If we really want to get rid of suffering, completely and totally, then clinging has to go. The spiritual path is never one of achievement; it is always one of letting go. The more we let go, the more there is empty and open space for us to see reality. Because what we let go of is no longer there, there is the possibility of just moving without clinging to the results of the movement. As long as we cling to the results of what we do, as long as we cling to the results of what we think, we are bound, we are hemmed in. Meditating on No-Self: A Dhamma Talk (Edited for Bodhi Leaves), by Sister Khema(1994)








Tuesday, August 7, 2012

A new route with a new person

Went 8.5km today.  Nice and easy at about 8 pm at nite.  It was pretty hot in Kyiv today.  Luckily for me I spent the majority of the day inside doing CELTA training.  The walk from Lukyanivska Metro to the flat though was fairly sticky though.

A lot of good breath meditation tonight that flowed into no self mediation.  I ran a route I have never run tonight.  Since I am working toward this as slow as my patience will allow I decided to go back out on the streets and get away from the Death Match stadium (Start Stadium).  I google mapped a route that basically started and ended near the flat that totaled 8.5. 

This all carried over from yesterdays run and how nothing stays the same from day to day.  So extrapolating, probably wrongly, but maybe one day someone will educate me, if there is no self in that context, really the person running the route today would be different every step of the way and therefore may not have any idea where or what we running.

This gets me to thinking, if an arahant were to start running, couldn't he just keep running?  If there is no self, the only thing that stops him/her is the body shutting down and since he/she would only notice that as a pleasant, neutral or unpleasant feeling.

Too much I think, but I wonder if it is a correct application of no self?

Now for a little craving, I wish I was an arahant, I'd do a Forest Gump.

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