Dhammablue

What is the wisdom of mindfulness and discernment? It is similar with cognitive reappraisal which epoché all impulsive inclination that arises dependently. Be aware of this process and stop identifying with them. Let them go without actualize them in any way.

Keep sati-sampajano in your ordinary life. See the inclination\impulsion and know (nana) it doesn't/can not define yourself. Let it go(vossagga) and then your mind get liberated (cittavimutti). Fear and desire can not define/frustrate you if you see the freedom between them with mindful wisdom.

From Buddha to Derrida

破山中贼易，破心中贼难

“Just as a blue, red, or white lotus is born in the water, grows up in the water, but rises above the water and stands unsoiled by the water — so too, the Tathāgata is born in the world, grows up in the world, but has overcome the world and dwells unsoiled by the world.”
(AN 4.36)

The moon pierces the pond’s depths, leaving no ripple on the water.

竹影扫阶尘未动，月穿潭底水无痕。
Bamboo shadows sweep the steps, yet not a speck of dust is stirred; The moonlight pierces the pond’s depths, leaving no ripple on the water.

Buddhism is not about altered states of consciousness. It's about how to relate to consciousness.

It’s not what’s happening in experience, it’s how it is interpreted through avijjā, which breeds craving and clinging. This experience is mine, is good, bad, peaceful, sublime...
It's not the experience that are the problem; it's "your" judgements and attachment to this happening experience.

What if the clinging of five aggregates is just a self-model being constructed, and liberation through the Noble Path is only the deconstruction of this self-model? The free energy principle and predictive processing theory may shed light on a modern understanding of ancient Buddhism.

I am, I exist, I feel, I know, I have, I do, I want, I will, I love, I hope, I fear, I care, I live, I die. The goal of Buddhism is not spiritual experience, but just the eradication of the I-making process by phenomenal self model. Experience happens without I/me/self.

As I know Neoplatonism, the intuitive and direct apprehension of higher reality can't be done through experience or perception of material world. The One and nous, the Brahman and ātman, ...I find Plotinus' theory is akin to Brahmanism in Upanishad, in some way.

From the Buddha (Dhammapada, verse 5):

“Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world.
By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.
This is an eternal law.”

You are not the hatred.
Hatred is just a wave in the mind.
You are the ocean that knows it.

You are not in the movie —
You are the screen on which it appears. The body-mind is the character. Awareness is the watcher.

Meditation just is the tool to get the mind concentrated and illuminated, and then use this super mind with super clarity to see with wisdom and discernment all dhamma phenomena as they truly are. This is the key part leading to ultimate nibbana, meditating with blissful experiences is not enough.

Therefore, the key to vimutti liberation is viraga, dispassion. How can we get dispassion to what we habitually attached to? Nibbida, disenchantment. How to get disenchantment? See with panna the true nature of all experience and reality, their anicca impermanent, dukkha distress, anatta non-self.

Raga, dosa, moha, the three root defilements of mind in Pali Canon. "raga" just means colored, translated as passion, lust, clinging. It includes three kinds: kamaraga, ruparaga, aruparaga. Kamaraga refers to lust for sensual pleasure. rupa, arupa raga refers to clinging to states of meditation.

When the reality of impermanence inevitably clashes with our clinging to the illusion of permanence and ownership, dukkha arises.

The universal law of impermanence dictates that everything is subject to change, decay, and cessation. Possessions break or are lost, relationships evolve or end, health declines, status shifts, cherished ideas are challenged, and ultimately, life itself ends. Nothing we grasp is truly stable.

Because we believe these things are "ours" and "important," we invest them with tremendous emotional energy. We develop attachment (rāga) and clinging (upādāna) to them. Our sense of well-being becomes deeply entangled with their persistence and condition.

We develop a strong sense of "me" and "mine." We identify with our body, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness (the five aggregates). We extend this sense of ownership to material possessions, relationships, social status, reputation, ideas, and even our life story.

All the abhinnas (psychic powers) are not helpful to liberation except the only one "asavakkhaya-nana" wisdom of destruction of taints. Its high achievement to get such psychic powers, but Buddha agree with you that they should not be chased after. Using the insight to see anicca anatta is the key.

The ultimate target of liberation of buddhism is āsava:
Kāmāsava: The taint/outflow of sensuality.
Bhavāsava: The taint/outflow of becoming/existence.
Diṭṭhāsava: The taint/outflow of views/speculation.
Avijjāsava: The taint/outflow of ignorance.

Every passion or compulsion to everyday experience is an opportunity to cultivate panna wisdom. Be mindful and diligent.

Affliction is Bodhi.

Speaking is just where self-building happens. We defend views, we create self identity, craving approval. Practice sati-sampajana, keep being mindful and discerning, see these things as they truly are, then you become disenchanted and dispassion, ripened into letting go and liberation.

I have to say buddhism is anti-humanism in someway. Its goal is transcendent, not this life and its happiness and achievements. Dukkha means all these success life happiness are all impermanent and will gone someday. Unsatisfactory is the basic nature of all engagement in life.

Every time we engage in social interaction there is the case we are becoming somebody through this social approving. This kind of self constructing is anicca impermanent and dukkha by its nature. For this anicca and dukkha, its not worthy to be my self, so it's anatta, non-self: unworthy as a self.

Craving for recognition from another human being is a deep root of human existence. We need to feel the certainty of being someone which needs others to approve. Seclusion (viveka) is the antidote to this craving for recognition. kaya viveka, citta viveka, letting go the tanha to becoming somebody.