How do you contemplate anatta?

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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Ben
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Ben »

Pacceka1996 wrote:hahaha.. maybe finding one's 'self' is what part of this is all about isn't it?
No.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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Pacceka1996
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Pacceka1996 »

Ben wrote:
Pacceka1996 wrote:hahaha.. maybe finding one's 'self' is what part of this is all about isn't it?
No.
Okay. :-). Then good luck.
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Ben
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Ben »

Pacceka1996 wrote:
Ben wrote:
Pacceka1996 wrote:hahaha.. maybe finding one's 'self' is what part of this is all about isn't it?
No.
Okay. :-). Then good luck.
Luck has nothing to do with it. But thanks anyway.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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lyndon taylor
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by lyndon taylor »

(Don't take this too seriously, a little tongue in cheek)

Try as I might I still don't know if I have a self, and I definetly don't know what self is, just that its bad and I should get rid of it. But what is it, how do I get rid of something I'm not even sure what it is, or if I have one, I know the 5 badguyragettes, and they are bad guys, not to be trusted, But if I completely ignore the 5 bad guys, I won't be able to drive to the coffee shop to eat, or type on my computer, so I compromise, I use the 5 bad guys, but I try not to let them use me. I wish I could tell you what it is like to be enlightened and not have all these problems, but to do that I'd have to be really pulling your leg, hope you've enjoyed my little story, now back to the real playas.....
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
Pacceka1996
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Pacceka1996 »

Okay. :-). Then good luck.[/quote]
Luck has nothing to do with it. But thanks anyway.[/quote]

:-D Forgive: I am new to Dharma speak.
ummm... self.Self - that which seeks liberation.
Synonym: the self, soul. spirit. character. Citta (pali)
Antonym: Me. I. Ego. mine. myself.
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kirk5a
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by kirk5a »

Pacceka1996 wrote:hahaha.. maybe finding one's 'self' is what part of this is all about isn't it? Losing the ego, which is perceived as self, that hollow empty shell all want and desire. But self.. ohh.. that's way way way down deep inside. Maybe, cling to nothing, and what's left.. self.
Ajahn Maha Boowa wrote: The mind’s brightness and clarity appear to be so extraordinary and awe-inspiring, that nothing can possibly compare. The luminous essence is the epitome of perfect goodness and virtue, the ultimate in spiritual happiness. It is your true, original self — the core of your being. But this true self is also the fundamental source of all attachment to being and becoming. Ultimately it is attachment to the allure of this primordial radiance of mind that causes living beings to wander indefinitely through the world of becoming and ceasing, constantly grasping at birth and enduring death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta#Th ... _Tradition
"When one thing is practiced & pursued, ignorance is abandoned, clear knowing arises, the conceit 'I am' is abandoned, latent tendencies are uprooted, fetters are abandoned. Which one thing? Mindfulness immersed in the body." -AN 1.230
Pacceka1996
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Pacceka1996 »

kirk5a wrote:
Pacceka1996 wrote:hahaha.. maybe finding one's 'self' is what part of this is all about isn't it? Losing the ego, which is perceived as self, that hollow empty shell all want and desire. But self.. ohh.. that's way way way down deep inside. Maybe, cling to nothing, and what's left.. self.
Ajahn Maha Boowa wrote: The mind’s brightness and clarity appear to be so extraordinary and awe-inspiring, that nothing can possibly compare. The luminous essence is the epitome of perfect goodness and virtue, the ultimate in spiritual happiness. It is your true, original self — the core of your being. But this true self is also the fundamental source of all attachment to being and becoming. Ultimately it is attachment to the allure of this primordial radiance of mind that causes living beings to wander indefinitely through the world of becoming and ceasing, constantly grasping at birth and enduring death.
Oh... so then now i understand pra ajarn's definition of citta a little more. thank you. but still not the word i look for. If a person glimpses Nirvana, what is then name of the entity (if not self) that does the observing? .. what is it called please?
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kirk5a
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by kirk5a »

Pacceka1996 wrote:Oh... so then now i understand pra ajarn's definition of citta a little more. thank you. but still not the word i look for. If a person glimpses Nirvana, what is then name of the entity (if not self) that does the observing? .. what is it called please?
Is this a satisfactory answer?
Of nibbāna, O king, it cannot be said that it is perceptible by the five senses, but it is perceptible by the mind. The disciple whose mind is pure, and free from obstructions can perceive nibbāna”
http://www.aimwell.org/Books/Pesala/Mil ... ments.html
"When one thing is practiced & pursued, ignorance is abandoned, clear knowing arises, the conceit 'I am' is abandoned, latent tendencies are uprooted, fetters are abandoned. Which one thing? Mindfulness immersed in the body." -AN 1.230
Pacceka1996
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Pacceka1996 »

kirk5a wrote:
Pacceka1996 wrote:Oh... so then now i understand pra ajarn's definition of citta a little more. thank you. but still not the word i look for. If a person glimpses Nirvana, what is then name of the entity (if not self) that does the observing? .. what is it called please?
Is this a satisfactory answer?
Of nibbāna, O king, it cannot be said that it is perceptible by the five senses, but it is perceptible by the mind. The disciple whose mind is pure, and free from obstructions can perceive nibbāna”
So the mind can glimpse. Interesting. Thank you. And is there there then a suitable name for the entity that enter's Nirvana. If not self.. what then?
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kirk5a
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by kirk5a »

Pacceka1996 wrote:So the mind can glimpse. Interesting. Thank you. And is there there then a suitable name for the entity that enter's Nirvana. If not self.. what then?
I think that question is getting tangled up in the concept of "the entity that enters Nirvana"

Maybe a little more from Ajahn Maha Boowa will help.
Try imagining yourself standing in an empty room. You look around and see only empty space — everywhere. Absolutely nothing occupies that space — except you, standing in the middle of the room. Admiring its emptiness, you forget about yourself. You forget that you occupy a central position in that space. How then can the room be empty? As long as someone remains in the room, it is not truly empty. When you finally realize that the room can never be truly empty until you depart, that is the moment when that fundamental delusion about your true self disintegrates, and the pure, delusion-free mind arises.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta#Th ... _Tradition
"When one thing is practiced & pursued, ignorance is abandoned, clear knowing arises, the conceit 'I am' is abandoned, latent tendencies are uprooted, fetters are abandoned. Which one thing? Mindfulness immersed in the body." -AN 1.230
Pacceka1996
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Re: How do you contemplate anatta?

Post by Pacceka1996 »

Maybe a little more from Ajahn Maha Boowa will help.
Try imagining yourself standing in an empty room. You look around and see only empty space — everywhere. Absolutely nothing occupies that space — except you, standing in the middle of the room. Admiring its emptiness, you forget about yourself. You forget that you occupy a central position in that space. How then can the room be empty? As long as someone remains in the room, it is not truly empty. When you finally realize that the room can never be truly empty until you depart, that is the moment when that fundamental delusion about your true self disintegrates, and the pure, delusion-free mind arises.
words are a problem yes.. and it does help. Thank you. Rings of Schrödinger's cat thought experiment and quantum mechanics. I'm still left with a meta description problem, but for now let it be. Not important. No point clinging to it. hahaha. :-D
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