A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
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RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
Sensual misconduct is unhealthy. Refraining from sensual misconduct is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning sensual misconduct, one abstains from misbehaving among sensual pleasures. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may engage in sensual misconduct, but I will abstain from sensual misconduct.” (MN 8)
Sounds cognizable by the ear are of two kinds: those to be cultivated and those not to be cultivated. Such sounds as cause, in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to increase and healthy states to diminish, such sounds are not to be cultivated. But such sounds as cause, in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to diminish and healthy states to increase, such sounds are to be cultivated. (MN 114)
Reflection
Notice that nothing is being said here about the sound itself; the focus is on the reaction that hearing the sound has on the person who hears it. Your mind, along with its accumulated emotional habits, filters whatever comes in through the senses and gives rise to a range of responses. The precept concerning sensual indulgence has to do with abstaining from certain unhealthy responses, not from the objects themselves.
Daily Practice
Practice acting as a guardian of your sense doors. Like a sentry at the gate, be aware of what sounds present themselves to pass within and take care to admit only those that bring out your best. It is okay to filter out words and other sounds that are disturbing and cause distress. This does not mean hiding from life’s realities; rather it is about taking some control over what comes in and then goes on in your mind.
Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication
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