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thīna-middha * sloth & torpor
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Vipassana Meditation
and the
Scientific Worldview (2nd Edition)
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Completely Revised and with New Essays
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Although the title has been kept the same Vipassana Meditation and the Scientific Worldview (Second Edition) replaces the first edition in every way. Every page of this work by psychiatrist, Vipassana teacher, and author Dr. Paul Fleischman has been either modified or—in most cases—is brand new. Its function however, remains the same: it is the meeting point between the traditional presentation of meditation and the thought patterns of a modern audience. It describes Vipassana as an empirical and rational practice.
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Excerpts:
A Brief Look at “Mind”
The commonest view is that mind arises from the switches and connections in the railroad yard of the brain. The potential numbers of interactions that are provided by the neurons in the brain are impressive. Our brain cells are estimated to exist in the trillions, and because many of them are networked to multiple others, there are estimated to be quadrillions of possible combinations of cellular interactions available to brain function. Nevertheless, networked interactions of large numbers of events, though they may seem to account for cognition or memory, do not seem related to creativity, imagination, insight, or spiritual vision. Networks of neurons can easily be thought of as loci of storage, organization, or rearrangement. But can they synthesize, imagine, create? Networks can compute, but can they originate and invent?
…
Three Pathways Within Flux
Trying to give scientific language to this molecular flux, we need to describe three pathways. The first is the material of which we consist, like atoms. The second pathway is the energy that maintains and transforms the molecular aggregates. The third pathway is the information that organizes material and energy. Meditation on sensations provides us with direct experience of ourselves as temporarily cohering nodes of matter, energy, and information.
…
Sensations on the Path to Freedom
Quite probably, for most Vipassana meditators most of the time, the body sensations that we feel arising and passing in almost instantaneous sequence, the vibrating, tingling, unlabelable sensations, are linked to the biological creation and destruction that we embody. We are probably experiencing our sensory nerve endings contacting our skin and generating chemical messengers that bring environmental information back to our brains. We are probably experiencing nociceptors generating chemical messengers to relay information to our brains about the status of our musculature.
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dullness (thīna) & drowsiness (middha)
Sensual desire is interpreted in two ways. Sometimes it is understood in a narrow sense as lust for the “five strands of sense pleasure,” i.e. agreeable sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches; sometimes a broader interpretation is given, by which the term becomes inclusive of craving in all its modes, whether for sense pleasures, wealth, power, position, fame, or anything else it can settle upon. The second hindrance, ill-will, is a synonym for aversion. It comprises hatred, anger, resentment, repulsion of every shade, whether directed towards other people, towards oneself, towards objects, or towards situations. The third hindrance, dullness and drowsiness, is a compound of two factors linked together by their common feature of mental unwieldiness. One is dullness (thīna), manifest as mental inertia; the other is drowsiness (middha), seen in mental sinking, heaviness of mind, or excessive inclination to sleep. At the opposite extreme is the fourth hindrance, restlessness and worry. This too is a compound with its two members linked by their common feature of disquietude.
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You Have to Work
Sayādaw: If you live a life of laziness and sloth, will you become happy?
Disciple: No, sir. I shall continue going round in the cycle of birth and death, sir. Sayādaw: 'I have never before, in the whole cycle of birth and death, had stiff and aching limbs because of meditation. It is good if I experience these troubles now.'
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Thus should you look at your pains. Even though your limbs ache, do not give up. Know that wise people of the past have walked on the same path.
"You have to work. If you only talk about putting forth effort, you will not attain anything. Only if you meditate can you come to understand. Now you are probably thinking: 'We want to meditate, but this venerable monk is talking for a long time.' So now focus your mind as the Buddha taught and meditate with firm effort and with perseverance."
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The Udana &
The Itivuttaka
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Two classics of the Pāli Canon
in one eBook (ePub, Mobi, PDF).
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Bill Crecelius ist ein erfahrener Vipassana-Lehrer und einer der ersten Schüler Goenkajis aus dem Westen. Mit dem Handbuch für Meditierende hat er ein leicht zu verstehendes und praktisches Buch für alle jene geschrieben, die ihre Praxis der Vipassana-Meditation festigen wollen. Basierend auf seiner langjährigen Erfahrung als Vipassana-Meditierender macht es Mut und bietet einen Reichtum an freundschaftlichen Ratschlägen, illustriert durch eine Vielzahl lebhafter Beispiele und Schilderungen. Das Buch ist für alle Vipassana-Meditierende sehr empfehlenswert, besonders für diejenigen, die gerade erst mit dem Praktizieren begonnen haben.
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If you live outside the USA and are looking to order print books, please check out our list of non-US retailers as this could save you in shipping costs. We are also setting up our titles with Amazon's print-on-demand service, so you may be able to order our books directly from Amazon in your country.
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Eventually, you must meditate continuously
infusing every moment with clear comprehension.
And so intensive retreats are offered
to saturate the mind with this 24/7 awareness.
You sit in a silent cell for weeks, months and even years at a stretch
to etch this or that technique onto the mind
ensuring your eventual liberation.
But to depend on the twin catapults
of isolation and duration
to propel your awareness into the astral realms is folly
for you will invariably fall from grace.
Without the crutches of silence and enforced asceticism,
you will find yourself still jostled by the vicissitudes of life.
You have become a good retreatant
more than a good meditator.
Sitting continuously for months in a Tibetan cave is postcard bravado
if you cannot meditate here, now, on the Flatbush Avenue bus.
Retreat from anger, from fear, from greed,
from hatred, from jealousy, from sloth,
but not from life.
The silence we need resides not in our cave but in our mind.
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a work containing many reflections of the Dhamma, by Ian McCrorie.)
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Weekly Dhamma Story Times
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When the lockdown started we launched Dhamma Story Time: a weekly series of 30-minute online reading sessions, scheduled on different days and times each week to cater to different time zones. These sessions are still running, currently on Mondays at 8.30pm Pacific Time and Tuesdays 10am Eastern Time . The volunteer readers choose texts from our catalog that they find inspiring. In previous sessions, stories and passages were read from the Dhammapada, The Art of Dying, Letters from the Dhamma Brothers, and The Way to Ultimate Calm.
The sessions are hosted using GoToMeeting; the schedule and information on how to join are posted on pariyatti.org/DST.
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These months Pariyatti is holding several auctions on eBay. We are selling a number of books that were donated to us, but may not be part of our catalog.
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Three auctions have gone live yesterday, Saturday, October 3, at midnight (0:00h), running for a total of seven days. Place a bid and the following collectors’ items could be yours:
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* A six-volume set of The Book of the Discipline. This is an English translation of the Vinaya Piṭika.
* A five-volume set of The Books of Gradual Sayings. This is an English translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, also known as the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha.
* A two-volume set of The Questions of King Milinda. This is an English translation of the Milindapañha.
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Please note: the auctions are placed on Amazon.com (USA), and the items are set up to only ship to USA addresses. So, if you are outside the USA you may not be able to view the auctions or bid on them.
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All proceeds of the eBay auctions go to our Dana Distribution Fund, a program that allows us to offer a significant number of books and media freely to monks, nuns, monasteries, meditation centers, and others.
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Relying on a strong base of the previously developed factor the respective next limb of enlightenment comes to arise and gets developed. However, sati is the necessary base and compulsory prerequisite on which all development is based, compared with salt that is desirable in all dishes:
“Sati pana sabbattha balavatī vaṭṭati. Sati hi cittaṃ uddhaccapakkhikānaṃ saddhāvīriyapaññānaṃ vasena uddhaccapātato kosajjapakkhena ca samādhinā kosajjapātato rakkhati …
… Cittañhi satipaṭisaraṇaṃ, ārakkhapaccupaṭṭhānā ca sati, na vinā satiyā cittassa paggahaniggaho hotī’’ti.
"Resilient sati needs to be established everywhere. Because sati protects the mind from getting agitated by means of faith, energy and wisdom which has the inherent tendency towards agitation, and sati protects the mind from getting indolent by means of concentration which has the inherent tendency towards sloth.
… Why is this so? Because the mind has sati as its refuge, sati provides protection for the mind and without sati there will be no exertion and no restraint of the mind."
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Pariyatti organizes pilgrimages for Vipassana students of S.N. Goenka. The itinerary of Along the Path enables meditators to visit and meditate at the four great places related to the Buddha's life, as well as four other inspiring and important locations in India & Nepal; The Golden Path travels to the main sites associated with the chain of teachers in the tradition of Vipassana as taught by S.N. Goenka in Burma (Myanmar).
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Upcoming Dates - 朝圣之旅，启程在即
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Along the Path (North India & Nepal)
朝圣路上 – 印度、尼泊尔
November 1–22, 2020
*
January 30–February 20, 2021 (English/ Chinese)
2021年1月30日至2月20
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February 27–March 20, 2021
The Golden Path (Burma) * English/Chinese
金色之旅 – 缅甸朝圣
January 9–26, 2021
2021年01月09日 – 26日
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In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still uncertain whether we will be able to proceed with our scheduled pilgrimages. If any pilgrimage is cancelled before it commences, please rest assured that we will refund 100% of the fees.
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Donations: Either one-time or monthly pledge
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Pariyatti is a charitable, non-profit, educational support system for the Dhamma community. Pariyatti exists because of funds donated by supporters.
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