why am i scared of cockroaches and lizards?
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what am i attached to this time?
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Awareness, the buddha nature functions on the arising of conditions through the eyes and sees the lizard, no mental reaction or labeling yet. (stage one)Originally posted by Cenarious:what am i attached to this time?
A seed of your fearful experiences or memories or somehow tricked in the into believing that lizards and cockroaches are scary or harmful arises from your 8th consciousness, and thus you recognised what you saw as 'cockroach' or 'lizard'. (stage two).
Due to ignorance and habitual energies the seventh consciousness (self-sense) starts fearing for himself, fears that he will get hurt, aversion arise, disgust, etc due to activities of the discriminating mind. (stage three) You kill the cockroach or lizard, creating karma (stage four).
Based on teacher chen's analogy, different story. You just have to stop seeking to avoid whatever you are experiencing at that moment. Even if you experience fear (stage three), experience the fear directly as it is and make no more mental reactions to it. Then stage 3 ceases.
We have to be completely vulnerable and willing to experience directly what we usually perceive as hurtful, not only cockroach but also death, loss, etc. It can only be possible when your entire self (seventh consciousness) is completely annihilated/let go, you become 'mr transparent'
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And dont forget to practice love and compassion. Unconditional love not only destroys aversion, it can dissolve the seperate-self sense. Fear, just like any sentient thoughts are ripples on the surface of our universal mind which is beyond time and space, the alaya vijnana. Waves cannot be afraid that other waves will devour them up unless they mistake that one wave is seperate from another. You cannot be afraid of other beings if all beings are you, are one.Originally posted by Cenarious:what am i attached to this time? -
Wow... very well said.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Awareness sees the lizard, no mental reaction or labeling yet. (stage one) A seed of your fearful experiences or memories or somehow tricked in the into believing that lizards and cockroaches are scary or harmful arises from your 8th consciousness, and thus you recognised what you saw as 'cockroach' or 'lizard'. (stage two). Due to ignorance and habitual energies the seventh consciousness (self-sense) starts fearing for himself, fears that he will get hurt, aversion arise, disgust, etc due to activities of the discriminating mind. (stage three) You kill the cockroach or lizard, creating karma (stage four). Based on teacher chen's analogy, different story. You just have to stop seeking to avoid whatever you are experiencing at that moment. Even if you experience fear (stage three), experience the fear directly as it is and make no more mental reactions to it. Then stage 3 ceases. We have to be completely vulnerable and willing to experience directly what we usually perceive as hurtful, not only cockroach but also death, loss, etc. It can only be possible when your entire self (seventh consciousness) is completely annihilated/let go, you become 'mr transparent'
There is no escape... In life, there is no escape from unpleasant occurences... However, all of us (including myself of course) naively behave like perfection and something better is just around the corner. The world is simply too diversified for every occurrence and interaction to harmonise at a conceptual and mental level.
Run not, avoid not, feel every sensation and perception and the moment is as it is. -
so chim
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I think i better clarity...
Don't try it on something that can endanger your life. Eg... like crossing the road with a car coming towards you...
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Very very well saidOriginally posted by longchen:Wow... very well said.
There is no escape... In life, there is no escape from unpleasant occurences... However, all of us (including myself of course) naively behave like perfection and something better is just around the corner. The world is simply too diversified for every occurrence and interaction to harmonise at a conceptual and mental level.
Run not, avoid not, feel every sensation and perception and the moment is as it is.
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Anything you don understand you can ask.. Other than our six consciousness which in buddhism is our five sense consciousness plus the mind consciousness, what some mahayana schools call the seventh consciousness is refering to the illusory sense of self. In buddhism the self is an illusion. What we perceive to be self is actually the five skhandas, which is actually forms and mental processes but are all conditioned arisings empty of inherent existence/self. If you still don understand can consult neutral onliner or check out some of his related topicsOriginally posted by NewAge:so chim The eighth consciousness, also used only in mahayana traditions is refering to our universal mind. But due to our habit energies and grasping, we plant karmic seeds on the eighth consciousness. All our experiences are also recorded as memories in the universal mind, and thus it has a name called the storehouse consciousness. Its nature is pure, but due to sentient beings like us, there are ripples, movements on the surface. -
woah thank goodness longchen is back, i thought i chased away all the enlightened people with my ramblings about christianity.
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Cenarious, dun think so...
I am scared of all living things, so why am I scared of them? -
Originally posted by longchen:I think i better clarity...
Don't try it on something that can endanger your life. Eg... like crossing the road with a car coming towards you... I was reminded that there is this Westerner teacher in U.S from the Kagyu lineage who actually taught people to do risky things like sky diving and stuff like that to 'experience the now'
But I think it's not a good idea, people will get addicted to the adrenaline.
Anyway I think this has also got to do with: View & Conduct
Which you also said...Originally posted by longchen:This is what i have read from Dzogchen books.
It says that when one is in the Dharmakaya view... one will feel fearless/unaffectable by thoughts... . Because of this, some practitioners may feel that they can do anything they want including harmful acts. But if we do harmful acts, the karma will nevertheless comes back... -
Originally posted by Cenarious:woah thank goodness longchen is back, i thought i chased away all the enlightened people with my ramblings about christianity. I don't think they will mind...
Anyway I was wondering if anyone knows how to go to the next line in the handphone... usually to create paragraphings on the computer alll you have to do is to press Enter.
But I don't know how to, when I use my handphone to post on sgForums.. I have used my handphone to post on sgForums recently and therefore you see that many of my posts are extremely long and unparagraphed. -
I am not enlightened. I am a most ordinary guy who happens to be interested in spiritual stuff.Originally posted by Cenarious:woah thank goodness longchen is back, i thought i chased away all the enlightened people with my ramblings about christianity.
Don't worry about the rambling about Christianity... perhaps this will make more Christians rethink about their understanding about their religion. -
well AEN told me u were enlightenedOriginally posted by longchen:I am not enlightened. I am a most ordinary guy who happens to be interested in spiritual stuff.
Don't worry about the rambling about Christianity... perhaps this will make more Christians rethink about their understanding about their religion. -
when?Originally posted by Cenarious:well AEN told me u were enlightened -
oh.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:I didn't. -
During my skype discussion on Diamond Sutra, I would have quite a lot of things to say regarding so called 'attaining enlightenment'
Or rather, the 'myths of enlightenment' -
i forgot but u also told me a few other people here were enlightened.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:when? -
FearOriginally posted by Cenarious:what am i attached to this time? -
Dear Cenarious,Originally posted by Cenarious:well AEN told me u were enlightened
my understanding is that there is many stages on a spiritual path. Even before reaching the final stage... a practitioner's states of consciousness is distinctively different from the non-practitioners. My awareness does have a certain vividness... but it is not totally purified.
Talking about stages...the first teacher who first taught me how to interpret dream...and set me on a serious and rather tough path, she (to me) is omniscient with the abilty to know things. For example...she has percieved into the very distant past when humans where still celestial type light beings. She saw how these pre-indivduated 'beings' becomes our current human type... (so much for adam and eve...ha...)
Well, I am certainly not ominiscent... and will not proclaim myself as enlightened. -
is your first teacher a nun or what?Originally posted by longchen:Dear Cenarious,
my understanding is that there is many stages on a spiritual path. Even before reaching the final stage... a practitioner's states of consciousness is distinctively different from the non-practitioners. My awareness does have a certain vividness... but it is not totally purified.
Talking about stages...the first teacher who first taught me how to interpret dream...and set me on a serious and rather tough path, she (to me) is omniscient with the abilty to know things. For example...she has percieved into the very distant past when humans where still celestial type light beings. She saw how these pre-indivduated 'beings' becomes our current human type... (so much for adam and eve...ha...)
Well, I am certainly not ominiscent... and will not proclaim myself as enlightened. -
No.. she's not.Originally posted by Cenarious:is your first teacher a nun or what?
I dunno whether her ability to recieve such information is a neccesary for consideration as enlightenment. But the very fact that there are still much that is not fully understood (to me)... is humbling. ... and therefore i should respond as such.
In any case, perhaps such abilities may not be fully neccesary for achieving simple peace.
just my opinion -
This is well written!Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Awareness, the buddha nature functions on the arising of conditions through the eyes and sees the lizard, no mental reaction or labeling yet. (stage one)
A seed of your fearful experiences or memories or somehow tricked in the into believing that lizards and cockroaches are scary or harmful arises from your 8th consciousness, and thus you recognised what you saw as 'cockroach' or 'lizard'. (stage two).
Due to ignorance and habitual energies the seventh consciousness (self-sense) starts fearing for himself, fears that he will get hurt, aversion arise, disgust, etc due to activities of the discriminating mind. (stage three) You kill the cockroach or lizard, creating karma (stage four).
Based on teacher chen's analogy, different story. You just have to stop seeking to avoid whatever you are experiencing at that moment. Even if you experience fear (stage three), experience the fear directly as it is and make no more mental reactions to it. Then stage 3 ceases.
We have to be completely vulnerable and willing to experience directly what we usually perceive as hurtful, not only cockroach but also death, loss, etc. It can only be possible when your entire self (seventh consciousness) is completely annihilated/let go, you become 'mr transparent'
Do know the relationship between name, labels and self. Total transparency is the experiernced of full presence without this layer symbols. -
This is very well said too!Originally posted by longchen:Wow... very well said.
There is no escape... In life, there is no escape from unpleasant occurences... However, all of us (including myself of course) naively behave like perfection and something better is just around the corner. The world is simply too diversified for every occurrence and interaction to harmonise at a conceptual and mental level.
Run not, avoid not, feel every sensation and perception and the moment is as it is.
"Run not, avoid not, feel every sensation and perception and the moment is as it is."
This is the key. Just this flow of sensation, impression and perception. When without any extra layer of symbols being superimposed upon them, it will unlock all mysteries of life. It is that simple. With the symbols, names, labels and concepts coming into play, we cannot fully experience the nature of this One Reality. Be no witness, full presence can be experienced.
Unpleasant occurences are unavoidable. Even with all the wisdom of Buddha, it can't be avoided. Not so much of pessimism and it becomes more obvious when our insight is able to span across multiple lifes time. -
Whenever I see ants, my instant reaction is to kill them with my bare hands.
Even if I have to bleed to kill them, I will.
From childhood.
I can't stop.
I enjoy killing them.
How to stop?