PadmaVonSamba wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:31 pm
Aemilius wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:39 am
In the definitions of karma there is
someone or
something that decides to do the act that appears before oneself as a possibility. This sequence of mental states goes normally very quickly, but there is a fraction of a second when a deed has appeared before oneself or in one's mind, but has not yet been performed or put into action (through body speech or mind). Who or what makes that decision?
Lot of our actions are automatic responses, there isn't much deciding anymore when they have become automatic. Often we are not aware enough to see how that process (of making any kind of light, medium or heavy act) takes place. There isn't a language that could avoid saying that "you are responsible for your deeds" or similar.. In this sentence there is an agent of action, which is normal to our language and thinking.
In your text You say "The more
you reduce that attachment the more
you reduce the suffering," !!
We have the self or agent in our language and thinking all the time. We think of tomorrow, what we are going to do tomorrow, what we did yesterday, and what we did last year. In our thinking we constantly refer to our selves in the future and the past, as agents and as experiencers. Experiencer or the feeling of an agent or doer exists without clinging also.
Nobody is disputing the fat that the
experience of a self
occurs.
Indeed, this is exactly what the Buddha identified as the cause of suffering.
But this "self" is an illusion based on clinging to the five aggregates, etc.
The use of terms such as "me" and "you" is merely a convenience within the context of that illusion.
It's the same as being chased by a tiger in a dream. The experience of the tiger and of "me" being chased is a real experience,
but it's a real experience of something that isn't really happening.
Otherwise, what? Did the Buddha teach,
"Yes, there is a self, but
no, don't cling to it" ...??? That makes no sense.
If that were true then the Buddha had not conquered suffering, because he went for alms rounds and accepted invitations for lunch at the houses of benefactors, and enjoyed the shelter of houses and monasteries. I.e. he experienced hunger and was satiated after eating. Do hunger and cold, heat or rain disappear because "they are just a dream"? The dream objects may disappear, but the hunger and satisfaction and cold, rain and heat do not disappear.
Dhammapada:
157. If one holds oneself dear, one should diligently watch oneself. Let the wise man keep vigil during any of the three watches of the night.
158. One should first establish oneself in what is proper; then only should one instruct others. Thus the wise man will not be reproached.
159. One should do what one teaches others to do; if one would train others, one should be well controlled oneself. Difficult, indeed, is self-control.
160. One truly is the protector of oneself; who else could the protector be? With oneself fully controlled, one gains a mastery that is hard to gain.
161. The evil a witless man does by himself, born of himself and produced by himself, grinds him as a diamond grinds a hard gem.
162. Just as a single creeper strangles the tree on which it grows, even so, a man who is exceedingly depraved harms himself as only an enemy might wish.
163. Easy to do are things that are bad and harmful to oneself. But exceedingly difficult to do are things that are good and beneficial.
