DHAMMA LOUNGE

SUMMARY:

Respiration (Breath)  Mindfulness Perfect the Four Focus of Mindfulness

“And how developed, bhikkhus, how repeatedly practiced, does respiration-mindfulness perfect the four foundations of mindfulness?"

BREATH & BODY

"Bhikkhus, and how is mindfulness related to the  body developed, how is it pursued, so as to be of great fruit & brings great benefit?

VOLITIONAL FORMATION : ( sankhara, samskara in sanskrit)  refers to actions of body, speech and mind, which are accompanied by intention ( CETANA) .

It is this kamma  which gives rise to future rebirth or ' rebirth according to sahkhara'.  Certain beings arise in different realms according to their actions of body, speech or mind. These actions and reactions ( conditioned response)  can either be meritorious, demeritorious, and in- between.

The Buddha on solitude:

" There are, Migajala, forms cognizable by the eye that are desirable, lovely, agreeable, pleasing, sensually enticing, tantalizing.  If a bhikkhu seeks delight in them, welcomes them, and remains holding to them, delight arises.  When there is delight, there is infatuation.  When there is infatuation, there is bondage.  Bound by the fetter of delight, Migajala, a bhikkhu is called one dwelling with a partner......"

The top hindrance to samadhi is desire. For example sexual desire. There are a few things we can do to temporarilly off-set these thoughts of desire.

1. Think about something else that is wholesome.  ( ie..the dharma)

2. Consider the drawbacks

With everything, there is a negative side to it. During moments of desire we tend to overlook and only see the positive side. Only after do we realize the negative aspect and regret it.

The first step in meditation is letting go of the past and future  to come back to  this moment. This is hard to do sometime, especially when we hang on to resentment about something or someone in the past.  We will be sitting in peaceful meditation then all of a sudden a memory about the past comes up. It stirs up strong emotion that takes us out of stillness. Instead of being in the present , we are stuck in the past with aversion ( Hindrance 2)  as well.  The past ...

Monastics also observe :

*Chastity ( let go of sensuality, sexuality, lust): Through personal resolve or will power alone, it is possible to be celibate for some years.  During these years it is necessary to enter jhana to develop wisdom that will permanently uproot the defilement of lust. Without jhana and wisdom, the underlying tendency to lust will arise when the condition  is right. The desire to disrobe and get marry may come up .

9.&...

According to the Buddha, " From delusion as condition, volitional formations [come to be]; from volitional formations as condition, consciousness; from consciousness as condition, name-and -form; from name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases; from the six sense bases as condition, contact; from contact as condition, feeling; from feeling as condition, craving; from craving as condition, clinging; from clinging as condition, existence; from existence as condition, birth; from birth as c...

The Buddha emphasizes that from harmlessness (virtue) one gets gladness, joy, tranquility, inner happiness, the bliss of jhana, and the freedom that flows from wisdom.  Theses are various forms of happiness occurring in a gradual and natural progression.  The process of renunciation , or ever-increasing happiness, culminates in seeing things as they truly are, which is enlightenment. In the Dhammacetiya Sutta, King Pasenadi remarked how much he enjoyed visiting the Jeta Grove monast...

Liberation from the rounds of rebirth require more than just meditative attainments . It is necessary to apply Yoniso Manasikara after emerging from Samma Samadhi ( 1st to 4th Jhana) in order to arrive at a breakthrough by wisdom. 

" Awareness is the process of cittas experiencing objects. For a citta to arise it must have an object (aaramma.na). The object may be a color, sound, smell, taste, something tangible, or a MENTAL OBJECT. Strictly speaking a mental object can be an internal phenomenon, such as a feeling, a thought, or an idea.The union of the object, the door or sense faculty, and the consciousness is called "contact" (phassa). There can be no awareness without contact. For contact to occur all three com...