Thursday 26 November 2009

Non Self, Skandas, and Thoughts





Thursday 8:43 p.m.
In the dhammapada, the boy goes through the skandas, which are body,senses, perceptions, mental formations (including volitional impulses) and consciousnesses, the "heaps" of which we are composed. When you get to the mental formations i.e. thoughts, you might repeat these phrases: they are not mine; I do not own them; they are not my self.

These lying basturn thoughts!

You are supposed to take responsibility for your thoughts and how you think them.

The main differentiation between folk is surely what they're thinking, their thoughts.

In the Disbelieving Congregation, of course, we don't believe in thoughts.

Nothing exists in the manner of its appearance, including thoughts.

But we have to have them and think them just like every other bugger.

There must be amazing numbers of causes and conditions to support just one thought. Most thoughts aren't worth thinking. Until we perfect our minds (and that might take some time!), we're going to have to put up with thoughts which are disagreeable and unpleasant. I do not like having angry or anxious thoughts and I've been focusing my imperfect mind and developing mental formations surrounding stuff recently that is not a help at all. Anxious or angry thoughts can arise due to tiredness, at least as one of the things conditioning them. Everybody gets tired. Almost everybody has crap frames for thoughts to develope in at some time in the day.

The photies of the trees were taken on the way to get my bus pass. The photies of Kirk Brae, which I have sometimes cycled up, were taken from the top of the bus.

When I went on the bus, I put my bus pass on the wee monitoring thing and the info about the operating dates flashed up. I thought I saw a 9. Disconcerting thoughts arose about the validity of the pass for a month if it said the 9th of December. On the way back, I saw the 9 flash up again.

I'm trying to meditate on top of the bus, but my peace of mind was disturbed by thoughts concerning the invalidity of the bus pass. I counted the dates. It was a fortnight till the 9th of December. I'd paid with my cash card for a month. I was going to have to go back to the Ridacard shop and get this sorted out. Longer on the bus. I'd thrown away the receipts. I'd have to hit a cash line first and get a mini-statement to show that the basturns had taken £45 off me for a fortnight of bus travel instead of giving me a month on the pass. Don't get annoyed. Keep cool. Can I speak to your supervisor, please? I checked the bus pass on the wee monitoring thing the driver has before I got off to complain. It said 23/12/09. Bugger all wrong with the bus pass after all!

Stupid, lying basturn thoughts full of anger and anxiety.

On the bright side someone sent me a link to an article about this joe testing some monks for gamma waves and neuro-plasticity. It said they were experts having done between 10,000 and 50,000 hours meditating. If you do the sums, you can do 10,000 hours by doing four hours a day for eight years. It would take you at least that long to learn anything well, like how to play a guitar. 10,000 hours is really a minimum. 50,000 hours can be accomplished by doing two hours for forty years. Since I've been meditating for twenty four years, I must have done well over 10,000 and I'm still a stumblebum. Bunch of beginners really. My guru would have put in up to 1,176 hours during his seven weeks in the dark over the summer. Stuff like that plus maybe twelve years of solitary retreats and whatnot ... well, why don't they stick the plugs onto somebody like that? Probably because they (the juju masters!)can't be bothered, especially after yon Benson bloke wanted to stick rectal thermometers up the the last lot.

Of course, most folk don't meditate at all!! The evolutionary tails. But I won't say anything about flatheids tonight. No, I won't!

11 comments:

rob said...

It's not quite clear whether you're saying we should take responsibilty for the things (thoughts) that differentiate us from others, or that we shouldn't. If the latter, is there anything left over to take responsibility for? If you could just clear that up, that would help, but if it's a confessional thing, don't bother.

albert said...

I myself am quite fortunate in having few, if any, disagreeable thoughts. Disagreeable to me anyway. I tell a lie - I did have one in 1985, and then a couple in the 90s, but that's about it.

onan said...

Actually, I had a parallel experience to your bus pass incident. At the pool this week, they told me that half the swims on my season pass had been deleted because I haven't used them up within a year. Basturns! The hormone rush from that propelled me to new achievements on the pool, so it turned out quite positive.

The effing currant basturns! I'll get them back for that.

Hotboy said...

Albert? 1) The boy says the good thing about buddhism is that you have to take personal responsibility for whatever happens to you; and the bad thing is that you have to take personal responsibility. That's what it's about. I don't go to confession anymore.
2) It depends what you call disagreeable. Maybe you're a sloppy auditor.
3)That's one big disagreeable thought. You could go swimming with the sharks and stop being such a wimp! Hope this helps. Hotboy
3)

Marie Rex said...

Your pictures are so beautiful.

I'm too tired to think.

Hotboy said...

Marie! They probably don't have trees where you are! Hope the SAD isn't setting in. Hotboy

rob said...

Aye, I forgot to mention the photies. Liked the trees, the streets are depressing but I suppose that's good photojournalism.

Anonymous said...

I say!

Doviko would like to know where the people of Edinburgh grow their maize for nsima. He can see none in your snaps.

MM III

Hotboy said...

Mingin'! Tell the servant we grow the maize at Hampton Court. He'd be amaized enough by that! Hotboy

Anonymous said...

I say!

What a traumatic experience you had with your bus pass. Have you considered counselling?

MM III

Hotboy said...

Mingin'! Counselling? Another job creation scheme! I hark back to the days when men were men and sheep were worried. Counselling and the severely calvinistic toilet training gang thegither! Hotboy