sīla to learn about yourself
Mar. 2nd, 2019 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cattasallaSīla is not just about doing the right thing. It's also about learning yourself...learning how your mind works. Right now, I'm trying to observe the Eight Precepts. These are where the sīla training rules start to blur between morality and meditation. Their purpose isn't what we would understand as moral, in the sense of involving doing harm to self or others. Their purpose is more about cultivating self-knowledge.
The precept about not eating outside of the accepted time (dawn until solar noon, in the looser interpretation), for example. I'm physically able to observe this precept; there is no reason for me to eat outside of that time. Of course, the desire to eat arises. Maybe it's the munchies, snacking when I'm not hungry and just want something to keep my hands and mouth busy. Maybe it's actual hunger demanding action. In both cases, to really get the most out of the precept as a training rule for self-discovery, I need to watch the desire to eat, the hunger. How does it feel? What parts of my body are being activated? What parts are being suppressed? Anytime a desire wants to be fulfilled, and it meets resistance, it will pull out a team of lawyers to argue its case. Watch that process. See what they say, see how they say it, and don't try to argue with them (you will often lose the argument!) but pull back the curtain and see the mechanism operating to produce those lawyer-thoughts.
There are constant disturbances in our minds that propel us into unnecessary action. These are included under the broad category of dukkha. Often, they move so quick that we don't even notice them. But commit to resisting them, and they show themselves for what they are, in sharp relief. It could be argued that by doing so, you are creating more dukkha, but really those disturbances were going to be there whether or not you resisted them, so you're just bringing them to the forefront of attention.
The precept about not eating outside of the accepted time (dawn until solar noon, in the looser interpretation), for example. I'm physically able to observe this precept; there is no reason for me to eat outside of that time. Of course, the desire to eat arises. Maybe it's the munchies, snacking when I'm not hungry and just want something to keep my hands and mouth busy. Maybe it's actual hunger demanding action. In both cases, to really get the most out of the precept as a training rule for self-discovery, I need to watch the desire to eat, the hunger. How does it feel? What parts of my body are being activated? What parts are being suppressed? Anytime a desire wants to be fulfilled, and it meets resistance, it will pull out a team of lawyers to argue its case. Watch that process. See what they say, see how they say it, and don't try to argue with them (you will often lose the argument!) but pull back the curtain and see the mechanism operating to produce those lawyer-thoughts.
There are constant disturbances in our minds that propel us into unnecessary action. These are included under the broad category of dukkha. Often, they move so quick that we don't even notice them. But commit to resisting them, and they show themselves for what they are, in sharp relief. It could be argued that by doing so, you are creating more dukkha, but really those disturbances were going to be there whether or not you resisted them, so you're just bringing them to the forefront of attention.