Where being Buddhist has helped me in meditation practice

Hay Cats,

so I decided to be positive for a second and reflect on something definite where I have befitted most from Buddhism, and that is knowing right action from my intention.

Many people can never discern what means difference between right and wrong. Especially in action, and they perpetuate samskara, or samsara which means habitual negative tendencies. One easy to identify is revenge and feeling of righteousness of vengeance. This feeling often is very subtle and permeates even our meditation.

So basically even though I find Buddhist rote repetition of refuge and Bodhisattva vows boring they do in fact serve as reminders especially during meditation of not meditating on negative intention even self righteously but dedicating to benefit everybody.

This release of hostility is very beneficial and a feature unique to Buddhism I believe. At least in theory.

Anyway, I can at least feel if my intention is positive or negative, especially during meditation, which I still do a lot of negative stuff.

But at least I can feel positive about it during meditation

 

What you are talking about is self reflection.

To relieve yourself of this personal irritation of the concept that you do wrong things. If you are in a state of learning then it can't be up to you to decide what your state of progress is. At times our greatest progress comes when we think it farthest away. Don't attempt to measure your own state of progress or anyone else's, you will only have the experience of the effects of your own unsure measure and not discover what is height and depth and breadth. This sorting out is meaningless and never ending unless we happen upon the concept of peace. Our natural estate is buoyant absent critical accusations. It is irritating when someone does it to us and irritating when we do it to ourselves. All action arises in conception and a mind without anxiety is kind.

In buddhist like terms, remember beginners mind or unless you become as little children. Little children are not self incriminating. As to self reflection being a unique course of action to buddhism I disagree. When you pray pray to your father in secret who knows you in secret.

 

There is no schism between intent and action or intent and result. If you intend to measure then you have the experience and effects of that measurement.

 

Yep, negativity comes from a busy conflicted mind. When the mind becomes free flowing and not stuck on any particular thought, negativity dissipates on it's own and peace just happens. If we don't identify with the mind and simply allow it to slow down by itself it all happens naturally. It takes patience though and a lot of times thoughts like "this is boring" arise.

 

And we have been bored before, this too shall pass.

 

Like a cloud if we don't indulge in it.

 

So many ways of meditating - for instance the neighbor conspires with her gardener to cut down a tree on my property because it sheds a lot. same neighbor talks down her nose at me with a nasally raw voice using emphasis to make it seem like I am subhuman. Then I have to hit the matts, and all through several days straight I am not noticing that subtly and energetically I am internally praying for her downfall. It is an energetic thing - and the anger can't be replaced because there is no other emotion which fits the situation. Finally though after several days of going through the refuge, bodhicitta, and dedication, I let it sink it and the intention to benefit all sentient beings actually allows me to allow myself to forgive, and forget. Sitting meditation alone was like doing sitting anger meditation. Where one though created another mean thought. Very hard to release, especially when one is right, or the other is wicked mean.

 

it can be very difficult to let go of anger. it seems that you now have a skill that is a breakthrough in your spiritual development

 

Where our conviction of righteousness lies, there is our passionate response also. Anger is never justified if the just cause or energetic desire is peace. Anger is a choice. Anger is easy to let go of when it's founding conviction is exposed as false. Anxiety is caused by the misapprehension of what is so. Reality supports it's constituents and does not set one against the other. Energetically, taking offense and being rude are the same truth. It is wicked mean to accuse primarily to the accuser and only on incidence to the accused. We cannot escape the effects of our own thinking but someone else can ignore you. All things are lawful but not all things are helpful and helpful is a matter of timing. How hard is it to change your mind? How hard is it to be consistent? It is impossible to be consistent if you haven't decided what you want and deciding what you want is the only change of mind you make. If reality is one thing then one cannot be right and the other wrong but we ourselves can be mistaken about everything. Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy. Obviously it is a challenge to maintain our own rightness at the expense of another as they may not be willing to contribute. However it is easy to share what you have as our protections extend naturally to those things we call our own. There is no other cause for your interpretations informing the quality of your experience but the verdicts of your own mind. Let our choices be informed by the choice for peace first and always because it is the only true choice if we are to experience reality on equal or unadulterated terms. We must condemn in order to justify anger or the unwillingness to forgive but we needn't condemn at all to organize our lives in real terms.

 

Yesterday I experienced praise from people and had good feelings. Today, I was rejected and had bad feelings. I really think you have to be sick of both in order be free. I just want peace.

 

Great chance here to ask; is the peace one may want finite OR infinite? Being finite it would be known by a higher being; being infinite it may be understood for itself with the self in a distinct in-itself self relation. The self relation exists in a form of contradiction; we are Free.

 

Here is where taste serves as traffic control for the unintended. We are free but we don't know what our capacities are or what we is.

 

I'll take the infinite. :mickey:

 

I like the great song by Billy Preston: "This song ain't got no moral. We'll go round in circles." But that without a doubt was finite from a philosophical point of view. The community thus is glued together.

I guess, Monkey Boy, you got me on that one: for governments which have no governing power OR relinquish it just because...

 

there's no infinite peace besides death (hopefully)

for instance I believe Buddha extolled right action and meditation because when you have become a magnet for wrong action you end up having no time or space for the practice of peace. even if you did of what use is peace or meditation to you. thus, meditation does depend upon things. for one, you need to be able to have a steady and clean place for centering. even an active type meditation necessitates a space of freedom and so on - thus anything depending on a specific practice needs positive roots.

if you're saying relative Samadhi on object versus Samadhi without object, then