é™æ€è¯ Readings For Silent Reflection
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While lust is bottomless, desire is endless. Where there is desire, there is gain. With desire and gain, there comes pain.
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In his very first teaching, Buddha explained that the root cause of suffering is ignorance. But where exactly is this ignorance? And how does it display itself? Let’s take an everyday example. Think about those people—we all know some—who are gifted with a remarkably powerful and sophisticated intelligence. Isn’t it puzzling how, instead of helping them, as you might expect, it seems only to make them suffer more? It is almost as if their brilliance is directly responsible for their pain.
What is happening is quite clear: This intelligence of ours is captured and held hostage by ignorance, which then makes use of it freely for its own ends. This is how we can be extraordinarily intelligent and yet absolutely wrong, at one and the same time. -
What is the relationship between the Mental Defilements and Craving?
Craving is the growth force and also media for the mental defilements:
Because of craving this state (e.g. wealth), aversion for the opposite state (e.g. poverty) arises. Possessiveness, envy and jealousy soon follows, which again enables violence and cruelty. Pain is the result of all such defilements.
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The Blessed Buddha once said:
One whose mind is dominated by greed, lust, desire, and envy or jealously will do, whatever should not be done, and neglect whatever should be done! As a consequence of that, his good reputation is lost and his contentment and happiness falls into ruin. Exactly so with anyone whose mind is overwhelmed by anger and grumbling ill-will, or overcome, slowed down, and stagnated by the hindrance of lethargy and laziness, or agitated, scattered, and worried by the hindrance of restlessness and regret, or perplexed, confused and bewildered by the hindrance of doubt and uncertainty... Such one will do what should not be done at all, while neglecting what actually should be done. As a result of that, his good name, and social status is lost, and he is ruined by depressed frustration. But if any Noble Disciple has seen these 5 Hindrances as contaminated pollutions of the mind, then he will gradually overcome and eliminate them. When doing so, he becomes known as one of deep understanding, of fine and great knowledge, clear-sighted, and endowed with wisdom. This lack of mental hindrance is indeed exactly, what is called saturated endowment with wisdom!
There are these five Mental Hindrances:
1: Sense-Desire and Lust,
2: Hate and Anger,
3: Lethargy and Laziness,
4: Restlessness and Regret,
5: Doubt and Uncertainty. -
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"Birth is attended with pain,
decay is painful,
disease is painful,
death is painful.
Union with the unpleasant is painful,
painful is separation from the pleasant,
And any craving that is unsatisfied, that too is painful.
In brief, bodily conditions which spring from attachment are painful." ~Buddha (The Serman at Benares)
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“The tongue like a sharp knife, kills without drawing blood.”
~Buddha~ -
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