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.
Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)
Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to abandon arisen unhealthy mental states. One abandons the arisen hindrance of sluggishness. (MN 141)
Reflection
Unhealthy or unhelpful states come up all the time. The early teaching was not simply to be aware of everything but also to discern what is unhealthy and learn how to abandon it. Alertness is a more helpful mental state than sluggishness, and it is therefore beneficial to remain alert as much as possible. Rest and sleep when appropriate, but when you are awake practice being really alert and fully conscious.
Daily Practice
There is nothing morally wrong with sluggishness of mind. The problem is just that it prevents the mind from working well and is therefore a hindrance to seeing clearly. When you feel drowsy or sleepy, or you feel your mind getting dull, explore how many ways you can dispel this temporary state and restore a sense of alertness. It is a matter of raising the level of energy in the body and/or the mind.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
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If there were a cause, nirvana would be conditional and impermanent. This means that no amount of effort can produce nirvana, because it does not arise from causes.
If you are practicing with the idea that your effort will engender nirvana, notice that you are still treating it as a special goal to be achieved. In doing so, you are actually reinforcing the grasping that is the defining characteristic of samsara.
In an episode of Tricycle Talks, Haemin Sunim explains how we can let go of superficial notions of happiness and instead relax into the present moment.
Korean nun and Seon master Daehaeng explains that enlightenment is not something to be reached. It is right here if we can rid ourselves of ignorance and defilements.
