that's included in the show notes and the blog post.

So with receiving this challenge late in the month,

Just going to do this all in one go for February.

Starting off with number 6 of the 58 Bodhisattva Vows of the 10 major Bodhisattva Precepts.

This is,

Don't Discuss the Faults of the Sangha.

This is a big one for me.

There's commentary on the 6th Precept that did shed a bunch of light on this,

Because taken at face value,

You know,

The obvious things come up well.

How is the Sangha then supposed to keep itself in check?

Is it held accountable then to anything?

If faults can't be discussed whatsoever,

How can there even be accountability or faults whatsoever,

If they can't be talked about?

How would we even know their faults if no kind of communication process can happen around?

You know,

Obviously like there's the Deputy Sheriff of Karma,

Right,

That will eventually level the playing field on any faults without really anything needing to be done in one way.

But what about reconciliation processes?

What about conduct,

Promoting good conduct?

If there's no open feedback,

No account,

Or maybe there is,

But how can it be made known?

And then also just framing this in the light of,

Well,

What is the positive version of this?

What about lauding the successes,

Celebrating the admirable qualities of the Sangha?

It seems precepts are often framed in the negative,

As we've mentioned before,

Or I've mentioned before in this challenge,

Or the we,

The royal we,

Meaning those who have taken on this challenge and discussed it,

Commented on it,

Expressed journaling about its contents one way or another.

So going down here to the commentary,

I'm not going to read this all,

The major points being obviously,

Yes,

No one should be slandered.

I mean,

That's just seems common knowledge to me that,

Especially publicly blaming,

Shaming,

Or guilting someone doesn't do any good whatsoever.

That should be very apparent to everyone,

How that doesn't do any good.

It could perhaps even cause more harm.

But this commentary seems to take an eye for an eye,

So to speak,

Putting down others who put them down.

And it almost seems in a condescending way,

In some sense,

He should always feel compassion for such detractors,

Instruct them,

And lead them to a wholesome belief in the great vehicle.

Finishing out that sentence completely though,

Whenever a bodhisattva hears an evil-hearted externalist of evil,

Exponent of the small vehicle,

Speak of practice,

Which are not in accord with the Dharma,

And not in accord with the precepts within Buddhism,

He should always feel compassion for such detractors,

Instruct them into a wholesome belief in the vehicle.

Well,

Obviously,

Yeah,

An evil-hearted externalist of evil,

Exponent of the small vehicles.

Well,

An evil-hearted externalist,

It doesn't matter,

You know,

What that is.

And obviously,

Yeah,

Any kind of evil,

Don't do evil,

Do good,

Purify the mind,

Right,

As the teachings of all the Buddhas.

These small vehicles though,

This is kind of a jab at Theravada,

Which,

You know,

Whatever.

But isn't that kind of,

I don't know,

Comparing big and small,

You know,

A vehicle can get you to point A to point B,

No matter if it's a Mercedes or a,

I don't know,

A Datsun or something.

Yeah,

One might get you there.

A little more style and grace and speed,

But anyway,

We all know these arguments,

Right,

Or not arguments,

But points.

And then speak of practices,

Which are not in accord with the Dharma,

And not in accord with precepts of Buddhism.

So if we can't speak to begin with in general,

How can we even start to explore and discuss what is in accordance with the Dharma?

What is in accordance with precepts in Buddhism,

If one can't be critical?

Now,

How we be critical and how we talk about things is of utmost importance.

But if there's no way to speak or express or anything,

Then this is one of the common criticisms of why some people get into spirituality,

Because they feel they will be beyond reproach,

That they're above and beyond anything,

And not really subject to any kind of criticism,

Or don't have to follow any normal rules or anything.

And then he should always feel compassion for such detractors.

Framed in that way,

That seems almost like pity more than compassion,

And kind of in a condescending way,

Then instruct them,

Like they're a child,

They don't know what they're doing,

And then lead them to a wholesome belief in the great vehicle.

So,

You know,

Belief is only really needed if one doesn't already see and know for themselves.

Once one sees and knows for themselves,

And there's no need for belief,

And then what is a wholesome versus unwholesome belief?

And again,

Why is one lobbying for one vehicle over another?

It just seems like standard politics to me.

And then if they do commit an offense because of this,

Then again,

How are they held accountable?

Now,

Going back to the other side of this,

One of the grave offenses in Buddhism that if one makes,

They can't realize awakening in this lifetime,

The really serious ones.

Killing your mother and father are the big ones.

Killing an arhat,

Shedding the blood of a Buddha.

And the other one is dividing the Sangha.

So I think this is what this helps protect,

Though,

This one.

I would revise that to deliberately dividing the Sangha,

Because I ask a Venerable about this one time,

And yes,

There has to be intent there.

It can't be really accidental,

Just like any kind of kama made.

Like if you step on an ant,

But you don't even realize it's there,

The intent to kill it isn't there.

But if you see it,

And you go ahead knowingly and kill it anyway,

Well,

Then that's going to create kama.

But this,

I can see where this is to protect cohesion and harmony within Sangha.

It's just,

Well then,

How do we still protect cohesiveness,

Harmony of Sangha?

Of course,

Sangha meaning,

In this case,

Group,

Our followers of the Buddha community practicing the Buddha Dharma.

How are individual members and the Sangha as a whole held accountable to the precepts they say they're undertaking,

And at the same time,

Not cause schism and disharmony?

Well,

I think one of the obvious answers to this is self-responsibility,

Taking oneself seriously enough to empower oneself with self-responsibility.

If everyone is accountable for their own actions and openly invites criticism,

Constructive criticism,

And helps encourage and empower and uplift each other instead of tearing each other down,

Gossiping and slandering,

Then there can be great benefit of that.

Of course,

Given that one is emotionally and mentally,

Spiritually mature enough to handle truth from outside about one's conduct and speech,

So how else can both lay and monastic Sangha members promote good conduct amongst each other and be a guiding light or example or role model for society at large,

Promoting concord,

Unity and harmony,

Uprightness,

Impeccable conduct,

And at the same time,

Not beating each other up too much or beating oneself up too much for falling short of said ideals and goals.

Balance comes into play here.

Maybe another way is to,

I don't know if this would be wise or not,

It's just an idea,

If there is an individual case of,

Or let's just say a common pattern amongst multiple members of the Sangha,

Then could perhaps metaphor or story or no details in particular of what might have occurred be spoken of amongst the right audience at the right time to kind of elude at,

Not necessarily the faults,

But the correction that might be a suggestion to wiser,

Skillful,

More wholesome action,

Kind of a course correcting suggestion or suggestion.

Very challenging time we're in to be in community and live in community,

Even more so now with different lockdowns and more seclusions.

However,

This is an opportunity to perfect one's own individual practice.

Okay,

So now on to the sixth parameter of wisdom,

The six perfections and their subdivisions.

This is number six,

Wisdom,

Discernment,

And then contained within the precepts of high wisdom.

And the three subdivisions of this wisdom,

Discernment,

High wisdom is discernment that has conventional truth as its object,

Discernment that has ultimate truth as its object,

And discernment that has as its object the benefiting of sentient beings.

So I think this first one is pretty straightforward,

Probably to anyone at any stage pretty much on their path here.

Discernment that has conventional truth as its object.

So most anybody that has gone to school or has any kind of education is familiar with truth,

True and false,

And of course this is of the conventional sense.

So discerning what is true,

What is not true,

This is highly needed for wisdom,

It's a ground to pretty much know anything else about anything at all.

If one's following a thread or basis that is not true,

It's a waste of time because it's just a phantom illusion or at best a veil perhaps.

That's obscuring truth and so things can't be seen clearly,

Known well.

And then this is part of the two truths,

One of them is conventional truth,

The second one is ultimate truth.

Now this is where it gets tricky because as far as I know,

Well actually I don't because I haven't obtained or realized ultimate truth,

I wouldn't say yet,

Or even those that just have glimpses of it,

Right,

That aren't living in that.

As far as what I've heard and understand as of now,

Obviously could be wrong,

Is that ultimate truth really can't be explained by mere logic,

Reasoning,

Rhetoric,

Has to be seen,

Realized and known for oneself and it's fairly ineffable from what I gather.

You just can't write it down and then just hand it to somebody and oh,

They've got the ultimate truth now,

Right?

It doesn't seem to work like that.

If it did,

It seems like there'd be a lot more people realizing ultimate truth right now.

So yes,

Obviously we want to be able to discern what ultimate truth is,

But it's almost like a,

I don't know,

Is it a realization?

And once that's realized,

How much does discernment play into it at that point?

I mean,

If someone's gone that far into realizing ultimate truth,

Is discernment really going to be an issue with it anymore?

I mean,

Can one be deceived into ultimate truth or away from ultimate truth from not knowing the difference of ultimate truth?

Once it's realized,

Of course,

Now up till then,

Yes,

There'll probably be lots of need for discernment to get there,

But it seems like that would deal more with layers of conventional truth.

But maybe I'm being too nitpicky here.

And is ultimate truth really an object?

If it was an object in more of the traditional sense or meditative sense,

It seems like it could be,

I don't know,

Captured,

Taken hold of,

Transferred,

Broken,

Lost,

Anything that pertains to objects.

But I'm guessing here this is just a turn of phrase,

A way to language something that really can't be languaged.

And then the third part of this,

Discernment that has as its object the benefiting of sentient beings.

I feel this is important in the fact that people could probably get on their high horse here without much wisdom or discernment and just immediately claim that,

Oh,

They're benefiting sentient beings.

We've seen this in other more violent religions where,

Just in the name of some being,

They're going to kill other beings,

And that's going to benefit better beings and whatnot.

Maybe that's kind of an oversimplification,

But you get the point,

Right?

So there's this notion of the greater good,

Right?

It sounds lovely on its surface,

Right?

But for the greater good of who?

And what other goods are being considered and then trumped or superseded by a greater good?

Who's saying these other goods need to be overshadowed or superseded by a greater good?

And who's all making those decisions and how are they being made to what criteria,

Right?

So we need to be,

Society as a whole,

Very cautious about how we think we're helping others.

But on the other hand,

It can't be too cautious and say,

Oh,

I'm just going to deliberate if that's really worth it or if that's really being good,

And then end up stagnating and not taking action,

Either not helping anybody,

Kind of sitting in an ivory tower or armchair philosopher,

Not putting into practice in the daily world things that need to be done to benefit others,

Help others.

Of course,

The golden rule is a good starting point,

Rule of thumb,

Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

So this is actually a great opportunity to practice discernment.

How might this action,

Speech or thought benefit or not benefit sentient beings?

What is the motivation for doing this?

What is the intent for doing,

We're doing this for benefiting sentient beings?

Do I benefit as well?

How do I feel before,

During and after benefiting,

Being of benefit or even just contemplating and discerning?

So next is from the ten paramitas definition varieties from the doctrine of mere consciousness,

The ten excellent moral exercises are the ten paramitas.

And number six is discernment.

Prajna is the Sanskrit.

Prajna is of three kinds,

And I'm going to spare you my Sanskrit attempt here.

Non-discriminating prajna,

Intuitive discernment of the voidness of the self or atma.

Number two,

Non-discriminating prajna,

Intuitive discernment of the voidness of all phenomena or dharmas.

Number three,

Non-discriminating prajna,

Intuitive discernment of the voidness of self,

Atma,

And all phenomena,

Dharmas.

So to me,

This is mostly redundant,

The three here.

If you were to simplify it down,

Or if I were to simplify it down,

It would just be this number two here.

Intuitive discernment of the voidness of all phenomena or dharmas.

Because this selfing of an atman is in itself phenomena of sorts,

I feel.

So this creating of a self,

This atman,

This permanent unchanging self is a type of distorted phenomena,

I guess you could call it.

Maybe one that's,

Dare I say,

Formulated out of ignorance.

It's not that it's,

It's just that it's not a permanent thing from what I understand.

There's going to be parts that change.

It's not like this adamantine,

This indestructible substance.

If it was,

Then one would be able to control it,

Tell it to do whatever it wants,

And it would obey,

Right?

Can an essence be derived from it?

If there is an essence,

What is it?

How can it be contained,

Bottled up?

And then if it could,

You know,

What would happen to it if it,

Then it could be objectified and,

I don't know,

Corrupted or broken,

Manipulated,

Right?

If it could be pinned down into an essence.

And the terminology here is a little confusing for me.

Nondiscriminating prajna.

So if it's nondiscriminating prajna,

That means that you're not,

Discriminating means to tell one thing from another.

So if you can't tell one thing from another,

That's interesting to consider for wisdom.

I feel like wisdom should be able to discern one thing from another,

Discriminate one thing from another.

Otherwise,

There's only what?

You know,

What kind of reality is that?

Maybe it's more towards ultimate reality,

But,

Right,

Or not.

But how could you even discern that if there's no discrimination present?

And then you go into the intuitive discernment of the voidness of the self.

An intuitive discernment,

So first you say nondiscriminating,

Then you're saying there's a discernment.

So I don't,

That's cognitive dissonance to me,

So I don't get that exactly.

Or nondiscriminating prajna is being described as intuitive discernment.

So for me it would just be intuitively knowing voidness of the self or atma.

Again,

Voidness,

I don't know about that word,

Like emptiness,

Perhaps better,

Or the essencelessness,

I don't think that's a word.

And then here it's posed as a thing that really exists,

Voidness of the self or atman.

Well,

I guess in one sense,

In a conventional sense,

You know,

The Buddha never point blank said,

Oh,

There's not a self.

He did give teachings on anatta or not self,

Though.

So the second one,

Nondiscriminating prajna,

Intuitive discernment of the voidness of all phenomena.

This intuitive part is really important because one can just parrot things intellectually and kind of seem like they have an intellectual idea.

But you can really see deep into the nature of something and see that there is no essence or permanent substrate or substance and phenomena that will allow for an eternal existence.

Just the way it is as witnessed in that moment,

That there is no changeability in it and that it's all perfect and will never change.

So knowing and seeing that intuitively,

I mean,

Some of us might perhaps get glimpses of that.

I might say that,

Concede through that.

But then how much of that is really lived from moment by moment,

Dwelling and abiding in such an awareness that informs thought,

Word and action?

Or is it just saying here,

Oh,

When that discernment needs to be made,

It's made and then kind of the conventional view of reality is OK to go forward when those times are not called for,

When intuitive discernment of the voidness of all phenomena is not really called for.

So that in itself would take even more discernment,

Which wisdom,

Discernment,

Investigation,

Knowing,

Intuition can't be stressed enough.

For me,

That's kind of almost half of the path.

The other half is kind of the heart based qualities.

And those all,

Those both spring from ethics to set the groundwork.

So the third one here,

Non-discriminating prajna,

Intuitive discernment of the voidness of self-atman and all phenomena,

Dharmas.

So again,

This is kind of a combination of the first two,

Which I've already mentioned.

Seems a little redundant.

I don't know why they need to be stressed individually and then together.

Perhaps I'm missing something here.

So now into the 52 bodhisattva vows,

The 10 practices,

Stages 21 through 30.

And again,

I don't get these numberings,

But they're numbered one through five.

I'll just read these and come back to them again.

I haven't taken bodhisattva vows.

Number one,

The practice of giving joy.

We practice selfless giving to all sentient beings without any desire for reward.

Number two,

The beneficial practice.

We practice maintaining pure self-control without any attachment to form,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste or touch.

Three,

The practice of non-opposition.

We practice continuous forbearance and tolerance of being humble and respectful of harming neither self nor others.

Number four,

The practice of indomitability.

We practice cultivation of great unsurpassed energy,

Becoming naturally free from the three poisons of greed,

Hatred and delusion.

Number five,

The practice of non-confusion.

We practice perfect right mindfulness with a mind firm and impermeable,

Imperturbable,

Excuse me,

Consummately pure and majorly vast without any delusion or confusion so that the mind is free from distractions and disturbances.

Sounds nice,

Doesn't it?

The first one,

The practice of giving joy.

We practice selfless giving to all sentient beings without any desire for reward.

So,

Practice selfless giving to other sentient beings without any desire for reward.

That's a little more relatable to me than the practice of giving joy.

So,

But what are we giving then?

If we don't give joy,

We'll come back to the joy part,

But we practice selfless giving to all sentient beings without desire for reward.

What are we giving first off?

Are we giving attitudes?

Are we giving crumbs?

Are we going to the other extreme and giving too much away?

Clearing out our bank accounts when we might need that to support our own well-being so we can continue helping others.

For many of them,

Without any desire for reward is the most challenging because in at least modern Western society we've been conditioned to get something in return for everything,

Or only do something in exchange for equal value or greater value,

Right?

And so,

I know when I kind of reach the point of,

Or I'm in the flow of just selfless giving because it's just the only thing that really makes sense.

And plus,

We see and know karma,

Comma,

More clearly that what we put out will come back to us,

Right?

Not just physical objects,

But certain energies,

Certain attitudes,

Actions,

Efforts,

Speech,

Energies,

Vibrations.

Like attracts like,

I guess,

Is one way some people look at it,

But actions have consequences.

So if we're giving what needs to be given or what can be given,

What's given wisely,

Skillfully,

Wholesomely,

There really is no need for concern of what one might get back because we're going to get exactly what we need.

Exactly when we need it is one way.

It's put by a teacher I follow.

And so we can tune into the joy of giving too.

We could give joy itself or we can just tune into,

Yes,

The joy that results in having the intent to give,

How we are before we give,

During and after giving,

And remind ourselves to revel in that joy.

So can the goodness of that giving.

Generosity can overcome greediness and is a remedy,

An antidote for greediness that does make the heart sing.

So giving joy itself to me would be holding that deliberate intent,

Bringing forth the quality of joy that would like to be given,

And then expressing and intently wishing to pass that on to someone else,

And then checking the feedback of how that's being done,

How it's being received or not received,

How it's being welcomed and communicated and reciprocated,

And then is it being continued,

Increased,

And a desire to not stop.

This is mudita,

Rejoicing,

Altruistic or vicarious joy.

One of the Brahma Viharas.

So number two,

The beneficial practice.

It seems like something's missing there,

But we practice maintaining pure self-control without any attachment to form,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste or touch.

This can be a challenging one for me.

The sense spheres,

The resultant phenomenon,

Consciousness of these as a helicopter now flies over my place.

So it is.

I mean,

Which of these do we get triggered out by more?

In general,

Form,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch.

Very low flying helicopter.

Yes,

And for me,

It would be certain unpleasant sounds,

Ones that are possibly perceived as non-beneficial,

Perhaps even harmful,

Uncertain,

Subtler layers.

So how much is there emotional charge around these?

Emotional charge around form,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste or touch,

Either positive or negative.

And then how can pure self-control be put into play here?

I don't know what un-pure self-control would be.

I don't know.

Maybe that's something like putting someone in restraints or bondage or slavery,

Self-imposed or something.

I'm not sure.

And then,

Of course,

Attachment or clinging to any of these forms,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste or touch.

And then clinging,

As we know,

Attachment is rarely a recipe for any kind of happiness or benefit,

Right?

I'm not talking about the attachment,

Healthy attachment in psychology.

I'm talking about in the Buddhist sense here.

So how do we cultivate and then maintain self-control and then couple it with non-attachment?

Two,

Sense objects,

Sense consciousness.

Well,

The starting point for that is investigation.

Investigate the senses,

The sense fears,

Sense objects,

Sense consciousness.

Find out how one attaches to these things,

Where there's emotional charge,

Where there's not.

What is the relationship to all this one's having with this?

What techniques and perceptions and responses seem to help with this?

And what of those don't,

When it comes to maintaining or prolonging this?

What helps with that?

What doesn't?

Of course,

Mindfulness.

You can never have enough mindfulness and awareness to even know all this.

What about being resolute and ardent in the intent,

Persistence,

Desire and discernment,

Surrounding,

Maintaining pure self-control without attachment to sense objects?

Just a few ideas there.

Number three,

The practice of non-opposition.

We practice continuous forbearance and tolerance of being humble and respectful,

Of harming neither self nor others.

Yes,

And how much and to what degree and in what ways do we do this that don't lead to being in an emotional doormat,

To be taken advantage of by others,

To be walked on,

To develop inferior egos,

To not act on harm that's being committed right in front of our eyes when something can easily be said or done,

To prevent it,

To speak up,

To take action,

To form certain views,

Course correct things.

So that's the other side of this that's not really addressed here.

Just kind of go along and tolerate forbearance.

Yet these are very helpful when there's nothing that can be done to change or when someone's kind of constantly micromanaging,

Neurotically acting or thinking,

Expending all kinds of energy on things that really don't matter,

And influence really can't be implemented in certain cases.

And with discernment,

One can know that and better spend their time and energy on other things,

Including developing forbearance,

Tolerance,

Of course being humble and respectful,

Very important things.

Respect can't be stressed enough.

This is a challenge for me,

Especially the masculine too,

Respecting others,

Respecting oneself,

Especially honor as well.

The humility thing is very important for those with a superior ego.

I took on a humility practice.

It was two months of,

This was suggested through a different teacher I followed,

But a public thing of going in to wherever one was using a public toilet,

And if there are paper towels available and soap and water,

They would be wiping down the entire toilet with soap and water and paper towels each time you were using it,

No matter what.

So there's a few exceptions where there was no paper towels and soap,

But for the most part there was,

And I did this.

Even when there were people waiting in line,

It only happened a few times and it's kind of awkward and I can't even remember what I said to them about that,

But there was really no incidences of people saying,

Oh,

What are you doing?

Come on,

Get out of the way.

None of that.

Most of the times it was just sitting there alone and did that.

It's fairly humbling.

I'm grateful that there was no huge incidences,

But to put your hand very intimately and in places where people usually neglect or at the very best kind of track down an employee to gripe at them for that or just have bad thoughts,

Projections,

And yeah.

I don't know how that goes.

It was a very humbling experience.

And then of course this commitment to non-harming self or others.

We talked about this in previous challenges.

We go into subtle and subtler layers of what can be considered harm and non-harm.

Get into energetic levels,

Even down to volitions,

Thoughts,

And how they can snowball and affect.

It can get very subtle.

This is one of the most important commitments that I know of,

At least for me,

Especially,

I guess,

Given the times we're in and how much this underlies so many other actions and views,

Opinions,

Responses that we have,

Lack of responses.

Okay,

The practice of indominate ability.

We practice cultivation of great unsurpassed energy,

Becoming naturally free from the three poisons of greed,

Hatred,

And delusion.

This is a word we don't use every day,

Or at least I don't come across every day,

Indominate ability.

Looking it up here,

It says impossible to subdue or defeat.

That's pretty cool.

I guess it's kind of like invincible,

But when applied to competition,

I guess.

Cultivation of great unsurpassed energy,

Becoming naturally free of the three poisons of greed,

Hatred,

And delusion.

So notice it doesn't say will here,

That there's somebody doing it,

But it's interesting.

How is it getting done,

Though?

How is the unsurpassed energy,

Great unsurpassed energy,

How is it cultivated?

And then,

What is naturally free versus unnaturally free?

It's an interesting choice of words here.

Becoming.

Usually in Buddhism we don't want to do being or becoming,

But in this case it is wholesome,

Becoming,

Because when applied to the three poisons of greed,

Hatred,

And delusion,

Of course I like to substitute hatred out for ill will,

Because,

As I've mentioned before,

Hatred,

While it's not the most wholesome thing,

Obviously,

It's there as like a fail-safe protector,

Or at least anger is,

Where if there's injustices or harm being done,

Then this kind of unwholesome anger or hatred can at least tear someone away from their delusion or ignorance or ignoring what's going on,

Thinking it's okay when it's not,

And get them to act or think differently about something.

Well,

Obviously it's,

Like I said,

The last ditch,

Kind of last resort type thing to address harm in the world,

Because potentially addressing harm with more harm,

But I guess that's a starting point,

Again,

If there's no other option to at least be aware of harm being done.

So when I substitute ill will in there for hatred,

Ill will,

I can't see where that would ever be okay.

Having the intent to wanting to harm someone,

Especially initiating that,

Not in self-defense,

But just a deep-seated harm,

Wanting to harm someone,

I can't see where that would ever do any good whatsoever.

Again,

Unless one is defending loved ones or oneself,

Even that can be argued against too,

But that would be the only case,

But in that case,

Ill will would never really come into it.

It would be a self-preservation,

Or not even self-preservation,

But a life-preserving,

A life-supporting action,

Where ill will or hatred doesn't really even need to come into it.

So yes,

These footholds,

These unwholesome roots or poisons of greed,

Ill will,

Delusion,

They have their own kind of energy too,

So addressing them with the right amount of energy to help overcome them.

You know,

The historical Buddha was all about effort and zest to a great extent to uproot these poisons,

These unwholesome roots.

So how do we cultivate that energy?

I think,

Well,

Once we see a real need for it and the danger and harm of these three poisons,

These three unwholesome roots,

And the great benefit and delight and joy,

Happiness,

Well-being,

And benefits of the opposite,

Wholesome roots,

Then the amount of energy can flow properly,

Be cultivated properly,

Is one way.

The practice of non-confusion,

Number five,

We practice perfect right mindfulness with the mind firm and imperturbable,

Consummately pure and measurably vast,

Without any delusion or confusion,

So that the mind is free from distractions and disturbances.

It's kind of interesting how this is framed with,

Well,

The problem here,

It seems like distractions and disturbances,

But to me those are perceptions.

So would it also be possible to work with the perceptions of distractions and disturbances?

What if we could perceive what we're now perceiving as distractions and disturbances as something else,

Something that's actually not really a distraction or disturbance?

What if a distraction is a perception that doesn't need to happen?

Or what if a distraction is a perception that's a test or a challenge for strengthening mindfulness?

And then what happens when we do experience these things?

Perfect right mindfulness,

Well,

That's a beautifully high bar,

But what happens if we fall short of that?

Then what is the relationship to perfect right mindfulness?

Do we say we fail at that?

Is there a relationship that's saying I'm not good enough then?

Or what if there's kind of a giving up,

Like a,

Oh,

That could never be achieved anyway,

So why either try or bother?

You know,

I'm just,

Sometimes mindfulness will be there,

Sometimes not,

And so,

Well,

It's okay if it shows up.

And if it's not there,

Well,

You know,

That's just how things are.

Well,

That kind of view,

Which I've fallen into plenty of times,

Can go against cultivating energy and effort,

Right?

Or the over-striving,

The opposite,

Where,

Oh,

I've got to just do it all the time,

And if I don't,

Well then catastrophe's going to happen,

So there's just have to work,

Work,

Work,

Work,

Work all the time.

Mind firm and imperturbable.

Well,

You know,

That's cool too,

And I want to be there as well,

But the reality right now is,

It seems to have some agency over the mind some of the times,

And sometimes the mind seems to have a mind of its own,

And certain things happen to the mind sometimes,

Where one,

If one had a choice,

Wouldn't have a certain thought come up,

Consummately pure.

You know,

What can be purified,

What can't be purified,

How are things purified,

Why should things be purified,

How do we know when things are purified,

Immeasurably vast,

How do we get there,

How do we break out of the confines of a small,

Limiting,

Constricted self,

Without any delusion or confusion.

Well,

What if there is delusion or confusion?

One of the ways I've heard to look at that is,

Only clarity can come from confusion.

It's like a crucible for clarity,

Confusion is.

So these are all great,

Beautiful qualities that we can obviously intend and practice towards,

And be open to wisdom about how to cultivate and realize these facets of mindfulness,

And the mind in general,

Imperturbability,

Pureness,

Vastness,

Clarity,

And hindrance free.

And with that,

Wrapping up the Paramita Challenge,

The sixth month of it,

In February 2022.