EBT meditation with 7 awakening factors, vs. Mahayana emptiness of joy and merit

Re: Did you break a precept? Did you make a mistake? MN 61 can help you!!

Post by frank k » Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:51 am

Assaji wrote: ↑Tue Dec 15, 2020 6:46 am...
It's also great to rejoice in whatever skilful actions of yours:

That's one of the main points of the 7 awakening factors #2-4 that aren't obvious from reading the bare sutta translation:
2. dharma investigation
3. viriya - vigorously and repeatedly doing 1 and 2 (sati, and dhamma vicaya) in conjunction with right effort
4. piti and pamojja - the rapture and rejoicing of having purified mind and virtue from repeatedly doing 1-3

And it's also one of the big problems with mahayana Buddhism.
Their teaching on 'emptiness' and 'no merit' (emptiness of merit) encourages people to NOT rejoice in their virtuous activity because it decreases the merit when they attach ego and pride to their virtue. So they consciously try not to remember and think about good they've done. Then when they do zazen, they sit there trying to empty their mind, with no fuel for piti and sukha, then get restless or bored. The 'evolution' of Buddhism.

In EBT on the contrary, reflecting and rejoicing on good one has done is the fuel for piti, pamojja, sukha, vitakka, vicara, samadhi, jhana.

Comments

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notes on the Dhamma

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