I recently came across a series of notes I made during a Buddhist lecture I attended back in 2007:
Self-awareness doesn’t mean to be aware of our thoughts etc. It means that experience comes moment to moment. What is in your mind at the present moment equals awareness. If we don’t notice something, then we can’t say we truly experienced it. Thoughts are created by me, but the ability to have thoughts is beyond me and can’t be destroyed. Thoughts are based on ego and self-centeredness. If we aren’t aware of our thoughts, they can follow the conditioning of our past lives.
Attachment is instinct. When threatened, our natural instinct is to act hostile. (Isn’t the volition to change conditioning also driven by ego?) There’s no peace or happiness without a developed mind. Negative emotions are symptoms of the disease of self-centeredness.
Bodaishin/ Bodhicitta:
Putting all sentiment beings at the center is lovingkindness. Suffering is caused by excessive self protection., which leads to a sort of paranoia. We create artificial joy out of pride: feeling proud of positive qualities leads to feeling of uniqueness. These days, most people focus on this type of happiness. Practice of equanimity: making the happiness of all sentiment beings your own.
Buddhist Contemplative Psychology identifies the root cause of suffering and clarifies symptoms of that cause. Explains Dukha and the cause of Dukha.
In our confusion, we can’t see our potential. Without thought of enlightenment, you cannot 'be.' The wish for enlightenment is altruistic, you want to bring everyone else over. The Bodhisattva vow is not as a means of gathering all the pieces of the puzzle. It is more the recognition that the puzzle's completion requires the proper placement of the first piece, to which all others relate.
One cannot be enlightened through karmic good deeds; only in the recognition of one's true nature.
On the turntable: Moby, "Mobility"
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