Sarva wrote:What seem unclear is why action continues to occour... I feel close to the brink of a form of hard determinism in this approach; evenything just happening, even choice is made because choice is being made. Is that correct?
So, action occurs because one clings. Clinging, one is reckoned a being, and beings intend this or that, for good or ill. So it is that a being can desire to put an end to desire, and train themselves according to the Dhamma, eventually resulting in the cessation of being due to the cessation of clinging. You may grasp that the phrase "I am the doer" is incorrect, but when this isn't seen for oneself, one must practice - and the practice is
not to stare at the phrase and repeat "that is a mistaken view", but instead to simply engage with the gradual path. As MN 2 recommends, setting aside this confusion about "me" is correct, not pursuing the confusion and seeking a satisfying intellectual resolution.
As to determinism, it is the case that all conditioned things have a cause, including behavior, but of the many causes and conditions which are at work, "choice" is among them. One can still choose, even though that choice is informed by other facts (one cannot choose to grow feathers, but one can choose to meditate versus watching television). The fact that the Dhamma is now a cause and a condition in the world, according to which we can choose truly wholesome behaviors which lead onwards, is the reason why it's so precious.