Beautiful Mind

 

Sunday, June 25, 2017
Beautiful Mind

Let me list, a few of our emotions and then see how we can avoid feeling bad or confused.

This is based on a power point presentation to undergraduates in their Preliminary Course in English. 

 

Seeing students of different faith I avoided the Buddhist Terminology but in fact expanded on the four Wrong Directions which young one’s, including individuals of different religious faiths, political ideology, racial orientation and above all some teachers (ill conceived) with hidden agenda.

1. Fear

2. Anger

3. Hate

4. Aggression

5. Resentment

6. Envy

7. Rejection

8. Guilt

9. Pride

10. Boredom

11. Loneliness

12. Jealousy (Green eyed Monster)

13. Paranoia

 

Why not

1. Hope

2. Happiness

3. Love and

4. Self Control

5. Tolerance

These were the same emotions which went through young minds of our generation 60 years ago.

Most of them ended up with “Reactive Depression” not “Endogenous Depression” but there was no counseling of any kind at disposal.

I think in this modern age of Digital Obsession, there is more expressed “Emotional Intolerance”.
In fact, digital media like Facebook, to some extent YouTube thrive on this malady.
I think politicians from China to Russia to Middle East (Israel and Palestine included) to importantly USA base their strategies on hate anger and resentment.
Emotions like relationships have various shades and connections.
We can shape our emotions, the way we want them to be (for good as well as bad intentions).

How can we progress?

In away according to Professor De Bono;

It is to have beautiful Mind or get rid of the wrong Directions and Intentions.

I did a survey on technical terms in psychology and found psychological terms easily outnumbered the technical terms in physics, mathematics and philosophy all put together.

The corollary of this is that Religious, Political and Racial Doctrines can thrive on these minor and major psychological maladies.

It is interesting that Buddha had crystallized the themes into four categories. 

During the talk on “Making Choice in Life”;

Ajahn Brahm taught the four considerations when face with making a decision.

Not for selfish reason

Not with ill-will

Not out of stupidity

With no Fear.

This is the Buddha’s teaching on four “Agati”, namely,

Chanda-gati, Dosa-gati, Moha-gati, Bhaya-gati, or the four kinds of corruption.

Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves.

Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and

Moha-gati is aberration due to ignorance.
 

Bhaya-gati
But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption.

Agati: the 4 'wrong Paths' are: the path of desire, the path of hate, the path of confusion, the path of fear bhaya. One who is freed from these evil impulses is no longer liable to take any wrong path.

Satara Agati -Four unprofitable directions

The term 'Agati' in Pali mean wrong course or going bad way.

There are four bad ways,

a) Chandā agati - the going a bad way through ill will

b) Dosā agati -the going a bad way through hate

c) Bhayā agati - the going a bad way through fear

d) Mohā agati - the going a bad way through ignorance or delusion

Many Views

Many Views 

There are basically three types of persons, who want to have their views heard loud and clear.
 

They are the Eternalists, Rationalists and Skeptics.

All are based on afterlife except one group.
 

There is no religion in this world that disputes the existence of afterlife except nihilists or skeptics.

Their views are either based on self realization in Jhana states or rationalization based on one’s own thinking.

One can read ones previous life (Jhana State Five) and based on these experiences some of them formulate that, since there was a past life, there ought to be an eternal life that continue after death.

In some religions merging of self with the eternal self tend to be the essence.
 

Many self are not identified as individual entities but one of a wholesome divine entity.
 

The next subset in this is that there ought to be a divine creator or God.
 

There are at least 18 subsets based on eternity.

In this subset, it is the Maha Brahma (may be some of his retinues) who had the grandiose illusion that he was the creator of the world.

The bottom line is, when they consume these planes of lives and exit, they are often reborn in lower form of life often, even lower than human life.
 

It is a pity.

One who has not pursued the Jhana states to clear vision or wisdom sees these as eternal truths and postulate them as their discoveries.

They are the eternalists.

Then there are the skeptics who do not believe in afterlife.

They create the nihilistic view (only one out of 44 views).

There are 44 views (including View of the Buddha) with future life  in perspective.

This is where the category of perception comes into play.

The perception has a void in it and that gap is filled with any view out of the 62 views of reality.
 

The Brahmajala Sutta is an attempt at Course Correction from Eternalists, Rationalists and Skeptics, not from Divinity but for the Emancipation from ills, wills and imperfections.
 

That is to untangle from the tangled entanglement of the Wrong View.

That is why Samma Ditti is the first of the Eightfold Pathway.
 

In other words Mithya Ditti is the sure recipe for prolonging agony in the lower worlds of existence.

Once one gets his/her mind out of the Kalama Sutta and the Brahmajala Sutta one is free to delve into enormous Sutta discourses and Abhidhamma (mind you dry in content) for clear view of Dhamma.

No part of Suttas or Abhdhamma is redundant for a wayfarer.
 

One either needs a true guide or one has to chose his own Sutta or Abhidamma discourses as a guide.

Please read the book of late Prof. A.D.P.Kalansuriya, if one is interested in philosophy.
 

It is heavy reading by the way, but that does not deter you from reading it, in small doses.  

Philosophy is more difficult than Dhamma.

Glimpse of Mind

 

Saturday, June 24, 2017
Glimpse of Mind

Glimpse of Mind in Abhidhamma

Abhidhamma is colossal and any attempt at simplifying it is difficult, simply because of the fact that Abhidhamma in Buddhist terminology is an attempt to finely describe the working of the Mind.

It is a conceptual framework  of “phenomena of existence” of physical and mental formations; i.e; analysis of mental phenomena and their conditioning.
 
This analysis is the basis for expounding the very nature of existence of the being (Bhava) conditioned by Anitta (impermanence), Dukka (unsatisfactoriness based on impermanence) and hence Anatma (selflessness).
 
The expression of this at fine mental formation is Upppada (beginning), Thithi (rising to a peak) and Bhanga (dissolution) of one thought moment to another with similar beginning, crescendo and dissolution; i.e; in other words    “a state of flux” of mental formation and dissolution.
 
This formation does not end at physical death but extends into the next round of existence in Bhava. The mental process is described as a stream (Bhavanga Sota) which invariably accompany the being.
 
One experiences only one thought moment at any particular time. 

 

No two thought moments coexist. 

 

Each thought moment hangs onto some kind of object. 

No consciousness arises without an object either physical or mental.
 
When a person is fast asleep and is in a dreamless state he experiences a kind of consciousness which is more passive than active (note no mention about subconsciousness in Abhidhamma akin to Freudian analysis). 

 

It is similar to consciousness at the time of conception and at the final moment of death.
 
This type of consciousness in Abhidhamma term is Bhavanga. 

Like any other consciousness it consists of  genesis (Uppada) steady state or static (Thiti) and cessation (Bhanga). Arising and perishing it flows on like a stream not remaining the same for two consecutive thought moments. 

According to Abhidhamma no two type of (conscious and subconscious) of consciousness exist.
 

Bhavanga is not a sub-plane but a continuous stream of existence.
 
In Abhidhamma the word that aptly describe the state of the mind is Javana (running). This Javana thought moment lasts seven thought moments or at times of death five thought moments. Javana state is arrested by Thadarammana when an object (physical or mental) of attention is registered by the thought process and consists of two thought moments.
 

The death occurs immediately after the Cuti consciousness. 

Though, with death, the physical body disintegrates and the flow of consciousness temporarily ceases yet the stream is not annihilated as the Kammic force that propels it remains.
 
Death is  only a prelude to rebirth.
 
As Patisandhi (relinking) is the initial thought moment of life so Cuti the final thought moment. 

They are the entrance and exist of a particular life. 

Cuti occurs between Javana and Patisandhi, Thadarammana and Patisandhi and Bhananga and Patisandhi.
 
So the Samsara is the conditional existence (sort of cause and effect process) of beings, all inclusive (not only human but Deva and Preta included) and the goal of Buddhist Practice is to strive for Unconditional Existence of the Mental Culture (not a zero sum game or state) of Bliss without attachment (Tanha).
 
Way to achieve this is by one’s own effort of Meditation (not just meditation) with clear understanding of the above premises of Anitta, Dukka and Anatma.
 
Mind’s response to sense organ’s perception of an impulse as part of an object (Kaya/Rupa) of attention sets in a chain reaction.
 

1. Impulse has to be above the threshold value.
 
2. That causes to arise sensation from the sense object.
 
3. Perception of that sensation as agreeable, disagreeable or neutral.
 
4. Volitional (Cetana) attachment (Tanha) to that Citta (i.e; awakening of the life stream (Bhavanga sota)  of continuity).
 
5. Momentary focus of attention to that state of Mind.
 
6. Brings to life the mental phenomenon associated with that state of mind (within the Mind or arise from sense organ).
 
7. Attention to the same until another (Citta) thought process begins.
 
Upppda, Thiti and Bhanga process recurs in an undulating form in each thought moment of the present. 
 

In terms of the life process, Patisandhi, Bhavanga and Cuti operate, in the ever recurring Samsara Cycle.
 
Javana is the most important of all where the free will operates and the action (good or bad) falls into either Kusala or Akusala Kamma. 

 

One owns or inherits the merits or demerits of his or her action or deed.

 
Thought process has 17 thought moments and Javana has 7 thought moments and Tadarammana has two thought moments and the rest of the eight thought moments are given separate names starting from Atita Bhavanga to Votthappana ending in Javana and Tadarammana.
 
This in essence embodies the basic tenets of Abhidhamma but does not include all the finer classifications.

Dream Habits for Married Couples

 Dream Habits for Married Couples

My recommendation of Sleep and Dream habits for married couples is different. The content here applies to married couples, only.

The young lovers should do whatever dreaming they do at lib and they should not read this article which is very obnoxious when infatuated. Since, they are already on dream mode that is going to end no sooner the honeymoon is over, any advance warning has no objective validity.

My advice to a young couple is on sleep and never on dreams.

I’ll try to be as brief as possible since married people have no time for heavy reading but reflex action only.

In good old days, my advice was one should match a couple with synchronised sleep.Idea was when two of them sleep which is synchronised, they get up together.

The home and office work is synchronised.

This has no advantage to the married people.

The advantage is only to the employer who has two individuals to exploit.

There are many categories of sleep patterns.

Night sleeper who gets up early.

Day time napper who works at night.

The 6 hour to 8 hour sleeper.

My old advice does not stand to reality of married life. One should have two erratic sleepers so that when one dreams other one is up and doing home or office chores.

Married life is 24/7 schedule and never 9 to 5.

One has to be working while the other is having a nap unlike in the office life where everybody has to work whether there is enough work out there or not.   My recent but not published or not disclosed data suggest, that the only time married people have             a respite is in their real dream world.

So enjoy them even, if they are bitter to the opposite sex.

After all they are dreams.

Have you ever seen a couple who relate their dreams when woken up to the opposite spouse.

In my experience never.

The reality is that the dream is heavily edited to satisfy the opposite spouse. Usually all the dreams are    if not majority are obnoxious ones which in reality extend from slanderous to downright blue murder.      

If they truly relate these dreams the marriage won’t last even three months. Most of the breakup are due to recurrent incidences of these obnoxious dreams.

Never believe in the content of the dreams.

They are healthy escape for humans.

Even dogs and elephants seem to dream.

Sometimes, they are part of the learning experiences.

One should never go to hypnotherapist for help and they are the worst. They will record them and use them to blackmail when his/her income is dwindling or volunteer to supply the information secretly to the defence lawyer of the other side for inappropriate black income.

This specially happens in Ceylon.

If these dreams recur it is alright to go to a divorce lawyer but never to a hypnotherapist.

Who knows one may take undue advantage.

One has to bear them, bite the teeth and boldly take them in, one at a time, like a true and mature married man or woman. One should not give this information to doctors since they will give you               a sleeping pill and inadvertently stop the only entertainment one has at his/her leisure time activity.

That is simply disaster.

If you want to prolong and succeed in marriage one has to edit every dream to suit the partner and occasionally relate them saying. I had a lovely dream about “You know” with all the, blah blah.

This has worked for me and I do not know about my wife.

All bad dreams are censored by default.

Now, I write about dreams, nobody trust my dreams except Maha Brahma who never dreams in real life. His hobby is to listen to my dreams and interpret them with his wisdom. If you have any bad dreams about your spouse please post them under comments.

I may consider sending them to Maha’s perusal and interpretation. I assure you he never keeps any record of them since I am the virtual computer registrar.

Pearl Linux

Yes, this is a Pearl Linux UPDATE.

I haven't used Pearl Linux since 32bit times.

My memory and relationship is related to its Password.

Either USER Password was blank or live or custom.

I cannot remember.

Then there was another distribution that had number extension 32 and 64 added to the Password.

Linux by default cannot boot without USER or ROOT password, even in live mode.

 

Now BlueStar Linux uses demo as a password.

 

My interaction with Pearl Linux is mixed with only nostalgia.

 

My comments are as; 

1. It still has "Inferiority Complex" and wants to assume Windows run computers. 

It added Window boot Plymouth to my GRUB. 

There is no Microsoft Windows in my system.

It could not read my GRUB and Pearl Linux assumed and added a Windows appendage.

It really annoyed me.

2. It ruined my GRUB and there is no sympathy for such a distribution but the Christmas spirit prevailed.

3. Only 4 out of  5 Linux distributions boots.. 

I even installed CachyOS to completely overall the GRUB.

CachyOS runs with Debian but not with REBORN OS and other ARCH based distributions. 

 

Is the most elegant ARCH based distribution and that is why it tops www.distrowatch.com, list.

1. I have nothings good to say about Pearl Linux.

 

I have said Good Bye to Trixie even though Trixie is pretty STABLE. 

 

Pearl Linux is Trixie edition and I have at least one distribution with Trixie. 

I am not sure how long I am going to keep it or erase it with Gnoppix.

I have gone fully to Debian Forky but few of my favorite applications like Blender is missing. 

But Reborn OS supplements the missing applications.

2. Pearl Linux hated SNAP and UBUNTU

So do I.

I have no association with UBUNTU now. 

3. Peal Linux has introduced a novel Desktop called Pearl Desktop Environment, PDE. Mixture of Xfce and LXDE with a bit of Elementary look.

4. It has Synaptic Package Manager and I quickly got Gnome and Plasma Desktops instead of PDE.

5. It has Openbox Window Manager which I really like.

It ruined my GRUB

It took 48 hours to get all 5 including REBORN OS booting.

 

I have.

2 of Forky Debian 

1. BlueStar Linux

1 of Pearl Linux, for how long I cannot say but it should disappear in 2026.

1 of REBORN OS, I used to have two of REBORN OS to fill in the GAP.

 

I would have gone for Gnoppix but its version 26 has some problems.

Pearl Linux 

Here, I have reproduced a read me file of Pearl Linux since I could not find the user name and password.

It is an Ubuntu Derivative which has a macOS appearance and is 1.5GB.

At the login screen please type "custom" as the user name hit enter then for password leave that field blank and hit enter.

Found a small issue with the fonts not looking correct and I thought I deleted the Iso but I guess not.
 

All you have to do, if you already downloaded Pearl is go into system settings and change the font from Veranda 9 to Ubuntu 10 and this is important,

I think Ubuntu One and few others give concern for a good password management. 

Naming others would be improper since they are not Open Source based. 

What goes behind them and whether they share them with the NSA or a corrupt regimes is open for debate

Web Paranoia

Web Paranoia

Here, I have reproduced a read me file of Pearl Linux since I could not find the user name and password.

It is an Ubuntu Derivative which has a macOS appearance and is 1.5GB.

At the login screen please type "custom" as the user name hit enter then for password leave that field blank and hit enter.

Found a small issue with the fonts not looking correct and I thought I deleted the Iso but I guess not.
 

All you have to do, if you already downloaded Pearl is go into system settings and change the font from Veranda 9 to Ubuntu 10 and this is important,

I think Ubuntu One and few others give concern for a good password management. 

Naming others would be improper since they are not Open Source based. 

What goes behind them and whether they share them with the NSA or a corrupt regimes is open for debate.

I have personnel reason to believe they do and my own experience with institutions specially corrupt or vested interests, is on the affirmative.

They are hell bent to breach any privacy one may have.
The reason being that they do not want to be exposed of their sordid acts.

 
They are paranoid and it is a disease.

Fact that this blog post exists is due to the interference with my blog post elsewhere and a site that lacked good security protocol.

They were dysfunctional over more than a year and I do not use the site anymore.
My writings were very docile innocent and not politically involved.
 

They were bit humorous and the basic ingredients were satire.

I must say this was run by British Council Library in Kandy which is now defunct.

Unfortunately for me, out of the top ten, my writings (I was involved in initial setup) filled the top eight and the administrator got paranoid and blocked my name.

I still continued to write (very little traffic) in spite of noticing the administrators handiwork, since my idea was not to reach the top ten.

They used my birthday as a discriminator.

Who says there is no discrimination in web hosting and social media.
But my writings were there for anybody to read in spite of blocking the rating.
I have collated them and recently deleted 75% of the original writings from that site.
 

Some of them are now in digital output for posterity, in a book form.

This preamble is necessary since when one opens one’s heart and not the mind in the web, one has to be prepared for insults and discrimination.

Sadly now governments and secret agencies are doing things that one would not suspect 30 years ago.

Technocrats and not the real hard working guys who fill these posts and operating from air conditioned cubicles and are scared to be on the beat and foot.
 
Invariably paranoia develops.

So I think it is necessary to have a bit of paranoia when one enters the web with email to begin with.