Sadat wrote
Hi Pulsar,
I think the key piece in the problem set that you described is developing strong enough samadhi. You can't really stop that stuff by some sort of power of will. I remember reading the sutta where Buddha says that he did not completely abandon the idea of sensual pleasures until he developed samadhi. The mind needs to get to the higher reference point to let go of the lower. What are your thoughts regarding this?
I am impressed, you appear to have the ability to see what is important.
You wrote
The mind needs to get to the higher reference point to let go of the lower. What are your thoughts regarding this?
Very true.
As long as you are in the lower, trapped by sensual thinking, that talk is only talk, does not get you anywhere. It is true that conceptual thinking is important, but there are levels of it.
There is a sutta in MN I think, where when a disciple consults Buddha on advice given to Prince Jayasena (if I remember right) Buddha replies something like
There is no point in teaching the four stations of mindfulness (which leads to Buddhist Samadhi),
to a Prince immersed in the sensual world.
Why? My conclusion is that all their thinking is influenced by incoming sensory data.
It is in relation to this, that I have struggled to get right Samadhi across on the Dhamma wheel forum. I like it here.
Have you read my Post on Origination of Suffering under Early Buddhism?
That might answer some of your questions.
With love