MJ37 - 38 Blessings - Unblemished Mind (38 Of 39)

This is the penultimate session of the Buddhist path of practice leading from the mundane to the transcendental based on the 38 Blessings of the Mangala Sutta. This thirty-seventh blessing concerns how the most subtle of mental impurities can be overcome, especially on the controversial place of rituals in Buddhism.

Transcript

Last time you saw me we looked at blessing number 26 on sorrowlessness.

With the Dharma talk today we'll continue on our journey through the 38 blessings to the penultimate blessing that is number 37 on freedom from subtle defilements.

The subject matter of this blessing is in fact a result of practicing all the previous blessings right from not associating with fools up to the practice of the Brahma Firing.

As a result of the training the mind becomes progressively more refined until it is possible to see the Four Noble Truths in the same way that the Buddha did.

Ultimately though we need to work on ourselves until there are no remaining defilements in the mind.

Even for the Buddha it was not possible to achieve such attainments instantly.

Even in his final lifetime it took full six years.

Having become enlightened as a result of his attainment others too were able to reach an end of defilements.

But as the Buddha guaranteed in the Itthi-Uttaka,

Whoever abandons lust no longer lusts after things.

Lust will slip away from them as a dewdrop from a lotus flower.

Whoever abandons hate does not offend the malicious.

Hate will slip away from them as a ripe arm fruit from its stalk.

Whoever leaves behind delusion is no longer deluded.

Delusion will slip away from them as sunrise dispels the darkness.

Although a healthy person may go through life without ever seeing the inside of a hospital,

But unless you are talking about those who have reached enlightenment,

There is no person who has never suffered from defilements in the mind.

Defilements like litter have gross and subtle forms.

Gross litter can be picked up and put in a trash can.

Fine litter is more difficult to detect.

In the same way defilements of the mind have subtle forms which can be compared to fine dust,

So small that they can't even be detected with normal eyesight.

Such defilements are equivalent to the fine dust that clings to a mirror or a lens or your glasses making them dull.

You only notice such dust when you can clean it away and you're surprised to find you can see the clarity underneath.

It is the absence of these subtle defilements which is the subject matter of this blessing.

Of course such a state is the result of the practice of those who have already come to an end to defilements,

But for the benefit of those of us who have not quite reached this point in their practice,

We take the opportunity in this blessing to examine the nature of the subtle defilements and give some possible advice for uprooting them.

Defilements are like pollutants or impurities found in the mind which stop the mind from working as efficiently as it should.

They're equivalent to bacteria or viruses in the body,

External carriers of disease which cause the body to suffer from various illnesses.

The Pali word used to refer to this blessing is Wiracchang which literally means stainless,

Faultless or free from defilements in passion.

In the commentaries it's used specifically to mean freedom from the subtlest of defilements.

Attaining freedom even from such subtle defilements is beneficial because for as long as such subtle defilements are still present,

The mind will lose its luster.

These subtle defilements will penetrate,

Smother and downgrade the mind causing it to lose its radiance.

The mind which is free of subtle defilements is in fact free of all defilements,

Whether it be gross,

Medium or subtle.

All have been completely uprooted and no longer hold sway over the functioning of the mind.

So definitively have the defilements been eradicated from the mind that they can never grow back.

So the mind is pure and radiant and has broken free from the grasp of rebirth like water off a duck's back.

For those who have attained nirvana,

Even the subtlest of defilements can no longer attach to the mind.

You will remember from previous lectures that there are three categories of mental defilements,

Greed,

Hatred and delusion,

Each of which has its identifying characteristics.

Greed has the characteristic of not being very damaging but requiring a long time to recover from its negative effects.

Once we have succumbed to greed or desire,

It will be a long time before we can get back to how we were before.

The clear example,

Think of how long it takes to recover from heartbreak or the sorrow described in the previous blessing.

The effects of greed in the absence of aggression are not likely to get you put behind bars or compromise your ability to practice the dharma,

With larceny and theft being the fullest extent of any felony charges.

The second category of hatred is characterized as very damaging but it doesn't take long to recover from.

If you succumb to hatred or anger,

There's no end to the violence and cruelty you can inflict.

If you are subject to extreme aggression,

It's definitely possible to end up behind bars or on death row.

Heavy karma can also be generated by actions of extreme cruelty such as killing an enlightened one or one's parents.

Angry temper tantrums are thankfully short-lived however.

If a person is angry,

Often all that's needed is for someone to say sorry and the tension will be gone.

Anger can disappear as suddenly as it arrives and sometimes the hothead cannot even remember what they were supposed to be angry about.

Sometimes a person who's done something really crazy when they were mad afterwards can't imagine how they could have got so riled up.

So if you've been collecting up a lot of old scores,

Be quick to settle them and practice forgiveness instead,

Even if you feel as if you are the one who deserves the apology.

The final category of delusion has the character of being both very damaging and also taking a long time to recover from.

The most frightening thing about delusion or ignorance is that we don't know that we don't know.

It's like the blind leading the blind.

Both the worldly and spiritual retributions for ignorance are serious.

If you do something out of ignorance,

You will keep on making the same mistakes again and again.

Ignorance is also the root of greed and hatred.

It is incredibly hard even to know where to start dealing with ignorance if you haven't already attained the body of enlightenment.

Even when you have attained the body of enlightenment,

To eradicate ignorance still takes a lot of effort.

Which is no surprise because even some stream-enters need to practice for a further seven lifetimes before they can get completely free of their ignorance.

For each of the three categories of defilements,

Greed,

Hatred and delusion,

There are gross,

Medium and subtle levels of seriousness for the defilements.

Today we will be focusing on the subtle level of defilements.

The first category of defilements of greed and desire,

Known in Pali collectively as Raka,

Includes all defilements which have positive attachments,

Generating love,

Passion and desire.

So if we were to go through the greed category of defilements in decreasing order of seriousness and we'll just mention the heavy and medium defilements in passing,

These would include desiring things in a dishonest way or Loppa,

Which is a heavy defilement,

And open and discreet covetousness or Apicha,

Visamha,

Loppa and Apicha,

Wanting to obtain things by unscrupulous earnings or Bapicha,

Gluttony or Mahicha,

Lust,

Gamaraka and deviousness or Maya,

All of which are medium level defilements,

Which by this point in the blessings we should have left behind long ago.

As for the subtle defilements which we have freshly rid ourselves of in this blessing,

We're referring to grasping for rebirth on the various planes of existence.

So grasping for the sensual realms or Gamaraka,

Which is when you still have an attraction for sensual pleasure,

Which will cause you to be reborn in the sensual sphere.

The second is grasping for the form realms or Ruparaka,

Which is when you still have some attraction for the pleasures of the form absorptions.

The person meditates to the degree they attain the first absorption or higher,

They will attain more happiness than money could buy.

Of course the happiness of complete liberation from defilements is superior to this still,

But some people who attain such meditation think that it is already the ultimate because some people who attain this level can even perform some minor miracles.

Don't get me wrong,

To have attained form absorptions is still far superior to attaining nothing at all.

However such people give up on their efforts to make any further progress.

Their spiritual progress gets stuck at this point and they lose sight of their long term goal.

The third subtle greed defilement is grasping for the formless realms or Aruparaka,

Which is where if you attain the formless absorptions,

But again you become complacent with your attainment instead of training yourself further towards enlightenment.

Moving on to the hatred and anger defilement category,

Known collectively in the Pali language as Bosat.

This includes all defilements which deal with the pushing away of undesirable stimuli.

So if we were to go through the hatred category in decreasing order of seriousness,

And today I'll just mention the heavy and medium defilements in passing,

They would include the unassuredness of the Bayapada,

Which is a heavy defilement and downwinds between undirected anger called Bosat and Kota respectively,

Which are medium level defilements,

All of which by this point in the blessings we should have left behind long ago.

As for the subtle defilements from which we should have freshly rid ourselves in this blessing,

We're referring to any sort of feeling of awkwardness you get when you have small differences of opinion with those with whom you have to share activities or work space.

If you still feel that you don't want to be around such people,

Your mind is still under the sway of the subtle defilements of the mind known as cognitive dissonance or Areti.

Subtle hatred defilements also include irritability or Patika.

This is not as serious as anger,

But there is still a feeling of friction in the mind when confronted with undesirable circumstances.

When mom wants to sit for meditation,

But her daughter has the radio turned up loud,

She might snap,

Can't you turn the volume down?

I'd like to meditate now.

And when her daughter replies,

Why do you have to meditate now?

Although of course mom is not angry,

She might be irritated by her daughter's stubbornness.

Though irritability per se is of negligible harm,

You still have to overcome it,

Because otherwise it has the potential to develop into a fully fledged meltdown.

Finally comes the category of ignorance or delusion defilements known collectively in Pali as Moha,

Which includes all defilements concerning insufficient or distorted knowledge.

If we were to go through the delusion grouping of defilements in decreasing order of seriousness,

She has to mention heavy and medium defilements in passing for today.

They would include Rongvyu or Michaditthi,

Which is delusion at the heavy level,

And delusion proper or Moha,

Which is delusion at the medium level,

Which by this point in the blessings we should have left behind long ago.

As for the subtle defilements,

From which we have freshly rid ourselves in this blessing,

These would include firstly false view of individuality or Sakkayaditthi,

This is egotism of various sorts.

In fact our individuality is on many different levels and for as long as we misunderstand our own well-being as separate from that of the rest of the world,

We are still caught up in false view of individuality.

The second one is doubt or vichitta,

And this is doubt as to whether the law of karma really works.

It is doubt as to whether it's really possible to make progress in meditation,

Or whether it's really possible to become enlightened.

The third one is adherence to superstitions or silapata paramassa,

This means being caught up in superstitious rites and rituals that involve magical thinking.

And we'll come back to this in more detail later because it is an inclusion that is particularly badly understood.

Fourth one is conceit or mana,

The three ways in which people may be conceited about themselves,

Assuming themselves to be of the same or lower or higher status than others.

If they assume a lower status,

You might call it an inferiority complex.

If it's a higher status,

You might call it a superiority complex.

In fact all three are unhelpful to our spiritual vocation.

We assume ourselves to be superior to others and by extension our skills or experience or behavior,

We lose the opportunity to improve ourselves further and we'll end up as prisoner to our own stupidity.

Fifth one is absentmindedness or uttacha,

This is restlessness of the mind that is experienced when you try to keep your mind on the object of meditation,

Which your mind wanders on to every other subject under the sun.

The final one is ignorance proper or avicca,

This is a lack of true knowledge or excess of the wrong sort of worldview in a person.

It is a lack of clarity on important life questions such as where have we come from,

Why we are here,

When and where are we going to die.

Satisfactory answers to such questions require attainment of the dhammakaya and not just the initial dhammakaya,

Dhammakaya is of the higher stages of awakening.

We have time for a quick but relevant scriptural story that today comes from the Gama Jataka where there was once a king who had two sons.

When the king passed away,

The elder son did not need to rule,

So he renounced the throne in favor of the younger son and went to live as a commoner in border country.

Superficially the application may have looked a bit like what Prince Hidarta did,

But in this case the former prince had not truly let go of his ambitions,

They lived on as subtle defilements in his mind.

A local entrepreneur knew that the ex-prince would be inexperienced at earning a living,

So he supported him to get set up in life.

But of course there were some strings attached.

The entrepreneur requested the ex-prince to put a word in with his little brother to get a tax exemption for their area on the pretext of helping the ex-prince get established.

The ex-prince did as he was told and that province was exempted from taxation.

First everyone was content,

But later the prince's subtle defilements got out of control with the chance of backhanders in return for putting in a good word for tax exemptions in the neighboring provinces as well.

As the special income of the ex-prince increased,

His greed became insatiable.

He wanted to get his throne back.

At first his little brother objected,

But later he was allowed to return as king.

Since that king had done many good deeds in the past,

Indra the king of heaven,

Instead of being jealous as he had been in some previous Jartika stories,

Wanted to teach him a life lesson to make sure his greed wouldn't get out of hand.

Indra appeared to the king in human guise and asked him,

Do you know there are three neighboring kingdoms even greater than your own?

Before the king could ask the details,

Indra disappeared.

The king became instantly dissatisfied with his own kingdom.

He wanted to expand the borders and invade those three neighboring kingdoms,

Even though he had never seen them.

The king was so obsessed with expansionism that he became sick just thinking about new territory as day and night.

No doctor could cure the king of his illness.

During that lifetime,

The Bodhisattva was born as a young scholar who had just finished his studies.

He volunteered to administer a cure to the king.

He discovered the cause of the illness and was able to heal the king without recourse to medicine,

Just by using questions to make the king recover his wits.

The Bodhisattva knew the king already had one kingdom but craved three more,

A total of four.

So he asked,

When your majesty sleeps,

Do you need four beds?

No,

Only one,

Replied the king.

When your majesty eats,

Does your majesty fill your stomach four times over?

No,

To be full,

Just one meal at a time suffices.

Then why does your majesty want to rule four kingdoms when you already have a kingdom of your own?

And the king was miraculously cured of his illness.

So to return to our subject matter of subtle defilements today,

If we put all the three categories of subtle defilements together,

What is overcome in the final stages of enlightenment can be concluded in the form of the ten fetters or samyogyna,

Which are sequentially uprooted by each of the stages of enlightenment,

By the process I have already described in Blessing 33.

So the subtle defilements in order of the ten fetters comprise self-abuse or sakkayaditi,

Doubt or vichigicha,

Attachment to rites and rituals or silabhata paramasa,

Grasping for the sensual realms or kamarakha,

Annoyance or patika,

Grasping for the formless realms or ruparakha,

Grasping for the formless realms or aruparakha,

Stubbornness or mana,

Absentmindedness or uttachchha,

And ignorance or avichcha.

You can understand the ten fetters as being connected with the four noble truths because the second noble truth points out that grasping and ultimately ignorance are the causes of suffering and are fetters that trap sentient beings in their cycle of existence.

The removal of the ten fetters are stepping stones along the path to liberation.

Although obviously those who are advanced enough in their practice to shed the fetters would have overcome the five hindrances long ago,

Four of the five hindrances,

Namely fetters two,

Four,

Five and nine,

Show some overlap,

Although in hindrances the fourth fetter is translated as sense desire and the fifth fetter is translated as a will.

So according to the Avichhya Sutta of the Angusha-Nikaya,

Fetters one,

Eight and ten are regarded as nutriments for delusion and fetters six and seven nourish the cravings for existence.

As you may have noticed,

Fetter number three is a little bit of an odd one out,

So today we will digress slightly to justify how it ended up amongst the ten fetters.

So any discussion of attachment to rites and rituals has to acknowledge a certain tendency to discourage rites and rituals in some contemporary Buddhist circles.

Ironically,

If you were to go anywhere in the world and visit a traditional Buddhist temple rather than a meditation center,

You would discover that the reality of Buddhist life seems to be conspicuously involved with chanting,

Rites and rituals,

Cultural conventions,

Vows and resolutions.

The number of precepts observed by lay Buddhists is only exceeded by the number kept by monks and nuns.

Water is poured to dedicate merits for the departed.

The young Buddhists take Bodhisattva vows to help them aspire to Buddhahood and salvation for all beings.

The practice of austerities involves a vow to practice any of the thirteen special practices we saw back in Blessing 31.

Meanwhile,

Other Buddhists do prostrations along pilgrimage routes.

Some Buddhists commit to being vegetarian.

Tibetan Buddhists believe auspiciousness can be generated by the spinning of prayer wheels or the flapping of prayer flags.

There is an abundance of Buddhist amulets and relics that look suspiciously like the indulgences of the pre-Lutheran church.

With ceremonies so much in the mainstream,

It would be a surprise to learn that rites and rituals appear to be discouraged in the higher echelons of Buddhist practice.

A literal reading of the inclusion of adherence to rites and rituals or Silabhata Paramahamsa as one of the subtle mental defilements that needs to be overcome to reach the stages of enlightenment would mean Buddhists needing to give up religious rites and rituals if they want to become enlightened.

Of course,

Some practices in Buddhism could be understood as a means to an end,

Or a skillful means designed to be let go of once they have served their purpose,

As illustrated by the Maha-Milikaya simile of the raft.

Is it the case then that precepts and vows,

Disciplines,

Practices,

Ethics,

Ideology,

Rites,

Rituals and ceremonies need to be treated as a hindrance to genuine practice?

Well,

The emology of the term Silabhata Paramahamsa derives from Sila,

Meaning virtue,

Morality or convention,

In the sense of intentionally omitting unwholesomeness from one's behaviour.

Bhata refers to oaths and commitments in the sense of intentionally including wholesomeness in one's behaviour.

As for the term Paramahamsa,

It means in a way that is externally imposed,

Often compared to trying to hold an inflatable ball underwater.

So taken together,

Silabhata Paramahamsa would refer to adherence to rites and rituals that are an external imposition.

Such clinging is shunned for the way it leads to rigidity,

Dogmatism,

Resistance to change and the belief that attainments can be reached merely by taking rituals or oaths.

If parallels were to be sought with Freudian psychology,

The late Venerable Bhuneji Mahatira compared it to a complex involving the superego.

Adherence to rites and rituals is considered problematic alongside the fetters of deluded view about the self and doubt.

Apart from being one of the ten fetters,

Adherence to rites and rituals is also included as one of the four forms of clinging or upatthana,

Alongside clinging to essential objects or kamupatthana,

Clinging to views or dittupatthana,

And clinging to ego-belief or atavadupatthana.

To give some historical context,

Contemporary to the Buddha,

There were many competing religions which taught that performing rites and rituals in honor of the gods was the only way to change the world,

Whether it be ensuring plentiful harvest,

Freedom from disease,

Or healthy childbirth.

Rites and rituals were considered sufficient for awakening or salvation.

This view was soundly rejected by the Buddha because he taught that things happen because of natural laws,

Not because of petitions to the gods.

The Majjhima Nikāya's Kukkara-Vātika Sutta is often used to illustrate the perils of blind adherence to oaths and rituals,

Relating the case of ascetics who dutifully imitated dogs or oxen as part of their spiritual practice.

They would eat only food thrown on the ground,

Wear no clothes,

And go about on all fours,

And believe such practices would lead to their salvation.

These are quite extreme examples of magical thinking that may seem to be poles apart from the practices of the majority of reasonable Buddhists in the present day.

Consequently,

Modern Buddhists tend to think that rather than the content of the rites and rituals themselves,

The issue being addressed by adherence to rites and rituals likely concerns blindly following externally imposed conventions.

It would refer to certain people believing that eating certain foods will allow them to gain salvation,

Or ritual bathing in some sacred river.

Fortune tellers,

Spirit worship,

Or other forms of superstition might mistakenly be seen as a refuge from suffering.

It seems to indicate that petitioning external spiritual forces or reliance on external imposition of discipline is somehow less genuine than being motivated to do good or avoid evil by one's own sense of satisfactional conscience.

The caution against adherence to rites and rituals highlights the perceived inferiority of discipline as opposed to self-discipline,

And implies that by this point in our practice good behaviour should become internalised or Ariya-sila,

As exemplified by Sariputta,

The Buddha's right-hand disciple,

Who was praised in the Mushrim-Nilkaya's Anupāda The ambiguity historically surrounding Buddhist rites and rituals is only compounded in the present day,

Where they have found themselves at the forefront of Buddhist internal culture wars,

With meditation and ritual often at opposing ends of a discourse divided along the lines of heritage convert,

Traditionalist modernist,

Or postcolonial orientalist.

Convert Buddhists,

Secular Buddhists,

And modernists tend to claim that authentic Buddhists need to abandon rites and rituals,

Such as expressing respect or puja,

Or homage or vandana,

Despite these being Theravada Buddhist practices advocated in the Buddhist scriptures.

In a sort of spiritual essentialism,

Silabhata-paramasa has been cited by some Westerners as justification to reject traditional thinking that freedom from traditional Buddhist rituals should be conducive to clarity and authenticity of mind.

And amongst the number are several of the academics responsible for the English translations of the term Silabhata-paramasa.

Western scholars have consistently relegated rites,

Rituals,

And commitment to the domain of cultural attractions,

And for Westerners to become naively involved in such rites and rituals is regarded with the same flora as going native.

It should be acknowledged,

Though,

That over the last two decades,

With the gradual decolonization of Buddhist studies,

Those dismissive of rites and rituals in Buddhism have become less vocal.

Nonetheless,

Secular Buddhists such as Joseph Goldstein and Stephen Batchelor maintain an influence on what has become known as consensus Buddhism in the West,

Where Buddhism has come to be regarded as nothing more than a way of life.

This proportionate eagerness to dismiss rites and rituals and vows may originate from the Protestant roots of many of the Western countries where Buddhism has gained popularity.

Sometimes this dismissiveness comes in the passive form of inherent Protestantism,

Where the expectations of Westerners who have converted to Buddhism are unintentionally affected by their former religious background.

Sometimes it is more active and intentional as a sort of Protestant chauvinism,

Where Buddhist teachings are actually taken out of context to justify the rejection of rituals.

Unexamined assumptions underlying inherent Protestantism uncritically treat meditation as positive and beneficial,

While ritual is at best considered a waste of time and at worst condemned as detrimental to true practice.

Nonetheless,

There should be common ground for the assumptions of Eastern and Western Buddhists,

Because the Buddha didn't make different accommodations for East and West.

Since in the Majjhmeine Kaya's Vāsettasutta,

He taught that distinctions of birth,

Race or nationality ought to be eclipsed by devotion to practice and understanding of the Dharma.

Current post-modernist and post-secularist trends in Western society,

With diversity of practice and increasing levels of acceptance of ritual aspects of religion in the public sphere,

Signal how that reconciliation might happen moving forward.

And it is refreshing to note how Western Buddhists are often now redressing the balance in their practice by making up their own rituals,

To assuage any guilt you might feel about cultural appropriation.

To many,

The deprioritization of ceremonies in Buddhism makes sense,

Because after all there is no explicit mention of rites and rituals in the factors of the Eightfold Path.

So would caution concerning rites and rituals mean prioritizing rituals most relevant to liberation from rebirth?

Or is the issue more to do with the way a practitioner adheres?

Is it only relevant to worry about rites and rituals for those who are on the threshold of stream-entry?

Or is the problem with the compulsive or rote enactment of ceremonies?

Certainly,

Some sorts of rites and rituals are discouraged by Buddhists,

Such as excessively transactional approaches to ritual,

Where for example a devotee might bargain with the Buddha,

Promising some sort of sacrifice,

Such as a donation to the temple,

In return for a favor,

But only if the favor comes true.

Within Buddhism,

It would generally be preferred that an unskillful ritual would be transformed into something more skillful,

By making the donation in advance and channeling the merit of that deed unconditionally towards the outcome sought.

Buddhists,

Along with black magic oaths,

Self-mortification rituals,

Or taking refuge in things other than the Triple Gem,

Are probably the only rites and rituals that traditional Buddhists would seek to abandon outright.

Although on the face of it,

The subtle defilements seem harmless,

We cannot afford to tolerate their presence in our mind,

Just like a spark which can cause the whole of a city to burn down.

The Buddha therefore taught that we see danger even in the smallest of things,

Something which he referred to as Anoma Teso Vajteso Paya Dasavi.

Even though all these subtle mental taints may be considered minor,

No more than fine dust in the mind,

We have to get rid of them anyway,

Because otherwise they will hold us back from enlightenment,

Or force us to relapse into more serious types of behavior.

For most people,

The mental taints are so subtle that it's like it doesn't really matter whether they're there or not.

Nonetheless,

They are like tiny bacteria which can cause much more serious diseases.

If meditation progress is not our full-time job,

It's often difficult to appreciate the urgency of getting rid of these subtle defilements.

Nonetheless,

We cannot afford to ignore them,

Or at least treat them with the utmost caution.

The best security is to uproot them completely,

And we'll finish by reminding ourselves of some of the best remedies for each of the categories.

So I've already gone into the detail of overcoming the subtle defilements in the preceding blessings,

But just as a quick reminder,

The best way to overcome grasping for the sensual realms or sensuality more generally,

Is to practice contentment with one's spouse,

Give up frivolous behavior,

Use funerals for our benefit,

Associate with good friends,

Love ourselves unselfishly,

Spread loving-kindness limitlessly,

Or stay single or celibate,

Keeping the eight precepts,

And generally leading a life properly introspective through meditation.

Grasping for the form and formless realms can be overcome by making a daily resolution to reach nirvana.

On the anger front,

The subtle defilements of cognitive dissonance and irritability can be overcome,

Assuming that you are still in control of your temper,

By doing or saying nothing harmful while irritated,

And more generally,

Cultivating loving-kindness,

Freeing yourself from patience,

And trying to avoid associating with angry people.

For the subtle defilements related to delusion,

The false view of individuality,

Doubt,

Absent-mindedness,

And ignorance need to be overcome by cultivating wisdom,

Meditating more,

And seeking guidance from those more experienced on the Buddhist path than oneself.

Conceit can be overcome by being humble,

Being wary of comparing yourself with others,

And avoiding flatterers.

Instead of comparing yourself with others,

You should compare yourself today with how you were yesterday or last week,

And look for any improvements.

As for overcoming adherence to rites and rituals,

It would seem that caution towards rites and rituals is best implemented through better understanding of the role,

Motivations,

Intentions,

And worldview play in the ceremonial practice of respect,

Homage,

Or resolution,

And shifting attention away from the precept or practice per se to the qualities of mind surrounding them.

Even superficially empty actions can be imbued with spiritual meaning if performed with right intention.

Similarly,

Many rites and rituals in a Buddhist context can be understood as the formal opportunity to practice generosity,

Bolster morality,

And meditate.

So,

A need to break the fetter of Silapattaparamassa would most likely mean relinquishing any distorted understanding of the role precepts and conventions may play in practice,

Since whether or not a Buddhist refrains from ritual is no guarantee of them escaping magical thinking.

Such an understanding of rites and rituals avoids throwing out the meritorious baby with the bathwater,

As modernists might advocate.

Meanwhile,

Buddhists need to keep in touch with the deeper objectives underlying rites and rituals in a way that makes them meaningful to ultimate liberation from suffering.

The only way to come to a definitive end of such beliefs is to attain the Dhammakaya.

Until you manage to attain the Dhammakaya,

You will always end up believing the last thing you heard.

For today,

We have time for one final scriptural story relevant to the topic of subtle definements.

In the time of the Buddha,

There was a group of monks who had been practicing in isolation in the forest,

Keeping their precepts strictly and meditating extendedly.

They had been meditating so long that they had become convinced that they had already overcome all the subtle defilements in their minds.

They thought they had no remaining greed,

Hatred,

Or delusion.

All the monks felt so fulfilled that they agreed to leave the forest to return to the temple.

They planned to visit the Buddha.

The Buddha knew through his meditation that this group of monks had overestimated their attainment and Yen Fung had not reached an end of defilements.

Buddha instructed Ananda to wait for the monks at the gate of the temple and tell them to go and stay in the cemetery instead of immediately coming to see him in the temple.

In the cemetery,

There was the corpse of a beautiful woman who had just recently died.

When the monks arrived at the cemetery,

They saw the corpse of the woman and their attraction to her former beauty resurfaced.

Only then did the monks realize that there were still subtle defilements remaining in their minds and they needed to practice further.

In this case,

Without the right circumstances to magnify the subtle defilements into a recognizable emotion,

The small defilements in the minds of these monks had remained hidden without them realizing.

So this session I have introduced to you Blessing 37 on a Mind Free from Subtle Defilements.

So for my next session we'll move to the final blessing,

Number 38 on the Blissful Mind.

Hopefully as a result of today's session you will feel a little more inspired to uproot the last of the subtle defilements from your mind.

So for today this is me,

Praniklis Tandeswaro,

Signing off for now.

So long folks and stay safe.