Monday, June 13, 2005

Rising to the occasion

Rising to the Occasion.

A very general principle in Buddhism is Dependant Origination.

On the night of his Enlightenment the Buddha investigated a variation of the
formal Dependant Origination formula in which Consciousness doubled back on
itself from Avija ignorance/delusion. (See Nyanamoli's "Life of the Buddha").

He saw that these two factors where mutually suportive or conditioning. His
breakthrough was just in this simple realisation, this was the factor of Wisdom, previously missing, but now resulting in the total release from the Kammic predicament: it meant the end of Avija & the World as we know it.

Bava=becoming; accumulating tendencies; the room or environment

Kilesas arise in the heart according to the state of the heart, & in turn
condition the following state of the heart, having arisen therein. Hence the
concepts of Anicca & Kammic accumulations as well as the difficulty of breaking free of delusion & the need for Kammic windows of opportunity in doing this.

Kammic windows of opportunity arise when Kilesas are temporarily
dormant. This can be after emerging/withdrawing from Jhana or in the small
hours of the night after awakening bright & alert from a deep refreshing
sleep. Investigating dhammas at such times can be very useful
This is also handy for the Samana because, for example lust/cupidity & greed
conditions in general, he can intentionally bring up hatred for that condition.
Thereby changing the state of the heart to a condition which is completely
hostile to any greed type Kilesas: though at the same time, cultivating unskillful states due to an implied 'self view', necessary for any hatred to arise.
However, since this is done consciously, the Samana can cease the effort as soon as the desired result has been obtained.

Thus, for Greed types, hatred can be a powerful precision-tool, though for
Hate types, such a strategy would be disastrous, these people need to develop
Metta.

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