The Meditation Of Not Giving In To Defilements

This is an excerpt from one of our old talks. Talks about the dangers and relative benefits of concentration practices as opposed to the liberating results of the correct meditation of not giving in to the mental defilements or unwholesome states.
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[@HillsideHermitage]

This is an excerpt from one of our old talks. Talks about the dangers and relative benefits of concentration practices as opposed to the liberating results of the correct meditation of not giving in to the mental defilements or unwholesome states. ____________________________________ If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us

[@goofyduder2604]

Thank you all for everything that you do. A gift to the world with magnitude that is difficult to fully comprehend.

[@Spiritualjourney259]

Thank you Dear Venerables for all the videos. First one needs to build that basis through restraint. I did the meditation technique of stop thinking the bad thought and foucing on the breath until the mind became strong. Then as one is not anymore inside of any bad thought by default and carried away by it one can now start seeing the appearence of a bad thought and ones potential engagement with it which one chooses now not to do. This possiblity of not engaging with it is not there for a beginner because he is already inside of the bad thought and he cant distinguish between the bad thought and his engagement with it and it is all mixed and bundled but now he can clearly see the difference and the possbility of choosing not to follow it is there. So at some point instead of doing the meditation technique by stop thinking and focusing on the breath as one first did now one just recognized a bad thought and dont follow it. May All Beings Be Happy.

[@ReservoirPunk]

Thank you for everything

[@lyt48]

Hundred percent correct about escapism from negativities being only a short term escape, leaving them unattended to, therefore still being affected by them within, only outside one’s own awareness.

[@HM_12348]

Thank you for everything venerable Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu 🙏🏻🤍

[@lifesonance]

Thank you Bhante 🙏🙏🙏

[@StanleyFamilyFun]

Good morning Dhamma family

[@RuskiyStandardRaw]

Thank you.

[@skiplee5490]

Wonderful! 🙏🙏🙏

[@amiran]

I love the video and the clarity of the message. However what makes me less confident is how the Buddha often uses very active verbs for dealing with defilements. In this case: abandon, dispel, make it cease, cause it to disappear. Doesn't sound like "dont touch it, just endure it". The only explanations that come to mind: - the goal is to create motivation and disgust for such attitudes, which would cause mind to instinctively drop them - it may be more active when one's mind is very purified and discerns clearly getting rid of defilement from being averse to it.

[@vondertann8471]

"The problem is in people naturally assuming that "getting rid" means "deny this". But you can also get rid of things by not feeding them further. After a while those things would go away, and you can still say you "got rid" of them. (For example, you get rid of crows from coming to your place if you stop leaving left over food lying around.)" - a comment by HH under a video called "Right way of striving".

[@djanpo993]

I also have a similar doubt, the verbs used are quite proactive and incisive. It might indeed be a matter of level of development. Even at my level, in some moments of higher composure and confidence I can push aside some thoughts without the intention of denying their presence. It's more of a "I see you, but no thanks".

[@bkhpanigha]

One should certainly "obliterate" unwholesome thoughts (vitakka) because those are _actions_ , just as you'd "obliterate" your present bodily action of breaking a precept in a fingersnap. But one shouldn't overstep the mark and try to get rid of the perceptions and feelings that are the _basis_ for the unwholesome thoughts (those are what need to be "endured", especially feeling). "Obliterating" those implies a wrong view that they're the problem, like thinking that in order to not steal something you need to prevent yourself from seeing it. People typically don't see that suble distinction, and that's how concentration practices (replacing what you perceive and feel) come into play.

[@alecogden12345]

Compulsivley trying to get rid of unwanted thoughts is actually what OCD is.

[@stefanvidenovic5095]

"You will run out of inspiration" - is a real and factual thing to take into account (almost like food and sleep). And those intense focusing practices do require a lot of effort to sustain and thus require a lot of inspiration... That is why they are not sustainable, they are very energy inefficient (aside from being completely the wrong practice). Consistency over long periods of time is key in many endeavours in life, so too the proper Dhamma practice needs to be something you can sustain even with no inspiration, even in hard times and low energy... So there's another angle to think about this...

[@cariyaputta]

Important talk 🙏

[@aerohax]

Bhante, could you explain the difference between the mental process of ignoring an unwholesome thought via focusing techniques, vs enduring it/not trying to get rid of it or welcome it until it subsides? Thank you.

[@tharakagalearachchi9587]

🙏🙏🙏

[@vinaybharadwaj8287]

Hi master, if focusing on walking or at the tip of nostril or my breath is not the meditation then what is meditation? Doesn't it help me identify the unwholesome state?

[@Moriah7913]

When he says "recognize the thought of cruelty" - could that be similar to noting?

[@amirnikzad1352]

Thanks for your awakening & clarifying discussion,🙏☘️ I'm lay person and living ordinary but trying to keep up precepts daily and also trying to see the states of the mind (not acting through them/not get rid of them/not prolong of them), trying to find intents behind the acts & thoughts, When i can realize that it is right time for more serious practice ? Dose it have any special symptoms?

[@leemo5580]

Hi. I had the same question as you. For me I think it will just happen naturally. You will know and it will pull you towards it.

[@Phynastor]

I've been thinking of it as "enduring" the unwholesome states. At some point the precursor of these states appears and you can dispel it before it even forms craving at the level of sense intent. You guys are saying though that If I keep that up, I'll actually uproot everything?

[@HillsideHermitage]

Yes, that sounds right. Once your mind is able to see precursors to all of the five hindrances, then it becomes simply a matter of rightly attending to them (the precursors), in order for hindrances to not hinder you any more.

[@Phynastor]

@@HillsideHermitage I think I understand. It's uprooting because the state of them arising prior to form already generates a response that doesn't allow it to take shape. Thank you.

[@sahassaransi_mw]

​@HillsideHermitage Bhante, could you specify what you mean by precursors to the hindrances? Is it when there is no specific sensual/aversive OBJECT that the mind is preoccupied with yet, but there still seems to be a sort of vague sense of the mind heading in the direction of sensuality/distraction/aversion - even tho that direction isn't exemplified by some object? For example: there may be no particular thing I am irritated with at the moment, but there is a general unpleasant mood that I still don't want to be there (even if I have no arisen intentions/ideas of the ways I would like to prevent the mood from being there ...like indulging the senses, etc) ?

[@fingerprint5511]

The root defilements of greed, hated and delusion are the precursors 🙏​@@sahassaransi_mw

[@Phynastor]

@@sahassaransi_mw I could try explaining it if you want.

[@midooley543]

10:30 isn’t cultivation of concentration done so that afterwards you can ‘look’ with more calm and directness? Meditation isn’t ‘looking away’, but rather preparing the mind to look with better clarity? Ugh, so confused

[@midooley543]

6:45 but don’t concentration techniques sharpen the ‘looking’ faculty?

[@midooley543]

Thank you

[@Phynastor]

Thero said it way better than me but there's something that helped me conceptualize it so I wanna share. Basically, it doesn't matter whether you drink a 6oz glass of chocolate milk or not. What matters is whether or not you crave it and do it out of craving, because if so then your mind is running the show, not you and because of that it's gonna pull you every which way. In a lot of ways it's like a dog and if you let up on the strictness, the dog will constantly tug you along instead of walking calmly beside you. So.. as ridiculous as it sounds, you can't have that chocolate milk if you really want it. Not because there's anything wrong with chocolate milk but because the consequences of the mind being in control underpin all the reasons why you can't deal with the causes and formations of attachments and the unwholesome states that follow in the first place.

[@nothinghere1996]

If it helps. walking meditation is the tool, like a chisel. You learn to sharpen it, first. Then you can use it on body sensations, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and of course the arising of all thoughts. once thought is seen to observe, it can be discarded instantly.

[@AlexandarShmex]

Unfortunately, not giving in into defilements makes one seem like a clown in the "real world". A rare layman might have the proper conditions to live their life in such way, but a large majority doesn't. I don't think it's possible for a layman in current times to become a Sotapanna, without focusing on it solely for at least couple of years, as a monk or a hermit.

[@amiran]

Based on my experience: - when you start to change your behaviour, you'll inevitably start making different decisions which will change your environment and these conflicts with your surroundings will be less and less - the "clown" is mostly in our mind, other people don't care that much. And if anything, they are the ones who feel threatened and are afraid of being clowns. Or they may even end up reflecting and being inspired. Reminds me eg. of situations when I was the only sober person at a wedding. "Real world" is a mix of wholesome and unwholesome qualities - worth being sensitive to the former.

[@Selen304]

European, American and non-European, non-American elite circles are NOT the "large majority".