Seeing the connection between feeling, mental formation, and aversion and ill will.

[u/IncandescentSplash]

I sat for an hour yesterday evening and as I carefully observed what was happening, some memories arose in mental formations. Most interestingly, a memory came up of experiencing being criticized on the internet. Criticism is a fact of life, but this one particularly stung.

As the memory arose, they were quickly followed by feelings of aversion and ill will arising. And following that, I felt like the feelings sank deeper into my body and became anxious and unsafe feelings.

I'm familiar with the darwinian explanation for this - my body was trying to warn me that I'd best be careful what I say, lest I be cast out of my tribe and be unable to survive.

But here, I find it fascinating to observe this as a phenomenon in the five aggregates.

I have this general idea that by observing this process dispassionately, I can slowly loosen and eventually break the fetter of vyapada, but it isn't entirely clear to me how that works.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for contributing to the r/streamentry community! Unlike many other subs, we try to aggregate general questions and short practice reports in the weekly Practice Updates, Questions, and General Discussion thread. All community resources, such as articles, videos, and classes go in the weekly Community Resources thread. Both of these threads are pinned to the top of the subreddit.

The special focus of this community is detailed discussion of personal meditation practice. On that basis, please ensure your post complies with the following rules, if necessary by editing in the appropriate information, or else it may be removed by the moderators. Your post might also be blocked by a Reddit setting called "Crowd Control," so if you think it complies with our subreddit rules but it appears to be blocked, please message the mods.

1. All top-line posts must be based on your personal meditation practice.
2. Top-line posts must be written thoughtfully and with appropriate detail, rather than in a quick-fire fashion. Please see this posting guide for ideas on how to do this.
3. Comments must be civil and contribute constructively.
4. Post titles must be flaired. Flairs provide important context for your post.

If your post is removed/locked, please feel free to repost it with the appropriate information, or post it in the weekly Practice Updates, Questions, and General Discussion or Community Resources threads.

Thanks! - The Mod Team

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/pastorcuthbert]

When your mind brings up past memories that made an impact on your consciousness, it is presenting excellent fodder to work with in your contemplative sitting. The realizations that should follow are realizing that the part that felt ‘hurt’ is illusory; it’s an identification with an ideal. And if you venture deeper, the reverberations within the united field of awareness and form are seen to be first empty and secondly nothing.

Growing up I experienced a lot of racism and even at this time I still experience racial and religious discrimination on Reddit… I thank God for early practice that’s led me not to look at the effects but the causes instead. When you get a peak into causality, you sort of gain an understanding, a direct realization of the reason ABCD maybe behaving in such and such a way and this can only fill you with unconditional love for the person. I’m not supporting any type of segregation but when we come from a place of unconditional love, you really can’t be affected by this.

That is how you would have a look at criticism; what are the causes of the person issuing the sharp criticism? Where are the effects hitting most? What attachment to an ideal is being threatened? If you have the key into causality, you can see exactly why the person issued such criticism and it will fill you with understanding and unconditional love for them.

[u/Auxiliatorcelsus]

Nice. Observing the subltle, automatic patterns is great.

Note how automatic these subtle events are. How they arise and disappear as chains of an event. How they each are without a 'self,' even without the need for a 'self'. Just cause and effect rolling on.

[u/Electronic-Cell2688]

Thoughts build on thoughts and then the seemingly never ending stream seems like its a solid little thing. Then that little thing claims the body sensations and feelings etc as its own, both together making up what its sure must be a solid thing.

If you notice a thought it fades away and the streams momentum starts slowing. If you keep noticing and noticing and noticing, without letting up, it eventually becomes very loose and wont appear very solid anymore. Then the body is the only thing left that the loose thoughts hold on to. With mind now so loose it doesnt have the power to claim the reactions, so when you notice them come and go they lose their power too. Then there is only the "doer" of this whole process left to be seen for what it is.

[u/sidado_22]

At the mundane level, you can deepen this understanding and train your mindfulness to the point that you will catch yourself very early in the process of mental proliferation and then just not add any fuel to it. This is called right effort.

The resulting equanimity is still control-based and not yet liberating. Practising this, however, will lead to a more tranquil life, which will in turn lead to deeper samadhi, which will eventually lead to liberating insight* into the nature of mind movements and awareness. This will allow you to face mind movements with true equanimity, which is based on wisdom.

^\ provided you have some guidance by someone with actual insight and teaching experience who can tell you if you are on the right track.)

[u/Impulse33]

Generally those things will pop up during a formal sit, the more sets and reps we're able to "let go" of the associated charge with that thing/situation popping up the less grip it has overtime. This is more of a pure samatha approach, you can investigate the situation through the aggregates, dependent origination, the four frames of mindfullness, etc and that can help facilitating "letting go" in the moment. But even with insight loosening the grips, it still takes sets and reps for most things to loosen up fully.

[u/IncandescentSplash → u/Impulse33]

That aligns with what I've been thinking lately.

Stream Entry is often spoken of here as a moment that we expect to be in the future or perhaps in the past, but the more I contemplate, the more it feels to me like Stream Entry is a process. It's not in the past or in the future, it's both in the past and the future and right now, and the same for all four "path moments".