… The why is also important, because it helps keep you with it, and to
understand what you’re doing, to understand the point of all this,
because you’re going to find different voices in the mind saying, “Why
am I doing this? Why don’t I think about that, why don’t I think about
this?” Not everybody in this committee of your …
… But we’re too interested in other things—or at least some
members of the committee are interested in other things. They want to
go off someplace else. They say, “Well that’s nice. You can stay with
your breath a little bit. But then let’s do something else.”
It’s like the person who gives up alcohol for a while and says …
… This is the kind of pride that can use a sense of shame, integrity, and all the other attitudes the Buddha is teaching here as means to negotiate with your less skillful selves, the less skillful members of the committee, and win them over to the path to true happiness. In the factors of the path, this comes under right effort: the ability to …
… Ask the member of the committee that may have closed the door, “What are you afraid that I might see?” If the thought doesn’t come up for you again, then let it go for the time being. Rest assured that the opportunity to explore it again will come back again, and the next time you may be more ready for it.
Q: There …
… We also talked about some of the qualities the Buddha recommends for skillfully negotiating with the less skillful members of the mind’s committee and motivating them to do the right thing.
Tonight’s talk approaches the same topics from a slightly different angle, looking at them in terms of what modern psychology has to say about mature ego functioning.
Sometimes you hear that …
… When you try to develop virtue, you’ll find voices in the committee of your mind that resist the precepts. You have to learn how not to identify with them—and how to do it skillfully—as part of developing virtue as a treasure or a perfection. Similarly with the practice of goodwill: You learn to see ill will as something you don’t …
… Here’s where it’s useful to view the mind as a committee. As you look for the allure, it’s as if you separate yourself from the committee members who want to be angry, and identify yourself with members who wants to be free of the anger.
For this second group of members to see what attracts the first group of members to …
… You can think of your mind as being like a committee, and that “not-self” here means that there are some members of the committee that you no longer want to identify with. You don’t want to side with them.
As for the path, you don’t apply the three perceptions there quite yet. You’re actually trying to develop the path, so …
… But until you admit that you like the anger—or at least one of the members of your committee likes the anger—you won’t be able to let it go. You can see the drawbacks again and again and again, but if you don’t see the allure, you’re not going to be able to make an effective comparison. When you do …
… Should any bhikkhunī knowingly give Acceptance (upasampada) to a woman thief sentenced to death, without having obtained permission from the king or the Community or the (governing) council or the (governing) committee or the (governing) guild — unless the woman is allowable (i.e., already ordained in another sect or with other bhikkhunīs) — this bhikkhunī, also, as soon as she has fallen into the first …
A Healthy Sense of Self | Selves & Not-self
… This is the kind of pride that can use a sense of shame, integrity, and all the other attitudes the Buddha is teaching here as means to negotiate with your less skillful selves, the less skillful members of the committee, and win them over to the path to true happiness. In the factors of the path, this comes under right effort: the ability to …
Bhikkhunī Pāṭimokkha | The Bhikkhunīs’ Code of Discipline
… Should any bhikkhunī knowingly give Acceptance (upasampada) to a woman thief sentenced to death, without having obtained permission from the king or the Community or the (governing) council or the (governing) committee or the (governing) guild — unless the woman is allowable (i.e., already ordained in another sect or with other bhikkhunīs) — this bhikkhunī, also, as soon as she has fallen into the first …
