Mark Foote

by Buddha's own Foote who just wants a last line that anyone can write from anyone can write from this last line, for example: blue skies, from now on

I'm working on the theory that there's a rhythm that can be entered into, thinking and feeling having their place in that rhythm. I'm still working to understand and appreciate Gautama's "mindfulness of feeling"--he actually looked for particular feelings, some of which he calmed ("the mental factors"). Nevertheless, his experience of mindfulness of feeling and thinking (and of the body and the mental state) took place in the first concentration, in which he ever abided (except when he was speaking). That concentration, and all the concentrations, are marked by "one-pointedness of mind": "making self-surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness of mind". Apparently certain feelings come forward as one-pointedness is laid hold of, and his mindfulness was addressed to them--not the open-ended mindfulness of feelings one would imagine.

Was it on this thread, or another, where someone (maybe Apech?) pointed out the the term used for suffering in Gautama's time was related to the axle of a wheel, to a problem with the axle. Sounds right to me. You're right that Gautama was trying to have his cake and eat it too. He spoke of "never-returners" and "once-returners", and that implies future incarnation of something, conditioned by actions in the current life and past lives. That doesn''t equate straight across to suffering as "the five groups of grasping", and consciousness stuck by grasping in repeated feelings and perceptions with regard to body, feelings, mind, habit, and consciousness. When I look to my own suffering, and a path out of suffering, I can't be thinking about the next life. I can understand for some, that may be the only relief they have from suffering. I think I understand why Gautama refuted the fisherman Sati's beliefs about that: “[Gautama] spoke thus to the monk Sati, a fisherman’s son, as he was sitting down at a respectful distance: ‘Is it true, as is said, that a pernicious view like this has accrued to you, Sati: “In so far as I understand [the truth] taught by [Gautama], it is that this consciousness itself runs on, fares on, not another”?’ ‘Even so do I… understand [the teaching] ….’ ‘What is this consciousness, Sati?’ ‘It is this… that speaks, that feels, that experiences now here, now there, the fruition of deeds that are lovely and that are depraved.’ [Gautama rebukes Sati for his misrepresentation of Gautama’s teaching, and continues:] It is because… an appropriate condition arises that consciousness is known by this or that name: if consciousness arises because of eye and material shapes, it is known as visual consciousness; if consciousness arises because of ear and sounds, it is known as auditory consciousness; [so for the nose/smells/olfactory consciousness, tongue/tastes/gustatory consciousness, body/touches/tactile consciousness, mind/mental objects/mental consciousness]. …As a fire burns because of this or that appropriate condition, by that it is known: if a fire burns because of sticks, it is known as a stick-fire; and if a fire burns because of chips, it is known as a chip-fire; … and so with regard to grass, cow-dung, chaff, and rubbish.” (MN I 258-259, Vol I pg 313-315) Even so, as a practical matter, I'm going with: When necessity places attention, and a presence of mind is retained as the placement shifts and moves, then in Gautama’s words, “[one] lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness”: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parenthetical material paraphrases original; “directed” also rendered as “initial” MN III p 78 and as “applied” PTS AN III p 18-19) (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)

Apologies--I edited my original comment, instead of adding a new comment. For anyone reading the thread and confused, stirling has quoted the original and responded to that. The new comment was really just the heart of the old comment, with underlining both in stirling's original and in my response. The struggle and karma are OURS. We can stop generating both once we experience how things are, and the results are obvious quickly. The addition of "... and thereby lose "any latent conceits that "I am the doer", "mine is the doer" with regard to this consciousnesss-informed body" was just to emphasis the kind of experience that stops generating both. Thanks for the recommendation, stirling--I'm guessing you're referring to this: "Self-realization is simply the realization by the ego that the ego itself is not a separate doer, that the doing is merely a happening through a human mechanism or instrument." That's an interesting way to put it. I kind of prefer my own explanation: When “doing something” has ceased, and there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot receive the placement of attention, then the placement of attention is free to shift as necessary in the movement of breath. The difficulty is that most people will lose consciousness before they cede activity to the location of attention–they lose the presence of mind with the placement of attention, because they can’t believe that action in the body is possible without “doing something”... (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) I'll even take this, over an explanation in terms of the ego: Sometimes when you think that you are doing zazen with an imperturbable mind, you ignore the body, but it is also necessary to have the opposite understanding at the same time. Your body is practicing zazen in imperturbability while your mind is moving. (“Whole-Body Zazen”, lecture by Shunryu Suzuki at Tassajara, June 28, 1970 [edited by Bill Redican], transcript from shunryusuzuki.com)

peal of homecoming more like, squawk of resentment those off-screen egrets! https://zenmudra.com/202311-13-0_audio_replaced.mp4 those off-screen egrets have been here millennia they're right to complain

Ok. A point that people often overlook in Gautama's teaching about suffering is his identification of suffering with grasping in the five groups: “Birth is anguish, old age and decay, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, woe, lamentation, and despair are anguish. Not to get what one desires is anguish. In short, the five groups based on grasping are anguish.” (AN I 176, Vol I pg 160; Pali “dukkha”: “anguish” in MN, “Ill” in AN original above, emphasis added) The first thing that tells me is that "life is suffering" is not a correct rendering of the first truth. Grasping after a sense of self, in any of five categories Gautama identified is suffering, not life per se. Now how does that correlate with "birth, old age and decay, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, woe, lamentation, and despair"--most peculiar. The only correlation I can find is in our experience of ourselves. It's not birth, old age and decay, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, or despair so much as the identification of self with body, feelings, perceptions, habits, and consciousness that causes consciousness to get stuck and repeat itself in the same relationship to these things over and over again. That's the way I make sense of "consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and here from... the five groups based on grasping". Thank you for asking for that explanation, Daniel--helps me to understand my own thoughts, more clearly. Nevertheless, the insight into the nature of suffering doesn't mean much without a means of escape. The opposite of "a stationing": There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. (Common Ground) When necessity places attention, and a presence of mind is retained as the placement shifts and moves, then in Gautama’s words, “[one] lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness”: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parenthetical material paraphrases original; “directed” also rendered as “initial” MN III p 78 and as “applied” PTS AN III p 18-19) (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) There's a whole lecture where Gautama describes his chief disciple, Sariputta, moving from one stage of concentration to the next. At the close of each stage, Sariputta comprehends: "there is a further escape." When Sariputta passes from "neither-perception-nor-non-perception" and enters and abides in "the stoppping of ('determinate thought' in) perception and feeling", we have the following description: And having seen by means of intuitive wisdom, his cankers are utterly destroyed. Mindful, he emerges from that attainment. When he has emerged, mindful, from that attainment he regards those things that are past, stopped, changed as : 'Thus indeed things that have not been in me come to be; having been they pass away.' He, not feeling attracted by these things, not feeling repelled, independent, not infatuated, freed, released, dwells with a mind that is unconfined. He comprehends "There is no further escape." (MN III "Discourse on the Uninterrupted" 25, Pali Text Society III p 77) "A mind that is unconfined": When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration: … there is no need to depend on teaching. But the most important thing is to practice and realize our true nature… [laughs]. This is, you know, Zen. (Shunryu Suzuki, Tassajara 68-07-24 transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)

The struggle and karma are OURS. We can stop generating both once we experience how things are...

“The cessation of inbreathing and outbreathing” is not an actual stoppage of breath. Gautama only spoke about the stoppage of breath once, in a description of the practices he undertook as an ascetic: So I, Aggivessana, stopped breathing in and breathing out through the mouth and through the nose and through the ears. When I, Aggivessana, had stopped breathing in and breathing out through the mouth and through the nose and through the ears, I came to have very bad headaches… very strong winds cut through my stomach… there came a fierce heat in my body. Although, Aggivessana, unsluggish energy came to be stirred up in me, unmuddled mindfulness set up, yet my body was turbulent, not calmed, because I was harassed in striving by striving against that very pain. But yet, Aggivesana, that painful feeling, arising in me, persisted without impinging on my mind… (MN I 244-245, Pali Text Society vol I p 298-299) Stopping the breath in and the breath out did not satisfy Gautama’s quest to “bring to a close the (holy)-faring”. Only after he had abandoned such ascetic practices did he enter the states of concentration, and attain the state that caused him to say, “done is what was to be done”. (A Way of Living) I know that while my father, the Sakyan, was ploughing, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, I entered on the first meditation, which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness, and is rapturous and joyful, and while abiding therein, I thought: ‘Now could this be a way to awakening?’ Then, following on my mindfulness, Aggivissana, there was the consciousness: This is itself the Way to awakening. This occurred to me, Aggivissana: ‘Now, am I afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind?’ This occurred to me…: I am not afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind.’ (MN 1 246-247, Vol I p 301)

That's interesting. There are a couple of sermons in the Pali collections where some member of the order or of the lay community is dying a painful death, and a senior member of the order drops by to encourage them to bear up, in light of the dhamma. I'm remembering two such sermons, at the conclusion of each of which, the afflicted person took the knife (committed suicide). Oh well! But as Maddie said, Gautama regarded suffering as something added to the experience of a sensation: “When [one] has seen a material shape through the eye, [one] does not feel attraction for agreeable material shapes, [one] does not feel repugnance for disagreeable material shapes; and (one] dwells with mindfulness aroused as to the body… [One] who has thus got rid of compliance and antipathy, whatever feeling [that person] feels-pleasant or painful or neither painful nor pleasant [one] does not delight in that feeling, does not welcome it or persist in cleaving to it. From not delighting in that feeling … , from not welcoming it, from not persisting in cleaving to it, whatever was delight in those feelings is stopped. From the stopping of [one’s] delight is the stopping of grasping; from the stopping of grasping is the stopping of becoming; from the stopping of becoming is the stopping of birth; from the stopping of birth, old age and dying, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and despair are stopped. Such is the stopping of this entire mass of anguish [similarly for sound/the ear, scent/the nose, savor/the tongue, touch/the body, mental object/the mind].” (MN 1270, Vol I pg 323-324) Ok, hard to imagine delighting in a painful feeling. Here's another angle: Birth is anguish, old age and decay, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, woe, lamentation, and despair are anguish. Not to get what one desires is anguish. In short, the five groups based on grasping are anguish. (AN I 176, Vol I p 160; Pali “dukkha”: “anguish” in MN, “Ill” in AN original above; emphasis added) The trick is, ya gotta have "perfect wisdom", to see through the five groups and shed "latent conceits that ‘I am the doer, mine is the doer’ in regard to this consciousness-informed body": Whatever … is material shape, past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, mean or excellent, or whatever is far or near, [a person], thinking of all this material shape as ‘This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self’, sees it thus as it really is by means of perfect wisdom. Whatever is feeling … perception… the habitual tendencies… whatever is consciousness, past, future or present… [that person], thinking of all this consciousness as ‘This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self’, sees it thus as it really is by means of perfect wisdom. [For one] knowing thus, seeing thus, there are no latent conceits that ‘I am the doer, mine is the doer’ in regard to this consciousness-informed body. (MN III 18-19, Vol III p 68) My version of "perfect wisdom": When “doing something” has ceased, and there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot receive the placement of attention, then the placement of attention is free to shift as necessary in the movement of breath. ... The difficulty is that most people will lose consciousness before they cede activity to the location of attention–they lose the presence of mind with the placement of attention, because they can’t believe that action in the body is possible without “doing something”: It’s impossible to teach the meaning of sitting. You won’t believe it. Not because I say something wrong, but until you experience it and confirm it by yourself, you cannot believe it. (Kobun Chino Otogawa, “Embracing Mind”, edited by Cosgrove & Hall, pg 48) (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)

Gautama’s teaching revolved around action, around one specific kind of action: …I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN III 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) “When one determines”—when a person exercises volition, or choice, action of “deed, word, or thought” follows. Gautama also spoke of “the activities”. The activities are the actions that take place as a consequence of the exercise of volition: And what are the activities? These are the three activities:–those of deed, speech and mind. These are activities. (SN II 3, Pali Text Society vol II p 4) Gautama claimed that a ceasing of “action” is possible: And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) He spoke in detail about how “the activities” come to cease: …I have seen that the ceasing of the activities is gradual. When one has attained the first trance, speech has ceased. When one has attained the second trance, thought initial and sustained has ceased. When one has attained the third trance, zest has ceased. When one has attained the fourth trance, inbreathing and outbreathing have ceased… Both perception and feeling have ceased when one has attained the cessation of perception and feeling. (SN IV 217, Pali Text Society vol IV p 146) (A Way of Living)

Say, Daniel--here's a thought for you. Maybe it's about a chaining of consciousnesses, more than physical rebirth. Note the second and third elements in the chain below--the persistence of consciousness, the stationing of consciousness: That which we will…, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:–this becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness. Consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and here from birth, decay, and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, and despair come to pass. Such is the uprising of this mass of ill. Even if we do not will, or intend to do, and yet are occupied with something, this too becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness… whence birth… takes place. But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. Consciousness not being stationed and growing, no rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and herefrom birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair cease. Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill. (SN II 65, Pali Text Society SN Vol II pg 45) The definition of suffering (dukkha, anguish, ill): “Birth is anguish, old age and decay, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, woe, lamentation, and despair are anguish. Not to get what one desires is anguish. In short, the five groups based on grasping are anguish.” (AN I 176, Vol I pg 160; Pali “dukkha”: “anguish” in MN, “Ill” in AN original above, emphasis added) The five groups (note the benefit of detachment, losing conceits about action in the body): Whatever … is material shape, past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, mean or excellent, or whatever is far or near, [a person], thinking of all this material shape as ‘This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self’, sees it thus as it really is by means of perfect wisdom. Whatever is feeling … perception… the habitual tendencies… whatever is consciousness, past, future or present… [that person], thinking of all this consciousness as ‘This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self’, sees it thus as it really is by means of perfect wisdom. [For one] knowing thus, seeing thus, there are no latent conceits that ‘I am the doer, mine is the doer’ in regard to this consciousness-informed body.” (MN III 18-19, Vol III pg 68) The exercise of will, of intent, or even just continued deliberation with the mind, results in a persistence of consciousness. Persistence leads to a stationing. The opposite of "a stationing": There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. (Common Ground) When necessity places attention, and a presence of mind is retained as the placement shifts and moves, then in Gautama’s words, “[one] lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness”: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parenthetical material paraphrases original; “directed” also rendered as “initial” MN III p 78 and as “applied” PTS AN III p 18-19) (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)

Maybe they're mindful until they hit the terrible two's, where a certain grasping after self occurs.

Who could imagine, three-year retreats in beautiful Nova Scotia: https://gampoabbey.org/sopa-choling-three-year-retreat-center/ Or sunny New Mexico! https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sex-and-death-on-the-road-to-nirvana-86995/

Believe there are Buddhists out there, maybe in Tibet and New Mexico, who feel that three years in a cave is a right of passage. I'm surprised Apech didn't jump in on this, they definitely do long retreats in caves in Tibet. “And what has been explained by me… ? ‘This is anguish’ has been explained by me. ‘This is the arising of anguish’ has been explained by me… ‘This is the stopping of anguish’ has been explained by me. ‘This is the course leading to the stopping of anguish’ has been explained by me. And why… has this been explained by me? It is because it is connected with the goal, is fundamental to the [holy-]faring, and conduces to turning away from, to dispassion, stopping, calming, super-knowledge, awakening, and nibbana. Therefore it has been explained by me.” (MN I 431, Vol II pg 101) “Birth is anguish, old age and decay, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, woe, lamentation, and despair are anguish. Not to get what one desires is anguish. In short, the five groups based on grasping are anguish.” (AN I 176, Vol I pg 160; Pali “dukkha”: “anguish” in MN, “Ill” in AN original above) When suffering exists, the rest of the truths also have significance. To enjoy our life-- complicated life, difficult life-- without ignoring it, and without being caught by it. Without suffer from it. That is actually what will happen to us after you practice zazen. (“To Actually Practice Selflessness”, August Sesshin Lecture Wednesday, August 6, 1969, San Francisco; “fell” corrected to “fall”; transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) That brings us back to the difficulty most of us have in sitting cross-legged on the floor for any great length of time. Most of my life, I have sat in one bent-knee posture or another 40 minutes, in the morning and at night before bed. Now I'm down to 25 most of the time, and perish the thought of even a one day sesshin. I feel pretty good about the 25's, though, and about my really-not-that-complicated and really-not-that-difficult (at the moment) life. Zazen has been and continues to be the most important thing I do, for my sense of well-being.

As I've said before, I take the four truths to be prescription, not philosophy. If suffering exists, then there is a cause of suffering, with the cessation of that cause there is an end of suffering, and there is a path leading to that end of suffering. If I'm not experiencing suffering, I don't need the prescription. Here's the founding teacher of the S. F. Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki, talking about the practice of zazen: To enjoy our life-- complicated life, difficult life-- without ignoring it, and without being caught by it. Without suffer from it. That is actually what will happen to us after you practice zazen. (“To Actually Practice Selflessness”, August Sesshin Lecture Wednesday, August 6, 1969, San Francisco; “fell” corrected to “fall”; transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) So of course, he's putting forward the possibility that life doesn't have to be suffering. As to the eightfold path. It's complicated. First up, here's a definition of right concentration, which Gautama gave in terms of the other seven elements of the path: “Right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right mode of livelihood, right endeavor, right mindfulness. Whatever one-pointedness of mind… is accompanied by these seven components, this is called the [noble] right concentration with the causal associations and the accompaniments.” (MN III 71, Vol III p 114; SN V 17, Vol V p 19; emphasis added) How to find "one-pointedness of mind"? Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parenthetical material paraphrases original; “directed” also rendered as “initial” MN III p 78 and as “applied” PTS AN III p 18-19) From my latest post, on my own site: When necessity places attention, and a presence of mind is retained as the placement shifts and moves, then in Gautama’s words, “[one] lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness”... As I’ve written previously, there’s an opportunity to make self-surrender the object of thought and to lay hold of “one-pointedness” just before falling asleep: … Just before I fall asleep, my awareness can move very readily, and my sense of where I am tends to move with it. This is also true when I am waking up, although it can be harder to recognize (I tend to live through my eyes in the daytime, and associate my sense of place with them). … when I realize my physical sense of location in space, and realize it as it occurs from one moment to the next, then I wake up or fall asleep as appropriate. (Waking Up and Falling Asleep) When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration: … there is no need to depend on teaching. But the most important thing is to practice and realize our true nature… [laughs]. This is, you know, Zen. (Shunryu Suzuki, Tassajara 68-07-24 transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) If you really want to get into the eight-fold path, then be aware: The definition of right view depends in part on the definition of wrong view; the definition of wrong view was given as follows: “There is no (result of) gift … no (result of) offering … no (result of) sacrifice; there is no fruit or ripening of deeds well done or ill done; there is not this world, there is not a world beyond; there is no (benefit from serving) mother and father; there are no beings of spontaneous uprising; there are not in the world recluses and brahmans… who are faring rightly, proceeding rightly, and who proclaim this world and the world beyond having realized them by their own super-knowledge.” (MN III 71-78, Vol III pg 113-121) “Beings of spontaneous uprising” appears to be a reference to fairy-like beings that spring into existence without parents (several classes of fairy-like beings were believed to exist in Vedic folklore; see notes, SN III 249, Vol III pg 197). Right view, said Gautama, is twofold. First, there is the right view which is exactly the opposite of wrong view; this, however, is the view “that has cankers, that is on the side of merit, that ripens unto cleaving (to new birth)”. The right view which is “[noble], supermundane, cankerless and a component of the way” is: “Whatever … is wisdom, the cardinal faculty of wisdom, the power of wisdom, the component of enlightenment which is investigation into things, the right view that is a component of the Way in one who, by developing the [noble] Way, is of [noble] thought, conversant with the [noble] Way–this… is a right view that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way.” (Ibid) (Making Sense of the Pali Canon: the Wheel of the Sayings) Alternatively: (Anyone)…knowing and seeing eye as it really is, knowing and seeing material shapes… visual consciousness… impact on the eye as it really is, and knowing, seeing as it really is the experience, whether pleasant, painful, or neither painful nor pleasant, that arises conditioned by impact on the eye, is not attached to the eye nor to material shapes nor to visual consciousness nor to impact on the eye; and that experience, whether pleasant, painful, or neither painful nor pleasant, that arises conditioned by impact on the eye—neither to that is (such a one) attached. …(Such a one’s) physical anxieties decrease, and mental anxieties decrease, and bodily torments… and mental torments… and bodily fevers decrease, and mental fevers decrease. (Such a one) experiences happiness of body and happiness of mind. (repeated for ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind). Whatever is the view of what really is, that for (such a one) is right view; whatever is aspiration for what really is, that for (such a one) is right aspiration; whatever is endeavour for what really is, that is for (such a one) right endeavour; whatever is mindfulness of what really is, that is for (such a one) right mindfulness; whatever is concentration on what really is, that is for (such a one) right concentration. And (such a one’s) past acts of body, acts of speech, and mode of livelihood have been well purified. (Majjhima-Nikaya, Pali Text Society vol III p 337-338) Find the seat and put on the robe, and afterward see for yourself. ("Zen Letters, Teachings of Yuanwu", tr J.C. Cleary &Thomas Cleary p 65)

I feel so sorry for that guy! Then there's:

vanishing shadows the chariot at zenith on a summer's day on a summer's day particularly welcome the breeze by the lake the breeze by the lake like a howling gale today the ducks take to shore

Sorry to hear that!

To enjoy our life-- complicated life, difficult life-- without ignoring it, and without being caught by it. Without suffer from it. That is actually what will happen to us after you practice zazen. (“To Actually Practice Selflessness”, August Sesshin Lecture Wednesday, August 6, 1969, San Francisco; “fell” corrected to “fall”; transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) Promises, promises!

Somewhere on Dao Bums, I copied in some of the cemetery contemplations from Sattipathana Sutta. I won't repeat them here, but suffice it to say, Gautama sat in graveyards and observed the stages of decay of the corpses that had been left there. Particularly interesting to me were his observation of "sinews" of the body, holding the bones together after the flesh had rotted. I think the translation should have been "ligaments" instead of "sinews", as technically sinews connect muscle to bone--it's the ligaments that connect bone to bone. That's of interest to me because the ligaments can be involved in the regulation of the activity of muscle groups. Some research has been done, in India: This study (research by Indahl, A., et al.) established that the ligamento-muscular reflex existed between the sacroiliac joint and muscles that attach to the bones that make up the sacroiliac joint. (The study’s authors) suggested that the sacroiliac joint was a regulator of pelvic and paraspinal muscles and, thereby, influences posture and lumbar segmental stability. (Serola Biomechanics website summary of Indahl, A., et al., Sacroiliac joint involvement in activation of the porcine spinal and gluteal musculature. Journal of Spinal Disorders, 1999. 12(4): p. 325-30; https://europepmc.org/article/med/10451049) For the most part, Gautama stuck to phenomena connected to "one-pointedness" of mind. Like you, I am interested in how those phenomena affect systems in the body, and how the coordination of systems in the body affect those phenomena. I've described "one-pointedness" as the placement of attention out of necessity in the movement of breath, and I've described how that experience can be observed right before falling asleep. I would contend that the same experience is a part of waking up, but retaining a presence of mind as the point of attention shifts is a bit of a trick. Gautama described four initial concentrations. Bearing in mind that he equated concentration with "one-pointedness", we have: … just as a handy bathman or attendant might strew bath-powder in some copper basin and, gradually sprinkling water, knead it together so that the bath-ball gathered up the moisture, became enveloped in moisture and saturated both in and out, but did not ooze moisture; even so, (a person) steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease. … imagine a pool with a spring, but no water-inlet on the east side or the west side or on the north or on the south, and suppose the (rain-) deva supply not proper rains from time to time–cool waters would still well up from that pool, and that pool would be steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with the cold water so that not a drop but would be pervaded by the cold water; in just the same way… (one) steeps (their) body with zest and ease… … free from the fervor of zest, (one) enters and abides in the third musing; (one) steeps and drenches and fills and suffuses this body with a zestless ease so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this zestless ease. … just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lillies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease. Again, a (person), putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. … just as a (person) might sit with (their) head swathed in a clean cloth; even so (one) sits suffusing (their) body with purity… (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93, PTS p 132-134) My take on the physiological correlates of the states, if you're interested, is here.

Udana belongs to the fifth Nikaya. Historian A. K. Warder described the fifth Nikaya thusly: ... Ksudraka Agama [Nikaya] (outside the first four agamas there remained a number of texts regarded by all the schools as of inferior importance, either because they were compositions of followers of the Buddha and not the words of the Master himself, or because they were of doubtful authenticity, these were collected in this 'Minor Tradition'). ... It has been suggested that some schools did not have a Minor Tradition at all, though they still had some of the minor texts, incorporated in their Vinayas, hence the 'Four Agamas' are sometimes spoken of as representing the Sutra. ("Buddhist India", A. K. Warder, p 202-203; Motilal Banarsidass, 2nd ed) The usual context for the "not-born", or "unborn", is more like: And what... is the (noble) quest? As to this... someone, being liable to birth because of self, having known the peril in what is likewise liable to birth, seeks the unborn, the uttermost security from the bonds--nibbana; being liable to aging... decay... dying... sorrow... stain, being liable to stain because of self, having known the peril in what is likewise liable to stain, seeks the stainless, the uttermost security from the bonds--nibbana. This... is the (noble) quest. (MN I 162-163 "Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The (Noble) Quest", Pali Text Society I p 206-207, tr I. B. Horner, parentheticals paraphrase original) "The unborn", not as a stand-alone entity, but in a class of "un-somethings" representing one singular escape from the bonds, nibbana (literally "blown out").

Yes. Chocolate cake, I think, but you got the idea. Buddhism, a big piece of cloying cake, but the "perfect wisdom" to wash it down, not so easy to come by.

I blame the cat, who ever seeks my attention. Writing in response to S:C on the "interpretational inconsistencies" thread (Buddhist Discussion), I put together something that I think is relevant here: That which we will…, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:–this becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness. Consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and here from birth, decay, and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, and despair come to pass. Such is the uprising of this mass of ill. Even if we do not will, or intend to do, and yet are occupied with something, this too becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness… whence birth… takes place. But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. Consciousness not being stationed and growing, no rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and herefrom birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair cease. Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill. (SN II 65, Pali Text Society SN Vol II pg 45, emphasis added) “Birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair”—in some of his lectures, Gautama summarized “this entire mass of ill” by saying “in short, the five groups of grasping”. Grasping after a sense of self in connection with phenomena of form, feeling, mind, habitual tendency, or mental state is identically suffering, according to Gautama. (Response to "Not the Wind, Not the Flag") Not many will have the "lack of desire" necessary to attain the cessation of "doing something" in feeling and perceiving, the cessation that gave rise to Gautama's insight into the chain of causation (as above). Somewhat more likely is the lack of desire necessary to attain the cessation of "doing something" in the body, the experience of activity by virtue of the free placement of attention in the movement of breath --"just sitting". There's the mundane right view “that has cankers, that is on the side of merit, that ripens unto cleaving (to new birth)”. That one is stained with intention. Then there's the right view which is “[noble], supermundane, cankerless and a component of the way”. That one is seeing things as they really are. The lens of intention is dual: the view colored by intention, or will, or deliberation, has cankers, is on the side of merit or demerit (good & evil), and ripens unto cleaving. Seeing things as they really are is nondual. Awareness, yes, but awareness sans "determinate thought" in feeling and perceiving.

Let me try what I hope is a more useful explanation. A central theme of Gautama’s teaching was the cessation of “determinate thought” (AN III 414) in action, meaning the cessation of the exercise of will or volition in action. A cessation of the exercise of will could be attained, said Gautama, through the induction of various successive states of concentration. (Response to "Not the Wind, Not the Flag") In one of his lectures, Shunryu Suzuki spoke about the difference between “preparatory practice” and “shikantaza”, or “just sitting”: But usually in counting breathing or following breathing, you feel as if you are doing something, you know– you are following breathing, and you are counting breathing. This is, you know, why counting breathing or following breathing practice is, you know, for us it is some preparation– preparatory practice for shikantaza because for most people it is rather difficult to sit, you know, just to sit. (“The Background of Shikantaza”; Shunryu Suzuki, Sunday, February 22, 1970, San Francisco; transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) Suzuki said that directing attention to the movement of breath (“following breathing… counting breathing”) has the feeling of “doing something”, and that “doing something” makes such practice only preparatory. Although attention can be directed to the movement of breath, necessity in the movement of breath can also direct attention, as I wrote previously: There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. (Common Ground) There’s a frailty in the structure of the lower spine, and the movement of breath can place the point of awareness in such a fashion as to engage a mechanism of support for the spine, often in stages (see A Way of Living). ... When necessity places attention, and a presence of mind is retained as the placement shifts and moves, then in Gautama’s words, “[one] lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness”: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parenthetical material paraphrases original; “directed” also rendered as “initial” MN III p 78 and as “applied” PTS AN III p 18-19) The difficulty is that most people will lose consciousness before they cede activity to the location of attention–they lose the presence of mind with the placement of attention, because they can’t believe that action in the body is possible without “doing something”. (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) That which we will…, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:–this becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness. Consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and here from birth, decay, and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, and despair come to pass. Such is the uprising of this mass of ill. Even if we do not will, or intend to do, and yet are occupied with something, this too becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness… whence birth… takes place. But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. Consciousness not being stationed and growing, no rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and herefrom birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair cease. Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill. (SN II 65, Pali Text Society SN Vol II pg 45, emphasis added) “Birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair”—in some of his lectures, Gautama summarized “this entire mass of ill” by saying “in short, the five groups of grasping”. Grasping after a sense of self in connection with phenomena of form, feeling, mind, habitual tendency, or mental state is identically suffering, according to Gautama. (Response to "Not the Wind, Not the Flag") Not many will have the "lack of desire" necessary to attain the cessation of "doing something" in feeling and perceiving, the cessation that gave rise to Gautama's insight into the chain of causation (as above). Somewhat more likely is the lack of desire necessary to attain the cessation of "doing something" in the body, the experience of activity by virtue of the free placement of attention in the movement of breath --"just sitting". There's the mundane right view “that has cankers, that is on the side of merit, that ripens unto cleaving (to new birth)”. That one is stained with intention. Then there's the right view which is “[noble], supermundane, cankerless and a component of the way”. That one is seeing things as they really are.