spiritual pride

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
User avatar
kmath
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 6:44 pm

Re: spiritual pride

Post by kmath »

I love your wording. I meant the first:
Sam Vara wrote:
You might want to reflect on the fact that if the energy really were wholesome, then it would not lead to pride.
My response:

"It is very much the case that the above is not true." As in, one can feel unwholesome pride over experiencing a very wholesome state, such as jhana.
User avatar
Weakfocus
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2013 3:07 pm

Re: spiritual pride

Post by Weakfocus »

There is nothing wrong with feeling a certain amount of pride and self-satisfaction. Reflecting on one's truthful achievements helps go through difficult phases, it helps to fight off negative emotions and gives hope when one is in the troughs.

One should not let pride grow uncontrollably and turn into conceit, however.
User avatar
fig tree
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:25 am

Re: spiritual pride

Post by fig tree »

Remembering to think of the path as a gift that has been handed down to you (like in a bucket brigade) seems to help.

Fig Tree
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: spiritual pride

Post by Sam Vara »

kmath wrote:I love your wording. I meant the first:
Sam Vara wrote:
You might want to reflect on the fact that if the energy really were wholesome, then it would not lead to pride.
My response:

"It is very much the case that the above is not true." As in, one can feel unwholesome pride over experiencing a very wholesome state, such as jhana.
Ah, I see. You're probably right, but we don't know that the original post was about a very wholesome state. The phrase was
pride that comes from our meditation
My thinking was that if there is a necessary condition for a problem, then it might make sense to look at what that condition is, and whether we can change it - tweak the meditation a bit, maybe.
befriend
Posts: 2284
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:39 am

Re: spiritual pride

Post by befriend »

In my first post I did say I was doing one pointed concentration and times of practicing metta, the one pointed concentration was observing the breath at the upper lip, this led to access concentration and my mind involuntarily puffed this up into thinking, "look at me, my mind is more fine than a deva or whatever grandiose notion"
Take care of mindfulness and mindfulness will take care of you.
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: spiritual pride

Post by Sam Vara »

befriend wrote:In my first post I did say I was doing one pointed concentration and times of practicing metta, the one pointed concentration was observing the breath at the upper lip, this led to access concentration and my mind involuntarily puffed this up into thinking, "look at me, my mind is more fine than a deva or whatever grandiose notion"
Yes, it's for this reason that you might want to reflect on whether the type of meditation you are doing needs a possible adjustment. Wholesome is as wholesome does, so to speak. It might be that your mind would involuntarily puff anything up into this type of thinking; or it might be that your mind would puff the type of concentration to which you refer ("access") into this type of grandiose thinking.

I think it's worth playing around with, anyway, to see if you can find a type of meditative practice that does not have such results.
befriend
Posts: 2284
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:39 am

Re: spiritual pride

Post by befriend »

thank you I also know that I suffer from pride very much, I probably should not do too much samatha for my personality type, thank you very much for clarifying that. :anjali: I really appreciate all of your help everyone. metta, befriend
Take care of mindfulness and mindfulness will take care of you.
Post Reply