Buddhists Must Be Careful Not to Simply Create Concepts

 Some concerns I would like to highlight here:

1. There are Buddhists who have the tendency to come up with their own theories and conclusions and then attribute it to the Buddha. Apparently he said that the Buddha said that the samadhi from walking meditation is stronger than the samadhi from sitting meditation. So far I am not aware of any Buddhist scriptures in which the Buddha said so. If anyone is aware of this, please share it with me. However, it does not make sense because samadhi is samadhi and it should be the same regardless of the posture. As Buddhists, we must be careful not to attribute something to the Buddha if it is your own conclusions. It could be tantamount to creating negative karma, even though you are not saying anything bad (theoritically). 

Updated note: Subsequently I managed to find out that in the Anguttara Nikaya, there is a verse that says, if a person can enter and maintain samadhi during walking meditation, then it means when that person is sitting, lying down or doing whatsoever, he will be able to maintain his samadhi. However, if you are only able to maintain your samadhi during sitting, but not in other postures, then your samadhi will weaken, say when you start to get up to walk, for example. The quality of samadhi is the same no matter the posture. What this verse is saying, is that it is best to be able to enter into samadhi while walking. If you can do that, the quality of your samadhi will not diminish when you shift your movement to another posture, be it sitting, lying, etc. Hence, there is a difference between this verse in the Anguttara Nikaya and the earlier statement that samadhi from walking is stronger than samadhi from sitting meditation. Theoritically, it also does not make sense that samadhi during walking should be stronger than any other posture. There is no dharma basis for this proposition. Samadhi is a state of mind and it depends on the person who strong or what level of Jhana he achieves. It is not depending on postures. What that AN verse is saying is only to encourage being able to achieve samadhi while walking, because then it means your samadhi will not diminish its strength whatever you are doing. Hope it is clear now. 

2. No matter what religion you profess, you cannot merely rely on faith alone and disregard the need for conventional reality. What I mean is, for example, if you have accidentally hurt yourself, you would need go to a clinic to check and treat your physical body. You cannot disregard this and just put your faith in God to heal you. I mentioned this because I saw someone posted in his social media exactly this. It is such a wonder that his other social circles just support him. No one, except for me, dared to tell him that he still need to go check if he has hurt himself or not. In this instance, faith has gone over to being fanatical. It is no longer faith, when common sense no longer function. It is a pity. Even for Buddhists, I always shake my head in disbelieve when people put their faith in dharma that is impractical. I saw someone wrote about "bodhisattva nature". What "bodhisattva nature"? I am aware of Buddha nature, but not Bodhisattva nature. Buddhists must be precise and to the point. You cannot create terms like this according to your whims and fancy.

3. It is a waste of my time to participate in any discussion that tries to re-create the 8 pairs of states of mind for the contemplation of mind. After learning from Mahasi Sayadaw on this section of the Satipathana Sutta, I am of the opinion that the Sutta as it is IS correct. There is no need to recreate a new "8 pairs" of states of mind for contemplation. I think Mahasi Sayadaw interpretation of the Pali terms used in the Sutta showed his vast knowledge of the subject matter. It makes sense. Anyway, from his teachings, I realise that at the moment, most people can only do the first two pairs of mind states, at best. We have not yet reached the other state of mind yet for us to contemplate them. Hence, are we even able to discuss them? I have looked at the other Buddhist sources where states of mind are also mentioned. No, I do not think there is overlapping or confusion on the part of the Buddha nor the scripture compiler. At this juncture, I will just say that these are other ways of saying the same thing. 

okay. That's all for this post. Do read other earlier posts, such as this - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-little-donation-goes-long-way.html

#cittanupassana #fanaticalfaith #samadhi #mahasisayadaw