Cause_and_Effect wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:31 pm
I don't think you understand what I'm saying.
If you learn a method from a Thai Ajahn you do what he says and put in the work. Yes you can question and investigate but not too much.
Textual analysis alone cannot take you very far.
Only one you have reached a certain level in your concentration will things start to make more sense.
Well as you mentioned yourself once right view is there the practice needs to be put in on the remainder of the path.
The quote you give from the Buddha shouldn't be misunderstood, it doesn't mean these things which just happen spontaneously but the work will be much easier and not have to be 'willed' as much.
It doesn't matter who the "teacher" is, it also doesn't matter what the "method" is either, it doesn't matter how hard you practice too.
How do you know that's the right thing to do? If someone is coming from a place of ignorance, asking them to trust some guru and execute a technique for thousands of hours and hopefully one day a magic event will happen and they will understand, is not only a foolish risk to take, but also wrong view.
You're not supposed to guru/teacher worship, you're supposed to study the suttas (the true dhamma) and
see for yourself here and now. Not follow a guru and wait for a magical event sometime later.
"Of course you are uncertain, Kalamas. Of course you are in doubt. When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' — then you should abandon them
You wrote "the quote shouldn't be misunderstood", I'm telling you, odds are, the person you're following that's telling you execute a technique for thousands of hours "and then you'll one day understand" has already misunderstood the dhamma.
Hence you wrote "once right view is there, one should practice", I'm telling you "right view isn't there"
Then Mara the Evil One manifested himself in the form of a brahmin, with a large matted topknot, clad in an antelope hide, old, crooked like a roof bracket, wheezing, holding a staff of udumbara wood. He approached those bhikkhus and said to them: “You, sirs, have gone forth while young, lads with black hair, endowed with the blessing of youth, in the prime of life, without having dallied with sensual pleasures. Enjoy human sensual pleasures, sirs; do not abandon what is directly visible in order to pursue what takes time.”
“We have not abandoned what is directly visible, brahmin, in order to pursue what takes time. We have abandoned what takes time in order to pursue what is directly visible. For the Blessed One, brahmin, has stated that sensual pleasures are time-consuming, full of suffering, full of despair, and the danger in them is still greater, while this Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, applicable, to be personally experienced by the wise.”
In other words, if you're waiting for a magical experience to happen later, you haven't attained right view. Thus any "method" you use, will be used incorrectly.
Even if the guru is the Buddha himself, you shouldn't follow the Buddha, since that implies you don't see, and thus don't have Right View. If you follow a guru and execute a method, you don't have right view.
Bhikkhus, even though a bhikkhu might hold on to the hem of my robe and follow close behind me step by step, if he is covetous for objects of desire, strongly passionate, malevolent, corrupt in thought, unmindful, uncomprehending, unconcentrated, of wandering mind and uncontrolled faculties, he is far from me and I am far from him. What is the reason? That bhikkhu does not see Dhamma. Not seeing Dhamma, he does not see me.
Bhikkhus, even though a bhikkhu might live a hundred leagues away, if he is not covetous for objects of desire, not strongly passionate, not malevolent, uncorrupt in thought, with mindfulness established, clearly comprehending, concentrated, of unified mind and controlled faculties, he is close to me and I am close to him. What is the reason? That bhikkhu sees Dhamma. Seeing Dhamma, he sees me.”
There is only one battle that could be won, and that is the battle against the 3 poisons. Any other battle is a guaranteed loss because you're going to die either way.