2021-09-07 Citta (2 of 5) Greed, Ill Will, and Delusion

3:02PM Sep 7, 2021

Speakers:

Gil Fronsdal

Keywords:

mindfulness

mind

greed

disposition

absence

delusion

hatred

desire

experience

capacity

state

mood

aware

spaciousness

knowing

width

mindful

justification

defined

fleeting moment

So this will be the second talk on the third foundation of mindfulness. And the third foundation of mindfulness is that of becoming aware of the general state of our mind or state of our heart, the mood or disposition. That's, in some ways more enduring, than particular sensations we have in the body that come and go, or particular thoughts that we have that come and go or particular sensations that come and go, feeling tones, pleasant and unpleasant that come and go. And certainly mind states also can come and go, but they tend to be more enduring tends to be a disposition through which we sometimes see the world experience the world, interpret the world. And there's this disposition, this state, the quality of the mind that through which we're aware, is, has a huge bearing on how we live our lives, huge influence. And it's also something that's intimate closer in than the changing details of the moment that might be here fleetingly. And it's more kind of close in to who we are, in a sense. And so the general instructions around this mindfulness of the mind state is in regard to it, simply to know it as it is, to know the mind state, in regard to the mind state. And what this means is that we don't have to add stories and ideas, interpretations. We don't think connected to a lot of things, just know it in the simplicity, how it is in the moment right now. And then it begins, by knowing mind states, dispositions that are characterized by greed, or the absence of it, with ill will, or the absence of it, and delusion, and the absence of it. And in August, if you know, a month ago, or so we few weeks ago, we did three weeks on each of these greed, hatred, and delusion, and in part that was in preparation for this teaching on the third foundation of mindfulness. So those of you who are there, perhaps, you know, you're more sensitized, they're ready to be mindful of greed, hatred and delusion in the absence of it. And, and so the idea is to become aware of it, but not as a fleeting moment of greed or fleeting moment, of a moment, a few moments of it. But how it can appear sometimes as a disposition, as a general state or mood that we're in, we're just kind of the mood is that of desire, the mood is that of ill will, or aversion. The mood is that of just being confused, bewildered, diluted. And so it's more more persistent and more, more, like more like, you know, the mood veil through which we see the filters through which we see the world. And, but what's very interesting that Buddha says, when he gives instructions here, he says something, he uses the word of width, in Pali to the word it's a prefix. But he says that uses this width, he says, When the mind state is with greed, know that it is with greed. When the mind state is without greed, no, that is without greed, and the same for ill will, and delusion. And so this word width is there. And, and the idea is to be mindful to know that it's there. And the marvelous thing about when we're really clearly practicing mindfulness is to be really mindful, really know what's happening, really conscious of what's happening. Part of the mind is not caught in what is known, part of the mind is not defined by what is known. Now, if we get distracted, if we get preoccupied by our thoughts or fantasies, that go on in our mind, our concerns, we can be so involved in it, that it kind of becomes who we are. There's no outside of it, everything seen through that lens, everything is related to it. That becomes the be all and end all occasionally. So sometimes when there's desire, desire takes over and we become the desire and you know, get out of the way. Sometimes, occasionally the

occasional When I can get famished, and I come home and my wife says, You have look in your eyes, and I'm kind of looking around the kitchen for, for food, and maybe I'm like hunting or something and, and that becomes kind of like the, my disposition is like, wanting. And so some people are saying it's frozen with no sound. But other people are not. So we'll I'll just continue. So the Buddha uses this idea of width. And as I did in this guided meditation, it's possible to be aware to know when what we know doesn't make up the whole experience of what's happening, it's only part of it. And because of that, it's so weak become make room for it. We can allow it to be there because we're not defined by it. And we're not collapsed into not leaning into it. The knowing is free of what is known, the knowing has space to feel and experience what is knowing. And, and this idea, I kind of very much like the idea of space for things, we have a capacity to hold things we have a capacity to allow and to know. And part of what we're doing. And mindfulness practice is increasing that capacity to know things. Not Not knowing, you know, not knowledge of things, but rather, the capacity to be present for our experience, be conscious of it, without reactivity, without becoming it without resisting it without being defined by it, without making entering into it and becoming it. And so we have capacity. And so we can really hold an appeal. And the practice really becomes different if we have things like desires, greets hatreds, delusions, fears. And we've learned how to open up how to relax how to make space, to know it in and of itself, in relationship to our desires. grades, we simply know it's greed, without a story, without justification, without putting a value on an event. Without kind of saying, Well, I'm a bad person now because of I have it. This is wrong. It's embarrassing, I should, should I should, I should feel shame or, or getting involved in justification I'm supposed to have desire, this is important. This is time my life that desire. It just just desire, just greed, just the lowest whatever it might be. Anger, hostility, irritation, frustration, all the different flavors of kind of hostility or ill will that might be there. It just known in its simplicity. And this is not necessarily easy to do. But this is the direction the practice is going. The third foundation of mindfulness is the third foundation. One very wonderful way of practicing these is to build towards this. So the the, the teachings in the four foundations of mindfulness begins with mindfulness of breathing with anapanasati, the first tetrad breathing in breathing out breathing, experiencing the whole body, breathing and relaxing the body in such a great place to begin, and to get settled, to get stable to relax to. And then it continues with mindfulness of the body continues with mindfulness of feeling tones, how we react and respond to pleasure and pain, and learning how to be with that in a simple way and not be so reactive. And as we learn the skills and the stability and the steadiness and, and the clarity of knowing, then at some point, we can become aware of greed, hatred and delusion that the mind is with it. Not the mind is it? And as I've said, I think the if there's clear mindfulness, there's more to the mind. There's more to the mind state than greed, hatred and delusion. we've, we've created a space we've created a healthy kind of sense of distance or independence, from whatever it is we know. And that is something you can experiment with. Next time you have a really good bout of greed, hatred and delusion. Just stand still or sit down and and see

if you could come back into mindfulness of it, where there's space for new room for you to be this way. You're not trying to stop it necessarily, but you're not participating in it. Mindfulness is not participating it, not reacting to it, and just know it. Oh, here's greed with here's a mind state with greed. And here is mindfulness that is independent from it is free of it. And it might take some experimentation to see what is it like to have a knowing have an awareness, be conscious of something, without consciousness, is not caught by it, reactive to it. And the same thing for the absence of greed, hate and delusion, and here it gets a little bit more interesting, because the absence of greed is not quite the same thing as the presence of greed. If the absence of greed is generosity, if the absence of a hatred is love, the absence of delusion is wisdom, then yes, that can be without, that can be a mind with generosity with love with wisdom, so the same freedom can be there the same spaciousness, the openness can be been discovered. And However, if the absence of greed is simply the absence of greed, the absence of hatred is simply the absence of hatred, the absence delusion is simply the absence of delusion, then, then that absence, murder kind of overlaps or shades into emerges with the state of mind, the quality of awareness that's open and receptive, and, and there, and, and so to experience, the goodness of the absence of greed, hate and delusion, to experience, the spaciousness, their freedom that's their kind of allows us to kind of more and more develop or grow in this capacity for the mind to hold experience, including the ability to hold the suffering of the world. And I'd like to think this is one of the directions one of the tremendous past potentials of this practice of mindfulness is that is that doesn't keep us aloof or distant are unaware of the suffering of the world, it actually increases our capacity to experience it without having it, weigh or weigh us down. So this is the beginning and now of talking about these instructions for mindfulness of the mind states, and I'll continue tomorrow, I'll continue for the rest of the week. And it develops and grows through here and, and as it grows, we enter into kind of more wonderful qualities or states of mind that are available when we the mind is no longer identified or caught in what is known. So thank you