tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709844700034298584.post1889971682484081292..comments2024-03-14T06:26:00.182+00:00Comments on Reflections: Ajahn Sucitto: Awareness and AwakeningUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709844700034298584.post-52657313793424311762012-06-01T05:30:06.770+00:002012-06-01T05:30:06.770+00:00Ajahn:
I appreciate the effort it took to write t...Ajahn:<br /><br />I appreciate the effort it took to write this, and to make these <i>Pali</i> words and concepts approachable. I enjoy your writings and find them rewarding to ponder and meditate on. The suttas can be quite dry and formulaic and just plain hard to figure out; writings like this help to better understand the bigger picture of how the mind works, which is, after all, where the reward is.<br /><br />One of the suttas I had a hard time understanding was the <i>Nagara Sutta</i>, which is also concerned with consciousness (and Awakening). I was quite fixated on it for a while. After establishing consciousness and name-&-form as being interdependent the Buddha says, "this consciousness turns back at name-&-form and goes no farther". I kept trying to understand what he was saying there, "this consciousness". I thought he was speaking academically and placing "this consciousness" in a list and it seemed the list he was giving was coming up two short…there's no mention in this sutta (at least not in the main part of it) of the fabrications and ignorance given in the Twelve Links, and that bugged me no end—was this the Twelve Links or not?. One day I realized he was being literal. He meant <i>his</i> consciousness, before he was Awakened, and by extension, my consciousness now, that doesn't ever see past the name-&-from to the fabrications and ignorance beyond. It was a little moment of understanding and quite a wake up call. It produced an effort to try to get beyond basic understanding and to start experiencing for myself the processes going on in my mind that create this ignorance. Writings like this keep me going on that path of inquiry. Thank you.<br /><br />I wrangle at work with a couple of recreational drug users on occasion as they try to "convert" me. I keep telling them, "if you have to put it in your body every day, it's not wisdom". Your comments on states of intoxication hit the mark.MBensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073670710209348011noreply@blogger.com