Stop. Take a Backward Step.
Stages of Profound Meditation.
Detach from the external world of suffering, misery, discord. Free the mind from desire and miserable thinking.
Concentrate by letting go of calculations of what is in it for ME!
And yes, release attachment to blissful states.
Be calm, cool and even-minded.
Avoid all immoral moves.
Keep the mind pure.
Life is short. Do not waste your life in selfishness. Learn to take that backward step and master the mind. Study what you perceive according to the six sense doors.
Learn and study the eight worldly winds.
Gain and loss.
Fame and disrepute.
Praise and blame.
Pleasure and pain.
Each one must study the mind in such a way as to stop & end these worldly winds. It requires commitment to yourself to study the mind, your mind. It requires reflective awareness of what arises in your mind. Do not skip this start. You need to become aware of how you reflect on what comes into your mind.
You need to recognize that what comes into the mind is impermanent. This recognition includes the following impermanent states in your mind.
gain & loss
fame & disrepute
praise & blame
pleasure & pain
Study yourself and watch how these worldly winds blow in your mind.
We need to discern that each set is a pair and each set is under the law of change making each one impermanent.
What we have to learn is to give up the tendency and habit to claim gain, fame, praise & pleasure as well as loss, disrepute, blame & pain.
In other words, we learn and practice to: NOT TAKE ANY OF THEM PERSONALLY.
We humans suffer from not studying the inconstancy, impermanent, subject to change world because of our wishful, hopeful thinking that life, that is, the worldy conditions are not changing, unreliable, and impermanent.
When we know reality we see the worldly conditions are made of dust which helps us to go beyond these states and seek that which does not change, known by many names.
We discern this reality through the practice of taking a backward step of letting go of our wishes, hopes and myriad constructions of our ego-centered view.
Don’t Give Up. Keep Going.
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For those who are curious about Psalm 90!
Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, through all the generations
you have been our home!
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from beginning to end, you are God.
3 You turn people back to dust, saying,
“Return to dust, you mortals!”
4 For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,
as brief as a few night hours.
5 You sweep people away like dreams that disappear.
They are like grass that springs up in the morning.
6 In the morning it blooms and flourishes,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We wither beneath your anger;
we are overwhelmed by your fury.
8 You spread out our sins before you—
our secret sins—and you see them all.
9 We live our lives beneath your wrath,
ending our years with a groan.
10 Seventy years are given to us!
Some even live to eighty.
But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble;
soon they disappear, and we fly away.
11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.
12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
so that we may grow in wisdom.
13 O Lord, come back to us!
How long will you delay?
Take pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,
so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
15 Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
Replace the evil years with good.
16 Let us, your servants, see you work again;
let our children see your glory.
17 And may the Lord our God show us his approval
and make our efforts successful.
Yes, make our efforts successful!
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.