My understanding is that meditation allows us to be mindful and focus on our present situation.
In the same way that anesthesia allows us to avoid consciousness during painful surgery,
Are there times we should avoid mindfulness?
In everyday life,
We have to be mindful and focus on our present situation.
But in the same way that anesthesia allows us to avoid consciousness during painful surgery,
Are there times we should avoid mindfulness?
In everyday life,
I think realistically,
There may be instances.
There's a saying that ignorance is bliss.
There are times that we don't suffer because we don't know.
But then again,
There's also a saying that says knowledge is power.
So these sayings came up because there are different conditions that match different sayings.
Things,
Non-sentient beings,
For example,
Maybe up to plants,
They don't feel pain.
In that sense,
If we don't know something,
Maybe we don't feel pain about it.
In Buddhism,
This is called muk in Korean,
Which means it's an absence of knowing.
It means that you are the same thing as a thing.
But then the choice lies that would you like to become as a non-sentient being in order to free yourself from suffering?
That's why as sentient beings,
We have to free ourselves from suffering by being awake.
So knowledge is not really suffering.
Awareness is not suffering.
It's the attachment to that knowledge that is suffering.
So like the questioner said,
I do acknowledge that there are conditions in everyday life realistically that we might be better off not knowing or not being aware.
But as practitioners,
Our purpose is to free ourselves from suffering by being mindful,
By being awake.
For example,
Say I have cancer,
But I'm not aware because we haven't diagnosed it yet.
And I go about my everyday life joyfully because I don't know that I have cancer.
Then I went for checkup and they discovered cancer.
And that's when we suffer.
We are afraid.
Are we better off not knowing at this point?
It is true that we did not suffer as much when we didn't know.
But that's not a good way to go about this.
If there is cancer,
We should know that there is cancer.
Only then can we treat it.
So spiritual practice is a matter of when you know that you have cancer,
That you're not afraid of it.
When something happens,
What happened was discovering what was already happening.
And seeing the truth as truth.
This is a good thing.
So when the doctor tells you that you have cancer,
You should be thankful for him having discovered that cancer.
Now you have a choice.
Whether to treat it through surgery,
Through chemotherapy.
If it's too late,
Then prepare yourself for death.
Then although there's not much time left,
You can spend that time in a way that you want.
So knowledge and awareness should not be a source of fear.
But it's a matter of choice in what you do about it.
