tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post1935384220837143140..comments2024-02-06T22:19:13.028-08:00Comments on Mining Aśvaghoṣa's Gold: Sitting-Dhyaana: The Four RealisationsMike Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-74086731826829456352009-02-12T03:14:00.000-08:002009-02-12T03:14:00.000-08:00Thanks for the encouragement, Raymond. The gold is...Thanks for the encouragement, Raymond. <BR/><BR/>The gold is in the bold!<BR/><BR/>MikeMike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-62203504530829304032009-02-12T02:57:00.000-08:002009-02-12T02:57:00.000-08:00Mike, This joining together of the text is valuabl...Mike, <BR/><BR/>This joining together of the text is valuable towards appreciating the dynamics of the stages associated with the noble path. Thank you for your efforts. They are appreciated. <BR/><BR/>RaymondAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-80578326830925564742009-02-11T04:00:00.000-08:002009-02-11T04:00:00.000-08:00Hi Plato!I think there is no question about it: "I...Hi Plato!<BR/><BR/>I think there is no question about it: "I wish my neck to be free; to allow the head to go forward and up; to let the back lengthen and widen; to let the legs release out of the pelvis, etc" are precisely the sort of thoughts to be abandoned in coming to the second realisation. But before coming to the second realisation, we have to come to the first realisation. And coming to the first realisation, as opposed to just blind bodily sitting, requires us to give up the kind of emotional clinging/endgaining associated with immature infantile fear reflexes. <BR/><BR/>So it may be rather risky for you and I, good Plato, ever to take the first realisation as read. <BR/><BR/>You write "how do we know that we just started to rely on feeling again?" But the question presuppposes that we ever had a moment in our life in which we didn't rely on feeling. <BR/><BR/>Forgive me, Plato, but I am skeptical about that! <BR/><BR/>Anyway, many thanks for your encouragement. I feel the same way you do about reading Ashvaghosha. Now I am preparing the first few verses in Canto 16, and some of them just translate themselves brilliantly. For example, here is a sneak preview of 16.10, which I have been working on this morning: <BR/><BR/>The manifold misfortunes of the living, such as growing old, <BR/><BR/>Continue to occur, to tell the truth, as long as end-gaining goes on. <BR/><BR/>For even when violent winds blow,<BR/><BR/>Trees do not shake that never sprouted.Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-36951742002504319502009-02-11T02:41:00.000-08:002009-02-11T02:41:00.000-08:00Hi Mike!As I understand it the main difference bet...Hi Mike!<BR/>As I understand it the main difference between the first and second realsation, is the abandoning of thought. This could mean abandoning thoughts like "I wish my neck to be free, to allow the head to go forward and up etc"<BR/>During sitting does this happen spontaneously? Do we cultivate it? How do we know that we just started to rely on feeling again, instead of really abandoning thinking?<BR/>Thank you for your efforts!<BR/>By reading Ashvagosha, I realise why I choose to follow the Buddha's Way of Awakening!<BR/>Regards<BR/>PlatoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com