Understanding, non-understanding, misunderstanding

Regardless of the different degrees of intelligence, education, learning, experience, talent, skill, ability, and knowledge accumulation, one can be understanding, or non-understanding, or misunderstanding towards something and/or all and everything.

Understanding/correct understanding/uncontaminated reasoning and discrimination - Beneficial towards all and everyone and everything, under the absence of self-righteousness, possessiveness, pride and shame, superiority and inferiority, envy and jealousy, discontentment and greed, anger, hatred, intimidation, interference, manipulation, or ill-will and hurtful violent action/reaction/behavior/activity towards all and everyone and everything, regardless of what other minds perceived/reasoned/recognized/judged/understood as pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable, desirable or undesirable, kind or unkind, wise or ignorant, good or evil, respectful or disrespectful, complimentary or offensive, promotive or obstructive, and constructive or destructive. Performing actions/activities that are beneficial towards all and everyone and everything indiscriminately and unconditionally, while respecting all and everyone and everything being what they are, as they are, and that are constantly changing under their own respective cause and pace.

Non-understanding - Could be benefiting or harming oneself and others and the surrounding environment with random action/reaction/behavior/activity that could be either constructive or destructive, beneficial or harmful, consciously/semi-consciously/randomly/ignorantly and unconsciously/autonomously/instinctively/unwittingly.

It is okay to acknowledge that, "I don't understand this or that or anything, and I don't know how to do this or that or anything because I don't have understanding."

It is much better than, "I understand this or that or everything, and I do everything and many things under my understanding," but then the understanding is misunderstanding or incorrect understanding.

Misunderstanding/incorrect understanding/contaminated impure egoistic reasoning and discrimination - Harmful towards all and everyone and everything, under the presence and influence of self-righteousness, possessiveness, pride and shame, superiority and inferiority, envy and jealousy, discontentment and greed, anger, hatred, intimidation, interference, manipulation, or ill-will and hurtful violent action/reaction/behavior/activity towards all and everyone and everything that the mind perceived/reasoned/recognized/judged/understood as unpleasant, disagreeable, undesirable, unkind, ignorant, evil, disrespectful, offensive, obstructive, and destructive towards oneself and one's attachments and possessions (identity/title/position/reputation/image/status/pride/livelihood/health/wealth/belongings/enjoyments/learning/ability/mobility/freedom/'rights'/ancestor/family/community/friendship/relationship/culture/nationality/spirituality/religion/belief/thinking/reasoning/judgment/understanding/values/practices/desires/aspirations/visions/ambitions/achievements/contributions, and etc), while promoting and empowering what the mind perceived/reasoned/recognized/judged/understood as pleasant, agreeable, desirable, kind, wise, good, respectful, complimentary, promotive, and constructive towards oneself and one's attachments and possessions, but it is not the truth. Building one's success, accomplishment, ambition, vision, enjoyment, satisfaction, comfort, and happiness by manipulating, exploiting, intimidating, bullying, and hurting all and everyone and everything in the surrounding environment that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 

Inquire the truth of everything.

Look after the well-being of the mind by the mind itself.

The minds that are functioning under the influence of the veil of ignorance would think/reason/understand/believe that, "Prosperity (what the egoistic minds referred as - local and global economy generation and stimulation) derived from endless discontentment, ceaseless and boundless interactive activities/affairs/events/celebrations/festivals/interactions/ideas/inspirations/creativity/inventions/innovations/productions/trades/expansions, ties and connectivity, and boundless ambitious desires, aspirations, and visions." And hence, they strongly think and believe that contentment, dispassion, desirelessness, simplicity, silence, seclusion, renunciation, non-interaction, non-violence, non-aggressiveness, mental and emotional independence, or peace are the enemy, or obstruction, or weakness, or destruction towards 'prosperity'.

Almost all and everyone, in anywhere and everywhere in the world, especially among the highly educated, intelligent, and knowledgeable ones, are being 'educated', 'encouraged', and 'empowered' to "never be contented", "you deserve better and much more than this", "you can achieve everything that you desire", "you can be unlimited and you are unlimited", "you can fly", "keep going and reaching higher and higher", "never stop dreaming, and never stop chasing your endless dreams", "be strong, be positive, be optimistic", "enjoy life to the maximum", "become one of the top rich and powerful people", "be highly passionate and ambitious" to achieve endless and boundless desires, that generate and stimulate 'prosperity'.

All these ideas and all kinds of youth/educational/women/minority/career/business/entrepreneurship/cooperative/commercial/community/national/political/spiritual/religious/cultural empowerment even spread into the world of yoga and buddhism, particularly in the world of yoga that can be highly commercialized and can be manipulated into anything.

There are quite many 'yoga enthusiasts/practitioners/teachers' are being empowered by as well as empowering ideas, values, and practices of 'be passionate', 'one big family', 'mental and emotional dependence', 'healing power', 'indulgence of the senses', 'authorization and association', 'certification and qualification', 'be strong and stronger', 'you can fly', 'be good and do good and all goodness will come to you', 'you can be anything and achieve anything that you desire', 'auspicious/inauspicious timing, form, shape, colour, smell, sight, sound, taste, feel, texture, atmosphere, position, direction, object, accessory, decoration, happening, activity, and etc', 'positive thinking/mind power of transforming everything become all good and positive, and making all desires/dreams come true', and so on.

These passionate egoistic ideas/beliefs/values/visions/practices/encouragement/empowerment are indeed 'the fuel' that empowers 'the most serious form of evitable unnecessary mental illness', or the veil of ignorance, or the restless impure egoistic modification of the mind, or the conditional mind thinking behavior pattern being conditioned by the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, where the minds keep hurting itself and others and the surrounding environment ignorantly, by actively performing and engaging in all kinds of actions/activities, while thinking/believing/understanding that all one's actions/activities are 'good, right, meaningful, positive, beneficial, intelligent, and constructive'.

All the empowered boundless and endless greedy desires and ambitions didn't just give rise to so much unnecessary direct and indirect damages to the physical and mental health of all and everyone as well as directly and indirectly impacting the surrounding living environment of this planet earth that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, but the highly empowered ambitious minds want to extend such damaging impactful human egoistic activities beyond this planet, under the help of advance science and technology.

Without proper basic mental health that gives rise to basic correct understanding or partial incomplete understanding that leads to complete understanding or absolute knowledge, all kinds of abilities/opportunities/talents/skills/efforts/achievements/inventions/innovations/knowledge/success/status/prosperity/power/positive thinking/all kinds of identity pride/vision/ambition/aspiration are nothing but destructive towards all and everyone and everything under the presence and influence of misunderstanding or incorrect understanding (The veil of ignorance - the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness), being fed and empowered by worldly egoistic ideas, beliefs, values, visions, practices, attachments, identities, ties and connections, interactions, affairs, and activities.

Real and beneficial prosperity of all kinds derived from ego-less efforts/activities under the presence of peace and correct understanding in oneself that contributes peace and harmony in the world (surrounding environment) of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, even if all and everything are impermanent, limited, and conditional.

Peace, silence, non-sociable, non-interactive, dispassion, desirelessness, simplicity, solitude, seclusion, mental and emotional independence, and contentment in the mind doesn't mean idleness, laziness, inaction, non-improvement, poor quality of living, living under poverty/insufficiency/extreme difficult condition, non-cooperative, anti-social, anti-education, anti-higher technology, anti-commercialism, anti-leadership/government, anti-prosperity, or non-contributing to local and global economy.

In fact, all kinds of actions/activities/works/businesses/higher advanced technology/scientific studies and research/engineering/architecture/health and medical care/inventions/innovations/productions/ties and connections/interactions/communications/affairs/duties/responsibilities/management/government/organization/basic and higher education can be carried-out ego-lessly, desirelessly, smoothly, and efficiently under the absence of the veil of ignorance, that will benefit all and everyone and everything in the surrounding environment, that will improve quality of living that doesn't need to be excessive more than sufficient basic needs for life maintenance and to have a healthy living condition of having an essential balance between physical and mental rest and activity under a peaceful environment for the momentary life existence and function of a selfless impermanent limited conditional and non-self body and mind, devoid of unnecessary conflicts and problems or harmful activities and affairs in the world of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

Quiet/annihilate the restless impure egoistic modification of the mind.

Renounce.

Solitude.

Seclusion.

Meditate.

Silence.

Peace.

Wisdom/correct understanding/absolute knowledge.

Non-violence.

Respect.

Egoism-less actions/activities/ties and connections/communications/interactions/productivity/duties and responsibilities.

Prosperity*.

*Sufficient basic needs for life maintenance to be having a healthy enough body with a peaceful, happy, and free mind existing and functioning under the essential balance between physical and mental rest and activity, living under a conducive and supportive healthy and peaceful surrounding living environment in the world of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, but all and everyone and everything are selflessly performing their own respective duty and responsibility, that also indiscriminately and unconditionally inter-supporting one another to be existing and functioning momentarily in this space that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

Upon the annihilation of the ego, the body and mind is just the body and mind existing and functioning as what it is

What generates the separateness or distinction between a selfless sentient living beings with the function of a thinking faculty and all other kinds of selfless names and forms, is the existence of the idea of 'I' or the ego in the form of thinking or thought process in the thinking mind.

Upon the annihilation of the idea of 'I' or the ego, upon the realization towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all kinds of limited and conditional names and forms, including the existence and function of the limited and conditional body and mind, there is no separateness or distinction between sentient living beings and non-sentient living beings and non-living objects.

All are merely selfless impermanent names and forms that are constantly changing, that are inevitably decaying and disintegrating from the moment of being existing, that there is no infinite and independent individual identity of 'I' existing in all kinds of selfless impermanent names and forms, regardless of whether sentient or non-sentient, conscious or non-conscious, mobile or immobile, living beings or non-living objects.

All are selfless and impermanent names and forms. All kinds of names and forms have their own particular cause of existence and function, that rely on and influenced by many other selfless impermanent elements and energy to be existing and functioning as what they are.

It's the idea of 'I' or the ego that identifies with the impermanent qualities of names and forms as, "I am distinctive from all the others. I am different from and more superior than all the other names and forms." Nope. You (the ego) don't even have a real and substantial worldly impermanent existence, just as all the other wild imaginations/projections/anticipations of the mind. You can't even be compared to a table, or a tree, or a tiny micro dust that has a real and substantial worldly impermanent existence, as you are only an idea or part of the thinking process in the selfless modification of the selfless mind deriving from ignorance, powered by energy. However, even if you don't really exist, but you are 'powerful' enough to influence the selfless thinking and acting mind to be performing many actions and reactions through the selfless physical body or the organs of the senses, perception, cognition, reason, thinking, and action, that lead to many consequences of actions and reactions, that give rise to unnecessary damage or suffering unto all and everything, ignorantly and intentionally. You can't even be compared to the selfless impermanent destructive natural disasters that are intentionless.

Upon the annihilation of the idea of 'I' or the ego, the body and mind is just the selfless impermanent body and mind existing and functioning as what it is, selfless and impermanent. Life existence is just what it is, selfless and impermanent. It is neither good nor bad, neither meaningful nor meaningless, neither joyful nor sorrowful, neither a cause for enjoyment nor a cause for suffering.

What doesn't change upon the annihilation of the idea of 'I' (the ego), is the nature's law of cause and effect, actions and consequences of actions, and the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all and everything.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Right discrimination and non-discrimination in yoga

In the teachings of yoga, we would come in contact with the term 'right discrimination' and 'non-discrimination'. Sometimes, the yoga teacher says - Develop 'discrimination' towards the real and unreal, and some other times the yoga teacher says - Be free from 'discrimination' towards all the different qualities of names and forms. Some people might get confused.

Non-discrimination actually derives from right discrimination.

Right discrimination is the ability to inquire, to reason, to reflect upon the truth of names and forms. That all and everything is impermanent and selfless, or 'I'-less.

Non-discrimination is present upon the realization of selflessness and seeing the one same nature in all and everything beyond all the impermanent different qualities of names and forms, the mind is free from subjective discrimination towards all and everything based on personal likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, wants and don't wants under the influence of certain conditional thinking and belief.

Without right discrimination, one sees all the different qualities in the different names and forms, and generates subjective discrimination towards all and everything based on personal likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, wants and don't wants under the influence of certain conditional thinking and belief.

Without right discrimination and non-discrimination, one will always be restless or peaceless, as the mind will always be affected, disturbed and determined by the personal likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, desire of craving and aversion of the mind upon coming in contact with the objects of the senses, even if one identifies oneself as a yogi, or yoga practitioner, or yoga teacher, who has been practicing yoga and meditation regularly for a long time.

Om shanti.

Righteousness, fearlessness, criticism and condemn...

There's nothing wrong when people make criticism and condemn towards other people and things that they dislike and disagree with. That is their freedom of thinking, actions and speech.

Letting go of the urge to criticize and condemn, no matter what our mind think and believe how right we are, and how wrong they are (those whom we dislike and disagree with), is one of the observations for yoga and meditation practitioners.

Some people might think that being righteous and supporting the freedom of speech means that they need to criticize and condemn anyone that they dislike and disagree with, to make a standpoint that they are good and right, and those whom they criticize and condemn are bad and wrong, as well as to induce the sense of righteousness in others, to get supports from others to also criticize and condemn what and who they dislike and disagree with, it doesn't matter if it will provoke anger, hatred and violence in other people and those whom they criticize and condemn, where they think that this is an act of righteousness and fearlessness. But this is not the right discrimination and fearlessness that we are talking about in yoga and meditation practice.

This is pure ignorance, whether intentionally or unintentionally provoking and inducing anger, hatred, violence and disharmony between us and other beings who are different from us, whom we dislike and disagree with, whom we think they are wrong, and we are right, based on what our own particular thinking and belief about what is right and wrong.

It is the tendency of the assertive ego to criticize and condemn - 'I' am good and right, and what is oppose to what 'I' think and believe as good and right, is bad and wrong. As a righteous and good being, 'I' should criticize and condemn what 'I' believe is bad and wrong.

 

It is the ego that doesn't want to let go of the urge to be self-righteous, to be a critic, to be the one who has the right thinking and righteousness to teach other people a lesson, to punish other people for their wrong doing based on what our minds believe what things are, about how people should and shouldn't think and behave.

If we want to help the world to be a more peaceful and harmony place, why are we constantly generating unrest and disharmony into the world by constantly generating criticism and condemn through action and speech that will induce anger and hatred among all beings who are different from one another?

It's purely the play of ignorance and egoism.

If we want to help to promote and maintain peace and harmony in the society, it's by stop sharing intentional information (resources from somewhere) that will provoke disharmony, doubts, anger and hatred among the different diversities in the society. Meanwhile there are many people are unaware of themselves are being used by some people, or politicians, or social medias, to achieve what they want to achieve for their personal ambitions and desires.

As yoga and meditation practitioners, while living among the society, if possible, one can learn to observe, unattached and uninvolved with the egoistic 'games' that the worldly people are playing in order to gain their personal interests and benefits.

That was what the Gurus and teachers in the past had advised anyone who wants to practice yoga and meditation, that they must stay away from vain talks, gossips, criticism, condemn, slandering, back-biting, boasting, and so on.

Using the time and energy that we spend on criticism and condemn to be performing our yoga and meditation practice will be more helpful for promoting and maintaining world peace.

Om shanti.

Self-discipline, self-control, yoga and meditation practice...

In the traditional teachings of yoga about yoga practice, it depends very much on the level of self-discipline and self-control of the yoga student, whether the yoga student can mix freely in the society, or the yoga student requires certain amount of solitary and restriction about who the student mixes with.

As well as whether the yoga student is easily being distracted, disturbed, affected or influenced by other people's thinking and behavior.

Yoga is about meditation, sublimating the modifications of the mind to transcend the perception of names and forms. Reducing inputs and outputs of the mind, or quieting the mind activities is part of the important practice for meditation.

There are some important observances that can help to quiet the mind for realization of the truth to transcend names and forms, especially for those who have no strong self-discipline and self-control yet, such like reducing newspaper and novels reading or movies watching, avoid excessive physical activities, talking, eating, mingling or any activities that will stimulate the mind, and make the mind very busy.

If the yoga student has very strong self-discipline and self-control, and is not easily being distracted nor influenced by anyone that the student mixes with, and is not being affected nor determined by the worldly activities that the student involves with, then this student can mix freely with anyone and engage in any worldly activities, but these activities will not affect nor distract the student's spiritual practice.

To be compassionate towards ourselves and other beings, we need to take care of our own practice first. We need to know who we shall mix with, and have certain degrees of restriction and limitation, so that our mind will not be distracted nor influenced by worldly passionate influences that will pull us away from our practice.

If mixing with certain people will allow us to develop dispassion and right discrimination (knowing what is real and unreal), then these are the Satsanga that we shall mix with.

If mixing with certain people will pull us away from dispassion and right discrimination, then these are the Kutsanga that we need to keep a distance.

This is not being selfish, but it's an noble action, to take care of our own practice, before we can take care of other beings.

If we think we are practicing 'compassion', try to be 'compassionate' towards other beings, and try to help other beings to be free from negativities and suffering, but ourselves has not yet develop firmness in our own practice of non-attachment, dispassion and right discrimination, and easily being disturbed, affected, influenced and determined by whatever the mind perceives through the senses of what it sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches and thinks, being influenced by likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements derive from egoism, then we need to have some kind of filtration or restriction about who we mix with and what type of activities we engage with.

How can we help other beings to be free from negativities, if we are easily being influenced by other people's negativities? How can we help the world to be free from negativities when we are vibrating negativities into the world?

We need to be able to take care ourselves first before we can take care of others.

To be able to help the world to be a better place, it requires wisdom and compassion, dispassion and right discrimination, non-attachment and selflessness/egolessness.

This teaching is a guideline for those who seriously want to transcend egoism, ignorance and suffering. As it appears to be something 'horrible' or 'disagreeable' for those who enjoy gratifying craving and aversion, who don't like about self-discipline and self-control, who are passionate and not interested in transcending egoism, ignorance and suffering. There's nothing wrong with being worldly minded, and busy with gratifying the ceaseless craving and aversion of the egoistic mind. Be happy.

Om shanti.