Buddhism
7  An idea of self

One tends to cling to an idea of self who coordinates all the different experiences. Someone may think that he can look at someone else and listen to his words at the same time. The lists and classifications which we find in the Abhidhamma are not meant to be used o­nly for theoretical understanding, they are meant to be used for the practice. They are reminders to be aware of the reality which appears now so that wrong view can be eradicated. When hearing appears there can be awareness of its characteristic so that right understanding can know it as it is: as o­nly a type of nama, not a self, who hears. We may have doubts about the difference between the characteristic of hearing and of the paying of attention to the meaning of the sound. We are inclined to confuse all the six doorways. But hearing does not experience the object of thinking. Intellectual understanding of realities can condition the arising of mindfulness but we are usually infatuated with pleasant objects and we reject unpleasant objects, we forget to be mindful. For example, when we feel hot, we have aversion and then we are forgetful of realities such as heat, feeling or aversion.

Date 9 Feb 2021

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