help me understand how consciousness is not self

[Cittasanto]

I had missed the "not" underlined so... but I find your achnoledgement of this typo funny as my user name used to be Manapa.
do you use a spell checker? I use one as my spelling can be quite bad. you can download them for browsers.

but think of it as the Karaniya metta sutta says of the practice of metta "Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, so long as one is free from drowsiness, this should be recollected"

i use spell check but with all the pali words tons of stuff is underlined so i sometimes accidentally ignore stuff as i'm used to ignoring all the pali words with red lines underneath.

what about your previous user name?

I used to go by Manapa, so when you said man, I found it funny

[manas]

Hi alan, I can't easily quote with this phone...so... I read that you (believe that) you can have visual impressions, sounds, thought-impressions, all at once. I think you should investigate this more thoroughly. Because as I understand it, that's how things can appear, but not how they really are. You can't actually see and hear at the same instant. What happens is that the mind moves so quickly from one thing to another, such that, as in a movie, the many frames are perceived as one, continuous experience.

But don't think you are alone, I'm similarly engaged in trying to see through this identification with conscious awareness as 'the one who knows' -with the underlying assumption of this being our 'authentic, real self' there, u know what I mean? But maybe instead of construing 'knower', we should just cultivate 'knowing'...

This work might require patient, consistent application of the entire eightfold path for some time.

Keep treading...

[SarathW]

Hi Alan
This is my approach:
A)Consciousness is not a one fixed entity, stored in anywhere. It arises due to reasons.
B)Consciousness will not arise without grassier matter (Rupa) or subtle matter (Nama)
c)When Citta (consciousness) arise with it other 52 Cetasikas arise.
d)when conditions not there there is no consciousness.
Please read attached for more info:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... el322.html

[alan...]

thanks all. i sat in jhana for a bit and then after coming out i contemplated this and broke through fairly well. this has happened before and i backslid so let's hope i can maintain this time!

largely the backsliding was due to too much focus on meditation and mindfulness without enough observation of the anicca, dukkha and anatta of mind itself.