Why give up sensual pleasures?

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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sphairos
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by sphairos »

un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:07 pm
Sam Vara wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:57 pm
un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:50 pm

Sure, but how many people fail to keep a diet and return to their former weight, despite all their intentions and will power? How come people in Okinawa or South Korea and other parts of the world like the bluezone countries, are effortlessly able to maintain healthy weight? Because of social conditioning. It's extremely hard to overcome social conditioning, that's why they say the best way to quit smoking is to never start. People born in areas with good social conditioning are extremely fortunate.
Yes, I entirely agree. Some might claim that this is due to our previous kamma which gets us born wherever we find ourselves; others would say luck. Certainly I have Thai and Sri Lankan friends who would not dream of breaking the 5th precept, and would have more difficulty in breaking the first than most westerners.

But the key point here is that you are asking about whether renunciation of sense pleasure is necessary, and if so how to do it. That's a huge advantage over the millions of others to whom such a question would never even occur.

My advice is to look at the advice you get (as you are now!) and if you choose to cut back, go slowly and carefully monitor any feedback. And be gentle on yourself.
Thank you, I appreciate your response and wise advice. This has been an ongoing battle for years, and I think many Buddhists as well who don't want to really admit it. The idea of spinning wheels and not gaining traction really bothers me that I'm afraid of getting burnt out and giving up all together, just giving in and getting lost in video games and such. I've tried so many different methods, read so many books over the years, I have hundreds of gigabytes saved of material, I can't even read another Buddhist book anymore. So that's why I wanted to hear people's opinions.

I know that I will never break the 5 precepts, so I have that assurance, the only hurdle for me now is sensual desires.

Cheers
Maybe it will work for you ?

Image

Image

Image

"
Meditators in this practice are directed to focus on the “disgusting” aspects of the cadaver and the impermanence of the flesh, bones, and fluids. The highest state of meditation is reached when both attraction and repulsion cease to exist. This approach is viewed as a powerful way to learn selflessness, says Justin McDaniel, a professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “And the more selfless you are, the closer you are to nirvana.” (The New York Times)

The family of a child or young adult who has died unexpectedly will sometimes donate the remains to a temple for this purpose, seeking to make merit and gain a positive outcome from the tragedy. The monks see the deceased young people as “representing the best of humanity,” says Professor McDaniel. “They’re innocent — not so selfish and greedy and ambitious. If something so beautiful can decay, why are you so proud and vain? You’re even uglier.” (The New York Times)

At some monasteries, such as Wat Khao Yai in Thailand’s Pichit Province and Wat Hualompong in Bangkok, a donated corpse is suspended on a hook before monastics who have received permission to undertake this meditation, or the meditators might sit in charnel grounds, viewing corpses before, during, and after cremation. Such practices have been depicted in numerous centuries old manuscripts and murals, and related in the biographies of prominent Thai monks such as Luang Phu Man, Than Achan Taeng, and Somdet To.

It is very common with [monastics] to have [corpse meditation] pictures with us, to use them, or just to have in your hut, or have with you when you are eating, or just to look at and to contemplate,” he says. “That’s what monasteries are for: They remind us of the true nature of life, which is this impermanence and transitory nature.” (The Washington Times)"

https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/medit ... permanence
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auto
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by auto »

un8- wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 7:03 am Take pornography for example, it takes zero effort to load up a website, it doesn't physically harm you, it can mentally harm you if you're obsessively addicted, but what's wrong with someone spending less than 20 minutes a day getting the urge out and then moving on? I know the pleasant feeling of an orgasm is extremely short and momentarily but in the moment it feels good and then when the feeling is gone, you move on.
If you abstain from ejaculation then it takes 5 seconds. There is a physical way to stop semen emission. But that abuse needs stopped too and asap.
There's many grossness stages before things get subtle enough you can quit physical and use five senses to tune in to subtle substances what are in the body and needs cultivation, meditation, guiding, letting, holding etc.
5 senses are able to satisfy and by then you don't need physically stop semen outflow, the release is different to regular one and weak. By that possible all main channels in body needs be opened several times already(gone through).
Btw, blatant celibacy won't work(where you just abstain). You have to gain mindfulness during day, so that you would not lose semen during nocturnal. Mind is capable to stop seminal outflow. Here the sense of self is important, as you need become aware and notice that you are aware and also concentrate upon oneself to open the center of the brain into what the substance will move and it will exhilarate the heart.
But that is not where you start either, since you need open the cavity where brain-sides work as one, have the correct eye position and focus on the part where eyes focus are one to change the flow in the left and right channel to reveal the middle, it takes a long time that the space opens up in front of you, that cavity is what access the exact physical point when pressed on will stop seminal outflow.
In short, the physical and subtle are coerced in a sense they present same functions, means absence of sense pleasures means only the grosser one and in order to go further you will use the subtle counterpart of the gross a'la if someone is a killer then the subtle deal with exact same substances what killing(harming) causes to arise(release) in a body and there are repercussions for both, subtle and gross.

Find authentic sources, they are everywhere.
auto
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by auto »

Pondera wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:17 am Without a doubt, your generation is the most fappening generation that ever graced the earth. Your generation jerks off (IMHO) 80 % more than any other generation in history.

Did you ever stop to consider how it affects your testosterone levels? Did you ever stop to consider how porn affects your otherwise natural and instinctual attraction to REAL WOMEN?

Stop now. Don’t contribute to that industry. Seek the pleasure of jhana. Build up your testosterone for higher purposes. Fapping your load away is a terrible waste of a hormone that your body uses for a number of things other than “getting off”.
Using partner to get off is equal to fapping compared to getting off without neither of these ways. The aforementioned uses developing the mind to get to that 'getting off' point.
You have to prove that the life you live(copulating every now and then) doesn't intervene with the development of the mind whilst the development will get you free without using those grosser aspects, i think eventually your progress bottlenecks and you will tell your partner to quit physical copulation, only hugging allowed.
auto
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by auto »

sphairos wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:39 pm ..
desire can still arise,
https://suttacentral.net/thag5.1/en/sujato wrote: I, a monk, went to a charnel ground
“Bhikkhu sivathikaṁ gantvā,
Variant: sivathikaṁ → sīvathikaṁ (bj, sya1ed, sya2ed, pts1ed, pts2ed)
and saw a woman’s body abandoned there,
Addasa itthimujjhitaṁ;
discarded in a cemetery,
Apaviddhaṁ susānasmiṁ,
full of worms that devoured.
Khajjantiṁ kimihī phuṭaṁ.

Some men were disgusted,
Yañhi eke jigucchanti,
seeing her dead and rotten;
mataṁ disvāna pāpakaṁ;
but sexual desire arose in me,
Kāmarāgo pāturahu,
I was as if blind to her oozing body.
andhova savatī ahuṁ.
un8-
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by un8- »

sphairos wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:39 pm
Maybe it will work for you ?

Image

I tried asubha and it worked a little bit. I looked at videos and pictures of everything from surgeries to rotten bodies, etc.. I think pictures and videos are not potent enough I need to actually go to a morgue, or a charnel ground or at least a body musuem, maybe smell and touch the rotting flesh to get the "shock" effect.

Look at gynecologists, they look at diseased aged vaginas and they still have a sex drive.
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.
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confusedlayman
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by confusedlayman »

un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:50 pm
sphairos wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:39 pm
Maybe it will work for you ?

Image

I tried asubha and it worked a little bit. I looked at videos and pictures of everything from surgeries to rotten bodies, etc.. I think pictures and videos are not potent enough I need to actually go to a morgue, or a charnel ground or at least a body musuem, maybe smell and touch the rotting flesh to get the "shock" effect.

Look at gynecologists, they look at diseased aged vaginas and they still have a sex drive.
Becauae perception of lust is temporary... so result from perception of abhusa is also temporary ...
I may be slow learner but im at least learning...
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StrivingforMonkhood
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by StrivingforMonkhood »

un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:07 pm Thank you, I appreciate your response and wise advice. This has been an ongoing battle for years, and I think many Buddhists as well who don't want to really admit it. The idea of spinning wheels and not gaining traction really bothers me that I'm afraid of getting burnt out and giving up all together, just giving in and getting lost in video games and such. I've tried so many different methods, read so many books over the years, I have hundreds of gigabytes saved of material, I can't even read another Buddhist book anymore. So that's why I wanted to hear people's opinions.

I know that I will never break the 5 precepts, so I have that assurance, the only hurdle for me now is sensual desires.

Cheers

I have been happily celibate for almost all of my life (now in early 40's) , but I just need to stop masturbation. If I can succeed with that, I am on my way to greater enlightenment.

I wish you great love, dear friend. May you find liberation. I know you will somehow.

See the futility of desire, and the terrible suffering it brings.

Peace and enlightenment. :anjali:
May we all fulfill our deepest wish for happiness

We are already Buddha
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Pondera
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by Pondera »

StrivingforMonkhood wrote: Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:07 am
un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:07 pm Thank you, I appreciate your response and wise advice. This has been an ongoing battle for years, and I think many Buddhists as well who don't want to really admit it. The idea of spinning wheels and not gaining traction really bothers me that I'm afraid of getting burnt out and giving up all together, just giving in and getting lost in video games and such. I've tried so many different methods, read so many books over the years, I have hundreds of gigabytes saved of material, I can't even read another Buddhist book anymore. So that's why I wanted to hear people's opinions.

I know that I will never break the 5 precepts, so I have that assurance, the only hurdle for me now is sensual desires.

Cheers

I have been happily celibate for almost all of my life (now in early 40's) , but I just need to stop masturbation. If I can succeed with that, I am on my way to greater enlightenment.

I wish you great love, dear friend. May you find liberation. I know you will somehow.

See the futility of desire, and the terrible suffering it brings.

Peace and enlightenment. :anjali:
I wish you luck in your aspirations to stop the fap.

My advice. If you cut out looking at porn, that drastically erases your desire to fap.

It’s “cold turkey”. To simply ABSTAIN from looking at sexy images. THAT is the first step.

:anjali:
Like the three marks of conditioned existence, this world in itself is filthy, hostile, and crowded
justindesilva
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by justindesilva »

un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:07 pm
Sam Vara wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:57 pm
un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:50 pm

Sure, but how many people fail to keep a diet and return to their former weight, despite all their intentions and will power? How come people in Okinawa or South Korea and other parts of the world like the bluezone countries, are effortlessly able to maintain healthy weight? Because of social conditioning. It's extremely hard to overcome social conditioning, that's why they say the best way to quit smoking is to never start. People born in areas with good social conditioning are extremely fortunate.
Yes, I entirely agree. Some might claim that this is due to our previous kamma which gets us born wherever we find ourselves; others would say luck. Certainly I have Thai and Sri Lankan friends who would not dream of breaking the 5th precept, and would have more difficulty in breaking the first than most westerners.

But the key point here is that you are asking about whether renunciation of sense pleasure is necessary, and if so how to do it. That's a huge advantage over the millions of others to whom such a question would never even occur.

My advice is to look at the advice you get (as you are now!) and if you choose to cut back, go slowly and carefully monitor any feedback. And be gentle on yourself.
Thank you, I appreciate your response and wise advice. This has been an ongoing battle for years, and I think many Buddhists as well who don't want to really admit it. The idea of spinning wheels and not gaining traction really bothers me that I'm afraid of getting burnt out and giving up all together, just giving in and getting lost in video games and such. I've tried so many different methods, read so many books over the years, I have hundreds of gigabytes saved of material, I can't even read another Buddhist book anymore. So that's why I wanted to hear people's opinions.

I know that I will never break the 5 precepts, so I have that assurance, the only hurdle for me now is sensual desires.

Cheers
In our present life we have some cankers as desires from past kamma. Modern science call them hormones. With any desire arising in us hormones in us become active and we know that emotion or desire takes the lead.
This same thing is expressed as asavas or fermentations and how they arise in sabbasava sutta, MN2, and the sutta explains that asavas or fermentations arise by reason of ignorance (avidya) and inappropriate attention. This sutta explains the way to eradicate asavas is by avoiding, refraining and by appropriate attention. ( see more in sutta). I feel one exclusive meditation to overcome asavas , cankers or homones is by vedananupassana bhavana. Feel from moment to moment the feelings we get from our moment to moment emotions, and work on it by tolerating, refraining or avoiding with understanding.
I do not wish to bring in examples unless requested as these are for friends at times better than me.
One final word, it is good to get off self view, to curb asavas.
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dicsoncandra
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by dicsoncandra »

un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:50 am
dicsoncandra wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:34 am
un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:18 am

Indeed, but the gradual training has gradual results, that's why the fetters are gradually given up and one rarely goes straight to Arahantship.

So I'm looking for those gradual results as an indicator of if I'm practicing rightly or not. At least some sensual desires should be permanently given up, if one attains once return.

Otherwise how do you actually know you're practicing rightly? and not just blindly waiting for a day when a magical insight event to happen, just like jews waiting for the messiah to come, or people who keep doing the same thing over and over and hoping one day that will lead to a different result.
I sense that you aren't very clear about what the word 'understanding' mean. Two of three fetters abandoned by the stream-enterer are self-belief and rites-&-rituals attachment (includes the belief that a meditation method alleviates one from suffering). I'd say let the goal be understanding dependent origination and to actually see it within the experience and practice accordingly. As for indicators, you will be able to see that suffering is present where craving is, the experience of 'burn' that I described. It becomes clearer with practice and let this insight propel us to understand dependent origination further
I didn't use the word understanding. But has your understanding of dependent origination led to you no longer indulging in sensual desires permanently ?
No because my understanding of it is incomplete but suffering has diminished even with my partial understanding of it. When understood and mindful (to practice right mindfulness as a lifestyle), it is not possible to grasp after/against things with craving and this is not a belief but a real & practical indicator. Even for a sotapanna who fully understands dependent origination intellectually, the sotapanna still has got work to do in terms of sense restraint. The noble path begins with right view but it doesn't stop there — the three-fold training in sīla, samādhi, paññā is for the development and culmination of right view (arahant). If you aspire to fully abandon sensuality then you've got to first know what goals to set in the right order. Craving is crossed through means of craving but it is done gradually with the right understanding

edit: I'd also like to add that with practice, even when the experience of craving arises, one becomes more receptive of the suffering that arises with it. With the arising of 'pressure' or 'burn', one can endure that pain instead of running toward sensual pleasure which gratifies it temporarily but begets further cravings (and stronger too). The experience of craving thus diminishes in terms of intensity and duration with the correct practice and understanding

Metta
:anjali:
arising is manifest;
ceasing is manifest;
change-while-standing is manifest.

Link to website: http://dicsonstable.blog/
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StrivingforMonkhood
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by StrivingforMonkhood »

confusedlayman wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:45 pm
un8- wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:50 pm
sphairos wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:39 pm
Maybe it will work for you ?

Image

I tried asubha and it worked a little bit. I looked at videos and pictures of everything from surgeries to rotten bodies, etc.. I think pictures and videos are not potent enough I need to actually go to a morgue, or a charnel ground or at least a body musuem, maybe smell and touch the rotting flesh to get the "shock" effect.

Look at gynecologists, they look at diseased aged vaginas and they still have a sex drive.
Becauae perception of lust is temporary... so result from perception of abhusa is also temporary ...
Don't monks in Vajrayana Buddhism do this, too, to help them become more intimately acquainted with death? I think it's done in Tantric Yoga. Theravada monks could do the same with decomposed bodies to accept the reality of impending death.

I think looking at dead bodies is a good idea, when done respectfully. It teaches us impermanence, the illusion of skin, as well as the impending death that awaits us all.

Younger men, today, are very involved with male vanity (beautiful muscles, beautiful male body). So seeing old, sickly men may help them realize that they, too, will grow old, and that their muscles and robust masculinity will fade away. So, lust is more than just attraction towards the opposite sex, but also the lust we have for our own male or female bodies. We must forego all attachment to our own bodies as well.

I remember a Tibetan nun saying that we can only forego desires when we understand their futility "deep in our bones" (no pun intended).
May we all fulfill our deepest wish for happiness

We are already Buddha
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Dharmasherab
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by Dharmasherab »

Letting go of sense pleasures is an important aspect of the Buddhist path. But whats more important is to let go of the wrong views we have about sense pleasures.

Whatever the pleasures we get they are actually not from the senses. Instead the source of the pleasure is from the mind itself. The type of pleasure experienced from the senses are a type of coarse form of pleasure which is a bit like eating a pineapple with its skin. But when on is directly able to access the mind through states of meditative absorptions (Jhana) the pleasure is meant to be much more refined than the type of coarse pleasures we experience from the senses. But in order to reach that one needs to meditate which also means that one needs to let go of the senses to reach that.

Sometimes it can help to go through a sequence of reasons instead of directly thinking about renunciation. I wish I could go on to explain about pleasures in other realms but since you prefer not to mention about anything other than this life I will limit the answer to what people can experience in this life according to Buddhist teachings.

1. Sense pleasures at a very obvious level are pleasant to the unenlightened mind, even though they are impermanent.

2. The mind is the actual source of the pleasure and the senses actually limit and restrict that pleasure. One can argue that the senses are like a gate that stop the mind being in pleasure and provided that certain stimuli enter the senses only then it will lower it's gates so that mind can get pleasure.

3. It is possible to bypass the senses and obtain access to meditative states and part of this also is experiencing the pleasure of the mind which is not dependent on the senses. For example in the early Jhanas one experiences pleasure far greater than sex, drugs or music. Nothing in the sense realm can beat the 1st Jhana. Our senses are like the thick blanket which we see the world through, where our mind is imprisoned by the limits of the senses.

4. Access to refined mind states themselves, despite being far more superior and refined than sense pleasures, they themselves are impermanent. This is because they fade away if the meditation practice is not maintained. So it requires sustenance. Therefore not only sense pleasures of the 5 senses are let go of but also the pleasure that can be directly experienced by the mind has to be let go of for one to progress even further.

5. That in deeper states of realisation, pleasure and pain are seen as being two different sides of the same coin - that their end result is Dukkha (unfulfilling). One can see that it was because of their lack of mindfulness of the present moment that it gave the illusion that sense pleasures were a pleasurable experience. For those who are experienced in meditation sensory involvement appears to be a very coarse experience.

6. Provided one progresses, one will see that there is no-self that experiences pleasure or pain. The self-identity is nothing more than a mind object that appears in front of the mind from time to time. Because one can see the illusion of self-identity therefore the experiences that it has through the senses are also insubstantial and not worth clinging onto.

7. Enlightenment is the state free from Delusion. The delusion/ignorance (Moha) is what makes us convinced that a true duality exists between pleasure and pain when they are actually no differemt. It is this delusion that fuels attachment towards what we see as 'pleasure' in our unenlightened state.

Please do note that letting go of sense stimulation to obtain pleasure is just the beginning. One needs to keep meditating to go to deep states of mindfulness. Results will not come instantly, so patient is encourages where compulsiveness has to be let go of. As for me, I do not have any transcendental experiences, but I have faith that path of the Dhamma is the real path that leads to ultimate happiness that goes beyond the boundaries of sense pleasures as well as the pleasure from refined states of mind.

Because of this I strongly encourage you to read biographies of monks, like Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Mun etc. Because reading Suttas may give you the theory. But looking at the lives of recent accomplished masters will spark the inspiration for you to take the next step forward.

As for pornography, I strongly advice you to stop any kind of involvement with any type of pornography. This is because each time you watch and self-pleasure to it, you are changing your brain pathways to find that pleasurable. But now the problem is that one needs a bigger 'hit' of porn to get the same type of stimulation as the brain develops tolerance to dopamine over time. Gary Wilson, author of Your Brain on Porn proved with neuroscientific evidence that porn is an addictive behaviour. That eventually one will get hooked on to it and develop brain changes which show the same time of changes that you see in the brains of victims of other types of addiction.

Please take time and read this article carefully. It will save you a lot of trouble that you might face in the future. Porn addiction is real and I have to say that you are in dangerous territory.
https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/miscell ... days-porn/

I want to finish off by saying that to move up you have to let go of what is holding you down. But also we have wrong views about sense pleasures that keep us attached to them. At the end of the day its not even about letting go of sense pleasures. Its not even about giving up money, cars and women and all these other things which give us pleasure. Those things are superficial. What matters is the underlying mentality of giving up these instant pleasures which hold us back so that we can take a greater road to ultimate happiness free from all forms of suffering.
“When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing.” - Ajahn Chah
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by Alino »

If we don't abandon sensual sphere by practicing 8 precepts, we will never be able to realise freedom from sensual pressure.
I think it's wrong to think that freedom from sensuality will happen while indulging in sensuality. It will only happen while we, being not yet free from sensual pressure, restrain our selves from pursuing it, until it dies complitely.

Un8, you want to see it by yourself? So undertake 8 precepts and see how sensual pressure diminishes each time you restrain yourself. This is a proof. It's a long and hard practice, but nobody could you show why sensual pressure is painful, until you will realise it with your own wisdom.

Don't ask us to prove you something. Go and see by your self.

If you want easy way - there is no easy way through the stream of your own mind. Just practice of sense restraint. As Ajahn Jayasaro said, something like - only by sweeming against the stream of our mind we can learn about his speed, strenght, directions and gain wisdom. So try just to stay still. Abandon the stream...

Abandoning. More you abandon, more you will be free. Freedom is always accompanied by true hapiness. So the only thing you have to abandon is dukkha, pressure.

Don't forget your motivation - Nibbana, complete abandoning of all possessions and pressure that they exerce on us...
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
un8-
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by un8- »

Alino wrote: Wed Jul 07, 2021 5:07 pm If we don't abandon sensual sphere by practicing 8 precepts, we will never be able to realise freedom from sensual pressure.
I think it's wrong to think that freedom from sensuality will happen while indulging in sensuality. It will only happen while we, being not yet free from sensual pressure, restrain our selves from pursuing it, until it dies complitely.

Un8, you want to see it by yourself? So undertake 8 precepts and see how sensual pressure diminishes each time you restrain yourself. This is a proof. It's a long and hard practice, but nobody could you show why sensual pressure is painful, until you will realise it with your own wisdom.

Don't ask us to prove you something. Go and see by your self.

If you want easy way - there is no easy way through the stream of your own mind. Just practice of sense restraint. As Ajahn Jayasaro said, something like - only by sweeming against the stream of our mind we can learn about his speed, strenght, directions and gain wisdom. So try just to stay still. Abandon the stream...

Abandoning. More you abandon, more you will be free. Freedom is always accompanied by true hapiness. So the only thing you have to abandon is dukkha, pressure.

Don't forget your motivation - Nibbana, complete abandoning of all possessions and pressure that they exerce on us...
Yes I'm familiar with the "Just do it" method, aka Willpower, I've done it before and it works until you fall back again, but alas for now it seems like the only tool I have.
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.
Bundokji
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Re: Why give up sensual pleasures?

Post by Bundokji »

un8- wrote: Wed Jul 07, 2021 5:22 pm Yes I'm familiar with the "Just do it" method, aka Willpower
Don't you think its implied in the framing of your question, and therefore inevitably with the answers you are receiving?
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
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