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Showing posts from December 5, 2011

understanding how obsession works

the Buddha had many terms for things that stir up the mind. anusayas are fixations, thought habits, ideas that arise constantly kiriya means mental agitation papanca is the sheer proliferation of thought that is obsession anusayas or obsessions have seven types . we become obsessed about 1) people and things that make us feel good, that stir passion 2) people and things that make us feel uncomfortable, that stir aversion 3) our views and opinions about life, people, the world 4) our fears of the future 5) our self centered ideas; "who am i" 6) our craving to attain higher states of being, to "become better person, more equipped to tackle the world" 7) our tendency to blame external forces for our stress and unhappiness, to avoid seeing the role our mind plays in creating stress and suffering for ourselves (we tend to objectify our experience, rather than see it as a subjective process) the buddha teaches in the anusaya sutta that the purpose of spiritual practi