The Seven Obsessions

Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Terms and Doctrines

Obsession destroys (tasithoughts.com)

The seven obsessions or anusayas (proclivities, inclinations, tendencies) are:

1. sensuous greed (kāma-rāga, see fetters),
2. resentment (aversion, anger, patigha),
3. speculative views (wrong views, opinions, ditthi),
4. skeptical doubt (vicikicchā),
5. conceit (māna),
6. craving for continued states of existence (bhava-rāga),
7. ignorance (avijjā) (D.33; A.VII.11-12).

"These things are called obsessions or proclivities because, as a consequence of their pertinacity, they again and again tend to become the conditions for the arising of ever new sensuous greed, [aversion, and delusion]'' (Path of Purification, Vis.M. XXII, 60).

 

Yam. VII first determines in which beings such and such obsessions exist, and which obsessions, and with regard to what, and in which sphere of existence [Sensual, Fine Material, or Immaterial]. Thereafter it gives an explanation concerning their overcoming, their penetration, and so on. Cf. Guide VI (vii).

 

According to Kath. several ancient Buddhist schools erroneously held the wrong view (opinion) that the anusayas, as such, meant merely latent -- and therefore karmically neutral qualities -- which however contradicts the Theravāda school conception. Cf. Guide V, 88, 108, 139.

• Four Dangers of Living a Simple Life (MN 67)

Obsession – When it Turns Destructive

Tasithoughts 

What causes people to fixate on someone [or something] so much that it takes over their being and wipes out whatever common sense and self-esteem they have for themselves?

Recently I have seen this in a few individuals who have basically thrown their self-respect out the window by going uber crazy over someone they initially had a crush on that turned into a full on -- almost Fatal Attraction -- kind of situation. 

The irrational behavior reaches fever pitch when they are rejected by the object of their affection.  Their feelings of  ultra-attachment turn into hurt and open bitterness.  It becomes a frenzy of texting,  calling, and harassing the person who scorned them.

In one instance, I have seen it become violent.... because they have attached their egos and their self-esteem so much to their object of affection...

• The Downward Spiral of Vengeance (anger)
• Can anger ever be good?
• Masks (depression)

Racism Hurts Everyone: Costs to White People

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; United Church of Christ Massachusetts Conference (maucc.org)

We're just kids. Are you raising us racist without even realizing what you're doing?

"Stop racism!" (femen.org/en)

Part of being committed to eliminating racism is continuing to grow in our understanding of the horrible effects of racism on people of color today. While there is no comparison with the effects on people of color, white people are also dehumanized and burdened by racism. 

So it is valuable to also grow in our understanding of this part of the system of racism that affects us all. For instance, white people often:

Oh, to be the black sheep of the group! Or white in a group of colored sheep!!

 

I can overcome inequality and guilt?

• Experience a sense of being cut off from people of color -- of not belonging with, or being welcomed by, people of color (who, after all, are a majority of the world’s population).

• Hold stereotypes and prejudices or have negative thoughts about people of color or unintentionally give off an air of entitlement or superiority.
• Are deeply pained by learning about historical/contemporary suffering and racist inequities experienced by people of color.
• Feel powerless to create a just society in the face of racism.
• Feel guilty about the history of racism and current racist institutions.
• Fear making mistakes and being seen as racist or prejudiced.

Beloved Buddhist Saint Sivali

• Have our integrity eroded and our sense of goodness and self-worth undermined by our failures to stand up against racism we observe.
• Experience unjustified fears of people of color.
• Are separated from people of color who are working-class and poor, who are our natural allies, with whom we could join forces to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth that would benefit us all.
• Experience unfounded fears of what people of color may do to white people, when and if they ever get the chance, exactly what whites did to people of color -- exacting revenge or retribution for past and ongoing racism.

• Miss out on the benefits of deep human relationships with people of other “races” and cultures, and all that can be learned and enjoyed in such relationships.

• Are unconscious of "white privilege" or subtle biases.

• Are separated from other white people by feelings about race... What would you add to the list?

A better kind of arms race

The position of supremacy is inherently dehumanizing to individuals in the dominant group in addition to the terrible and more obvious costs to any subordinated group.

 

Our full humanity can only be realized in full community with other human beings -- in situations of reciprocity, equity, fairness, and mutuality... More

• Anti-Racism Ministry in Local Churches
• Building a Bridge Toward a 21st Century, Multi-Racial, Multi-Cultural Society
• One Church's Anti-Racism Statement
• Race and Justice Resources

"There are no Black Holes" - Stephen Hawking

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Heather Saul, Independent.co.uk; Krista Tippett (Teilhard de Chardin on The "Planetary Mind" and Our Spiritual Evolution, Jan. 23, 2014)

What do a fiction writer and an astrophysicist have in common? Marilynne Robinson and Marcelo Gleiser connect the dots between the cosmos, our minds, and all the ways we discover the story of where we came from (onbeing).

  

Stephen Hawking has produced a “mind-bending” new theory that argues black holes do not actually exist -- at least not in the way we currently perceive them.

Instead, in his paper, Information Preservation and Weather Forecasting for Black Holes, Hawking proposes that black holes can exist without “event horizons,” the invisible cover believed to surround every black hole.

Rude Prof. Hawking gets proof of black holes - Trisha Takanawa, Quahog News ("Family Guy")

During a previous lecture, “Into the Black Hole,” Hawkins described an event horizon as the boundary of a black hole, “where gravity is just strong enough to drag light back, and prevent it escaping.”

 

“Falling through the event horizon, is a bit like going over Niagara Falls in a canoe,” he said. “If you are above the falls, you can get away if you paddle fast enough, but once you are over the edge, you are lost. There's no way back.

 

Fake Buddha quote (H.koppdelaney/flickr)

“As you get nearer the falls, the current gets faster. This means it pulls harder on the front of the canoe, than the back. There's a danger that the canoe will be pulled apart. It is the same with black holes.”
 
But now Hawking is proposing “apparent horizons” could exist instead, which would only hold light and information temporarily before releasing them back into space in “garbled form,” Nature has reported.
 
The internationally-renowned theoretical physicist suggests that quantum mechanics and general relativity remain intact, but black holes do not have an event horizon to catch fire. More

Sex with Stephen Hawking with wheelchairs ("Family Guy")

• Hawking wants to be a hedonist and SEX maniac According to a source who has been a member of Freedom Acres swingers club for nearly half a decade, Hawking, 70, shows up to the club with a bevy of nurses and assistants and has naked woman grind on him.
• Stephen Hawking: There are no black holes (space.com) Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking declares "there are no black holes" in a new preprint paper, but what does he really mean. Find out the... 
• Stephen Hawking: "There are no black holes" (Nature News) Notion of an "event horizon," from which nothing can escape, is incompatible with quantum theory, physicist claims. 
• Stephen Hawking declares: "There are no black holes" Consternation and angst reign after the famed physicist suggests there are no black holes from which light can't escape to infinity. 
• Black holes should be redefined, says Stephen Hawking... 
• Black hole theory my "biggest blunder" (Fox News) Doing an about-face on the objects that helped cement his reputation as the world's... 
• Stephen Hawking: There are no black holes (Christian Post)
• Hawking: Space aliens should stay away from Earth
• Stephen Hawking: We must move to space! Asking Big Questions about the universe at TEDtalks. In keeping with the theme of TED, Prof. Hawking asks questions like: How did the universe begin? How did life...
• Stephen Hawking on Religion: "Science will win"

Evolution of Human Consciousness

Krista Tippett (onbeing.org)

The coming stage of [our spiritual and cultural] evolution, Teilhard de Chardin said, won't be driven by physical adaptation but by human consciousness, creativity, and spirit. "On Being" visits with de Chardin's biographer Ursula King and experience his ideas energizing New York Times' Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. LISTEN

• Will "liberal" Obama stop nominating pro-corporate judges?

The Enlightened American (Daniel Ingram)

Wisdom Quarterly (edit); Buddhist Geek Daniel Ingram (DharmaOverground.org)

Self-proclaimed arhat, author (Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha), and Site Administrator Daniel Ingram founded the Dharma Underground, which lead to the Dharma Overground, which culminated in The DhO.

 
Frustrated with the world of online Dharma blogs that are all about dogma, hierarchy, disempowering views about how it can't be done, mindless blind faith in absurd ideals, and texts that are wildly out of touch with reality, and a whole host of other absurdities, Ingram founded The DhO to form a safe haven.

It is for people who are into hardcore practice, real attainments, helping people out in the spirit of mutual noble friendship, open conversations about topics related to actual practice, and the like.
 
Ingram's website, InteractiveBuddha.com, is home to a distinct voice in the wilderness. He is boldly making the following claims to attainments:

• I am an arhat, having attained [full enlightenment] in April, 2003.
• I have mastery of the [traditional eight] samatha jhanas [meditative absorptions], including Pure Land One and Pure Land Two, The Watcher, and Nirodha Samapatti [the "extinction of feeling and perception," a meditative state said to only be possible for arhats].
• I have some experience with some other traditional attainments.
• I can access the state [The DhO] calls No Dog. 

:: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ::

The face of enlightenment (DhO)

Ingram wrote the book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book, often abbreviated MCTB, which has influenced the practice of many members of The DhO.
 
He is an emergency medicine physician who practices in emergency departments in Mississippi and Northeast Alabama, where he lives with his wife, Carol, and his cats Boris, Mavis, and Elvira (Mistress of the Dark), along with a number of relatively tame raccoons, two of which his family calls Scruffy and Ramona.
 
Ingram gives a whole lot more biographical information in MCTB.
 
He states, "I have many outside interests, including green building, cooking, dancing, playing, and listening to music, the writings of Jack Vance, and a good deal more. Updates on my current practice, whatever it may be, can be found at Current Practice Blog."
 
It is his sincere hope that The DhO will serve to add to the available literature and support of hardcore, empowered practice. He further hopes that through the collective work of a group of dedicated, skilled practitioners that meditation technology and culture will be advanced, enhanced, and adapted to this post-post-modern world.

Financial Disclosure
A brief disclosure of finances: Renting the server space and bandwidth for The DhO costs me about $179/month from Omegabit. There are also other expenses in running The DhO, such as developing the PM feature (which Liferay 5.2.2 didn't have), which cost me about $1,500 out of pocket for the programming, and recent attempts to upgrade to Liferay 6.1, of which the total bill so far has been over $3,000. I also get a small royalty on my book, MCTB, which generally runs roughly $400-$800 every 6 months. Thus, after paying for The DhO server time and miscellaneous expenses, I lose money on all of this, which is just fine by me and consider it my small dana [act of generosity] to the world of meditation. I hope this community benefits every interested person in some way. 

COMMENTARY
Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL)

Daddy, is this an enlightened being? (Eighteen for Life/flickr.com)

 
Do we believe Ingram's claims about attainments? Yes.
 
The problem, of course, is that traditionally the belief has been that one who attains non returner or arhat stages would immediately want to ordain and live according to monastic guidelines, which are regarded as the perfection of the "high life" or brahmacariya. To live otherwise entails blameworthy harm being done to others. This would not suitable for a person of perfected view. (Enlightenment does not perfect personality; it perfects view).
 
A person with right view does not do harm while engaging in a livelihood. Outside of the Sangha it may be that one "goes along to get along" in the world. The arhat, unwilling or unable to stray from what is right/virtuous, would fall by the wayside. There is no example that we could find of a layperson becoming an arhat at the time of the historical Buddha who did not immediately ask for admission into the Sangha. It is not generally believed that a layperson can even attain that distinction to begin with except in exceptional cases. Monks scoff at the notion since they themselves, under ideal conditions, have so much trouble remaining motivated and reaching the goal, particularly in the city.

Falsely accusing the Buddha

Traditional Theravada teachers would probably not keep advancing a stream enterer or once returner who did not intend to ordain. But the question is, Is it possible? We do not see a necessary reason why it would be impossible. Tradition says that this or that is what happens, and it may be the strong inclination of an arhat to live in peace as a harmless contemplative. But we do not see where it says that has to happen. (Of course, there is the issue of sex and sexual motivation, procreative or strictly based on lust; it would not, as we understand it, be something an arhat would be drawn to. Then again we would not have thought a stream enterer would still break precepts, but they do. How do we know? We've seen it, and the texts say so. Look at the Ratana Sutra. Apparently, what they are incapable of doing is keeping it a secret, but they can live heedlessly. This would seem to be impossible for an arhat).
 
The systematic commentarial work by Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification, may seem like a set of hard and fast rules about the Dharma, meditation, attainments, and norms (niyamas), but there are so many examples of exceptions in the texts that one would be hard pressed to defend any definitive view. Buddhaghosa was not giving his opinion, which is how we define "comment" and "commentary." Expanding on and systematizing sacred texts is a sacred Indian tradition; one may need the commentary as much as the original text to make sense of most things great sages have taught.

It is easiest to believe that Daniel Ingram is mistaken or has misestimated his attainment. But how can we say with certainty? How can anyone say? One way to say is to become an arhat and then go meet Ingram. "It takes one to know one" is literally true in this case. If it is his experience, and he is being honest in reporting his experience, who will accurately judge the accuracy of his claims? To doubt it, if it is correct, is unskillful karma. Skeptical doubt is a major hindrance, so it would be better to believe or to leave it undecided until one can check.

An awakened heart of wisdom

We would only advise any person about to make such claim of enlightenment to check with a known arhat (such as Ajahn Jumnien, Pa Auk Sayadaw, the Western monk Ven. Dhammadipa, or other masters who would know) to confirm the attainment. It is easy to be mistaken even when one is personally "sure." What would be worse than living mistakenly thinking oneself liberated -- and convincing others of that -- if, in fact, one were wrong?
 
But Ingram has a mission to bring attainments out of the shadows where teachers imply they have attained things they may have not, and they never have to directly state one way or the other, or conceal what they are thought to have attained. The "defeat" offense (parajika) for monastics everyone seeks to avoid or ever be accused of in any way is to knowingly falsely claim attainments and/or distinctions in meditation for the sake of some worldly gain; if it is merely the result of misestimation, that does not fulfill the factors of defeat. There are, indeed, laypeople who have attained the stages of enlightenment alive today in America. We have met them. Until one learns what enlightenment actually is and meets examples of it, one may never "believe." This is a path of knowing-and-seeing, not of faith, for the wise and sincere. People may not be wise, but they will go a long way so long as they are sincere.
 
Before anyone judges this potential arhat or any other, we highly recommend reading Ingram's written work FREE: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, an Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book. Thank you for teaching, venerable sir.